Why Redeployment Should Be Part of Your Recruitment Strategy

You’ve got a new fundraising vacancy to fill. It’s an exciting opportunity for somebody to come on board and make a positive impact on your charitable endeavours. You’ve got the job and person spec written, and you’re about to post it to job boards and recruitment agencies.

But wait … before you do, have you considered redeployment?

It may not be the first thing that springs to mind when a vacancy opens up at your charity. But it’s an option worth considering.

Let's look at the reasons why redeployment should be part of your recruitment strategy.

What is ‘Redeployment’?

Before we delve into the reasons why you should make redeployment part of your recruitment strategy, let’s look at what it is.

In a nutshell, redeployment is the act of moving an existing employee from one role to another. It could be a move to another department or a promotion within their current one. The new role may be similar to the staff member's current position or a complete sidestep from what you originally hired the individual to do.

Regardless of the level of change involved, redeployment is something to consider when recruiting for your charity, and here’s why…

Reduced Costs

Hiring new staff members incurs costs. You need to budget for the hiring process itself, as well as training and onboarding, equipment and uniform, pensions and national insurance contributions. This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the picture.

Then there’s the time commitment required from HR and management to conduct interviews, onboard the new recruit and ensure all the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed.

There are still costs associated with redeployment, but they’re small in comparison.

There’s no need to spend time and resources conducting interviews and inductions, and the level of training required to get your current employee up to speed in their new role will be considerably less than for new recruits.

Employee Retention

The success of your not-for-profit organisation is reliant on the time and effort put in by your team, who work hard to ensure the charity maintains positive relationships with donors and continues to attract new supporters.

You likely have a high-performing fundraiser within your ranks that has shown an interest in progressing through the organisation. So why not offer them the opportunity to take on the new role, instead of hiring externally?

If you keep bringing in new people to fill positions when you have individuals who are willing and able to step up to the plate and thrive, you risk losing your talent to competitors.

Staff Morale

A happy workforce is a productive workforce. Showing your team that you value their work and are committed to supporting their career growth is a big morale booster.

In the same breath, there may be individuals that wish to reduce the level of responsibility they currently have. Redeployment can help you reshuffle your organisation to suit the needs of your employees.

Redeploy Over Employ

The above are just a few reasons to consider redeployment over seeking new candidates from outside your organisation. However, if you’re looking to hire externally, we’re on hand to help. Give us a call on 0203 750 3111 to get the ball rolling.

How to reject job applicants without burning bridges

Rejection is part and parcel of the recruitment process, but, all too often, candidates are not contacted if they’re unsuccessful. 

Even attending an interview doesn’t guarantee a response.

When employers do send out rejections, they’re often impersonal or non-specific.

Either way, it’s disrespectful and unprofessional.

Here’s how to do it right.

Be prompt

A lot of hiring managers wait until the end of the hiring process to reject candidates. Some even wait until the new hire has started. But this is unfair. The rejected candidate may hold off applying for other roles or worse, turn down another offer in the hope of securing a gig at your charity.

Show rejected candidates you value their time by letting them know as soon as you’ve made your decision. Don’t leave them hanging.

Keep it brief

If you’re writing a rejection email, tell the applicant why they didn’t make the cut in one sentence. For example, “we were really impressed with your skills, but decided to go with an applicant who had more community fundraising experience.”

This tells them they conducted themselves well, but they need to gain more experience in a certain area.

While you’re writing the email, be sure to include a few positives. We’re not suggesting you sugarcoat things, but don’t be overly negative.

You don’t want to put the candidate off applying for anything else.

Pick up the phone

Go the extra mile for candidates you’ve interviewed by giving them a call.

They made the effort to prepare and come to the interview; the least you can do is take the time to pick up the phone.

It doesn’t need to be a lengthy discussion.

