KeenHire Blog by Margaret Graziano

World-Class HR Director Role Now Available! Chippewa Falls WI

You are a dynamic HR professional with a can do attitude who enjoys implementing Best HR practices in a company hungry for improvement.  You are looking to support a company that utilizes all of your expertise and knowledge in HR & Talent Management in a manufacturing environment and gives you the authority & creativity to apply what you know to make a real difference in their ability to scale.

You are excited about an opportunity to be in the lead HR role where you directly impact the organization’s ability to scale.  You are a passionate trendsetter who prides yourself on your commitment to excellence and maximizing your company’s return on its employee investment.

About EDI:  We are EDI. We began as a machine shop with four people in a small town in the Midwestern United States in 1971. Today, we are a global force. As the leading manufacturer of flat extrusion dies, co-extrusion feedblocks, and slot die coating heads in the world, more than half of our product is delivered to customers outside the United States

EDI’s Director of HR has three main focal points - Personnel Management, HR Compliance and Talent Strategy.  One of your first initiatives will be refining and implementing HR policies and processes that improve effectiveness, efficiency and compliance; both domestically and internationally.  As the department manager you set the structure for offering a 1^st class HR service response to every level of employee; as well as high-level guidance and coaching to Managers and Executives.  Most importantly, you are responsible for setting the foundation for EDI to scale four times in the next five years.

EDI provides innovative solutions with state-of-the-art design techniques, sound engineering principles, and world-class manufacturing methods.  Through our growth, our focus to provide value, quality, and dependable service has held true.

Job Requirements 

Experience:  You have a Bachelors’ degree and ten years of HR Generalist/Talent Management experience and at least three years of HR Management experience in a manufacturing or plant setting. You have deep domain expertise in all elements of contributing to a high impact Talent Strategy; including and not limited to Workforce Planning, Comp & Benefits, Recruitment and Hiring Employee Development, Key Contributor Retention and Performance Management - for plant, office, and executive personnel.

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.

Market Manager -Chicago

Market Manager

You enjoy selling and business development, creating strategic solutions that meet your customers’ needs as well as becoming an integral part of your customers strategic advisory counsel.  An ideal opportunity for you is one that affords you an opportunity to sell a unique service offering, provides residual income, a sales process that knocks out the competition and gives you the freedom to uncap your income.

You are looking for a high impact business-to-business sales and market manager role. You are inspired about selling customer centric, high value, customizable HR and Talent Management solutions. You pride yourself on your ability to establish and build long-term business relationships, open up new accounts, cross sell multiple service lines and continually grow your customer base. You are looking for the right company to join forces with, one that rewards your tenacity and drive and that affords you the opportunity for growth, development, advancement and a potential equity stake. 

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.

The Best Time Of All Time, To Be In Staffing, Is Now!

You are a high achieving sales professional with 4+ years of business-to-business new account generation and continual territory sales growth specifically where you sold high value services or products to decision makers. You are well versed in navigating through the sales process and do so with efficiency and perseverance.  You have a steady successful track record for new account acquisition and sales growth.

We are Addison Search a high performing, customer intimate regional staffing firm with a solid track record for growth.  We offer staffing solutions in Information Technology, Healthcare, Administrative, Finance and Accounting.  We attribute Addison’s growth to our team’s strong work ethic, our corporate commitment to excellence, our high quality service delivery and our teamwork.

You are a persuasive communicator with excellent written and verbal sales skills, strong relationship building and relationship management expertise as well as a solid ability to glean key information about your prospects staffing needs, hiring cycles, and project completion deadlines. You have a superb ability to discern your prospects upcoming needs, posses strong questioning and probing skills and know when and how to close deals.

You are a solution selling professional with astute business to business sales acumen, refined prospecting, sales mining, qualifying and sales presentation skills. You have a track record for winning new business through navigating and building referral networks inside and out of your customer’s businesses.

