The great thing about working in the retail industry is that you have can have virtually any degree or diploma—whether you want to work in marketing, finance, sales, media, communications or administration, retail employers are always looking for smart, energetic students and recent grads to fill their roles!

We are pleased to announce participating employers such as Starbucks, Reitmans Canada, Sears, Enterprise, and many more who will be announced just in time for the week-long Focus on Retail.

In addition to great articles and videos, we will also be publishing job opportunities for students and recent grads, so register at TalentEgg.ca to make sure you can stay up to date with all of the exciting content we’ll be rolling out later this month.

And there certainly has been no shortage of great ideas to combat this potential crisis. Examples include integrating social media into talent attraction and creating café-like lounges in offices where employees can work.

Frankly, though, it really doesn’t matter what organizations are doing because there are two absolutely critical things they must understand first.

1. Understand the profiles of each demographic employee group – Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y – and where each of their own employees fit.
2. Use the data from Step 1 to design, implement and execute strategies and programs that align to the “employee experience life cycle.”

This article is an introduction to the process that enables organizations to optimize the investments they make in attracting and retaining employees, particularly Gen Ys.

Demographic profiling

Before you can address the issue at hand, you need to understand the specifics of each demographic group. Our workplaces today are so diverse – if you don’t understand the ins and outs of your employees, you are basically “shooting in the dark.” You have no idea where the target is let alone aiming in the right direction.

Employee experience life cycle

What the heck is the employee experience life cycle? It is basically a road map of how employees move through the organization, from recruitment all the way to succession (moving to a new role).

The key to understanding this model is to ensure that everything an organization does on a daily basis keeps the level of employee engagement, satisfaction and performance at a consistently high level. Employees come into an organization highly motivated, driven, engaged and committed, but once they start work, it slowly declines over time and this is not what you want.

The employee experience life cycle model is made up of five stages:

1. Attraction/Recruitment – attracting new talent and “sealing the deal” by bringing on the new employee
2. Engagement – starts on Day 1 where the goal is to orient and set mutual expectations (e.g., performance goals) as quickly as possible
3. Retention – the honeymoon period has ended, the employee has a solid understanding of how things work, what is expected of them and how they fit into the organization – need to keep them highly engaged, motivated, feeling recognized and valued.
4. Development – the employee has nearly mastered his or her job and is being evaluated on readiness to move into a higher level role – focus on skills development.
5. Succession – employee is ready to succeed, and the opportunity to do this exists.

The following articles in this series will delve into further detail about demographic profiling and the components that make up the employee experience life cycle.

At the end of the day, organizations that “get it” and “walk the talk” will be able to most effectively attract and retain Gen Y employees.

After submitting my resumé online, I received an email invitation to an open house, so I RSVP’ed to the event and prepared myself the best I could. I put on my ‘first date’ attire, grabbed a copy of my resumé and headed down to the I Love Rewards offices. Once I arrived at their swanky loft-style offices, I registered with staff at the front desk and was handed a time card based on the position that I had applied for. I was then offered a closet to hang my coat and ushered through to the main area where I would wait my turn to be ‘speed interviewed.’

The whole process was a great experience and more companies should adopt the open house recruiting concept; it is a win/win situation for both the hiring company and the candidate. As I Love Rewards founder and CEO Razor Suleman said in conversation with me, “We receive so many resumés that we can’t possibly go through them all, but by having an open house we eliminate the first round of applicants; if you can be bothered to get dressed and come out then that says something about you.”

On top of eliminating the first round of applicants, the process also allows many more benefits to both the company and candidate. Not only is the process seemingly cost-effective for the company, but it also allows for a second round of applicant elimination. By meeting candidates face-to-face it allows the company to weed out the overly fluffed resumés and potentially pick up on candidates that would otherwise have been put in the recycling bin.

For the candidate, benefits include: the ability to learn hands on about the company’s product or services, a feel for the company culture and the chance to interact with current employees.

Although standing in a room full of people competing for the same position can be somewhat intimidating, it can actually be quite beneficial. In speaking with other hopefuls, I was able not only to get a sense of where I thought I stood by comparison, but also gain insight into areas in which I could improve to surpass the competition and up my chances of getting hired.

There is also something strangely satisfying about attending an open house. As a job seeker, it can get very frustrating sending your resumé into what begins to feel like a vortex of nothingness. An open house can serve not only as recognition that someone has noticed you (something I Love Rewards knows all about), but can also give you the will to continue on in the job search once you hit the wall of frustration. It makes you realise that you’re not necessarily unqualified or being ignored, but that companies really do receive an awful lot of resumés.

While, ultimately, Leona’s audience is made up of her peers, she provided some valuable feedback from employers as well. Here are a few selections which on-campus recruiters might find valuable as they plan their next round of information sessions:

Last month, I went to an info session for a beverage company. I had already made plans to apply to the company and even scheduled two hours of my Saturday to write a cover letter and tailor my resumé.But once I got there, I realized the company’s session was not what I expected. The company emphasized its long hours and other negative aspects, which I don’t find attractive in a place of work.

