Want to Accelerate Your Recruiting? Make Your Recuiter Your BFF...

Now before you think I’ve fallen off the deep-end, give me a minute to explain.  I’m not saying that you need to be BFFa with your recruiter in the sense that you need to spend weekends together, braiding each other’s hair. What I am saying is that if you are a manager, one of the jobs you will face over-and-over again is hiring people, and by getting tight with the person who will provide you talent, you will dramatically reduce your time-to-hire.

You may be the best hiring manager in the world, but eventually people will leave and you will need to replace them. If you are like most hiring managers, you then rush like mad to find a replacement; you spend less than 5 minutes chatting with your recruiter, you complete the requisition, then you cross your fingers and pray that a perfect genius will just magically find your job posting, and that it will match exactly what they’ve been looking for.

While I wish it was always that easy, I can attest to the fact that finding talent takes time, and that recruiters who find talent fastest, do so because they already know exactly what you are looking for. If the only time you ever see your corporate recruiter is at the holiday party, then the information I’m going to share is going to be a little revolutionary, and I hope, open your mind to the opportunity that may potentially exist for your company and process.

One of the keynote sessions I attended at Talent Connect this past week in San Francisco was a riveting presentation by Express Scripts' Senior Director of Talent Acquisition Jennifer Shappley and Vice President of Talent Management Melanie Curtis. They shared about the change that occurred in their organization when they transformed the role of recruiters to HR Business Partners. You can see the entire video here: http://youtu.be/JoAtjPNKpwQ.

Instead of the traditional methods that many in corporate environments are accustomed to, Shappley and Curtis implemented an HR Business Partner role where their recruiters were a real part of each business segment of their organization. They didn’t just communicate with managers when it came time to fill a job, but they regularly engaged with hiring managers on a consistent basis, sat in on their team meetings, attended and contributed to client pitches, and genuinely understood each role they needed to fill as well as the dynamics of each individual team.

So, for my Big Take Away #3 from Talent Connect, I am going to share the Top 4 keys to Success in Implementing an HR Business Partner Relationship. 

1.       HR Provides the Talent: Before you can engage in an endeavor of this magnitude, you must ensure that your company needs to have the right talent in the right place. For a true HR Business Partner, you cannot simply fill the role with a recruiter, your organization must have someone who can manage relationships, think strategically, contribute to many business arenas, AND find and source great talent.

 

2.       Shared Outcomes: In order for HR and the Business Team to help each other, there must be shared interest in achieving the same goals. The recruiter needs to be viewed as an extension of your business that is also a talent partner who can help the business succeed.

 

3.       Relationships: The relationship from order-taker to strategic business partner is critical in making this transition. This information is supported by a study from Bersin by Deloitte’s High Impact Talent Acquisition Report 2014, which supports these findings, “Developing strong relationships with hiring managers is the top driver of talent acquisition performance.”

 

I want to take an extra moment to reflect on this point because for every business initiative I discuss in my blog, admittedly, there are several associated with cost, but this is something that recruiters can do within a business that costs nothing. Even if you are remote from your hiring managers, you can Lync or instant message them, send them email, connect through LinkedIn… whatever. Creating relationships doesn’t cost your organization a penny, but you have to start with a desire to accomplish that which supports the greater good of the organization, and a genuine desire to cultivate those relationships.

So what does this mean from a practical stand-point? Well, at ExpressScripts, they reduced their time-to-fill metric by 60%! Imagine if upgrading your recruiting team meant that your time-to-fill had the same impact. I would think those results would support this type of initiative.

4.  Consistent Process: Whenever I work in a company, the first thing I do is analyze the recruiting process. Typically I am provided a map of the existing process, which includes an interesting design of a lot of confusing elements, and my first project is to align the recruiting process to the business strategy, and creating a simple, easy-to-follow system. The ExpresssScripts team supported this concept and included that there are times when the process will be adaptable to exceptions, but that overall there will be a consistent practice of customer service and ease of recruiting that the system provides.

