Waikato Business News August/September 2021

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14 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS August/September 2021 HR AND RECRUITMENT Retain, retain, retain PEOPLE AND CULTURE > BY SENGA ALLEN Managing Director, Everest – All about people TM www.everestpeople.co.nz Every week I take a dozen calls from employers who are frustrated about losing their talent in this highly competitive market we’re sitting in right now. In some cases, we need turnover in our businesses but when it’s unplanned or even worse, unexpected, it can put your business in a risky position. We’ve been sharing a few tips and techniques with our clients, and I thought it would be great to also share some with our readers! First up – there will be some staff who will leave no matter what you do. If an employee has one foot out the door, chances are they have been thinking about leaving for a while and someone, something, or a better offer made that exit happen faster. Next, there are some staff are actively looking at their options; have been offered another job and quietly start a bidding war with their current employer. Look, I can’t tell you whether you should or shouldn’t play in that pit, but I would say, if they were worth more when employed by you, why didn’t you pay them more (if you could afford to?). Ask yourself at that very point, what could I have done differently and then go ahead and assess your team and find out whether you have flight risks anywhere else. Make sure your managers or anyone else in your team are not compelling great employees to leave. You’ve heard the expression I’m sure “people leave managers, not companies” My advice here is it isn’t always about money either. For a lot of people an extra $2-$5k extra a year will make a massive difference to their lifestyle, for others, not so much. For other people, extra leave to spend time with their kids in the school holidays is a huge retainer for them. An extra week’s leave costs you 2% of their salary. Not huge, but highly rewarding for the employee. Some people want to start earlier, leave earlier, work from home on the odd occasion. Let’s face it folks – the “typical workday” of 8-5pm Monday to Friday is fast becoming a dinosaur. Anymore lock downs and we’ll all be experts at working for home! Other great retention examples I’ve heard lately include community days off to go and work for a charity that needs it, duvet days (great for my mental health that’s for sure!), good old team celebrations when you get even the smallest wins, out of the box recognition (remember your extroverts love this and your introverts will love it – away from other people!) – by this I mean, just taking 5-10 minutes to warmly and genuinely thanking someone for something they did well. Hello – I love that sort of praise and so do others! Mentoring programmes are taking off – this is a great way for an employee to feel truly supported in their development. Think about wellness offerings like stress management programmes, retirement planning, reimbursement for gym classes and other things you might consider providing to employees? Summing up I think we all need to take a good hard look at our current teams and take stock. Run a survey, get some data – how are people feeling, how engaged are they in your workplace? Are they considering another job right now (you can ask that question!), what would make them stay loyal to you (yep, you can ask that question too!)? Lastly, make sure your managers or anyone else in your team are not compelling great employees to leave. You’ve heard the expression I’m sure “people leave managers, not companies”. If you or someone else in your business is the catalyst for people leaving your organisation, now is the time to get some help!
HR AND RECRUITMENT WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS August/September 2021 15 Does Blogging Help with Google Rankings? THE DIGITAL WORLD > BY JOSH MOORE Josh Moore leads the team at Duoplus - a Hamilton-based digital marketing agency that helps businesses grow through highly measurable online marketing. www.duoplus.nz Some people think that blogging is the best way to improve your rank in Google search results. And they are right – to a point. The fact is, you can waste hours writing blogs and never see any improvement. Or sometimes, it can work great! So, what works and what doesn’t? How can you get the result you’re looking for? We write content for our clients all the time, and there are few tricks that can help super-charge each blog post or article. Sometimes our clients write content themselves too, and there is one key step we always recommend: Answer questions that people are asking. For example, one of our electrician clients recently wrote a post about the risks involved in charging your electric vehicle from a standard household power socket, and what to do instead. It was a brilliant article, because it answered a question that every EV owner has asked – “Should I charge my EV using a standard household power socket?” Now, how do we know that people are asking that question? Simple. Google tells us what questions people are asking. It’s not hidden away. It’s actually easy to find and it provides a goldmine of value that can help you ensure that your content always matches what searchers are looking for. Because here’s the newsflash: Google is not interested in you or your business. Horrifying I know! Google is primarily concerned with the people using their search engine to find answers. They are absolutely committed to giving searchers the best answer they possibly can. Google uses complex Google is primarily concerned with the people using their search engine to find answers. They are absolutely committed to giving searchers the best answer they possibly can. algorithms and artificial intelligence to understand exactly what searchers are really asking. Then, it searches the internet for the best answer to the question. So, to rank higher, we need to write the best answers to