Improving the effectiveness of your sourcing organization
The following are some learnings around how to make your sourcing more effective, especially if varying levels of experience exist within the team.
Understanding the fit: You may be reading this and go "no kidding", but the reality is this step is commonly skipped over in the process. Understanding the fit has to do with a solid working knowledge of the industry, the business group supported and how the role fits into what that leader is trying to accomplish. Where this usually breaks down is in one of the following areas:
If the sourcer is working through the recruiter, there is an expectation that the recruiter will ask all of the right questions when meeting with the hiring manager.
If the sourcer/ recruiter meets with the hiring manager and there is a lack of preparation coming into the meeting. This includes the sourcer / recruiter not presenting industry knowledge and using the meeting time to validate assumptions around expectations.
If the Recruiter is the Sourcer, the focus is more on the skills, versus the business goals the hiring manager is trying to accomplish. As a result, the recruiter finds the right skilled person, but the applications of the skills are misaligned.
Solutions: The key is planning, planning and communication. Assume nothing and talk about everything. Wikipedia.org can be a super tool when seeking to understand an industry, a position, a skill set. Interestingly enough, wikipedia if leveraged appropriately provides some good data points that can be used during a hiring manager discussion.
Secondly, have all of your recruiters / sourcers go in prepared to a hiring manager discussion. Again you might say no kidding, but 9 times out of 10 it does not happen, unless it is an Executive Search. Prepared means one or more of the following: Understand the industry; Have a prior discussion with the HR Gen of that business unit to understand any nuances that may positively / negatively impact the search efforts; Look on Linkedin, Spoke and your own ATS system to bring some profiles to calibrate against. People are visual, if you give them something to look at and respond to, you are more likely to get closer to the desired outcome at the very beginning of the search effort.
Duplication of Effort: Recruiters workloads are not getting any lighter, so therefore it is easy for individuals to go to the path of least resistance. However this path, especially if multiple people or vendors are assisting can be costly and unproductive. At SourceCon, Rob McIntosh presented a sourcing channel checklist. He broke this checklist into roles and activities. I took this channel sheet back to my organization, as well as peers, and began to ask questions, here is what I found:
Recruiting and sourcing teams that do not work from a plan perform duplicate work efforts. This lack of planning typically results in overlap when searching resume databases, contacting the same resources or networking through the various social networking sites
Continue to manage from the plan. Use the plan as a management tool to understand how the recruiting team is using each of the sources.
Don't pay sourcing vendors to do the same work performed internally. Face it, recruiters like the job boards. If you are using a resume mining and screening vendor, so do they. Pick one..
Not all sources generate results, so stop using the source and move on. Time is not a commodity in the recruiting business. Leverage your ATS data to begin understanding how your organization fills a particular type of role best and build from there.
Solutions: I truly believe that duplication of effort is something that requires constant monitoring. Now with that being said, I would also recommend the following:
Create the channel plan.
Create a channel plan that supports the sourcing strategy. A high volume, low complexity, localized plan will look very different from a high complexity, low volume, national search. Know what it takes to execute both and build a quick project plan to maximize time and resources.
Keyword Sets: Create sets of keywords that can also be divided by channel.
Manage to the sourcing plan. Conduct a review with the team on their activities and the results generated. Immediately seize activities on sources that are not generating the desired results and get the team to move on.
Prioritization: Not all sources generate results. Not all of the easiest sources will generate the results for the position that is being searched for. The concept of What source will generate the best results first requires sourcing knowledge, industry experience and reviewing the metrics to better understand what works inside your organization Activity for activity sake, still does not result in a hire. This only causes ill will, especially if there is segmentation between the recruiters and the sourcing team.
Solutions:
High Volume / Low Complexity: These are processing related sourcing plans. This requires activities that may leverage recruitment marketing, resume mining, job posting, radio advertisement, creative employee referral campaigns and drip market efforts leveraging contacts within the ATS. This plan may require the assistance of a resume mining vendor, an experienced sourcer/ recruiter as well as some good recruiting administrators. Each have there own role in getting the desired outcome accomplished. Know what works to execute a plan.
Low Volume / High Complexity: These are more strategic sourcing plans. This will include market research, competitive intelligence, employee referrals, cold calling and industry networking. Depending upon the type of role will determine which of these activities goes first.
The reality is, prioritization of a sourcing strategy may require someone who can serve as the organization's sourcing strategist. This person must be able to turn around a project execution plan quickly and articulate clear directions to multiple stakeholders in the process. This person must be a data jockey, who can pull reports from the ATS and leverage data to identify those activities which have a higher possibility of generating results first and baking this into the plan.
Showing posts with label Talent Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Talent Management. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Best Practices for Screening Candidates
Only one thing is certain about the procedure of screening and interviewing candidates: the huge variation in processes. But, through the years there is one that we have found to be fair, thorough (while being fairly quick), involves the right people, and (most importantly) the end decision will be one that both the company and the new hire are highly likely to be happy with.
What follows are our best practices for screening candidates.
1. Define the interview process.
Who will give input, who will be involved in the interviews, where will they be, and what are the criteria for selecting a successful candidate?
2. Develop good job and person specification.
This has the advantage that everyone knows what this person will be doing and key people in the company can give their input - with the added bonus that this can also be used for assessing performance in the future. For the person specification, are you looking for leaders or followers, someone who is inspired or inspiring?
3. Create a set list of interview questions.
Be fair on the candidates and don't leave important questions to chance. Get input from colleagues as well.
4. Conduct a first round interview.
Do a first-round interview with the hiring manager (or HR representative or consultant) to shortlist who will move on to the next step.
5. Include verbal and numerical reasoning tests and consider other psychometric tests.
These are quick, inexpensive, and can be done online. Unsuitable candidates can be objectively and consistently screened out earlier in the recruitment process. You may also want to include other psychometric tests, for instance an online Occupational Personality test. These will help you to identify for instance natural sales people or strong finishers.
6. Invite successful candidates back for a second interview.
Make sure that the right people are involved: the hiring manager if they have not been involved before, typically at least one senior manager, and one or more peers.
This doesn't just add to the comfort-factor and a democratic selection method, it also means that the people who have given their thumbs up for the candidate will be supportive of him and her in the future (as it is in human nature that none of us likes to be wrong).
This is a great opportunity to discuss the result of the online tests, and also any relevant, work-related tests.
7. Make your informed choice!
What follows are our best practices for screening candidates.
1. Define the interview process.
Who will give input, who will be involved in the interviews, where will they be, and what are the criteria for selecting a successful candidate?
2. Develop good job and person specification.
This has the advantage that everyone knows what this person will be doing and key people in the company can give their input - with the added bonus that this can also be used for assessing performance in the future. For the person specification, are you looking for leaders or followers, someone who is inspired or inspiring?
3. Create a set list of interview questions.
Be fair on the candidates and don't leave important questions to chance. Get input from colleagues as well.
4. Conduct a first round interview.
Do a first-round interview with the hiring manager (or HR representative or consultant) to shortlist who will move on to the next step.
