Fistful of Talent

Your Most Valuable Employee - The H1N1 Formula...

2009-11-06T07:10:00-06:00

I witnessed an interesting thing happen in the last two weeks, organizations all over the country are quickly falling victim to H1N1. In mass, you have employees missing work, schools are closing, parents need to be at home to take care of kids, and then they come back sick. What I find most interesting is the small back office conversations that happen, usually with an HR Pro in attendance with some rag-tag group of executives. The conversation goes a little like this:

Executive: "Hey, did you see the sales department is down about 50% of the staff?"

HR Pro: "Yeah, they got hit really hard."

Executive: "Look, I need the sales people to be here."

HR Pro: "Yeah, I understand, but they need to be out for so long, otherwise they could get the rest of us sick."

Executive: "Let me clarify, if we don't sell, I don't need you - or many others for that matter."

HR Pro: "Got it - we'll let them know it's alright to work sick. What should I tell the rest of the staff when they ask about why these individuals are allowed to come in sick?"

Executive: "Tell the high risk individuals to just stay home, we'll call them back when the coast is clear. The others won't care because they'll get sick and will stay home anyway."

HR Pro: "So, we are going to pay healthy employees to stay at home, so the sick ones can work?"

Executive: "Yes."

I love these scenarios because it really challenges our perception of our employer. People could read the above and think - oh, I would never work for a company like that! Get real - this might not be happening, but I can guarantee you that a conversation as big has happened or will happen between senior leadership and your HR Executive. Don't think this is happening? You need to go back to Big Boy/Girl HR School. To me, this is the ultimate measuring stick of your value. If you find yourself at home - healthy - waiting for sick people to get better at work - well...here's your sign.

Editor's Note: Tim Sackett, SPHR is the Executive Vice President of HRU Technical Resources in Lansing, MI. Tim loves everything talent acquisition, and believes every corporate recruitment department in America can and must get better. He has 15+ years of human resource leadership experience, across multiple industries, on both the corporate and agency side – so he gets it from both sides of the desk. Want more? Um, OK... He has a Master’s of HR and....well, he was recently voted #5 best assistant little league coach of his son’s five team league.

Who Should CEO's, Managers and HR Pros Be Friends with on Facebook?

2009-11-05T09:00:41-06:00

Raise your hand if you're on Facebook! Meeee! And you, and you too, and 200 million others as well, except for those in China who at the moment cannot access Facebook whatsoever including even accessing my company's lovely and harmless careers page on Facebook. (Shameless plug!) But I digress...

Lately, I've noticed a bit of coverage online about whether to be friends on Facebook with coworkers, or should you be friends with your boss on Facebook, or implications of friending/defriending... and while I understand these dilemmas, one particular issue struck me... why are managers "even friending" their staff members on Facebook in the first place? If you're unsure of whether to be friends with your boss on Facebook, fine. But what to do if your manager sends you a friend request? Oy. Let's talk that one through.

I was talking with my CEO the other day, and the issue has come up with other leadership team members for varying social networks, and the topic was simply the proper etiquette for becoming friends or connecting with others on social networks. From my CEO's perspective, and as a CEO, he'll accept a Facebook friend request from someone within our organization (and yes, I friended him as soon as I found out he was on Facebook!)... but he won't personally seek out any "friends" within the company. And his reasons make sense:

He doesn't want to put pressure on them of any sort to have to be his friend.
He doesn't want them to think he's pursuing them in any inappropriate way. And maybe most importantly...
He doesn't want them to feel like he's watching them in any way.

My CEO's logic got me thinking... the same should probably apply to anyone who manages staff and perhaps the same should also go for HR pros too.

Now I know, some of you out there will argue that maybe if your culture is ripe for it and that you're not a hierarchical organization and therefore, it's actually okay for a CEO or an HR pro to "friend" employees. It shows you're open, it shows you're accessible, it shows you're cool. I don't buy that though. I work for one of the flattest organizations ever, it's extremely non-hierarchical - and I love that about our culture. But at the end of the day? Even in a flat organization, you can be friendly with staff, but I'd argue as a CEO, as a manager, and as an HR pro, you can't really be friends with staff. You have decision making authority, you hold a position of power, and you can influence. And that does not put you on even footing with staff.

