An Insights: Amplified! special presentation: All about Talent Acquisition Integration at Coca-Cola Refreshments– How DJ Norman and his team hire over 15,000 new employees each year!

“Every time I get to extend an offer and see somebody new walk in the door, it reminds me as to why I do what I do.” DJ Norman

Coca-Cola Refreshments employs over 70,000 people working across their facilities operating vehicles, coolers, vending machines and beverage dispensers. We’re delighted to have DJ Norman participate in this outstanding audio podcast. Welcome to the special Insights: Amplified edition of TotalPicture Radio’s talent acquisition channel. Listen to TotalPicture Radio’s host, Peter Clayton interview DJ Norman, Group Director of Talent Acquisition at Coca-Cola Refreshments during this comprehensive podcast.

Why was this talent acquisition executive interviewed for TotalPicture Radio?  DJ is responsible for recruitment in North America and leads a large number of managers and recruiters responsible for hiring thousands of employees every year across the US and Canada. DJ supports multiple client groups including sales, distribution, and production operations. A major challenge of the staffing operation has been the integration of Coca-Cola Enterprises’ North American business into the newly organized Coca-Cola Refreshments Organization.  We’re sure you’ll gain a good deal of insight from this podcast. Enjoy!

Listen to this podcast now (29 minutes).

For more interesting conversations from Riviera Advisors’ sponsored Total Picture Radio podcast series visit our podcast page.

Welcome to Insights:Amplified, a monthly podcast featuring interviews with the movers and innovators in talent acquisition, staffing and corporate human resources. Insights Amplified is a production of Riviera Advisors, and by TotalPicture Radio, the voice of career and leadership acceleration.

J. Craig Mundy is an innovator who develops and applies creative HR programs and talent solutions. The result is profitable growth, increased productivity and market expansion. He delivers measureable business results in all the company’s operational geographies worldwide. Mundy designs and applies HR platforms that foster creativity and encourage leadership. TotalPicture Radio’s Peter Clayton met Craig at the HCM Summit in Boston, where he spoke on many of the challenges facing HR professionals in the new global economy. His approach is results-oriented and bottom line focused.

He is a leader in creating “Green” jobs globally in direct alignment with the Climate Solutions Sector’s focus on energy efficiency and the environmental impact of buildings. Mundy is instrumental in the growth of the company’s leading position in global HVACR through strategic talent acquisition and leadership development.

Prior to joining Ingersoll Rand in 2007, Mundy was VP/HR for the Gillette Technical & Manufacturing division of Proctor & Gamble, also a global position. He won an “Aligning Business to Strategy” award from HR.com, the world’s largest online HR network, for his work at Gillette. He earned a B.S. from Auburn University and is based in Davidson, North Carolina.

The Climate Solutions Sector of Ingersoll Rand is comprised of two industry-leading Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) brands: Thermo King and Trane. Company operations encompass over 27,000 employees in more than 60 countries. VP for Human Resources (HR) and Communications, J. Craig Mundy, drives the organization’s global strategy to maximize human capital.

Listen to this podcast now (30 minutes).

For more interesting conversations from Riviera Advisors’ sponsored Total Picture Radio podcast series visit our podcast page.

Danielle Monaghan is HR Director for North Asia, including Greater China, Japan, and Korea, for Cisco Systems, and Roel Lambrichts director, talent acquisition for Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. Danielle and Roel participated in a panel discussion moderated by Jeremy Eskenazi, Managing Principal of Riviera Advisors, at ERE Expo 2012 Spring in San Diego titled “A Frank Discussion About Global Recruiting.”

Danielle Monaghan is the HR Director for North Asia, including Greater China, Japan, and Korea, for Cisco Systems, leading the client-facing HR manager organization. She has been based in Beijing for more than five years Her team oversees multiple initiatives to support Cisco’s growth in the region, such as management of mergers and acquisitions, new employee orientation, new management assimilation, downsizing and “rightsizing,” high-potential talent identification, and management of annual cycle programs and creation of operational excellence.

She is responsible for a full service of functions including supply and value chain, R&D, business operations, legal, finance, sales, and services. Prior to this role, she was senior director of HR – Global Staffing and Diversity for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division and senior director of HR for Microsoft China R&D based in Beijing, and head of executive recruiting for Microsoft in the United States, responsible for the talent acquisition of GM, VP, and SVP candidates to fill Microsoft’s most senior executive and technical positions.

