Speaker 1: one. All right. Hello, everyone. I am so excited to be here today talking with my colleague and friend, Rainey Lunke, who is a talent acquisition consultant. And today we are going to be talking about managing remote teams, recruiting and hiring online in the time of COVID, and really how to keep your remote teams engaged. And so Rainey is an awesome business owner and talent acquisition consultant. She's out of Vancouver, Washington. She runs a company called R2R Strategic Recruiting. Go to her website, check out what she does. She's really helping companies redefine recruitment through deeper engagement and tailored search processes. And for those of you who don't know me, I'm Skye Mercer. I'm a virtual HR consultant. I support small businesses, nonprofits and local governments all over the U.S. with offloading the overwhelm of HR and creating compliant, drama-free workplaces. So I would like to just get right into it, to the meat of it, with Rainey. Hi, Rainey. It's so good to have you here. I am just really dying to ask you a few of these questions. Like, tell me, are employers even hiring right now in the time of COVID?

Speaker 2: Well, I will say yes, yes, and yes. There was a little pause, I would say, by a lot of employers in that June to July timeframe, thinking we were going to kind of get out of COVID and get back into the offices and realizing very quickly that that wasn't going to be the case. So I would say mid to end of July, companies were like, okay, let's do this. So there's definitely organizations that aren't hiring, right? I mean, you've got like the more of the retail, the tourism, the hospitality industries. Those are where you're not going to see the hiring. It's tech, semiconductor, manufacturing. I mean, those are, they're hiring. And actually, personally, I've hired more people this year than I did last year.

Speaker 1: Really? Oh my gosh, that's huge. And that's really helpful information, you know, that it's those types of jobs that you're still hiring out there for. Awesome. Awesome. So what do you think are the biggest recruiting and hiring issues that

Speaker 2: employers are facing right now with COVID? Well, I will definitely say it's, I would say there's three core buckets that I'm really, really seeing. The first one is leveraging technology. It is definitely the challenge and the companies are somewhat uncomfortable getting comfortable in front of the screen in a lot of ways. A lot of bigger companies have been using different technologies, making virtual hires and offers and onboarding for a long time. But many of these, many of these even smaller to midsize companies that I work with regularly here in the greater Portland area that are really struggling. And I think that there's, I think that there's just, there's just a lot of more, it's, it's more uncomfortable. It's unknown. It's, it's being on camera, even as an interviewer and working with the tech, you know, the internal tech teams for security and things of that sort. So that I would say is, is clearly number one. Number two would be the struggle of onboarding and training. So I have a client that I've worked with and she definitely, definitely needed to hire a couple of people. And she said, honestly, I'm scared to move forward in the hiring process because I don't know how we're going to onboard and trade them. Right. Yeah. I have managers who are, who are, let's just say the older generation and they are not comfortable with technology and they are not comfortable of figuring out, I hate to say it, figuring out how they're going to train new hires and onboard them in the virtual setting. So I would say that is number two. That is definitely has been glaring the spotlight on, we need to hire, but what if we, what if we hire, how do we onboard

Speaker 1: and train them? Right. Yeah, absolutely. So like these technology challenges, I know even myself, I've been facing the like tech challenges, you know, even as we're preparing for this call, I'm like, I got to make sure Zoom's recording. Right. And the slides are up and like, it's just challenging. It's really unique. So like when you're, the information you're sharing is super helpful. And like, when you're working with these clients and like seeing these challenges, what are you finding are best practices that employers can use to improve virtual remote

Speaker 2: interviewing? Well, first of all, reach out to the service providers. I mean, the service providers, right, are struggling right now and they are so eager to be helpful and be a resource to come alongside, to show you and hold your hand of how to get comfortable, how to implement it, how to work with your IT team. So it's, it's reaching out to those people that can, that can really help, help do that. I think it, I think it is honestly, I think it is, is just stepping in and doing it. Personally, personally there's this tool that I have been enamored by for over a year and I'm like, I want to use it. I signed up for a trial, like a year ago, a free trial, a year ago, I didn't use it. I put it off, like so I'm comfortable doing the same process. Last week I had like five interviews in one day scheduled. And I was like, it takes me so long to do this one particular thing within my process. If I just use this tool, I would cut 40% of my administrative time. I said, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. So I called the service provider and you know, they're like, okay, how many conversations do I have to have with you Rainey to get comfortable using our tool? And so I'm like, yeah, totally. And I got it all set up. My, I had my five interviews on Friday, Thursday night I couldn't sleep because I was so nervous about this new tool and what I was going to do if I messed up. That Friday, I literally, I was in my office and I was like, yes, I cannot even believe. And I won't, I won't share the tool. Cause I mean, if you want, if you want more information about that tool, just message me and I'll be glad to share more. But I just, I was like, this is the time. This is the season. Try test. Yeah. Just

