RecruiterGuy.com Blog

RecruiterGuy’s 2012 Job Growth Prediction

2011-12-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

For the past 10 years, I have published my job growth prediction for the year using the Recruiter Barometer. Generally the Recruiter Barometer is a strong indication of how jobs will be impacted by the economy. In many ways the real estate business is similar because they look at foreclosed housing inventory and unsold homes inventory to help determine the strength of the housing market.

What is the Recruiter Barometer? The Recruiter Barometer observes the hiring of recruiters into permanent and contract positions. Consider that recruiters are not hired full time to recruit for one position. Therefore recruiters are job multipliers since they are hired to recruit for many positions. If companies begin to lay-off recruiters, we are going into a recession. If they begin to hire recruiters, we are scratching our way out of a recession. In this recession we have already experienced what the media referred to as a “jobless recovery” – obviously some indicators were up but not the key jobs indicator.

Once I look at the Recruiter Barometer, I consider what I have heard from economists and the news to complete my prediction.

Recruiter hiring has been fairly flat all year with an occasional spike – those were usually less experienced clerk types of recruiters. Generally that is an indication that companies are not yet serious about job growth. Obviously when you make a generalization, there are companies that will drive right through the prediction like a 2 story mining dump truck. Once you remove those happy aberrations you are left with the balance of companies.

Hiring generally has been fairly flat since prior to 2008. In 2007, I observed that companies had stopped hiring third party recruiters and were preparing to slow recruitment. The observation proved that the Recruiter Barometer was on target. In 2008, companies were laying off internal recruiters or reassigning them to other positions and we dove into the recession leading with our head. In 2009 there was little recruitment activity. In 2010, recruitment picked up slightly while there were still some significant lay-offs. In 2011, we had more layoffs but recruiting activity seemed to pick up. As we headed into the last quarter of 2011, recruiter hiring again flattened.

What does this indicate for 2012? My sense is that some companies have realized that they cut too deeply or possibly just enough for the current levels of economic activity. As we roll into 2012, many companies have a need to hire new employees and a new budget to enable them to do so. If they are US government contractors, they are being very cautious in hiring because our current Congress cannot agree to a budget for more than a few months at a time. Potentially this inaction exposes the contractors to either layoffs or forced unpaid vacations if the government closes down and refuses to pay them.

Money is not magic. Many European countries have discovered that it is a finite resource. Unfortunately the US is heading rapidly down Greece, Spain, and Italy’s path with our huge deficit spending. Combined with the uncertainty of the costs of the new healthcare laws that will go into effect within 2 years, companies have begun to hold a larger reserve fund instead of hiring pre-recession numbers of employees.

What is RecruiterGuy’s job growth prediction for 2012?

I predict a hiring spike early in the first quarter because hiring managers have now been conditioned that they need to hire early or lose those open positions. Many of these positions will be low to mid level career openings initially as companies try to fill holes in their current staff. This will be followed closely by a slow down for the balance of the quarter as companies cautiously integrate the new hires.

My sense is that the combination of Baby Boomers finally beginning to retire two to three years after they originally were scheduled to retire; and a two year pent up demand for hiring new people will create a cautious positive impact on hiring in the second and third quarters of 2012. During the second and third quarter I predict companies will recruit at all levels depending on their succession planning. The health of the building industry will determine the level of seasonal hiring for second quarter. My sense is this year will be a prime year for college interns – and the best of those will be locked in by the end of January.

Hiring will probably slow again in the fourth quarter as companies try to show strong numbers going into end of year. There will be the normal seasonal retail hiring during the fourth quarter. Overall I predict that hiring will be up appreciably over 2011 but not up to 2006 levels.

New college graduates will find a mixed hiring bag partially determined by their location and their desired positions. Those who have internships and co-ops in their desired fields will have a big edge over those who do not have that experience and company exposure.

Embrace Social Media Recruiting...?

2011-12-28T11:18:00.002-07:00

Some consultants would tell me, “It’s about time you jumped on the bandwagon!” Others would say, “That is so 30 seconds ago – now we are talking mobile recruiting!” Other consultants would say, “Certainly you have begun offering the new…!”

It is interesting to have over 30 years of experience in any field. It gives you a certain perspective that less seasoned (okay, younger) professionals do not have. Over those years in recruitment, you learn about people and their behavior, simply through observing and interacting with them.

Wait a minute! How does this apply to Social Media Recruiting? Everything.

If you understand how to interact with people, you are on the way to understand the basic premise – and potential problem – with Social Media Recruiting.

First, let’s define Social Media Recruiting. It is not “recruiting.” It is simply a more engaged way to source candidates. Sourcing is only one step in the recruiting process. Is it a good way to source candidates? It may be a great way to source candidates depending on your budget and priorities. I am going to use two words that guys are reputed to avoid – engagement and commitment.

Does “Social” mean we need to be sociable? In other words “friendly or agreeable, esp. in an easy, informal way” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, second college edition – sits right by me every day)? How many effective Human Resource professionals are described as sociable? Most would probably prefer to be described as a nice, effective business person.

Let’s go back to engagement and commitment. Social Media Recruiting requires engagement and commitment on a daily basis. People (mostly) are social beings and love to communicate with friends (see Facebook). How much communication with unqualified candidates will your company/department commit? Sure there will be qualified candidates mixed in with the unqualified. How many ways can you describe your corporate culture? How many times will managers agree to be interviewed on YouTube to discuss their positions? When will your recruitment marketing material begin to become dated when it is constantly put in front of candidates? When does it become background noise? How do you let the unqualified candidates know you are not going to be “sociable” with them any longer – particularly if they just happen to be your customer also? If your corporate recruiter says “I am developing my next communication in our social media program”, instead of interviewing another candidate, is that an acceptable response?

If not, then what? Do you hire a social media marketing expert simply to communicate with candidates on your Facebook, Twitter, and Corporate social media sites? Then are they trained what they may and may not communicate to candidates via social media?

In my experience almost everyone likes to be on the cutting edge of anything that appears to be really interesting and fun. Then when the darn “work, engagement and commitment” words begin to demand our time, the glimmer tends to wear off.

Let’s go to the basic premise of behavioral interviewing. When people find a successful way to deal with a situation, they revert back to it when under pressure. This is why there is the challenge to maintain a LEAN manufacturing environment when the consultant leaves; and why vestiges of social media recruiting will continue after budget and time begin to exert pressure on the social media program.

There is no silver arrow in recruitment. Social media recruiting is an arrow for your corporate quiver. It should not be your only arrow for sourcing. Every company’s environment is different. Certainly social media recruiting works in some environments. Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately) not every company can or wants to afford the engagement and commitment that social media recruiting requires.

Most companies are more successful when they focus on their recruitment strengths and improving all of their recruitment processes than spending the money and time on the next sexy technology that appears on the horizon. Remember the words engagement and commitment.

My business is on Twitter and LinkedIn, my book “RecruiterGuy’s Guide To Finding A Job” on Facebook, and my website has links to articles and videos of TV appearances and my blog. I participate in social media recruitment but it is only one source of candidates. May I consult with companies on social media as a potential source for recruiting? Absolutely! After we answer the questions above…

Holidays Are The Best Time To Interview

2011-11-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

In my thirty years of recruitment, many candidates felt that attempting to interview during the Holiday season was a waste of time. They learned while working with me that it can be a very productive time to interview.

During my interview on Park City TV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9GvkP0AfOI&feature=player_embedded#!), we discussed the reasons why this is the best time to interview.

1) Many companies have a new budget on January 1st. This means that new positions open in the new budgets. Over the past couple of years, hiring managers have been conditioned that they will lose openings if they wait too long to interview and hire employees. Therefore they are motivated to interview and hire.
2) They will interview candidates in December; and start the selected candidates in the first or second week of January within the new budget.
3) Generally people feel generous and warmer during the Holidays. Consequently while still probing the candidate’s experience, the manager potentially will be more cordial.

If candidates decide to interview during this period, the best way to meet the hiring managers is to network their way to meet them.

Identify the companies who need their skills and for whom they want to work. Then network their way into them. Typically 74 to 76% of all jobs are filled through networking and somewhere between 8 and 10% are filled through the Internet job boards and corporate websites.

Understand the foundation of networking. Successful networking involves give and take. Therefore it is important to help the person who is helping you. Ask your friends/acquaintances if they know someone working at the target companies. If so, would they give you contact information to reach them? When you call that person, mention that your friend mentioned they would be either a great contact in that company or a great person to meet someone in that company. Ask “When is a good time to chat that fits into your schedule?” Once you chat with them about your experience and what you want to do next, ask them who would be the best person to talk with next? Then ask if there is anything you can do for them. If people feel you are willing to help them, they will be more willing to help you.

Don’t be the opera singer warming up – you’ve seen them at “networking events” like Chamber after hours. They run from person to person collecting cards and singing “me, Me, Me, MEEEE!”

An example of successful Holiday interviewing is this story. My professional recruitment career began in Washington, DC. After a few years, my best client was Comsat Labs. Typically they were looking for very technical candidates. One of my candidates was a woman working in Baltimore and looking for a challenging position in Washington, DC or suburban Maryland. After my phone screen the week before Christmas, the hiring manager at Comsat was very interested in meeting her.

Since Patti had to drive past Comsat on Christmas Eve to go home in Virginia, I suggested we set up the interview for that morning.

Patti interviewed all morning and it went well on both sides. The hiring manager told her they had a little pot luck lunch to celebrate the holiday; and invited Patti to stay for that hour and meet the staff. She accepted. During lunch, the hiring manager polled the morning interviewers. Right before she left, the hiring manager asked her to come into his office. He wished her a safe trip and a nice holiday. Then he extended an offer. She called me Christmas night to accept. She started the second Monday in January.

10 Tips for Successful Hiring Manager Interviews

2011-11-24T11:14:00.003-07:00

1) Create effective job description that includes the 3, 6, 9, and 12 month goals for that specific position http://www.recruitingtrends.com/building-an-effective-job-description. Makes the skills and experience necessary to be successful the first year crystal clear.
2) Use the goals and the departments this position interfaces with to create an interdepartmental interviewing team that focuses on its area.
3) Create an interview that combines behavioral interviewing with 1 and 2 step interview questions to probe skills and experience.
4) Each interviewer focuses on their skill area – and reports how well the candidate would do in their area.
5) Treat the candidate as a potential client – they may be in the future.
6) After interview and within 24 hours, the interview team meets and discusses candidate. Each member of team gives thumbs up or down. The hiring manager accepts their opinions and makes the final hire/no hire decision after the reference check/drug test/background test processes.
7) The hiring manage is taught how to conduct reference checks since they know everything the candidate will need to accomplish. Remember, they make critical decisions every day that impact company. They will conduct a more meaningful reference check than anyone else.
8) Once reference check/drug test/background check process is complete, the final hire/no hire decision is made.
9) Based on the information collected during the interviewing and reference checking processes, create an offer based on corporate compensation, budget, and scarcity of candidates.
10) Begin your offer process by selling the candidate on the position again, asking how they will handle counter offer, and extending the offer.

Critical Corporate Interviewing Improves Retention

2011-11-24T11:08:00.002-07:00

When a trusted employee is promoted into management, generally what is their first task? Replace themselves. How do they interview candidates for their replacement? Go to HR and ask for a list of acceptable questions to ask. If they are lucky, HR has a list of “approved questions.” Are the questions targeting the skills required to be successful in the position? Generally not, they are simply acceptable interview questions. Do those questions include, “If you were an animal, what would you be?” Probably not, those questions are usually created by managers who feel they need to ask something more in order to get a better picture of the candidate.

Is interviewing taken seriously in corporate America? If it were, hiring managers would be trained to be more effective in the interviewing process. As a matter of fact, trained and “certified” hiring managers from every company function would be developed. For instance, there would a certified interviewing manager in accounting, another in marketing, another in sales, etc.

If executives truly understood the cost of hiring the wrong person for a job, they would require the same or greater due diligence on the selection of a new employee as they require on the selection of a new corporate acquisition. This due diligence would include a meaningful job description, a meaningful interviewing process, and meaningful due diligence on the selected candidate after the interview.

Let’s examine the cost of hiring the wrong person. The first assumption is that they are in the position for 2 years before they make the grievous mistake that gets them fired (after being put on plan). Let’s say that person is earning $60,000 per year plus full benefits. They are in a decision making position, possibly team leader/supervisor. Let’s also say they have some client contact (customer service is full time client contact). Does this begin to sound like someone your company has hired?

What are your “hard costs” of this hire? Did you pay a recruiting fee, relocation, advertising for the position (Internet postings, newspaper, other), attend Career Fairs, etc.? What time was spent by individuals in your company during the interview process? Did you need to pay the candidate expenses to interview them in person? Did you need to call in an employment attorney prior to letting them go? Did you pay severance? Were you sued by the candidate for wrongful termination when they were let go?

Many companies will glance at their “hard costs” of letting someone go but never even consider their potentially catastrophic “soft costs”.

Let’s examine the “soft costs” of someone who has been in a position for 2 years but is only doing part of their job – and not doing that well. What is the cost of the work that is either not done – or done by another member of the team? What is the cost of their disruption to the team? What is the cost of the credibility of the manager for hiring someone like them? Have they driven away a customer or other employees? What is the cost of managing, coaching, correcting them? What was the cost of the management time spent interviewing them; and then their replacement? Has their employment affected your brand as an employer? How has that affected recruitment? There may be many negative impacts.

On one occasional I conducted an interview training session with a small consulting firm. The attendees included the CEO and CFO. At the beginning of the session, I asked the previous questions. The table with the CEO and CFO estimated that the potential damage to the company could reach to $1 Million over 2 years. Imagine hiring just 4 people like that over a couple of years. Potentially that could make the difference between profit and loss – even between staying in business and going out of business. That is how important interviewing and selection skills are.

10 Tips for Successful Hiring Manager Interviews:

1) Create effective job description that includes the 3, 6, 9, and 12 month goals for that specific position (http://www.recruitingtrends.com/building-an-effective-job-description). This exercise makes the skills and experience necessary to be successful the first year crystal clear. Then the manager is able to focus questions on those skills and experience.
2) Use the goals and the departments this position interfaces with to create an interdepartmental interviewing team that focuses on its specific area and general corporate fit.
3) Create an interview that combines behavioral interviewing with 1 and 2 step interview questions to probe skills and experience.
4) Each interviewer focuses on their skill area – and reports how well the candidate would do in their area.
5) Treat the candidate as a potential client – they may be in the future if they are not already.
6) After the interview and within 24 hours, the interview team meets and discusses the candidate. Each member of team gives thumbs up or down. The hiring manager accepts their opinions and makes the final hire/no hire decision after the reference check/drug test/background test processes.
7) The hiring manager is taught how to conduct reference checks since they know everything the candidate will need to accomplish. Remember, they make critical decisions every day that impact the company. They will conduct a more meaningful reference check than anyone else. Coach them as you would for interviewing.
8) Once the reference check/drug test/background check process is complete, the final hire/no hire decision is made.
9) Based on the information collected during the interviewing and reference checking processes; create an offer based on corporate compensation, budget, and scarcity of candidates.
10) Begin your offer process by selling the candidate on the position again, asking how they will handle the counter offer, and extending the offer.

Using this straightforward process will improve your company’s candidate selection process and improve employee retention.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and/or friends! Thank you to all of the people who have to work on Thanksgiving: especially the workers in the retail industry, the police and fire professionals who protect us, and the medical professionals who work 24/7/365.

We especially need to thank all service men and women who have served us since the Founding Fathers and the founding of the United States of America! They protected us through all of the years as our country developed and we worked our way to free all of our citizens; and to protect other people throughout the world who need our help.

Pray for the safe return of All of our Service men and women who serve us overseas.

During our celebrations, remember the sick and people who are out of work.

Post and Prey Recruitment

2011-11-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

As I chat with companies regarding a potential recruitment contract, it has become apparent that many companies follow the same process as candidates. They post jobs on the Internet and pray they will receive the best replies from candidates. You see evidence of this on Yahoo Groups and occasionally in various LinkedIn groups when recruiters ask where they may post for different types of candidate.

A couple of months ago a Senior Corporate Recruiter informed me that they “recruit” by posting on LinkedIn. “It’s expensive but it’s effective!” In the next sentence she told me that they had blown their recruitment budget for the fiscal year.

Posting an opening on the Internet is a marketing effort where the poster pays and prays for great results. It is not a sales effort. Recruiting is a sales process. The most successful corporate and third party recruiters realize this and build relationships with candidates.

Recruiting is a dynamic process. Efforts that are wildly successful today may fail terribly a year from now. Therefore it is important to be out there from a marketing perspective and make it easy for candidates to apply if you attract their attention. Requiring candidates to complete an application prior to a conversation is not defined as “easy”. It benefits a company to have their resume in their database. It does not benefit a company to lose good candidates because it takes too long to complete the automated 1960’s application.

May I suggest a new recruiting dynamic? How about “Post and Prey”? There is a reason for the title “Headhunter”. These are specialists who know where to find the best candidates in any field and then deliver their “heads” to their clients. Does this take more time? It depends on how active a corporate recruiting staff is while building relationships with future candidates. What is the corporate budget telling them? When does the company forecast they will need certain talent? Then begin to identify that talent – not after the position has been opened.

Posting positions where potential candidates hang out virtually or physically is fine – just call it recruitment marketing. Then use the available tools like LinkedIn or Broadlook.com to identify who you want to hunt. That is the “prey” part of the process. Then call them not email. Thus the recruiter is beginning a professional relationship with the potential candidate.

During the conversation, ask if they saw your posting. If yes, where? If no, find where they are looking and their peers are probably there also. Now you are conducting market research at the base level and fine tuning your recruitment marketing. No need to spend money where the pool has dried up.

Candidates love to be told they are wanted by another company. Posting and preying is more effective and more fun than posting and praying.

3.1 million Open Jobs/25 Million Workers Unemployed: What’s Wrong?

2011-10-27T16:42:00.000-06:00

You know, this is a lot more complicated problem than simply analyzing the numbers. There are between 20 and 25 million people who are unemployed right now. Many of those have dropped off of the statistics because they are no longer on unemployment.

Wouldn't you agree that part of the problem may be the jobs are not located where the properly skilled workers are? Let's face it, many people are so underwater on their mortgages right now, if they had to move and sell their house (if they could even do so), they would also have to write a check at closing. With savings gone or almost gone, that is not a possibility.

Then you have the problem that there may be qualified help nearby but they are not perceived as a cultural fit. And some of that is as a result of their frustration of being out of work for a long period of time.

Since there are 3.1 million unfilled jobs, I do not feel that the problem is a trade problem. The problem is how to find the appropriate workers for the appropriate jobs. Once those positions are filled, the income generated and thus the consumer spending, will create more jobs.

Companies condition candidates. If it is difficult to find the open positions, people give up trying to work for that company. If the ATS requires candidates to complete a 7 to 13 page application (I saw one of those) prior to a conversation that generates mutual interest, people give up because too many companies have conditioned candidates that for all that work, there is no reply. How many times have you heard the phrase "black hole" when referring to a company hiring process? That conditioning is compounded by friends telling friends or groups of people that there is no point in applying to that company "because you never hear back."

I am a recruiting consultant/recruiter/author and therefore have the opportunity to see and understand the business side.

On the volunteer side, I am one of the volunteer organizers of the Park City Career Network. Park City is a resort town of approximately 12,000 fulltime residents. Since Aug. 2009, we have coached 64 people into new positions, mostly professional. I hear the words spoken that I referred to above.

We've discovered that most people who are unemployed really do not understand how to look for a job. They do not understand that the job search is a sales process. On the business side, many companies do not understand that recruiting/hiring is a sales process. Want proof? Look at their ATS hiring process.

As I mentioned in the beginning, this is a very complicated problem that will not be solved easily. It's not something that you can throw money at - tried and didn't produce advertised results.

Quite possibly it's an education problem. Both sides of the equation need to better understand they are in a sales process.

Recruiting Out of State Talent Successfully

2011-09-13T18:58:00.000-06:00

It is interesting to listen when companies complain they have difficulty attracting candidates from out of state. With a little research, a consultant may easily determine why they are experiencing those problems.

Relocation of candidates requires an understanding of psychology, an understanding that recruitment is a sales process, and a recruitment process that does not interfere with those understandings.

One of my clients decided to transition an important IT organization from Washington, DC to Cedar Rapids, IA in the early 1990’s. I was tasked to develop the recruitment strategy; and developed these tips. As a result, we recruited 200 IT professionals for Cedar Rapids in 20 months (prior to the Internet as a widely used sourcing tool). Of those 200 IT professionals, we needed to relocate approximately 145 individuals and families from cities all over the United States. I like to think we could have done it more quickly today because sourcing is so much easier and more targeted. However, the other side of that sword is absorbing and effectively orienting those new employees, especially since we also needed to recruit Senior Managers and orient them.

Fortunately my client was very light on its feet and welcomed innovation. Otherwise, we would have failed. We changed parts of our strategy when they were not as effective as they once were – while keeping the strategies that continued to work. The strategy was developed so it fit within my client’s basic needs of personal interviews, reference checking (very valuable), background investigations, and drug testing. Otherwise we were able to change the process as needed.

The following tips will help your company succeed in attracting top talent that needs to be relocated.

1) Examine your current recruitment processes. If you put up roadblocks to top talent, you will have difficulty attracting them. For instance, do you require candidates to complete an application prior to a conversation to develop mutual interest (a la the 1960’s Personnel Department)? This practice is Clerk recruiting at its worst. Professional recruiters talk to candidates first and develop an interest prior to any applications.

2) Avoid asking candidates to make a big decision. Keep asking for small decisions until relocation is a logical next step. People resist making big decisions without enough information – and asking them to pull up roots and move is a very big decision because it potentially impacts a whole family. Do you tell candidates in the first conversation that they Must move to your town? If so, you are probably making relocation a more difficult issue.

3) Will the candidate be viewed as a diversity candidate? If so, they will be concerned about what happens if they move and the work relationship fails. They will also be concerned whether or not they will “fit in” to the company, neighborhood, schools, etc. It is important to introduce them to other similar employees in your company or area.

With all of the potential complications, what process works? Remember first of all, this is a sales process. Therefore you want to ask the candidate to make small easy decisions with each one leading the candidate to the next obvious conclusion.

You need to determine if the candidate is qualified. In your introductory phone call you discuss your company/client and the specific position to see if there is interest. It’s important to honestly sell each – company and position. It is good to mention the location of the position but that’s not important yet. What is important is their interest level in a position like that and in your company. At this point if they say I don’t want to move to (Park City/Washington, DC/Iowa, etc), you reply “I understand. What’s more important at this point is if you are interested in this position and the direction of the company.”

“We don’t even know if you qualify for this position yet. When is a good time to sit down to discuss your qualifications?” Set up a phone screen. At the beginning of the phone screen, refresh their memory about the position and the company. Be sure to add some new information that will keep their interest. Once you have decided they are qualified, then you may say “The next little step is to have a phone conversation with the hiring manager. Would you prefer to have that conversation during the day or in the evening?” If they object that they do not want to move, simply say “I’m not asking you to move. It doesn’t cost you anything to talk. Let’s just chat with the manager to see if this type of position is interesting to you.” You want them thinking about the next easy decision – when to phone interview with the manager. Once you have a mutually agreeable time, contact the hiring manager to set up the call and coach them about the next steps.

After the call with the hiring manager, ask how it went. Find their level of interest. If it is high, the next little step is to meet with the manager in person and meet people on the team. Then a tour of facilities, followed by a tour of the area by a chosen professional real estate agent who is there only to sell the area but not a property (that may happen later). The real estate agent will ask them during the tour what they would like to see – schools, playing fields, cultural locations (museums, live theaters - repertory or off-Broadway), hiking/biking trails, etc. While they are conversing, the real estate agent should ask them if they like what they’ve seen - in other words, understand their objections. This is key to your success because candidates will tend to be more open to discussing concerns with someone who is not connected directly to the company.

Once you know their true objections – and if the hiring manager really wants to hire this candidate – you may be able to answer that objection in your debriefing conversation. For instance, they may say they won’t make a decision without their spouse seeing the area. One client answers that objection early by inviting the spouse/significant other to the onsite interview trip. They tour while the candidate interviews. After the interview, the other person joins them and is shown what the first liked the most about their tour (and will probably talk about their interviews).

After the real estate agent debriefs you, you can debrief the candidate. If there is an objection, treat it as important but not a show stopper (the person could just have a little cold feet). If there is mutual interest at this point, the next little decision is an offer. At this point, it is expected and the move will seem like a smaller decision because of the additional information since the first conversation.

If this is a key position, companies need to have some flexibility on relocation benefits (especially in this housing market), signing bonuses, and compensation/title (it still needs to be within the compensation structure). How much is this empty position costing the company per month?

Before the offer is extended it is important to review all of the reasons why the candidate should strongly consider the position and get their agreement on those reasons. Then with excitement extend the offer to them. Once they accept, negotiate a start date and coach them on the Counter Offer again (but that’s another blog!).

Happy Hunting!

1960's Recruiting in 2011

2011-08-27T12:50:00.001-06:00

Remember the 1960’s? Well, there are two generations who don’t.

If you were a candidate, there were three primary ways for you to find a job.

1) Complete an application, drop it off with the Personnel Department, and hope the company called you.
2) Become known as a contributor in your current company and be recruited by a recruiter or someone within another company who knows your impacts.
3) Network with people who could help introduce you to another company – “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know” became a mantra.

If you were the Personnel Department, you ran a newspaper ad and waited for responses, looked at them, decided if they were a potential fit and either interviewed them or filed their resume in a file drawer.

In 2011, many companies have the same process, only today it is automated. The name “Personnel Department” has mostly become obsolete. Today, we have Human Resource Departments that have the responsibility for Talent Acquisition.

How do many of those Human Resource Departments recruit today? They run an automated newspaper ad on one or more Job Boards. “Automated newspaper ad?” CareerBuilder was founded by two newspaper publishing companies.

When candidates reply, what are they required to do in many companies? Complete a six to seven page application prior to any conversation or mutual interest; and hope they receive a reply from the Talent Acquisition team. That process is called “Posting and praying.”

Today instead of filing the resume in a file drawer, it is filed in an applicant tracking system (Thank Goodness! At least that way you may be able to find the resume in the future!).

The applicant tracking systems that promote that process are partially correct. Clerks should be able to run that process. Unfortunately recruitment is not a clerk process. It is a sales process and successful companies treat it as such.

Successful corporate recruiting professionals understand the psychology behind recruitment. They understand that candidates do not like to make big, life changing decisions. They help them make little decisions that lead to the obvious conclusion – offer acceptance and starting.

As our economy slowly improves, companies will begin to open new positions for growth and to replace retiring Baby Boomers. The clerk based recruiting teams will suffer in that environment as their applications dwindle; and they won’t understand why.

Meanwhile the successful corporate recruiting professionals will have the opportunity to choose and recruit the most promising candidates - who will no longer follow the 1960’s processes.

It is time to move recruitment to 2011. Utilize the tools available in the way that attract candidates. Beware of processes that repel candidates.

What Makes Employees Happy?

2011-08-14T05:46:00.000-06:00

Isn’t this the age old question? Ask three hundred executives and human resource directors that question. You will receive three hundred responses.

If you read “Drive The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink, you will see that scientific research demonstrates that people typically fall into two groups – those intrinsically motivated and those extrinsically motivated.

The extrinsically motivated employees are motivated by conditions outside of them – money, benefits, working conditions, etc. According to Daniel Pink’s book, they are transactional by nature – if you do this, then you will receive that.

The intrinsically motivated employees are those employees that we usually describe as self motivated. According to research cited in Daniel Pink’s book, these people are motivated by mastery of their job, autonomy within their job, and a purpose for successfully completing their work.

Whom do you recruit? The best answer probably depends on the nature and culture of your business. My suspicion is that you want both types of people in many businesses. The better question is, “Are your executives/managers skilled enough to identify and manage both types of motivated people effectively?” If not, is your company willing to offer them the training to understand how these types of employees are motivated?

The delightful conundrum that humans offer is that we do not fit into boxes well. Just as you feel that you are successfully recruiting intrinsically motivated people, some employees suddenly begin to act more like transactional employees. Typically that means it may be time to study your compensation structure. It is important to take money off of the table. Don’t give away the company and don’t make work an “if…then” proposition. Possibly what they really need is more autonomy or a better understanding of the purpose of their work? The unhappy employee may not know how to communicate those needs. They know that they need a change and feel that more compensation may help them feel better. The terrible success rate of counter offers demonstrates that usually more compensation is not the answer.

We are back to the important question, “What makes employees happy?” “It depends” is not a helpful response.

Let’s apply the chemistry elements analogy with each response from the 300 executives and human resource directors. Take all of those elements and simmer them down to the base elements. Doesn’t it boil down to these two elements? “Am I making a positive, measurable impact”; and, “Am I having fun?” If both of these elements are present, compensation takes care of itself. The employees will do the work necessary to receive the appropriate compensation.

The challenge for companies is to recognize those base elements and strive to help their employees succeed and have fun. It is not easy. Those who are successful generally are found on the Best Places to Work lists; and financially benefit with an engaged workforce.

The Offer Acceptance to Job Start Transition

2011-08-09T12:34:00.001-06:00

Most recruiters, corporate and third party alike have discovered that a candidate’s acceptance does not automatically translate to their start. Many events may occur to prevent the candidate’s transition to employee, particularly if they need to relocate.

Therefore it is important to stay in contact through the period between their acceptance and their start. It is also good for the hiring manager to communicate their excitement that the candidate is joining their team. Why? Well the candidate is about to be re-sold on their current company with a counter offer. Possibly they need some advice for relocation to the new area. Do you have a dependable real estate agent for community orientation tours? Typically candidates convey any trepidation they have regarding the move to the real estate agent. Professional real estate agents can help you answer objections prior to them becoming too large to handle. The different variables working against the person’s start are too numerous to mention in a short blog or article.

When a recruiter feels the need to pull in the “big guns” (the CEO for instance), they need to be comfortable that person is willing to do so and able to sell the candidate on the advantages of working for the client. I’ve been known to travel two states to save a valuable hire (with my client’s blessing and aid) after the candidate accepted a counter offer. Countering the counter offer requires skill and sensitivity. After all, change is difficult for most people.

