Optimising ROI from your new hires

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As the global war for talent intensifies, the pressure is on for companies to obtain the best possible results from new hires. Investing in a clearly-defined set of processes for new employees creates a positive employee experience which encourages loyalty and the organisation protects itself from losing talented team players to competitors.

Commit to employee onboarding

Introduce your new hires via a series of induction processes, collectively known as “onboarding”. If you implement a positive onboarding process, you are more likely to retain 60 percent of all new hires for longer than three years. The numbers speak for themselves; there are substantial benefits to be had.

Celebrate your culture

The most effective onboarding processes focus on organisational culture, behaviour and knowledge, with special attention also given to expected performance. The results are remarkable: faster adjustment to working environment, increased productivity and targets reached within a shorter period of time. Everything you want your new hire to do. The best onboarding programmes from companies such as Google and Facebook tailor these strategies to the business’ ethos and personality in an engaging, original way.

Embrace structure

Giving new hires specific detail attracts positive results. For example, don’t say that your company values providing clients with a prompt reply; rather, if the expectation is for all employees to respond to client emails within one hour, say precisely this. The more structured and specific you are, the more supported new hires feel. If new hires feel supported they will be more productive.

Engage and inspire

Introduce new starters through an engaging new starter manual telling your company story and providing the details a newcomer needs to know about your company in order to feel part of the team. Details such as company-specific acronyms, key locations and dates as well as showcasing social functions, groups, reward programs and available training all help a new starter to settle in. Providing detailed insight into company culture goes a long way.

Have you remembered the why?

Training is an integral part of successful onboarding programmes – if it’s administered correctly. Combine teaching new employees how to do their job with why it needs to be done in a particular way, thereby making the process far more intuitive.

Mentors

Pairing new starters with a mentor is an effective strategy to reinforce new starter training, offer continued support and encourage relationship building within the team. Effective mentoring encourages the new starter to feel comfortable providing feedback about their experience.

Recipe for success

Immerse new starters in your onboarding processes in the first week. The secret is to tailor these processes insofar as is possible to your company ethos. When in doubt, allow innovators such as Google and its “Noogler” baseball caps for new starters, to inspire you.

The best onboarding programmes encourage new starters to feel valued, welcome and a key part of a successful team. In return, new starters are engaged, productive and keen to achieve. Just what your business needs to succeed.

Athena Executive Search. If you are serious about optimising the ROI  from your new hires in the Print and Packaging sectors Athena can help. Our 7 Step Recruiting System is designed to ensure that you can recruit and retain the top 15% of candidates in the Print and Packaging market, candidates who are motivated by much more than money. We work in partnership with our clients to fully understand their requirements and ensure that newly recruited staff are joining for the right reasons and looking to develop a long-term career.

Book in for a Client Discovery Call today by clicking on this link https://athena-executive.acuityscheduling.com/

How to attract passive candidates

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One of the main pressures bearing down on Print and Packaging organisations around the world is satisfying the constant demand for talented staff. It’s unrealistic to expect the most talented candidates to be looking for a new role at the same time you are hiring. Often the most talented candidates are happily engaged in employment elsewhere.

We call these candidates “passive candidates”. A passive candidate is someone who is employed and not looking to change their job, but who may be open to being approached. Approximately 45 percent of the current workforce are considered passive candidates who are happy to have discussions – with the right people. Let’s examine the most effective methods of attracting passive candidates.

…it’s who you know

Using an in-house employee referral programme is one of the most effective methods of recruiting passive candidates. An employee referral programme also increases in-house talent retention, because existing staff are actively promoting the company to friends, family and networking contacts. Passive candidates respond well to referral programmes, in no small part due to the credibility of their in-house contact. Also find a good specialist recruiter who knows your sector and has a good network. They will be an invaluable source of passive candidates if they have authority in their marketplace and will give you access to the very best passive candidates.

