WorkPuzzle

The Nerds May Triumph Again

In the mid-90s, Public Television aired a documentary titled, “The Triumph of the Nerds.”  It was a humorous look at how entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, and others came to prominence around the birth and rapid growth of the personal computer industry.  The documentary was based on the best-selling book, "Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date."

You’d think that these types of geeks would only find prominence in fields such as technology, math, physics, etc.  Well, that may not be the case anymore...

Researchers (code word for geeks) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are beginning to use technology to do the “subjective” work typically reserved for managers, recruiters, and coaches.

“Using high-tech badges that transmit data on an individual's gestures, eye movements, voice levels, and even proximity to other people, MIT is parsing the physical traits of leadership.  Along with highlighting effective managers, researchers hope the data will help train workers to be more effective at everything from networking to dealing with customers….  The technology goes beyond anything captured in a typical personality test… [By collecting this type of data], you can suddenly look at hundreds of people on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis.”

This may be taking measurement to an extreme.  The Business Week article citing this research estimates that only 1% to 2% of companies are currently using analytics as a component of their human resources and management strategy.  The example cited above would still be considered by most to be conceptual research.

However, the trend toward measuring human behavior is definitely growing.  If you’re the type of person who does not care for numbers, math, measurement, data analysis, scientific research, and other such topics, you may find yourself at odds with where the “people business” is heading. 

Tomorrow I’ll share some information about a project that has been going on at IBM for several years.  It is not as scary as the MIT researchers wearing electronic badges that count how many times your eye lids blink during a conversation, but you will be surprised to learn what they are measuring.   

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Leave it to the CFOs to Drop the Hammer

If you’ve been reading WorkPuzzle for awhile, you’ve probably noticed that our organization likes numbers and metrics.  We believe that anything worth doing is worth measuring. (Workpuzzle Blogs about Metrics:  articles 1, 2, 3, and 4)

I may have found a kindred spirit this week -- Dr. Richard Beatty at Rutgers University.  Dr. Beatty spoke at a recent conference of more than 300 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs).  You’d think a Human Resources (HR) Specialist like Dr. Beatty would hang out with the HR folks, but this guy seems to me more at home with CFOs.

Excerpts from his speech were recorded in CFO Magazine this month.  In the speech, Dr. Beatty is quite critical of most HR organizations.  He makes the point that people in these roles cannot be trusted because they don’t understand metrics.

"…the language of organizations is numbers, HR isn't very good at data analytics.  They don't think like business people.  Many of them entered human resources because they wanted to help people, which I'm all for, but I'm also for building winning organizations."

Of course, what’s prompting this type of rhetoric is financial pressure.  One of the case studies he referenced shows how an unnamed financial firm was spending more than $30M per year in salaries and benefits to employees in the lowest quartile.  There was a direct connection made showing how this poor performance cost the firm as much as $50 million worth of business.

There are several lessons that can be gleaned from this topic:

Regarding organizations, Dr. Beatty made the point that competent companies use recessions to upgrade their talent bases.  They get rid of poor performers and replace them with more talented people in search of work.  Of course, to do this effectively, you have to be able to measure performance.  Specifically, you need to be measuring the performance of  your existing employees, and measuring the performance of the new talent you’re evaluating.

As for individuals, find solace in knowing that there’s hope.  If you’re a talented person who happens to be unemployed at the moment, then you should find encouragement in the knowledge that good companies still need people like you.  As you look for a job, quantify your experience in a measurable way.  Show on your resume that your past accomplishments actually produced measurable business results, and then be prepared to communicate with metrics in an interview.  Who knows, you might be interviewing with a CFO…

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Four Trends Affecting the Future of Recruiting - Part 2

Tracking and following trends is human nature.  It gives us a way to make sense of what is going on in the world around us.  In a sense, it also gives us a way to predict the future.

 If you’re a job-seeker, trending information by itself is probably not going to directly help you land your next job.  However, understanding what is happening in the world of employment, Hiring Managers, and recruiting can help increase your odds of being noticed by employers who could benefit from your talents.

In yesterday’s entry, I discussed two of the Four Trends Affecting the Future of Employment.  (For a better understanding of the topic, please review Part 1 of this article before reading further.)

The remaining two trends I’ll address today are:

(3) Referrals Will Become the Primary Sourcing Channel for All Positions
(4) Recruiters Becoming Partners with Their Clients and Consultants to Their Candidates

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(3) Referrals Will Become the Primary Sourcing Channel for All Positions:

If you’re a job-seeker, networking and obtaining personal referrals needs to become an essential part of your job search strategy.  In fact, if you’re not focusing on networking, you’re probably missing the boat altogether.  Lou Adler makes that observation:

“In a recent Execunet survey, 70% of over 6,000 executives and executive recruiters indicated that networking would be the key to either finding a job or finding candidates, compared to 16% through online advertising.