Roel Lambrichts is director, talent acquisition for Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., based in Brussels, Belgium. CCE is one of the largest independent manufacturers, distributers, and marketers of Coca-Cola and other products. CCE currently produces and distributes Coca-Cola and other products in Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, and Sweden.

In his role leading talent acquisition at CCE, Roel is responsbile for an international team of talent acquisition professionals providing full-cycle recruiting and staffing services, campus/university relations, and employer branding strategies. Prior to this responsibility, he was responsible for the CCE European Talent Acquisition Process Team, coordinating the startup strategies, planning, and implementation of a new pan-European talent acquisition organization. He also served in an HR manager/generalist role prior to his responsibilities in CCE’s talent acquisition function.

Listen to this podcast now (27 minutes).

For more interesting conversations from Riviera Advisors’ sponsored Total Picture Radio podcast series visit our podcast page.

Joining TotalPicture Radio’s Peter Clayton is Kara Yarnot, Vice President, Corporate HR, Director-Talent Acquisition Center of Expertise at SAIC. Kara spoke to a group of job board operators at the IAEWS (International Association of Employment Websites) conference preceding the ERE Expo Spring 2012 in San Diego, California.

SAIC is a FORTUNE 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy & environment, health, and cybersecurity. The company’s approximately 41,000 employees serve customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets.

One of the unique talent acquisition challenges Kara and her team face: often times they’re involved in a tremendous amount of preliminary pipeline planning and development for roles that are based on being awarded government contracts. Other defense contractors bidding on the same contract are going after the same people, doing the same thing! Headquartered in McLean, Va., SAIC had annual revenues of approximately $11 billion for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2011.

Listen to this podcast now (35 minutes).

For more interesting conversations from Riviera Advisors’ sponsored Total Picture Radio podcast series visit our podcast page.

Dear Talent Acquisition Professional,

Does your office resemble Dunder Mifflin? If so, why? Do you think anyone WANTS to come to work in a cubicle farm with cheap crappy furniture, stained carpets, lousy-stupid computers running ancient software on horrible monitors?

Do you think it matters?

Joel Spolsky does. A lot. He is the author of the definitive book on hiring tech talent; Smart & Get Things Done. “The top software developers are ten times as productive as average developers. Ten times!” These are the folks attracted to Fog Creek and Stack Exchange. And guess what? It’s not about money.

TotalPicture Radio’s coverage of ERE Expo Spring 2012 in San Diego, California, is brought to you by Riviera Advisors.

Joel Spolsky is a globally-recognized expert on the software development process. His website Joel on Software is popular with software developers around the world, and has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Joel created FogBugz, a popular project management system for software teams, and is CEO of Stack Exchange a growing network of individual communities, each dedicated to serving experts in a specific field. He is the Chief Recruiting Officer and official guide on using the company’s $15,000 espresso machine.

Listen to this podcast now (29 minutes).

For more interesting conversations from Riviera Advisors’ sponsored Total Picture Radio podcast series visit our podcast page.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also Subscribe via RSS for more cool recruiting content and articles from Insights from the Riviera and join our 3500+ subscriber community!

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also Subscribe via RSS for more cool recruiting content and articles from Insights from the Riviera and join our 3500+ subscriber community!

Welcome to Insights:Amplified, a monthly podcast featuring interviews with the movers and innovators in talent acquisition, staffing and corporate human resources. Insights Amplified is a production of Riviera Advisors, and by TotalPicture Radio, the voice of career and leadership acceleration.

Randy Goldberg is responsible for the planning, implementation and evaluation of Hyatt’s recruiting programs and initiatives to ensure that Hyatt’s talent needs are met. Randy works cross-functionally to establish Hyatt’s Talent Acquisition strategy and integrate them into business plans and company-wide practices. These efforts have led to recent recognition for Hyatt including BusinessWeek’s “Best places to launch a career”, CollegeRecruiter.com’s “top employer list” and others. Peter Clayton met with Randy at the recent HCM Summit in Boston, where he took part in a panel discussion focused on talent acquisition options and innovations.

Goldberg has worked with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts for over 24, years. His career started with Hyatt’s Corporate Management Training Program which led to several operations management positions in properties in Southern California and then Human Resource generalist positions that included positions in Texas and Atlanta Georgia where he was the Divisional Director of Human Resources overseeing the HR function of 25 properties.