Strong branding

One of the first things approached passive candidates will do is Google your organisation and look you up on social media. Make sure your recruitment page is up to date, easy to navigate and shares the strength of your branding and company culture. Your recruitment page also needs a clear call to action, and your current career opportunities must be easily visible. Remember, talented candidates are looking for more than an attractive remuneration package. They’re looking for a company they connect with. Updating your social media feeds with information about company culture and branding creates a dynamic landing platform for the passive candidate when they look you up.

Trust is everything

Professional discretion and rock solid reliability will ensure a passive candidate discusses their possibilities with you in greater depth and detail. It can be stressful discussing a possible – and unexpected – new career opportunity. Make it clear to your candidate up front that you’ll never ring or email using their current work contact details, and you are of course happy to meet and interview outside normal working hours.

Network, network, network

A clever on-going, strategy is to ensure that you attend networking events and build up a steady stream of passive candidate contacts, to be used at a later date. It’s good policy to network whether you are recruiting for a particular role or not. If you use networking as a long range plan of action you build contacts slowly and establish trust with each of your candidates. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn are a great way to stay in touch.

Know your candidates

When you find an ideal passive candidate, make sure you do your homework. Taking the time to research a candidate properly is worth its weight in gold. It’s extremely flattering for a passive candidate to be approached, particularly with some visible progress already made into understanding their current circumstances.

First impressions are powerful. If you want to win the war for talent in the Print and Packaging sectors, carefully thought out strategies such as these make all the difference.

Athena Executive Search. If you are serious about attracting and retaining the best talent in the Print and Packaging sectors Athena can help. Our 7 Step Recruiting System is designed to ensure that you can recruit and retain the top 15% of candidates in the Print and Packaging market, candidates who are motivated by much more than money. We work in partnership with our clients to fully understand their requirements and ensure that newly recruited staff are joining for the right reasons and looking to develop a long-term career.

Book in for a Client Discovery Call today by clicking on this link https://athena-executive.acuityscheduling.com/

Top tips to win the war for talent in the print and packaging sectors

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We are all aware of the current recruitment challenges facing our industry. It’s not surprising that many organisations are feeling the pressure. Here are our insights as to how you can win the war for talent in the print and packaging sectors.

Take a good look inside

Evaluate current employee satisfaction. One way in which you can achieve an authentic snapshot of current staff sentiment is by creating a simple in-house survey. Share your company’s direction and focus. Engage your team; find out what they think. Successful organisations examine how they can improve the experience of talented teams. Often the most effective improvements centre around employees feeling valued, acknowledged and a central element of the organisation’s future.

Recruit smarter, not harder

Nowadays, referring to the “war for talent” highlights global challenges in recruiting talented staff. With digital technologies evolving at light speed, there is a burgeoning need to attract the best candidates available to help you keep up or – better still -stay ahead. The first key to success is recruiting smarter, not harder. Consider the critical difference between merely looking for replacements and recruiting the right talent to grow your business.

Do what you do best

The global talent deficit, coupled with increasing demands for your time, means you need to play to your strengths. Trawling through piles of CVs is almost certainly not the best use of your skills. Identifying an engaging recruitment strategy particular to your organisation’s short and long term needs, however, is a great investment. Take an active role in the recruitment process. Encourage robust discussions on recruitment criteria, both within your senior management teams and with your chosen recruitment firm. Make sure everyone is on the same page and understands exactly what your organisation is looking for – and why.

Planning and communication are key

Once you have your recruitment strategy in place, turn your attention to planning. For example, it makes no sense recruiting over notoriously slow periods such as Christmas. Taking the time to plan when you are going to recruit can make all the difference. Communicate with your candidates. Be transparent; let them know when they can expect to hear from you after an interview. Don’t leave them guessing. Put yourself in their shoes. Talented candidates are looking for an organisation they can connect with.

Transparency is the new currency

You are being appraised too. Offer a glimpse of the values and culture that exists beyond the job description. Breathe life into the role. Engage candidates with your honesty. Let candidates know what it’s like to work for your company. With so much competition between organisations, candidates are reassured by a clear perception as to who you really are. Your transparency encourages candidates to communicate with greater transparency too. This offers a rare insight beyond whether the candidate can do the job, allowing you to gauge their development potential.

