KeenHire Blog by Margaret Graziano

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.

An Employment Rant From An Outsider's Point Of View

Getting hired hasn't been a problem for me, nor do I foresee it becoming one in the future. Saying that may surprise many people, especially given the current state of employment in this country, but I'm not done... I'm 20. Now I know what you're thinking, "Damn kids, look what's being put into their heads. They've got no sense of reality," but the only thing I have to say is that times are changing.

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. 

If the Job Could Talk...

By Bill J. Bonnstetter

 

JOB TALK

If a job could talk, it would explain precisely what was necessary to achieve superior performance. We could ask it to tell us about the:

• Knowledge a person needs,
• Personal attributes required to drive success,
• Rewards for superior performance,
• Hard skills vital for the job,
• Behaviors necessary to perform at peak levels, and
• Intrinsic motivators.

But we all know that jobs can't talk. If they did, we would certainly hear the real story.

Talent Management Analyst

You are an analytical, service minded business professional with a solid and stable work history and 8 years of domain expertise in Recruitment, HR Consulting or Organizational Analysis. You have well defined organizational and planning skills and a desire to make a difference for people in their careers, lives and workplaces.

As a KeenHire Talent Analyst you will be a key member of our team in delivering in Top Grading initiatives, Organizational and Workforce Analysis, Succession Planning and Employee Development recommendations and programs. 

You pride yourself your solution oriented, critical thinking skills, your excellent follow up and follow through and your highly effective business and talent analysis abilities. You enjoy a busy schedule with a variety of similar deadline driven projects on your plate. You thrive in a role where you are required to collect data from a variety of resources, assimilate information, produce findings and make recommendations.

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.

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. We are growing and needs the right person to work as an integral part of our team and act as a key contributor in our Organizational consulting, Employee Selection and Talent Management service lines.

The ideal career situation for you is working with a team of committed individuals who are out to make a difference and shift what is possible in the workplace.  You enjoy a remote environment that gives you opportunity to travel, equips you with state of the art tools and technology, and provides complete training in leading edge Talent Management practices and methodologies.  The ideal opportunity for you allows you to play to your strengths, be the best person you can be and paves the way for a flourishing career in Talent Management and Organizational consulting. 

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

 

Top 10 Reasons Small Businesses Fail by Jay Goltz

 Written by Jay Goltz 

The New York Times - Wed Jan 5th, 2011 3:00 AM EST 

 

"One of the least understood aspects of entrepreneurship is why small businesses fail, and there's a simple reason for the confusion: Most of the evidence comes from the entrepreneurs themselves.

I have had a close-up view of numerous business failures -- including a few start-ups of my own. And from my observation, the reasons for failure cited by the owners are frequently off-point, which kind of makes sense when you think about it. If the owners really knew what they were doing wrong, they might have been able to fix the problem. Often, it's simply a matter of denial or of not knowing what you don't know.

In many cases, the customers -- or, I should say, ex-customers -- have a better understanding than the owners of what wasn't working. The usual suspects that the owners tend to blame are the bank, the government, or the idiot partner. Rarely does the owner's finger point at the owner. Of course, there are cases where something out of the owner's control has gone terribly wrong, but I have found those instances to be in the minority. What follows -- based on my own experiences and observations -- are my top 10 reasons small businesses fail. The list is not pretty, it is not simple, and it does not contain any of those usual suspects (although they might come in at Nos. 11, 12 and 13).

1. The math just doesn't work. There is not enough demand for the product or service at a price that will produce a profit for the company. This, for example, would include a start-up trying to compete against Best Buy and its economies of scale.

2. Owners who cannot get out of their own way. They may be stubborn, risk adverse, conflict adverse -- meaning they need to be liked by everyone (even employees and vendors who can't do their jobs). They may be perfectionist, greedy, self-righteous, paranoid, indignant, or insecure. You get the idea. Sometimes, you can even tell these owners the problem, and they will recognize that you are right -- but continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

3. Out-of-control growth. This one might be the saddest of all reasons for failure -- a successful business that is ruined by over-expansion. This would include moving into markets that are not as profitable, experiencing growing pains that damage the business, or borrowing too much money in an attempt to keep growth at a particular rate. Sometimes less is more.

4. Poor accounting. You cannot be in control of a business if you don't know what is going on. With bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time. Why? For one thing, it is a common -- and disastrous -- misconception that an outside accounting firm hired primarily to do the taxes will keep watch over the business. In reality, that is the job of the chief financial officer, one of the many hats an entrepreneur has to wear until a real one is hired.

