Big O Recruiting

Don't cry for me

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:22:00 +0000

It's hard to get blog posts up and going when you are on back to back business trips, followed up by a vacation. But SOMEONE has to do it.

Don't tell people HOW to do something, tell them what NEEDS to be done. They'll get it and surprise you with results.

This little gem was found in the life's little instruction book located conveniently in my host's restroom. Who wouldn't want to learn how to live a better life while sitting in the bathroom? We'll ignore for a moment how the very statement ignores the books title (hello, telling someone how to do something are kind of what instructions are??) we'll take a look at the wisdom of the statement itself.

As a recruiter who:

a) manages people
b) shows others how to manage people

I can tell you that this statement is patently false, sometimes. And the variance may lie in what we call "rockstar candidates". If you tell someone in a job interview, the goal, what needs to be done, you do not expect to have to come teach them the tools and knowledge necessary to implement that strategy. So if you hire a strategic "stage 2 entrepreneur", a scrappy, smart person, they should know the tactical procedures necessary to do their job. So the above statement would be true in their case.

Where it is not true is everyone else. I was discussing with a client recently how it is standard practice to put that you are "well-versed" in whatever program is the current hot thing, but how so often, we find that to be untrue.

"They're not just lying, they are stealing from me," said the frustrated manager. "Because I have to use company time to teach them what they said they knew!"

His frustrations are well-founded. They are in fact, the reason he came to me. Some recruiters can pass along candidates without really knowing the skill set they are knee-deep in. A good recruiter (much like a good candidate) will immerse him or herself in an industry or vertical before proclaiming oneself an expert. Yes, this takes time, money and skill. But you are robbing the client and possibly giving the candidate a black eye if you don't.

For me the statement "Don't tell people HOW to do something, tell them what NEEDS to be done. They'll get it and surprise you with results." is only true if we make it so. That responsibility lies on the shoulders of not only the candidates, but the recruiter and the HM.

Rambling? yes. True. Absolutely.

RockStar Recruiting

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:02:00 +0000

Rockstars aren't hard to define. You can check the cover of the latest GuitarHero case if you're really curious. But to be a rockstar in our business? It's like the song. . .

You've gotta be. . .bad, bold wiser.

And that's just what Marcus Mindte is. A near decade-member of the recruiter-clan and a self-proclaimed and lauded natural, he's found that sometimes the simplest problems just need someone to step up, take the reins and hone in on a solution.

Thus was born, RockStar Recruiting. RockStar Recruiting is for recruiters, HR Pros,and client companies . While recruiters could be a bit wary of the service that changes the status quo, its founder insists it's the way of the future.

"The truth is," Mindte states. "It's just another source. Just another way to make money."

RSR (RockStarRecruiting.com) was birthed from Marcus's belief in the quality of his candidates.

"When I was working at Ameriquest, there were fantastic applicants," sayd Mindte. "Of course, we couldn't hire them all. But then, I'm left with the Sophie's Choice in recruiting: What to do with all these incredible resumes?"

Marcus knew. His vision led him to develop a beta version of RSR. A gathering place that would allow recruiters to share both positions/requirements and rockstar candidates. But not just any candidates:

"We're looking for the top 10% of your portfolio," insists Mindte, of his cream-of-the-crop site. "We want the best you have to offer."

The first incarnation of RockStar Recruiting, rolled out to 200 or so recruiters was a huge hit:

"Turns out there was a market for it," chuckles Mindte.

Not that he was surprised. His vision, of a site that would capitalize on stale requirements and overlooked candidates has been a boon to the industry, and a fairly inexpensive one at that. The currently FREE service (yep you read it, don't go get the +1.25's) allows recruiters, companies and HR Pros to locate one another and find out who they really want to work with and on what terms.

"It all comes down to the fact that we just need to be smarter," says Marcus. "The future exists where people wise up and start taking advantage of these new options."

His argument is not just that they're new, but that RSR and tools like it are GOOD. "Why would you let an A candidate rot in your database when you could showcase them on RockStarRecruiting.com and make good money? Conversely, why would you let a job languish because you don't have the recruiting network to fill it?"

Oh yeah, Mindte's going after the large recruiting shops too.

"Because we give you the tools to become more efficient, we also expect you to keep working as hard," says Mindte. "You're only gonna make money, I guarantee it."

Mindte doesn't mince words when marketing to big companies either. Paying a huge fee is "pure stupidity" and "makes no sense" when there are tools available that we have today.

"You can double your profits and LOWER your cost to clients if you work this the right way," insists Mindte.

In Marcus Mindte's eyes (you know, the eyes that are shaping RSR) the profession of recruiting isn't complicated, just hard.

