Category Archives: Employers

The Great Resignation: Attracting and Retaining Employees During Record Turnover

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Across America, employees are quitting their jobs in record numbers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in August 2021 alone, and those numbers are climbing. Maybe you’ve even noticed it at your own company.

Industries with the highest resignation rates

Industries that experienced the highest demand during the pandemic also experienced the highest turnover.

  • Hospitality & Leisure
  • Retail (apparel, food, and grocery)
  • Healthcare
  • Education & Childcare
  • Technology

In November 2021, quits increased in several industries, with the largest increases in food services, transportation and warehousing, and health care [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]. Blue-collar and white-collar sectors are being equally affected as well as hourly and salaried positions.

What’s driving “The Big Quit”?

It’s easy to blame the stress of COVID-19 for the obvious burnout many workers are feeling, but it’s not the whole story. Research done by Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review points to a more insidious root cause that can be hard to identify and even harder to fix: workplace culture.

Specifically, toxic work culture.

Researchers found toxic work culture to be the biggest factor that led people to quit, and it was 10 times more important than pay in predicting turnover.

Identifying toxic work culture

Whether your company has worked on defining and cultivating a workplace culture or not, you have one. Unfortunately, companies that don’t proactively work on a positive culture often develop a negative one.

Many things can create toxic work environments, but here are some of the usual suspects:         

  • Trust and transparency

Companies that treat employees with distrust or discourage open and honest dialogue with leaders put undue stress on employees and lower morale.

  • Recognition and compensation

Heavy workloads and responsibility without proper compensation or opportunities for career growth can be the breaking point for many workers.

  • Leadership and management tactics

It should go without saying that abusive management techniques based on fear or intimidation will drive high performers elsewhere fast, but micromanagement is another big culprit.

  • Lack of concern for mental health and wellbeing

How companies handle workloads, flexibility, and of course, policies around things like return-to-office and vaccines show employees whether companies care about them as individuals or not.

These issues were amplified during the Coronavirus pandemic, leading to a boiling point for large numbers of workers. Many others reported that the pandemic gave them time to reevaluate their jobs, careers, and life goals.

This was especially true for women and older individuals, providing a blow to many companies’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts.

Women and Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce

COVID burnout, stress, and job insecurity is leading many older workers in advanced career positions to choose an early retirement. Women are also stepping out of the workforce temporarily (and sometimes permanently) for a variety of reasons. Some of these include being stretched too thin due to remote learning, losing daycare options, choosing to home school in response to COVID concerns, and taking on additional caretaker roles for elderly family members.

What do employees want?

A healthy company culture is at the top of the list, but competitive compensation and benefits are still highly important. Lateral career opportunities and job enrichment such as training opportunities or tuition reimbursement were also highly rated. Lateral career opportunities are 12 times more predictive of employee retention than promotions [MIT Sloan Management Review].

Finally, flexibility for better work-life balance — which is closely tied to culture — was a top consideration.

Flexibility can be as simple as allowing employees to adjust their work hours to better fit their personal schedules (particularly for parents). Allowing employees to work from home a certain number of days each week is another example. In fact, candidates are 2.5 times as likely to apply to jobs that are partially or fully remote.

Leveraging the Great Resignation

Now’s the time to implement a targeted strategy to attract and retain employees, and partnering with a full-service executive recruitment agency can be a crucial component.

Even if you’re not seeing turnover issues internally, this is an opportunity to hire top talent leaving (or considering leaving) other companies.

At Curtis Food Recruiters, our industry insights, research, and access to a network of diverse executive talent gives you a market advantage. As a woman-owned company, we’re also committed to DE&I, and it shows — over 50% of our placements are women or racially diverse individuals. Our goal and guarantee is to find you the right candidate for your job. Reach out to us, and let’s start a conversation about building your best team.

Retail Grocery and Food Manufacturing in 2022: Executive Benefits & Compensation

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The retail grocery and food and beverage manufacturing industry is rapidly approaching 2022. We want to provide some important things to consider as you are crafting your executive compensation plans to attract the industry’s most sought-after leadership talent.

Here are some of the current trends that indicate what the future may bring, even with so many unknowns still up in the air. We hope you find this helpful and informative when searching for your next executives.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Various Compensation Plans

What does your executive compensation plan look like?

Ideally, the most attractive plan will balance the support of your company’s goals and align with your corporate strategy. But a great benefit and compensation plan will also discourage self-serving tendencies and instead incentivize your executives to contribute to the long-term growth and profitability of the business.

The variety of packages you may offer could differ dramatically depending on your business, your desired outcome, and the executives you seek.

Compensation Plans For More Immediate Results

Some compensation plans are geared to produce immediate results but are not sustainable for a longstanding growth strategy. Some brief examples are bonuses tied to production and cost-reduction benchmarks, and overall effectiveness

Many executives prefer these benefits because they have a more noticeable impact on the executive’s paycheck and are easier to quantify according to performance and growth metrics.

While these compensation plans can be useful in motivating productivity year over year, they are less effective in increasing overall value and sustainable growth.

Additionally, there is a conflict of interest that should be considered: many executives have oversight to the metrics to which their compensation is measured, and ultimately, tied. Therefore, safeguards should be taken to eliminate the inherent temptation to manipulate the results in order to receive a higher bonus.

Win/Win Compensation Plans

The most effective compensation plans are based on a win/win model: their ultimate purpose is to incentivize the executive to act on behalf of your business and work to increase value and drive the long-term growth and profitability of the company.

Examples of these could include incentives such as deferred compensation and profit-sharing plans or compensation that is ultimately higher but matures over a longer period, such as phantom or restricted stock options with appreciation rights and profit interests.

These incentives may not be the shot-in-the-arm that your immediate packages could offer. But ultimately, they are far more effective in getting the executive’s buy-in to act on behalf of the company as more of a contributor with a long-term strategy, rather than according to their self-interest with more short-sighted goals.

