HR & Recruitment

 1d

Future-Proof HR: Workforce Management Tips!


Regardless of its size, managing a workforce can be a challenging task, especially when it's spread out across different units or even countries.

From determining the right staffing levels to ensuring that the labor costs adhere to your budget, a wide range of factors make up efficient workforce management - it's a difficult job to do correctly.

Having the right strategies in place is... crucial to creating a productive and happy workforce that supports organizational success. With that in mind, here are some constructive workforce management tactics to implement today:

Workforce planning is the first step in the process of effectively managing your staff. It includes analyzing your workforce in detail, identifying current and future staffing needs, as well as aligning the employee development plan and management strategy with overall business goals.

Companies can make sure that they have the appropriate talent on board to reach their objectives by assessing the necessary competencies and skills, identifying possible workforce gaps, and forecasting future demand.

Workforce planning should also include contingency planning for any changes in operational requirements or unexpected events. A good HR software solution can be of great help here, allowing you to streamline processes and predict needs more accurately.

After identifying workforce needs, you must recruit the most qualified candidates. This means sourcing, attracting, and choosing talent that possesses the required skills and fits your corporate culture perfectly.

Job postings, resume screenings, job interviews, and background checks are all part of this recruitment strategy. Once you've selected good employees, it will be necessary to onboard and train them to ensure they integrate into your company successfully.

Onboarding will mean introducing workers to the workplace culture, policies, procedures, and core values, while training involves equipping employees with the skills, tools, and knowledge they need to do their jobs effectively.

Good training and onboarding programs will boost engagement, increase productivity, and reduce turnover.

Attempting to manage your personnel by hand, using several different systems, is a time-consuming and stressful process that often causes mistakes. After all, your capabilities are limited when only using a paper, pen, and spreadsheet.

A great HR automation tool will help streamline your schedules according to your forecasts, enabling you to effectively and easily communicate with your workforce while simplifying payroll processes.

The right optimization software will provide you with business overviews, task management integration, budget tracking, schedule setting, staff communication avenues, and more. Leverage automation to advance workforce management and streamline day-to-day business operations for great success.

If your company depends on seasonal demand or operates on a project-by-project basis, then you likely rely on contractors and part-time employees to meet changing operational needs and complete jobs on time.

While this is a common aspect of business, contingent workers can be particularly challenging to manage, especially in terms of legal compliance. For that reason, investing in reliable contractor management services is the best course of action.

Experienced professionals will take care of HR, admin, and payroll tasks related to contingent workers, allowing you to focus on the more strategic aspects of your organization. This way, you will simplify engagements, reduce costs, and provide a more positive and consistent HR experience for contractors.

Effective schedules can be quite beneficial, from reducing labor expenses to increasing customer satisfaction and generating sales. However, the most important advantage of good scheduling is employee happiness, particularly when it comes to shift workers.

These staff members rarely have control of their itineraries, often getting only a few days' notice before a new schedule is posted. This can have a negative impact on employees' personal lives, disrupting their work-life balance and making it nearly impossible for them to return to work rested and recharged.

Make sure your workers are satisfied and productive by creating better, more effective schedules. This will simplify workforce planning and management as well.

Good communication is critical to optimal team performance, but it becomes especially important when managing remote workers. It's not uncommon for managers and employers to contact their work-from-home employees during off-hours, often via instant messaging, texts, and phone calls.

Although easy, this is incredibly disruptive to workers' personal lives, making it difficult to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Try to avoid such tactics by sticking to communication only during working hours and using more appropriate channels such as e-mails, work management apps, and productivity tools.

Find what works for your team, make effective communication simple, and you will see a rise in productivity and satisfaction levels among your workforce.

When developing a workforce management plan, consider which information is most important to you and which metrics you should use to drive your decision-making. While every company is different, key metrics will usually include sales, customer satisfaction, employee productivity, etc.

Customer satisfaction is often a good factor to prioritize, as happy clients make a successful business. Although this metric could be challenging to track, customer surveys, online reviews, and social media channels can be good sources of customer happiness levels.

Understanding consumer patterns will help you make important staffing decisions, such as the number of people in your customer support center or physical store. This will help you optimize scheduling and boost sales.

With the right technology and tools set up, flexible working can enable companies to reduce costs, save time, increase productivity, improve retention rates, and boost employee satisfaction.

By embracing flexible work and allowing employees to choose their own schedules and working hours, you can see great improvements in your bottom line.

Apart from allowing your organization to respond quickly to unpredictable demand, more flexible schedules will also make your workers happier. This, in turn, leads to streamlined business operations and greater levels of corporate success.

In conclusion, good workforce management is key to maximizing the human capital potential within your organization. By following the advice outlined above, companies can align their staff with their objectives, enhance productivity, boost employee satisfaction, and support business success.

Incorporating this advice into your management strategy will allow you to make the most of your workforce and thrive in the competitive modern business landscape. more

  • Kevin Hay

    2
    20h

    A typical Ai response.
    This isn't helping anyone.

HR & Recruitment

 4d

Improving Employee Retention


Retailers are investing more heavily into training and workplace culture, which in turn has led to increased retention.

In 2024, c-store retailers reported that turnover is flat to down, largely due to increased efforts on the retention front, proof that strategic investments in employee engagement, training and workplace culture can and do pay off.

At Family Express, which operates 81... locations in Indiana, turnover "dramatically decreased" in the last year, which Alex Olympidis, president of operations for the company, attributed to "a soup-to-nuts upgrade of all things HR," including a more structured career development program as well as "a clear and achievable path to high wages based on tenure."

"We've found that many employees leave when they feel there are limited growth opportunities, so providing clearer career paths and staff dedicated to nothing but mentorship programs has been critical," Olympidis said. "Additionally, we've enhanced our employee recognition programs to highlight spectacular effort through an internal social media network based on public recognition."

Turnover was also lower at Country Fair in 2024, which operates 73 store locations in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.

"It was a year where we put emphasis on the first 90 days of employment," said Steve Seymour, director of personnel for Country Fair, noting that approximately half of the c-store chain's turnover comes from employees with less than 90 days of service.

The chain introduced an employee referral program, which rewards the referring employee after the new hire completes 90 days of service. What's more, the new employees have their first evaluation and raise after 120 days of service. Seymour believes these changes have helped to boost retention. "At 90 days, new employees begin to anticipate that 120 review," he added.

