KeenHire Blog by Margaret Graziano

Maximize Your Effectiveness with the Success Factor

The Premise
You are the sum of the results produce in life. While some like to point to luck being at play when great success is reached. I say luck is what happens when hard work and preparation meet opportunity and inspired action.

This high-energy, collaborative program highlights the drivers and levers that bring long-term personal and business success.

If YOU are really the source of your own success it is powerful to take a look at how that success happens.

The thoughts you have, the beliefs you hold, the actions your take, the people you surround yourself with, what you spend your money on and how you spend your free time is all about your choices; and your choices determine your outcomes. 

Explore and create a vision for yourself and your future that it inspires you to take the actions that lead to success.  Click here to Register NOW

The Program

•    You to the 5th power

•    Engaging Risk

•    Making the Right Choices

•    Being Unstoppable

•    Commitment – Living inside a context for winning

The Takeaways

1. Goal setting tools that turn ideas into action

2. Actionable activities that sharpen your saw

3. Heightened awareness of what stops you and how to cut that off at the pass 

4. Self Management strategies that eliminate time bandits and unworthy distraction

5. Resources to maximize your strengths

The Expert  

At 21, single mother Margaret Graziano had a tough choice to make: to fight for child support or try supporting her family with a straight commission sales job. She chose the latter and never looked back. Graziano began her personnel career as an employment consultant earning a six dollar an hour draw and within 10 years, had opened her own staffing agency. In testament to her business savvy she has established a client base stemming from 80% repeat business, earned more than $5,000,000 in personal “desk production” income, and placed more than 2,000 candidates in direct hire positions with a 98% placement satisfaction rating.

 

Want to Bring a KeenHire Consultant In-house for Training? Call Today! 1-888-533-6447

 

Registration

Virtual Courses consist of 6 weekly 1 hour sessions and begin on Monday evening June 14, August 9, October 4 at 6:00 pst and costs $299.00 per person. Save 30% overall when you register 3 or more participants. Click NOW to Register.

Conscious Hiring-Maximize Your Hiring Effectiveness!

An Effective & Operationally Efficient Talent Delivery Model for Astute Employers

 

The Premise

Fundamental to building an organization with the best resources is implementing a hiring process that attracts the right people, screens and assesses that those people have the right stuff to do the job in the right way and engages the right people to come on board ready to hit the ground running! KeenHire Conscious Hiring training enables you to learn interviewing strategies and helps your company succeed.

 

Companies with a very specific purpose and mission require a strategic Talent Acquisition plan and a carefully defined new employee selection process to get them where they are going. Business leaders of these organizations know that the success of their organization depends on the quality of the people inside. A Conscious Hiring process takes into account the purpose and result base for each employment position in the company, then it looks to your business philosophies, company mission, vision and core values. Only after the core business objectives are considered is an astute employee screening, selection process and interview strategy implemented.  KeenHire Talent Management’s Conscious-Hiring process trains and enables you to identify the right people for the right roles while causing early engagement of the right people throughout the hiring process.

A fundamental aspect of a Conscious-Hiring process is systematically integrating and on boarding each new hire into your organization.

One of your only competitive advantages is the how your mission critical, key contributor and next level leaders solve your company's business issues, execute your companies mission, run the operations and interact with your customers.  In a nutshell the success of your company hinges on its ability to recruit, interview, hire and retain its employee talent base wisely.

Make no mistake about it, your hiring decisions make or break your business. What you don’t know will cost you: training time, management time and workforce productivity losses, company morale and employee productivity, new sales and customers. The bottom line is if you want a healthy EBITA you must run an organization with the right profit minded, effective and 'can do' people. KeenHire Conscious Hiring training enables you to learn interviewing strategies and helps your company succeed.

A holistic Conscious Hiring process empowers you to hire right the first time, every time.

