The concept of workplace attire is one we become familiar with long before we even enter the workforce. Ask a child to describe a surgeon and they’ll describe someone wearing scrubs and a surgeon’s mask. Ask them to describe a builder and they’ll describe someone in work boots and a hard hat. Ask them to describe a businessperson and, more often than not, they’ll describe someone wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. 

Yet it seems today that workplace attire as we once knew it is fast becoming a thing of the past – particularly in the office. In recent years, office dress codes have loosened from the traditional suit and tie into ‘smart casual’ business wear, and in some cases, t-shirts and jeans reign supreme in the workplace. 

According to findings from CoreData’s recent Workplace Survey, ‘smart casual’ is Australia’s most common workplace dress code, with over 56% of respondents saying they wear formal business attire less than once a month. Unsurprisingly, the report states that 1 in 3 workers believe workplace dress codes have become less formal over time, with formal or ‘professional’ dress now only adopted by 26% of Australian workplaces. 

While many organisations still firmly believe in the importance of traditional business attire – that is, to represent the organisation and convey a sense of professionalism – numerous reports have shown that around 47% of employees prefer a relaxed dress code. 

With the majority of workers in favour of casual dress, it would seem that offering a relaxed dress code in the workplace could serve as an easy and cost-effective employee perk. But before you do away with traditional business attire, consider whether a casual dress code is right for your organisation – and if it is, how you can best implement it. 

Understand what employees want

The term “Casual Friday” first gained popularity in the 1990s as companies worldwide began to introduce a weekly day of liberation from corporate attire. While optional, Casual Friday’s were typically welcomed with enthusiasm as many employees enjoyed the opportunity to dress down once a week. In a setting where casual attire is not necessarily appropriate throughout the week, adopting a ‘Casual Friday’ approach is a tried and tested way to introduce casual wear into the mix in your organisation.

Today, an increasing number of businesses are offering casual dress as a workplace perk. Millennials in particular are driving the casual workwear trend, with 33% reporting they’d leave an organisation if the dress code was too conservative. With this in mind, implementing a casual dress code could provide organisations with a simple and cost-effective way to attract graduates and young talent. 

What’s more, flexible or relaxed dress codes have been shown to increase engagement, boost productivity and promote greater employee wellbeing. A survey by UK workwear apparel brand Stormline found that two-thirds of respondents said they’d feel more comfortable, productive and happy if they were able to dress how they wanted. 

With this in mind, implementing a casual dress code could provide organisations with a simple and cost-effective way to attract graduates and young talent. 

Before making changes to your organisation’s dress code, take the time to understand what employees want as this will make for a smoother transition and a better end result. 

Establish clear boundaries

Though the majority of today’s workers prefer relaxed workplace attire, research suggests we’re still in favour of maintaining certain standards and guidelines. CoreData’s Workplace Survey revealed over 43% of respondents care about the dress code standards of the people they work with, while over 55% said they felt their customers and clients would make judgements based on their clothing. Interestingly, 59% of respondents said that the outfit of a organisation representative would influence their view of the organisation. 

If you’re considering changes to your organisation’s dress code, remember that a relaxed dress code doesn’t have to mean no dress code at all. In order to uphold the organisation’s vision and reputation and maintain a sense of unity and professionalism amongst employees, introduce a set of guidelines for employees to follow. But remember, the goal here is to guide not dictate, so avoid being overly prescriptive. Avoid sexist rules such as compulsory high heels and make-up for female employees, and steer clear of standards that could exclude certain cultures or religions. A diversity and inclusion consultant can provide advice if necessary. 

Be open with new employees

Starting a new job is daunting enough without having to fret about what to wear. When it comes to workplace dress standards, new employees will inevitably bring with them their own ideas of what is and isn’t appropriate – and these may not align with your organisation’s guidelines. 

In order to help facilitate their integration to the wider team and avoid any confusion or awkwardness, communicate guidelines early on. Include a section on dress guidelines in your newcomers’ introduction pack or consider advising candidates on what to wear to their interview so they’re aware of the organisation’s dress code before they even start. Be open to questions and provide clarification where needed. If possible, explain the reasoning behind your dress code – whether it’s to ensure safety, employee cohesion or to convey a sense of professionalism – as this will likely help your new recruit to better understand the organisation. 