At Englefield Oil, which operates 117 Duchess c-stores in Ohio and West Virginia, turnover has remained "relatively flat with periods of reduction," said Nathan Arnold, director of marketing for Englefield Oil. "The chain leverages wage increases, paid time off and other benefits, along with its loyalty program, to support retention.

"Years ago, we were one of the first convenience store chains to implement an employee tier to our loyalty program. This provides extra benefits, discounts, giveaways and more that only current employees can enjoy," Arnold said. "This is also a selling tool to candidates because they can see additional benefits to working for Duchess."

Its efforts have paid off: some 50% of Duchess team members have been with the chain for more than a year with a significant percentage having worked there for over five years. Recently, several team members have celebrated 35-, 39-, 42- and 45-year anniversaries with the chain.

"Retention is key to our business," Arnold said. "We're focusing on onboarding and retention in 2025 and beyond to continue to cultivate a culture of longevity and quality team members."

However, Arnold noted that research shows generational trends are shifting, with younger workers less inclined to stay with one company for decades. "But we still strive to provide an atmosphere that all generations feel connected to in hopes to continue the tenure we have seen since being founded in 1961," he said.

Turnover was also flat for Calloway Oil Co. in 2024, which operates 24 EZ Stop c-stores in Tennessee.

"We still face challenges with what has become known as the job-hopping culture with workers that won't hesitate to change jobs for any number of reasons," said Melanie Disney, head of human resources (HR) for Calloway Oil and H&L Transport Inc.

Like most retailers, EZ stop sees the highest rate of turnover within an employee's first 30 days. To combat this trend, EZ Stop slowed down the onboarding and training process to give hires more time to familiarize themselves with the business and acclimate to their new role. This includes more time to shadow team members, learn and connect before being placed at the register, Disney explained.

To further aid retention, EZ Stop provides reviews and raises after an employee is on the job for six months and then annually after that, and it also offers flexible scheduling and career growth opportunities.

EZ Stop "recognizes that life outside of work comes with challenges that can impact employees daily," Disney said. "To provide support, we have introduced the Corporate Chaplains Program, offering our teams 24/7 access to chaplains and resources to help navigate personal struggles."

The chaplains regularly visit all EZ Stop locations so they can meet with employees one-on-one to provide "guidance, encouragement and a compassionate presence," Disney said.

The chain is also set to roll out a new retention and recognition program in the second quarter of 2025 called the Pillars of N-I-C-E Recognition Program. "It aligns with our mission of "Nice People, Good Stuff," Disney said.

Turnover has also decreased at RaceTrac, which operates more than 800 stores across 13 states, as the chain has been been focused on enhancing employee retention, a move that has strengthened the organization, said Linda Sutton, director of recruitment for RaceTrac. "This positive trend reflects our holistic approach to creating a workplace where employees feel supported and valued," she added.

In 2025, the chain plans to build on this foundation "by prioritizing employee engagement initiatives designed to cultivate a collaborative and connected work environment," Sutton said. more

HR & Recruitment

 1w

College grads say they are confident about jobs but cautious about economy


As the current job market continues to shift, 2025 college graduates express both optimism and concern about their job prospects, according to Monster's annual State of the Graduate Report.

Most graduates (83%) said they were confident about landing a role soon after graduation, although 37% said the job hunt could take 4-6 months.

"The job market is rapidly shifting, and today's graduates... are entering it with both confidence and conviction," Scott Blumsack, CMO of CareerBuilder + Monster, said in the report.

"The message is clear: today's graduates are ambitious, intentional, and values-driven," Blumsack said. "Employers who adapt to these priorities by offering flexibility, purpose, and pathways to growth will be best positioned to attract and retain the next generation of top talent."

In a poll of 1,000 new and upcoming college graduates, 75% said they're worried their job prospects will be affected by the economy, up from 69% in 2024.

In addition, 48% of graduates said they assume they won't be able to find a job at the workplace they prefer, as compared with 52% in 2024.

Due to current market conditions, 42% of graduates who don't already have a full-time job said they're now looking at more companies and industries, an increase from 34% in 2024.

Graduates pointed to several red flags that would prevent them from applying for a job at a company, including a salary freeze, recent layoffs, lower than average earnings during the past year, a mandate for daily in-office work and fully remote work.

At the same time, graduates reported mixed thoughts about the economy and how it may impact their starting salary. About 37% expect their starting salary to be higher as a result of the economy, while 27% expect their starting salary to be lower.

Job security also appears to be a major priority, with 80% reporting concerns about job security in the current market, as compared with 77% in 2024. About 64% said it'll be more difficult to find a job due to artificial intelligence filling roles previously held by humans, up from 62% in 2024.

In December 2024, hiring, job openings and turnover decreased, with hiring reaching its lowest point in five years, according to a BambooHR report. Hiring declined across all industries, both in the U.S. and worldwide, the report found.

For now, the labor market has cooled off, which could be good news for hiring managers, leading economists told HR Dive. Although top talent may be somewhat easier to find and retain, an aging workforce and changes to immigration will likely challenge recruiters throughout 2025, they said. more

HR & Recruitment

 1w

Why Traditional Hiring Is Hurting Your Business Agility (And What to Do About It)


The traditional way -- posting jobs, waiting for applications, and dragging through endless interview rounds takes time and costs you money. When the market moves quickly or you need extra hands for new projects, this slow hiring process puts you behind the curve.

So, how do you stay ahead? Strategic staffing.

Strategic staffing gives you three big benefits over traditional hiring:

Speed:... You get the right people fast, often in days instead of weeks or months. Cost savings: You only pay for talent when you need it, cutting down on fixed costs. Specialized skills on demand: You access expertise without having to hire full-time.

Companies that lean on strategic staffing solutions adapt quickly to changes, seize new opportunities faster, and keep their costs in line with actual business needs.

What Traditional Hiring Really Costs You

The typical hiring approach hurts your business in ways you might not track.

Think about it: when you can't quickly staff up for a new project, you miss out on revenue. Positions stay empty for months, and your current team gets overloaded, leading to burnout and missed deadlines. What's worse, you end up paying full-time salaries for skills you only need temporarily.

Most businesses focus on hiring costs but miss the bigger expense: how much money you lose while waiting to fill critical positions. A key role left vacant during a three-month hiring process can cost far more in lost business than you'd spend on faster hiring methods.