"Anything I can do to ease that burden is time well spent," says Marcus. "It's starting to get competitive out there, this can help recruiters fill more orders in less time."

RSR came from what seems like a recruiter's dream come true but what can often feel like a huge responsibility: the massive client database. "There are endless possibilities," encourages Mindte.

And not only is RSR productivity enhancing, free and easy to navigate, but the founder Mindte and his renegade band of developers are always willing to listen to feedback.

"We're always open to suggestions," said Mindte." We want to give it that personal touch. Recruiting should never be all automated."

Although he's playing in the market share of bigger boys like BountyJobs, TalentHire, etc. Mindte is careful to point out that RSR is not just another job board.

"This will revolutionize the way people recruit. The next generation of HR and Management are coming in. They are going to want to cut costs, to make operations more efficient. RSR offers that. Not everything can stay the same. But there is definitely the possibility for things to get better."

Sometimes, it's just a waffle

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:55:00 +0000

Transitional Labor

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:28:00 +0000

Today, a fellow FOT blogger and MS recruiter asked me how I made the transition from marketing whiz (title is my own, you can't have it) to superstar recruiter (again, shut it). You see, Mr. Pankow will soon be tutoring, mentoring, whatever a fledgling recruiter and wants some words of wisdom to share about how to best leverage her current skills in a new career.

Transition is a funny word. Not quite good, a little but of anxiety and also excitement in there. Of course, when I got to thinking (which I tend to do), it brought to mind the term transitional labor. I have three boys, which means I have gone through labor three times. And all three? NO DRUGS. Hold your applause, I just had crummy luck, no nobility here, I would have doused myself, the bed and the nurse in vodka for good measure but it didn't work out that way.

The hardest part of labor is transitional labor. The transitional part is where it goes from uncomfortable to unbearable but you can't push yet. Probably TMI, but the point is, the transition has to be gone through, you can't skip it.

It's the same when transitioning to a new career. Yes, there may be similarities between marketing and recruiting (the ability to package well, to view lifestyles as a product, to write copy and thus job descriptions with killer instinct, etc.) but the truth is the transition will be the hardest part (which I didn't tell him). It won't be until at least a few months in that she sees all the things in her education and training thus far that will assist her in her new path.

Pitfalls:

Paying too much attention to "recruiters": There is so much to learn and so many people out there willing to teach you. But it gets down to brass tacks, it's very important to question. Why are things done this way? How come this is the staus quo? Why don't we strive to do this better, faster, more efficiently? How can we make the process more relational?

Paying no heed to old maxims: Some of them suck. But many are there for a reason. Change them, question them, but HEED them or you will have to learn a lot of lessons the hard way.

Acting like you know nothing: Amazing that this one is coming from me, no? Not giving yourself your due, will come back to bite you in the kaputchka. People lose respect really fast, when you act like you don't know your stuff. You know some stuff! Go for it.

Lying: It's hard to say you have been a field for one or two years (or 6 months, or 6 weeks) when you finally get that decade in one profession under your belt. It sort of feels like you've gone back to kindergarten. Resist the impulse. Explain it if you must, lead into your long marketing history, but never apologize for it or lie.

Cool Stuff:

You know a lot! Maybe not about recruiting, but about people. And people are somewhat universal. Yes, there is terminology (but a good marketer will pick that up lickety-split) and history between the haves and have-nots within certain subsets of the industry. There will be names you don't know, organizations you didn't know you had to join etc. But you do know marketing and a lot of recruiters may not.

The skillsets are similar. You are convincing someone, attracting someone, packaging a lifestyle and a job as a multi-faceted product. Surely you've done that before. Think of every req as a new project.
- Who is your target market?
- Where do you reach those people?
- What types of things will those people respond to?
- What is likely to turn them off?
- What medium(s) should I use to reach these people?

Now turn those questions around to your hiring manager. Voila. You could also use these skills and be a matchmaker.

The transition is the hardest part, but it's the connecting part, the good part, the most painful right before the breakthrough. You can do it!

Lurkers

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:46:00 +0000

I recently met up with an awesome young man who's gonna change the landscape of Workforce Dev in Omaha. I think his ideas are visionary and can't wait to be a part of the implementation. We spent a happy hour at 13th Street Coffee, pining over the errors we see in human capital management and talent acquisition and excitedly poring over new ideas that we have for getting others to "see the light".

One of the coolest things about our convo was the fact that he disclosed that he was "a bit of a lurker" and had been reading this blog for some time before approaching me. Here's why that is relevant:

Social Media works. Maybe not immediately, maybe not visibly. But it works. Even when there are no comments, people are watching. I suppose this would be more patently obvious to someone with the time to deal with Google Analytics or something, but after a solid 9 month investment in this blog and other forms of social networking, I have only in the last two months seen any real, measurable metrics. This guy was one of them.

