Since the early 1980s, software has become a required tool for recruiters. Restrac, now called WebHire, and Resumix were the first on the scene in any significant way. Initially, most recruiters couldn?t see how these tools could possibly help them. Then, as resume volume rose, recruiters saw value in being able to scan resumes into a database and then search and retrieve specific resumes from the hundreds or thousands that were in that database. I remember how impressed I was when I typed in a few key words and magically names appeared on my screen. But it only took a few minutes to realize that most of what was retrieved wasn?t what I was really looking for. However the search algorithms have improved and, even though candidates have gotten savvy and have loaded their resumes with words that trigger search engines to surface their resumes from the masses, a trained recruiter can locate very specific skills quickly. And, over the years these tools have become much more than just retrieval engines. They now serve as administrative assistants helping to set up interviews, track the results of interviews and pass candidate information on to HRIS systems. In short, over the past 20 years we have evolved what was a simple concept into a sophisticated tool for storing, tracking, retrieving and passing on information about candidates to hiring managers and to other corporate functions. We have, in effect, automated and streamlined the bureaucracy that used to keep many clerks busy. With the advent of the Internet we have found ways to use the web as a front-end to these systems and make it even easier for information to get into our databases. Large companies can now count on getting hundreds of resumes submitted to their resume database every day. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> Unfortunately, the world has changed. Storing, retrieving, and manipulating data has not only become less important, it has done nothing to make recruiters more successful. So a recruiter can find a person in the database with a particular skill? Is being able to find a candidate who is unavailable, who has moved, who is not interested anymore, who is actually not qualified for the position what you need to be successful? I think not. We have entered the era where doing stuff to data is trite and expected. What we need now are tools that help us build relationships and develop ongoing, value-added knowledge about candidates. We need software tools to brand our company, to sell our company to candidates, to screen and qualify them and to help them find the best possible position for them in our company. We have moved from the age of store and retrieve to the age of attract and communicate and sell. That?s why tools that track applicants are quickly becoming commodities. There is still some value in passing information on to hiring managers and to feeding HRIS systems, but the real value ? the things that are going to cause your boss to say that you are great ? is the ability to not only FIND a candidate, but to find the right candidate who is likely to say yes and who is excited about your company and the position you have to offer. Can software tools do this? Yes, there are many that are beginning to enable us to put together communities instead of databases. Databases are 20th century. Communities are 21st century. What?s a community? It?s an online group of people who have a common interest and similar skill set. Moreover, they have some interest in your company and in the position your company has to offer them. Most are employed and many are not ready, yet, to make move. But they are ready to find out more about your company over time. A community is a fluid, changing bunch of people who come to your website to chat, to share, to learn, and eventually to get recruited. Companies such as Hire.com have begun to develop these 21st century community-building tools. Companies like Cisco Systems have built some of these tools into their website. Cisco has a button that allows candidates to make a friend at Cisco ? to find a person within the company that has the same skill set ? and communicate with them through email. The Boston Consulting Group allows candidates to create a profile of a job and then links them to employees who have a similar profile. Agilent Technologies encourages candidates to outline their ideal job. All of these tools are beginning efforts to create communities of people who are available, qualified and willing to work for your company someday. This is where the future of recruiting tools lies. If someone tries to sell you software to simply store and retrieve resumes, ask for a guarantee that you will hire more people. I doubt if they will give it to you. Remember that most resume databases are 90% garbage. Retrieving the resumes from them is not a formula for success. Spend your money on relationship tools, on community building ideas, and focus on software that leads to more hires.
Archive for December, 2000
Cost Per Hire: The Last Great Black Hole of HR
To me, the fascination with “Cost Per Hire” (CPH) is one of the last remaining black holes of staffing. A Black Hole, after all, is a collapsed star that creates such a gravitational pull that nothing can escape its clutches, not even logic. Like an report using a single point of reference, developed by the use of partial information, conceived with a myopic goal, failure to achieve a significant purpose is assured. The only real constructive outcome from a CPH report, is proof that a member of the senior HR staff can divide a smaller number into a larger number. In my career, I have seen many quality staffing programs rendered impotent because of undue fascination with a perceived high CPH. Conversely, I have seen many inadequate staffing programs flourish because they may have failed, but they failed at a very low Cost Per Hire. One of the first significant reasons not to place undue emphasis on your CPH is that few companies use the same formula to calculate CPH. Yet, they compare each other’s CPH with abandon. The simple formula to calculate CPH is to take all expenses, other than fixed costs (permanent hiring staff salary/benefits cost, office budget costs, utilities) and divide that number by total hires during that period. So if you ran one ad (5K), paid agency fees (20K), went to a job fair (4K), and maintain a third party Web site (6K), you spent 35K above your line costs. If you had 10 hires, you would have a 3.5K CPH. (Plus a job offer from me tomorrow.) If your organization insists on calculating a total cost per hire, then your line budget expenses of, for example, 250K would be factored in and your cost per hire would now be 28.5K (By the way, I am withdrawing that offer.) The problem with this scenario is that to a staffing professional none of the above data tells you anything you really need to know. Things get even more complicated when you consider training, cost of “empty chair” time, the impact of hiring delays on turn-over, the cost of losing imbedded knowledge, lost promotion potential, etc. Cost per hire is but the tip of the iceberg. Numerous other issues need attention such as:
- Rate of hire against anticipated rate of hiring need
Interruptions, They Are All Around Us
Have you ever walked into your office in the morning after battling traffic, and race to your desk to see your monitor covered with post-it notes, your voicemail light already flashing, and your e-mail inbox continuing to deliver new messages every 30 seconds? Does this sound like a typical day for you? According to a survey conducted by Pitney Bowes the American worker handles an average of 204 messages each day, (e-mail, voice-mail and notes) so you are not alone. Below are a few ideas of how you can combat this ever-growing onslaught of information to maximize your efficiency.
