BENEFITS OF BUSINESS

In this day and age, to run a successful business it is essential to be in connection with like-minded people. There is no such thing as an island in business. The benefits of networking are: sharing their experiences, successes and failures. Most of these ideas are hardly found in textbooks or literature. These are lessons and ideas that come from the ‘school of hard knocks’.

WIDE RANGE OF OPPORTUNITIES

Networking unearths a lot of fresh business insights. As partnerships emerge, new strengths and new ideas develop. Once there are several opportunities on the table, always identify the ones that work well for you. It would have been impossible to see these opportunities were it not for networking.

BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE

Regular networking allows one to talk to a lot of people you don’t know. This, in the long run, helps increase your knowledge and confidence as a business owner. The more you make people aware of your business the higher your chances to make more profit and grow. Networking enhances one’s confidence and helps in forming lasting connections with new people. Remember the growth of the business is dependent on the right connections you make.

ACQUIRING ADVISE

Encountering challenges in the daily operation ofa business is quite common. Sometimes one may lack the proper solution on handling a given challenge, however being on a platform with like-minded people assists you in getting sound advice. Caution must still be taken since the final decision rests with you. One should tap solid advice from the right experts, mentors and consultants.

UPDATED WITH NEW BUSINESS TRENDS

Technology is ever changing. New and efficient ways are developed in the business world which helps in the daily operation of the business. Having a reliable network of people who will always update you of the changing technologies and trends will give you an advantage over your competitors.

POSITIVE INFLUENCE

Surrounding yourself with like-minded people enhances your business profile. The more people you know, the more they will refer you to their own circle. A network with other business owners is important since it will challenge and push you to do better. This will result to more profits and growth of your business.

DEVELOPING LASTING RELATIONSHIPS

Networking helps in creating bonds among fellow business owners. Some of these business relationships develop into strong bonds that can last a lifetime. A professional relationship can mutate into a strong interpersonal relationship. You never know who your door opener could be unless you talk to people. But seek to empower them first.

GETTING NEW IDEAS

Networking provides a source fresh ideas. One may acquire this by sharing experiences on what you do and the problems you have solved. This leads to others

Diversity & Inclusion: More than just 2020 buzzwords

aking waves in the tech and startup space since establishing Occupop alongside her director of sales, David Banaghan, Caroline Gleeson offers business owners expert insights into recruitment and the HR industry. Caroline’s knowledge of the tech recruitment industry and several years of M commercial experience focused on recruitment, project management, journalism and sales is what shaped her passion for reshaping and revolutionising the recruitment process. This led her and David to create Occupop where she now offers business insights into a range of topics affecting companies across the globe.

CAROLINE GLEESON

Between the pandemic and the sea change in attitudes towards race and gender, it’s more vital than ever that businesses have a developed, progressive attitude towards inclusivity in the workplace, writes Caroline Gleeson, CEO and co-founder of Occupop.

For our audience can you tell us about Occupop what its values are and the direction it is heading?

Occupop is a powerful hiring tool that connects people, creating strong teams and building longlasting relationships. A range of dynamic features put the power in your hands, allowing you to easily engage with the best candidates and manage the entire hiring process on one smart recruitment solution. We strongly believe in the power of technologyto drive an effective, people-focused, recruitment process. People are at the core of every successful business, Occupop helps you to find the best people for your business and create success through hiring. Our core values are to be forwardthinking and transparent in everything we do, as well as being friendly and just having fun. The company was founded in 2016 and has been growing steadily since then. A big focus for us is to continue to innovate the recruitment industry with our products and to grow market share in Ireland, UK and USA.

What does your role involve and how are you moving your company forward?

As CEO and Operations Director of the business, my role can be quite versatile and tends to switch between legal, finance, tech, HR and any other business! My main focus is strategy and business planning. I work closely with each team within the organisation to drive collaboration, structure and growth.

How is AI superior to previous methods used on hiring employees?

AI can dramatically reduce the time spent on reviewing CV applications. The AI we use applies advanced logic matching by reading the job description and the candidate CV and determining how relevant the application is.