Pick your audience. People have been telling me this forever, with good reason. At first (and still) this blog was a mish mash of tech stuff (to impress the candidates) HR stuff (to impress clients) recruiting stuff (to impress myself) and clever stuff (in case my hubby ever decides to read it). Now that I have narrowed down WHO I am writing to (generally peeps interested in talent, not v. technical. . .) things have gotten more interesting.

People are watching. They are watching. They want to know: are you committed? Is this the real deal? What are you passionate about? Can I rely on your help? This is particularly important in a world where setting up a blog or twitter account is as easy as signing into google. A friend of mine said: Everyone has great ideas, it's the physical implementation of them, that's what so few can do.

Cheers Caleb. Nice meeting you this a.m. I will pledge off styrofoam now.

The fat lady sang. It's over. But. . .

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:21:00 +0000

Who's sick to death of hearing me talk about TalentMix? Raise your hand? No one? You're sure? OKay, then, I will do ONE MORE POST.

TalentMix was the brainchild of Jason and I waaaay back in San Diego (shoot was that only April?) at ERE. Over a massive hamburger, Jason graciously offered to "come to Omaha and do something". Of course, what more encouragement does a girl need? If that is not an obvious offer to travel hundreds of miles and sponsor an event in uber-cosmopolitan Omaha, I don not even know what is.

Anyway, after Careerlink.com (a local Omaha job board) stepped in to help, things really started happening. Before I knew it, I was picking Jason up at the airport, hauling 30 lbs of ice and giving the universal sign for "HOLD THE MIC CLOSER TO YOUR MOUTH". It was awesome. Here's why:

1) I found out that recruiters in my community are starving for something like this. I was able to make it happen. That makes me happy.

2) I found out that local businesses are craving the chance to get in front of recruiters. This is significant, because it wasn't too long ago in Omaha, that recruiting was thought of as slightly second rate. Now they wanna pitch us. Awesome.

3) I learned that social media is pretty much untouched snow at this point. It's just such a rarity here. Jason spoke about blogs, nings, etc and people were ASTOUNDED. I had no idea. There is much work to be done and I know just the team to do it!

4) People see me. Yep, obvious huh? Chamber coordinators, University Chairs, Professors, CEOs all coming out of the woodwork to find out who put this together. Whodathunk? Jason I guess. . .

It's my intention to have more events, with national presenters from different areas. We're gonna touch on the stuff no one else talks about, force people to share (sounds like an oxymoron huh? Just do it with a smile) and get community rolling. Seems a bit backwards I guess to build community within a physical community . . .I think that's a different post!

Is networking worth it??

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Recruiting Advice Sponsored by Kenny Rogers

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:20:00 +0000

For those of you in the know, Jason Davis aka Slouch recently visited me here in Omaha. When he got off the plane he was wearing this shirt:

For some reason this gave me the brilliant idea to ask him to teach me to play poker. (This is Omaha on a Monday night remember). So obligingly, he did. But even before that, I heard the Kenny Roger's tune "The Gambler" winding it's way through my head. I realized that the song (and the game I suppose. . .) have particularly poignant meaning for a lone recruiter in the Midwest (okay that last part is a teensy dramatic).

You gotta know when to hold 'em: Lots of recruiters think you gotta "hold 'em" (ahem the candidates?) all the time. I'm not sure that is true. However, when you do find a great candidate that you just know you can market, you need to "hold em". Not literally, that could get you in a heap of trouble. But get them to commit to you, even if for just a short period of time. I failed to do this one and it cost me 15k, because he also knew an internal employee and the company had a great referral program. Ouch, that still hurts. Moving on.

You gotta know when to fold 'em: When the HM just isn't interested, when the HR Internal hates you, when the candidate is not the right fit but you just want the fee. Fold. You don't need 6 candidates per opening, you just need one GREAT one. The right one. Fold the rest.

Know when to walk away: For me, this usually applies to clients. I've read Ferris and his predeccessors, I know that 20% of the clients cause 80% of the trouble. It's not easy to walk away from money, particularly in a field like recruiting doesn't mean walking away from a $100 sale, it means walking away from a 30K fee. BUT, if you do walk away, and can focus your energy on the clients who DO get your intrinsic value and what it brings, how you solve their problem, or get a killer exclusive, it's worth it right. Walk away from trouble.

Know when to run: Having a smattering of contract experience, I run anytime a contractor gives me a black eye, walks off the job or fails a background check. Let it go, no matter how roskstar-ish (that was for you Jason). Also run, when the contract is crap. If they wanna offer you 15K for a 6month exclusive on your potentials, fuggetaboutit. That sucks. Recruit from them. (that was for YOU Jeff).

