Innovate or lose the Talent War
IN MY 20 YEARS IN TALENT MANAGEMENT AND RECRUITMENT CONSULTING, I AM STILL TO DISCOVER a true corporate HR recruitment business unit that actually operates or even thinks like a strategic business function. Where every other aspect of business has undergone a transformation, (Change Management, CRM, Six Sigma), HR functions in general and recruitment specifically, have remained stagnant.
A recent global leadership study, showed a resounding 75% of executives identifying “improving or leveraging talent” as a top priority. They know, and HR needs to understand, how important a world class staffing capability is to a company’s success, their growth and competitive standing.
South Africa must have some of the most ineffective recruiters and antiquated recruitment practices on the planet that are adding significantly to the shortage of quality talent. Little effort is being made to either develop the best recruiters, or to research, build, redevelop and focus on developing new innovative talent management practices.
HR recruitment functions are inundated with administrative types who do not have the right skills for the new generation of global business. Having trained thousands of specialist recruiters, it is evident that a large number of HR generalists cannot actually recruit or don’t have the skills to be great recruiters.
Most of what they do is the administration of HR systems and processes, usually an automation of existing ineffective recruitment practices. They truly believe that screening volumes of CVs is actually recruiting.
Their lack of skill in innovative talent acquisition practices can be seen by their reliance on old media as their main labour source supply. This includes a heavy reliance on job boards and newspaper advertising, ignoring the fact that top performers or passive candidates (top performers not actively pursuing jobs) are not found on job boards or reading recruitment adverts. Rather than attracting the best in industry candidates using innovative sources, they are limiting their search to active candidates from the job board or newspaper population.
They also rely heavily on recruitment agencies that use the same sources as their in-house capabilities, namely job boards, adverts, social networks, to find candidates.
Some of the most successful recruitment functions, with innovative recruitment practices that will leave you breathless, deliberately avoid these active candidate sourcing methods, and instead focus largely on the passive candidate market.
Recruitment functions have got away with too much for way too long. Many organisations are without a written recruiting strategy or plan. The few strategies that do exist, are usually quite basic, and talk of “talented bums on seats” with cost reduction as the single most important focus. The problem with that strategy is that as fast as new people are hired, just as soon do the average performers obtained cheaply, leave the organisation.
Where hiring managers are focused on whether the staff hired are innovators, in the top 20%, able to increase sales or improve customer satisfaction ratings, traditional recruitment function output is measured by number of openings handled, cost savings, people hired and time to fill. Find me an executive who will honestly be impressed by an average candidate, hired within a record two days at a 12% fee.
Traditional HR recruiting practices are also characterised by limited staff planning, poor or non-existent competitive analysis (sorely needed to remain ahead in the war on talent), poor planning to develop labour supply chains, leadership bench strength or talent pools, ineffective referral programmes, poor employment brand strategies and incredibly boring career websites.
Enter the new era of Talent Management and Chief Talent Officers.
CHIEF TALENT OFFICERS:
Aspiring to be the premium talent acquisition department in industry, and producing outputs worthy of the annual executive summary, these leaders in talent management are driving new innovation in the field of HR.
Their purpose is to maximise both the capability and capacity of the organization by directing the acquisition, development, deployment and retention of talented people.
Whereas in the past, recruitment, retention, training and development, performance management, employment branding, internal redeployment, staff planning and diversity were independent HR functions, they have integrated them into one managed function called “Talent Management” to increase business impact.
They see technology (mobile phones, blogs, podcasts), employment branding (best company to work for), metrics (quality of hire measures) and innovation (in employee referral programmes, recruiting tools, career websites) as the primary drivers of recruitment going forward.
Chief Talent Officers’ greatest innovation is the management of their recruitment and talent pipeline process like a true business supply chain. They’ve long discarded the traditional fixed HR model and traditional HR practices and adopted a more scientific, data-based approach to recruiting.
Not surprisingly, they utilise a wide variety of business and management tools in recruiting such as gap analysis, continuous improvement, re-engineering, root cause analysis, statistical trend analysis, supply/demand forecasting models, process mapping, ROI, productivity analysis and internal and external benchmark comparisons.
They are innovators in sourcing, have a fierce passive candidate focus and use new media sourcing methodologies, for example social networks, blogs, career websites, and referrals (which incidentally is rated consistently as the most effective tool for sourcing new hires - I’m surprised so few companies make this a priority). They produce comprehensive sourcing reports to identify candidate sources that are having a major impact on their recruiting success, and the percentage of the recruitment budget consumed by each source.
