The Two Faces of Ghosting

There are two sides to the ghosting story and everyone is guilty of it. Whether you know it or not there is a chance you have once fallen victim to ghosting either as the ghoster or ghosted. 

Candidates sometimes stop responding to communication, don’t show for their interview or simply disappear after they have accepted an offer. This not only causes frustration on behalf of the recruiter and employer, but it causes hiring delays, and wastes resources such as time and money. 

Employers and recruiters have been known to not respond once resumes are submitted, or never reach back out to a candidate following an interview/phone screen. This not only causes frustration and disappointment for the candidate, but it can damage the company brand through negative candidate experience.

Regardless of which side of the ghosting you are on, everyone has had a bad hiring experience. Ghosting causes frustration and disappointment for both employers and candidates, and thus causes both parties to lose faith in the hiring system. Most candidates, ”who have been hunting for a job for months say the process is both frustrating and demoralizing, especially after sending hundreds of applications that fail to get a response.” (CBS News). This brings the question, why is ghosting haunting the hiring process?

Why is Ghosting Haunting The Hiring Process?

Ghosting is considered largely a new trend that was brought about with the increased use of technology within the hiring and communication process. With the influx of technology augmented hiring and communication, it is easier for both candidates and employers to look at all of their options within the hiring process.

The shifting dynamics of the job markets seen through hiring websites such as Indeed and LinkedIn, highlight how many opportunities are available at any given time. Meaning that candidates now can mass apply to positions and thus forget that they reached out to employers, or forget to schedule/show up for their interviews. Employers are facing the same problem, as there is a larger number of candidates applying to their positions. With this many hiring teams can become overwhelmed and thus not focus individual time to each candidate that applies.

However, the largest contributor to the ghosting epidemic is the general fear of confrontation. No one enjoys sharing bad news, especially when there is a fear of disappointing someone or upsetting them. This affects both employers and candidates. Candidates fear upsetting potential employers when explaining the position is not a good fit, or that they have found another position. Employers sometimes fear disappointing candidates when explaining that they are moving forward with different candidates. Both situations lead to either party avoiding the perceived confrontation, and with this the communication line dies. 

Lack of communication protocols only further exacerbates the problem, and with this the communication loop is never closed. Ghosting is something that will affect everyone within the business world and the costs of it are felt in every aspect of a business.

The Cost of Ghosting

Ghosting has negative effects for every aspect of the hiring process but the most damaging is an overall erosion of trust within the hiring process. Candidates feel discouraged knowing that they never heard back from employers, and employers are frustrated they wasted time having been ghosted by potential candidates. Both of these situations cause damage to a company or person’s brand. This can lead to negative word of mouth/reviews regarding experiences with a company, and can lead a candidate to be placed onto a do not hire list. There is nothing more damaging for a candidate than ghosting a recruiter, and not showing for an interview or first day. 

By ghosting employers, candidates miss out on good opportunities and positions, and likewise employers miss out on skilled and qualified candidates. Although ghosting is so easily avoidable, many people still let the fear of disappointing someone dictate what type of worker/company they will be. 

How to Break The Curse

Ghosting is a trend that is easily fallen into but it is also a curse easily broken. It takes action from both parties, but with a commitment to stopping the trend it can finally be put to rest. Employers can avoid ghosting candidates by setting clear expectations for the hiring process; highlighting the hiring process steps. In addition, a commitment to closing the communication loop between candidates and employers is the main way to stop the ghosting on a whole. Being able to communicate with candidates even when the response is a “no” is essential to eliminating ghosting from the process. Furthermore, building a communication culture that values transparency between both the company and the candidates can help in this process. 

Candidates can eliminate ghosting on their side of the hiring process by setting clear intentions with employers and recruiters at the get-go. Responding to employers/recruiters messages even if they are no longer interested in the position ensures that everyone understands each side’s intentions. Maintaining clear intentions and desires with employers/recruiters secures a communication bridge between candidates and employees. Due to this employers/recruiters are more likely to think of the candidate if a position they fit better arises. Ghosting is a fixable problem and with that both employers and candidates can experience a more efficient hiring process. 

Although ghosting plagues the hiring world, it can be easily stopped. This hiring season don’t let ghosting spook you. Take the steps to break the ghosting curse, and the easiest step is to increase and maintain healthy communication throughout the entire hiring process. Here at Optimum RTS we are working to exorcise ghosting, by helping candidates and employers avoid communication nightmares, and find real results. Our skilled recruiters are here to ensure that your company finds quality candidates and stays in contact with them. If you’re ready to hire candidates while avoiding the ghosting nightmare, call us today to learn more about our recruiting and hiring services.