the questions that are already being asked. Fortunately, Google is so interested in clarifying search intent, that they offer a few suggestions to the searcher, so that they can provide a more accurate answer. This is where the magic begins. If you Google "charge my EV at home," you will begin to see the results that Google believes you want. You will also see a heading "People also ask." Under that heading you will see several more specific questions about charging EVs. • Can you charge an electric car with a regular outlet? • What is needed to charge an electric car at home? • Can you charge EV car at home? • How fast can you charge an EV at home?? In this section on the search results page, Google is showing you what questions people are asking that are related to your search. You can easily try this for your business. What question do you get asked all the time? Pop that question in Google and see what comes up under "People also ask." And as an extra tip, when you click on one of the questions, Google then immediately expands the number of questions it listed. It generally starts by showing three to four questions. If you click on a question, it will add another four questions to the list. By doing this you can build up a large list of questions that people are asking. Then, to when it comes to creating your content, all we have to do is write content that addresses one or more of these questions. In fact, you can put together a long article answering a lot of these questions all on one post. By starting with the questions people are already asking you’ll be writing relevant content and will find that Google is a lot more likely to rank your website more strongly for searches related to the questions your site answers. Easy right? Well, yes and no. Content takes work, but this approach is certainly a good place to start. A look at the Waikato recruitment market one year on from COVID-19 Positioning Excellence Locally owned and operated, Asset Recruitment has been established for more than 30 years. We’re specialists in temporary, permanent, executive and industrial recruitment. If you’re looking to hire or would like to discuss career opportunities, do get in touch with our team. We position excellence in roles across different industries and sectors, working with both candidates and clients to secure the right fit for temporary, permanent and contract positions. Recruit with Excellence. Recruit with Asset. Temporary | Permanent | Executive | Industrial 07 839 3685 | www.assetrec.co.nz As recruiters we have a number of tools at our disposal – a database of job seekers; a library of questions to ask during preliminary interviews; recruitment checks; and an ongoing commitment to positioning excellence. But one thing we don’t have is a crystal ball. However, if we did, we’re not sure even a crystal ball could have told us what the Waikato job market would be like 12+ months on from COVID. Today, we’re recruiting in a market with a record low unemployment rate, minimal applicant movement, and a market that is crying out for migrant workers to fill some of New Zealand’s most essential roles. Carmel Strange, Asset Recruitment’s Manager and Temporary & Contract Recruitment Specialist, said a combination of booming industries and labour shortages has created a recruitment market no one could have predicted 12 months ago. “There are so many factors contributing to this market,” explains Carmel. “The construction industry is extremely busy and creating a number of jobs, the horticultural industry has faced a continued shortage of migrant workers coming into the country, and the hospitality sector is in dire need of experienced staff. The shortage is right across the board; no industry is exempt.” Changing times in the labour force Recruiting in such a market requires employers to think outside the box. “Until everyone is vaccinated and the New Zealand Government allows more people into the country, I think this situation is going to continue,” says Carmel. “It is a challenging recruitment market but not an impossible one. We just have to approach job vacancies differently.” For starters, Carmel says employers need to prioritise the attributes they’re seeking in a candidate. “We’re not going to be able to tick every single box, so we’re working with clients to determine what are non-negotiables in either a role or a candidate,” she says. “For example, if a candidate has the right attitude and personality and will be a good fit for a company’s culture, systems and processes can be placed around them to develop the necessary skills.” Carmel is also urging employers to really look after their staff. “Some companies do this better than others but there’s always room for improvement. It really is a candidates’ market out there so we’re advising our clients to go the extra mile to keep their staff because, if they Carmel Strange leave, it will be tough to find a replacement.” Candidates content to stay Another contributing factor to the current recruitment market is the underlying element of uncertainty that is seeing fewer people change roles. “People aren’t looking for new roles like they used to be,” says Carmel. “They’re stable in their jobs and would prefer to have that perceived security, rather than move elsewhere. This reduces the number of candidates in the market even further.” There has been some respite for industries with the extension of working holiday visas, but for now, the tough recruitment market is set to stay, so seeking expert help to fill vacancies is essential. Carmel and the Asset Recruitment team continue to position excellence in roles across different industries and sectors, working with both candidates and clients to secure the right fit for temporary, permanent and contract positions. If you’re seeking candidates to join your organisation, give the Asset Recruitment team a call today.
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Waikato Business News August/September 2021

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