When I think about myself, I signed up for Facebook initially to use it as a spy tool. Seriously. And I still use Facebook today to look at candidates and business contacts. And I know the debate rages on about whether it's even legal or appropriate to do such - but that's not the point of this post. People are becoming more and more aware that many employers are "watching" their staff and looking at potential employees via social networks... and that simply makes it really hard for staff not to feel like they're being watched no matter how open and friendly a culture you have.

My advice? Be prudent. Don't try to be everyone's friend and follow the lead of my CEO. Be friendly, yes. Accepting a friend request, sure. Friending your staff? No. Let's just not go there. It's unavoidable; they're going to wonder if you're watching them...

Editor's Note- Jessica Lee is a Senior Employment Manager for APCO Worldwide, a global PR firm based in D.C. Like most upscale HR pros, she spends half of her time on recruiting, the other half on ER, Training and OD. When she's not hammering a candidate to determine Motivational Fit, she's thinking about the future of HR, wondering how she can avoid using the job boards (but of course not rely on just social media) to fill the next spot in her organization.

Ellen Degeneres & Your HR Career Path....

2009-11-04T13:15:19-06:00

You've probably heard by now, Ellen Degeneres is going to American Idol as the fourth judge (replacing the ever sober Paula Abdul). This would have been big news in 2004 when the show was still uber popular, but has anyone watched it lately?

With the selection of Ellen brings controversy - the pick doesn't make sense on the surface and doesn't correlate with what she has done in the past. (Tssk, tssk. Maybe they didn't use behavioral questions when they interviewed her.) That's not to mention the fact that Degeneres has a questionable music background and is probably completely unqualified to judge a music competition. Then again, I had always assumed that is why she was picked. I mean, American Idol isn't a music competition...

Lame jokes aside, Ellen going to American Idol does raise the issue of career paths. When we think about the career path of HR professionals, I've always thought it to be fairly rigid. You start off filing, you move up to a specialist area, move into employee relations or generalist roles, and then hopefully get promoted several times over to manager and director positions. Then finally a coveted VP or C-suite HR role. And that's it, right? Life at the top is awfully hard.

Two months ago, I was working in a full time HR generalist role. I had just gotten back from a very successful SHRM conference and was feeling energized. Ready to conquer the HR world once again, I dug in.

Then job loss hit me like a sack of bricks. I wasn't too scared (the financial aspect was covered for a while) but I hadn't thought a lot about next steps after my last position. I started thinking about where I was going to go next, where opportunity best awaited me. I talked to Kris Dunn about the situation (you may have heard of him around here, though I hear he keeps a low profile). He planted the idea in my head about talking to vendors and offering my social media/blogging experience as a plus in that field, combined with inside knowledge of HR.

A week and a half after that, I was approached by a company called MeritBuilder that was looking to make a unique impact in the employee engagement and recognition space (more info about my story here and here). I'm excited about the new position but it was also a nervous one for me. Not because of the product or the company but because of losing some roots in HR. Losing roots in HR was scary because I thought of HR as my career path since the beginning. Because HR people often take a conservative career approach (seeing the many errant paths a career can go can do that to a person), I had assumed that the HR path was unflinchingly rigid.

What I've thought about since my eye opening experience with MeritBuilder is about how there are probably many areas where HR people can make lateral transitions. Rather than staying in the traditional HR track, an outside track experience can actually end up enhancing a person's profile. This can include:

Consulting - Putting your skills to work from outside of the organization.
Vendor - Providing solutions and solid implementation for organizations.
Recruiting - Can talk to HR people in their language. Knows how to make inroads.
Safety or Training - Some natural overlap with areas some of us oversee.
Other Internal Depts - Any place where a great understanding of people can make a difference.

I'm interested in hearing about some of the other career tracks you've seen HR professionals. Where are HR professionals going to other than HR? And if you need inspiration, maybe some terrible dancing from Ellen and the President will help. On the plus side, at least she isn't judging So You Think You Can Dance?

Editor's Note: Lance Haun is a pal of ours at Fistful of Talent. We like him because he's funny, and smart, and just one of those rare folks who falls into that category of "good people." Get to know him. He is VP of Outreach for MeritBuilder and regular blogger over at Rehaul.com. His mission: spread good ideas, cause trouble, listen for noise, blog furiously, talk passionately about his company and repeat. Feel free to contact him anytime.

