Offshore Recruitment Process Outsourcing

I heard Cognet saying about"Recruitment Process Outsourcing"

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:20:00 +0000

Well One more post on Recruitment process outsourcing, i hope this one is with diffrence. Why don't you judge it - Read below the post by cogent.

If you are interested in reducing your cost per hire, time to hire and attracting the best talent available, then Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is definitely worth considering.

WHAT IS RPO?

“Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) refers to a company outsourcing its recruitment or staffing process to an external service provider”. The external provider shall provide your company with the necessary skills, tools and technologies to perform the recruiting function. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) will bring in significant COST savings and improvements in the QUALITY of recruitment.

PURPOSE AND BENEFITS

Recruitment Process Outsourcing provides excellent benefits in the areas of Quality, Cost, Service and Speed.

QUALITY: Recruitment is a labor-intensive process and it is further compounded by the fact that it is recurring. To cite an example, your company could have a very high number of open positions during a certain time of the year each requiring varied skill-sets and experience. To hire a team that is capable of sourcing and recruiting these candidates is very challenging. Providers of Recruitment Process Outsourcing have the required processes in place, expertise, an extensive database of resumes and the networking required to source all types of candidates.

COST: Your costs can be significantly reduced because an RPO provider essentially uses “economies of scale”. They are also capable of handling volume fluctuations in a much easier way. For example, the RPO provider could allocate 10 recruiters to your company when volumes are high and then easily shift them to another client when volumes are low. If you as a company were to hire these 10 recruiters, you would either be forced to pay for resources that are not being used or lay them off which involves overhead expenses.

SERVICE: A Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) provider will help to streamline your company’s recruitment function and make it seamless and effective. RPO providers are equipped to provide you with the best people when you need them and also take care of your ongoing and future needs through greater employee retention and process control.

SPEED: “Time to hire” is a very critical factor in the recruitment process as this directly affects business performance. A Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) provider will find it much easier to analyze their database and create a pool of candidates that is ready to be interviewed. They need not take time to advertise for the specific job profile.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing is an end-end function. It begins all the way from designing a job profile to charting the recruitment process and also developing orientation strategies once a candidate is hired. It is not just restricted to hiring a specific person for a specific profile at any time. It is about building a talent pool of resources that can be made accessible for your company. RPO providers also go the extra mile to provide your company with valuable advice and strategies on employee retention.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing has a powerful place in the market. RPO providers are well connected to various companies and the job seeker market. They have a much larger and attractive talent pool than any single company could possibly have.

Sourcing Unlimited

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:23:00 +0000

Can't Find People? Try Name-Generation Firms To Solve Your Sourcing Problems

Any recruiter worth his or her salt knows that there are three essential elements to recruiting: 1) sourcing or finding names, 2) assessment, and 3) selling the candidate. Most corporate recruiters are weakest at the first stage, which is finding the names and contact information of the ideal candidate (the working professional that has the same job title as your open requisition).

Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this

candidate identification problem that, for some reason, 75% of the corporate recruiters and 98% of the managers I have worked with have never heard of. It's puzzling to me that they don't utilize it, because this solution to finding and targeting candidates is quick, relatively inexpensive, and essentially ends the candidate identification problem.

The solution goes by a variety of names including:

Names research
Name identification
Unbundled search

Whatever you call it, name identification research is simply the most underutilized sourcing tool in corporate recruiting.

The reason that name research is so valuable is that most corporate recruiters are weak at sourcing or finding candidates. In contrast, corporate recruiters are pretty good at assessing and selling candidates once they have their name, number, and bio.

It's not surprising that most corporate recruiters stumble when it comes to identifying names because of their high req loads and the fact that they recruit for positions in many different disciplines. It's obviously hard to keep up with "who's working where" when you have limited time and multiple disciplines to cover. Fortunately, employing a names research firm can provide corporate recruiters and managers with all the names they need.

It's A Miracle!

Think of it. You can call a name research firm and tell them that you need the names, phone numbers, email addresses and a brief bio of all the people that hold a key position title at each of your major competitors, and in a couple of days you'll have it. The names provided will all be employed people (the so-called passive candidate) and they will only be from firms that you have expressed an interest in.

Once provided with this information, all the corporate recruiter or manager must now do is to contact them, begin building a relationship and make your sales pitch.

Even though most corporate recruiters have never used name generation, the tool is commonly used by third-party recruiters and executive search firms. They realize that finding names is a unique and specialized talent that, while essential, is a completely different skill from assessing and selling candidates. Many of these third-party recruiters realize that their strength is in building relationships and selling candidates, so they don't hesitate to focus on those important element of recruiting. In fact, many corporate recruiters are surprised when I inform them that it's not uncommon for third-party recruiters in a specialty area to buy the names of the people that they provide as candidates.

Managers frequently think that these third-party recruiters have a huge database of people in a certain profession. While a few do, most, when they are given a recruiting assignment from a client firm, just call their research firm and buy the names. Some large third-party recruiters have their own internal name researchers, but the concept is the same. If you excel at building relationships and convincing candidates, focus on that and let someone else that specializes in finding the names do the sourcing for you.

Costs

I find the cost of unbundled research to be quite reasonable and the quality of services provided to be extremely high. In most cases, if the name is unusable there is no charge.

Incidentally, if you compare the cost of names research and the results it provides to the most common sourcing approach, newspaper ads, there is no comparison. Newspaper ads get you active candidates, people that don't currently possess the job title you are currently recruiting for, a large percentage of unemployed candidates, or candidates from firms that you might care little about. In contrast, names research guarantees you get only what you specify.

The need for expensive executive searches can also be reduced if you don't really need the whole range of services offered by executive search firms. If they are given the names and contact information, many senior managers can make the calls necessary to get these top candidates in for an interview.

Ethics

I know you're probably thinking about the various tricks that these names researchers use to identify these individuals and to get their contact information. My response is, get over it. They don't break laws in order to get the names and that's all you need to know. Incidentally, it's important to realize that you are offering these candidates a better job and opportunity, so you aren't misusing their names in any way.

Identifying Names Research Firms

Kennedy Information (a recruiting publisher) publishes a directory with a complete list of all search firms, and it highlights the ones that do names-only research (also know as unbundled research)...

Conclusion

...The first step in shifting to a model that relies heavily on names research as a primary sourcing tool is admitting upfront that your recruiters don't have the time, interest, or skills to do cold calling and all of the necessary things required to gather names.

It's a common weakness in the corporate world but fortunately, it's not a deadly one. By utilizing names research firms to supplement the names you get from the other most effective sourcing tools (your website, conference recruiting, and referral programs) you can essentially solve your sourcing problem. Then, corporate recruiters and managers can focus on what they do best, which is convincing the identified people to apply, assessing them and selling them on your offer.

The thought of eliminating this tremendous roadblock to recruiting success should make even the most cynical corporate director of recruiting smile. Try it, you'll love it!

Sourcecon 2008 Is On!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:52:00 +0000

I am not sure how many of you have hear sourcecon which is short form of sourcingconference and it is a sourcing contest. I tried to be a part of sourcecon 2007 in Challenge 3 and was able to manage to complete the contest after Jeremy.

Let me tel you more about Sourcecon
"
As with many great Secret Societies, the exact genesis of the Organization behind SourceCon is shrouded in mystery.

Much of the story is missing but what has been pieced together is this:

Circa fall 2006 at an un-named eatery (some versions say pub), near a popular industry event, a cross-section of key Professionals from various industries and backgrounds found themselves in heated debate over the events of the day. By the end of the night, and many rounds of good cheer, they realized that they shared a common belief and passion in regards to Sourcing.