They’re bent on hiring recruiting professionals, as opposed to generalists, who have a pure business focus, understand costs, ROI, efficiency, productivity and strategic business objectives. Professional recruiters adept at sales and selling the employee value proposition and who can inspire prospective candidates to join their organization. They hire recruiters who know and understand that CVs and interviews are least effective in determining true capability.
With the war for talent exploding in most industries, it’s time for organizations to engage in profound self-reflection. As painful and shameful as it might be, it will also be enlightening and exhilarating.
Artemis Elias is a consultant in recruitment and talent management.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Adopting a Strategic and Proactive Recruiting Strategy
Adopting a Strategic and Proactive Recruiting Strategy
Community: Talent Acquisition
Track: Strategic Sourcing and Recruitment
Webcast: Webcast Airs: January 27, 2011
Most recruiting organizations currently operate in an outdated model of recruiting which is based on an outdated view of Human Capital. Traditionally, recruiters wait for the business leaders to decide who they need, how many, and by when, then they reach out to the recruiting department with a requisition. Given the scarcity of talent and the uncertainty of the world economy, talent acquisition needs an understanding of their organization’s current and future needs BEFORE a position is open.
In this webcast, learn how understanding the trends and gaps in crucial talent pools within and without the organization can propel the talent acquisition team from a back office transactional service to a proactive and strategic partner.
Be the first to comment
Tags: strategic sourcing and recruitment
From the Human Capital Institute
The Global Association for Strategic Talent Management
Community: Talent Acquisition
Track: Strategic Sourcing and Recruitment
Webcast: Webcast Airs: January 27, 2011
Most recruiting organizations currently operate in an outdated model of recruiting which is based on an outdated view of Human Capital. Traditionally, recruiters wait for the business leaders to decide who they need, how many, and by when, then they reach out to the recruiting department with a requisition. Given the scarcity of talent and the uncertainty of the world economy, talent acquisition needs an understanding of their organization’s current and future needs BEFORE a position is open.
In this webcast, learn how understanding the trends and gaps in crucial talent pools within and without the organization can propel the talent acquisition team from a back office transactional service to a proactive and strategic partner.
Be the first to comment
Tags: strategic sourcing and recruitment
From the Human Capital Institute
The Global Association for Strategic Talent Management
Monday, November 22, 2010
Experts Predict Slow Growth but Competitive Recruiting in 2011
Todd Raphael
Nov 9, 2010, 2:21 pm ET
Slow growth, hesitancy, and nervousness will continue into 2011, but the competition for employees will continue to be vigorous for many positions.
That’s the upshot of what a panel of recruiting leaders, consultants, and professors are saying. Their detailed advice for corporate recruiting leaders will be in the December Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
For now, some highlights:
“Finding people in the right place with the right skills will not necessarily be easier in this over-saturated labor market. In fact, it may be more difficult.” –John A. Challenger, Challenger, Gray & Christmas chief executive officer
Jeff Joerres
“While there is a sense of stabilization growing, don’t be fooled–now is the time to implement a robust talent strategy that fully accelerates an organization’s business strategy. Those who think short-term instead of looking at the bigger picture will find themselves talent-poor thanks to external forces and the velocity of change. Having the best business strategy in the world is purely academic if the company lacks the talent it needs to execute it…2011 promises to be an exciting year. 2010 was an improvement on 2009, and that upward gradient will continue. It has been a long uphill struggle and as we trudge on through the fog of uncertainty, it can feel as if the summit is not getting any closer. If we glance over our shoulder though, and see how far we have come since the beginning of the climb, we cannot fail to be filled with renewed confidence that the peak will be scaled and we can look forward to the fun part of the race where it is all downhill.” –Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower Chairman and CEO
“Is all the economic news bad? Not by a long shot. Although the economy will be lurching forth, and there will be bouts of short-term bad news, we will not be back in the horrible markets of half a million job losses monthly. The 2011 economy should be decidedly better than that of 2008-09. Productivity is up, but firms cannot live on productivity gains forever. They will have to hire as output, albeit slowly, expands. Firms that start their recruitment the earliest will have their pick of the best and the brightest. Those firms will get not only talent, but also grateful team members.” –Jack Worrall, Rutgers professor of economics and chair, College of Arts and Sciences