It's not a simple keyword matching process, it uses word association to make assumptions about a candidate's experience based on relevant industry and skills experience that match the profile but may not actually be listed in the CV. Some of our customers receive 200 plus CVs a day. To filter through all of those applications can be extremely time-consuming. Using AI with CV screening means that the most relevant CVs receive the highest score enabling you to prioritise the most suitable candidates. Ultimately saving time on the process and ensuring you are reaching out to the top talent ahead of everyone else. Not to mention the removal of any bias.

Has the pandemic and subsequent lock-down had an impact on employment hiring for Occupop or other companies that don't use AI?

The pandemic has had an impact on hiring everywhere. Face to face contact has been significantly diminished, if not removed altogether, which has meant companies need to rapidly adopt technology in order to continue to recruit, for example, video interviewing tools, online psychometric testing, etc. The positive outcome is that talent has now become global rather than local with the rapid adoption of remote working. If we are looking solely at the adoption of AI, I believe companies not using AI are at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. Their identification of suitable candidates will be significantly slower and without the use of AI there is a greater risk of making a bad hire which ultimately costs the business greatly.

What’s next for Occupop and what is the ultimate goal they would like to achieve?

We're currently running a pilot in the US which is very exciting, and we’re hoping to fully launch in Jan 2021. The US market is really interesting for us as the tech adoption is so advanced that we feel there is a real opportunity for a product like ours. We're also planning some very exciting new features that we will be launching this year, some of which have not been seen in the UK market yet so watch this space!

Occupop recently launched its “Beginner’s Guide to Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace”; what prompted this research and what were its main findings?

Over the last few months there has been a shift in the mentality towards diversity and inclusion (D&I) and how individuals won't accept a lack of diversity and inclusion within organisations anymore. It's long overdue and extremely welcome, because time and time again the benefits of having a diverse workforce are evident. A Forbes survey found that companies who actively encourage D&I reported a 58% decrease in employee turnover and a 67% increase in company morale. We found that a lot of companies want to embrace and actively encourage diversity and inclusion but are apprehensive about approaching it in the right manner. That is why we created this guide, to demonstrate that it's very achievable through small changes that can have a really positive impact for both attraction and retention. Our main finding is that companies have to embrace D&I from the leadership level down and ensure it is embraced company-wide. Though the responsibility of creating diversity & inclusion programmes generally falls with HR, if it is not embraced company-wide, it won't work.

If an employer wishes to ensure they are nurturing a positive workplace in this area, what are some of the key steps they should take?

The first thing a company should do is set up training courses for all employees to acknowledge and tackle bias. Biases are part of human nature but not helping employees overcoming bias will lead to a constant underlying issue. It's important that bias training is dealt with in a progressive, positive and forward-thinking approach. As HR is primarily involved in hiring and that is where most bias occurs, it's a great starting point to test training on HR teams and then the proven model can be rolled out company-wide. From there, review the hiring process with diversity and inclusion in mind. Review the wording of your job descriptions, review candidates based on what they can add rather than how they will fit and ensure you are promoting your diversity & inclusion values on your careers pages and social networks. Finally, make D&I part of everyday life, it's important to normalise and promote a diverse and inclusive culture. Set D&I company goals and share them openly with all employees, including these goals into manager performance reviews and create a diversity & inclusion council to actively maintain a positive culture.

How can technology play a role in nurturing a more inclusive workplace, both in the hiring process and in day to day practice?

Technology is key for companies looking to create a more inclusive workplace in both the hiring stage and to monitor employee experience. For hiring, blind screening tools allow you to anonymise information that may lead to bias, for example, education, gender or ethnicity. Then at the interview stage, psychometric testing allows you to review candidates, in a psychological unbiased manner, based on soft skills and what they can add to a team and organisation as a whole. In regard to the ongoing nurturing of inclusivity, intelligent employee surveys and pulse surveys are a great way to actively monitor and ensure D&I is being maintained. These surveys are quick, continuous surveys that foster a culture of openness and being heard which is hugely beneficial.