- Schedule your day: This may sound like the obvious, but planning your day ahead of time will turn countless hours of unproductive time into highly efficient time. The best time to schedule your day is to do it before you leave work the night before. This way you can take an objective overview of what you need to accomplish the next day.
Common Questions About Internet Sourcers
I received so many responses to my last article on ERE, “Tips on Hiring an Internet Sourcer,” I felt like a follow-up article was appropriate to help answer some of the many questions I received. The most common question posed to me was that of a pay range for an experienced Internet Sourcer. Here are some things to consider when putting together a compensation package for an Internet Sourcer:
- Not all sourcers are equal: I touched on this in my last article and find it even more important when it comes to compensating Internet Sourcers. The purpose of an internet sourcer is to save you money on other sourcing means! Thus, it is not the quantity of candidates, but the quality of candidates that will lead to a hire that the Internet Sourcer should be concerned with. To motivate fairly in this area, I suggest a commission/bonus program designed to compensate the Internet Sourcer when a hire is made directly from a candidate they sourced. What do you normally spend to source for a position? Consider giving a portion of that as a form of compensation to your Internet Sourcer in order to insure they are doing a great job and fulfilling the purpose of their position.
Deciphering Technical Job Descriptions
Wouldn’t it be great if job titles were standard across industries and employers? If “Programmer Analyst” always meant the same thing, and that no matter whom you’re talking with the title would always be “Programmer Analyst”? Then we wouldn’t have to know to also look at Software Engineers, Systems Programmers, and Application Developers. For technical recruiters, translating the language on a resume is challenging enough, but it’s made worse knowing that all these different words can describe the same position. On top of that, in the ongoing war for talent, employers strive to differentiate themselves by creating job titles that sound interesting and/or exciting ? but that we may have never heard before! The easiest way to wade through this quagmire of job titles on a candidate’s resume is to ignore the title and evaluate the position based on four criteria: experience level, category/function, technical environment, and tools or skills required.
- Experience level. First look at the experience either required by the position or the number of years experience the individual shows on the resume. This information can help you determine whether or not you’re looking for an entry-, intermediate- or senior-level individual. Just ask a question such as:
Some Additional Thoughts About the Coming Year, And a Wish for A Happy New Year!
In last week’s column I gave some of my predictions for the coming year. Whenever you write an article, it’s very difficult to mention every great product and every vendor that you may wish to discuss. Inadvertently last week, there were several excellent products and companies that were omitted from my column. I would very much like to tell you about these companies and urge you to take a look at them. Most of them are offering new ways of looking at tomorrow or are very, very good about doing today’s work. The first of these companies, which I briefly mentioned last week, is called FlipDog. It sits in a special place. Basically it is a career board, but it works in a very unusual way. Rather than solicit job openings from companies, it uses some very advanced technology to scrape job descriptions from corporate websites. By going out across the entire nation, and of course it can even do this globally, it can very quickly accumulate a large mass of open positions. Basically all the open positions that a company posts on its corporate websites are available to populate the FlipDog database. Candidates can search through this database for jobs based on geography, position, job title, or specific company. By collecting and communicating this information, FlipDog also provides a good picture of the demand side of the market for a given geography. For example, I did a quick search for Human Resources positions in the San Jose, California area and found more than 280 job openings. It looks like a good market for HR types! Look to FlipDog to add many additional services in the coming year. The job boards that survive this coming year will morph into tools that provide market data, add personalization, update candidates on changes in demand in given geographies and provide great results to corporate recruiters. Look at FlipDog as a survivor. Applicant tracking is a strange and evolving world. I am even afraid to define it, because it has so many permutations and variations. The “pure” applicant tracking systems ? those of a few years ago ? are backend tools to make the life of a recruiter easier. They have no candidate interface and are invisible to the candidate. Companies focused on this end of the market are probably a dying breed, as well, as other tools emerge (hire.com, for example) that supercede some of the need for these systems. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> Many of the firms that produce these tools are migrating them to the web as Application Service Providers (ASP), and are adding on all sorts of bells and whistles. Most are adding candidate profilers and some are adding screening tools and even marketing tools to their products (e.g. Recruitsoft.com). Whether this is a successful strategy only you ? the purchasers ? know. Last week I mentioned a few systems that I think offer good value, but I missed PeopleClick, a system that is gaining ground everyday and seems to be well liked by its users. I have chatted with several recruiters who are now using this system and they are very happy. That is saying a lot in this space where complaints are more common than praise. Many of you commented on corporate websites. Many felt that recruiting websites were evolving in the right way and becoming more useful to candidates. Others felt that navigation around many corporate websites is still ambiguous and that it is hard to know what to do next or how to do it. There were also comments that the use of auto responders for acknowledging candidates’ resume submission has become trite and meaningless. I, too, continue to find most corporate websites boring, unexciting, and filled with bureaucratic jargon. I really wish that someone out there would create a website with the level of personalization that Lands End puts into its commercial site. Lands End has a website that truly understands personalization. If any of you have used their website to order clothing, I would like to hear about your experience. Could the same kind of experience be translated to recruiting? It will take this out-of-the-box thinking to get a competitive advantage out of the web site investment. Selling the “keepers” of the corporate web site is perhaps your biggest job for 2001! One person commented on the need for career brokers or talent agents instead of recruiters. I agree that this is where recruiting is evolving and that much more effort will be expended in coaching and guiding talented candidates to the “right” jobs. I will devote an entire column to this topic next year. Thanks again for a great year of ideas, feedback, comments and fun. I certainly enjoy writing these columns and hearing from all of you. I hope you enjoy reading them and find them at least a little useful in your busy daily lives. I will not have a column next week, but will be back in January. Have a great holiday and a Happy New Year!