 

Whether you are a Talent Acquisition Professional, Recruiter or a Manager, I think that there are some valuable take-aways here for you. I hope you found this information helpful. Please feel free to comment below.

Tomorrow, in lieu of posting a LinkedIn Talent Connect Take-Away, I will be posting some fun and festive Halloween posts from my HR team, and will resume my Top 10 list from LinkedIn’s Talent Connect on November 1st.

LinkedIn Talent Connect Take Away #2: Maximize Recruiting Programs

As a Talent Acquisition Professional (aka “Recruiter”), one of the most frustrating things I face is when a hiring manager brings in a candidate from an agency, and when the candidate shows up for the interview they run into a former co-worker. Of course the hiring manager adores the candidate; they get along well with the team, and pass the assessments with flying colors. The company, now, is then doling out 25% of the candidate’s salary when, instead, we could have paid that an employee a referral fee.
 Now don’t get me wrong, I am stoked to have the new addition to the team, but I always feel a little defeated when we use an agency when we could have acquired the same individual through other means.  

Yesterday I wrote a blog about my #1 Big Take away from the LinkedIn Talent Connect conference, so as promised, here is my second big take away from Talent Connect: Tips to Maximize Recruiting Programs. One of the break-out sessions I attended was called Relationships Matter: Develop a Productive Employee Referral Program. The panel was facilitated by Kara Yarnot of Meritage Talent Solutions and included contributions from Teresa Keeler of Owens Corning, Becky Mohr of SapientNitro, Julie Barker of Appirio and Jennifer Rice of Cisco.

The information provided by this group was very informative, and whether your company is getting started with an Employee Referral Program, or you are hoping to be the introducer of some innovative ways to switch-up your plan, I think the following information is beneficial. Below, in no particular order, were some great ideas I took away, and thought I would share with you.

1.       Use Technology to Connect with Talent by Leveraging Employee Contacts: There are several platforms in existence now (I am posting the list and links below)  that will pick up key words in your job, match them to the LinkedIn profiles of people connected to your employees, and recommend that the employee refer the candidate. Your employees have to opt-in to this, so it is not for everyone, but would certainly be a helpful way to avoid the frustrating situation I explained above.

2.       Non-Employee Referral Programs: People who do business with your company (customers, vendors, and even competitors) all know great people. Vendors typically get to know your company culture very well. What if you incentivized them for making a referral? Great idea, just be sure to check with your finance department first.

3.       Recruiting is Everyone’s Job: While Talent Acquisition teams can do their best to source candidates, identify quality talent, and post jobs on every site imaginable, there are interactions that every hiring manager has on a day-to-day basis with people in the public. I remember when I lived in San Diego and was hiring entry-level talent; I would always keep my eye out to see who was really good at what they were doing. I frequently handed out my business card to counter-people, wait staff, and pretty much everyone who I met who I could see as a potential fit for my company. Was it my job to do guerilla recruiting? Not exactly, but I like to think I’m somewhat of a talent hound, and so anywhere I go I keep my eyes open. Encourage your managers to do the same. Their next customer service or entry-level employee may be someone they are already having interactions with every day, they just have to keep their eyes out.

4.       Open Communication to Referral and Referrer: Many times when I communicate with candidates who have been referred I will circle back with the referrer so they know I made the connection. Even if someone is not a fit for a particular role, but they were referred from an employee I will send them a personal message. Just because they are not qualified for a role doesn’t mean that something else won’t be a fit for them in the future. Communicate openly and build the relationship, so there is an opportunity for future conversations.

5.       Recruiting on the Company Scorecard: While this approach varied by company, the key take away was that managers were informed about new or hard-to-fill positions. By including Talent Acquisition in the manager’s meeting, teams are able to contribute additional ideas for sourcing talent and sharing jobs, and finding the candidate became a collaborative effort.

 

Check back tomorrow for take away #3 from LinkedIn Talent Connect.

