December 29, 2021
TRENDSETTING
What’s happening?
Due to an uptick in job creation in 2021, Human Resources teams have been dealing with challenges in recruitment, interviewing, and employee training.
Here’s the data:
From January to October of this past year, JazzHR saw a 208% increase in new job creation, signaling an economic bounceback for industries hit hard by the pandemic in 2020. But with job creation on the rise across multiple industries, recruitment has been competitive.
And while the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.2% (based on the BLS November 2021 report), factors like the Great Resignation and early retirement have contributed to the US labor shortage.
But data shows that when businesses have found candidates, companies are taking advantage of digital tools for hiring and training. According to Wedge, a video-interview platform, businesses using on-demand video interviews saw a 47% decrease in the time needed to hire compared to those using traditional methods.
And when it comes to training, Trainual noticed businesses published 52% more remote employee training content over the past year. These trends point toward an emphasis on remote employee opportunities for businesses moving forward into 2022.
So, how can your business prepare?
For recruitment, companies have taken to offering increased wages to entice candidates. But for small businesses who lack resources, that isn’t an option.
So, for 2022, use your social media to reach a broader audience and really showcase what your company is about. Talk about your purpose, your company culture, your benefits. Give candidates strong reasons to apply to your business.
And when you get those candidates lined up, take advantage of video platforms like Zoom and Wedge to set up interviews quickly and efficiently. That way, you save more time screening through the candidates you have.
Once you’ve got your perfect match, incorporate virtual learning platforms into your training process. Whether your business is remote or not, having customizable process documentation software can help you streamline your training process.
SCALE STORY
What’s going on here?
Every year, tens of thousands of people in over 50 countries line up to swim 2.4 miles in open water, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles. All in one day.
That’s crazy! Who organizes these?
Enter IRONMAN, the company that created and hosts these races all over the world.
Were they always this big?
Nope. Like most successful ventures, IRONMAN started as a small business with humble beginnings. And they only had 15 participants in each of their first few races. Most people scoffed at the idea that IRONMAN would ever be successful given how grueling the race is.
So, what changed?
The company made finishing the race mean something special: becoming an IRONMAN. Meaning, you were one of the toughest human beings on the planet if you could cross that finish line. And once press picked up on how impressive the race was, the company eventually grew to host multiple races with millions of participants. Here’s how they scaled:
FOR THE GRAM
Wait, is Instagram still a thing?
Even though TikTok has been all the rage this year, Instagram is estimated to have 1.074B users worldwide. And the most recent data shows that people spend an average of nearly an hour per day on the platform.
But is it worth using it for my small business?
According to Instagram data and small business owners, absolutely. At least 90% of people on Instagram follow a business. And in a global survey, Instagram found that 80% of users decide whether to buy a product or service based on what they see in the app, and 46% made a purchase after seeing an ad on the platform.
Because having an Instagram can be such a gamechanger, small business owners (who’ve already experienced trial and error) compiled their top tips for launching an account.
The 6 tips:
TL;DR