Staffing Models That Actually Work

Different business needs require different staffing approaches. Here's what works for specific situations:

Direct Hiring: When You Need Permanent Staff Quickly

When you need specialized talent for permanent roles, traditional hiring takes too long. Good direct hiring partners already know qualified candidates before you even have an opening.

What makes this better than regular hiring? They have pre-screened talent ready to go, they know people who aren't actively job hunting, they understand your technical needs without lengthy explanations, and they cut out unnecessary steps in the hiring process.

On-Site Recruiting: When You Need Many Hires at Once

When you need to hire many people quickly or find rare skills, your HR team can get overwhelmed.

Having dedicated recruiters on-site (also called vendor on premise or VoP) helps by focusing only on your hiring needs, using specialized methods for hard-to-fill roles, adding capacity without increasing your permanent staff, and maintaining quality even during rapid growth.

This works well when you're:

Expanding manufacturing and need dozens of skilled workers Staffing up for tech projects requiring specific skills Handling seasonal rushes Opening new locations Recruitment Process Outsourcing: When You Need a Complete TA Solution

Managing your entire talent acquisition process internally requires significant resources and expertise that many HR teams struggle to maintain consistently.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solves this by providing a dedicated team that handles your entire hiring process from start to finish.

The best strategic staffing firms also ensure consistent quality standards, implement specialized recruitment strategies, and scale efforts based on your changing needs.

Companies that outsource end-to-end hiring to strategic partners typically see faster hiring timeframes and improved candidate quality. They also see reduced administrative load on their teams while maintaining control of their employment brand and culture.

Executive Search: When Leadership Positions Need Filling

Empty leadership positions hurt your business more than other vacancies.

Good executive search services help by finding qualified leaders who aren't looking at job boards, keeping your search confidential, assessing candidates beyond basic qualifications, and moving quickly to fill roles where every vacant day costs you money.

This approach works differently than regular hiring because it actively finds the right people instead of waiting for applications.

Taskforce On-demand: When You Need Specialized Skills, Not Headcount

Not every business need justifies permanent hiring.

Project-based staffing gives you ready-made teams with the exact skills you need, a perfect match between costs and project length, no recruitment or training expenses, and immediate productivity from experienced teams.

This works well for:

Technology projects requiring specific skills Regulatory compliance initiatives Market expansion projects Changes requiring skills you won't need long-term

As a leading staffing partner for project solutions, we've seen firsthand how project teams deliver results faster than building temporary teams through regular hiring.

Making Strategic Staffing Work For You

Using strategic staffing effectively requires more than just calling agencies when you're desperate. It needs a planned approach.

Know Your Different Workforce Needs

Start by sorting your workforce needs into categories:

Core positions that stay the same year-round Flexible roles that change with business cycles Project needs requiring specialized skills temporarily Leadership positions that need targeted searches

This helps you apply the right hiring method to each situation instead of using the same approach for everything.

Connect Your Internal and External Hiring Teams

Make sure your HR team and staffing partners work well together by creating clear handoff processes, shared access to necessary systems, joint performance goals, and regular communication channels.

With 20+ years working with 150+ Fortune clients, at SPECTRAFORCE, we've seen that good connections between internal and external teams make all the difference between success and frustration. That's why we prioritize offering industry-specific expertise to organizations. It's the foundation of effective collaboration and gives internal hiring teams direct access to niche talent pools and critical market insights.

Measure What Actually Matters

Don't just track cost-per-hire and time-to-fill. Better measurements include things like:

How quickly you can launch new initiatives with the right staff Revenue gained by having the right people at the right time Money saved by not keeping permanent staff for temporary needs Quality improvements from having truly specialized skills Solving Common Challenges

Even with the right approach, you'll face some hurdles.

Finding Scarce Talent

When certain skills are hard to find, success requires building relationships with specialists before you need them, hiring based on skills rather than exact experience matches, looking in related fields for transferable skills, and offering more than just competitive pay.

Most internal recruiting teams don't have the time to build extensive talent networks.

Source: Sage

Good staffing partners maintain these connections constantly, giving you access to people who never respond to job postings.

Keeping Your Company Culture

When using both permanent and temporary staff, you need clear onboarding for all types of workers, clear communication expectations, appropriate inclusion in team activities, and recognition for good work regardless of employment status.

Companies that do this well treat temporary workers with respect while maintaining necessary legal distinctions. This creates effective teams without confusion about roles.

đŸ§  Did you know: At SPECTRAFORCE, we use our proprietary AI engine to find companies talent that's not just a skill fit but also a culture fit. Our AI evaluates hundreds of profile attributes for each candidate to ensure this.

Getting Quality While Controlling Costs

Balancing cost control with talent quality means using different staffing approaches for different needs, thoughtfully using nearshore or offshore resources when appropriate, and focusing on total value delivered, not just hourly rates.

The cheapest hourly rate rarely gives you the lowest total cost when you consider quality and productivity. Smart companies optimize for value, finding that better-matched talent delivers much better business results even at slightly higher rates.

Making Staffing a Business Advantage

Forward-thinking companies see staffing as a strategic business function, not just an HR process. As business needs change more quickly, how fast you can adjust your workforce determines whether you capture opportunities or miss them.

Strategic staffing gives you capabilities that traditional hiring simply can't match. Companies that understand this gain significant advantages in speed, cost management, and talent quality.

Did you know, SPECTRAFORCE has empowered many Fortune clients across diverse industries with strategic staffing solutions tailored to their goals? Partner with us to fuel yours!

Related Items:solutions, Strategic Recommended for you Small Businesses Find Financial Relief Through BruntWork's Outsourcing Solutions as Wage Pressures Continue Integrating Automation and AI: How Conferences are Shaping the Future of Supply Chain Solutions Are Cloud SECOPS Solutions Effective? more
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HR & Recruitment

 2w

AI in Recruitment -- Here's What Companies Can Learn


Many companies are now using AI tools to sort through applications, with the goal of saving precious time for human resources teams. But how it's used is as important as the fact that it's used.

For some employers, their use of AI is resulting in some major liabilities. While we have yet to see litigation around AI implementation in Canada, in the U.S. there have already been some major... cases.

