KeenHire Blog by Margaret Graziano

Sins of Omission In The Land Of Opportunity

In today’s volatile world, paying the price to live and work in the land of the free and the home of the brave means full disclosure.

Full disclosure you ask?

It means letting it all hang out, telling the truth, not lying or faking about your background, accomplishments, experience or employment intentions.

Being 100% responsible for who you are and what you bring to the table.

What is a lie?
What is considered a lie?
What is a sin of omission and is it worse than a sin of co-mission?

As I lead workshops for the unemployed on how to Ace the Interview, a chronic complaint under the guise of a question always seems to emerge out of the participant’s job hunt frustration. That complaint is, “Why do these employers make us job applicants jump through flaming hoops of fire just to go to work for their company?  Aren’t they grateful we applied?  They need us.  After all there is a talent shortage out there!”

Over the years my response hasn’t changed, “Aren’t you asking them to pay you each week, aren’t you asking them to give you an opportunity to work? Furthermore, why you would event want to go work for a company that in this day in age did not take hiring as a serious matter?”

Excerpts From Staffing World

San Antonio Texas - quaint, steamy, fun, and the temporary home to 3200 or so staffing and recruiting professionals over the month of October.

This is the 1st of 2 times I will be visiting the Lone Star state, and I have to say I am excited to be here. Last night we walked down the river walk which was really nice, a mini Venice -well sort of, and we ate as a really great Italian restaurant Paesanos, they even had my favorite Chianti Classico - Ruffino, gold label. 

So far our experience's at Staffing World have been excellent, every interaction we have had whether it be from a Marriott service staff member or from employees of the American Staffing Association, everyone has made our 1st trip to San Antonio as well as the launch of keenhire.com a fun and rewarding experience.

While my topic tomorrow is Business Development (Leverage your power to get in and get the business), my intention is to wake up the everyday staffer to what is on corporate HR's mind and then to encourage these every day staffers to kick it up and offer the level of service that will some day (some day sooner than later) be the expected norm.  I figure the best way to get my point across is to start with what's hot and not in recruiting, but before starting there, I thought I should start with a present day check in on what is hot and not with the always and forever changing planet we live on.

Whose Job Market Is In Anyway?

Why are so many companies putting candidates through the ringer when there are clearly more jobs available than there are qualified candidates?

That IS precisely why.

While the job market is in total flux and companies are vying and or even dying to fill key roles, candidates often wonder why such intense screening €“just to get a job.

I constantly hear job seekers complain, if it is a candidates market then why don'€™t they just hire me€?

Being A Recruiting Tour De Force

I am looking forward to participating in & facilitating an Executive Briefing a the NAPS conference on November 1st in San Antonio with my three colleagues:

Shally Steckerl

Jim Durbin

Joyce Gioia

I am a runner. I bike. I swim. I compete in triathlons: not to win, just for fun and adventure. I really thought I was doing all this training to look and feel great in my fabulous forties. I did not realize that all this training would actually position me to become better at my job. But training has re-built the stamina that got me here in the first place. Training has enhanced my ability to climb those recruiting hills and glide down the other side.

Before the Fordyce conference (The Fordyce Forum) I planned to change my approach in my business. I was set to launch my new consulting firm this October and slowly hand over my recruiting business to another. At the conference, my love for the actual art of recruiting was re-awakened. There’s just something about making the right match and creating the right placement I can not give up. I figured out what I was causing me to feel burned out from doing the day to day hunt. When I came back, I made a declaration to become a Recruiting Tour De Force and committed myself to making the necessary changes I needed to make to have that happen.

After analyzing my business, it became clear that we had a pretty large base in one general industry that I have now labeled as Drug & Medical Information.  With only a few changes of ink, I re-branded my company as specializing in that field and I flew out to the DIA conference only 3 days after I returned from the Fordyce forum. My son went online and built a plan for me so that I could use my 4 hours of time as wisely as possible when I arrived in Atlanta. I quickly walked the floor of the exhibit hall and met the players I set out to meet, made my contacts as an EXPERT in Drug & Medical  Information and flew back home the same night. I came back and called every referral I had and within 2 months, I had five new key clients in medical education, drug launch, and drug development.   

My message to these companies and candidates is clear and simple. I am the person to know in the Chicago market. I am different because I benchmark each role. I meet the key players. I assess not only the candidate, but each opportunity, and the company, and I only present the best of the best. Oh..…and I almost forgot the caveat is that I source names of people who are already working at your competitor or a targeted company or in a targeted industry of your choice.  AND it is working!   My largest customer even delivers me a fresh list of source names to call each month.