Sources: 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/employment-job-market-surge-in-long-term-unemployed-workers-economy/

Why One Bad Hire Can Cost You More Than You Think

Sometimes the cost of a bad hire is easy to see. Other times they go unnoticed for far too long, further perpetuating the problem. The costs can be separated into two types: tangible and intangible. Your tangible costs of a bad hire are easy to spot; they are what you directly spent money on. Examples are recruiting expenses, training investments (such as time and resources) and severance/re-hiring costs. All these explicitly cost your company money, and each time that you hire quickly you might be sacrificing these things. 

Intangible costs are harder to spot. They relate to relationships, company environment, and productivity. A bad hire can impact the success of your company’s working environment, or possibly your relationships with your clients. Your employees are a representation of your company, meaning that if the hire was rushed it’s possible you might not have found the best representative for your company. In addition, your company’s internal environment can become less productive, due to gaps in skill or performance, and overall team morale can decline due to frustration. Whether the costs of a bad hire are tangible or intangible, both can cause damage to your company internally, and should be avoided. So why do companies often find themselves with a bad hire?

Breaking Down the Root Causes of Bad Hires

Most bad hires aren’t bad people; they are just the wrong match for the role or the company. Bad hires happen when employers rush the hiring process, use vague job descriptions, have no structured interview process, don’t check references, or just simply overlook the cultural fit within your office. 

Rushing through the hiring process forces you to skip steps and settle with a candidate due to time constraints. Vague job descriptions bring in a larger pool of candidates, but they may be missing critical skills due to the description not listing them. Using detailed job descriptions allows you to pre-screen candidates and prevents underqualified people from applying.

The structure of the interview process is crucial to ensuring that candidates feel as though your company has structure. When interviewing is lackadaisical it makes candidates feel inclined to treat the job as such. The structure of the interviewing also sets a schedule and allows for a hiring timeline. 

When employers feel the need to rush into hiring someone, they often skip the reference checks and other crucial screenings. References exist so that employers can hear feedback about their new potential employee. When this step is overlooked, potential problems are as well. 

Lastly, you should ensure that candidates fit within your company’s culture and environment. If a hired candidate does not match the mission of your company they are not going to help you achieve it. Every person has their own culture they bring to the table. It’s important to note that companies should be hiring employees that fit within the company culture. Miscommunication throughout the hiring process can result in problems identified too late, thus leading to a bad hire.

Your Action Plan to Avoid Costly Hiring Mistakes

The ways to avoid making a bad hire can seem self-explanatory, especially after we’ve addressed why bad hires occur. The first way to avoid a bad hire is to slow down. As we said previously, rushing through the hiring process only makes things worse and thus further wasting your company’s time. To avoid a bad hire, slow down and take the time to define exactly what you are looking for, not just skillsets but also personality-wise. Using a structured interviewing process can help with time management. Following a step-by-step procedure for screening and interviewing candidates helps filter candidates though scheduled events, allowing for a productive hiring timeline. In addition, having set interview questions allows for interviews to flow easily, and for you to easily determine whether a candidate is going to be a good fit for you and your company. 

Working with a professional recruiting company such as Optimum RTS removes the stress of hiring and finding the perfect candidate. We handle that for you. We vet hundreds of candidates a week, specifically pinpointing what our clients are searching for, both skills-wise and personality-wise. Once we have located a candidate that we think will be a good fit on paper, we interview them prior to sending them to you. By interviewing candidates throughout the whole process, it allows us to ensure that you are only receiving candidates qualified for your job. We don’t just fill jobs; we find the right people for the right roles. 

Once we have submitted the candidates to your company, you interview them and then finally decide whether the candidate will become an employee. If you feel as though we did not find the right match, we start the entire process over and will continue until we have found your perfect candidate. We are only paid once, and that is when you have decided that the candidate is exactly what you’re looking for. In addition, if a recently hired Optimum RTS candidate doesn’t end up working out, we will start the search again without any added fee until you are satisfied. Our proven recruiting process helps clients avoid the costly mistake of a bad hire. Whether you’re hiring entry-level or executive-level, temp or perm, we are here to help. 

Bad hires are more common than they should be, especially when there are effective ways to avoid them. By learning how to identify and prevent bad hires, you can save your company both time and money. At Optimum RTS, we’re here to help you find the right person for the job. With our expertise, your company can avoid the costly consequences of a bad hire and stay focused on what you do best.

Happy 4th of July from Optimum RTS!