The belief was a fundamental changing nature of High Value Talent acquisition creating the need for a comprehensive approach to pure sourcing.

The passion was in finding Innovative ways to master the best practices in the world in the quest to master Talent acquisition.

There are then some sketchy accounts of alien knowledge from Roswell and something to do with a Fibonacci sequence hidden in the art of Da Vinci;

But what we know for sure is a that this Society was created and will be dedicated to the advancement of sourcing as a specialized profession.

The Society believes that the future of Corporate successes will be from those that have master sourcing... and the Society is guardian of this truth."

Any One can take part so every is welcome and see you at the conference.

My Disclosure Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:56:00 +0000

This policy is valid from 10 March 2008

This blog is a collaborative blog written by a group of individuals. For questions about this blog, please contact tihsur at gmail dot com.

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

People Screaming on Recruitment Process Outsourcing

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:43:00 +0000

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider.

HRO Today defines recruitment process outsourcing services to include: sourcing; screening; testing; interviewing; background checks and drug testing; hiring; coordinating the offer letter; on- boarding; maintaining applicant tracking logs, requisition, and candidate files; reporting; and training. Full-service RPO runs the gamut—from finding the candidate to hiring a new employee and almost everything in between.

Outsourced activities range from strategic (workforce planning) to the administrative (generating offer letters) and nearly always involve sourcing candidates. The RPO services firm may hire the displaced recruiters of the company they are now servicing. The services firm may be responsible for all hiring of a certain class of worker, such as non-exempt positions. Contract recruiters may be located at a client site, but often service the client remotely. RPO services firms may help a company re-engineer its recruiting department by standardizing processes; they may write job descriptions; they may facilitate the transition from candidate to new hire.

Recruiting is traditionally industry specific and strategies that work in the manufacturing industry for example may not work well in the life sciences industry and vice versa.

Hence from a Strategic perspective it's always a good idea to find niche based recruiting strategies that yield well for each industry vertical. The recruiting industry is already catching on to this phenomenon and "niche based" job sites are gaining rapid momentum and popularity. However sourcing talent is only a part albeit a very important aspect of the entire recruiting process.

For the purposes of this article we will study what are all the steps within the recruitment process that can and cannot be outsourced to a third party vendor. I will not be getting into the challenges, benchmarking of vendors, quality matrices etc since that is beyond the scope of this article.

Once you’ve decided that recruitment process outsourcing is the right move for your organisation, how do you pick the right agency? Ross Bentley explains the art of choosing and using an RPO partner.

For More Scream ask ME on Tihsur@gmail.com

recruitment process outsourcing, offshore recruitment process outsourcing, http://www.offshorerecruitmentprocess.blogspot.com. rushit shah, recruitment, outsourcing, offshore recruitment, executive search, antal

My company is into

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:07:00 +0000

Antal is the leader in EMEA & Asia Executive Search & Selection with a network of over 50 fully-staffed offices in 24 countries, recruiting talent in a range of industry sectors & skill functions. Since inception in 1993 Antal has placed executives in over 75 countries and offers clients a choice of recruitment & staffing solutions from Retained Executive Search, Search & Selection to Contingent Recruitment in Permanent, Interim & Contract / Temporary staffing.

Antal's executive recruiters combine their recruitment knowledge, search skills, proven headhunting & selection methodologies with knowledge & experience of your industry to deliver a truly value added service. This approach ensures Human Resources Managers, Hiring Managers & Candidates all deal with specialists who know the talent market, the top performers in it and importantly, understand your business. Your Antal Recruiter actively shares information, knowledge & experience across our global network adding extensive cross sector and multi-geographic reach when recruiting with the efficiency of a single contact point.

The Solutions division works with clients on volume recruitment projects deploying Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Applicant Tracking, 3rd Party Staffing and Vendor Management solutions.

The Vacancy and Job Search tools allow searching of executive, management & senior jobs in a number of countries, sectors & work functions & free job alert newsletters, resume storage and essential tips in the Candidate Zone.

Antal's global network has physical offices in UK (London HQ + 10 UK offices), Belgium, Bulgaria, China (Beijing, Shanghai & Hong Kong), Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy (2), Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nigeria, Malta, Poland, Romania (6), Russia (Moscow, St Petersburg, Ekaterinburg), Spain (Madrid & Barcelona), South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey (3), UAE/Dubai.

In each country sector-focussed specialists are aligned to a discipline, enabling us to deliver seamless solutions in Sales, Marketing, HR/Human Resources, Accountancy & Finance, Banking & Law/ Legal, Information Technology, IT Technical, Engineering, Logistics, Operations, Construction, Supply Chain, Consulting, General Management, Healthcare & Public Sector.

Antal has a proven track record of recruiting in the following sectors across EMEA & Asia; Aerospace & Defence, Automotives, Banking, Beverages, Chemicals, Construction, Consumer Goods, Distribution, Electronics, Energy, Engineering, FMCG Food, Financial Services, Retail, Electronics, Healthcare, Information Technology, FMCG-Non Food, Insurance, Leisure, Legal, Manufacturing, Media & Advertising, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Professional Services, Accountancy, Public Sector, Real Estate, Technology, Telecommunications, Transport, Utilities & Mining/ Resources..........

ask me for more informaiton on RSHAH AT ANTAL dot COM

recruitment process outsourcing, executive search, antal international, antal, rushit shah, linkedin, offshore recruitment , outsourcing, india

Search Engines vs. Meta-Search Tools - Article From my Other Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:02:00 +0000

Search Engines

Search engines and meta-search tools are the principal vehicles for finding documents on the web. Because there are many misconceptions about how these tools actually operate, it’s important for recruiters to understand their real structure, capabilities and limitations.

Search engines find web pages by matching keywords or phrases found in the documents. But it’s important to note that users are not searching through a live interface to the web. Search engines build a proprietary database of text snippets retrieved from web pages by automated software programs called spiders. Spiders are configured to follow links and gather information from specific areas on a web page. The search engine then builds a database (or index) of the results. When a user searches a search engine, they are actually searching text snippets saved to the index, not the web itself.

With billions of the pages already on the web and some estimates claiming that over 7 million pages of the content are added every day, it is extremely unlikely that any single search engines will ever index the entire web. It is also important to know that no two search engines index contains millions of unique pages. Therefore, to access the universe of documents, across even 50% of the web, recruiters need to use multiple search engines.

Meta-Search engines

Meta-Search engines are tools that search multiple search engines all at once. This sounds like great solutions for recruiters, but there are some complicating issues.

First, because each search engine uses slightly differently syntax, meta-search tools have a hard time keeping up. Second, because only a small subset of search engines support advances search featured like field search commands, most meta-tools do not map search strings with those commands. That means some meta-tools are not particularly useful for all the types of advanced search we’ll learn in our search lab, although they are getting better at supporting more advanced searches every day. Additionally, we would strongly recommend that you experiment with these meta-search tools occasionally.

A few top meta-search tools are:

The SearchLab Portal contains additional online and offline meta-search tools. Now that we understand these terms, it’s time to understand how to work with search engines. Next, we’ll learn to use Boolean logic and field search commands to construct complex search strings.

My Words on Professional Networking

Searching tips for Job Boards and Search Engines

"P.E.R.F.E.C.T. T.E.N." Resolutions

Useful Abbreviations

Antal International - Recruitment process Outsourcing

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:51:00 +0000

My New Job at ANTAL INTERNATIONAL NETWORk

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:21:00 +0000

I happy to announce you my New Job. Which is at Antal International Network as Executive search Consultant.