5. Include verbal and numerical reasoning tests and consider other psychometric tests.
These are quick, inexpensive, and can be done online. Unsuitable candidates can be objectively and consistently screened out earlier in the recruitment process. You may also want to include other psychometric tests, for instance an online Occupational Personality test. These will help you to identify for instance natural sales people or strong finishers.
6. Invite successful candidates back for a second interview.
Make sure that the right people are involved: the hiring manager if they have not been involved before, typically at least one senior manager, and one or more peers.
This doesn't just add to the comfort-factor and a democratic selection method, it also means that the people who have given their thumbs up for the candidate will be supportive of him and her in the future (as it is in human nature that none of us likes to be wrong).
This is a great opportunity to discuss the result of the online tests, and also any relevant, work-related tests.
7. Make your informed choice!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Bring Talent to Your Team this New Year....
One of the most basic elements of teamwork is this: Be good at what you do.
Teams need talent. The more of it you bring to the group, the more you can contribute. Build your skills, and, in a very real sense, you are building the team.
You can't have a high-powered team with low-talent people. And sometimes the weakest link in the chain sets the limit on what the group as a whole can achieve.
So keep stretching. Polish your skills and perfect your moves. Master the fundamentals of your job.
Strive for continuous improvement—the Japanese call it kaizen—so the team never stops growing. Keep getting better at your craft, and you can do more to help the team chalk up higher scores. Any time you level off in your learning, the potential of the overall group flattens out a little more. And teamwork always takes a hit whenever people start to lose their touch.
Also keep this in mind—unless you're competent, people really can't afford to count on you. You're best positioned to build a high trust level in the group when you bring talent. Individual ability.
Give teammates good reasons to believe in you. Keep getting better at what you do.
Have the Best Team and a New Year 2010!!!
Abhinav....
Teams need talent. The more of it you bring to the group, the more you can contribute. Build your skills, and, in a very real sense, you are building the team.
You can't have a high-powered team with low-talent people. And sometimes the weakest link in the chain sets the limit on what the group as a whole can achieve.
So keep stretching. Polish your skills and perfect your moves. Master the fundamentals of your job.
Strive for continuous improvement—the Japanese call it kaizen—so the team never stops growing. Keep getting better at your craft, and you can do more to help the team chalk up higher scores. Any time you level off in your learning, the potential of the overall group flattens out a little more. And teamwork always takes a hit whenever people start to lose their touch.
Also keep this in mind—unless you're competent, people really can't afford to count on you. You're best positioned to build a high trust level in the group when you bring talent. Individual ability.
Give teammates good reasons to believe in you. Keep getting better at what you do.
Have the Best Team and a New Year 2010!!!
Abhinav....
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Recruiter 10-Factor Evaluation
# 1: Delivers Result
- Consistently fills most jobs on time, often with top people. Responsible –
Recruiters must be able to hit their numbers. This means consistently filling all of the reqs assigned to them month-after-month. If the backlog is increasing you have a problem. You can’t be passive.
# 2: Knows the Job
- Has solid understand of real job needs. Confident. Gets clarification –
Good recruiters must know the job, and not rely on the Job Description. Recruiters need to know what the person holding the job needs to do to be considered successful. Otherwise, you’re just guessing and box checking.
# 3: Finds best active candidate
- Strong with basic systems and uses a variety of other good techniques –
Recruiters must be able to find the best active candidates quickly. This means writing great ads, knowing what boards to use, and using all of the latest searching tools to mine through resumes quickly and accurately.
# 4: Finds best less active and passive candidates
- Always obtained good candidates through referrals. Assertive –
If you’re only sourcing candidates, you’re not really a recruiter. Recruiters must be able to build instant networks of top people and convince them to consider your jobs even when they say “no”.
# 5: Manages the process
- Can manage multiple assignments using a variety of tools. Well organized –
Recruiters have too much to do and things always go wrong. Managing all of these issues is a critical skill. Hiring one person is tough enough. Keeping everything moving while staying on top of it all is the essence of an exceptional recruiter.
# 6: Knows the market
- Quite knowledgeable about industry, trends and employment issues –
Recruiters must be on top of all of the issues in their area of expertise. This means knowing compensation ranges, the best places to find top people, and what’s happening in their industry. This is how you convince candidates and clients you’re an expert.
# 7: Influences the hiring decision
- Adds much value. Understands candidates and job needs. Respected –
Recruiters must exert influence on their hiring manager clients at every stage. This means haggling about job requirements, candidate competency, and how to negotiate offers. The best recruiters are involved at each step in the hiring process and push their candidates forward despite differences.
# 8: Influences candidates throughout process
- Provides good advice and is seen by candidate as advocate. Influences –
The best people always have other opportunities. Keeping them involved and interested in your job is the core of recruiting. This means knowing the job and presenting a persuasive case as to why offers should be accepted even if they don’t meet salary expectations.
# 9: Conducts professional and accurate interview
- Uses multiple tools to assess. Solid skills. Pretty accurate. Input valued –
Recruiters must be thorough and competent assessors of talent. This means knowing what questions to ask, interpreting the results correctly, and defending your candidate to the hiring team. You know you’re at the top of your game when you lead panel interviews and the debriefing session.
# 10: Works with the team
- Works well with team to improve process. Takes initiative to help others –
Forget the Lone Ranger stuff. In a corporate environment recruiters must work with a wide variety of people, some not so great. Influencing their decisions and keeping the process moving forward is what teamwork and cooperation is all about.
- Consistently fills most jobs on time, often with top people. Responsible –
Recruiters must be able to hit their numbers. This means consistently filling all of the reqs assigned to them month-after-month. If the backlog is increasing you have a problem. You can’t be passive.
# 2: Knows the Job
- Has solid understand of real job needs. Confident. Gets clarification –
Good recruiters must know the job, and not rely on the Job Description. Recruiters need to know what the person holding the job needs to do to be considered successful. Otherwise, you’re just guessing and box checking.
# 3: Finds best active candidate
- Strong with basic systems and uses a variety of other good techniques –
Recruiters must be able to find the best active candidates quickly. This means writing great ads, knowing what boards to use, and using all of the latest searching tools to mine through resumes quickly and accurately.
# 4: Finds best less active and passive candidates
- Always obtained good candidates through referrals. Assertive –
If you’re only sourcing candidates, you’re not really a recruiter. Recruiters must be able to build instant networks of top people and convince them to consider your jobs even when they say “no”.
# 5: Manages the process
- Can manage multiple assignments using a variety of tools. Well organized –
Recruiters have too much to do and things always go wrong. Managing all of these issues is a critical skill. Hiring one person is tough enough. Keeping everything moving while staying on top of it all is the essence of an exceptional recruiter.
# 6: Knows the market
- Quite knowledgeable about industry, trends and employment issues –
Recruiters must be on top of all of the issues in their area of expertise. This means knowing compensation ranges, the best places to find top people, and what’s happening in their industry. This is how you convince candidates and clients you’re an expert.
# 7: Influences the hiring decision
- Adds much value. Understands candidates and job needs. Respected –
Recruiters must exert influence on their hiring manager clients at every stage. This means haggling about job requirements, candidate competency, and how to negotiate offers. The best recruiters are involved at each step in the hiring process and push their candidates forward despite differences.
