Viewing All Posts Tagged ‘change’
It’s a Hard Job
How do you view the profession of Recruiting? Grab a mirror and get your “Stewart Smalley” on because we’re about to search your soul as a Recruiter.
In my travels to companies as Director of AllianceQ, I often hear this objection when we present our solution;
How is your system going to help me find my double PhD, Biomechanical Nuclear Physicist? (or fill in any other absolute needle in a haystack profile for your industry)
My answer is always the same;
How do you find them today?
Answer: research lists, cold calls, lots of networking and hard core headhunting
Then THAT is how you are going to find them in the future.
It seems that many Corporate Recruiters are searching for easier ways to source difficult profiles and that search will always be in vain. You see, Recruiting is a HARD JOB, or at least it should be.
Before the internet, the only way we found anyone was through a very tough and arduous process of cold calling, phone book research and faxing job descriptions. Then the internet and eRecruitment was born and I think many recruiters have come to rely on the “ease” of internet recruiting to their ultimate demise.
If I ran the world (which I won’t because frankly I’d rather be sailing) Recruiters would be as revered in an organization as the top sales people are. Why not, their job is just as tough and they contribute as significantly to the bottom line right? Well, in “Phil-land” they would. Here’s how.
I’d create a pyramid picture of the roles my department fills every year. The broad base at the bottom are those repetitive, high turnover roles. For every industry these are different but they are there in EVERY industry. Then I’d move up to the next level where we are looking to fill the roles regularly but less frequently and then up to difficult and frequent then to impossible and frequent and then to impossible and infrequent and so on. You get my drift.
Now anyone with a “Recruiter” title would never touch the bottom few job families in my world. Instead, I’d find a way to automate that process (yes, it can be done) and allow my Recruiting Assistants to process these people. I’d then take my now freed up Recruiters (who are dying to get on the phone and pull that needle out of that HUGE haystack) and make them heroes in the company by doing what Executives believe only Korn Ferry and Heidrick and Struggles can do.
I may not have slashed my headcount spend because what I’d save in not paying a bunch of low level Recruiters, I’d redistribute to my now Rock Star Recruiters in the way of retention bonuses, organizational impact bonuses etc. and I’d have a team made up of the best in the country because I’d be paying them like headhunters.
Many of you believe this can’t be done. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it is because you came into the industry after it was made easy by the internet, perhaps you believe that “recruiting” is a noun and not a verb. Either way, these are times of change and I hope you’ll find the courage to re-create Recruiting, not just as a verb but as a very hard job occupied by really great salespeople who love the fight and can sell your company to your biggest competitor.
Recruiting will hopefully be a hard job again one day soon.
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:
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Specialize within Recruiting to add significant levels of efficiency to the department.
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Utilize tools that level the playing field with Recruitment Agencies and their different business model.
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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!”
Inaugural Blog
Welcome to the first AllianceQ Blog. Actually, this Blog represents a series of firsts:
This is the first blog on the AllianceQ website. This is also my very first post. As such, it will be simple, but will give you a flavor of entries to come. I believe Corporate Recruiting needs to change immediately to remain relevant in the new landscape of hiring. Occasionally my posts will touch upon AllianceQ updates and news, but that isn’t the focus of this blog. It’s about sharing my perspectives on industry trends and insights around what’s next in Corporate Recruiting.
This is also the first time I’ve made a move from the world of recruiting to the world of recruiting software solutions. AllianceQ is a very unique solution for Corporate Recruiting and it took something of this magnitude to pull me away from my 17 year career in recruiting.
And finally, AllianceQ is the first true recruiting collaboration of F1000 companies. As such, AllianceQ represents the change I will be advocating in this blog. When companies come together to collectively solve the issues and challenges that have been plaguing recruiting departments for so many years; we are on the precipice of true industry change! As we head into the coming “war to talent” (more on this in posts to come) it is the mantra of “we are more powerful than me” that will truly win the war. AllianceQ embodies this mantra.
I look forward to getting to know your thoughts on corporate recruiting and sharing mine with you!
Phil
