Archive for the ‘Transformation’ Category
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
The fact that corporate recruiters are still doing business the way they did 30 years ago almost makes it seem like the market developments that have occurred since then will be rolled back. Why else wouldn’t the profession mature alongside the rest of the business world? The only rational explanation – if you can call it that – is that:
- The recruiting profession as a whole expects the number of resumes submitted for each open req to fall from thousands back to dozens
- Job boards, social media outlets and other online tools will fade from job-seeker consciousness
- Unemployment will never return to the extremes (less than 2 percent and more than 9 percent), taking all that pesky volatility out of the talent market
- The broader business community won’t continue to be as competitive as it is, making the war for talent little more than gentlemanly undertaking
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Tags: Corporate Recruiting, HR outsourcing, HRO, human resources, job boards, operations, outsourcing, STREAM, talent, talent pools, unemployment
Posted in Transformation | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Job-seekers are losing faith in job boards. It may be a function of the recession, as so many people are applying for a paucity of open positions that the norm has become to hear nothing back after sending hundreds of resumes. But, the seeds of discontent were sown earlier. Even during hiring booms, comparatively few candidates found their way into the hiring cycle through these websites. This has prompted a surge in “direct access” applications, with many job-seekers sending their resumes directly through corporate websites.
And make no mistake about it: this tendency is strongest with post-Boomers.
Generations X and Y, the first to experience the power and promise of the internet early in their careers (or younger) have come to see intermediaries as inefficient and unnecessary. Pair this with the dissatisfaction they’re feeling with the job boards, and it’s easy to see why they are growing to prefer a straight shot to the companies for which they want to work. The result is an increased workload for corporate recruiters, as corporate websites yield more resumes than they did in the past.
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Tags: Baby Boomers, BYTE, Gen X, Gen Y, Generation Gap, Generation X, Generation Y, generations, HR outsourcing, HRO, outsourced recruiting, outsourcing, recruiting outsourcing, workforce
Posted in Strategy, Transformation | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
In just about every business, the potential value of Facebook has been kicked around. Corporate recruiting is no different. There are 350 million users on this site – the most popular social networking platform on the web – and it’s still growing aggressively. So, the upside is only going to grow. Add to this the fact that there’s a robust application development community outside Facebook, which provides a steady stream of fresh, innovative thinking, and you can see the wide range of possibilities for professionals in our business.
But, it gets tricky. Facebook is a destination for both personal and professional information, so it can be difficult to engage candidates the way you would in other online venues, such as LinkedIn. Balance your hunt for talent and information with a healthy respect for personal boundaries, and you’ll gain better results in this environment.
The critical component in successful Facebook-based corporate recruiting is time. You need to be able to commit to the development of your recruiting presence, from content to community growth. Think of it as similar to the development of any concentrated talent pool (after all, that’s exactly what it is). It’s easy to wind up overloaded with social media tasks … and you still have the business of sourcing, interviewing and placing candidates to which to attend.
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Tags: BYTE, Corporate Recruiting, Facebook, LinkedIn, social media, social networking
Posted in Intelligence, Strategy, Transformation | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Corporate recruiters have long been evaluated by the “time to hire” metric – i.e., how long it takes to get from open req to productive employee. Yet, there is understandable resistance to this measure of success. The corporate recruiter could source high-quality resumes quickly, conduct a thorough screening ahead of schedule and put candidates in front of hiring managers, only to wait as interviews are delayed. What could be a 30-day process turns into 45, 60 or even 90 days. So, it may be more effective to focus on “time to source” performance – i.e., how long it takes to put high-quality candidates in front of a hiring manager.
Though valuable within our community, this metric is a tough one for hiring managers and company executives to grasp. After all, they aren’t looking at how the recruiter is performing. Rather, they are more interested in how quickly a business need is addressed, and that doesn’t happen until a req turns into an employee sitting at a desk. This puts you at the mercy of other stakeholders, as you’ll be evaluated, for example, on how responsive a hiring manager is.
