HR, the Bottom Line

In Response

2009-10-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

I think it is difficult to categorize individuals based on age regarding social media. I think personality (introvert/extrovert), interests (shopping, business, humor, social, debate, exercise, outdoors), physicality and how individuals perceive the world (visually, kinesthetic, auditory) would be a better way to look at who looks at what and uses whatever. I think age is really at the bottom of the list.

The above paragraph is in response to a question on LinkedIn. Let me delve a bit further regarding my original response.

First, I mention personality. Let me give an example. A strong introvert will most likely not want to have a million contacts or be out there on many networking sites chatting away all day, whereas the opposite might be true for a strong extrovert. Even though an introvert may not crave socialization, s/he might use social media to focus on specific interests or needs (drivers).

These “drivers” push individuals to focus their energies in certain areas and for different reasons. Some may want to find the best price. Others may be looking for a good laugh or entertainment. Some may be doing research or need information on a certain topic.

Third on my list, I mention physicality, which is really all about the “physical self” and “physical environment” of an individual. Physicality along with the mental/spiritual inner self dictates how the individual chooses to socialize. For example, someone who prides himself on muscle strength, and enjoys the outdoors and socializing in person has a strong physicality. This individual most likely will not want to do much socializing online as it would take away from the physical self.

How individuals perceive the world will dictate what type of social media an individual prefers. For someone visual, how a site looks will be a big deciding factor. Visual individuals typically enjoy artistically well-designed sites, photo sharing sites and webcamming. Kinesthetic or tactile types usually want something more hands on, like gaming or animation. Auditory types may gravitate toward music or entertainment sites with sound.

These four factors run through many generations and do not favor a specific age group or generation. Preference and tastes for social media are individual choices not generational choices.

Seamless Recruiting

2009-07-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Seamless Recruiting—what is it? Should it be done? Can it be done? Oftentimes, clients will ask, “Where in the corporate scenario or process should recruiting begin and where should it end?” Before this question can be answered, we need to ask, where does recruiting begin and end for most corporations currently?

Recruiting - Beginning & End

In actuality, corporate recruiting typically begins when the recruiter consults with the hiring manager to develop a job specification and writes a job description because a position has been vacated or created. After the initial consultation, the recruiter reaches out to possible candidates. The recruiter then works on candidate development and presentation of the best candidates to the hiring managers. Then comes the selection process and finally, an offer is made. If the candidate accepts the offer, onboarding usually follows; this might be performed by the recruiter or by an HR administrator depending on the organization. This is usually where recruiting ends—either previous to onboarding or immediately afterward.

Recruiting Seams

Yes, corporate recruiting today has seams—weak seams, fuzzy seams, strong seams and some that are just plain unsightly. Negative results of these “recruiting seams” include gaps, replication of processes, confusion of responsibilities and overlooked resources or underutilization of talent. Recruiting should be fluid and graceful; there should be no seams.

The Solution

So what is the solution? The solution to achieving seamless recruiting involves understanding the flip side of recruiting, retention. In coming years, baby boomers will be retiring and taking a wealth of information with them. To avoid extreme costs and retain cultural harmony, it is very important for corporations to hold on to these individuals at least until they can pass along their knowledge. Retention means recruiting the same candidate (employee) over and over through careful workforce planning, career pathing, organizational development, performance management, compensation planning, employee relations and succession planning. In essence, recruiting and retention need to be integrated to achieve seamless recruiting.

Conclusion

Can seamless recruiting be achieved? Yes, recruiting is evolving and will continue to progress through better planning, technology, sound implementation, and a shared vision.

With Diversity Comes Strength

2009-07-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

Diversity Defined

Diversity comes in many forms and flavors: gender, age, time perceptions, personality, skills, culture, race, sexual orientation, language and nationality. With diversity comes strength.

Benefits of Diversity

There are many benefits from diversity in the workforce including:

• Cost Savings
• Resource Acquisition and Utilization
• Keeping and Gaining Market Share
• Better Decision Making
• Greater Innovation and Creativity

Baby Boomers (1946-1964) will be well into retirement by 2030, if not before depending on the current recession. What this means is a shortage of skilled human resources in the coming years. This may seem unlikely at the present time, with such a strong recessionary environment, but is indeed an eventuality. A diverse company will weather this shortage much better than a company that is not.

An Example of Diversity

One example of an extremely diverse company I worked for is Levi Strauss; they were extremely open on all levels. Their culture was one of diversity, equality, and working together as a team. This is their strength.

