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Friday Five: Reasons Why AI Can Never Replace Recruiters

Friday Five: Reasons Why AI Can Never Replace Recruiters

So is the next big thing in recruitment, AI, or Artificial Intelligence? That question surely deserves an answer in the affirmative. AI and Big Data are beginning to have a pervasive impact not just in the recruitment sector, but across sectors – from helping consumers shop better online, to using algorithms for pairing individuals with the most suitable partners through myriad dating platforms. Be it the professional realm, or the personal, AI seems to be making an impact in both. Why then do we claim that AI Can Never Replace Recruiters? Here are our reasons.

  1. AI cannot relate, empathize or help candidates with subjective opinions

    Just saying the above sentence is enough to substantiate the reason, but it is a case worthy of being made. While AI can conjure clever algorithms and claim to recruit the “perfect” candidate, it lacks empathy. It cannot build a relationship based on trust and guidance to provide the candidate and the potential employer through a meaningful, and indeed, humanized process.

  2. AI does not have communication skills, a prerequisite in the field of Recruitment

    Or put another way, AI does not have the necessary communication skills to be able to really sell a job. All it can do is provide the user with answers based on algorithms, which are a hundred percent objective. The recruitment experience with AI will lack in sensitivity, and more importantly insights that experienced recruiters have. These insights coupled with excellent communication skills help recruiters help the candidates. At times, candidates may believe that a certain organization is not a good match for them – in which case AI will end the process right there. However, that experience would differ with a recruiter in case he/she is aware that the organization in fact is a good fit for the candidate. In that scenario, the recruiter will then go on to initiate a dialogue with the candidate to give him his perspective, and insights. This depth in connection ensures that the candidate is equipped to make a thoroughly informed choice.

  3. AI cannot understand a client’s needs like a Recruiter can

    Without the communication skills of a recruiter, AI can never engage with clients the way recruiters do. Recruiters get down to the basics of understanding the culture, background and environment of an organization, and match candidates not just based on skills but also based on values and principles. AI can simplify an elaborate search process in a span of minutes, however, with a lack of engagement with clients, it can never quite attain that “perfect” fit for the client.

  4. AI is not as motivated as Recruiters are

    It would be a little more than slightly incorrect to say that AI loves what it does. But not for actual recruiters (for most of them at least). And people who love what they do are exceptionally good at what they do. This isn’t just a “quote” from hundreds of successful people all around the world, it is a fact. Being motivated helps recruiters go that extra mile, be flexible, and make that extra effort to help anchor a holistic recruitment process. But can we say the same for AI?

  5.  AI is not Human

    While this is like saying a potato is not an apple, it is at times necessary to stress on the obvious to make a point. This last reason perhaps sums up the four other reasons on why AI can never replace recruiters. AI helps enormously with data and predictions, but at the same time, it is important to understand that the recruitment sector is composed of human beings, and for human beings. How then can machines and AI replace the crucial role of recruiters?

The process of recruitment extends far beyond a “matching” process. It is an enduring process built on the basis of mutual trust, respect and experience. By hoping or attempting to delegate such a delicately nuanced process to AI, there is no doubt that we will lose out on some of the best that the talent pool has to offer recruiters. For recruiters, unlike AI, recruitment is not a black and white process, and not a process of simply ticking off the required skills. It is a deeply humane process, as it should be.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you imagine the job industry would be more efficient with AI instead of human recruiters? Let us know your thoughts!https://www.sincera.in/contact-us/

Key Employee Engagement Strategies for Talent Retention

Key Employee Engagement Strategies for Talent Retention

For any business to be successful, it must have three things: a robust overall strategy, exceptional leaders, and engaged employees. This society has moved from an economy driven by the agricultural and manufacturing industries to a service oriented, personally connected economy.

One hundred years ago, employees were tasked with manual labor and had no vested interest in the business that employed them.

Today, with the demand for highly skilled talent, it is essential for employers and leaders to engage their employees and make them feel as if they are an integral part of the business.

In the past we wrote a blog post on employee engagement which was received with a lot of positive response by our readers – Five Must-Dos to Improve Employee Engagement – Transform the Zombies into Humans. We follow-up, with this guest post which analyzes employee engagement in a more recent context, and does so quite effectively.  John Hawthorne backs his insights with research on the key employee engagement strategies that stay relevant today.