You could choose to offer a variety of incentives. You could even diversify to include some more immediate results that could motivate an executive today, mixed with other compensation that will incentivize higher performance and retention over the long term. Ultimately, it’s important to keep in mind how the success of these plans pivots on two important details:

  1. How strategically aligned their mechanics are tailored to your overall business goals.
  2. Highlight and clearly present how your plan translates to the executive’s own personal wealth.

Increased Benefits and Perks

The wave of employer confidence in hiring is fueling competition for top employees. This, in turn, is fueling a need for increased benefits to attract the top talent.

In 2021, 48% of employers took a strong stance on attracting the industry’s top executives by offering a signing bonus. But it doesn’t stop there. Today’s executives are savvier than ever. We can presume employers who don’t offer a signing bonus will either be asked for benefits of equal value, whether that’s more flexibility or other financial perks.

These days, we’re hearing from executives in the retail grocery and food/beverage manufacturing industries that attractive benefits packages and perks can be just as important, if not more important than their base salary when considering a new position.

In 2022, businesses can expect some of the top benefits executives will be looking for are an increase in health and dental insurance, paid time off, retirement savings plans, as well as robust signing bonuses and relocation allowances. While we may see an increased demand for better benefits, we feel 2022 will be known as the year when perks became a priority for all the industry’s top talent.

Of the perks today’s executives are looking for, the foremost is flexibility like remote work options or flexible schedules. Indeed, flexibility and the ability to have more of a work/life balance was one of the main reasons our CEO founded Curtis Food Recruiters in the first place.

Today’s executives know they can run a household and raise a family, all while contributing to a thriving career as long as their employer recognizes the importance of a work/life balance and makes proactive steps to support their employees in that regard.

Other perks we can expect will be front and center include:

  • Child Care assistance
  • Employee discounts
  • Wellness programs
  • Paid parental leave
  • Stipends for home office equipment
  • Mental health resources

Holistic Wellness Benefits

It is probably not a surprise that during a time when so many people faced an abundance of difficulties and so much uncertainty, executives would want better wellness benefits. Wellness benefits are becoming so popular, we predict that in 2022 wellness, specifically holistic wellness programs, will be at the forefront of an employer’s hiring strategy.

These benefits would include perks such as:

  • Gym memberships and other physical wellness programs
  • Retirement planning for financial wellness
  • Stress reduction programs and other mental wellness programs 
  • Work/life balance initiatives like a compressed workweek or permanent, part-time arrangements

For employers whose hiring strategy focuses on long-term retention and growth, wellness benefits are especially important. They contribute to the long-term care and health of your executives, who, in turn, will be more capable and motivated to care for and grow your company for the long term as well. 

Main Takeaway

Employers, if we could impress one thing you should take away from this, it would be the following statistic: starting salaries for executives across all industries are expected to increase by 3% in 2022.

Executive candidates are willing to look at the total package where salary is only part. It’s important to offer a robust compensation plan, as base compensation, bonus, relocation, LTIP, flexibility, overall benefits, as well as company culture are collectively important in attracting top executives.

If you need a retained partner who has up-to-date, first-hand knowledge of recruiting executives in the food manufacturing and retail grocery industries, contact us. Curtis Food Recruiters can be your advocate in searching for and recruiting the top executive talent you need. Make the most of 2022. Contact us today!

Recognizing National Women’s Small Business Month: How Relationships Have Created 15 years of Success

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October is National Women’s Small Business Month. This month has me reflecting on when Curtis Food Recruiters got its start 15 years ago at the intersection between the great need for a new kind of executive recruiting model, and for the flexibility that owning and operating my own agency could provide.

Being a woman-owned business allows us to create relationships like nobody else, because we know there is no way to rush into them. Relationships are earned, and that is especially true in executive recruiting, an industry that is built on and operates with no small amount of highly sensitive, confidential information.

We are also more in-tune with the nuances of confidentiality and are more aware of how essential trust – from years of delivering results – is key to building the relationships on which our entire business model pivots. 

Women Recruiters Are Effective Advocates For Change

As an executive search firm we are constantly asking people to change. Whether that’s changing careers, changing location, or changing a perception of their fit for a role and getting out of their comfort zone and pursuing a great opportunity.

Sometimes it takes a little nudge to get people to consider change, especially when it involves seeing in themselves the talent and capabilities that we see. That’s where we see an opportunity for a better kind of salesmanship because building relationships is crucial. Developing meaningful relationships with prospective candidates, and our clients is what drives and energizes our entire team. We feel fortunate that people put their trust and confidence in us each and every day.

As women recruiters, we focus on an “honest, but positive” perspective. That means sometimes having difficult and candid conversations that focus on sharing positive aspects and the truth that lies in each role and company. There are good aspects as well as challenges to every job. We aim to be honest about those details and represent our clients in the best light.

Our Women-Owned Recruiting Model Focuses on Results

As we continue to celebrate 15 years as a woman-owned small business in the food manufacturing and grocery retail industries, we are so grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to build relationships. It has been an honor to help recruit and place amazing people, create meaningful solutions for our clients and provide mentoring opportunities for those who are at the forefront of their careers. 

But our work is far from done. Even in 2021, we don’t see anyone else serving the food and grocery industry like we do. Our clients depend on our ability to place diverse talent in VP, SVP, and C-Level roles. With the current demand for talent being higher than it’s ever been, we see the need for more women that are qualified and open for executive-level roles in the food industry. That’s what makes our work as a woman-owned and operated executive recruiting firm even more significant in today’s executive search landscape. 

As we celebrate National Women’s Small Business Month, please think about the courage and confidence it took for these women to start and succeed. Support them when you can and think about the generation behind us that needs a mentor along the way.

Julie Curtis
President / Executive Recruiter

 Recently Curtis Food Recruiters earned their WBENC certification. To learn more about working with the leading executive recruiter for the food manufacturing and grocery retail industries, and a woman-owned business that can deliver results, contact Curtis Food Recruiters today. 

