This #SHRM19 Interview is with Berkshire Associates, the technology firm that developed balanceTRAK talent acqusition system. Below is a quick Q&A with Carla Pittman, the senior marketing manager.
Who is Berkshire Associates!? Tell us everything, just as you would someone approaching your booth and asking you this question at the 2019 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition (#SHRM19) in Las Vegas.
Berkshire is an HR consulting and technology firm. One of our latest developments is balanceTRAK. BalanceTRAK is a talent acquisition system purpose-built for hiring in the manufacturing, transportation, customer service, and franchise industries. Through our research, we found that 80 percent of customers were unhappy with their ATS, so we designed a user-friendly ATS, with the hiring horsepower needed to recruit in today’s environment. built balanceTRAK as a way for companies to improve their talent acquisition.
Berkshire Associates has been named one of the best places to work five times in the past few years. What has contributed to this success?
The corporate culture at Berkshire can be described as “open door” with open communication. Employees are encouraged to communicate their ideas and thoughts across all levels of the organization. We live out our motto: Think, Do, Renew, Thrive. This means encouraging independent thinking, taking action to move goals forward, approaching work with a “how-can-this-be-better” mentality, and keeping the energy needed to help the workforce thrive. Also, we love food. There is a foodie culture at Berkshire. You may see a barbecue or food truck situation happening at any time at Berkshire.
Let us in on the magic. What’s the hiring and recruiting process like at Berkshire Associates? How do you utilize your own tech and processes to ensure you’re building your ideal, balanced workforce?
Berkshire uses balanceTRAK to help us recruit. Attendees at SHRM can see balanceTRAK at booth #2207. At Berkshire, recruiting is a team effort. Our HR Manager has created a hiring framework that allows Hiring Managers to be involved in the process. This means we collectively identify positions/skills needed to achieve objectives, write job descriptions, and source candidates. We use balanceTRAK to keep the process running smoothly. As it can automate workflows, prescreen job seekers, and route candidates to relevant parties for review. In today’s job market—where you're competing for talent—response time is key. Using balanceTRAK helps us to identify and respond to candidates faster.
What are the biggest challenges companies face when selecting the right candidates? How do they overcome those challenges?
Low unemployment rate and lack of availability of talent with specific skill sets pose challenges even before you get to the selection phase. This means companies have to have a defined recruitment strategy that includes targeted sourcing, strategic prescreening. This will improve your pool of applicants. But back to selection. Quite frankly, the challenge is time. No one has time to go through multiple steps for screening applicants.
What do you wish more HR professionals and recruiters knew about the talent acquisition in general?
The current recruitment landscape means HR professionals and recruiters should upgrade their thinking when it comes to recruitment and talent acquisition in general. You must think like a marketer, be creative, and tailor your efforts to engage the type of talent you want to attract. And make the recruitment process simple for you and the job seeker. If you still have a lengthy process, extra paperwork, still requesting cover letters, or have a long job application, ask yourself why? Chances are you’re losing great talent to companies who have taken the time to simplify and refine their process.
For anyone who won’t be able to make it to the balanceTRAK booth in Las Vegas, what do you want them to know?
Berkshire is a place where HR and technology people work together to create amazing tools to help companies with AA/EEO and talent acquisition. We offer affirmative action and pay equity solutions, as well as, balanceTRAK. BalanceTRAK is one of a few talent acquisition systems built by an expert team who understands fair and compliant hiring—and balanceTRAK was built with this in mind.
Visit the balanceTRAK Booth #2207 at #SHRM19!
Brett Farmiloe is the Founder and CEO – and currently CHRO - of Terkel.io, a platform where business leaders can answer questions related to their expertise and get published in articles featuring their
insights. Brett is a #SHRM22Influencers and has also been a keynote speaker at several state SHRM conferences around the topic of employee engagement.
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