ESPN HR Position - Dream Job or Career Nightmare?

2009-11-03T07:10:00-06:00

I'm married to Kris Dunn, the HR Capitalist. And every year, around this time, I hear the same thing:

"I'd give it all up tomorrow for a flunky job learning the ropes in an NBA front office. You'd still love me if I made 20K, right? We could all live in a trailer 2 hours outside of LA while I climbed the NBA career ladder with the Clippers". Blah, blah, blah...

Of course, the chances of that are slim, so I tolerate the annual ritual. However, KD is gaining connections, and there's one combo of sports and HR that might hit for him like a Vegas jackpot. Here's what I reallly worry about him coming home and saying:

"Honey, we're moving to Bristol. That's right, I'm taking a job in the HR shop of ESPN. It's gonna be great".

The career gods could rain down on KD and he could get his foot in the door for a prominent HR position at ESPN - you know "the whole worldwide leader in sports" network. This would be his dream job, right? First, he, like many of you, LOVES sports. Second, he'd be working in his chosen field (HR and Talent) with well known, qualified, talented, on-air personalities and equally qualified journalists and technical gurus behind the scenes who make it all happen. Consumate professionals, right? Who wouldn't jump at the chance?

Not so fast, says MRS. CAPITALIST. Instead of bailing on his current day job, he might want to seriously reconsider. In fact, he might want to Run, Forest, Run, as far away from ESPN as he could get.

The way things are looking at ESPN right now, they might soon be changing their slogan to "worldwide leader in sex scandals." Just in the past few years, there have been enough to keep any HR pro and the legal department buried in the fine print of employment contracts and swimming in sexual harassment claims. I realize any big employer is going to have to deal with the occasional "quid pro quo" or "hostile work environment" issue, but wouldn't you agree that those poor HR schlumps over at ESPN have had to deal with more than their fair share?

Take a look at the history according to Deadspin, the New York Post and various other cited sources.

Top 5 ESPN Alleged Sex Scandals of the Decade:

1. Steve Phillips - ESPN Baseball Tonight's co-anchor (married father of 4) who was just ousted a couple of weeks ago for having an affair with a 22 year-old on the ESPN production staff.

2. Erik Kuselias - ESPN radio personality, who sometimes sits in as a guest host on Mike and Mike in the Morning, who reportedly made sexual comments and advances to another ESPN employee at a party.

3. Jason Jackson - former host of NBA 2Night fired from ESPN in 2002 for making comments and sending e-mails with sexual overtones.

4. Kate Lacey (a Sr. Marketing VP at ESPN) admittedly having an affair w/ David Bernson (VP of Programming)

5. Harold Reynolds who was a baseball analyst for ESPN but was fired in 2006 after at least 5 different women complained of his sexual inappropriateness. There was a wrongful termination lawsuit that followed alleging racial bias. What a mess!

Ok, here comes the disclaimer: Of course, I can neither confirm nor deny (that's the attorney in me slipping out) whether all of this stuff is 100% true or not, but regardless, the allegations have been made and your fellow HR peeps there have to deal with them. Plus, ESPN seems to do what it needs to do when these things break rather than giving a slap on the wrist.

And although I wouldn't necessarily label myself as the jealous type (nor has KD really given me any reason to be), what wife wouldn't be a little (OK, maybe a lot) concerned to see her spouse go to work in such a cesspool? I mean - the first time KD calls home and tells me he has a late meeting or a business trip out of town with some co-workers, visions of Steve Phillips and his 22 year-old cohort would probably be dancing in my head. With that kind of workplace environment, who could blame me right?

Ultimately, although it might be his dream job, or at least a stepping stone on the way to it, KD doesn't need the drama, and neither do I. At least at your shop, whether it is the Hormel plant in Dubuque, Iowa, or a Kroger grocery store in Galveston, Texas, whatever happens doesn't make the headlines at every major news outlet. Be glad for that.

Editor's Note - Angela Dunn is a career prosecutor now serving a "sabbatical" as a copy editor for Fistful of Talent and the HR Capitalist. She thinks most of the FOT team is extremely talented, but the lead guy needs to work on his spelling, punctuation and listening skills. In a gender-related twist, she understands every NFL, NBA, and MLB reference the Capitalist makes, which balances out the relationship nicely.

