KeenHire Blog by Margaret Graziano

3rd Party Recruiting- You Don’t Want to Do The Heavy Lifting, Let Us Do it For You!

Some say the great thing about being a third-party recruiter is that there are no firm rules on how to recruit. Well, this is just not true. If there wasn’t a right and wrong way to recruit it would simply fall apart. Every client differs, every position differs, and every candidate differs: this is a fact, however, the way that you recruit your candidates and make your clients happy is all the same.

Third party recruiters provide a service to their customers, not a function to their employers. If a recruiter can ensure successful hiring process that results in less waste and an increased return on investment, they must have a system set in place. A proven process that allows any company to close-the-door on expensive mis-hires and unwanted employee turnover is the engine that drives 3^rd party recruiting.

A process must ensure one thing; the right person in the right role, for them and for the company. This is the only way to ensure employee retention. While sales professionals only have to deal with customers’ emotions, recruiters have to deal with both customer and candidate emotions. The candidate’s motivational drivers, methods of interacting, ways of acting and reacting, thinking strategies, and leadership behaviors are all brought into context by the recruiter. It’s not just the traits of someone that predict their performance; it’s how traits interact with each other that calculates success.

Along with each client, each job must be addressed differently while apply a solid hiring process. Great companies spend time isolating what great performance is in the role they are searching to fill. Invest more time in defining what the candidate needs to do to achieve great performance, and even more time proactively assessing and defining the right behaviors, values, and motivators of that the right candidate should have.

No matter what the job is, if a recruiter has a process that involves assessing who the employee needs to be to do the job, they will come out successful. A strong hiring process includes selecting behaviors, talents, traits, willingness, “want,” power, skills, experience, and even education- the whole nine yards!

Check out KeenHire’s conscious hiring process for an example of great third party recruiting with a process in place for success!

By: Emily Eastman

Creating A Multi-Generational Workforce That Thrives!

Age discrimination claims have hit record levels in the United States! According to msnnbc.com the figures have risen from 16,000 in 2006 to 23,000 in 2010. That staggering number has skyrocketed, one due to unemployment and two due to the generational gap in the work force today. Those 55 and over are unemployed for an average length of 52.4 weeks. The average is just 37.4 weeks for younger workers, according to AARP employment data. The harsh reality is their age is part of the reason

“There is no question that age bias is rampant throughout American society and in the workplace in particular,” said Howard Eglit, a professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law who focuses on law and aging.

The HR profession has identified the number 2 trend most likely to have a major strategic impact on the workplace as large numbers of baby boomers leaving the workplace around the same time.

There are different values that come with having a muti-generational workforce. Each generation brings valued qualities and their own shortcomings.

Lets meet the generations!

World War II: 1925-1945

Values Qualities:

Stable, detail-oriented, thorough, hard-working.

Liabilities:

Don’t like change, reluctant to buck system, uncomfortable with conflict

Messages that motivate:

“We respect your experience and wisdom.”

“Your perseverance is valued and will be rewarded.”

 

Baby Boomers: 1946- 1964

Valued Qualities: Service-oriented, driven, willing to go the extra mile, good at relationship-building, want to please, good team players

Liabilities: Not naturally budget minded, uncomfortable with conflict, reluctant to go against peers, overly sensitive to feedback, self-centered

Messages that motivate:

“You’re important to our success.”

“Your contribution is unique and important.”

 

Generation X: Latter 1960’s to early ‘80s

Valued Qualities: Adaptability, techno-Literacy, independence, not intimidated by authority, creativity

Liabilities: Impatient, poor people skills, inexperienced, cynical

Messages that motivate:

“It’s OK, do it your way.”

“We’ve got the newest hardware and software.”

Millennial: Late 1980’s to the 2000’s

Valued Qualities: Tech-Savvy, collective action (Team), heroic spirit, tenacity, multi-tasking

Liabilities: Need for supervision & structure, inexperienced, very short attention span, lack of patience for menial tasks

Messages that motivate:

“You’ll be working with bright, creative people.”

“You and your co-workers can help turn this company around.”

With the largest gap being WWII generation to the Millennial it can be difficult to create a workplace that sufficiently equips everyone. The WWII’s attitude about the Millennials could be, “Those young kids really know their technology stuff, but I sure wish they could concentrate better.” But if you turned the table the view could be, “Old fogies who should retire and leave the work to us!”