You never count your money when your sitting at the table, there'll be time enough to count it, when the dealing's done: Know your margins by heart (in contract AND perm). When the sale is made, get out. When the contract is signed get to work. It most assuredly is not the time to relax. Keep your head in the game.

So there you have it, my professional expertise wrapped up in a cliche, rolled in a catchy tune you'll be singing all day.

Work life WHAT??

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:56:00 +0000

It's no secret that I have multiple projects, companies, jobs and civic activities going at any given time. Add to that three kids, one very devoted and deserving hubby and a massive extended family and my tendency toward insomnia and you COULD have a recipe for disaster.

I've tried all the "roads". I've done corporate life and full-time stay at home mommydom, I've owned a company and worked freelance, I've gone to school whilst raising kiddos and every variation thereof. Finally, in the last year, with partial ownership in a company, a great work from home corp job and a brand spanking new church to get busy in, I think (maybe) I've found the balance.

The question is (and always has been), what's expected of me? If I can't answer that, I personally, cannot cope. Too much ambiguity, thank you very much. This is not to say that I have curbed my caffiene addiction,merely that I've moved from pills to triple espressos (which are entirely more pleasurable anyway). No one wants to end up like Jesse from Saved By The Bell. And it's not to say that I don't lose sleep, freak out or feel overwhelmed. But when I come back to the great question (and there is an answer to it) What is expected of me? I can deal.

That's why I find the concept of work life balance laughable. Does that ever happen? What I need to do is work backwards from what is expected:

Hubby: Need to say more than "hmmmm" when he talks
Kids: Need my (sort of) undivided attn. from 3ish to 7ish
Work: Need to put in at least 20 hrs per week
Company: Need to ensure that we get the right people to pay attn. and keep cogs humming
Friends: Need to know I am there when they really need me (they are mostly moms too, so they have the busy bug)
Family: Need to eat and hang at my house when upset

There, working backward from there, so long as I have wifi and unlimited minutes and a job that allows me to be home about 70 hours per week, I should be good right?

I gotta go, the baby's in the bath.

IBM'S Smart Move

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:59:00 +0000

I recently made a wordle.(see below). I've seen other social media people and recruiters talk about them, they are what I would call a semi-phenom. The interesting thing about Wordle (to me) is that a programmer from IBM Research designed and implemented it. On his blog, he credits IBM and states that since the app was created on company time, he cannot allow anyone to repost anything cooler than a PDF or link to their custom wordle.

IBM must love this guy. For allowing him to work on something ostensibly not related to company ROI, they are getting a ton of press, not just as a place where creative people thrive BUT a great place to work. IBM has before made recruiter headlines by allowing many of its consultants to work from home but this (IMHO) lets people see IBM in a whole new, Google hued light.

It could have gone very differently you know. Feel free to forward to your boss.

My Wordle

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:30:00 +0000

Thanks to MNHeadhunter who purchased omaharecruiters.com and for the tip to wordle.com

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Animal Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Better picture, diff'rent name, more promotion???

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:06:00 +0000

So lately, I have been kvetching to anyone who will listen about how terrible my blog is. The great thing about being a social media maven (something the animal is likely to rip me to shreds for on July 2, tune in, I'm sure I won't be at all awesome)is that you get a lot of responses when you ask for feedback, one of the perks I guess. So lil old me sitting in O-Town, NE ( I feel a haiku coming on), has gotten some great advice from some people whose blogs I REALLY respect, and that's invaluable. Here are some of the suggestions along with a link to the person who suggested them:
-revamp the look, add "about you" page
-pick a target audience and if you can't then make sure people know your blog will be all over the map
-learn how to title your posts better, please!
-make sure you are interlinking between sites
-talk about what you're learning from the industry greats
-incorporate video
-add me to your blog roll (they all said it waaaay nicer :) )
-get your RSS working properly
-write well and nothing else will matter

So what about you? What do you think I ought to do?

Taking a step back...but just for tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:10:00 +0000

Not everything is HR related: When I'm busy with something, I get tunnel vision. I immerse myself completely and don't come out until my skin gets pasty and people stared looking slightly scared of me. So recently, when my sister was visiting and explaining her desire to achieve her Master's in Psych, I jumped all over it.

"Yes, org dev! You should so look into transitioning military workers back into the civilian world. . ." and on and on until her eyes sort of glazed over. While it is my firm belief that talent and technology drive MUCH of the work being done today, it's not everything. Just reminding myself. . .

So when is focus too much? When does it cease to be a benefit and start becoming obsessive? How do you pull back from a keen interest to get "fresh eyes"?