Another Headhunter Secret: Why We Just Love Orgs that Front-Load Their Training

2009-11-02T07:02:00-06:00

Here's a little Headhunter Secret that you might not be privy to: We just love organizations that front-load their training investments. Why? Because we can predict, with a very high degree of accuracy, approximately how many of your employees we can recruit away at any given point in their 'professional development'. That's right - I said with a high degree of accuracy . . . and that's no overstatement. Here's an example:

Widgetmaker Consulting, Inc. has a 36-month 'leadership development' program that enlists 250 college graduates per year. Competition is stiff -- diligent screening efforts and candidate obstacles are in place to ensure that only the creme de la creme makes it through the gauntlet. The professional development program is impressive - it includes three 12-month rotations in which each candidate's cross functional skills are better honed so that they may gain a more holistic view of the business (aka "appreciating all the company's moving parts.") You took an intelligent entry-level graduate and groomed them to be a long-term HiPo value-creator. Not too shabby if you ask me . . . with the only caveat being that, in the majority of cases, ROI is seen after the completion of the professional development program. Let's say you sink $150k USD into each employee in the program - how long do you predict it will take to break-even on your investment? 24 months? 36 months? Longer?

And precisely while you consider the notion of ROI, there's now a market reality that presents itself like Coleridge's Albatross: At the end of that 36 months, you're not the only organization that wants them. And that's where the Headhunter steps in - it's our job to woo them away; to "accelerate their career path". Conversely, it's your job to keep them. And in many cases, money is no object - don't assume offering better pay is the solution, because as you know, young people embrace and thrive on change. They were engaged over the 36 months because you kept them dynamically shifting gears. You fed them excitement . . . and they loved you for it. But now, in their minds, the journey of their professional development has ended - they see continuing at your organization as "getting a real job." In the Headhunter's eyes, as well as the eyes of your competition, the end of your 36-month professional development program offers extremely fertile ground.

To that end, we Headhunters assume that at least 1/5 of the 250 you enlist into your professional development program will be leaving anyway, despite your best efforts to keep them (that's 50 front-loaded training investments down the tubes). We also estimate that another 1/5 would consider a new opportunity if presented properly (that's another 50 front-loaded training investments down the tubes). Depending on your organization, you might see as much as 1/2 to 2/3 of your front-loaded training investments leave the organization within 12 months of completing your professional development program. Maybe more, maybe less - only you know your own retention statistics.

And perhaps you're happy with those odds- maybe you employ Big-Pharma's (or the Video Game Industry's) Blockbuster Profit model. As I mentioned earlier, a given percentage of your front-loaded investments are leaving anyway - they're going to want change, excitement, new waters to navigate and conquer. But there will be other employees that are highly impressionable (yet cautious), and it's those who you want to make your best effort to retain. Depending on the cost of your professional development program per employee, losing these "I'd like to stay but have a feeling there may be something more exciting out there" can be chalked up as an instant loss on your balance sheet.

The point is to think about what I'm suggesting today - think about the Headhunter's Secret. Because as I write this, there's a good chance that one of your professional development program employees is having the following conversation: "So have you thought about what you're going to do when your development program is over in the next 60 days? I imagine they want to just stick you in a business unit and expect you to join the 9 to 5 rat race like everyone else, but I have a feeling you want more. And you know what? Frankly, you deserve better."

Editor's Note - Josh Letourneau is the owner of LG and Associates, a Strategic Sourcing, Executive Search, and Human Capital Intelligence firm based in Atlanta. Prior to founding LG & Associates, Josh worked as a Sales & Marketing professional in the software biz and was a hard-charging Sergeant in the Marines. In his spare time, Josh enjoys shooting at other sourcing and search professionals as available in random paintball games.

Friday FOT Bonus: KD's Super-Special Social Recruiting Story...

2009-10-30T14:55:44-05:00

Earlier this week, JLee riffed on a recent social media recruiting success story she had. Lots of comments on that one, and it kind of gave me that warm inner glow - so I thought I'd share one of my own:

The date is early January 2008. The HR Capitalist had gone pretty well, and I got approached by a conference/media company to put together a second blog focused on talent management issues. When I met them and figured out what they were looking for, I knew there was no way I was going to do the second blog all by myself and keep my day job. So I pitched them the following: I'll own the blog and recruit a team of smart people from the industry to write on Talent Management issues. You sponsor it. Film at 11.