Insights Amplified is a co-production of Riviera Advisors, helping organizations improve, enhance and optimize their corporate recruiting and staffing capabilities through sophisticated levels of expertise in tactical and strategic global talent acquisition and by TotalPicture Radio.

Listen to this podcast now (32 minutes).

For more interesting conversations from Riviera Advisors’ sponsored Total Picture Radio podcast series visit our podcast page.

In my many of professional experiences, I’ve attended every ERE conference on the west coast and have participated in many others across the U.S. It’s an honor for me not only to represent ERE, but to help create an event experience that is just for the corporate recruiting profession. At the ERE Expo, I’ve made connections with so many interesting people, ones who I’ve stayed in touch with and look forward to seeing each year. This event brings our global profession local, which is a subject I’ve taken about at length lately. For a few days we’re all that much more visible and it’s a key engagement opportunity — so, if you are coming to San Diego, March 28-30, 2012 for ERE Expo Spring 2012,  don’t be shy, sit beside someone new, or clink a glass with a stranger.

What can you expect at this year’s event?

Well, a lot actually. I don’t have the space to mention all the sessions right now as I’m preparing for the big event, but I can say they all look excellent! Visit the ERE Expo Spring 2012 website and browse through the full agenda before arriving to build your dream conference, and while you’re reviewing, I’ll give you a few little tidbits to consider. Realize that I’m only just scratching the surface with this preview though!

People are always innovating in recruiting and there is nothing like new words to go along with this. I’ll mention Creating a Workforce of Brand Ambassadors: The JetBlue Approach on Thursday with Julia Gomez. She uses a new word — “brandful” — to describe an engaged workforce. If new diction isn’t motivation enough, Julia will be sharing inspirational stories about how to turn any employee into brand ambassador. You’ll likely learn tips and tricks to engage a team to help the company grow. I’m excited to see Julia and see how this former employee engagement leader for JetBlue integrates with recruitment for success.

Later that afternoon, you might want to head into cyberspace. Social recruiting is continuing to pick up steam. This *Is* Social Recruiting is another one of those innovative sessions with an opportunity to learn from a pioneer. Former head of recruiting of Deloitte in Auckland, New Zealand, Richard Long is now an independent consultant with a law firm — again an opportunity to learn global recruiting locally.

While innovation is always a hot topic, foundational recruiting activities are still a staple for all of us. Larry Clifton is from CACI International Inc., which won the Recruiting Department of the Year during the ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards last year. His team is focused on recruiting training and team development — two elements that we often talk about in theory, but many of us have a hard time planning and implementing. Join Larry at the Training Recruiters session and don’t be afraid to ‘fess us that our own innovation suffers without a solid foundation to build on.

Friday brings creativity and suspense to our program. Joel Spolsky will keynote and his session, Be The Purple Cow: Standing Out and Attracting Top Talent and offers his ‘secret sauce’ to recruit and retain key technical hires using quality over quantity. He has been successful in creating environments where candidates and employees thrive, and offers a lot — especially for those hard-to-find niches many of us are recruiting for back home. I have spent some time chatting with Joel, and I am very excited about this session.

You may end up on the edge of your seat during Paul Hamilton’s Future of Recruiting in 2020 — Group Discussion interactive session. Paul is the head of talent management/recruiting strategies at BMO Financial in Toronto, and he has invited other ERE participants for a live think-tank session to come up with ideas. The second part of the session the “Extreme Team Edition” in the afternoon will be short presentations from the earlier planning stages. Let’s see who the audience votes for — just don’t expect to see Ryan Seacrest.

On Friday, you also have the opportunity to learn more about the candidate experience from my dear friend and recruiting guru Gerry Crispin – he will be joined by folks from RMS and Sage. Their session, called Creating a Great Candidate Experience Without a Big Budget, Big Staff, or Big Brand will help the audience understand that you don’t need a big budget or strong branding campaign to create a great experience for candidates (really, no big budget, how rare these days … hmmmm?) Good job finding the thread that ties us all together guys!