No matter how the cards are drawn, unemployment rates cannot be denied, BUT that doesn’t mean the weeding out is going to last. The rate of unemployment went from a high of 9.8 in 2010 down to 9.0 here in 2011.

Multi-generational workforces can work. Yes, we need to be developing management and using our youth to create new leadership development, but who is going to do the teaching? We all can learn different things from each other.  It is also important to remember outliers. People sometimes cross the borders and fit into different categories based on how they were raised, their personality or their work culture. No matter who the person, or their age they will fit into one category and optimize the workforce!

The key to having generational retention is to create an environment that constructively produces relationships with support and the ability to grow.

 

By: Emily Eastman

Behavioral Interviewing is Changing the Game- Are You Ready To Make The Switch?

We’ve all been there, sitting in the waiting room, palms sweating trying to memorize the “right answers” while we are desperately scanning our resume, looking for the right thing to say (like we don’t know where we have worked and what we have done). Interviews can be just as terrifying as public speaking, except you don’t know what’s coming!  You want to be prepared, but so does the interviewer. They want to get to know you and figure out if you’re the right person for this role and their company. This is why most companies have added a step and shifted from relying primarily on traditional style interviewing to utilizing behavioral to validate that the person actually operates in a manner congruent with their corporate values and mission.  Companies are learning the hard way that a resume only states what the person has done, and that 75% of those resumes are inflated. As the competition for business and talent continues to grow sharp business leaders are upgrading their hiring process and positioning themselves to hire the best and say, thank you for sharing to the rest.

What is behavioral interviewing anyway?

Behavioral Interviewing is a way to find out how and why people do things rather than what happened. What’s the point of knowing where someone worked if you can’t know what he or she did and the step they took to get there? Often times when we tell stories there is a lot of “we”, in behavioral interviewing the interviewer wants to know what YOU did, how you contributed and the behavior traits you posses that made you act a certain way. It is all about open-ended questions that force you to draw on events and stories that have happened in your life. The difference between "What is one of your weakness"? and "tell me about a time you failed at something and what did you learn?" might not seem like much, but it forces you to give a different kind of answer. These types of questions give employers a better sense of the kind of person you are and what type of role you might fit into in their company. Behavioral Interviewing is how companies attracted and select A players, and leverage their companies hiring power!

Don’t know how? KeenHire can teach you with our Behavioral Interviewing Training!

In our program you get a fundamental understanding and appreciation for why most bad hiring decisions are made in the first ten minutes of the interview.
Learn to understand the importance of identifying key performance indicators for each role; delve into all facets of the hiring and selection process, narrowing in on understanding and being able to identify motivations, ways of being, ways of thinking, and modes of interacting.

You walk away with a prowess for knowing what to ask and how to interpret the answer. Catch and redirect yourself in the midst of being "sold" in the interview and focus on the content of the validated answer.

"To fly as fast as thought, to be anywhere there is, you must first begin by knowing that you have already arrived."
                                                                    - Richard Bach, author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull

By: Emily Eastman

Solyndra. Any Business Is Only As Strong As The People Inside.

Solyndra. Once one of the greatest solar companies just a few years ago, today is dead, and sending over 1,100 employees home. “As the manufacture of solar panels in the USA has fallen from 40% of the market a few years ago to around 5% today, the fossil-fuel-lobby is quick to suggest that the whole idea of the government supporting a dying solar energy industry is misguided” (Forbes). 

They have said that the “global economic and solar industry market conditions have forced the Company to suspend its manufacturing operations.” How is this possible when the National Lab report shows that, the solar power industry is the fastest growing industry in America and we are delivering strong economic returns? Something must be up. 

Can this down fall be traced back to a hiring process? Could it be not the economy, or the jobs available but those who are doing them? A company is only as strong as the people inside; no matter how fast the industry is growing or how many jobs they are creating for the American people.

Secretary Chu of Solyndra told FORBES, “On Thursday, President Obama spoke about the need to continue creating the jobs of the future,” said Secretary Chu. “And that’s exactly what today’s investment does—putting Americans to work right away and helping position us to win the global race for the clean energy industries of tomorrow.” Although job creation is important and a significantly high priority in this country, the benefit of creating these jobs goes out the window when the candidates applying and the new employees holding them are mediocre at best.         