They said yes. There was just this one little problem: I didn't know anybody who could write in the style I was looking for (big writing talent, big snark, pop culture junkie, in the talent game). So I did the only thing I could do: I wrote the following "help wanted" ad and put it out on the Capitalist:

HELP WANTED - (4 Positions Available)

"Progressive blogging organization is looking for witty and sometimes jaded professionals, in the Talent Management sector, to blog on a weekly basis, about their life as part of the machine. New blog, as yet unnamed, to be launched to provide perspective of people conducting recruiting, staffing and talent management activities in the field.

Requirements:

-A working position in recruiting, staffing or HR, focused on acquiring, aligning and maximizing talent in your company, or on behalf of clients.

-Writing skills, plus the actual willingness to write and blog on a weekly basis.

-Personality and the ability to merge other resources and pop culture in writing, all in an effort to make it digestible for the commoners (that's me..)

-Ability to tell the world who you are while you are blogging - name, what you do, and where you do it.

-Skin thicker than that of a donkey, for the lashings you'll receive in the comments section.

What You Get in Return:

-Membership in an exclusive, yet opinionated team that will undoubtedly make the dysfunction in your extended family look like an episode of "Little House on the Prairie".

-The ability to blog and share your thoughts without having to start your own site.

-Exposure of your ideas and brand in the online property of a national periodical in the Talent Management space. If you're a current blogger, you'll also get enhanced exposure for your blog.

-A projected stipend per month that will fall somewhere between a night out at Denny's and paying your cable bill.

-The warm feeling of giving back to your profession with the professional distance that only digital media can provide.

Sound like you? Interested in hearing more? To apply, please confirm your interest in the comments section or email the Capitalist at hrcapitalist@gmail.com.

The results from that social recruiting play using the Capitalist? 53 applicants, over 30 of which I had submit a writing sample and 6 or 7 that I brought aboard the original cast at FOT. See if any of these names sound familiar:

-Jessica Lee- that's right, the current editor of FOT responded to a social media help wanted ad. Now she's running the shop. Hard to do much better than that.

-Jennifer McClure- the Cincy Recruiter was one of the responders, and was already and uber networker by the time we met. She jumped on the opportunity to carve out an onlinevoice as part of FOT.

-Kelly Dingee- The first and last voice I listen to when it comes to sourcing. Answered the call and gave FOT creditability when it came to sourcing.

-Maren Hogan- OK, Maren didn't actually answer the help wanted ad. I found her off a backlink to the Capitalist she put up at Big O Recruiting, which was the 1.0 Marennated. I actually cold called her and told her thanks for the link and asked her to be a part of FOT. Backlink to phone call - maybe an even cooler form of social recruiting.

Think about it - how's that for a lineup that was recruited straight up off a blog? Others, like Paul Hebert, Tim Tolan and the rest of the gang came through professional relationships and later introductions, but these four? Straight up off the social platform. Once they got warmed up, all four have done other things - their own blogs, big twitter presences, etc. - but I was able to connect with them through the social media infrastructure.

As time goes by and we've attempted to recruit other writers, I've become more self aware of how unusual some of that talent I originally connected actually is. Thanks for reading gang, and more importantly, thanks for responding.

Pass the tissue.

Would A-Rod be an "A" Player in Your Organization?

2009-10-29T09:59:15-05:00

The best time of year to watch Major League Baseball is the Playoffs, or potentially Spring Training, since it's really the only time you can get close enough to really see why these guys get paid what they do. I have to admit it, I root for the Yankee's (but only if the Tigers are out of it). The reason I root for the Yankees, is not because I jumped on the band wagon (ala almost every University of Michigan fan in the state of Michigan - yes, that was a shot for those non-Michigan graduate fans still trying to catch up), it's a very simple story that started in Omaha, NE about 8 years ago when my oldest son first started playing baseball and his first team was...the Yankees. Ever since, he has been a Yankee fan, his great-grandmother came from New Jersey and was a Yankee fan - so he had some family encouragement and so we usually root for the Yankees this time of year (since the Tigers don't make it there as often!). Plus, Derek Jeter came from Kalamazoo (yes, that's in Michigan), so we have a local guy to root for as well.

