Welcome to the next decade!
If you’re anything at all like most people, you’ve taken at least a few moments to think about your resolutions for the new year. Maybe you’re going to finally use that gym membership you’ve been paying $79.95 a month for (for the past three years), or perhaps you’ve resolved to stop [...]
If there’s one upside to a recession, it’s the fact that great candidates abound.
Just twelve months ago, companies were scrambling to find people for skilled positions in sales, IT, and finance. Companies find themselves fishing in a much deeper pond these days, and I am increasingly hearing that the the problem is now no longer how to find great candidates, but how in the world to whittle that stack of 500 resumes down to the 3-5 people you actually want to spend time interviewing.
Where previously clients were hiring us to go out into the field and “pull” candidates into the hiring process, now they’re calling us to help process inbound applications because the sheer volume is overwhelming. I’m seeing ten times the applications per job than was the case in 2007. And, since most companies have scaled way back on internal HR staff, the “too many candidates” problem is amplified.
With unemployment figures estimated to top 10% in early 2010, I don’t see any end in sight to this massive shift from “I can’t find anyone” to “I can’t see over this pile of candidate resumes.” 3rd party recruiting providers who can’t adjust to that reality are in for an extremely painful year. And do-it-yourself Managers who don’t get help are going to end up making bad hiring choices.
Candidate frustration is on the rise, as well. The influx of resumes is overwhelming most internal HR organizations, and candidates simply never hear back from the companies to which they’ve applied. The easiest way to soil your name amongst top candidates is to have a poor candidate response mechanism in place. More and more I speak with people who tell me that it’s not uncommon for them to send our a hundred resumes before they get even one “thanks, but no thanks” letter. They’re not even getting a formal “no.” That’s atrocious customer service.
Bottom line: if you’re inundated with resumes, seek help. Your dream candidate just gave up trying to apply to your open job and is now working for a competitor.
This recession is longer, deeper, and more painful than many business managers were prepared to handle. When things turn around – and they will – the expectations for the relationship between employer and employee will be dramatically different. A few key statistics highlight the coming shifts in the US workforce.
Here’s what you need to know:
Fact: 40% if the US workforce will be made up of independent contractors or contract-based labor by 2019, up from 26% today. (source: EPIC-MRA; Kelly Services)
Why: Older workers have seen their retirement accounts decimated by losses in the equities markets over the past 24 months, and they’ll need to work more years to make that magic nest egg number. Corporations haven’t done a very good job with succession planning, and they’ve been running so lean these past 2 years that middle management bench strength is nowhere near adequate. Additionally, many companies are shifting to a “get the labor that we need, when we need it” mentality, which is another way to say, “we’ll hire contractors on a per-project basis.”
What it Means: Ten years ago, it was unheard of to seriously look at a resume of a potential hire that had more than 3 positions in a five year period. Ten years from now, you’ll be seeing more and more candidates who have experience across multiple companies while working as a contractor. You won’t be able to dismiss candidates out of hand just because they appear to have short job stints. In the future, compressed job stints will be almost half of our nation’s employment.
Fact: In 2010, 28% of the US workforce will telecommute either part time or full time, up from 12% just ten years ago. (source: Gartner Dataquest)
Why: Companies are getting wise to the fact that telecommuting saves a ton of money…as much as 30% less per employee once you factor in savings with office rent, technology infrastructure, and other administrative overhead. And as corporate globalization continues to trend higher, project teams will become accustomed to having multiple disparate members located not just in multiple locations, but in multiple time zones.
What it Means: The notion of waking up in the morning and spending two hours driving to and from a desk – when you could do the same job, more productively, from a desk in your home – is going to make less and less sense to knowledge working in the economy of tomorrow. And it should make less and less sense to employers, as well, when they realize that employees typically replace those 2 hours of commuting time with 1.5 hours of productive work time, without working less hours overall.
Fact: 80% of employees want flexibility in their work arrangement provided it doesn’t harm their careers. (source: Georgetown University Law Center)
Why: As Gen X (those born 1965 – 1978) takes the management reigns from the Boomer generation, they bring with them a less structured view of the workplace. As managers, they’re less concerned with having people show up to a central work location every day. As employees, they’re accustomed to more flexibility in their employment arrangements. Attitudes about what constitutes “an office job” are radically different from the previous generation. Factor in Gen Y (born 1979-2000) and their propensity for “me first” work-life balance, and you’ve got some real change on your hands.