Addison Search offers the right candidate a long-term progressive career path, independence and freedom, a full scope of Staffing Solutions for a wide variety of buyers as well as an opportunity to earn a lucrative income.  Requirements For Pros in the Staffing industry
4 years of business to business Staffing sales (or) 4 years year of high volume staffing and recruiting and a strong desire to be in Sales.

If your ready for a wise career sales choice, click here to apply now!

 

Acing the HR Interview

Join Margaret Graziano and the Northern California Human Resource Association this Friday at 10:00 a.m. for a fabulous, informative and inspiring presentation specifically geared towards Human Resources professionals on Acing the HR Interview. 

 Whether you are an HR Consultant, Recruiter, HR Strategist, Benefits Manager, Strategic Business Partner, VP of HR, CPO, in Talent Acquisition, Talent Management or an Executive Search consultant the game of Human Resources and everything tied to it has changed.

Smart companies are adding roles such as Chief People Officer and giving that role the complete responsibility for maximizing the company's returns on their people investments. These key roles are created to own the processes and results for recruitment, employee retention, employee engagement, training and development, performance management, succession planning and more. Other firms are adding roles such as Director Talent Acquisition, VP of Talent  Management and Employee Retention Specialist.

Given the only true differentiation any company really has is in the people they employ to create, deliver and manage their service, "People" Management has become a strategic issue.   

 

The current state of the economic rebound, globalization, competition, price wars and emerging industries are just some of the compelling issues facing companies; add in the mass amount of people looking to retire and the 15.3% fewer workers available for the next generation of leaders and do not forget the millennial generation who have a ton to offer yet no business or people savvy and you have a perfect talent management storm. This storm creates an abundance of opportunities for strategic and business minded Human Resource industry professionals. 

If you are up for the game, the next 10 years is the prime time for you to make your impact and leave your legacy. If you are exceptional at what you do, have a strong work ethic, think like a business person, have a healthy mix of concern for people and profitability and are willing to continue your education and stay ahead of the curve, there are no limits on what you can accomplish.

Margaret Graziano's Acing the Interview presentation enables you to evaluate your talents and strengths and target them towards business that needs what you offer.  It delves into what you need to know about yourself and things you ought to consider before putting yourself in front of opportunities. The presentation digs into what and how the employers think when they are interviewing you, it teaches you how to communicate to your buyer (the employer).

Additionally and most importantly, the presentation gives you the tools to knock the socks off of the companies you are interviewing with.  Join us this Friday from 10:00-11:30. Register now!

Do You Want to Profile Performance or Predict It?

A Commentary from Previsor on the Risks of Profiling in the use of Pre-Employment Psychometric Assessment Tools in building a Conscious Hiring Process. 

Overview
This commentary describes the profiling approach to using pre-employment psychometric assessments, compares it to the predictive approach to using assessments, and then contrasts these two very different approaches. It then describes the dramatically different results derived from an analysis in which the two methods were compared side-by-side in the selection process for a given organization. At KeenHire, we use both approaches in tandem to deliver the best hiring process to our customers. The Key is in the Role Analysis (referred to as job analysis in this article).

What is Profiling and How Does it Compare to the Predictive Model?
The profiling approach involves assessing a small group of employees that have been identified by the organization as high-performers, and using the resulting test scores to determine how to evaluate job candidates. Candidates whose assessment scores more closely resemble the scores obtained by the high-performers are judged to be better “fits” for the role, and are forecasted to be better hires. A predictive approach, by contrast, involves identifying job-relevant traits based on an in-depth job analysis, and selecting those candidates who earn higher scores on measures of those traits.

Seven Problems with the Profiling Approach to Assessment
Most assessment experts do not advocate using a profiling approach, even though it would be easy for them to implement, due to seven major problems with profiling. These are summarized below.

#1: The "Ceiling Effect" Problem
The scores obtained by the high-performing employees asked to complete the assessment define the ceiling—the maximum possible score that can be obtained on the assessment. This means that it is actually impossible to identify a candidate who is a better fit for the position than current high-performers. The high performers used to develop the model don’t just represent “desirable,” they represent “the best imaginable. ”The profiling model has no answer for the question, “If a candidate came along who was an even better fit for the position than your current high performers, how would you know?”