The Program
•Change the way you think about your employees' impact on your business

•Raise the level of influence and span of control your Recruitment and Employee Selection process  

  has on your company's overall organizational effectiveness

•Learn how to avoid common interviewing traps & mitigate hiring risk

•Hone in on the key elements of building a systematic results based Conscious-Hiring process

•Hire right the first time and increase your employee ROI

 

 The Takeaways

1. Walk away with a blueprint for creating a highly effective Conscious-Hiring process
2. Learn to conduct Role Analysis, the organizational development approach to scoping the role
3. Study a step-by-step process for Choosing Your Talent Wisely and hiring with your head
4. Understand how to use, select and administer psychometric assessment tools
5. Review Behavioral Interviewing techniques; the when, why and hows

The Expert

Dr. Stephanie Marberry, Interviewing Strategies Consultant, received her Ph.D. in Industrial Organizational and Social Psychology from Northern Illinois University.  As an originating partner at KeenHire Talent Management, Stephanie has consulted with small to mid-sized companies in High Touch and High Tech markets to improve their hiring efficiency and effectiveness through the implementation of customized selection systems. Dr. Marberry has a passion for educating others on current HR best practices by utilizing the appropriate scientific tools and methods to identify, select, develop, and retain top talent. Her facilitative training style encourages discussion and application, allowing her participants to gain a clear understanding on how to implement the techniques into their own business processes.

 

Want to Bring a KeenHire Interview Strategies Consultant In-house? Call Today! 1-888-533-6447

 

Registration

Virtual Courses consist of 4 weekly 2 hour sessions on Fridays at 12:00 p.m. pacific and begin on June 18, August 9, September 17 and costs $399.00 per person. Save 30% overall when you register 3 or more participants. Click here to register for Conscious Hiring.

 

Can't make time for training, visit the KeenHire on line store and purchase tools, workbooks, scripts, manuals, assessments, CD's, DVD's, books and more.

What Really Grinds My Gears? Recruitment Versus Selection

 

Composed by: Stephanie Marberry, PhD 

You know what really grinds my gears?…Lindsay Lohan….just kidding!The focus of this discussion is on the difference in the distinction between recruitment and selection. Some of you may say there is no difference, some of you may say that they are completely different processes, and the rest of you may say who the heck cares!

 

The truth is that some terminology resonates better with business professionals than others. Certain words, like recruiter, carry a particular stigma because there is a certain perception that the recruitment industry does not add value. In my world this is not always the case, some of my best clients are recruiters and my partner for the past 2.5 years owned her own staffing firm and was a recruiter! Where the distinction exists is when recruiters incorporate selection into the hiring process. However, I have witnessed that no one really understands what the term selection means and why it is different from the recruiting process.

There is a distinct difference between the way companies define recruitment. What I have heard from senior executives, and hiring managers is that recruitment by a 3rd party is a process where people or resumes are thrown at them without any regard to quality or fit. This is not always the case but somehow this is the perception that exists. I have even heard the term head hunters, which creates even more of a negative connotation implying that anyone is fair game!!!! When we talk about 3^rd party recruiters I do think one bad apple has spoiled the bunch. The 3^rd party recruiters that I have been working with are actively looking to incorporate selection into their process in order to become a true partner with their clients.

So what’s the real difference between recruitment and selection besides the fact that one word carries bad rap? When I teach on the topic of Industrial-Organizational Psychology there is not much emphasis placed on the science or strategy behind recruitment. In fact there are only a few pages dedicated to a discussion on recruitment in most textbooks. Recruitment is defined as a process to increase the pool of job applicants that meet the organization’s legal and social obligations thereby also increasing the success rate of the selection process. In the classroom I discuss various ways to source candidates and the effect that specific messages or people might have on the candidate’s first impression of the company. So the strategy surrounds different ways to find and attract the most candidates for the job and company.

What is emphasized in the world of Industrial Psychology is the idea of personnel or human resource selection. Human Resource selection involves a scientific process that begins with the development of a selection program which includes a full job analysis where the tasks, resources, work environment, and performance measures that characterize the job are defined.  The creation of a selection program also involves the identification of worker characteristics required (i.e., knowledge, skills, and abilities), the development of various assessment devices (e.g., tests, interviews, personality and behavioral measures), and the validation of these devices (e.g., does the measure predict performance on the job). In the end the selection process should allow a company to systematically collect and combine information from valid selection instruments to make hiring decisions that result in top performers to drive the company’s efficiency and effectiveness. Companies can even take this one step further by evaluating and monitoring their selection process through a utility analysis or with other ROI forms of measurement (i.e., turnover, profitability, satisfaction, engagement).