While this would be expected at the executive level, our own 2007 survey of 800 corporate recruiters filling staff and mid-level positions indicated that networking and employee referrals represented about 35% to 40% of their hires.

This is about five points higher than last year, so not only is networking important, but the trend is up.  LinkedIn has helped accelerate this trend, in combination with Facebook, MySpace, and some of the niche social networking sites.”

If you’re a Hiring Manager in search of talented employees, then a strategy for getting referrals is essential.

(4) Recruiters Becoming Partners with Their Clients and Consultants to Their Candidates:

This issue is being addressed more to identify an existing problem, than to presume it will be remedied in the near future.  There is a disconnect between those who perform the sourcing of candidates and ground work on the front end of the hiring process, and those who actually “pull the trigger” on a hire.

“Our 2008 Recruiting and Hiring Challenges survey revealed two big problems.  The first was pretty obvious:  76% of the 775 respondents said it was becoming increasingly difficult to find enough top candidates.

The second problem was a bit unexpected:  59% of the respondents said their hiring manager clients were the real problem in recruiting top people.  Some of the problems attributed to this nefarious group included lack of good assessment skills, over-reliance on skills and experiences to weed out people, lack of responsiveness, and an inability to recruit top performers.”

What does this mean?  If you’re a job-seeker, understand that the hiring system in the company you’re applying to likely does not work all that effectively.  As quickly as possible, gain access to the hiring manager and build a connection with that person.  This is the best chance you’ll have of being hired.

If you’re a recruiter, you have tremendous opportunity in the future to improve.  Partnering with the organizations you service not only promotes your own job security, but is the path to your own personal excellence.

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Four Trends Affecting the Future of Recruiting

I’m sure you’ve read articles that claim to have figured out the future or have insights about some developing trend.  However, when you refer back to the article a few months later, you quickly see that the author wasn’t quite as good at prognosticating as he thought.  It’s rare to find something that still rings true a year after it is written.  Well, I think perhaps I have...

About nine months ago, I read an article that I have referred back to several times.  Lou Adler is a recruitment industry consultant who has studied recruiting trends for many years.  His consulting company, The Adler Group, provides executive staffing and recruitment consulting.  The article he wrote last year is called Four Trends Affecting the Future of Recruiting.

Mr. Adler identifies the four trends as:

(1)  The Merging of Candidate Sourcing and Consumer Marketing
(2)  Increasing Reliance on Metrics, Forecasting, and Workforce Planning
(3)  Recruiters Becoming Partners with Their Clients and Consultants to Their Candidates
(4)  Referrals Will Become the Primary Sourcing Channel for All Positions

I believe that these trends resonate with me because these are some of the issues our company’s most progressive clients ask us to address on a regular basis.  I’ll cover two trends today and then two more tomorrow.

(1)  The Merging of Candidate Sourcing and Consumer Marketing:

When performed efficiently, candidate sourcing involves getting your message in front of as many of the right people as possible, at the lowest possible price.  The traditional job board model is at odds with this principle.  When candidate sourcing is viewed as marketing, a new paradigm emerges:

“The buzz in consumer advertising is narrowcasting.  This basically means segmenting your customer base into narrow subsets (i.e., professional single women between 25 and 30 who live in the city) and pushing your advertising message to them using a variety of techniques.

Some of these include search engine optimization, organic search, behavioral marketing, the use of talent hubs and microsites, and pay-per-click.  The key here is to make sure your advertising can be easily found by the right audience.”

(2)  Increasing Reliance on Metrics, Forecasting, and Workforce Planning:

In an era of strained resources, companies want to make sure their recruiting budgets are producing results.  This means measuring all data and documenting outcomes to assess the effectiveness of recruitment efforts.

In our company (Tidemark), we provide our clients with real-time sourcing results.  Hiring Managers can tell how many people are viewing their ads, navigating their on-line HiringCenters, and ultimately, how many are completing employment inquiries.

Effective forecasting involves treating the recruiting process as a work flow.  A work flow is a defined process that, if followed, will produce a predictable result.  A work flow allows recruiting execution to be measured and then bench-marked over time.  It has become commonplace to compare recruiting results across organizations in similar fields to gain a perspective on how efficiently an organization is operating.
 