Now that’s recruiting for talent.

If you are serious about attracting and retaining the best talent in the Print and Packaging sectors Athena can help. Our 7 Step Recruiting System is designed to ensure that you can recruit and retain the top 15% of candidates in the Print and Packaging market, candidates who are motivated by much more than money. We work in partnership with our clients to fully understand their requirements and ensure that newly recruited staff are joining for the right reasons and looking to develop a long-term career.

Book in for a Client Discovery Call today by clicking on this link https://athena-executive.acuityscheduling.com/

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Why Your Print and Packaging Job Advertising Isn’t Working

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If you are struggling to fill your Print and Packaging roles, you need to take a good hard look at the possible reasons why.

There could be several factors which are holding the right candidates back from applying for your positions, or it could be a simple case of you not advertising with the right methods or in the right place.

Maybe you shouldn’t be advertising in the first place!

According to a recent survey by LinkedIn only 12% of candidates are actively looking for a new role with a further 13% casually looking. This leaves 75% of candidates not actively seeking a new role who would be unlikely to respond to a job advert. No wonder your advertising isn’t working! Consider asking around your network for recommendations and using a specialist Print and Packaging recruiter. Advertising may well be the wrong way to attract candidates and certainly the top 15% who will be very happy in their present roles.

Are You Advertising in the Right Way?

If you are going to advertise a role the most important part of finding the right candidates for your vacancies is formulating and placing the most appropriate adverts.

First, you should ensure that the advert you are circulating is perfect in every way. You’re not going to get the best people applying if your advert is full of spelling mistakes and doesn’t contain the correct information.

Your advert must have the correct job title, an accurate location, details on salary and any other benefits, a brief but informative job description, requirements (such as qualifications or experience needed for the post) and full details of where and how to apply (for instance, if you want a cover letter, ask for one).

Have You Placed It Appropriately?

Once you have the perfect advert, you need to position it in front of the perfect candidates – and that means making sure it is placed on the right job boards, websites and social media channels.

When advertising Print and Packaging jobs, for instance, you should make sure the details are circulated in specialist Print and Packaging publications / websites. Using the most popular general all-purpose ones is also a must.

Make sure to promote it via your own website and social media channels, too, and remember to include keywords to enhance your chances of reaching more people.

Is Your Application Process Too Complicated?

If you are asking every candidate to fill in a five-page competence-based application form and produce a thousand-word essay on their skills and experience, you may well be putting people off applying in the first place.

Keep your application process simple and relevant. And make sure you respond to everyone who meets your criteria promptly and appropriately – leaving candidates waiting around for weeks could mean you lose the chance to even interview them.

Are You Expecting Too Much?

Hanging around waiting for the perfect candidate who meets all your criteria to apply may just end in disappointment. You will probably have to compromise: the right person for the job may not have as much experience as you would like or possess all of the qualifications you are demanding.

And don’t expect hundreds of people to apply for every job – some more specialised roles will only see a handful of applications.

Is Your Brand Strong Enough?

One more rather harsh reason your job advertising isn’t doing as well as you’d hoped could be that your company’s reputation isn’t as good as you thought it was.

It’s a fact that people are reluctant to apply for a position with a firm they have heard bad things about.

Unfortunately, the only way you can change this is to become a better employer. Start by looking up employee reviews of your firm online, and then ask your current workers how you can improve. If you have a high turnover of Print and Packaging staff, this will be well worth the effort.

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors globally. For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1

How to succeed at your print and packaging interview

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Interviewing for a job you really want can be stressful. In fact, the more senior your position, the more adept you are expected to be at juggling the various facets of human behaviour and professional experience. We’ve put together a selection of suggestions to help you nail your next interview.

Preparation

Beyond the essential choices such as being suitably presented and arriving at the interview at least fifteen minutes early, you will need to know everything there is to know about the company, the recruiter interviewing you – and your own CV.

Why would you need to know anything about the recruiter? A good recruiter will evaluate how well you build rapport during the first few minutes of the interview. Nothing quells nerves like preparation: arm yourself with an understanding of the hiring company, so you can lead the conversation if required.