As a consultant for KeenHire I find myself involved in both recruitment and selection and I see that they are highly inter-related (you can’t have one without the other!). So why does this gap have to exist where recruitment is offered separately from selection? These are distinct terms but they should not be offered independently. Further, selection is the necessary piece in making the right hire and if is not conducted appropriately it can lead to negative outcomes. Both corporations and recruiters who are not incorporating a selection system into their hiring process need to look at what it is costing them. For corporations it might be wasted time, money and resources hiring and developing an employee who is not the right fit and does not make any impact on the job. For recruiters it might be lost business due to less expensive alternatives that deliver the same results because they do not offer anything different than the competition.

So is it truly a lack of awareness about the distinction between recruitment and selection or is there some other reason why selection is under-utilized? I am still struggling to find the appropriate answer to this question but in any event, it grinds my gears!!!

The Upside of the Downturn: 10 Management Strategies to Prevail

In the News from Staffing Industry Executive Forum Last week I spent 3 days in Las Vegas, at the Red Rock Resort and Casino. Although Vegas is the place for it, I was not there to drink, gamble or party. I was there to get connected on what is happening in the staffing industry, what’s new and what is critical for me to learn to keep KeenHire Talent Management in a growth mode.

The most poignant speaker was Geoff Colvin of Fortune Magazine. This is a man who travels the world, writes and speaks to several industries what he had to say was absolute validation for me, of why KeenHire was created.

First and foremost, he began with in tumultuous times – when everything is up in the air – is the time to change where we are in the competitive order. It is a tremendous and fleeting Opportunity and it is up to ‘you’ to take advantage of it. He told a story of Lance Armstrong in his first Tour de France.

I was unaware that when Lance began the race he was nowhere in line to win. He was a no one, he was not seeded and for the 1st few days he was behind the best riders. It was not until the race went into the mountains, the most treacherous roadway that Lance took a strong hold. He was prepared, ready and able to outperform.

The leaders became laggards and the laggards became leaders. He sent a very strong message for today’s times. He has a new book, The Upside of the Downturn: Ten Management Strategies to Prevail in the Recession and Aftermath. The message was something like this.

As the economy recovers, the business world we’re entering wont be anything like the pre recession world. Consumers are saving more and saving less. Government is taking a larger role in the life of everyday business. The global economy is becoming less U.S. centric.

These dramatic changes aren’t necessarily dangers- they’re opportunities for companies and leaders that respond the fastest and smartest. All those changes and more are profoundly affecting staffing at every company. Author and Fortune Magazine columnist, Geoff Colvin, who sees the world’s best organizations and leaders up close, describes how they are responding to the new normal and what I means for their most valuable asset, the people who work for their companies.

Below are the top 5 most critical aspects of managing through an effective recover and beyond.

1. UPGRADE your Human Capital. The only competitive advantage a company has is the people who work inside it and represent it. The best companies are using this time to tell the truth to themselves about whom they have on their payroll and who they need to have. They are evaluating and assessing their talent pool and continuing to evaluate their performance quarterly. They are using this time to hire better people, to steal resources (people) from the competition. He said something really cool next. “You don’t see who is swimming naked until the tide is out. When the tide is out you can clearly see A, B and C players.

2. Setting new priorities to face a new reality. The best companies face new realities faster than anyone else. This is the advent of a fundamentally global labor market. Face it, do something about it. China, India, Brazil, Russia (the BRIC) is graduating billions of students to do jobs that our U.S. kids have grown accustomed to attaining. If the work can be done on the phone, and the Internet, the work does not need to be done in the U.S. or by our new graduates. The U.S. is the MOST expensive option. We must ask ourselves the questions and have the answers to “Can this be done elsewhere for a lot less money?”

