Archive for the ‘Process’ Category
A Talent Strategy Conversation with Susan Burns - Part 2
Posted by Jason
Part one of my conversation with Susan Burns focused on opportunities and trends within talent management. Part 2, posted here focuses on social media and social networking, metrics, and the candidate experience from a recruiting perspective.
Jason:
There continues to be an emphasis and talk about the use of social media and social networking in recruitment. Keeping in mind some are leading the way, while others are skeptical, what advice do you have for those that are taking the wait-and-see approach?
Susan:
As you know I’m an advocate of social media and quite passionate about the use of it for talent attraction and engagement. In a way it’s good that some recruitment leaders are still skeptical. There are several aspects of social media that should be thoroughly considered before moving forward with a visible online network presence. Diving into social media too quickly can cause a lot of harm to a brand. Recruiting leaders can benefit by taking the time to not only understand the nuances of social media but, more importantly, frame what it means for their brand –
- What are they trying to accomplish?
- What does it take to build, nurture and engage an active community, or communities?
- How will the recruitment function manage active communities to keep content fresh and interact with talent?
- Which communities are a fit for the brand and the type of talent they want to attract?
- How will the social media presence integrate with the employment brand strategy?
By Jason Buss.
Recruiters want strong relationships with their hiring managers. It’s one thing to want, and another to deliver and earn. Strong relationships are not granted - they are earned by producing results. One sign you have work to do is when a new position is opened, he/she contacts an external provider before talking to you. As the late Rodney Dangerfield used to say, “I don’t get no respect”. Start now. Own it, and make it mutual.
Here are 5 things you can do now to increase the trust, respect, and appreciation with your hiring leaders:
- Know your competitors better than your Hiring Manager. It’s one thing to know the list of companies you are competing against, but it’s another to know what positions they have open, who their “A” players are, who’s looking, and who would consider the right opportunity. Do you read their press releases, are you signed up for e-mail alerts, RSS feeds, watch their stock (if applicable), or follow their employees on social networking sites?
- Set expectations up front, and drive accountability. Not just what you will do, but what you expect of them throughout the recruiting and hiring process. Do you use service level agreements? Read more about the purpose and benefits of using SLA’s for recruiting, or key steps in establishing SLA’s for recruiting. A blast from the past - people have been talking about the use of SLA’s in HR overall for years but very few organizations do it effectively.
- Source talent. Sounds easy, right? Most hiring managers do not want a bunch of Resume’s forwarded to them from you. They are looking for pre-screened, assessed talent, based on the position priorities and competencies he/she described when the requisition was opened. If you have a conversation in your initial meeting - or ask - about what job boards, niche sites, or associations he/she thinks you should post on, you have work to do.
- Have a 95%+ acceptance rate. Sure, candidates turn down opportunities for a variety of reasons, but the best recruiters anticipate needs or objections throughout the process prior to the offer stage.
- Deliver on every commitment. Provide the right number of updates, with the right content, in the right way. Don’t be a high maintenance recruiter. If you say you are going to do something, do it ahead of time, or on time.
While Hiring Managers absolutely own part of the process, recruiters facilitate a majority of it. Recruiters that are influential with the interpersonal skills, confident, and competent will win every time.
Get Paid To Interview for Jobs
Posted by JasonNotchUp has been testing its’ career agent site for months, and today opens its service to all businesses.
Since January, NotchUp has been approached by more than 1,000 companies to test run its service. 12 were selected based on diverse criteria to take an up close look and give it a try.
NotchUp has received plenty of criticism. The most common reported was that people would say yes to any interview because they were offered money. That hasn’t been the case - about 40% of interview offers are accepted.
New features on the site include:
- When a user updates their professional profile or resume in Facebook, NotchUp automatically incorporates the changes.
- Resume importing
- Users can leverage the Facebook or OpenSocial messaging systems for NotchUp alerts.
- Users can invite friends to join NotchUp through Facebook or OpenSocial.
- Users can seamlessly import contacts from multiple address books.
- Privacy features
According to NotchUp, they are changing the way recruiting is done, one interview at a time.