While casual dress codes won’t work for every workplace, they can be extremely beneficial for those in which they do. If you’re looking for a cost-free perk to increase engagement or boost wellbeing, it could be as simple as relaxing your workwear standards. Trust that your employees will choose clothing that reflects the organisation’s values and maintains a look of professionalism, while also injecting their own personality. In the end, you’ll benefit from a happier, more cohesive workplace culture that top talent will be drawn to. 

Ricky Fritsch is the Managing Director of Indeed for Australia, the #1 global search engine for jobs. He oversees Indeed’s strong momentum in the marketplace and finds ways to accelerate their revenue growth.

 Fritsch has been in the recruitment industry for 11 years, the last 8 of them being the Senior Director of Sales in the US. His speciality lies in leading businesses at Indeed, most recently the sizable Enterprise Sales Business on the East Coast (US), and building and growing relationships with F1000 companies. One of Fritsch’s biggest achievements is being named Indeed Head of Sales for ANZ.

The post Dress to impress: how to make a casual dress code work for your organisation appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

With most companies rejecting far more candidates than they hire, it’s just as important to skillfully turn down candidates as it is to find the right one for the role. After all, in today’s interconnected world, every candidate who has an experience with your organisation, whether they are successful or not, can impact your company’s reputation and employer brand. And with 96% of job seekers considering insight into a company’s reputation as important when deciding to apply for an open role there, the repercussions of not providing a positive candidate experience for all can be detrimental to your hiring process. 

So, how can you master the art of saying “no”, so that rejected candidates still have a positive experience and possibly even turn them into advocates for your company? Here are some tips:

1. Never ghost candidates 

First gaining traction in the dating world, “ghosting” is also becoming more common in recruiting —for both job seekers and employers. 

As a recruiter, sometimes it’s easy to justify ghosting candidates, especially in high-volume hiring situations. But with 44%2 of job seekers saying that waiting to hear back from a potential employer is their number-one pain point while job searching, and almost half (45%3) of them sharing these negative experiences with their in-person and online networks, dropping out of contact with candidates could have a serious impact on your company’s reputation. 

So if you have a “no answer means no” rejection strategy, it’s time to stop ghosting candidates. 

2. Remember, everyone who applied for the job deserves a response

Whether someone was rejected at the start of the recruiting process or after a series of interviews, it’s important to communicate the outcome of an application to each candidate. This can help prevent bad candidate experiences, and possibly even turn rejected candidates into advocates for your organisation.  

While this can seem daunting, especially if you’ve received a large number of applicants, it can be done. Trello, the web-based project management firm, has a strict policy of responding to every candidate. They even make an effort to keep the line of communication open with applicants by sending out detailed and playful automated messages to keep them engaged until a Trello employee reaches out.

So at the very least, create a standard rejection email to send to candidates who don’t make it past the resume or phone screen stages of the hiring process. 

3. Provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates 

While sending an automated rejection email to unsuccessful candidates is a good first step, if you can also personalise the message and provide constructive feedback on why they didn’t get the job, all the better. 

For example, did they simply not have enough experience, or were they missing skills that are essential to the role? Whatever the reason is, let the candidate know why they were unsuccessful and what training or certifications they would need to be better suited for the role. 

If the company has decided to put a pause on recruiting for the role, let the candidate know this is the reason why they were unsuccessful. And if you think they would be right for this role, or any other roles within the organisation, let them know you will keep their resume on file for future openings. 

By building empathy into your rejection process, there’s a greater chance that candidates will have a positive experience with your company, and possibly share that with their inner circle, helping to improve your reputation. 

4. How to handle combative candidates

Despite putting time and effort into skillfully rejecting candidates, some may still have an emotional response. If this does happen, it’s important to remember that the job search journey can be a stressful and frustrating process for many candidates, so don’t take it personally. 

First and foremost, stay calm and keep things brief with candidates who become difficult or hostile. Don’t play into their combative behaviour as that will likely heighten the situation. Instead, try to continue being empathic and respectful as it may help keep the situation from spiraling into something regretful. 

Turning down candidates might not be the most glamorous part of a recruiter’s job, but it is important to your company’s reputation. After all, every job seeker who applies for a role at your organisation has a candidate experience with your company. And by providing a great experience for all candidates, whether they are successful or not, you can help turn rejected applicants into potential ambassadors for your company. 