# 8: Influences candidates throughout process
- Provides good advice and is seen by candidate as advocate. Influences –
The best people always have other opportunities. Keeping them involved and interested in your job is the core of recruiting. This means knowing the job and presenting a persuasive case as to why offers should be accepted even if they don’t meet salary expectations.
# 9: Conducts professional and accurate interview
- Uses multiple tools to assess. Solid skills. Pretty accurate. Input valued –
Recruiters must be thorough and competent assessors of talent. This means knowing what questions to ask, interpreting the results correctly, and defending your candidate to the hiring team. You know you’re at the top of your game when you lead panel interviews and the debriefing session.
# 10: Works with the team
- Works well with team to improve process. Takes initiative to help others –
Forget the Lone Ranger stuff. In a corporate environment recruiters must work with a wide variety of people, some not so great. Influencing their decisions and keeping the process moving forward is what teamwork and cooperation is all about.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
10 careers that make employers look for you in 2009
10 careers that make employers look for you in 2009:
If you think looking for a job and finding a career are the same thing, think again. With the US unemployment rate under 5%, almost anybody can find a job.
The bad news is that many of these jobs are low-paying, come without benefits, or offer little in the way of security.
Finding a career where you have the upper hand takes a little more long-term planning than simply finding a job, but it will be well worth in the long run.
These ten careers--in four major job sectors--are likely to be rewarding because employees in these fields are expected to find themselves in an employee's market.
Healthcare workers are in high demand
Healthcare
For better or worse, you can't fight demographics, and those demographics show that the average American is getting older. Healthcare needs increase with age, so as the baby-boom generation enters retirement, healthcare workers are going to be in more demand than ever.
Personal/Home Health Aide:
As people age, healthcare becomes more of a day-to-day issue, which is why personal/home health aides are in such demand. Health aid training will give you enough background to get started in this field.
"Demand for medical assistance is gradually growing!"
Medical Assistants:
Demand for this occupation is growing, but so is the demand for formal training. You'd want to take some medical assisting courses in school--or even consider a medical assisting degree.
Psychologists are always in demand
Mental Health Counselors/Social Workers:
The psychological aspect of healthcare cannot be overlooked. Consistent with the theme of an aging America, Alzheimer's disease is creating more and more mental health challenges, but there are also conditions such as autism which are becoming more common in the general population.
Psychology programs are offered in many schools, and online psychology degrees are also available.
Programmers in IT sector
Information Technology
The big concern with information technology (IT) has been that some programming and customer support functions have been outsourced overseas. However, certain IT functions are more hands-on, and these are the areas where trained workers remain in demand.
Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts:
Mastery of the computer system makes you indispensable to an organization. This takes a high level of training, so a degree in information technology is a must. Experience plus training is even better, so if you are already working, consider earning an IT degree online.
Computer engineers are always in demand
Computer Software Applications Engineers:
Routine programming can be outsourced, but there will never be any substitute for the ability to create new, value-added applications.
A computer programming degree is a good start, or go online to check out other types of computer science degrees.
Teaching is the best option!
Education:
Teaching is another career that is hands-on enough to be immune to outsourcing.
Teacher:
Dedicated teachers are in demand in virtually every part of the country, and with the general population growing, this demand is not going to wane any time soon. You will need a degree in education, and an online teaching degree is one way of meeting this requirement. You'll need teacher's certification as well, so check your state department of education website.
Legal Assitants job is always secure!
Professional Services
The nature of these services is highly-individualized, which is one of the reasons trained professionals are in demand.
Paralegal/Legal Assistant:
These occupations are in demand because they can leverage the time of high-priced lawyers.
There are paralegal schools across the country and online where you can pursue a paralegal degree or legal assisting training.
Auditors job can always be safe!
Financial Services
The heart of the baby boom is entering its peak savings years. Careers in finance can be highly compensated, so an MBA in finance may be well worth the investment. An online finance degree can be a way to give your current career a new boost.
Accountants and Auditors:
These have some of the same characteristics as financial services careers. Training can be found at a variety of accounting schools, or consider an online accounting degree. Specialize in taxes or estate planning or fraud to attract even bigger opportunities.
Be an HR professional
With all the job demand described above, it should be no surprise that this is expected to be the fastest growing segment of the professional and business services sector. Plus, what better way to keep track of evolving employment trends than working as a recruiter or placement specialist? Consider earning a human resource management degree either online or at a traditional school.
As always, check out the relevant accreditation standards for any career training and educational program you choose. As for making that choice, the bottom line is, if you want a job where you'll be in demand, just look at society's trends and follow those trends toward your new career.
If you think looking for a job and finding a career are the same thing, think again. With the US unemployment rate under 5%, almost anybody can find a job.
The bad news is that many of these jobs are low-paying, come without benefits, or offer little in the way of security.
Finding a career where you have the upper hand takes a little more long-term planning than simply finding a job, but it will be well worth in the long run.
These ten careers--in four major job sectors--are likely to be rewarding because employees in these fields are expected to find themselves in an employee's market.
Healthcare workers are in high demand
Healthcare
For better or worse, you can't fight demographics, and those demographics show that the average American is getting older. Healthcare needs increase with age, so as the baby-boom generation enters retirement, healthcare workers are going to be in more demand than ever.
Personal/Home Health Aide:
As people age, healthcare becomes more of a day-to-day issue, which is why personal/home health aides are in such demand. Health aid training will give you enough background to get started in this field.
"Demand for medical assistance is gradually growing!"
Medical Assistants:
Demand for this occupation is growing, but so is the demand for formal training. You'd want to take some medical assisting courses in school--or even consider a medical assisting degree.
Psychologists are always in demand
Mental Health Counselors/Social Workers:
The psychological aspect of healthcare cannot be overlooked. Consistent with the theme of an aging America, Alzheimer's disease is creating more and more mental health challenges, but there are also conditions such as autism which are becoming more common in the general population.
Psychology programs are offered in many schools, and online psychology degrees are also available.
Programmers in IT sector
Information Technology
The big concern with information technology (IT) has been that some programming and customer support functions have been outsourced overseas. However, certain IT functions are more hands-on, and these are the areas where trained workers remain in demand.
Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts:
Mastery of the computer system makes you indispensable to an organization. This takes a high level of training, so a degree in information technology is a must. Experience plus training is even better, so if you are already working, consider earning an IT degree online.
Computer engineers are always in demand
Computer Software Applications Engineers:
Routine programming can be outsourced, but there will never be any substitute for the ability to create new, value-added applications.
A computer programming degree is a good start, or go online to check out other types of computer science degrees.
Teaching is the best option!
Education:
Teaching is another career that is hands-on enough to be immune to outsourcing.
Teacher:
Dedicated teachers are in demand in virtually every part of the country, and with the general population growing, this demand is not going to wane any time soon. You will need a degree in education, and an online teaching degree is one way of meeting this requirement. You'll need teacher's certification as well, so check your state department of education website.
Legal Assitants job is always secure!
Professional Services
The nature of these services is highly-individualized, which is one of the reasons trained professionals are in demand.
