Quality hires. It’s the siren song of our profession. Even as organizations discontinue large scale hiring in the current economic environment, they remain in the hunt for top tier talent. And we all know why: both anecdotal and empirical data confirm that “A” level performers not only contribute more themselves, but they raise the value of their coworkers’ contribution, as well. Regardless of their field of work or industry specialization, they are “quality multipliers” for the organizations that are able to hire them.
And that, of course, is the challenge. They are hard enough to bring in the door in the best of times, but in a difficult environment, they are especially tough to recruit. A slow economy makes them even more risk averse and even less willing to move than normal. So, what can we do? How do we overcome the twin hurdles involved in recruiting quality multipliers?
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A recent research report from SHRM listed a number of actions that organizations are now taking to improve their yield of quality hires. They include:
While all of these initiatives are helpful, they are also tactical in scope. In other words, they will improve an employer’s recruiting yield, but only if they are implemented within an overarching strategy that integrates and focuses them. This strategy creates a unity of purpose and approach that enables each and all of the actions to achieve their optimal results. It should have four components:
Each is described briefly below.
A theme: A clearly articulated and compelling employment brand.
Quality multipliers never, ever think of themselves as job seekers. If they move from one organization to another, they characterize that shift as the necessary and proper behavior of a “career activist”-someone who takes the initiative in managing their own career. Their initiative, however, is seldom self-induced; in most cases, career activists must be activated by something you do. For example, they will rarely visit an organizational Web-site or apply for a position on their own. They are also seldom activated by simple information-by a recruitment ad, for example, that does nothing more than notify them of an opening. In a very real sense, they must be compelled to connect with you. How does that happen? Through the rationale provided by your employment brand. It must give them a reason to act that is so persuasive and so uniquely intriguing that they can’t help themselves. They have to be in touch with you just to make sure they aren’t missing out on an employment opportunity that will enable them to continue or (even better) accelerate their success at work.
A context: A differentiating and persuasive candidate experience.
All too often, organizations confuse the steps of their recruiting process-the tasks that are performed-for the experience-the affective outcome-that it provides to candidates. While what you do and how you do it certainly influences the way a candidate feels about your organization, it’s the subtle and less obvious things that often determine what a candidate remembers most. These include the warmth of the message you use to respond to candidate applications and the nature of your follow up communication after they visit for an interview. They are also affected by the extent of the interaction you permit them to have with your organization’s employees and by the look on those employees’ faces and the tone of their voices when they talk about their employment experience. It’s these “little differences” that separate one recruiting process from another and, more importantly, differentiate your recruiting process from the purchasing department’s supply chain. Widgets don’t care about the little stuff that touches them, but humans and especially the best performing humans do.
A framework: A sophisticated relationship-building campaign.
Done well, your employment brand and your recruiting process experience will get top tier talent into and interested in your organization, but they will not sell them. They are not sufficient to convince quality multipliers-individuals who are probably well taken care of by their current employer-to do the one thing most humans hate most to do: go through the angst and disruption of a change. What’s missing? An emotional lasso. It is the precedent to the emotional handcuffs that the best employers create to sustain high retention among key workers. Basically, you must give candidates a sense of genuine connectedness to both the organization and those who represent it. You must make them feel as if they are a part of your team before they are. While it’s an admittedly overused term, the best description of this activity is “relationship building.” You transform strangers into proto-colleagues by weaving connections to and with them. How is that accomplished? Through a continuous and carefully developed communications campaign that helps each prospect see how they can fit into your organization effectively and play a meaningful role in its success.
A foundation: A robust and well integrated workforce planning infrastructure.
An organization can do everything else right in its recruiting strategy and still fail to hire the talent it needs, if its aim is off the mark. A powerful employment brand, a differentiating process experience and a dynamic relationship building campaign are all for naught if they are focused on the wrong number of candidates or on candidates with the wrong skills or skill levels or on candidates who are in the wrong location. Said another way, it’s easier to get it wrong than it is to get it right. How can you protect yourself? With a workforce planning infrastructure that removes uncertainly from your process. It alone can provide the information you need when you need it to design and implement a recruiting strategy and set of tactics that will successfully yield the talent required to execute your organization’s business plan. This infrastructure, however, doesn’t need a super computer and team of statisticians with doctorates to be effective. It doesn’t have to predict your workforce requirements to the eighteen decimal point. It simply needs to give you a ballpark estimate of what’s needed, when and where so that you are recruiting proactively and with a goal that is aligned with your organization’s expected operations.
Quality multipliers are special people who can’t be effectively recruited with half an effort. They require the use of not one but two kinds of best practices: those that are strategic as well as those that are tactical. The former provides a theme, a context, a framework, and a foundation for all of the important activities encompassed by the latter. The organizations that have the greatest success in hiring top tier talent assign equal priority to both and, as a result, they do their best completely.