We are hoping that you and your family enjoyed a relaxing and fun-filled holiday! We are here for you and your company any time you need it, whether it is hiring, training, consulting, and more.

Marketing Magic & Money Moves with John Dalton

In this month’s spotlight, Optimum RTS owner John Dalton joins Patti Heid, Director of Best Practices and Compliance at the Home Care Association of Florida (HCAF), for an insightful conversation on “Marketing Magic and Money Moves: Winning Tactics for Homecare Growth.”

John shares his journey from launching his sales career in 1991 to founding Optimum RTS, a leader in healthcare recruiting, training, and staffing. In the episode, he dives into powerful strategies for driving sales in the home health industry, including how to stand out, create meaningful referral relationships, and build a marketing team that truly understands the art of connection.

Key Takeaways:

• Why “everything is sales” beyond just your marketers
• How to paint the picture for referral sources
• What top-performing sales reps do differently
• Proven tactics to increase visibility and drive growth in your agency

Don’t miss this episode packed with practical insights and real-world experience.

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Embrace and growth mindset:

Understand the importance of the desire to learn and grow. This means challenging yourself and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and using criticism as feedback rather than failure. This allows you to shape yourself into the best version for both your job and employer.

Develop key skills:

Identify skills that are crucial to your career or position within your company and work continuously to strengthen them. Invest in both the hard skills your position requires and the soft skills that allow you to be a stronger team member.

Build a strong personal brand:

Define and communicate what sets you apart professionally. This can be done through enhancing skills, learning new techniques, and promoting a desire to always learn more. Using platforms such as LinkedIn not only allows you space to shine, but they can also draw attention to the work you and your company are doing.

Master time management:

Improve productivity by effectively managing your time and devoting your time to what matters most. Eliminating distractions and minimizing multitasking allows you to produce a higher quality of work in a more timely manner, leading to higher overall productivity. By analyzing what you are allocating time for, you can better schedule and shape your day-to-day, creating a higher yield of success.

Foster a collaborative spirit:

Build a positive and welcoming work environment that enhances both personal and team success. Achieve this by actively contributing to team goals and encouraging colleagues to meet their goals. By sharing knowledge and helping the team around you, success is both personal and shared.

Adopt a results-oriented approach:

Focus on delivering tangible, impactful outcomes that align with the company’s objectives. Assess how you contribute to the success of the organization. Take the initiative and propose solutions to challenges that the company may face, increasing productivity.

Network and build relationships:

Expand your web of people both inside and outside the company. By increasing your number of connections you are also increasing the resources you have at your disposal. Participate in industry events to build professional relationships. Regularly check in with peers and mentors to build a strong network, and lastly offer to help and support others, leading to mutual success amongst team members.

The path to achieving your ideal outcome in 2025 is not set in stone, you must take active steps to ensure that this goal becomes a reality. Through an effort to hone new and old skills, network, support, and challenge yourself, you can truly grow into the best version of yourself. The actions you take today will shape the professional you become tomorrow, and it’s our job at Optimum RTS to help you through that process. Whether it is finding your dream job or the perfect candidate, our services can help ensure that 2025 is your best year yet for both you and your team.

If you would like to view the article in our published newsletter please use the link below: https://conta.cc/40qurDY

Let’s start off by defining who your customer is. Immediately, you envision the person currently utilizing your service or products. Typically, these people would be called your prospect, patient, client, shopper, patron, etc. Other people fall into this category as well, however, when you examine this a little closer. A customer is not always only the person using your services. It could be the parents of a child in school, the family members of a parent using your services. It could be the candidate you’re attempting to hire or the employees in your organization, or even your manager or one of the company’s vendors. In brief, it is everyone you come into contact with during the course of your work day. Beyond your work day, the term “customer service” can be substituted for just being polite in your interactions with everyone you meet. 

Now that we have defined who a customer is, let’s dig deeper into why understanding their emotional state might be important to a successful and positive interaction. To do this, think of a child and his or her parents going back-to-school shopping. In this scenario, there are two clients you will be faced with, and both may have very different emotional states. The child may be excited about going back to school, buying their new binders, pencils, and backpacks, whereas the parent is cranky about all the money they are spending, and trying to corral their children, the traffic, or crowds in the stores and malls. In both cases, how they are feeling has a direct relation to the way you or your employee will need to interact with them. For the child you will need to show that same excitement, and for the parent you might need to just be courteous and efficient. Now let’s look at a new patient being referred to a Home Health Agency. What could be the mental state of this customer? They could be scared, feeling vulnerable, tired of being sick and within the healthcare system, ready to be home, and concerned for the potential financial burden they might incur. Initially, the patient is not your only customer in this case, and each one of those involved may have one or more of the aforementioned emotions going on. As an example, when speaking to Mr. Smith and his wife, your ideal customer service would lead with empathy, reassurance, competence, and the timely nature of nursing, therapies, and caregivers. Whereas, when dealing with Mr. Smith’s daughter or son, you may want to switch the focus of your customer service to being efficient, actively listening, and providing concise descriptions of services and cost. This sounds easy, like basic information, but honestly, in most interactions, everyone is only thinking of themselves. For instance, the cashier at the office supply store in the first example might only see a grumpy lady and an obnoxious kid, or the staffing coordinator at the home health agency might be put off by the curt conversation Mr. Smith’s son is having with her. In both cases, the person who should be providing customer service has focused on themselves rather than the customer.