For more information on Employee Referral Systems visit:

GooodJob

Choozer

RolePoint

Careerify

Referral Link

Zao

Zalp

EmployeeReferrals.com

Simppler

LinkedIn Talent Connect Takeaway #1

Have you ever been to an industry or professional event, convinced that you were going to network, learn, get inspired, and grow, only to return home after days away feeling like you sat in a week-long sales pitch? I know I have, so when I decided to attend the 2014 LinkedIn Talent Connect, I was both excited, yet skeptical. Since I'd never previously attended a LinkedIn event I wasn't quite sure what to expect, so I thought I would share my experience.

To give you some background information for those who may be unaware, LinkedIn is not only a great social networking tool for maintaining relationships with former co-workers and contacts, but it is also a great place to connect with other professionals in your industry and career field. In my field, Talent Acquisition, LinkedIn is a great partner because I can post jobs, reach out to people interested in new opportunities, and help build my personal and company brand.

For the last several years, LinkedIn has invited Talent Acquisition professionals across the nation (and now the world) to participate in an inspiring event that educates those of us committed to finding and retaining talent. They bring in leaders in the HR/TA field to share best practices, tell stories of overcoming corporate challenges, and most importantly inspire those of us who work within this practice area.

I found this 3-day event to be engaging, entertaining, educational and informative, but instead of just tweeting "Great event" to Jeff Weiner, I figured I'd break it down to share what I learned in 10 great take-aways. Each day over the next 10 days I will share 1 big take-away from the event to share with you.

 

Takeaway # 1: Rock My Profile

One of the great things about this event is that in addition to the keynotes and breakout sessions, there were resources to help with things like improving your own LinkedIn profile (including a space for new headshots, and a team of LI professionals to show you how to zhoosh up your headlines, summaries, etc).

While I consider myself a pretty robust LinkedIn user, I still wanted to sit down and learn about what I could do to improve.

#1: Headshot- Since I already had a decent headshot this wasn’t an issue for me, but for those of you who think of LinkedIn as more of a social networking site than a professional networking site, you may want to reconsider the pic of yourself in a sombrero, unless of course you work at Chevy’s (or are hoping to be recruited by Chevy's, perhaps).

#2: Headline- This is an area where I needed some help. I used to just write up my job title and call it good. But after reviewing my profile with a LI pro, I realized that it was redundant to have my job title as my headline because it was already listed below. Instead, my pro recommended that I change my headline to inform people of why I would be reaching out to them. Now they know: Connecting with Top Performing Talent! Maybe if you are a job seeker, your headline would be something that highlights your most recent, notable accomplishment in your current role. The headline should concisely capture the attention of someone quickly reviewing your profile, but specific enough that someone looking for your skills would know they've found their match!

#3: Summary– My summary used to be a vague list of skills I used in my job, but now I have it updated and broken into 3 specific parts:

• My Story: This tells people where I came from and how I got to where I am today.
• Present: These are things that I am working on now, and in general really interesting bits about what is happening at my current company. For example, I mentioned that our current VP of Human Resources just got recognized as one of the North Bay Business Journals’ 40 Under 40 Executives.
• My Mission: This section should include your goals, mission, and what you are trying to accomplish. I updated mine to include a link to my blog: www.highgearcareer.blogspot.com and a video about working at my company.

While you may not be able to get tailored advice from simply reading this article, LinkedIn has a robust YouTube channel with not only all the sessions from Talent Connect, but yes, also videos on how you can Rock Your Profile: http://youtu.be/Ep2nq_oRYLI

I thought this particular offering because not only are people like me and you interested in how to present ourselves online, but now I can share this information with you all as well.

Check back tomorrow for my second big takeaway from LinkedIn Talent Connect.

Before you pat Yourself on the Back...

 Before you pat yourself on the back, don’t forget this simple, but critical step.

You know those times in your career when things just seem to be going right? Maybe the project you worked so hard on is finally wrapped up, the presentation you spent weeks preparing for goes off without a hitch, the client you were wooing finally signs the contract, and the goals you set for your department are all achieved on the same day. You feel pride, you feel power, you feel like dancing on the ceiling, and in honor of your efforts everyone you know is going to give you a high-five and buy you a drink. Congratulations! But, before you go shooting off the top of a bottle of Cristal, do this one thing…

Write it down!