Employee Engagement Most Recent Data

In 2017, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report revealed that only 15% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs – meaning that they are emotionally invested in committing their time, talent, and energy to adding value to their team and advancing the organization’s initiatives.

This means that the majority of employees show low overall engagement. Workplace productivity was low and employees and organizations are not keeping up with workplace demands fast enough.

More Gallup research shows that employee disengagement costs the United States upwards of $550 billion a year in lost productivity. As employee engagement strategies become more commonplace, there is an amazing opportunity for companies that learn to master the art of engagement.

Jacob Shriar, in a piece on OfficeVibe, tells us that

  • Disengaged employees cost organizations between $450 and $550 billion annually.
  • Highly engaged business units result in 21% greater profitability.
  • Highly engaged business units realize a 41% reduction in absenteeism and a 17% increase in productivity.
  • Highly engaged business units achieve a 10% increase in customer ratings and a 20% increase in sales.
  •  Companies with engaged employees outperform those without by 202%.
  • Customer retention rates are 18% higher on average when employees are highly engaged.

These statistics are just the beginning of why employee engagement is so important.

Why Is Employee Engagement So Important?

The term “engagement” has been used so often and in so many different situations that it’s become hard to define. Many people think it means happiness or satisfaction, but it’s much more than that.

According to Gallup, who has been collecting and measuring employee engagement data for nearly 20 years: “Though there have been some slight ebbs and flows, less than one-third of U.S. employees have been engaged in their jobs and workplaces.”

Imagine if every employee was passionate about seeing the company and its customers succeed. The only true way to ensure that your customers are well taken care of is by taking care of your employees. This is known as the service-profit chain, a concept first introduced by Harvard Business Review in 1998. It’s still as relevant today as it was then.

Profit and growth are stimulated primarily by customer loyalty. Loyalty is a direct result of customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is largely influenced by the value of services provided to customers. Value is created by satisfied, loyal, and productive employees. Employee satisfaction, in turn, results primarily from high-quality support services and policies that enable employees to deliver results to customers.

The service-profit chain is the flow from the culture you create to the profits you generate and every step in between. The key is to start internally. When you create an environment where employees are happy, productive, autonomous, and passionate about what they do, they’ll provide better service to your customers.

That amazing service will create many loyal customers, leading to sustainable growth and profits. That’s why it’s important for every leader in an organization to understand the service-profit chain and how each step impacts the other.

Key Employee Engagement Strategies

Organizations need to pay attention to specific priorities to engage employees. Employees are more likely to become truly engaged and involved in their work if your workplace provides these factors.

Employee engagement must be a business strategy that focuses on finding engaged employees, then keeping the employee engaged throughout the whole employment relationship. Employee engagement must focus on business results. Employees are most engaged when they are accountable, and can see and measure the outcomes of their performance.

Employee engagement occurs when the goals of the business are aligned with the employee’s goals and how the employee spends his or her time.

The glue that holds the strategic objectives of the employee and the business together is frequent, effective communication that reaches and informs the employee at the level and practice of his or her job.

Engaged employees have the information that they need to understand exactly and precisely how what they do at work every day affects the company’s business goals and priorities. (These goals and measurements relate to the Human Resources department, but every department should have a set of metrics.)

Employee engagement exists when organizations are committed to management and leadership development in performance development plans that are performance-driven and provide clear succession plans.

When businesses actively pursue employee engagement through these factors, employee engagement soars to a ratio of 9:1 employees from 2:1 employees with concurrent improvements in the business success.

Employee Engagement Examples

There are of course many ways to show your employees they are valued, and to keep them focused and engaged on company success. According to Forbes, there are certain items in the benefit package that will help in creating employee engagement:

  • Health Insurance
  • Company Parties (social engagement)
  • Gifts (new babies, appreciation luncheons)

Employees go home to different roles–parent, caregiver to a loved one, a church or civic leader, spouse, bandmate, freelancer, artist, neighbor–and the people they are closest to impact their lives and perspectives about work in meaningful ways. Acknowledging those relationships and showing they are a priority will increase employee engagement.

