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06
Oct
SeekOut
October 2021 SeekOut Product Update

Our SeekOut product team has been hard at work to help you power faster, more complex searches and deliver even more candidate results. Our October 2021 release delivers enhanced power filters, improved Software Developer Insights, time zone distance on candidate profiles, and 20 million new candidate profiles with fresh information.

Let’s dig into the updates and what you can expect.  

Enhanced Power Filters 

Power filters allow you to run complex, targeted searches with a single click. They’re one of our most popular features and we’ve made them even more powerful with this update to increase efficiency, insights, and explain-ability: 

  • Faster, more complex searches – You can now combine up to five power filters in a single search and we’ve shortened the time it takes to return search results. 
  • Power filter values in People Insights – SeekOut now includes a numerical value in People Insights showing how many candidates match a particular power filter, so users have more insightful talent pool data for the searches they run. 

Introducing Power Filter Badges 

SeekOut now displays badges on profiles for candidates who match specific power filters—even before a search is run.  

Displaying these badges on the top of profiles makes it faster and easier for talent acquisition professionals to quickly see the most relevant candidate characteristics without having to scan the whole profile during their search. 

If you want to see why a candidate matches a particular power filter, click “More” on their badge. It will expand and show the terms on their profile that make them a match.  

Improved Software Developer Insights 

We improved Software Developer Insights to surface data, making it faster and easier to understand. Results will now display: 

  • A word cloud of the most common skills and power filter matches present in the talent pool. 
  • A chart of the most common programming languages known by candidates in the talent pool. 

The Skills Insights chart has been updated to give a quick visual overview of the talent pool. 

Introducing Time Zone Distance 

With remote and hybrid work being the new normal, Time Zone Distance shows talent acquisition professionals the time difference between them and the candidate.

More Profiles and Fresher Candidate Information 

Public profiles have expanded from 622 million to 642 million candidate profiles, all with fresher and more accurate information. This update includes 5% more Expert Profiles with improved diversity classification and location mapping in the Expert database. 

Discover Your Next Great Team Member with SeekOut 

The entire team at SeekOut is always striving to help our customers discover and connect with great candidates—with a focus on diversity and technical expertise. We hope these changes make your sourcing and recruiting easier and more enjoyable. As always, please don’t hesitate to let us know how we can continue to improve SeekOut to make you more successful. 


16
Sep
SeekOut  ·  SeekOut Company Updates  ·  SeekOut Product Updates
SeekOut is Now SOC 2 Compliant

Users within industries ranging from tech to financial services rely on AI-powered tools that safeguard their most important and sensitive data. For companies choosing a SaaS platform to find their people assets, the assurance of privacy protection and data security is key. 

We’re excited to announce SeekOut is now SOC 2 Type 2 Compliant. This milestone validates our longstanding commitment to provide our customers with the peace of mind that their data is protected and our software is secure. 

By being SOC 2 Type 2 Compliant, SeekOut meets the global standard for securing and storing customer data. The SeekOut software and our business practices have passed an external audit from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to ensure we meet the following criteria: 

  • Security – The SeekOut software and customer data are protected from unauthorized access. 
  • Availability –SeekOut has controls for operations, monitoring, and maintenance. We meet the minimal acceptable performance level and regularly assess for and mitigate threats.  
  • Processing integrity – The SeekOut software performs as intended and data processing operations are authorized, complete, and accurate.  
  • Confidentiality – Customer data deemed confidential is accessible only to specific SeekOut employees.  
  • Privacy – SeekOut safeguards identifiable personal information from unauthorized access.  

SeekOut builds security into everything we do so our customers can focus on hiring, developing, and retaining talent to meet their organizational goals. Being SOC 2 Type 2 Compliant ensures our customers that we have the infrastructure and policies to protect their data from unauthorized access. 

Additional resources on SeekOut security, data protection, and compliance:  

SeekOut is seeing strong momentum with a rapidly growing customer base across several verticals. 7 of the 10 most highly valued companies leverage SeekOut for their talent needs. Request a demo to learn more about SeekOut.


15
Sep
Diversity Recruiting  ·  SeekOut
8 Diversity Hiring Statistics Every Talent Strategist Needs to Know

Building a company of diverse employees has become a top priority for talent acquisition professionals. And it makes perfect sense. A diverse workforce leads to better decision-making, happier employees, and significant business gains. 

However, there is plenty of data that shows there is progress to be made in improving diversity and inclusion in the workplace. In this blog post, we share eight diversity hiring statistics every talent leader needs to know.    

Companies with Diverse Leadership Generate More Revenue 

Having a diverse leadership team isn’t just a noble thing to do. Diverse managers and executives bring unique perspectives to the company, resulting in new ideas, greater innovation, and better business outcomes. 

