Tag: Recruiting

What Must I Change?

August 15th, 2007

This is an intentionally OPEN question, and I am seeking brutally-honest feedback.

Ram Charan's Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don'tI am reading Ram Charan’s Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don’t, and I admit it’s got me thinking.

 … really thinking.

Just getting into it now, but I am deeply curious about exactly what’s going on out there in the minds of business-owners and hiring managers working hard to staff their IT and IS departments.  Surely, if any industry needs to watch for fast-moving changes driven by technology, it’s technical recruiting.  In other words, how is the business of recruiting and hiring technically-savvy people changing… or how should it change?

  • Are there ways you (as a business person or as a job-seeker/candidate) consume or collect information about people/companies that you wish your recruiter would use?
  • Are there tools/procedures that would simultaneously:
    • Increase your desire to use professional recruiters
    • Deepen our value to your business-needs, enabling better relationships and better ROI/recruiting-dollar you spend?
  • Question: The iPod changed music consumption/media buying, and Google Ads changed media buying.  What’s the killer-app for next-gen recruiting going to be?
    • Facebook/LinkedIn and the rest social networks are tools, but they don’t RECRUIT.  I will have a hard time buying “facebook!” as an aswer here.
  • Many companies in this area have an “HR Generalist” that handles recruiting among the 15 other full-time jobs they hold.  This usually means hiring managers are left with DIY recruiting if they really want to find someone right and soon.  But… why!??
    • Aren’t you better serving your company and customers by doing your job, not recruiting?
    • Isn’t it much cheaper for your company to spend a one-time recruiting fee versus 4-6 weeks of your salary being spent on
    • So, what are the critical factors keeping you from outsourcing your recruiting needs?

I look forward to your comments!

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EVENT: Speaking on Mid-Career Development at PLUG Wed. 8-7

August 7th, 2007

Provo Linux User's Group

Wednesday this week, I am speaking on Mid-Career Development at the Provo Linux User’s Group, which meets at United Online in Orem (directions, etc).

Date: Wednesday Aug 8, 2007
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: United Online

PLUG:
This month we have a unique guest presenter coming to PLUG. Robert Merrill from SOS Technical is coming to address the group. Robert is the Technical Account Manager for Utah county. He will be discussing mid-career development, including:

  • What are recruiters good for?
  • Why are recruiters HATED? (Open source-style feedback loop).
  • Careering.
  • How to be irreplaceable (protect yourself against layoffs).

Robert has a background as a programmer and web developer. Like many of us he was caught in the dot-com burst. Frustrated with recruiters that undervalued his position and never got him a job, Robert set out to tackle the way business was done. Come take advantage of this unique opportunity that may significantly change your career. Bring your suggestions regarding Open Source and technical recruiting in our area. Come learn the secrets of salary negotiation and more. See you there!!

NUPM:
6:30pm – Meeting details were not returned in time, but if you’re a monger you instinctively know where to be and when. If not, just follow the camel.

I am looking forward to the chance to talk about the frustrations I’ve had on the candidate’s side of the recruiter’s desk, and how I would do it all differently today, if I could.

I am also enjoying the feedback I am getting on Why Geeks Hate Recruiters (which is still open for comments, please!)

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Posted in Calendar, Getting Hired, Jobsearch, Know The Ropes, My Side of the Desk, Tools & Resources, Utah, Utah Living, Working With Recruiters

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Year of the Vendor Manager?

July 3rd, 2007

Adam Smith, Author of Wealth of Nations, coined the phrase Invisible Hand to explain how capitalism allocates resourcesYet another large Utah company is moving to a vendor manager solution to help them (hopefully) rein in their contingent workforce management. This makes no less than three I know about over the last few months.

These company’s websites are full of boastful, synergistic qualities they bring to the clients they service:

  • Contractor Compliance, W-4 and 1099.
  • IT Services
  • Outsourcing support
  • Payroll Services
  • Timekeeping and tracking
  • Multiple recruiting vendor support
  • etc, etc, etc.