Options:
New Recruiting Tool Combines Audio and Resume
Posted by JasonVerbal Summary launches tool that combines audio and Resume. The new Web 2.0 tool promises unlimited possibilities, including:
- Resume Presentation
- Reference Checking
- Extending a job offer
- Recruiter training
- Interview feedback
- And more…
Jerry Albright, Founder of Verbal Summary, shares that Verbal Summary has created the very first presentation tool designed for any desk in the staffing world.
Learn more about Verbal Summary by registering for their free upcoming webinar.
As a follow-up to my first and second post on the Spring Kennedy Information Recruiting Conference last month, I mentioned I would be taking a look back to the first national staffing and recruiting conference I attended almost 10 years ago to see what’s new and what’s not.
Why? For starters, my wife summoned me to clean out the many totes I have filled with papers and information saved over the years which included my notes from these events. I also wanted to compare the content and messages between then and now. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to attend many events including Linkeage Inc., SHRM, NACE, SMA (formerly EMA), Kennedy Information, and ERE.
Here is a look back at some of the information from the first event I attended, the content and key messages.
Recruiting Rules:
- You must declare a talent war and act like a warrior
- The war for talent is over, and the candidates have won
- Top talent matters most
- Measure it and prove it works - or don’t do it
- Measure the performance of the hire
- Be different, create a competitive advantage
- Speed is everything
- There is not a shortage of talent. We’re experiencing bad tools with low unemployment
- Recruiting is sales and marketing
- If you are not fighting for them, they are not superstars
- Everyone in your organization must be a 24/7 talent scout
- Managers must “own” recruiting
- Pre-qualify talent
- You must “wow” the very best
- Treat candidates like customers
- Have a well defined and communicated strategy
- Assess culture fit
- Become an employer of choice
- Create an employer brand
- Retain Gen X and Gen Y employers
Things that don’t work in recruiting:
- Large job boards
- Job fairs
- Want ads
- College career offices
- Temp agencies
- Multiple interviews
- A consensus approach
- Resume’s
Great employment strategies:
- Hire the best and brightest
- Go after passive talent
- Relationship recruiting
- Prioritize jobs
- Selection based on experience
- Web focused versus traditional
- Hire boomerangs
- Focus on retention
- Recruiting leaders should run recruiting like a business
- Attract-Develop-Retain strategy
- Employee engagement impacts the bottom line
- Workforce Planning
- Diversity is a focus
- E-cruiting is the future
- Next generation networks will dominate E-cruiting
- Develop talent pipelines
Re-design your recruiting function:
- Identify how the war for talent impacts key business objectives
- Survey your stakeholders
- Benchmark your process
- Create a gap analysis
- Develop a world class model
- Achieve 40 day time to fill target
- Create an in-house sourcing center of excellence
While there was no direct mention of social media or social networks which is currently the focus for many, there was one reference to next generation networks and how they will dissolve the big job boards. Speaking of job boards, it was interesting to see references to they don’t work - keep in mind this was around their peek.
Other than a few buzz words changing slightly and the adoption of new technology, there really has not been a major shift in focus over the past ten years. Are we paying thousands to listen to recycled information? You be the judge. The real value for many people I have met and attended with is the chance to network and meet with others, share best practices, validate, meet with vendors and suppliers, and develop/grow professionally.
Options:
This is a 2 part series on Service Level Agreements, and includes:
- Part 1: Service Level Agreements Purpose and Benefits
- Part 2: Key Steps in Establishing Service Level Agreements
Part 2:
Before establishing a service level agreement, it is important to consider the overall purpose and benefits, as well as assess the overall readiness for your organization. Overall, SLA’s can be an excellent tool in improving communications, managing expectations, clarifying responsibilities and building the foundation for a win-win relationship.
The key steps in establishing a Service Level Agreement include:
- Gathering background information
- Ensuring agreement about the agreement
- Establishing ground rules for working together
- Developing the agreement
- Generating buy-in
- Completing pre-implementation tasks
- Implementing and managing the agreement
Gathering background information. Both the customer and the internal business partner need to start by gathering information so that each has a solid basis from which to negotiate. Before eliciting commitments from their service provider, customers should carefully review and clarify their service needs and priorities. And before making any commitments to customers, service providers should examine their service history and determine the level of service they can realistically provide. In addition, service providers should assess customer satisfaction to clearly understand customer concerns and establish a baseline for assessing service improvements.