I am excited to mention my own session as well. I’m really pleased to be hosting and participating in a panel discussion on global recruiting called A Frank Discussion on Global Recruiting. Danielle Monaghan from Cisco Systems in Asia and Roel Lambrichts from Coca-Cola in Europe will join me to dispel myths, talk about global recruiting challenges, and help navigate through this global village we’re all part of, but couldn’t possibly understand from afar. As I am writing this, I am in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and I have much to share about my own experiences in Latin America as well, so we’ll have much (not all) of the world covered.

Whether you’re going global or not, one person you likely want to hear from is Mary Wright, an attorney (did smoke just come off the screen?), yes, I said attorney, and she will host an open mic session to answer all your questions about recruiting. We often hear the only things certain in life are death and taxes, well in our profession, I will add another certainty and that’s not realizing all the legal issues we face!  She wears several hats from mediator to judge and is not afraid to answer anything we may throw at her — so take advantage sans billable hours!

Like I said, this list is not extensive, but I wanted to give you a sample of what’s available. Now for my next set of duties — making sure you have the best possible ERE Expo experience possible. Here are some suggestions that will maximize your ability to learn, network and recruit, but also may help avoid some of those embarrassing blunders:

1. Clear eyes and full hearts … and an open mind — can’t lose. Remember that the best learning in sessions comes from having an open mind. I have found ERE attendees often are very sophisticated and experienced recruiting professionals; however, there is always something new to learn, so be open to it. Talk to the speakers, exchange contacts, and connections. Keep in touch with them too.
2. Network like it’s 1999 (put your mobile device away until it’s time to exchange details!) Networking at ERE is probably one of the best reasons to come. You can often learn more from the networking with other recruiting pros than you can just by going to a few of the sessions. So, improve your odds of really getting a bang for your buck at the conference … go to sessions, and introduce yourself and trade contacts with people you don’t know — you can probably learn from them too!
3. One is the loneliest number – I know many conference attendees can feel very lonely at a conference. Yes, that’s right … in a room with a thousand other recruiting pros, people can feel very lonely. That’s because conferences are great places for people to reconnect with people they already know (like a reunion of sorts), as well as for teams of people from the same organization to gather. However, all of those single attendees would love to be welcomed into the community. Even for recruiting pros, it’s hard for people to force introductions. So, try hard solo attendee. Go out on a limb! Force yourself to be open to introduce yourself to people. And, for all of you attendees from the same company: get over it, you know these people! Split up, extend the olive branch, network, and learn and maximize your attendance. Don’t just hang out with the same people. I will be swarming around the conference looking to introduce people to others, and I will be breaking up masses of recruiting pros from the same company. I will also make sure that if you are a solo attendee or a first-time attendee, I will do everything I can to welcome you into the ERE family. Those of you who are already “in the family,” open your cliques up to adding new folks to mix!
4. What are YOU looking at? That conference badge: Oh, how the name badge is a critical element to the conference scene. Yes, we have a great sponsor for the lanyard that attendees will receive with their badge at the conference. But, most attendees sling this lanyard around their neck with the badge dangling about three-quarters of the way down your torso. It swings and dangles and its one of the reasons why many conference attendees are not looking at your eyes, but staring at your chest to try to read your name badge. Here’s what I suggest: If you want to wear that convenient lanyard, just tie a knot on the lanyard to make the loop shorter and your name badge appears higher on your torso. Or, even better, hang on to that lanyard for your keys when you go to the gym or out to walk the dog back at home, and pin or clip that name badge high on your chest just below your shoulders on the opposite side of your body from the hand you shake with. Why? Because when you meet people, people won’t struggle awkwardly to see who you are and where you are from. When you shake hands with someone, they will see your name badge straight away.
5. We all contribute to the experience. Please visit the exhibit hall and talk to the exhibitors. Not only are they there to meet you and possibly have a business relationship with you, but they’re also great networkers and great people to know. So what if you don’t have the budget, don’t have an interest in their display or their sign, or whatever, go and introduce yourself to the exhibitors and network with them too. Believe it or not, many exhibitors have great networks and ideas they are willing to share. The way I look at it, every single person whom you have not met is an opportunity waiting to happen. You never know. Plus, those exhibitors often have some great knick knacks too!

As you can see — so many great sessions and with my tips of the trade, a great event is to be had! If you can’t join us in person this year, many of the sessions will be streaming live through www.ere.net, or you can follow us in real time via Twitter. Look for us @ereexpo (and my team will tweet @rivieraadvisors), through mentions from the many bloggers who join us (including our team), or mention us yourself. Engage remotely, ask a question, send a comment, or re-tweet a tip.