This appears on the surface to be win-win, except for one key-critical side of the table:

The Staffing Service(s)

I have yet to find someone in my company, or someone in my network, who LIKES vendor managers when you’re working from the supply-side of the equation. A few things that seem to go unnoticed:

  • Vendor managers are yet another layer of bureaucracy that deadens the potential for true relationships.
    • That means the quality of candidates will not have the same focus as thy otherwise could.
    • That means the Vendor Manager gets the praise when things go well, not the staffing service that provided the people.
  • Vendor managers often lop huge percentages off the rates for their suppliers, showing instant cost-savings to their client. It makes them look really, really good to their client (and some people in the client company will look really, really good to upper-management!)
    • But that causes a shock to the supplier’s market, which already operates on razor-thin margins. To take drastic cuts in fees and still hang in there is a risky proposition at best, one (I can tell you personally) that is met with stern criticism from the supplier’s management.
  • Vendor managers charge their fees to the suppliers. That makes the whole thing FREE.
    • But noting the above bullet, that suppliers are already cutting costs, this just seems to add insult to injury. Some have told me it feels like doing business with the mob. You gotta pay on both sides of the equation… and that hurts.
  • The idea of “perfect competition” sounds great from the vendor’s side. Have everyone FIGHT to submit the right candidate! Then, you’re sure to get the right one.
    • But the sheer facts of this process requires there to be an arm’s length relationship between the vendor and the supplier… deadening the relationship and loosening the focus on quality candidates (see bullet 1)
    • Plus, in a market like this, when you’re also being cut off at the knees by low margins AND fees (see above), it’s excruciatingly tempting to seek recruiting opportunities elsewhere.

The bottom-line, I believe that the same Invisible Hand that drives companies to want Vendor Managers to help them keep everything in line will also drive those very same suppliers to find additional business revenue streams and alternative sources to send their very best candidates.

Sure, I am seeing this from my own side, but that’s my job. WHAT AM I MISSING? I’d love to hear of a contingency recruiting firm that has actually seen a Vendor Manager step into their client relationship and IMPROVE things.

Your reply??

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Bozofication Alive and Well: Utah Companies Will Pay for Stupidity

June 27th, 2007

UPDATE: Please leave comments about BOZO things you have experienced at your or other companies! Anonymous submissions OK

Dilbert DeamonsI hate to say it, but I am seeing some of the most foolish and downright stupid things coming from Utah companies these days. These things may not be approaching the Yee-Haw ‘Bozofication’ problems that Guy Kawasaki ranted about from his blog-base in Silicon Valley, but there are some wildly dumb things going on out there.

According to the Utah Department of Workforce Services, May 2007′s unemployment rate is 2.5%, where the national rate is currently 4.5%. BYU’s Newsnet validates the data with their recent article, More Jobs … Less Money: Utah Unemployment Rate at 2.4%.

Corporate DroneWith such unprecedented job-growth and such a freakishly tight labor market (I have interviewed three people this week who “just up and moved here” knowing they would get a job), you would think companies in the area would be tripping over themselves to train and retain the talent they have, knowing that it costs up to 80% of an employees annual salary in recruiting fees and lost productivity to replace an employee once they go.

But, no.

In fact, as I see the market tighten, companies seem to be getting stupider and stupider with their retention systems. In fact, they may as well be paying their employees to leave, rolling out the red carpet for them, and tossing in a trip for them and the fam to Disney Land while they’re at it.

Here are five things that have consistently surfaced in my interviews over the past few weeks when I ask, “Why are you looking to leave your current job.”

  1. R-E-S-P-E-C-T: “I am continually being micro-managed. I have been doing this for 15 years. I think I know what I am doing. But, my boss is new, and I think they’re trying to look good. Now, I have them to manage as well as the rest of my job. “
  2. INTEGRITY: “I was told in my annual review that I would get a raise. That was January. This is almost July. I haven’t received a cent.”
  3. PAY: “I have been getting fed the line that ‘Utah County is Different’ for seven years. I don’t believe it any more. My living expenses are just as much here as anybody I know in Salt Lake County, and I am earning $15K less than people doing my same job, for smaller companies, with less responsibility.”
  4. INSULT TO INJURY: “I am already underpaid by $10K for the same job in Salt Lake. I was told to hang on through the rest of the year and I’d get ‘taken care of’. They gave me a raise of 14 cents per hour over last year. You’ve gotta be kidding me. That’s not even worth my time.”
  5. HONESTY: “They promised to pay my tuition if I went to school and got my degree. Their only stipulation was that I had to pay for it, then they would pay me back when I graduated. I thought that was dumb, but I did it. Now, I’ve graduated, and when I turned in my bills, they told me that ‘the policy just changed’ and they don’t do tuition reimbursement anymore.”

