The Humor of Recruiting

The Humor of Recruiting

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: None and All

All of us know that we see the best in people and the worst in people in this profession we call Recruiting.

I wanted to change pace a little this month, away from job seeker behavior, the employment market and social media to something that I hope starts a fun conversation with all of you.

I wanted to share a couple of the funny stories from my “illustrious” career in recruiting.

Of course, what I am really interested in is hearing your funny stories, so don’t hold back… let’s share and laugh and cry together!

Story #1- Can You Hear Me Now?
So I used to work for a company that had a division that was trying to establish itself in a new line of business.

For one of the managers, we had a very low acceptance rate… of course we thought of the obvious problems of pay and being relatively unknown in the business.

We then had an opportunity… a company was laying people off in the industry and we were invited to interview them. I thought this would be great for us… what I didn’t realize is that I would actually find out what our real problem was.

We arrive and get things set up for the interviews. The office we were given was very nice and we started the interviews with an unusual set up (honestly I can’t remember why, but it may have been simply space). I was next to and slightly behind the candidates… this was not as bad as it seemed as this was primarily a technical interview to be conducted by the manager.

We meet with the first candidate and all starts off well, but I am quickly surprised and not in a good way.

The manager was just starting to talk about the company, he leans way back in the chair, in that half stretching while talking voice and says, “Well, let me tell you about what we are doing…” at which point he jams his pinky into his ear, starts twisting and digging, pulls it out, looks at what he burrowed out and flicks it off to the side…

I was just bewildered… I wasn’t sure what to do. I thought, “Well, I’ll mention it when we get back to the office, but why make him self conscious, after all, we have other people to meet and how much wax could he have?”

It turns out a lot as he did it with other interviews too! This was a nervous (and disgusting) habit he must have developed when he interviewed people…

I guess the moral is to never assume you know what the problem is and/or that the problem is something you’ve seen before!

Story #2- Stalker Much?
This story is just is just bizarre, but unlike the last story, this one is really recent. It involves a sales email and I have to admit it is much worse than I typically experience as most sales people are reasonable.

Friday@ 12:56: An email is sent to me basically stating I am so and so and I would like to meet with you. I have salary guide to share… has great information, a valuable tool for someone in my position etc., etc., etc.

So far, this is pretty typical, but here is where it takes the bizarre turn.

Friday@2:44 (same Friday): The individual forwards the “Read Receipt” of when I opened the original email with the following message:

“Michael: When can we connect?”

Really? Are you trying to win the award for most obnoxious sales person? It’s one thing to follow up a few days later, but to forward the Read Receipt? And within two hours? I guess your first mistake is to think that I care whether or not you know I read the email and second is to think I may feel like I am in “trouble” for not replying literally within 2 hours and will feel compelled out of some sort of guilt to respond.

Lesson learned, you’ve done exactly the opposite…

Yes, there is another email…

Friday@3:43 (yes, still the same Friday): The individual emails me again, with the following message (and yes, it is in all bold):

Happy Friday!
Confirming you have received my messages.
Please let me know when we can connect further?

Well, since you forwarded the “Read Receipt” I think you know that I got your message, and perhaps you put a “Read Receipt” on the “Read Receipt” message that you forwarded because that wouldn’t be freaky…

And really?? When can we connect? Umm, how about we connect about: 15 past never?

That’s all for now, but feel free to share your stories, I would love to hear them!

© 2012 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

Manufacturing’s Comeback?

Manufacturing’s Comeback?

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: Your Organizations Ability to Source Candidates

Many of us have heard that manufacturing is a dying segment of the economy and that we should all move away as fast as we can if we are to protect our careers from an inevitable end where the US doesn’t make anything anymore.

But I was surprised to hear that this is far from the case…

The end isn’t near
Many of us have heard the consistent remarks about manufacturing’s coming demise, just like the popular myth that because the Mayan Calendar ends on 12/21/2012 that we world will end.  Perhaps there is a correlation?

Not exactly, I personally think the Mayan’s said, “Hey we made a calendar that lasts 2000+ years, that’s good enough for now…”   and just like I know 2012 will come to an end (not a dramatic one, but simply an end like all the others),  I also agree that manufacturing will almost come to an end, but with a huge asterisk on it.

A change has been brewing
First I must say almost because hardly anything goes away entirely. Even Blacksmiths haven’t entirely disappeared (there are at least 7 within a 10 mile radius of my suburban home in Southern California according to Google).