Time: Use it Wisely

One of the most critical Success Principles is using your time wisely.  While squandered money can sometimes be replaced, wasted time is gone forever.

The pace at which the world is moving seems to be increasing exponentially:  we now have the tools to monitor a universe of information continuously – companies buying and selling; changes of ownership; economic ups and downs; the war on terrorism; the war for talent; the war on drugs; natural disasters; racial tension; campus massacres, and at home my kids growing by inches every time I turn around – things are different and downtime is diminishing. 

So, how do you muster enough power to accomplish everything you need to get done in a frenetic world where information overload is the norm, and stay committed to being the best you can be at work and home?

My personal breakthrough in time management has to do with gaining mastery on three levels: leveraging my power, choosing my opportunities wisely, and becoming a power user in Outlook. Each level took me time to grasp, master, and implement.  The breakthrough into power, freedom, and peace of mind I experienced came from a course I attended years ago when I was a Landmark Seminar Leader called Mission Control.  That course certainly had an impact on me; it showed me that I was spending a considerable amount of time doing things that either did not “light me up,” that I was not particularly adept at, or that were simply distractions on the path to achieving my goals.

That course made me realize that there were a many things I needed to delegate, outsource, or simply stop doing.  Over time I built a business in which anything that I was not any good at, did not have value to me personally, or did not bring forth new opportunities for Alliance, was delegated.

Win Win In Winning The War For Talent

Win/Win is not a technique; it’s a total philosophy of human interaction (It is a way of being). In fact, in Stephen Covey’s book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he quotes that “it is one of six paradigms of interaction.” The alternative paradigms are win/lose, lose/win, lose/lose and Win or No deal.

Win/win is a frame of mind, it is a way of being that continually seeks mutually beneficial outcomes. With a Win/Win, all parties feel good about the decision, and feel committed to the action plan.

Applying the Win/Win principle to the “War” for Talent As the business news media competes for our attention by flashing information on the impending talent shortage, some of us listen with a keen ear, while others turn to more urgent, pressing issues. After 22 years in the human resources business, I don’t need the media to tell me there is going to be a problem; I already feel it in my bones, similar to how my grandfather used to know it was going to rain by his knees aching. When your business is the business of finding talent, you are the first to feel ANY inkling of change in the marketplace.

Although, I may feel like I run a best in class business, and I may have evidence that I know how to skin the cat better than the competitor, Alliance is all the more faced with the challenge of locating new talent for myself and my clients in a diminishing talent pool marketplace. 

The looming ‘impending’ talent shortage seems to be creeping up right from under us.  Alliance has more specified search requests than we have had in 5 years. As companies proactively deal with succession planning and building bench strength, we are seeing salaries going up, qualifications becoming more stringent, and expected outcomes for the candidates showing up as more measurable, as well as difference-making. All this with less people to choose from makes for a very competitive marketplace for employers and candidates alike.

So, how does a company who has ambitious goals compete for talent in the midst of a WAR for it?

You could outsource. You could offshore. You could take on employing the at home passive work force, like Jet Blue and Southwest. You could take on hiring the flexible work force, students, retirees and parents. You could home grow your talent, become a farm club of sorts, which many of my clients are doing very successfully. You could pay large retainers and then wait while the search firm does the searching. You could develop your company as en employer of choice where win/win is the norm, where people feel they are not just serving your corporation’s needs, but their needs are getting fulfilled as well.

Being an Employer of Choice. One of our clients, FONA International in St Charles, IL.,  has recently been voted one of the best companies to work for in Chicago. FONA takes a vested interest in their employees. When I met the CEO, Joe Slawek, years ago in a Business Management program, it was clear to me then that he had a purpose for his company, and that each and every employee played a role in fulfilling that purpose. His purpose was far above making profit or gaining market share.

When researching what has people STAY, what I have found is that people STAY because they feel a strong connection with the purpose of the company, with the purpose of their role, and with what it is that they do on a daily basis. It does not matter how YOU interpret their role, it matters how they do.

When an employee is connected with the purpose of the company, as well as with what they produce, the quality of their work is clearly stronger, hence a win for the company, and the customer.