1 Methodology: This research was conducted by Lonergan Research on behalf of Indeed, among 1,033 Australian job seekers in January 2019

2 Methodology: This research was conducted by Decipher/FocusVision on behalf of Indeed, among 500 Australian job seekers in 2017

3 Methodology: This research was conducted by Lucid on behalf of Indeed, among 1,000 Australian job seekers in 2019

Ricky Fritsch is the Managing Director of Indeed for Australia, the #1 global search engine for jobs. He oversees Indeed’s strong momentum in the marketplace and finds ways to accelerate their revenue growth.

 Fritsch has been in the recruitment industry for 11 years, the last 8 of them being the Senior Director of Sales in the US. His speciality lies in leading businesses at Indeed, most recently the sizable Enterprise Sales Business on the East Coast (US), and building and growing relationships with F1000 companies. One of Fritsch’s biggest achievements is being named Indeed Head of Sales for ANZ.

The post The art of saying “no”: how to let candidates know they haven’t got the job appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Today, grit is becoming increasingly recognised as one of the biggest contributors to a person’s success. More specifically, speaking at an Indeed Interactive event in Austin last year, psychologist and author, Angela Duckworth, explained that “grit” is a powerful combination of passion and perseverance. 

To hire most effectively in an age of non-stop innovation, it’s important to know what makes grit so important and how to identify candidates who have that special combination Duckworth describes.

What is grit?

According to Duckworth, who has studied the science of high achievement extensively, the most successful people have an ability to keep trying regardless of their past failures or challenges. Meanwhile, their passion is what continues to drive them towards bigger goals. 

Grit is also closely related to many of the common soft skills recruiters look for, which can determine candidates’ personal attitudes and behaviours and shape how they interact with others. These include resilience, persistence and a strong sense of purpose – all are important skills for mastering creativity, innovation, entrepreneurialism and feeling truly connected to your work.

Progress, positive influence and great ideas come from grit

There’s no doubt grit can set candidate’s apart, even when they exhibit similar levels of training and experience. After all, the grittiest candidate is most likely to think outside the box and explore multiple possibilities or solutions in any situation.      

Because people with grit are goal oriented and willing to put in a lot of hard work to reach their full potential, grit is regarded as a major driving force behind the development of great ideas. For example, a person’s creative and innovative output usually correlates to their meticulous attention to detail, sustained effort and a lot of trial and error on the path to success. Think about James Dyson, he may have invented a vacuum cleaner that would generate billions of dollars, but this wasn’t without trying over 5,000 prototypes before he arrived at his most revolutionary model. 

In a fast-paced business environment, candidates with grit are also more likely to demonstrate the type of adaptability required for workforces to evolve with changing economic conditions and market demands. By their very nature, gritty candidates will continuously seek to grow within their role by mastering new skills and improving upon existing abilities.  

Gritty people also have the unique ability to convert failure into a sense of encouragement to try harder and learn from mistakes; this makes them a highly influential asset within any team as they motivate others to perform at their best and encourage people to consider fresh ways of thinking. 

How to find gritty candidates

So, you know what grit looks like and why it’s important, but how do recruiters and hiring managers identify candidates who have it? Technical skills may be easily quantifiable on a resume, but soft skills usually only become apparent by observing behaviours in real-life scenarios. 

Here are some ways you can find out about a candidate’s grittiness in action:

• Ask a candidate about their biggest professional failure. Their response could give you insight into their ability to accept responsibility as well as their learnings. In other words, a candidate who aims to deflect responsibility and doesn’t appear to have any key takeaways from their experience should raise a red flag in your mind. 
• Make use of the research. Crafting interview questions based on insights from Duckworth’s Grit Scale could shed light onto a candidate’s level of grittiness, such as asking how often their interests change and how the candidate maintains focus and interest working on long-term projects. 

With research pointing to grit as a strong predictor of success, there’s every reason to start seeking candidates who demonstrate that winning combination of passion and perseverance. Implementing targeted strategies to unearth how candidates behave and react in different scenarios might demand more time and focus than reviewing technical skills, but it’s likely to be beneficial to your business’ performance in the long run.    

Ricky Fritsch is the Managing Director of Indeed for Australia, the #1 global search engine for jobs. He oversees Indeed’s strong momentum in the marketplace and finds ways to accelerate their revenue growth.

 Fritsch has been in the recruitment industry for 11 years, the last 8 of them being the Senior Director of Sales in the US. His speciality lies in leading businesses at Indeed, most recently the sizable Enterprise Sales Business on the East Coast (US), and building and growing relationships with F1000 companies. One of Fritsch’s biggest achievements is being named Indeed Head of Sales for ANZ.

The post Hiring for grit: Why it matters and how to identify it appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.