Second and most importantly, the asterisk would say “as we know it…”

Manufacturing is changing and changing dramatically thanks to CNC or Computer Numeric Control technology. Essentially computer aided manufacturing used to create custom and precision parts and products.

This technology is hardly new, and in a somewhat ironic twist, I studied CNC at a vocational college very briefly in the late 80′s… yes that makes it at least 20-plus years old.

What may surprise many is that even today,  there is a severe shortage a people with the skills necessary to fill these roles, even in this economy.  Manufacturing has been among the segments that are leading the economic recovery’s job growth recently and is poised to continue to do so.

According to a recent survey by the Manufacturing Institute found  that as many as 600,000 jobs are going unfilled in this segment because of a critical shortage in skills.

Indeed, a quick search of the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that there were 253,000 hires in Manufacturing for January 2012, significantly behind Healthcare’s 445,000 hires, but still significant.

While the exact numbers can be debated, but trend is clear… manufacturing is far from dying.

Conclusion
What we are really seeing is the continued shift to an economy that is dependent on highly skilled and educated workers reaching further into the labor market and into places we did not expect.

While educated does typically mean a Bachelor’s prepared new graduate, that is not always the case, as we have seen in both manufacturing and healthcare.

So there are jobs to be had even in manufacturing, but just like in many other tales of survival, it is not the strongest or the smartest survive, but the ones that adapt most readily and successfully that survive.

My question to all of you is, what jobs do you have that are moving in the same direction as manufacturing and what are you doing to get out ahead of the problem?

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send them my way!

© 2012 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

Mike’s Predictions for 2012

Mike’s Predictions for 2012

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: All

So I am way late this year, but it’s time for me to try to predict what is going to happen in the recruiting world again!

Last year I think I did a little better than I did in the previous one, and I hope to continue my improvement with this year’s predictions. I am looking forward to hearing what you think will be coming too.

Moderate Job Growth
Last year I was on target with the end of year unemployment rate and this year I feel I can safely predict that it will continue to move lower overall throughout 2012. I think it will finish in the 7.3% to 7.9% range, with some markets doing much better and some still struggling.

Healthcare Employment Growth
Healthcare will continue to add jobs and will likely accelerate into the latter half of 2012 in anticipation of aspects of healthcare reforms that are coming in 2014.

That is not to say that the growth will be limited to the jobs that you traditionally think of in healthcare. Information technology jobs will also grow significantly in this industry along with other non-clinical roles.

The Election will have a Negative Impact
Unfortunately between uncertainty naturally generated by any election and governments inability to come to consensus for the better of the country only becoming worse in an election year, we will see businesses hold off on any robust growth and hiring that they possibly can.

I believe this “holding off” could account for a measurable impact on the unemployment rate which is part of what will lead to only moderate progress in reducing the unemployment rate.

Some businesses and industries will have to hire because of growth in demand, and those industries will definitely be easy to pick out on the various employment market reports.

Emerging Markets will begin to lead a Global Recovery
As mentioned in an earlier blog, I think that emerging markets will be where the global economy gets the fuel to start growing in a more significant way… emerging markets will eventually be overtaken by established ones again, but I believe that will be some time from now.

Mobile Recruiting Sites and Geo-Targeted Capability Continue to Converge
Within select industries, especially those with a “neighborhood presence” (retail, banking, dining, etc.) we will see the continued convergence of mobile recruiting sites and geo-targeted capabilities.

Within these industries, best practices will continue to develop and emerge. By the end of the year, I think we will see growing use of geo-targeted recruitment by forward thinking companies for roles outside of the “neighborhood presence” because any competitive advantage gain by those that are simply early adopters is fleeting… the true competitive advantage lies in moving away from the obvious and pedestrian use and moving to a less obvious, more subtle, more elegant but simple use.

And last but not least, the sun will rise on 12/22/2012
The world may be a little different, but it won’t come to a cataclysmic end the day before… of course if I am wrong that is the least of my worries!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send them my way! All the best to you until next month!

© 2012 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

Social Media Snafus of 2011: A Study in HR Best Practices (Condensed)

This month I am fortunate to be able to share the condensed version of a great article from fellow blogger and HR Guy Kyle Lagunas from Software Advice… he takes a look at the social media snafus from 2011 from the HR perspective…  He has the full version and other equally great articles on his site, so I encourage you to check it out!

Social Media Snafus of 2011: A Study in HR Best Practices

The blogosphere was happy to report some epic failures in large organizations’ use of social media in 2011. As I read through these lists (there were many), I thought, Wow, I’m glad I’m not managing HR there. You see, when something goes wrong in the office, HR inevitably gets called in for damage control. This applies when an organization’s use of social media goes wrong, too. Digging a little deeper into the top social media blunders, I realized that these mishaps offer some great insights into social media best practices.