With the right type of hiring process all of these mishaps could be avoided and steer clear of. With a Conscious Hiring process management is enabled to learn how to identify the right people for the right roles, which directly impacts the ability to achieve corporate sales objectives and leads to success.

By engaging in a Conscious Hiring process you hone in on the key elements it takes to produce consistent sales results in your sales organization and you learn to identify the core sales behaviors, values and competencies needed to achieve those results reliably over time.

The impact of mis-hires can result in unwanted unhappiness. It produces unhappy clients, it damages a reputable company’s reputation, and it will affect all salary and benefits outlays, and in Solyndra’s case- destroy the company from the inside out.

Great companies invest more time, and ever more time. Companies must spend the time isolating what great performance is in the role, define what the employee needs to do to achieve great performance, and proactively assess & define the right behaviors, values, motives, of the right person. Only then can a business flourish to the top.

Hiring decisions make or break your business; what you don’t know COSTS YOU.

 

By: Emily Eastman

Flourish Your Career! Recruiting Coordinator In San-Jose/ Chicago

You are an articulate, upbeat and professional minded Recruiting Coordinator with strong attention to detail, excellent written and verbal communication skills and comprehensive Microsoft office expertise. You thrive in a role where you are supporting a busy team in a customer-facing environment, where you act as the right arm and the person who ensures what is happening on the front end is properly executed on the back end. You have the ability to work remote and also enjoy coming into an office at least 50% of the time and working with a team.

We are KeenHire Talent Management; we provide the next generation of recruitment and retention solutions to growing organizations where hiring the RIGHT mission critical, key contributor and leadership talent for the right roles for the right price is imperative to their success.

Recruitment: Why Change is Good

Global employment is changing rapidly. Within the last 20 years, we've witnessed highs and lows that have redefined the way talent is acquired, assessed, and implemented into the various business environments of the modern world. This change has been a result of global events, government regulations, and a changing economic climate that has demanded efficiency. Not only is this change revolutionizing the recruitment and hiring process, but is benefiting both recruiters and growing companies alike.

Choosing To Win During A War For Talent

By: John Kurzatkowski.

I currently work with Margaret at KeenHire as a Sr. Recruitment Consultant, and wanted to share with you a bit more about how to win in the midst of a 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, KeenHire is all the more faced with the challenge of locating new talent for myself and my clients in a diminishing talent pool marketplace. 

KeenAds: An Account Executive In Silcon Valley

Account Executive/ New Business

Change the Game in Recruitment & Talent Management! 

You pride yourself your ability to build and maintain relationships and bring leading edge solutions to your customer base. You enjoy the selling and business development process and prefer for someone else to manage the details of fulfillment, service delivery and day-to-day administration. An ideal situation for you is one that provides residual income opportunity and gives you the freedom to go get new business while your account base and bank account grows.

You are an innovative, driven, successful professional with strong business–to-business sales experience and a deep Silicon Valley decision maker contact list. Your tenacity and drive rewards you with a strong income and a steady stream of new customers.  Your strategic selling ability makes you well poised to sell to the C suite and deliver high impact business solutions.

We are KeenHire Talent Management; we provide the next generation of recruitment and retention solutions to growing organizations where hiring the RIGHT mission critical, key contributor and leadership talent for the right roles for the right price is imperative to their success.

You are looking for a high impact sales role. You are keen on selling customer centric, high value, customizable solutions. You chose to utilize your natural talents and play to your strengths while generating a long-term residual revenue stream.

You are well aware that the game of business is forever changed. You are very clear that when you do not offer a differentiated value proposition, a deeper level of service, and a more effective solution that is strategically priced; then someone else will.

In the next 5 years 90% of companies report they need to improve and expand their recruitment and retention programs to compete for the best talent. Many companies state they are ill equipped to manage their expected growth, mitigate their risk in hiring, reduce unwanted turnover and compete for the best U.S. talent for key contributor, mission critical and leadership talent.

KeenHire Talent Management is Growing and needs the right person in Silicon Valley to open doors and close deals. We provide recruitment & talent management process in-sourcing (the people, systems & tools) for companies expanding or shifting their workforce; where making & keeping the right hire effects profitability, customer engagement and retention. Our customers currently do not have the internal capacity or desire to implement or manage effective spike hiring, selection, on-boarding & retention programs.