Ok, now that I have that off my chest...

Watching the Yankees this past weekend make it to their 40th World Series, being led by Alex Rodriguez and company, got me to thinking all the talent that organization has. Sure the Yankees pay for their talent - always have, probably always will - and by the way, so could every other organization if they decided to. The Yankees have taken on the position, they are going to be market leaders when it comes to pay scale, so naturally almost every player takes a look at them when it comes time to decide who they should go and play for. Arguably, Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) is one of the greatest players of all-time, and the greatest player of this generation - but, before this post season, get was knocked for not showing up in the playoffs. Let's just say he had a hard time even hitting his weight in his previous playoff games, and with runners in scoring position, he had a hard time even hitting his age!

In the regular season action, over his career, A-Rod has been a monster - and probably the only guy who could command $300M+ contract and you feel like you're getting your money's worth. So, is a guy who performs his best, and better than anyone else in the company, day-in-day-out through the year, but bombs in the biggest client meeting of the year an "A" player?

Without a doubt, A-Rod is an "A" player in 2009 - they guy is hitting like 500 for they playoffs, and the Angels actually walked him with two out on know one on in the 9th inning leading by 1 run. Baseball purist would tell you, you never bring the winning run to the plate - but that's what they did with A-Rob (the Angels would have rather taken their chances to lose facing any other Yankee, then allow A-Rob to tie the game - that's huge intimidation!). What happens if he goes O'fer the World Series - still an "A" player - or just a new way to flop in the biggest moments of the year?

For my money - A-Rod is an "A" Player. It's really part of my definition of an "A" player - "Can do things, the other employees can't". Many would argue without him in the line up maybe they don't get by the Angels or the Twins. So, he had disappeared a few times in his career. Wasn't it Michael Jordan who said "26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over...and that is why I succeed."

The "A" Players want to take the shot, even if they miss - that's what separates them from the rest!

FOT/HRCapitalist v5.0 Talent Management Blog Power Rankings - Our Top 30 Blogs!

2009-10-28T07:00:00-05:00

Everyone loves a contest. Including us. And you know? We're a competitive bunch here at Fistful of Talent. So with that... I present our last talent management blog ranking of 2009. (Okay, so you'll scroll past the next three paragraphs and then go straight to the rankings. We know how you guys are!)

For this round of blog rankings, we decided to go a different route. We decided to take our personal opinions out of the voting equation - because you get enough of that here on this blog every single. day. - and let an independent third party tell us who reigns supreme in our space. You heard us. We're letting someone else decide, someone completely objective since there have been whispers in the past with questions about our methodology. Then there were questions about fairness when we opened up the voting to you guys via March Madness. Let's face it. It's hard to be anything except first place, so we understand the frustrations from bloggers who don't make our top 25. But people! Let me just remind you that this is only the FOT's little 'ole blog ranking process. This is not the Emmys. This is not like nominating and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. No acceptance speeches are made here, that is unless you're Jim Stroud.

In all seriousness though, with this ranking we decided to use HubSpot Website Grader's tool to tell us who is the best of the best. According to HubSpot, their grading tool gives a score, with 100% the maximum possible score. They evaluate "marketing effectiveness" which is based on a proprietary algorithm that blends over 50 different variables including search engine data, traffic, backlinks, etc. Now we realize, this takes out of the equation the human factor, the FOT factor. But this is pretty black and white, wouldn't you say? And since traffic is a factor in the website grading... let's hope trust that good content is what drives great blogs with high traffic.

As always, we hope you'll learn about some new blogs to read in this process... and we give total props to our fellow bloggers for being such great inspirations for us to continue with our blogging. We're happy to be in such great company. So with that? The top 30, their website grade and previous rankings if applicable. Over 160 blogs were graded and these came out as the cream of the crop according to HubSpot! Oh, and we added in FOT + the HR Capitalist for fun, just to see how we stack up (and damn it feels good to be in the top ten!). (And the fine print - we removed Cheezhead since no active blog posts have been produced since its acquisition by Jobing. We also removed Ning or comparable community social networks that host multiple blogs like ERE and RecruitingBlogs. Love ya guys, but we know you understand.)