How to Improve Employee Engagement

In a recent article in Forbes, Brent Gleeson, a former navy seal and successful businessman, gives solid advice on ways to improve employee engagement.

When managers are engaged, their team members can confidently state the following:

  • I know what is expected of me and my work quality.
  • I have the resources and training to thrive in my role.
  • I have the opportunity to do what I do best – every day.
  • I frequently receive recognition, praise and constructive criticism.
  • I trust my manager and believe they have my best interests in mind.
  • My voice is heard and valued.
  • I clearly understand the mission and purpose and how I contribute to each.
  • I have opportunities to learn and grow both personally and professionally.

The steps for improving engagement aren’t complex, they simply must be prioritized. This means engagement must be a core function of the manager’s role. The following steps can help the manager to accomplish this.

Step 1 – Put Everyone in the Right Role

Again, get the right people on the bus and make sure they are in the right roles. This means that all talent acquisition and retention strategies have to be aligned with meeting company goals.

Step 2 – Give Them the Training

No manager or leader can expect to build a culture of trust and accountability — and much less improve engagement —without setting the team up for success. This means providing the proper training and development while removing obstacles.

Step 3 – Task Meaningful Work

Engaged employees are doing meaningful work and have a clear understanding of how they contribute to the company’s mission, purpose and strategic objectives. Again, this is why they first have to be placed in the right role. I’ve made the mistake of hiring great talent just to get them in the door – but didn’t have a clear career path or role for them. If you don’t sort those details out quickly, they will leave.

Step 4 – Check in Often

The days of simply relying on mid-year reviews for providing feedback are long gone. Today’s workforce craves regular feedback — which of course leads to faster course correction and reduces waste. Use both formal and informal check-in strategies — and use them every week.

Step 5 – Frequently Discuss Engagement

Successful managers are transparent in their approach to improving engagement — they talk about it with their teams all the time. They hold “state of engagement” meetings and “engage” everyone in the discussion — and solutions.

Again, these principles are not complex, but must be prioritized. Companies that get this right will drive greater financial returns, surpass their competitors, and easily climb to the top of “the best places to work” lists.

Are Your Employees Engaged?

Employee engagement is critical to the success of any business. When a business has engaged and invested employees, it is in their best interest to protect the productivity and profitability of the business, and the image the business has in the community. Engagement also results in employee retention, which saves the business money in turnover and training. There is no downside to getting your employees engaged and invested in your business.

John Hawthorne is a health nut from Canada with a passion for travel and taking part in humanitarian efforts. His writing not only solves a creative need it has also lead to many new opportunities when traveling abroad. This article was originally published on Floship.com, you can read it here.

Making Job Descriptions Gender Neutral

Making Job Descriptions Gender Neutral

Are you a recruiter? Have you, at some point of your career, wondered why is it that most applicants applying to the jobs you put out are male? One of the most obvious answers is how your job descriptions are worded. Is it calling out to male candidates? While you may not have been gender exclusive on purpose, you haven’t been gender inclusive either. In order to defeat the ever-growing glass ceiling when it comes to women at work, every stakeholder needs to plays a more active role. It is important to approach recruitment with sensitivity and to ensure that you are gender inclusive in your call for applications.

In this post, we are going to share some very powerful words from powerful women that Undercover Recruiter put together, in their article How Can Job Descriptions Be More Gender Neutral?

To understand the dynamics of what we are trying to explain, can be best done through knowing how and why gender exclusive job descriptions affect women. Here are their voices –

Angela Bortolussi, Partner at Recruiting Social

A few years ago I sat with my hiring manager, a Director of Engineering, and he said “Angela, I asked my wife to review the job description for our Front End Engineering role – she is also a Front End Engineer, and she told me ‘I wouldn’t apply for this role.’”

He of course asked her “Why?” She mentioned the job description had so many hard stops in terms of qualifications. For example, you must have 8+ years of experience, React experience is a must, and a Computer Science Degree is a must. She felt that she was somewhat qualified but didn’t have the exact qualifications needed for the role, and ultimately wouldn’t attempt applying.