An Economic Decision

2009-07-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

Why buy a company when you can cherry pick the employees? Companies often acquire other organizations to attain talent, and do not realize all of the costs involved other than the initial sticker price.

Goldmines of Talent

Some companies are goldmines of talent and are often considered great deals. However, on further analysis or after acquisition, hidden costs are found. There may be under/low performing employees; repetitive processes, functions, and replication of positions; major cultural differences; disparity in strategic leadership; burdening debt; restrictive contracts; and problematic locations. Perhaps these issues can be avoided through due diligence and/or resolved through great leadership, but at what cost?

Taking a Good Hard Look

First, a company needs to ask why they are considering acquiring another company. If a company’s main reason for acquiring another company is to obtain talent, they need to decide if acquisition is really the best route to go. This means taking a good hard look at all costs involved-- not just the actual selling price but also the hidden costs and domino effects to the company, the acquired company, the employees, and the economy.

These acquisitions can cause difficult employee integrations and layoffs due to cultural differences, repetitive functions and processes or duplicate employees. This usually results in lower employee morale, higher turnover, lower production, higher costs, and lower profits.

Like Brain Surgeons…

Skillful recruiters can minimize costs enormously. Like brain surgeons, they can carefully target, extract, screen, and present much needed candidates to their clients. After candidates are hired, they can be more easily integrated on a case-by-case basis than can many new employees in the case of a massive acquisition. Depending on recruiters’ fees and the volume and quality of recruiting needed, employing third party recruiting services can be a much more economical route versus acquiring another company.

Cherry Picking

Cherry picking, in addition to reducing costs, allows companies to acquire talent at all levels and fields from companies globally. After a company considers all internal and external factors, it may decide that cherry picking employees may be a more customizable and beneficial route to take not only because of the costs, but because of the opportunities offered.

The Recruiter's Role in Reaching Economic Equilibrium

2009-07-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Dollar

In recent years, the U.S. Dollar has been losing value. For Americans, this means the U.S. dollar buys less especially in the UK and EU and vice versa. Historically, however, the pound has also been losing value as compared to the U.S. Dollar; even though the pound is still stronger, it has weakened as compared to the initial exchange rate as shown: http://www.measuringworth.org/datasets/exchangeglobal/result.php It seems to be moving consistently toward an economic equilibrium.

Equilibrium Defined

Scientifically, it is very easy to understand the concept of equilibrium. Take for example a tank. On one side of the tank, the water is filled to the top. The other side is half filled. The divider is removed. The water rises on one side and falls on the other side till both sides reach equilibrium.

Driving Forces Behind the Recruiter

The recruiter is driven by economic forces. India is a prime example. It is a country with a very high population density and a very favorable exchange rate.

Scientifically, it is only natural that the U.S., having a much lower population density, would see an osmotic immigration pattern coming from India. Economically and historically, the recruiter has acted as an accelerator. With a good exchange rate and salaries kept low due to a large talent pool in Inda, U.S. employers have outsourced many projects and sponsored many immigrants from India. Recruiting from India has been intense in the hope of securing large profit margins. Considering the huge profits rendered, shouldn't the U.S. be thriving? This is where equilibrium comes into play.

The U.S. Recession

When U.S employers heavily recruited sources outside of the U.S., many U.S. employees could not remain competitive. After all, U.S. rents and mortgages and other expenses remained high; gas even got higher late last year increasing energy costs. Unemployment increased, colliding with the mortgage crisis brought on by the selling of derivatives, variable rate mortgages, lack of regulation, devaluation and abandonment of real estate, poor screening/qualification of loan officers, and bad loans.

U.S. companies forgot that a large part of the customer base was at home in the U.S. and how even a small increase in unemployment would have a ripple effect on the U.S. economy. All of this made for an explosive recession.

The Recruiter's Role

It falls on the recruiter's shoulders to gracefully bring the message to the employer and employee--that this is a new economy, that Americans have to become more competitive globally when it comes to salary, real estate, energy, and products. Americans have to live and work more efficiently and greener. This includes everyone, even the CXO's. If this message is not delivered, equilibrium will not be kind.

Just Plumming Around

2009-07-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

The Feather Duster

I only have one plum tree, one tree that hadn't produced well for quite a few seasons. Spring was here and the tree had blossomed. Really wanting to see some plums this year, I ran out with the feather duster.

Harvest Time

It paid off. Purple ripened plums were everywhere. It was harvest time. This took days and additional hands since there must have been literally hundreds of plums. It also included a preliminary screening process, screening out pecked, rotting, infested, and unripe plums.

