Contradicting a 2004 study showing that using the Internet to look for work prolonged unemployment, a new study has found the better job boards, improved site design, and enhanced technology have dramatically improved the job seeker’s ability to identify positions, make application, and secure employment using the Internet. Also noted by the researchers was the percentage growth of unemployed individuals using the Internet—up from 25% in 1998/2000 to 74% in 2008/2009. In addition to the formal services, the Internet was cited as a valuable “networking” tool where the unemployed could communicate with family, friends and professional colleagues, thereby extending the reach of their searches. Enhancements to job site “user friendliness” were also cited as having an impact on their growing popularity.
Whether it is true or not, this is not something you want employees to say. Often is beyond a company’s power to control how employees feel. However, company’s can avoid creating situations that might cause an employee to think or say this. Companies DO have a great deal of control in which they hire and promote.
In my executive search business we often hear from executives who feel this way. Either they have been passed over for a promotion or they have seen others passed over multiple times. Sometimes their company never considered an insider for an open position. Whatever the reason, these people feel like a commodity instead of a valued contributor. If this kind of perception starts to permeate the workforce the company is doomed – especially now that top talent is harder to find.
There are many reasons why a company would go outside to hire top talent; they don’t have a qualified person internally, they want fresh perspectives, they want competitor intelligence, etc… Hiring outside is expensive, time intensive, and dangerous (see steps 1 & 2)! Often it can be avoided if companies have a career development culture instead of an open seat culture.
Hiring from your current employees only works if you diligently practice Step 3. It also means a huge ROI on your labor expense. When employees believe they have the opportunity to grow and advance they don’t spend time looking elsewhere. When they enjoy a company development program they have greater confidence to take on more responsibility. Employees will take their performance more seriously and pursue self-development agendas. Giving an employee a career is a long-term investment strategy, one that every company must follow.
This is the final installment of the four steps to building a high performance team. Putting these steps into practice will have tremendous impact on company profitability and competitive edge. Don’t wait until your competition has all the top talent, beat them to the best people now!
Make recruiting a process that is structure and tracked
What would you think of a farmer who decided to skip all the plowing and sowing and jump right into harvesting? You’d think the farmer was deluded and crazy? How can a crop be harvested if the seeds were never sown? How can crops grow if the soil isn’t plowed and watered? It would be insanity to think a farmer could go straight to harvest without doing all the things necessary to cultivate their crop.
This is how many organizations approach recruiting. They have a critical opening and suddenly they want to harvest top talent. Like the farmer they too need to cultivate the talent pool and sow their employment brand long before they start to harvest. This means that recruiting has to be a process that is incorporated into the overall company culture . It has to be an ongoing activity that is measured and tuned.
Here are some simple ways high performing organizations sow seeds and cultivate a healthy crop of top talent:
Promote their company as a highly desired place to work
Create relationships with potential employees as early as high school
Advertise their jobs to attract top talent rather than screen out applicants
Profile key jobs
Establish an ongoing relationship with a niche search firm
Of course, there are variables specific to every organization. But the faster companies begin to cultivate their talent pool, the faster they’ll have the right people to hire.
Now that football season is underway we will be hearing a lot about high performance teams. The time, resources, expense, stress, planning, and practice that NFL teams use to build a winning season is frankly amazing. Millions of dollars are on the line. Jobs are on the line. The health of some of the most physically fit athletes in the world is on the line. Teams go to great effort to build a high performance unit to take them to the “big show”.
Businesses have no less at risk than NFL franchises. They might not have the same players or the same resources, but they have to build high performance teams. Fortunately you don’t need the resources of an NFL organization! Here are four easy steps any company can take to get huge pay-offs from their corporate team.
1) Make recruiting a process that is structure and tracked.
2) Be extremely selective with who you hire.
3) Align training with business priorities and coming trends.
4) Give employees a career instead of a job.
Over the next several weeks I’ll expand on each of these steps. In the meantime, start examining the way you attract employees and how you can improve that process. That alone might get you to the playoffs!
Have you ever experienced a day of 115 degree temperatures? That’s how I spend the past weekend while at a national lacrosse tournament in Towson, MD. The combined heat and humidity created a heat index in excess of 115 degrees! To say it was miserable would be an understatement. It’s a wonder more players didn’t collapse on the field.
The experience taught me two things; 1) the human body’s ability to produce perspiration is endless and, 2) no matter how many tents, shade trees, umbrellas, misters, etc…. you can’t escape that kind of heat! As the day wore on the heat began to impact the quality of play on the field. Players started to make decisions out of expedience and fatigue rather than skill and experience.