Two sites that have been getting a bit of buzz: Glass Door (company snitch) and YelloJobs (referral network)

Also, here is a great article on incentives and referrals, not meant for recruiters/HR, but whatev!

The Power of Social Networking

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:09:00 +0000

This past April, I sat down to check my email (after buying my husband a ridiculously priced pair of shoes that he hardly wears, but I digress) and found a message from "Slouch". It said:

"If you can get to San Diego by Sunday, I'll get you into ERE."

WHAT? Being the calm, cool and collected female that I am, I totally freaked out. Jason and I had never spoken, only interacted through the RBC site. I had exchanged emails with Dave Mendoza as well but for the most part, just enjoyed coming to the site to see what was happening, to learn a little (a lot!) about recruiting and see what was working for my counterparts across the nation. But the stars aligned for me and I got to go to ERE, with about two days notice. Read about it here.

While there, I met many industry greats and some awesome recruiters whose names are not as well known, but doing fantastic work nonetheless. I got plugged into Twitter (thx Susan Burns) got featured by Six Degrees (thx Dave Mendoza) won the charity poker kiddie table (thx Neal Bruce) and met untold number of completely awesome people that I still keep in touch with today.

Now, in my own community, a fantastic event is about to take place. Talent Mix, an event sponsored by Jason Davis of RecruitingBlogs.com and local Careerlink.org is happening on July 8! Held in an amazing renovated art gallery with the metro's hottest HR folk, Talent Mix is for anyone looking to hire top talent, from recruiters to HR to marketing to small business owners. Aptly enough, the topic is social media and how online connections can translate into real and meaningful relationships. Since the event is now being promoted (click here to download flier)on blogs, Nings, Twitter, FriendFeed and through face to face networking, it seems rather fitting.

And because of cross-connectedness (word??) in my geographic community and online community, I've found a broader audience and target market than I would have thought possible in the middle of the country (yes, I too sometimes fall into Cornhusker Confusion). Our local SHRM chapter, HRAM has agreed to promote the event with their big event, to create A Day for the HR Professional!

Talent Mix, 4-6pm at The Kaneko, 11th and Jones, Omaha, NE.

RSVP: rsvp@careerlink.com OR maren.hogan@hciresults.com

What's the magic question??

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:46:00 +0000

Once upon a time, I sat down with an engineer from HP (in a social setting) and asked him what his most recent business trip was for.
"Oh it's something called Six Sigma?" He looked at me with sort of wounded puppy look as if he'd been "stopped-right-there" too many times. Since I had just interviewed several SS experts, I asked him to tell us more (group setting, you know, it's the WOO in me). He proceeded to open up and explain all the theory behind Six Sigma (which I did not heretofore know) and I realized that in that moment, in asking him to explain a specific skill he had learned, perfected and was proud of, he was showing the best professional side of himself.

Fascinating. Where before no one had asked this friend of mine about his job, now everyone was asking more leading questions and wondering what else he had to share. And because this was a social setting where everyone has different jobs and I am the only recruiter, I was relatively sure that there was no hidden agenda.

So the question is. . .what's the magic question?

As a recruiter, I am VERY interested in finding out what combination of circumstances can bring out the best in my candidates. I want them to do well and when something goes wrong, even though I know the match is right, I try to analyze and re-evaluate. Was it me? Was it them? Was it the HR pro?

So by identifying a key question (usually something to do with their passion, and the best candidates WILL have a passion) that can be inserted into the interview, I've discovered (cuz it works) that you can create a doorway into the candidate's "best self". Not only does this break down barriers in the areas of candidate confidence and comfort it makes it easy to show the hiring manager their areas of expertise and passion.

While this is not a "silver bullet" (also, could someone think of a new phrase?) it does strip away yet one more layer of "search" in favor of "humanity". Maybe a bit heady for Monday. . .oh well.

Millennials Ad Nauseum

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:29:00 +0000

I recently wrote a post about how millennials (gen Y, whatev) can manage boome.... It got some people talking. One comment particular interested me as it discussed Millennials on the Edge (no we're not going to kill anyone). Apparently 26, 27, 28 are on the edge. Like if you were born between 78, 79? There is debate about whether this constitutes a millennial. Since I am contrarian by nature, I will claim the title millennial, just to fight back at those who think millennials are big, fat pain in the you know where.
Fellas like JibberJobber's Jason Alba, who blasts millennials as big, fat baby, whiners here. Of course, some of his points are aptly made and he does link to quite a few Yers, whose work he admires.

Anyway back to the "edge millenials" which is me and Topher Grace apparently (read the comments lazy!). The blog commenter, which could be punkrock HR grl, Laurie, points out that these kind of millennials are the best because we have the advantages of being totally tech savvy (the fact that I put a DVD in the video slot the other night must be lost here. . .) and have the innovative awesomeness of being the FIRST EVER to discover work-life balance but we're also oh so humble, hardworking and didn't grow up with texting and iPods, so we know when to turn off the tech.