How do you handle their start day? Do you welcome them on board with a special welcome? Or do you send them to HR to fill out their paperwork? Remember to differentiate your business as a great place to work immediately. First impressions are lasting.

Remember your company just spent a sizable amount of money to identify this person. If they leave immediately (and over the years, I’ve seen a few go to lunch and never return), you company typically is starting over.

Welcome every new employee as a valued member of the team. The hiring manager should welcome them and review the 3, 6, 9, and 12 month goals with them (those are in your job descriptions, correct?). Then the manager needs to introduce the new team member to their immediate team, followed by introductions to other areas of the company where they interface. Then their immediate team and they go to lunch to begin bonding.

But the paperwork! What about the paperwork? Send it to them ahead of time. Suggest they complete as much as possible prior to starting. Then after lunch they can meet with HR for answers to their benefit questions and other paperwork questions.

Is there value in a formal company orientation? Absolutely! Learning the history of the company, its mission, and how to successfully work within the company are all important. Assuming that most people start on Mondays, and that Mondays are typically tough days for Human Resources, begin orientation on Tuesday. This gives the Hiring Manager and their team a day to bond and show the new employee how to be successful in that new group. Where is the software they need on the company network? Show them and then provide cheat sheets.

The first day is the beginning of your company’s employee retention process – and what a day to begin!

Job Search Myths, Monsters, and Misconceptions

2011-07-10T10:04:00.000-06:00

As an expert recruitment consultant, I work with hiring managers and candidates on a daily basis. Over the years, I have heard the Myths, Monsters, and Misconceptions about job searches – many of which prevented candidates from landing a position sooner than later.

Myths –

1) Since there are so many people out of work and we’re in a “jobless recovery”, there is no point in looking for a job right now. There are between 15 to 20 million Americans out of work right now – that’s the bad news. However, there are jobs created in every town virtually every day. Some of those positions are very good positions. Keep networking!

2) Posting on job boards is the best way to find a job. Consistently between 74 to 76% of all positions are filled through networking, not posting and praying. That is true in both strong economies and in poor economies.

3) People don’t want to be “bothered” by me. If you are networking and are a warm referral from someone they know, most people will treat you very respectfully and try to help you.

4) Spell check finds all spelling errors. Well not exactly. How about these? Form/from, it/at, mange/manage or manger/manager (very common errors), meet/meat, bite/kite, is/in/an/as, etc. One letter does make a difference!

5) Never worked in that industry. Many candidates feel they are only qualified in the industry they came from. When you consider that accountants many times have to work within GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and manufacturing professionals work within cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice), their skills are transferable to other industries. Apply those principles in almost every industry. When we speak of related skills, this is how they are applied.

Monsters –

1) The 10,000 pound phone – This monster potentially impacts every sales person – and during a job search they are a sales person. They know that they need to get on the phone and make contacts but fear prevents them from doing so. Once the job seeker begins to call, it becomes easier but the fear stays around for awhile. Understand that the fear is like the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz. Behind the curtain is your next job.

2) Age makes the difference! Some people perceive age as their job search problem. I’m too old or too young for this position. Ever hear the axiom that that the exception proves the rule? Be the exception.

3) It just doesn’t seem anything will help me find a job. Don’t give up. Many people are in the same situation. The more that the job seeker networks, the closer they are to finding a job. Talk with at least 4 new people per day. Activity creates activity. A proper attitude is very important during the job search process.

Misconceptions –

1) Interviews are Grueling! Obviously that is based on the job seekers’ point of view. Would that perception change if they knew that once they are chosen for a personal interview, the hiring manager is rooting for them to succeed? Most hiring managers would rather “do their job” than interviewing candidates. They want the interviewee to succeed! Go in with that confidence.

2) Resumes get me the job. Actually resumes are the candidate’s marketing piece. They help attract the right person to talk with the job seeker about a position. They do not “get them the job”

3) Salary negotiation begins after the interview. Salary negotiation begins long before the candidate is selected for the interview. The salary range is determined when the position is approved in the budget. Therefore candidates are being screened for salary from the beginning of the process. This is one reason to avoid giving your previous compensation until after your conversation.

Work your way through these Job Search Myths, Monsters, and Misconceptions to find your next job more quickly.

Countering the Counter Offer

2011-07-09T10:28:00.001-06:00

Have you ever sourced the Best Candidate; sold them on the opportunity with your company or client; worked with them through the interview process, answering their questions; helped the hiring manager determine the best compensation package; extend the offer that they accepted; and then lost the candidate to a counter offer? If you have been in the recruitment business for any amount of time, you have experienced that sinking feeling when they stop returning your calls.

When should a recruiter begin to prepare a candidate for the counter offer? My suggestion is to bring up the topic when you are setting up the onsite interview. Why? You want them talking about it long before they experience the counter offer. Why? You don’t want them to experience the natural ego boost when they feel wanted, possibly for the first time in a long time at their current company.

A great way to bring up the topic is head on. “How do you plan on handling the counter offer if my company/client extends you an offer that you accept?” Hate to bring this up but some candidates use interviewing outside of their company as leverage to get a raise. Obviously there is a lack of integrity, but they have been successful squeezing what they wanted out of a company using that tactic in the past. It’s best to begin to coach them now – and the best way to begin coaching is to know their response to that question.

Now is the time to ask the following question again, “Why are you considering a job change now?” Many times the response I’ve received is “You intrigued me. Otherwise I was not looking.” Then you may ask them, “What was it about this position that intrigued you?” This response is very important to your success. Write it down in your notes (all the better if you work with an applicant tracking system!).
While discussing the counter offer early on, I like to bring up the statistic that depending on the economy and industry between 67% and 80% of those employees who accept a counter offer leave in the next 6 months – and their company knows that statistic.

If that is true why do companies extend counter offers? Typically to protect themselves. The manager suddenly realizes they need that person that they have either been ignoring or have not allowed them to move to a new project, area, manager, etc. They realize they will lose important knowledge that the person will take with them. They may have lost other members of their team and are afraid how this departure will reflect on them. Sometimes they suddenly realize they are under compensating their employee (but they still have a budget).

Fast forward to the offer. Once the manager has decided to extend an offer, typically they have already begun penciling the candidate into meetings (even when the candidate has not accepted). By now the candidate and I have had several conversations about the counter offer. They are now expecting one. Once the candidate accepts the offer, I ask them to let me know how many of the following statements they hear from various members of management:

1) “I am shocked that you want to leave! I thought you were happy. As a matter of fact, tomorrow we were going to discuss a (promotion, raise, new project, etc.) with you.” (Call me a cynic but the timing is suspect…”)
2) “You are a very valuable employee. We need to see what we can do to encourage you to stay.”
3) “I am happy that you came to me because I planned to chat with you about moving to another organization/project within our company” (that was nixed in a previous conversation).
4) “I am very disappointed that you chose such a busy time to leave our organization. Can’t you see the impact of your departure will have on everyone else?” (RecruiterGuy loves that one. “The manager is trying to put a guilt trip on the employee!”)
5) “Your manager just came to me to discuss your resignation. I asked if I could talk with you. You are a key person in our growth plans. I am sorry we haven’t shared this with you sooner. Let’s sit down and discuss the needed changes…” (generally an executive speaking)
6) “What will it take for you to stay?” (At least that one is upfront in its intent!)
7) “As you know, we rarely make counter offers here. You are such a key person. We will make an exception. What do you want to stay?”
8) “Thank you for coming to me and discussing needed changes. Would you like to lead those changes?” (Generally once you accept the counter offer, the desire to make the immediate changes in the organization dissolves shortly after) Then they will say, “Let’s just finish what you are working on first. Then we will discuss the changes.” (Note – they won’t say “make the changes” again)

One of my candidates called me after their resignation and proudly told me the company hit 7 of the 8 statements during the day of his resignation. Then he laughed and told me he was happy I warned him.

Why is accepting a counter offer typically one of the worse things an employee can do – and leads to so many leaving within the next 6 months?
• The employee’s loyalty to their current company is now questioned. Subtly they will begin to see changes in how management works with them if they accept the counter offer. Fewer strategic conversations and more tactical conversations as they begin the brain drain. Management also knows the employee will most likely leave in 6 months. Therefore, management will begin to plan who is going to replace the employee.
• Remember the odds of further success at that company decline rapidly once the employee accepts a counter offer. Management is now focused on “protecting themselves” instead of future contributions from the employee. They know the employee will only be in the position a short time before they have to go through the expense and time of replacing them.
• Usually accepting a counter offer will burn the bridge with the company where the employee successfully interviewed and received an offer. Now the employee who was excited by the company, the new position, the hiring manager and the offer has to go to the offering company and give them the news they accepted a counter offer. Generally that conversation does not go well. Once a manager decides to extend an offer, they begin to plan for the new employee’s start and begin penciling them in for meetings. They are very excited they have finally found the right person for the position. Imagine the level of disappointment when they are told the candidate accepted a counter offer.

I recommend to candidates, “The best way to resign is to graciously thank the manager for the experience working with them. Then firmly tell them that they are very excited about the new opportunity and give the date of their departure (generally 2 weeks’ notice). When a manager approaches to discuss the counter offer, simply thank them and begin discussing the transition.”

By discussing the counter offer early and often during the recruiting process, you increase the probability of delivering your candidate to your company or client.

Building an Effective Job Description

2011-07-08T13:22:00.000-06:00

Hiring managers in many companies do not understand the value of an effective job description. One client said, “Just find me C++ programmers.” When I asked if he was mostly interested in application programmers or software engineers, he simply looked at me. If we found the right people, we would not waste his time reviewing resumes. After taking the time up front, he was happy with our results.

The job description is the foundation of an effective recruitment process. The best job descriptions provide talking points during manager/employee update conversations during the year. These updates help the semi-annual and annual reviews go more smoothly because there are no surprises.

On the other hand, if the job description is hastily created the corporate recruiter will have a difficult time zeroing in on the best talent. Then Human Resources is targeted as inefficient. The blame seemingly never falls on the hiring manager.

If HR is truly going to be a business partner, the department needs to act like one. Since the hiring manager knows their requirements, they need to take the time to get it right. This is the beginning of their due diligence. Ask M&A CFO’s what happens when they take shortcuts.

To create an effective job description, ask the manager the following questions:

What are the day to day duties?
What are the weekly duties?
What are the quarterly duties?
What are the yearend duties (if any)?
What special projects are expected to be completed?
What strategic projects need to be completed? What planning needs to occur?

What are the 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month goals for this position?

If these answers are on target, the skills and experience to be successful in the first year become crystal clear. Then building a detailed interview becomes much easier and more relevant.

What are the advantages of asking for the goals?
1) During the interview process, you discuss the goals with every candidate. On the first day, the manager discusses the goals with the new employee. During the one on ones, the manager has a track to ask progress on goals and ask if there is anything they need to do to progress them. As a result of using this process, there are no surprises at annual review time.
2) Some candidates will decide not to apply - and that is okay. No point in taking the time with someone who isn't interested.
3) Some managers need to take the time to truly think about their expectations. This exercise helps retention because everyone is on the same page from the beginning.

This process works because HR and the hiring manager are a team trying to find the best qualified candidate who is a fit. It becomes easier to identify the "C" level (as in not A or B level) manager who does not want expectations to live up to.

Once you have these responses and are crafting your job description, look at similar positions on Monster or CareerBuilder. This way you may be able to add duties that may have been missed. It's a double check exercise. It also enables the HR professional to touch base with the manager one more time to see if they want the additional duties/required experience tweaked. Remember EEOC.

The job description is the foundation of the recruiting process. If you get it right, recruitment flows. If you don't, the balance of the recruiting process may be painful and retention will suffer.

I am available for my next recruitment consulting contract.

The Importance of the Human Resource in a Start-up Business

2011-07-07T16:37:00.001-06:00

When you are a venture capitalist or investment firm, you are trying to determine where you should invest your money. Just as in any other business venture, what are the fundamentals in the potential business?

What is the most important resource in a start-up business?

The product? Who controls the product? People
The financials? Who controls the financials? People
The Intellectual Property? Who creates the Intellectual Property? People
The Clients? What makes up the client base? People
The inventory? Who controls the inventory? People

Therefore, it would appear that people may be the most important resource. How do you measure the potential success of the company? The product or service is certainly important. Once it is determined that the product or service is needed, who is the leader, and what is the caliber of people they have selected to lead? That sets the tone for future hiring of the people who will control all of the other resources. If they hire people weaker than they, they are afraid of losing control – not a good leader. If they have hired a great team, they are poised for success.

What is their motivation – extrinsic or intrinsic? An intrinsically motivated person will work harder to succeed as long as they have autonomy, purpose, and desire for mastery of their area of expertise. (Read “Drive The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink)

I have been a recruiting consultant in 3 start-ups. One of those three is currently in business, although it had to declare bankruptcy twice prior to being purchased by another company.

Why did they fail? For a variety of reasons, generally revolving around people and their decisions.

The entrepreneur is great at beginning businesses. An excellent and applicable question to ask them during due diligence is “What is your exit strategy?” While they are superb in the initial years, they need to surround themselves with solid managers. Once the business grows beyond the level that they have managed, perhaps it is the time to introduce a new leader who has successfully grown a business from that level to the next level. They can move to the Board and thus have a say.

Bottom line – the team is most important. That is the reason I love what I do!

Job Search Myths, Monsters, and Misconceptions

2011-06-27T14:01:00.001-06:00

As an expert recruitment consultant, I work with hiring managers and candidates on a daily basis. Over the years, I have heard the Myths, Monsters, and Misconceptions about job searches – many of which prevented candidates from landing a position sooner than later.

Myths –

1) Since there are so many people out of work and we’re in a “jobless recovery”, there is no point in looking for a job right now. There are between 15 to 20 million Americans out of work right now – that’s the bad news. However, there are jobs created in every town virtually every day. Some of those positions are very good positions. Keep networking!

2) Posting on job boards is the best way to find a job. Consistently between 74 to 76% of all positions are filled through networking, not posting and praying. That is true in both strong economies and in poor economies.

3) People don’t want to be “bothered” by me. If you are networking and are a warm referral from someone they know, most people will treat you very respectfully and try to help you.

4) Spell check finds all spelling errors. Well not exactly. How about these? Form/from, it/at, mange/manage or manger/manager (very common errors), meet/meat, bite/kite, is/in/an/as, etc. One letter does make a difference!

5) Never worked in that industry. Many candidates feel they are only qualified in the industry they came from. When you consider that accountants many times have to work within GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and manufacturing professionals work within cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice), their skills are transferable to other industries. Apply those principles in almost every industry. When we speak of related skills, this is how they are applied.

Monsters –

1) The 10,000 pound phone – This monster potentially impacts every sales person – and during a job search they are a sales person. They know that they need to get on the phone and make contacts but fear prevents them from doing so. Once the job seeker begins to call, it becomes easier but the fear stays around for awhile. Understand that the fear is like the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz. Behind the curtain is your next job.

2) Age makes the difference! Some people perceive age as their job search problem. I’m too old or too young for this position. Ever hear the axiom that the exception proves the rule? Be the exception.

3) It just doesn’t seem anything will help me find a job. Don’t give up. Many people are in the same situation. The more that the job seeker networks, the closer they are to finding a job. Talk with at least 4 new people per day. Activity creates activity. A proper attitude is very important during the job search process.

Misconceptions –

1) Interviews are Grueling! Obviously that is based on the job seekers’ point of view. Would that perception change if they knew that once they are chosen for a personal interview, the hiring manager is rooting for them to succeed? Most hiring managers would rather “do their job” than interviewing candidates. They want the interviewee to succeed! Go in with that confidence.

2) Resumes get me the job. Actually resumes are the candidate’s marketing piece. They help attract the right person to talk with the job seeker about a position. They do not “get them the job”

3) Salary negotiation begins after the interview. Salary negotiation begins long before the candidate is selected for the interview. The salary range is determined when the position is approved in the budget. Therefore candidates are being screened for salary from the beginning of the process. This is one reason to avoid giving your previous compensation until after your conversation.

Work your way through these Job Search Myths, Monsters, and Misconceptions to find your next job more quickly.

You Accepted the Position – Beware of the Counter Offer

2011-05-29T10:51:00.001-06:00

Expert Recruitment Consultant Discusses the Dangers of Accepting a Counter Offer

Numbers demonstrate the employment market is improving. As a result the people who have jobs are beginning to dip their toes gingerly into the market. Surveys show that 30% to 60% of employed workers are unhappy in their jobs and are waiting for the employment market to improve. An expert recruitment consultant warns that some of these people are setting themselves up for future failure if they accept a counter offer from their current employer.

“Most people do not understand the potential impacts of accepting a counter offer. For instance 69% of employees who accept a counter offer leave their current employer within 6 months of accepting that counter offer,” said Bill Humbert, known as RecruiterGuy (www.RecruiterGuy.com) and author of “RecruiterGuy’s Guide to Finding a Job”. “Unfortunately the counter offer has little to do with the employee and everything to do with the current employer.”

Humbert is not a career coach; rather he is an expert recruitment consultant with 30 years of recruitment consulting experience for start-up to large multinational companies. He knows how managers think when someone presents their resignation. His advice to job hunters who have successfully found a new job includes understanding:
• There is a reason why you chose to leave the company – and outside of compensation, that hasn’t changed. Most people dislike change. Therefore the decision to make a job change is generally a tough decision and is based on many factors including money. RecruiterGuy says, “When I extend an offer to a candidate for my client, I warn them about the coming counter offer. Then we have another discussion on all of the reasons they decided to find a new position.”
• A counter offer provides resigning employees a huge ego boost – and companies know that. The employee is thinking, “Finally I am getting some recognition of my worth around here!” An effective counter offer by the company works on a person’s need for recognition.
• A counter offer is all about the manager and company – and not about the employee. Did it take a resignation for them to recognize an employee’s worth? Do employees really feel that conditions will change for the long term? Probably not. Once the “danger” of the employee leaving is over, the manager will return to their old ways of doing things – the base of behavioral interviewing. The extra compensation may just be next year’s raise – a few months early. Remember, every position has a budget range.
• Count how many of these statements resigning employees hear from their manager and other company managers after they resign:
1) “I am shocked that you want to leave! I thought you were happy. As a matter of fact, tomorrow we were going to discuss a (promotion, raise, new project, etc.) with you.” (Humbert says, “Call me a cynic but the timing is suspect…”)
2) “You are a very valuable employee. We need to see what we can do to encourage you to stay.”
3) “I am happy that you came to me because I planned to chat with you about moving to another organization/project within our company” (that was nixed in a previous conversation).
4) “I am very disappointed that you chose such a busy time to leave our organization. Can’t you see the impact of your departure will have on everyone else?” (RecruiterGuy loves that one. “The manager is trying to put a guilt trip on the employee!”)
5) “You manager just came to me to discuss your resignation. I asked if I could talk with you. You are a key person in our growth plans. I am sorry we haven’t shared this with you sooner. Let’s sit down and discuss the needed changes…” (generally an executive speaking)
6) “What will it take for you to stay?” (At least that one is upfront in its intent!)
7) “As you know, we rarely make counter offers here. You are such a key person. We will make an exception. What do you want to stay?”
8) “Thank you for coming to me and discussing needed changes. Would you like to lead those changes?” (Generally once you accept the counter offer, the desire to make the immediate changes in the organization dissolves shortly after) Then they will say, “Let’s just finish what you are working on first. Then we will discuss the changes.” (Note – they won’t say “make the changes” again)

Humbert said, “One of my candidates called me after their resignation and proudly told me the company hit 8 of the 9 statements during the day of his resignation. Then he laughed and told me he was happy I warned him.”

• The employee’s loyalty to their current company is now questioned. Subtly they will begin to see changes in how management works with them if they accept the counter offer. Fewer strategic conversations and more tactical conversations as they begin the brain drain. Management also knows the employee will most likely leave in 6 months. Therefore, management will begin to plan who is going to replace the employee.
• Remember the odds of further success at that company decline rapidly once the employee accepts a counter offer. Management is now focused on “protecting themselves” instead of future contributions from the employee. They know the employee will only be in the position a short time before they have to go through the expense and time of replacing them.
• Usually accepting a counter offer will burn the bridge with the company where the employee successfully interviewed and received an offer. Now the employee who was excited by the company, the new position, the hiring manager and the offer has to go to the offering company and give them the news they accepted a counter offer. Generally that conversation does not go well. Once a manager decides to extend an offer, they begin to plan for the new employee’s start and begin penciling them in for meetings. They are very excited they have finally found the right person for the position. Imagine the level of disappointment when they are told the candidate accepted a counter offer.

Bill Humbert recommends, “The best way to resign is to graciously thank the manager for the experience working with them. Then firmly tell them that they are very excited about the new opportunity and give the date of their departure (generally 2 weeks’ notice). When a manager approaches to discuss the counter offer, simply thank them and begin discussing the transition.”

Successful Corporate Recruiting Requires Focus, Time, and Hard Work

2011-05-08T16:11:00.000-06:00

Successful corporate recruiting requires focus, time, and hard work. Companies that are very successful finding the top candidates understand that attracting candidates is a sales process. The amount of effort put into the search for the right candidate is reflected in the quality of candidates presented for interviews. Are your company’s hiring managers frustrated in the quality of candidate received? Do they constantly request the aid of search firms (who understand Recruiting is Sales)?

The purpose of this article is to save you money for your company and help you better focus your recruitment efforts.

When I am on a recruiting consulting contract, we discuss the client’s recruitment processes. While we are working through the process, I point out areas that need to be tweaked or completely changed in order to attract more and better candidates. The goal is to create a recruitment process that reflects a sales process (demonstrated in “Attracting Passive Candidates?”).

Used in the correct way, technology can be a terrific aid to attract and recruit top candidates. Used the wrong way, technology will drive top candidates to other companies in droves.

Is your Salt Lake City based company using technology to track activity and resumes? If so, you are on the right track. If you have been sold that technology will help you recruit, you most likely are on the wrong foot and would need a conversation to confirm.

Technology is great for speeding up process. Unfortunately it speeds up good processes and poor processes alike – just making bad things happen faster. If you are selling products, like Amazon, technology is fine. If you are trying to sell yourself as an employer, it is tougher unless you make one of the “Best Employers’ Lists”. By definition, most companies are not the best place to work – not that they are bad places to work, they just haven’t received recognition yet.

Yes. Recruiting the sales way takes more time typically than simply filling requisitions. However the reward for recruiting the sales way is much more productive and happier employees. They will make your company more profitable and more competitive than people filling desks.

Attracting Passive Candidates?

2011-04-05T10:38:00.000-06:00

When I attend recruiting conferences and Human Resource meetings nationwide, inevitably the conversation works its way to attracting the Holy Grail of recruitment – the Passive Candidate.

It is valuable to listen carefully to that person’s definition of whom the Passive Candidate is. Generally companies define the Passive Candidate as someone who is doing a job at a high level within another company; and is perfectly content to remain there.

Then go to the website of the company seeking to attract the Passive Candidate. Does the company put up roadblocks while trying to attract the Passive Candidate? Beware of conflicting goals. If the company truly wants to attract the Passive Candidate, do they make it easy for them? Obviously if they are just looking around, they will not fill out an application prior to a conversation. How many companies are being sold by their Applicant Tracking System vendors that requiring candidates to complete an application prior to the company’s demonstrated interest in the candidate is best practice? It appears that many companies have bought into this practice. This practice runs directly counter to the sales process.

Successful recruiting is a sales process – pure and simple. The processes match perfectly.

Sales Process
1) Identify Need
2) Develop service or product to fill need
3) Source potential clients
4) Perform needs analysis
5) Proposal
6) Negotiation
7) Close
8) Delivery of product/service

Recruitment Process
1) Identify Need – new or replacement
2) Create job description
3) Source potential candidates
4) Interview – needs analysis
5) Offer
6) Compensation negotiation
7) Close
8) Delivery of candidate

In the recruitment sales process, the application should be completed after the interview is set and prior to the interview. Now you have sufficient interest by the passive candidate to motivate them to complete the application prior to the interview.

Requiring Passive Candidates to complete an application while surfing your website will cause them to continue surfing to another company that understands that recruiting is sales.

RecruiterGuy’s Top 11 Tips for Successful Networking

2011-03-26T14:07:00.000-06:00

As the author of “RecruiterGuy’s Guide to Finding a Job” and as a professional recruitment consultant since 1981, there have been many times when I observed people “working the room” while attempting to effectively network with others.

Most times they have been ineffective because they are more interested in quantity than quality relationship building. These are the people who are similar to the opera soloist warming up as they meet people – ME, ME, ME, ME-E-E! You have met them too often.

Successful networking requires building a relationship. Truly effective networkers strive for in person opportunities to network. The more senses a person uses when they meet you, the more likely they will remember you. Remember our smell sense works well in determining whether someone will remember you; and How they will remember you.

1) Everyone is a prospective candidate for networking. We all need to meet someone to propel our career or business forward. I am thrilled when I am able to introduce two people who become wildly successful as a result of that introduction. You don’t know who that seatmate on a flight knows.

2) List everyone that you know currently and from your past – high school, college, sports, first job, other jobs, neighbors, etc. You know more people than you realize.

3) Prepare yourself for networking conversations. List everything you do well professionally and personally. Place asterisks next to things you do well and like to do. Then create a story from your experience that demonstrates that skill or attribute. People remember stories better than facts.

4) Dress is a sign of respect. Subconsciously we measure an approaching individual by their dress, level of confidence, and expression. It happens automatically. You have the power to make it more positive, simply by dressing with respect.

5) Give is the attitude that successful networkers project. When you give, you receive. What you give is what you receive.

6) Focus on the other person. Listen to them. Process what they are saying. Offer suggestions.

7) Eye contact is very important. How often have you experienced a conversation when someone kept looking around? How did you feel about their interest in you?

8) Interview the person in front of you. Ask them probing questions. Why did you choose this field? What is your greatest challenge right now? How may my contacts help you?

9) Here I Am! Speech is your elevator speech or one minute commercial. Note this is number 9 because your focus needs to be on the other person. Prepare a quick discussion of your experience and accomplishments to help that person frame where they may help, discuss your current situation in a sentence and then tell them where you could use some contact help.

10) Communicate with the person in front of you. Right now they are the most important person in the room. Treat them as such.

11) Thank them for their thoughts and their help. Ask them for a card and email them that evening to thank them again.

Using these 11 points will help you consistently help more people; and as a result receive more targeted referrals.

Interviewing the Seasoned Contract Recruiter Consultant

2011-03-20T06:45:00.000-06:00

As the “jobless recovery” begins to transition to a hiring recovery, companies nationwide need to begin to plan for the need for more employees. This is the last in a series of four articles on deciding whether the company needs an additional corporate recruiter, support from contingent recruiters, or the more strategic support a seasoned (not $35/hr.) contract recruiter consultant provides.

In the previous two articles, we discussed the interview questions that companies may ask the corporate recruiter candidates and contingent recruiters (yes, you should interview them!). This article is focused on contract recruiter consultants.

A seasoned contract recruiter consultant has a minimum of 15 years of recruitment experience in a variety of companies. Why 15 years of experience? This demonstrates they have the knowledge and skills to survive a recession. Why a variety of companies? No one solution fits all situations. Therefore it is best that person has successfully experienced a number of corporate environments. How do you measure “successfully experienced”? If they have worked with a client more than once, that client was happy with their services. If they do not have a history of repeat business, that should be a flag for you.

Ask the contract recruiter consultant what industries they have recruited for. If they specialize in one industry and trumpet they have a rolodex of candidates in that industry, ask who their clients are. If their clients are your competitors, you will probably not receive resumes from those clients. If they forward candidates from those clients, they will also help create churn in your organization by recruiting out the new people in their rolodex from your company. Remember the premise behind behavioral interviewing?

Certainly you want to ask them about their most difficult assignment and probe why it was difficult. Ask them about their most interesting project and why? What impacts did they make on each project? Keep in mind that occasionally people inside of a company block potential impacts because they perceive the consultant is “making them look bad”. Those situations are not as satisfying for the consultant but they need to handle them.

This series of articles should help Salt Lake City companies make better choices on the type of recruiter they choose and the specific recruiter. You may reach me at recruiterguy@msn.com if you have questions. RecruiterGuy.com works nationwide.

Contingent Recruiter Interviews

2011-03-19T15:44:00.000-06:00

What makes a great contingent recruiting firm? The recruiters and their practices. What makes poor recruiting firms? The recruiters and their practices. There are great, good, and poor contingent recruiters. I was a successful contingent recruiter for 12 years in the Washington, DC/Baltimore market. As a contract recruitment consultant, occasionally clients request that I use contingent firms to add to the candidate list.

Therefore I will suggest how growing firms can best pick contingent recruiters to help them staff their teams. How do you pick the recruiter to help you be more successful attracting and delivering the best qualified and the best fit candidate? It is important to interview contingent recruiters prior to selecting them to spend time recruiting for you.

How do poor contingent recruiters sell you on using their services? They say, “Oh just remember, you don’t pay unless you hire someone we send to you!” Does this sound like someone who will partner with you? Of course not…chances are that mindset will only result in wasting your time. Contingent recruiters who are the low cost providers must deal with lots of numbers in order to stay in business. Therefore they will spin your wheels with many unqualified candidates, hoping that one will stick. Hiring companies – is that what you want? Of course not!

How do the best contingent recruiters sell you on using their services? They take the time to build a relationship with your company, you, and your managers. In that process they develop the process to help you attract the best candidates for your firm. Their fee reflects the commitment they are making towards your success. In other words, they are not low cost providers.

If a recruiter tells you they specialize in your industry, ask “What companies in our industry are your clients?” That answer will tell you which companies are on their “don’t touch” list. If you receive a candidate from one of those companies, be very aware. That means they will mine your company.

Always ask for corporate references. Then ask the reference for their sense about the recruiter’s honesty and integrity. Was the candidate they introduced an impact performer? How many candidates have they successfully introduced to that company? How many left after the guarantee period?

Only after you are comfortable with the results decide to work with that recruiter.