#2: The Not Enough Data Problem
The profiling approach relies on a large number of conclusions and decisions made on the basis of a very small amount of data. Profiling assumes that the test scores obtained from a handful of employees produces information that will be consistent with and generalizable to job candidates. But the unfortunate reality is that small data samples are very rarely conclusive. Models built on the basis of test scores from five people, or even fifteen people, are very unlikely to be accurate. They may not even be close, and can even lead to false conclusions. At KeenHire, we measure the actual on the job performance of every participant in the job benchmark study. If the on the job results are not exceptional, we encourage our customers to exclude that participant from the study.

#3: The (Non)Essential Trait Problem
Profiling is more likely to incorrectly identify unimportant traits as job-relevant, or overlook traits that are essential to job success. This is because the profiling approach is based on a few individuals and their traits, not on how relevant those traits are to the job demands or requirements. Maybe the handful of assessed employees just happen to share traits that are not actually job relevant. Maybe they differ on traits that are job relevant because one or two of them have learned to compensate for a limitation in one area with particular strengths in others. Maybe the traits common to the top-performers who were tested are the same traits possessed by weaker performers—but since weaker performers were not assessed as part of the approach, there is no way to know. Any of these possibilities would result in a profiling model that has no value in identifying future high performers.

#4: The “Over-Cloning” Problem
Profiling emphasizes similarities without any regard to whether or not they are important similarities. For example, if the profile is created based on a ten-scale personality instrument, but only four of those scales are actually relevant for success in the position, the organization is needlessly forcing consistency and uniformity in six areas. Good, high-potential candidates may be passed over because they are not sufficiently similar to current employees in areas that have no bearing on their likelihood of success. At KeenHire, our process begins with an Organizational Development approach. We work diligently to build a balanced organization by first digging deep into who the organization is, we seek to understand the current corporate culture, the desired culture, the strategic objectives and goals as well as the barriers to achievement.  We then assess and evaluate the Executive team,the mission critical and key contributors. We look for what is working, what is not and what is missing, the presence of which would make a difference. Only after we have a full picture of the current state and the desired future state do we make recommendations.  No one with any level of discernment or sanity really wants the "Stepford" culture. Most companies simply do not understand how to build a high performance culture. That is where we come in and make the difference.

KeenHire Management Recruitment Consulting And More

KeenHire™ Talent Management partners with top executives, international business leaders and strategic HR management of customer facing enterprises committed to making their mark socially, environmentally & fiscally.

Our expert Human Resources Management consulting specialists develop the foundation for organizationally effective, stakeholder aligned, high performance operations. Once the systemic work is done we create Recruitment and Employee Retention programs that leverage your company’s ability to compete for Mission Critical, `Go To`, Key Contributors and next level Leadership resources.  

We provide strategic minded Organizational Development, Workforce Planning & Design, Talent Acquisition, Employee Retention and Human Resource Management consulting professionals to companies committed to building with the best.

We train Leading Practices in O.D., Strategic HR Management Consulting, Workforce Planning, Recruitment, Hiring, On-Boarding, Performance Management, Employee Retention and Employee Development. We maximize your organizational effectiveness.

We save you money and time by implementing world-class consulting in HR Management, Recruitment, Employee Retention and Talent Management process technology & systems within your organizations.

We support your Recruitment, Human Resources Management and Employee Retention efforts while you grow with our RPI, TMPI and A la Carte service offerings.    

KeenHire™ Talent Management

We deliver world-class HR management consulting, Technical Recruitment solutions, Employee Retention strategies and highly skilled people for Start Up, Socially Responsible and High growth companies where the vitality and success of the company depends on the people inside.   Our ideal customers are in need of strategies for implementing best practices in Engineering Recruitment, Technical Recruiting, Management Recruitment Consulting, Corporate Recruitment in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C.

Hiring 1099 Contract Recruiters IS Dangerous Business!