“The American labor market is digging out from a deep hole, and doing so at a snail’s pace, for two very fundamental reasons. The first reason is that there isn’t enough demand to warrant adding more people. And if that were the only problem, the solution would be simple: Jumpstart demand. In other words, government should spend enough money to get demand growing again. But the second argument suggests even if there were another round of stimulus spending, it wouldn’t work. This is because the workers needed to produce the goods and services in demand just aren’t out there. This is the mismatch between the skills the unemployed have and the skills required to fill new jobs.” –Ken Goldstein, Conference Board economist
“Why hasn’t a lower-cost model for executive search emerged? In 1980, if I had engaged a search firm to conduct a retained search, the fee would have been 33-1/3%. Today, the percentage is exactly the same (or at least that’s the starting point for negotiation). Since the world is now flat, access to information costs almost nothing compared to 30 years ago. Every other industry has gone through cathartic change. So why does the search industry stay the same?” –Erin M. Peterson, Aon Hewitt recruitment process outsourcing leader
Lorrie Lykins
“All bets will be off as we move in earnest into a post-recession economy. We can expect to see unprecedented hiring skirmishes between rivals and all-out coups as the war for talent heats up again. And potential candidates will be less passive in their job search approaches and negotiating as the pace of hiring quickens. While online resources will continuously offer employers new and innovative ways to connect with these potential candidates, the good old-fashioned art of schmoozing and networking will be more critical than ever.” –Lorrie Lykins, i4cp (Institute for Corporate Productivity) managing editor
“Many candidates have a residual cynicism from the way they were treated during the recession. While poor candidate treatment by companies is nothing new, a person’s experience during difficult times tends to be magnified to them as opposed to when times are good. As a result, people remember how they were treated over the last couple of years, and I’ve seen employer brands suffer. I suspect companies will continue to try to rehabilitate their personal brands through improved candidate care…” –Jeremy Eskenazi, Riviera Advisors managing principal
Sherrie Madia
“You will find stellar candidates who are not plugged in to social media. But will you need stellar candidates who know their way around the Web 2.0 space as social media continues to evolve across all areas of organizations. By integrating social media strategies into recruitment, research, and overall corporate impact, you will not only find you can make more informed and effective hires, but you will also reinvent your own corporate culture.” –Sherrie A. Madia, Wharton lecturer
“It’s now time to engage all employees and create meaning that makes money. Recruiters need to stop worrying simply about their company’s survival, and start creating reasons why it should.” –Dave Ulrich, Michigan professor of business
Susan Burns
“The competition for flexible ‘project talent’ will increase as organizations seek to achieve workforce strategies that are sustainable and adapt quickly and easily to shifting business needs. The influence of social technologies, ease of access to networks, and desire to connect has made talent a shared global resource. Keeping talent engaged and interested in your brand and business is not going to get easier.” –Susan Burns, Talent Synchronicity chief talent strategist
“I believe we are on the cusp of seeing the job market open back up and jobs beginning to churn again. Churn is going to start happening, regardless of whether the 15 million people out of work have roles or not. For the past two years, people with jobs that seemed secure stayed in them and didn’t take the chance of looking at the grass on the other side. This stopped the normal churn that has always been there. We are now pent up and in 2011 things will start to change, and I predict a huge influx of people will start looking for new opportunities. So now is the time to start thinking about how to adapt again, hone your skills, and embrace this next era of recruiting.” – Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor.com and HireVue board member
Todd Raphael
Nov 9, 2010, 2:21 pm ET
Slow growth, hesitancy, and nervousness will continue into 2011, but the competition for employees will continue to be vigorous for many positions.
That’s the upshot of what a panel of recruiting leaders, consultants, and professors are saying. Their detailed advice for corporate recruiting leaders will be in the December Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership.