3. The Government is playing a larger role in our lives, we must accept it and see how we can turn that role into business opportunities.

4. Re Examine Your Business Model. This is the time to be crystal clear on what your Defensible Sustainable Competitive Advantage is, if you do not know or do not have one, you wont survive. This is the time to ask, “What is the best business model? Is it the best model for us?” “What is our Essence, what will we never cut?” “Has our industry been changed in a fundamental way, or have we just been thrown off track?”

5. Grow Yourself. The best business leaders are using this time to grow themselves. Research shows that the only way anyone gets really good is to get pushed. The best leaders stand up and are seen. They stake their claim; they demonstrate fearlessness in the face of uncertainty.

As I watched the several hundred business leaders respond to his presentation, I knew in my heart that KeenHire Talent Management was not built in vain. We built KeenHire to bring best recruitment and talent management practices to our customers, to create efficiencies in the recruitment process, to give customers a choice to do it themselves or to have our help; how they wanted it, when they wanted it, on their terms.

If you have not yet read, Good to Great, The World is Flat and Top Grading, put these books on your Kindle and get down to it. How you respond to these tumultuous times means everything to your business and everything to your future success.

Workforce Performance Management - A Must For Progressive Companies!

Workforce Performance Management, how does a company maximize their return on their people investments?  If you read my blog you know my first rule of thumb is to hire people who can naturally produce the results you expect with minimal coaching. Trying to fix a performance problem with a person who is not engaged, under-qualified, or whom lacks the inspiration and motivation to do the work is an utter waste of time and gives managers an ulcer just thinking about it. If you want a high performing team, I recommend follow these guidelines.

1. Define Your Role by Expected Outcomes

2. Hire people who are RIGHT for the job, the company and who want to produce the results

3. Clarify Expectations early and often -during the recruitment process, in the on-boarding process and quarterly. Integrate individual performance with company performance so people can see and feel how what they do or do not do impacts the organization.

4. Have the Employee Measure, Track and Report results to the Manager (take the monkey off the Managers back- Ken Blanchard, One Minute Manger)

5. Create Awareness and Consciousness in the employee's mind

6. Communicate and Give Feedback-Recognize Positive Behaviors, Steps, Milestones, Effort and Execution towards Outcomes

7. Correct the Opposite and Remember to Separate the 'Person's Identity' from their Performance

Often, Workforce Performance Management conversations are dreaded by Managers, after interviewing and coaching several hundred people who hold the responsibility of managing others I have discovered that the issue is lack of training in this area. Utilizing a comprehensive software that tracks performance, teaches the Mangers to have empowering conversations and coaches the employee on how to accept responsibility for their performance without making it mean they are broken or wrong makes a world of difference.

Dr. Stephanie Marberry teaches Industrial organizational psychology at Argosy University and Workforce Performance Management is a major component of her curriculum. In 2009 Stephanie conducted an all industry software evaluation of performance management providers, the results were incredible, educational and inspiring. The good news is there are several programs to choose from, the bad news is it takes TIME, KNOWLEDGE and RESOURCES.

If you would like to ask Stephanie questions about her research LinkIn to her, email her or give her a call @ 312-618-3252.

Recruitment Process Management

Every company is charged with the assignment of doing more with less. The movement to create efficiencies in every component of running a business has lead to a huge movement of outsourcing everything from office administration, technology, recruitment and manufacturing to accounting, supply chain, staffing and in some cases customer service.  Many of the largest companies in America have been among the first to explore Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) for some it is the best thing that they have ever tried, for others the results have been disastrous.

In the area of business that I specialize in I have been researching the RPO movement. Recruitment Process Outsourcing, is about removing the recruitment and staffing function from inside the company and having an outside vendor manage, execute and deliver people on an as needed basis. The choice to RPO has for the most part been about price, economies of scale and efficiency.  The most popular roles that I have read about RPO filling is call center, front line banking, customer service, retail, and medical.