1. Personal Branding Blog 99.8 HubSpot score| 13th Place, (07/2009 Rankings)

2. HR Capitalist 99.7 HubSpot score | ineligible

3. All Things Workplace 99.5 HubSpot score | 10th Place

4. Punk Rock HR 99.3 HubSpot score | 6th Place

5. HR Bartender 99.2 HubSpot score | 3rd Place

6. Tom Peters! 99.0 HubSpot score | unranked

7. Compensation Force 98.9 HubSpot score | 4th Place

8. Fistful of Talent 98.8 HubSpot score | ineligible

Recruiter Guy 98.8 HubSpot score | 9th Place

10. Know HR 98.6 HubSpot score | 15th Place

Marketing Headhunter 98.6 HubSpot score | unranked

Your HR Guy/Rehaul 98.6 HubSpot score | 2nd Place

13. Effortless HR 98.5 HubSpot score | unranked

14. Jibber Jobber 98.2 HubSpot score | unranked

Systematic HR 98.2 HubSpot score | unranked

16. Simply Lisa (HR Thoughts) 98.1 HubSpot score | 15th Place

17. Workplace Prof Blog 98 HubSpot score | unranked

Oracle Talented Apps 98 HubSpot score | unranked

19. Taleo Talent Management 97.8 HubSpot score | unranked

My Global Career 97.8 HubSpot score | unranked

21. HR Lori 97.7 HubSpot score | unranked

22. Sylvia Ann Hewlett 97.6 HubSpot score | unranked

23. Renegade HR 97.6 HubSpot score | 7th Place

24. The Recruiters Lounge 97.5 HubSpot score | 19th Place

Sirona Says 97.5 HubSpot score | unranked

26. Great Leadership 97.1 HubSpot score | 22nd Place

27. Compensation Cafe 97 HubSpot score | unranked

28. Employee Factor 96.8 HubSpot score | unranked

29. Michael Specht 96.6 HubSpot score | unranked

30. Workers Comp Insider 96.5 HubSpot score | unranked

Interesting results, yeah? And if you don't think these are the top 30 talent management blogs? Well folks, this is like American Idol. Just call me Simon as I just judge to help narrow it down from the general masses... but after that? It's up to you and your votes/links... only with the blogosphere, your votes and links are your mouse clicks which equate to traffic. Cheers to such great talent and amazing smarts in the talent management blogosphere... and until next time. Look for our next ranking in January 2010.

Want to Define Your Talent DNA? Don't Waste the Values Section Included in Your Performance Review...

2009-10-27T07:02:00-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about performance management lately. Of special note is the fact that I'm thinking of ways - real ways, not lip service - that the performance management process can be used to reinforce and/or build culture at our company.

The main thought I've had? In order to make the true cultural play when it comes to your performance management system, you've invariably got to make some of your current team members uncomfortable and possibly even make them think that they don't belong at your company.

Stay with me on this one and we'll discuss after the jump. More from KI's Byron Abramowitz over at the HR Technologist:

"Every company has a specific DNA which defines who they are and what makes them successful. For Oracle, their DNA is wired in such a way that their M&A process includes acquiring anything that they feel is a threat to them in the market, and their sales organization aggressively seeks to win every deal. For Apple, their genetic makeup is wired around simplicity in design, allowing form to follow function, and creating an such a strong aura around their products that they can command premium pricing for what is typically a commodity (computer, cellphone, etc).

In the HR Technology space, SuccessFactors has a specific DNA as well. They have experienced a fair degree of success in developing their platform organically and building their staff around the hiring philosophy of "No A-holes". What this means is two things; SuccessFactors isn't likely to hire someone from Oracle (see above), and they haven't built out their capabilities through acquisition of other vendors like some of their competition. As a result of these decisions they have built a successful company full of nice people, and have a technology platform which is largely built upon a single set of standards, has a consistent look and feel throughout the suite, and tightly integrates from one process to another.

So let's take Byron's examples (although there are plenty of people out there who would claim that SuccessFactors doesn't practice what they preach when it comes to the "No A-hole Rule") and think about culture. How can an Oracle employee take a glance at what is most valued at SuccessFactors and see if they fit and vice versa?

