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Avoid These Costly I-9 Mistakes

Ever since 1986, when the U.S. government began requiring “facially valid” documentation of eligibility to work in the country, the I-9 form has been giving employers headaches. Not because millions of illegal immigrants are using false documents, but because little mistakes – like a misspelled name – mean a lot of time wasted trying to re-file and, in some cases, fines for improper documentation (which range from $110 to $1100 per form). Like it or not, proper I-9 procedures are a key aspect of talent management.

Here are 5 common I-9 errors you should strive to avoid:

  • An incomplete form.

    Maybe the candidate left the “Alien #” blank, or maybe you notice that something is missing but the candidate has already left the office. It’s tempting to just push the paperwork on rather than go through the hassle of re-contacting the candidate and having them go through the hassle of coming in again. But in the end, the extra hassle is far less painful than problems with U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).

  • Incomplete documentation.

    In Section 2, its 1) one “List A” document OR 2) one “List B” document and one “List C” document. In other words, just having a driver’s license isn’t enough. For some forms of documentation in Section 2 and Section 3, document numbers, issuing authorities, and/or expiration dates have to be filled out.

  • Untimely documentation.

    The law is clear: the I-9 has to be completed properly by the third business day after the date the employee started work for pay, or, if the employee is hired for three business days or less, at the time the employee started work for pay. Waiting longer can result in a fine or, worse yet, concrete evidence that you have hired an undocumented worker – which can mean a fine of $375-3200 per worker.

  • Over documentation.

    The USCIS frowns on employers asking for more documentation than they need. Over documentation can be interpreted as a form of discrimination, which carry significant penalties from UNCIS as well as the threat of a lawsuit from the prospective employee.

  • Using an old form.

    In the age of the internet, there’s no excuse for this mistake. The latest form is always available at this USCIS page.

To cut down on minor errors, some companies have instituted a “quality control” program. This can mean anything from having someone outside HR check I-9’s before they are filed to hiring an outside company to pre-process I-9’s.  Some have also provided employees with blank I-9’s which highlight the areas that need to be filled out. Other won’t let an employee start his or her job until the form is completed correctly.  Given the costs associated with I-9 mistakes, your company may want to consider similar policies.

To learn more about recruiting software, staffing software, talent management, and other HR-related topics, subscribe to this blog and check out the other blogs from Bond US.

Social Media Enabled Software That Drives Successful Staffing and Recruiting

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, You Tube, WordPress, Blogging — that we are in a new era of multi-channel, highly-personalized, news, lifestyle and information distribution is enough to make a good recruiter or staffing professional cry.

So much chafe, so little time…

How do you manage all of those streams of information? How do you easily and effectively search for candidates across so many different sources? How can you possibly track all of your own job order related postings and activities to determine what works and what doesn’t? There aren’t enough hours in the day. And you don’t have the time to waste — you have orders to fill. You need solutions that reduce your effort, while helping you separate the chafe (all the junk out there on the Internet) from the wheat (all the good candidate and employee information you need for recruiting).

Enter Bond International Software and its three staffing and recruiting software packages: Bond Adapt, Bond eEmpACT and Bond StaffSuite.

Each of these three products is uniquely designed to help harried staffing and recruiting professionals better manage their time by reducing the effort it takes to keep up with virtually anything related to social media and your staffing and recruiting business.

For example, from within Bond software you can record candidates’ online profiles on LinkedIn and other social media sites so that you can develop a better understanding of their fitness for your job orders. You can also easily send job postings from within the software to your own site and, at the same time through RSS feeds, to your own social media sites to aid in recruiting with less effort.

But there’s more. It’s not enough that you can track candidates or customers through their online social media profiles or post jobs or send news via RSS feeds. With Bond recruiting and staffing software you can also develop and implement tracking and reporting that helps you understand the effectiveness of these efforts. You can determine the ROI of your social media campaigning.

Like to find out more? Call us at 800-318-4983 or click www.bond-us.com for more information. We look forward to helping you put social media to work for you!

The Top Five Things Recruiters and Staffing Coordinators Don’t Do That Cost Money

Don't make these staffing and recruiting mistakes.D’oh! That’s Homer Simpson’s usual reaction when he misses something that to most of us is painfully obvious. We can all relate to Homer’s problem though – it is all too easy to miss something obvious sometimes in the rush to get the sale, fill the order, or just follow through with a customer or candidate.

These little ‘misses’ can add up to big dollars. Staying aware of these issues and putting a process in place to prevent them from happening will improve your profitability. Here is our Top Five common staffing and recruiting mistakes:

1. Not remembering to bill or pay for an expense associated to an assignment.

This is one that leaves money on the table, increasing the cost of the assignment to you, and reducing profit. In one survey of staffing companies, 60% of respondents felt this was a problem, and 20% indicated that this happened once or twice a month.