Needless to say, I was thrown off. The friend who went with me was confused about the approach the company took because when she went to a competitor’s info session, she came out feeling very inspired.

At the end of this information session, we felt the opposite. This was one of the few times I bolted out of the session as fast as I could, not even bothering to stop and grab some of their free food for dinner.

That experience really highlighted the value of info sessions to me. It saved two hours of my Saturday, letting me catch up on watching Glee and finish my accounting homework.

To read the entire column, please see Confessions of a job hunter: My adventures in info sessions.

A large majority are also using direct application through employer websites (71.3%) and networking with friends, family and alumni connections (67.5%) to aid in their job hunt.

Of those who were employed within a month or so of graduating, however, the methods least used were job advertisements in print publications (9.2%) and employment agencies (3.2%).

These are just some of the findings published in the Dalhousie University Career Services Centre Destination Survey, Spring 2009. The survey went out for the first time to a mass number of graduates from May 14 to June 25, 2009.

Of those graduates were employed at the time of the survey, the largest number – about half (50.4%) – found their jobs by directly applying through an employer website. This number isn’t surprising, however, since most large employers require applicants to apply for openings by completing an application and/or uploading a resumé to the company’s applicant tracking system (ATS).

Many employed graduates also used job search websites (27.8%) and networking (33.8%) to ultimately find their first job.

As for when they made their career decisions, the findings of the survey showed no dominant time period.

An effective performance appraisal system is a cornerstone of successful business development. It is one of the best human resource solutions, which will help to align your team members’ activities with overall business goals and objectives. A formal performance appraisal system consisting of a position description listing key result areas and expected behaviour (critical competencies) will help managers to develop and get the best from team members.

A performance appraisal, which measures the same criteria mentioned in the position description, will help to provide a fair and equitable measurement method. The performance appraisal should include a self-appraisal, action plan and learning development plan. The following procedure will assist managers to confidently perform an effective performance review and help develop their employees and business.

1. Gather performance appraisal information

• Recall regular performance review outcomes
• Obtain job description
• Gather information from action/development plan
• Identify Key Result Areas and Competencies to measure
• Modify appraisal forms to include what is measured

2. Complete the forms

• Team member to complete all self appraisal forms
• Rate Key Result Areas and Critical Competencies
• Manager to complete all appraisal forms
• Manager to determine overall performance rating
• Complete action and development plan

3. Conduct appraisal interview

• Set date, time and venue with no interruptions
• Encourage open and honest discussion
• Have team member talk about their self appraisal
• Give specific feedback
• Discuss Key Result Area feedback with team member
• Discuss Critical Competencies with team member
• Discuss achievements/development opportunities
• Finalise, distribute and gain commitment
• Review job description for next period’s appraisal

4. Follow up meeting

• Check outcomes since performance appraisal
• Check progress of learning and development plan
• Identify commitment of team member to improve
• Take appropriate action

Businesses that see performance appraisals as a strategic method to develop employees benefit because the added competence further develops the organization’s capability, competitiveness and sustainability.

Being well prepared for a performance appraisal will help ensure its success, remembering if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

The research was conducted amongst 477 UK accountants during August 2009.

Top solutions to attracting more to the profession included:

• the industry embarking on a campaign to change the perception (14%)
• offering better training programmes (14%)
• making more effort to visit universities (13%)
• doing more to convey the breadth of benefits (9%)

Part of the problem may also lie at entry level; over a quarter of UK accountants (26%) say the application process could be improved. Many of these believe the current application process fails to provide a clear explanation of the role, the online process needs to be simplified and more user friendly and that recruiters should put more emphasis on a person’s innate qualities and their experience.

For those that haven’t been put off entering the profession, the top two choices for first job were PWC (14%) and KPMG (13%).

Max Williamson, Director of CareersinAudit.com added: “I believe attracting more people to the industry isn’t about image alone or glamourising the profession with a series of slick advertisements. But it wouldn’t hurt recruiters to take heed of the research and to invest greater time in explaining the long terms benefits and variety that come from being a qualified accountant, particularly at graduate level.”

1. What we do. We help students and recent grads find meaningful jobs by bringing top Canadian companies on the site to advertise their entry-level jobs and internships, and we also produce and aggregate resources and content which help students and recent grads manage their job hunt, career and life. Essentially, we’re helping our friends, classmates and colleagues help themselves through a challenging transition.
2. Our awesome company culture. This information may not be as widespread as What we do, but those of us who work for TalentEgg take the opportunity to share it among our friends and family as often as possible:

• The average age of TalentEgg employees is 24, so we’re a tight-knit group of colleagues that are sometimes more like friends.
• We try to get around more traditional (and expensive) ways of doing business by being creative and tech-savvy.
• Everything each of does on a daily basis has a huge impact on What we do and how successful we are at doing it.
• Flexibility: I played in a softball league last summer and was allowed to leave very early every Thursday to attend the games. This year, I worked from home for four and a half months until I was able to move back to Toronto. One of my colleagues skips lunch every day so he can leave at 4 p.m. instead of 5. Our last intern was able to miss two days of work on short notice to attend a conference she got a free ticket to. Ultimately, these simple allowances give us every reason to love our boss and the company instead of resent them.
• We close up shop early on Friday afternoons to sit in our office and talk about what happened that week and what’s coming up in the weeks ahead … over beer. Just one beer each and half-an-hour to an hour of positive, business-related conversation which we all contribute to is enough for us to leave the office every Friday pumped about the work we do.