He decided to take this into consideration and re-write the job description to become more gender neutral to hopefully increase the attention of women applying. (Guess what? It worked!)

Keep in mind though it’s a tough to really understand the thought-process when it comes to candidates applying for roles. Whatever the reason is, I think we (women) respond to job ads/posts differently.

Rebecca Fraser, National Executive Committee, Career Development Association of Australia

It is quite interesting how some words can be perceived as being more attractive depending on your gender. Removing gender specific words, an example may be he or she and Chairman or Chairwoman. This is challenging in some languages where they have grammatical gender and this may require job adverts and job titles to specifically confirm that they are being offered to all genders. Other language could be seen as more attractive to the male gender, such as describing the work environment as fast paced and challenging, or dominant and determined. Although many females will be attracted to this environment, research has shown that these words can be perceived as being about a male dominated work environment.

Lysha Holmes, Owner and Recruiter, Qui Recruitment R2R

It is essential that a job description is written as a narrative to the potential employee regardless of gender. Avoid assumptions, focus on skills and attitude, potential and opportunity rather than a “person” per se and therefore stereotypes can be avoided. This should include imagery used to promote any post on social media.

Poonam Mawani, Director, Azuki Accounts

Job descriptions are so important. They are the first impression of a company’s culture. There is software available now that can remove and replace gendered descriptions and words. There are certain phrases that can either attract more men or women. These should be identified and replaced to attract a more balanced candidate pool. How a firm describes itself in a job description is also important.

Amanda Bell, Director of Recruiting, Lever

Luckily, this can be pretty easy. Review your job descriptions with the lens of “Who is the audience here?” If your answer is “any qualified candidate, regardless of gender,” you’ve done a good job! It’s not just about the presence of gender-specific pronouns – it’s also about using language that is inclusive of all genders. Stay away from phrases like “kick ass,” “ninja,” and, believe it or not, “brah.” You can also ask a few employees of various genders to read the descriptions and solicit feedback.

Making sure that job descriptions are crafted in a neutral manner is in fact one of the primary steps towards implementing gender equality at the work place. Have you read our post on implementation of gender equality at the work place? You can read it here. You can also read more posts from our gender series by clicking on the following links:

Gender Equity Before Gender Equality: Why Women Need More
The Importance of Gender Diversity in The World of Work
5 Unconventional Career Tracks Women are Making it Big In

Giving Negative Feedback – 5 Methods that Will Help You

Giving Negative Feedback – 5 Methods that Will Help You

It is always difficult to have a conversation about something someone is not doing well enough, at work. However, without these conversations, and appropriate avenues to facilitate these conversations, getting better would never be an option. Giving Negative Feedback is something that can get uncomfortable for either of the two reasons: 1. not being sensitive enough, 2. for being too sensitive and not putting across your point clearly. However, if you are in the shoes of someone who is expected to help your co-workers grow – by providing them with timely and accurate feedback, you will have to familiarize yourself with the process of delivering feedback. And it won’t always be positive feedback.

Here are 5 methods that will help you deliver negative feedback in a more structured, professional, and hopefully pleasant way:

  1. Take the help of self-assessments

    If you use self-assessments, your job is already half done. Using a pre-made self assessment checklist, and asking your team member to complete it before the feedback meeting helps both of you gain perspective about the current situation. In a lot of ways, it also helps both concerned get on the same page. By taking the help of a self-assessment you help prepare yourself for the meeting, and also give the concerned person an opportunity to rate himself/ herself honestly. During your meeting, this can be used as a yardstick to discuss the feedback you have.

  2. Use their job description as a basis

    Another “tool” apart from the self-assessment checklist that you can use to facilitate the feedback session is the job description of the team member. A job description is an outline of the expected roles and responsibilities of an employee. By using it as a basis of comparison to the actual tasks and objectives being met by the individual, you will have an idea about if he/she is aligned with the job description or has deviated from it. This will also help you point this out to your team member.

  3. Support your feedback with examples

    The basis for your negative feedback would be specific. And it is important to say out loud the specifics of the feedback. In other words, if your feedback comes with an example of a specific situation, bring it up. By doing so, you are able to be clear in your communication and this will also help you tackle the next steps of thinking about a solution to the problem. When you speak in vague terms, finding solutions to problems become difficult. As a result of which the problem may keep occurring.

