Have you ever had a hiring emergency? You know, when you unexpectedly have a position open up that you need filled ASAP.  This can be a stressful situation for several reasons. For one, business operations are often put on hold when you are short an important staff member. And needing to make a hire urgently is not a great situation to be in. It could lead you to rushing the hiring process and settling for the first candidate that comes along instead of the right person for the job.  But is there really any way to avoid this kind of hiring predicament?  The solution: Passive rec ..read more

As a business owner or manager, you’ve probably got an always growing to-do list, and hiring new employees is just one task of many you need to check off.  It can be hard to give the hiring process the attention and focus it needs, and keeping track of where every applicant is in your process, and responding to all your candidates in the various stages can get confusing and overwhelming.  But even though it’s challenging to do, being more responsive during recruitment can actually improve your ability to make the right hires for your team.  Why is being responsive so important ..read more

Every day, CareerPlug clients reach out to our team of experts to ask what they can do to improve their hiring results. We know that for our clients who own small businesses and franchises, hiring and recruiting is just one of many responsibilities they juggle day-to-day. Our goal is to make hiring easier so they can spend less time hiring and get back to running their business. That’s why we have hiring and recruiting experts like Gabe Wilson. In his role as a hiring consultant, Gabe has advised hundreds of business owners and hiring managers on the strategic improvements they can make to att ..read more

Another year in the books means another opportunity to look back on the journey of the last 12 months. 2023 was a year of both successes and lessons at CareerPlug, as we continued to grow, change, and strive to make our product and company better.  We expect great things in 2024, but before moving full speed ahead into the next year, let’s first reflect on the wins and milestones that made up the previous year.  The state of hiring in 2023  The job market has stabilized and recovered from pandemic shakeups, and the unemployment rate hit a nearly 55 year low in 2023. There are al ..read more

Note: The following is an excerpt from How to Hire, the new book by CareerPlug CEO, Clint Smith. To build a truly successful business, you’ve got to have the right people in the right seats. At CareerPlug, you may hear us phrase this as, “Who’s on your bus?”. The first step to getting the right people on the bus is to evaluate who you currently have aboard. I do this by calculating a Talent GPA for my team. All that you need to do is ask a single question for each member of your team, and then grade your response: How would you feel if you found out that [EMPLOYEE NAME] was leaving t ..read more

So you have an open position and you’re ready to start the hiring process. You’re a great company and this is a great opportunity, so finding the perfect candidate that checks all your boxes should be easy, right?  In fact, you were certain that when you posted your open job online, you’d immediately see an influx of qualified applicants to choose from… but maybe that hasn’t been your experience after all.  Maybe, for some reason, you’re struggling to get applicants when you post an open job, and you’re not sure why. You’ve begun to realize, there are a lot of great companies with a ..read more

Employers may fondly remember the days when you could just post a job online, sit back and watch the applicants roll in, have your pick of the litter, and ignore the rest.  But as you may have noticed, hiring isn’t quite as easy these days.  In today’s competitive job market, it takes a lot more work to fill open roles, and every part of the hiring process matters in your ability to attract and convert applicants.  One thing you may not have put much thought into is the application experience. But since job seekers currently have so many options, the application and other earlie ..read more

One of the first steps to take when you have an open role to fill is writing a job description and distributing it far and wide. But not all job descriptions are created equal.  At CareerPlug, we’re committed to making hiring easier, and we know that an effective hiring process starts with an effective job description. But what makes some job postings stronger than others? And why is your job description so important anyway?  Don’t worry – we’re breaking it all down for you and sharing our best tips for writing job descriptions that attract more job seekers and make your hiring proce ..read more

Sometimes hiring managers get stuck in the cycle of hiring for necessity in order to fill a position quickly, rather than hiring the highest quality applicant. This hiring trap can cause your business more harm than good. CareerPlug wants to make hiring easier, so we hosted a webinar to explore the strategies for hiring and retaining top-notch candidates. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to turn your hiring process into a well-oiled machine for success. Clint Smith, Founder and CEO of CareerPlug, sat down with Forrest Higdon, owner of Gumby’s Pizza in San Marcos to discuss their hiring experi ..read more

Note: The following is excerpt from How to Hire, the new book by CareerPlug CEO, Clint Smith. You cannot have a successful interview unless you get it scheduled. Don’t take this for granted. In a competitive job market, qualified applicants do not last long (just like good sales leads). Here’s how the best recruiters beat the competition and convert qualified applicants into interviews.  How to schedule job interviews  1. Personalize it  Show the candidate that you are excited to speak with them, and try to make the message as personalized as possible. One little note about the ..read more