Why Internet Recruiting Gives Recruiting A Bad Name, And How To Counter It
A recruiter from a staffing firm recently contacted me to express dismay that I write articles explaining how to do Boolean searches and other hands-on Internet recruiting techniques. In her opinion, “I don’t think I will ever see any software companies release strings of code…This information is valuable, and sharing it so liberally, just does not make good business sense.” She added, “A good recruiter is not threatened by newbies who learned to recruit via the Internet. However, it makes it a bit more difficult when unseasoned, inept recruiters that don’t know client from server barrage potential candidates with job offers that are way out of line with their particular skillsets. It allows bad recruiters to give us all a bad name.” I really do appreciate her writing me and expressing her concern, because it’s probably something many other recruiters think, and we ? individually and as an industry ? need to address it. First, it’s unfortunate because this person read an article of mine that was drastically (and badly) edited from the original version, published without my knowledge in a sister publication of the one to which I originally submitted it. What she read only described the Boolean search technique with little context. This made it seem like all I wanted was to put an atomic bomb in the hands of unsophisticated terrorists. Nothing could be further from the truth. I agree with her that all articles on this topic should put Internet recruiting search techniques in context, reminding that you should follow the relevant rules of “netiquette” (Internet etiquette) when utilizing such techniques. In this case, those rules are:
- Contact only appropriate candidates: If you don’t have a full resume that lets you determine with reasonable confidence if a candidate is in the ballpark for a position, then don’t email the candidate until you can get sufficient information. And if the candidate is appropriate for that UNIX SysAdmin job, then just mention that position and not all the unrelated Oracle dba and C++ programmer ones.
One More Chance Santa…(Get It Right This Year!)
Dear Santa, It has been a year since my last letter. (I know, I know, “My how times flies! Ho, ho, ho – so what!” ) Well, in all candor, thanks for nothing! Last year I sent you a nice, friendly letter. I even thanked you for the lousy 3-speed bike you sent me when I was 12. How many “thank you” notes do you get? Not too darn many I would imagine. I sent my letter early enough for you to comply with my simple request. I did not ask for a new “Beemer,” a big screen multi-media entertainment system, or an oceanfront home on the coast of Maine. (Well actually, if you happen to know of a nice 3 bedroom…never mind, getting off track there.) I just wanted resumes. A nice big box of relevant resumes and useful resumes. I did not even want them for myself. I just wanted them so I could try to get my hiring managers off my back, screaming all day for the impossible: “Where’s the paper, where’s the paper?” It could drive you nuts, what a bunch of…ah, I mean…. I just wanted to support my wonderful hiring managers with their simple requests and their gentile urgings for greater acceleration of the paper flow. (Salts of the earth – each and every one of them.) So, what do I get from you?
- Resumes of candidates no longer on the market. (“That resume was four jobs ago. Geez, is that still out there? Boy, that is something somebody ought to fix, isn’t it?” Augh!)
Santa’s Workshop – 2000 in Review
In an ERE article from last year (ERE December 16, 1999), we visited Santa’s Workshop to take a peek at how he was managing his recruitment during the 1999 labor shortage. What we found was that despite Santa’s remote location in the North Pole, his recruiting program was quite progressive. Apparently the Internet and newsletters/websites like the ERE have helped him remain competitive in this marketplace. To recap, in 1999 Santa began reengineering his recruiting program with very favorable results. Below is a list of some of changes he implemented:
- Hired a talent manager who had innovative ideas for recruiting and retaining talent
Meet the Author “Live”
I get numerous questions from readers like “What are you really like?” or “Do you speak in public?” Well, thanks to advances in technology and the Internet you can now see me “live” on your computer screen. The link below is to a webcast that was taped live at a Computerworld event earlier this year. The topic of my discussion was winning the war for talent. It’s free, and it doesn’t require any special hardware or software. If you like, I can also send you the slides via email. Let me know what you think. URL for the webcast is http://www.itworld.com/itwebcast/masters.html <*SPONSORMESSAGE*>
Oh Canada!