Interview Questions for Fulltime Corporate Recruitment Candidates

2011-03-18T15:12:00.000-06:00

Your company needs to hire a recruiter. You’ve decided that you would prefer to find someone who is a fulltime employee. What questions do you plan to ask the recruitment candidates?

Your first step is to go to your job description. What level of experience do you seek? Obviously entry level candidates will be questioned differently than experienced corporate recruiters. The competition for qualified candidates is beginning to heat up. Therefore, you may want to try to recruit an experienced successful recruiter.

What are the first year goals for this position? Are there strategic duties required, such as recruitment strategy development? What planning responsibilities are required?

Remember that recruiting is a sales process. Therefore, your interview questions should help identify the sales strengths of your candidates.

The warm up questions may be:

Discuss your responsibilities at your current company. What were your challenges? How did you overcome your challenges? What challenges do you feel could have been handled differently? Why? It appears that you are doing a good job (if they are) for them, why are you interested in making a change at this time?

Then you can focus on the goals for your position and sales skills.

What have you discovered in your research for your interview here? What do you feel are the low hanging fruit that you would target? How do you feel you will sell our company to potential candidates? How is recruiting in this industry different than recruiting in other industries? How do you respond to those differences? Based on your experience so far with our process, do you have any process improvement suggestions? How many candidates did you extend offers to in your current job? How many candidates accepted your offers?

One key to successful interviewing is to listen closely to candidate responses. Then ask probing follow-up questions.

The next column will be based on interview questions for contingent recruiters.

Your Company Decided You Need to Hire a Recruiter?

2011-03-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

Once your company decides it needs a recruiter or additional recruiter, what are your next steps?

Decide whether you need permanent or temporary help. How many positions are budgeted? Are they budgeted to be filled in one or two months or will they be spread throughout the year? What is your current status with recruitment? Will this be your first recruiter or are you adding new resources? If you have a recruiter on staff, what is their experience level? Are they capable of handling more open requisitions or will they hit their limit soon? What is their track record? Have they recruited top performers? Do hiring managers respect their work and enjoy working with them?

By the time you pay a permanent recruiter, add the benefits, and taxes, the numbers may indicate that your need is temporary. Perhaps you are going through a peak hiring period. What will you do if you run out of requisitions for your recruiter? Consult with your CFO to better understand their perspective.

If you need temporary help, decide if you need contingent recruitment support or contract recruitment support or contract recruitment consulting support. Contingent recruiters are great if you have one or more specific openings and need to have a couple of recruiters providing you with candidates. Obviously beyond providing you with targeted and screened candidates, they need to deliver the candidates if you decide to make an offer.

Experienced contract recruiters (not the $25 to $35/hr. variety) generally have a minimum of 5 years of experience and may join your recruitment team for short term support. Generally they split their time between onsite and virtual. Virtual works well while they are sourcing. While sourcing, they are focused on networking and calling. They can talk to hiring managers on the phone to update them.

Contract recruitment consultants typically have 15 or more years in the trenches. They’ve seen more than one recruitment model and provide recruitment process improvement, recruitment marketing, and recruitment consulting/interview training and recruitment support.

Next column will offer proposed interview questions for recruiters.

Recruiting Function – How Highly Valued in Your Company?

2011-03-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

Since 1981 I have been a professional recruiter/recruiting consultant. Over the years, I have worked with start-up ventures and large multinational companies (many you know). For 1 ½ years I was the Recruiting Manager of a telecom start-up until they went public. My clients valued the recruitment function. They knew their recruitment processes needed improvement and invited me back as they needed tweaking.

Why do my clients value the recruitment function? They realize every position is critical in a growing company (Companies are either growing or they are shrinking). Are customer support positions critical in your company? Who is your point of contact with customers when they are encountering problems? Are they going to encourage customers to continue to purchase your products/services or go elsewhere? And what level of person in your company recruits for these critical people?

If the entry level position in Human Resources is recruitment, what does that say about the value of “talent acquisition” in that company? When I see companies are looking for “contract recruiters” that they want to pay $15 to $35 per hour, it is easy to see the value that company puts on recruitment. Remember, if you pay for advanced clerks, you receive advanced clerks.

Recruiting is a sales process. This is the simplified example to demonstrate that recruitment is a sales process - there is a sourcing function, a needs analysis function (interviews), an offer function, and a close. Sounds like a sales process to me.

Are the people that your company hires for the recruiting function sales professionals? Do you train them to act like sales professionals? Do they provide great customer service like great sales professionals? Do you train them how to conduct effective interviewing screens? Are they creative?

This week we will discuss interviewing potential recruiters. Then we will discuss one of the better processes to begin a new recruiter.

Doesn't It Make You Wonder?

2011-03-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

Doesn’t it make you wonder - when companies don’t understand that the recruiting process is a sales process?

Doesn’t it make you wonder - when candidates don’t understand that the job search is a sales process?

Doesn’t it make you wonder - when companies are sold on the idea that recruiting is a technology solution?

Doesn’t it make you wonder - when candidates do not put their accomplishments on their resumes?

Doesn’t it make you wonder - when companies punish hiring managers for checking references of candidates whom they are considering offering a job because it is a “Human Resource function”?

Doesn’t it make you wonder - when candidates do not research the company where they are interviewing prior to their interview?

Doesn’t it make you wonder – when companies do not train managers how to effectively interview potential employees and then expect them to make good hiring choices?

Doesn’t it make you wonder – when candidates lie about their education and feel they will not be caught?

Doesn’t it make you wonder – when companies are going to understand that candidates may be customers or potential future customers?

Doesn’t it make you wonder – when candidates who know that posting and praying doesn’t work, continue to expect success finding a job by posting and praying?

Doesn’t it make you wonder – when companies do not yet understand that employees are their most important asset because they control all other assets?

Doesn’t it make you wonder – that despite all of the above conditions; occasionally good companies attract good candidates? Amazing!

Obviously there are companies and candidates who do understand all of the above and their performance reflects their understanding.

RecruiterGuy's Top 10 Tips to Finding a Job

2011-02-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

1. Take stock of your emotional state. If you were recently laid off or decided that you just had to leave a job, you are probably going through the steps of grief. While taking time to recover, list your best skills and attributes – both professionally and personally.

2. Understand that finding a job is a series of sales or marketing processes.

3. List what sets you apart from other candidates.

4. Create your “Here I Am!” speech or elevator speech.

5. Develop a resume that includes accomplishments and metrics that demonstrate your skills.

6. List at least 250 people that you can approach to begin networking.

7. Call those people and give them your “Here I Am!” speech. Instead of asking if they have a job opening, ask who you should contact next?

8. Research both the company and the manager before you interview (Google their name).

9. Turn your cell phone to airplane mode before you leave your car or other means of transportation.

10. After your interview, take time to list your “Wish I would have said’s.” These will help you improve on your interviews for the future – and help in compensation negotiations.

For more background information on these tips, you may read the reviews and order "RecruiterGuy's Guide to Finding a Job" on Amazon

or on RecruiterGuy’s Guide to Finding a Job

Recruitment Strategy Development – Contacting the Passive Candidate

2010-06-15T16:12:00.000-06:00

When you decide to direct source instead of simply posting and hoping, how do you approach the passive candidate? Do you call and say, “Hey! Would you like to work for us?” I’ve listened as corporate and third party recruiters tried similar lines. Naturally they did not like the rejection – and returned to posting and hoping.

Who is a passive candidate? They are people with demonstrated expertise who need your help to discover they really aren’t as happy as they could be. Typically a truly passive candidate has no desire to look at postings Anywhere. They may not be on LinkedIn because “What’s the point? I am happy here.” Why are they a potentially better candidate when you recruit them?

That’s easy. In addition to their skills and focus on making impacts, they have not yet started to shop their resume around to other companies. This is your opportunity to land them before they decide they could be happier somewhere else. As in other areas of sales, time is your enemy in recruitment. Once a passive candidate is on the market for you, they begin to look around “To see what else is available.” But I am jumping ahead…

If you are not used to direct sourcing and cold calling candidates, it is a good idea to develop a script around what you want to say. The beauty of scripts occurs when a candidate asks a question and you put your finger down where you are in the script. After you answer their question or questions, return to your place in your script (so easy even I do it!).

Some people are afraid that a script will make them seem “fake”. Just try to be natural and smile. People can feel a smile on the other end of a call.

When you are calling a passive candidate the first time, identify yourself and ask if this is a good time to chat for 10 minutes. If not, when would be a good time? When they ask why you are calling them, tell them the truth - somewhere (Tell them where) in your research, you found they were talented in that field. “Talented people generally know other talented people.” If you described a situation to them, perhaps they could suggest a couple of people who may be interested in this opportunity. Many times they want to help other people. Describe the company and opportunity and then ask them “who do you know that I should call next? Hopefully they will say, “What about me?” If they don’t, you at least leave the call with other names and numbers. It’s amazing how well it works!

Recruitment Strategy Development – The Elusive Passive Candidate

2010-06-09T14:09:00.000-06:00

As a contract recruitment consulting professional, I listen to companies when they say they are looking for the elusive passive candidate. When I ask them how they plan to attract that person, generally they reply that they want to post a job where they will respond. They then ask where I suggest they post the position. My sense is they have conflicting goals.

Quite possibly my definition of a passive candidate is different than theirs. I define a passive candidate as one who is successful in their field and believe they are happy. Therefore they are not looking on posting sites. They are spending that time making impacts in their own companies.

Therefore, how do you attract passive candidates? If they think they are happy, and are not looking at posting sites, the seasoned professionals probably are not even on LinkedIn. I just contacted one of those today. I’ve known her for years and had to hunt for her. She does not participate in social media sites. “Why should I? I’m happy!” was her response.

Therefore finding passive candidates requires someone who understands, accepts, and practices “Recruiting Is Sales”. Sourcing these candidates is not easy. It requires someone who is creative and probably has a little detective in them.

What is a potential strategy to identify and recruit truly passive candidates? As a recruitment consultant, I recommend that we begin by finding out where they hang out. Hanging out may be physically or virtually. Now maybe you can understand the detective reference.

Generally if you are searching for people with specific skills, that means that you have people with those skills working with or for you. Ask them where the passive candidates of that field hang out. If they claim not to know (they know), ask what associations they belong to. What conferences do they attend? What school typically graduates that person?

Ask your manager in that area, what companies they prefer to see people with that experience. It’s also a good idea to ask which companies they do not want to see candidates – and why? It helps you focus. I also ask what the 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month goals are for the position. The skills required to be successful become crystal clear.

How do you approach the passive candidate? Follow my articles for the next segment.

Candidates - Effective Resumes

2010-06-04T17:31:00.000-06:00

I have been a professional recruiter for 29 years and recently signed a contract with a publisher to publish my first book on finding a job in this economy. Over the years I have read over 400,000 resumes.

Back in the early 90’s I was timed by an assistant as I reviewed a stack of resumes. I created three piles of resumes – no, trash wasn’t one of them. However, Interested, Not Interested, and I’ll Take Another Look were. When I completed reading the resumes, my assistant told me that she timed me as I read each resume. Being from the East Coast originally, I asked her if I didn’t give her enough work that day. Her response was perfect. She said, “You hired me as a Junior Recruiter. I knew better than to ask how much time you spent on a resume so I timed you. What are those stacks?” I told her what each stack of resumes meant then asked what she found out. She said, “You spent as little as 2 seconds on a resume and those went into the Interested and Not Interested stacks. You spent as much as 12 seconds and those mostly went into the 'I’ll take another look and Not Interested stacks.' You averaged 6 seconds per resume."

Therefore, you have 6 seconds to get my attention – and that was almost 20 years ago. Hopefully I’ve improved on those numbers!

What am I looking for? Your impacts! What positive measurable impacts have you made? Your resume is your marketing piece. This is a time to trumpet your successes! Most managers have never been taught how to interview. Therefore, the information on your resume is mostly the basis of your interview. Use previous annual reviews if you need reminders.

The convention in resume writing is to write your resume in 3rd person past tense, even current experience, and drop the pronouns. There never should be an “I” in a resume. Always begin sentences with an action verb – Designed, Sold, Closed, Developed, Interfaced, Integrated, etc.

I suggest that you write your responsibilities in a paragraph format and bullet point impacts. You want your impacts to stand out, correct?

Good luck!

Recruitment Strategy Development – Resume Retrieval

2010-06-04T17:22:00.000-06:00

Over my 29 years of recruitment, one of my clients’ biggest problems in sourcing resumes has been retrieving them from their own files.

In the “beginning”, paper resumes were stuffed into file drawers after they were reviewed by a recruiter – generally never to be found again. A year or two later they were all stuffed into the trash to make room for “fresher” resumes, and the cycle began anew.

Today most resumes are sent electronically. This is good for our landfills! The bad news is that they are rarely reviewed before going into the electronic file known as an HRIS (Human Resource Information System) or ATS (Applicant Tracking System). Therefore many times the corporate recruiter does not even know to try to find the resume in their system. They then post the position online and the process again renews itself.

I had one HR client who was so paranoid that I would successfully find resumes in their HRIS that they required me to take HIPPA training prior to granting me access to their resume database. I know HIPPA is for health records but they were desperate to find excuses to keep me away. They then asked me to sign a form saying that I completed the training. Below my name was the word, “Employee”. Since I was a consultant, I refused to sign as an employee to protect the client and they denied me access to their database – dumb!

Were you aware that there are over 30 different titles that mean SALES? Therefore if you are only searching your HRIS or ATS on your in-house title, “Account Manager”, you will miss all of the men and women who are Sales professionals, Account Reps, Account Representatives, Business Development, and the balance of the other sales professionals with the “wrong” titles. The same happens with many titles outside of sales.

I do not sell Broadlook Technologies products http://www.broadlook.com/ nor do I receive a referral fee. They have nifty utility that you may use to find all of those sales titles or other similar titles for other positions. Actually they offer some great search products. The company was founded by a successful recruiter who really knows what he is doing, Donato Diorio. Give them a call to learn about their products.

Meanwhile creative sourcing of resumes in your own database will reap you candidates beyond your dreams! Good Luck!

Recruitment Strategy Development - Mobile Recruiting technology will leap frog Internet postings

2010-04-03T16:15:00.000-06:00

As part of my Recruitment Strategy Development series, RecruiterGuy is making a prediction. Mobile recruiting technology is going to leap frog the Internet posting sourcing that everyone has grown to both love and hate.

Your Applicant Tracking System will enable candidates to opt in to your mobile recruiting program. They have the opportunity to post their resume in your system with the request to receive a text message when a position opened in their area of expertise and commutable distance from their zip code.

It is important to allow candidates to opt out of receiving texts. If you miss just one person’s request, it could cost your company over $10,000 – that would quickly drive up your costs to employ this technology.

By allowing candidates to opt in and out of mobile recruiting, companies will provide interested candidates an opportunity to learn of openings the moment they are posted by receiving a text message.

Since the millennial generation grew up with computing power in their pockets, this is where you may find them. Can you imagine the power of reaching qualified 200 candidates in seconds – all of whom told you they want to be contacted? Many of these are the true passive candidates who just want to be contacted for specific positions.

The difficulty that some companies may have is narrowing down their positions enough to prevent “spamming” candidates while texting openings. If your company breaks this trust with candidates, they will probably opt out of your mobile recruiting program in a hurry.

How do the costs compare with Internet postings? It depends on many factors. How many qualified candidates you hire using this method of sourcing is a major metric. Your costs to text to these candidates are another cost to track. Additionally what is your cost to follow-up? I suggest that you conduct a trial program first to see how it works in your recruiting culture. If you experience success quickly, then gradually widen the opportunities. Meanwhile continue your traditional proven ways to source.

For further discussions on this improved way of sourcing you may contact me at recruiterguy@msn.com.

Recruitment Strategy Development - Recruitment Process Improvement – Requisition Approval Process

2010-02-18T12:01:00.001-07:00

As the Toyota Production System and Lean process improvement have repeatedly demonstrated, there is waste in many processes. In order to be more efficient and more productive, it is important to identify and remove the waste. The people who generally are best to identify the waste are the people involved in making the process work. When you see or hear frustration in their voices, you know the process is not working smoothly.

While developing a recruitment strategy, it is good to identify different areas within your recruitment processes that you may be able to improve. Set a goal to improve your recruitment processes every year. Create metrics to demonstrate your success or failure to accomplish your goal. We will look at these processes in this white paper. As a point of reference, this white paper will be published in sections in order to be more focused. Each blog entry in this series will begin with the recruitment process improvement title.

When discussing recruitment process improvement, many people describe the recruitment process as a single process. However, when you examine it, you can see that the recruitment process consists of a number of processes. If even one of those processes is flawed, it could prevent you from recruiting and attracting an Impact Performer.

When a company needs to open a new or replacement position (requisition), the first recruitment process (requisition approval process) begins. The approval process in a small company can be very simple. The manager asks the CEO if they can hire a new person and the CEO says, “Sure.” Generally in larger companies, this process is more detailed where forms are completed and different levels of management need to approve the new or replacement requisitions.

On one of my recruitment consulting contracts in the 1990’s, it took almost 6 weeks to open an employment requisition. There were eleven levels of approval required. The CEO recognized that it was now taking far too long to approve a position. When I began investigating the process, my first impression was that it was a paper process that was dependent upon people sitting at their desks. If the requisition was delivered to the desk of someone who was out of town, it could languish there for a week or more. Worse yet, no one knew where it was.

As a result of my interviews with the managers involved in the approval process, I discovered that many did not know why they were involved – nor did they want to be. We whittled down the levels from eleven approvals to four – the Direct Manager, the Director, the Vice President, and the CEO. It was still a paper process but at least it was now manageable and finding which desk it may be stuck was easier. Then we further refined the process where the requisition would be forwarded on email.

The hiring manager was responsible for creating a meaningful job description, justifying the need, and checking the budget to ensure it was approved. The higher level managers checked the information supplied and ensured the position was in line with the current corporate strategy. If the position was outside of the budget, the hiring manager needed to justify the new position. If everything was as expected, the requisition was approved.

This example is a great example of why RecruiterGuy suggests that you improve a process prior to automating it. If this process was just automated, there would still be eleven levels of approval. In essence, you would potentially just speed up a flawed process.

Today, if you have a small to medium sized company, an applicant tracking system is recommended by RecruiterGuy for many reasons. First of all, you may automate the approval process and easily track the progress of an approval, sourcing, candidates, recruiter notes, and the interviewing and on boarding processes. Secondly, with the more aggressive enforcement of Federal OFCCP regulations, applicant tracking systems will create the required reports (if you enter the information). Thirdly, you may search and retrieve candidates who are in your own database. Larger companies require the more robust HRIS systems just to cope with the amount of information flowing into and out of them.

How do you decide which applicant tracking system is best for your company? Sylvia Dahlby of Advanced Personal Systems, Inc (smartsearch) recommends that you develop an RFP. How many employees do you currently have? How many employees do you expect to hire in the next year or so? How many resumes do you expect to import into your applicant tracking system in the next year and beyond? How many people will be accessing your system regularly (licenses)? What reports will you need? How do you plan to introduce resumes to your applicant tracking system? Do you want to be able to post approved jobs immediately to your website and to selected job boards? Would you like the Internet aggregators such as Indeed.com to easily find your jobs (Of Course!)? Is it important to integrate your applicant tracking system to Outlook? How quickly do you want your system up and running? How much money can you afford to pay for the initial purchase and then annual license fees? Any of the companies who sell applicant tracking systems will help you with your options.

Who are the applicant tracking system companies?

My vendor is Advanced Personnel Systems, Inc (smartsearch)
. They have been in business for over 20 years and continuously improve their product and integrate smartsearch with other recruitment process related vendors. Once your company signs the contract with them, they will have you up and operating within a couple of weeks, including importing resumes from Outlook or wherever you are currently storing them. Their customer service is impeccable and prompt. Once, I had insomnia and was doing some work in the middle of the night. I got hung up on a small detail and sent a note to support. The CTO replied in 15 minutes that he had solved the problem! I replied that rarely was my middle of the night problem that important but that’s the kind of company they are.

You may also look at Taleo , icims , and enterprise systems such as Oracle’s PeopleSoft HRIS .

RecruiterGuy is Presenting at the Corridor Career Fair in Cedar Rapids, IA on Sat. April 24th.

2010-02-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

RecruiterGuy is Presenting at the Corridor Career Fair in Cedar Rapids, IA on Sat. April 24th.
9:15am - 10:00am "Effective Networking to Your New Position" by Bill Humbert

Effective Networking to Your New Position
Are you tired of posting to the black holes on the Internet? You know them – tantalizing job titles and job postings where no one ever answers other than the automated thank you response.

RecruiterGuy says stand up and take control of your search! All too often candidates try the easy route to finding a job – simply get on the Internet and post their resume to dozens of companies at a time. Unfortunately after all of those postings you never received a call. Then frustration sets in and you find yourself complaining that it’s all a waste of time – and then you do it again tomorrow and the next day.

Lost your job? Try the Park City Career Network

2010-01-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

In late August 2009, RecruiterGuy was one of the 4 volunteer professionals who organized the Park City Career Network with the goal of helping people out of work find their next job. Since then, twenty of the people who have participated have found positions in their fields; and another ten have started small businesses.

This is a great organization with two recruiting professionals, a corporate turnaround consultant, and a professional counselor who provides emotional support. Few of these volunteer organizations have this breadth of experience, especially the emotional support.

The Park City Network has brought in specialists to counsel members on how to meet their expenses and how to work with creditors. On Monday, Feb. 1, 2010 from 9 to 10:30 AM, bring a copy of the job description of a position that interests you and your resume that you would use to reply to that position. We will compare the two and then practice interview selected members (depending on how many people show). An executive Human Resource graduate of our group will work with us tomorrow. The Feb. 1st meeting will be at St. Mary’s of the Assumption Catholic Church Parish Hall on Rt. 224 in Park City.

Future Monday morning meetings will be held from 9 to 10:30 AM across Rt. 224 at Temple Har Shalom. Future speakers will feature tax experts and career counselors. You may join the Park City Career Network LinkedIn Group to view discussions including meeting agendas, job search related news, and job postings. Human Resource and Recruiting professionals are invited to join this LinkedIn group and post their positions free in our Jobs section.

Middle and High School Students' Future Job Choices

2010-01-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

RecruiterGuy is addressing future generations of workers in this blog.

To the high school and middle school students who are trying to figure out your future careers but don’t really feel that college is the right direction, remember that education has become its own industry. Educators strongly recommend further education.

It is important for us to develop people who want to use their brains and work with their hands. If you decide not to go to college, what are your choices? Actually there are many lucrative choices for you.

We will always need skilled professionals in the building trades. Magnificent buildings and renewable energy farms do not go up by themselves. Homes are not necessarily built by college grads.

Automobiles and trucks are repaired by skilled technicians. Trains are becoming a popular form of transportation again. Someone has to repair them.

Where are there going to be shortages in the near term? Consider that the Utah Manufacturer’s Directory http://www.mnistore.com/products.asp?STATE=UT lists 4,595 manufacturers in Utah alone. Some of those firms are very small but each one is building some kind of product. They will need machinists (becoming a critical need as the Baby Boomers are retiring), skilled labor to work in clean manufacturing environments, electricians, HVAC specialists, plumbers, etc.

We already have a shortage of watch repairmen in the US. Watch repairmen? Hey, people don’t just toss the Rolex watches if they break!

Do you enjoy driving? Companies like Salt Lake City’s CR England http://www.crengland.com/ are always looking for truck drivers and are even willing to help you train.

The tourist industry is very important to the state of Utah. All of the ski resorts hire during the winter. The rafting companies and adventure companies hire during the summer. There will always be jobs in the restaurant industry. Talented servers will always be able to get a good job with a four or five star restaurant and earn a very nice living.

Decide which of your skills that you enjoy and then find an industry that is a good match. The United States needs your talents!

2010 Job Growth Prediction

2010-01-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

As a professional recruiter since 1981, I have now experienced four recessions that impacted my profession. As a result of my experience, I have developed the “Recruiter Economic Barometer”. It may not be as scientific as other economic barometers but it has proven very effective.

Typically when companies are anticipating a slow down or hiring freeze, they either assign their corporate recruiters to other duties or lay them off. The contingent recruiting industry tends to wash the third party recruiters out who have not honed their sales skills. Therefore during a recession nearly 50% of all recruiters (corporate and third party) leave the profession.

As a result of these reductions in recruitment forces, you may forecast a decline in hiring.

When the economy begins to improve, lean companies begin to look strategically and realize they need to add recruitment resources. As a result, they begin to add recruiters, either corporate or contract, and contact contingent recruiters to alert them of their coming needs.

During November and December 2009, I saw a slight increase in the postings for new corporate or contract recruiters. Since companies typically do not hire a recruiter to recruit for one position, hiring recruiters is a multiplier for new job growth. As new jobs are created, consumer confidence and spending increases; creating the need for more jobs.

I forecast a slight increase in jobs in the 1st quarter, followed by incremental growth in job creation in each of the next three quarters of 2010.

The two caveats are:
1) Are the Federal and State governments going to take too much money out of the economy in taxes to prevent job growth?
2) Will a terrorist organization strike the US homeland in a way to slow economic growth?

Hopefully neither will occur and the predicted job growth will occur as it has in past recessions.

Have a Happy and Successful 2010!

Recruitment Strategy Development - Impressive Interviewing

2009-10-02T17:19:00.000-06:00

You can imagine what a daunting task it is to write a blog on a topic that has generated enough books to pave the way from St. Louis to San Diego. However since this blog is another in the series of high level blogs on Recruitment Strategy Development, it must be done.

Is interviewing taken seriously in corporate America? If it were, hiring managers would be trained to be more effective in the interviewing process. As a matter of fact, trained and “certified” hiring managers from every company function would be involved. For instance, there would a certified interviewing manager in accounting, another in marketing, another in sales, etc.

If Executives truly understood the cost of hiring the wrong person for a job, they would require the same or greater due diligence on the selection of a new employee as they require on the selection of a new corporate acquisition. This due diligence would include a meaningful job description, a meaningful interviewing process, and meaningful due diligence on the selected candidate after the interview (the subject of my next blog).

Let’s examine the cost of hiring the wrong person. The first assumption is that they are in the position for 2 years before they make the grievous mistake that gets them fired (after being put on plan). Let’s say that person is earning $60,000 per year plus full benefits (that they take Full advantage of! – especially the medical/dental insurance). They are in a decision making position, possibly team leader. Let’s also say they have some client contact (customer service is full time client contact). Does this begin to sound like someone your company has hired?

What are your “hard costs” of this hire? Did you pay a recruiting fee, relocation, advertising for the position (Internet postings, newspaper, other), attend Career Fairs, etc? Did you need to pay their expenses to interview in person? Did you need to call in an employment attorney prior to letting them go? If not, how about your own corporate counsel’s time? Were you sued by the candidate for wrongful termination when they were let go?

Many companies will glance at their “hard costs” of letting someone go but never even consider their potentially catastrophic “soft costs”.

Let’s examine the “soft costs” of someone who has been in a position for 2 years but is only doing part of their job – and not doing that well. What is the cost of the work that is either not done – or done by another member of the team? What is the cost of their disruption to the team? What is the cost of the credibility of the manager for hiring someone like them? Have they driven away a customer (There are certain companies with whom I will not do business any longer because they have poor customer service.)? What is the cost of managing, coaching, correcting them? What was the cost of the time spent interviewing them? Certainly potential candidates have heard rumors about their lack of work ethic. Has their employment affected your brand as an employer? How has that affected recruitment? I could go on and on – and so could you.

On one occasional I conducted an interview training session with a small consulting firm. The attendees included the CEO and CFO. At the beginning of the session, I asked the previous questions. The table with the CEO and CFO estimated that the potential damage to the company could reach to $1 Million over 2 years. Imagine hiring just 4 people like that over a couple of years. Potentially that could make the difference between profit and loss – or even between staying in business or going out of business. That is how important interviewing and selection skills are.

How does this impact your recruitment strategy? Would it be wise for your Executive leadership to back an interviewing training budget for your hiring managers this year? Once an Executive understands the potential negative impact of a poor selection, they may be willing to put more money in the due diligence part of the process. More importantly, once they understand the positive impact of the perfect hire, they may be even more willing to fund interviewing improvements.

Let’s assume that your Human Resource department has used their sources to develop a couple of candidates for a mid-level position. What is your process to determine if they are truly qualified for the position? Have you created a Visio diagram of the process so it can be easily examined and explained to a new employee responsible for the interviewing process? To complicate things, it is important to remember that “Recruiting IS Sales”. In any sales process, time works against you. The good news and the bad news is that in the United States, people may choose to work for someone or not if they are selected. Therefore it is important to move the recruiting/interviewing process along. Like managers, few candidates have been trained in the interviewing process. Therefore, if they don’t hear from you, they simply assume there is no interest and psychologically move on. Now you have lost that initial enthusiasm for your company and position.

When you create an interviewing process, it is a good idea for someone to do a phone screen on the candidate to determine if their skills and personality are a close enough match for your company. Why go through the time and expense of a personal interview if they clearly do not fit? If potentially they are a fit, then you create an interviewing team that will interview the candidate and then meet to discuss the person and give the thumbs up or down on them.

In the process, the hiring manager should be responsible for determining who should interview the candidate(s). Once the interviewing team is established, the hiring manager should ask the team members to focus on the aspects of the interview that are their strengths. It is a good idea for everyone to ask some set of the same questions, just to create a benchmark.

Let’s take a few minutes to discuss the interview and the questions asked. In over 28 years of recruitment, my experience has shown that when you give a manager a list of questions without training them to listen to the response, they will focus on the next question instead of listening to the response of the candidate. That’s not good. Train them to be active listeners. The response of the candidate will give them far more material to probe and it will be more on target than any list of questions the managers can start with.

Technical skill interviews whether they are IT, medical, financial, accounting, etc. can be easier to measure than a person’s motivation or cultural fit. You develop a “Test” with either right or wrong answers. Then you grade the responses. Set a level the person must pass in order to receive an offer.