At the end of the day, the trend I am seeing simply stems from BAD MANAGEMENT. I wonder if the tight labor market is actually exposing fissures in the infrastructure of these companies to the point that they are letting any Tom, Jane or Harry run the place?

If you are caught working for any of these companies, I would RUN, not walk to your favorite recruiter or job-board and doggedly search for the next opportunity for yourself… or you may be the last comic standing when the walls come tumblin’ down… and it will surely not be funny.

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EmployeescreenIQ provides background checks to employers globally.

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Posted in Better Recruiting, Company Culture, Firing, Hire POWER!, Hiring, Know The Ropes, Personal Development, Talent Management, Utah, Utah Living, Working With Recruiters

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If Colleges Blog To Recruit, Why Don’t You?

May 18th, 2007

I don’t think Steven Rothburg is bitter:

Virtually all employment-related blogging is coming out of the offices of job boards and third party recruiters. With very few exceptions, virtually no corporate recruiters are blogging. That’s a real shame as those same corporations are crying the blues about how hard it is to recruit the best Gen Y workers yet their recruitment and retention policies are decades old and reflect the needs and wants of their Baby Boomer and Gen X managers rather than the Gen Y’ers they want to recruit.

Wake up, folks. If you want to recruit a group of people, you need to speak to their needs and wants and that might mean getting out of your comfort zone and taking some chances.

From: Colleges Using Blogs. Why Not Employers?, Emphasis added

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It’s the People, Stupid

March 24th, 2007

Recently, I had the opportunity to review my business performance with my colleagues and managers. It was a great experience and I owe a great deal of respect to my region’s leaders who consistently challenge each branch to inspect themselves and make adjustments accordingly.

Thanks to that introspection, I am trying to look deeply into our business and what makes us tick. Specifically, I have been trying to answer the following questions (known as the Three Circles in Good to Great):

  1. What can we do better than anyone else in the world?
  2. What is our economic driver?
  3. What are we most-passionate about?

I don’t have the answers yet, but one thing I clearly know is that a strong value-add in our business is our relentless pursuit of delivering consistently high-quality placements for our clients. This means both understanding job-requirements and the job environment. Tangible and intangible assets of candidates, and navigating thousands of subtle nuances of candidate-client interactions. Or, simply:

It’s the people, stupid.

While our competition continues to sell at times on price, technology, global reach and other things, our value seems to clearly and squarely rest on the fact that–day in and day out–we are solidly, diligently, relentlessly searching for and seeking out the very best people to match all the needs of our clients.

Duh.

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A Good Recruiter

January 18th, 2007

Someone asked me today in a comment what they should do as they are wanting to be hired as a recruiter.

Here's my reply:

I never would have pegged recruiting as the place I’d be *ever* in my life, but–for me–it is the perfect intersection of things I love: People, Technology, Communications and Sales.

Skills that are valuable….

  • I don’t think I am “money hungry”, but I am money-driven.
  • A good recruiter must be determined, even when they find out their “silver bullet” was only using them to get a better deal out of some other employer.
  • A good recruiter needs to know how to “open” people up and get past what they say and find out what they mean.
  • A good recruiter is needs a heard head and a soft heart–able to gut through the hard times yet know when to care more about people than process sometimes.

All-in-all, there is absolutely nothing about my job that can’t be simultaneously defined as “insane and frenetic” and “satisfying and thrilling”.

When it comes down to it, the thing I want to hire in a recruiter is this: Tenacity and Creativity to get the Right Person in the Right Job, no matter what. Sometimes that means telling the client they’re flat wrong. Other times, it means telling the candidate to “grow up”. But it always means you’re a problem solver, and the kind of person that makes other people inch-forward on their chair because you’re a “get it done” person, and they can sense they need to “put up or shut up”.

That person will be successful. Period.

 

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Lying Through Your Job Posting

November 7th, 2006

Employers complain at-times that they "just can’t find the right people".  They’ve posted job ads, emailed their network, schmoozed their employees for referrals and they keep ending up with the wrong candidates in the interviews.