Some user reports say this is the most efficient way for a National or Global organization to staff, others say their quality of hires has declined, unwanted turnover has increased and candidates are left with an ill feeling about the companies employment brand. 

What I have learned for sure is that RPO is not for every company; a company has to have certain staffing objectives that make an RPO offering appealing.

Just because RPO might not be the right answer for your company does not mean that there is not work to do to create an efficient, effective and highly successful recruitment function within your organization.  After all, your company is only as good as the people inside and an ineffective, inefficient recruitment process is a barrier between you and your next level of talent.

Over 10 years ago, when I owned Alliance HR Network, one of my mentors asked me for our operational quality ratio of interviews to hires. I did not have the number. He then asked me how many candidates we had to talk to, to generate a live interview, I did not have that number either. I began to see that my lack of managing those important numbers was in the way of me running an efficient recruiting operation and that was costing me money.

Efficiency

The journey was a painful one, back then we were interviewing 10 people to place 1 and we had to talk to 100 to interview 10. That meant that 90% of our time did not result in generating revenue. I began to understand more and more about lean manufacturing, operational excellence and performance ratios.  I chose to enroll in a certification program in organizational development and in that 12 month program I learned a great deal about why companies lay so many people off in recessionary times. 

I decided to go to work on my own company looking for ways to bring operational excellence, improve productivity, lower costs and continue to deliver a high quality of service.  What I learned and implemented was the impetus for the making of KeenHire. 

My team and I went to work on our business processes, we analyzed performance ratios in each of our core functions and worked on eliminating tasks that were irrelevant to effectiveness. We incorporated time saving technology that allowed team members to focus on high impact functions. We created a system for candidate intake that dropped our ratio from 10:1 to 3:1.  

Effectiveness

Considering quality was what my company was known for I knew I had to find a way to stand behind that claim beyond in words. This is what lead me to implementing behavioral interviewing and 'fit' assessments into our hiring and selection process. This not only aided us in the validation of the candidates we submitted, it save us thousands of man hours. It became much easier to select the best and eliminate the rest and was instrumental in my ability to quickly ramp up new hires. Our recruiters were making placements within 2 weeks on a desk, because I was hiring the right people and giving them a great process to follow. 

Our customers were delighted with the amount of data we had on each candidate we were representing. The real benefit was when our customers requested we manage the complete staffing of entire department, leadership and launch teams. The implementation of this conscious-hiring process not only saved us money and time, it was directly responsible for an uptick in work, sales and profitability.

Whether your company chooses to run recruitment from the inside or the outside it is up to you to manage performance in 3 key areas.  In no particular order, ensuring high quality hires, managing efficient recruitment processes and delivering a high quality of service to all of the stakeholders is critical to maximizing your return on your people investment and imperative to being an Employer of Choice.

2010 Goal Setting and Accountability

It is January 26th, Have you Set your 2010 Goals and Action Plans yet?

Here is a quick overview of the process that Keen Coaching utilizes with our Emerging and Executive Leaders. 

1. List 2009 Successes - Celebrate, pat yourself on the back, kiss the mirror, get a hug, give a hug

2. List 2009 Resentments, In-completions and Disappointments - then say what you need to say, burn them, laugh at them, but get over it.

3. List your 100 Life Goals 

4. Look 5 years old and imagine your life as the masterpiece you want. What are you doing? Where are you living? What is your bank balance? How does it feel? Create Affirmations for each area of life that is important to you, be very descriptive of how life looks, feels and is in the future that you create. 

5. Create a 1-2 page 2010 Plan - Business & Personal Goals in the areas of life that are important to you. For me it is Fitness,Family, Fun, Financial, Love Life, Work - not in that order. Chose what your overarching area of concentration for 2010 is going to be. Chose the Values that you will use to monitor your behavior. Set dates to each goal. Make them measurable.  Add some ZIP and ZAP to the goals. Loose 10 lbs gets old and boring, like washing the toilets. Looking fabulous and sexy in the speedo is a bit more enticing. 