What it Means: Managers and companies will be required to rethink their view of employment, with the biggest change being the belief that people are after the top dollar possible. To the contrary, the research has shown that Gen X and Gen Y workers place a higher value on work flexibility than they do on salary or bonus. So, before you run off and throw money at that next crop of top-performing college seniors, consider that sabbaticals, time off for charitable pursuits, and generous flex time policies are all more effective – and cheaper – when the goal is attracting and retaining talent.
Few would argue that the US will emerge from this economic downturn without permanent changes to the way corporations plan for and manage employees. Make sure you’re on the front end of these huge changes in the way we work. You’ll be ahead of the game.
Companies that consistently produce top recruiting results never do so by accident. That these firms tend to outperform their industry peers is the end result of a journey that began with putting the right people in the right seats. How do the successful managers of these leading companies build high-performing teams? By staying true to these five recruiting habits:
They follow a defined process. There’s no shortcut when it comes to selecting the right person for the job. Managers who produce successful hire after successful hire do so because they follow a proven formula, including:
* Writing a well-defined Job Profile
* Using an effective Candidate Work History form
* Conducting a telephone interview
* Conducting an in-person work history interview, followed by an in-person behavioral interview
* Personally contacting each of the candidate’s references
* Using a Candidate Scorecard to make objective yes/no decisions
They’re always recruiting. I’ll say it another way - they don’t let recruiting become an exercise in crisis management. Highly successful hiring managers don’t wait until they have an open position to being recruiting. They’re constantly tapping their networks, asking colleagues for referrals and staying in touch with top prospects from their competitors’ payrolls. When their company wins the next big project, they’re not scrambling for new talent and settling for average performers due to a time constraint. Lack of preparation in recruiting leads to bad hires, and they’re always prepared with available talent.
They take the time to define the role. Without a Job Profile that explains, in detail, the specific, measurable outcomes required of the person filling the role, the recruiting process will produce erratic results. Successful hiring managers take the necessary time required to think through these outcomes, and to define them in quantifiable terms against which candidates can be evaluated. They never say to a recruiter, “I don’t really have a job description written, but you know what I’m looking for, right?”
They include others in the process. Successful hiring managers know that it takes a team to make a well-rounded, informed decision about a new hire. They ask other members of the organization to sit in on interviews as note-takers in order to get outside perspective. These managers know that two sets of eyes and ears are better than one, and they ask for and listen to feedback on their interviewing style and effectiveness.
They don’t talk themselves into saying yes. Most importantly, successful hiring managers don’t hesitate to pass on candidates who are anything less than an top performer. They’d rather go for months without a key position being filled than fill that position with someone who’s less than perfect - because they know that the time spent managing that bad hire will more than wipe out the benefits gained from having someone mediocre in the role. Successful managers look to the Candidate Scorecard and make emotionless decision rooted in facts.
Successful hiring managers follow these five habits to generate recruiting results that lead to high-performing teams. Focus on developing these habits, and watch your results begin to improve overnight.
For many managers, the most challenging aspect of creating a job profile is understanding the relationship between compensation and candidate ability. It’s an interesting paradox - nobody wants to overpay for work performed, but everyone wants an employee who’s at the top of their game. Entrepreneurs and business managers dream of a perfect world where employees [...]
Here’s a summary of a recent conversation that I had with a regular client, who asked for some help with creating a Job Profile for one of his company’s new open roles:
Me: So, tell me about what you’d like to see happen during the first 12 months of this person’s employment with your company.
Client: [gives [...]
Read any of the books-du-jour out there that discuss hiring practices, and you’re guaranteed to read a chapter on “The Cost of a Mis-Hire.” The general argument, according to these authors, is that the cost of making a bad hire isn’t simply the salary and benefits costs that were sunk into the new employee who [...]
Craigslist Syndrome (def) n. A time-sucking, emotionally draining, focus-killing condition that impacts small businesses; directly caused by posting job ads on Craigslist and subsequently receiving over 500 resumes within 24 hours, 10 of which are actually qualified for the job posted; also known as CLS.
Does your company suffer from Craigslist Syndrome? To self-diagnose this business-crippling [...]
Last week I moderated a panel event hosted by the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center and the Illinois Technology Association, and am here to confirm what a lot of people have been saying now for months: entrepreneurs will lead the country out of this recession.
While the macroeconomic picture in the United States isn’t exactly where we’d all [...]
[Author's note: This article is Part 4 of 4 in a series on hiring salespeople. In Part 1 and Part 2, we discussed why hiring salespeople is so difficult, and what to look for when reviewing a sales resume. In Part 3, we covered the proper approach to interviewing salespeople.]
You’ve finally identified a sales candidate that you’d like [...]