Revamping Our Recruiting Efforts

Mar-21-2022

Employees

Last summer, Imagine! was faced with a hiring crisis that made it very difficult for our organization to remain fully staffed. According to CNN, 4.3 million people left their jobs in 2021, and the Pew Research Center reported that in the final quarter of the 2021 calendar year, close to 11 million jobs were unfilled. The job market was flipped on its head as all employers in the nation were scrambling to find new solutions for hiring. Major corporations like Chick-fil-A, Amazon, and Fed Ex were paying for expensive TV ads during prime time events just to promote “now hiring,” something we typically do not see – large companies spending their recruiting dollars on prime time ads.

Amidst brainstorming sessions and innovative plans to attract more candidates, the Imagine! administrative team drummed up a long list of ideas to help us shine a brighter light on our job opportunities and the joys of working at Imagine!. A few examples include: smarter social media strategies, a revamped website, a robust referral system for current employees to network with interested candidates, revised internal systems, and much more. However, these plans for action won’t do us much good if we do not have a core employee to lead the charge.

Around the same time that these ideas were formulated, Imagine! was also seeking a full-time recruiter for the HR office. The hiring crisis ran so deep that even this position was nearly impossible to fill. Eventually, the Executive Team pivoted their focus to hiring an internal employee, someone who already understands our services and can help illustrate the positive team culture at Imagine! without being prompted. This new strategy proved to be a success after hiring Imagine! Assistant Manager for Community Services Jessi Larson, into her new role as Imagine! Talent Acquisition Manager.

“This new role seemed like a great opportunity to use my skills and expertise to help Imagine! out of this hiring crisis dilemma,” said Jessi. “And I wanted to be part of the change and approach recruiting with a new perspective.” Jessi started working at Imagine! in 2014 as a Direct Support Professional, worked her way up to a managerial role in 2017, and then landed the Talent Acquisition role in October 2021.

Jessi is no stranger to pioneering change at Imagine!. As an Assistant Manager in Imagine! Direct Services from 2017 to 2021, Jessi and her team implemented significant changes so that their employees were better supported and appreciated. “This is really important to me because Imagine! employees are the heartbeat of our services - strong and passionate advocates for our clients, helping them live healthy, safe, and meaningful lives. Supporting our clients the best we can means supporting our employees the best we can,” said Jessi.

Jessi adopted this same mentality – making administrative decisions with direct care staff in mind – during the first few major changes as the Talent Acquisition Manager. “One of the biggest changes we made was to be more thoughtful of our onboarding process,” says Jessi. “When things get busy and challenging, we want to make sure that our new hires do not become an afterthought and that we help eliminate as much of the unknown as possible.”

Another plus is that in Jessi’s former role, she was also a Hiring Manager for her respective department. “I know what Hiring Managers want because I was one for a long time,” says Jessi, “until you’ve done what they have done, you don’t know what they’re up against. I always try to put myself in someone else’s shoes, and in this case (lets out a laugh), it’s been helpful that I experienced these roles firsthand.” As Jessi beefs up the internal communication and collaboration for all things recruiting, she aims to make recruiting processes as clear and streamlined as possible, allowing Hiring Managers more time to complete other tasks.  

About five months removed from Jessi starting her new role, the hiring rate at Imagine! has increased steadily and Imagine! is slowly building back its workforce. In addition, the Imagine! Executive Team, with Jessi’s help, implemented a new wage of $20/hour for all Imagine! Direct Care Professionals. Collectively, the last few months helped us take a big step forward after many months of grasping at straws.

“One thing that I absolutely love about Imagine! is how open and welcoming they are to employees who speak up and put in the work,” says Jessi. “If you are someone who cares about your department, who cares about the work you do and its impact on the community, who constantly tries to make things better, then Imagine! will listen to you and be open to growing as a company. You always have a voice no matter the position you’re in.”

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