Application: 

If you’re a recruiter and you’re not using some of the techniques listed above, this is a great time to make a contribution to your organization in this way.  Most companies strive to operate more efficiently and would welcome this type of optimization.

If you’re a person looking for a job or coaching someone looking for a job, then it is important to understand the methodologies companies are now using to source candidates.  With this knowledge, you’ll be better able to identify opportunities and gain access to Hiring Managers. 

Furthermore, the focus on measurement doesn’t end with sourcing.  During the interview process, companies are increasingly looking for measurable results.  Does your resume demonstrate measurable results?  Do the prepared interview questions/answers you draw from during an interview illustrate a measurable track record of results?  These are important issues.  In this competitive market, it is becoming increasingly necessary to capitalize on the opportunities that come your way.

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eHarmony for Jobs

Earlier this week, I received an email from a job board announcing they had found a “job match” for me.  The email profoundly announced that I would be a great fit for a Pharmacy Technician position that recently opened in my local area.

That’s odd.  I have no background in pharmacy, I’ve never had an interest in pharmacy, and I really don’t like drug companies.  On the spectrum of medical healing options, I lean much more toward natural healing options than supporting traditional drug therapies.

If this were an isolated case, I would brush it off as some kind of anomaly.  But, unfortunately, this is becoming quite common.  I’ve never received a job match from any service that comes anywhere close to my interests and talents.  These companies regularly send me job-match emails that miss the mark completely. 

I’ve often wondered why no one has been able to come up with a viable “eHarmony for jobs”.  There has to be some folksy shrink like Dr. Neil Clark Warren out there who could make a go of this business model.  Right?

An article I ran across by John Sumser this week makes me think this may never (successfully) happen on a large scale basis.  Mr. Sumser wrote the following critique about the marketing propaganda of a new job-matching start-up called eHire that claims to be the “eHarmony for Jobs”:

“Thank goodness, what we’ve been missing is one more eHarmony for Jobs.  Here’s the list so far (If you have any additions, I’d love to see them.)  Climber, Google, Itzbig, Jiibe, JobFox, Jobster, JobStick, MBAInteract, Optimatch, RealMatch, Trovix, Zumeo..

What’s surprising is that someone would launch a service [eHire] with this sort of branding this late in the game.  Although Harry Joiner said it best, there has been an endless supply of articles detailing the problems with matching.  To summarize Joiner, there are five reasons that eHarmony won’t work for jobs:

1. Companies often don’t know what they want the new employee to do
2. Many jobs have no defined skill set
3. All candidates are liars
4. People are terrified to specialize
5. Resumes and online 'profiles' aren’t people"

What can we learn from this?  If you’re a recruiter or a hiring manager, there is no substitute for getting to know your candidates as human beings.  While an assessment or a skills-match can give you some hints as to how a person may fit in a particular role on your team, it cannot replace the need for personal involvement.  After all, even eHarmony is designed to get you a first date with someone who is in the ballpark of being compatible with you - The rest is up to you!

If you’re looking for a job or if you are coaching someone who is looking for a job, don’t put too much faith in the role of technology for your job search.  Personal connections produce results.  Work hard at making personal connections and becoming relevant, helpful, and engaged with the network of people you already know.

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What's a Hiring Manager to Do? - Part 2

I’d like to introduce you to someone today.  Peter Weddle is a recruiting expert who has published many books, runs a bi-weekly recruiting email, and has recently started a blog site called WorkStrong. He is a very smart guy, but I think you’ll enjoy his sincerity the most.

Many of you are not hard-core recruiters, so Peter’s insight would not be something that would interest you on an on-going basis.  However, today I’m going to share something from his most recent newsletter that relates to our current topic.

Many recruiting organizations are sitting around twiddling their thumbs, unsure of which direction to go right now.  They previously spent their work days acquiring candidates and placing them into positions.  (In smaller companies, the Hiring Manager may be responsible for this.)

When recruitment activity slows, or even comes to a stop, what pro-active steps can Hiring Managers take to make the most of their down time?

Mr. Weddle suggests that we use this time to work on solidifying and building upon the network of candidates we already have.

“Implement a communications campaign that is designed to leverage every applicant’s initial interest in your organization.  They made the effort to apply for one or more of your openings, so tell them that you intend to make the effort to get to know them better.”

The question then becomes:  How do you manage such a dialog?  Peter gives this advice:

“To be successful…this campaign must be positioned as a two-way street, a dialogue rather than a soliloquy.  It shouldn’t be only you talking to them about how great your employer is or only them sending you an unending stream of updates on their employment qualifications.