Caselaw examples

Last July, CVS Health Corp. and CVS Pharmacy settled a class action lawsuit against them over the use of AI during job interviews. The plaintiff in that case, Brendan Baker, alleged that his facial expressions during his job interview were used by an AI system to analyze such qualities as his "willingness to learn", "conscientiousness & responsibility", and "personal stability", which formed part of an "employability score". He had applied unsuccessfully for a job and only found out afterwards about the AI analysis. The lawsuit claimed that such an AI analysis amounted to a "lie detector" test on job applicants, which is illegal under U.S. law. Since the case was settled, we do not yet have a judge's decision on whether the use of the AI tool in this situation was illegal or problematic.

Also last July, a California court allowed a class action to proceed against Workday, which provides human resources management systems to medium and large businesses. Part of Workday's offerings are AI tools for screening job applications. The plaintiff in that lawsuit, Derek Mobley, claims he was rejected for more than 100 jobs he applied for between 2017 and 2024 with companies that use Workday's AI hiring tools because the platform discriminates based on race, age, and disability. Mobley is Black, over 40 years of age, and has anxiety and depression.

Considerations When Implementing an AI System

Both of these above cases raise a number of helpful questions to consider when deciding on an AI-powered system:

AI-Powered Recruitment & Discrimination

In some situations, AI can accomplish a task that would be impossible for a human, such as sorting through hundreds of job applications in a very short amount of time. But whether this produces desirable results depends on how the AI system accomplishes that task.

It's already widely known that AI can produce discriminatory results if it's not used properly. To understand this, we have to go back to a computer science principle called "Garbage In, Garbage Out". Simply put, it means that the quality of the outputs that an AI system produces will depend on the quality of the data it is trained on.

You might remember that Amazon once scrapped an algorithm that was being tested as a recruitment tool because it preferred male candidates. That discriminatory preference was because the algorithm had been trained on data from mostly male applicants. Therefore, it "thought" that men were better applicants compared to women.

Is this what happened to Derek Mobley, but with race, age, and disability instead? Unfortunately, we don't know yet. If that case proceeds to a trial, there's a real chance we might find out more about Workday's algorithm and how it works. But if it doesn't, we might never learn those details.

Take-Away

The important lesson for companies here is that they should never blindly trust AI systems to do a job "properly". Companies should always ask questions about how an AI system is being trained, and monitor the outputs to ensure that the results are desirable. With proper human monitoring and intervention, AI systems will increasingly be core tools that save enormous amounts of time - but without the right safeguards, they can be liabilities that produce trouble behind the scenes.

In future posts, we'll review some of the ways that companies can use AI to get the results they're looking for. Stay tuned. In the meantime, if you're considering implementing AI in your business or have any concerns about its current use, don't hesitate to reach out. more

HR & Recruitment

 3w

Step 4 to solving the talent shortage: Hire a next-step workforce


Outplacement insights: Unveiling the roots of hiring failures

A few decades back, I worked in outplacement and was involved in thousands of terminations. This experience led me to question why certain individuals had been hired in the first place. My passion for effective recruiting is based on this history.

The flaws were obvious: Organizations did not define their values, align their job... descriptions with their future needs or pay attention to the behaviors of their high performers. Addressing these key points is crucial in solving the current talent shortage.

Now we're ready to hire using an accurate workforce roadmap that is aligned with your organizational strategy. This approach enables building a workforce tailored to the organization's next steps rather than its history.

If an organization plans to purchase a $500,000 piece of equipment, it will thoroughly assess whether it will meet future needs and benefit the organization before buying it.

However, companies routinely hire staff and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on salaries and benefits without conducting a comparable level of advanced assessment. The hiring process must refrain from relying on individuals' hunches, gut feelings and first impressions, as these subjective methods are flawed and unproductive.

Due to poor hiring decisions, managers spend significant time bringing underperformers (about 16% of the workforce) up to average performance levels. Unfortunately, they rarely dedicate effort to motivating the top performers (also about 16% of the workforce), even though top performers are responsible for most of the organization's productivity.

Therefore, it is essential to review job descriptions, identify the qualities and values shared by high performers in each role and seek these attributes in new hires. Qualities that generally define top performers include:

A back-to-basics step in solving the talent shortage is to identify top performers, focus on retaining them and hire individuals with similar characteristics to these high performers to support future organizational goals.

Hiring practices have changed little over the past 40 years. To achieve different results, the process changes must begin now. Traditionally, the hiring process starts with applicants submitting résumés and applications.

High performers often lack up-to-date résumés because they are employed and not actively seeking new opportunities. Poor performers, on the other hand, frequently have up-to-date résumés. Therefore, a hiring process that requires an up-to-date résumé weeds out top performers unintentionally.

Applications provide little information beyond demographics. Résumés -- potentially enhanced by AI tools -- enable the writer to withhold or manipulate information freely.

An HR professional may conduct a brief phone screening to verify facts but gather little new information before scheduling an interview.

Although an interviewer may determine within minutes of starting an interview whether an applicant is unsuitable, they likely devote at least 30 minutes to the interview to avoid hurting the applicant's feelings, wasting both their time and the applicant's.

Most hiring managers assess candidates in depth by the second interview. However, this assessment tends to focus solely on the candidate's skills and abilities, and insufficient time is devoted to determining whether the candidate's values and attitudes align with the company's purpose.

A reference and background check may uncover some information, but the candidate's actual behaviors are usually only fully revealed after they are hired.

Our back-to-basics changes in the process add goals and structure to the talent pipeline. While strategic planning is traditionally done first, I recommend doing it third for a good reason.

It is crucial to identify and protect high performers first, and upskill managers to be ready to engage the new hires who will come. Next, we will reconstruct the hiring process to yield better outcomes.

I repeat the question I used to begin this series: Are you willing to change how you hire, manage and spend more quality time with high performers? more

HR & Recruitment

 3w

Outsmarting The System: White Fonting, Fake Reviews, And Résumé Hacks


Never underestimate people's ability to get creative. Job seekers are adding invisible keywords to résumés to beat applicant tracking systems. Students are using AI tools like ChatGPT to rewrite essays in ways traditional plagiarism detectors cannot always catch. Amazon sellers are inflating ratings with fake reviews, and content creators are joining engagement pods to fool social media... algorithms. Across industries, individuals are finding ways to get past automated filters, strict systems, and rigid evaluation processes. In many cases, it is about outsmarting processes that feel impossible to navigate fairly. What may seem like manipulation often reflects frustration, curiosity, and a desire to be seen. From white fonting to résumé rewriting to gaming content platforms, these behaviors raise bigger questions. If people are constantly outsmarting the system, what does that say about the system itself? And what can leaders, hiring teams, and educators learn from these increasingly common tactics?