See you soon in San Diego or online!

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also Subscribe via RSS for more cool recruiting content and articles from Insights from the Riviera and join our 3500+ subscriber community!

This is the first post from our guest blogger, Kelly Costello.

Have you ever composed an e-mail with perhaps less that flattering remarks about someone….and then sent it to them?  Have you ever extended an offer to the wrong candidate? And, the dreaded conference call line, you think you’ve have hung up…but you have not!  and you proceed to launch into a diatribe about some of the attendees who just happen to be still connected and listening?

If you are one of the few who have not, count yourself lucky, very lucky!  If you have committed one of these communication gaffes, no one knows better than you just how humiliating, disturbing, embarrassing and potentially damaging to not only your ego, but your professional reputation it can be.  As Human Resource and Talent Acquisition professionals, many of us consider our “bar of conduct” to be above the average corporate citizen. We take great pride in our ability to navigate complex, sensitive, confidential and politically charged exchanges with care and fairness.  Your mind may now be wandering to an example, that undeniable feeling of “I can’t believe I just did that”.  It bubbles right back to the surface, doesn’t it?

It Happened to Me:

Jane Doe sent me an IM right after I had wrapped up a conversation with her that said “you know, Kelly she really isn’t all that bad”…she tried to pretend that referring to me, by name, in the IM was a stylistic choice. I knew something was awry – she rarely had IM’d me before.

The mere thought of raising this topic brought a pit to my stomach upon reflection of the times I have initiated such a message, heard of others’ poor misfortune or  the been the recipient of some let’s say “real” feedback communication. Each instance has been a learning opportunity, unique as the situation may appear, lessons surface and you will have take-a-ways, or a cautionary tale that should not be forgotten.  By all means, do learn to forgive – yourself and others.

It Happened to a Friend:

The interview feedback e-mail string had many recipients on the CC: line and the candidate had not met expectations during the course of the interview loop.   He in fact had made a significant impression on the team, and not in a positive way. Somehow, the candidate was added to the message and had full view of ALL of the interviewers’ feedback.  How about that one for candidate experience?

Recovery post-apocalyptic communication event is key, in fact you must.  Acting swiftly, with grace and sincerity is vital to setting yourself free from the aftermath of destruction.  You must “own” what has transpired and remember, the truth may set you free. What you choose to do next,  is potentially more relevant than the transgression itself. Own it, from start to finish, own all that has happened.  Seek no blame or excuses, take responsibility and then make the toughest call imaginable.  Let those involved know that you’d like to talk with them as soon as possible about an unfortunate and possibly hurtful mistake that you have made.  Initiate direct contact with the subject by phone, lay the facts on the table, and humbly apologize.

It Happened to a Colleague:

The conference call was well attended, the topic was going to be heavily debated and she had a specific outcome in mind.  Somehow, departure from the conference call did not go as usual, she was still on the line when her “unvarnished” opinion and disappointment about the direction of the discussion including the leadership of those managing the project were clearly overheard by the entire project team.  Several attempts were made to interrupt her to no avail. Trust re-building was the top agenda item for the next status meeting.

Yes, there is a future. While you will feel the sting (for some time) of making one of the biggest blunders of your career, you will survive. Ponder now what will you do differently in the future to avoid such missteps and make a few promises to yourself.  A few I have made to myself:

• I promise not to multi-task
• I promise to not try to get one more item checked off my to-do list before I head home
• I promise never to send sensitive e-mails via handheld device
• I promise not to check the spelling of someone’s name in the cc: line of the e-mail I am composing about them
• I promise to complete deliverables well before their due date
• I promise to have a reasonable workload with ample time to thoughtfully complete my action items
• I promise to carefully review each and every attachment, and I promise to never to have “table chatter” while on a conference call (before, during or after)…

I “expect” , despite my best attempts at prevention, I will find myself with that “pit in the stomach” feeling again one day, hopefully not soon.

I know I will be forgiving to myself and others – in due time of course!

If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment or sharing it with your followers on Twitter! You can also Subscribe via RSS for more cool recruiting content and articles from Insights from the Riviera and join our 3500+ subscriber community!