Viewing August, 2008 Archive

By Phil Haynes. August 20, 2008Filed Under Industry Commentary | Leave a Comment 

De-Fragment for Increased Efficiency

If this was posted on CNET or TECHCRUNCH, you might think it was about your computer.  But this is a recruiting blog and this comment is about the world of online recruiting.  In the years since the dot-com crash, the online recruiting world has become so fragmented it is now working against recruiting departments and job seekers.

Let me explain.  Continue reading

By Phil Haynes. August 18, 2008Filed Under Industry Commentary | Leave a Comment 

Dating and Recruiting

I just read a great article on the ERE by Amy Kimmes.

The only addition I have is that when you break up, do it gracefully.

Recruiting Application:
Take the time to treat the candidate who has interviewed with your company with the dignity and respect they showed you.
give them feedback
give them hope
give them a link to AllianceQ!

By Phil Haynes. August 7, 2008Filed Under Industry Perspectives | 3 Comments 

Talent Spotting

I just read a great article by Steve Lowisz, President and CEO of Qualigence, Inc. about Recruiting Metrics and how the rules have changed for recruiters in today’s business environment (shifting demographics, workforce dynamics etc.)

 

I couldn’t agree more with Steve and believe the “new” metrics he suggests are fundamental to the success of any recruiting department. Shifting business environments necessitate change in the business units that support the business. Change is hard but imperative for corporate recruiting professionals.

I believe there is an even larger change that Corporate Recruiters and Hiring Managers need to make if business is to survive and thrive in the “new” labor landscape. This shift is around the ability to spot talent. Now many people are saying, “Hey, I’m a Recruiter, I get paid a lot of money to spot talent” but I’ll challenge that thinking.

For over a decade, Recruiting has increasingly relied on technology to do the “talent spotting” for them. Through key word matching, screening questions built into ATS systems and cumbersome interview processes, we (I count myself as one of the Recruiters in the room) narrow prospects to candidates and candidates to applicants and present and hire what we assume is the best person based on their talent. But are we actually evaluating talent or are we hiring the resume + best interview?

Talent is defined as:

  • a special natural ability or aptitude:
  • a capacity for achievement or success; ability:

When was the last time you spoke about a candidate in these terms? I find that most hiring managers are relatively poor judges of talent (as defined above) and rarely evaluate candidates based on their “special” natural ability or capacity for achievement /success. I’m not blaming them; they don’t get any training on how to do this. Recruiters and Hiring Managers have been conditioned to use the paradigm of job description/resume matching as first pass at spotting talent and then use interviews to narrow the field – an inexact science at best!

Let me give you an example of the “magic” that can happen when this paradigm is broken:

A Global Company I know lives and dies by its sales force as all companies do. This company’s hiring philosophy is based on the definition of TALENT referenced above and here’s the result; in 2006 their #1 sales person made $350K and won a new Maseratti! In 2004 this same person was a CHEF! By being skilled “talent spotters” (i.e., using the ability to identify talent and not just match key words on a resume) this organization has opened new channels to passive talent.

This is the future of recruiting in Corporate America – becoming highly skilled in finding and recognizing people with talent – remember: the brightest talent may not be the best resume writer or interviewer.

By Phil Haynes. August 4, 2008Filed Under Industry Perspectives | 1 Comment 

Embracing Change

One of my favorite quotes is from George Bernard Shaw;

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

In my inaugural blog I referenced the need for immediate change in corporate recruiting. Why you ask? Because in the 17+ years I’ve been in recruiting, we haven’t changed it. Sure, we’ve added technology, we’ve invented new and creative ways to find the people we are tasked with locating (admit it, Recruiters were the first people to “Google” anybody!) and we’ve created an entirely new industry around “sourcing.” However, the fundamentals of Corporate Recruiting – defined as those of us who choose to be on the inside instead of where the money and fame is – have not changed in over 20 years.

Earlier this year I presented a webinar for the HCI Talent Acquisition – Re-Engineering Recruitment Community where I pointed out this lack of change. I also mentioned that we in corporate recruiting wrongly define our “competition” as those companies in our industry with talent we want. Our greatest competition in Corporate Recruiting is Recruiting Agencies and RPO firms. These organizations base their value proposition on being able to do our jobs better, faster and at lower costs than we do.

To compete in today’s employment landscape, Corporate Recruiters have to:

  1. Specialize within Recruiting to add significant levels of efficiency to the department.
  2. Utilize tools that level the playing field with Recruitment Agencies and their different business model.
  3. Adopt “rapid cycle” innovation to change in the Recruiting Department, mirroring the rapid market adjustments corporations make to acquire new customers.

I’ll leave you with another “change” quote;

“like an umbrella, a mind is only useful if it’s open!”