Problems with MY (maybe) generation:
-we take too much risk
-we're lazy
-we're entitled
-we need too much feedback
-we have odd piercings/tattoos

One of the coolest things about my generation, whatever it may be, is that we take all this so-called "news" (yes, bloggers, you too are part of the establishment!! GASP!) with a grain of salt. Just because everyone is beating the "millennials suck" or "millennials rule" drum doesn't mean we're gonna take time out of our busy multi-tasking day to talk about it too (or blog about it??) But the fact that everyone has taken any position at all increases the importance of the issue, at least to so-called recruiting and HR hacks.

Omaha is a great place to be

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:10:00 +0000

People outside the area may not know it but Omaha is a fantastic place to be. Maybe you find it odd that I write this mere hours after a devastating tornado. But the truth is, you can see the rally of the community even now. It's truly amazing. Our prayers do out to the families of those who lost their lives.

This morning, I had the privilege of attending my first YPC event. It was a "Meet the CEO" breakfast. Featured Speakers were: Wayne Sensor of Alegent Health Systems; Winnie Callahan, EXEC Director of Peter Kiewit Institute; and Peg Harriott, newly minted CEO of Child Saving Institute (our gracious host).

First of all, I would love to give a shout out to CSI for building such an amazing facility on the east side of town. Future props to Mutual of OM as well!

Things I have learned about the Omaha community in the this morning:

Alegent came in #1 in clinical quality, over the Mayo Clinic (#2)
Alegent has over 640 open positions, 240 of them nurses
CEO Wayne Sensor visits Washington twice monthly and has spoken to (or will soon) both major party candidates regarding healthcare policy and reform.
Sensor also believe that transformation is a huge issue in healthcare and that it needs to be open to moving away from "consumption" and more toward "prevention".
Alegent is the area's largest employer with 9500 (approx) workers and 2000 volunteers.

Peter Kiewit Institute was started 10 years ago.
It's attempt to prevent "brain drain" in the areas of tech and science in Omaha/Nebraska has worked.
According to Callahan, we are now experiencing "brain gain".
PKI frequently gets transfers from schools like Carnegie Mellon and MIT. (If so, they should start having free classes like MIT, particularly in the areas of social networking, gaming, etc. Particularly for inner city kids.)
Recently rated in the top 50 for their supercomputer. It did not exist the year before that.
Not only teaching students tech/engineering skills of today but of the future.

Child Saving Institute has been around over 100 years.
They are also working on a preventative model, that while not profitable or easy to raise support for, has been wildly successful.
The have a state of the art daycare which is 50% for low income parents. High quality child care breaks the cycle of poverty, said our tour guide Beth.
They use awesome local art (Blue Pomegranate, Hot Shops) for their capital giving campaigns.

Doing Good is Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:01:00 +0000

I am consistently amazed at the generosity and cameraderie I see in the recruiting community (I think part of it stems from all of us experiencing "being on our own" at some point in our career and knowing how great that boost can feel). There's Gerry Crispin's Group on RBC. There's Marcus Mindte's (Rockstar Recruiting) secret philanthropic projects and Jason Davis' charity poker events that are always a blast. . . now the other day in my inbox:

SixDegrees for Life: Raising 6k for Jerry's Kids.

There you have it folks, not only is Dave Mendoza amazingly generous with professional references and influence, he's now taking it to the next level and giving something back. Go Dave!

I also want to highlight a local young blogger who has caught my eye. His blog : Silicon Prairie News caught my eye a while back and you can follow his tweets here. Very interesting fellow and looking to bring some energy to Omaha. I'm all for that!

Business Speak/Promised Land Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:41:00 +0000

So getting into the promised land is comprised of at least two definitive avenues that I can see, but there are more (of course there are!). As I talk to people in the industry, I find assumptions I had mistakenly given in to (HR is evil, there's a talent shortage, recruiting is easy) being called into question. So here are some other proactive steps. Obviously, I am just hitting the high notes here. Feel free to comment if you have something to add.

Organization. If anything, the landscape is more cluttered than ever before and it takes skills of paramount organization and prioritization to really take full advantage of the ones that are the most suited to your company, industry or niche. I think when I first started recruiting, I had similar illusions to the ones I held when starting my journalism career. A bustling office, filled with paper flying, phones ringing and the inaudible but palpable cha-ching of deals being done. And while that can feel true, the point has been made that will all the techno-gizmodo stuff we have available (some great stuff and a lot of it FREE) sometimes you can walk through a "recruiting office" and never hear.... An issue? Yeah. But not one of motivation, one of organization. The best recruiters I talk to carve our phone time and use it for that (not email, not sourcing, not generation, not composing offer letters) PHONE CALLS. Beyond that, measuring the ROI of your tools is a large part of organization as well. With recruiters and HR professionals coming together across different social networks (like this one), there's never been a better time to ask your colleagues for advice on technology, systems, implementations and rollouts. Then, just do it!