 

Why Choosing a Retained Recruiter Gives You the Advantage

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When you need top executive talent, you want them to be the very best. You want your new hire to be able to hit the ground running and begin guiding your company like a seasoned professional. And you want them to stick around for the long-term!

That can be a tall order for anyone in the food manufacturing and grocery retail industry. If you’ve made the first step towards working with a recruiter, you might be wondering what kind of a recruiter you should work with. Retained or contingent?

We wanted to share some of the differences between these unique relationships and demonstrate how retaining Curtis Food Recruiters can not only give you and your company the market advantage but can provide peace of mind you can’t get anywhere else!

Retained Recruiting Vs. Contingent Recruiting

To understand what is best for you and your company, it is best to juxtapose the main identifying factors between the contingent and retained recruiting models.

Characteristics of Contingent Recruiting:

  • No up-front fees.
  • The placement fee is often lower than a retained search fee.
  • You only pay a recruiter if they successfully place a candidate in your business.
  • Contingent firms will often expedite the hiring process – working to fill the position as the highest priority.
  • Contingent search firms have access to a large quantity of candidates actively seeking new employment.

Characteristics of Retained Recruiting:

  • Retained recruiters work with their clients from the very beginning of the candidate search. As partners, the client and recruiter develop a recruiting strategy, and process to follow throughout every step of the recruiting project.
  • The client benefits from their recruiter’s long-term advocacy within the talent community.
  • Often, retained recruiters will work exclusively with their client, offering an unmatched level of service and detail.
  • Retained recruiters can afford to have a highly specialized niche industry to which they recruit, such as the food manufacturing and grocery retail industries. They understand the pain points and nuances of their clients better than anybody else.
  • Retained recruiters can expedite the hiring process by thoroughly vetting their candidates, saving time by offering quality over quantity.
  • Because the client and their recruiter are considered partners, many recruiters will often share their recruiting technology, subscriptions, and sourcing tools with their clients.

Why Only the Best Executive Talent Works With Retained Recruiters

Many candidates who work with contingency firms are often overwhelmed with phone calls from multiple recruiters. Additionally, it is unlikely the candidate will get to meet their recruiter’s client right away. Because of this, answering a call from a contingent recruiter can present the unsavory prospect of more time spent following unpromising leads. 

The best candidates, on the other hand, are extremely discerning when it comes to handing out their resumes. Since confidentiality is key to a higher level of executive recruiting, they won’t want their resume’s distributed without permission. This is why contingency firms simply aren’t in the same orbit as these high-quality candidates.

As your retained recruiter, you’ll have access to a better pool of talent: our trusted network of proven executives with the perfect mission-driven experience, skills, leadership style, and cultural competencies to match your company.

In the same way, retaining Curtis Food makes us your dedicated recruiter, our talent only works with us for a higher, more intimate level of service and professionalism.

When Diversity is a Priority: Choose Retained Recruiting

In order to understand how retained recruiters are able to offer more diverse options, one must understand how executive outreach into underrepresented communities is made.

Diverse executives have heard it all before. They’ve heard about how employers are eager to work with more diverse talent. Employers are after diverse candidates’ ability to provide a different perspective, add more innovative ideas, and round out the talents of their peers, creating a more unified, resilient, and creative leadership team. 

But putting all that into practice is another story altogether. Hiring diverse candidates is one thing. But creating a business culture that nurtures diversity and fosters equity is something entirely different. The problem is, from the outside looking in, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between the two. 

Because we are retained recruiters, the diverse executives we work with count on us to know our clients through and through. Moreover, they depend on us to be truthful about your organization and their real potential to truly make an impact and succeed.

The very best diverse executives work with retained recruiters for two important reasons:

  1. They can expect more candid, inside information from a retained recruiter because of our deeper, closer relationship with clients.
  2. Retained recruiters can provide a more thorough and transparent track record of lifting up diverse and underrepresented talent.

When we begin working together on a project, our candidates have access to the fine details of your organization. And with our historical record of success in representing diverse talent, we can truly demonstrate how your opportunity is right for them.

Retained Recruiters Take the Pressure Out of “No Win, No Fee” Recruiting

One thing everyone can agree on – when you need to make a decision about anything, it’s best to have clarity and space to make the right decision. That becomes even more true when you ratchet the stakes higher. And for any company, there may not be any stakes higher than who they hire for executive leadership. 

You may have a fabulous relationship with a contingent recruiter. But there is just no getting around the “no win, no fee” element of contingent recruiting. Simply, if your recruiter doesn’t get their candidate hired, they don’t get paid. 

Retained recruiting eliminates all that in one fell swoop. No pressure. No competition. No confusion or worry that your recruiter is sending you the actual best candidates. And, most importantly, there’s no rush to make an incredibly important decision that requires ultimate clarity and confidence.

Your retained recruiter’s shortlist of candidates comes garnished with all of those luxuries and more: the guarantee that in the highly unlikely case that something should go awry, your partner will be right there for you in a snap. 

The Unique Guarantee of a Retained Recruiter 

What is a guarantee, really?

If you buy a new tv, and the tv doesn’t work, your purchase guarantee means you get a new tv. That is nice and all, but you still have to box up the tv, take it back to the store, and exchange it for another tv (presuming they have your model in stock). In the end, you get the tv you paid for, but not after an unnecessary headache and hassle. 

That is not the case for retained recruiters!

Think of the guarantee of a retained recruiter as the anti-hassle. The key is in two very important components to the relationship you strike in a retained agreement:

1) Accountability is key

Contingent recruiters are simply not held to the same degree of accountability as a retained recruiter. That is because the relationship between a contingent recruiter and their talent is often transactional and informal. There just isn’t the same level of intimacy and trust as the relationship between retained recruiters and their talent.

