On Talent

A Scavenger Hunt - For People

I spent last week with customers and prospects. And 3 weeks ago talked to a LOT of people at ERE West. The verdict is in and the sentiment has definitely shifted with recruiters. Just as Hank posted a couple of weeks ago about the pendulum swinging to candidate control in recruiting, it has also swung to sourcing becoming a major topic of interest for recruiters.

It seems that everyone I talk to is talking about filling the "hard to finds," or reaching out to passive candidates, or becoming more personalized and segmented in recruiting efforts. I will be posting a lot more on segmentation and personalization in upcoming blogs and talking about a couple of new partnerships that Hire.com is engaged in that will help in this area.

Speaking of partnerships and finding candidates, Jeff Bloch will be co-hosting a free webinar tomorrow at 2pm EDT/11am PDT with Dave Lefkow of Jobster on creative sourcing and searching techniques. It should be interesting. I'm looking forward to it. If you want to attend you can register here.

Leapfrog

Wake up.

 

When it comes to solutions for Talent problems we in the west are not necessarily proposing the best solutions. Other parts of the world may leapfrog U.S.

 

Read on...

 

Headline: Reuters

"Kenyans Text Messaging Their Way to Jobs"

Tue Apr 19, 8:47 AM ET

By George Obulutsa 

NAIROBI, Kenya

In the rural parts of Kenya, jobseekers wishing to use the Internet used to have to travel long distances to the nearest town with a cyber cafe.

That changed last year with the creation of OneWorld International, a Kenyan firm offering a mobile phone text messaging service that advertises jobs and allows candidates to apply from wherever they are.

"It's relatively easy. All you need is access to a mobile phone with a Safaricom connection," said Anthony Mwaniki, OneWorld International's business manager.  

OK....text messaging is not new...not my point. Just as Asia has a much wider and deeper usage of the cell phone than the West and

South Korea has 76% of their population on broadband to our 43% it is apparent other parts of the world are using technology to solve problems while we may be just using technology.

And what about China?  Masses of their population are moving from farm to city. The need to match workers to jobs begins with a hawker in a mall in Zhingtou looking for talent from the passers by. Do you think companies will move to a reliance on newspaper classifieds and paper resumes? Doubt it. They will move straight to Internet phone interaction based on personalization, immediacy and results....Leapfrog!

A friend just got back earlier this year from two weeks in Thailand and her immediate exclamation..."they're so advanced...so far ahead of us...phone use, Internet, technology - they believe they can accomplish the next big thing...whatever that is!"

Really? Probably can...and will.

And when it comes to Talent how are other parts of the world dealing with the problem? They are quietly and effectively developing talent for their growing economic needs. Good friend Kevin Wheeler made me aware recently that the 10 fastest growing Universities in the world are in India, Pakistan,  Africa, etc. ...and that all have student populations over 100,000 and that all are using distance virtual learning techniques. Mmmmmmmmm…

Note: Interesting education solution on our shores...check out Acton MBA

Text messaging...maybe not the ultimate panacea....or maybe it is. In  Kenya it radically changes the recruitment supply chain, making the country more effective and productive. The results....more people find work faster...economy begins to thrive...consumers have the money to consume...more goods are produced...and so on and so on.

Is there room for optimism on our side of the pond? Of course. There are new ideas and models popping up everyday. I hope they are designed to solve real problems - big problems and are not just attempts to automate pieces of the existing recruitment supply chain…in hopes of garnering immediate riches and the second home in Cabo. Bless you if you do, just understand the rest of the world can and will meet their challenges head on with no legacy of process or method...a clear deck as it were.

We would be well served to clear our own.

So, where are the dreamers in our space? They are all over the world.

Wake up!

Dreamers...

Channel surfin this weekend between the yard work and the errands, I caught a show (forget the channel) about transportation. The show focused on a few inventors - Talent - who have dedicated their lives to finding new modes and methods of transportation.

The inventors had a common theme, personal air travel...think George Jetson and the flying car he used on the air ways that took him to 'Spacely Sprocket' every morning for work. Could it be that we are on the verge of turning an animated future into our daily reality?

Read on.

As reported by John von Radowitz, PA Science Correspondent Feb 2005

'NASA System Could Make Flying Cars A Realiity'

A “highways in the sky” system developed by Nasa could be the first step towards turning Hollywood’s vision of the flying car into reality.

Later this year Nasa will demonstrate the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) before an invited audience of engineers, scientists and members of the public.

The event at Danville Airfield in Virginia may “one day be viewed as one of the most significant milestones in aviation history,” according to The Engineer magazine.

Nasa will have plans in place by the end of 2006 and the race to design the flying car of the future is on. Fueled by the fuel crisis (no pun) finding new, less environemntally intrusive ways to travel may be in the offing. Notice I didn't say cheaper....darn!

But very interesting. One inventor is a former Bell Helicopter Engineer with a shop in Olney, Texas and he's built a prototype helicopter, airplane that holds two, flies anywhere and lands any way. He has plans for the next beta to have wings that fold up turning the flying car into a land machine. And there were at least 6 other designs. The show had me walking outside looking up in the sky excited at the technology aspects and wondering about the future value of land under open skies and bright stars.

The other thought went to our space...not outer....talent. Who are the 6 inventors in our space? Who is taking us from the highway to the sky? And I'm not talking social networks. Who's out there thinking about the next wave?