2. Not following up with the candidate that did not get the job.

Here is one that should be a piece of cake, but no one likes to be the bearer of bad news. In our survey of recruiting and staffing firms, 100% of survey respondents related to this common mistake, and 30% indicated that it happened more than once or twice a week! To avoid this problem, set-up to-do activities in your system to remind yourself to communicate with the candidate. It keeps the door open and lets them know you are still working to find the right position for them.

3. Calling customers to extend an assignment is a lot cheaper than finding a new assignment.

Making a few additional follow-up calls can pay big dividends. You can find that the client really likes the work being done by the temporary employee, or that, with a little training; the person assigned could easily handle a different, more profitable assignment. Of our survey respondents, 70% agreed that this was a common mistake.

4. Not pre-qualifying resumes you receive before adding them to your database.

Here is a classic example of Garbage In, Garbage Out. Why clog up your candidate database with a bunch of unqualified resumes? The junk just slows down your searches and wastes recruiter time. In our survey, only 40% pre-qualified every resume they received. Spend the time up-front to qualify resumes and you’ll have a stronger database of candidates for your customers.

5. Not asking for new orders when doing contingent employee quality check calls.

This mistake is so obvious that it should be stamped on the phone of everyone making follow-up calls, “Always ask for more business!”

Process is power.

Every one of these common mistakes is avoidable. That is what a powerful recruiting and staffing software can do for you. It can be your vigilant assistant to track your activities, candidates, employees, orders, fills, and back-office details so that you don’t forget the little things that cost money and reduce your level of customer service.

We’re here to help you. Call or click for more details.

5 Ways Applicant Tracking Systems Improve the Quality of Hires

You track applicants (of course), but do you use up to date applicant tracking software? If not, you should. In the long run – and maybe in the short run – it will save you considerable time and money.

Here’s why you need good applicant tracking software:

  • You need – or will soon need – an edge on your competition.

    Most economists predict continued growth in U.S. markets, but no one knows if the U.S. economy will continue in slow growth mode or blossom into a rapid job-creating engine. Either way, the number of suitable candidates out there is bound to dwindle. You need to ensure that they are reading and responding to your jobs first.

  • You need to broadcast your job openings widely and quickly.

    You can enter information on Monster, your LinkedIn site, the local paper, and other sites…or you can use applicant tracking software to distribute job information automatically to hundreds of popular job sites.

  • You need a candidate search engine.

    Applicant tracking software can do a lot of web surfing for you, identifying and reporting on candidates who fit particular profiles.

  • You need seamless hiring workflow.

    Good applicant tracking software makes sure all necessary information gets from the applicant to your system to the recruiter, hiring manager, and anyone else involved in the hiring process. It also makes candidate information available to the hiring team at any time and, if desired, from any location. Moreover, it can pre-screen applicants so that you and your staff only evaluate the candidates qualified for the job.

  • You need comprehensive, automatic reporting.

    You don’t discriminate, but can you easily prove that to the EEOC or OFCCP? Applicant tracking software produces reports that meet government compliance demands. Custom reports – for internal audits or other analytic purposes – can also be created.

We know: the important subjective decisions involved in hiring can’t be automated. But many hiring processes can be automated, giving hiring team members the time to attend more carefully – and more collaboratively – on those important subjective decisions. That’s what applicant tracking software aims to do.

Contact us for more information on applicant tracking software. Subscribe to this blog for more information on applicant tracking software and other HR-related software.

 

Will LinkedIn’s New Recruiting Tool Replace Job Boards?

Keep that recruiting software tuned into LinkedIn. The online professional network is about to get better for recruiters, job seekers, and – yes – even employed professionals not looking for a new job.

LinkedIn’s new tool, which is scheduled to launch in just a few months, is called “Talent Pipeline.” It’s an add-on to LinkedIn Recruiter, which is already one of the best online recruiting tools out there. Supposedly, companies will also be able to use Talent Pipeline as a free-standing program, but I have a hard time imagining anyone using it that isn’t already using Recruiter.

With one of the largest databases of working professionals or passive candidates, this new tool could seriously displace job boards.  Instead of job seekers chasing jobs, LinkedIn will make it easier for recruiters and staffing professionals to find and engage the select few qualified candidates they are most interested in.  No more looking for a diamond in the rough as recruiters and staffing professional will now be able to sort through a field of diamonds and transfer the best candidates to their own staffing or recruiting software for nurturing.