A study from Boston Consulting Group found that companies with above-average diversity on their leadership team generated 19% more revenue due to innovation than companies with below-average leadership diversity. 

Source: Boston Consulting Group 

Women Drive Profits and Champion Diversity—But Many are Leaving the Workforce 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, women and men tended to leave their companies at similar rates. However, the challenges of the pandemic have significantly impacted working mothers, resulting in nearly two million women considering leaving the workforce, according to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2020 Report.  

Women’s exodus from the workforce will have major consequences for their companies’ financial success and diversity hiring. McKinsey reports that companies with well-represented female leadership can have close to 50% higher profits than companies that lack female leadership. Additionally, more than 50% of women in senior-leader roles advocate for gender and racial diversity in their workplace.

Source: McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2020 Report 

Job Seekers Want to Hear About Diversity and Inclusion from Current Employees 

Many companies promote their diversity and inclusion efforts as part of their recruiting strategy. Today’s job seekers value diversity when considering an opportunity but want to hear about employees’ first-hand experiences in the workplace.  

Glassdoor’s D&I Workplace Survey revealed that 66% of job seekers trust employees the most when it comes to understanding what diversity and inclusion at a company, significantly higher than the trust they put in senior leaders (19%), the company’s website (9%), and recruiters (6%).  

Source: Glassdoor’s D&I Workplace Survey 

Hispanic and Black/African American Professionals are Underrepresented in STEM Jobs 

Due to the high demand and specialized skills required, STEM jobs offer high compensation. According to Pew Research Group, the median annual earnings for a STEM professional is $77,400 compared to $46,900 for those who work in non-STEM jobs.  

However, the same study found that Hispanics hold only 8% of STEM jobs in the U.S., despite making up 17% of the workforce. Black/African Americans hold only 9% of STEM jobs while making up 11% of the workforce. Whites comprise 67% of STEM jobs but account for 63% of the workforce.  

Source: Pew Research Group 

Asian Americans Struggle to Advance their Careers 

One of the biggest challenges Asian Americans face is having the opportunity to climb the ranks in their company. IBM VP and CTO Radha Ratnaparkhi says, “Asians suffer on the sponsorship front—often dismissed as brilliant technologists but not considered capable of having executive presence to champion key initiatives.” 

A McKinsey report found there are 64% fewer Asian American men and 39% fewer Asian American women in senior roles compared to entry-level positions. According to an IBM study, Asian Americans account for 4.4% of Fortune 1000 board seats and only 1.47% of those seats are held by Asian American women. 

Source: McKinsey and IBM 

LGBTQ+ Employees Still Feel a Lack of Acceptance at Work  

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that LGBTQ+ people are protected from workplace discrimination under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Despite the landmark ruling and efforts from many companies to encourage employees to be their authentic selves at work, many LGBTQ+ professionals say their workplace isn’t inclusive. 

The National Human Rights Campaign Foundation reports that 51% of LGBTQ+ employees hide their sexual and/or gender identity at work. 58% say they’ve heard jokes or derogatory comments about LGBTQ+ people but only 5% reported those issues to human resources. 

Source: National Human Rights Campaign Foundation  

Job Seekers with Distinctively Black Names Get Passed Over by Recruiters 

It has long been known that resume details (first name, last name, photos) lead to unconscious bias that influences how recruiters and hiring managers assess candidates. A recent study validates this claim—finding that job seekers with distinctively Black names are less likely to be contacted after applying. 

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Chicago sent 83,000 fake applications to 108 of the largest employers in the U.S. They discovered that distinctively Black names reduced the probability of employer contact by 2.1 percentage points compared to distinctively White names. They also found that the lack of contact was concentrated to 23 specific companies. 

Source: The National Bureau of Economic Research  

Veterans Don’t Get to Use Their Full Skillset 

Military service provides veterans with unique training and experience. According to a Pew Research Survey, more than half of veterans say their service taught them skills that prepared them for jobs outside the military. 

However, many veterans don’t get the opportunity to fully apply their skills in their post-service careers. A joint study from the Call of Duty Endowment and ZipRecruiter found that 31.8% of veteran professionals are “underemployed,” meaning they settle for jobs where “employment is at a skill level below that which the job seekers were objectively qualified for.” 

Source: Pew Research and Call of Duty Endowment and ZipRecruiter 

How to Improve Diversity in Your Company 

Most talent acquisition professionals understand candidates want to work for a company that is welcoming to people from all backgrounds. In fact, 3 in 4 job seekers say they value workplace diversity when considering an opportunity, according to the Glassdoor Survey referenced earlier in this article. 