Antal International Executive Search & Interim

Antal is the leader in EMEA & Asia Executive Search & Selection with a network of over 50 fully-staffed offices in 24 countries, recruiting talent in a range of industry sectors & skill functions. Since inception in 1993 Antal has placed executives in over 75 countries and offers clients a choice of recruitment & staffing solutions. Retained Executive Search, Search & Selection in Permanent & Interim

In this position I was responsible for projects concerning Antal's clients recruitment needs on Middle and Senior Management profiles. I did the head hunting activity, sourcing and selection activity as well as job and profile definition together with the client. Mainly into Executive Search

Rushit Shah’s Specialties:

executive Search, executive search consultant, cxo, recruiters, recruitment, recruitment process outsourcing, offshore recruitment process outsourcing, orpo, rpo, business development, outsourcing, offshore recruitment, executive researcher, Passive executive search, Executive Head Hunting, Cold calling, Executive Search, Executive Search, Executive Recruitment, Research, Consulting, Project Management. Operating in India and other global markets.

Executive Search and Global Business Development consultant @ Antal International Executive Search / oRPO Specialist

India

Current

Executive Search and Global Business Development consultant at Antal International Executive Search

Past

Co-Founder And Web Master at Offshore Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association
Marketing Manager at Outsource 2 India
E-Eecruitment Specialist at Os2i PVT LTD

4 more...

Education

University of Pune

Recommended

1 person has recommended Rushit Shah

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Staffing and Recruiting

Websites

Rushit Shah tihsur@gmail.com’s Summary

Rushit Shah tihsur@gmail.com’s Specialties:

Rushit Shah tihsur@gmail.com’s Experience

Executive Search and Global Business Development consultant

Antal International Executive Search

(Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Staffing and Recruiting industry)

February 2008 — Present (1 month)

• Executive Recruitment, Selection, Consulting, Executive career management and Management consulting globally
- Business Development (researching the top producers within a particular industry, market research and analysis, first contacts with potential clients, client care activities)
- Recruitment projects (project planning, job market research and analysis, search and selection of potential candidates for conducted projects, carrying on interviews and phone interviews)
- Creation of a synergistic match between a company and a prospective employee
- Executive Recruitment, Selection, Consulting, Executive career management and Management consulting globally
- Business Development (researching the top producers within a particular industry, market research and analysis, first contacts with potential clients, client care activities)
- Recruitment projects
- Executive Search

Turn your staff into recruiters

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:19:00 +0000

Employees who refer a friend or contact to the law firm Baker & McKenzie can do rather nicely out of it if the company ends up employing that person.

“Our referral scheme gives people who recommend technical [legal] staff £5,000 and support staff, £2,000,” explains Martin Blackburn, the firm’s UK director of human resources. The scheme generates about 5 per cent of new recruits and, in spite of the sums paid, is very cost effective compared with other methods of recruitment.

Employee referral schemes are a popular way for organisations to recruit new blood. Not only are they cheap compared with traditional recruitment methods, but they have other advantages, such as an extra level of personal endorsement that traditional recruitment seldom provides.

Companies report that those who join this way are likely to be better, more loyal performers. And, unlike many who respond to an classified advertisement, referred candidates are likely to be well informed about the company.

At the top end of the market, those who introduce successful candidates can receive as much as £5,000, but sums elsewhere are not to be sniffed at. First Direct, the UK bank, pays staff who recommend friends £500 – £250 when the recruit joins and £250 if he or she is still there in six months.

“It is very successful,” says the company. Thirty-six per cent of all our new recruits come through the scheme.” Their performance is also higher “because they know people who work here, they know what it’s going to be like and they tend to make their contribution quicker”.

Leigh Lafever-Ayer, an HR manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, agrees: “Our employees know their jobs and what it takes. They won’t recommend people who aren’t up to it, so those they do recommend tend to stay longer.” What’s more, she explains, when new recruits join “they have an in-built mentoring system in the person who recommended them.” Enterprise, she says, pays people who recommend new employees upwards of £500.

Even recruitment agencies, which stand to lose from the application of such schemes, see the benefits for their own operations. Rob Scott, managing director of Aaron Wallis, offers candidates who refer others “day-out” incentives ranging from flights over London to bungee jumps.

“The scheme is in its early stages but represents great value for us – the incentives cost a few hundred pounds and the payback is usually 10 to 15 times that,” he says.

The practice of employee referrals appears to be more common in the US than in Europe. At Ernst & Young in the UK, 18 per cent of new employees are referrals; in the US, the figure is 50 per cent. The accountancy firm says the reason is that, like many US organisations, it relies heavily on its alumni association for recruitment. In the UK, by contrast, the first port of call is often a recruitment agency or graduate scheme.

But Angela Baron, an adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, raises questions about relying on referral schemes long term. “The downside can be [a lack of] diversity,” she says.

“If referral schemes are your major source of recruits, you need to remember that people tend to socialise with people like themselves. You have to recognise this – especially as more and more organisations are trying to reflect their customer base or the public.” Referral schemes are therefore best used as part of a balanced approach to recruitment, she says.

Ms Baron is also concerned about offering large cash incentives: “In an ideal world, you’d be such a good employer that your staff would recommend you anyway.”

Mr Scott urges companies to incorporate an audit trail into the referral schemes to combat fraud. In one case, a hospital in Atlanta sacked four people when it discovered that its scheme had been scammed to the tune of $35,000. Because of the need for transparency, says Mr Blackburn, human resources staff are not allowed to participate in Baker & McKenzie’s scheme.

Still, he thinks referral schemes are valuable and offer scope for innovation. “One idea I’m interested in is flexing the reward based on the part of the business that you need to recruit into. So if you’re very short on secretaries, you pay a double bonus. Doing this kind of thing also keeps the scheme at the forefront of employees’ minds.”

Human risk management: Are you in the know?

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:17:00 +0000

Organisations spend a fortune protecting themselves against external threats: thousands of security guards supervise doorways, sophisticated systems monitor electronic transactions, and CCTV surveillance cameras watch our every move.

But are we unwittingly inviting ID thieves, unqualified professionals, and the dishonest to infiltrate our organisations, by giving them security badges, access to sensitive data, unrestricted entry to buildings, and work with vulnerable staff and customers?

Risk and threat management

The old-fashioned, hierarchical view that senior executives expose more threats than junior employees ignores the example of the office cleaner who might have easier access to sensitive areas than a director.

HR needs to assess its threat exposure from individual or families of roles, and compare these to the organisation's risk strategy. That way it can mitigate risks appropriately, focus its investigatory effort, and avoid over-emphasising unwarranted checks.

Deciding on the 'right' levels of checks depends on your organisation's sensitivity to risk, which is partly governed by individual corporate values, industry, environment and regulation.

Many risk and security managers are busy defining increasingly defensive and selective employment policies to shield their organisations. But they then delegate pre-employment screening to HR departments, already struggling in the face of tight resourcing budgets, demanding timescales, or the highest vacancy levels on record (source: ONS).

Strategic human risk management

How should HR handle this tricky conflict: finding skilled people quickly and cost effectively on one hand; and safe, compliant recruitment, threat management and protection on the other?

For HR to truly reflect its organisation’s risk strategy, it needs to ring fence pre-employment screening from its other recruitment activities. HR faces pressure to deploy the right staff quickly and cost effectively, but it usually lacks the objectivity, resources, and know-how of a discrete, focused, specialist background checking team. Their organisations needlessly suffer staff-perpetrated theft - and worse - at the hands of repeat offenders.

The 'right' checks

Simple checks to mitigate threats

Find out who you're dealing with using a reputable ID verification database.

Find out if they're entitled to work in the employment zone and role.

Find out if the salary you’re paying can sustain any insurmountable debt.