Paralegal/Legal Assistant:
These occupations are in demand because they can leverage the time of high-priced lawyers.
There are paralegal schools across the country and online where you can pursue a paralegal degree or legal assisting training.
Auditors job can always be safe!
Financial Services
The heart of the baby boom is entering its peak savings years. Careers in finance can be highly compensated, so an MBA in finance may be well worth the investment. An online finance degree can be a way to give your current career a new boost.
Accountants and Auditors:
These have some of the same characteristics as financial services careers. Training can be found at a variety of accounting schools, or consider an online accounting degree. Specialize in taxes or estate planning or fraud to attract even bigger opportunities.
Be an HR professional
With all the job demand described above, it should be no surprise that this is expected to be the fastest growing segment of the professional and business services sector. Plus, what better way to keep track of evolving employment trends than working as a recruiter or placement specialist? Consider earning a human resource management degree either online or at a traditional school.
As always, check out the relevant accreditation standards for any career training and educational program you choose. As for making that choice, the bottom line is, if you want a job where you'll be in demand, just look at society's trends and follow those trends toward your new career.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Know Why Recruiters Are Worth What They Charge !!
>>>
“When I need a heart by-pass, rest assured that I won’t select my surgeon on the basis of what he charges.”
That’s what an ailing executive recently opined when he was informed by his doctor about his arterial blockage problems.
Why then are corporate executives so tightfisted when dealing with what is so commonly thought of as the “heartbeat” of their companies . . . top-talent?
Companies think very little about paying the often excessive fees charged by their outside accounting and legal firms . . . or even to the gaggle of consultants who promise cost-cutting and streamlining miracles in other areas of operations.
Yet, when faced with brain drains, talent deficiencies or the need to replace one employee with a better one, their thoughts too often turn to parsimony. This K-mart mentality belies and contradicts their stated objectives to “hire the best,” especially at pecking order levels below the “big picture” executive suite inhabitants.
Of course recruiting fees can vary from firm to firm but, when they do, you will almost always find that those on the low side are sure to exclude some very key ingredients of the process, all of which are vital to providing the indispensable services necessary to satisfy the needs of the employer.
So why are recruiters worth what they charge? Just a few of the often unspoken reasons are:
Expertise - Nobody knows the employment marketplace better than a professional recruiter . . . nobody! In-house human resourcers, no matter how effective, view the marketplace through an imperfect or misrepresentative prism and tunnel vision is their occupational hazard.
Just as physicians are cautioned against treating members of their own families, so too is it folly for an in-house H/R professional to believe that they have an undistorted and unbiased picture of the employment landscape. They are vulnerable to the pressures of internal politics and cultural dimensions which do not hinder the outsider.
Street-smart recruiters already know the neighborhood, including the unlisted addresses so often overlooked by the insiders.
Cast a wider net - A professional fisherman will always have more to show than a weekend angler. Recruiters are in the marketplace day in and day out. They know the unfished coves, reefs and inlets that are unknown to others. The job-hunter bookshelves are filled with lore about the “hidden job market.” The same holds true for professional recruiters who have a detailed roadmap to the hidden talent sources which will never be accessed by newspaper ads, alumni associations, applicant databases, job boards or any of the other more familiar sources of people.
There are occasional pearls through these sources (and someone inevitably wins the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes too) but you have to shuck an awful lot of smelly oysters to find them. Recruiters only give you oysters proven to contain pearls. Your only job is to determine which pearl is the best.
Want to catch what you’re fishing for? Hire a guide!
Cost - There is a misconception among employers that the cost of a hire equals the cost of the ads or Internet postings run to attract the person hired. Nothing could be further from reality.
Try adding these to the true cost and you’ll see just how cost effective an outside recruiter can be:
Salaries and benefits of the employment/recruiting staffs plus those of the line managers involved in the hiring activity (who are not productive in their normal job pursuits when they’re out recruiting); travel, lodging and entertainment expenses of in-house recruiters; source development costs; overhead expenses including but not limited to telephone, office space, postage, PR literature, applicant database maintenance, reference checking, clerical costs to correspond with the hundreds of unqualified respondents, etc.
Unbiased third party input - Contrary to what some believe, recruiters don’t try to put square pegs into round holes. A recruiter’s stock-in-trade is their integrity and their reputation for finding someone better than a company could have found for themselves.
For a mid to senior-level executive, the average recruiter may develop a “long list” of a hundred or more possibilities. Each must be called and evaluated against the position specifications as well as the personality “fit” with the company and the people with whom they will ultimately work. Once this is winnowed down to the “short list,” an even more intensive interviewing process begins to narrow the search to a panel of finalists for review by the client.
This process is not, as some believe, simply romping through the file cabinets, harvesting from the Monster lookalikes or putting the job opening out to others on the recruiter’s network with crossed fingers that someone good will show up.
It is highly unlikely that a professional recruiter will be plowing new ground with your opening. They deal within spheres of influence far more familiar with your needs than any internal recruiter and, more often than not, view the finalists as people who are competent to solve client problems rather than just fill an open slot in the organizational chart.
Because they want to do business with you again and again, they are looking for (and challenging you to excellence by hiring) the “truly exceptional” rather than the “just satisfactory” so often settled for by in-house hirers.
Confidentiality - Advertising or otherwise publicly proclaiming an opening, aside from its cost and demonstrated ineffectiveness for sensitive senior level openings, often creates anxiety and apprehension among the advertiser’s current employees who wonder why they aren’t being considered or worry about newcomer transition problems. Just as often it alerts competitors to a current weakness or void within the company.
Speed - The recruiting process is always faster through a search professional who is continually tapped into the talent marketplace than one having to start the process from scratch. For every day that a key opening remains unfilled, a company’s other employees must grudgingly do double duty. And this doesn’t factor in the profit opportunities or competitive advantages lost to a company because a position remains unfilled or is done on a part-time basis by others less qualified.
Post-Hire Downtime - Not only is speed an essential part of the professional recruiter’s process, the ability to locate a person who can immediately “hit the ground running” with a minimum of “ramp-up time” saves time after the hire. All too often, a hire selected through less effective sources offering a smaller talent pool requires several months of expensive training and orientation.
Reality - Professional recruiters often recognize and have a duty to inform clients that they may be mistaken as to the type of person sought, the salary required to attract them or the possibilities that the solution might just lie in areas outside the traditional target industries . . . something an internal recruiter is politically disinclined to do. Too many hirers fail to understand that a professional recruiter’s primary function is not necessary to fill a slot but to provide the right candidate to solve a problem.
Negotiation - As Master negotiator Herb Cohen had says that, “negotiation is the analysis of information, time and power to affect behavior . . . the meeting of needs (yours and others’) to make things happen the way you want them to.” As a buffer and informed intermediary, the professional recruiter is better able to blend the needs and wants of both parties to arrive at a mutually beneficial arrangement without the polarizing roadblocks which too frequently materialize in face-to-face dealings.
Prioritizing company resources - It is often amazing to see how much of a company’s revenues are squandered on non-productive perks for existing high-level employees while they penny-pinch on what is every company’s lifeblood . . . talent acquisition.