As organizations begin crafting formal social medial policies, there are certain situations and mishaps for which they should be prepared. Here are the three snafus that stood out to me as having some serious lessons to learn from an HR perspective:

 

1. Communications Disconnect at Qantas. When launching a Twitter campaign in November, Qantas–the premiere airline in Australia–had a serious breakdown in communications. Amid widespread disruptions in service (the entire fleet had been grounded in October) they attempted to create some positive energy by asking followers to describe their “dream luxury in-flight experience” using the hashtag #QantasLuxury. The problem? The campaign launched the day after Qantas and its unions stopped contract talks. Customers hijacked the campaign’s untimely campaign and used the hashtag to voice serious complaints.

 

When managing your social media presence, these kinds of breakdowns in communication can have serious consequences. As such, establishing clear channels for disimmenating need-to-know information to key players in your management team is a must. Qantas’ mishap is a case in point on the importance of making it easy to quickly distribute key communications, not to mention the value in maintaining a degree of transparency in less-than-ideal times.

2. Kutcher’s Quickfire Backfire. As many organizations are learning, not everyone is equipped to keep small blunders from turning into social media firestorms–even if your “organization” is the brand behind a celebrity figure. There needs to be a process for managing your online presence. CBS’ new “Two and a Half Men” star, Ashton Kutcher, sent out a particularly nightmarish tweet to 8.5 million followers in November  which seemingly supported Joe Paterno: “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #no class as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.”

Kutcher pleaded ignorance, claiming that he wasn’t up on the alleged Penn State child abuse scandal. He offered an apology via Twitter but the damage was done. When building a social media strategy–be it for sourcing and recruiting talent or for branding and advertising–your plan should ensure your people have a course of action outlined for cleaning up small mishaps before they become big messes. In the end, Kutcher got the message and turned over management of his Twitter account to his PR team.

3. American Red Cross Turns it Around. Some debacles have a happy ending. An employee of The American Red Cross sent out an inappropriate tweet via the @RedCross account indicating that employees were getting “slizzered” on Dogfish Head beer. To the surprise of many (and the joy of a vested few), Wendy Harman, Social Media Director for the Red Cross, was able to turn this around with grace and good humor. The rogue tweet was down within the hour, and Harman responded with a tweet assuring that the Red Cross was sober, adding, “we’ve confiscated the keys.” Meanwhile, they retained the (very embarrassed) employee, and Dogfish Head took the opportunity to launch a fundraising campaign for the Red Cross.

Because of their quick and classy response, the Red Cross turned a PR nightmare into a lesson in humility, and has been earning kudos since. This indicates a strong sense of teamwork and unity in the organization. “We are an organization that deals with life-changing disasters and this wasn’t one of them,” Harman told Mashable. “It was just a little mistake.”

 

Last Year’s Blunders: A Boon for HR in 2012?

While it’s easy to look back on social media snafus and share a laugh, HR professionals have their work cut out for them in the next year. The blunders of 2011 present a great opportunity for HR to step up to the plate and spearhead the design, implementation and oversight of formal social media policies for their organizations.

About the Author: Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice, a company that reviews HR systems. On the surface, it’s his job to contribute to the ongoing conversation on all things HR. Beyond that, he makes sure his audience is keeping up with important trends and hot topics in the industry. Focused on offering a fresh take on points of interest in his market, he’s not your typical HR guy. If you’re interested in reading this article in full, you can find it on his blog.

End of Year Report Card: Mike’s Predictions for 2011

End of Year Report Card: Mike’s Predictions for 2011

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: All

This January I continued the tradition of trying to predict what was to be in the New Year.   Now it is time to take a look to see how I did.

Some aspects of my predictions that looked uncertain at the midyear report card have come to fruition, but the context in which they came about wasn’t what was expected.  Others did well and others not as much…

Recovery, recovery, recovery

Grade- C+

Prediction- This year, especially the latter half, we will be fully focused on the economic recovery that will finally become wide spread.

That is not to say that we will see strong growth in the employment sector and I would be surprised to see the national unemployment rate drop to anything below 8% or even 8.5%, but all of us will hopefully see that things have started to turn around.

Commentary- Recovery is the talk, but not in a good way as it is often used in along with “slow” and “uncertain” or unsteady.”  I was very close to the mark with the unemployment rate at 8.6%.  Since the main prediction was that recovery would be well underway I can’t give myself a great grade.