We are able to proudly call ourselves retained recruiters because when it comes to our talent, the buck stops with us. It’s our reputation and trusting relationship that’s on the line. 

2) Insurance you can count on

The strength and depth of any relationship is rarely put to a full test when everyone’s happy and things are going well. It’s when the unlikely and unexpected occurs you’ll be glad you had the security and resolve of a retained recruiter in your corner. That is why working with a retained recruiter is like buying an insurance policy for your hiring strategy, but better. Your retained recruiter can act with speed and accuracy to provide a seamless solution that is just as good, if not better than your first choice.

That is insurance you can count on to support your hiring strategy.

Why Choose A Retained Recruiter

Working with a recruiter can be a very personal experience. So ultimately, the decision should come down to what’s right for you.

Many employers prefer contingent recruiting because they aren’t looking for a deep, long-lasting relationship with their recruiter. They may prefer a more transactional model in which the recruiter is motivated to work very quickly to complete a project with a short time-to-fill. 

But we’ve found our partners in the food manufacturing and grocery retail industries are looking for the very best management and executive-level professionals. They depend on Curtis Food to provide a different model: that of a high-touch partner who’ll work closely with them every step of the way through the recruitment process. They’re looking for a trusted, long-term recruiter who can ensure the success of their executive hire.

Our retained relationships have meant the world to our clients and have given them the market advantage in sourcing and hiring the very top talent for their company.

We’re excited to talk with you about how we can provide this unique service for your company and how, as your retained recruiters, we can provide a market advantage like nobody else. 

Contact our team at Curtis Food today. We can’t wait to hear from you!

5 Ways to Promote Wellness in the Workplace

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Wellness in the workplace isn’t a new concept—far from it. But the events of 2020 have brought employee wellbeing into sharper focus than ever before. In 2021, organizations that recognize this and commit themselves to support their employees have been able to differentiate themselves from other employers by showing they truly value the whole employee, not just what skill sets they bring to the organization.

Our team at Curtis Food Recruiters collected our thoughts on a few of the most effective ways leaders can keep their teams supported, connected, and well throughout 2021. 

Get Everyone on Board

Before you start to build out or enhance your employee wellness initiatives, it’s important to make sure your teams are on board and motivated to participate. Surprisingly, studies show that 80% of employees do not have the inner drive to follow their organization’s wellness programs. Leveraging coaching and educating employees on the benefits of wellness programs can help boost participation and follow through on whichever initiatives you choose to implement. Bringing fresh, engaging and exciting ideas to your wellness program will certainly garner more interest than the outdated models some companies are still using. 

Here are a few tips from SHRM on how to establish and design a wellness program that works from the start!

Get Your People Moving

Exercising is an undeniable antidote for a variety of negative conditions, physical and mental alike. Commit your organization to step up its fitness goals in 2021. You can promote friendly competition and accountability for a variety of physical activities like jogging, biking (if you’re in Minnesota like us, maybe put this one on hold until Spring!), steps challenges, yoga and more. Decide what’s best for your unique company makeup and get your people moving in 2021.

Ongoing Virtual Employee Wellbeing Sessions

Based on what is feasible for your organization, providing an opportunity for your team members to seek out a wellbeing session is one of the most effective and helpful ways to respond to challenging times. Whether it’s guided meditation, yoga, or simply someone to talk to, it’s important to make it clear to employees that it’s okay if people are struggling and that you’re here to help them through it. 

Unplug and Recharge

In addition to the structured wellness programs you incorporate, don’t be afraid to get a little creative and personal as well. “Unplug and Recharge” is an idea that supports employees on an individual basis by championing the wellness practices they want to explore. Whether it’s a two-hour window every Thursday where someone can go for a walk, take a long lunch, read, run errands, or simply unplug, dedicating a period during the week where your teams have the liberty to choose what’s best for them can speak volumes about your commitment to wellbeing and encourage participation in whatever other initiatives you put forward.

Celebrate Employee Achievements

We know you probably already recognized employees of the month before the pandemic—but in 2021, it’s best to take that a couple of steps further. Create a genuine culture of celebrating one another. Encourage people to shout out fellow team members for how they are valuable. Whether it’s in weekly company-wide meetings or smaller daily encounters, carve out time for your people to appreciate one another this year. It matters!

Make Your Office Greener

This may seem a little outside-of-the-box, but the amount of data supporting the benefits of interacting with nature, can’t be ignored. To combat a year dominated by being sequestered indoors, help your employees reconnect by injecting your office space with a little more green. Bringing nature inside office walls with indoor plants (succulents are great options), moss walls, water features, and open windows where feasible, can work wonders and help employees fight back against a year of disconnectedness and separation. 

Wellness ideas like the ones listed above serve as a great launchpad for doing whatever part you can in supporting your team members through difficult times. Beyond just intrinsically being the appropriate response, as the pandemic shifts the dynamic between employers and employees, having a comprehensive employee wellness plan (and having people know you have it) is becoming a competitive necessity. 

Curtis Food Recruiters 

As a full-service executive search firm, Curtis Food Recruiters has successfully matched skilled job seekers with prominent businesses throughout the food manufacturing and grocery retail industry for over a decade. If you’re searching for your next top performer or need help advancing your career, contact us today and we’ll leverage our vast industry experience to move your hiring needs forward. 

Opening the Door to an Executive Recruiter

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Are you open to a new opportunity? If so, you are in the right place.  

This blog will equip you with actionable tips to help find your next rewarding career opportunity while highlighting the advantages of partnering with an executive recruiter in your hunt.    

Regardless of your situation, you may feel a bit discouraged in your job search. You’re not alone. Nationally, the hiring process has taken a lot longer than usual, with many leadership roles being put on hold midstream until organizations can confidently get through COVID-related challenges.

The good news is the economy is beginning to thaw; it’s just a little slower than we all hoped. But fear not, there WILL be another leadership position coming your way, and a great tip to speed up the job-seeking process is to work with an executive recruiter.