Club memberships and the like may be fine, but no one with an IQ higher than Forrest Gump’s believes that these expenditures substantially contribute to a company’s profit margin. But one well-placed employee can be the cause of a company’s profits skyrocketing. And the fee for having hired these people pales to insignificance when compared to the contributions they make to the bottom line.
The next time you think a recruiter’s fees are too high, put them in the proper perspective before asking for that Blue Light special or spinning your wheels thrashing about trying to fill vital openings with less effective (but not necessarily less expensive) pedestrian methods. Savvy executives learned long ago that the fee paid to a recruiter is a shrewd strategic investment, not an extraneous expense. They also know that the “best” is far different from the “best available.”
Once you have a handle on these ?closes’ you’ll have a much better chance of turning a prospect into a paying client.
Courtesy: Fordyce Letter
I find this wonderful article (by Paul Hawkinson) and thought to share it with u all.
Thanks!!!
“When I need a heart by-pass, rest assured that I won’t select my surgeon on the basis of what he charges.”
That’s what an ailing executive recently opined when he was informed by his doctor about his arterial blockage problems.
Why then are corporate executives so tightfisted when dealing with what is so commonly thought of as the “heartbeat” of their companies . . . top-talent?
Companies think very little about paying the often excessive fees charged by their outside accounting and legal firms . . . or even to the gaggle of consultants who promise cost-cutting and streamlining miracles in other areas of operations.
Yet, when faced with brain drains, talent deficiencies or the need to replace one employee with a better one, their thoughts too often turn to parsimony. This K-mart mentality belies and contradicts their stated objectives to “hire the best,” especially at pecking order levels below the “big picture” executive suite inhabitants.
Of course recruiting fees can vary from firm to firm but, when they do, you will almost always find that those on the low side are sure to exclude some very key ingredients of the process, all of which are vital to providing the indispensable services necessary to satisfy the needs of the employer.
So why are recruiters worth what they charge? Just a few of the often unspoken reasons are:
Expertise - Nobody knows the employment marketplace better than a professional recruiter . . . nobody! In-house human resourcers, no matter how effective, view the marketplace through an imperfect or misrepresentative prism and tunnel vision is their occupational hazard.
Just as physicians are cautioned against treating members of their own families, so too is it folly for an in-house H/R professional to believe that they have an undistorted and unbiased picture of the employment landscape. They are vulnerable to the pressures of internal politics and cultural dimensions which do not hinder the outsider.
Street-smart recruiters already know the neighborhood, including the unlisted addresses so often overlooked by the insiders.
Cast a wider net - A professional fisherman will always have more to show than a weekend angler. Recruiters are in the marketplace day in and day out. They know the unfished coves, reefs and inlets that are unknown to others. The job-hunter bookshelves are filled with lore about the “hidden job market.” The same holds true for professional recruiters who have a detailed roadmap to the hidden talent sources which will never be accessed by newspaper ads, alumni associations, applicant databases, job boards or any of the other more familiar sources of people.
There are occasional pearls through these sources (and someone inevitably wins the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes too) but you have to shuck an awful lot of smelly oysters to find them. Recruiters only give you oysters proven to contain pearls. Your only job is to determine which pearl is the best.
Want to catch what you’re fishing for? Hire a guide!
Cost - There is a misconception among employers that the cost of a hire equals the cost of the ads or Internet postings run to attract the person hired. Nothing could be further from reality.
Try adding these to the true cost and you’ll see just how cost effective an outside recruiter can be:
Salaries and benefits of the employment/recruiting staffs plus those of the line managers involved in the hiring activity (who are not productive in their normal job pursuits when they’re out recruiting); travel, lodging and entertainment expenses of in-house recruiters; source development costs; overhead expenses including but not limited to telephone, office space, postage, PR literature, applicant database maintenance, reference checking, clerical costs to correspond with the hundreds of unqualified respondents, etc.
Unbiased third party input - Contrary to what some believe, recruiters don’t try to put square pegs into round holes. A recruiter’s stock-in-trade is their integrity and their reputation for finding someone better than a company could have found for themselves.
For a mid to senior-level executive, the average recruiter may develop a “long list” of a hundred or more possibilities. Each must be called and evaluated against the position specifications as well as the personality “fit” with the company and the people with whom they will ultimately work. Once this is winnowed down to the “short list,” an even more intensive interviewing process begins to narrow the search to a panel of finalists for review by the client.
This process is not, as some believe, simply romping through the file cabinets, harvesting from the Monster lookalikes or putting the job opening out to others on the recruiter’s network with crossed fingers that someone good will show up.
It is highly unlikely that a professional recruiter will be plowing new ground with your opening. They deal within spheres of influence far more familiar with your needs than any internal recruiter and, more often than not, view the finalists as people who are competent to solve client problems rather than just fill an open slot in the organizational chart.
Because they want to do business with you again and again, they are looking for (and challenging you to excellence by hiring) the “truly exceptional” rather than the “just satisfactory” so often settled for by in-house hirers.
Confidentiality - Advertising or otherwise publicly proclaiming an opening, aside from its cost and demonstrated ineffectiveness for sensitive senior level openings, often creates anxiety and apprehension among the advertiser’s current employees who wonder why they aren’t being considered or worry about newcomer transition problems. Just as often it alerts competitors to a current weakness or void within the company.
Speed - The recruiting process is always faster through a search professional who is continually tapped into the talent marketplace than one having to start the process from scratch. For every day that a key opening remains unfilled, a company’s other employees must grudgingly do double duty. And this doesn’t factor in the profit opportunities or competitive advantages lost to a company because a position remains unfilled or is done on a part-time basis by others less qualified.
Post-Hire Downtime - Not only is speed an essential part of the professional recruiter’s process, the ability to locate a person who can immediately “hit the ground running” with a minimum of “ramp-up time” saves time after the hire. All too often, a hire selected through less effective sources offering a smaller talent pool requires several months of expensive training and orientation.
Reality - Professional recruiters often recognize and have a duty to inform clients that they may be mistaken as to the type of person sought, the salary required to attract them or the possibilities that the solution might just lie in areas outside the traditional target industries . . . something an internal recruiter is politically disinclined to do. Too many hirers fail to understand that a professional recruiter’s primary function is not necessary to fill a slot but to provide the right candidate to solve a problem.
Negotiation - As Master negotiator Herb Cohen had says that, “negotiation is the analysis of information, time and power to affect behavior . . . the meeting of needs (yours and others’) to make things happen the way you want them to.” As a buffer and informed intermediary, the professional recruiter is better able to blend the needs and wants of both parties to arrive at a mutually beneficial arrangement without the polarizing roadblocks which too frequently materialize in face-to-face dealings.
Prioritizing company resources - It is often amazing to see how much of a company’s revenues are squandered on non-productive perks for existing high-level employees while they penny-pinch on what is every company’s lifeblood . . . talent acquisition.
Club memberships and the like may be fine, but no one with an IQ higher than Forrest Gump’s believes that these expenditures substantially contribute to a company’s profit margin. But one well-placed employee can be the cause of a company’s profits skyrocketing. And the fee for having hired these people pales to insignificance when compared to the contributions they make to the bottom line.