Here are the Talent Pipeline highlights:

  • One Stop Shop. Leads from virtually any source will be culled, organized, and updated in one place. The recruiter, of course, gets to set the search and organizational parameters. The program will also enable you to develop one profile from many sources, so data from John Smith’s company won’t be separate from the data drawn from his LinkedIn profile.
  • Easy Sharing. Despite their penchant for competition, independent recruiters know that sharing information is the lifeblood of their work. Recruiting companies and recruiting teams also benefit from well-developed internal information networks. Talent Pipeline promises to provide easy-to-use-and-customize sharing platforms.
  • Intuitive Interface. From the demos I’ve seen, the profiles are full of crucial information but still easy to read, even at a glance. And the program as a whole seems to be fairly easy to pick up. No doubt, LinkedIn (and others) will release a bunch of free training videos when the new service comes online.

I can imagine some recruiters saying, “But I already do all that via LinkedIn and other recruiting software.” That may be true, but I’ll bet that it takes a lot of time and effort to get the important data from two, three, or more different programs. Like a lot of great software, Talent Pipeline promises nothing terribly new in terms of outcome, but a much easier way to achieve that outcome. (Need an example? Look no further than Microsoft Word. Almost everything I produce with Word could be done with a typewriter, editing pen, and some basic graphics tools – or three different programs. Word simply makes it a lot easier to get the product I want.)

Maybe I’m excited about Talent Pipeline because I’m a staffing software geek. But I’ll bet that, in just a few years, recruiters around the country (and world) will wonder how they got along without it – kind of like word processing programs today.

Does Your Employment Agency Software Measure Up?

Maybe you don’t currently have staffing software in your office. Maybe you have a program, but it doesn’t meet all your needs. Maybe you’re just wondering, “What else is out there?”

No matter why you’re looking at staffing software, here are some features that you should be looking for:

  • Intuitive applicant tracking and resume management. In some ways, the entire program should be intuitive, but these two features are the bread and butter of any staffing software. It simply must be easy to use them and to learn, via extended use, the finer details of the program.
  • Contact management. I’ve written a lot about the importance of social networking in the staffing industry. You and your colleagues have to be able to constantly – and easily –  grow and manage their contact list.
  • Cloud compatible. Why take up precious hard drive space with a cumbersome software program? Log in and let the software company worry about the hardware.
  • Mobile compatible. Mobile is the new frontier of…well, just about everything. Most of us are already  running around with portable, pocket-sized computers called smart phones.  Staffing software needs to be compatible with these devices as we all want to acceess work data at home, the coffee shop, the airport, the neighbor’s house, at our favorite London pub, and so on.
  • Compatibility. Employment agency software should work seamlessly with social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, software like Office, Outlook, SQL, and other enterprise programs.
  • Standardized and Customizable. Some reports are used by just about every staffing company, and some are unique to particular sub-sections of the industry. Make sure your employment agency software offers both.
  • Service, service, service. Yes, staffing software should be intuitive, but of course ongoing training and support will be needed for optimal integration. Stay away from employment agency software that doesn’t come with a thorough training program, a plan for installation and data conversion, and ongoing support.

Of course, I think that Bond US has the best suite of  employment agency software in the business. Contact us today for more information. Better yet, set up a free demo and see if we measure up to the standards above.

Holiday Recruiting – 5 Things You Need to Know

It’s not too late to get into the holiday recruiting spirit.

Alas, that’s not the same as getting into the holiday spirit – but it’s still worth your time and effort. Why? Contrary to popular wisdom, the holiday season – roughly, from mid-December to mid-January – is a good time to recruit. A lot of web-based applicants slow down their activities, assuming (wrongly, of course) that no one hires during this time. This leaves more time for a recruiter to zero in on top applicants.

So here are a few suggestions for recruiting during the holidays:

  • Pay attention to college graduates. Did you know that roughly one-third of all college student graduate in December? Armed with a degree, they’re ready to get a semester ahead of the other two-thirds in the search for jobs.
  • Pay attention to foreign candidates. Not everyone thinks of late December/early January as a time for office parties. For much of the world, it’s business as usual, which means qualified candidates will be looking for jobs.
  • Pay attention to retail and customer service candidates. More precisely, pay attention to their supervisors. More face-to-face customer action happens during December than any other time during the year, so it’s a great time to find out who the very best retail and customer service performers are.
  • Call up those busy candidates. You’ve been wanting to bring them in for an interview, but they are to busy with work, with a project, with their own business, etc. Chances are, they will have some free time over the holidays.
  • Send cards. Emails and the occasional call are easily ignored, but most people would feel bad if they didn’t open up a card – especially if it’s hand-addressed. So send those top candidates a card and let them know that you’re still thinking about them. They’ll get the message.

For more recruiting tips and information about recruiting and staffing software, tune into this and other Bond US blogs.