Why Work With an Executive Recruiter?

As a job seeker, there’s a variety of reasons why working with a seasoned recruiter can help streamline and improve your job search, but for the sake of time, we’ll cover two of the greatest benefits: 

  • Broadens Your Network – Very few professionals have a network as vast and as well-connected as a recruiter. Working with a recruiter opens the door to their massive network, giving you a competitive hiring advantage.
  • Partner For Your Job Search – Your recruiter is your hiring ally. They have your best interests in mind and genuinely want to help prepare you with details about the company, role and leadership team.  

What Type of Executive Recruiter Should I Work With: Retained or Contingent?

Understanding the difference between working with a retained recruiter and a contingent recruiter is vital to determine which is best for your unique situation.  

  • Retained Recruiter – A retained recruiter works on an exclusive basis for a client. They typically have a close relationship with the employer and know the culture, the history, and the leadership team. They are focused on finding the right combination of education, skills, leadership style, and contribution to their client’s culture. 
  • Contingent Recruiter – Contingent recruiters are typically generalists who work with various industries and types of positions. They do not often have an exclusive relationship with the employer; the employer only pays the contingent firm once they place a candidate. 

It’s important to note that employers often have relationships with both. In general, contingent recruiters are best at filling junior-level roles and are willing to market your resume to multiple potential employers. Retained recruiters are better suited for senior-level leadership positions that often require a particular skill set. Many of their roles are critical hires, confidential or immediate needs.  

Job Hunting Tips From Our Top Recruiters

With a combined fifty years of experience connecting job seekers to meaningful employment opportunities, the team at Curtis Food Recruiters put their heads together to develop five tips that will help you land your next role faster. 

Get Active in Your Network

It’s easy to take your network for granted while you’re gainfully employed. You might attend an occasional conference, belong to a professional association or have colleagues that you network with, but for the most part, you’re busy with life and work. It is important to continually refresh both professional and networking relationships.  

While 2020 has presented some unique challenges in networking, it’s a great time to pick up the phone and reach out to colleagues you have worked with in the past. People are willing to have those conversations now more than ever. It’s a great way to stay on someone’s radar. 

Additionally, you’d be surprised how many professional organizations are hosting virtual meetings. Be sure to engage in those meetings and aim to be an active participant – it certainly can’t hurt!

Get Social

Take time to be active on social media platforms, especially LinkedIn. This shows prospective employers that you are a thought leader. Write engaging posts, share interests, and interact (liking, commenting, and sharing) with potential employers. Ensure that your social media profile is exactly how you want to present yourself. Consider taking down pictures or posts that do not represent you in a professional way.

Keywords and Key Phrases 

Take a look at your online profiles (LinkedIn, Monster, etc.) and determine what keywords and key phrases a potential employer is using as search terms. To start, review the job descriptions for any positions that you’re interested in. Write down as many keywords and phrases that seem relevant to your next role. 

Now that you have your list, spend some time thinking (and writing down) experiences that you have had. Challenging problems you have solved. Outstanding successes you have had in current/past employers. Write 2-3 sentences that describe the type of position you are most qualified for, and then add the keywords and phrases that are relevant. Adding concrete data and real numbers is a huge advantage, if possible (i.e. “Grew manufacturing sales by 15%”).  

Flexible Resumes

Keeping your resume flexible and making sure it is specifically tailored to the role you’re interested in is critical. There’s nothing that says, “average” to a potential employer more than having a generic resume. Take time to customize your resume for each job application you send. This doesn’t have to be anything elaborate; simply updating job descriptions and experiences accurately to reflect the relevant position is a great way to show your interest.

Interviewing

You’re likely to have interviews, but they may look a little different. Video interviewing is pretty much industry standard right now, so be sure to have a decent internet connection and proper attire. It’s also incredibly vital to embrace the importance of listening and not over-sharing. Practice and be prepared to speak to all aspects of your career that make you stand out, and be able to explain how those experiences will make you successful in the role you are interviewing for. After the interview, be sure to follow up with a thank you, and if you don’t end up getting the job, ask for feedback – positive and critical. Accept rejection gracefully. 

Using one or all of these tips will certainly help you get ahead. Here’s the bottom line: reach out and connect with people. You never know who knows someone looking for your exact background, expertise and personality. Your recruiting partner is your best advocate, so when in doubt, reach out. Good luck!  

About Curtis Food Recruiters 

For over a decade, Curtis Food Recruiters has been matching food and beverage professionals with prominent, rewarding career opportunities. As a full-service executive search firm specializing in the food manufacturing and grocery retail industries, we are dedicated to helping job seekers find (and land) the perfect positions. Contact us today so we can do the same for you. 

Recruiting Diverse Talent in the Food Industry: Strategies for Success

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Just over 50 percent of food industry professionals are racially diverse, making the food industry the most diverse workforce in the nation. 

However, it has an unpleasant truth. 

That unpleasant truth is the massive representation gap in senior leadership positions. 

As a woman-owned executive search firm specializing in placing talent in the food and beverage industry, we pride ourselves on our track record of over half of Curtis Foods Recruiter’s placements are people of color and females.

This blog aims to share with you five strategies we have learned over 14 years in business to help food and consumer packaged goods leaders hire diverse talent. 

Remove Unconscious Bias 

Before actively recruiting for executive diverse talent, it’s extremely important to understand unconscious bias.  

What is Unconscious Bias?  

Research has uncovered that as humans, we use different sections of our brains to process interactions with people who are similar to us compared with people who are different. Upon first glance of someone different, we have an unconscious tendency to judge them based on stereotypes, appearance, skills and ultimately, whether they should be hired or interviewed.

It’s important to note that experiencing unconscious bias doesn’t make you a bad person. Even the best-intended individuals go through unconscious biases on a regular basis – all without ever knowing it.  