Mobile will become the hot thing in Recruiting

Grade- A+

Prediction-   People are going from the mobile experience being something of a novelty to an expectation.  Someone will be using their phone in their living room just feet from their PC, but will expect to be able to search jobs without waiting for the PC to boot up, update, etc.

Commentary- Mobile is so pervasive that some vendors are trying to fake their way into it (see last month’s blog post about Mobile Site Posers).

Geo-Targeted recruitment advertising will grow, but not be wide-spread

Grade- B

Prediction- Products like FourSquare, Google and Facebook equivalents as well as others will find their way onto the media/social media plans for a small number of companies. Many other companies will watch to see what can be done with this platform.

Commentary- My midyear prediction that it would probably not take hold more until the war for talent resumes seems to be holding true, while I can’t say that the number of companies that are really using this met even my modest expectations I didn’t think I was entirely off the mark either.

Social media will flatten out

Grade- A

Prediction- This is the year that we will see social media start to flatten out.  But that’s not to say it won’t continue to grow, it will just do so at a more modest pace.

Commentary- This seems to continue to be the case, with social media IPOs being more of the news than their traffic growth.  I found it very interesting to see the role social media has played in some critical events around the world.  While Google+ looked interesting at the midyear update, I am not sure how much impact it will have without Facebook really dropping the ball or a major innovative shift coming from Google.

Next month will be my predictions for 2012, which do not involve the end of the world!

If you have any questions, comments or anything you would like to add, feel free to send them my way!  All the best to you until next month!

© 2011 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

How emerging markets could make this economic recovery different…

How emerging markets could make this economic recovery different…

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: All

We all seem to be waiting for the economy to turn around, and many of us have given up hope in a sense.  We hear it regularly, including on my blog, “… is this the new normal?”

I think it’s a legitimate question.  This recovery, if you can call it that, has been jobless and some would say almost hapless, seeming to be knocked back down by bad news coming from all fronts at all times.

Amidst all the bad news, there was a snippet of good news that could make a big difference when and how things turn around.

The rapid growth of emerging markets
This is something we really have not seen before on the scale that we have now.  The impact of this on the employment market could be significant and may be the engine of economic growth that we all need to pull ourselves out of the recession and start adding jobs to the economy.

Take a look at the top 10 rising economies according to the Business Insider from March 2011.

1. Nigeria
2. India
3. Iraq
4. Bangladesh
5. Vietnam
6. Philippines
7. Mongolia
8. Indonesia
9. Sri Lanka
10. Egypt

Total projected GDP by 2050: $135.05 Trillion
Average year over year growth: 7.3%

I bet many of you are surprised by at least half of the countries on the list and by at least one country that is missing from the list,China.  To be fair, this list is a ranking of year over year growth vs. total GDP or size of the economy, but what I find interesting is that the total GDP that they represent is still significant and when combined, significantly more than China’s.

For comparison, and to bring to light how much GDP is missing with large, still emerging, but “slower” growth economies,China’s GDP is projected to be $123 Trillion by 2040.  In 2050, the top 5 countries in the G20 are projected to beChina, US,India,JapanandBrazilin that order, which points to the fact that emerging markets are widespread.

Manufacturing jobs
One of the areas that could see a significant increase in business opportunities are within the manufacturing sector.  In many parts of the world, US products are still viewed to be of high quality and value.  Just look at China and how American cars are viewed as a luxury item.

One question is how much this will translate to a positive impact on the US job market.  Will it create many direct manufacturing jobs or will it create a smaller number of administrative and professional level jobs only because the American product is made overseas?

The other question is whether or not American companies can react quickly enough to get products that appeal to these emerging markets into the hands of their consumers to build and sustain brand loyalty.  Fortunately I think we are doing fairly well in this arena, but we cannot be complacent.

Research and development jobs
One area that the US still dominates is research and development.  While other countries continue to make progress, fortunately so do we! 

These jobs will become more critical as we need to make products that appeal to more and more different markets to maintain market share, gain competitive advantage and continue to build brand loyalty.

So these jobs will include many of the areas that immediately come to mind (software, consumer electronics, etc.) and many that do not immediately come to mind (food products, beverages, home goods, consumer products, etc.)

Shipping/transportation and logistics jobs
Always an early indicator of a economy reviving, we could see growth here early on as companies ship more products to new markets, demand for individuals within these areas would naturally follow.