If you are called to respond to this opportunity, please check out our web site – www.keenhire.com, and the keenhire blog – blog.keenhire.com and let us know in your phone interview why you believe we are a good match for one another.

To Apply click here

 

Lets Talk Retention

According to Noah Webster, "Retention is the act or power of keeping or retaining. Corporately, retention is the power to keep employees actively engaged and committed to being an integral part of the organization."

Webster separates employee retention from standard retention. However, I have read about, seen and experienced a direct correlation of employee retention with stock price and EBITA. When a company does a great job of hiring the right people and then they do a great job of retaining them, they maximize their ability to secure and retain market-share. The businesses that have cracked the code on recruitment and talent management hold on to customers longer, are in a position to proactively solve their customers’ problems, and have the ability to be on the leading edge in offering new and innovative solutions to their customers because of a steady stream of new knowledge and solid relationships. The correlation between employee retention and profitability makes perfect sense.

Impacting your company’s ability to retain your key contributors, mission-critical players and next-level leaders begins with you understanding where people are at from a  of view.

It is important to note that today’s workplace psychological state is at an all-time low—peopleare too discouraged to go the extra mile; they are waiting for the other shoe to drop. The workforce of 2010 is mistrustful and skeptical. The top issues affecting workplace psychology and employee engagement are “warm chair attrition,” when the body shows up but the mind and heart have been left at home, and “corporate cocooning,” when the mature, highly experienced worker is hoarding information, afraid to share with or train others for fear of being replaced. Yet another is young working parents choosing their families first. Many in this group opt for working at home or only going to the office part-time. A great many people in this demographic are looking for “life/work navigation,” as they have seen firsthand how putting the job first and family second is crippling, un-fulfilling and littered with false rewards. One thing for sure is that in most situations and for most of your workforce: Corporate Loyalty Is Dead.

Competitive, astute employees are adopting a free-agent mentality and building their own relationships outside the company with vendors, customers and ex-employees so they are always ahead of the networking curve. Additionally these mission critical players, key contributors, and highly sought after next-level leaders are constantly improving their skill set so when the ax falls, they have opportunities lined up and waiting.

Recently HR Executive magazine conducted an engagement survey with hundreds of high-performing high potentials from all over the nation, and what they published was somewhat surprising, to say the least. Their study reported that 45% of all internal “candidates” within anorganization’s promotion pipeline are currently looking to leave the organization.

In another survey, conducted by Harris Poll and CareerBuilder, the results were just as compelling:

• 41% of employees are not satisfied with their jobs
• 46% say their workload has increased
• 33% feel they’re at a dead end at their current job
• 78% believe they are coping with “burnout”
• 56% are not glad they chose to work for their current employer
• 63% believe their top management does not display integrity and morality.

Any company that values the power of their human capital, believes that their people are their competitive advantage, is aware of the cost of replacing a great employee, and does not have a progressive talent strategy in place should be nervous. If you are not, take a look at this chart. It makes a great visual. Think about if your company lost their best salesperson to the competition. These days even your ironclad non-compete would most likely only slow them down. They might not call on your customers, but they can take their brain and everything they learned while in your operation and use it against you.

The problem is a big one and a strategic, systemic one at that. Not having enough knowledge-workers leads to longer development times, lower sales coming into the organization, fragmented customer service, a reduction in innovation and, eventually, lost customers. Hiring the wrong people because you are in a “rush” leads to more unwanted turnover, and that turnover comes at a high cost. Not knowing what makes your people tick leads to an incubation of the “free agent mentality.” The bottom line: the demographic and psycho-graphic challenges facing our companies cannot be avoided or ignored. Furthermore, the cost of doing nothing far outweighs the cost of being proactive and creating high-impact solutions that affect your bottom-line profitability and stakeholder equity.

Your company must decide if people are your competitive advantage, and if they are, you must strategically cause a corporate transformation, adopt a talent mindset and lead the way. Once you adopt and engage the rest of the leadership and management team in the talent mindset,you need to develop a people, or better said, talent strategy that lives and breathes throughout the organization.

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, KeenHire 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. KeenHire 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 chose from makes for a very competitive market place 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 an 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.