Key points to cover:

• Thank the candidate for their time

• Tell them you’ve offered the job to someone else, and explain why

• Give them some positive feedback

• Thank them for their interest in the role

Make it personal

Nothing says ‘we don’t care about you’ more than a generic rejection email.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to include the candidate’s name and reference the things you spoke about during the interview.

You’re dashing this person’s hopes. The least you can do is treat them with a bit of respect.

Encourage good candidates to apply for other roles

If you liked a candidate but they weren’t right for the role they applied for, encourage them to apply for other positions.

Redirecting them to positions better suited to their skillset will soften the blow and show them you see potential.

Ask for feedback

Hiring is a two-way street, so ask candidates for feedback on your recruitment process.

Hiring managers are happy to dish out feedback to applicants, but fail to ask for it in return, meaning they’re missing out on valuable lessons.

Need some help with your recruitment process? Give us a call on 0203 750 3111.

Five sure-fire ways to retain top fundraising talent

In the world of fundraising, it’s easy to become burned out or disillusioned when things aren’t going right.

In a 2019 survey, 51% of fundraisers said that they were likely to leave their charity role within two years. By now, those people have probably moved on. When pressure is high and the rewards are low, it’s no surprise that so many nonprofits are struggling to keep their talent onboard for the long haul. But that doesn’t mean you should stop trying.

Here are five things you can do to make your charity irresistible to join and impossible to leave.

1. Pay your staff a decent wage

According to the Living Wage Foundation, one in five third-sector employees earn less than the real living wage. You can have the best, most motivated fundraisers in the world but if they can barely survive on their income, they’re likely to leave if a better-paying job comes along.

If you’re reading this, you clearly don’t want to lose talent. But did you know that, on average, staff turnover costs organisations around £11,000 per person? It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s cheaper to increase wages than recruit and train new people.

2. Offer development opportunities

No one likes to feel stuck in a rut. And while ‘personal and professional development’ sounds like a buzz phrase, when it comes down to it, that’s what most people are seeking. We spend a lot of time at work - we want to feel like we’re learning new things, having new experiences, and making progress.

If you never promote from within or provide opportunities for people to expand their skills, they’re going to look elsewhere for progression. Your organisation will become a stepping stone rather than somewhere they intend to stay.

3. Be flexible

The demand for flexible work is on the rise, but are employers keeping up? Sure, remote and hybrid work has become more common than they were two years ago, but that’s not the only element of flexible working to consider. The opportunity to job share, or work non-traditional hours can be a popular perk, particularly in a world where we all have so many different demands on our time.

Let’s say you’re a new mum: Being able to fit work around the demands of parenthood is going to make staying in your current role much more appealing, right? Or maybe you’re a student looking to juggle work and study. Flexible working options will enable you to earn money to pay your fees.

4. Provide mental health support

Raising money for causes you care about can be incredibly rewarding. But it can also be testing. It’s easy to end up feeling like the issue you’re working towards fixing is too big, too upsetting, or too widespread for your work to be meaningful. And this can lead to stress, depression, and anxiety.

This is a very real issue, and it’s a sector-wide problem. 42% of charity workers told Unite, the UK and Ireland’s largest union, that their job was harming their mental health.

Employers have a 'duty of care', which means they must do everything they can to support their employees’ health, safety, and mental well-being.

Okay, but how can you do this?

• Treat mental and physical health as equally important

• Make sure your employees have regular one-to-ones with their managers, to talk about any problems they’re having

• Encourage positive mental health, for example, arrange mental health awareness training, and workshops or appoint a mental health ‘champion’ who staff can talk to

• Provide opportunities for fundraisers to step back and recalibrate for a few minutes, or hours, if they need it. This can prevent them from breaking and quitting when it all becomes too much.

5. Value talent

We’ve all felt unappreciated at one time or another. And it sucks. Being taken for granted can turn a fun experience into a draining slog quicker than you can say ‘you’re welcome’.

When it comes down to it, all of these strategies focus on this one key point: value. Even if it’s as simple as recognising the time and effort your employees put in with praise and opportunities to celebrate wins as a team, if you make your employees feel valued, they’ll value you.