Speaker 1: experiment. Yeah. Use the technology, right? Like I know I've had the experience with zoom when I was getting started as a business owner using zoom and, and I've used zoom for interviews as well. Like I'm sure you have in calling them. They helped me set it up and they helped me get comfortable with it. So you're totally right. Like reaching out to the resource provider can be a really, really helpful tool. Really helpful. Best practice now similarly. Oh, go ahead. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Well, I wanted to say, because just this week I was working with a candidate, right? And so they're struggling as well on the, on the tech side. Right. And it was a virtual interview and he's like, I don't have a camera. I, yes, I do. I have a laptop and it doesn't have a camera in it. And we're like, Oh, great interviews in just a few hours. So, you know, having, working with the candidates as well and meeting them, meeting us, meeting everyone, you know, where you're at from a technology standpoint and just feeling like it's okay. It's okay. We can work through the technology glitches together. Exactly. Like we'll get through it together.

Speaker 1: We're in this together. And I mean, interviewing for a job is stressful already. And then adding that online element. And then I know like, once you get to the job offer phase too, so say that you've made this decision virtually, and now you're like, okay, now we're talking money and now we're putting together the job offer process. Like, what do you think are some of the best practices you're seeing and that you're guiding employers through as a talent acquisition specialist and a recruiter best practices for virtual job offers? Well, I will definitely say,

Speaker 2: please, please stop just sending offers via email. Oh yeah. I had a client do that recently and I'm like, we just missed a huge opportunity there. So you have to have the offer or you have to have the conversation in the very beginning and throughout that interviewing process. Always, always be talking to the candidate, you know, revisiting compensation, total rewards, but outlining, this is the process. This is the next step. This is our compensation philosophy. This is our approval process upfront. Because a lot of times like that comes at the end and the candidates like, okay, now we're waiting a couple more days, offer approval process. Like it's all about communicating and setting the expectations. And so a lot of it is just that communication. One of the things though, that I get really excited about is the creativity piece about this part of the process. And I really, really encourage people to start using videos, recorded videos. It's so simple. Have your executive leader recorded a welcome video. You can email it to the new hire with the offer letter. You could have your, the colleagues of this new hire who they went through the interview process, just send a personalized message. And I'm talking about like, use your phone. The more authentic we can be during this time, we don't need some fancy, you know, video production. Like, yeah, it's all about that human connection. And what I will kind of going back to one of the biggest challenges that employers are facing when recruiting and hiring right now is the fallout process of candidates, even after they're accepting a job. Yeah. It's a family decision now. Right. And there's a lot of influencing happening, right. And there's, we're seeing candidates are actually accepting offers and then they go to give notice or even give a notice and they're like, no, I can't, I can't do it. I can't do it. I'm losing my PTO. I, I, you know, I'm first one in, or, you know, I'm going to be the last one, you know, right. Lose my first one hired

Speaker 1: last one. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like all of these, all of these things were problems before COVID. And it's like, they're still there. And I think the reason that people need you, that employers need you is we have got to shift and continue to shift here with the, the whole applicants or customers, you help them map the applicant journey, the communication, it's a sales process. It's a marketing process. And that is here to stay. It's a two-way decision. And that's really why companies need you. They need you to help them through like, here's how to make the job offer personal, because if you don't, there's a lot of research that shows the way you treat someone during that application process, during the onboarding, during their job offer, they remember that during their first day, they remember it more than anything else. And there's a lot of research that shows that they'll leave the company, that it impacts retention rates when you don't do it well. So people need you. I, I cannot say it enough. You need to contact Rani. If you're recruiting positions, she will guide you through the virtual interviewing, the virtual job offer and make it a personalized, engaging process.

Speaker 2: Absolutely. I, I appreciate that Skye so much. And this conversation is just, it gets me all fired up. You've been asking me all the questions. I want to flip the script because I definitely, you know, I have some HR certifications, but I am not HR. I am talent acquisition. You are the HR person. So I want to flip the script and I want to ask you some questions. Yeah, go for it. So one of the questions I have for you is, I mean, tell me what, what you're seeing as far as how employers

Speaker 1: can improve the virtual onboarding. Yeah. So I am with you a hundred percent, Rani. Leverage the technology, master the technology, learn the technology. I am all about Trello.com, Airtable.com. If you're a super small business or a nonprofit, these are awesome ways for free to manage onboarding using like a Kanban process oriented flow. I'm a big fan of those for, for onboarding for employees. And just like to, to piggyback off of what you said, make it personal, use those video snippets. I'm all about that. You're so spot on. Welcome the people with message, do virtual lunches, manage onboarding, just like you would with a strategy, with a plan. And then everything gets tweaked a little bit, right? So like on their first day of employment, you know, on the onsite job, it might've been that the CEO was taking us out to lunch. Well, that's not possible anymore. So how about a virtual lunch on the first day? There's still these things that you can do and map out and be strategic about. You just have to do them a little

Speaker 2: bit differently. So how can leaders improve their virtual leadership skills? Yeah, it's, it's hard.