Import/Export jobs
If theUS is able to position its products to appeal to these emerging markets, demand for Import and Export Professionals could increase significantly, with the Import side depending on what products these emerging economies produce and whether or not Americans will have a need for them…

The economy in general
While the segments I spoke about will likely see a significant increase, trade and wealth generation (even in emerging economies) create jobs.  So many other sectors of the economy will see some increase in job growth.

Conclusion
I think we all agree that this economy has some way to go before everyone is back to work, but this could be the light at the end of the tunnel.

Part of the challenge we have now is that we cannot rely on domestic consumer spending to pull the economy out of recession because all of us have spending constraints compared to 5 years ago. 

A real possibility is the increase in consumer spending coming from overseas, with emerging markets, notEuropeleading the way and established Asian economies following closely behind.  If that creates enough growth for the US consumer to feel confident again, we could see a very robust, but different, economic recovery than those of the past.

And of course that all means, the war for talent returns… this time, with some new fronts!

Feel free to share your thoughts!

© 2011 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

How placement firms can work better with corporate recruiters and how corporate recruiters need to step up.

How placement firms can work better with corporate recruiters and how corporate recruiters need to step up.

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: Your Organizations Ability to Source Candidates

Hardly a day goes by without receiving some sort of pitch from a placement firm.  I think this isn’t a big difference from anyone else in a leadership role within a Recruiting department, but I think what would surprise some people is what I hear from corporate recruiters that makes me want to slam my head into my desk.

So this month I thought I would give my unscientific top five things that each side needs to do better list.

Top five things that placement firms can do to work with corporate recruiters

1. Know yourself and/or your organization
   If your firm specializes in helping organizations that have little to no corporate recruiting capability, or does especially well helping organizations in regions that people don’t want to move to or a certain size of organization, etc. learn that, know that and own that.  I can’t tell you how many times I talk to firms that in the course of our review I determine do a good job placing people, but only because the companies they work with have no recruiting team to speak of. 
2. Figure me out before calling
   I don’t expect you, as someone that is cold calling me, to know all about me (although it’s pretty easy to find out a lot about people nowadays), but at least know what industry I am in, what openings I have and a little about my teams capability.  For example, on a regular basis I get calls and emails from companies that want to place people with me for Software Engineering or Electrical Engineering… well since I work for a hospital system it’s a waste of my time to even return your call now isn’t it? 
3. Just because I have an opening doesn’t mean I need help
   I can’t stand it when I open a position and an hour later I get a call from someone saying “…I see that you just posted xyz position open, do you need help?”  Or I see you have (fill in the blank for an entry level position) open, can we work on that?  In the first case, it would be rare that I would feel that we needed outside help and that I would post the position without already talking to someone, in the second case, I honestly should be fired it I can’t find an entry level person. 
4. Don’t be clueless
   If I am going to go to a hiring manager and recommend that we use you, do you really think if you call me and you know nothing about my company, the role, the industry, the profession and already have presented a plan to fill the role that goes beyond posting something on a bunch of job boards (guess what- I know how to do that too) that you are going to be the one I recommend?  Don’t waste my time, but if you want to waste yours more power to you and call someone else… 
5. Work within my process (if there is one)
   I know you hate this, but we do need to have some kind of process in place.  Most of the time, this shouldn’t get in the way and sometimes it ends up benefiting all involved.  You will also appreciate the next section though, because this is one of the things I address on the corporate side as well.

Top five things that corporate recruiters can do to work with headhunters (surprise- some of this is similar to what is above!)