Whether you’re recruiting “Canadates,” or you’re seeking to fill positions in the Great White North, there are a number of websites that can help you cover some territory. When You’re Minus A Candidate +Jobs Canada is a general employment site for a wide variety of industries. A job seeker visiting the site begins by choosing “English” or “Francais” from the homepage, which then leads to a page where the most recent postings can be accessed by occupational area. Among the diverse categories are “Computer-Related,” “Science,” “Travel/Hospitality,” “Finance,” “Health” and “Marketing.” But because this feature returns only the most recent posting, a candidate would most likely choose to enter a keyword in the search box, which can be found under “Job Search” midway down the page. Searching the database by keyword returns a list of position summaries. These include employers, locations and posting dates. Selecting an individual job listing returns more information, which usually includes details about the application process. In addition to looking for jobs, candidates may post resumes at +Jobs Canada. The resume database is available to those employers signing a “Super Membership” job posting agreement. Job postings may be purchased on an individual basis, but individual purchases do not come with resume access. Employers wishing to utilize the resume database without posting jobs can choose from several resume bank service subscription packages. The +Jobs Canada “Press Kit” provides cost information, along with traffic statistics and detailed demographics regarding site users. It can be found by selecting “Information” in the upper right corner of the page, and then “Press Kit.” A Page For The Recruitment Book Canadian Career Page has its own “Job Database,” which you may want to reference and utilize. This site, though, has so much more to offer. Every menu item is worth exploring, as each category points the way to more information and the potential for additional contacts. Selecting “Career Info,” for instance, returns several interesting categories, including “Sector Specific Career Resources for Canadians.” It leads to a page of occupations and industry sectors. Among these are “Advertising,” “Engineering,” “Information Technology” and “Health & Medical.” Choosing a category returns links to associations, publications and services. At “Engineering,” for example, you’ll find 30 links. Some are general, while others are focused on specific regions or industries. If you were looking for Canadian engineers, this page would certainly offer locations to explore. The “News & Events” category is another potential resource. Selecting it returns a page that includes “Canadian Career/Job Fair Listings.” Each item links to a page where you can obtain event details. “Work Search” leads to several links, including an item called “Hard-to-find Canadian job boards on the Web.” Choosing it returns a list of 37 targeted categories, such as “Arts, Culture & New Media,” “Call Centre Jobs” and “Information Technology.” Choosing one takes you to a page where links to specialty job boards can be found. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> “Information Technology,” for example, returns a list of nine places to look for IT candidates. One of these sites is CanadaIT.com. It “Can” Do A company with a Canadian address involved with the IT/Internet sector is entitled to free basic membership at CanadaIT.com, a career and information portal. Membership allows an organization to publish “Company Profiles,” “News Items” and “Event Listings” at the site at no cost. There is a charge for job postings. A “Company Profile” offers the opportunity for quite a bit of exposure. A job seeker selecting “Companies” can obtain an organization’s profile in a number of ways. There is a keyword search box, an alphabetical search, and a “Technology/Business Type Search.” Choosing “Technology/Business Type Search” returns a page where a “Type” can be selected. Among the categories are “Business Applications,” “Computer Software” and “Technology Services.” Once a category is chosen, two columns are returned. The first contains subcategories, and the second is a list of all companies which fall under the main heading. To narrow the company list, simply select a subcategory. Each company name leads to a profile, which includes on- and offline address information, telephone and fax numbers, and details regarding products, services, and operational areas. Some profiles include links to recent press releases. The site’s complete library of press releases can be found under “News.” Here “News” can be searched in several ways. Items appear in chronological order. There is also a keyword search box, as well as a list of categories from which to choose. The “Events” section of the site lists conferences, meetings, and other IT happenings. Selecting an item returns details about the event, which often includes a link to the sponsor site. CanadaIT’s job board can be accessed by selecting “Careers.” Like other areas of the site, “Careers” offers several search options. A job seeker can choose a company from an alphabetical listing which indicates the number of positions posted for each organization, or by using one of the other “Browse By” features: “Job Titles (alphabetically)” and “Most Recent Added.” There is also a keyword search box, as well as a list of job categories. Each position leads to a page where job details are provided. Selecting the “Position URL” returns an online job application. Each job posting also links back to the company profile for more information. Northern Exposure CanadaIT’s “Links” is another area that can offer assistance in terms of recruitment. Here you’ll find “Immigration,” “Salary Stats,” “Recruiter Resources,” “National Associations,” “E-zines and Portals” and more. While many of these links can help you find answers to questions, others have the potential to help you find candidates. The next time a requisition involves Canada, why not set your sites on locations focused on the North, eh?
Why The Four-Question Interview Still Works Best
In this age of intensive digital searching and testing, some people find it hard to believe that something as simple as a four-question interview to measure a candidate’s competency can be of any use at all ? let alone the single most valuable tool in a recruiter’s box. I can understand their skepticism. On the face of it, a four-question interview sounds like one of those flashy gimmicks that a would-be HR guru dreams up to add sizzle to his small, tough, and distinctly elderly steak. But in fact this particular piece of meat happens to be prime filet mignon. Over the past 25 years, I’ve been tracking hundreds of candidates that I’ve interviewed. I’ve watched them grow, develop, expand their capabilities, and get promoted. I’ve placed a few more than once. Many hired people from me both before and after I placed them. I’ve worked with a number of them in a consulting capacity. From this type of admittedly unscientific, but certainly interesting, field study, I’ve come to some basic conclusions about the whole process of hiring and interviewing. Each of these successful people has four characteristics in common, and each characteristic can be measured with one type of question. These included a track record of personal growth with a strong work ethic, an ability to motivate and persuade others (team leadership), the ability to achieve results consistent with the needs of the job (as measured by the achievement of similar results), and real-time job-specific problem solving. These four common characteristics are all you need to measure during the course of the interview. You can, with just four questions. But first, you need to know exactly what the job is. A good interview requires a true understanding of the job. To do an effective job of interviewing you must know what you are looking for. You must know what drives on-the-job success. If you don’t know this, than the interview becomes just a fishing expedition. Interviewers then substitute their biases, emotions, and stereotypes as a way to assess competency. The four-question interview becomes possible only when you know what it takes to be successful in the new position. You need to consider things like critical performance objectives, the scope and complexity of the assignment, the span of control, and the pace and sophistication of the company. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> All of this is captured in the performance profile. This is the list of top 6-8 deliverables the candidate must accomplish in order to be considered a success on the job. It usually takes about 30 minutes to prepare one of these. Ask yourself, “What does the person taking this job need to do over the course of the first year that will brand that person a success?” If you don’t lock down the true job needs and put these in priority order, and then get everyone on the interviewing team to agree, you have lost control of the hiring process. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you ask lots of questions in the hope that you’ll find it. This leaves too much to chance and personal bias. If everyone is using a different measuring system, you’ve added time, frustration, and error into the hiring process. Behavioral-based interviewing is a good technique, but with limitations. Assessing competency is difficult unless you know how much of a particular behavior is necessary for success. This is arbitrary. That’s why multiple interviewers using behavioral techniques often come to different conclusions. Performance-based interviewing is an advanced form of behavioral interviewing without the limitations. When you know the performance needs of the job, you just need to get examples of comparable past performance. This way you don’t need to even define the requisite behavior. If you find people with the ability to meet the performance needs of the job, I guarantee they’ll have the correct mix of behaviors. Here’s a tip: It’s the answers that matter, not the questions. Most strong candidates are only average interviewees. It’s the responsibility of you as the interviewer to get the candidate to give you the correct information. You want all candidates to answer the four questions as accurately as possible, and get all the people on the interviewing team to assess them correctly. When you ask more questions, you just add more chance for error. You’ll discover that the answers to the all-important four questions will give you all the information you need to make an accurate assessment. In my next column, posted here January 5th, I’ll go into specific details about those vital four questions.