5. Lack of a cash cushion. If we have learned anything from this recession (I know it's "over" but my customers don't seem to have gotten the memo), it's that business is cyclical and that bad things can and will happen over time -- the loss of an important customer or critical employee, the arrival of a new competitor, the filing of a lawsuit. These things can all stress the finances of a company. If that company is already out of cash (and borrowing potential), it may not be able to recover.

6. Operational mediocrity. I have never met a business owner who described his or her operation as mediocre. But we can't all be above average. Repeat and referral business is critical for most businesses, as is some degree of marketing (depending on the business).

7. Operational inefficiencies. Paying too much for rent, labor, and materials. Now more than ever, the lean companies are at an advantage. Not having the tenacity or stomach to negotiate terms that are reflective of today's economy may leave a company uncompetitive.

8. Dysfunctional management. Lack of focus, vision, planning, standards and everything else that goes into good management. Throw fighting partners or unhappy relatives into the mix, and you have a disaster.

9. The lack of a succession plan. We're talking nepotism, power struggles, significant players being replaced by people who are in over their heads -- all reasons many family businesses do not make it to the next generation.

10. A declining market. Book stores, music stores, printing businesses and many others are dealing with changes in technology, consumer demand, and competition from huge companies with more buying power and advertising dollars.

In life, you may have forgiving friends and relatives, but entrepreneurship is rarely forgiving. Eventually, everything shows up in the soup. If people don't like the soup, employees stop working for you, and customers stop doing business with you. And that is why businesses fail.

Jay Goltz owns five small businesses in Chicago."

 

As found on Yahoo.com. What do you think? Does business success depend on situational circumstance or are there definite traits and signs that point towards a successful endeavor?

 

Picking The Right Selection And Assessment Tool

How much can we learn about someone from a test? As it turns out, quite a bit! However, the process involves much more than simply asking a series of questions. There’s a science involved, and that’s where KeenHire comes in.

Right now, there are more than 1000 pre-employment psychometric assessment tools in the selection market. Many of them are the same test branded differently. So, if you want to make better hiring decisions starting today, the key to success with these tests is wisely choosing the right assessment tool.

Each evaluation serves a specific purpose. Some are a good “preview” into a candidate. They work well for sorting through massive amounts of applicants and narrowing the pool of potential interviewees. Yet these assessment tools are clearly not positioned to function as effective hiring and selection indicators.

Other psychometric assessments help give insight into a person’s work style and fundamental workplace preferences. These play a critical role in matching, coaching, and assigning new tasks. However, these assessments clearly state they are not to be used as OFCCP-compliant hiring tools.

What’s the Best Approach?

A good pre-employment psychometric assessment test has a purpose, accurately evaluates candidates, and improves hiring decisions. It supports a behavioral interviewing process to uncover a candidate’s values, motivations, habits, work styles, behaviors, and likely future performance in a well-defined role.

First, make sure it’s clear why an Assessment is needed:

• Have you benchmarked a role with nine to eleven top performers?
• Are you creating a first-rate Top Grading program to attract and hire additional peak performers?
• Do you experience higher than expected turnover, or are hiring costs negatively impacting profitability?
• Is a role difficult to fill, or challenging to succeed at, where only a certain type of person with specific traits can succeed?

Next, find out what is most important to you in a psychometric assessment. Is it validation, distortion, or the 4/5ths rule, or is it cost, speed, and accessibility? Do you need an assessment to tell you if candidates pass or fail, or are you looking for an assessment that lets you learn about a potential employee and how they can develop to the next level? What will most help you make better hiring decisions?

At KeenHire, We Live This Stuff KeenHire founder Margaret Graziano and her team have spent more than five years analyzing more than 100 top pre-employment psychometric assessment tools in the marketplace. We have chosen a group of assessment tests we are proud to recommend and endorse. Each quarter we review a new set of products and consider adopting those that fit our standards.
As a recruiter committed to improving your hiring practices starting today, you may choose to administer psychometric assessments yourself, or alternatively, you may choose to outsource that part of the hiring process to a KeenHire Consultant.

Get KeenCertified – We Train You How We train KeenCertified Selection Consultants and Recruiters to understand the theory behind pre-employment psychometric assessments and tools. Our training digs deep into the psychometrics and brain activities that impact performance. If you choose to become a certified assessment provider, we’ll train you how to identify the fundamentals needed to select the top psychometric assessment for potential employees. Additionally, you will master interpreting evaluation results and making solid hiring recommendations.

