ERE.net

Everyone knows that recruiting is currently in a down cycle, but there is no doubt firms will again need to recruit significantly to fuel growth and replace aging workers.

But do you have a plan that will enable you to explode out of box immediately as the downturn ends?

If you don’t have a feasible recruiting turnaround plan, you may be hurting your organization.

Research shows that the majority of recruiting organizations don’t have a documented recruiting strategy, let alone one specifically developed to deal with a recovery of the macro-economy. While one could argue that it’s difficult to plan when you don’t know exactly when things will improve, such an excuse is just that, an excuse.

Scenario planning, or a what-if analysis, prepares you to handle the turnaround no matter when it occurs.

As a recruiting manager, ask yourself — before one of your senior executives asks you first: keep reading…

The New York Times has a great interactive map showing how employment rates are changing across the United States.

I find it striking how the worst problems in employment seem to center around the local areas that support the industries that are the epicenters of this recession: the real estate bubble, automobile manufacturers, etc.

Lots of red…

I’m not sure how you are feeling these days, but I am tired of the laments about how bad things are. Certainly, this past year has been one of stress for our profession, our economy, and our political systems. Somewhere a window opened and let out the comforts and habits of the 20th century. Many of the things we took for granted – a steady economy, a rising stock market, lower prices, and a booming job market – have changed direction, at least for a while.

Compared to other times and places (for example Iraq, the Great Depression, World War I and II) things are actually pretty good. Most of us have jobs, food, careers, education, and many opportunities. For the unfortunate, there are safety nets and far more programs to assist them than ever before. There is a time for all things and this series of layoffs, downsizing, and recalibrating is as necessary a part of the cycle of life as are the seasons.

Change is a messy, painful, and tiring process but it almost always leads to something better. The changes that will follow this recessionary time will bring renewal and energy to our professional and personal lives. I cannot do much about how your organization is faring or how it deals with change, but I can offer you some tips about coping with your own change process.

Unwanted change causes very definite behavioral patterns to emerge.

Psychologists who have studied and documented the change process describe four distinctive phases we have to pass through to complete a change cycle.

keep reading…

Edvard Munch Google Logo: Graphic by rustybrick on Flickr (cc)

Google is arguably the most storied company of the new millennium, but even it is not immune to the global economic slowdown.

The company just announced via its official blog that it will be laying off 100 recruiters, a large slice of their recruiting team, which our own Dr. John Sullivan has called “one of the most innovative recruiting organizations on the planet.”

With the exception of cuts after its DoubleClick acquisition, these are the first staff layoffs ever for Google (although it has recently made deep cuts to contractors). It’s a logical move for an organization that sees less hiring in its future, but still feels jarring to me that recruiters were the first to go.

I’ve met several recruiters from the Google team over the years, and have found every one to be smart and capable. I hope they land on their feet.

We’re already a week into 2009, and everyone else has already published their predictions for the year. In the spirit of better late then never, here are a few of mine:

1. 2009 will be a painful year for recruiters. It’s obvious, but how could I leave this off the list? We’re in a recession, and as employment numbers continue to fall it will get worse for recruiters before it gets better. When will the turnaround come? Hiring typically lags behind corporate profits, so don’t expect recruiting activity to pick up again until after companies’ profits start rising again.
2. There will be less of us. As was pointed out to me today on the Recruiting Animal Show, I’m an old salt in the recruiting world at the not-so-tender age of 34. The last time I saw our profession contract was in the recession of 2001, when we simply had too many recruiters trying to fill too few open positions and thousands of professionals moved on to greener pastures. The strong and the lucky will once again survive, and those who are not at the top of their games will move on. In the last recession, many went into real estate. This time it will be different. keep reading…