In 1992, I was asked by MCI to develop a recruiting strategy to transition an IT group from Virginia to Iowa. We needed to recruit a minimum of 120 IT professionals to Cedar Rapids in 12 months. One of the Senior Managers suggested that we create a set of technical questions that we ask each programmer or programmer/analyst. We had a senior technical professional create the interview so that the answer was either right or wrong. Therefore we could grade them on technical knowledge. No matter how much we liked someone (the gut); if they did not score at least a 76, we would not extend an offer to them. As a result of our strategy and interviews we were able to recruit 133 professionals to Cedar Rapids in 12 months – and the technical team was able to get two new releases out on time. We may have been able to attract that number of people without the “test”, but they may not have been able to get the releases out on time if their skills were not up to par.

That metric is much easier to measure than the one for cultural fit. Interviewing for cultural fit generally requires an in depth behavioral interview with good follow on questions. Again, the temptation is to focus on the next question without hearing the response of the candidate. See the next example for the reason to listen.

In 1997, I was asked to begin to train a junior Human Resource Rep on interviewing. We decided to use an Executive Administrative Assistant position that we were recruiting for as the first step. She went through the resumes and forced ranked all of the resumes by how she felt they stacked up against the requirement. When I went through the stack, I ranked them roughly the same. Then I asked her to invite the top 3 candidates in for an interview. When the candidates came in, she introduced them to me. I thanked them for coming for the interview, explained that I was training the Rep to interview; and that if we went through the entire interview without me ever asking a question, that’s fine. It just meant that I followed what they said. However if I should ask a quick question, it only meant that I was a little confused about something. The first two candidates probably did not even realize I was in the room. They were fine.

The third candidate proved that active listening is important. The interview was going fine until the Rep asked the candidate what weakness she had (not my preference of words but it was on the table). The candidate said that her weakness was that she liked people too much. Well that was the first time I had heard that weakness so it really caught my attention. She went on to say that it probably really was a strength because it made her more effective. I thought, “Hmm, she has been coached.” The Rep was going to let it go at that and began to ask the next question. I excused my interruption and asked if I could ask a question. The Rep said “Sure!” I looked at the candidate and said, “When you were asked about a weakness, you responded and turned it into a strength. That was fine and I know that technique of coaching. However what we really were looking for was what areas as an Executive Assistant could you improve?” She proceeded with, “Well another weakness is that I am…”and turned that into a strength. So I said, “Let’s move away from weakness. If you were to come to work here, what kind of training could my client offer you to improve your skills?” Her response? “I Am Not a WEAK Person!!!” Wow! Probably not weak but she doesn’t listen and certainly was not a match for that VP. I apologized profusely. While the questions from the Rep continued politely, the interview was over – and she didn’t realize it.

Humans are wonderful beings. Like it or not, we are also somewhat predictable. Generally if we have found a way to succeed, we continue to use that same behavior time and again. That is the basis of behavioral interviewing. We may stop if we were a total failure using that method once but push come to shove, we will usually revert back to the original behavior while under stress.

Develop situations in your company that this person may face and ask them how they responded to a similar situation in a previous company. Those answers will help you determine if they are a good fit. Ask them about previous successes and failures and what they learned from each. After you ask a few additional questions, circle back and create a situation in your company that is similar to one of their failures; and ask them how they would handle it.

Making notes during an interview is fine if it doesn’t distract you too much (Never, never make notes on a resume and then save it!! When? Never!). The interview should be a conversation where you learn about each other and determine if the position is a good mutual fit.

When the interview is done, the last person with the candidate should thank them for their time. Then ask them if they have any further questions or concerns. Do your best to be sincere and truthful. Remember, they may be a current or potential future customer. Once their questions are asked and answered, manage their expectations for the next steps of the process. If your company is very interested in them, be sure to let them know that also. Remember this is the needs analysis step of the sales process for both the candidate and the company.

Within 24 hours the team needs to discuss the candidate(s) and determine if there is further interest in them. If there is interest, it is best to begin the post interview due diligence – and possibly generate a contingent offer based on the outcome of the due diligence.

The RecruiterGuy summary: document your interview process. Train your managers to become effective interviewers. Develop interviewing teams for each open position. Develop “technical tests” that must be passed. Develop a good behavioral interview for the cultural and motivation parts of the interview. Make the initial hire/no hire decision after the interviewing team meeting. Extend a contingent offer if this is the right person. Begin the post interview due diligence – drug test, background investigation, reference check by the hiring manager, and psychological assessment, if required.

Post interview due diligence is my next blog in the Recruitment Strategy Development blog series.

Recruitment Strategy Development - The Dreaded Job Description

2009-09-13T17:46:00.001-06:00

In our last blog, “Recruitment Strategy Development – The Best Qualified Candidate Rarely Gets Hired”, we discussed if a Hiring Manager has not been taught how to interview, they certainly have not been taught how to select a qualified candidate.

For the purposes of Recruitment Strategy Development, RecruiterGuy ties the job description and the interviewing process together. Why? The job description should be specific enough that the skills required to be successful are crystal clear – and at the same time give a company the latitude to change duties as the business requires.

Since whole books have been written on successful interviewing, it is best to separate the Job Description blog from the Interviewing blog. In practice, they are tightly tied together in successful organizations. In many of RecruiterGuy’s clients since 1981, the hiring managers do not take the time to examine exactly what skills are necessary to improve their team at this current point in time. When asked to discuss the opening in their organization, they tell the recruiter to go to Human Resources to get the Job Description. In my experience, Human Resources should be the last stop for a job description to ensure the position responsibilities described is the position level the manager has budgeted.

“Just get it from HR” is exactly the wrong response from the manager. Remember my last post – “The Best Qualified Candidate Rarely Gets Hired”? Another reason for the poor selection of employees is that the manager and interviewing team are not looking for the correct candidate skills to be successful.

Think of your work team as a sports team. What do Championship Teams do well? The fundamentals. They recruit players who fit their strategies. Another analogy is building a house. If your footings are not square, your walls will not be square.

A good job description is the foundation of every point of the recruiting process. Therefore beginning the recruitment process by doing the proper due diligence on the job description is absolutely required in order to attract the Impact Performers.

It is always a good idea to list all of the day to day functions of the position. This part of the process helps the manager decide if the position should evolve into a higher or lower position than what their manager originally had budgeted. If someone leaves their group or is promoted, this provides the manager with the opportunity to upgrade their staff and find someone who can bring new skills to the function.

They may decide that the position no longer requires certain skills because of automation. On the other hand, automation of duties may actually give the manager an opportunity to hire a more strategic individual. Until they take the time to truly understand where that position is evolving, it is difficult at best to determine the skills necessary to be successful.

Once they list the day to day (tactical) functions, list the skills necessary to perform those skills. Now decide which skills are critical to the successful completion of those functions. Some skills are “nice to have”. Can you see how this process helps the Interviewing process evolve more towards metrics and further away from “My gut tells me…”?

Now list the strategic functions of the job. They could include special projects that you may want that person to complete in the year. List the skills necessary to be successful in the completion of the strategic functions. Again, which skills are critical and which are “nice to have”. Obviously some skills may overlap depending on the position.

Is this a people management position? If so, what management duties are tactical and what duties are strategic? What Management skills are critical and what are nice to have?

Can you see how all of this information can help you grade the position and better determine whether someone is a good fit?

Of course some Managers are already doing these types of due diligence but would like something to help tie everything together.

Here is a suggestion that I have been making to Hiring Managers for quite a few years now. Determine and list the 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month goals for the position. Now the skills required to be successful in the first year should become crystal clear for everyone on the interviewing team. This gives them something that may be better measured than a gut check.

The added advantage is that these goals give the manager and the new employee discussion points to discuss every time they meet during the critical first year. On the first day, the manager should sit down with the new employee and ask, “Do you remember our conversation on the goals for this position? Let’s review our expectations for you for the first year.” Later when the manager meets on the Friday of the new employee’s first week, it is good to ask how the week went and what the new employee experienced their first week. “What happened that you expected? What was a surprise for you? As the manager meets with the new employee over the first year, they may use these goals as talking points. For instance, “How are you doing on your 3 month goals? Do you need any assistance from me?” At the end of the year, there will not be any surprises on either side during the annual review.

When a manager makes a great hire, they develop a nice bounce to their step. Things move smoothly and they will be promoted. If they make a poor hire, what does it cost them and the company? Does it cost the manager credibility? Possibly more than you ever dreamed.

Which manager do you want to be? Isn’t developing a solid job description worth it? In RecruiterGuy’s next Recruitment Strategy Development blog, we will discuss the next steps of the Interview Process.

Recruitment Strategy Development - The Best Qualified Candidate Rarely Gets Hired

2009-09-02T08:52:00.000-06:00

That may get your attention. Generally when RecruiterGuy presents to groups on the topic of interviewing, people ask about the interviewing process.

How many times have you sat in an interview and wondered, “How will this person (the Hiring Manager) be able to determine if I am the best qualified candidate? Instead of probing my experience, capabilities, and motivations, he/she just asked me what kind of tree I would choose to be.” Obviously the person advocating that type of questioning would say words like “thought process”, “insight to the type of person”, “motivations”. Do you really believe that a whiner would say “Weeping willow”?

Let’s examine the process in most companies. A person excels in their current position and gets management’s attention. They are promoted. What happens next? They need to learn their new position and fill the position in their organization that they just vacated. A replacement employee requisition is requested and now the Human Resource Department and Recruiters are sourcing candidates. Candidates are produced and given to the new Hiring Manager to interview.

Where in this process is this new Hiring Manager taught how to interview? If they have not been trained how to interview, they certainly have not been trained how to select the best qualified candidate. How does that lack of training impact most companies?

1) The Hiring Manager may not hire the person who will make the key contribution that will propel a company forward;
2) The candidate they do hire may be a good tactical hire but not a good strategic hire – and will leave when they no longer are able to make tactical impacts;
3) Worse yet, they may stay and no longer make significant contributions;
4) Employee retention will become an increasing problem. The wrong person is hired and that impacts the performance of the entire team.

If you hear a Hiring Manager say that an offer should be made to Mr./Ms. Candidate because it feels good in their gut, remember that guts are really good for storing and processing food, not selecting candidates.

And what about reference checks? Has your company resigned itself to the “fact” that meaningful reference checks cannot be done any longer? The reference checks that I do for my clients generally last close to an hour. One reference recently said, “Wow that was like an interview!” I responded that in order to determine if the candidate is the right candidate for a position; shouldn’t we spend the time asking the right questions? It is best for both the candidate and the company.

This will take it one more step, if you trust Managers to make critical legal decisions for your company; shouldn’t they be the ones conducting the reference checks? After all, a Recruiter or Human Resource Manager may know a little about a lot of positions. If this position does not report to them, they may not pick up on the nuances that the references can give.

Additionally there is an interesting psychological phenomenon that occurs when a Recruiter calls a reference versus when a peer (Hiring Manager) calls a reference. When we have a conversation with another person, subconsciously we quickly discern if they are a peer or below our perception of where we are. These interactions are sometimes classed as Adult/Adult or Adult/Child interactions. When a recruiter calls a reference, generally the reference (if they do not know the recruiter), will give information as if they were speaking with someone who is a lower level. Therefore the reference may be a little vague. That creates the perception that reference checks are “worthless”. However, if someone who is perceived to be a peer calls and asks for a reference on a person that will report to them (and formerly reported to the reference), the information given will be on target. Now it is an Adult/Adult interaction and is certainly worthwhile.

One time when I encouraged a Hiring Manager to conduct reference checks on an auditor, she consented with some reservations. She had just completed her third and last reference check. When she was thanking the reference for their time, another question literally popped into her head. The response was such that she changed her mind and did not extend an offer to the candidate. That reference check truly made the difference in the hiring process.

Recently when I asked “What areas does John (not the candidate’s real name) need to improve?” all three references pointed out the same area. It was enough of a concern that I sat down with the Vice President (Hiring Manager) and CEO and we discussed it. In this case, we extended the offer. The Vice President knows to be aware of the situation if it should occur and how to coach the new employee.

If companies expect to hire better performers without training the decision makers on the selection process, it sounds suspiciously like doing the same things and expecting different results, doesn’t it?

To tie this back to Recruitment Strategy Development, is the attraction and retention of Impact Performers important to your company? If so, shouldn’t your recruitment strategy include Interview training for your Managers?

In RecruiterGuy’s next Recruitment Strategy Development blog, we will discuss the Interview process.

Recruitment Strategy Development - Applicant Tracking Systems

2009-08-31T19:39:00.000-06:00

So far we have discussed why you should develop a recruitment strategy, corporate and third party sourcing and recruiting. Now that you know how you will source candidates, how will you store their resumes? In this blog RecruiterGuy discusses Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

To define applicant tracking systems in their simplest terms, they are an automated system that allows you to store resumes and candidate information, retrieve resumes, candidate process tracking, and develop reports. To be fair, many ATS also enable you to post positions to your website and job boards, helping you save time in the posting process.

When I first started recruiting in the dark ages (Lancelot was still a youth), all resumes were either mailed or hand carried to us. Faxes came later – and were still paper – just worse quality paper that sometimes even smeared. Then came the wonder called the Internet. The good news was that resumes came faster (sometimes). The bad news was that more of them were not qualified for the positions we advertised. Plus legislation required that we keep them for at least a year and develop applicant flow charts for EOE purposes.

Finding paper resumes in file cabinets was laboriously slow, if you could even find the candidate that you were looking for. Therefore, we typically looked for awhile and then gave up. It seemed easier to find new candidates.

Today, more and more companies are using Applicant Tracking Systems that automate the search process. Remember Recruiting Is Sales. Therefore if someone tells you their ATS will recruit for you, they are playing into your fears. An ATS cannot recruit for you. Run as fast as you can from them. They are selling a bill of goods. Obviously they may understand software but they do not understand the recruiting process.

Applicant Tracking Systems automate recruiting processes: particularly the search of resumes that you have received; candidate tracking through the interviewing process; and developing reports based on your data. If your process is horrible, automated systems just make horrible happen more quickly. On the other hand, if your process is good, it helps you succeed more quickly.

Therefore, before automating your recruiting system, examine your current recruitment processes and eliminate waste from each of the processes. Remember, the recruitment process is a series of processes – opening the employee requisition for a new or replacement position, the job description process, the sourcing process, the interviewing process, the offer process, the reference checking/psychological assessment/background investigation/drug test process, and finally the on boarding process. While you are examining your recruitment processes, take the time to document your processes using Visio or some other software product. Be sure to ask “Why do we do it this way? Is there a better way to do this; or do we even need to do this step?” By documenting your processes it is easier to review your processes again later (continuous process improvement). Your documented processes become more sustainable and it is easier to bring new recruiters on board.

How do you choose the best applicant tracking system for your company? Sylvia Dahlby of SmartSearch (http://www.aps2k.com/) recommends that “companies use a requirements based approach. Create three columns – must have, nice to have, and exciting but we really don’t need those bells and whistles.” Make a list of questions to ask each ATS company. Know how many people will be accessing the ATS at one time, how many people do you plan to hire in the next year – and coming years (important that the system can scale up and down with you), a budget, and the types of reports that you will need to create (i.e. OFCCP, weekly reports to executives?). Ask for a demonstration of the system. How long has the ATS business continuously been in business? These software companies can come and go. My suggestion is to choose from established companies. It can be painful enough to go through the selection and installation processes once, but to have to go through them again if your ATS company goes out of business can be really painful. Does the system reside on your computers or can you access the files through the Internet? Who backs up the files – you or the ATS company? Do they have a disaster recovery site? How difficult is it to get copies of your files if you decide to change ATS in the future as a result of growth or downsizing. How long will it take to install their system? Will they import resumes in your Outlook folders or do you have to import them? Is there a way to direct resumes right from your Outlook email to your ATS? Ask for 5 corporate references that you may call and ask them the questions above. It is also wise to ask them for watch outs.

What ATS companies should you call? My business utilizes SmartSearch. It is designed for small to medium sized companies and scales up nicely. They are very customer focused and very good solving your problems. Large corporations many times are locked into enterprise solutions like Taleo or Oracle. Both solutions are very effective. The important consideration is whether the applicant tracking system does what you need efficiently.

This next point is very important. Once you have your ATS up and working, work it. You would think that is a no brainer. I can’t tell you how many times the candidate that a company is looking for is languishing in that company’s applicant tracking system. As a recruiting consultant, I can tell immediately which clients use their applicant tracking system and which ones do not. How? The ones who are not working their applicant tracking systems are afraid if they give me access, I will find people they missed. They will hide behind confidentiality excuses without realizing that I personally have much more to lose if I do not maintain confidentiality than they do. One of those companies actually had me take a HIPPA course before granting me access to their system – and then never did.

In order to be successful, everyone has to work together as a team. The recruiting consultant or contract recruiter needs access to the client’s applicant tracking system to help them be more successful. Experienced recruiting consultants can show members of the staff the tricks they have learned over the years to coax resumes of qualified candidates out of the system. Titles of positions are different at most every company and the skills required to be successful can be different. Companies may use different words to describe the same jobs; or the title can be the same but the skills required to be successful can be different.

For instance, once I suggested to a CFO candidate that I was career counseling that they should ask what skills were required in a company’s CFO position. He was aghast that I would counsel him to ask such a question; and told me he would chase any CFO who asked that question out of his office. My response? “So I can assume that the CFO of a company that was going into bankruptcy would need the exact same skills as those of a CFO of a small start-up; and both of them would need the same skills as the CFO of General Electric.” He saw my point. Experienced recruiting consultants have seen many positions in many companies and know what potential key words to use. Generally if there is going to be a weak link in the recruiting process, it will be in the job description process or the candidate interviewing process. Most corporate recruiters use the words in the job description to match with candidate skills. Both the company and the candidate may be describing the same job – with different words. By the way, my intention is not to denigrate the skills of excellent, experienced corporate recruiters. I count some of them as close friends. It’s just that seasoning helps anyone be more successful, and there are many good more junior corporate recruiters out there.

Bottom line? If you do a good job with your recruitment process improvement, if you do a good job in your applicant tracking system due diligence, and you use your applicant tracking system, your recruitment of talented people will go well.

The next blog is one that RecruiterGuy wrote last year – “The Best Qualified Candidate Rarely Gets Hired”. It fits very well into the Recruitment Strategy Development series of blogs.

Recruitment Strategy Development – Successful Third Party Recruiting Relationships

2009-08-24T17:38:00.000-06:00

RecruiterGuy has been on all three sides of the recruiting process. Three sides? Sure, I’ve been a third party recruiter, a corporate recruiting manager, and a candidate.

Today we are discussing the use of third party recruiters as a sourcing and recruiting partner. Wait! Stop rolling your eyes! Remember I’ve been on both sides of the desk. Currently as a contract recruitment consultant often I am on both sides in the same company.

Why would you want to include contingent, retained, and contract recruitment in your recruitment strategy? Generally it is pretty simple. Do you have one or more skilled recruiters on staff? Is your philosophy to make recruitment the entry level position into Human Resources? Do you understand that Recruiting is Sales? If your answers were no, yes, and no, you really need to utilize the services of a third party recruiter. Why? Third party recruiters spend their entire day recruiting and should be experts – and the good ones are. The experts are very creative in their sourcing, have successfully built candidate relationships in the past and understand how to build new relationships quickly.

So how do you effectively work with a contingent or retained recruiter? Remember a very important concept. Time is money. If you are going to use a recruiter because their fees are the lowest you can find, there is probably a reason for that.

Experienced, competent recruiters generally command higher fees. Why? They understand the value of their time and your time. Generally they don’t empty their databases in order to earn a fee. The excellent recruiters take the time to understand the position, its role in your company, the reporting relationships; and if they have worked with you for a long time they understand your culture. These people are professionals and will save your company time and money over the long haul.

Wait a minute! Save us money? How? Remember my last blog when I suggested asking the hiring manager what it will cost the company if the person isn’t hired by the budget date? That is the money I am referring to. If your company spends six months to a year looking for the right fit for a key position, it probably is costing the company a lot of money. Rhetorical question – if the position would not cost your company money by being open, are you sure you need the position?

How do you determine if contingent or retained is the best route? Generally speaking, the retained recruiters search for the higher level positions and generally at the higher fee levels. Typically your company would pay them one third of the anticipated fee at the signing of the contract with them. Then they will receive the next third when they deliver candidates and the final fee when the person starts. Contingent recruiters receive their entire fee when the person starts. I’d suggest using the person that has given you the best service if they feel they can be successful at that level. In my experience since 1981, sometimes the senior positions are easier to recruit for than the junior positions (retained recruiters are about to attack me for that statement!).

Some recruiters only work specific jobs within an industry and can be very effective in that industry. The potential conflict only occurs if your company is also in that industry. If they are recruiting in that industry, sooner or later in order to attract the best qualified candidate to you they will have to recruit from a client. Sooner or later, you will also be that client, unless you have a clause in your contract with penalties for recruiting out of your company. For instance, my contract states that for a period of five years after my contract ends, I may not recruit nor aid another recruiter to recruit from my client.

Here is a simple test to see if you can trust a contingent or retained recruiter to send qualified candidates. Spend a half hour on the phone describing the job, the manager and the company culture. Tell the recruiter that you would like to see a copy of their phone screen when they present the candidate to you. Additionally tell the recruiter that you want only a few, qualified resumes. Require that they also send the resume and phone screen to you at the same time they forward it to the manager. If the first resume they send you is off the mark, chat with them again to sharpen their focus. If the second person is also off the mark, you should nicely express your concern and suggest that this is not going well. After all, you do not want to waste your hiring manager’s time nor your time.

Once they pass the simple test, the professional recruiter will need access to your hiring managers in order to get quick feedback on both the candidate and the job as it evolves – and most jobs evolve as hiring managers meet candidates. It is the best way for them to be effective for you. Remember the communications exercise where you line people up and whisper in the first one’s ear? By the time it gets to the last person, the message is almost always changed. That is the reason the recruiter needs the feedback directly from the hiring manager (possibly with you on the call). Quick feedback helps move the process along and improves your chances of recruiting an individual. Time works against you in the recruiting process.

Once you have successfully worked with a professional recruiter and develop a mutual trust, you will like going that route when you need outside resources.

In our next Recruitment Strategy Development blog we will discuss applicant tracking systems.

RecruiterGuy's RAGBRAI Blog

2009-08-18T18:53:00.000-06:00

Some of you may be wondering what happened to RecruiterGuy’s series on Recruitment Strategy Development. It was put on hiatus while I demonstrated to myself and others that you can do what you put your mind to. Never underestimate the power of determination!

I completed RAGBRAI successfully – www.ragbrai.org . It was truly an endurance ride for me and approximately 10,000 other bicycle riders of 442 hilly Iowa miles with four 12 hour days (for me) and three shorter days, mostly on the bike. The only hill I walked was the one in Corning, IA (birthplace of Johnny Carson) where there must have been 200 bicycle riders trying to go up the hill at the same time. Below is my tongue in cheek blog of the ride.

The Road Hogs is my bicycle club.

Prior to Day 1 in Council Bluffs -
Learned to disengage my clips before falling in the grass - after I fell -
if no one saw it, does it mean it didn't happen? On the way back from
dipping my rear wheel - and almost me - in the Missouri, Dr. Jen and I saw
Bambi cross our path on the way back to camp. How many trains pass through
Council Bluffs at night? And does every one of them have to repeatedly blow
their horns - or was that a tribute to us?

Day 1 -
Learned with the first 2 mile hill that I would need to be determined to
complete this RAGBRAI. So I kicked determination in. Proud that I never
walked a hill - just rode so slowly ants were beating me up the hills -
quite a sight! Oh yeah, as promised to my wife, I took my blood pressure
medicine prior to riding that day. Only problem was that the doctor had
recently cut my dosage in half and I took the old prescription (Dummy!).
Kathy was nice enough to accompany me to the EMT in Red Oak where they took my blood pressure and it was 98/55 - no wonder I wanted to pass out while setting up my tent -may explain my slow speed up hills. Larry and Robin and Michael introduced me to Mama Rafael's (sp?). Great breakfasts! Did away with the tortilla charade after the first day - just loaded up with egg and sausage.

Day 2 -
Learned that I should have bought a long sleeved jersey at the Expo in
Council Bluffs. It lightly rained my last 30 miles. It was fun to watch
the more experienced riders like Dorie, Jen, Kirk, etc. begin riding and
then see the flash of light when they hit warp speed! No wonder they were
always clean and relaxed after my 12 hours on the road - yeah that's right -
on the 70+ mile days I was out there for 12 hours - poor Larry accompanied
me most of the days until we were separated - usually my fault - no one else
could ride that slowly. No solar heating for the camp showers that day!
Coldest shower for me since camping along the Colorado River in the Grand
Canyon while white water rafting - BRRRR! Discovered that the blood
pressure medicine had nothing to do with my slow speed on hills...How about
that walk up the hill in Corning? Wow, the rush hour in DC was better than
10,000 bicycle riders hitting Corning over several or so hours. What a
sight! Jen suggested Pastafari for lunch.

Day 3 -
The fog was interesting. Couldn't believe we would have a 2nd 70 mile day
and then realized it was not the last time that would happen! Come back
determination! Pastafari was yummy! I was really looking forward to a good
shower after that ride!! I figured a community the size of Indianola was my
ticket. By the time I went for my shower, they were out of water - no joy!
How about that hill coming into Indianola? I could imagine the City Fathers
laughing when they designed the route just for us - "Wait 'til they see that
hill at the end of 77 miles!" Of course my chain came off at the bottom of
the hill. As I started up, I saw a sign that said a 9 yr. old girl rode up
the hill so there I was at 2.9 mph...

Day 4 -
I told Larry that I never believed that I would tell someone that I was
happy to ride only 44 miles in one day. We got into Chariton around 2 PM
that day. It was unusual to be in a camp that early and see how the warp
speed riders live - of course they had been there since 8 AM or so...How
about the shuttle bus control guy in downtown? Wonder if he had a nervous
breakdown by the end of the evening - not pretty!

Day 5 -
Began with a bang! Lightning striking nearby was enough to roust me from
the tent around 4:30 AM. Just imagined how lightning may enjoy the aluminum poles on my tent, my Bike proudly standing nearby, and a big tree not far away - others seemed to sleep through the storm. Well now the trip is downhill, figuratively speaking. While others were doing the century loop, I was enjoying Mr. Pork Chop and watching those that had completed the loop stream by - I had the better deal from my perspective!! Later I stopped at Beekman's for ice cream. What a way to ride! As I was approaching Ottumwa, I was watching a nasty storm cloud. We appeared to be on a collision course. On one hill just outside of Ottumwa, I had just waved to a family when the big drops started. I hollered to the family to ask if we could use their garage. They said sure and 20 cyclists followed me into their garage. Very nice! Gave them bragging rights too! The next morning after visiting the port a potty and cleaning my hands, I chose to eat a clif bar while heading back to the camp site. You should have seen the expressions of the people approaching me as I was eating that brown clif bar.

Day 6 -
Yay! My last 75 mile day! Brighton did a great job with their welcome.
Larry and I probably spent an hour or so there. I ran into a guy in the
port a potty line who was from Baltimore and born at the same hospital in DC
as me - amazing! Has anyone heard how the guy who ran into the road grader
outside of Brighton did? Couldn't believe he was going down the oncoming
lane of a hill with his head down. Well the Air Force cycling team went
past me 2 or 3 more times, riding 4 inches apart and looked like 20 mph up
the hills. I gave them a real run for their money when we were walking
through towns!!! Showed them!! Mt. Pleasant wasn't so but treated us to an
amazing natural light show - I napped in the rental truck until it ended.
Robin, Michael, Larry, and I ate at the stand at Thresher's. The lady
behind me got the last meal. Thank goodness a couple of people bailed out
of line!!!! Since I was getting up early and my sleeping bag was still my
duffle, I never unrolled it and slept on my un-inflated air mattress. I
dreamed of rolling hills and riding with the Air Force cyclists. Then the
alarm went off.

Day 7 -
Rolling, rolling, rolling! Finally I am beginning to figure out these
hills!! I am up to 3.3 mph now - just rocketing up the hills! Actually I
did greatly improve once the grade was less and began riding in the 15 - 18
mph range. Must have blown past Larry when he was waiting for me at the top
of a hill - never saw him again until he finished in Burlington. Coming up
a hill in Burlington with the theme from Rocky playing on the corner brought
tears to my eyes as I was completing my goal - then I saw the Snake Alley
challenge! I took a picture of it and then mounted my bike in its lowest
gear. Two riders fell over in front of me by the time I hit the 3rd curve.
As I was approaching the last two curves the person behind me went down
(probably couldn't go 2.9 mph like me!!). One side of my mind was asking me
if I was crazy!?!?! The other side said, "If you stop for even one instant
you will also fall over. Keep pedaling!!" I made it. What an appropriate
finish for my trip. Never underestimate the power of determination! I
dipped my front wheel into the Mississippi. What a grueling and fun trip!
Next time I will use a road bike instead of a hybrid - but my bike served me
well. Thanks Road Hogs!

Recruitment Strategy Development – Corporate Sourcing

2009-07-06T09:10:00.000-06:00

RecruiterGuy has noticed over the years that the words “recruit” and” source” are sometimes used interchangeably. Sourcing is certainly part of the recruiting process, and you may be communicating with candidates during the sourcing process, but it is not “recruiting”. It is the candidate introduction step of the process.

For the purpose of Recruitment Strategy Development we will separate corporate sourcing from third party sourcing. This blog covers corporate sourcing. Depending on the company, its size and resources, corporate sourcing may consist of attacking the sourcing challenge from many sources: a company’s own website, internal referrals, posting positions on the Internet job boards/resources (including Craig’s list, Facebook, and Twitter), radio/cable/TV advertising, association booths/advertising, even advertising in airline magazines and Arts programs. For the sake of your strategy development and budget, please understand that every sourcing method costs something – money or time. This understanding will help you prepare your recruitment budget and tweak it as you add or subtract methods of sourcing for a position. You also need to understand the cost of a position going vacant for a long time, i.e. the revenues lost from a major account sales representative opening that is not filled for a long time. It is wise to ask the hiring manager “What is the cost to the company if this position is not filled near the time it was budgeted?” Asking that question and others like it will also help the recruitment function identify priorities and focus.

