Blogging outside the box: Recruiting Run Amok

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Recruiting Run Amok

posted by

	Steve Levy	(318)

"The S.E.C. told me that all of its actions were helpful to investors and that no one could have prevented the Bear Stearns collapse because it was caused by liquidity issues, not capital issues. My respectful response is that if Bear were thoroughly well capitalized, why would liquidity issues come up at all?"

This past weekend, Ben Stein wrote a scintillating piece in Sunday NYTimes explaining how he believed the Wall Street collapse turned into something of catastrophic proportions.

So much about the Wall Street collapse reminds me of recruiting these days...

"Weren’t fail-safe devices in place to guard against risk?" Weren't there regular meetings taking place where the recruiter explained the reality of the marketplace to the hiring managers instead of constantly going back to the same dry well?

"Weren’t government watchdogs there to make sure that catastrophes could not happen?" Wasn't there a service level agreement in place that defined roles, responsibilities, and results?

"Weren’t ratings agencies on the job to police what was going on in the canyons of Lower Manhattan?" Didn't the recruiter maintain metrics of channel performance and didn't the recruiter regularly explain the magnitude of these statistics?

After 10 years here with ERE and its ancestors, after having the first blog and the first group, I'm afraid so little has changed. I'm subscribed to an insane number of groups -not as much as Queen Shariba but she is very different than the rest of us ;) - and it seems as if every 6 months or so, a new crop of recruiters is talking about the same stuff. Deja vu all over again.

We joke about HR being the last group to visit "the table" yet as recruiters we seem to collectively do no better at creating a significant paradigm shift. Every day some wet-behind-the-ears TPR calls me speaking 1000 miles per hour; after 15 seconds I'm forced to ask them, "By the way, what's your name?"

Every day, another sourcer/recruiter is asking for "special websites" when it is clear they haven't done the work themselves before asking the world.

Every day, it's another inane discussion about the "best" ATS when in the end it's about personal preference, price and support rather than features.

Recruiting is beginning to run amok - won't anyone bother to see how we can ensure that the bottom doesn't fall out?

posted 4/29/2008 at 9:14 a.m. PT

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comments

Many Institutions in Malaise
posted 4/29/2008 at 8:57 p.m. PT by Martin Snyder

Can you think of any really healthy ones right now?

Church? Military? Courts? President? Local Bowling League ? Education ? Sports?

I happen to think recruiting is holding its own- I hear more and more and more how its about talent, not capital. Thats got to be sinking in some year ;-)

Good to see you ranting Steve- its a small club those of us yelling into the void !

Si much for being PC
posted 4/29/2008 at 9:27 p.m. PT by Steve Levy

You know what would be interesting Marty? You and me "ranting" at one of these recruiting conferences - no holds barred.

re: Recruiting running amok
posted 5/2/2008 at 8:49 a.m. PT by William Uranga

Yep, 'completely agree. Q&A and discussion in forums belie that many recruiters are breathlessly busy - doing, trying to be efficient. Few are listening longer, asking questions, trying to be effective.

More Lemmings
posted 5/2/2008 at 9:31 a.m. PT by Steve Levy

William - thanks for the POV. I've commented now for nearly 10 years how too many recruiters either hide behind the Internet and email or never fully develop their ability to speak coherently on the phone.

And then there's the listening skills: Two ears, one mouth - use them proportionally. TPRs ramble on without taking a breath or developing a relationship.

Where's the recruiting leadership???

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(318) Steve Levy
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