In most cases, there is a particular set of top psychometric assessments that best fit a company. We train you to understand the employers you serve: their corporate goals and hiring objectives, their hiring process, and the role itself, before recommending top assessment tools.

As a KeenCertified Selection Consultant, you’ll then work side by side with an employer to train them on implementing these assessments into their hiring, selection, on-boarding, employee engagement, succession planning and employee development processes.

Just as skill testing and background checks have become commonplace, psychometric assessment tools will soon be the norm. Contact KeenHire to find out more about becoming KeenCertified or to discuss how KeenHire can deliver assessment solutions that help you make better hiring decisions starting today.

KeenHire Recruiter Certification Training - November 11, 2010

Performance Based Hiring Model Certification Training Agenda 11.11.10-11.13.10

THURSDAY AFTERNOON – Margaret Graziano

1:00-1:40         Montage, KeenHire Story, Charter  

1:40-2:10         Business Case

2:10-3:15         KeenHire Business Model Presentation

3:15-4:30         Conscious Hiring Presentation

4:30-5:00         Download 26step Conscious Hiring Process

5:00-6:00         Keen Case Studies (Duncan, Discovery, Clark, Les Mills)

6:00                  Social

7:00                  Dinner – Thea, San Jose  

FRIDAY MORNING – Margaret Graziano

8:00-9:30          Benchmarking/Role Analysis Overview

9:45-10:45        KPI Role Play

10:45-11:15      Task Analysis

11:15-11:45      Cluster Tasks

11:45-12:30      Selection Criteria (working lunch)

FRIDAY AFTERNOON -  Dr. Stephanie Marberry

1:00-2:15         Assessments & Behavioral Interviews - Why are they keys to hiring success?

2:30-4:00         Assessment Presentation

4:00-6:00         Introduction to Behavioral Interviewing Presentation and Software

6:00                  Social

7:00                  Dinner – Maggianos, San Jose  

SATURDAY MORNING – Dr. Stephanie Marberry

8:00-9:30         Behavioral Movies

9:30-10:00       Matrix Ranking

10:00-10:30     Pick Questions & Overview of Keentip and scoring (recruiter)

10:30-11:00     Mock Interview Role Play I

11:00-11:30     Mock Interview Role Play II

11:30-12:00     Rapid Recall

MANUALS & RESOURCE MATERIAL

• 26 Step Process
• Behavioral Interview

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

• 26 step overview (in manual)
• Sample Assessments (KeenClues, TriMetrix, Achiever)
• Behavioral Scan
• Training documents for sending and pulling assessments

 

 

Improve Your Bottom Line. Hire Smarter.

The fundamental goal of the KeenHire 5 Pillar Conscious Hiring™ and candidate selection process is to hire the right candidate for the right job in a company that values a candidates’ unique contribution.  An effective hiring process takes into consideration the strategic reason for the positions existence as well as the candidate’s individual work style, behaviors, motivation, and core competencies. The end result is a solid hire that performs in the role and produces the key performance metrics. 

While employee training and development are mandatory facets of a solid Talent Management Strategy, the results of such programs are almost always insufficient when created outside of an effective and efficient hiring process.  Any company committed to long term organizational success must build a hiring process that closes the performance management gap. We have all heard Jim Collin’s mantra, “Hire the right people, give them the right tools, get out of their way and let them perform”.  Creating, implementing & systematically utilizing a Conscious Hiring process for your business that hones in on the key elements to your organization’s long-term success is a critical element of your human resources strategy.

Our 5 Pillar Conscious Hiring and Selection Process™ defines and quantifies your company’s corporate culture and work environment, the role’s key performance indicators, the ideal candidate’s work style, attitudes, behaviors, competencies, motivations and values.  KeenHire’s Conscious Hiring process begins with strategic organizational workforce planning and company discovery and results in improved return on hiring investment, corporate profitability, workforce productivity and overall organizational effectiveness.

Keen’s recruitment, selection and hiring program takes the recruiting process and breaks it down into five specific pillars, each focusing on different element of the recruitment function; beginning with organizational workforce planning, then key contributor benchmarking and role analysis, then candidate sourcing, then selecting, and finally on-boarding. Creating a Conscious Hiring and Recruitment process is essential to the health and organizational effectiveness of any organization committed to serving and retaining customers.