Attracting a manager or professional candidate costs an average of £5,000 (source: CIPD), and £2,000 for high volume, customer service roles, yet checking who you’re dealing with rarely amounts to more than 2 per cent of this. So what's putting us off?

Perhaps it's because it's such an effort to elicit a worthwhile work reference that employers simply give up altogether, or rely on recommendations from unsubstantiated referees.

And, even though a sixth of the workforce has a criminal record, our voracious appetite to find undisclosed convictions, whether or not these checks are relevant or even lawful, can add several weeks' delay.

The prevalence of verification databases, which many businesses are already using to confirm customers' ID and credit worthiness, means you can more reliably check employees' identifications, their financial probity and address histories.

Indeed, there is little point using any other selection criteria unless you know who you are dealing with. Dishonest employees are more tempted to steal when their debt repayments far exceed their salaries. Credit reference agencies can suggest how applicants are coping with loans, highlight outstanding County Court Judgements (CCJs) and verify address histories on request.

Any skilled resourcing specialist knows that they can more reliably predict a candidate's future behaviour by reviewing their most recent conduct. Referees' increasing reticence to volunteer anything more than the standard tenure dates and job titles shouldn't deter vigilant hiring managers. Up to two-thirds of British workers would lie on their application forms to get a job (source: Monster).

Don't underestimate the value of authentic work histories; and verify the employment experiences that candidates brag about during interviews and on application forms.

Reference checking tips

Ring fence referencing from other resourcing activities.

Check the genuine existence of former employers.

Check the validity of named referees.

Check tenure dates, job titles, and reasons for leaving.

Check your candidate's record of dismissible, crime related conduct on a dishonesty register.

Work references

We all know from experience that busy previous employers might only yield references half the time. "We're able to elicit references for well over 90 per cent of candidates because we have dedicated specialists who can focus all their efforts on chasing referees, with all the right authorisations immediately to hand," says Nick Palmer, one of Reed Screening's team leaders. "Our main obstacle is simply when the former employer has closed down."

Clearly, this outsourced provider doesn't suffer from the same distractions faced by in-house resourcing teams.

My top tip on obtaining work references is to not rely on referee contact information supplied by candidates. Application forms typically ask candidates to include names and telephone numbers of former employers.

But dishonest candidates regularly put forward a loyal friend, family member, or even themselves to provide a glowing reference. Instead, use a reputable company register to check that the organisation exists, and an equally reliable directory to independently find a valid contact.

Then, as a minimum, corroborate start and leaving dates, job titles and, if you can, reasons for leaving. And even if their previous job ended in dismissal, your otherwise ideal applicant could divulge a reasonable explanation.

If you believe that lies on CVs indicate a propensity to dishonesty, you will need to pinpoint fictitious employment histories, and fabricated qualifications which, by themselves, may disqualify candidates for specific roles. In some regulated, financial services roles, a firm could threaten its ability to trade by employing an unqualified professional.

More advanced checks include searches on director databases, and media searches which, as well as highlighting adverse news reports about candidates, also expose journalist infiltrators who may have written damaging articles in the past.

In addition, information about employees' previous, dismissible, crime related conduct is becoming more readily available on 'dishonesty registers'. Many large employers can qualify to become members of these registers if they satisfy data protection legislation, adequate employment practices, and contribute their own dismissal data.

A final word

The worst mistake organisations make is to believe that they've protected themselves by including the words "subject to satisfactory checks" on job offers when, in reality, they use unreliable sources or simply don't undertake the right checks.

There's now abundant advice, data and services to help. So take advantage and align your recruitment processes with your organisation's risk strategy.

Firing An Employee

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Being in the IT Enabled industry with highest attrition levels, firing an employee would be like a pinch of salt on an open wound. But sometimes, a small pinch of salt is required on the wound to stop it from getting further infected.

According to statistics compiled by the National Human Resource Development Network, attrition rates in IT-enabled business process outsourcing sector have come down from 30-33 per cent being witnessed off late to about 25 per cent now. Despite this being a much discussed issue, firing is essential because retention of non performers affects group morale. Poor employees reduce team performance by wasting time and efforts of other workers.

Often managers have to have this most hated and highly uncomfortable confrontation with an employee; firing. The response that the manager will get is quite unpredictable, as some may agree with on the failures and some may want to go on an extended argument, sometimes getting a little "physical".

The manager has to be fully prepared before firing someone as to how he handles this demanding confrontation can decide how the rest of the employees look upon the manager and the company as a whole.

When To Fire An Employee?

Though most of the time the manager is aware of the guidelines formulated by the company on firing, it can still be quite subjective. Generally, any employee who is not contributing to the overall goals of the company should be asked to leave. However, not before the following points are considered.

a) When the employee is not contributing towards the overall goal of the company, he needs to be made aware of this fact and helped to work in the right direction.

b) If the employee is still not able to bring his performance up to the acceptable levels, a thorough investigation should be made to assess if he needs any training. Investigation can be made through discussions, meetings, feedback from the immediate supervisor, client's feedback etc.

c) After providing the training, if the employee is still not able to come up to the acceptable levels, the manager has to go through a "Progressive Discipline Process".

d) The purpose of this progressive discipline process is to ensure that low performance is not because of a factor controlled by the company. These could be like the hiring process, the training process, evaluation methods being followed or man management issues in the team.

e) The Employee Relations Manager has to be in the loop as that ensures both the Manager and the employee get a fair deal.

How To Fire An Employee?

While firing has to be a last resort measure, many times fearing the repercussions, many managers delay firing, resulting in "baggage" in the team.

If the reason to fire an employee is not because of his activities as mentioned and agreed upon in the employee hand book but is solely because of underperformance, by carefully working with the employee, many performance shortcomings can be resolved.

If all help and support does not work, the manager must give strong verbal warning that specifies expected work quality or attitude improvement and cites specific suggestions for effecting such an improvement. If the employee shows no improvement, issue a written warning. Most of the time employees just need to be "shaken up" to improve their performance and a written warning does this magic, most often than not.

After a written notice, if the employee does not show any improvement, involve the Human Resource and Employee Relations and let the employee know that he is a round peg in a square hole. By following the above procedure, the manager has all papers in place to justify firing.

Firing and Attrition

Firing and Attrition are very much related to each other, though distantly. In both these cases, the manager looses trained manpower.

When Jack Welsh, ex-CEO of GE instituted his policy of yearly appraisals-generously rewarding the top 20% 'A' performers, developing the middle 70% 'Bs', and firing the bottom 10% 'Cs', he certainly did not have the IT Enabled operation in mind. Forget firing the bottom 10%, in the current situation, companies would talk about re-training the bottom 10% in an endeavor to curb the high attrition rates.

Sometimes, firing can look like attrition. In a recent news update, India's largest software service company, lost about 1000 employees at the end of first quarter of 2005. According to sources, this is the result of a carefully planned salary model called the Economic Value-added model that came into existence two years ago. This two year cycle model which involves assessment, retraining and exit discussions saw the major percentage those quitting as non-performers. They were given low ranking for the second year in a row for not showing any sign of improvement despite undergoing mentorship programme.

Looking at firing and attrition together in a different light, firing can be an excellent tool to contain attrition.

Attrition can simply be defined as employee leaving his current job due to reasons like, job pressure, health problems, personal reasons, inefficient boss, lack of job security etc. All the above reasons are interlinked and can be the reasons for good workers to quit.

If the team has under-performers who despite given sufficient support and training is unable to perform, but they continue to be part of the team damage the morale of the team. A performer will not want to be part of the team which has non-performers because he will have to compensate for the non performer, thereby increasing his job output/pressure. A continuous job pressure results in health problems. Having frequent health problems not only reduces his performance, but also affects him financially. At this juncture, the performer realizes that he is working with an inefficient manager who is not capable of "cleaning up" the team by firing non-performers. With the above, the performer employee feels insecure and resigns.