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Tags: BYTE, Corporate Recruiting, hiring managers, KG Tiger, time to hire
Posted in Process, Transformation | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
For decades, corporate recruiters have seen full lifecycle management as a point of pride. The top performers, according to conventional thinking, carry the process from open req to greeting the employee on his first day of work. They take care of every detail in between, as well, such as sourcing candidates, formatting resumes and sifting through hundreds or even thousands of responses. The minutiae receive equal weight with crafting accurate position descriptions, understanding hiring manager requirements, developing and implementing a sourcing strategy and determining which candidates are worth meeting in person.
Across our profession, our priorities are skewed. We celebrate process over skill, and results suffer. In any other career, our performance … how we approach our jobs … would be questioned. Think about it:
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Tags: BYTE, Corporate Recruiting, optimizing recruiting, resume formatting, ROI
Posted in Process, Transformation | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Don’t wait for your company to recognize the value that a savvy, action-oriented corporate recruiting department delivers. A combination of competing business issues – from sales to operations – will always gain priority, and many executives tend to have a narrow view of what a corporate recruiting department does. To communicate the value of the service you provide to your company, you need to become a vocal advocate … always demonstrating your impact.
Fundamental to your success will be in choosing what to communicate. Most of the services provided by corporate recruiters simply will not resonate with senior executives. Push the fact that you’ve managed the entire recruiting cycle when attracting key talent, and you’ll be met only by deaf ears. Show that you’ve snatched a major player from the competition, however, and you’ll more likely find a receptive audience.
For many of us, this is a new step. We’ve always sought to show our contributions, but we haven’t always chosen the right victories to promote. Below are five ways you can increase the visibility – and the relevance – of your corporate recruiting department.
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Tags: Corporate Recruiting, ROI, STREAM, talent acquisition, talent market, talent pool, talent pools
Posted in Strategy, Transformation | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 28th, 2009
If you’re not thinking about green talent pools right now, you’re a step behind the market. Every day, it’s looking more and more like the next economic bubble – in the United States and around the world – will involve clean technology. Cast aside your politics on this one – the argument over climate change isn’t relevant to the business opportunity. Instead, look at the data from the market. Private equity and venture capital money is increasingly headed toward green investments, and the talent market for this sector is gaining steam.
The trend is starting in California, as it did with the last technology boom. From 1995 to 2008, green jobs growth outpaced the statewide rate. And, it’s diversified across several segments of the green/clean technology space, suggesting the benefit of a diversified base. Of course, the market will reach across state and national borders as investment dollars continue to enter the sector.
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Tags: bubble, clean energy, clean technology, cleantech, Corporate Recruiting, green, Green Future, talent acquisition, talent management, talent market, talent pools
Posted in News, Transformation | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Corporate recruiting, as it’s generally practiced today, involves chasing trends. All is quiet when hiring freezes are triggered by dismal economic conditions. Then, when the market gains a bit of confidence, there’s a feeding frenzy for top-tier talent. It’s easy to lose under these conditions, especially when you see a competitor pick up that industry superstar you’ve been eyeing.
Why didn’t you win? Because you just weren’t ready.
Most recruiters think speed is the problem when this happens, lamenting, “If only we’d gotten there faster …” In reality, the entire process is to blame. The key to winning the war for talent is to recruit constantly.
Hiring happens periodically; recruiting is ongoing. Today, with unemployment at 10 percent nationwide, corporate recruiters should be readying themselves for the next rush, which could begin as early as this summer, according to some estimates. It’s not too early (it’s never too early) to get started.
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Tags: Corporate Recruiting, optimizing recruitment, recruiting trends, STREAM, talent acquisition, talent management, unemployment, unemployment rate
Posted in Transformation | 6 Comments »
Recessions tend to increase the number of resumes submitted per open req, and today’s