The challenge many companies face is translating diversity hiring intentions into actions and results. SeekOut’s data-driven diversity recruiting approach helps recruiters eliminate unconscious bias and quickly source qualified female, Hispanic/Latinx, Black/African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian, LGBTQ+, and veteran candidates.  

SeekOut is rated the #1 Diversity Hiring Software by G2 

SeekOut’s Diversity Talent Analytics helps recruiters set realistic diversity targets, drive hiring manager conversations for diversity-friendly job descriptions, and hone their diversity sourcing strategy. Learn how your company can create a data-driven diversity hiring strategy using SeekOut and easily build a diverse workforce.  

DEI Goes Beyond Diversity Hiring 

A diversity hiring strategy is the foundation of DEI—but there is more to truly being a diverse and inclusive company. After all, if the number of diverse employees exiting your organization outpace the number you bring in, your hiring efforts are meaningless.    

The statistics outlined in this article show there are advantages to workplace diversity, as well as deep-seated issues that prevent people from underrepresented groups from having the same career opportunities as everyone else. At SeekOut, we say diversity cannot work without inclusion, and diversity and inclusion cannot be sustained without belonging. Hire diverse employees and ensure they are treated fairly, heard, appreciated, and made to feel like they belong. 

If you’re trying to improve diversity recruiting, tap into tech talent for digital transformation, or become a talent advisor, we should connect. Request a demo today and learn why SeekOut is rated the #1 Diversity Hiring Software by G2.  


26
Aug
SeekOut
How to Translate Positive Diversity Hiring Intentions into Actions and Results

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are top priorities for nearly every company. According to Deloitte’s 2020 CEO Survey, 96% of CEOs agree DEI is a strategic goal. To meet that goal, 90% of those CEOs are prioritizing and investing in talent recruitment, development, advancement, and retention and 72% are prioritizing and investing in DEI data and transparency.

Despite these positive intentions, many organizations are struggling to increase the diversity of their workforce. GEM’s 2020 Recruiting Trends Report revealed that 49% of talent acquisition professionals say, “finding more diverse candidates to interview” is their biggest barrier to improving diversity.

SeekOut’s AI-powered Talent 360 platform gives talent acquisition professionals the tools and data to create an actionable diversity hiring strategy that helps their company achieve its DEI goals. In this article, you’ll learn concrete steps for using SeekOut to build a pipeline of highly qualified, diverse candidates.

Set Realistic Diversity Hiring Goals

Data is your ally when it comes to diversity hiring—and that includes using data to set realistic diversity targets. Start by gaining insight into what diversity currently looks like in your organization, then benchmark that data against the talent pools you hire from.

Perhaps, you already know Black/African Americans employees are underrepresented in your company. It’s great you’re aware of that but you can use data to identify the best opportunities to improve Black/African American representation in your workforce. Use SeekOut to explore the makeup of specific teams, roles, and levels in your organization and compare that data against your peers and the geographies your employees are located in.

If SeekOut shows that similar companies and your regional talent pools have a higher percentage of Black/African American data scientists than your company employs, that’s a realistic opportunity to improve diversity in your company. You can then set targets to hire more Black/African American data scientists and create a recruiting strategy for meeting that goal.

Analyze Your Talent Pools and Create Inclusive Job Descriptions

Every talent acquisition professional has experienced a hiring manager providing excessive role requirements they want included in the job description. Excessive requirements not only limit the number of candidates you can consider—they also discourage diverse candidates from applying. A Hewlett Packard internal report found that men will apply for a job when they meet 60% of the role requirements, but women tend to apply only if they’re 100% qualified for the job.

Using SeekOut Talent Analytics, you can have data-driven conversations with hiring managers about whether their role requirements will result in a viable candidate pipeline. You can view aggregate data on your talent pool’s job titles, skills, employment history, educational background, diversity, and more. You can then use these insights to collaborate with hiring managers on inclusive job descriptions that appeal to qualified, diverse talent—ensuring no viable candidate is left behind.

As Jim Barksdale, the former CEO of Netscape, once said, “If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” Data is objective and prevents opinions from influencing conversations about role requirements. Take advantage of SeekOut’s Talent Analytics and become a trusted talent advisor to hiring managers, helping them see the best path toward discovering their next great team member.

Create an Effective Sourcing Strategy

Using the inclusive job description you crafted with the hiring manager, create a profile of your ideal candidate and strategy for building a diverse hiring pipeline.

Explore Talent Analytics in SeekOut to find where qualified candidates are located and what it will take to make a successful hire. For example, you may need to consider a relocation budget for an ideal candidate or make remote work an option for the role. Think outside the box and determine how you can put your organization in the best position to attract diverse talent.