How to Reduce it 

Tackling this invisible barrier is not something that occurs overnight, it takes time, practice, and the right tools. The first step to reducing unconscious bias is to recognize when it happens. We strongly recommend reading any or all of these 11 Must-Read Books on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to help. 

In addition, there are several strategies you can deploy now to limit unconscious bias in your recruiting efforts. 

Ensure Your Job Descriptions are not Deterring People from Different Groups from Applying

Determine what aspects of the role are required and what aspects others can bring to the role. Is a bachelor’s degree truly required to be successful in this role? Could prior experiences determine this person’s ability to be successful in the job? Be clear in the job posting which requirements are critical and which are a plus – women are often deterred from applying for a role if they don’t meet all requirements in the job posting.  

Be Strategic with Your Interviewing 

When interviewing, ensure that there are rubrics established for the interviewers to evaluate the candidates against the requirements of the role. Be able to quantify intangibles that come out of the meeting so they can be measured equitably. 

Cultural Competence  

Be aware that some traits may be valued more than others, and some may be misinterpreted (such as eye contact, expressiveness, and close communication for example). Be prepared to ask more questions if the hiring manager doesn’t want to move forward with a candidate to determine exactly what their hesitations may be.

Leverage Sourcing Tools  

Harness the power of an artificial intelligence sourcing tool to intelligently remove unconscious bias so your team can have a bias-free candidate pool. 

Aim for Half of Your Candidates to be Diverse  

The golden rule of recruiting is to simply hire the best possible candidate regardless of race, orientation, gender, and ethnicity.  

The biggest obstacle to achieving this is often when diversity is not represented in the candidate pool. To prevent this, we found that having a goal of at least 50 percent of candidates being from diverse backgrounds is critical to ensure you’re getting the best possible candidate. In our experience, more than half of the time the final candidate happens to be diverse and the best cultural contribution. 

Get Creative with Your Recruiting  

Searching for qualified, leadership-level diverse talent may seem extremely difficult at first, but in reality, it just takes a little creativity and strategy. Here are a few tips collected from our team to help you find your next qualified diverse candidate.  

Network with Diversity Groups 

Join diversity and inclusion LinkedIn groups, attend conferences that attract diverse crowds or cover diverse subjects, and start having meaningful conversations across various networking channels. Here are a few groups we recommend staying in contact with: 

If you’re not having any luck, explore unconventional routes like Reddit, volunteer work, and even community events. 

Ask 

Perhaps the best way to find, engage, and ultimately attract high-level diverse talent is to ask them first-hand where they spend their time. Interview diverse employees, families, and friends to see where they go online and how you could better reach them. Odds are good they would be more than happy to help you on your mission to hire more diverse people. In addition, referrals from diverse hires or employees tend to be more diverse.

Campus Recruiting / Career Fairs 

Attend career fairs in diverse neighborhoods to better connect with the community. Explore campus recruiting programs as a source of talent to build a leadership pipeline for the future.  Even better, offer scholarships and internships to diverse communities as a way to signal your commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Partner with a Search Firm 

Some of the industry’s largest and most qualified diverse talent pools are generally located within the database of recruiting agencies and search firms. Many businesses looking to build up their diverse workforce often partner with search firms to find, vet, and hire diverse talent.  

Consider Relocation 

Another obstacle that plagues most hiring managers looking to bring on diverse executives is recruiting in areas with homogeneous demographics.  

We totally get it, there are definitely many areas throughout the nation with a low percentage of diverse citizens. To help combat this, we often encourage candidates to look outside their comfort zone and consider a new adventure in a new city. Additionally, with COVID-19, many jobs are now able to be remote, which greatly widens the search.  

Champion a Culture of Inclusion 

Diversity and inclusion are one of the top three priorities for nearly every business in 2020 but it’s so much more than just hitting D&I numbers and goals, it’s about building a culture with a foundation of inclusion. When senior leadership is motivated by constructing a culture that is focused on diversity of thought, that is when the door can be open to a more inclusive culture. After all, only 55 percent of global employees feel that their employers were making efforts to build a more inclusive culture.  

Leaders need to be a part of the conversation and take active steps to help the entire organization understand and leverage everyone’s differences. Here’s a few examples of tangible ways your business can build a foundation of inclusion that will attract top-tier diverse talent.  

  • Design a mentorship program that encourages and helps grow women and diverse employees within the organization. 
  • Establish a diversity and inclusion committee that makes sure everyone feels included in the conversation.  
  • Survey employees and ask how your company can better build out a diversity and inclusion foundation. Be prepared to enact changes to meet the employee’s needs. 
  • Clearly define the values of your organization and ensure leaders are accountable to upholding those values.     
  • Ensure that you are developing and advancing the career of diverse employees already at your organization. 
  • Review your interview process over the last year or two and determine where candidates in underrepresented groups have fallen out of the process. Determine where improvements to the process could be made.

We genuinely hope you found this blog helpful on your quest to hire more diversity in executive positions. It’s our sincere goal to help employ more diverse and qualified talent in the food industry. If you have any questions or need any help around hiring diverse talent, we’d love to connect! 

About Curtis Food Recruiters 

As a full-service executive search firm, Curtis Food Recruiters is in a unique position that allows us to independently evaluate food manufacturing and grocery retail companies’ hiring processes, from the perspective of both the talent acquisition team and the candidate. Contact us today and we’ll leverage our vast industry experience to ensure you not only attract—but keep—the best diverse talent on the market.

A Guide to In-Person Interviews During Covid-19

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*This article is merely food for thought. Please follow your state and local guidelines.

We are all well aware of how greatly COVID-19 has impacted our day-to-day lives. While we strive for a return to normal, we know that our in-person interview process will require a “new normal.”

Companies are still hiring, and many roles cannot be filled without an on-site interview. Begin by determining the roles where an offer can be comfortably made through video interviews and which roles truly require an on-site interview.