Considering that 55% of fundraisers say they feel unappreciated, according to this survey by CharityChoice, going out of your way to support your staff will put you ahead of all those other organisations. Not only that, but your employees will also do a better job. Research from BetterUp found that when employees feel appreciated, they perform 56% better as well as being 50% less likely to leave. It’s a win-win!

Looking to find and retain fundraising talent? Give us a call on 0203 750 3111.

Four ways to stop unconscious bias hampering your recruitment process

Unconscious bias. It’s become a bit of a buzzphrase in recruitment circles. But what is it?

Essentially, unconscious bias is the ingrained assumptions, attitudes and stereotypes we have about other people, without realising it.

It occurs when we make spontaneous judgments about people or situations based on our past experiences, culture, or background.

For example, have you ever hired someone that reminds you of one of your friends? The likelihood is that you chose them, (in part) because of that association.

This is a subtle form of unconscious bias i.e., the feelings and opinions you associate with one person influences the way you view someone else.

The concept of unconscious bias puts a lot of people on edge, as it’s seen as ‘bad’.But the truth is, we all hold unconscious beliefs - it’s how our brains are wired to work.

Consider this for a moment. Every second, our brains receive around 11 million pieces of information. That’s a mind-blowing amount. Around 50 of them are captured, while just 7 are processed by our working memory.

To filter this mass of information, our brains take cognitive shortcuts (they make spontaneous judgements), which can lead to bad or ineffective decisions.

Unconscious bias during the hiring process

In the workplace, unconscious, or implicit bias can become a problem when it affects others.

A whopping 96% of recruiters believe that it is a problem, and not just for the individuals being passed over for jobs and promotions. Unchecked unconscious bias can also hurt your organisation, as this whitepaper by HR Dive explains.

While we can’t magically become completely unbiased, we can take steps to minimise its impact at each stage of the recruitment process.

However, there’s more than one form of unconscious bias. Before you address them, you need to know what they are. Here’s the lowdown:

1. Learn the different types of unconscious bias

• Affinity bias: favouring people who are similar to you over people who aren’t.

• Attribution bias: making assumptions about whether or not external factors play a role in someone’s achievements or failures.

• Confirmation bias: drawing conclusions based on your personal experiences and beliefs over facts.

• Discrimination: favouring people from a dominant or majority group over those from a marginalised group.

• Halo and horns effect: letting one trait control whether you believe someone is good or bad.

It’s easy to let bias affect your behaviour without you realising you’re doing it. But knowing how bias manifests is the first step towards making better, more self-aware choices.

2. Rework your job descriptions

Another thing to do before you start recruiting is to take a look at the job description. For example, there are tons of ways that even seemingly innocuous parts could be putting women off applying.

Are you using words like ‘dominant’, ‘competitive’, or ‘rockstar’? Research shows that masculine-coded language can be (consciously or unconsciously) off-putting to female applicants. If they feel like they’re not going to fit in or succeed, why bother applying?

Think about the wording you use. Are the terms you’re using associated with one gender over another?

While you’re there, cast a critical eye over the job requirements. Are they all, well, required? Because on average, men will apply for jobs when they meet over 60% of the criteria while women only apply if they hit 100%. If some of the requirements aren’t actually required, you run the risk of losing out on applications from perfectly qualified women.

3. Anonymise your CVs

William Shakespeare once wrote ‘what's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’.

Unfortunately, dear Will didn’t account for the fact that names have a huge influence on our choices.

Research has found that when it comes to hiring, recruiters tend to favour white candidates. When American researchers Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan submitted 5,000 identical CVs to recruiters, they found that the candidates with more stereotypically white-sounding names received 50% more interviews than other candidates.

Bias surrounding names can show up in all kinds of ways. Say you’re stuck between Alan and John: if the late Alan Rickman is your favourite actor, or the kid who bullied you at school was called John, you might find yourself gravitating towards hiring Alan.