1. Know yourself and/or your organization
   For the corporate side of things, we need to know our organizations, the openings, the managers, the requirements (tangible and intangible).  We also need to know what we are good at as a recruiting team and plan and react accordingly when positions are open.  So if we aren’t strong recruiting certain specialties, we need to still put our best effort in and get better at it, but also need to come up with plans that probably include placement firms to meet the objective of finding the talent we need, regardless of where it comes from.  Many organizations know when they have a tough position to work on, but they fail to do anything about it. 
2. Let go of “us vs. them”
   I sort of understand where this comes from… the adversarial relationship that some corporate recruiters hold on to.  This is a classic example of you get what you incent.  In the past, many corporate recruiting departments looked at needing a placement firm as a sign that they failed because many times that is indeed how it was viewed by leadership and internal clients.  I think this has largely changed because of the complexity of the workforce and the acknowledgement that everyone cannot be good at everything.  Placement firms do need to be used diligently (I would not be employed if suddenly 80% of the placements came from outside firms), but the adversarial view needs to go and good placement firms need to viewed as partners and an extension of the internal teams capability.  I can’t stand it when a corporate recruiter will keep doing things they know have very little chance of working just to keep from using an outside firm. 
3. Get out of the way
   Corporate Recruiters also need to know when to get out of the way.  We have a role in helping with the selection of the placement firm, negotiating the contracts, setting up reasonable processes, etc., but beyond that the gate keeper mentality needs to go.  Once the contract is in place, let the placement firm talk to the hiring manager directly, there is no value in the corporate recruiter relaying this level of information.  Have the placement firm submit directly to the hiring manager and have them cc: you so the candidate can be checked out internally (did they recently apply, are they a former employee?) and set up regular short status meetings so all those involved can stay on top of issues.  Beyond that step aside! 
4. Don’t be clueless
   Nothing drives me nuts like when I ask a Recruiter to tell me about the role they have been working on for 2 months and all they can do is stumble around while they read me the posting… really?  Well since we’ve submitted 20 people that meet those requirements, perhaps it’s time to actually pin the manager down on what they really want!  We need to know the department, the manager, the role, the skills needed, etc.  If we don’t then we have failed and certainly if the placement firm is not able to find this out, they will also fail. 
5. Create a reasonable process
   I touched on this a bit in number 3, but it’s worth emphasizing.  Make sure the process you have is reasonable.  This starts with a reasonable contract and as little intervention as possible by you.  Good people can only do good work when they are allowed to by not having others get in the way.  I think it’s reasonable to sit in on the meeting or conference call as the placement firm talks to the hiring manager (you will probably learn some things), but it’s not reasonable to be the gate keeper and not allow the placement firm to speak to the manager at all.  It is reasonable to ask to be copied on submissions so you can check on past interactions with the candidate (if any), but I would be cautious in requiring that resumes be submitted to you and then you in turn send them on to the manager.

Conclusion

I certainly understand where a lot of the problems with the corporate recruiter placement firm relationship come from.  Past measures of success (or failure) are among them, but there is an unfortunate number of placement firms that are not interested in being anyone’s partner and are only interested in fees and still more that are not malicious, but are either poorly run or are trying too hard to be what they are not.

On the corporate side, the problems also abound, with Recruiters that are nothing more than administrators that process paper to those that have no clue what their internal clients need to those that simply insecure.

Successful organizations realize that there are plenty of problems on both sides and work toward resolving them by having a strong review process in place for placement firms and in coaching and sometimes removing recruiters when they do not align themselves with the greater needs of the organization.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send them my way!

© 2011 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

What if this is the new normal?

What if this is the new normal?

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: Nearly all

One thing that I wondered when watching the weather here in Southern California was, if were always below “normal” or average rainfall, shouldn’t the average (or “normal”) start to move down until it reaches some sort of equilibrium, where recent “normal” is roughly equal to reported or referenced “normal?”

As I thought about this, I began thinking about the employment market and how long this recession has been and how much longer it seems like it might be, when a similar thought hit me… what if this is the “new normal?”

So if  the new normal is 9.0%+ long term unemployment, wild swings in the market, complete lack of consumer confidence and next to nothing housing market what does that mean to us in talent acquisition?  Do we throw out all the old strategies because all our positions are filled?  Do we shift to becoming gatekeepers again?  Do we do something entirely different?  The answers could be different than what you expect.

Top three impacts

Impact number one- working longer whether they want to or not
We need to be prepared for people to work with our organizations not only longer, but we need to be ready for them to work with us when they really didn’t want to.  This is not just about people working past retirement, although that is part of this, its people that are working with you because they have few other options.  This can be someone that was highly competent and motivated 6 years ago, but now they are ready for a change but cannot find that opportunity because of the market.  What does all this mean?  We need to have strong performance management systems in place, proactive practices that identify when someone is struggling and/or dissatisfied and good tools for assessing what the true root cause of the problem is.  Companies need to look at themselves from a cultural perspective and decide exactly how much they are going to be willing to work with people to resolve these issues and be consistent as litigation will likely increase as frustrations among workers continue to build.

We also need to have strong succession plans in place for when people do leave as it may be a sudden move… whether it be the person that gets fed up with waiting and just leaves one day or someone that moves quickly out of fear of losing a new opportunity, we need to be ready to turn around much more quickly than we have before with much more purpose.

Impact number two- smart screening
Screening technologies and techniques could become more critical than any of us thought if unemployment continues to remain high.  We will need to build competency assessment systems that not only give us basic information about what someone knows, but will need to be strong enough and reliable enough for us to be able to convince doubting managers that even though someone has been out of the workforce for 5 years, the tool indicates that they have remained competent and that this is the individual we should hire.  Sadly in a market with prolonged unemployment, the best person for the position may be the person that does not have a job right now.