The following are a few suggestions for employers on how to conduct those interviews as safely as possible and keep your candidate and staff feeling comfortable with the process.   

Gone are the interviews full of handshakes, office tours, lunches, and dinners.

Unfortunately, that also takes away the opportunity to get to know candidates on a more relaxed level and vice versa. Reaching out to your candidates ahead of time and letting them know that the interview process has changed due to the current conditions may help to set expectations and ensure that your candidate understands you’re operating out of the utmost concern for safety.

Even though the “warm fuzzy” will not be there, communicating expectations ahead of time will help prevent the candidate from feeling an emotional distance with you and your company.

Steps to take prior to travel and the day of the interview

Before your candidate travels, know that they may have a level of anxiety regarding the unknown situation they are walking into, especially if they’re traveling from out of state. Try to calm that feeling by letting them know specifically how your company will be handling safety while they are interviewing.

  1. Closely monitor for symptoms

Candidates should be asked to monitor their health and surroundings and self-assess prior to travel as well as the day of the interview for symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, etc.). If they are experiencing symptoms, have been directed to self-quarantine, or have been in close contact with anyone in the past 14 days that tested positive for COVID-19, they should notify the interview team and the interview should be rescheduled.

  1. Provide a detailed agenda

Let your candidate know ahead of time who they will be meeting with (include titles) and for how long. Give them details around how breaks will be taken and what facilities will be available to them. Also be sure to provide information on the interview space and your distancing protocols.

  1. Prepare resumes and other items

Make sure to email your interview team a copy of the candidates’ resume that they can print out on their own, in order to help avoid spreading germs. In addition, notify the candidate to bring their own resume, mask, water, and snack if appropriate.

Walk them through the process so they know what to expect

Here are some examples of how you can handle safety during the interview:

  • When your candidate arrives at the facility, let them know that you will greet them without using handshakes.
  • Ask the candidate to wash their hands prior to the meeting.
  • Ensure that everyone the candidate interacts with is wearing a mask and be ready to provide the candidate with a mask if they do not have one.
  • If you need to use an elevator or stairwell, let them know this ahead of time and instruct them that they will be using the elevator alone, or plan on single spacing when using the stairs.
  • For groups, try to meet in a larger or more open conference area.
  • Prior to the interviews, set up tables in a circle, horseshoe, or other format to ensure that people are spaced appropriately apart, yet are still able to see and hear each other clearly.
  • Try to limit the number of people in the group interview to only those that are essential. Consider breaking into two or more interview groups if needed.
  • Have doors propped open when possible.
  • Make disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer readily available to everyone before and after the interviews.
  • Ensure that surfaces throughout the facility are being cleaned and disinfected at regular intervals. Schedule breaks after each interview to sanitize all surfaces in the interview room, including tables, doorknobs, light switches, etc.
  • Ask everyone to wear masks until they are seated at a comfortable distance from others in the interview room.
  • During plant or retail store visits, keep all talking to a minimum and reserve questions until afterward.
  • Provide a virtual tour of the facility wherever possible. Include detailed photos and consider incorporating a virtual guide to give it more of a personal touch.

Don’t forget to follow up with the candidate

Request that the candidate keep you informed if anything changes in their health up to 14 days after your interview.

In addition, consider having each of the interview team members send a personal email to the candidate, especially if it’s someone you decide you want to hire. This will provide a more personal touch and an opportunity to build those individual relationships. If you really want to impress your candidate, consider sending a note or even some company gear to their home.

Final thoughts

We wish you much luck as you navigate these challenging times. Planning ahead and considering all the details of the interview day will provide a level of comfort for the candidate, help your interview team, and ensure a successful interview process while helping keep everyone safe.

Happy hiring!

For more ideas on hiring strategies during these uncertain times, be sure to read Adjusting Your Hiring Process Amidst COVID-19 and Improving Your Hiring Process: How to Keep Candidates from Walking Away.

As a full-service executive search firm, Curtis Food Recruiters is in a unique position that allows us to independently evaluate food manufacturing and grocery retail companies’ hiring processes, from the perspective of both the talent acquisition team and the candidate. Contact us today and we’ll leverage our vast industry experience to ensure you not only attract—but keep—the best talent on the market.

Improving Your Hiring Process: How to Keep Candidates From Walking Away

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Every hiring manager has experienced challenges in keeping qualified candidates engaged. In the time it can take to consider all applicants, narrow the field, and prepare an offer, it’s not uncommon for the once-interested front-runner to have moved on to another opportunity. Here are some tips you can implement to keep your best candidates engaged throughout your hiring process.

Prepare for success

Always look for ways that you can take an active seat in the hiring process and drive it forward. From the start, make sure your interview team is on the same page regarding what a successful candidate looks like for the role in terms of skill set, personality, leadership style, past experience, etc. Ensure that the team will be asking the right questions, both culturally and technically. Setting a timeline with action items not only helps the team make a timely decision, but lets the candidate know where they are in the process and approximately when they can expect a decision. Putting these measures in place upfront will help set the stage to be able to move towards a decision quicker.

Find the obstacles in your process and address them

Does your talent acquisition process take four weeks or more? If it does, many of your applicants may grow frustrated and ultimately move on. The following are a few common obstacles to a smooth and timely process:

  • Are quality applications trickling in too slowly? Try increasing your visibility by getting your opportunity out through new channels, such as job boards, professional recruiters, LinkedIn connections, networking, etc.
  • Are you spending too much time on in-person interviews? Try narrowing down the field with less time-intensive methods such as phone or video conferencing interviews. In addition, keep in mind that you don’t need your entire department to interview each candidate. Determine who has the most valuable insight and trim out the rest.
  • Are there long delays in getting interview feedback? Scheduling a follow-up meeting or hard deadline for feedback will keep the timeline on track for all parties involved, including the candidate.