6. Create a monthly habits chart - things you will do that bring out the best in your. Drink lots of water, do Yoga, meditate, Say thank you, etc. Download MonthlyHabitschart

7. Create a monthly score sheet for your goals so you can track your progress.

8. Create a Weekly Activity Tracking Sheet Download WeeklyGoalTracking2010

9.Use a daily 6 Most Inspired Actions worksheet to keep yourself attached to the weekly, monthly and annual goal.

10. Create a HOT, Fun, Inspiring Vision Board  -See  Above..... :)

11. Engage  buddy you can count on to schedule weekly accountability calls with you, have a consequence for blowing the call.

2010 - Your Time To Ascend !

Recruiting: Filling The Talent Pipeline

Filling the Recruiting Pipeline  

Sourcing and Selection are two very different worlds. One puts as many applicants in the pool as possible and the other sorts and selects the best fit for the fulfillment of the positions’ key objectives.  Given there is a War for Talent many companies fear that they can not afford to be highly selective in their recruitment efforts. The reality is while there is a war, there is also a recession which means certain industries are dying and with that is the emergence of talent from hidden sectors. 

If you strategize effectively you will easily attract solid ‘core’ talent from industries that are highly compatible to yours. Yes, you may have to train the candidate to your company, products and services. However if you conduct the hiring process with thoroughness and integrity you hire ONLY the best suitable talent - rather hiring the best suitable experience (which we all know backfires when it’s the wrong ‘fit’). Either way you have to train a newcomer to your firm, so it is your choice whether you want to train and fix bad behaviors or invest in up front industry, product and service training.  

To attract, hire and retain the “right” talent Keep in mind there are now a multitude of cost effective options and alternatives.  If you are choosing to pay a fee, or hire a contract recruiter ensure your recruiter is highly skilled in both search and selection, or consider outsourcing pieces of the processes to firms or people who are highly skilled in a specific area, or make certain that your internal resources have all the tools & training  they need to improve their hiring batting average.

Options for Generating Candidates at the top of the funnel:

A. Hire a Contract Recruiter, a full scale Search Firm or a local Employment Agency

Interviewing & Hiring A Recruitment firm or Professional Recruitment Contractor:
Questions you may want to ask.
1) How many placements have you made in our field/niche/industry/position level?
2) What is your passive candidate strategy? Please outline it.
3) What system are you utilizing to evaluate your candidates strengths, behaviors,and competencies as they compare to our immediate and long term needs for the role?
4) What is your due diligence process? Who pays for that?
5) What is the average tenure of your placements?
6) Will you consider a fee arrangement with a percentage weighted on retention
7) How many customers have you retained for 5+ years?

B. Sourcing Candidates through the Boards & Internet

1) If you using the boards to source candidates – hiring a 3rd party sourcing company might be a prudent option; these companies have armies of people who scour the job boards while we in America are sleeping. The average cost of this service is $1500.00 per search to $2500.00 per month.  Different companies charge based on the deliverable. This emerging industry is rapidly taking their stake in the talent acquisition sector.
           
2) Resume Search Aggregation and Filtering – these are software as a service subscriptions that take your job specifications and pull appropriate resumes from a multitude of job boards. This type of software can save your internal Sourcers or Recruiters hundreds of hours.

3) Posting technology - There is job board and social media posting technology that takes your single job posting and delivers it to hundreds of specialty sites in seconds. Pretty cool!

C. Passive Candidate Acquisition: Social Networking 

1) If you chose this route make sure you are hiring/contracting with a person who has no fear of rejection, is willing and able to make an abundant of outbound calls on a regular basis and who has strong talent in navigating around the internet.

2) Linked in and Face Book are by far two of the most effective ways to find passive talent. 

D. New Fashioned Head hunting

How is your recruiter planning on building the list of who to call? Do they have the resources for list building; will they outsource this function; if so how much will that cost?  There are excellent technology solutions that your recruiters need be using to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness. 

E. Create an EVP and promote the hell out of it

Find out why people work for your company, find out why they stay. Create an Employee Value proposition and promote it on social media, industry sites, internally, to customers, to local colleges and vocational schools, etc. 