What areas of sourcing may be fairly uniform through the sourcing process? Probably any position that the company is willing to post on its website. Therefore, other than executive positions, a company’s website may be a source of candidate referrals and sourcing. It is wise for companies to purchase a .jobs URL that point directly to their job openings. The .jobs websites are scraped by Internet aggregators such as Indeed.com so your new or refreshed job openings are posted on their site and spread to the Internet. It’s a very cost effective way to get your job postings out to the public. Some applicant tracking systems also push your posted positions out to the Internet. It would be wise to create a list of Internet job boards where you have had success and then pick the ones that you will use on each project (a la “Mission Impossible”!). This process will help you develop your recruitment budget for each position. By the way, developing a budget for each position helps executives focus on your recruitment effort and enables them to make educated financial decisions on the viability of recruiting for each position.

From the perspective of strategy development let’s first discuss the highest level positions. Where are these executives hiding? Generally executives are fairly easy to identify, possibly much more so than people who report to them. You may find them on their corporate websites, stories written about them in Zoominfo.com, and simply by Googling their names or their industries or using Broadlook.com and doing an email search on corporate email addresses. Books such as the “Manufacturer’s Register” will generally list the CEO and senior staff. Also go to the Associations where they may belong, possibly to see what presentations they have given. Generally your executives know people they would like to work with and others whom they would never work with (both are important information). This type of sourcing is time consuming but doesn’t cost the company posting or retained fee money. Obviously a senior member of your recruitment team should be focused on executive positions.

Let’s say you decide to source using postings. If you are either willing or able to post your executive opening, where will you post? One option at this level for nationwide searches is The Wall Street Journal. When you post in their paper, you receive an online posting. Other online options include Netshare.com and 6figurejobs.com. Obviously there are a myriad of job boards out there. Netshare.com is free for the companies posting the position; so that is good for your budget and RecruiterGuy has a fair amount of success using Netshare.com.

Sourcing for lower level positions presents numerous opportunities. The mantra during sourcing is to be creative. Think of yourself as a detective hunting down qualified candidates. That attitude makes the process more fun, especially rewarding when you do “recruit” them!

Sourcing doors open and close. For a long time, newspapers were almost the only place to post positions (called “placing ads”) outside of using third party sources. Then in the early to mid-1990’s, the Internet job sites began to form. Initially the Online Career Center (OCC) was formed by a joint venture of technology firms and was quickly followed by Monster.com (who later bought OCC). CareerBuilder was formed by the newspaper companies Knight Ridder and the Chicago Tribune when they saw both the loss of revenues due to Internet postings and the opportunity to create more revenues in this popular space. Many times these job boards will offer companies packages for posting multiple positions online with them. Today companies are establishing a presence on Facebook.com, secondlife.com, and tweeting on Twitter.com in order to capitalize on their popularity among the younger generation.

Where can companies source candidates? Remember that potential candidates are everywhere. They may be your customer. They may be a vendor. They may be the person sitting behind or next to you at a restaurant (I’ve successfully recruited a number of candidates there). They may be the person walking past you at a Career Fair and were too shy to stop and talk (but wanted you to ask them a question – many successful candidates there!). They may be a presenter at a conference or simply the person next to you at that conference (recruited both!). Are you looking for good customer service representatives? Who has given you great service in a store or restaurant? Outside of the Career Fairs, these types of sourcing do not cost money. Honestly they are also more fun because they give you great success stories to tell!

While you are deciding where you will source for this position, remember to add these sources to your recruitment budget spreadsheet. Multiply those posting costs by the number of positions that you intend to post at each board/newspaper/association.

While developing a recruitment strategy sourcing plan, many of your costs for your budget will come from your corporate sourcing.

Next week, we will discuss third party sourcing – contingent, retained or contract recruiters.

Recruitment Strategy Development Approach

2009-06-28T20:38:00.000-06:00

Recruiterguy believes that many companies do not understand how to approach developing a recruitment strategy. The Human Resource Department is pulled in many directions and formal recruitment strategy development can be pushed back until it’s too late. Then the decision is made to “do the same thing we did last year.” This is a very costly way of recruiting because recruiting is a very fluid dynamic, unlike benefits or compensation where you may have black and white contracts or ranges.

In addition to cost, why is developing an effective recruiting strategy important?

What is a business’ most important resource? Many times I have heard intellectual property or capital as the response to that question. Those resources certainly are important. Who controls or develops those resources? Who meets or interfaces with your clients? Who manages your capital? Who sets the marketing direction? Who develops new intellectual properties to keep you ahead of your competition? Who manages the people? People. Shouldn’t the attraction and retention of people who can make positive, measurable impacts be a priority? If it is a priority, shouldn’t there be a formal plan to attract them? This is one of those quiet fundamentals that determine whether your company will be wildly successful or another company that will simply run its course.

What is the first step? How do we develop a budget? How do we decide what resources to use? The purpose of this blog is to get you started. After this blog, we will not answer why develop a recruitment strategy any longer. We will focus on the work – and it is a lot of worthwhile work. In our last blog of the RecruiterGuy recruitment strategy development series of blogs, we will put it all together for the budget.

In developing a recruitment strategy, the first step is to take inventory. What is your culture? Do you like very creative people or very steady conservative people or someone in between? Will you agree that someone who is an Impact Performer in a very creative environment may be very frustrated in a very conservative environment? Of course they will. Therefore, in order for someone to be an impact performer in your business, everyone has to agree on your culture – or in a larger company, in that division or department.

What do you feel was crazy successful in your recruitment effort last year? What was not so successful? Why not? How did the economy affect your recruitment effort? Has it changed now? Is management the same or have you had a management change or “shake-up”? If so, how does the new management want to approach recruitment? Did you have a recruitment budget last year? If so, how did you do versus your budget? If you “blew your recruitment budget”, what did you learn from that experience? Did you track the sources of candidates you hired? What worked and what did not work? In the 1980’s, I once had a large company tell me that they were not going to use my contingent services any longer because I did not introduce enough candidates to them. However all five IT professionals that I introduced to them the prior year were hired by that manager. The manager was a little upset to find out that the Human Resource recruiter refused to work with me any longer. Not sure what metric they were using. Later they did come back as a client.

One way of approaching your sourcing strategy is to understand the levels of new positions that are in the budget for the next year. Begin at the higher level positions. Ask the CEO/CFO/COO if there are internal candidates who are being considered for those positions? If so, do they want to backfill the position the internal candidate is leaving? Work backwards until you finally reach the level where someone will be hired from the outside. Obviously you can’t tell the lower level managers that they will lose someone prior to the interviewing process. In seemingly casual conversations with them you can get a sense if they believe someone is prepared to move up. Just get them used to you asking those kinds of questions by doing so regularly. If you do that what other benefit do they gain? You are casually coaching them on succession planning. See how something simple may impact your recruitment strategy? If the C-level manager is seeking someone outside of the organization, do they have someone in mind? Do they have a method of sourcing that they prefer or are they leaving that up to you?

How is your employee retention? Do you have one or more managers who typically have more difficulty keeping employees than other managers? Do your executives understand the cost and social impacts of having to continually recruit for the same positions? What are you doing differently to improve retention? Are those costs included in your recruitment budget? In order for them to attract the needed attention, shouldn’t they be included in that budget?

Once you have a handle on these areas, it’s time to consider sourcing for the different levels. We will discuss the sourcing plan in our next blog on Monday, July 6, 2009.

Why Develop a Recruitment Strategy?

2009-06-21T13:03:00.000-06:00

Recruiting is a Sales process. It is very dynamic. Recruiting today is driven by your competition, by technology (Facebook, Twitter, Internet Postings), and more importantly by the economy. Every 8 to 10 years our economy goes into an economic correction called a recession. You can plan for a recession if you watch the signs.

There is an interesting impact in this particular recession. Since 2003 different groups have been discussing the potential impact of the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation. There have been government studies on the retirement preparation by the members of the Baby Boomers and many news articles like this one http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002185894_boomers21.html that discuss the impact of these mass retirements on businesses.

The good news for business is that they got a pass in 2008 and 2009 because the crash of the financial markets also crashed many 401(k) and pension funds to the point where people could not afford to retire on what was left. What do you think will happen when these funds recover? After experiencing the stress of working through this recession do you feel the Baby Boomers will remain in the workforce for a long period – or will they retire?

This is my generation. I talk with these people regularly both professionally and personally. You know recruiters are people magnets (or should be!). Trust me. Unless there is a compelling reason for them to remain in the workforce, i.e. they love what they do or need to pay off their children’s college loans; they will retire when they can enjoy retirement. We have seen our fathers pass away right after retirement without enjoying the fruits of their work.

As a business, how much time do you have to develop a recruitment strategy? My feeling is that you have until January 2010. Unless all of the government spending brings too much weight on business through additional taxes, my feeling is that we should be scratching and clawing our way out of the recession in 2010 – this recession just as every recession since World War II will run its course.

This series of blogs is a service to you to give you a blueprint to base your recruitment strategy. Every blueprint may be changed, and most probably are. However, you will have the tools to develop a recruitment strategy that best matches your company and culture. Developing a recruitment strategy takes time and diligence. The positive, measurable results are worth it.

Each blog will focus on a specific segment of the recruitment strategy. This will be fun for me to develop; and hopefully will be useful for you. RecruiterGuy will help you through this process!

Since I am currently consulting with a client, my blogs will be written on weekends. Look every Monday for the next installment.

Recruitment Strategy Development Series of Blogs Beginning This Week!

2009-06-16T10:09:00.000-06:00

Since our last series was focused on job seeking candidates, it is time to create a series of RecruiterGuy.com blogs that focus on corporate Recruitment Strategy Development.

The economy is slowly, very slowly improving. Is your company prepared to begin recruiting again?

What will happen when the much ballyhooed retirement of the Baby Boomers begins to kick in again? Remember, this past year companies received a pass as the Baby Boomers could not afford to retire because their 401(k) tanked. Therefore a buildup of soon to be retirees is being created – and now they Really want out of the workforce!

The foundation of every recruiting program should be a plan. We will discuss elements of that plan in the series on Recruitment Strategy Development.

Look for our series to begin later this week.

Laid Off? The Art of Salary Negotiation

2009-05-24T13:11:00.000-06:00

One of the most painful aspects of a job search for most people is discussing compensation with the potential new employer. What are your services worth to a new company? Every company is different, even in the same industry.

In my first blog, I discussed taking stock of your skills. Later we discussed the importance of including your impacts in your resume and interview. Some people have told me that “I just did my job. I don’t have any impacts.”

If you “just did your job” of course you made impacts! Hopefully you did the best job that you could. For instance, let’s say you were a cashier. When you are finished with your shift, does your cash drawer balance every time? Isn’t that a positive, measurable impact? You can talk about being detail oriented and dependable, qualities that every hiring manager seeks. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to say that “My cash drawer balanced every day for the past 4 years?” Even some modest “C” level candidates have made that comment during the distress immediately following a reduction in force. One place to look for your impacts is your old annual reviews.

Therefore it doesn’t matter whether you are an executive or a cashier. The complexity of the work is the difference between the jobs. Both levels of work are important to the successful company.

Let’s get back to discussing compensation conversations. First of all, Congratulations on receiving an offer!! As a candidate, it is important to understand the value that a company puts on a job. If you were contributing at a high level within a large company, you may be surprised how the value may change in a smaller company. In some smaller companies, your value may be valued substantially higher. Whereas in another company, they may feel that you were over compensated. It’s a minefield out there!!

Actually it’s not that bad. While many companies do not understand that “Recruiting IS Sales”, you may use that to your advantage. Most recruiters do not want to waste their time. If they ask you what you were making at a previous job, respond by asking “What is the compensation/salary/hourly range for this position?” Many times their response will save everyone time. Simply put – if the company does not value the work produced by this position you either have a wonderful opportunity to prove them wrong; or you may have a situation that will provide you with many frustrating days if your work is not valued.

For instance, a couple of weeks ago I received a call from a recruiting firm asking if I would be interested in a contract recruiting consulting assignment in Des Moines. I said “Sure.” Then I asked the hourly rate the client was willing to pay. She replied, “$17.50 per hour.” I chuckled and told her that I haven’t worked for so little since the 1970’s. Obviously they did not value recruiting very highly.

Hourly workers have less room for negotiation than higher compensated salary workers. A way for anyone to try to begin a salary negotiation is to ask “if there is any flexibility in the offer?” They may say, “Why do you ask?” If they do, they have cracked open the door for a discussion to increase the offer. Then you may mention some of your “wish I would have said comments” from your review of the interview. Then ask if they may be willing to increase the offer base or give a signing bonus. Sometimes companies are willing to give an extra week of vacation or increase the relocation package if that is required. Don’t expect a large increase in your base compensation. Generally they have extended an offer that is within a range in their budget or comparable to others in similar positions in their company.

If the person who is extending the offer says that it is their final offer, you have a decision to make. As a result of your interviews with them, do you feel they are going to promote you if you do a great job and make positive measurable impacts? If the answer is yes, and the offer is close to your requirements, then you may accept. If the answer to that question is no, then you should think hard about declining – but do so in a positive manner and ask that they get back to you if another position opens where you may be able to make impacts. As the RecruiterGuy, I have had several experiences where the company realized that a candidate turned out to be the right one, realized the offer was too low, and they later came back with a higher compensation package. That doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.

Negotiation is an art not a science. Most importantly, remember not to take the negotiations personally. While I realize that it is personal to you and your family, remember that essentially you are “selling” your services to the new company. Therefore this is a sales situation and objectivity is important. Don’t be afraid to walk away from an offer that is too low. It obviously is the wrong position for you. We spend too many hours working to be frustrated in our job. Again, if they do not value the position highly enough to pay your worth, you will be frustrated almost daily.

Please do not fall into the trap of asking “for a week to think about an offer” that you know you are going to accept. What do you gain by doing that? What do you lose? They may feel that you will accept but keep looking. That’s not a positive way to begin a working relationship. On the other hand, what happens when you accept that same offer immediately? You send a message to your future manager and company that you are excited about working with them. Isn’t that the way to begin your professional relationship?

Now I am going to touch on a sensitive subject. Even if you are religiously devout, it is best if you do not say that you are going to “pray on this offer”. If that is the case, hopefully you have been praying through the whole process. God probably has already indicated whether it is right for you. You just need to listen. The reason that I mention this topic is I received that response more than you would believe over the years. If you insist to respond in that fashion, the result may be that the company will find a way to rescind the offer because you concerned them that you may spend time proselytizing during work hours, not working. Just say, “I’m excited about your offer. May I get back to you tomorrow?” Keep it simple.

Once you accept your offer, honor your commitment. When an offer is accepted, a company stops all recruiting on that position. The manager is excited that you accepted and has probably already penciled you into some projects or scheduled you to work. If you change your mind, they have to begin recruiting from the beginning and that may put them months behind. Obviously, you should never expect to work with them in the future because your integrity is now called into question.

If you are employed, it is best to give two weeks’ notice. It is the expectation of your current employer. You never want to burn bridges. In another blog I will discuss the trap of counter offers.

Hopefully the information presented here helps you in your negotiations! Remember; use examples of your impacts at other companies and REMAIN POSITIVE! Good luck!

Laid Off? Effective Interviewing to Land Your Next Job

2009-03-11T16:34:00.000-06:00

You have now had the opportunity to decide what job you wanted to target. You have set a goal that stated the job and when you will be working. You have developed your resume that can be tailored for each job that you are targeting. You have networked and spent a little time responding to Internet postings (no more than 10% of your search time). And now you have an interview scheduled!! At the time that the interview is scheduled, ask if the company can send you the application. It is far better to complete the application when you have the information handy – and you are not under the stress of the interview. Tell the truth on your application and in your interview.

RecruiterGuy coaches his clients (companies) that Recruiting Is Sales. Now RecruiterGuy is telling you (the candidates) that Recruiting Is Sales! It is important that you understand this concept while searching for a job. What are you selling? You are selling your skills and abilities! If you haven’t developed any skills over the years, why would someone want to hire you?

In my earlier blog, I suggested that you develop a skills inventory (those skills that you do well). Prior to an interview, take the time to look at the inventory. For every skill that is asterisked, develop a succinct story that relates a time when you successfully used that skill. Jot a few words down that will help you recall that example. Why relate a story to demonstrate the skill? There are two major reasons. The first reason is that hiring managers look for proof that you have a skill. Simply responding that you have a skill generally is not a successful effective interviewing technique. The second reason is that humans remember stories. This is important. When I was on a recruiting contract with a major telecommunications firm, the managers were interviewing 6 candidates per day. Many times they later referred to a candidate by “He/She was the candidate that told the story about…”

Research the company as you would if you were going to sell to them. What does their online marketing look like? What do their press releases say? If it is a public company, take a look at their financials. It is important to be an educated candidate. This research helps you develop better questions to ask the hiring manager. For instance, “On your website, I saw that your company is…How is that going to impact your group?” You can learn an awful lot about a company before you interview – Knowledge is Power. You may decide during your research before the interview that you do not want to interview for them. If that is the case, it is best to make that decision earlier than later – and call them to let them know. It’s okay. No point to waste people’s time.

Now it is the day of the interview. How do you prepare? Go through all of your notes and the job description. Review the company’s press releases to see if there is any late breaking news that is valuable to you. You may want to add or change one of your short stories. If you smoke, don’t. Nonsmokers can smell smoke on your breath and your clothes. Today, smoking can cost you a job offer. Like it or not, insurance research demonstrates that smokers are sick more often. You make your own decisions. If the job is an office or sales job, wear professional clothing – suit, tie, polished shoes. Women should wear conservative jewelry and cosmetics, if you decide to wear either. If it is an outside job, for instance construction, wear appropriate business casual clothing. You only have one chance to make a good first impression.

I worked a career fair once where a candidate told his friends that he was so good, he could even get a job offer if he walked around with a clown costume on. What a schmuck! He even dropped off his resume. No offers for him then – or probably later. His arrogance really stood out.

If you will be even 2 minutes late, call ahead and tell your connection (HR or the hiring manager). Where did that courtesy go? Everyone has a cell phone now!

When you walk in the office for your interview, treat everyone with respect. Period. I generally ask everyone to tell me if the candidate was not respectful. This is when you should be on your best behavior. Respect the receptionist and act professionally through your interviews.

Go back to the top of this blog and re-read it. That’s how important all of this information is to your success – and you haven’t even sat down in front of an interviewer yet!

Well here comes your first interviewer. Approach them with confidence, appropriate eye contact and a friendly smile. Give them a firm handshake – don’t break their fingers, just firm. Never give anyone a wet fish handshake! Yuck! It just says so many bad things about you – lack of confidence is among them. It used to surprise me when a woman gave me a firm handshake. Now women seem to be taught the importance of a firm handshake and do so more consistently than some men. Congratulations to them!

When you go into the office or conference room, wait until your interviewer indicates that you should take a seat before sitting. Once I had a manager candidate go behind the desk when we entered the office. I smiled and said, “I can see what side of the desk you are used to sitting.” He laughed and said “Oops!” He was fine. We offered the job and he accepted. Generally it is better that the interviewer gestures towards the seat.

When I present “The Secrets of a Successful Job Search”, I tell the audience that a good interview is like a racquetball game. The first questions are very easy – “Tell me a little about you.” Generally they ask this question while they are reading your resume (sometimes for the first time). Then they may ask a little about your most recent job. Now that you are warmed up, a skillful interviewer will begin the behavioral questions mixed in with the specific skill questions. You know you just had a great interview when you emerge from the interview sweating and smiling! Remember to ask good informed questions based on your notes and based on what the manager has told you. I once worked with a senior manager who laid out a situation in her interview. If the candidate did not ask a specific question, she would not extend an offer to them. You need to be an active listener. (She never shared with me the specific question). If you can focus on the hiring manager and their questions, it is a good idea to jot down some notes. These may help you develop questions. Remember if you do not understand how an organization is set up or why a company has a specific process or why something that you heard sounded off, ask the interviewer a question to clarify your thinking. That is more than okay, it is expected.

As you interview, you are measuring the company, the hiring manager, and the position in real time. Once both of you have completed your interview, generally you know your level of interest. This is a great time to tell the hiring manager that you are interested in the position because…”I feel… (Give them some solid reasons regarding the job duties, the manager’s management style, and/or the company’s culture)”. As you leave (if you are interested in the position), it is a good time to ask “Is there anything that would prevent you from offering this position to me?” Why do you ask that question? If you are interested in the job, that question will tell you if there is information that you need to explain either in a different way or be a little more detailed; and satisfy the hiring manager’s objection.

Once you get 15 to 20 minutes away from the interview, you will begin to remember aspects of the conversation that I refer to as the “Wish I Would Have Said’s”. Find a quiet place whether it is a fast food restaurant, a nice restaurant where you can order a soda, or even a library to sit down and make some notes about your conversation/conversations. This is an important exercise for a couple of reasons. One, most people just cannot prepare so completely for an interview to be prepared to give the best examples for each skill within the context of a new company. Two, if you do not write them down, RecruiterGuy guarantees that you will remember that you had “Wish I Would Have Said’s” but to save your life you can’t remember a single one. If you get a second interview with the company, this new information should be brought up. It can mean the difference between an offer or not. If there is no second interview, this information may be used for negotiation if a low offer is extended. We will cover that in the Salary Negotiation blog coming up.

Finally, do you Really want to separate yourself from the other candidates? Sit down and handwrite a personal thank you note to each person that you interviewed. Unfortunately today most people forget that “Common Courtesy” (I did get one in the mail recently. Thank you Leo C.!).

Laid Off? Effective Networking to Your Next Position!

2009-02-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of posting to the black holes on the Internet? You know them – tantalizing job titles and job postings where no one ever answers other than the automated thank you response.

RecruiterGuy says stand up and take control of your search! All too often candidates try the easy route to finding a job – simply get on the Internet and post their resume to dozens of companies at a time. Unfortunately after all of those postings you never received a call. Then frustration sets in and you find yourself complaining that it’s all a waste of time – and then you do it again tomorrow and the next day.

Please understand that Internet job postings are essentially automated newspaper ads. The beauty of the Internet from a company perspective is that instead of having to handle each resume that is mailed or faxed in, the Internet response never needs to be handled. That line should give you something to think about. Now you know why you never received a call.

There are some companies out there that are excellent recruiting machines. However in my experience, most companies are trying to recruit the same way they always had, without really learning that Recruiting Is Sales. Chances are most of them are the companies that you have not heard from. Isn’t amazing that you sometimes do not hear from companies even after you told them in your inquiry that you are a happy client? Recruiting Is Sales!

What is the most effective way to network for a new position?

The first step is to develop your “Here I am Speech”. This is also known as an elevator speech. It needs to come from your heart and give a quick snapshot of your background, your current situation and what you want to do next. It shouldn’t be longer than 30 seconds.

Once you are comfortable with what you will tell contacts, it is important to develop a list of people to contact. Don’t limit that list to those who know you well. Include any people who know who you are. Your list could include people from your former employer who know your work ethic (could be a double edged sword), friends, neighbors, people from church, a store, your bank. How about the parents of your children’s friends? Include everyone, the more the better. During a job search, your most important commodity is names and phone numbers, particularly referred names and phone numbers. Develop a spreadsheet of everyone you know, including all acquaintances, phone number, and where they work (if you know). Develop a second spreadsheet of companies that you have targeted. Finally if you have a LinkedIn network, identify people you want to contact who are in that network, some of these are your “cold calls”. Use the LinkedIn network to meet the people who may be instrumental to setting up an interview with you.

In a serious job search you need to faithfully call at least 4 new contacts per day for 3 months. If you do, the law of averages will work in your favor and you will most likely receive an offer. Now you know why names and their phone numbers are your most important commodities. Do the math. If you do not faithfully call those numbers of people, it will take you longer to find a job – unless you are very lucky.

When you call your first contacts, tell them the reason for your call (networking) and ask if you can take a minute to tell them about your background. Now give them your “Here I am Speech”. Then ask them who they recommend that you talk with next. I guarantee that if you just ask them if they have an opening at their company, their knee jerk response 98% of the time will be “No”. Try to get at least 4 or 5 peoples’ names and numbers from each person that you call. These are your warm referrals. They may say they don’t know anyone. Then ask “Who do you know at abc company?” or “Do you know anyone who lives down south (or anywhere)?” Remember the 6 degrees of separation. Asking the latter question may help you get to a different part of the country without knowing anyone there yourself.

What is a “warm referral”? When someone calls you and says that a friend or business acquaintance gave them your name and number, you are more open to receiving the call, right? Not only that, you do not want to disappoint your friend so you try to help that caller. That’s why you seek warm referrals. A person that you call out of the blue may not even take your call. If they do take your call, they may not be as likely to help you (You still should make cold calls because they can lead to more warm referrals!!!).

Importantly, what else could happen after you give your “Here I Am Speech”? They could ask you “Are you interviewing with us?” Ahh, music to my ears! That’s the response that you may seek. If you are not interviewing with them, ask them who you should contact within their firm or if they would be willing to introduce you? This is how you network your way into a job.

One important note, by definition networking is a give and take. It is important to ask everyone if there is some information they need or where you can help them? It is also important that you let them know if you were successful as a result of one of their referrals. I cannot tell you how many times people have asked for my help (for free) and never got back to me when they found a job. This is a common courtesy that people will remember.

Now that you know how, Good Luck Networking!

My next blog is about your Interview.

Laid Off? Developing Your Marketing Piece- Your Resume

2009-02-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Understand that for every foot between New York and California, there has been a book written about writing your resume. Some were written by people who are writers. Some written by people who saw a chance to use some common sense and make some money. Others were written by professionals in the business. Obviously in a blog, RecruiterGuy (who has been in the recruitment business since 1981) cannot go into the detail a book would give. However we can go over the basics to help you get back to work.

One of the most important basics to understand is that the recruiting process is a sales process. In the RecruiterGuy presentations on the recruitment process from both sides of the desk, I subtitle the presentation, “Recruiting Is Sales”.

If the recruitment process is a sales process, then your resume is your marketing piece. As such, you need to include your accomplishments, especially for the past 5 years. This is not the time to worry about “bragging” as some candidates have said to me during career counseling. The resume also serves as the jump off point during your interview. If your accomplishments are not in your resume, they may not be discussed. The convention in resume writing is to write your resume in the third person, as if someone were writing about you and drop the pronouns. You also write your resume in past tense, even the responsibilities you have in your current position.

Everyone who counsels candidates on resume writing has their own prejudices on the format. These are the essentials: Keep it simple and easy to read. If you are successful here, you are more likely to attract the attention of a recruiter or hiring manager. After all, what do they typically look for in a candidate? Excellent communication skills.

RecruiterGuy has another important rule – Keep Your Contact Information in a Plain, Easy to Read Format. None of that fancy stuff like panels/boxes, bullet points/hyphens/cedillas between addresses and phone numbers. Also ensure your contact information is in the body of the resume, not the header. Why? Today most companies, including RecruiterGuy.com, store your resume in an applicant tracking system. The Optical Character Reading (OCR) software may not be able to understand the fancy stuff and your resume will go into the manual loading process. That means that it may never get into the applicant tracking system. If it does not get into the applicant tracking system, no one will read it and that equals no interview.

What format is my prejudice? I like to see your name and contact information centered at the top of your resume (bold is nice).

Then I like to see Summary: (bold) justified on the left margin. In your summary, list headlines of some of your important accomplishments – It would look something like this –
Summary: Saved company $150,000 by restructuring procurement process. Or, Consistently was 125% of quota in past 5 years.

You may add more details in the body of your resume in the Professional Experience area.

If you graduated from college, Education: (bold) would be next, also justified on the left margin. List your most recent degree first. Then follow below with other degrees (if you earned them) in reverse order below – most recent first. Here is a HUGE caution. Degrees are almost the easiest information to verify on a resume. If you did not get the last two PE credits, the college still believes you need to earn them before you get your degree. If you lie about your degree and are caught – and most likely today you will be caught – you will get fired. That’s not something that you will want to discuss in your next interview.

Then write Professional Experience: (bold) justified on left column. Below Professional Experience, write the name of your current/Last employers (bold/left justified) and your dates of employment (bold/right justified). Below your employer’s name write your title (bold/left justified), followed by your most recent position and work backwards. If you have worked with the same company for a long time and had several positions within the company. Write the name of your employer (bold/left justified) and your total dates of employment (bold/right justified). Skip a line and write your current/last title (bold/left justified) and your dates in that position (bold/right justified).

Understand that your information in the body describing responsibilities is not bold. When writing a resume, always begin sentences with action verbs in the past tense. Never begin a sentence with “Have worked”. Begin the sentence “Worked”. Write your resume with your responsibilities in paragraph format and accomplishments list with bullet points. Only list a few important accomplishments with bullet points for each position. Otherwise, in a resume with many bullet points, your primary accomplishments may be overlooked.

This is very important! Do not put Any personal information in your resume!! Like it or not, people use all of the information that you give them to make a decision whether you are a fit for their position or not. While companies may not legally discriminate against you for personal information, you will never know what helped them make their decision if you add it in.

You may add in your work in associations, particularly if you were a leader.

Once you finish your resume, read it out loud word by word. Then read it again backwards out loud. Then read it a third time out loud forward. Be aware that “form” and “from” both make it successfully through spell check. There are many other words that match up that way – fan/fun, chick/chuck, at/it, etc. Once you are totally satisfied it is perfect, ask someone who did not help you write your resume to edit it for you. Only then is it almost safe to give to a company – just read it aloud one more time. Remember, your resume is your representation of you. If it is written carelessly, that is a reflection of your work.

In two days, we will discuss how to network your way into your next job and avoid the black holes of Internet postings.

Laid Off? Take Stock of Your Skills!

2009-02-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is my series of blogs on what to do when you are laid off. Look for a new blog every other day.

Based on my experience as RecruiterGuy and my personal experience, there are a number of check list items that you need to prepare.

One of the most important is to understand that you will go through the steps of grieving: grief and disbelief, anger, depression, and acceptance. It takes some people longer to work through these steps than others. Actually some people need some psychological support before they get to acceptance. We are all different and it’s no reflection on you.