The best approach is to create an interaction that provides value to both parties.  You want to pre-sell them on your employer as a great place to work and acquire additional data about them to help you achieve your goal of putting the right talent in the right opening…

These communications should be regular – no less than once a month – but not intrusive – no more than twice a month.  They are not corporate memos or marketing collateral, so they should be written in a friendly, conversational style and be free of promotional hype and hoopla.

Over time, this two-way exchange will enhance familiarity and trust between your recruiting team and the applicants whose resumes are stored in your database.  Those two factors are the pillars of genuine recruiting relationships.  They enable you to transform your resume database from a static stack of useless documents into a reservoir of talent that is pre-screened, pre-sold and prepared to be considered for your employment opportunities.  That’s an asset any organization would be pleased to have and, therefore, equally as loath to lose those who created it.”

There is a lot of wisdom in Peter’s advice. The bottom line… We still have a lot of work to do!  But, it’s probably not the same work you’re used to doing.  To be relevant, it is important to adjust your actions to the current conditions.  For sure, inactivity is not a path to relevance.

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Posting Comments:  Have you ever posted a comment on a blog?  If not, you should try it.  It’s a fun way to get involved in the discussion and find out what others are thinking.  If you’re a shy person or want to maintain a higher level of privacy, just use your first name or a screen name.  Your email address will not be visible under any circumstances.  We’ll all benefit from hearing your thoughts.  To post a comment, click the comments tab below this posting.

What's a Hiring Manager to Do?

As you may know, our company sells (among other things) web-based software to help recruiters and hiring managers work more effectively.

I was sitting in a conference room with some of our employees last week, when one person made the following observation:

“I feel like we are selling fly rods to trout anglers, but every time our customers step into the stream, the trout pool around their legs.  Maybe we should be selling nets, not fly rods!”

While there are some industries that are healthy and still hiring, there are many others that have pulled back significantly, or have stopped hiring all together.

If you’re a hiring manager or recruiter (i.e. someone responsible for building a team), there is a temptation to take your eyes off the horizon and just concentrate on what’s in front of you.  That’s a mistake.  Now is your opportunity to get ahead of the game.

We speak with hundreds of candidates every week and have noticed that when people are looking for a job or are concerned about the stability of their employment, they are very open to new information, advice, networking opportunities, etc.

This “openness” is something that can be leveraged for your group’s future success.  While you may not be hiring today, you can be building a network of people who could potentially be part of your team in the future.

Can you identify 20 to 30 people who fit this description right now?  If not, this is a lucrative task to put your energy toward during a slow hiring period.

The best way to build this network is through traditional “networking” and through the many social networking / Web 2.0 opportunities available.  If this does not yield adequate results, now is a great time to run a few job ads because the return on investment (R.O.I.) is so high right now.

For example, our Hot Jobs Account Manager just contacted me this week with “recession specials” in an effort to increase their client base.  In addition, the number of candidates who are responding to traditional job ads is quite high right now.

You would be wise to take advantage of these favorable economic conditions and use this time to build your candidate pool.  (By the way, be honest in your ads by letting candidates know you may not be hiring for more than 6 months -- By doing so, you will gain credibility, attract higher quality candidates, and avoid building false expectations among those responding.)

Tomorrow, we’ll talk a little more about what to say to candidates once they’re a part of your network.

Before I sign off for today, let me throw a few questions out to the group:  What are you doing to bring people into your network?  What techniques have you found to be effective in developing new business relationships?

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The Psychologyof Being Laid-Off: Complexity

During any recession, there are a large number of people who “need” a job.  As Abraham Maslow taught us, when there’s a mortgage to pay and kids to feed, the goal of finding self-actualization at work gives way to the need for security.

An employer who is hiring during a time when there is a surplus of talented candidates may be tempted to select people who are exceptionally qualified for a position.  While this certainly makes sense on one level, it is important to understand the need individuals have for complexity in their work.

In past discussions, we’ve explored the principles that allow people to “tap into their best work”.  More specifically, we’ve addressed the concept of psychological flow and how it contributes to an individual’s sense of well-being.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the psychologist who studied and popularized the concept of flow, discovered that a balance must be struck between the challenge of a task and the skill of the performer.  If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur: 

“A flow experience has to be challenging. Anything that is not up to par is going to be irritating or ignored.” (Interview with Wired Magazine)

It is difficult for a person who is above the "challenge level" of a job to remain engaged in their work over time.  The talented employee, who you thought was perfect for the job, may turn into someone who languishes. 

If you are a hiring manager planning to employ someone who is over-qualified, it would be wise to expand the scope of the new employee’s responsibilities to the place where he or she is experiencing a higher level of complexity.