As you begin to read this list of best practices, think about your customer and their emotional state and how you would need to modify these best practices to be most effective.

Top 7 Customer Service Best Practices:

1. First Impressions: How your client initially interacts with you has nothing to do with you. Do not personalize a person’s attitude or behavior.
2. Observe and Drive: In face-to-face interactions, look your client in the eye, and all interactions use active listening skills to determine what the needs are and the driving force behind their need or question.
3. Be the fixer: Be concise in your response and only promise or solve issues that can be done at that time. Apologize and explain how you will get the information to answer the question or solve that problem. Be as specific as you can about the expected resolution time frame.
4. The Follow-up: Follow up on what was promised by keeping your client aware of your progress, should the timeframe you set move.
5. Make it personal: Personalize your customer service by introducing yourself and using your customer’s name when appropriate.
6. Smile: Smile. Really, it’s that simple. This applies when you are face to face or talking to someone on the phone. A smile can be heard as loudly as it can be seen.
7. Remove yourself: Remember, this interaction is not about you.

In my 26 years in recruiting, sales management, and national sales as a trainer and now a business owner, I have seen communication and customer service lead to unbelievable successes and an equal amount of failures. The primary causes of those failures occur when the person providing the service did not fully understand the “why” behind an attitude or question of a client. Without that understanding, even the best customer service plan will fail.

About the Author: John Dalton is the owner of Optimum RTS, a medical employment and consultant company. He has taught and consulted for clients that have just opened their doors to Fortune 100 companies. He can be reached at jdalton@optimumrts.com and you can visit his website at www.optimumrts.com

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Without using a staffing agency, the average time frame from search to start date for a new hire is 10-12 weeks according to an article on monster.com. Including companies using staffing agencies, LinkedIn’s 2017 Global Survey says the average is 6-8 weeks. To be clear, that’s the nationwide average across all industries. The reality is less concrete than survey statistics. Each industry, job requirement, company culture/reputation, etc affects the length of time it takes to bring on a new hire.

Let’s say you own a private practice and you speak to a friend in the restaurant industry that easily hires multiple wait staff every week. Let’s say they exaggerate and it’s multiple hires every month. Many of the candidates apply simply by seeing the “now hiring” sign on the door. Sounds easy, right?

If you’ve been in the industry for any amount of time you know how very incorrect that assumption is, especially for the healthcare industry. So how can you get that many candidates in that fast? 

The right candidate is worth multiple convenient hires even for positions that do not require specialized skills. In most cases it takes time to find the right candidate. In a past blog I wrote about how it takes a few weeks to go through resumes, a few weeks to conduct interviews, and if your candidate is otherwise employed it takes an additional two weeks notice in most cases. Six weeks of waiting to fill an empty position. 

That six weeks is based on the search starting immediately. You didn’t try to save money and make it work with one person down. That’s also assuming you don’t hold a company meeting to discuss the need to bring another person on board, or find a time to meet with the busiest person in the office prior to coming on board. 

So how can business owners speed up this process?