Going to a Recruiting Conference?
If you are like most recruiting and HR professionals, you will probably attend at least one or more recruiting/HR conferences next year. I have been fortunate enough to attend and exhibit at a number of these types of events, and my experience has given me a unique perspective on how people attending these conferences approach them. There are people who discovered last minute that they were going to be attending the event, so they were quite unprepared. On the other hand, there are the people attending who have been doing their homework and know exactly what they want to get out of the event. Below are some ideas of how to get the most out of a conference by doing a little pre-work.
- Plan before you buy. If you are like most HR/Recruiters, you get inundated with mailers from companies who put on HR/Recruiting conferences. If one catches your eye, look it over carefully before you decide to attend. Find out who is speaking and what topics they are going to discuss. It is also important to find out who is putting on the event. There are many companies today that put on these shows, so it is important to find out if they are a reputable organization or not. Many times you can contact the organization that is putting on the event and ask them for some references.
Life-Long Learning
As recruiters, human resources professionals, or line managers, we are charged with developing a workforce with not only the skills to compete today but also the capabilities to compete in the future. It is a wonderful tagline and an even more admirable goal – but the real question is how do we do that? With the changing landscape from technologies to markets and no crystal ball to guide us, how do we know what knowledge, skills, and abilities our future workforce will need? Furthermore, how do we find people who fit that bill? What is Life-Long Learning? Enter the concept of Life-long Learners. It is an idea that is getting a great deal of press lately from corporate initiatives to promote it to recruiters wondering how to hire for it. Life-long Learning at its essence is the drive to continually develop and improve your skills and remain competitive. While it is something organizations can create programs around, it is a quality that your employees either have or they don’t. If they have the desire to keep learning and developing, they will take advantage of your programs and seek ways outside of work to achieve this goal. The people who are life-long learners will not be satisfied to utilize the skills and knowledge they currently possess. They will look for opportunities to enhance and expand the type and scope of knowledge, skills and abilities they have. By and large, these people are motivated not only by the results of their work but also by the very process of learning. Give them opportunities to learn and grow and you will create motivated and loyal employees who give your organization discretionary effort beyond what is expected of someone in their position. They will also apply what they learn to help you stay competitive in your chosen markets. How Do You Recognize This When You See It? Ask any candidate if he or she would describe himself or herself as a life-long learner and you will get a resounding “Yes”. So how do you know which candidates actually possess this important quality? The resume will be your first clue. You should see this person taking the opportunity to expand into new areas or further develop skills. This can be done through furthering their education through formal degree programs, certifications, or other types of training opportunities. If the candidate is active in professional organizations, see what kind of activities she or he is participating in. More than just paying dues, does the candidate hold an office in the organization or participate on committees? Remember to ask during the interview about attending conferences and networking opportunities through these organizations. Finally, read through the descriptions of past positions. Do the points emphasized imply fulfilling roles beyond the job descriptions. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> During the interview there are two ways to assess life-long learning initiative. First, delve into the points on the resume. Second, take a behavioral interview approach to find out what motivates the candidate and how active he or she is in development. Follow-up with what you learned on the resume. Find out why this candidate seeks out learning opportunities. In some organizations pursuing a degree is an expected part of the development goals of all employees. Some candidates make this choice in their own. Try to determine if there are learning opportunities which are left off the resume as well. The behavioral approach to interviewing will help you discern if this candidate exhibits the types of behaviors needed to be successful in your organization. This includes life-long learning behaviors. Ask questions such as the following:
- Describe a time when there was an opportunity which interested you but you didn’t have the skills required. How did you handle that?
What Do You See Happening? Thoughts on 2001.