Employee Development Power Versus Force

As a manager, have you ever had the experience of trying to ‘make’ an employee change, forcing an outcome from an employee to improve their performance or, even worse, have you ever attempted to have them work differently by encouraging them to alter their natural work style, so they would perform better in their role, or for the betterment of the company?

As Managers, we often have to deal with ourselves to overcome the Superman syndrome of “I can accomplish anything.”  After years of management training, organizational development programs, personal development courses, and executive coaching, I have been successful in exploring the possibility of allowing people to play to their strengths, hiring in a way that fosters that plan of action, and managing individuals’ performance through establishing objectives that not only benefit the organization, but that bring out the best in the individual as well. 

This theory is called ‘Playing to Strengths.’ There have been many books, articles, lectures and even case studies written on this subject. One excellent book on the subject is, Go Put Your Strengths to Work, by Marcus Buckingham.  The new game in the business of HR and talent management goes beyond the norm. Everyone is buzzing about the need to find ‘those’ critical key players in a talent-deprived climate and, frankly, there is much more corporate time, effort and money spent on being on the hunt for the ‘virtually impossible’ to find the top 10%, than on much more impactful and strategic initiatives.

If more companies focused their efforts on establishing organizational development initiatives, like building and developing ‘high performance teams,’ the entire scope and theme of employee development and retention would shift.

 

Rather than focusing efforts on the ‘'key man hunt,” companies could focus being on the TEAM HUNT for a well rounded group of people who collaboratively bring something much bigger and more impactful to the business. Let me explain a bit further.

Learning To Hire The Best

The Shoemaker€'s kids go around with holes in their shoes.  I hear this repeatedly as an analogy for how recruitment companies run and operate.  People, production, performance, motivation and integrity issues, dysfunction, no teamwork, inconsistency, and turnover are rabid epidemics.  When a consultant first challenged me on my internal human resources issues I found that I was first a bit defensive, then apprehensive, and then frankly€“ depressed. 

I was making more money than ever before, had my own business, had fourteen employees, and had what was thought to be a viable business model.  I was dealing with constant employee issues, complaints from customers and employees, inconsistent performance, processes that were continually not being honored or followed, turnover, and more.  Throughout these few years I was taking myself on, going to management training seminars, taking on personal transformation, working with a coach, assessing myself, trying to get better at managing as to avoid or limit my employee crises, issues and drama€ any way I could.  You name it, I was taking it on.

 
During this time of constant personal reflection and correction, my executive coach, a very wise soul, pulled me aside and questioned me about how I went about choosing my employees.  He asked:

• How do you know that you have the very best talent you could have?
• €œIs there any chance you are hiring the best and placing the rest?
• œAre you hiring the leftovers, the people you interviewed for whom you had no job, so you €˜found€™ something that would fit a need for yourself and them?
• €œAre you hiring people who are a fit for your culture, goals and methodology, or are you hiring the same type of people who would have fit€™ in your past employers€™ environments, which simply would not fit in your company.€ 

As he was questioning me, I became overwhelmed and relieved simultaneously.  I realized that I was and was not the problem.  I had been spending so much time fixing myself to be a better manager and what I realized is that the true problem was in my internal recruitment (or lack of) process and with my on-boarding (or lack of) processes.

I began the journey of developing an internal recruiting and hiring process in 1998.  Upon assessing my own staff of fourteen, I found that five were the biggest problems. It immediately became apparent that I had hired a group of people who were highly disorganized, highly flexible, highly restless and not internally driven to succeed.   

Upon reflection, I saw right away why these folks were hired.  They seemed like me!  They talked fast, were energetic and dynamic, like me.  However, what I missed because I did not even know how to look for it was that they were not built internally like me - they lacked the internal drive and motivation to succeed. 

I am embarrassed to say, but back then I felt anyone who took on what was being offered was automatically motivated to succeed.  Why wouldn'€™t they be?  So I was attracted to people who on the outside reminded me of myself, and never delved deep to see if they were really like me.  Hence - mistakes, forgetfulness, processes not being followed, candidates not pushed forward fast enough, etc. etc.  I was frustrated, upset and annoyed more than I was happy, motivating and inspirational. That was my first breakthrough, and yes, one-by-one these people were out boarded.   

Next I took the training from the €˜Center for Entrepreneurial Development€™ and developed specific Comprehensive Position Requisitions for every position within the company, and every position that might be added later.  Each CPR began by outlining the specific Key Performance Indicators and specific performance expectations for that role.  The CPR then defined the Core Functions of each role.  A specific description of how a person in this role would achieve the key performance indicators (what their day would be like, what would the role be expected to do on a daily basis).   