The system also needs to be reliable for another reason; it needs to be able to withstand close scrutiny in a court and by government agencies like EEOC, OFCCP and state agencies like DFEH.  Complaints, charges and lawsuits go hand in hand with frustrated people and we’ve seen this already for some time.

Impact number three- social media and CRM become more important
Being able to fill positions quickly from a group of potential candidates that are already engaged, interested and perhaps somewhat pre-qualified may become a critical firewall for companies that are trying to shield themselves from mass numbers of candidates and the potential liability that could come along with them.

Companies could build relationships with people on social media sites, eventually move them into a talent community and start marketing new positions to them first.  Of course you could not exclusively market to them, you do need to make your positions publically available, but you can significantly shorten the time your position is open to the public by having people ready and engaged for opportunities with your company.

Conclusion
While I hope this is not the “new normal” I think it is prudent for all of us to think about what that could mean for our respective organizations.  Obviously my top impacts may be very different than an organization with a strong international presence or that works with a different segment of the market than I do.

In either case, we may need to be prepared to both screen and engage people at the same time, which is a challenge for many of us.

In reality, whether this is the “new normal” or not, these practices are sound ones that would be good to pursue in any economic environment.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send them my way!

© 2011 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

Midyear Report Card: Mike’s Predictions for 2011

Midyear Report Card: Mike’s Predictions for 2011

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: All

This January I continued the tradition of trying to predict what was to be in the new year.   As I did last year, I thought this would be a good moment to take pause and see how those predictions are coming along.

I think I did a little better with this year’s midyear report card than last, but some things remain uncertain.

Recovery, recovery, recovery

Grade- Who knows at this point!

Prediction- This year, especially the latter half, we will be fully focused on the economic recovery that will finally become wide spread.

That is not to say that we will see strong growth in the employment sector and I would be surprised to see the national unemployment rate drop to anything below 8% or even 8.5%, but all of us will hopefully see that things have started to turn around.

Commentary- Well, we are all talking about the recovery, but more in the way people waiting for a late bus talk about what happened.  So we have some pockets of recovery, but it’s really questionable if this is going to take hold throughout the nation anytime soon.   Just a month ago, I thought this would be a very different entry, but this economy is struggling to get to its feet more than any other post recession economy.  I still think we will have a national unemployment rate that is somewhere between 8.5% and 9% later this year, which is still better than it was.

Mobile will become the hot thing in Recruiting

Grade- A

Prediction-   People are going from the mobile experience being something of a novelty to an expectation.  Someone will be using their phone in their living room just feet from their PC, but will expect to be able to search jobs without waiting for the PC to boot up, update, etc.

Commentary- I think this was one prediction that has really started to take hold.  Talking about mobile is wide spread, more and more companies have mobile sites (including mine) and the first ATS/TMS to provide a mobile experience for candidates (not just Recruiters like many) is available on the market.

Geo-Targeted recruitment advertising will grow, but not be wide-spread

Grade- C

Prediction- Products like FourSquare, Google and Facebook equivalents as well as others will find their way onto the media/social media plans for a small number of companies. Many other companies will watch to see what can be done with this platform.

Commentary- The part about it not being wide spread is definitely true, and there are some companies that are using this, but not many.  This is something that may catch on next year for some, and many will likely table this until the war for talent fully returns.

Social media will flatten out

Grade- A

Prediction- This is the year that we will see social media start to flatten out.  But that’s not to say it won’t continue to grow, it will just do so at a more modest pace.

Commentary- We’ve seen the demise of MySpace (although I would have never predicted Timberlake buying it) and other platforms are starting to or continuing to flatten out.  LinkedIn showed some increases in traffic because of new services, but according to Quantcast, Facebook is growing, but  slowing and Twitter seems to be possibly starting a decline.  This does not spell the beginning of the end by any means, rather that it has reached a new level.  It will be interesting to see how Google+ impacts all of this.

If you have any questions, comments or anything you would like to add, feel free to send them my way!  All the best to you until next month!

© 2011 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved

SHRM 2011 Talent & Staffing Management Conference Recap

SHRM 2011 Talent & Staffing Management Conference Recap

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: All

Several members of my team and I attended the SHRM Talent & Staffing Management Conference that just took place here inSan Diego.  I wanted to share some of our thoughts and experience as well as what was presented as the state of talent acquisition.