As we come to the end of another year, and the first of this century, it is perhaps wise to take a few moments and ask ourselves what is different today from a year ago. Last year I wrote a column around this time that predicted some things that would occur this year. Here are the key points I made in that article: The first point I made was that everyone would use the Internet to look for a job. And I think this has happened. The job boards have grown in size, in number, and in type. There are broad-based sites such as Monster.com and focused sites such as Techies.com. And, there are sites like FlipDog that scrap job listings from all sort of corporate websites and present these to candidates. Generally surveys show that almost all candidates use the Internet at some point in their job search, and I think I could say all recruiters use it to some degree to find candidates. The large number of job boards and their increasing specialization make it very hard for them to be profitable. While it is critically important for them to build a nationwide image and brand, only one of two of them has any wide name recognition. I think that over the coming year many of these job boards will merge or be acquired or just quietly disappear at it becomes more important to make a profit. My prediction for 2001 is that by this time there will be only 1 or 2 nationally known job boards and a handful of regional and specialized boards left. Everyone will use them and they will have added more services to their basic offering. Some of these added services may include interviewing help, skill assessment, career advice, and applicant tracking services for recruiters. What do you think? I would love to include some of your thought and comments in a future column. My second prediction was that organizations will build exciting recruiting websites. On this I was almost dead wrong, unfortunately!! What I have seen this year is an increase in “good” websites and a broadening of the companies that have recruiting websites. All of this is for the good. However, to be effective a website has to be a tool for selling your organization to a candidate and it needs to have the ability to continuously communicate with a candidate or potential candidate and build an ongoing relationship. Of all the organizations I survey, only a few have built a really exciting site. A few good sites include The Boston Consulting Group, Federated Department Stores, Texas Instruments, and Goldman Sachs. My 2001 predication is that websites will continue to evolve and become more relationship- and sales-oriented. Do you agree? Are there any great sites you would like to submit? My third prediction was that even small companies would find themselves looking for ways to organize and track the resumes and other information they collect about candidates. On this I was absolutely correct. But, the vendors to service this need are fragmented and none offers a completely satisfactory solution for most organizations. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> We evolved over this year from the client-server systems (which are dead) to the ASP (Application Service Provider) model where you, in effect, “rent” software for a period of time from a vendor. This way you save the cost of purchasing and installing a client-server system and get the benefits of continuous product improvements. The best system at the beginning of 2000 was probably Personic Software. While it is still an excellent product, it failed to move to the client-server world as fast as others and lost strength because of that. The systems that are emerging include PureCarbon (formerly Intralect), Hire.com, Recruitsoft, and Brass Ring. Of course there are many small firms with good solutions for smaller organizations, and there are many hybrid systems that are hard to categorize. In fact, even the ones I mentioned are all different and are far from the traditional applicant tracking systems we used to know. My prediction for 2001 is that the mess will continue for most of the year with some winners emerging toward the end of 2001. The winners will be those systems that have gathered a significant client base and are profitable. Everyone else will either be acquired, merged, or on their deathbed. I believe that one or two of the ones I have mentioned will be the winners as it is really too late for newcomers to get into the act. What do you think? Why am I right or wrong? And my final prediction was that there would be a continuing move away from the traditional resume to the use of tools that verify skills, build relationships and screen candidates for specific abilities and competencies. Again I was on target but perhaps a bit premature. This trend seems to me to be the biggest one for 2001. Many organizations are now adopting screening tools and retooling their websites to do more screening for them. The vendors are getting better, too, and offer a lot. Take a look at epredix.com, Brainbench.com, Reviewnet.net as examples of how screening can become an integral part of your selection process and your web site. Well, that’s how I wrap up my last year predictions. I will have some additional predictions for 2001 in a future column and I’d appreciate your thoughts and comments. I will incorporate as many of them as I can into that column. Hope you are having a great holiday season!
Best Practices: Convincing Jobseekers With Your Corporate Careers Website
My last article for ERE, Best Practices: Attracting Candidates To Your Corporate Careers Website, discussed ways to attract corporate website visitors to your Careers section. Here we’ll focus on ways to convince a job surfer of the desirability of employment with your company, and convert the casual job surfer into a serious prospect. Driving traffic to your site is only step one; now consider your visitor’s experience once there. Know Your Audience Good recruiting ? like good marketing ? requires understanding the needs and interests of different segments of your audience. A college recruit wants to know different information than an experienced hire. Addressing the distinct information needs of college students with a dedicated section is one of the best practices for corporate website recruiting. You can use this section to publish a schedule of campus appearances, a description of the company, its internship and training programs, and the career tracks and possibility of advancement within the company. A recent study by Recruitsoft/iLogos Research, Best Practices for Fortune 500 Career Web Site Recruiting, found that 42% of the Fortune 500 have separate college recruiting areas in their Careers sections. Among industry sectors, 78% of Fortune 500 High Tech companies cater to college recruits with a separate section in contrast with only 29% of Fortune 500 Health Care companies. As cultivating this nascent candidate pool continues to gain popularity, more and more companies in all sectors will embrace this best practice and gain from tailored communication with this audience. Show, Don’t Tell Potential hires are concerned about compensation and benefits issues. When presenting information on your company’s benefits plan, show, don’t tell. Don’t merely say, “We have a competitive benefits package that includes health, dental, 401K and stock option plan.” Rather, exploit the Web’s ability to supply comprehensive information to your Career website visitor. A slim majority (55%) of the Fortune 500 (and a greater majority of the Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, 68%) include information on their benefits packages in their Careers sections. Hewlett Packard is an excellent example. HP provides full details of its plans, including starting dates, deductibles and the percentage of expenses covered. Most companies can post information about their benefits packages online based on information already prepared in an orientation package. However, it takes thought and understanding of the medium to translate this material effectively to the Web. Be Cultured In the current job market, in which a qualified candidate may have the luxury of a choice between several competing companies, candidates are looking for “fit” just as much as employers are. Job culture is an extremely important consideration in assessing fit ? and has tremendous impact on employee retention. Your corporate Careers section is yet another opportunity to reinforce your company’s employment brand. Virtual tours, “day in the life” narratives, and profiles of both key management positions and of typical employees convey to online job seekers a sense of the work atmosphere and corporate culture. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> 44% of the Fortune 500 (and an industry sector-leading, 68 percent of Fortune 500 High Tech companies) take steps to describe their corporate culture to jobseekers. Corporate culture depictions on the Web are usually not drawn from existing marketing material (which might explain the slightly lower level of corporate culture compared to online benefits information). If you have to start from scratch for material on your company’s corporate culture, consider seeking assistance from a recruitment advertising agency or multimedia agency. Beware of overdoing animation and videos ? your pages should load quickly and be compatible with the most common browsers and download methods today. Stop Describing And Sell Of course your best chance to sell a position to a potential candidate is your job description. Start with the job title, which must catch the eye and draw the jobseeker in. Too many job titles listed on Careers sections are the internal ones the company uses (like “Analyst II”) or simply repurposed print classified descriptions. Stand out from the crowd with an “externally focused” title. Instead of “Project Manager” try “Mission-Critical e-Commerce Project Manager.” The job description itself has to cover the basics, such as the requisite abilities, credentials, and past experience. But to convince your Career Web site visitor to take the next step, sell each position along with the company. Describe exciting projects that the job will involve, or the opportunity it represents for furthering skills or career paths. Best practices here include clear information on location, travel requirements, and salary range, so that jobseekers can self-screen. Excellence In Communication Some of the best practices outlined here may seem fundamental, yet many companies utilize them with a haphazard, rather than systematic, approach. In the tightest job market in a lifetime, recruiters can leave no stone unturned. You must make all efforts to execute a top quality marketing and communication campaign. This means, among other things, that you provide visitors to your Careers section with the information needed to make a fully informed decision about pursuing a career with your company.