You can then use keywords, Boolean strings, filters, and AI matching in SeekOut to search for candidates who fit your profile and build a pipeline of qualified, diverse candidates to consider.

Mitigate Unconscious Bias in Candidate Assessments 

Unfortunately, even the most accepting people have biases they’re not aware of. These unconscious biases cause recruiters and hiring managers to make unfair assumptions about candidates during the sourcing stage—stifling diversity hiring efforts before they even begin.

For example, people often speculate about a candidate’s intelligence based on the college they attended. Even worse, a qualified candidate with an uncommon name can be passed over, only because the recruiter doesn’t want to go through the awkward experience of figuring out how to pronounce it.

With blind hiring mode in SeekOut, candidates’ names, photos, education, and other identifiable details are removed from their profiles. Recruiters and hiring managers are only able to consider skills and experience, preventing unconscious bias from influencing candidate assessments.

Connect with Diverse Talent

You’ve successfully discovered a variety of diverse candidates who are qualified for your open role. Now, you need to get their attention and pitch the opportunity to them.

So far, you’ve taken a strategic and data-driven approach to diversity hiring. However, candidate outreach requires a human touch. Instead of sending the same generic cold email to every candidate you’ve sourced, personalize the message to get their attention. Include what you saw on their profile that impressed you, whether that be a specific skill, a project they’ve contributed to, or a company they’ve worked for.

Lou Adler calls this outreach approach “hiring for success.” Personalizing outreach messages for each candidate is proven to increase response rates, making for a healthy hiring funnel.

Diversity Hiring is Only Part of the DEI Equation

A data-driven diversity hiring strategy brings people from different backgrounds into your company. However, there is more to being an organization that truly values DEI. After all, if two diverse employees are leaving your company for every one you bring in, your hiring efforts are ultimately meaningless.

Diversity cannot work without inclusion and diversity and inclusion cannot be sustained without belonging. The LinkedIn 2018 Global Recruiting Trends Report sums up this concept nicely: “Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance, and belonging is dancing like no one is watching.”

DEI is nuanced and multi-faceted. It starts with hiring people from different backgrounds but comes to life when you build a culture and workplace where people feel like they belong.

Request a SeekOut demo today and learn why our AI-powered talent search engine is rated the #1 diversity recruiting tool by G2.


20
Aug
SeekOut
SeekOut Rated the #1 Diversity Hiring Software by G2

Since the start of SeekOut in 2017, we’ve been dedicated to building software that helps companies discover hard-to-find talent, while enjoying a positive user and customer experience. We’re delighted we’re earning recognition and validation from customers and third-party analysts for our commitment to that goal.  

G2—the world’s largest business software marketplace—ranks SeekOut the top diversity recruiting software and recognizes us for our usability, fast implementation, and positive customer experience. Rankings are based on cumulative ratings and reviews from SeekOut customers and users. As of August 2021, SeekOut has over 200 reviews and an average overall rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.

SeekOut is the Leader in Diversity Recruiting Software 

SeekOut is ranked number one in G2’s “Diversity Recruiting Software” and “Enterprise Diversity Recruiting Software” categories. In addition to their rankings, G2 displays the top vendors in each category across a four-box grid. The horizontal x-axis represents overall customer satisfaction based on reviews and the vertical y-axis represents the vendor’s market presence. SeekOut scores high in both criteria, resulting in us landing in the upper right “Leaders” quadrant.

SeekOut offers multiple features that help talent acquisition professionals discover highly qualified, diverse talent: 

  • Understand the diversity of your talent pools – Review aggregate data on diversity at your company, similar companies, and the talent pools you hire from so you can create inclusive job descriptions and become a talent advisor to hiring managers.  
  • Build a diverse candidate funnel – Use filters, Boolean strings, and AI matching to search for candidates and build diverse slates for every role you hire for.   
  • Mitigate unconscious bias – Remove names, photos, and other identifiable details from candidate profiles with our blind hiring mode so your recruiting team only focuses on qualifications. 
  • Leverage alternative sources to find diverse candidates – Connect with diverse talent by using SeekOut to rediscover candidates in your ATS and tap into your employees’ and ERG’s connections. 

Make data your ally and use SeekOut to improve diversity outcomes in your company.

SeekOut has the Best Usability 

SeekOut took the top spot in multiple usability indexes for diversity recruiting software, including “Best Meets Requirements,” “Easiest to Use,” and “Best Usability.” Customers indicate that SeekOut has an intuitive interface, offers multiple features that serve their needs, and is widely adopted by talent acquisition team members.  

SeekOut is the Fastest to Implement  

SeekOut also came out on top in G2’s “Diversity Recruiting Implementation Index.”  