Thanks for reading,
Peter
P.S. READER’S ALERT: Don’t miss the write-up below on WEDDLE’s latest book-Finding Needles in a Haystack. Shally Steckerl called it “A rare and uniquely useful reference guide for recruiters!”.
This Issue’s Sponsor: Recognizing Richard Rabbit
This issue of WEDDLE’s newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of Recognizing Richard Rabbit, Peter Weddle’s big bestseller in a little book that is this year’s first choice for summer reading.
Recognizing Richard Rabbit is a fable for adults, young and not so young. In the genre of Who Moved My Cheese?, it’s a tale about some forest friends that make an amazing discovery by trying to help one of their own. They don’t uncover the key to organizational change, however, or to setting strategic goals for the enterprise. No, Recognizing Richard Rabbit is a much more personal book and its gift is unique to each and every reader.
This story opens the door to genuine self exploration. It is all about finding the secret to authentic living. To being your own true self. How does Recognizing Richard Rabbit do that? Unlike traditional fables, this tale unfolds in two synchronized parts: one in fiction-the fable, the other in nonfiction-a parallel self-interview. In essence, you are invited to tap both the creative and the analytic sides of your brain-to probe the whole of your inherent talent-so you can find the pathway to the person you are meant to be.
Make this the summer when you figure out how to meet the person of your dreams-the one who lives inside you. Get your copy of Recognizing Richard Rabbit today. All you have to do is call WEDDLE’s at 317.598.9768 or click here. So, don’t delay. Make sure you have Recognizing Richard Rabbit packed in your suitcase for your summer vacation.
Section Two: Site News You Can Use
Steve Cone, the chief marketing officer at Epsilon, published a new book entitled Powerlines: Words That Sell Brands, Grip Fans, & Sometimes Change History. His advice on the taglines for product and service brands can also be helpful [with some extrapolation] to recruiting teams that are developing their first employment brand or updating the one they already use. He believes taglines:
WEDDLE’s has released a powerful new tool for recruiters. Called Finding Needles in a Haystack, it’s the first comprehensive listing of keywords for successfully searching resume databases online and off. The book provides thousands of search terms and phrases for the:
If you’re not getting the yield you need from job board resume databases, data mining or even your own resume management system, this is the reference book for you. In fact, sourcing guru Shally Steckerl described this book as “A rare and uniquely useful reference guide for recruiters!” It doesn’t get any better than that! To order your copy, please call WEDDLE’s at 317.598.9768 or click here. Get Finding Needles in a Haystack today!
WEDDLE’s also offers a number of other publications for recruiters seeking to win the War for the Best Talent and maximize their ROI … their return on the Internet. They include:
So make sure you’re at the top of your game, get your WEDDLE’s books today. Click here or call WEDDLE’s at 317.598.9768.
Section Three: Site Profiles
Site Spotlite … from the pages of WEDDLE’s 2007/8 Guides and Directories
There are 40,000 job boards now in operation in North America and an equal number operating elsewhere around the world. The key to recruiting top talent online, therefore, is knowing where to find and how to select the best sites for each of your requirements. WEDDLE’s 2007/8 Guide identifies 350 of the top sites worldwide and provides the information you need to determine which job boards will deliver the optimum yield for you. For example:
Experience
Post full time jobs: Yes
Post part time, contract or consulting jobs: Yes-All
Distribution of jobs: National-USA
Fee to post a job: Not specified
Posting period: 30 days
Can posting be linked to your site: Yes
Resume database: Yes
Number of resumes: 500,000+
Source of resumes: Direct from individuals
Top occupations among visitors: College students and alumni, Engineers, Finance & Accounting professionals, Analysts
Other services for employers: Automated resume agent, Banner advertising, Status reports
Member, International Association of Employment Web Sites: Yes
Get Recognizing Richard Rabbit Today!
This issue of WEDDLE’s newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of Recognizing Richard Rabbit, Peter Weddle’s big bestseller in a little book that is this year’s first choice for summer reading.
Recognizing Richard Rabbit is a fable for adults, young and not so young. In the genre of Who Moved My Cheese?, it’s a tale about some forest friends that make an amazing discovery by trying to help one of their own. They don’t uncover the key to organizational change, however, or to setting strategic goals for the enterprise. No, Recognizing Richard Rabbit is a much more personal book and its gift is unique to each and every reader.
This story opens the door to genuine self exploration. It is all about finding the secret to authentic living. To being your own true self. How does Recognizing Richard Rabbit do that? Unlike traditional fables, this tale unfolds in two synchronized parts: one in fiction-the fable, the other in nonfiction-a parallel self-interview. In essence, you are invited to tap both the creative and the analytic sides of your brain-to probe the whole of your inherent talent-so you can find the pathway to the person you are meant to be.
Make this the summer when you figure out how to meet the person of your dreams-the one who lives inside you. Get your copy of Recognizing Richard Rabbit today. All you have to do is call WEDDLE’s at 317.598.9768 or click here. So, don’t delay. Make sure you have Recognizing Richard Rabbit packed in your suitcase for your summer vacation.