Ensuring agreement about the agreement. The two parties to an agreement often have different views about the role of the SLA and what it can realistically accomplish. Both sets of views may be valid, yet sufficiently different as to cause a breakdown in SLA negotiations. Before any SLA development work is done, it is advisable for the two parties to hold an open discussion to ensure that they have a basic level of agreement about the agreement. If they don’t -and until they do- any further SLA effort may prove futile.
Establishing ground rules for working together. In this critical, but often overlooked step the SLA developers focus not on the agreement, but on the process by which they will work together to create the agreement.
Develop the agreement. This is but one step in the process of establishing an SLA; it’s not the entire process. In this step, the two parties create a structure for the SLA document and then discuss, debate, negotiate and, over time, reach agreement about the contents of the agreement. In doing so, they may each solicit assistance, input or feedback from the others in their own organization. The duration of this step typically varies, depending on the developers’ previous experience with SLAs, their familiarity with the key elements of an SLA, the demands of their other responsibilities, and the state of the relationship between the two parties.
Generating buy-in. The result of Step 4 is a draft of an agreement, not a completed agreement. Before implementing an SLA, all members of both parties who have a stake in, or responsibility for, the success of the agreement should have an opportunity to review the draft, raise questions, and offer suggestions. Using this feedback, the developers can conduct further negotiations, gain the necessary approvals, and finalize the document. In addition to generating buy-in, this step improves the quality of the final document.
Completing pre-implementation tasks. This step entails the identification and completion of tasks that must precede SLA implementation. Such tasks might include, for example, developing tracking mechanisms, establishing reporting processes, developing procedures for carrying out stated responsibilities, communicating expectations to staff, providing pertinent training.
Implementing and managing the agreement. An agreement that is not managed dies upon implementation. Management responsibilities include providing a point of contact for problems related to the agreement, maintaining ongoing contact with the other party, conducting service reviews, coordinating and implementing modifications to the SLA, and assessing and reporting on how the two parties can further enhance their working relationship.
Establishing and implementing agreements is neither a quick or easy process. Communication and buy-in are required to implement a solid SLA. Be clear about the intent and purpose of the agreement prior to making a decision to use them. And, if you are not going to measure the results or drive accountability, save your time and don’t create or execute a SLA within your organization.
This is a 2 part series on Service Level Agreements, and includes:
- Part 1: Service Level Agreements Purpose and Benefits
- Part 2: Key Steps in Establishing Service Level Agreements
Part 1:
Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) have been around for some time, and was a hot topic within the talent acquisition space dating back 6-7 years ago. I have been asked about SLA’s twice in the past week and views on driving success when implementing them in a recruiting function.
Service Level Agreements can be created for clients both internally and externally. The 2 most common I have come across in recruiting include hiring managers and HR Business Partners. What’s the purpose of a SLA?
- Define the services to be provided
- Establish the manner in which the services will be delivered
- Set quality standards to be achieved
- Determine the measurement criteria
- Outline the reporting process
I have also had the opportunity to personally implement SLA’s and have talked with recruiting leaders about SLA’s in their organization. Some have been a critical driver to establishing two-way accountability and have been very successful, while some have failed miserably. The common denominator with the successful cases: Client confidence and recruiting professionals with influence and sales ability to set the expectations, as well as ownership in the process.
When implemented properly, SLA’s have several benefits including:
- Establishes two-way accountability for a service
- Creates levels of service that are negotiated and standardized
- Documents service levels in writing
- Provides a basis for improving service levels
- Standardized methods for communicating expectations
In the end, SLA’s are only as effective as the team designing and implementing them. The piece of paper becomes meaningless without the right training, expectations, accountability, and skills to execute with clients.
Part 2 of Service Level Agreements in Recruiting will focus on the Seven Key Steps to Establishing a SLA.
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