Mind your business. Sounds like something my mother would say. And she is usually (not always) right. Maybe it was from her that picked up on the skill of immersion. (Maybe "Learning Practice" is more apt than "Skill").Yeah, it's a great way to learn a language but other skills can be equally easy to pick up with immersion. If you don't know the ins, outs, vision, values, job descriptions, metrics, budget, and goal of your company and/or department, you're going to have issues. At least when you want to eat with the big boys. If I hear one more HR person tell me that "they're just not technical" or "I'm not great with numbers". . . Unless you learn how to speak their language, handle their pain points (oh and BTW, by "their" I mean BOTH candidates and clients/bosses, fun yes?) show them solutions that make sense in the larger scheme of things and articulate all of this along the proper (read: current) chain of co..., you'll get little accomplished.

More to come. Man this list is getting really long!

Learning the business speak

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:22:00 +0000

For years, HR and TA (that's talent acquisition, which I will be using more as a differentiator between the field of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition, which I believe to be very different but equitable skillsets) has begged for a "seat at the table" (what are they serving at this fabled table anyways, is it Turkish Delight and Mojitos? Must be cuz everyone wants to be there).

Anyway, while we've griped, moaned, fussed and fought even GASP, shut up and do our jobs and do them well, it's never quite got us over that hill and into promised execland. Yes, yes, SOME progressive companies have gotten the message but to an HR or Talent Pro working in a co. that hasn't started singing the tune, that is about as useful as NOT owning google stock and hearing your bro in law brag about his (unless he's about to kick the bucket or something).

But now, I think we might be getting close. I will concede that my age, and my newness to the profession can make me seem a bit doe-eyed at times and perhaps is causing me to see trends that are not there. To combat this, I have been doing interviews with some industry greats and hearing what their takes are on the industry. And after talking to several of them, younger, older, male and female, I have come to the following conclusions:

1) Education. It doesn't have to be a formal college degree, but for the overlooked and oft abused industry of recruiting and talent acquisition, some sort of standard should be established. Something to separate those that want to learn from those who just want to make money. Perhaps, as I opine here, seminars and conferences are the answer. Perhaps, we need a course that is not owned by an RPO, as one interviewee suggested. What do you think?

2) Respect. Only when becoming a talent acquisition specialist becomes slightly harder than falling on your butt on an escalator, will people begin to accord recruiting and it's acquisition partners some respect. Whether the industry is further segmented to include pipelining, sourcing, etc is another matter (I believe it should be segemented when necessary but that is another post). This means a willingness to learn, to hold to industry standards in the face of powerful and exciting trends and also to choose to be a recruiter even when it's not as easy as slapping thrice scanned resumes on an HM's desk. (Bonus: this is something we can all do TODAY!)

Stay tuned for more themes. . . I am notoriously terrible at follow-up in any sort of chronological order (see my firing post, part 1) BUT I will be following up.

Getting into the conversation. . .

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:53:00 +0000

Here is a great quote from Dan Schwabel's Personal Branding Blog:

The only way a company gets cash is through revenues from products or services from customers. It needs cash to pay people, therefore customers are critical. If you look at a corporate balance sheet, you will notice that “customers” don’t appear at all. If you take a traditional way of looking at assets, they don’t show up. We need to move away from that strict financial view because customers are the source of cashflow, which means that they should be treated as assets.
Communication is now much greater both between companies and customers and between customers themselves. Traditionally the company has a message and they send it to a customer (web 1.0). Now with interactive media, there are more customers talking back to companies (web 2.0). That feedback enables them to modify their products and services and attracting and retaining customers. Customers are playing a role in the innovation process. The value that people get from customers is very important. Social media increases closeness between customers and companies. We always know that word-of-mouth is an important aspect of the mix. The media explosion today has made this much greater, so companies are trying to figure out how to use these different devices (facebook, etc). They are looking to get information back from the market. Today, companies don’t have full control over what their customers say.

I know the quote above is a little long but it illustrates a learned mind (Noel Capon) stating what seems an obvious truth to a lot of social media users. As a talent professional, I believe in the above statements but believe they can equally true with the word "human capital" in them.

Companies cannot do what they do without good people in most (if not all, but that would be a bit of a utopia now wouldn't it?) but as we talked about yesterday in the recruitingblogs.com Talent Talk Cafe (every Tuesday at 2CST), most C-Level executives aren't even invested in the conversation about how to attract and retain top talent.