We scored highly for overall implementation, ease of setup, and average user adoption. Customers report it takes only a half month to go live with SeekOut, compared to the 2.13-month average implementation timeline for other market players.  

SeekOut Provides the Best Customer Experience  

Lastly, SeekOut led the way in G2’s “Diversity Recruiting Relationship Index.” Rankings are based on reviewers’ satisfaction in their different interactions with the company. Customers indicate SeekOut is easy to do business with, offers quality support, and that they’re likely to recommend SeekOut to others.  

Thank You for the Positive Reviews 

The entire team here at SeekOut is thrilled by the positive feedback and kind words our customers have left on G2. We’ve long been committed to building software that helps our customers succeed and a company they enjoy partnering with. We greatly appreciate all the reviews that have led to this recognition from G2.  

If you’re trying to make strides in diversity recruitment, tap into tech talent for digital transformation, or become a talent advisor, we should connect. We’ve found that a quick call can accelerate the learning curve and help you better assess if SeekOut is the right fit. Request a demo today and learn how you can leverage SeekOut to meet and exceed your diversity recruiting goals. 


06
May
Diversity Recruiting  ·  Recruiting Best Practices  ·  SeekOut
The Joy of the Search: How to Support Diversity Recruiting

With diversity recruiting at the top of the priority list for many companies, those involved with talent acquisition are continually looking for new ways to discover diverse candidates. But there’s more to finding diverse candidates than searching LinkedIn. 

Think about how you buy airline tickets. Back in the day, people typically went to a given airline’s website that offered the route they needed. Now, search engines and aggregators (like KAYAK & Travelocity) make it possible to see all the airlines flying to your destination, plus their schedules and pricing. You’ve got options and the ability to filter through the results. 

SeekOut takes a similar approach to diversity sourcing. LinkedIn is like that airline you always went to before the advent of sites like KAYAK and Travelocity. Just because it originated the professional network doesn’t make them the best way to access and unpack information about potential candidates. 

Likewise, if you’re keen to ensure diverse recruiting, you shouldn’t need to go to the same spot over and over again. I talk about different ways to promote diversity in the workplace on a recent episode of Sourcing School with Brian Fink and Ryan Leary.  

Here are my top six tips for discovering diverse candidates:   

  1. Establish who is responsible for diversity

Diversity means way more than hiring people who look different from one another. And yet, many organizations get stuck on this foundational aspect. 

Many things need to happen to move the needle on diversity, and one of the first steps an organization should take is determining who is responsible. 

Is it HR? The leadership team? Who is going to do the work and speak for the outcomes? Know your role first. 

  1. Leverage recruiting adjacent resources

There are plenty of great recruiting-related resources – this is one of them. Going to my point above, looking in the same place will yield the same results. 

One of my favorite books to give recruiters (and one that Fink also knows and loves) is The Joy of Search: A Google Insides Guide to Going Beyond the Basics. 

Is it about recruiting? Not really. Is it about being a great online searcher? 100 percent. And that’s what great recruiters are – great online searchers. 

  1. Look beyond the obvious

We need to challenge ourselves to think beyond what we know and how it shapes our worldview. This runs the gamut from the obvious to the not-so-obvious, like preferring candidates who went to Ivy League universities or California colleges because that reminds us of where we’re from and who we relate to. 

With SeekOut’s Blind Hiring Mode, you can focus your sourcing on experience and skills by hiding information that would reveal a candidate’s gender, race, or ethnicity so recruiters and hiring managers can minimize unintended bias. 

  1. Practice mindful sourcing

Mindfulness underpins so much of this conversation – especially as we put searches into action. That means reviewing keyword selection, incorporating gender-neutral or otherwise non-biased language. 

When it comes to finding diverse candidates, every word matters down to the letter. You need to not only look for diverse populations, but you also need to think like them. Our language is evolving and recruiting needs to too. 

  1. Pay extra attention during review

As you start to engage diverse candidates, pause and think about how you interact. The raised focus on diversity and inclusion might mean you make additional attempts to connect, even with active job seekers. 

You will likely need to adjust your outreach by working to understand this talent pool and demonstrating patience, persistence, and politeness. Respect the value they offer. 

  1. Data doesn’t lie

While it’s true that recruiting is about making connections, it’s also important to understand how and where you’re most effective in these efforts. 

Data can be a powerful ally, and SeekOut’s Diversity Talent Analytics will help set targets, drive conversations with hiring managers so you can create diversity-friendly job descriptions and hone your sourcing strategy. 

The overlay of technology works to ensure you’re on the right track and making progress with the candidates you’re looking to engage. 

In Closing 

With diversity recruiting, there are a few critical factors to keep in mind: sourcing goes beyond filters, bias comes from all directions, and headcount is just the start. 