This is also how a lot of hiring managers approach their open positions. The heat of the open seat becomes so hot that they make poor decisions. If their bench strength is shallow or if they don’t practice the habit of always looking for top talent, the heat will beat them down. The hotter it gets the more likely they will compromise their judgment and instinct. This is exactly how “miss-hires” happen. The overheated urgency to find a body, anybody, causes short circuits in the hiring process.
Managers can provide some always present shade when they approach recruiting as a process and not as an event. This is especially important today as the search, and need, for top talent is getting hotter. Managers who have a system to constantly identify and attract top talent will avoid the oppressive heat caused by open seats.
I received an email from PayPal a few weeks ago saying my account has been “limited”! Not sure what that meant, I logged into my account to see what was wrong. Three weeks later I still can’t get an answer. They don’t return emails. There “customer service” phone number is buried deep within their website, which tells me they really don’t want you to call. When you get someone on the phone they can’t answer questions. Bottom line – after almost 7 years of patronage, hundreds of transactions, and never any problem I’m still locked out! It is frustrating and unnecessary and I have a low opinion of PayPal. Clearly they could use some customer service lessons.
Companies need to ask themselves if they give good customer service to candidates. Top talent has no patience, and no need, for bad customer service from HR and hiring managers. Do you take days to provide feedback to candidates or recruiters? That’s bad customer service. Are your hiring interviews unstructured and off-the-cuff? That’s bad customer service. Do you treat candidates as a commodity; to be screened out instead of courted? That’s bad customer service.
The same principles that define great customer service should also be incorporated into the hiring process. It is a reflection of a company’s culture and how they value their employees. Top talent is looking for an experience, not a job. Be sure your hiring experience is first class.
A few weeks ago I took an extended trip with my family. The first morning I woke up before everyone else to go for a run. As I dressed I suddenly realized I had forgotten my running cap. That might not seem like a big deal, but it makes a real difference in the quality and enjoyment of my run. I always run with that cap, it keeps the perspiration out of my eyes, provides a shield from the sun, and has a safety reflector quality to it. When I got into mile two my eyebrows didn’t work as well as that cap. I spent the rest of my run annoyed and wiping my eyes . In the haste of packing for the trip I forgot to include a small detail that created a consequential impact.
The same is true when a company is trying to hire a key player. The small details have a consequential impact. Forget to create a performance profile? Than all you have is a job description. Forget to write an attraction oriented job posting? Than all you have are ‘B’ and ‘C’ level people applying. Forget to profile the job? Then all you can do is validate a resume. Missing just one of these details causes companies to make costly hiring mistakes.
If I had used a packing checklist I might have remembered my running cap. Likewise, companies that use structured hiring process make much better hiring decisions.
In this short video blog I give employers three simple steps to take to attract, develop, and retain top talent in today’s marketplace.
Here’s the article I mentioned in the video: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303714704576385863720618134.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
In addition to how hospitals provide care to the Boomers, there is also an employment implication that hospitals must recognize. Just because Boomers retire it doesn’t mean they want to quick working. They will rapidly become an important part of hospital staffing as temporary and contract employees. Over the next ten years more than a half million nurses and almost 160,000 physicians will retire. The current nurse and physician shortages will only increase over this time. In fact, the BLS forecasts more jobs in health care than willing and able workers. Hospitals will not be able to maintain acceptable staffing levels with full-time employees.
Contract and temporary assignments are highly desired by outgoing Boomers. They have the skill, knowledge and expertise that hospitals need. By incorporating this talent pool into their overall strategy, hospitals will enjoy advantages such as:
Increased quality of care and patient satisfaction
For this to be successful organizations need to throw out their traditional view of temporary staffing. This is no longer a situation of just “filling in” until a full-time person is hired. Contract Boomers should be a permanent part of hospitals long-term strategy.
Did you know that Google often acquires companies based upon what their talent is going to do in the future?
Google recognizes that the real differentiating factors in today’s economy are the people who make up a company. Megan Smith, Google’s vice president of new business development, says “…Be open to growing your company, both through hiring top talent as well as acquiring top talent. That is what we have come to find for our own company.”
This is a lesson for any organization. Top Talent is the key to maintaining and increasing profitability and competitive edge. It is also getting harder to find top talent. A Strategic Employer understands this business reality and plans for it.
Posted by Richard Yadon 
Have you ever experienced a day of 115 degree temperatures? That’s how I spend the past weekend while at a national lacrosse tournament in Towson, MD. The combined heat and humidity created a heat index in excess of 115 degrees! To say it was miserable would be an understatement. It’s a wonder more players didn’t collapse on the field.