Next, you want to develop a skills inventory. What skills are very strong for you? Develop examples to demonstrate those skills. What attributes belong to you – honesty, integrity, loyalty, etc. Develop examples that demonstrate those attributes. Write all of these skills, attributes, and examples down. Review them before every interview.

Of those skills that are very strong, what do you enjoy doing and what would you prefer not to do. For instance, I am very good doing Employee Relations work. However, I would not be happy doing Employee Relations every day. What types of work do you despise?

Now that you have taken stock of your skills, what types of work requires those skills. I’ve heard a layoff euphemistically called a “career enlargement” meaning now you have an opportunity to do anything that you really want to earn money.

Decide on your next career and set a goal. Many people do not understand the elements of a goal. First of all, a goal must be specific. It must be measurable. It must be challenging, not something that you can do right this minute. It must be realistic. Finally it must have a stated completions date that you commit to achieving that goal.

In your job search your goal could be “By May 30, I will be working as an _______. I will get this position by contacting at least 20 new networking contacts per week to discuss my background.” This is a realistic goal as long as the position could be available by then. You also are giving yourself a way of measuring your activity.

Next develop a list of your accomplishments in your jobs over the past 5 years. We will discuss this list and the next steps in our next blog – Laid Off? Developing a Resume

Mormon Tabernacle Choir and RecruiterGuy

2009-01-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

Most of my blogs have targeted the recruitment business from the corporate side, the candidate side, the recruiter side, and even the ethics side. This blog is going to my personal side.

In December we flew to Salt Lake City with the goal of going to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s Christmas show. Unfortunately we were not aware of the lottery for the free tickets that took place in early November. All of the tickets had been given out.

Fortunately RecruiterGuy was not going to be let down. This was one of my bucket list items for years. There was no way the PBS production, as nice as it was, would be able to match being there in person. I called the ticket office. They informed me that sometimes people will go to the North Gate at Temple Square to form a line. People with extra tickets will give them away to people in the line.

We arrived at the North Gate at 4 PM and were 7th & 8th in line. After 15 minutes, a person stopped with 2 tickets and gave them to the first people in line. Then a man from Hagerstown, MD with 17 extra tickets that his family had received came by to pass them all out. He gave us two tickets and told us to go to the entrance door immediately to wait until 6:30 PM when they would let us in. Did I mention the temp was 19 degrees?

At 6:30 PM we entered the Conference Center and went to our section. Your section is marked on your ticket and then there is open seating in that section. We chose to sit about midway down. The show began at 8 PM and went to nearly 10 PM.

If you like music, particularly Christmas music, this performance needs to be on your bucket list. The choir was 320 singers strong with an orchestra and two additional performers, actor Edward Hermann and Brian Stokes Mitchell, not to mention the Bells on Temple Hill and 80 other community bell ringers. There were several times when the music or the message brought tears to my eyes (I know I am a sap when it comes to over the top talent!! And these people have that talent!!) http://www.lds.org/events/info/0,8197,726-1-679,00.html

Now I can move to the other items on my bucket list including riding the week of RAGBRAI (www.RAGBRAI.org) this summer to celebrate my 60th year!

Have a Happy, Healthy, and Successful 2009!

Happy Thanksgiving! And the RecruiterGuy Recipe for Thanksgiving Turkey!

2008-11-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

This year we have much to be thankful for despite the financial crisis. Record numbers of people turned out and voted ostensibly for Change. President elect Obama represented change in so many ways and his eloquence is one of them. Hopefully he does not fall into the same traps as other politicians and then give us the same old, same old. On the other hand, sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for.

So this year we look forward as President elect Obama becomes informed on all aspects on running the USA and determines who will assist him. His two daughters are probably pretty excited about their new house and even their new school. The Obama’s will have to work hard to ground them in their values as Washington, DC can be a pretty eye opening place. I know. I was born 9 blocks from the White House and grew up in the DC area.

If our new president makes the right choices, we will all do well. If he only focuses on one segment or problem, we won’t. He needs to realize that people from all segments of the economy and culture voted for him. The hope is that he realizes that we are all in this country together.

Well I need to get cooking, literally. The turkey is RecruiterGuy’s responsibility on Thanksgiving. My turkey is generally a big hit.

Presenting the RecruiterGuy recipe for Thanksgiving Turkey.

Remove the plastic covering the turkey. Clean out your turkey. One of my favorite stories was when I roasted a turkey with the neck and giblet package still in the bags in the holes. Okay it was my first time and I was trying to be helpful. I don’t remember if my wife laughed or cried – or both…

Chop up green peppers, slice onions and granny smith apples, buy baby carrots (no chopping necessary). Crush garlic cloves in a basting cup (coffee cups are fine). Melt butter in the cup with the garlic. Go out to your garden and harvest some fresh rosemary. Locate your salt and pepper and white wine. Obviously you already bought a roasting pan and aluminum foil!

Clean your turkey in the sink – don’t use soap (No RecruiterGuy never made That mistake!). Once your turkey is clean, place it in your roasting pan.

Preheat your oven right now to 325 degrees - That means that you do not put the turkey in until the temp inside your oven reaches 325 degrees (my wife had to teach me that!).

Then rub salt and pepper on the outside and inside of the turkey (remember the bottom!). Then baste the turkey with your garlic and butter. That seals it (I think). Now is the time to stuff your turkey. My stuffing’s purpose is to add moisture and subtle taste to the inside of the turkey, not to eat. So stuff your turkey with your green pepper, onions, apples, and carrots that you chopped, sliced, and whole (baby carrots).

We’re getting close now! Pour some white wine (not too much!) over your turkey and a little into your roasting pan with some water (for basting purposes). Add some of your fresh rosemary to the top of your turkey. Cover your turkey with an aluminum foil tent. When your oven reaches 325 degrees put your turkey in your oven. Now comes my secret….every 20-30 minutes baste your turkey with some of the sauces in the pan. (It’s a labor of love!). After about 2 hours (for a 20 lb. turkey), take off the aluminum foil to brown the turkey while continuing to baste it every 20-30 minutes.

When the pop up thermometer pops up, take your Thanksgiving Turkey out of the oven. Allow it to “rest”, while you are using your oven to prepare your green bean casserole and other goodies. We use Stove Top Stuffing for our dinner stuffing. Once your turkey has cooled a little, you may carve it. Since you spent all of the time caring for it, it is your responsibility to eat some pieces of turkey while you are carving it. Within 2 hours, carve all of your turkey and refrigerate what you don’t eat. Just toss your turkey stuffing. It has done its job. Any turkey problems, call 1-800-Butterball. They are great! And I don’t even recruit for them!

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Job Search Advice for “C” Level Candidates

2008-10-18T08:25:00.000-06:00

I have been recruiting since 1981 and called many Presidents, CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs. Most never took my call. That’s okay. They were extremely busy. When I called them, I asked for them by name. The times that I wrote to those executives I always researched who they were because I knew if I began the letter, “Dear CEO”; the letter would be in the trash before the first sentence was read.

Yet daily I receive emails from executives who are conducting their job searches that are addressed “Dear Recruiter”. One of Dale Carnegie’s principles is that a person’s name is the sweetest sound in any language (by the way that is a great time tested course). How many letters of introduction addressed to “Dear CEO” have you read?

You have one chance to make a good first impression with any person. If you are spending the time to research the recruiters that you want to receive your resume, shouldn’t you want to take the time to address the search professional by name?

When you are hiring a direct report, you will use everything to get a sense of who that person really is. What does the lack of preparation prior to sending your resume say about you and your job search? Being too busy is not an excuse.

SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise)

2008-10-03T09:37:00.000-06:00

I just saw the special advertising section for SIFE in the September 29 Forbes magazine. While never a student member of SIFE, I have been active as an advisory board member on and off for the Mt. Mercy SIFE team. These students are both learning how free enterprise works and teaching Free Enterprise to younger students.
Many of these teams, including Mt. Mercy, have international projects where they introduce or reinforce Free Enterprise in other countries. Many of these projects involve not only students but adults in the host countries.

It is inspirational to watch how hard these students work on their SIFE projects during the year. Most of those projects are aimed towards community service while teaching Free Enterprise. Then the team goes to regional, and later national, competitions to report on their work. You would be amazed at the level of professionalism that these college students demonstrate as they present their accomplishments.

Companies, if you see SIFE on a college recruit’s resume, interview them and ask about their SIFE projects. You may be surprised how well they may fit into your organization.

Focus Fridays – Renewable Energy Construction Project Manager

2008-09-19T11:31:00.000-06:00

More from the Onrec Conference

2008-09-14T14:12:00.000-06:00

The Onrec Expo 2008 was a Global Online Recruitment Conference. As such, it was not surprising to see topics such as “Hunting for Talent in a Wiki World” by Tamara Erickson or “Virtual Environments: An Untapped Recruiting Resource” by Brent Arslaner.

Tammy Erickson’s presentation was the first presentation that I attended. She had some interesting points, while not surprising, they will create change in recruitment. For instance, both the Baby Boomers and Gen X members had to “learn” to use technology. The members of the Gen Y generation are the first “unconscious learners” of the technology. Therefore it is much more intuitive for them. Where Boomers schedule meetings, Gen Y may just text until they meet. For them, scheduling a meeting is a waste of time. Let’s meet online and solve the problem. Tammy made the point that your company needs a rich and informative website, including video testimonials from employees who discuss what they do and why they like it.

As a result of their comfort with technology, Gen Y has embraced Facebook, MySpace, and other social networks. So how do you recruit Gen Y? Your company needs to go where they are and understand what they are looking for. Tammy Erickson will give you solid insights. You may find her at www.TammyErickson.com .

We also learned that Gen Y members are looking for evidence to prove your company walks the talk. Therefore they look for blogs that discuss the work environment and the work at companies. They move seamlessly from your website to other sources of information. You may use tools like www.radian6.com to monitor what people within the social media are saying about you as a company and as an employer. This tool helps you hear what is being said about you so you can monitor, manage and effectively engage in social media conversations online.

So how do you meet all of these goals and still recruit Boomers and Gen X? Just as in all areas of recruitment, understand the fundamentals and work them well. Recruitment strategy for Gen Y and other generations is not mutually exclusive. Look for the areas that blend well, such as the rich and informative website. These strategies will work for the recruitment in all generations. Then write solid job descriptions that will help you understand the talents needed in a position and develop a strategy that will help you attract that person.

OnRec.com Recruiting Conference

2008-09-13T14:08:00.000-06:00

This week I attended the OnRec.com (Online Recruitment Magazine) recruiting conference in Chicago, IL.

There are always challenges when it comes to attending any industry conference. Does it fit into my schedule? Does it cover topics that will help me improve in my area of expertise? Who are the speakers? Can I attend all of the sessions that apply to the areas that interest me?

This year, everything came together. It was fun to attend Lou Adler’s session on Extreme Sourcing and then meet him after the session – always great to meet an icon in your industry! Lizz Pellet did a wonderful job on employment branding. She had to overcome a laptop that discovered that items will shift in the overhead compartment of the plane by flying out of the overhead compartment and landing on the floor. Of course this little mishap did nothing to improve the demeanor of her laptop. Then she had to overcome a microphone that flew off of her clothing. Always the trooper she overcame both and gave an informative presentation.

There was a lot of emphasis on recruiting Gen Y candidates at this conference. Finally the generation that grew up with technology is in the workforce! For the next ten or so years, they will impact recruitment in ways we are only now beginning to see. Recruitment technology is about to make another leap as these young professionals interface with it.

Companies that are uncomfortable with change will find themselves challenged. These young professionals are about to force all companies to look at recruitment in a new and different way.

Over the next couple of days, I’ll review the conference and the sessions that I attended.

Focus Fridays - Renewable Energy Director of Construction

2008-09-13T13:47:00.000-06:00

Acciona is a global pioneer in contributing to sustainable worldwide development through its main lines of business: development and management of infrastructure and real estate projects, provision of transport, urban and environmental services, and development and operation of renewable energies. Acciona Energy is the world’s largest developer of wind energy power production.

Based at our North America corporate headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, Acciona Energy North America seeks a dynamic multi-task individual to manage the everyday activities of the construction of wind farms, solar farms and any other renewable energy source.
The Director of Construction is a new and very important position within Acciona Energy NA. This position is one of two Directors of Construction that reports to the VP of Construction.

Responsibilities:
The Director of Construction supervises the work of construction and technical staff, consultants and contractors involved in construction of wind energy generation facilities and associated high voltage power systems projects.

Responsible for planning, directing, and implementing regulated utility scale wind energy generation construction projects and processes in a timely, safe and environmentally conscious manner. Leverage previous large scale construction experience and skills to maintain and improve competitive position and profitability. Responsible for hiring, training and developing construction project managers, superintendents and staff to execute company’s rate based wind farm construction initiative. Participate in turbine specification review, turbine foundation and construction specifications. Work with the wind assessment team to participate in wind turbine siting. Manage cost and schedule. Assist with the coordination of equipment start-up and performance testing. Report on activities to the VP of Construction and the executive team.

The Director of Construction provides leadership, direction and motivation to the construction team. Accountable for performance measurements and standards of associated processes utilizing quality control and quality assurance processes. Demonstrates understanding of performance measures and utilizes information to improve process (e.g. safety, quality, budget, schedule, etc.).

This professional is responsible for guidance and assessment of personnel performing work for the construction organization, and the selection and management of outside consulting resources. Consults with various business unit representatives to identify process improvement opportunities and promote a service partnership linkage to complete projects on time and on budget. Interface with technical, engineering, maintenance, financial and procurement support personnel.

Develops and models an environment of teamwork and empowers employees through the effective use of leadership practices and principles. This person provides leadership to the project management team to ensure that project safety, quality, budget, and scheduling goals are met.

Safety is a priority of Acciona Energy NA. The Director of Construction must ensure that a safe construction culture is embraced by Acciona Energy NA employees and contractors. This requires observing and enforcing safety rules and practices, encouraging safe work behaviors, and promptly correcting conditions and unsafe behaviors which may lead to accidents. With the assistance of the safety department, investigates accidents and safety incidents. This professional is responsible for communicating safety investigation information to managers. Understands and enforces rules set by regulatory bodies (i.e. DOT, OSHA, DNR, etc.).

Manage workload, material resources, budgets, and budget performance. This includes development and management of budgets to include labor, material, equipment, employee expenses and contracting expenses. Manage the smooth coordination among processes by working with the project team.

The Director of Construction communicates company policies, programs and procedures as necessary.

Understands and interprets multiple contracts and consistently manages the terms and conditions outlined in such contracts.

Requirements:
The candidates must meet the following minimum qualifications, and have demonstrated the following technical or job skills:

Education and/or experience equivalent to a BS Engineering degree from an accredited college.

Must have a minimum of six years experience as a Director of Construction or Construction Manager, preferably on wind energy construction or utility scale projects. Must demonstrate success on safety, quality, budget, and on target completion of large scale utility or infrastructure projects. This professional must be a team player but have the wherewithal to make hard decisions.

Demonstrated leadership skills are required. Understanding of project management methods and application to managing work is required. Demonstrate the ability to achieve results with a minimum amount of direction. Working knowledge of medium and high voltage electric operating practices, construction standards, work methods, equipment, maintenance practices and materials is required.

Demonstrated thorough knowledge of safety rules and applicable electrical codes, DOT, and OSHA regulations. Must have formal accident investigation training.

Demonstrated ability to read and understand maps, plan and profiles, and blueprints.

Requires demonstrated computer skills utilizing Microsoft Office, Primavera, Microsoft Project.

Working knowledge of the budget process and how to interpret and understand financial reports and financial evaluations. The Director of Construction must demonstrate excellent communications skills including verbal, written, and presentation.

Must possess a valid driver’s license with a clean driving record.

This position requires 50% travel.

All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of a reference check, background investigation, drug test, and physical (including demonstrating the ability to climb a 280 foot wind tower).

Acciona Energy North America believes its employees are its most important asset. We offer very competitive compensation, and benefits including Medical and Dental insurance, 401(k), employer paid Life and Long Term Care insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, Employee Referral Bonuses, Paid Time Off, and Short and Long Term Disability insurance.

Acciona Energy North America is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Focus Fridays – Construction Project Manager – Renewable Energy – Wind Farms

2008-08-20T19:37:00.000-06:00

This construction Project Manager position will be responsible for all aspects of project construction delivery for multiple $100 million projects, ensuring that they are completed on time and on budget. These are challenging, complex construction projects developing wind farms over thousands of acres.

• The construction Project Manager will manage process to move from advance development to the commercial construction stage.
• Coordinate feasibility studies and late stage project development activities
• Establish estimates for BoP, interconnection, logistics costs, and provide inputs for financial modeling.
• Identify, develop, and build relationships with contractors and engineering firms and oversees third party activities related to engineering and construction activities.
• Manage budgeted project expenses, schedule, and projected return.
• Prepare and present project status reports to management
• Travel to project sites required (50% travel)
• Wind farm construction site managers report to this position.

This is one of those rare opportunities for a Project Manager who is interested in working in renewable energy field in the development of wind farms.

Bachelors Degree in Engineering (preferably EE) or work equivalent
• Requires familiarity with the full life cycle of power projects and business development
• Requires a minimum of 5 years of successful construction project management experience on large (over $100 million construction projects), complex construction projects. Do not apply if your only construction project management experience is residential or small commercial.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills with proven track record in successful negotiations with engineering and construction firms
• Ability to perform technical, economic feasibility analysis, and financial modeling
• Must possess a working understanding of cost accounting, budgeting and contract implementation.
• Experience with Primavera project management software preferred.
• Must be comfortable communicating with executives.
• Travel to project sites required (a minimum of 50% of the time)

Experience working in the renewable energy field is preferred. Successful wind farm construction project management experience is a huge plus. A background in electrical engineering is preferred. Fluency in Spanish is preferred.

EOE

Developing a Job Description

2008-05-30T13:36:00.000-06:00

Developing a meaningful job description is the foundation to finding the right person to do the job. If the description of duties is too vague, it will be too difficult to identify the skills needed to be successful in the position. If the description is too tight in terms of previous experience (not transferable skills), identifying the right person may take a long time. However, just as in construction where the foundation determines the success of the building, your job description foundation will determine the success of your search; and the employee’s success after they are hired.

Many managers just want to move to the search and hire someone who’s a “fit”. After all, developing a good, effective job description takes time and thought. Managers are being pulled in many directions. Taking the time to think about a position and its goals seems like too much work. Just call HR and get a job description is the mantra of most hiring managers.

Is retention a problem at your company? Take a look at your job descriptions. You are probably hiring the wrong people over and over again.

The benefits far outweigh the time taken to create this foundation.

Consider:
1) An effective job description will make the skills necessary to succeed crystal clear. This benefits the manager, the candidate, and the recruiter. Why waste your time on candidates who either don’t have the right skills (despite what seems to be the right experience) or who are not interested in some of the required duties? A candidate may look at the description and tell you they are not interested because of this responsibility or that one. Let’s get the objections up front.
2) An effective job description becomes the foundation of the interview, not the candidate’s resume. Sure, you use the resume to ask questions about the candidate’s experience, but what is important is that you are focused on whether this person will be successful in the position (not “can do the job”!).
3) The effective job description will be used after the best person is hired on their first day. The manager will sit down and discuss the position again with the candidate – “Remember during the interview, we discussed the responsibilities and goals of this position?”
4) Then it can be used as a basis of discussion during the one on ones between the manager and the employee after the person has begun working. I am convinced some managers are reluctant to have those discussions with their people because they don’t know what to discuss. The strong job description has quarterly goals listed that provide the foundation for these discussions.
5) Finally, at the end of the year there is no surprise during the annual review. The goals were met or not met; and both the employee and manager have discussed them throughout the year. The annual review is also the time when the manager and employee discuss the quarterly goals for the next year. Hopefully the employee will have met most of their goals and now more challenges are laid out, many by the employee. One of the foundations of LEAN office and manufacturing systems and Six Sigma is to go to the people doing the work for suggestions on how to improve the process.

How do you build a strong job description foundation? Remember it is worth the time to get the fundamentals down. That’s how sports teams win championships. They have the fundamentals so well ingrained that they can do the fun things that help them win competitions.

1) List the day to day responsibilities. Every job has some tactical responsibilities. This list is the foundation of the tactical work that has to be successfully accomplished in order to be successful. Sometimes this is an eye opener all by itself. When you are done you may either ask yourself why you are hiring someone to do this job; or you may realize this position really requires two people. “No wonder the other three people left this position…”
2) List the special project responsibilities. These may or may not be tactical duties depending on the position. Sometimes they are projects that need to be done during certain periods of the year (for instance: year end for accounting and finance, harvest time for a food manufacturing company, beginning of the school year for school administrators, etc.)
3) List the people with whom this position needs to interface in order to be successful. What are their personalities and communications styles? This is very important because depending on the candidate, their communication style may or may not be successful communicating will some or all of the people. (Usually a big retention issue).
4) What are the strategic duties for this position? Typically these duties require vision, goal setting, and problem solving skills. If you are a hiring manager, this is very important to your success, not just the new employee’s success.

Once you have these duties and communication requirements laid out, you are ready for the next very important step - Developing the goals for this position.

1) List the 3 month goals for this new employee. These goals may be a little different for an internal candidate than an external candidate. These goals may also be different depending on the time of the year the person starts. Generally these goals will be more tactical than strategic. If you are ranking the employee on their success in their first three months (and you should), what will you use to determine if they are successful so far? The candidate also needs to understand these requirements. Success in the first three months is important if you want to retain the new employee. This is the time they are learning their position, the corporate culture, the people with whom they interface, and your management style. This is also the time when it is important for the manager to protect the new employee from the sniping from jealous co-workers, some of whom may have felt they deserved this opportunity.
2) List the 6 month goals. By the end of 6 months of performance in this position, the new employee should be better prepared to make some more strategic contributions in their role. Therefore, your 6 month goals should reflect some success in achieving strategic goals. Remember the goals need to be challenging And they need to be attainable.
3) List the 9 month goals. At the end of 9 months, the new employee should have a near total understanding of the position. They should be performing their day to day tasks and working on their strategic and special project goals. They should also be preparing discussions on process improvement for their position because this is when they are looking at everything with fresh eyes and not have the “that’s just how we do it” attitude.
4) List the 12 month goals. One of these goals needs to be developing the 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month goals for the next year. This keeps a person fresh in their position. It also provides the manager with the information they need to develop their goals for the next year.

If you follow this process to develop job descriptions:
1) Your employees will be happier and more productive;
2) Your retention will improve;
3) Your company will be more successful;
4) And you will be happier.

The Best Qualified Candidate Rarely Gets Hired (Update 2008)

2008-05-15T08:50:00.000-06:00

That may get your attention. Generally when I present to groups on the topic of interviewing, people ask about the interviewing process.

How many times have you sat in an interview and wondered, “How will this person (the hiring manager) be able to determine if I am the best qualified candidate? Instead of probing my experience, capabilities, and motivations, he/she just asked me what kind of tree I would choose to be.”

Let’s examine the process in most companies. A person excels in their current position and gets management’s attention. They are promoted. What happens next? They need to learn their new position and fill the position in their organization that they just vacated. A replacement employee requisition is requested and now the Human Resource Department and Recruiters are sourcing candidates. Candidates are produced and given to the new Hiring Manager to interview.

Where in this process is this new Hiring Manager taught how to interview? If they have not been trained how to interview, they certainly have not been trained how to select the best qualified candidate. How does that lack of training impact most companies?

1) The Hiring Manager may not hire the person who will make the key contribution that will propel a company forward;
2) The candidate they do hire may be a good tactical hire but not a good strategic hire – and will leave when they no longer are able to make impacts;
3) Worse yet, they may stay and no longer make significant contributions;
4) Employee retention will become an increasing problem. The wrong person is hired and that impacts the performance of the entire team.

If you hear a Hiring Manager say that an offer should be made to Mr./Ms. Candidate because it feels good in their gut, remember that guts are really good for storing and processing food, not selecting candidates.

And what about reference checks? Has your company resigned itself to the “fact” that meaningful reference checks cannot be done any longer? The reference checks that I do for my clients generally last close to an hour. One reference recently said, “Wow that was like an interview!” I responded that in order to determine if the candidate is the right candidate for a position; shouldn’t we spend the time asking the right questions? It is best for both the candidate and the company.

This will take it one more step, if you trust managers to make critical legal decisions for the company; shouldn’t they be the ones conducting the reference checks? After all, a recruiter or Human Resource manager may know a little about a lot of positions. If this position does not report to them, they may not pick up on the nuances that the references can give.

One time when I encouraged a hiring manager to conduct references on an auditor, she consented with some reservations. She had just completed her third and last reference. When she was thanking the reference for their time, another question literally popped into her head. The response was such that she changed her mind and did not extend an offer to the candidate.

Recently when I asked “What areas does John (not the candidate’s real name) need to improve?” all three references pointed out the same area. It was enough of a concern that I sat down with the Vice President (hiring manager) and CEO and we discussed it. In this case, we extended the offer. The Vice President knows to be aware of the situation and how to coach the new employee.

If companies expect to hire better performers without training the decision makers on the selection process, it sounds suspiciously like doing the same things and expecting different results, doesn’t it?

Successful Home Office Worker Tips

2008-05-06T07:53:00.000-06:00

Have you decided that you want to work in your home office? Has your company suggested that you work out of your home? Do you want to be successful working in your home?

This is easier than you may think. With the exception of a year and a half when I was the Recruiting Manager of a start up telecom firm, I have worked out of my home since 1990.

First of all, When you have a home office make sure the business phone only rings in your office space - not your dining room or kitchen or bedroom. At the end of the day, shut the lights in your office and announce that you are closed for the day. I like to say that “the world headquarters of RecruiterGuy.com is now closed.” Otherwise you never leave work.

Secondly, Never bring work out of your office into your living area. That area then becomes your office.

Thirdly, You may have a wireless network and be tempted to do email in your living space. Do it only in your office.

Fourth, Don't worry if your company decides that the arrangement isn't working out. That's one of those things you can't control outside of being productive (which you can control).

Fifth, Stay in touch through conference calls or use Skype for video conference calls. If you were in the office and now are working from your home, over communicate rather than under communicate. Schedule office visits as required. There is a need to reconnect personally.

Sixth, If other people or family are living with you, ask them not to interrupt you when you are in your office. Don’t be tempted to wash the dishes or do house work. You are at work.

Seventh, Don’t work at home for the “tax advantages”. There are few tax advantages, unless you count meeting your tax auditor as one of them.

Eighth, Dress for work. If you dress for work, it is easier to act like you are at work and to be productive.

Ninth, Set up your office so everything – computer, phone, printer/scanner/fax (everything you need) is within reach of your chair.

Tenth, Focus on task. It can be easy to listen on others' conversations within your home. Close the door. Be at work. Turn on some white noise like light classical music or John Tesh’s music (sorry John).

If you follow these ten rules, you will be on the right track. Good Luck!

Focus Friday – Sales Management – Private Label Snack Foods

2008-05-02T06:08:00.000-06:00

The Vice President of Sales position is with a growing $150 million snack food business based in the Midwest. This CPG Company has a large private label component, a branded component, and is developing a direct to consumer component. This is a new position to lead our sales force and specifically to grow our sales volume profitably.

This position is a new and highly visible position leading a group of seven to ten sales professionals and reports directly to the Sr. Vice President of Sales and Commodities.

We are seeking a Private Label National Sales Vice President to lead our national corporate business development with grocery, big box and alternative channels through direct and broker-managed accounts.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
• National sales management and development of private label and corporate brands across all competitive segments.
• Private label big box relationship building, resulting in exceeding sales goals.
• Demonstrated success reading and interpreting clients’ inventory software as it relates to our product distribution.
• Build profitable volume/mix with both existing and new accounts maximizing return on investment. Monitor sales professional’s quotes to ensure profitable margins.
• Effective and results oriented professional sales management of direct selling accounts as well as account management through a broker network. Meet personal and corporate sales goals.
• Mentor account managers by accompanying them on sales calls and developing their sales and business skills.
• Use client experience and feedback to co-develop private label product/pricing initiatives to deliver on strategic branded/private label category leadership role.
• Analysis and business application of internal shipment data as well as external data in daily business management to identify market/sales opportunities and trends
• Provide accurate sales forecasting monthly/annually. Communicate forecasts with business operations.
• Effective communication with internal team members and customers.

Qualifications:
• 8-10 years sales experience with consumer packaged food company, preferably focused on private label sales.
• Demonstrated successful headquarter sales experience in supermarket, big box, dollar, c-stores, and drug stores.
• Private label food sales and sales management experience
• Direct sales and broker CPG sales management
• Competent in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook Microsoft Office applications. Solid presentation skills required.
• BS/BA required EOE

Reply to recruiterguy@msn.com Subject - Focus Fridays VP Sales

Mange Your Resume?

2008-04-30T11:21:00.000-06:00

Mange and Manage; Manager and Manger; Form and From; Or and Of? What do these words have in common? They all sail safely through Spell Check. They also have very different meanings.

For instance, if you are a “manager” of people and mistakenly write “manger”, I picture a small wooden crib with straw bedding.
More importantly, instead of reading your resume for content, I am now in the editing mode and looking for more typos. This will not benefit you if you want to be a candidate in a search by a professional recruiter.
Your resume is your marketing tool in your search for your next position. It should also be your best foot forward. If you have typos sprinkled through your resume, you are portraying yourself as careless – not a good trait, especially at a leadership level.

Here are some hints. When you complete your resume and before you send it out, ask someone who has not helped you write your resume to read it. Their purpose is to question you on potential typos or grammatical errors. If they helped you write your resume, they will make the same errors you make, pretty interesting. Secondly, do a find/replace on words like “manger”. Chances are manger is not going to show up on most professional resumes today. Thirdly, try reading your resume backward. You may be able to pick up typos when the words are out of context.

I wrote this blog because as RecruiterGuy I have been receiving many resumes with the word “manager” spelled as “manger” recently during a vice president search that I am conducting.

Retaining Young Adult Employees

2007-11-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

This is RecruiterGuy again to give you another quick preview of coming attractions at the CUNA YES Summit in Austin, TX on Dec. 5, 2007.

You work too hard to find great talent. Failing to retain them is a shame – and not very cost effective.