The next time you think a recruiter’s fees are too high, put them in the proper perspective before asking for that Blue Light special or spinning your wheels thrashing about trying to fill vital openings with less effective (but not necessarily less expensive) pedestrian methods. Savvy executives learned long ago that the fee paid to a recruiter is a shrewd strategic investment, not an extraneous expense. They also know that the “best” is far different from the “best available.”
Once you have a handle on these ?closes’ you’ll have a much better chance of turning a prospect into a paying client.
Courtesy: Fordyce Letter
I find this wonderful article (by Paul Hawkinson) and thought to share it with u all.
Thanks!!!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
How to Buy a Talent Management Suite 12 Proven Steps of Making the Right - "Business Decision"
Overview
View Now
Talent management is a key enabler for organization seeking to improve workforce productivity, bottom-line results and sustained competitive advantage.
The availability of flexible, on-demand talent management suites creates a valuable opportunity to effectively deploy talent management across your business leveraging three critical components: people, process and technology.
By following the steps outlines in this paper, you will not only fast-track your evaluation, selection and implementation of a talent management solution, but also ensure alignment with business goals and outcomes-thereby optimizing the return on your technology investment.
View Now
What is your People Strategy?
A strong team is often the result of a recruitment strategy that goes well beyond HR.
A people strategy is a well-thought-out plan of attack that will help your firm attract, hire, develop, retain and grow your workforce. It consists of five areas: culture marketing; recruitment and selection; orientation and training; communication and feedback; and compensation and benefits. This article is designed to provide a brief overview of each element within a people strategy.
Culture Marketing: Attract the best people
In order to attract the type of people that you need to grow your organization and add value to your open positions, you need to identify the attributes that make your organization unique. Following are a few questions you need to consider.
- Who are your best performers and why do they like working at your firm?
- What attracts candidates to your firm?
- What words would you use to describe your firm? (i.e. entrepreneurial, energetic, professional, team-oriented)
Organizations typically have marketing strategies designed to create demand in the market through creative messages about the unique attributes of their products. However, with the changing and competitive job market beginning to heat up, organizations need to consider developing marketing campaigns to attract talent. Culture Marketing is the process of identifying the distinguishing characteristics that make an organization a great place to work and packaging these in an intriguing and appealing message.
Recruiting and Selection : Find the people
The key to a successful recruitment process is the ability to understand the skills, talents and personality traits needed for your firm. For each hour you spend developing and defining the role and responsibilities of an open position, you reduce your length of time to fill the position by eight days! A well-written and accurate position description can dramatically increase recruitment success as well as improve performance reviews, career development planning and even succession planning.
How creative are you with sourcing candidates? What type of tools do you use to attract candidates? Your goal should be to cultivate an organization of recruiters. Everyone in your organization should have a vested interest in hiring the best and brightest. Many of today's successful firms leverage multiple recruitment tools such as employee referral programs, agency partnerships, college scholarships, electronic job boards and even open houses.
How skilled are your interviewers? Now that you have creatively attracted the best candidates, you cannot afford to lose them. The interviewing step should focus on identifying the skills, knowledge, education, experience and personality of each candidate. Your interviewers should understand the company's culture as well as the specific roles and responsibilities of the position. They should also use this opportunity to sell the unique attributes of your firm. Be sure they make a positive impression on each candidate, even if the applicant is not a fit for the position. Finally, select the candidate that is best suited for the role and focus your efforts on bringing him/her into your organization. An effective recruitment process should measure the quality of new hires, days to fill, cost per hire, and strategic impact to the organization.
Much has been written about the recruitment process over the years. However, the evolving job market forces firms to rethink how they attract, find, and hire talent. My objective is to challenge the status quo and develop and implement recruitment practices that will help you find your next strategic hire.
Orientation and Training: Develop your people
What type of orientation program does your company offer? Did you know that the turnover of employees who have been with the firm one to two years could have been avoided through an effective orientation program? Based on my research, I found that new hires leave after one to two years because they never felt they were a part of the organization.
An effective orientation program will help cultivate employee loyalty as well as increase individual productivity by providing the new employee with the specific tools to help them succeed. An effective people strategy also addresses personal and professional growth. How do you plan to grow your staff and provide opportunity? Your strategy should include a career development process, leadership development tools, as well as succession planning. This section will delve into cost-effective ways to develop your staff and dramatically increase employee commitment while at the same time reduce employee turnover.
Communication and Feedback : Listen to your people
I am not referring to the suggestion box in the break room. Your people strategy should encourage knowledge and information sharing throughout your organization. In addition, communication and feedback programs should solicit ideas and thoughts from your staff that could grow the business and improve productivity as well as provide your staff with an opportunity to make a difference. You pride yourself in hiring the best people; now leverage their skills, talents and abilities beyond their title or position. I will explore effective feedback programs that could replace traditional performance reviews and provide tools that you can use to actively engage your workforce while positively affecting your firm's profitability.
Compensation and Benefits : Reward your people
Compensation administration is often viewed as a necessary evil that all of us have to deal with. However, if approached from a holistic perspective, a compensation and benefit program can attract and retain your best performers. Your people strategy should approach compensation and benefit administration from an employee's point of view. Your staff is interested in receiving a fair market wage and benefits with an opportunity for financial rewards.
As part of your compensation analysis, you should consider base salary or wage, as well as variable compensation such as company bonuses and individual performance. Your analysis should be based on market research, employee performance levels, value to the firm, and individual productivity.
Your benefits should be tailored to your staff's needs and based on market research and employee feedback. Many firms overlook this area of their people strategy and miss an opportunity to add value to an employee's overall life, while also positively influencing the firm's bottom line. With the rising costs of health care, creative benefit programs are beginning to become mainstream and provide the employee with individualized coverage while saving the organization time and money.
As your firm strives to become an employer of choice, you will need to address all areas outlined in this article. By developing a detailed strategy, you will be able to help your firm dramatically improve the way it attracts hires, develops and retains people.
A people strategy is a well-thought-out plan of attack that will help your firm attract, hire, develop, retain and grow your workforce. It consists of five areas: culture marketing; recruitment and selection; orientation and training; communication and feedback; and compensation and benefits. This article is designed to provide a brief overview of each element within a people strategy.
Culture Marketing: Attract the best people
In order to attract the type of people that you need to grow your organization and add value to your open positions, you need to identify the attributes that make your organization unique. Following are a few questions you need to consider.
- Who are your best performers and why do they like working at your firm?
- What attracts candidates to your firm?
- What words would you use to describe your firm? (i.e. entrepreneurial, energetic, professional, team-oriented)
Organizations typically have marketing strategies designed to create demand in the market through creative messages about the unique attributes of their products. However, with the changing and competitive job market beginning to heat up, organizations need to consider developing marketing campaigns to attract talent. Culture Marketing is the process of identifying the distinguishing characteristics that make an organization a great place to work and packaging these in an intriguing and appealing message.
Recruiting and Selection : Find the people
The key to a successful recruitment process is the ability to understand the skills, talents and personality traits needed for your firm. For each hour you spend developing and defining the role and responsibilities of an open position, you reduce your length of time to fill the position by eight days! A well-written and accurate position description can dramatically increase recruitment success as well as improve performance reviews, career development planning and even succession planning.