Consider what the candidates may want

Your interview process – for better or worse – defines how your company will be perceived as a whole. If you make the interview process all about your organization’s wants and needs, your candidates may think working for you will be very one-sided. Make sure you provide ample time to turn the tables and allow the candidates to ask questions.

It’s also important to give them real-life examples of your company culture and what they might expect. What are the best aspects of the role and the team? What aspects may cause frustration? Being honest will keep the candidates that are a good fit for your culture more engaged – and allow for the ones that aren’t to self-select out of the process.

Increase the frequency and transparency of your communication

Check in with your candidates weekly, and not just through email, regardless of whether you have an update for them. A simple, personal reminder that they’re still being considered is enough to keep most job seekers engaged. In fact, 81% of job seekers say employers continuously communicating status updates to them would greatly improve the overall experience.

Using automation tools to set reminders for following-up will ensure that you don’t have any long lapses in communication. Too much time between the interview and feedback on next steps can make candidates anxious, which may cause them to feel that the company is disinterested or raise concerns about the corporate culture of decision making.

In the event that you do not have a concrete update, you could share the following:

  • Update them on where you are in the interview process (conducting additional interviews, coordinating in-person interviews, etc.).
  • Explain extended gaps between interviews (be sure to admit if travel, a company transition, or any other unexpected event has temporarily put the process on hold).
  • Share any significant company news or information that gives them more insight into the company culture.
  • Inform candidates how they can prepare for the next steps.

Create continued interest in the role

Every interaction with the candidate is an opportunity to engage them with the company and get them excited about the role.

  • Include office and/or plant tours either in person or virtually to show off the best parts of working in your facility.
  • Ask the hiring manager to reach out to the candidate(s) directly to keep the level of engagement high, especially if the interview process is taking longer than expected.

Don’t be afraid to make an offer early on

A highly qualified candidate will look just as enticing to your competitors as they do to you. If that person checks off all your boxes, don’t hesitate to aggressively pursue them. Remember, if you don’t, someone else will.

Be willing to negotiate

Salary negotiations should almost never be the reason a top candidate walks away. You’ve put the time and energy into getting them this far along in the process, so don’t throw that all away with an unwillingness to negotiate. If you set expectations up front, you can transform this stage into more of a painless formality than a hostile contest.

Having an experienced recruiter on your side can make this process even easier. A recruiter can discuss salary details on your behalf, provide reference checks, and offer negotiation assistance in the event that any counter-offer situations arise.

Partner with a premier search firm

As a full-service executive search firm, Curtis Food Recruiters is in a unique position that allows us to independently evaluate food manufacturing and grocery retail companies’ hiring processes, from the perspective of both the talent acquisition team and the candidate. Contact us today and we’ll leverage our vast industry experience to ensure you not only attract—but keep—the best talent on the market.

Adjusting Your Hiring Process Amidst COVID-19

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The global outbreak of COVID-19 has brought business challenges unlike any we’ve ever seen. Many companies—and even entire industries—have been temporarily put on the back burner, while others have been asked to do everything they can to meet demand.

While there is much uncertainty in the world right now, one thing is certain: business must go on—and that includes the hiring process. In order to avoid losing your employment momentum, you need to make certain adjustments. Here are some tips for how to prepare your hiring process during a dramatic change in the business landscape.

Keep your candidates engaged

People are more unsure about the future now than ever before. Don’t give your candidates any reason to doubt the fate of your business or the position they’re applying for. Reassure them by remaining in frequent contact—even if you don’t have any significant updates to report.

Some topics to consider:

  • Hiring status and timelines to let the candidates know where you’re at in the process.
  • Company updates that showcase your current successes in difficult times.
  • COVID-19 precautions your company is taking.

In a time of limited social interaction, it’s far better to err on the side of over-communication and transparency than to allow your top prospects to lose interest and walk away.

Continue to move the pipeline forward

No doubt you have countless other pressing things to attend to, but you can’t let your hiring process become a casualty of this pandemic. Many companies—big and small—have already put their talent acquisition operations on hold. Don’t make this same mistake.

Keep your pipeline moving forward by continuing to look for qualified candidates, conducting video calls with various members of the interview team, and negotiating terms with frontrunners. By doing as much as you can at this stage, you will be in a better position to make an offer when the time is right.

Make sure your video conference technology is in order

With social distancing being strongly encouraged, you’re going to need to find a good alternative to your in-person meetings. Phone interviews might still be your first point of contact, but virtual face-to-face interviews are going to be the next best option. With a video call, you’ll be able to pick up on many of the same social skills, confidence levels, and overall chemistry that an in-person interview provides.

If you haven’t ventured into this realm before, here are some of the most popular video conferencing services:

Whatever service you end up using, make sure that you test it thoroughly before your first scheduled interview.

Be patient and flexible

As a large portion of the population adjusts to working remotely from home, there are naturally going to be some complications. You may not get responses as quickly as you’re used to, and that’s okay. It may also be more difficult to find a good time for a quiet, uninterrupted interview as families are forced to balance the demands of young kids, pets, and shared internet bandwidth.

The key takeaway here is that if you’re understanding of their situation, they are far more likely to be understanding of yours. This will reflect well on your company and make them more likely to want to continue with the hiring process.

Find a search partner you can trust

We are all under greater strain than ever before. Partnering with an executive search firm can ease your hiring burden. They can do the work that you are unable to, usually in a fraction of the time as they have a direct line to the top talent your organization needs. Recruiters are still working hard every day to guide their clients through this challenging situation.

Remember, even though the hiring process itself may feel different at this time, the outcome should still be the same: finding a highly skilled employee and a valuable addition to your team.

For over a decade, Curtis Food Recruiters has been matching food and beverage professionals with prominent, rewarding career opportunities. As a full-service executive search firm specializing in the food manufacturing and grocery retail industries, we  partner with our clients to find top talent and fill critical roles. Contact us today so we can do the same for you.