  4. Speak about strengths

    It is important to support or balance your negative feedback with positive feedback. Remember that the objective of the feedback session is to bring to the notice of the team member what is not working, and to motivate him/ her to do better, and not the contrary. If it were the contrary then this would have been a meeting to discuss the individual’s termination from the organization. Therefore, it is important to also speak about the skills and the strengths of the individual. It is also important to be careful about how you speak. Adopting a tone that is firm, yet kind is the best bet. Do make sure that the session is a dialogue. Listening is as important as speaking!

  5. Remind yourself that this is your job

    No matter how hard it is to carry through this session, you need to because after all, it is your job. Before the session, it is important for you to orient yourself about it so you can be as professional as possible. Remember that it is not a personal reason being discussed, but a professional one. Hence, you must remain objective through out. It is also important to keep in mind that the team member concerned may not view the feedback as objectively as you provide it. In which case, you would have to remind yourself to hold your ground and tell yourself that you are doing your job.

Have you been in a position where you have had to discuss or provide negative feedback to a team member? What worked for you and what didn’t? Hearing from you always motivates us to write better, so do write back!

Beginning 2018 Strong with a Simple Exercise

Beginning 2018 Strong with a Simple Exercise

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, another year has come to an end, and a new year has begun. For many of us the past year may not have fulfilled all the hopes we started it with. For many it may have been the ‘fantastic’ year our well wishers wished us to have. And for some it may have been bittersweet – a little bit of the good and a little bit of the not-so-good. But it has been only a few days since this new year has begun and each of us must try to   begin it strong. Maybe you couldn’t achieve all the goals you had in mind for 2017. By Beginning 2018 Strong, you can set yourself   up for a great start to the year!

Wherever you are right now, you can do this simple exercise which will not take you more than fifteen minutes to complete. At the end of this exercise, believe us, you will feel a lot lighter. You will also feel at peace with yourself and with the year that has passed and find yourself looking forward to the new year with renewed enthusiasm. To get started, find yourself a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, and a pen and a paper. You can also use your phone if you don’t have a pen or a paper.

Here are the ten things that you should proceed to put down –

  1. The goals/ thoughts/ objectives you had in mind when you started 2017
  2. Your achievements for the year/ the best thing that happened to you in 2017
  3. What you wanted to, but couldn’t accomplish for the year
  4. On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy you are with your profession/ professional life (10 being the highest)
  5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy you are with your work – life balance (10 being the highest)
  6. Things that you wish hadn’t happened
  7. Things that you wish had happened differently
  8. The single most important thing for 2018
  9. The most important people in your life
  10. Everything   you are grateful for

What now?

When you have put down all of these, you will notice that a lot of the worries or concerns that you had have evaporated. What changed? Nothing. You just took time out to communicate with yourself, to check on yourself. You just indulged in a small act of immense self-love. When you put all of this down, you will have in writing everything that you loved and did not like about the year. You will also find answers to a lot of questions that you may have had for yourself. Notice that these answers did not come from reading a blog post on the internet or from a trusted friend, but from yourself.

Feeling the power of gratitude, of knowing that there are things and people you are grateful for, is in itself an answer to many problems we may have faced. Knowing who the most important people are in our lives, and making them priorities is not something all of us do at a conscious level. Making these small changes in your life lend you immense strength. Asking yourself how happy you are with your professional and your personal life are both questions all of us mostly evade, when we know we aren’t too happy. However, it is only acknowledgement of how we feel that will lead us to change our circumstances for the better.

New years   and birthdays are milestones in time. These two occasions are typically the times when we tend to look back and retrospect. Accepting how you feel, affirming your sense of self, and feeling strong from within about what’s coming up is the only way that one should focus on treating these milestones. True, not everything, or maybe hardly anything may have gone as you planned. When that’s how its been, remember that true strength and power lies in resilience. In getting up with rejuvenated passion, no matter what.

Here is wishing you a very happy and peaceful new year!

P.S. – Let kindness be your motto!