It’s easy to forget to re-read your own CV. It’s natural to think you know it. Never underestimate the power of nerves, especially if you particularly want the job. Mapping your strengths to your employment history showcases your ability to maintain clarity under pressure. At this stage of your career, this is exactly what you need to demonstrate.

A great attitude engages and elevates your answers

An expert recruiter assesses a candidate in the context of a variety of verbal and non-verbal communication skills simultaneously. They are looking to see whether you are capable of handling the role and how well you will fit in to the company management team.

How you present your character and disposition is crucial, because in leadership roles these qualities affect how well you fit in to company culture. Authenticity, humility and confidence in yourself are key. A great one liner pep talk to give yourself is: “I am the solution for this company”. It’s a positive and empowered statement that eradicates any unnecessary anxiety about other candidates and focuses your attention.

Tell us a story…

Anyone can list leadership qualities and management strengths. Offer concrete examples of how you embodied those qualities and strengths in previous roles.

Stories enable you to navigate tricky questions such as the classic, “What’s your greatest weakness?” or being asked to describe an experience where you clashed with a superior. A saccharine answer will not satisfy. Interviewers are looking for an experienced leader with development potential, someone who is able to cope with the inevitable challenges of working life, how you deal with confrontation, whether you can admit accountability and how effectively you process and apply feedback.

You may also be asked to discuss a project that failed. In addition to the above, you’re being evaluated for the degree of responsibility you held, how you made decisions, how you rallied after a mistake was made, what you learned and what you considered your role in the failed project to be.

End on an uplifting note, confirming that you applied the lessons learned as you moved forward and how the company benefitted. Highlight how your strengths complement any challenges facing the company.

And lastly give an example of what interests you about your specialist area within the print and packaging industry. Thread your natural enthusiasm for your work throughout your interview.

Good luck!

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors globally. We promise to make our interview with you as enjoyable as possible! For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1

 

10 ways to engage, retain, and motivate staff in the Print and Packaging sectors

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Statistics confirm Print and Packaging companies around the world are experiencing the highest talent shortfall since 2007. Today’s employee seeks value beyond financial compensation. Thankfully, engaging, motivating and retaining talented team members is much easier than you think. Here are our top ten solutions to your staff retention challenges.

1. Numbers don’t lie
Gallup research showed that out of 7,000 individuals, only 5% felt engaged. The Institute of Leadership & Management (IML) discovered 37% of employees are looking for a new job this year. Monster.co.uk revealed 58% said they are not thanked enough; 54% felt unacknowledged and 47% felt uninspired. Employees perform better and are loyal when they feel understood and are given the opportunity to do their best every day.

2. It’s not about the money
Budgets for staff events, dinners and team building seminars were touted as the answers to staff engagement issues. Not anymore. Key solutions for retention success have nothing to do with money. Talented staff are engaged, motivated and retained through behavioural solutions and creative thinking, not the company chequebook.

3. Relationship revolution
Employees seek roles within companies they connect with. An employer’s role has evolved beyond supplying work and salary to valuing and developing the talents and skills of their team. The most successful companies understand this: both employee and employer exhibit equal investment to reach business targets.

4. Creative investment
No promotions available? No problem. Offer a talented team player their own project to lead. This simple example is a great way to nurture staff. Research reveals developing individual development strategies are crucial to employee retention; and, in most cases, more important than a career path.

5. Say it
All employees want to know whether they are doing a good job. Effective feedback is clear, prompt, offers solutions and concentrates on behaviour (not the person or their intention). Consistent feedback creates solid communication between employee and management.

6. Don’t worry, be happy
A positive perspective is one of the most effective leadership qualities. Celebrate success stories at the start of every staff meeting and encourage staff to explore solutions as a team. Once established, a positive environment is its own sustainable cycle of positivity.

7. Start at the beginning
Successful Print and Packaging companies create an induction process engaging directly with a new employee’s enthusiasm. The most successful companies take this ethos right back to recruitment stage. They recruit talent for their behaviours and traits, as well as for experience and qualifications.