In order for you to retain high impact talent, it is very important that you have your retention fundamentals down.

The first and certainly one of the most important rules is the Golden Rule – “Treat others as you would like them to treat you.” The stories that I hear from candidates make me shake my head. If managers simply followed the Golden Rule, retention would be much higher. The concept is not magic. The execution is everything.

Have you taken the time to develop a retention process? If so, have you documented it? Are all employees aware of it? Are you focused on retention? Have you developed a leadership development plan? Succession planning is very important today as our Baby Boomer generation is beginning to move into retirement. Therefore retaining Impact Performers is more important than ever.

You certainly have developed a member retention plan. It probably focuses on great member service and great member communication. Shouldn’t that be the basis of your employee retention plan?

As we spoke in a previous blog, the young adult is used to immediate gratification. Is that expectation always possible in the business world? Of course not. However you may be creative and give them the perception of immediate gratification. Here’s a suggestion – use the CUNA courses/certification completion as incentives. Most importantly, listen to their ideas and talk in terms of their interests.

We have much to discuss. See you next week!

Recruiting Young Adults

2007-11-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving YES CU bloggers and YES Summit Enthusiasts!

This is RecruiterGuy again just to give you a quick preview of coming attractions. Great news! My presentation is now down to 40 slides and dropping. However, coffee or Mountain Dew consumption is recommended so you can listen fast.

We spoke of the instant gratification that young adults expect today. In order for you to give them that experience on the recruiting side, it is very important that you have your recruitment fundamentals down.

Have you taken the time to document your recruitment process? If so, are there any extra steps that may be removed?

Generally businesses do a good to great job branding their service or products and really do not brand themselves as an employer. Would you prefer to brand yourself as an employer – or do you want public perception to do so? How do young adults in your area perceive you as an employer?

How quickly do you respond to candidate inquiries for employment? When you interview candidates, do you sell the services of your credit union and discuss the reason(s) you are passionate about working there? Remember that Every candidate is a potential member! How many candidates, who do not become employees, become members? That may be an interesting metric to watch.

Is your recruitment process smooth and efficient? Have you trained your hiring managers how to interview? If they haven’t been trained how to interview, how do you expect them to select the best candidate - and not the least threatening? Do you make hiring decisions quickly? Do you do reference checks? You better!

Recruitment is one of the most important areas of the credit union. With one hire you may be able to greatly expand your business - or a poor hire can wreck your reputation.

Focus Fridays - VP Actuary

2007-11-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Are you a consultative Actuary with the experience of a VP Actuary? Do you have demonstrated strong analytical skills? Do you have a desire to perform and be recognized for your performance? Do you have a good understanding of the life insurance business? Would you like to live in the Midwest and work with a well known life insurance company?

The client recognizes the importance of an internal consultant and risk manager for actuarial activities. One of the goals for this person is to build professional relationships with the Chief Actuaries of the different divisions within the company, and help the Chief Actuaries identify and audit areas of concern.

This position will be responsible for auditing and consulting within all of the actuarial responsibilities throughout the US member companies based on an annual audit plan.

Requirements:
This is the senior person within Internal Audit responsible for interfacing with the Chief Actuary in the business’ divisions and reports to the Vice President and Director of Internal Audit.

Thorough knowledge of the life insurance business and actuarial principles relevant to the position are required. Asset liability experience and product pricing experience while working with Marketing is valuable. Investment and product development experience required. Experience as an external or internal consultant is required.

Will work as part of an integrated audit team on some assigned audits while either leading or acting as a sole contributor on others.

Interact with Senior Management to advise on key actuarial related issues. This is often done through meetings so management may make informed decisions.

Bachelors Degree required. Member of the American Academy of Actuaries; FSA required.

The successful candidate will have a minimum of 20 years of actuarial experience in a life and/or health insurance environment and another 3-5 years in a consultative role to Chief Actuaries whether internally or as an external consultant. Must have detailed knowledge of relevant insurance laws and regulations as well as actuarial standards of practice relevant to their responsibilities. Must have effective written and verbal communications skills.

Write to me at recruiterguy@msn.com to learn more!

YES Summit CU Blog

2007-11-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

Hello YES CU bloggers and YES Summit Enthusiasts! I am RecruiterGuy, and my goal is to help you attract and retain the 18-30 year old employees. Oh by the way, I am also one of those Old White Guys – OWG’s for you text folks!

We are going to have an interesting morning on Dec. 5th. An organization, any organization, is either growing or it is dying. It’s important to have the seasoning on your team; and it is also important to have the fresh new faces who don’t know what they can’t do – and their accomplishments will sometimes surprise everyone, including themselves.

In our hour together we will discuss two topics that I could speak hours on. So far my PowerPoint presentation is down to 125 slides so get your coffee early and often. You’ll need to listen fast.

And that is one of my points. This generation has grown up with instant gratification. Remember when you had to wait for the tubes in the TV to warm up before you saw the picture? No more. We had to play Monopoly for hours to determine a winner. With today’s video games, I am sometimes defeated before my seat gets warm. Technology comes easily to these candidates – and that’s where you can find them.

Announcing www.RecruiterGuy.jobs!

2007-10-17T17:46:00.000-06:00

For the convenience of our candidates, we have bought the www.RecruiterGuy.jobs domain. This will take our candidates directly to our Employment Opportunity pages.

RecruiterGuy.com is a contract recruitment company whose mission is to match Impact Performers with our clients. As a Contract Recruiter, Bill Humbert focuses on the recruitment needs of one company at a time to identify and recruit the best qualified candidates.

Recruitment research has shown that candidates want the convenience of going directly to the job search without wading through the balance of a website.

The additional advantage of www.RecruiterGuy.jobs is that candidates have the ability to easily access the candidate resource pages of www.RecruiterGuy.com for hints on their career search, including resume suggestions and other Internet links that may benefit them on their search.

Focus Fridays - Vice President Actuary - Internal Audit

2007-10-04T14:09:00.000-06:00

Rarely do you see a position at this level posted on any job boards. This is an opportunity to make positive impacts at the senior level within a multinational insurance organization based in the Midwest.

The client recognizes the importance of an internal consultant for actuarial activities. This position will be the senior Actuary within Internal Audit responsible for the coordination and oversight of various auditing and consulting activities. Areas of focus will include Actuarial, Investment Management and related business areas. This person will report directly to the Vice President and Director of Internal Audit.

Requirements:

Thorough knowledge of the life insurance/asset management business and relevant actuarial principles are required. Product pricing, asset/liability management and related risk management experience is required.

Will work as part of an integrated audit team on certain audits or consulting projects, in either a leadership or advisory capacity.

Interacts with Senior Management, including Chief Actuaries, to advise on key actuarial and related business issues.

Bachelors Degree required. Member of the American Academy of Actuaries; FSA required. CFA or MBA valuable.

The successful candidate will have a minimum of 15 years of actuarial experience in a life insurance environment, including at least 3-5 years as a professional consultant. Must have detailed knowledge of relevant insurance laws and regulations as well as actuarial standards of practice relevant to their responsibilities. Excellent presentation and communication skills are required.

EOE

Contact me at RecruiterGuy@msn.com

No agencies at this time.

Focus Fridays - Lead Internal Auditors - Cedar Rapids, IA

2007-07-20T11:13:00.000-06:00

Last week was Hong Kong. This week we are looking for Two Lead Internal Auditors in Cedar Rapids, IA, preferably from a Financial Services Company or from a large Life Insurance Company.

One of the world’s largest life insurance companies and pension companies, and a strong provider of investment products, is seeking Two highly motivated Lead Internal Auditors. The successful candidates will plan and perform complex audits in a dynamic environment, and work on special projects with an emphasis in developing value-added recommendations that will significantly enhance their business.

The candidate should have 6-10 years of audit experience or equivalent business experience in financial services or life insurance. Experience in financial services audits with a Big 4 Accounting Firm would be valuable. A Bachelors degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or Business is required. CPA preferred.

Excellent written and oral communications skills, solid analytical skills and a strong team orientation are required. This group follows a team based integrated audit approach and utilizes Teammate for work papers.

Candidates with less work experience may be considered for the position of Senior Auditor.

This company offers a competitive salary, excellent benefits and career advancement opportunities. Its motto is “Respect People. Make Money. Have Fun.” In the past year, six auditors have moved from audit into the business units. Six employees from the business units have moved into audit. This is an attractive group to work for. The greater Cedar Rapids area offers cultural opportunities, Big Ten and Big Twelve academics and sports, and a rich historical heritage. If you enjoy the game of golf, this area offers more courses per capita than many cities.

If you are interested in this position, please forward a copy of your resume to recruiterguy@msn.com. If you know someone who may be interested in knowing about this position please forward a copy of this post to them.

Have a Great Weekend!

Focus Fridays Senior Operational Auditor – Hong Kong

2007-07-13T08:13:00.000-06:00

One of the world’s largest life insurance companies and pension companies, and a strong provider of investment products, is seeking a highly motivated Senior Operational Auditor. The successful candidate will plan and perform complex audits in a dynamic environment, and work on special projects with an emphasis in developing value-added recommendations that will significantly enhance their business.

The candidate should have 5-8 years of audit experience or equivalent business experience and a Bachelors degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or Business. CPA or CA preferred.

Excellent written and oral communications skills, solid analytical skills and a strong team orientation are required. Excellent English skills are required, Mandarin is preferred. Position is based in Hong Kong and requires approximately 25% travel.

Candidates with less work experience may be considered for the position of Staff Auditor.

This company offers a competitive salary, excellent benefits and career advancement opportunities. Its motto is “Respect People. Make Money. Have Fun.”

If you are interested in this position, please forward a copy of your resume to recruiterguy@msn.com. If you know someone who may be interested in knowing about this position please forward a copy of this post to them.

Have a Great Weekend!

Focus Fridays Business IT Auditors Wanted

2007-06-22T15:14:00.000-06:00

Are you a sharp Business Analyst who really likes to learn your company’s business and how to improve it? Do you have demonstrated strong analytical skills? Do you have a desire to perform and be recognized for your performance? Do you have a good understanding of business applications? Have you worked in applications development to develop a model business? Do you know how your IT applications impact the running of your business?

We are recruiting two professionals who have these strengths in a Life Insurance or Financial Services environment. These are replacement positions for people who came into the Internal Audit group a number of years ago and have now been promoted into the business.

Cedar Rapids, IA has many reasons to work here. If you are used to dealing with long commutes (no rush hour here), wouldn’t you like to spend more of your personal time doing personal things? Like playing golf on one of the many golf courses in the area (Zach Johnson, Masters Tournament Champion learned to play golf here); enjoying one of the best Art Festivals in the country (Marion Arts Festival); enjoying one of the best symphony orchestras in the country (supported locally since 1927); picnic at the first Pike’s Peak in Iowa (Zebulon Pike named it several years before reportedly saying “My Bad!” and naming the mountain in Colorado Springs after himself too); we have a great educational system for children and one of the best Big Ten schools (The University of Iowa) 30 minutes away. I moved here from Maryland 13 years ago.

The “big cities” of Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha are an easy drive for a long weekend. Denver, Dallas, Detroit, and Cincinnati are a 1 ½ hour direct flight. You may also fly directly to Las Vegas, Orlando, and Atlanta. I like to say that we can enjoy the big cities on our terms. For instance, while local residents are getting their errands done on the weekend because of their long commutes during the week, we can be playing in their backyards!

The residents of this area are friendly too! That’s a nice bonus!

Oh yeah, the job! You will be trained how to conduct risk based audits, may interface with executives, and grow within a family friendly company (summer half days on Fridays). Few performers leave this company. The company helps them find new areas to contribute within the company.

Write to me at recruiterguy@msn.com to learn more!

Beware of “Contract Recruiters”!

2007-06-05T17:02:00.000-06:00

As a Contract Recruiter with 26 years of professional recruitment experience, it has come to my attention that the term “Contract Recruiter” is being widely overused.

When you are hiring a “Contract Recruiter”, what are your expectations?

Do you expect a professional recruiter with many years of experience? Are you expecting someone who knows how to effectively recruit for your firm, despite your firm’s warts (if any)? Do you expect someone who can come into your business and examine your recruitment processes and suggest improvements to help you be more effective in your own efforts? Are you looking for someone who, while working with your hiring managers, may suggest ways to help them improve their interviewing and selection skills? Do you expect a professional who can look at your website and your recruitment marketing and suggest more effective ways to spend that budget? Are you looking for someone who can help you deliver candidates at the offer that you previously were not able to recruit? Are you truly seeking someone who has worked in a best of class recruitment effort and knows ways to help you improve?

Or are you looking for a temp?

Let’s face it. Few people with less than 10 years of seasoning in any field know what “best of class” really is – even if they have worked in it. Maybe I should say especially if they have worked in a “best of class” environment.

If someone has only worked in a “best of class” environment that implies that they have never worked where there were major problems with a recruiting effort. They know what their environment was. They may know your environment needs improvement. If they have never had to work through the corporate politics and never had to solve those problems, how will they help you solve yours?

A true Contract Recruiter has over 10 years of Contract Recruitment experience. Please note that I did not say “Corporate Recruiter” or “Agency Recruiter” experience.

Corporate Recruiters are the recruitment foundation for your firm. If they are strong recruiters, your recruiting function will be strong. If they are weak recruiters, your recruiting function will be weak. It is a simple equation that actually mirrors other functions in a business. Depending on the company, the Corporate Recruiter may not have the ability to influence the executive level to make changes in the recruitment process. They may have the recruitment ability or knowledge, it simply is that the “Prophet rarely gets Respect at home”. How many of you have felt that frustration?

A Contract Recruiter who has the seasoning that only years of experience brings, can sit down with the executives and confidently suggest improvements and the benefits they bring by showing the results at their other clients. Remember, some companies really do recruit very well. Could they improve in some areas? Absolutely! That is the basis for continuous improvement in all business processes. The seasoned Contract Recruiter has been in many environments and has seen many ways of doing things – some good and some bad. This helps us quantify your processes and determine which ones need improvement. Then we can confidently make improvement recommendations.

Many “Agency Recruiters” are absolutely wonderful recruiters. I count many great Agency Recruiters among my friends. They tend to be lone wolves (may work in offices with other recruiters) and focus on an industry, some focus only on a position (like physician recruiters, for instance). They know from working with companies who is responsive and who needs improvement but rarely do they see the company from working on the inside. Don’t get me wrong. A great Agency Recruiter is worth every single cent they make. They went out and earned it. In the process, they also made positive impacts on their clients by introducing candidates they otherwise may not have seen.

Do you hear the “but” coming? The Agency Recruiters may not have dealt with the internal politics in a company. Their efforts may have been impacted by those politics but rarely have they had to successfully work through those politics. They typically have not been involved in internal recruitment process improvement and recruitment marketing. Sometimes, but rarely have they had the opportunity to influence a CEO’s decision on a recruitment process or candidate (unless they were involved in a true executive search for the client). An experienced Contract Recruiter has the confidence and experience to approach the CEO or CFO and “whisper in their ear”.

At one time I read in the Fordyce Letter that less than one percent of all third party recruiters last in this industry over ten years. If a person is one of the few people who have worked in this industry ten years, they have some special talents.

The seasoned Contract Recruiter may help you promote the improvements that both of you know are needed while they are recruiting Impact Performers for you. Remember the prophet? They are viewed as the prophet coming from the outside. Therefore they may be able to influence people who may not otherwise listen to you. If we bring up the credit too soon, the executive’s eyes may glaze over. Hey, once all of us get the improvement in place, we will be happy to give you credit because that also reflects back on us.

A recruiter with one to five years of experience working through temporary agencies is a temp. Just as the temps who work as bookkeepers or as production supervisors. There is nothing wrong with them other than their lack of experience. Possibly the Temp Agencies need for them to sound “experienced” in order to sell their services.

Now do you really believe that the temp can help you reach your recruiting goals? If so, you should hire them.

If not, you should contact a well respected recruiter with a wealth of experience who is also connected to a network of seasoned Contract Recruiters. Questions? Feel free to contact me.

Memorial Day

2007-05-27T11:47:00.000-06:00

Please take time from the 3 G’s – Golf, Grilling, and God (though not necessarily in that order) to remember all of those men and women who have lost their lives protecting our freedom.

Congratulations New Graduates!!

2007-05-15T10:57:00.000-06:00

Studying to complete your bachelor’s degree is done for most of you. What are you going to do next? Some of you have committed yourselves to more study to become a Doctor or Attorney or other position requiring an advanced degree. Some of you went to College Career Fairs last fall and last February and already lined up your first job. Some of you worked on an internship last summer and received an offer as a result of your demonstrated work ethic. And some of you just realized you need a job.

What do you need to do next?

First, decide what you want to do.

Second, begin to contact companies that need people to do what you want to do.

Third, set up interviews with those companies.

Wow! That sounds simple, doesn’t it? Fortunately sometimes it is that simple. Unfortunately, sometimes it is much harder. Looking for a job can be hard work if you haven’t done any prep work during your senior year. For instance, many of the entry level positions are snapped up by February around the time of the College Career Fairs. Some companies actually extend offers in the fall before you graduate.

Let’s say your ideal job has been snapped up already by someone a little more enterprising, now what?

Just get a job period. Every job has its good points and its bad points. Most times people have perceptions about jobs that aren’t true because they have never worked in that job. You hear about CEO’s who started their careers in the mail rooms (Would that be a systems administrator today? Wait and see!). It could be you.

Take a job in customer service, retail, somewhere. Learn that company’s business. Be enthusiastic. If you are done with your tasks for the day, go to your manager and ask what other responsibilities you can take on. Look around and see where else you can contribute. Decide what you enjoy doing and what you don’t enjoy. Then see if your current company has the next position for you. Always do the best job you can. I do check references and they are pretty thorough. You always want people to say good things about you and your work habits.

Good luck! If you do a great job, we may be chatting in the future!

When is a Person a Valued Contract Recruiter?

2007-05-09T11:33:00.000-06:00

As I am searching for my next opportunity to serve a company, I am reading online postings for “Contract Recruiter.” Some of them require one to two years experience and the ability to develop recruitment into a world class experience – and the compensation is $20 to $30 per hour.

Whom are they kidding? Are there other occupations where people have that unrealistic requirement of an inexperienced person? Why does it seem to happen in recruitment more than other occupations?

My guess is that in recruitment we do not do a good job selling our profession and defining what title is an entry level person and what is an experienced person. Therefore, when a temp firm hears a company say they are tired of paying contingent fees, they propose a contract recruiter at a relatively low rate (that they can sell). Hopefully they provide that inexperienced person with mentoring and support.

If not, the CEO or VP HR has a poor experience; and all contract recruiters fall into the “we tried that and it didn’t work.”

My suggestion is that Contract Recruiters should be people who have recruitment seasoning. We have been in the trenches for ten or more years and survived at least one recession. Since in our economy, recessions come along every eight to ten years that could be a reasonable requirement.

A Contract Recruiter needs to have enough experience that when a situation comes along that they haven’t seen before (and after 15 years of Contract Recruitment and an additional 11 years of Contingent Recruitment, I still experience new situations), they can respond creatively with better potential solutions for their client.

A seasoned Contract Recruiter has worked with different recruitment processes and applicant tracking systems; sold candidates on the idea of working for blue chip companies and emerging companies; understands the place for Internet Recruitment and Direct Sourcing; and cares for both his/her clients and their candidates.

A seasoned Contract Recruiter learns the client’s business and advises clients on candidates based on those business goals. Importantly, a seasoned Contract Recruiter considers themselves a member of the corporate team and works to ensure the team does well.

When a seasoned Contract Recruiter does all of those things, they are invited back when the client needs them. That is the measure of success.

SHRM Staffing Management Conference – New Orleans

2007-04-30T12:47:00.000-06:00

As is usually the case, last week SHRM did a great job organizing and running the Staffing Management Conference in New Orleans. This was one of the smoothest running conferences that I ever attended. Nicely done!

There were a variety of speakers speaking on many of the recruitment processes. Attendees came from as far away as China – “The World is Flat” (Thanks, Thomas Friedman!)

It seemed as we moved from one presentation to another that everyone was seeking the Recruitment Holy Grail. What can we do to improve our recruitment processes? Find a new Applicant Tracking System? Is there a new killer app for Internet Recruitment? How do we improve retention so we don’t have to constantly fill the same positions? Tony Blake talked about how he made over recruiting at Great-West. Can we do the same at our companies/clients? How do we do a better job with Internal Referrals? Is our recruiting group viewed as the black hole? If so, how do we become better internal consultants? What is the impact on candidate resume submissions when they have multiple clicks to reach our open positions?

Then we visited the vendors who sent their representatives to sell the services or products to see if they could provide us with the killer recruitment app to help us reach the Recruitment Holy Grail.

Some people got something entirely different out of the conference. For instance, while I have already suggested to a couple of clients that they obtain a DOT Jobs domain, I have decided to finish writing my book on corporate recruitment. John DiPietro and Lizz Pellet were key contributors to that decision. The 26 years that I have spent in recruitment has given me a wealth of information to get out to corporate recruitment staffs.

It was fun to finally meet recruitment icon Gerry Crispin. His CareerXRoads book should be in every recruiter’s space for those times when you need to think a little out of the box.

You do not have to go far to find the Recruitment Holy Grail. It is in you and waiting to be unleashed! See you at the next SHRM staffing Conference in Nashville, TN April 13-16, 2008!

New Orleans – SHRM Staffing Management Conference – Touring the City

2007-04-25T18:27:00.000-06:00

This is one of those few departures from recruitment topics on this Blog. I am attending the SHRM Staffing Management Conference in New Orleans and this topic is on some of the personal things that I learned.

First of all, many of the politicians and the media are not accurately describing the resilience of the people of New Orleans and how much of the city has recovered from Hurricane Katrina.

Time and time again the people of New Orleans told me not to listen to “them” (politicians and unrealistic media). They are proud that their hard work has resulted in a substantial recovery for their city. Unlike the people seeking political gain and much of the media, the people of New Orleans have done an unbelievable job in their recovery. Some people do not realize that a city is not built (or rebuilt) in a couple of years. People with those expectations either are seeking their own gain; or possibly are using some illegal drug or too much alcohol. To paraphrase another saying, “New Orleans wasn’t built in a day.”

The residents of New Orleans refer to Hurricane Katrina as “the storm” or “the hurricane.” It’s almost as though they refuse to dignify her by using the name.

The ninth ward was effectively destroyed by the flooding and many of those people have left the city. It is interesting that the levees on the Mississippi held during the storm. The canal and lake levees were the ones that failed.

So what has to happen next? Well, not being a city planner, my guess is that the infrastructure has to be rebuilt to support the rebirth of the city. That is hard work. Then as the economy improves, the housing needs to be rebuilt. Obviously hard decisions need to be made regarding homes in areas such as the ninth ward. Is it responsible to allow people to rebuild where they may be in danger from future storms?

New Orleans was built on tourism and commerce. Thanks to the storm, much of each left the city. As both return to the area so will business and housing.

The GM of one of the major hotel chains told us that “The City of New Orleans is back. Now the city needs you to come for the first time (like me) or return – and spend money” (I helped!).

Now here are some tips. The food is awesome! I went to Shula’s Steakhouse in the JW Marriott for dinner my first evening. Okay, not very New Orleans’ cuisine but I was hungry and wanted something familiar first. Excellent!

Lunch on Monday was at the Acme Oyster House with several SHRM attendees. The fried oysters and crayfish were outstanding – great sauces. Monday evening was a special treat with my friends at Advanced Personnel Systems, Inc (SmartSearch Applicant Tracking System) – Sylvia Dahlby and Paul Smith, a new friend, Lori Corucci of Predix (candidate personality profiles), and an old friend, John DiPietro (author, speaker, and trainer). We ate at the Palace Café on Canal Street. It sounded like the red fish special was a big hit. My giant shrimp (is that an oxymoron?) with crayfish was very tasty. Thanks for the treat Sylvia and Paul!

Tuesday evening, Sylvia, Paul, Lori and I were joined by Doug Coull and Mike Estrada of Advanced Personnel Systems. We went to Olivier’s on Decatur St. What a great old restaurant with a long New Orleans family history! Paul had the catfish dinner that sounded very tasty. The rest of us enjoyed the Creole red fish special with jambalaya and crayfish ettouffee. Oh my goodness! Thanks Doug and Mike! This was an entertaining evening getting to know you and a special treat.

On Wednesday, I ate lunch at Johnny’s Po-Boys on St. Louis St. in the French Quarter. Their shrimp Po-Boy was so good! You have to have one of these sandwiches. Honestly there is no room for dinner now.

Find time to take a 2 hour ride on the steamboat Natchez down the Mississippi River and back. Start on the port side of the paddle wheeler. Most of the tour is on that side of the river. I imagine the evening dinner cruise would be magical as the lights in the city begin to come on.

A final couple of comments on Bourbon Street – Since it is almost 200 years old, I imagine that it was way ahead of Vegas in the saying “What happens on Bourbon Street, stays on Bourbon Street!” It is a really interesting combination of entertainment from tops in Jazz to bottom in taste – next door to one another. ‘Nuf said!

Enjoy New Orleans by coming here and experiencing this magical city. As Fats Domino sang, “Walkin’ to New Orleans!” It doesn’t matter how you get here, just find a way!

Corporate Recruiters - Getting the Most out of a Career Fair

2007-04-18T10:28:00.000-06:00

These notes are probably not for the very experienced corporate recruiter who has dozens of Career Fairs behind them. You have already figured most of this out!

This column is for the less experienced corporate recruiter who wants to learn a few tricks that the old, Wiley recruiters use.

I have worked over 100 Career Fairs and presented at many of them. Therefore, these suggestions come from years of experience.

How do you prepare for a Career Fair? Most recruiters check to see if they have their handouts and bait (toys to attract candidates). Then they locate their display and either ship it to the Career Fair location or make arrangements to bring it. Depending on the size of the company, they may take a look at all of the openings or they may be working on all of the corporate openings and know what they are looking for in each position.

How often do they check to ensure that the information on the handouts is up to date? Depends on the company and person. How often is information passed to the candidate without a corporate website? More than you would think in these days. Instead of your or your managers’ business cards, make up corporate logo cards with the corporate website and career site links on them. These cards will go to the majority of candidates. Only give your business card to candidates that interest you.

How do you dress for a Career Fair? Let’s start from the bottom up – the feet. Wear comfortable shows with comfortable socks. If your feet hurt, they will distract you especially as the day goes on. Wear business casual slacks and preferably a shirt with your corporate logo. This makes you a walking billboard for your company. It also helps you network with other recruiters.

When I enter the hall where a Career Fair is about to be held, the first thing that I do is look for the recruiters with the “Predator” eyes. You can tell they have already begun to focus on their day. They know who they are looking for and will recruit them when they spot them. They are friendly and very focused. Typically only about 5% of the recruiters in a Career Fair fit this description. Sadly, many recruiters have sad eyes, dreading the long day of talking to people they would never recruit. The recruiters with the “Predator” eyes are your competition for the best candidates.

When you go to your booth location, typically you have one or more tables. A table is usually positioned between you and the candidates. Once you set up your booth, move that table to the side of your booth. You don’t want your candidates to be jostled while you are talking to them. This also gives them the opportunity to step inside your booth to ask questions and chat with you.

Welcome them into your booth. This creates a more welcoming presence for them and enables you to get their full attention. Ask them to tell you a little about themselves. This gives them the opportunity to give you their “Here I am” speech or “Elevator Speech”. Based on this short discussion, you will decide if you have further interest in them. Remember, every candidate may be a customer or a potential customer to your firm. Also remember, even if you are not interested in their talents, they probably know someone that you would like to talk to. Therefore it is important that you give everyone the reason(s) that they should want to work for your company. You want them to recommend your company to that person they know. Everyone should leave the booth with one of your cards, either the one with your website or your business card.

Today many companies want candidates to submit their resumes directly into the corporate website. While certainly understandable, I strongly recommend that you get the hardcopy of the resumes of people that really interest you. No point in taking the chance of losing them because they dropped your card.

The attitude that successful recruiters have going into a Career Fair is “if we hire one person as a result of this effort, it has been a successful day.” Therefore you protect every candidate who interests you.

Let’s say that you have a hiring manager who wants to participate in the Career Fair. Welcome them to your booth. This helps them understand how many frogs that you have to kiss before you find the right candidate. It also gives you an advantage over your competition. If the right candidate happens along, coach your manager to leave the premises and take them to a restaurant (or quiet spot in a lobby) to conduct an initial interview. This action has several Impacts.
1) Your manager is able to interview a candidate on the spot. If that goes well, they can pull out their calendar and set up an onsite interview. Those actions will put you far ahead of your competition, who will be reviewing the resumes they collected while the candidate is receiving an offer from you.
2) This takes the candidate out of the Career Fair and lessens the chances that the competition will see the person – also increases your chance of hiring them.
3) The candidate will like the attention and be more inclined to accept when you try to close them.

Don’t pack up before the Career Fair ends. Encourage your competition to do so. More times that not, we hired the last person that we saw. They either had to work or had another conflict and couldn’t make it until near the end. Most of the other recruiters had their backs to the candidate as they were tearing down their booths. We snagged them because we were still there and friendly. Tearing down the booth does not take much time. Many times it is worth the wait.

After the Career Fair, quickly review the resumes and aggressively follow up with the managers and candidates. Impact Performers do not last long on the market – never have and never will.

Have Fun at the Fair and Happy Hunting!

Candidates – How to Get the Most Out of a Career Fair

2007-04-16T18:17:00.000-06:00

As a professional recruiter, I have worked many Career Fairs. In the 1990’s it was one of the ways many companies recruited candidates. The Internet Job Boards were not as entrenched as they are today and companies felt there was value by being there. I used to coach my clients that if they managed to recruit one person who met them at a Career Fair, it was a wildly successful day.

However as a candidate, why would you want to attend a Career Fair? First of all, are you committed to making a change in employers or are you simply snooping around to see what positions are available out there? Or is your attendance practice for future searches? The reason does not matter. The preparation needs to be the same.

The primary purpose of attending a Career Fair is to personally network with potential employers. It is the way to attach a personality to your resume and possibly get an interview on the spot.