Selection, Designation and Processing

I had to wash or soak and re-inspect the plums deciding on each plum's destination. Upon further examination, some were discarded. I sorted the less ripe, greener plums and put those aside as those could wait for awhile. Then there were the perfect plums I set aside for eating. There were still bunches left. Exactly, what would or could I do with hundreds of plums?

Jam of course was my first option as these plums were ripening quickly; time was of the essence. I ran out and got mason jars and pectin and made jam for a couple of days in a row. I gave jars of jam and bags of plums to a couple of friends; one friend's jar didn't quite gel, so his family used it as a glaze on a roast instead.

One friend recommended making juice and freezing the juice, so I used some for juice. However, there were still buckets and bags of plums left.

Hence, I googled plum recipes and found one for plum pie. Again, I returned to the store for pie crusts and more pectin (to make more jam and redo some jars that hadn't quite gelled). I followed the recipe off of the internet, deciding to make one test pie. It took hours and was a little tart and mushy. For the next batch, on the advice of a friend, I used firmer plums and more sugar, flour, corn starch and a little butter. The next two pies came out better, but still a little tart, and there were still a couple of bunches of plums.

It has been hitting the 90's here in Dallas and it was getting hot in the kitchen, so it hit me...plum sorbet!! I googled for a plum sorbet recipe. Following the recipe, I alternated between the freezer and the ice cream maker for a day, between the solution freezing and liquefying. Finally, I just stuck it in the freezer. Is it done yet? I'm not sure. Perhaps, I'll try plum sherbet later this week; maybe that will freeze up better.

Conclusion

What the plum does any of this have to do with recruiting? Well the feather duster is like the planning and pro-active recruiting that goes into sourcing candidates and contacting clients. Recruiters always have to be proactively sourcing, networking and developing their brand. Then there is harvest time, or for recruiters the initial pre-screening process. During selection, designation and processing, recruiters must prioritize; develop and implement further screening tactics/tests; and make good matches, decisions or choices. They must be creative, hardworking, persistent, decisive, and always searching.

The Contract Recruiter - Past, Present, Future

2009-07-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday

I started my first contract recruiting assignment in 1995 for Levi's. Back in the 90's, there were very few of us, and there really was no predecessor to model myself after.

It was really up to me to decide what was included in this role. This usually meant finding and meeting with a potential client, negotiating a contract, and doing whatever it took to honor the contract. Since technology and ATS's were far and few between especially at the corporate level (many agencies had something in place), I would set up a database to track candidates. It also meant sitting down with each hiring manager to understand his or her needs and writing up the requisition and job description. This was followed by sourcing and screening, interviewing, reference and background checking, negotiation, closing, offer, and orientation.

With this scenario, placements came easily and with it the need for other advisory services outside of recruiting. In addition to these basics, I managed or provided projects/troubleshooting/advice for compensation, branding, infrastructure, recruiting tools/systems/metrics, internal recruiting, career pathing, organizational development, vendor and contract negotiation, compliance and employee relations.

Today

Today, with total functions being outsourced, recruiting has been broken down into many functions: client relations, sourcing, candidate development, interviewing, reference and background checking, negotiation/offer and account management. This has been both good and bad.

Volume recruiting can be handled more easily and more consistently if the process is sound and communication is good. In turn, the cost of upgrading technology can be justified by increased productivity and need for compliance; with better systems in place, processes can be integrated and expedited.

On the flip side, poor communication and processes can mean inefficient recruiting, targeting the wrong candidates, resulting in lower productivity, reduced quality, and wasted stakeholder time. Breaking recruiting down to small, specific functional areas often is an oversimplification of "recruiting" and translates into a tremendous drop in rates and diminishing duties for contract recruiters. With redundant, repetitive, clerical/administrative, myopic duties, comes poor branding for the contract recruiter. Considering these factors, what does this mean for the "contract recruiter of tomorrow"?

Tomorrow

Considering living costs and inflation, there are three choices, the contract recruiter can make:

stay,

leave,

or evolve.

Staying will not be a realistic option for most. With today's rates and few positions, a very limited number of contract recruiters will be able to sustain a living or career. Of course, there will those who dig in, wait it out, hoping to clean up after the bloodletting.

Others will leave completely realizing they can use their experience, skills, knowledge, abilities and beliefs for a new career or life vocation. Some will retire. A few will leave intermittently and return.

Yet others will evolve, staying connected to contract recruiting but in a new way: Full Spectrum HR; HR Business Partner; HR Services/SaaS; Education, Communications and Recruiting; Technology & Recruiting; Deep Research & Sourcing; Compliance & Recruiting; Global Recruiting; and Recruiting & Retention.