purplesquirrelusa, Author at Curate Partners

30Mar

Celebrating Women’s History Month 2023

To celebrate Women’s History Month we wanted to hear the voices of the incredible women of Curate Partners! We asked them to tell us how they feel empowered at Curate Partners. As employee empowerment is defined as the ways in which organizations provide their employees with a certain degree of autonomy and control in their day-to-day activities. This can include having a voice in process improvement, helping to create and manage new systems and tactics, and running smaller departments with less oversight from higher-level management.

The responses we got were amazing and inspiring. Our women employees shared stories of being given opportunities to lead projects, having their ideas heard and implemented, and feeling supported by their colleagues and managers. We’re proud to have a workplace culture that values diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we’re committed to continuing to empower our employees to reach their full potential. Here’s to the incredible women who have paved the way for us and those who continue to make history every day!

How do you feel empowered by Curate Partners?

Emily Brash, VP of Sales and Healthcare Solutions

Curate has given me the opportunity to use my years of experience and creative approach to help lay the groundwork for new client acquisition strategies and internal process improvement opportunities. Rather than dictating a roadmap for me, they have asked me to recommend a roadmap and then come together with the leadership team to collaborate and finalize it. It’s a great feeling to know my company and its leaders trust my leadership and judgment at this level. This environment absolutely makes me feel empowered and appreciated!

Jess Reumann, Recruiting Consultant

I feel empowered at Curate because I feel like I am heard and valued. I am given the opportunity to voice my opinions in a healthy way and know that I am being listened to with respect. Everyone is supportive and encouraging and takes the time to recognize the achievements on both a personal and professional level!

Cathy Porcaro, Senior Account Executive

I feel empowered at Curate Partners by knowing I have a seat at the table and can bring my ideas to my managers and peers without judgment. By fostering a growth mindset culture, Curate has empowered me to be creative in my role as an AE, think outside of the box, and do things differently than they have always been done!

Meghan Arsenault, Administrative Assistant

Curate Partners values my current role and people have gone out of their way to tell me, and my fellow coworkers, how our jobs matter. We are constantly verbally appraised, giving us the proper support in our role. I know that what I do in the company is important, and it is a great feeling when others express the same.

Meghan Kouble, Operations Manager

As a woman employee at Curate Partners, I feel a sense of empowerment every day. This stems from the company’s culture, which places a strong importance on recognizing and rewarding hard work and dedication. By providing ongoing training and development, many networking events, and other programs, supports a work environment where everyone has an opportunity to succeed.

Samantha Tilley, Account Executive

I feel empowered at Curate Partners because my thoughts and ideas matter! I feel like we are equal in this company and we all help each other when needed. Teamwork makes the dream work! I am so happy to be a part of a company that feels like family!

Jess Rousseau, Senior Marketing Manager

Throughout my career with Curate, the entire organization has continually given me the support and freedom needed to succeed in ways I never thought were possible. My team treats me with respect and trusts my ideas and contributions for the company. I’m SO proud to work for a company who’s female staff represents over 50% of our workforce! It’s empowering to know we all have equal opportunities to truly make an impact here.

Taylor Shea, Senior Account Executive

Curate has invested in my development since Day 1, valuing my ideas and asking for my opinions. This has created a professional confidence that I couldn’t be more thankful for!

Theresa Sanchez, Recruiting Consultant

I feel empowered at Curate Partners because together we created clear and attainable goals and expectations and I feel encouraged and supported throughout the process of achieving these goals. Also, I feel heard and like my opinion matters which is super empowering.

Natasha Thomas, Manager of People and Culture

Curate has helped me do the work that I am passionate about. I had a vision coming into this organization of what I wanted to do, and I have been encouraged and empowered to do it. The autonomy and trust that they have given has allowed me to continue to focus on our people and culture. At our core we are a people first organization, so making sure that we continue to create an environment that promotes inclusivity, diversity, equity, and belonging is my priority. At Curate every day I feel empowered to make positive changes that will impact not only our team but the partnerships outside of our organization.

Logan Lopus, Marketing Intern

Throughout my internship at Curate Partners, I have always felt empowered. From day one, I was given meaningful work and was able to work alongside other employees. I also appreciated being given the chance to take on larger projects and felt that my opinions were heard and valued. Overall, I believe Curate has created an empowering work culture that encourages its employees, including interns, to make important contributions to the organization.

Corina Bardwell, Recruiting Manager

Transparency from leadership, the ability to grow into new roles, and the autonomy to implement processes and procedures that are best suited for the recruiting team are some of the ways I feel empowered at Curate. I always feel valued, both professionally and personally, and I appreciate that my achievements are recognized and celebrated. Our culture provides equal opportunities for all, which makes me feel like everyone is playing on the same field.

Courtney Holland, Account Manager

I feel incredibly empowered here at Curate. My ability to have a voice and manage a work-life balance with 3 young kids without questions, micromanagement, or concern; all while feeling like I make a lasting contribution to our business and team. My peers and especially my manager look to me for advice on managing situations, providing input, and general “What would you do?” scenarios. I honestly could not be more proud and thankful for the culture and feeling of contribution that this company provides me every day.

Keep up with more content like this on our Instagram and follow Curate Partners here!

16Nov

4 Traits You Should Look For In A Recruiter

With 10 million job openings in the U.S., recruiters have an important role to play. Unfortunately, the stigma of the salesy recruiter—the type that cares more about filling the role and less about making sure the candidate is right for the role, makes a lot of candidates hesitant to work with recruiters.

At Curate Partners, we break the sales mold. Instead of acting like salespeople, our recruiters act like matchmakers. They operate as the liaison between the job-seeker and the company, ensuring all parties are aligned and fully vetted before making introductions.

We are committed to fostering a positive job-seeking experience for all candidates. This means building strong relationships, actively listening to candidates’ needs, and putting ourselves in their shoes. Our candidate-first perspective helps us identify and deliver Purple Squirrels for our internal teams and clients.

If you’re seeking new employment opportunities, here are four traits you should look for in a recruiter.

Empathy

Recruiters need to be empathetic towards their candidates. This means putting themselves in your shoes to understand what you’re looking for in your next position. Preferred salary ranges, work-life balance, and career goals should all be prioritized. Think of your recruiter as a friend leading you through the next phase of your career.

We care deeply about our candidates both before and after they are placed with companies as consultants. Here’s what one of our reviews on Glassdoor says about our process:

“Curate has an incredibly supportive, collaborative, and progressive team…Their positivity, awareness, and care for each team member is something so rare to experience in the workplace.”

Creating a healthy work culture starts in the hiring phase—empathetic recruiters set the tone for the companies they place candidates with.

Open-Mindedness

Open-minded recruiters look beyond the resume to find their Purple Squirrels. Yes, recruiters must acknowledge a candidate’s career experience and educational background, but they should also consider candidates whose backgrounds are unique and multi-faceted. Whether you took a traditional path—high school, college, entry-level roles in your field, and so on—or a more eccentric path—your recruiter should see you as an individual and try to understand your skillset beyond just skimming your degree and previous position.

Recruiters must remain open-minded and recognize the value of hiring diverse candidates. This means reaching out to individuals of all gender identities, races, and cultural backgrounds and not letting any biases—even the unconscious ones—get in the way of selecting the candidate who is the best fit.

Transparency

Transparency and integrity are crucial for building trust. At Curate Partners, our recruiters are honest about open positions and transparent about what our company stands for. This integrity helps us build candidates’ trust and find the right individuals for each role.

Another Glassdoor review mentions our team’s transparency:

“[Curate Partners] treat both their internal employees and full-time/contracted hires with the utmost respect and professionalism. They are a company of real people you can trust to stay transparent and honest throughout the entire hiring process. Once you are a Purple Squirrel, that professionalism, respect, and transparency do not dissipate.”

Strong Communication Skills

Last but certainly not least, recruiters must display strong communication skills. This is the name of the game. Recruiters must converse with their candidates clearly about a position’s requirements and company expectations. They must answer questions, provide insights and advice, and provide honest feedback in a timely manner. As a candidate, you must feel comfortable communicating with your recruiter and, by extension, the company you are applying to work with.

We are proud to say that our recruiters exhibit all 4 of these traits. We remain hyper-focused on making our candidates feel seen, heard, and appreciated while also finding the best fit for the companies we serve. With our people-centric model, our recruiters aren’t just finding bodies to fill gaps; they’re finding great opportunities for skilled individuals—a win-win for the client and the candidate.

If you’re looking for a people-first approach to recruiting, contact us. We’re here to help!

02Nov

How Curate Partners Makes The Hiring Process More Human

Now more than ever, it is crucial for recruiters to connect with their candidates. This means listening to their needs, empowering them to ask questions, and communicating with empathy. While automated technologies are becoming more prevalent in our industry, the candidate’s experience thrives without templates and call scripts.

Here are five ways we make the hiring process more human in 2022.

We are transparent with candidates regarding salary ranges, benefits, and workplace culture.

Being transparent and communicative with your candidate about what each open position entails is crucial. This includes salary ranges, benefits, and information regarding workplace culture. If you withhold this information or tweak the truth for your benefit, you are not putting enough value into your candidate’s needs. This unethical practice sets your relationship up for distrust and failure.

Our Recruiting Manager, Johnny Cail, says it best:

“I’ve found the best way to help a candidate feel empowered to ask questions is first to tell them all the ‘insider information.’ Many recruiters keep this information to themselves and try to get the candidate at the lowest numbers possible to maximize profit, but I just don’t see as much success going that route,” Cail explains. “I’d rather gain someone’s trust by telling them what rates we typically see and trying to get them at the highest number, so they are excited and eager to embark on the journey of interviewing.”

We find the balance between technology and the human touch.

Automated technologies are known for saving time. As a result, more recruiters rely on new programs, from auto-scheduling to automated emails. However, these technologies can negatively impact candidate communications and searches when used in place of humans rather than in partnership with humans.

Don’t let an AI bot be your company’s voice when sourcing candidates. Human connection is necessary when determining if someone is the right fit for a role. Data points and resumes don’t tell the whole story.

“Technology can help in so many ways, but being reliant on technology is hard to sustain in this industry for the long term,” Cail says. “Since each candidate’s experience differs, putting some prefabricated process in place is wrong. Instead, you need human touch to finesse the intricacies of each person and situation.”

Strike a balance between promoting efficiency and using your intuition to make your hiring process more human.

We recommend video interviews and visual interactions over phone calls and email threads.

Since most open roles are remote, most interviews are face-to-face via video conferencing programs. Visual interactions put a face to a name and can give you a sense of who your candidates are in the moment. Seeing facial expressions, hearing tone of voice, and watching your candidate’s body language will help you better understand what excites your candidate, what concerns them, and how they present themself in a professional setting. Email simply cannot compete with the audio and visual components of video calls. Additionally, video interviews add a layer of professional intimacy that builds trust and understanding for both parties involved. These are the reasons why we set up video interviews for our candidates.

We incorporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEI+B) initiatives into the hiring process.

Making your hiring process more human means showcasing your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. According to Glassdoor’s Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Survey (2020), 76% of U.S. employees and job seekers say that a diverse workforce is important when evaluating companies and job offers. 21% claim they would not apply to a job at a company that does not publicly state its goals to increase DEI+B initiatives.

Whether discussing these core values with candidates or expanding their networks, recruiters and hiring managers should focus on creating an environment that values fresh perspectives and welcomes diversity.

At Curate Partners, we have implemented DEI+B initiatives into the hiring process by partnering with non-profits across the US to provide more opportunities for individuals from all walks of life. We provide our clients with the most diversified candidates for the job—and remain committed to closing employment gaps.

“In hiring, there’s no better way to exemplify your commitment to DEI+B than setting expectations for all candidate searches to be diversified,” Taylor Shea, our Senior Account Executive, says. “[By doing this], inclusivity becomes a learned behavior rather than a term.”

We put ourselves in the candidate’s shoes.

We think about the job search from the candidate’s perspective. It can be arduous to continue sending resumes and cover letters that are mostly left unanswered.

Ask yourself the following questions:

What type of position would fulfill my candidate’s career goals?
Why is my candidate looking for a new position?
What are my candidate’s values, boundaries, and strengths?

As a recruiter, you must remain empathetic to your candidate. Remember that your mission is to lead each candidate you work with to the next step of their career journey. If you embrace the human connection, you will create a mutually beneficial safe space for your candidates to grow and find their dream jobs.

If you’re looking for a hiring process that is more human, contact us.

17Oct

3 Ways That A Tailor-Made Recruiter Can Drive Your Company’s Success

There are 227,827 recruiters employed and over 200,000 staffing and recruiting agencies in the United States. Staffing is a $174 billion industry that continues to grow as organizations begin scaling efforts in a post-pandemic world. However, with so many options available, it can be difficult for companies to develop a strong recruiting strategy.

There are two common concerns when hiring a recruiter or staffing agency—speed and accuracy. While traditional staffing agencies are focused on moving at break-neck speeds to fill your roster, tailor-made recruiters are focused on finding the right talent for your company as efficiently as possible. After all, benchmarking data from SHRM reports that while the average cost per hire is $4700, it can grow to three or four times the position’s salary. Constant rehires can drain recruitment budgets in an instant.

Essentially, it pays to get the right person the first time around.

Here are three ways a tailor-made recruiter can drive your company’s success.

Tailor-made recruiters specialize in specific industries.

Tailor-made recruiters specialize in hiring for specific industries. This experience gives recruiters insider knowledge, so they know how companies operate and what they are looking for in their new hires. Due to their industry experience, these recruiters are more likely to have already built meaningful connections with industry professionals. Networking is crucial in recruiting: knowing the industry’s movers and shakers creates greater opportunities for candidates and companies.

Unlike some larger staffing agencies, tailor-made recruiters take a candidate-first approach.

To find your “purple squirrel,” you need a recruiter that takes a candidate-first approach. This means prioritizing candidates’ needs and desires rather than molding them to fit whatever job is available. Tailor-made recruiters build strong relationships with their candidates by digging deeper into their motivations and career goals. There is no one-size-fits-all method for recruiting. Due to the diverse range of candidate skill sets and personality types, it is impossible (and unfair) to work with every individual in the same way. Instead, tailor-made recruiters prioritize their candidates’ needs, which in turn, helps them find the perfect fit for the organizations they assist.

There is a greater emphasis on company culture.

Lastly—and certainly not least—tailor-made recruiters talk to their candidates about the importance of company culture. Not every individual wants the same workplace environment, which recruiters take into account. They go beyond just asking for their ideal salary ranges. Instead, recruiters ask the following questions:

In what type of work environment do you feel most productive?
What management style motivates you to do your best work?
Do you prefer working collaboratively or solo?
What values do you wish for your workplace to promote?

Company culture is important because it incorporates how employees and executives work and communicate. This emphasis on company culture ensures that candidates work for an organization that keeps them engaged and fulfilled on the clock.

Overall, tailor-made recruiters can play a significant role in driving your company’s success, regardless of your industry. Their specialized attention to detail sets them apart from more traditional staffing agencies.

If you’re looking for your next purple squirrel, contact us. We’re here to help.

06Oct

How We Are Giving Back, with Purple Squirrels

There are more than 10 million nonprofit organizations that exist worldwide. From fighting world hunger to medical research, all nonprofits better their respective communities in one way or another—and it takes a village of dedicated and passionate individuals to create these much-needed changes.

Nonprofit organizations employ about 12.3 million people in the United States, accounting for about 10% of the country’s employed citizens. While these numbers prove the importance of nonprofits in our workforce, staffing for non-profits is becoming more challenging with the competitive talent market today.

At Curate Partners, we make it part of our mission to help staff nonprofits as part of our effort to support the communities we work in.

Our work with Pan-Mass Challenge:

We saw the power of working with nonprofits first-hand when we joined forces with Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). The Massachusetts-based bike-a-thon raises funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute every year. Known as the country’s highest-grossing single athletic fundraising event, PMC aspires to aid doctors and cancer researchers in their fight for a cure. Since its inception almost 40 years ago, PMC has donated $1 billion to the cause.

While PMC made great strides on its own, they were facing challenges building out their digital infrastructure. There is much more to scaling a nonprofit than inspiring supporters to reach for their wallets. This is only half the battle; the other half is hiring passionate employees who can support the organization from all angles to amplify their digital presence. And this is where Curate Partners saw a chance to step up and help out.

To build their team for future success, we aided PMC in their search to find their next Director of Digital IT. Finding the perfect fit for this position was more important than making a sale; We wanted to be a small factor in helping them double their donations in the next decade. Our founder Dan Foley, says it best in his LinkedIn post about our partnership:

“In an effort to give back, I am eager and honored to announce that Curate Partners is teaming up with the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) to find their next Director of Digital IT. This is a pro-bono executive search that we are doing to help raise awareness for the cause while also tapping into our incredible network of tech professionals as we look for their purple squirrel!”

This job post received a ton of engagement. Which, in the end, raised more awareness for the cause and inspired people to apply for the job. Our public search also inspired our network to show their support on social media. With almost 300 reactions and many comments from industry professionals, our transparent staffing strategy and network of IT leaders helped us find PMC’s passionate new leader, Jennifer Schachter.

We are eager to watch her success unfold as she builds digital experiences across many user spectrums; from riders to their donors, to the volunteers, all the sponsors and everyone who makes the PMC a success!

To learn more about the Pan–Mass Challenge, click here.

22Sep

Curate Partners is a 2022 Fastest Growing Staffing Firm Winner by SIA

Curate Partners Named on SIA’s 2022 List of Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms

SIA’s Annual List Recognizes US Staffing Firms That Achieved Significant Organic Growth Over Five Years

September 21, 2022 – Curate Partners announced it has been named to the 2022 List of Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms. Published annually by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) – the global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions – the list ranks US firms by compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for staffing revenue over five years.

There were 122 staffing firms included on the 2022 ranking, and the median CAGR for all firms listed is 30.3%. To be considered one of the Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms, companies must meet a minimum revenue threshold of $1 million in 2017 and have had a CAGR of at least 15% between 2017 and 2021. The Braff Group, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, sponsored this year’s list. Each staffing firm is profiled online at fastestgrowing.staffingindustry.com.

“The 2022 List of Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms displays a masterclass in perseverance. Emerging from the pandemic with organic growth is a true achievement and testament to the staffing industry’s strength, even in the most turbulent of times,” said SIA President Barry Asin. “Our list of staffing firms more than doubled this year and SIA is honored to present these resilient staffing firms to the world. A huge congratulations to our 2022 honorees!”

About Curate Partners

Curate Partners is a talent solutions provider that specializes in solving tomorrow’s business challenges by deploying better infrastructure, leveraging customer-driven insights and investing in digital innovation today. Our people-first approach has fostered a network of digital and tech experts who drive meaningful impact for any business transformation.

About Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA)

Founded in 1989, SIA is the global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions. Our proprietary research covers all categories of employed and non-employed work including temporary staffing, independent contracting and other types of contingent labor. SIA’s independent and objective analysis provides insights into the services and suppliers operating in the workforce solutions ecosystem including staffing firms, managed service providers, recruitment process outsourcers, payrolling/compliance firms and talent acquisition technology specialists such as vendor management systems, online staffing platforms, crowdsourcing and online work services. We also provide training and accreditation with our unique Certified Contingent Workforce Professional (CCWP) program.

Known for our award-winning content, data, support tools, publications, executive conferences and events, we help both suppliers and buyers of workforce solutions make better-informed decisions that improve business results and minimize risk. As a division of the international business media company, Crain Communications Inc., SIA is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in London, England. Learn more at staffingindustry.com.

Media Contact

Jess Rousseau, Senior Marketing Manager

Curate Partners

jess.rousseau@curatepartners.com | 833.828.7283| www.curatepartners.com

14Sep

The importance of respect, inclusion, and transparency in the workplace

In the U.S., more than two in five (45.5%) of LGBTQ+ employees said they had experienced unfair treatment at work, including being fired, not hired, or harassed because of their sexual orientation at some point in their lives—and nearly a third reported experiencing this within the past five years.

In a June 2022 survey by LinkedIn and YouGov, 75% of LGBTQ+ respondents said it’s important that they work at a company where they feel comfortable expressing their identity, and 65% said they would leave their current job if they felt they could not do so.

Clearly, there’s still room for improvement.

At Curate Partners, our employees are our greatest asset, and we take a serious stance on ensuring that everyone feels safe and comfortable in the workplace. We recently hosted Graci Harkema, an international diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) speaker specializing in implicit bias and inclusive leadership. Here are a few tips we learned from Graci that can help any organization better serve LGBTQ+ community members.

Celebrate the importance (and history) of LGBTQ+ pride.

From Stonewall to Harvey Milk, there’s much to learn about LGBTQ+ history. The origins of Pride Month can be traced back to 1969, when police raided New York City’s Stonewall Inn on Friday night, June 28th. This raid prompted a series of demonstrations against discrimination by members of the LGBTQ+ community—and it’s these demonstrations we now celebrate during Pride Month every year.

At its core, pride month is about supporting those who feel marginalized or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity (or both)—and celebrating those who fought for equality socially and legally. Learning the history and understanding its importance is a great first step to becoming an ally in the workplace.

Acknowledge and respect individuals’ identities.

It can be challenging for anyone in the workplace to discuss their gender identity or sexual orientation with coworkers or even supervisors. When hiring new employees—and interacting with existing ones—it is essential to acknowledge and respect individuals’ identities. Encourage workplace transparency about sexual orientation and gender identity by honoring a person’s chosen name and pronoun usage.

If you or your employees struggle with pronouns, consider holding office hours where someone can ask questions about how to use them correctly without being mistaken for being overly sensitive or difficult. The National Center for Transgender Equality also provides an online guide for using pronouns correctly if you’re unsure which ones are appropriate for people who don’t identify as cisgender men or women.

Make sure everyone knows it’s okay to talk about being LGBTQ+ at work without fear of judgment (or worse). If some people are uncomfortable talking about their own lifestyles but are willing to lend a hand when coworkers come out about theirs, offer a small but important gesture by thanking them sincerely every time they do so.

Learn to be an ally in the workplace.

When you’re an ally, your actions demonstrate that you support and respect LGBTQ+ people and their families. Allies can help create a safe, inclusive work environment for everyone. They also help develop an understanding of the unique challenges that LGBTQ+ employees may face in the workplace.

Developing as an ally doesn’t mean you need to be perfect; everyone makes mistakes. The key is to use each mistake as an opportunity to learn, grow, and demonstrate your commitment to improving. The role of an ally is to consider the perspectives of your LGBTQ+ peers and see what behavioral changes you can make to ensure that everyone is treated equally. For example:

Making sure that all employees feel welcome at lunchtime events or team outings by inviting them along or including them in group emails about these events.
Speaking up if someone makes a homophobic joke or comments in front of others (or even around just one person)

Allies should also be mindful of their own language, which may inadvertently exclude or alienate LGBTQ+ people. The most prevalent way we see this happen is through unconscious bias—the tendency for those who hold certain privileges and status markers within society to unconsciously favor others like them over others who don’t share those markers. An ally in the workplace should consider how their actions may perpetuate these biases if left unchecked.

Take note of anything in your job post that may illustrate an unintentional bias. If you are hoping to promote internal talent, and are struggling to find interested employees, consider whether there are ways you can make your team or department more welcoming. For instance, is your team diverse? Are people collaborative and cohesive in spite of differences? Does everyone feel supported equally? Sometimes sending out an anonymous survey to this effect can help you determine how you can improve your team’s DEI.

Creating an inclusive work environment where everyone can be themselves encourages positive mental health and helps build trust between co-workers. So take a moment (many moments, in fact) to think about how your company could be more inclusive of all kinds of people—whether they identify as LGBTQ+, straight allies, parents with kids in school, different racial or cultural backgrounds, or even those who simply think differently.

Ultimately, the most important thing to remember is that everyone deserves respect regardless of their identity—and it’s up to us as employers to make sure that happens.

Learn more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

31Aug

Flights canceled, bags lost: How to learn from the airline industry and get through staffing shortages

If you planned a trip at some point this summer, you’ve surely felt it. Airports are more crowded than usual. Flights are continuously getting delayed, canceled, and overbooked. Traveling has gone from a respite from the grind of daily living to a challenge in itself.

Federal transportation officials say 88,161 flights were canceled through May—the second-most in the first five months of a year since 1988, topped only by the pandemic in 2020. It’s all over the news: flights are being canceled constantly; luggage is lost. The airline industry is suffering, and it all boils down to staffing shortages.

We can all learn from this. After all, the post-pandemic labor market is very different from what it looked like pre-pandemic. Employees’ priorities have changed, wanting to be compensated fairly and competitively, appreciated for their work, and provided with growth opportunities. In the airline industry, strikes have been prevalent—but other industries can expect the same if they are not investing in their people in a way that attracts and retains them.

Imagining how this all came about isn’t difficult. First, there were bans on traveling and then requirements for providing negative Covid tests to travel. The airline industry wasn’t prepared for the perfect storm that hit when travel restrictions eased. During the pandemic, they had to let go or furlough many of their employees due to travel bans. But now, travel is back in full force—and there’s a huge demand to go back to normal and explore.

Cathy Panah, a senior account executive at Curate Partners, has an interesting perspective on what went wrong. “It seems like leaders were not prepared to accommodate the demand because they couldn’t retain employees or hire new ones fast enough,” she says. “There were unique challenges for the airline industry, but staffing plans should have been better executed to reduce the other issues.”

She’s right. The proper staffing plan is the key to dealing with demand in any industry. Here are four things we can learn from the airline industry and its staffing shortages.

Don’t wait until there’s a desperate need to begin hiring.

It’s common knowledge that the hiring process can take a while—the average hiring time frame in the U.S. is 42 days yet candidates are off the market in 9 days. This obviously depends on how efficient your hiring practices are, but you should never wait until you are desperate for more employees to begin the process.

If you’re facing a staffing shortage, your company should do self-reflection exercises to see why you’re not staffing up the way you need to. Are you offering flexible, remote, or hybrid options? How do you pay compared to other companies in your industry? What does your hiring process look like, and how long does it take?

But Panah takes it one step further. She suggests, “What would a current employee say to a prospective employee? Would they tell them they are happy with their employer?”

If you can answer these questions honestly, it gives you glaring insight into whether you can retain and attract employees. Of course, it’s helpful to have happy employees because they speak positively about your company to prospects, but it’s more than that. If leaders fear their employees’ honest answers, then it’s clear they need to adjust to the culture, benefits, and career development offered before they even think about hiring.

“Leaders who are investing in their workers, paying them well, trusting them to get their work done from where they choose to work, and providing them with growth opportunities—these are the leaders who have a happy workforce,” Panah says.

Lure back previous employees, and seek out nontraditional talent.

During the pandemic, airlines lost thousands of employees. They handed out early retirement packages, laid off some employees, and received resignations from others. So why not target a hiring campaign to the talent you know is already qualified and trained?

Research from McKinsey shows that attracting “nontraditional” workers—those who left traditional employment in favor of gig work or entrepreneurship—means offering flexibility, meaningful work, adequate compensation, and career development.

People who voluntarily leave their jobs—especially during and since the pandemic—are going in search of these “nontraditional” priorities. If your company can prove that it can provide what they are looking for, your hiring goals will be met and onboarding time will likely shorten.

Offer new hires what they’re worth.

If you’re in the market to staff up your employee base and want a chance to hire the best of who’s out there, you need to offer new hires what they’re worth. In the airline industry, airlines are getting creative. In June, American Airlines increased the pilot pay for its understaffed carriers by more than 50%, and Delta announced that it partnered with a private jet operator to allow pilots in its training program to log flight hours—and give them a quicker path to full-time employment.

While we’re not suggesting you offer a 50% raise to guarantee a speedy hiring process, you should provide new hires at least what their market value is. Can you offer them something besides their requested salary to sweeten the deal? Perhaps they want a hybrid work environment or a contract-to-hire opportunity to leave them open to freelancing. Maybe it’s benefits that they’re after, and you can offer paid time off and health benefits. No matter what compensation you decide, you must ensure the new hire feels valued and appreciated.

With Delta’s think-outside-of-the-box plan, they are set to hire and train more than 2,400 pilots this year. So what’s your outside-of-the-box plan for your company? How are you going to stand out from other employers?

Don’t compromise the quality of the candidate.

You may be in need of new hires, but that doesn’t mean you need to compromise on the quality of the candidate. Always pursue those purple squirrels. At Curate, we recommend a two-week contract hiring timeline—because talent is off the market so quickly—and that includes quick feedback on resumes and interviews and fast, competitive offers.

“That may seem fast-paced,” Panah says, “But we do the heavy lifting of vetting and screening the candidates beforehand, so that timeline doesn’t compromise the quality of the candidate; it ensures that they know you are committed and confident in them for the role.”