Before you eye roll and move onto the next article, just hear me out. Many people who are in the habit of setting and achieving goals are also in the habit of writing the goals down. Why? Because they understand that when you write something down, a lot of great things happen:

·         You acknowledge your desires,

·         You can break down large goals into achievable steps,

·         You motivate yourself to take action,

·         You generate ideas for other goals, and

·         You feel successful.

The list can go on and on, but the point is that there are a million reasons why you would want to write your goals down. Fewer people write about the aftermath, however, because once the goal has been achieved, then game over, right? Mission accomplished… sort of.

Following are a few (potentially) compelling reasons for why you will want to write down your goals after they are completed:

1.       It will remind you of your process.

 

Many times as we are going through the process of achieving goals we forget the challenges that have come along the way. For example, when a woman has a baby, the labor is difficult and painful, but as soon as they see their baby, they are overcome with so much joy that when they introduce their child to the world, they are beaming with pride, not complaining about all the sweating and pushing and screaming.

 

Or, think about a time when you lost weight and were finally able to zip up those pants that had been tucked away in the back of the closet. There were a lot of days that you said “no” to treats you wanted to eat because what you really wanted was the satisfaction of losing weight instead. When everyone compliments you on how fantastic you look, you don’t complain, “I gave up so many desserts… every day I skipped the whipped cream on my Pumpkin Spice latte...” No, people say “thank you” and move along.

But, you are probably wondering what giving birth and losing weight have to do with writing down your accomplishments? Well, sometimes when we make decisions, we neglect to write things down and forget some of the steps we took along the way. Sometimes it’s only after making the same mistake again that we are reminded of the error that could have been avoided had we documented the process.

This works for positive things as well. When looking at taking on a new task, if you look at the elements that contributed to your success, then you can also add those elements into the equation in the future.

2.       It will help to keep your accomplishments fresh in your mind.

 

While many people may think they can easily recall their accomplishments, consider for a moment if you have ever been in the following scenario. You get the notification that it is annual review time, and despite the fact that you’ve worked your tail off all year long, you sit at your desk, drumming your fingers, making a desperate attempt to recall what awesome projects you’ve worked on over the course of the year that would warrant recognition. Surely you’ve been busy. You work late all the time, you missed your kid’s soccer game (on more than one occasion), but for some reason you sit blankly, staring at the screen as if someone just asked you to write a dissertation on thermodynamics.

Or

You’re in an interview and the interviewer inquires, “Tell me about your major career accomplishments.” I have asked similar questions to interviewees and had candidates tell me they can’t think of any. I am typically looking at their resume, and can conceive a couple areas they could have achieved success, but the voice on the phone (or the face in person) is blank and offers nothing.

 

Being able to go back and review your accomplishments will also serve to provide you a bit of a boost in self esteem. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Success breeds success?” Its absolutely true, and when you take time to recall things that you’ve done well, then look over the list of things you have on your list of goals, the brain can actually use those positive recollections to fuel your desire for attacking the next task.

 

3.       It will set you apart from the competition.

 

If you think it’s hard for you to remember all of your projects, just think about your boss, who may have to sit down and do the exact same thing, only for every other person in your department as well. If you are able to articulate the specifics around each project your worked on, each success you achieve, each milestone accomplished, you will not only make your boss’s job easier, but you will be doing a lot more than your colleagues.  When it comes to annual review time, and you have a list of ways you’ve demonstrated you contribute, then you have taken another step in demonstrating that you are capable of high performance in other areas as well.

 

You don’t have to write a novel around each instance, but do something simple like write a page in your journal, write a blog about your experience, or even just forward yourself emails that you place in a recognition file. In my work email folders, I have one I call Success, and every time someone emails me a message related to my own exceptional performance, I file it in my Success folder. If I’m in a hurry, I will sometimes email it to myself with notes and then slide it into the folder. The point is that it doesn’t matter what format you use to keep track of your successes, just do it! You may be surprised how this small action can put your career into high gear.