1. Spend time thinking about where your ideal candidate searches for a position. Then focus your efforts in that area. This will require some research on job seekers in your industry.
2. Branding. Know your reputation on and off social media. Do you know what your company’s social media footprint looks like? It’s common practice for HR to review potential candidate social media pages. So it only makes sense that candidates would also review companies. If you’re maintaining your social media pages well, leverage them all to get the word out that you’re hiring. I’m sure you know or have at least heard about the importance of branding. Example: I’ve heard Disney World is a great place to work. However, logically I know providing service to a mass of excited/exhausted children and parents waiting in lines for hours can not possibly be as great of an experience as the rumors.
3. Figure out what you really need out of the candidate. Often our idea of the perfect candidate and the actual perfect candidate are different. Here at Optimum RTS we talk to our clients about their job, their company, the entire picture in order to make a job description. Often, our clients send us a job descriptions that include many concrete tasks but the description still lacks the actual position. We make it our job to understand your job so we can find the perfect candidate for it.
4. Keep an open mind. When deciding on the position requirements, consider similar/complimentary skills to leave room for pleasantly unexpected candidates. We often see clients choose these unexpected candidates even over candidates that seem to meet their checklist of requirements. Aside from positions that require credentials, many times candidates have most but not all of the items listed on the job description.
5. Be willing to train. Many times the difference between an immediate fill candidate and months of searching for the right candidate is the willingness to train. Often clients come to us having searched for weeks for the perfect candidate, unwilling to train quality candidates because they don’t have time. However, when a position sits empty for months, how much time and productivity is lost? I would argue you don’t have time to waste on an unfilled position.
6. Referrals from current employees. I will caution that current employees do not always make good referral sources. There are times we have seen a cliquish environment form from this practice, or personal life drama spilling into and poisoning an otherwise harmonious office environment. It can work, but still do your due diligence on all potential candidates. (Did I mention we do background checks?)
7. Use a Staffing Company. This is definitely a fast and easy way to fill a position with a professional. I wrote an entire blog about this a few months ago if you have questions. (https://optimumrts.com/hr-corner-by-suzanne-february-2019/)

As always if you want more information on any HR/Training/Sales/Recruiting (and more!) topics, contact us!

Suzanne is the glue that holds Team Optimum RTS together. She wears many hats in our office and her organizational skills are OUTSTANDING! 

Job Descriptions Improve Your Company’s Ability To Manage Employees In Many Key Ways

A well-written job description will do the following:

Clarify expectations:  Employers need to spell out their expectations of what an employee should be doing on a day-to-day basis. Providing a clear description of tasks ensures that both employers and employees are on the same page and prevents misunderstandings of what needs to be done and when.

Provide structure:  Organizations must ensure that their needs are being met on a company-wide basis. Job descriptions provide the discipline and structure a business needs to make sure all necessary duties and responsibilities are assigned. They enable an organization to allocate and manage roles in a uniform way which increases efficiency and effectiveness of recruitment, training and development, organizational structure, workflow, and customer service.

Enable fair pay scales:  Most employers assign pay scales, or grades, to jobs. A transparent system which provides a “salary range” can ensure that those within the same, or similar, job functions are compensated fairly and logically across the board.

Identify skill sets and training needs:  Job descriptions can help employers gauge skill sets to understand who knows what, who doesn’t, and what types of training and development to provide employees. It can also be helpful in succession planning and career advancement for employees.

Set a standard for performance review:  Job descriptions allow employers to identify what has, and has not, been achieved since an employee’s last performance review. Many employers base merit increases on job performance linked directly to a job description as it provides objectivity for appraisals, performance reviews, counseling, and disciplinary issues.

A good job description is easy to create. 

In a nutshell: keep it simple, describe the actual duties, & leave it at that.

Consider the following task identified in a job description:Monitor office supplies and order replacements when stock runs low.There’s no room for interpretation of what’s expected in the above. Sadly, many employers try to wordsmith a bit too much and fall back on corporate speak to “jazz” things up a bit. 

Here’s another example of the same job description, but written differently:

Systemically integrate office material processes and facilitate cooperation and synthesis to achieve corporate goals. We’ve all seen job descriptions like this, and we should all agree that they are terrible. Using corporate speak simply doesn’t help anyone. Say what you mean and everyone will understand what’s expected. Also, keep job descriptions fairly generic so you don’t have to continually update them and the tasks described are general enough to achieve business needs.

The following tweak to our example would be entirely too specific: Monitor office supplies on Tuesday afternoon at 2 pm and order more when needed using Form Number XYZ and then submit to Mary Smith.As business attorneys, we can help you craft job descriptions that can benefit employees and the company as a whole – especially when workflows or processes change and a job description becomes outdated.

Our Strategic Partner this month is Brandon V. Woodward
Brandon V. Woodward is the founder and Managing Partner of Woodward, Kelley, Fulton & Kaplan, a business law firm with offices in West Palm Beach and Stuart. Brandon has more than 20 years of experience in business and corporate law. He and his WKFK partners offer legal services in the areas of: Business Law, Business Sales, Litigation, LLCs/Corporations, Asset Protection and Real Estate. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Business Law at Indian River State College, as well as a certified SCORE Mentor. Brandon and his family are proud “Hobe Sound Locals” and he enjoys golfing, cooking, and craft beers.

Written by: Melanie Scherr