CareerBuilder.com Launches Personified, A Talent Management Consulting Firm

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:08:00 +0000

CareerBuilder.com the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs, has launched Personified, a consulting firm that helps employers understand and leverage the relationship between talent management and company performance. Some of the talent solutions the company will provide include: employee acquisition and retention; recruitment process outsourcing; employment branding; inclusive culture development; and employee engagement.

The goal of Personified is to develop customized talent solutions that allow employers to get the best return on their investment in people, processes and technology. The company differentiates itself through its deep understanding of the online environment and access to a vast talent pool and in-depth employment data.

Personified evolved from CareerBuilder.com's Human Capital Consulting Division, which successfully launched in 2006, and will allow the CareerBuilder.com network access to a greater share of the $18.4 billion global human resources consulting industry(i).

"Personified will operate independently, but will leverage the knowledge and resources of CareerBuilder.com to deliver unmatched insight into the behavior of job seekers and employees," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com. "The new company was formed to address increased demands from the market for more robust talent management solutions."

Personified is being launched in the wake of a tightening labor market driven in large part by the impending retirement of many Baby Boomers and the lack of skilled talent to fill the knowledge gap. According to CareerBuilder.com's annual job forecast(ii), 41 percent of employers say they have positions for which they can't find qualified talent.

"Personified helps employers navigate a new era of talent management, where employees and job seekers are empowered by the Internet and can find a new career opportunity or get insight on a company at a moment's notice," said Mary Delaney, President of Personified. "The average tenure of an employee continues to decline -- making the talent marketplace extremely competitive and employers' ability to retain intellectual capital much more challenging. In fact, a quarter of employees plan to leave their current position in the next two years(iii)."

Despite the hiring environment becoming more competitive every day, nearly half (48 percent) of employers surveyed by CareerBuilder.com reported that they don't have a recruitment strategy in place(iv). Personified will be focused on four key areas of recruitment and retention to help employers propel their businesses forward:

    1.  Talent Acquisition
       More than a quarter (27 percent) of employers surveyed by
       CareerBuilder.com say, due to a tight job market, they have retained
       workers whom they otherwise wouldn't due to performance issues or a
       slowdown in work(v).  Personified helps employers optimize their
       recruitment process and more effectively staff their business through
       recruitment process outsourcing and analysis of a company's current
       recruitment processes from the perspective of the candidate, recruiter
       and hiring manager.

   2.  Employment Branding
       Seventy-eight percent of employers surveyed say their companies do not
       have an employee brand(vi).  Personified works with companies to build
       and communicate an employment brand that sets them apart from
       competitors and establishes a company as a desirable place to work --
       which ultimately leads to higher quality talent, reduced recruitment
       costs and improved employee retention.

   3.  Workforce Culture -- Diversity/Inclusion
       Forty-six percent of workers do not believe their workplace mirrors
       national demographics(vii).  More employers are recognizing the
       positive impact a diverse workforce has on the bottom line.
       Personified helps employers identify and build the right culture
       within their organizations to create an inclusive environment that
       better mirrors their customer base, embraces diverse viewpoints and
       boosts innovation.

   4.  Employee Engagement -- Training
       When job seekers were asked to identify the defining moment when they
       started looking for a new employer, the top reason cited was the
       feeling that there was nothing left to learn or no challenge or growth
       potential(viii).  After identifying what initially attracts candidates
       to their opportunities and whether the corporate environment delivers
       on its promise, Personified builds training programs in recruitment,
       leadership, sales, diversity, and project management.


   For more information about Personified, visit: http://www.personified.com

About CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. , Tribune Company , The McClatchy Company and Microsoft Corp. , the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,200 partners, including 140 newspapers and leading portals such as America Online and MSN. More than 300,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 26 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. CareerBuilder.com and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.

    (i)    Kennedy Information: HR Consulting Marketplace 2006-2010
   (ii)   CareerBuilder.com "2008 Job Forecast" conducted by Harris
          Interactive December 2007
   (iii)  CareerBuilder.com "2008 Job Forecast" conducted by Harris
          Interactive December 2007
   (iv)   CareerBuilder.com Q2 2007 Employment Forecast
   (v)    CareerBuilder.com Q4 2007 Employment Forecast
   (vi)   CareerBuilder.com Q2 2007 Employment Forecast
   (vii)  CareerBuilder.com and Kelly Services Discrimination Study conducted
          by Harris Interactive June 2007
   (viii) CareerBuilder.com "2008 Job Forecast" conducted by Harris
          Interactive December 2007

United Airlines Renews Contract with Spherion's Recruitment Process Outsourcing Division

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:31:00 +0000

  Proven Track Record of Service Excellence and Overall Performance in RPO
               Delivery Lead to Extended Client Engagement

   FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Spherion Corporation's
recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) division today announced that United
Airlines has renewed its contract with the Company through 2010. The scope
of work calls for Spherion to support more than 4,000 of the airline's
annual hires, including flight attendants, ground crew, customer service
and reservation agents. Serving as a talent acquisition partner for United
Airlines since 2005, Spherion helps the airline identify the most qualified
candidates across a variety of skill categories.

   Spherion leads the full cycle recruitment process for select positions
within United Airlines, which includes proactive sourcing, screening, and
assessment of candidates.

   "Spherion has proven its RPO division can deliver results and serve as
a trusted, long-term partner for our recruitment needs," said Sheila
Schroeder, Managing Director of Staffing at United Airlines.

   The engagement is led by more than 20 experienced Spherion recruitment
professionals across the United States. Servicing United Airlines in over
100 locations, Spherion's recruiters have partnered with the airline to
deliver a sourcing strategy customized to United Airlines' unique hiring
needs.

   "Spherion's RPO division is comprised of a dedicated and trusted team
of seasoned recruiters that work closely with our clients to implement a
hiring strategy that will deliver long-term success," said Roy Krause,
president and chief executive officer of Spherion. "We look forward to a
continued partnership with United Airlines and remain deeply committed to
finding the best talent for the company."

   To learn more about Spherion's RPO services, visit http://www.spherionrpo.com.

   About Spherion

   Spherion Corporation is a leading recruiting and staffing company that
provides integrated solutions to meet the evolving needs of companies and
job candidates. As an industry pioneer for more than 60 years, Spherion has
sourced, screened and placed millions of individuals in temporary, temp-to-
hire and full-time jobs. Positions range from administrative and light
industrial to a host of professions that include accounting/finance,
information technology, engineering, manufacturing, legal, human resources
and sales/marketing.

   With approximately 700 locations in the United States and Canada,
Spherion delivers innovative workforce solutions that improve business
performance. Spherion provides its services to more than 8,000 customers,
from Fortune 500 companies to a wide range of small and mid-size
organizations. Employing more than 300,000 people annually through its
network, Spherion is one of North America's largest employers. To learn
more, visit http://www.spherion.com.

SOURCE Spherion Corporation

ORPO - Let them do the jobhunting for you

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:30:00 +0000

You may not recognise the name Aliaxis, but you'll probably recognise its constituent parts - in the UK it comprises eight companies: Alutec, Durapipe UK, Greenwood Air Management, GPS PE Pipe Systems, Hunter Plastics, Marley Plumbing and Drainage, GPS PE Pipe Fittings and Philmac. These businesses, all well-known brands in their fields, employ 1,500 people. Worldwide, Aliaxis operates in 39 countries, employing 12,000 people in total.