Future Shock in the late 70s was a great book at forecasting the future. It's time for our industry, the talent industry to do more than go out on a limb. It's time we took technology to the next level and really added value. I don't need to go into all the reasons why we don't today....do I?

OK, said it before, you've heard it before from more than me...we store resumes and contact people later...usually much later. In a world of immediate response and communicationm when how we are treated on the Internet matters sending in resumes and waiting simply is not the way to fly.

So, I have ideas...some I keep to myself and some I share. Mine are likely not quite pie in the sky. But someone out there has pie in the sky notions. And I'll bet that soon, very soon someone is going to rock our world.

I can't wait!

A Welcome Respite!

Maybe you have noticed that I have not been a very active blogger lately. Even if you haven't noticed, I haven't been very active. I spent a few days at ERE West in San Diego which I will report on in a subsequent blog. But right after that I went for a wonderful respite in the desert--Texas' Big Bend country and Big Bend National Park.

If you've never been there I highly recommed it. It always recharges my batteries. Big Bend National Park is 850,000 acres of desert surrounding the Chisos mountains in west Texas. It is some of the most amazing open spaces you can imagine. The vistas are incredible, and yet it's one of the--if not the--least visited national parks. It is pretty far off the beaten path.

In the spring, between March and May, the desert blooms in varying degrees depending on moisture over the winter. This year was a particularly good winter so the bloom is awesome. The cactus pictured in this blog is the Claret Cup which blooms at altitudes over 4000 feet. This is the first time I've seen it in bloom and it is spectacular.

All in all, the trip was awesome, and did a great job of recharging me. Big Bend always seems to have that effect on me.

So what does any of this have to do with talenteering? Absolutely nothing! But it does help to explain where I've been for the last week or so. Big Bend is pretty primitive country, so I was without high-speed (or low-speed for that matter) Internet or cellular phone coverage. Hmmm--maybe that's why I'm feeling relaxed and recharged :-) At any rate I'm now back in civilization so I thought I'd share some of the grandeur. Hope you enjoy it.

I'll be back to talenteering soon.

Who's Got The Power?

Candidates have the power - again! See Michael Mandel's BusinessWeek commentary "Now Workers Can Flex Some Muscle" March 21, 2005.

"In any economic expansion there comes a moment when the balance of power shifts to employees from employers - a moment when the question of the day switches from "Can I get a good job?" to "Can we find enough good workers?" That moment may have come for the U.S."

Michael explains that the the recent rise in unemployment was driven by 'job leavers' versus unemployed 'job losers'. In other words the churn predicted by so many for so long has begun and it is no longer a buyers market for talent.

That's right...employees leave for better opportunities. Counter offers may not be up to snuff or too late and they leave...or the competition just does a faster and better job at understanding and valuing talent in all they say and all they do. In other words...companies who are and do what they profess to be have a better shot at acquiring and retaining talent.

What...we had to figure this out on a blog? No, no, no...we know, know, know what to do and why, it just hard to get corporate backing for home page real estate, marketing support, dollars for top recruiters and great talent relationship technology - and of course hiring authorities who appreciate the difficulty and value of recruiting in a world of churn...it's hard!

And it's not going to get easier...

A recent article by Amrita Sidhu in the East Bay Times titled 'Uncle Al Wants You', is not just a good story on the beginnings of Al Gore and Joel Hyatt's attempt at creating a revolutionary cable channel but is a look at how technology can be used to build talent excitement and relationships. Hot websites, vlogs, etc...problem learned by Al and team...first, figure out who you are, why you are and then attract the talent. To their benefit the company announced last week they have changed their name from IndTV to Current TV. Still as Amitra points out they pissed off alot of talent and may have created a competitive Frankenstein from the very talent they first attracted. Read the article..

So Talent has the power...about time. The result? We in recruiting will be asked to do a better job...no sweat - we've done it before.

• Align the position with corporate and department goals
• Market the position - what is so compelling? Ask the happy gal or guy doing the job! Create a compelling story not just an internet post!
• Figure out what it will take to source...time, money, where, how...
• And make the hiring team agree. Don't throw stuff up against the wall and waste time - get agreement on parameters first.
• Plan for contingencies...keep sourcing great talent - don't stop until position is filled and candidate is on the job.
• Completely understand the deficiency of any candidate before you say no...they may be worth training and the loyalty gained may keep them from looking in the future.
• Compile and answer objections from the candidate and hiring team from the beginning...this is a bi-directional selling process. Done correctly it is not easy!
• Close. Set time lines for all involved and make them stick to them.
• And lastly, be nice...the candidates have the power so treat them well...that's all of them - those you turn down and those who turn you down.

Who's Got The Power? The Talent...

Recruiters have to get back to blocking and tackling - do the basics and do them well.

Companies must understand and invest in the resources necessary to do the job...you can't cut corners anymore.

Technology must innovate and scale...how many resume storage systems can one company buy? Get over it and and invest in leading edge technologies that enable Talent Relationships and Collaborative Hiring. Concentrate on scalable solutions that drive productivity and most importantly better talent results than your competition.

Again when the recent grad with two offers comes in asking for an offer with more money, smile...

When the engineer resigns for a better offer, smile...

Or when to Customer Support rep working your top account demands a career path to sales, smile

because chances are good you will have to find a way to make it all happen.

Good Luck and Great Recruiting!