In the recruitment business, timing is everything. You are hoping that the employer is looking for you at the same time that you are looking for them.

Okay, you have decided to attend the Career Fair, what do you do first? Find out what employers will have booths. Then go to their websites and click on “Careers” or “Employment Opportunities” to see what kinds of jobs are posted on their website. If a job is posted, it may be open (or recently filled). On the other hand, while most open jobs are posted, most budgeted jobs but not yet open, are not posted. Many times managers tell me “if you find someone with thus and such background, bring them to my attention. For the right person, I will open a position.” Therefore don’t assume that a company isn’t interested in talking with you. They may not be advertising that they are looking for you yet.

Once you decide on a position that interests you, start looking for the companies that would need that type of employee. Remember to look at the press releases on the corporate websites. You may see that a company has won a substantial new contract that will require new people with your skills.

If you know the employer has employees with your skills (most companies need accountants, HR, sales, etc.), just no current posted positions, understand that the recruiter may be aware of a resignation that has not been translated into an open requisition yet. Therefore, it is still a good idea to approach that company at the Career Fair.

Now it is time to prepare your “Here I Am” speech. It is also known as an “elevator speech” or “one minute commercial.” Here are the components of your “speech”:
1) A quick summary of your background. Be sure to mention any significant accomplishments and what you are passionate about doing at work.
2) What you are doing today, including if you were part of a lay-off.
3) What you would like to do next.

It is important to practice this little speech so it will flow nicely at the booths.

Now look at your resume. Start sentences with action verbs in the past tense. Talk about your experience in the third person, as if you were narrating your story but about someone else (“He”). Drop the pronouns. For instance “Developed a new process that …” Be sure to include all of your important accomplishments. If you are satisfied with your resume, make 10 more copies than you thought you would need. You never know who you may run into and want to hand a resume to them.

Just prior to the Career Fair, familiarize yourself with the hall layout and the booths where your targeted companies are. Remember, the recruiters at the booths are also human. They will be fresh at the beginning and tired at the end. Probably best to catch them at their freshest, correct? Therefore be sure to arrive early. If you need to come later, understand that some recruiters will fold up their booths and leave if the candidate traffic has been light. Not always a good idea for them, but some times they are thinking about the productive things they could be doing.

Be sure to wear at least business casual clothes. Your clothes are a sign of the level of respect that you have for those recruiters. If you are dressed in your jeans or a sweat suit, what message are you giving to the recruiter about your level of commitment to make a job change? It’s probably not the right message. In the late 1990’s, I was at a Career Fair when a guy came dressed as a clown. Unfortunately he did think that he could get an interview dressed like that. What he got was a total lack of respect and recruiters only wanted to see his resume so they would not waste their time with him later. He made a lot of black lists that day.

Plan your Career Fair attendance as you would a day at Disney World. Know what employers you definitely want to see, who would be nice to see, and who would be good if there is enough time. You goal is to make as many new friends as you can in a relatively short period of time. Generally when crowds enter a Career Fair hall, they hit the booths near the door first and work their way back. Therefore, it is best to go to the companies that you are targeting who are in the back of the hall. Then work your way forward. Watch the ebb and flow of the crowd. Generally, recruiters are very, very busy and then there is a drop off and then busy again. Try to hit them in their drop off periods.

When you do finally get in front of the manager or recruiter, introduce yourself and shake their hand. Be sure your grip is firm, but breaking fingers leaves a poor impression. On the other hand I hate weak, cold fish handshakes. They indicate someone who lacks confidence. Hand your resume to them and begin to give them your “Here I Am” speech. Ask them if they have any questions? Respond if they do. Be succinct. Remember to keep good eye contact but this is not a staring contest.

If there is a line behind you, the recruiter will lose interest in you within about 10 minutes. Be a good listener. If the recruiter tells you that they don’t need your expertise, accept it. If you want to argue with them, their eyes will glaze over and they will go to their mental “Happy Spot” until you stop talking.

Once in awhile, they will bring a manager along to help with the quick screens at the Career Fair. You may get a quick interview on the spot. Therefore be mentally prepared for an interview. That is one of the reasons you need to learn about the company before the Career Fair.

When I am recruiting at a Career Fair, I look for sharp candidates. When I find them, if there is a hiring manager with me, I strongly suggest to the manager that they interview the candidate on the spot. There are many reasons for this, not the least is that I am selfish with good candidates. If I can keep my competing companies from seeing the person, it may make it easier for us to hire them (I bet you didn’t have a clue that type of thing happens, did you?). My clients have hired many people as a result of that strategy.

Be sure to try to get a business card if you can. Many companies will not give out a business card other than a general corporate card with their website on it. Some companies will tell you to forward your resume to their website. That’s okay. That is how they track candidates through their recruitment process. If you cannot get the Manager’s business card, write down his or her name and title.

If you feel that you really connected with a company, stop back before you leave, and let them know that you are very interested.

After the Career Fair, send handwritten thank you notes to everyone that you had significant conversations with. You will really differentiate yourself by doing so.

When you feel that as a result of your efforts at the Career Fair you may get an opportunity to interview, review your research. As a result of that research, prepare to answer questions that reflect the challenges they are or may be experiencing.

The interview is another column. Good luck at your Career Fair!

Recruitment Ethics – Corporate

2007-04-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

When do companies run into ethics problems in recruitment? That is a good question. It is one that is generally dependent on the recruitment pressures that hiring managers and internal recruiters are feeling.

For instance, if the internal corporate recruiters are dealing with open requisition loads that are higher than normal and they are feeling pressure to show results above their capability, the temptation exists to take some shortcuts that may stretch ethics. They may be tempted to decide not to mention that the company requires a signed non-compete before they start. This may create a conflict with the new employee on their first day when they were expecting a non-eventful day.

Secondly, if a position has been open for awhile, the requirements tend to evolve because some of that work has now been completed. If the perception is that the position is no longer as desirable as it was originally, the manager or recruiter may “forget” to mention the change. My daughter just graduated from a Doctor of Physical Therapy program. One of the requirements of those programs is to spend nine weeks in several different clinical programs. One of my daughter’s friends had a great clinical program at one location. She liked the program because everyone worked in a variety of areas. She did a great job and was invited to apply for a position as a Physical Therapist after her graduation. She did and accepted the clinic’s offer. Unfortunately the scope of the position changed after she left her clinical rotation. Now each Physical Therapist was assigned a specialty. As the new Therapist, she was now assigned the least desirable specialty. She felt betrayed because no one told her the change in their program prior to her start. Is it ethical to change the scope of a position and not tell the candidate?

Unfortunately these types of breaches in honesty or ethics have profound negative results on the new employee. Once a trust is broken, it is so very hard to rebuild. Companies who promote these types of behavior are doomed to high turnover.

Recruitment Ethics - Candidates

2007-04-04T14:28:00.000-06:00

In my last Blog we discussed the problems of integrity and ethics within the professional recruiting world. Generally when recruitment ethics is discussed, the other two sides of recruitment ethics take a back seat.

What about the integrity of the candidate?

A whole industry of background investigations into candidates’ pasts has been formed and thrives because of the lies on candidates’ resumes. Being ethical is not a part time hobby. Either a person is ethical or they are not.

Where do candidates fall into the trap of poor ethical behavior? My guess is that most people, who lie about their experience whether it is on their resume or in their interview, do it because they are under some pressure. They may have lost their last job, or are working and know they are about to be laid off, or maybe their company is going through a rough time and they are afraid they will be laid off. No reason is good enough to lie about it. It may hurt but being truthful will certainly get you further than lying and your hiring manager discovering your lie. That is cause for immediate dismissal.

On resumes, it is interesting that candidates lie about their college degree – or lack of a degree. Of all of the information on a resume, the degree and dates of employment are easiest to check. When candidates do try to defend their decision to add the degree, I hear them say “But I was only 1 or 3 credits short of a degree.” You either earned your degree or you did not. It’s very simple. A quick phone call to the registrar or the online support at the university will tell the company very quickly if you earned a degree and which one and if you earned any honors.

Another candidate practice is to cover either short employment terms or lack of employment with previous employment dates or the next job employment dates. Please understand that employment dates are the information that companies are allowed to give. They may not be able to give you a reference but they will verify dates of employment. Most companies make these calls to verify employment. If you mislead people on your resume, it is not considered a typo (typo’s aren’t good on a resume anyway, but that is another topic).

What many candidates do not read when they sign an application is that they may be immediately dismissed if the information on the application is false. Probably as bad is the situation when you receive an offer that is contingent on the successful completion of your background investigation, references, and drug check and you resign your current job. On the Friday before you start, you receive a call from the hiring company rescinding your offer because you lied on the application or resume. As far as your current employer is concerned, you left them. Now you begin the process all over again with no job. Obviously, that’s not a good situation. I have seen it happen on several occasions.

If a person lacks integrity when they are presenting their best sides during the interviewing process, they will certainly lack integrity at the new job. That situation is the basis of behavioral interviewing.

Bottom line – Be Honest and Maintain Your Integrity. Life’s too short to try and track lies.

Recruitment Ethics

2007-04-03T16:31:00.000-06:00

When I mentioned to one of my neighbors that I was going to be a panel participant on “Ethical Perspectives on the News” on KCRG TV discussing “Recruitment Ethics”, his comment while laughing was “Isn’t that an oxymoron?”

That is a sad commentary on the recruitment industry. However when you are dealing with people on all sides of the process, it is inevitable that you will run across some people who may not be totally honest in their dealings with others – especially when money is involved.

This conversation discusses how we treat our professional relationships with our peers, clients and candidates; and where ethics may be ignored.

When I was a contingent recruiter, beginning in 1981, one of my first lessons was to protect my client’s name until the last moment. It was interesting how many other recruiters would not honor that relationship even while attempting to do a split with me. If their candidate was the one selected, it was amazing how many recruiters would use that “placement” to go behind my back to try to get future business away from me. I can hear the chorus of “survival of the fittest” as I type. This is the main reason that I worked with a select few peers. We honored each other’s relationships. Interestingly every one of them is still in the recruitment business. Many of the others who were not ethical failed in our industry.

As a professional recruiter, we have a responsibility to ourselves to be ethical. If you are not ethical, your reputation will be tarnished. Your reputation and integrity are the most important attributes of a professional recruiter. A tarnished reputation costs you respect, and ultimately business. So are you in the recruitment industry for the short term cash or the long term profession?

Recruiting is Sales. As a sales process, it will always attract the charlatans who are looking for a way to get rich quick. Unfortunately enough people are successful enough to do it for a while that they attract others with the same motivation before washing out of the business.

What are the other areas where professional recruiters may have a little difficulty with ethics? How about in dealing with candidates and clients? Is the sale so important that you leave out an important qualification or lack of a benefit in order to get the interview or acceptance? If you do the reference checks, do you report everything, even if it may reflect a critical flaw?

How many recruiters recruit out of the same company where they are introducing candidates to gain a fee? I find out about that more often than they think. Sometimes they even try to recruit the same person they introduced to that company. Whose interests are they watching for? Certainly not the company that paid the fee to them. Probably not the candidate because they will have just one more job on their resume. It appears that they are only looking out for themselves.

The bottom line is to ask yourself, “Am I looking for quick financial gain or a long term professional career?” If the answer is your quick financial gain, you are missing out on the long term financial gain, and importantly, the satisfaction of making positive, measurable impacts in peoples’ lives and in your clients’ growth.

Focus Fridays Plant HR Generalist

2007-02-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

We are currently seeking a Human Resources Administrator (duties similar to HR Generalist) for our client's manufacturing facility located in Winchester, VA. The successful candidate will assist in the administration and development of various human resource plans and programs.

Specific duties include:

Maintain good communication and a positive relationship with employees that promote employee satisfaction.
Assist in resolving disputes by providing advice within federal and state employment laws.
Research and resolve employee issues relating to benefits and compensation and respond to inquiries concerning benefits and compensation.
Respond to general inquiries regarding policies, procedures, and programs.
Support recruitment and staffing efforts for plant workforce.
Maintain the employee relations database.
Coordinate temporary staffing needs with outside agencies.
Assist site trainer in coordinating training for employees.
Assist with the organization of company functions such as parties and meetings.

This position is responsible for working with the employees to assist in FMLA and sexual harassment counseling, training, and investigations, if needed.

B.S. Degree in business or a related field.
2-3 years of HR support experience.
Must be able to maintain confidentiality.
Proficient in Microsoft Office applications.
Ability to learn other software applications.
Ability to occasionally work flexible hours.

You may send your resume to recruiterguy@msn.com or by clicking on the Employment Opportunities button on the left.

Collected on a Lunch

2007-02-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

I collected on a lunch today.

Many times when I sit down with a new college grad or a professional who is out of work, I pay for the lunch while we are discussing their career search. The deal is that they will buy me lunch once they line up their first or next job.

Unfortunately I collect on very few of those lunches. That made this lunch so special.

When Carrie H. graduated with her BA, we sat down to discuss her job search. We discussed all aspects of her search – her goals, her resume, how to effectively network, the interview process, and salary negotiation.

Since then she earned her MA and had a solid paid internship with a local high tech company in their Human Resource Department. During her internship, she was able to take Lean Manufacturing classes including Value Stream Mapping.

All good internships have to come to an end.

This week, Carrie accepted a great job in the Human Resource Department with one of the major airlines. I used to be a Premier Exec with them.

It is really exciting for me to watch her progress as Carrie begins her career (although probably not as exciting as her parents!).

Over lunch, Carrie was excited (and proud – well she should be!) as she discussed her job search and her acceptance at the airline. This will be perfect job for her since it provides opportunity for growth.

After lunch, Carrie told me that she still has the spreadsheet of contacts that I suggested that she create for networking (since names and numbers are a candidate’s most valuable commodity). She said that she has added to it.

Oh yeah, how did Carrie find this job? She did a great job in her internship and networked her way into an interview.

Thanks for lunch, Carrie! And Good Luck!

A Tribute to Jackie G

2007-02-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I dropped off of the Blog for a month. It was a tough January. As the beginning of my client’s fiscal year, the managers were newly motivated to fill both their old and new positions. My priority is to support my client.

Secondly, another client was fighting a losing battle with cancer.

Somehow my Blog fell to a distant third priority.

Jackie G. was the CFO of a company that I have supported three times since 2002. She was also the partner of a management consulting firm that I have worked with on and off since 1999.

Sadly, Jackie passed away on Friday, January 26 and was buried on Friday, February 2 in Akron, IA. She gallantly fought her cancer until the very end.

Jackie was one of those individuals who was disgusted with the greed of the indicted CFO’s. Integrity was a quality that you either lived or you didn’t.

You see, Jackie’s world was a world of numbers. Either the numbers were correct or they weren’t. There was no gray world. It was refreshing to be in a conversation with her. There were very, very few qualifications that she would accept. I am sure there were times that I drove Jackie crazy because recruiters deal with humans, not numbers. Therefore, our world is gray most of the time because we can’t know everything.

Jackie was a very special person. With her partners Joe and Tim, MainStream Management LLC is very client focused. Jackie made positive impacts on individuals not only in the US but in Europe and Asia, not bad for a girl from a small Iowa town.

She discovered that she had cancer in October 2006. She had surgery that week and began a journey that ended a couple of weeks ago. Instead of taking time off to enjoy her last few months, she was accepted into a stage one test to fight cancer. This meant that she was going to have to spend Christmas in the hospital in New York City.

Her family rallied around her and did everything they could to help her through her treatments. She was so proud of her daughters and grandchildren. She deeply loved her husband.

At the end of her life, Jackie was still helping future generations of people. Hopefully her autopsy will show that the treatment for cancer was beginning to work.

In Jackie’s spirit of helping people, her family established a scholarship in her name at Morningside College in Sioux City, IA for non-traditional students. It is a fitting tribute to Jackie and her life. With this scholarship, Jackie will continue to help future generations.

Jackie, we will miss you!

Ambition?

2007-01-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen Ambition recently?

Last Friday I was having lunch with a friend, Joe, and we were discussing candidate recruitment. Towards the end of lunch, Joe mentioned the attribute “Ambition.”

It struck me on my drive back to my office how few candidates today truly are ambitious. Sadly, it has been years since I last used that word to describe a candidate.

What has happened in our culture? Do people believe that being ambitious is synonymous to being greedy? Are parents allowing their children to participate in too many outside activities instead of focusing on a couple of activities and truly excelling in them? Are school administrators so afraid of offending someone and graduating classes of “Valedictorians” removing the motivation to excel? Are students focusing on sports to get to the “big money” the perceived easy way?

“Survival of the Fittest” is a law of nature. If you do not excel, you will be passed up.

Look at companies who were once the benchmarks of their industry. Many of them are either out of business or a shadow of their former selves in peoples’ minds. IBM sold their PC business to a Chinese company, Lenovo. What happened to Polaroid and Kodak? They were passed by and are working to reinvigorate themselves. Many of the old television manufacturers are owned by foreign companies who simply use the old name. Our once proud automobile manufacturers are being put out of business by ambitious foreign manufacturers.

Don’t leave ambition to others. We need to understand that ambition requires drive and the willpower to succeed. Set goals and then be willing to work very hard to achieve them.

We need to promote ambition in our children so they can compete in our new world. The candidates that I recruit today do not have the names of Smith and Jones. Many candidates have shown true ambition in their homeland and moved here to excel.

If we do not promote ambition here, our world will change – And you may not like the change.

Setting Goals as Recruiters, Candidates/Employees, and Hiring Managers

2006-12-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is the season when traditionally we reflect on the past year and set our goals for the next year. Some people call those goals “New Years Resolutions”. I tend to avoid using that name since those “resolutions” are often closely associated with another word, “broken”.

You may want to review all of the conditions that need to occur for a promise to become a goal:
1) A goal must be specific. As a recruiter, your goal for paid fees or income for the year must be a number not a range. As a candidate/employee you may set a position as your goal. As a hiring manager, you can target performance areas or hiring goals.
2) A goal must be measurable. Remember metrics? In order to know if you are on the path to completion of your goal, you must have a way to measure the work being done to reach the goal. For instance, as a recruiter if you know it takes 200 calls to make a successful introduction of a candidate to a client, you can break that down to the daily work that needs to be done to meet your goal. As a candidate, if you know that Lee, Hecht, Harrison has measured that it takes 20 networking calls per week in order to find a new job in 3 months, you know that you must make 4 connections per day. Track your activity so you know when the Law of Averages is about to work in your favor (That’s why it is called a “Law”). Tracking your metrics also helps you improve the accuracy of your averages.
3) A goal must be challenging. This is the time to reach for new successes. If your goals do not catch your imagination, you will lose interest in them. Remember when President Kennedy challenged the US to put a man on the moon in the 1960’s (oops! Maybe some of you are too young to remember those heady years)? That goal caught our imagination, and as a country we worked towards its successful completion. No other country has done it since.
4) A goal must be realistic. Beware of conflicting goals. If you want to send a man to the moon but are not willing to spend money doing so, you have a conflicting goal. It costs money to put someone on the moon. Heck, it costs money (typically) to get to the next town. So while your goal must be challenging, it must also be attainable.
5) A goal must have a completion date. If you do not put a completion date in your goal, it is far too easy to put off doing the work to attain your goal. Then you lose interest (how many of you join a health club in January and don’t go back inside until next January? Oh, that’s one of those “resolutions” we referred to earlier).
6) Finally, a goal must be made public. By telling other people about your goal, you are committing yourself to its completion. If you are a candidate, it may not be wise to tell your manager about your intent to find a new job. Otherwise, your search may take on a new sense of urgency.

By reviewing your past year and setting new goals for this year and beyond, you become a better manager, employee, recruiter, parent, coach, etc.

Good Luck and have a Wonderfully Successful and Healthy 2007!

Do You Know When to Shut Up?

2006-12-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

How many times have you been in an interview when you asked yourself, “Is he or she Ever going to shut up?” I have seen both managers and candidates talk so much they went from successfully selling the other person to turning them off. Or have you ever found yourself in a conversation with your manager to convince them to do something differently, and then heard the manager say, “Okay I’m convinced. Don’t say any more.”

Too many times we are so busy talking that we forget to listen. One of the signs of a good sales professional is when they ask questions instead of make statements. They use all of their senses to know when the other person is ready to buy. Then they ask a closing question, shut up and listen. The first person to make a sound loses leverage.

During an interview with a sales prospect in 1995, I decided to employ the interviewing technique of asking a question and shutting up. Every time the candidate thought he was done with that question, I would nod my head and use a hand motion to continue. Don’t you know that he kept going and going for 24 minutes before realizing that he had just blown the interview? It took until this summer for someone to beat his time – another sales prospect. My client did not extend an offer to either candidate.

Once I had a client whose manager was so talkative when he found someone that he liked, he would not shut up. The poor candidate was subjected to 2 hours of his talking. If the candidate survived that, he was given an offer. No lie.

This is a problem for candidates and managers alike.

Take the time to listen to yourself when you are presenting your case. If it feels like you should be quiet, you have probably passed the time for silence.

Thanks for your suggestion, Cindy!

Focus Fridays – JD Edwards Developer Analyst

2006-12-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

This week’s "Focus Fridays" position is the JD Edwards Developer Analyst position.

My client, Trex Company, is the leader in composite wood decks, railings, and privacy fencing. The Trex product has a 25 year warrantee, never needs staining, never warps nor splinters. Wait until you see the new privacy fencing!! It will leap out of the plants!Trex Company also keeps plastic and wood fiber out of the landfills. The company buys hundreds of millions of pounds of poly (plastic shopping bags and industrial shrink wrap). Trex Company also buys hundreds of millions of pounds of wood fiber (wood chips/sawdust) that is pulverized and combined with the plastic to create its products.This position is very important because it is a new position that brings development in house. This is an XE shop and Trex is willing to train JD Edwards World and Lawson candidates. You may apply by clicking “Employment Opportunities” on the menu on the left and follow the menu – or send me your resume to me as a Word or RTF document. If you know someone who may be interested, have them reply via email to me at RecruiterGuy@msn.com.This position is a new position and is located in Winchester, VA. It reports to the ERP Manager. The job description is below. Trex Company has a wonderful relocation program.

This is a small IT organization and the Impacts that you make will be felt throughout the organization.Carry out development tasks to the highest quality standards, including: Coding & Documentation Unit & System testing New releases Analyze functional requirements, identify options for meeting technical solutions and recommend a course of action. Provide technical support to resolving day-to-day production problems and questions. Integrate third party software to Enterprise One as required. Act as consultant and/or team lead for projects requiring technical expertise. Plan and record effort for projects and enhancements.
Requirements:

5 years recent technical experience in JD Edwards's distribution, manufacturing, and financial applications. JD Edwards Enterprise One development tools including Enterprise Report Writer, Forms Development, Object Management Workbench, Business Functions, and Interoperability. Experience with Microsoft development tools including Visual C++ and SQL Server 2000. Comfortable with programming and modifying JDE C Business Functions. Complete familiarity with Event Rule Process Flow for all Form Types/UBE Sections. Highly experienced with Event Rule Debugger and Visual C++ Debugger. Be capable of advising and contributing to development standards and documentation. Bachelor's degree in Information Systems or comparable degree and experience combination.

Location
Winchester , VA

Minimum Experience (yrs):
7

College Students - Where Are You Interning Next Summer?

2006-12-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Summer seems a long way off. Many students are in the middle of this semesters final exams. The Holidays are almost here. In the Northern Hemisphere, we are facing the beginning of Winter; and RecruiterGuy is talking about summer internships.

Consider this – many of the prime internships for next summer may already be taken. The companies that use internships to attract the best and the brightest students look for them year round. The first contact may be a simple “Be sure to contact me in December or January to discuss the internship.” This initial contact may have taken place during the Fall College Job Fairs that hopefully all of you attended.

What is the value of internships? It depends on what side of the table you sit.

As a student, you have so many career choices. How do you determine what you are going to do after college? One good way is to target an internship with a company or industry that currently interests you. Research the companies. Look at their website. What are they saying in their press releases and investor relations pages? Do their career pages say anything about internships? Do you know someone who already works there? What do they say? Are there any alumni from previous classes who work there? Your alumni office can tell you if any alumni work there and possibly put you in touch with them. If a company has a particularly good experience with students from one school, they will come back. Conversely, if the experience is poor, you will have to do a lot more selling!

During an internship you may find that your career choice is not what you wanted after all. Isn’t it better to discover that early, rather then waiting until after graduation? It will give you an opportunity to explore another internship the following summer. No internship is wasted. Everything that you do becomes part of your experience. Companies like to see College graduates who have worked successfully in a professional setting.

An Engineering Manager that I supported at Rockwell Collins once said to me, “Give me an engineering student with a GPA 3.3 who worked part time in his/her area of interest while in college over a student with a GPA 4.0 who did not work. If they do not work, their full time job is school and I expect the 4.0.”

How do you find internships? The best way is to use your creative juices to find them. Sometimes they are tucked away within small start up companies that do not have a lot of money yet to market their internships. Sometimes they are in structured programs within large companies. Talk with upper classmen/recent graduates within your major to see where they interned. Ask for contact information from them. Talk with your Career Development advisors. Talk with your parents (What a Concept!) to see if they know anyone within the companies that you have targeted.

Why should companies want to bring interns into their business? It gives them the opportunity to “Try out” new employees before making a long term commitment to them. If the work is interesting, the interns will want to work there. Therefore the recruitment process is easier for both sides.

Your younger competition for internships is getting stronger. I am on the advisory board of the Workplace Learning Connection (www.workplace-learning.org) in Eastern Iowa. This organization sets up job shadows and internships for High School students with companies in Eastern Iowa. These High School students are touting the advantages of an internship. Can you imagine how aggressively they will seek internships in college?

Make your life happen. Don’t allow life to happen to you!

Focus Fridays - JD Edwards Manufacturing Project Manager

2006-12-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

This week’s "Focus Fridays" position is the JD Edwards Manufacturing Project Manager position.

My client, Trex Company, is the leader in composite wood decks, railings, and privacy fencing. The Trex product has a 25 year warrantee, never needs staining, never warps nor splinters. Wait until you see the new privacy fencing!! It will leap out of the plants!

Trex Company also keeps plastic and wood fiber out of the landfills. The company buys hundreds of millions of pounds of poly (plastic shopping bags and industrial shrink wrap). Trex Company also buys hundreds of millions of pounds of wood fiber (wood chips/sawdust) that is pulverized and combined with the plastic to create its products.

This position is very important because it is a new project management position that brings formal project management in-house. This is an XE shop and Trex is willing to train JD Edwards World and Lawson candidates.

You may apply by clicking “Employment Opportunities” on the menu on the left and follow the menu – or send me your resume to me as a Word or RTF document. If you know someone who may be interested, have them reply via email to me at RecruiterGuy@msn . This position is a replacement position for someone who was promoted and is located in Winchester, VA. It reports to the ERP Manager. The job description is below. Trex Company has a wonderful relocation program.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the daily technical management of present and future JD Edwards Enterprise Resource Planning Manufacturing and JD Edwards Enterprise Resource Planning Manufacturing related Enterprise Business Systems, such as Inventory and Distribution, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Process Reporting (COGNOS) and Automatic Data Collection.Specific duties include:Responsible for the daily support of JD Edwards MRP and MPS systems to include maintenance and configuration management Ensure data integrity of Manufacturing Enterprise Systems to include inventory and distribution data Act as Technical Lead in Information Technology projects to include Enterprise Resource Planning, Supply Chain Management and Automated Data Collection Perform manufacturing and related systems requirements analysis for Information Technology.

Requirements:

B.S. in Information Technology or B.S. in manufacturing related role
Minimum of 8 years experience in a Manufacturing Process related role
Minimum of 4 years experience supporting manufacturing (MRP/MPS) related business critical Enterprise Resource Planning applications (JD Edwards)
Minimum of 5 years of JD Edwards Project Management Experience

Hiring Managers – Just How Important is the Dreaded Job Description?

2006-12-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that most Hiring Managers dread developing a job description for an open position in their department. “Just get it from HR” is the normal response when I ask for it.

Unfortunately that is exactly the wrong response. Remember my second post – “The Best Qualified Candidate Rarely Gets Hired”? Another reason for the poor selection of employees is that the manager and interviewing team are not looking for the correct candidate skills to be successful.

Think of your work team as a sports team. What do Championship Teams do well? The fundamentals. Another analogy is building a house. If your footings are not square, your walls will not be square.

A good job description is the foundation of every point of the recruiting process. Therefore beginning the recruitment process by doing the proper due diligence on the job description is absolutely required.

It is always a good idea to list all of the day to day functions of the position. This part of the process helps you decide if the position should evolve into a higher or lower position than what you originally had.

You may decide that the position requirements no longer require certain skills because of automation. On the other hand, automation of duties may actually give you an opportunity to hire a more strategic individual. Until you take the time to truly understand where that position is evolving, it is difficult at best to determine the skills necessary to be successful.

Once you list the day to day (tactical) functions, list the skills necessary to perform those skills. Now decide which skills are critical to the successful completion of those functions. Some skills are “nice to have”.

Now list the strategic functions of the job. They could include special projects that you may want that person to complete over a year. List the skills necessary to be successful in the completion of the strategic functions. Again, which skills are critical and which are “nice to have”. Obviously some skills may overlap depending on the position.

Is this a people management position? If so, what management duties are tactical and what duties are strategic? What Management skills are critical and what are nice to have?

Can you see how all of this information can help you grade the position and better determine whether someone is a good fit?

Of course some of you are already doing these types of due diligence but would like something to help tie everything together.

Here is a suggestion that I have been making to Hiring Managers for quite a few years now. Determine and list the 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month goals for the position. Now the skills required to be successful in the first year should become crystal clear for everyone on the interviewing team. This gives you something that may be better measured than a gut check.

The added advantage is that these goals give you and the new employee discussion points to discuss every time you meet during the critical first year. For instance, “How are you doing on your 3 month goals? Do you need any assistance from me?” At the end of the year, there will not be any surprises on either side during the annual review.

Finally, when you make a great hire, you develop a nice bounce to your step. Things move smoothly and you will be promoted. If you make a poor hire, what does it cost you and the company? Possibly more than you ever dreamed.

Which do you want? Isn’t developing a solid job description worth it?