For now, some highlights:
“Finding people in the right place with the right skills will not necessarily be easier in this over-saturated labor market. In fact, it may be more difficult.” –John A. Challenger, Challenger, Gray & Christmas chief executive officer
Jeff Joerres
“While there is a sense of stabilization growing, don’t be fooled–now is the time to implement a robust talent strategy that fully accelerates an organization’s business strategy. Those who think short-term instead of looking at the bigger picture will find themselves talent-poor thanks to external forces and the velocity of change. Having the best business strategy in the world is purely academic if the company lacks the talent it needs to execute it…2011 promises to be an exciting year. 2010 was an improvement on 2009, and that upward gradient will continue. It has been a long uphill struggle and as we trudge on through the fog of uncertainty, it can feel as if the summit is not getting any closer. If we glance over our shoulder though, and see how far we have come since the beginning of the climb, we cannot fail to be filled with renewed confidence that the peak will be scaled and we can look forward to the fun part of the race where it is all downhill.” –Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower Chairman and CEO
“Is all the economic news bad? Not by a long shot. Although the economy will be lurching forth, and there will be bouts of short-term bad news, we will not be back in the horrible markets of half a million job losses monthly. The 2011 economy should be decidedly better than that of 2008-09. Productivity is up, but firms cannot live on productivity gains forever. They will have to hire as output, albeit slowly, expands. Firms that start their recruitment the earliest will have their pick of the best and the brightest. Those firms will get not only talent, but also grateful team members.” –Jack Worrall, Rutgers professor of economics and chair, College of Arts and Sciences
“The American labor market is digging out from a deep hole, and doing so at a snail’s pace, for two very fundamental reasons. The first reason is that there isn’t enough demand to warrant adding more people. And if that were the only problem, the solution would be simple: Jumpstart demand. In other words, government should spend enough money to get demand growing again. But the second argument suggests even if there were another round of stimulus spending, it wouldn’t work. This is because the workers needed to produce the goods and services in demand just aren’t out there. This is the mismatch between the skills the unemployed have and the skills required to fill new jobs.” –Ken Goldstein, Conference Board economist
“Why hasn’t a lower-cost model for executive search emerged? In 1980, if I had engaged a search firm to conduct a retained search, the fee would have been 33-1/3%. Today, the percentage is exactly the same (or at least that’s the starting point for negotiation). Since the world is now flat, access to information costs almost nothing compared to 30 years ago. Every other industry has gone through cathartic change. So why does the search industry stay the same?” –Erin M. Peterson, Aon Hewitt recruitment process outsourcing leader
Lorrie Lykins
“All bets will be off as we move in earnest into a post-recession economy. We can expect to see unprecedented hiring skirmishes between rivals and all-out coups as the war for talent heats up again. And potential candidates will be less passive in their job search approaches and negotiating as the pace of hiring quickens. While online resources will continuously offer employers new and innovative ways to connect with these potential candidates, the good old-fashioned art of schmoozing and networking will be more critical than ever.” –Lorrie Lykins, i4cp (Institute for Corporate Productivity) managing editor
“Many candidates have a residual cynicism from the way they were treated during the recession. While poor candidate treatment by companies is nothing new, a person’s experience during difficult times tends to be magnified to them as opposed to when times are good. As a result, people remember how they were treated over the last couple of years, and I’ve seen employer brands suffer. I suspect companies will continue to try to rehabilitate their personal brands through improved candidate care…” –Jeremy Eskenazi, Riviera Advisors managing principal
Sherrie Madia
“You will find stellar candidates who are not plugged in to social media. But will you need stellar candidates who know their way around the Web 2.0 space as social media continues to evolve across all areas of organizations. By integrating social media strategies into recruitment, research, and overall corporate impact, you will not only find you can make more informed and effective hires, but you will also reinvent your own corporate culture.” –Sherrie A. Madia, Wharton lecturer
“It’s now time to engage all employees and create meaning that makes money. Recruiters need to stop worrying simply about their company’s survival, and start creating reasons why it should.” –Dave Ulrich, Michigan professor of business
Susan Burns
“The competition for flexible ‘project talent’ will increase as organizations seek to achieve workforce strategies that are sustainable and adapt quickly and easily to shifting business needs. The influence of social technologies, ease of access to networks, and desire to connect has made talent a shared global resource. Keeping talent engaged and interested in your brand and business is not going to get easier.” –Susan Burns, Talent Synchronicity chief talent strategist
“I believe we are on the cusp of seeing the job market open back up and jobs beginning to churn again. Churn is going to start happening, regardless of whether the 15 million people out of work have roles or not. For the past two years, people with jobs that seemed secure stayed in them and didn’t take the chance of looking at the grass on the other side. This stopped the normal churn that has always been there. We are now pent up and in 2011 things will start to change, and I predict a huge influx of people will start looking for new opportunities. So now is the time to start thinking about how to adapt again, hone your skills, and embrace this next era of recruiting.” – Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor.com and HireVue board member
Monday, November 15, 2010
How Recruiting Best Practices are Changing
January 19th, 2010
JCSI Study: How Recruiting Best Practices are Changing
2010 Recruitment SurveyThe results from JCSI’s 2010 Recruitment Survey reveal some interesting insights into how recruitment best practices are changing now that the economy is on the rise again. Hiring demands are increasing for most companies, but recruitment budgets are not increasing at the same rate. Traditional methods of posting jobs and contacting candidates are losing effectiveness, so recruiters are taking innovative approaches to finding talent. They are cutting back on ineffective advertising and agency practices and they are reaching out to candidates directly in online networks and social media.
As a result, the skills recruiting departments need to succeed are changing. Effective recruiters are adopting proactive processes with social media and emerging technologies to build their brand and connect with the best passive candidates directly.