Speaker 1: It's okay. So leadership, as you and I know, it's already hard. It's already super challenging when we're in person in the exact same office. Then let's throw in that we all need to go online super quick and manage remote teams in a like less than two weeks time. So it's challenging. And people are asking the question, how do we create connection? How do we create culture when it's a remote team? And the answer is not simple and it depends on your company, but there are certain practices that I talk about on my blog and different things that you can do to engage your workforce remotely. And it starts with communication and making sure you're using the right communication mode for the right conversation. So like with new employees, it's probably best to hop on video a lot of the time, do quick video check-ins in the morning, you know, always have an outcome based like meeting purpose so that people don't feel like you're just wasting their time. But you know, there are other things you can do like fun games you can play. Like I put together a work from home wellness bingo card on my website or virtual coworking. I have a guide on my website where it's a tool that's an employee empowered tool to like create virtual coworking spaces so that you feel the connection of your coworkers, even if it's remote. But there's no one size fits all. There's no like one and done answer. It's definitely going to be similar to that onboarding where you're taking the whole leadership strategy and you're mapping it out a little bit differently because you're now remote.

Speaker 2: What are your thoughts around, because I'm working with a lot of employers who have, they have the essential workers that are working at, you know, on site, and then you have the corporate or supporting functions who like, how are you bridging, how, what, what suggestions you have for bridging that where you have essential workers who aren't on their computers all day long?

Speaker 1: Right. It's so challenging. And it's similar to the challenge that already existed with multi-facility employers, right? So like, just because we have a group at home now, we used to have a group in building A, B, or C, and that was always a challenge, right? Like, how do we get them together? How do we communicate? So like, a lot of it is taking those strategies, but putting them online. And so it might be a team meeting once a month. It might be a meeting once a month. It might be like having town hall meetings once a month. It might be publishing FAQs or having a shared workspace online. I see a lot of employers doing cool stuff with social media, like in-house social media. There's different tools and technologies you can use so that people can like post photos of themselves and like, you know, connect whether they're on site or whether they're at home. But I gotta say, you know, I'd be remiss to not acknowledge that the people who are essential and are at the facilities, we have to treat them with a lot of care and a lot of respect and a lot of recognition right now to show that they are really doing something special in that they're showing up to work every day, taking a risk. And I think acknowledging that and re-acknowledging over and over is so important.

Speaker 2: Nice. Well, you are like the HR go-to person when it comes to policies and procedures, and I'm constantly following your LinkedIn feed of like, you know, what do I need to know? So how, what are some of these policies and procedures that are, that companies really need to be focused on with, you know, the virtual hiring and employment now, or just with a lot of changes

Speaker 1: in, in organizations in general? Yeah. Leadership right now, I think is the most challenging ever. You have compliance updates, legal updates coming at you, left and right. So I would focus my efforts on making sure I'm compliant with all of the laws that are coming out. I mean, from the Form I-9 to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to working from home in a confidential manner and making sure you're meeting, you know, state and federal regulations. You know, there's so much going on. Like I would probably focus on getting a solid work from home policy in place. And then making sure I have a system for making sure I'm keeping up to date with compliance updates. But yeah, there, I mean, I even just helped a client the other day put into place a face mask policy. Like there's all, you know, cleaning protocols. I teach a workshop how to write a compliant COVID-19 employee handbook addendum, because there's all these policies to stay on top of. So it's definitely challenging. Well, I feel like we could just talk all day long and maybe we need to do this like weekly or something. I totally agree. I would absolutely love that. You are a wealth of information on talent acquisition, recruitment, like sharing those best practices and tips and like really like coming over the fear hump to like get on board with the technology. So I cannot thank you enough for being here today, for talking to me today. I just want to say to folks, you know, Rainy is amazing. If you need recruitment help, if you need virtual help, like help with virtually recruiting your employees, contact Rainy. Here's her email address. Rainy at R2Rrecruiting.com. And then myself, I am happy to provide virtual HR consulting services for your employees, handbooks, you know, personnel policy updates, even monthly consulting that I provide for small businesses, nonprofits and local governments. And here's my email address, Skye at SkyeHRConsulting.com. And I would love to hear from you. Thank you so much, Rainy, for being here today. And I am just excited to continue to partner with you. Thank you. Bye. Bye.