The Ontario Broker - August 2019 - 14

HIRING FOR BEST FIT
BY JEFF TOTH, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST, IBAO

I

n recent years the workplace has evolved
alongside societal and technological
change. These forces have impinged
upon traditional hiring processes,
making it more difficult to find the right
candidate through those means. At
the same time this has created avenues for
recruitment, ripe with possibility.
"People used to have a Post n' Pray
approach-where you put a job posting up
and pray that the right candidate shows up.
That doesn't work so much anymore," says
Tony Pilon, a Human Resources Consultant
and Facilitator with the T-R Group.
It's well known that there's an increasing
labour shortage in the job market. That
talent gap is felt acutely within the broker
channel. Research by the Conference Board
of Canada suggests that by 2025 Ontario
will have as many as 364,000 job vacancies,

meaning that the market will tighten further
and employers will be competing over an
even smaller group of workers.
"In the current labour market, people
are having a hard time finding talent. If
you're having trouble finding people with
your current process, you need to try
something different," says Tony. "Often
when people are hiring, they don't think
about what their employer brand is, but
you've got to understand it. Not your
corporate brand; your reputation from
your employees' point of view. That's
what potential candidates are going to
be looking at. It includes your mission,
your vision and your culture-really
what makes you who you are. You have to
communicate that to attract like-minded
people to come aboard and contribute to
what you do. Instead of Post n' Pray we call
it Hiring for Best Fit."

ZEN AND THE ART OF
REPUTATION MAINTENANCE

Zensurance is a digital brokerage that has
successfully utilized modern hiring practices
to fuel their rapid expansion. Trevor
McIntosh is their Head of Talent and Culture.
"My role focuses primarily on creating a
reputation for the company within the
industry and trying to attract top talent both
in the sales division as well as in the tech
side of the business," says Trevor. "I joined in
January as employee number 23. Since then
we've expanded to 53, including the four
employees we onboarded this week. There's
no end in sight.
"We all come into work every day and live by
the values of our business. That's what sets
the foundation for a really rock-solid cultural
experience for our teams."
If your company hasn't thought of its
employer brand before, Tony recommends
having a focus group with your employees
and collecting their impressions of
the company to see if it aligns with the
company's stated objectives.
SHIFT TO CULTURE

Nearly nine out of ten millennials say they'd
take a pay cut to work at a company that
aligns with their values. Beyond appealing to
millennials, there's solid financial reasons to
focus on a culture match when hiring.
"If all you want is two feet and a heartbeat,
you can find somebody. But hiring someone
who doesn't fit with your company might
lead to turnover either because they leave
or you have to let them go. If you're more

AUGUST 2019

14

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The Ontario Broker - August 2019

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