Long-term change doesn’t happen overnight. You will make mistakes. 

You will probably even repeat some of them. It’s a process, one that benefits from thoughtfulness and intention – and thinking outside of the proverbial box as much as possible. 

Learn how SeekOut can help you recruit hard-to-find and diverse talent. Request a demo.

 

SeekOut Media Contact:
Eric Jaquith
Senior Account Executive
[email protected]


06
May
Recruiting Best Practices  ·  SeekOut
You Can’t Close If They Don’t Open: How to Up Response Rates

In a world where nearly everything has become quantifiable, it can be difficult to determine which metrics matter most. But when it comes to the top of the recruiting funnel, response rates reign supreme. And for one simple reason: you can’t close if they don’t open. 

Sure, getting a prospect to respond is the first in a series of steps, but any possibility of a relationship is done if they don’t. Not responding is a response. It’s a deliberate decision not to engage. And so, response rates work as a measure of effectiveness. 

Recently, I sat down with Ryan Leary, CMO at Recruitingdaily.com and Brian Fink, Senior Technical Recruiter at Rentpath to discuss response rates and how to move the needle. You can listen to it below: 

Truth be told, early in my career, my rates were low, hovering around 13 percent, but over time, through trial and error, I learned what works and now boast a 68 percent response rate. Brian, acknowledging that his rates are somewhere in the 30 percent range, asked for tips so others might learn. 

A Fact-Finding Mission 

My story starts in a familiar place, sending out detailed messages to potential candidates, giving them background on who I am, the company I work for, the job opening, and more. 

But despite all the time I spent crafting these messages, the rate of response wasn’t great, and I grew frustrated. Using that irritation to my advantage, I decided to go a proven route and turned to AI-powered email personalization with SeekOut. 

More like, “Hi, I’m Jackye, a recruiter at Y company. I am very impressed with your skillset and wanted to talk to you about X job. Are you interested in learning more?” 

Pretty quickly, I saw a pattern emerge as I ramped up these communications and tracked my campaign results within SeekOut. According to data provided by the software, it was clear responses went up when I kept my messages more personalized and asked for permission. My current method relies on this approach, and it’s a theme I carry through each interaction. 

The reason I ask for permission is that prospective candidates aren’t always excited to hear from recruiters. That type of thinking is assumptive. It’s a common mindset and one that recruiters likely need to move away from. 

Instead of presenting as all-knowing, I use curiosity to get the conversation going. That means including a few basics and a call to action, one that asks for permission to follow up. Doing this helps establish credibility and introduce trust, a critical factor for today’s job seekers, particularly those actively employed. 

My goal is to get to them to take the next step and track what’s working along the way so I can always improve my response rates and build a robust talent pool for the role I’m hiring for. 

Once contact is made, and a response is received, SeekOut automatically removes the candidate from the campaign, so I don’t have to do that manually. I save time on admin tasks and devote more time to creating a thoughtful response.  

The second message should explain the why. This is where I take a step back and offer up pertinent information about the job in question. It’s where I explain that I have a position in mind and am working to find the right person. 

Again, I ask their permission before getting presumptive about their intent. 

Additional Ideas 

Building on this format, I have found success with a few additional tactics. SeekOut‘s intuitive AI-powered talent intelligence platform includes suggestions for subject lines, the best time to send, and information from candidates’ unified profiles. 

Use these if and when you see fit: 

  1. Everything should be a separate email until they answer

Rather than “circle back” or look to passive-aggressive cliches like “Per my last email,” I keep each email separate until there’s a reply. An email rarely gets lost. 

By sticking to the same thread, I might wind up reminding my prospect why they didn’t engage in the first place. Whereas when I reach out with a new message, I might find they’re in a different place now, one where they don’t even remember my earlier attempt. 

But instead of assuming a candidate never saw it, I can prove they haven’t opened my emails because SeekOut tracks my outreach so I can validate my strategy with data.  

  1. Set a correspondence day

For me, correspondence day is Thursdays. I dedicate this day to doing outreach, follow-up, next steps, and updates, and by earmarking one day a week, there’s never an excuse for not getting this part of the job done. 

It creates a precedent and adds structure to my process so everyone involved knows when they will hear back (if there’s something to share). 

  1. Leverage the OOO

This is a personal favorite because I see out-of-the-office and auto-responder emails as intel, especially when they include vacation information and, hopefully, a return by date. 

Once the person gets back in the office, I send an email inquiring about the trip, knowing that they’re easing back into their routine and will likely be excited to talk about their experience. 

Closing Thoughts 

Ultimately, I’ve found that we need to move away from the expectation that prospects are sitting around waiting for your email. 