Remember: candidates likely have offers on the table or other interviews lined up. So it’s key to make the hiring process quick, thoughtful, and seamless for all involved.

Want someone else to take the lead with your staffing shortage? Curate Partners can help.

03Aug

Five Strategies to go Agile with Your Business—and Succeed

We’ve heard it time and time again: My company needs to be more “fill in the blank” [get better R.O.I.s, get to market faster, produce more]—the list goes on and on. But the struggle is an obvious one: How do you get there?

Hiring an outside firm to help with an Agile transformation can be the first step in the right direction. Not sure what that process will look like, exactly? Curate Partners has tapped the brain of our very own internal Agile Practice Lead, Richard Lovell, who’s been in the business for 20+ years and knows the ins and outs of Agile transformation. Here are five strategies to go Agile with your company and succeed.

1. Be adaptive.

The key is to be ready to pivot. When you become an “Agile” organization, you must be adaptive—not just by getting to market faster but by being more sensitive to customer requirements. You have to understand your customers because they are what drives Agile.

“While being faster to the marketplace, you gain an advantage by not missing opportunities,” says Lovell. “There are so many companies I’ve worked for who take ages to do things. And by the time they get it out there, their competitors have already gotten it out there.”

The issue, Lovell says, is with being first to market. And an employee’s lofty education doesn’t necessarily translate into successful Agile transformation. “You see these guys,” he continues, “they have MBAs, and they get frustrated. I tell them, ‘Well, it was a really good plan—a year ago.’”

2. Start small and test your product.

Many companies think they have to have a fully fleshed-out plan to go Agile when the opposite is true. “It’s about speed and not trying to build a Rolex, right?” Lovell admits. “When you build something, you build it just good enough so that you can test it with a customer, and then the customer can tell you their opinion. [That gives you the opportunity to] pivot without having spent a lot of money.”

Lovell sites Amazon as a great example of starting small. “You notice these little changes to the site and app, and go, ‘Wow, that’s really cool,’ or ‘Oh, that’s confusing.’ And two weeks later, the changes they’ve made have become even bigger and more developed. It’s a way to develop products or services in an iterative fashion so that you don’t invest too much when you fail.”

When you fail, you can pivot quickly (as previously mentioned) because you haven’t invested millions. “I’ve watched so many big companies, in the traditional way of things, go for funding and say, ‘Hey, I need $50 million,’ and then proceed to present a 100-page business plan with fancy Excel graphs, market studies, etc.—and they completely miss the point,” Lovell says.

The point Lovell is referring to is going out and testing the product or service. Then, for example, build microsites, take a small sample of your customers who sign into your website, and direct them based on their IP address. “Agile makes it cheaper to understand your customer,” Lovell says. “You’re more successful when you actually do launch the final product, and you know you’re going to win. You stack your own deck in your favor by not building great, big $50 million things from the get-go.”

3. Get buy-in from the whole company.

While using different strategies for each employee is not ideal, try other tactics.
The strategy is to get buy-in from everybody and get the whole team on board. Then, with an outside firm, have them create a tactical execution. “Fundamentally, you need people to buy into the concept that their lives are going to be easier because they’re not trying to build something big like a Rolex from the start,” Lovell says.

Lovell compares an employee’s time to working towards a Rolex versus working towards building a $35 watch like a Timex. “I might be perfectly happy with a Timex at the moment because it still tells me the time. And then I can add a dial on the outside, a stainless steel band, and all of the extras later—but they’re all fundamentally the same,” he says. “It’s a difference in how you roll it out to people and how you go out and sell it. With large organizations, it’s going to take longer because you don’t want to ‘blow up the factory.’”

By “blowing up the factory,” Lovell means shutting down production entirely for significant changes all at once. “If you blow up the factory, nothing is going out the door. There’s no revenue, no sales—and that doesn’t work either.”

His suggestion is to keep developing products but to do so in a more timely and iterative way, and, most importantly, to not do it the old way and fail miserably. It’s all about the capacity for the organization to change.

4. Change the culture.

Speaking of change, the fastest way to get buy-in from the whole company is by changing the culture. In the beginning, employees will likely disagree with the change. “There was this one client,” Lovell says, “that was resistant at first. But six and a half months later, they realized we were right. We had about an 80% change in that time frame. We changed the minds of that many people because they finally started showing up.”

Lovell admits, “We’d put a meeting on their calendar, and at first, they would ignore it. By the end, everybody showed up. And the employees were actually sorry to see us go once the project was completed. They admitted to learning so much, so anecdotally, I think we were able to make a big change in the culture—and that’s what matters.”

When targeting the employees for change, sometimes it’s best to start at the top when you want a full-on culture change. For Lovell, that means offering a customizable CEO advisory to their personality and the problem they’re trying to solve.

5. Save time, not necessarily money.

When it comes to staffing, you can either work smarter or harder; but you don’t necessarily want to save money when it comes to finding the right hires when you’re aiming for an Agile transformation.