Corporate Values? I doubt it. Most of the Values and Mission statements are so far removed from daily activity that they've ceased to become useful as gauges on how work is actually done in a company.

My preference? If a company truly wants to drive culture, they ought to put what they really value on the old "Company X Values" section of the Performance Review. You know where to find that, right? It's usually the section 2 of a mature performance review process that comes right after the position specific goals and objectives. The Goals and Objectives section of the review is position or individual specific, but the Values are usually the same for all talent at the company, rated for each employee as items that are consistently expected out of every position in the company.

Unfortunately, it's usually soft things that are included in the Values section. For example, consider the competency "Integrity" that's often included in this section of the review. How can someone exceed your expectations regarding Integrity?

Right - they can't. You only know Integrity is a factor when it's not there. That's why it doesn't belong in the values section of a review. It's impossible to rate or distinguish if someone has more of it than their peers.

Instead, work on your culture by forcing meaningful dialog on items that your company really thinks separate the stars from the ditchdiggers. I recently worked an exercise with a company peer of mine and had the peer list the 5 things that successful people at our company have that are critical to individual success. One of the ones he listed was "Ambition".

Ambition as a corporate value. Think about that for a second. Many will disagree, many will squawk. It feels mean. BUT - if that's what is valued at your company, don't you owe it to your OD and performance efforts to be truthful with your employees?

Work on your culture by being honest regarding the values you promote in your performance review process. Larry Ellison would be proud.

Editor's Note: By day, Kris Dunn is the VP of People at DAXKO, a cool software firm dedicated to providing solutions to the best membership-driven organizations in America. At night, he morphs into a blogger at The HR Capitalist and the Founder and Executive Editor of Fistful of Talent. That makes him a career VP of HR, a blogger, a dad and a hoops junkie, the order of which changes based on his mood. Tweet him @kris_dunn...

A Success Story - Using Social Media to Recruit. And There Are More....

2009-10-26T07:55:00-05:00

It's noisy in the blogosphere when it comes to using social media to recruit. Lots of folks have things to say about it. How to do it. Why to do it. What's so great about it. Some folks have a little bit to say about metrics and measurements and results. But I feel like it's not often enough that we're talking about results. I like hearing about folks who have gotten jobs because of social media, like you see here. But still, I don't see enough success stories. We can't be out there on social media proclaiming all of its greatness if we don't have results. So what have you done with it?

Here's a success story of mine. A recent hire. It's a good story.

September 17th, 9:13am. I put out a tweet using my personal account and it's pretty harmless. I say I'm going to be looking for some entry level folks interested in health policy/healthcare comms. That's all I wrote. I didn't include a link to a job posting. I just made the statement.

September 17th, 1:08pm. I receive an email via Facebook from someone interested in the health policy role. It turns out that her friend follows me on Twitter, saw my tweet and told her about it.

They go to this blog which is linked to my Twitter profile. They find a link to my Facebook account which is linked to on the blog. And then I received the email. And then I asked for her resume.

September 21, 12pm. I did a phone interview with her.

September 23, 12:30pm. She comes in for her first round of in-person interviews.

And then a few more interviews a few days later. Then a final interview. And then I made an offer just a few days after that. She started working for APCO last week and we're all thrilled to have her on board.

How 'bout them apples? Right? I tweeted something pretty harmlessly. They went to my blog to learn more. They then contacted me via Facebook. And then the wheels started turning. Twitter. Blog. Facebook. Oh, and one other detail about this story? Her friend was following me on Twitter because a recruiter at a competing company recommended that she follow me during an informational interview where she was asking about people in the industry to pay attention to for jobs. Read that again. Community matters. Networks matter. Relationships really matter. And - there was no cost to this hire except for the investment of time and effort I've made to be a good, contributing member of the social media community. That's it.

And there are other success stories out there. So, what's yours? What have you done and where have you found success? Help me de-mystify using social media to recruit. Hit me in the comments with your stories.

PS - I'm going to be talking about this story and the many other success stories at the Social Recruiting Summit in NYC on November 16th. Will we see you there? We're going to be having conversations about social recruiting tactics and strategies - not just more pie-in-the-sky ideas. Come meet me and Kelly Dingee, who will also be in attendance, there.