Instead, it’s up to recruiters to stay curious, be empathetic, leverage actionable data from solutions like SeekOut, and work to understand potential candidates rather than try and make them understand you. 

It’s in a shift in perspective, cadence, and nuanced messaging that the magic happens – and rates go up. Ready to improve your candidate response rate? Request a demo of SeekOut.

SeekOut Media Contact:
Jackye Clayton
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategist
[email protected] 


10
Feb
SeekOut  ·  SeekOut Company Updates
Elissa Fink, former CMO Tableau, Joins SeekOut Advisory Board

February 10, 2021, 8:00 am PST

Redmond, WA – SeekOut today announced the addition of Elissa Fink, former CMO of Tableau, to its Advisory Board. SeekOut, a Seattle-based high-growth startup, is an AI-Powered talent platform that helps enterprises recruit hard-to-find and diverse talent.

“We are very excited to welcome Elissa Fink to our Advisory Board” said Anoop Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder at SeekOut. “Elissa joined Tableau as marketing leader when their revenue was a mere $5M. She helped scale their revenue 200-fold to $1B+ by the time she left. SeekOut is experiencing a similar hockey stick growth. We are thrilled to have Elissa as an advisor and benefit from her experience as we scale our go-to-market strategy. Elissa is hands-on, she brims with energy, she inspires, and we’ll be the lucky beneficiaries of her learnings from the scars and bruises and successes she has experienced.”

Elissa currently serves on a wide variety of corporate boards, including Talend (NASDAQ:TLND), Qumulo, Pantheon, Intellimize, Conversica, and Uberflip, as well as not-for-profit boards Salmon-Safe and Operation Fistula. She advises fast-growth tech companies in scaling and marketing strategy and also teaches at the University of Washington in both the Foster School of Business and the School of Communications. Elissa’s 11+ years of experience as Chief Marketing Officer at Tableau Software’s, was instrumental in taking the company from a small startup to a publicly held industry leader with over $1 billion in revenue.

“SeekOut is transforming the way companies discover, analyze and engage untapped talent. We all know that finding the right mix of people to work on teams drives companies’ success. But so much of the processes around talent are either broken, sub-optimized or inefficient especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion. I am inspired by how SeekOut is creating huge value – and not only for companies but also for employees. Plus, to have the chance to work with Anoop, his execs, the SeekOut team and the amazing Board was a huge attraction” says Elissa.

This short video conversation between Fink and Gupta highlights SeekOut’s vision of building a better working world that embraces diversity, inclusion, and equity. The SeekOut website contains resources designed to help companies and teams recruit hard-to-find talent and boldly champion D&I efforts and make tangible progress in achieving hiring goals.

About SeekOut

With best-in-class technology and breakthrough innovation, SeekOut pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with talent discovery, analytics, and engagement. SeekOut’s trusted AI-powered talent search engine enables Talent Acquisition teams to understand any talent pool and quickly find and engage the talent they need — with a focus on diversity, technical expertise, and other hard-to-find skillsets. SeekOut was founded in 2017 by top executives and engineers from Microsoft and is trusted today by leading brands across industries.

SeekOut is headquartered in Redmond, WA. We are driven by a mission to provide customers with an AI-Powered platform for enterprise talent optimization, ensuring each employee and hire contributes maximally to company growth and personal growth. For more information, visit www.seekout.io

SeekOut Media Contact:

Sapna Maniar

Director of Marketing

[email protected]


14
Dec
Diversity Recruiting  ·  Recruiting Best Practices  ·  SeekOut
Data-driven Diversity: 4 Ways Your Team Can Start 2021 on the Right Path

Diversity and inclusion are top of mind for many company leaders today. It’s the right thing to do to combat social injustice, and research has shown that diverse teams perform better overall. But finding more diverse candidates to interview is one of the biggest barriers to improving diversity.

Data can help. In fact, 81 percent of attendees on a recent webinar agreed it would be helpful to have diversity statistics for setting and achieving goals. However, 91 percent said they had difficulty finding the statistics they needed.

The right data can help you and your team think more strategically about how to approach diversity hiring in 2021.

1. Setting realistic diversity targets

It’s common for HR leaders to be given corporate diversity targets, but they may not always be realistic. Taking a more proactive approach with data can help you get a seat at the table while goals are being discussed and set.

Understand your talent pool demographics by looking at your competitors’ demographic data, as well as regional demographic data. Compare that to your own data to find opportunities to improve. For example, if 3 percent of your workforce is comprised of Black employees, but 10 percent of your regional population are Black, consider how you might better attract and retain Black workers.