Lovell warns that if salaries don’t match or surpass industry standards, you could risk hiring subpar employees because the pay doesn’t equate to what people expect for their experience levels. “As an example, if you’re hiring in the Washington DC area, there are a lot of big technology and government companies,” Lovell says. “So you’ve got a lot of competition. So let’s say a developer makes $100k on average. You can’t offer $80k and expect to get good people.”

The strategy here is simple: If you hire one outstanding developer at $150k, would they be worth three people at $80k? To entirely go Agile, you have to risk hiring expensive employees.

“We did an experiment with this one client,” Lovell says. “We hired a couple of really expensive contractors. We put together teams in Boston, North Carolina, and offshore. We had completed the assignment in about five months [in Boston and North Carolina], and the team in India hadn’t even started yet.” Lovell continues, “So what’s the cost of that missed opportunity of eight or nine months? There’s value when you’re first to the market.”

Looking for an Agile transformation for your business? Curate Partners can scale companies big and small. Reach out today.

25Jul

How to be Strategic in Today’s Talent Market

We’re all familiar with talent competitions like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. But when it comes to staffing your company, there’s a different kind of talent competition afoot—and it doesn’t involve singing or dancing. In a post-pandemic world, there’s a hiring race for competitive advantage, and if you don’t have a deep understanding of what candidates are seeking in their next position, you’ll likely miss out.

The talent competition: It’s very real, and we’re here to help you have that competitive edge.

Executives and HR departments are struggling to staff, with 69% of employers struggling to fill positions, according to ManpowerGroup—and even that number seems low. It seems you can’t throw a rock without coming across the next piece talking about this “competition,” and while you won’t necessarily get “voted off,” businesses are paying the price.

After learning the perks of working flexible hours, remotely (or hybrid), and getting added benefits, potential hires are not only seeing their value—they’re enforcing it by being more selective with where they choose to work. The result: HR departments and staffing agencies have to be more tactical in today’s talent market.

One surefire way to access more talent is to consider contract employees. Contractors have seen it all, especially in tech. If you need someone to join your project and don’t have the time or resources to train them, an experienced contractor can ramp up quickly. You’ll get a resource in the door faster who will hit the ground running, adding immediate value to the team.

Technical talent is in high demand now more than ever. Companies are making record-breaking investments in digital transformation this year, up 65% from 2020. So if you want your digital investment strategy to reach higher returns, it all comes down to transforming operations, moving digital efforts forward, and showing results.

While initially in the late 1990s, the competition for talent intensified because of demographic shifts, nowadays it has been exasperated due to the mass layoffs and furloughs brought on by the pandemic.

The Great Resignation is still happening. The priorities of workers have changed, and as employers, you have to pivot and adapt to get the best candidates to apply—those purple squirrels are out there.

But what’s the best way to win in today’s talent market? Improving your hiring process and efficiency is a start. We see organizations constantly losing candidate engagement due to a tedious hiring process.

Our vice president of business development, Dave Paglia, suggests putting people first. “They are the core and life of all highly successful businesses,” he mentions. Paglia recommends defining what’s really needed for the role and offering flexibility where feasible.

“The majority of all candidates we speak with want clarity and a sense of purpose or belonging,” Paglia says. “In my opinion, offering those at every step of the candidate’s experience is a contributing factor as to why so many people make changes in their careers and can be a big reason as to why your offer is selected over others.”

While Paglia doesn’t suggest company-wide policy changes to clients, he does suggest companies think and ask themselves what small things could make a big impact on someone deciding if this is the right opportunity for them.

“We recently worked with a CEO who needed to add a member to his executive leadership team,” he says. “His biggest regret was not acting on the first candidate that checked every box. It’s always nice to survey the competitive talent landscape, but keep in check the cost of waiting to find that same person if it takes 6+ months.”

He’s right. Candidates grow tired of waiting for responses and the constant back and forth of needless interviews. Foregoing a lengthy interview process could mean being able to hire your top choice, rather than having them scooped up by a competitor.

“Ideally there are no more than three rounds to make a sound decision,” says Paglia. “Every member interviewing should have a series of thoughts and questions prepared in advance. We see it quite often where a company doesn’t promote its business enough and where said individual could really help accelerate the overall vision.”

While we have many ways of helping our clients, it all starts with being great listeners. It’s the key to everything in life, but it is crucial when sitting down with clients and understanding what is needed to find the next purple squirrel employee. “Part of our process also includes educating our clients on market conditions and ways in which to help them stand out,” Paglia says. “We take a lot of pride in being fully transparent and upfront with what’s happening in each market segment and particular skill set.”

The way to have your company attract a “purple squirrel” and stand out to candidates is simple: Offer them contract work with benefits like working remotely or at the very least offering a hybrid environment. When candidates know they’re able to have a flexible schedule and know from the get-go not only what the hiring process is, but what is expected of the new hires, it paves the way for success—both yours and theirs.

Need some help being tactical in today’s talent market? Reach out.

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