You're FIRED! Part

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:54:00 +0000

I've seen a lot of folks get hired. Oh happy day, for them and for me! But there is another day that comes all too soon, if the recruiter hasn't done their homework or if, heaven forbid, you didn't use a recruiter! It's the day you're FIRED. Here are some great tips that I have learned from watching clients and friends go through the complete talent management cycle.

Hire slow. Perhaps this is not the best advice if you are staffing, say, a large shoe store or data center (which many recruiters do and do well, just not my niche) but if you are running a small firm with that is financially solvent and wants to stay that way, then hiring slow is one of the smartest moves you can make. I know this goes against a lot of what I preach as a recruiter about cost to fill etc and so forth. But the truth is, it doesn't have to be slow just for lack of velocity. You can do a phone screen, check references, do background checks and have a F2F, all in the same week, if you are dedicated to filling the position. Granted, you have to have an excellent recruiter fill that pipeline, but that's another post! :) So "slow" could be a month or so.

Have a process. For some clients, that is an immediate tech screen with the CTO, for others it includes both active and passive references. Whatever your process is, have it for every pivotal role in your corporation. Do not skip steps to make way for the "gut feeling".

Ignore all gut feelings, except the sickly ones. I don't care how many Wil Smith movies you've seen, gut feelings about the "perfect hire" are rare and usually WRONG (warning: this link has nothing to do with the acccompanying text but the blog it links to is really funny). This is particularly important when making a sales hire. Many clients have no idea how to sell and thus when confronted with a pushy or charming candidate, believe them to be a great salesperson. In my experience, the best salespeople will follow all social norms and be willing to role play.

Nip it in the (you know where!). When time management, disrespect, dishonesty, poor performance, slow learning curve, you name the issue, rears its ugly head (or heads if the hire was really bad), find a way to fix it. If the issue was due to the hiring manager and the person is ill suited for the job through no fault of their own, perhaps a reorg is in order, allowing that person (who must be at their core, a good and teachable employee) a chance to use their strengths and really excel. When this happens, it's great. But sometimes the issue is an employee trait, something that cannot or will not be changed and should be promptly excised, like a tumor. Most retention experts and true HR pros will howl when they see this but that's okay.

You are not their friend. I know a lot of deep and meaningful relationships are formed at work. This post is not about those. For a great working relationship, it's necessary to keep the line between employer and friend, very distinct. Failure to do this may result in crappy production, a chubby bottom line (heehee) and inappropriate requests for money. It can also be difficult to nip poor performance in the (you know where).

Just say it. Once you've determined that performance won't change, results will not improve, etc and so forth, just say the words. Tell them why and let them go.

Bounce back. Hiring and then firing, especially when you're floundering about without a talent professional at your side, can be hard. It can make you distrust candidates and wonder where all the really good talent has gone. But the truth is, they are out there. They are looking for positions, at companies large and small, in towns and cities, there are great candidates with excellent skill sets and a killer work ethic. Just give me a call, I know where to find them.

Job advice, video interviews, and ten ways tech annoys

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Anyone who has ever worked on a complex and lengthy software development project knows that the involvement of a business analyst can mean the difference between success and failure. And that involvement starts at the very beginning of a project.

Really? Yep. Here's some more insight on what a business analyst REALLY does and why they add value.

There's a lot of talk surrounding social media these days, particularly from boss to tech-savvy underling (see seesmic clips to the right). Here are some ways to up your sales cred, your thought leadership cred and your social media standing (that is, if your audience cares).

TechRepublic has done it again. Devising a marketing strategy and thinking about using Flash, Adobe Reader or Java to allow people to view it? Think again. Here is TR's list of 10 most annoying programs on the Internet. Yeah RealPlayer, we're lookin at you!

Great article for job-seekers on theladders.com. Abby Locke points out that building your personal brand, networking and defining your target are all ways to ensure that you don't end up spinning your wheels. Of course, she saved the best advice for the end of the article. Find a great recruiter!

Before you go, check out my interview with industry great (he likes it when I say that) Gerry Crispin over on RecruitingBlogs.com.

Also for recruiters, check out John Sumser's article (courtesy of ZoomInfo) on multigenerational recruiting. He's a genius!

Using Video to Promote your Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Maren Hogan) — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:38:00 +0000

Well, there's a lot of ways to get your face out there. Here's is Bill Vick's Extremerecruiting.tv interview of me. One kind gentleman told me I looked like I just woke up.

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For those of you unfamiliar with Bill or his ExtremeRecruiting.tv, you should visit the site. It's an excellent resource if you are just starting in social media, recruiting OR if you want to take your firm to the next level.