Break down demographic data by seniority, discipline, and specific roles to find exactly where you should focus your diversity recruitment efforts. For example, if your competitor and regional data show a higher percentage of Black software engineers than you have on your team, you will know you have a strong opportunity to hire more talent from that group.

2. Strategically advising hiring managers to craft better job requirements

A Hewlett Packard internal report found that men apply for a job when they meet 60 percent of the qualifications, but women apply only if they meet 100 percent of them. Your hiring managers may be inadvertently derailing your diversity recruiting efforts with long lists of must-have skills and qualifications.

Empower your talent acquisition team to have data-driven conversations around job requirements, so they can become true strategic advisors to your hiring managers. For example, they can show how the original job requirements yielded only 50 candidates across the country, with only a handful from underrepresented groups. By removing unnecessary skill, location, or title requirements, they can show hiring managers how to access a larger, more diverse talent pool.

3. Strategically sourcing and submitting diverse slates

Traditionally, sourcers have uncovered candidates from underrepresented groups by building Boolean strings based on where diverse people are. But many of these strings aren’t accurate—and may even introduce bias. For example, searching the top 100 US female names finds less than 20 percent of women, and those women will be predominately white. A quarter of Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) students aren’t Black, and only 9 percent of Black college students attend HBCUs.

Dig into your data to see where candidates from underrepresented groups are coming from, and use that to refine your sourcing strategy. For instance, what companies have they worked for, where are they located, and what colleges did they attend? Help your team go beyond traditionally-used search strings by investing in sourcing platforms that use data and AI to accurately find candidates from underrepresented groups, and reduce bias.

And when hiring managers submit slates to hiring managers, encourage them to include at least two women and two minorities. Studies have shown that a more diverse slate of candidates increases the probability of hiring someone from an underrepresented group.

4. Diagnosing bottlenecks in the talent funnel

Finally, use data to uncover breakdowns in your talent funnel. Is there a stage where candidates from underrepresented groups are disproportionately screened out of your hiring process? Is your turnover rate higher for employees from underrepresented groups?

Diagnosing pitfalls in your talent funnel can guide you toward solutions. For example, blind resume reviews can reduce bias early in the process, while structured interviews and assessments can reduce bias later on.

But simply hiring a candidate from an underrepresented group doesn’t help you build a more diverse workforce if you can’t retain them. Keep a pulse on why employees are leaving, so you can provide more transparency in the hiring process—or move to enact change.

Final thoughts on data-driven diversity

There is a great opportunity for your team to leverage data and insights to set diversity targets, become talent advisors to your hiring managers, and achieve or exceed your targets. But increasing representation at the top of your talent funnel is only part of the equation.

Candidates from underrepresented groups should feel included, and know that their different personal experiences and ways of thinking are accepted and celebrated. Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are all very important, and need to be thought about concurrently to achieve true progress and better outcomes.

Ready to build a more talented, diverse team? Get a demo to see how SeekOut provides you the needed diversity talent insights to get a competitive edge in recruiting hard-to-find and diverse talent.

SeekOut is the #1 rated diversity recruiting software on G2 Crowd.

 

Jen Dewar, SeekOut Content Writer


01
Jul
SeekOut  ·  SeekOut Company Updates
SeekOut appoints Ed Pedini to lead Customer Success

SeekOut, the AI-powered talent search engine, announced today that Ed Pedini has joined the company’s leadership team as the Director of Customer Success. In this role, Ed will lead the company’s post-sale customer engagement strategy, building upon SeekOut’s world-class reputation for customer focus and ensuring SeekOut customers are realizing and optimizing the value of their investment.

Ed brings a 20+ year track record of success in startups as well as the HR technology industry, most recently as the co-founder of his own HR tech startup, ALL2. Prior to running his own start-up, Ed was the Tech & Startup Recruiting Practice Director at Recruiting Bandwidth where he worked with organizations and VC firms to solve challenging problems around how they attract, hire, and retain key talent.

Ed Pedini, Director of Customer Success:
“As a long time user and advocate of SeekOut, I’m excited to join this customer-obsessed organization, and lead our efforts to ensure every recruiter and sourcer is able to leverage the power of SeekOut to be outrageously successful.”

Scott Gudmundson, VP of Sales: 
“We are excited to have Ed join our team and lead a strong group of customer success professionals. His real-world knowledge of our product and deep understanding of the customer experience make him a great choice for helping to build our world class customer success team.”

John Tippett, Co-Founder and Head of Product:
“At SeekOut, we love our customers and want them to be incredibly successful. As we grow, it’s crucial we have an experienced leader to help us scale our personalized support and customer success efforts to meet the needs of our growing customer base. I’m excited to work with Ed and learn from him as he leads our customer success efforts.”


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