By taking names out of the equation, you can be sure that these sneaky biases aren’t influencing your decisions.

4. Take your time

Unconscious decisions are quick (remember the 11 million pieces of information a second?) but you don’t have to be. Sit down and think - really think - about why you rank candidates in a certain order. Do they have something in common with you? Do you think they have a particular characteristic that makes them better or worse for the job?

Consider what role unconscious biases might be playing in your thought process - you might find that your brain is cutting corners.

Building time into the recruitment process to slow down and really think might mean it takes a little longer to recruit the right person, but it’ll be worth it.

Looking for some expert help to improve your recruitment process? Give us a call on 0203 750 3111. 

Nine tips for crafting a killer job description

The bad news: 99% of job descriptions are painfully long and boring.

The good news: 99% of job descriptions are painfully long and boring.

Few charities invest in crafting quality job descriptions. And they’re missing out on quality candidates as a result.

With this in mind, here are nine tips to make your job descriptions sparkle:

1. Keep the job title simple

If you’re having trouble recruiting a ‘Major Giving Guru’, there’s a reason.

Creative, witty, or quirky job titles are great for showing off your personality. But your job description isn’t the place to do it.

Jobseekers search for job titles they’re qualified for. If yours is unclear, non-descriptive, or too wacky, you risk alienating great candidates.

2. Avoid superlatives and extreme adjectives

Avoid using phrases like ‘best of the best,’ ‘ world-class’, or ‘perfectionist’. This will alienate people who have been brought up not to ‘blow their own trumpet.’ You also run the risk of turning off qualified workers who don’t identify with the terms.

3. Describe ‘a day in the life’ on the job

While a bullet point list of responsibilities is fine, a ‘day in the life’ paints a richer picture. It’ll enable you to inject a bit of personality into the content and bring the role to life.

This description of a Community Specialist from Meetup is a great example:

4. Trim the job requirements

Sure, it would be great if the candidate had a minimum of 5 years of experience, but is it a deal breaker?

A lot of job seekers won’t apply for a role unless they meet every single requirement. If you’re too specific, you could miss out on top talent.

Summarise the most important skills/qualifications in 4-5 bullet points.

5. Make it skimmable

Lengthy, dull, difficult-to-read, or overly complicated job descriptions will turn candidates off. Embrace short paragraphs, bullet points, and headers, so applicants can see at a glance if they’re qualified for the position.

6. Address candidates directly

Adding a bit of personality to your ads will keep readers on the page. Rather than talking in the third person, talk to candidates directly.

Replace ‘the ideal candidate’ with ‘you’ and ‘essential requirements’ with ‘you’re good at…’

If your job description is stuffy or lacking in energy, you’ll receive lackluster applications.

7. Get input from your current employees

Job descriptions tend to sit in a drawer in the HR department gathering dust. When a job becomes vacant, they’re whipped out and reused - often without being updated.

If you’re guilty of this, you aren’t doing yourself any favours. After all, jobs evolve over time. If you don’t take the time to review and amend your job descriptions, they won't reflect the skills and experience needed at that time.

It’s good practice to involve your current employees in the review process. After all, knowing what they need and the type of candidate that will be a cultural fit is crucial for long-term success.

8. The devil is in the detail

Just as you judge candidates’ on their CVs, they judge you on your job descriptions. So, spell-check, grammar check, and proofread them.

Then, go back and do it again.

9. Be innovative

Job seekers spend a lot of time poring over job descriptions. If you add a creative or innovative touch, you may catch their eye and hold their interest.

Why not incorporate a video of the hiring manager talking about the role, and explaining why they love working at the charity?

We can help

Nail the job description and you’ll attract top candidates and speed up the recruitment. It’s a win-win.

If you’re struggling, our employer brand specialists can help you market your role the right way. Give us a call on 0203 750 3111 to find out how.