Using Field Identification to Hire Santa Claus (or Other Customer Service Talent)
If you wanted to hire a great “Santa Claus” (or any other customer service person), would you wait until November 15th and then run an ad? Or would you instead use a more advanced approach? Would you…
- Expect that if you hired the top Santa, they would generate as much as double the revenue of an average Santa, thus making a first class recruiting effort a high ROI activity?
All Aboard
Ask a child to define engineer and chances are you’ll get a response that includes the word train. But adults know better, right? Engineer is actually a broad term that covers many different kinds of positions in various fields of specialization. Therefore, sometimes in order to locate your ideal candidate, you may want to search sites specific to the industry for which you’re recruiting. Fortunately, however, there are also a few general engineering sites that can help put you on the right track. First Stop Engineering Central is an employment site with eight positions categories: “Chemical engineer jobs,” “Civil engineer jobs” “Electrical engineering jobs,” “Industrial engineering jobs,” “Manufacturing engineer jobs,” “Mechanical engineering jobs,” “Other engineering jobs,” and “Computer/IT jobs.” A job seeker can explore available jobs in a particular area by selecting “Job Bank” at the homepage, and then the appropriate category. Each position listed leads to a detailed description, which also includes application instructions. From the homepage, the category “Entry Level Job Bank” can also be chosen. It simply leads to a list of entry-level engineering positions, which can also be accessed on an individual basis. If a candidate wishes to search using keywords, this option is also available. Choosing “Search Job Ads” leads to a page where there is a search box, along with detailed instructions regarding its use. Job seekers can post resumes at Engineering Central. Employers posting jobs at the site have free access to the resume database. Job advertisements can be purchased on an individual basis or in bulk. Rates vary according to quantity purchased. At a site that’s well-organized and service-oriented, Engineering Central provides traffic statistics, as well as current figures regarding the number of resumes in its database. There is also a lengthy list of “Engineering Links.” Here you’ll find general resources, as well as sites pertaining to individual areas of specialization. “Resources for Chemical Engineers” and “Resources for Environmental Engineers” are just two categories where you can find other sites to visit in your search for candidates. A Number of Different Routes EngineeringJobs.com has several features you may want to utilize when looking for engineers. The site has an “Engineering Jobs Database” where recruiters and employers can link job pages for free. Information in the database can be referenced by choosing from one of six alphabetical categories. <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> The site has a resume database, which can also be accessed at no charge. From the homepage, select “Resumes.” This leads to a page where you can choose from a list of 20 categories which include “Aeronautics,” “Hydraulic,” and “Petroleum,” as well as some of the more typical engineering areas. Selecting a category returns a list of all candidates in the database who have experience in that particular field. Each candidate’s name is followed by a brief summary of qualifications and also includes a link to a pop-up email window. However, while there are links to resumes for some candidates, for many there are simply brief summary statements. EngineeringJobs.com provides links to “Engineering Societies and Organizations.” The list includes some very targeted groups such as the “American Society of Agricultural Engineers” and the “Institute of Biological Engineering.” For many of these organizations, links to job pages are also provided. If you’re recruiting for an engineer in a field that seems highly specialized and you have no clue where to look, this section of the site may be able to point you toward some candidates. Now Nationwide Engineerjobs.com began as an engineer employment site for the Great Lakes area, but has recently expanded to include the entire United States. A job seeker visiting the site’s homepage can either browse jobs by state, or select “Search Jobs,” which leads to a page where keywords can be entered and several filters are available. Once an applicable list of postings is returned using either of these search methods, a candidate can then select a particular job to obtain details about the position along with contact information. Job seekers can also elect to receive job notification via email. In addition, they can post resumes at the site. Employers signing up for one of several job-posting packages have free access to the resume database. There is also a “Resume Database Access” option, which is independent of the job posting service. For a flat fee, this function can be utilized for 60 days. Engineeringjobs.com invites new advertisers to sample the site at no cost. Details can be found under “Ad Rates.” Moving Along Although focused on engineering professionals, the site offers employment for a wide array of occupational areas. Recent job listings included civil engineers, mechanical engineers, radio frequency (RF) engineers, and software engineers, among others. Like Engineering Central, Engineeringjobs.com posts traffic statistics at the site. The next time your search for an engineer needs a little steam, why not visit these sites? With a variety of options and opportunities to find candidates, you may be able to toot your own horn as you fill that open position.