F. Pay Referral Bonuses

G. Build Your Internal Recruitment Team to Maximize Your People ROI

Consider implementing B-F with a carefully selected and trained internal recruitment team. The internal team must be evaluated based on hiring metrics, retention, efficiency and value they provide.

The bottom line is make sure you are investing in the right solution for your unique situation.

Stop Jamming A Square Peg Into A Round Hole

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, values, behaviors, beliefs and personality so they would perform better in their role, or for the betterment of the company?  

As leaders of people, we often have to deal with ourselves to overcome the syndrome of

“I can fix and change people".  As a peak performer in recruitment, for years I found myself placing the best and hiring the rest. As a small business owner, I was hiring 'C' candidates, because they were more affordable and selling myself on the myth that they would be better if someone just helped them and then I expended enormous amounts of my personal effort trying to overcome their ineffectiveness.  My shortsightedness had me saving money on the front end and spending 3 times the savings on the back end. Until I went  through a basic training from Vistage (formerly known as TEC),   I was not present to the profit erosion that these non strategic hiring practices were causing.

Once having my eyes opened, I embarked on a hiring process development journey. I was committed to fixing my problem and I took courses on organizational assessment, behavioral interviewing, top grading, organizational development, personal transformation and executive coaching.  Over the course of a decade I invested $100,000 in mastering 'putting the right people on the bus'.  After much resistance and many breakthroughs, I finally learned the lesson handed down to me from my first mentor.  "People are whole and complete and have everything they need to be successful, as long as you put the right people in the right role." It is your job to Choose Wisely"

There have been many books, articles, lectures and even case studies written on this subject. Companies like General Electric, PepsiCo, Spielberg Productions, DreamWorks, Google, Microsoft, The Limited and more have all publicly stated that a KEY factor to their enormous success was the people they chose to employ in key contributor, mission critical and leadership roles.

The new game in the business of Recruitment Process In-Sourcing

7 Easy Steps To Becoming An Employer Of Choice

Step 1 – Establish Your Employee Value Proposition

 

Tie your employment brand with your business strategy. Understand why people want to work for your organization and develop a program that attracts more ideal candidates through your doors.

 

Recommended Reading: Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity, by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez.  

 

 

Step 2 – Establish a 'Cracker Jack' Candidate Sourcing Strategy

 

Do the work to find out where your ideal candidates are right now. Where do they hang out? What do they read? What do they do for fun?

 

Include Social Media tools, this means be a proactive social media presence. Have a credible, passionate, authentic person from your company talk to your ideal audience all the time, whether you are hiring or not. Provide value.  Keep ideal candidates coming back for more, get them on your web site, create reasons for website and social media stickiness.

 

Be a talent scout. Enroll your team into scouting for additional contributors and mission critical players. Reward your people for quality recommendations.

 

Hire the right recruitment talent.  Select your partners as wisely as you select your teammates. There are a ton of ‘recruitment’ alternatives in the marketplace. Choose a partner who is committed to your end game and will do a great job surfacing, selecting and assisting you in on-boarding top tier people for your organization.

 

Step 3- Conduct a Role Analysis – Let the job talk.

Define performance criteria before you start searching. Sit down and work through the KPI’s, Core functions and specific Selection Criteria with the key stakeholders impacted by the success or failure of the hire. Predetermine the “who” in who you need to hire. What values do they honor? What is their work ethic? For that matter, what are their ethics? What are the non-negotiable competencies, behaviors and emotional intelligence levels required in the role?

 

Recommended reading: The Truth About Managing People and Nothing but the Truth. Stephen Robbins.

 

Step 4- Establish a hiring process that holds your hiring team accountable for selecting the best and eliminating the rest.

 

Create a process and choose to stick to it. All to often a great process is defined and then a decision maker meets someone who strikes their fancy yet clearly does not meet the selection metrics required. The decision maker calls the shots, ignores the very process they implemented and pulls the trigger only to discover that a slick talker with a good story has bamboozled them into paying way to much money for way too little in return.

 

Step 5 – Begin amplifying the employment brand during the hiring process.