I know this all sounds a bit like an ad for TalentEgg or something, but I started thinking about why my colleagues and I think this is a great place to start or further our careers after reading this article from Fast Company: How Do You Attract and Retain Generation Y? Learn From Google, Intuit and Disney by Bea Fields. Although the top of the article contains all the typical Gen Y jargon, the bottom lists 10 companies which do really cool things aside from their business to attract and retain young employees.

What I took away from the article is that employers don’t have to do everything under the sun to attract young workers like my colleagues and me. TalentEgg doesn’t have the resources to offer the same perks as, say, Google; but it works with what it has to keep its employees happy. And if a company as small and as new as TalentEgg can do that, any company should be able to do the same.

With the exception of Google, each company on Fields’ list focuses on one thing:

• Intuit engages workers by rotating them between departments
• Disney creates raving fans through its renowned internship program
• Deloitte and Touche offers a state-of-the-art coaching and mentoring program
• Nike headquarters sits on acres of land which also contains a fitness centre, playing fields and running trails

Check out the full list to read up on what perks and opportunities the other five companies offer their current and future employees.

During frosh week, social sciences and humanities students were taunted by the engineers, who called out, “Spatula!” Meaning: we didn’t have any career options after university and were destined to work a low-wage fast food job.

Humanities students were specifically targeted with “A-B-C-D-E-F-G. H-I-J-K. L-M-N-O-P. Q-R-S. TU-V. W-X-Y-Z. Now I know my ABCs, so I can pass the humanities,” implying humanities courses are easy.

At the time, I just assumed this was a way for the engineering reps to promote faculty pride in their first year students, and this attitude wasn’t present throughout the rest of the institution.

However, it appears that was only wishful thinking: in the last few years, the humanities and social sciences have faced many budget cuts in instructors, number of classes offered and resources available, and I know that this is not unique to my school.

Once I completed a few years of school, I thought going to a career fair would be a good way for me to decide what I could do with my degree in the future. Not being in health sciences, engineering or business, meant few employers were interested in my degree.

I attempted to talk to a few different companies and was turned away when I told them I was in a combined humanities/social science program. I didn’t approach other groups because they had no information for students in more than one faculty. Quite frankly, the whole thing was a complete waste of my time, and I felt very frustrated and disappointed.

Does it mean those engineers were right, or do career fairs need to be re-worked in order to support the diversity of educational options out there?

I’m hoping for the latter. I was told to never to judge a book by its cover and, as an English major, that advice seems almost too fitting.

If your company is attending a career fair at a university or college, remember there will be students from all kinds of academic programs there and, as a result, students with a variety of different experiences, both in terms of education as well as employment.

Just because a student isn’t in a certain degree program does not mean they aren’t qualified for a job in your company. For example, I have experience in HR, public relations, marketing and management, which is something you wouldn’t know if you only look at what program I’m in.

Sure, if you’re part of an architecture firm you’re primarily going to want to hire architects or engineers. But if someone from another program comes to your table, you do not have to turn them away. Every company has multiple departments that need a variety of employees with different kinds of work and education experience, and your company should be no exception to this.

You attend career fairs to entice students, not to deter them. And just because your company doesn’t have anything to offer one student, it doesn’t mean the same student can’t pass on information about your company to a friend or two.

This is one of the fundamental problems of the typical event booth and the most common reason why students are so often disappointed by what they find at career fairs and information sessions. It’s the reason we ask employers to get feedback from their newest hires on their company profiles on TalentEgg.

As we suggested last week, more and more young people are choosing entrepreneurship as a career option. This is due in part to Gen Y’s inherent skepticism of large companies. There have been so many corporate scandals in our lifetimes, it’s only fair that we are cautious of whose hands we put their futures in.

When a student comes to a recruiting event and visits a booth, they want to find out what they can expect from their future employer in terms of day-to-day activities, but also about the culture, the on-boarding activities, the make-up of the teams, etc.

They want to talk to someone who is actually doing want they want to do. They don’t want to talk to a recruiter. (Sorry guys!)

They want to make their own decisions based on the information they’ve gathered, not be sold on something. Ideally, they should be able to gather this information during a casual conversation with a peer – someone who has been where they are in the past few years or so.

A handful of your newest hires would probably be more than happy to spend the day telling students how awesome it is to work for your company. Identify “raving fans” (hopefully everyone is a raving fan!) and let them sell your company for you. Honesty and transparency go a long way with today’s students and new grads.