Seat Warming
A few days ago, I was reading some reviews of past articles. One of the reviewers suggested that good selection practices would never be followed as along as “recruiters’ preoccupation is on getting bums on seats.” This is a case where organizations get a little crazy – people trading in a long-term vision for a short-term objective. It is a human shortcoming. But, can you imagine an Olympic team where the driving credo was, “We have no vacant positions.”? How can an organization ever be world-class if “filling seats” is the primarily motivator for their recruiters? Maybe some truth in advertising is in order here…say, something like, “We Pretend We Have World Class People, but We Really Only Fill Seats!” If you have line responsibility, you should be coming “unglued” at this kind of attitude. If you are a manager, you already know how hard it is to train the “untrainable,” manage the unmanageable, and coach the “uncoachable.” If you were in charge of production, you would not tolerate a supplier that provided variable quality raw materials. So how do you think you can truly build a world-class team if recruiters don’t use best practices? Someone must be adding “funny stuff” to the cafeteria brownies again. What Is The Real Cost? No one can really provide an absolutely true cost of low vs. high producers – although, any hiring manager worth his or her salt should be able to “guesstimate” a figure. But let’s forget about the benefits of hiring good producers and look at the cost of all those low producers – not the people who quit and leave, but the ones who “quit and stay.” Low producers are generally half as productive as their high producing counterparts (lower, if you look at professional occupations such as IT, engineering, or the sciences). That means it takes about two or three low producers to equal one high producer – or roughly 200% to 300% more payroll expense to do the same amount of work…and that’s before you calculate the cost to coach, train and cover mistakes. Now, let’s add the inertia of people resisting new initiatives, the impact on quality and the overall impact on competitive response. How does the phrase, “You can’t get there from here,” strike you? <*SPONSORMESSAGE*> Want to hear some scary facts? Only 13 of the top 50 organizations listed in the 1955 Fortune 500 remain (Jennifer Hillner – Wired Magazine, Feb, 1998, page 70). Only 10-20% of workforce are truly engaged in their work (The Inventure Group, Eden Prairie, Minn.). Most workers say they are not trained to think – two-thirds of workers report when problems and breakdowns occur, they are pressured for immediate solutions and high-level troubleshooting (“Minds at Work: How Much Brainpower Are We Really Using?”). Nearly two-thirds of 773 hourly workers said their organizations were operating with half or less than half the employee brainpower available to them (Kepner-Tregoe, Inc.) In the US, small companies disintegrate 50% within 4 years, 70% within 8 years, and 98% within 11 years. Of all new companies 50% breakdown in their first five years (Dr. Uri Merry). The Tools Are Available Am I saying that good hiring systems will cure all the ills of the organization? I wish. One thing a good hiring system will do, though, is provide “job tryouts” – if applicants cannot pass the tryouts, they cannot play the game. This is far cry from submitting a resume and completing a one-hour interview. It is a far cry from taking a technical test. It is a far cry from taking a personality test. It is a far cry from completing a standardized application blank. And it is a far cry from just knowing an interview technique. The key is to understand the job sufficiently that you can identify critical competencies, choose appropriate measurement tools, validate the scores with performance – and put these together into a tight-knit system. Silly Competencies There are only so many applicant qualifications that can be measured. They include mental abilities such as intelligence, problem solving and technical skills; interpersonal skills such as teamwork and selling skills; and, motivational drivers such as attitude towards work and stability. Some of these competencies can be converted into contexts such as mental ability into analytical problem solving, market analysis or financial analysis. The point is that many competencies are only different applications of a basic competency applied to a job-related situation. If you try to build a competency system based HR system based on job-related competencies, you will soon find that your hard-built program collapses under its own weight. There is no “Great Big Book of Competencies” to serve as a reference (although I am considering writing one). Even training-related competencies are silly and only vaguely measurable. In fact, you are just as likely to find a valid “List of Competencies for the 21st Century” as you are to find Elvis alive and well managing a small motel in Roswell, New Mexico. The only people who really know about competencies have learned their trade from reading research and responsibly practicing competency measurement as a profession. Buy a pre-packaged competency set and, without fail, your competency system will self-destruct within two to three years (give or take) along with your reputation. This is truly a market where, “you pays your money and you takes your chances.” If You Are A Line Manager You need to cooperate with the people who are trying to do a good job identifying competencies and installing measurement tools. It is in your best interest and will make your job easier over the long run. And, if no one is doing this for your organization, you need to find someone will help you get the people you need to become more effective. If you face resistance, you need to hire some fresh new faces who understand the benefits of good selection. More to the point, how much does an attitude of “getting bums on seats” undermine your ability to get things done in your department?
Tips For Hiring an Internet Sourcer
A lot has been said about the pros and cons of hiring an Internet Sourcer. Having hired and managed my own sourcing teams for a few years now, I’ve learned quite a bit about the pitfalls of hiring this new breed of recruiter. Before I launch into the dos and don’ts of hiring Internet Sourcers, I want to first discuss why it is important to separate sourcing from the rest of the recruitment function:
- The skills needed to be a successful Internet Sourcer are quite different than those needed to be a successful Recruiter. A recruiter still needs to know all there is to know about sourcing to stay marketable in their field; however, a successful recruiter’s strong points are communication, persuasion/sales, diplomacy and closing. A successful Internet Sourcer’s strong points are research, patience, inquisitiveness and technical computer skills. Generally a successful recruiter is gregarious, has the ability to put people at ease, is a rapport builder, and an overall “people person.” An Internet Sourcer is generally on the introverted side and usually loves to work on the computer all day with very little interaction with others.