If your company is of a certain size, you'll understand some of Aliaxis's problems: the HR teams faced a number of ongoing issues. The eight different Aliaxis businesses, supported by four different HR departments, all operated as independent business units. Each business had different methods and approaches to recruitment - yet they had common problems, as well as areas of best practice that were not shared.

Two particular issues stood out. First, all businesses seemed to have difficulty in recruiting and attracting candidates. This was compounded by the fact that candidates who were offered jobs often turned the roles down. Second, no process was in place to capture data about candidates.

Claire Silvester, head of HR in the UK, backed by Aliaxis's HQ in Paris, took this as an opportunity to centralise the recruitment process. ResourceBank was identified following a thorough research programme. Aliaxis had worked with ResourceBank on senior appointments in the past and was impressed with the service. Aware that ResourceBank specialises in setting up outsourced resourcing centres, Silvester spoke to two ResourceBank clients, Adams and Kimberly-Clark, to learn about their experiences.

She says: "The outsourced approach had a lot of appeal in terms of standardising processes across all businesses and attracting a higher calibre of candidates. Finding the right partner was critical to the success. We are not a massive organisation in the UK, so I didn't want to work with any of the very large outsourced recruitment specialists where we may not get such high levels of service.

"ResourceBank really impressed us with its willingness to tailor a solution to suit our needs. However, we wanted to proceed with caution. We appointed ResourceBank to run a three-month trial for us across all of our businesses."

The trial

During the trial, ResourceBank was tasked with recruiting 25 people, ranging from a finance manager and production planner, to a marketing manager and area sales manager. The roles were based across the UK.

The team advertised the vacancies in a wide range of media, predominantly online. They handled 1,516 applications, selecting 354 candidates to complete a full competency-based interview, then selected 80 candidates for interview, providing Aliaxis with a choice of the best three candidates for each role.

ResourceBank was invited to present the results to the managing directors and HR teams across all the businesses. The results were convincing. There was an increase in the number of people who attended interviews and all candidates who were offered jobs accepted.

According to Silvester: "The trial period gave our individual businesses the opportunity to buy into the new approach. It clearly demonstrated that a centralised system was more effective. Even people in the team who were previously reluctant to give up long-term relationships with existing recruitment suppliers could understand why this new approach would give us a competitive edge."

As a result of the successful trial, in April 2007, the Aliaxis Resourcing Centre (ARC) was launched. Aliaxis signed a two-year contract with ResourceBank. The ARC, staffed by five dedicated ResourceBank employees, was set up in just three months. Its brief was to recruit 120 candidates a year, primarily for profesional, clerical, and administrative roles.

The ARC's role includes everything: taking the initial brief, creating job briefs, placing recruitment ads, interviewing candidates, shortlisting candidates for the Aliaxis recruiters to interview, providing feedback to candidates, issuing rejection and offer letters, as well as checking references.

The results

Silvester says: "A centralised approach gave us the opportunity to recruit under the Aliaxis brand name for the first time as opposed to using the individual company names. Candidates are attracted to working for a larger global organisation, with a wider range of career prospects, and this helped to attract a higher calibre of candidates.

"Previously recruitment was haphazard across the organisation. We had set up excellent in-house training and development schemes - yet these were of limited value if we couldn't recruit the right people into the business. Since partnering with ResourceBank, we have thorough processes and systems in place, which enable us to be far more efficient and allow us to recruit more effectively.

"All candidates, whether they are offered roles or not, are communicated with in a professional manner and on a timely basis. This means that they have a positive experience of Aliaxis as a business, are more likely to accept the job if offered, and are keen to find out about other roles within the group if they are not successful. The ARC team also interviews our internal candidates for promotions, benchmarking them against external candidates. If internal candidates are successful, they really feel they have earned their promotion."

The ARC logs all candidate details into a bespoke database. By building an exclusive Aliaxis candidate bank, ResourceBank has created an invaluable tool for speeding up the recruitment process. For example, a candidate who applied for a sales manager role for Marley Plumbing was not right for the job but was ideally suited for a role at Greenwood Air Management.

"In the past eight to 10 weeks, we have offered four jobs to people who were known to us through the database. These appointments have been made in less than a week. As the database grows, we will continue to see even more successes," says Silvester.

"As an added bonus, we are also saving £90,000 per year. We are really driving the company forward with this new approach to recruitment."

Contact Information

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank You

Rushit Shah

Wipro Killing India

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Wipro opens outsourcing centre in Philippines -- WHY???

The new center in Cebu would hire more than 900 employees and would focus on customer service support, technical support, human resource and financial and accounting services

Reuters

Mumbai: Wipro Ltd has opened a business process outsourcing facility in the Philippines as it expands overseas to cut costs.

The new centre in Cebu would hire more than 900 employees and would focus on customer service support, technical support, human resource and financial and accounting services.

Its IT services division, Wipro Technologies, is also looking at starting centres in other fast-growing cities in the Philippines, the company said in a statement.

“The Philippines is one of the largest English speaking nations with a strong IT orientation and a talent pool of 29 million,” T.K. Kurien, president of Wipro’s BPO unit said.

Indian outsourcing companies are expanding operations in China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Kenya in a bid to stay competitive as higher wages, expensive property prices and a rising rupee eat into profits.

Last year, Wipro started delivery centres in Romania and Shanghai.

BCS believes = Offshore outsourcing 'big' for 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Cost saving and mobile employee bases are two main reasons why experts predict outsourcing will rise in 2008.

Vice president of strategic outsourcing programmes at Unisys, Joe Hogan, said that the drive for new technologies such Apple's iPhone, combined with the need to reduce costs will likely see a boom of outsourcing from countries around the world.

"Next-generation devices, which have a tremendous capacity to revolutionise productivity, should go to employees whose jobs touch customers every day, and who require real-time information to capture those customers and keep them happy," he explained.

According to Information Week's Mary Hayes Weier, countries in like India will see great benefits as outsourcing contracts will employ many workers and raise the salaries of their IT professionals.

"Service providers in India [are] going as far as to retain science graduates to become technologists and scouring the rural regions of India for talent," Ms Weier said.

According to her however, more offshore work in the future will go to Latin America, China, Eastern Europe than India as its IT pool diminishes.

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I thought you guys might be interested to read this article i found. I have different thoughts then what BCS have. I think India is going to have hard time in 2008 being decreasing Dollar rates and .....(cant tell you).comment me to know more

Reduce Your Tax Liability with Outsourcing - thanks to Mark

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 19:41:00 +0000

Thanks to Mark for the awesome post.

The business practice known as “outsourcing” was coined in the 1980s. Outsourcing is a process involving the commission or transfer of a business process to an outside organisation capable of fulfilling that function. Many types of business functions can and are being outsourced, such as accounting, customer support, human resources, information technology, real estate management, and customer support.

What is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing is an organisational decision usually requiring top-tier management approval. The decision to divest is not a light one, as it involves the transfer of assets and people, which – depending on the laws of the country in which the outsourcing company is resident – can be assessed capital gains tax.

There are various reasons why companies outsource. Some want their organisational effort to be focused on their so-called ‘core competencies’, and thus distribute ancillary tasks to an outsourcing entity. Others are in a fiscal situation that requires them to transfer people and assets to offshore locations in order to avoid or minimise taxes that would be otherwise imposed on them.

Outsourcing is not exactly the same as off-shoring, however interchangeably the terms might be used. When one outsources, he or she enters into a contract with a supplier or service provider, while off-shoring simply means the transfer of a function – which may or may not remain within the parent organisation – to an overseas location. It is also different from subcontracting in that the supplier is not involved in a specific project only, but in the ongoing activities of the contracting firm.