Then I added selection criteria “ who are these people, what do they think like, act like, interact like, how will they get the work done?  I listed it all out, utilizing my behavioral interviewing training to define the right behaviors.  Gut instinct and experience were used to define what their motivational levels would need to be at.  I used a few assessments that I had been administering for my clients to define and assess other key traits - need for money, independence, competition, ability to work at a fast pace, wittiness, memory recall, pro-activity, and so on. 

Do You RPO?

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of its recruiting, selection & on-boarding activities to an external service provider.  We have all seen the sweep of the human resources outsourcing craze (HRO) as how it has led the way for many companies to stay focused on their core competencies and not worry about the things they never meant to worry about in the first place, like payroll, benefits, compensation succession planning, performance programs, etc. The BPO movement has greatly impacted the staffing, search, and recruiting industry as we know it today.

As companies strive to stay competitive, they are exploring ways to create efficiencies in their operation and BPO, HRO and RPO is a way to narrow their focus, play to their strengths and leverage their power.   

The concept of an employer outsourcing the management and ownership of part or all of their recruiting process wasn't first realized during the late 1990s, however it is permeating through Corporate America like the smell of freshly baked apple pie. It is claimed that the cause for RPO was a shortage of skilled labor created by the late 90’s dotcom boom coupled with the Y2K crisis and RPO was created to fill the gap.

Cutting costs is often cited as the main reason for other forms of business process outsourcing and this may also be the case for RPO.  In most instances when organizations consider RPO it is not necessarily to cut costs, but rather to make their recruitment costs more variable and more closely aligned to organizational business cycle dynamics.

The use of RPO is also said be influenced by labor force trends.  Workers change employers more often than previous generations which were often employed by the same organization for their entire working life. The clear impact of having less people in the skilled labor workforce, the increase of international presence and overseas work assignments as well as the effect of de-regulated labor markets have all led to the shift towards contract and part-time labor and shorter work tenures.  These trends increase recruitment activity and may encourage the use of RPO. 

While there is certainly a need for temporary staffing, executive search and contingency recruiting, where RPO dominates is in the area of multiple hires for a similar or a group of similar roles.

The biggest distinction between RPO and other types of staffing is Process.  In RPO the service provider assumes ownership of the process, while in other types of staffing the service provider is part of a process controlled by the organization buying their services.
A main point to consider is that once the RPO masters their clients staffing requirements and creates efficiencies in the recruitment process it could very easily come to fruition that they become the single source provider for a company’s hiring needs.  With the mass access to off-shore, virtual and contract recruiters what is to say that a great RPO can not master every level of the clients hiring needs, including the executive level.

The Benefits of RPO.
RPO's promoters claim that the solution offers improvement in quality, cost, service and speed.  RPO providers claim that economies of scale - enable them to offer recruitment processes at lower cost while economies of scope allows them to operate as high-quality, specialists.  Economies of scale and scope are said to arise from a larger staff of recruiters focusing on individual clients rather than jumping from one assignment to the next, a continuous population of a customized databases of candidate resumes, investment in peer to peer networks, associations, and educational affiliations, capital investments in sourcing tools, as well as high volume buying power of hiring and selection tools.

RPO solutions are also claimed to change fixed investment costs into variable costs that vary with fluctuation in recruitment activity.  Companies may pay by transaction rather than by staff member, thus avoiding under-utilization or sacking recruitment staff when activity is low.

Potential Concerns with outsourcings of company recruitment processes may fail if not implemented correctly and with the right mindset.  An improperly implemented RPO could reduce the effectiveness of recruitment.  Additionally, the costs charged for recruitment transactions may total more than the cost of the internal recruitment staff, if the internal staff is not using agencies and tools that increase their overhead. Additionally, an RPO solution may not work if the service provider has inadequate recruitment processes or procedures to work with the client.

RPO may not resolve difficulties that organizations have hiring staff when they are perceived negatively by potential employees.  This instead requires improved branding and an adjustment of image.

Organizations with efficient hiring processes that are viewed as employers-of-choice by potential staff may stand to gain negligible benefits from RPO.

Competing in the HRO market allows you to leverage your economies of scale and scope while improving your efficiencies, making more placements, guaranteeing you a steady stream of direct placement income, and grow your market share! What are you waiting for?