8. Practice what you preach
Great leaders embody the qualities required to succeed in an organisation. Research reveals that if employees respect their leaders they are 55% more engaged. If management is inspired, engaged and motivated, your team will reflect these qualities.

9. Two-way street
Encourage staff to share ideas and they will actively contribute to the business’ success. In successful companies, staff contributions have streamlined workflow processes and created meaningful solutions. Use an enjoyable ritual such as morning refreshments to gather the team together for an ideas session.

10. Acknowledge and reward
The simple act of acknowledging hard work is extremely effective – and crucial. Not being thanked rates as one of the highest ranking complaints cited by disengaged staff. Statistics show staff loyalty and engagement increase if people feel genuinely valued.

If you are serious about engagement and want to retain your best Print and Packaging employees Athena can help. Our 7 Step Recruiting System is designed to ensure that you can recruit and retain the top 15% of candidates in the Print and Packaging market, candidates who are motivated by much more than money. We work in partnership with our clients to fully understand their requirements and ensure that newly recruited staff are joining for the right reasons and looking to develop a long term career.

Book in for a Client Discovery Call today by clicking on this link https://athena-executive.acuityscheduling.com/

 

Top tips for hiring a great team

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Hiring a team is easy, but hiring a great team is a little harder. This is because many hiring managers choose a group of similar people who clash with each other, or they fail to hire people with a wide range of completely different skills. This can affect the workflow and the mood in the office, and over time it can lead to employees quitting their jobs or creating challenges for other team members.

If you want to make sure that you hire a great team who work well together and get the job done, don’t worry. Here are some top tips to help you hire the perfect team.

Plan Your Recruitment Strategy

This is essential. You need to devise an in-depth plan with a comprehensive job description drawn up in collaboration with all stakeholders. It is important that everyone involved is bought into this process. Getting this input is essential so that you can identify the skills, experience and crucially the personal traits required to succeed in your organisation. You also need to identify the correct channels to identify where to source the ideal candidate from. Posting the role on your website and job boards is unlikely to deliver the desired result. Utilising social media channels (particularly LinkedIn) is now essential. For specialist roles and highly confidential positions consider using a specialist headhunter with in-depth market knowledge.

Devise a robust onboarding process

Once you have identified and secured the ideal candidate for your team it is critical that you start off on the right foot. The first 90 days particularly are critical to ensure that new employees feel that they have made the right decision.  You need to make sure that they are onboarded in a structured manner and crucially that they understand their role in the team and how the team can support them. Draw up a a structured plan that can be used when all new staff join which quickly gets them up to speed and makes them feel valued and integral to your success.

Focus On Creating A Positive Culture

Your team will need managers and leaders, and it is important that those tasked with leadership understand how to create a positive working culture since they will be responsible for implementing it.

Choose People Who Get Along

If you are hiring people who have to work in a team with each other, they obviously need to have great communication skills but they also need patience, diplomacy and sometimes a thick skin! Ideally avoid hiring people who are very insular and prefer to work alone as they may disrupt the balance in the team. Over time this can lead to resentment and increased attrition rates.

Look For Soft Skills

Many hiring managers focus on core competencies for their teams, such as IT skills, coding skills and other role-specific skills. Important as these may be, it is essential that you hire people who have strong soft skills, such as communication and goal setting skills. These people will help the team to gel together, and if issues do arise, they will invariably be instrumental in resolving them.

Compare

Clearly, you will need to hire new people for entry-level roles, but if you are hiring someone to fill a senior position in the team it is often best to make a comparison between external and internal candidates. This is because you can identify those who already fit in with the company values, and you know that they are passionate about the team. Benchmarking external candidates with those superstar employees will either validate you decision to hire externally or make you realise that you have the ideal candidate under your nose.

Athena Executive Search specialise in recruiting senior leadership positions in the Print and Packaging sectors globally. For access to more articles on industry topics, recruitment and retention strategies, and our upcoming webinar series with industry thought leaders please subscribe here: https://athena50147.activehosted.com/f/1