How creative are you with sourcing candidates? What type of tools do you use to attract candidates? Your goal should be to cultivate an organization of recruiters. Everyone in your organization should have a vested interest in hiring the best and brightest. Many of today's successful firms leverage multiple recruitment tools such as employee referral programs, agency partnerships, college scholarships, electronic job boards and even open houses.
How skilled are your interviewers? Now that you have creatively attracted the best candidates, you cannot afford to lose them. The interviewing step should focus on identifying the skills, knowledge, education, experience and personality of each candidate. Your interviewers should understand the company's culture as well as the specific roles and responsibilities of the position. They should also use this opportunity to sell the unique attributes of your firm. Be sure they make a positive impression on each candidate, even if the applicant is not a fit for the position. Finally, select the candidate that is best suited for the role and focus your efforts on bringing him/her into your organization. An effective recruitment process should measure the quality of new hires, days to fill, cost per hire, and strategic impact to the organization.
Much has been written about the recruitment process over the years. However, the evolving job market forces firms to rethink how they attract, find, and hire talent. My objective is to challenge the status quo and develop and implement recruitment practices that will help you find your next strategic hire.
Orientation and Training: Develop your people
What type of orientation program does your company offer? Did you know that the turnover of employees who have been with the firm one to two years could have been avoided through an effective orientation program? Based on my research, I found that new hires leave after one to two years because they never felt they were a part of the organization.
An effective orientation program will help cultivate employee loyalty as well as increase individual productivity by providing the new employee with the specific tools to help them succeed. An effective people strategy also addresses personal and professional growth. How do you plan to grow your staff and provide opportunity? Your strategy should include a career development process, leadership development tools, as well as succession planning. This section will delve into cost-effective ways to develop your staff and dramatically increase employee commitment while at the same time reduce employee turnover.
Communication and Feedback : Listen to your people
I am not referring to the suggestion box in the break room. Your people strategy should encourage knowledge and information sharing throughout your organization. In addition, communication and feedback programs should solicit ideas and thoughts from your staff that could grow the business and improve productivity as well as provide your staff with an opportunity to make a difference. You pride yourself in hiring the best people; now leverage their skills, talents and abilities beyond their title or position. I will explore effective feedback programs that could replace traditional performance reviews and provide tools that you can use to actively engage your workforce while positively affecting your firm's profitability.
Compensation and Benefits : Reward your people
Compensation administration is often viewed as a necessary evil that all of us have to deal with. However, if approached from a holistic perspective, a compensation and benefit program can attract and retain your best performers. Your people strategy should approach compensation and benefit administration from an employee's point of view. Your staff is interested in receiving a fair market wage and benefits with an opportunity for financial rewards.
As part of your compensation analysis, you should consider base salary or wage, as well as variable compensation such as company bonuses and individual performance. Your analysis should be based on market research, employee performance levels, value to the firm, and individual productivity.
Your benefits should be tailored to your staff's needs and based on market research and employee feedback. Many firms overlook this area of their people strategy and miss an opportunity to add value to an employee's overall life, while also positively influencing the firm's bottom line. With the rising costs of health care, creative benefit programs are beginning to become mainstream and provide the employee with individualized coverage while saving the organization time and money.
As your firm strives to become an employer of choice, you will need to address all areas outlined in this article. By developing a detailed strategy, you will be able to help your firm dramatically improve the way it attracts hires, develops and retains people.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Managing the Sourcing Function:
Improving the effectiveness of your sourcing organization
The following are some learnings around how to make your sourcing more effective, especially if varying levels of experience exist within the team.
Understanding the fit: You may be reading this and go "no kidding", but the reality is this step is commonly skipped over in the process. Understanding the fit has to do with a solid working knowledge of the industry, the business group supported and how the role fits into what that leader is trying to accomplish. Where this usually breaks down is in one of the following areas:
If the sourcer is working through the recruiter, there is an expectation that the recruiter will ask all of the right questions when meeting with the hiring manager.
If the sourcer/ recruiter meets with the hiring manager and there is a lack of preparation coming into the meeting. This includes the sourcer / recruiter not presenting industry knowledge and using the meeting time to validate assumptions around expectations.
If the Recruiter is the Sourcer, the focus is more on the skills, versus the business goals the hiring manager is trying to accomplish. As a result, the recruiter finds the right skilled person, but the applications of the skills are misaligned.
Solutions: The key is planning, planning and communication. Assume nothing and talk about everything. Wikipedia.org can be a super tool when seeking to understand an industry, a position, a skill set. Interestingly enough, wikipedia if leveraged appropriately provides some good data points that can be used during a hiring manager discussion.
Secondly, have all of your recruiters / sourcers go in prepared to a hiring manager discussion. Again you might say no kidding, but 9 times out of 10 it does not happen, unless it is an Executive Search. Prepared means one or more of the following: Understand the industry; Have a prior discussion with the HR Gen of that business unit to understand any nuances that may positively / negatively impact the search efforts; Look on Linkedin, Spoke and your own ATS system to bring some profiles to calibrate against. People are visual, if you give them something to look at and respond to, you are more likely to get closer to the desired outcome at the very beginning of the search effort.
Duplication of Effort: Recruiters workloads are not getting any lighter, so therefore it is easy for individuals to go to the path of least resistance. However this path, especially if multiple people or vendors are assisting can be costly and unproductive. At SourceCon, Rob McIntosh presented a sourcing channel checklist. He broke this checklist into roles and activities. I took this channel sheet back to my organization, as well as peers, and began to ask questions, here is what I found:
Recruiting and sourcing teams that do not work from a plan perform duplicate work efforts. This lack of planning typically results in overlap when searching resume databases, contacting the same resources or networking through the various social networking sites
Continue to manage from the plan. Use the plan as a management tool to understand how the recruiting team is using each of the sources.
Don't pay sourcing vendors to do the same work performed internally. Face it, recruiters like the job boards. If you are using a resume mining and screening vendor, so do they. Pick one..
Not all sources generate results, so stop using the source and move on. Time is not a commodity in the recruiting business. Leverage your ATS data to begin understanding how your organization fills a particular type of role best and build from there.
Solutions: I truly believe that duplication of effort is something that requires constant monitoring. Now with that being said, I would also recommend the following:
Create the channel plan.
Create a channel plan that supports the sourcing strategy. A high volume, low complexity, localized plan will look very different from a high complexity, low volume, national search. Know what it takes to execute both and build a quick project plan to maximize time and resources.
Keyword Sets: Create sets of keywords that can also be divided by channel.
Manage to the sourcing plan. Conduct a review with the team on their activities and the results generated. Immediately seize activities on sources that are not generating the desired results and get the team to move on.
Prioritization: Not all sources generate results. Not all of the easiest sources will generate the results for the position that is being searched for. The concept of What source will generate the best results first requires sourcing knowledge, industry experience and reviewing the metrics to better understand what works inside your organization Activity for activity sake, still does not result in a hire. This only causes ill will, especially if there is segmentation between the recruiters and the sourcing team.