Tax Benefits of Outsourcing

Businesses want to streamline their budget and reduce their tax liabilities. By outsourcing certain tasks, they can operate under the aegis of the supplier and have minimal exposure in the supplier’s resident country. This means that they will also have a minimal amount of the legal responsibility that accompanies such functions as the recruitment and termination of workers, property purchases, accounting functions such as payroll, and sometimes even incorporation.

Outsourcing is a way to reduce tax liabilities because with the expenses being incurred with the outsourcing process, the company can sometimes be assessed for a lower income tax. In an era where companies do their utmost to streamline tax outlays and other expenditures to achieve the maximum possible efficiency, this can prove to be a winning edge in a very competitive arena.

Outsourcing can also save the contractor money because a lot of foreign outsourcing destinations offer tax incentives to entice companies to avail of the services of locally-based suppliers. These can take the form of regional tax perks or income tax relief, and is a factor whose effect is usually taken into consideration early on in the outsourcing process.

Other Benefits

Outsourcing also offers other advantages apart from the reduction in tax liabilities. It enables access to a larger labour pool whose talents may have been previously inaccessible had the contracting organisation chosen to keep the process in-house; the service provided is backed by a binding contract with legal redress; the provider can give higher-quality service than possible within the parent organisation; it reduces time-to-market; and if and when the outsourced function is no longer needed, the contract can be terminated and the services either given to another supplier or taken back into the company that outsourced it in the first place.

Exceeded its outsourcing prediction

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:07:00 +0000

The Philippines have exceeded its outsourcing prediction.

This was the general view of the research report conducted by the advisory firm XMG. According to the report, the Philippines could experience an annual growth rate of 62% thus surpassing the outsourcing growth expected in other outsourcing countries such as China, India, and Malaysia.

Different factors which could attribute to this trends was also mentioned in the study stating that:
"The cost of operations in top outsourcing destinations is increasing due to wage hikes needed to retain good people, coupled with rising real estate prices and the effect of accelerated currency appreciation in Asia."

I think that the Philippines also possess qualities that every outsourcing destination has. The only problem here is the marketing strategy that these countries have. In this department, countries should think of suitable and attractive ways to attract clients so as to promote their country in the world of outsourcing.

Thanks to Carol Kendrick and to the THE OUTSOURCING WEBLOG

Choosing Passive Recruitment Services

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:19:00 +0000

There are literally hundreds of different recruitment services on the market today and each and every one of them is different from each other. There are very aggressive recruitment services and there are passive recruitment services as well. Many people are choosing to work with the passive recruitment services as they use a gentler method in comparison to the mass marketing skills of the more aggressive agencies.

The reason people are becoming more interested in passive recruitment services is because they have stronger connections with large companies and they maintain these relationships for a longer period of time than many of these more aggressive recruitment services. In comparison the passive recruitment services take a more professional and less pushy approach to job openings and for job seekers. The aggressive companies use force; email marketing, web marketing and telephone marketing to not only push their services to not only new members but new clients as well. Many companies find this to be irritating and more of an annoyance than anything else. This is only one reason why the passive recruitment services are becoming more and more popular because of their professionalism and passive methods.

Within passive recruitment services you can find a large variety of career opportunities such as you can with any other type of recruitment services. They offer career openings within:

• Financial Industry
• Telecommunications
• Web Design/Creations
• Industrial

This is just a small example of the many different career field options you can find within these passive recruitment services. Although they use a different marketing strategy to expose not only their business but your resume as well, they still offer the same benefits that any other recruitment company offers.

As a company dealing with a recruitment service, they may come to the conclusion that the companies who are really try to push their clients are not fully screening them and are in it for the profits only. When they deal with passive recruitment services they get the impression that the resume they are marketing is not only experienced but something they may be interested in. Of course these reactions are not seen by all companies but in general, the more things are pushed on someone or something the more suspicious they become about the motives behind it.

There are dozens of passive recruitment services you can choose from which offer job opportunities within Fortune 500 companies and more. Take this professional and passive approach to see the difference in your future career. Choosing a passive recruitment services only takes a simple Google search.

RPO Leaders Gather for Groundbreaking Summit

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:27:00 +0000

WASHINGTON DC, December 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 150 executives met at the First Annual RPO Summit to discuss the issues and opportunities facing the Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) industry. Summit delegates came together for this historic meeting to advance the state and practice of RPO. They examined critical issues, including standards and practices, technology, contract governance, and relationship management. Convened under the authority of the RPO Alliance, the leading trade association for RPO practitioners and providers, the Summit brought together the top minds in this industry to help shape its future.

Delegates included representatives from over 80 separate companies, including recruitment executives from Fortune 500 companies, RPO providers, recruitment technology companies, sourcing advisors, and attorneys. Drawn from seven different countries, the delegates represented a tremendous cross section of the field of recruitment. "Bringing these organizations together represents a tremendous step forward for our industry," said Jason Berkowitz, Chair of the RPO Alliance and SVP for Business Development at Hyrian. "We accomplished a lot as an industry."

The speakers and panelists at the Summit focused the attention of the delegates on the future of RPO and the role they and the RPO Alliance will play in helping shape it. "The RPO Alliance decided to inaugurate the Summit with a focus on accelerating the professionalism of RPO," said Richard Crespin, Global Executive Director of the HROA. "It was truly amazing to see the depth and breadth of experience already existing in this industry and to see the potential for the future."

Summit delegates gained a lot of insights and had the opportunity to network with one another throughout the Summit. "Attending the RPO Summit delivered tremendous value to Taleo as a company," said Barry Mills, HRO/RPO Alliance Executive, Taleo. "As new members of the RPO Alliance and the HROA, we have already started to receive a return on our investment and we look forward to playing an active role in shaping the RPO industry."

According to Karen Browne, the Chief Operating Officer at PeopleScout, "The RPO Summit was an effective venue in sparking a dialogue among thought leaders and RPO providers around critical topics within the emerging RPO landscape. PeopleScout was delighted to participate as a sponsor and looks forward to other valuable collaborations from the RPO Alliance."

"This was a great event and I can't say enough good things about it. I have a list of takeaways from this - many new connections and tons of ideas!" said David Barbato, CEO of Talent Retriever. "I can assure you the inaugural event was a big hit," said Anthea Collier, Regional VP for Momentum.

Details on the findings of the Summit can be found in the Proceedings of the First Annual RPO Summit available at https://www.hroassociation.org/file/3475/recruitment-process-outsourcing-all iance.html. (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your internet brower's URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.) The RPO Alliance has already begun planning the Second Annual RPO Summit. Details on speaking, attending, or sponsoring the Summit can be obtained by contacting Adam Bleifeld at +1-202-905-0351 x19 or at adam.bleifeld@hroa.org.

About the HROA

The HROA is the only professional membership association committed to promoting the advancement of human resources transformation in complex organizations. The mission of the HROA is to support the Human Resources Outsourcing industry (HRO) through education, advocacy and the promotion of best practices. As a membership organization, we provide online and offline networking, best practices and independent commentary on the evolution of HR transformation. For more information visit: http://www.hroa.org.

About the RPO Alliance

The RPO Alliance, a Special Interest Group of the HROA, promotes the advancement of recruitment process outsourcing. The RPO Alliance works to improve the practice of RPO through better business tools and practices, research, and peer-to-peer connections. As a membership organization, we provide online and offline networking, best practices and independent commentary on the evolution of recruitment process transformation. For more information visit: http://www.hroa.org.

It is still a business of touch.