Maybe the wrong people are showing up because you’re lying about what you really want.

Time and again, I find employers posting job descriptions online that, in reality, are completely different from what the company is actually hiring for.  Don’t get me wrong, it may be unintentional (it usually is), but it’s still a lie if it’s untrue.

I think lying job descriptions are symptoms of a few things:

  1. Unclear on job requirements.
    If you don’t know the job, but you think you know… how are you going to help anybody else know?  Get the person who is managing the team, or (if needed) DOING this job regularly to help you outline the requirements.

  2. Let’s Get Lucky.
    Putting your wishlist of a perfect employee into your job ad is not the way to attract qualified applicants.  Advertize for exactly what you want, not pie-in-the-sky.

    Many employers are only willing to pay a certain salary, but their job-description matches someone earning double or triple that amount.  Everytime you put "self-starter" or "without supervision"-type words in your posting (see number five, below) you should raise your budget $10K/yr. for the position.

  3. Outsourcing = Oops.
    If an administrator or other individual not deeply connected with the job had more than 10% to do with the posting, that’s a problem.

  4. Cut-and-Paste Craziness.
    I can see the thought process now: "Gee, the job posting we put up last year for the team-lead worked great.  Let’s just copy that for these team-member positions"

  5. HR-Happy.
    "This job posting doesn’t sound ‘legal’ enough.  Slap some HR boilerplate yadda-yadda in there about ‘works well under pressure’ and ‘team player’ and ‘self-starter’ and all that."

  6. Too Busy.
    Your mother would remind you that an ‘ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.  But by letting something inaccurate get published out to the web, you’re paying for it now with a ton of unmatched resumes and unqualified or over-qualified candidates.

    I know, I know… it’s hard to type all that HR jargon into your blackberry while changing lanes on your way to the client presentation.  You might have to schedule some time for this one all by itself.  It’s a new-fangled thing called "single-tasking" and it’s actually quite effective at getting one thing done well.

Bottom-line: If the wrong people keep showing up on your doorstep, consider the source.  They’re answering some kind of communication you published. 

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Private Company = Better Recruiting?

October 14th, 2006

Devin Thorpe, Mid Market Maven, gives many reasons for taking your company private–one of them (the sixth one, to be exact) is better recruiting:

The question of public or private impacts recruiting in four areas:

  • Options…

  • Cash Compensation…

  • Focus…

  • Scandal Aversion…

I would continue on Thorpe’s point about focus.  For me, working in a company that was private and went public while I was there, I realized a significant difference in my ability–down in the trenches–to execute on my business.  Much of what we did suddenly became clouded by "what would the shareholders think".  It’s not necessarilly bad, but it is different. Keep your eyes open!

Furthermore, suddenly having other company’s experts and analysts poking and prodding at our company financials generated good and bad press.  Having your company dragged through the mud because of third-party analyst predictions can dramatically change your company’s collective mood! 

From a recruiting standpoint, being public does change your chances of attracting talent–because they can spend 30 seconds on Google Finance and find all the good, bad and ugly anybody ever wanted to know about you.

I encourage you to read the entire post and learn more about Thorpe’s reasoning here.  It makes a lot of sense, to me.

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So, You Wanna Be A Recruiter?

October 6th, 2006

Sharing a gem I gleaned from the ERE Recruiting Leadership Forum this morning, a posting by Nicole Cox, Director of Recruiter Network Quality at Decision Toolbox about the ten criteria she uses to choose a good recruiter:

1. Tenacity
2. Strong communication skills
3. Ability to set expectations with the client and candidate
4. Ability to push-back on requirements
5. Confidence…they may not be an expert in the industry, but they are confident and take the expert posture in recruitment with the client..they are in the trenches and have the market intelligence…so, do they have the analytical skills to translate this into solutions for the client? (especially important in a tight candidate market)
6. Ability to build relationships for business expansion
7. Solutions driven
8. Helps to be money motivated too
9. Inquisitive nature
10.Instinct

I like these quite a bit.  I don’t know that these are in her order of importance, but if I were to order it,  I would place seven above three, knowing that a solution-minded recruiter will perform the other tasks with a win-win mindset, which seems like a silver-lining in a personality that smooths over many otherwise rough edges.

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