Conference overview
This was my first time attending this conference as was the case for most of my team.  All of us felt the conference had good, solid, practical information that seemed to skew slightly more toward corporate talent acquisition professionals vs. our colleagues that work for placement firms or headhunters.

The personality of the conference was much lighter than International SHRM which I have attended several times in the past, including last year inSan Diego.  This made for a much better experience.

The information was much more focused and relevant for me being in talent acquisition and I didn’t struggle to find something that I could at least pass the time with as I do occasionally at International SHRM.  While International SHRM has made significant improvements in providing content for those of us talent acquisition, we are still somewhat overlooked.

By comparison to ERE, which I have also attended a few times, this conference was a little more main stream and less cutting edge.  For some organizations that is probably not a bad thing.  Why go to a conference like ERE that focuses more on the leading edge when your organization still runs ads in the paper and your team still wonders if social media is really going to take off?  That is not to say that this conference was lacking for good content and some leading edge processes, because it still had some of that.

I would say the overall theme was engagement of employees and of candidates, which seemed to be interwoven throughout many sessions, but let me share some of my experience more specifically.

Social media is still a big player
I attended a great session presented by Matt Kaiser, who is always on top of his game, about social media and it became very apparent that social media is maturing and perhaps flattening out a bit, but it is still growing, companies are becoming much more sophisticated with it and a lot of potential remains for it as a tool.

Many best practices will likely come from consumer brands that need to engage customers, investors, employees and candidates. One example provided was a video of Gatorade’s “Mission Control” which is where they monitor their social media presence, and I suspect the presence of the individuals that are endorsing their product.  The video can be found on YouTube by searching Gatorade Mission Control.  While it doesn’t provide a lot of meaningful content, it is interesting to see how very seriously they must be taking these channels to engage people.

Recruiting Veterans
You may know that OFCCP is focused on how companies are recruiting veterans for a variety of reasons including the issue of integrating veterans that will be coming back fromAfghanistan andIraq into the civilian labor market.  Aside from the obvious problem of trying to manage more people coming into the labor market, it is also the right thing to do for those that have sacrificed for us.

The session on Tactics for Attracting and Recruiting Veterans with Disabilities presented by Lisa Rosser from The Value of a Veteran was excellent in that it was clear, practical and made sense.   One tactic is one that is pretty obvious, yet overlooked.  Use similar messaging that the military itself uses to recruit people into the military as those themes will only resonate even more with people exiting the military.

Themes include being part of an elite group, challenging work, training opportunities, your work impacts others, and camaraderie within the team.

But she pointed out that we also most go beyond just themes and take the same approach to recruiting veterans we do to college recruiting with welcoming messaging specific for them, content focused on them and ways to engage them across all media.

Mobile
While I can’t recall any specific sessions about using mobile platforms in talent acquisition, right on the heels of social media being woven into many sessions, was mobile.

It was discussed in many of the sessions that I attended that were focused on other topics, including recruiting veterans.

My take is when something pervades topics that seem unrelated, that is something to become part of.

From the exhibit hall
I always take a couple passes through the exhibit hall to see what is going on in the market.  There were some interesting things that I came across as I walked through.

No major ATS/TMS vendors were at the event.  This surprised me somewhat, and it could be because they elected to go to ERE, which was also in San Diego just a couple weeks earlier, but not only were their no major players, there really weren’t that many mid level players either.  I suspect that this space is hurting from the recession and we may see further consolidation of vendors or outright failure of some smaller ones in the next year or so.

It also seemed like every other vendor was a testing vendor or background check vendor.  As I thumb through the exhibitor directory I see my observation was not far off, with 16 of the 52 falling into this category (or 30.7%).

Most striking from the exhibit hall was the lack of anything that seemed new…  Perhaps the vendor was at ERE, as I mentioned, the more leading edge conference of the two, but I also feel like it may be because our space has been struggling…  we always take a hit from a recession and certainly this one was a bigger one than most.  I see plenty of opportunity for some bright people to come to market with something that truly moves us in new directions within the next couple years.

Conclusion
Speaking to the other attendees, it seemed like all of us are getting busier and that the worst is behind us.

However there are significant challenges that are before us, including how to engage our employees and candidates better.  Certainly social media is one way to do so, but it will go beyond that to making sure our messaging, both internal and external, is authentic, resonates, and is on the mark with the audience regardless of the platform.

While we have some time because of the labor market to refine this, the next round of the war for talent will be upon us sooner than we realize.  Those that do not find a way to engage people will be at a huge disadvantage, which seemed to be the message between the lines of this conference.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts!  Until next month, all the best to you!

© 2011 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved