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The Ides of March Approaches…Get Goals Aligned

A few years back I ran across a study and set of resulting statistics that I now reference all the time in regards to project management. An analysis of 3000 projects done throughout the US government showed that if you are behind schedule early in a project or an initiative that there is an 88 percent chance that the project will come in late, over budget or less than scoped.

So how early can you tell? When you are 15 percent of the way till the projected end date. So that means that mid March marks 15 percent of the year is through.

This is a great time to review progress on your talent goals that were set in 4th quarter for 2010. Are you tracking okay?Are you 15 percent through the goals you set to your teams? If you are not, now is the time to readjust. Here are a few ways you can get started:

1 charter the goals and iniatives that you set for 2010. You can download a strong charter template from the Project Management Institute or on multiple websites but you should get one. Declare your goals, budget, resources and milestones you need to hit. Bring those to the sponsor of the program. By the way…you are not the sponsor. You may be the champion. Get approval and get your teams briefed before the end of the month.

2 Run an analysis on leadership and feasibility. You have to identify all the stakeholders and also make sure you have identified who needs buy in and approval. Is leadership really on board? Did you ask? Did your goals get approved yet? As for feasibility you need to ask yourself about 30 questions around feasibility (if you want them let me know) but they include questions around technology, if work like this has been done before, and what is the failure rate of projects like this. If the feasibility is poor, get awareness to it now, and get approval for the additional resources you need.

3 Confirm the Big 4 – Scope Budget Quality and Duration
All are in the charter template you find online (assumming it uses PMI standards) but this a really quick way to make sure you are target. If you have not declared the size of the goal, the money required, the quality of the delivery with approval from the customer, and how long it’s going to take to get it done, you are way behind already.

Take your goals, go to your directs and supervisor and take an hour to go over the big 4. If those are set, move into leadrship and feasibility and get those charters moving.

Perform these activities by the end of March and see how quickly your goals get advanced.

The Olympic Sport that is Like Recruiting? Figure Skating

As an avid skier, I have been watching the Olympics regularly. As a person who lives baseball, golf, and skiing, I use sports analogies all the time – especially in business. So as I have been watching I have been trying to draw analogies between Alpine Skiing and talent organizations. The speed, agility, technique, and repetition of the races all seem logical to me.

My wife however is not a skier – she is a skater. Just as I grew up playing baseball in the summer, golfing in the fall foliage, and skiing on the white of Colorado, she was working with coaches, competing through the Northeast, and going to Lake Placid each year to compete in national events. So to both of us, the Winter Olympics is kind of a big thing in our house. But it also means I watch lots of skating – which I don’t really care for.

But the more I watch, the more I realize that if talent / recruiting was an Olympic sport – figure skating is probably it. Here is why:

1 – The merging of Art & Science
Any search firm worth its salt has said this in a sales call and talks about the delicate balance. I will admit that in moguls and freestyle skiing there are twists and turns that the skier chooses (just like in snowboarding) but pretty tough to argue that the technical aspects and artistry of figure skating is outmatched.

2 – The Subjective Nature of Scoring
Performance in talent is subjective. That is for sure. We don’t even have a standard for Cost per Hire (although we are working on it). Technically you can measure in recruiting – time to fill, diversity percentages, and so on – but you then measure “experience”. We ask for insight and poll and survey. How did you “feel” in the process? Were you satisfied? Bobsled, Luge, Alpine, Nordic and Speed Skating is about crossing a finish line first. Curling and Biathlon is about accuracy. Halfpipe Snowboard, Freestyle Skiing, Figure Skating and Ice Dancing have artistry, although most would argues that the subjective scoring is led in skating. The way I can say that is all the controversy around the scoring. Take this year’s men’s competition. Or 2006. Or 2002. We keep changing the scoring to make it less subjective, but the fact that there is so much controversy is just wild. You don’t hear any controversy in Alpine skiing. Pretty sure the lowest time wins – doesn’t matter how they go there.

This translates well to talent / recruiting. Performance is so subjective and once more has multiple stakeholders (judges). Talent is working went recruiting, hr, management AND the candidates say so – a very subjective situation for sure.

3 – All the programs have technical moves, with few innovations in technique over time
Sounds like talent. In my lifetime (mid 30s) there have been two innovations in skating – the triple and quad jump. The quad is not even a standard. That is in 30 years. Pretty much the same in talent – few innovations. Technology has played a big role in innovation – but technique – not so much. We still pretty much still view, screen, interview, and reference. Testing has become more regular as a technical process, but all the new technology, sourcing, and etc is just efficiency in a particular technique.

4 – Same Dimensions in the Sport – but No Records
Since you can’t measure objectively, you can’t really have records. The only record you get is most medals over time. Of course the rink is pretty much the same size. The skates are still skates. Just like talent – there are no records to break. In talent we all play by the same rules, and sure there are companies that are better at it than others, but there are no records to break. I never really even though of that until just a few days ago. We all try to be the best and compare each other, but there is not objective way to really do that and claim you are the fastest or best.

You may may be thinking – what about Halfpipe Snowboard? Its technical, artistic, relatively same dimensions, and no records to speak of. It also has few technical innovations. Shaun White pulled out a new trick this year, and it was the first in a while. To that I say – “I agree, but…”

5 – Figure Skaters Don’t Wear Uniforms and Stand Out from the Team
Can’t deny that. Even the US Snowboard team wears the same jacket. But skaters – always their own gear. It usually does not even match the colors of the country’s flag. They stand alone. If you lined up all the US Olympians in the gear they compete it, you would see variations, but the figure skaters would not likley be wearing red, white and blue, and would stick out for sure. If I had to pick a group within HR that is a little on their own, sticks out, and has their own brand – I would have to pick the talent group.

These are not bad things – but being figure skaters, we need to focus on:
1. Our artistry is just as important as our technical prowess. We have to be experts at both.
2. No matter who good we think we are, measurement is subjective. We have to please multiple masters, otherwise we can’t put on a good show.
3. Innovations don’t come often – so focus on the fundamentals – always practice the fundamentals.
4. There is nobody to beat out there. Focus on what you do, practice and execute. Being the best will be interpreted and then perceived.
5. Talent stands out and grabs attention. Be aware of this and leverage as you need.

2010 Predictions – Part 2

Not to many predictions out there to comment on, so time to get on with mine. There is plenty of talk about what happenned in 2009 with lessons learned. Seems like every technology and rpo has a document on what to learn from 2009.

Predictions:
#1: Part time and outsourced work will be considered more as a way to get work done. Outsourcing is part of the talent space for sure as is part time employment but savvy hr leaders are going to be more careful about staffing up full time help and may look for slightly more expensive solutions per hour, but will consider less management responsibility and just less hours to reduce expense and avoid quick layoffs. HR leaders and talent managers will pay more attention to contingent and temporary labor as well and don’t be surprised to have these functions start to have goal alignment to talent leaders.

#2 efficiency and mobile technologies will become used more and become more robust. AT&T has an app for recruiting but that is not where mobility and technology starts, although it is really slick. Recruiters will also increase usage of text and social networks, but the real technology advances will be in operations. More assessment usage on the front end of an ats, scheduling tools, better onboarding technologies to increase retention is what I am talking about. Recruiters and HR leaders incorporating technology that reduce administration and increase self service.

#3 the grab for green jobs will continue and thrive in small business and large scale initiatives. Several labor department reforms and the job bill coming out of the white house give businesses the incentive to hire people and create jobs, but even more so when it’s about green work or community needs. Watch for larger green manufacturing retooling or initiatives which help companies create new products but also help them rehire. Not convinced that it means a surge of people leaving current jobs for green ones, but every organization needs to think about how being green enable the employees and retains them.

#4 we can do that too! Hit hard by the economy, talent vendors will continue to scramble and acquire new tools, competencies and products. Some will be very enabling (peopleclick authoria is one I like) as they combine two technologies or players that are logical. Be wary though of the rpo that now does workforce planning or the ats company that does employment branding. Business is about serving the client but it’s about margin too. I do suggest you review each of your primary vendors and understand their skill set though. Great opportunity to learn and really understand what they can do and what they should not do for you.

More to come later this week.

Check out the wordpress app for iPhone. This is too easy.

2010 Predictions – Part 1

Kudos to Kevin Wheeler for several good predictions for 2010. You can read his full article on the ERE blog site at http://www.ere.net/2010/01/07/whats-hot-for-2010

Non Traditional Employment: I agree with Kevin that more resources (aka human capital) will be engaged using means other that full time employment. “We are going to see a steady and continuing rise in temporary, part-time, contract, and consulting work. This will replace a large portion of traditional employment over this year and continue on for the foreseeable future.” I also agree with “I predict no upsurge in regular employment. There will be hiring, but primarily for critical positions and to protect intellectual property.”

Non traditional employment has been on the rise really since 1970 – the concept of the dual income household makes this a reality, and it has continued to surge for some time. The advent of contingent labor companies like Kelly and Manpower couple with corporate acceptance of outsourcing and offshoring have made this normal, acceptable, and in many cases better.

My prediction for Non Traditional Employment is slightly different. The change in employment will be an increase in project oriented work, where full time employees will not have year long goals and objectives, but 6 month objectives, or maybe less. This move towards regular shift in priorities will be used to retain younger employees (Gen Y, Millennial) and also avoid displacement of other employees as the economic fluctuates. The inability to see beyond 180 days out will continue, as financial forecasts beyond 180 days have gotten fuzzy, so organizations will simply adjust to that timeline, rather than one that is 360 days long.

This may mean that recruiters will have to get into talent management. Who better to move them internally than the person they just talked to a few months ago?

Mobility Plus: “…this trend means recruiting will have to go virtual and recruiters, as I have said many times before, will need to become skilled at video interviewing, online testing, and the other components of a complete virtual recruiting process. Hiring managers may never meet face-to-face with a candidate, and once hired, the employee may work alone in some remote place with no face-to-face contact with any other employee. Others may work in small clusters located regionally, and others may choose to work this way on a part-time basis. The key will be flexibility in everything.”

I can handle that. The increase in the use of technology will enable candidates to engage these tools, and be willing to use these tools. But I think some of that is because the younger generations either prefer to use technology, or lack the prowess to represent themselves without technology. Additionally, corporate recruiting will continue to have to do more with less, and technology (whether appropriate or not) tends to substitute for human capital.Recruiters will be forced or encouraged to use these tools not because they are necessarily better, but because its the resource that is available to them.

My prediction for Mobility? Quite honestly, I have not really thought about it. Recruiters tend to remotely communicate with managers across geographies now, even if that means between the 3rd and 4th floor of a building. Use of tools (last year was social networks, the year before was LinkedIn) are always in vogue and we just need to innovate and perform trials because that is one of the best ways to find practices that work the best for a brand.  Those new tools or processes enabling mobility is just a by product. I think that in 2010 (and really beyond) we just have more ways to interpret the appropriateness of a candidate for a position, and will have more drill bits for the drill (rather than tools in the toolbox). You may not use them all the time, but they are available.

Few Recruiters / More RPO: Kevin has a few good ideas in here. The first is the rise of firms as one stop shops. Obviously I agree as our business has been managing clients this way for over 3 years, and really one of the few companies doing that. But after doing this a while, I will state that I see LESS need for RPO. Like many ideas, RPO is one has become over processed. I think the need will be an increase to the services AROUND RPO.

The world of HR is pretty much set on who influences who internally – I can count on just a few hands the number of organizations that have a chief talent officer and a SVP of HR both reporting to a CEO, and equal to each other. In most cases, the #1 talent person is under the #1 HR person, so stuff falls downhill. If companies have not outsourced by now to RPO – why would they start? Its possible that the conversation happened a while ago, and they were waiting on the fiscal to turn, but for most, that shipped has sailed. Recently, we seen the trend moving in the opposite direction – more companies bringing in internal just to avoid management fees, and ongoing work that could be brand damaging. The exception is the organizations going through “HR transformation”. If they are, they maybe hunting to cut heads, and recruiting is a good target if its headcount heavy.

I think that the increase will be in what is outsourced. Companies may outsource other pieces beyond RPO, and simply increase its RPO so it can reinvest in something else. But I dont think that will equate in FEWER recruiters. The companies that have the RPOs will take a hard look at what their HR business leaders are doing, and see if more efficiency can be gathered, and admin or commoditized work will be moved out. The will likely start with current relationships, and likely those companies will make it work.

Companies that have larger internal groups will look to be efficient, group work together, and drive certain core competencies. Whatever they don’t want to build internal, they will partner with external – and it may or may not begin with their current relationships.

Summary on My Predictions Built on Kevin Wheeler’s:

  • Employment will become more project oriented. Assignments will be shorter, and that will increase retention and allow for rotation of younger talent. This may drive an increased need for recruiters to experts in talent management and internal mobility.
  • Mobility will continue with mixed results. New Tools will come, virtual or not, and will be used. Their effectiveness, like always, will be brand and talent pool dependent. Try new stuff, innovate, fail, and try again.
  • RPO will not increase, but companies will increase outsourcing of services before and after typical RPO activity. Don’t be shocked when your RPO comes out with its onboarding service. The use of recruiters (in the classic 20 – 35% fee sense or internal corporate recruiter) will continue to fluctuate. Those who perform that work really well will survive, and those that do not will simply suffer or skate on by as usual.

More preictions coming. Have to go through some of the others that are out there, with a conclusion on what I think 2010 will hold in summary. Here is a preview of my first one:

  • Merging of the recruiting function with other elements of HR will increase. Talent management, retention, and onboarding will become part of corporate recruiting everyday. As the corporate recruiting is squeezed for resources, as the rest of HR inevitably is, the function itself has to survive with high value activities. The outsourcing of screening and even RPO make it easy for corporate organizations to “flex out” the most time parts of full life cycle recruiting – the sourcing and the screening. With that in mind, recruiters now have more time and pressure to be consultants, and that is going to mean solving human capital problems, more than simply recruiting problems.

Some say Authentic, We say R-Thentic

Travis Furlow, colleague, recruitment professional, and friend of Aspen Search Advisors offers his advice and professional experience below:

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So the deal is this; I have been a hiring manager, a recruiter and a candidate (off and on) for 14 years.  I have experienced frustration as a provider of services, the pain of a hiring manager who can’t locate the “right fit” and I have had the unfortunate experience of being a candidate who is NOT kept in the communication loop, which creates some horrible emotions during a highly emotional time for anyone looking for a new position.  The simple truth; I don’t like our “recruiting” industry.  I don’t like where our business is heading, I don’t like the flaws our business comes with, but I can tell you this; I have interviewed a large number of people and have assisted in offering positions to more than 2000 professionals over 14 years and when you impact someone’s life for the positive (be it a hiring manager or candidate) there is something magical about that. You FEEL the good that is being created, you right a wrong, you change lives, and it really is special.  This little rant is for anyone who has experienced the “frustrations” I listed above and to let you know that all is not lost.  There are people out there who recruit talent the right way, who hire talent the right way and who communicate to the candidates in this process the right way.

Our industry is funny.  Most of us (including me) are afraid to admit who we are and what we do (oh, you poor thing, you are a “headhunter”….one of “those” people).   Good God, at networking events, people hide from us (unless they need work) and if I ask one of my prospective clients to “partner” with me, 8 out of 10 times, the response is…… “Just find me good people” or “We really aren’t hiring right now”!  Sure, we haven’t done ourselves any good, renaming our titles and industries more times than the Detroit Lions have had losing seasons (I can say that, I’m from Detroit).  We have been known as; Personnel Specialists, Employment Specialists, Talent Consultants, Personnel Consultants, and Talent Acquisition Consultants (the list goes on), but the one funny part about our business, call us what you will, we are recruiters.

What, as recruiters, are we trying to skate away from?  Are we skating away from the fact that some of us know how to locate talent, assess talent, talk to talent and care for talent in a way that makes them want to REFER people to us time and time again?  Are we skating away from the fact that the companies we assist, when a true partnership forms, can work together to find talent faster than the sum of our parts?  We get paid to create, manage and deploy a “process” with precision and passion.  We are challenged with building pools of talented professionals, who by the way, are generally scared, if not, terrified at the thought of having to “make a move” or leave a comfortable existence because of downsizings, corporate restructurings and layoffs.  Some of these professionals are recruited through some very creative processes, proprietary to talented recruiters and all the while, we think that our jobs should be downplayed?  Crazy isn’t it.

Our industry has hundreds of thousands of employees working every day and yes, some of these people are less than professional, but listen up, there are a select few who “get it”, who see that the companies they represent and the candidates they represent are better off for knowing them, better off for knowing the process that they hold sacred.  We become someone to vent to, bounce ideas off of, coach and guide through tough decisions and we also recognize how to keep a partner’s “brand” in a positive light, even if our partner has to share the tough news that the candidate we represented was NOT going to receive the job

they interviewed for (you know how a good experience travels much slower in relation to a bad experience, right)?  There are recruiters who pay close attention to the “process” that makes them great and when you find one of those recruiters, you have found a partner.  Does the thought of a recruiting “partner” make you feel ODD, well it shouldn’t, but for some reason, most organizations are too fearful of enabling a partner to do their job.

Have you ever met with a recruiter and said to yourself, UGHHH, do I have to answer these questions AGAIN, why is this guy asking me about culture and “right fit” and compensation and benefit plans, for the love of God, I just want some resumes!

If you have said that, then SHAME ON YOU, if the recruiter you were working with did not abruptly stop this discussion and tactfully demand these answers, then shame on them too (they are enabling the problem).  See, we have lived in a business model that has massive flaws.  Picture this; I ask you to bake a cake for me and I tell you that I would pay you $15,000 for a cake that you make me, but I have to enjoy eating it (assume I like the end result- flavor, frosting, texture, etc).  If I don’t like the cake, you will be responsible for all of the investment needed to bake that cake; money for the ingredients, the time it took to prepare, the oven rental, etc.

I know this is going to sound CRAZY, but the catch is, when you accept the task to bake me a cake, you do what most would do, ask me what I liked in a cake and here is the hilarious part, imagine if I told you that I didn’t have time to talk about what I like in a cake OR better yet, I’ll have you talk to one of my “friends” because they can probably guess what kind of cake I like.  If this is how the process went, would you really invest in baking me a cake?

As recruiters, the only way to really find out what kind of cake you, as a hiring executive need, is to have a partnership and talk about some of those critical ingredients, right?

Moving into the challenges of being a frustrated candidate, let’s assume you have found a recruiter and that person was able to get you the “resumes” you requested.  The interview selection process begins, you invited a candidate to interview, but somehow the wrong directions get sent to the candidate (on accident), but because of your hectic schedule, you miss the 2 messages the candidate leaves looking for interview directions and now, the candidate is getting frustrated, but they won’t tell you that (they’ll just tell ALL of their friends).  The interview eventually takes place and the fit is close, but not quite right, so your Applicant Tracking System sends a form letter that informs the candidate that they won’t be moving on in the process, very personable (don’t worry, the candidate will tell their friends about this too).  See, with a recruiting partner, managing this process is what we do and those who are passionate about it do it incredibly well.  The “good ones” will call candidates every 3-5 days, share information about the recruiting progress and the recruiter will begin looking for good and bad signs about the candidate’s ability to make decisions.  This kind of time and effort has shown a way of preventing nightmares from occurring during the interview, offer and negotiation processes and more importantly, helps ensure that even if the hiring manager has to say “NO” to one of these candidates, the candidate’s experience was so thorough, so planned, so detailed with feedback that they recommend 2 or 3 of their friends to us and WE work to get those people into YOUR organization for you.

As I said earlier, I don’t like our industry, but I do LOVE our business and I work with others who have the same LOVE.

See, all is not lost…………………………..

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Travis Furlow is Managing Director for RESOURCE’s Managed Service brand.  More information supporting RESOURCE’s ability to do things the right way can be found at www.smartworkforce.com