I hear a lot of buzz from frustrated 1099 independent contractors about how they are sick and tired of being told how to do their job, what tools to use as well as when and how to report results; they believe because they are not earning benefits, are not an 'employee' of the company that no one has the right to "tell them what to do".  I find this interesting because at the same time I am hearing the complaints from the field, I am eliciting similar yet different feedback and concerns on the side of the companies using independent contract recruiters in the bay area.

Many companies have told me they need to use the services of three to five, or more 1099 contract recruiters to find one that produces high quality candidates in the desired time frame.

These companies tell me they install measures and accountability structures because without a system in place they feel like they are throwing their recruitment budget down the drain.

The way my colleague Diana Maier, Labor Attorney sees it both parties have a right to their opinions however companies MUST take note of their 1099 practices and if they are unwilling to give up control they need to seek an alternative solution; for example KeenHire's Recruitment Process In Souring model where every consultant is our employee, and we are accountable for managing the results. The customer still saves on insurance and other "employee" related costs, however they do not have to worry about the impact of an IRS violation.  For detailed information on 1099 versus Employee - read on!

One of the biggest challenges facing employers today is something that most people know nothing about.  Specifically, is the person who provides you a service at work or in the home a contractor or an employee?  That is, do you need to take responsibility for the person, file taxes, get worker’s compensation insurance, withhold earnings, etc, for her, or do you simply pay her what she charges and move on? So often people do the latter when they should be doing the former. The government, of course, knows this and profits heartily from it. As an employment attorney I see so many small or budding businesses ruined over this mistake.

So what can you do about it?  A few things.  First, educate yourself on the differences. If someone has a specialized skill over which you exert very little control (for most people a good example would be a carpenter, a computer guru, an accountant, etc.) they are likely a contractor.  Consider whether this individual works in a specialized field that is not your area of expertise.  If he does, it becomes difficult to exercise control over how he does his job.  Since most state and federal agencies hold that the payer’s ability to control the work done for him is the single biggest factor in determining whether someone is a contractor or an employee, answering the above question allows you to discern a contractor from an employee.

Another factor to consider is whether the person’s expertise is something that operates as a support to your home or office, or entirely independent of your home or office.  For example, the person who comes to paint your law office is performing a duty totally unrelated to your area of expertise, supporting contractor status.  While you might be able to pick up a paintbrush and help (i.e. the work is arguably not as skilled as a computer guru), you most likely could not effectively micromanage the painting project.  Contrast this with the person who comes in to offer secretarial support in your law office.  The secretary’s work is an integral part of your operations and also something over which you can exert a large amount of control.  The average lawyer, for example, often proofs the work of her secretary and might make all kinds of changes to it.  These kinds of actions show an employer-employee relationship.

How you pay someone, whether by the job or by the hour, is another crucial difference between contractors and employees.  Using the above example, you are paying a secretary for his time (supporting employee status), while you are paying a painter for his completed work (supporting contactor status).  In addition, the longer the relationship between payer and payee, the more likely courts or administrative agencies are to find employee status.

Finally, consider whether your service provider has many clients or just a few.  If the person works just for you, she is more likely to be your employee.  If she has many clients and holds herself out as a business, she is likely a contractor.  If, for example, your housekeeper comes to your house 4 days a week, you pay her hourly, and she has very few clients, she is likely an employee.  If she holds herself out as a business, advertises, solicits new clients, and works for many people, she is likely a contractor.

What else can you to avoid being penalized for misclassifying a service provider?

-Draw up a document that supports contractor status if that’s the way you choose to go.

-Keep a vendor file indicating contractor status (include ads place by the contractor, proof of her insurance, and other indicia of the individual holding herself out as a business)

-Consider asking for an advisory opinion from the Labor Commissioner or another administrative agency.  Be aware, however, that the government errs on the side of finding employer-employee status 9/10 times

-Play it safe and treat everyone who provides you a service as an employee.  While you’ll pay more at the outset, you can calculate and pay a fixed and knowable cost rather than subject yourself to untold but always heavy-duty penalties.