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:43:00 +0000

It is tradeshow season...or at the very least, the next wave of tradeshows has arrived. This week I attended a show in San Francisco as an Exhibitor. I always enjoy the opportunity to talk about our product and listen to other companies promote their products and services, but the thing that rejuvenates me each and every time is the engaging conversations happening inside, outside and during the information sessions.

Some of the best tips I’ve ever heard, were usually offered over a bagel and coffee during a break. Some of the best ideas are born out of spirited debates during a break out session. There’s always something new, different and open for consideration. Some of the best ideas and learning happens in the art of networking. And you’ll never be able to completely automate or codify good networking. While we’re working on buying more time, the overriding theme I heard from corporate recruiters, staffing professionals and consultants is the importance of learning to master the art of relationships – identification, maintenance and endurance.

As we explore Web 2.0 and what that means and does not mean to recruiting, as we work to optimize tools and streamline processes and metric ourselves into well oiled machines...I hope the one thing we never lose, is the element of touch. So much of what makes recruiting rewarding is bringing people to the right career at the right time. The best recruiters I’ve ever known are not only proficient; they are passionate about the significance of what they do. They are advocates, career counselors and professional seers. Good recruiters impact lives. Hokey? Possibly, but still valid. Sometimes I wonder if all the solutions that are born everyday to take some of the “time” out of the process aren’t also taking some of the “think” out of the process. As we try to endear ourselves to the ones who determine out yearly recruiting budgets, it is so easy to make it all about the process, and less about the skill and art of recruiting. We forget, touch.

The element of relationship building is a critical skill that some people are born with, but most learn over time. There’s no way to automate that. There is no solution on the market to cheat your way through that vital step in our process. All the employment brands, candidate experience packaging and metrics maneuvering will never replace the ability to identify talent, nurture it, present it effectively and close the deal. Our business is still the business of touch.

This week, I watched people sharing ideas. I watched people talking about their experiences, comparing notes on technology and different ways to touch people where they live, work and play. I also heard a lot of metrics and numberese. But one point remained crystal clear:

All the tools, processes and automation will definitely make us faster but developing the talent that is searching for the talent, will truly make us better.

A Perfect Hiring Storm: Scarce talent and Bad Press

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:43:00 +0000

If the lack of skilled workers is creating a hiring void in your neck of the woods, brace yourself as poor employer brand begins to create the Perfect Storm.

I read a great article today by career and business coach Debbie Benami-Rahm, who has lots to say about employee engagement -- and the earlier, the better. Check this out:

The way your organization handles the interview and hiring process either brings you the talent you want or scares your talent away.

Bingo. And when it comes to onboarding new employees, Debbie adds:

Research shows it takes nearly 90 days of employment for new employees to really evaluate the information they receive during the recruiting and onboarding process. After 90 days, they step back and look at their experiences with the culture of the company, their peers and managers, and their training. Those experiences tell them whether they and their jobs are a good fit and whether they see themselves building a career within the organization. Those experiences dictate whether they stay with the company. This is one of the first solution keys to your employee retention challenge.

Debbie, I couldn't agree with you more that workforce engagement begins from the moment of initial contact with potential employees. Ten years ago recruiting leaders thought in terms of an "employer driven" or "candidate driven" marketplace, but no longer; in today's increasingly global and competitive landscape for talent, the rules change while we sleep. Employers that are slow to incorporate critical elements of early candidate engagement are already beginning to discover that retention is only the tip of the iceberg: the challenge of competing for a scarce, electronically connected talent pool has the potential to devastate a bottom line with longterm vacancies.

Something to think about while global internet usage grows annually in triple digits, US jobs continue to move overseas by the millions, baby boomers slip off into the sunset wearing Hawaiian shirts and flip flops, and slumbering economies in other parts of the world wake up with a vengeance.

War for talent, anyone?

Keeping Passive Candidates in Orbit -- a webcast

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:38:00 +0000

Hi there! Claudia and I will be conducting a national webcast on Tuesday, November 13th. This Human Capital Institute program is being sponsored by PeopleClick, which means that it is complementary for you to attend. If you'd like to join us, please sign up today via either of the links below:

http://www.humancapitalinstitute.org/hci/tracks_creating_talent_pipeline.guid

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6958589803&ref=mf

See you there!

Is your company considering or already using recruitment process outsourcing services?

noreply@blogger.com (Rushit Shah) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 10:17:00 +0000

If so, be sure to get the research you need to make the right purchasing decisions. ERE's new report, Recruitment Process Outsourcing 2006: An Assessment of Outsourcing Prevalence and Effectiveness has all of the information you need about the leading recruitment process outsourcing service providers.

The past year has seen a dramatic increase in recruitment outsourcing service offerings targeted toward corporate HR departments. These offerings are loosely described as "Recruitment Process Outsourcing" (RPO) and may include, in all or in part, every recruiting-related activity stopping short of making a hire.

Outsourced activities range from strategic (workforce planning) to the administrative (generating offer letters) and nearly always involve sourcing candidates. The RPO services firm may hire the displaced recruiters of the company they are now servicing. The services firm may be responsible for all hiring of a certain class of worker, such as non-exempt positions. Contract recruiters may be located at a client site, but often service the client remotely. RPO services firms may help a company re-engineer its recruiting department by standardizing processes; they may write job descriptions; they may facilitate the transition from candidate to new hire.

Whatever the arrangement, the service firms are expected to reduce recruiting department costs and increase efficiencies, or at least maintain cost and service neutrality. They are expected to enhance the quality of the candidates delivered to hiring managers, and they are expected to demonstrate the effectiveness of their sourcing methods.

In the spring and summer of 2006, ERE invited from its community HR executives, directors, and managers at corporations to participate in a web-based survey about Recruitment Process Outsourcing. ERE analyzed 334 qualified responses from organizations across a variety of industries, company sizes, and locations. Major questions addressed in the research include the following:

Which recruitment activities and functions are most extensively outsourced?
What type of services firms are recruitment activities and functions outsourced?
What are the key business drivers for outsourcing recruitment activities and functions, and in what order of importance?
What types of jobs are outsourced, across which job families?

Concurrently, ERE conducted detailed interviews with a number of RPO vendors about the depth of their service offerings, their perspective on recruiting processes, and their approach to building end-to-end processes for their customers. ERE interviewed RPO customers about their reasons for outsourcing and their expectations, the depth and scope of their engagements, their relative satisfaction with their service provider, and how they will measure success.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing 2006 was produced with the assistance of talent management consulting firm The Newman Group (TNG). The report contains two articles authored by the firm's leading experts on recruitment practice change management and RPO selection. TNG was instrumental in establishing the blueprint for evaluating the vendor's capabilities in the area of RPO, and in bringing RPO to ERE's attention as business area worthy of in-depth research. TNG also contributed knowledge about its RPO experience in the December 2005 issue of ERE's Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.

Summary of Select Research Findings

Full lifecycle RPO is not prevalent among the survey respondents. Half of all survey respondents indicated they outsourced all or part of their recruiting function; half said they did not. Of the 165 respondents that indicated they did not outsource any part of their recruiting activities or functions, only 9% said they would do so in the near future.
Most respondents consider the use of a third-party search firm recruitment outsourcing. Of those that indicated outsourcing recruitment, 57% said they used a professional staffing firm, and 66% said they used more than one vendor, specifically to augment acute hiring needs or fill niche positions.
Sourcing, background checking and drug testing, and screening and assessment are the most commonly outsourced processes among the survey respondents. These services are provided by all vendor types – professional staffing firms, RPO services firms, HR consulting firms, and technology vendors.
Cost savings alone is not the most important reason for outsourcing recruitment. organizations want to increase their recruiting effectiveness by delivering better-quality candidates to hiring managers.