Solutions:
High Volume / Low Complexity: These are processing related sourcing plans. This requires activities that may leverage recruitment marketing, resume mining, job posting, radio advertisement, creative employee referral campaigns and drip market efforts leveraging contacts within the ATS. This plan may require the assistance of a resume mining vendor, an experienced sourcer/ recruiter as well as some good recruiting administrators. Each have there own role in getting the desired outcome accomplished. Know what works to execute a plan.
Low Volume / High Complexity: These are more strategic sourcing plans. This will include market research, competitive intelligence, employee referrals, cold calling and industry networking. Depending upon the type of role will determine which of these activities goes first.
The reality is, prioritization of a sourcing strategy may require someone who can serve as the organization's sourcing strategist. This person must be able to turn around a project execution plan quickly and articulate clear directions to multiple stakeholders in the process. This person must be a data jockey, who can pull reports from the ATS and leverage data to identify those activities which have a higher possibility of generating results first and baking this into the plan.
The following are some learnings around how to make your sourcing more effective, especially if varying levels of experience exist within the team.
Understanding the fit: You may be reading this and go "no kidding", but the reality is this step is commonly skipped over in the process. Understanding the fit has to do with a solid working knowledge of the industry, the business group supported and how the role fits into what that leader is trying to accomplish. Where this usually breaks down is in one of the following areas:
If the sourcer is working through the recruiter, there is an expectation that the recruiter will ask all of the right questions when meeting with the hiring manager.
If the sourcer/ recruiter meets with the hiring manager and there is a lack of preparation coming into the meeting. This includes the sourcer / recruiter not presenting industry knowledge and using the meeting time to validate assumptions around expectations.
If the Recruiter is the Sourcer, the focus is more on the skills, versus the business goals the hiring manager is trying to accomplish. As a result, the recruiter finds the right skilled person, but the applications of the skills are misaligned.
Solutions: The key is planning, planning and communication. Assume nothing and talk about everything. Wikipedia.org can be a super tool when seeking to understand an industry, a position, a skill set. Interestingly enough, wikipedia if leveraged appropriately provides some good data points that can be used during a hiring manager discussion.
Secondly, have all of your recruiters / sourcers go in prepared to a hiring manager discussion. Again you might say no kidding, but 9 times out of 10 it does not happen, unless it is an Executive Search. Prepared means one or more of the following: Understand the industry; Have a prior discussion with the HR Gen of that business unit to understand any nuances that may positively / negatively impact the search efforts; Look on Linkedin, Spoke and your own ATS system to bring some profiles to calibrate against. People are visual, if you give them something to look at and respond to, you are more likely to get closer to the desired outcome at the very beginning of the search effort.
Duplication of Effort: Recruiters workloads are not getting any lighter, so therefore it is easy for individuals to go to the path of least resistance. However this path, especially if multiple people or vendors are assisting can be costly and unproductive. At SourceCon, Rob McIntosh presented a sourcing channel checklist. He broke this checklist into roles and activities. I took this channel sheet back to my organization, as well as peers, and began to ask questions, here is what I found:
Recruiting and sourcing teams that do not work from a plan perform duplicate work efforts. This lack of planning typically results in overlap when searching resume databases, contacting the same resources or networking through the various social networking sites
Continue to manage from the plan. Use the plan as a management tool to understand how the recruiting team is using each of the sources.
Don't pay sourcing vendors to do the same work performed internally. Face it, recruiters like the job boards. If you are using a resume mining and screening vendor, so do they. Pick one..
Not all sources generate results, so stop using the source and move on. Time is not a commodity in the recruiting business. Leverage your ATS data to begin understanding how your organization fills a particular type of role best and build from there.
Solutions: I truly believe that duplication of effort is something that requires constant monitoring. Now with that being said, I would also recommend the following:
Create the channel plan.
Create a channel plan that supports the sourcing strategy. A high volume, low complexity, localized plan will look very different from a high complexity, low volume, national search. Know what it takes to execute both and build a quick project plan to maximize time and resources.
Keyword Sets: Create sets of keywords that can also be divided by channel.
Manage to the sourcing plan. Conduct a review with the team on their activities and the results generated. Immediately seize activities on sources that are not generating the desired results and get the team to move on.
Prioritization: Not all sources generate results. Not all of the easiest sources will generate the results for the position that is being searched for. The concept of What source will generate the best results first requires sourcing knowledge, industry experience and reviewing the metrics to better understand what works inside your organization Activity for activity sake, still does not result in a hire. This only causes ill will, especially if there is segmentation between the recruiters and the sourcing team.
Solutions:
High Volume / Low Complexity: These are processing related sourcing plans. This requires activities that may leverage recruitment marketing, resume mining, job posting, radio advertisement, creative employee referral campaigns and drip market efforts leveraging contacts within the ATS. This plan may require the assistance of a resume mining vendor, an experienced sourcer/ recruiter as well as some good recruiting administrators. Each have there own role in getting the desired outcome accomplished. Know what works to execute a plan.
Low Volume / High Complexity: These are more strategic sourcing plans. This will include market research, competitive intelligence, employee referrals, cold calling and industry networking. Depending upon the type of role will determine which of these activities goes first.
The reality is, prioritization of a sourcing strategy may require someone who can serve as the organization's sourcing strategist. This person must be able to turn around a project execution plan quickly and articulate clear directions to multiple stakeholders in the process. This person must be a data jockey, who can pull reports from the ATS and leverage data to identify those activities which have a higher possibility of generating results first and baking this into the plan.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
How to attract top talent…and keep it!
How to attract top talent…and keep it!
As a recruiter I have seen plenty of great creative agencies in a bind searching for top-notch talent, and not being able to keep them. What gives??????
The issue might be in the entrance interviews where all the bells and whistles are released. Potential employees know there is more than just a list of prestigious awards, a fun culture, and great accounts. Many candidates really are smart enough to look beyond the first 6 months, and want to know what an advertising agency can offer them down the road.
Among the most important aspects is that of great leadership, which will in-turn produce great leaders. Candidates want a great mentor who can discuss their career path in complete honesty and with genuine interest. As it turns out, the quality of leadership at any company, both within the advertising industry and beyond is a make or break quality for candidates.
Don’t shy away from long-term goals and take a potential employee as seriously as they are taking you. Respect is a two way street and its much easier to keep candidates than it is to continuously cycle through them.
As a recruiter I have seen plenty of great creative agencies in a bind searching for top-notch talent, and not being able to keep them. What gives??????
The issue might be in the entrance interviews where all the bells and whistles are released. Potential employees know there is more than just a list of prestigious awards, a fun culture, and great accounts. Many candidates really are smart enough to look beyond the first 6 months, and want to know what an advertising agency can offer them down the road.
Among the most important aspects is that of great leadership, which will in-turn produce great leaders. Candidates want a great mentor who can discuss their career path in complete honesty and with genuine interest. As it turns out, the quality of leadership at any company, both within the advertising industry and beyond is a make or break quality for candidates.
Don’t shy away from long-term goals and take a potential employee as seriously as they are taking you. Respect is a two way street and its much easier to keep candidates than it is to continuously cycle through them.
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