This same principle applies if you have recently been laid-off and are among the masses of people seeking employment.  At some point, you may be offered a job that is not very challenging. There is a downside to accepting such a role—it won’t be long before you’re bored.

Certainly, there are situations where an individual can’t make the ideal choice.  If you need a job, paying the bills will take priority over landing a job that has the appropriate level of complexity and fulfillment. 

If you’re forced to take a job below your ability level, then quickly and proactively seek out ways to expand the job to your level of complexity.  While this will be good for you own well-being, it will also make you more valuable to your new organization.

The Psychology of Being Laid-Off

It’s been tough to watch the news in the last few weeks.  In fact, it’s downright depressing.  Company after company, many of them brands that we all know and trust, continue to announce layoffs.   

If you really want a dose of despair, you can track the nation’s lay-offs as they happen by checking Layoff Daily.  The owners of this site now have to provide updates four to eight times a day to keep up with the news! 

If you’re a recruiter or you’re coaching someone, in the near future you’ll probably come in contact with candidates, clients, and potential clients who have been laid-off.  Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of someone in this situation?  It might be worth some additional thought.

Over the next few days we’ll be discussing this topic.  I’ll start by sharing some recent insight I gained from Malcolm Gladwell’s newest book called Outliers.  In this book, Mr. Gladwell tells the story of how Jewish immigrants to New York City in the late 1800s had a profound effect on how a small group of people were able to become wildly successful attorneys in the 1970s.  If you’ve read any of Gladwell’s previous books, you know he’s a master at making these odd connections.

During the development of this story, he makes an interesting observation.  Jewish immigrants who came to New York City were extremely hard workers.  They commonly worked in the garment industry and would put in 100 hour work weeks. 

“When [the main character in the story] came home at night to his children, he may have been tired and poor and overwhelmed, but he was alive.  He was his own boss.  He was responsible for his own decisions and direction.  His work was complex: it engaged his mind and imagination.  And in his work, there was a relationship between effort and reward…  Those three things—autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward—are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have to be satisfying.  Work that fulfills these three criteria is meaningful. ”

With these criteria in mind, what happens to a person who has recently been laid-off?  Many perceive that two of the three legs to their “stool of meaning at work” have been knocked out from under them. 

With a good job, a person has the perception of autonomy.  But when a lay-off occurs, that perception is shattered.  Self-sufficiency was really “company-sufficiency”, and is no longer available to that person.

In addition, many lay-offs are not performed along the lines of performance alone.  A person may be a very high performer and still get laid-off.  In the short term, this disrupts the desired connection between effort and reward.  To a person going though this experience, it doesn’t seem fair.

If you’re coaching someone, it is important to address these two issues.  Helping a person conceptualize how his previous job eventually lost its meaning is an important first step in establishing a new direction.

If you’re a hiring manager interviewing a person who has recently been laid-off, it might be worth probing on these two issues:  (1) Can the candidate find autonomy in your organization? and (2) Is there a connection between effort and reward in the position you need filled?  While these may not be pertinent issues during the interview (there are a lot of people who are desperate for jobs), they’ll become retention issues at a later time when conditions improve.

Finding the Pearls in a Crisis as an Organization

As an organization, it is easy to become inwardly focused during a time of difficulty or crisis.  While some of this cannot be avoided, it is important not to lose sight of the horizon.  There is a future out there, and that future will one day become your organization’s reality.

If 30% of us get stronger and better during difficult circumstances, doesn’t it make sense to conceptualize ways of indentifying who those people are in your organization and support their efforts?  I’m not talking about pre-selecting those who you think are going to survive.  That doesn’t work. 

Instead, I’m suggesting you notice which of the people on your team are selecting themselves by displaying the transformational coping skills of commitment, control, and challenge.  These are the people in which you should invest resources.  Your investment will pay a big dividend in future performance and increased commitment to your organization.
 
Is your organization the only one suffering challenges?  Of course not.  Some of the 30% mentioned above are being arbitrarily jettisoned from their organizations.  There are others who are not getting adequate support and opportunity from their organizations (ex. some employees are getting hours cut).

These are talented survivors who have been dealt a difficult hand.  Like me, many will need to go through a process of grief and self-discovery.  But at some point, their batteries will be re-charged and they’ll come out with guns-a-blazing.  Will you be there to find them?  

If you’re too inwardly focused, you won’t be able to engage these individuals.  Besides, they won’t be attracted to organizations that have their “heads in the sand” anyway.   Progressive companies are always recruiting.  Survivors know where the escape hatches are.