There is a shift in recruitment best practices occurring right now. Companies are finding that it is far more productive to reach high quality candidates with online research and social media networking. This requires recruiting teams to develop new skills to communicate with potential candidates in their own online communities.
Finding qualified candidates is only half the battle — the challenge is to get them interested in your positions. JCSI provides companies with the expertise and resources they need to make the best quality hires faster.
- JCSI President and CEO Jim Sullivan
JCSI ran this study during November and December last year and collected responses from over 100 recruitment professionals. There is some great information here. In addition to these social media trends, we asked about:
* The biggest concerns facing recruiters and what are they planning to do about them
* How budgets are shifting and if many are anticipating a jump in employee churn.
* What are the most popular metrics recruiters use to measure success.
* The one thing recruiters say they’ll do differently in 2010.
Download this ebook to learn what your peers think about major recruitment trends and what they are doing about it.
Download the study: http://jcsi.net/landing/recruitment-survey
JCSI Study: How Recruiting Best Practices are Changing
2010 Recruitment SurveyThe results from JCSI’s 2010 Recruitment Survey reveal some interesting insights into how recruitment best practices are changing now that the economy is on the rise again. Hiring demands are increasing for most companies, but recruitment budgets are not increasing at the same rate. Traditional methods of posting jobs and contacting candidates are losing effectiveness, so recruiters are taking innovative approaches to finding talent. They are cutting back on ineffective advertising and agency practices and they are reaching out to candidates directly in online networks and social media.
As a result, the skills recruiting departments need to succeed are changing. Effective recruiters are adopting proactive processes with social media and emerging technologies to build their brand and connect with the best passive candidates directly.
There is a shift in recruitment best practices occurring right now. Companies are finding that it is far more productive to reach high quality candidates with online research and social media networking. This requires recruiting teams to develop new skills to communicate with potential candidates in their own online communities.
Finding qualified candidates is only half the battle — the challenge is to get them interested in your positions. JCSI provides companies with the expertise and resources they need to make the best quality hires faster.
- JCSI President and CEO Jim Sullivan
JCSI ran this study during November and December last year and collected responses from over 100 recruitment professionals. There is some great information here. In addition to these social media trends, we asked about:
* The biggest concerns facing recruiters and what are they planning to do about them
* How budgets are shifting and if many are anticipating a jump in employee churn.
* What are the most popular metrics recruiters use to measure success.
* The one thing recruiters say they’ll do differently in 2010.
Download this ebook to learn what your peers think about major recruitment trends and what they are doing about it.
Download the study: http://jcsi.net/landing/recruitment-survey
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Is this not an interesting discussion for a workshop or breakfast ????
When companies are developing strategies for attracting candidates, there are several techniques, tools and sources evaluated. Many companies often turn to their employment value proposition (EVP). The EVP is a powerful branding technique designed to define and promote the value of working for an employer, e.g. fitness center, day care, great leadership, culture, etc.
However, as we continue to find ways to source and attract talent, we often run into challenges such as generation, diversity, education, etc. Is promoting our companies employment brand enough, does it really provide the value you think it does, or do we now need to change our thinking and approach and begin to promote a candidate value proposition? Let me know your thoughts. I feel that EVP should not be compromised or diluted. A CVP may be a facet of the EVP and a company should from time to time revisit the EVP in order to be competitive. It's the same as for any other brand. A Value Proposition may have to change from time to time based on market trends.
Is promoting our companies employment brand enough, does it really provide the value you think it does, or do we now need to change our thinking and approach and begin to promote a candidate value proposition? Let me know your thoughts.
When companies are developing strategies for attracting candidates, there are several techniques, tools and sources evaluated. Many companies often turn to their employment value proposition (EVP). The EVP is a powerful branding technique designed to define and promote the value of working for an employer, e.g. fitness center, day care, great leadership, culture, etc.
However, as we continue to find ways to source and attract talent, we often run into challenges such as generation, diversity, education, etc. Is promoting our companies employment brand enough, does it really provide the value you think it does, or do we now need to change our thinking and approach and begin to promote a candidate value proposition? Let me know your thoughts. I feel that EVP should not be compromised or diluted. A CVP may be a facet of the EVP and a company should from time to time revisit the EVP in order to be competitive. It's the same as for any other brand. A Value Proposition may have to change from time to time based on market trends.
Is promoting our companies employment brand enough, does it really provide the value you think it does, or do we now need to change our thinking and approach and begin to promote a candidate value proposition? Let me know your thoughts.
Monday, March 29, 2010
VIP Payroll / Skills Development / Food Industry
Does anyone from the Food Industry use VIP Payroll & know how to link VIP to provide all relevant data for Skills Development purposes ???
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