White fonting is a résumé trick where applicants insert key phrases in white text so they are invisible to human readers but still readable by applicant tracking systems. A candidate applying for a marketing role might hide words like HubSpot, content strategy, or Google Ads throughout their document even if they lack those skills. The goal is to bypass keyword filters and get a shot at an interview.

While it may seem dishonest, many job seekers using white fonting do not see it that way. They are trying to be noticed in a system that feels too automated, too rigid, and too competitive. For them, outsmarting the résumé filter is more of a survival skill than a scam.

Résumé hacks like white fonting, keyword stuffing, and AI-generated job applications can still work in some cases. In addition to hiding text, job seekers may repeat desirable phrases or inflate their job titles to appear more qualified.

However, today's applicant tracking systems are more sophisticated. Many strip formatting, detect excessive repetition, and flag suspicious content. Outsmarting the AI might work once, but it can also backfire if a recruiter notices inconsistencies or patterns that look inauthentic.

What is more telling is why candidates feel they have to use these tactics in the first place. In a process designed to automate decisions, standing out as a human is becoming harder.

Before white fonting showed up in résumés, I had already seen similar tactics in education. Some of my own students told me they used to wrap copied text in white quotation marks to get around plagiarism software. These days, it's more likely they're using ChatGPT to rewrite their papers.

But getting around the system isn't new. Students have found ways to outsource their work for years. I once had a student submit a paper that included the following at the bottom, something she clearly forgot to delete: "Thank you for purchasing this paper. That will be fifteen dollars." I believe the price has gone up since then.

While those kinds of shortcuts were easier to spot, the tools students use now are more sophisticated. Grammarly, for example, was widely recommended as a writing aid, and many schools encouraged its use. But now it sometimes gets flagged in AI detection reports. What was once a tool to support learning might now complicate things. Whether it is helpful or harmful often depends on the intent behind it and the system doing the reviewing.

Detection tools have gotten better at spotting tricks by looking at context and removing formatting. But the bigger issue is still there. When students believe the system is more focused on catching them than helping them learn, they will always find a way around it.

The same mindset driving white fonting and AI-written essays shows up across nearly every platform.

Social media influencers use engagement pods to artificially boost visibility. Sellers use brushing scams and fake reviews to rank higher on e-commerce sites. SEO specialists use keyword stuffing and cloaked pages to rise in search rankings. Test takers use screen mirroring, hidden devices, or even fake webcam movement to fool remote proctoring.

Outsmarting the system has become a skill. But it is often a response to the feeling that the system itself is no longer working for the individual. Still, it raises a fair question. If people spent as much time doing the work as they do trying to get around it, wouldn't that be more productive? Maybe. But when someone feels the odds are stacked against them, working around the system can feel like the only way forward.

This behavior is not always about deception. More often, it is about frustration. People feel unseen by machines and blocked by rules they do not understand. They want in but do not know how to navigate the filters standing in the way.

There is something deeper too. People are naturally curious. They test boundaries, push limits, and explore loopholes not always to break the rules but to understand them. Outsmarting is not always defiance. Sometimes it is innovation.

White fonting and similar behaviors fall on a spectrum. Sometimes they are clever ways to gain visibility. Other times they cross the line into deception. But if people are bending the rules just to be considered fairly, it may be time to examine the rules themselves.

For job seekers, students, and creators, the issue is often not about ethics but about access. They are asking how else they can get a chance.

Rather than punish manipulation, HR teams should examine what is driving it. If people are outsmarting your hiring process, that is a signal. It means the process is perceived as unfair, overly filtered, or too impersonal.

Here is what organizations can do:

The best candidates may not always look perfect on paper. Sometimes, the most valuable hires are the ones trying the hardest to be seen.

The same mindset of outsmarting applies to company review sites. Some former employees have found ways to manipulate platforms like Glassdoor to damage an employer's reputation. Tactics include mass posting negative reviews under multiple fake accounts, copy-pasting slightly altered feedback to create volume, or coordinating group efforts to flood a company's page. Others wait for news of layoffs or leadership changes and time their reviews for maximum visibility.

While Glassdoor uses fraud detection tools to identify suspicious content, no system is perfect. Some coordinated attacks can still get through. These actions are attempts to outsmart a system that may feel like the only way to hold a company accountable. For HR leaders and executives, these incidents are a reminder that reputation systems must be monitored, but they must also be trusted enough not to invite sabotage.

If people feel they need to cheat your system, the system may be part of the problem. White fonting, fake reviews, AI-generated content, and even coordinated review attacks all stem from environments where trust in the process has broken down.

Instead of reinforcing complexity, organizations should examine what is encouraging these behaviors in the first place. Outsmarting the systems provides feedback. People are still trying. They want in. They are just not convinced that playing by the rules will work.

Most people do not try to outsmart systems they trust. If outsmarting the system is happening everywhere, from classrooms to job boards to e-commerce platforms, it deserves serious attention. I once interviewed Dr. John Kotter, a renowned Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School and a leading expert on leadership and change. His work on resistance is especially relevant in this context because when people do not feel empowered within a system, they often look for ways to work around it. They are not necessarily resisting the outcome but rather the structure that feels unfair or unyielding. The future of work will increasingly depend on automation and algorithms, but it must also allow space for trust, transparency, and human creativity. If someone is trying to outsmart your system, the more important question is not how to stop them but what their actions are revealing about the system itself. Outsmarting the system is not going away, but there is an opportunity to design systems that are strong, fair, and human in ways that reduce the desire to bypass them. more
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HR & Recruitment

 1mo

"Another Shot" Recruiting - Providing New Hires That Were Lied To An Escape Offer - Dr John Sullivan


80% of managers say lying is acceptable. As a result, 72% of new hires report being lied to during their hiring process. And once they realize that the job that they got was nowhere near their "promised job." Many quickly decide they will now be open to an "escape job offer," which will quickly allow them to leave the company that will probably continue lying to them.

The "another shot"... recruiting strategy is designed to provide these now disenchanted new hires (who were recently your top candidates) with an "escape job offer" from your company that they can accept right before resigning. This strategy is called "Another Shot recruiting" because it gives your hiring manager "another shot" (or second chance) at landing the former top candidate. Your company would have probably landed them if your talent competitor hadn't extensively misrepresented numerous aspects of their new job and company.

Is hiring just another variation of liar's poker, where the hiring manager and the candidate take turns lying to look good? Well, I have found that most assume that "the candidates" as a group are the biggest liars during the hiring process. However, the data actually reveals that 35% of candidates admit to having lied during the hiring process. Surprisingly, an even higher percentage of hiring managers/recruiters (36%) also admit to frequent lying.

Recent research by CareerBuilder reveals that of the hiring managers who lie, 30% say that they lie most or all of the time. And when managers do lie, they do it in areas that are critical to job acceptance. For example, 40% of the managers who lie do it in the area of employee growth opportunities, and an astonishing 24% lie in their offer letters. Other important areas where lying is prevalent include 28% lying about their benefits, 26% lying about the company's financial health, and 24% lying about their company's compensation. Obviously, when new hires find that they have been lied to in so many of these important areas, most immediately consider quitting.

Sadly, 92% of managers report that their misled candidates have accepted one of their jobs. And after starting their job, 55% of managers say they've had new hires quit because they felt betrayed. And among those new hires that quit because of this rampant misrepresentation, 49 % left quickly (within their first month).

Even though the concept of another shot recruiting is easy to understand, the project leader should still expect significant resistance from HR, hiring managers, and recruiting leadership when implementing the strategy. You can help to limit this resistance by emphasizing the many benefits that the strategy provides. Those benefits include:

Incidentally, you can learn more about how to get your own recent employee quits to return here.

The execution of the "another shot" recruiting process begins after you decide that you will use every opportunity to land the top candidates you lost. The second step is to start identifying the talent competitor companies that frequently lose new hires because of their pattern of lying. Then, when you lose a top candidate to one of these identified companies in a head-to-head recruiting battle. Next, allocate a portion of your recruiter's time to subtly keep in touch with your lost candidate to judge their unhappiness level and likelihood of accepting a rescue offer. When you determine they're open to a rescue offer, proceed by providing them with a completely honest and updated offer at which they will likely jump at.

In today's tough talent market, growing companies simply can't afford to lose any of their top candidates (especially those who work in AI or cybersecurity) for any reason. I find it strange that most corporations don't have a formal process for accurately determining the specific reasons why they are losing their top finalists. You can't fix the loss of your top candidate problem until you know precisely why you are losing. So, in addition to implementing the "Another Shot" strategy. I recommend that recruiting leaders also implement a candidate exit survey. After a 60-day delay, anonymously ask your top two finalists in key jobs to reveal why they dropped out of our recruiting process or why they chose another offer over ours. You can learn more details on how to conduct candidate exit interviews here. more
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  • Able D. Paryon

    3w

    Thanks very insightful and the Liars Poker made me happy to hear.

HR & Recruitment

 3w

Top Strategies to Enhance Job Motivation in Any Workplace


Job motivation is crucial for productivity and job satisfaction. In this article, we explore practical strategies to boost job motivation in any workplace. From intrinsic to extrinsic motivators, learn how to create a motivated and engaged workforce.

Job motivation is the driving force behind an employee's effort and commitment to their work. It encompasses the various psychological processes... that initiate work-related behavior and sustain it over time. Recognizing job motivation nurtures productivity and sustained engagement, resulting in higher employee satisfaction and organizational success.

When employees are motivated, they tend to work harder, show dedication, and contribute significantly to achieving the company's goals. A motivated workforce is not only more productive but also more innovative, consistently delivering high-quality work. However, lack of motivation can lead to poor performance, missed deadlines, and overall failure in accomplishing tasks and goals.

Grasping the concept of job motivation involves understanding the two main types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Both types play a vital role in workplace motivation and must be balanced to create a motivated workplace.

Intrinsic motivation is when employees are driven by internal factors such as personal satisfaction, enjoyment, and a sense of accomplishment. This type of motivation is linked to positive outcomes, including job satisfaction, high performance, low absenteeism, and reduced turnover rates. When employees feel valued and included in the workplace, they develop intrinsic motivation, aligning their personal goals with the company's mission and driving performance.

High levels of intrinsic motivation can lead to employees feeling more engaged and energized, as they derive pleasure and fulfillment from their work. This internal drive not only boosts employee motivation but also enhances overall job satisfaction and performance.

Creating an environment that nurtures intrinsic motivation leads to sustained employee engagement and productivity.

Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, is driven by external rewards such as money, bonuses, or the avoidance of negative outcomes like job loss. These external factors play a crucial role in attracting new talent and retaining existing employees, significantly influencing their motivation levels. Examples of extrinsic rewards include extra vacation days, vouchers, or travel incentives, all of which can effectively motivate employees.

Although extrinsic motivation works well in the short term, balancing it with intrinsic motivators maintains long-term engagement. Leveraging both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation helps organizations create a comprehensive strategy to boost employee motivation and drive sustained success.

Several key factors influence job motivation, each playing a significant role in shaping employees' attitudes and behaviors at work. These factors include the workplace environment, company culture, and employee recognition. Understanding these elements can help organizations create strategies to improve employee motivation and foster a motivated workplace.

Psychological needs, such as autonomy, competence, and social relatedness, are vital in determining work motivation and individual behavior in the workplace. Positive relationships and social factors also significantly impact work motivation, enhancing productivity and encouraging engagement in activities. Promoting a healthy work-life balance and implementing employee wellness initiatives can lead to increased gratitude and overachievement among employees.

Addressing these key factors enables organizations to create a supportive and motivating environment that encourages employees to perform at their best. Delving deeper into each of these factors reveals how they contribute to job motivation.

A positive workplace environment is crucial for enhancing employee motivation. An environment that embraces inclusivity and supports all employees can significantly uplift morale and motivation. Creating an inclusive atmosphere where employees feel valued and respected fosters a sense of belonging and encourages them to contribute more effectively to the organization's goals.

Specific elements like natural light in the workplace can also enhance employee motivation. Exposure to natural light has been proven to boost mood and energy, resulting in increased productivity and greater engagement among employees.

Focusing on creating a positive and inclusive workplace environment boosts employee motivation and overall job satisfaction.

Company culture plays a pivotal role in influencing employee motivation. A culture that promotes a sense of belonging and community among employees enhances motivation and drives engagement. Communicating the company's mission and values effectively helps reinforce a motivating culture, aligning employees' personal goals with the organization's objectives.

Encouraging open dialogue and promoting a supportive team environment can enhance employees' resilience during challenging times. Building a strong sense of belonging minimizes burnout and fosters emotional connection, trust, and purpose, ultimately boosting motivation and job satisfaction.

Cultivating a positive company culture helps organizations create a motivated workplace that supports employees' well-being and performance.

Employee recognition is a powerful tool for boosting motivation and morale. Regular and meaningful recognition of employee efforts significantly enhances motivation and encourages continued high performance. Simple gestures such as handwritten notes or custom rewards can make employees feel valued and appreciated, fostering a culture of recognition.

Intangible rewards, such as praise and acknowledgment, have a substantial impact on motivation, especially when they follow desired behavior and are tied to performance. Daily appreciation gestures, shout-outs in meetings, and quick thank-you notes are effective ways to recognize contributions and boost morale.

Consistently recognizing employee achievements helps maintain long-term motivation and create a positive work environment.

Effective strategies are crucial for boosting job motivation and creating a motivated workplace. These strategies include setting achievable goals, encouraging teamwork, and providing continuous feedback. Adopting these approaches fosters an environment that motivates employees and drives engagement.

Small, consistent rewards and individual or team incentives can effectively boost motivation over time. Encouraging creativity and healthy competition among employees can also enhance motivation and engagement, leading to a more vibrant work culture.

Exploring these strategies in more detail reveals how they can be implemented to improve employee motivation.

Achievable goals are vital for employee motivation as they provide direction and a sense of accomplishment. Clearly defining the company's goals helps employees understand their objectives, enhancing their motivation to achieve them. Goals that appear achievable lead to greater acceptance and commitment from employees.

To be effective, goals should be specific to each employee's job and follow the S.M.A.R.T. criteria:

Breaking down goals into manageable actions creates momentum and helps maintain focus on long-term objectives.

Aligning employee objectives with the company's mission enhances productivity and goal attainment, boosting motivation.

Teamwork is one of the greatest motivators in the workplace, helping employees share responsibilities and achieve collective goals. Strong team dynamics are vital for a motivated workforce, fostering a sense of belonging and involvement. Effective team communication and collaboration are essential for mitigating group-level motivational challenges and enhancing overall motivation.

Methods to enhance teamwork include team-building activities, intranet messenger chats, virtual meetings, and face-to-face interactions. Friendly competition in the workplace encourages team spirit and boosts morale, creating a positive work environment.

Fostering teamwork strengthens connections among employees and improves overall job satisfaction.

Continuous feedback is crucial for boosting employee motivation. Regular constructive feedback highlights growth opportunities and fosters self-efficacy, encouraging employees to engage and perform at their best. Positive reinforcement, like frequent praise, motivates employees by acknowledging their efforts and desired behaviors.

Managers play a key role in providing continuous feedback and coaching employees. Managers acting as great coaches help employees develop strengths and overcome challenges, enhancing their motivation.

Listening to employee needs and providing feedback demonstrates consideration and support, creating a motivated workplace. Fostering a culture of continuous feedback improves employee satisfaction and performance.

Employee engagement is a critical component of job motivation. Engaged employees are more committed, productive, and satisfied with their work. Enhancing employee engagement includes providing career development opportunities, empowering employees, and promoting a healthy work-life balance.

Leadership plays a significant role in influencing employee motivation through their actions and behaviors. Encouraging a culture of continuous improvement and providing consistent training opportunities can significantly engage employees by showing them the value of their contributions.

Exploring these aspects in more detail shows how they can enhance employee engagement and motivation.

Career development opportunities are a significant aspect of extrinsic motivation beyond financial rewards. Clear career advancement paths promote employee motivation and overall productivity. Programs like the Leadership Development Program, which provides training, mentoring, and clear pathways for advancement, are essential for fostering motivation.

Employees need to feel that their work translates into growth, experience, and mobility. Providing continuous learning opportunities and communicating with employees about their future and growth opportunities can significantly enhance job satisfaction and motivation. Supporting professional development helps create a motivated and engaged workforce.

Empowering employees with autonomy positively influences work motivation by improving efficiency and sustaining engagement. Giving employees decision-making authority fosters a sense of responsibility and enhances their motivation. Removing micromanagement and providing guidance while allowing autonomy leads to a more motivated workforce.

Including employees in decision-making processes and asking for their feedback makes them feel valued and respected, boosting their motivation. Coaching managers who empower rather than micromanage can help foster a sense of autonomy and engagement among employees.

Empowering employees creates a motivated workplace that supports motivated employees' satisfaction and performance.

Promoting a healthy work-life balance is crucial for maintaining employee well-being and motivation. Personal challenges, like work-life balance, can significantly affect motivation levels. Encouraging a healthy balance between work and personal life can lead to increased employee focus, reduced stress, and overall better performance.

Stress management programs and flexible work arrangements help employees cope with challenges and maintain motivation. Prioritizing work-life balance creates a supportive environment that enhances employee engagement and job satisfaction.

Measuring job motivation sustains a motivated workplace. It helps identify areas that need improvement and track the effectiveness of motivation strategies. Being mindful and proactive in measure work motivation can ensure long-term success and employee engagement. Traditional methods of measuring motivation, such as surveys and performance reviews, provide valuable insights but often lag behind real-time needs.

Frequent assessments and asking targeted questions about team dynamics can provide a clearer picture of motivation levels. Effective communication within organizations significantly boosts retention of top talent, making it crucial to measure motivation accurately.

Let's explore formal assessments and employee feedback as two vital methods for measuring job motivation.

Formal assessments like surveys and performance reviews are essential tools for gauging employee motivation effectively. Surveys typically use a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates strong agreement with positive statements about motivation. Analyzing survey results involves reverse coding scores and computing mean scores to identify motivation trends among employees.

A new performance management system that focuses on continuous feedback and recognition can also evaluate employee motivation. By using these formal assessments, organizations can gather valuable data to understand and improve motivation levels, ensuring a motivated and productive workforce.

Regular, constructive feedback is crucial for keeping employees motivated and engaged. Feedback sessions provide employees with valuable insights into their performance and progress, helping them understand areas for improvement and growth. These sessions can identify specific needs and support employees in achieving their goals, thereby boosting motivation.

Continuous feedback fosters an environment where employees feel valued and understood, enhancing job motivation and satisfaction. By prioritizing regular feedback, organizations can create a supportive and motivating work environment that encourages employees to perform at their best.

Maintaining motivation in the workplace can be challenging due to various factors. Insufficient motivation can lead to poor employee performance, regardless of their skills. Addressing common motivational challenges involves understanding the underlying causes of demotivation and building resilience among employees.

Proactively addressing these issues creates a motivated workplace that supports employee engagement and performance. Examining strategies for addressing demotivation and building resilience helps overcome these common challenges.

Common causes of demotivation include a disconnect in purpose, meaning, and values. When employees don't relate to the company's mission, they often lose motivation. A sense of loss of meaning can lead to decreased motivation and engagement among employees. Employers should arrange informal chats to understand and address the reasons behind an employee's demotivation.

Ensuring an equitable ratio of inputs to outputs is crucial for employee satisfaction, according to Equity Theory. Fostering a deeper connection to the work and addressing identified causes of demotivation can significantly enhance overall workplace morale and productivity. Reconnecting employees with their work boosts motivation and job satisfaction.

Resilience refers to the ability of employees to bounce back from difficult situations, which is crucial for maintaining motivation in challenging times. Building resilience can be achieved through supportive management practices that encourage open communication and problem-solving. Implementing stress management programs can help employees cope with challenges, thereby fostering resilience.

Emphasizing resilience helps employees stay motivated, even in the face of adversity. Creating a supportive environment that prioritizes resilience ensures sustained motivation and engagement among the workforce.

Long-term strategies are essential for maintaining employee motivation and reducing turnover rates. Implementing a combination of strategies tailored to employees' interests can effectively enhance their motivation over time. These strategies include continuous improvement programs and regular training and development.

Focusing on long-term motivation strategies helps create a motivated workplace that supports employee engagement and productivity. Exploring these strategies in more detail helps understand their impact on sustained motivation.

Continuous improvement initiatives are designed to enhance operational efficiency and encourage employee involvement in the process. Successful continuous improvement programs depend on identifying specific areas within an organization that need enhancement. Regularly updating processes and encouraging feedback can significantly improve employee motivation and engagement.

Implementing continuous improvement programs creates a culture of growth and development that supports long-term motivation. These initiatives not only enhance employee productivity but also foster a sense of ownership and involvement in achieving organizational goals.

Regular training initiatives are crucial for fostering ongoing motivation among employees. Training shows the employer's dedication to employee growth, increasing motivation and engagement. Such initiatives improve employees' skills, making them more effective in their roles and contributing to the organization's success.

Ongoing training and development contribute significantly to maintaining high levels of job motivation. Prioritizing employee growth and development creates a motivated workplace that supports continuous improvement and professional development.

Job motivation drives employee engagement and organizational success. By focusing on key factors like workplace environment, company culture, and employee recognition, organizations can create strategies to boost motivation. Setting achievable goals, encouraging teamwork, and offering regular feedback are essential for maintaining a motivated workforce. Long-term strategies like continuous training and development further sustain motivation and reduce turnover. Prioritizing motivation helps create a thriving, productive workplace where employees feel valued and empowered to succeed.

Job motivation is the driving force behind an employee's effort and commitment, which is essential for enhancing productivity and sustaining engagement. This ultimately leads to greater employee satisfaction and contributes to the overall success of the organization.

Job motivation is significantly influenced by the workplace environment, company culture, and employee recognition, alongside psychological needs and a healthy work-life balance. Prioritizing these factors can enhance overall motivation and productivity in the workforce.

Setting achievable goals boosts employee motivation by providing clear direction and fostering a sense of accomplishment. By following the S.M.A.R.T. criteria, employees can better understand their objectives and align their efforts with the company's vision.

Continuous feedback is essential for employee motivation as it highlights growth opportunities and fosters a supportive environment, making employees feel valued and understood. This engagement ultimately drives them to perform at their best.

To sustain job motivation in the long term, focus on continuous improvement programs and regular training opportunities. These strategies not only enhance skills but also foster a culture of growth, keeping employees engaged and motivated. more

HR & Recruitment

 1mo

Sustaining high employee engagement


It has always been a challenge for me to get my employees to have more compassion for the business in which we are trying so hard to thrive. Would you have any suggestions?

Answer: If you were to ask either ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot about ideas on how to sustain high employee engagement, their answers will invariably be broken down into the following seven strategies:

Provide growth and... development opportunities via continuous learning, which may come by way of workshops, mentorships and overall career development programs.

Needless to say, internal recruitment for higher positions and upskilling help.

I would just like to add another dimension -- financially empower employees not only with fatter compensation benefits but with practical application of lessons on how to get and stay on the road to financial freedom. This way, employees get less distracted by personal finance issues and become more focused at work as well as at home.

Multitasking?

While Abraham Maslow never said that there is a hierarchy to the needs he identified in every individual (i.e. physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualization needs), it cannot be denied that the physiological needs, especially in relation to money or lack thereof, can be overwhelmingly distracting. Our limited human brain can focus only in the absence of distractions.

And how distracted can employees get? Oh, so very easily. Financial concerns can be as annoying as having a tiny pebble in your shoe. If you have not experienced this annoyance, try it now. It will not take long for you to be agitated enough to want to remove your shoe and shake out that pebble.

Many say that people can be trained to multitask. I do not argue with that. But can you really train a person to focus on two things at the same time? Multitasking is only possible because the activities are routine. Do not believe me?

Have a seat if you are not already seated. Lift your right leg. While your left leg is rotating, draw the number six in the air with your right hand.

Were you able to do it? You are probably laughing right now.

The human brain is not a computer because it still ends up focusing on one thing at a time. Money problems are so distracting that they demand attention and focus.

Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group was quoted as saying, "Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to." And, according to Dr. E Thomas Garman, founder of the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation of the US, a great way to manifest such treatment for employees is to "...have them be better off financially when they leave you than when they started with you."

So, be so bold as to empower your employees financially through the application of personal finance lessons.

The impact will come in the form of either one or a combination of the following: more
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