The Recruiting Inferno

Il n’y a que le premier pas qui co�te (The distance doesn’t matter; it is only the first step that is the most difficult.)                -Madame du Deffand: French hostess and a patron of the arts (1697-1780)

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.      -Chinese Proverb

There is always room at the top.  -Daniel Webster: US Senator and Secretary of State (1782-1852)

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quite, however, it lasts forever.                    -Lance Armstrong

We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success; we often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

-Samuel Smiles: Scottish author and reformer (1812-1904)

If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.             -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from the ERE community during 2005 is that change is a five-letter word. The past few months appears to have coalesced in the collective community a bipolar disorder – I’ll call it, for lack of a better incendiary phrase, ethical versus unethical recruiting. You’ve read it in the comments, on the blogs, on other people’s blogs – “I’m right so everyone who doesn’t believe in the same things I do is wrong.”

Of late, Dr. John has been excoriated by those who take umbrage to his listing of “the best and the brightest of 2005” – and has been called everything from a misogynist to anti-European by people who don’t even bother to check the facts. In fact, from much of the anti-John speak comes talk of people being victims at the hands of unscrupulous recruiters. This is laughable.

Upon deeper analysis, what is at the heart of this chasm is creativity – or the lack of creativity; one group prefers to retrench to kinder, gentler times where all recruiters played on the same level ball field when in reality the great recruiters have taken the game to a new place. This new place has new rules, new technology, new expectations, and new masters (no longer the head of HR but now the head of the company). Frankly, there’s so much whining going on today that many recruiters may want to first shop for some cheese…

If you want to make a difference in 2006, it’s time for a change in attitude. What gets in our way are not the obstacles created by others but the ones we create for ourselves. If a technique or tool hasn’t worked for you in the past, don’t blame the game, change the player. And throw out your press clippings – they only reinforce what you refuse to do.

Want to know why I listen to the words of innovators like John rather than criticize them? Because innovation becomes reality to the open mind; think a John Sullivan is wrong and you will forever miss out on a grain of sand transforming into a pearl of wisdom you can use. Ignore the words of innovators and like the arrow you’ll find yourself being pulled down to the ground.

Happy New Years and Happy Hunting!

Received a surprise call from  Gerry Crispin this afternoon. When Gerry?s in the area, we try and have a cup of coffee at Starbucks and chat about current events, recruiting…and more recruiting. This time talk turned to SHRM.

No ? we didn?t toss around caffeine-laced invectives about the strategic business partner wannabe organization; we actually discussed the changes that are taking place at a snail?s pace within the association – changes that may actually portend a reasonable relationship between HR and the recruiterazzi. The biggest surprise to me is that SHRM has a $100M war chest on top of its $100M annual budget to use to improve the quality of products and services.

Finally, Gerry let me know about a recent (quietly introduced last February) addition to SHRM ? LINE?Leading Indicators of National Employment. LINE is a collaboration between SHRM and the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations. Presently, LINE is in its neophyte stage ? the data is unweighted, not seasonally adjusted, and the sample is self-selected. Nonetheless, as more data is collected and statistical corrections are applied to the series, I?m confident the LINE diffusion index will become a more reflective leading indicator of reality. Best of all – you don’t have to be a SHRM member to gain access to the information or monthly reports.

LINE data is collected via a simple survey of HR executives at 500+ manufacturing companies. Historically, changes in the manufacturing sector are often leading indicators of change in the overall economy. In a nutshell, employment in manufacturing tends ?to decline sooner in periods of economic contraction and to increase faster in periods of economic expansion.?

The five monthly component indicators of LINE and their respective weights are:

�          Manufacturing employment (ME). Job growth or reduction in exempt and nonexempt positions. LINE weight: 60%.

�          Manufacturing vacancies (MV). Total job vacancies (potentially one of the earliest indicators of a shift in the balance between labor supply and labor demand). LINE weight: 10%.

�          Recruiting difficulty (RD). Measures the degree of difficulty for organizations in their efforts to attract highly qualified applicants to fill crucial positions. LINE weight: 10%.

�          New hire compensation levels (CL). Indicates changes in compensation levels needed to recruit new hires as labor market conditions fluctuate. LINE weight: 10%.

�          Employment expectations (EE). Reports whether companies anticipate a change in their employment headcount in the coming month. LINE weight: 10%.

A LINE above 50 indicates an improving employment situation; below 50, declining.

For me, this is like d�j� vu all over again. Back in 1985-86, I worked with the then National Association of Purchasing Managers (NAPM) to develop better graphical methods for presenting the monthly PMI ? Purchasing Managers? Index. Today the PMI is the key component of the Institute for Supply Management?s Reports on Business; the PMI is a diffusion index that is a highly accurate leading predictor of GDP. In fact, the SHRM/LINE methodology is identical to that used by the ISM ? SHRM/LINE researchers may want to take a look at what ISM has done. Finally, while SHRM/LINE presently views its baseline as 50, I?m reasonably certain that as more data is collected, we?ll find that longer term analyses will indicate a positive outlook at a LINE of less than 50 (for the PMI, the growing/declining fulcrum is 42.7).

SHRM/Rutgers LINE results?reported by component as well as overall figures? are released at 8:30 AM on the fourth Tuesday of each month.

There’s a very interesting thread in the Global Recruitment Strategy Group – Global Staffing Leaders – People, Process and Technology. Russ Moon – soon with MBA in hand – accurately notes that

“Multinational companies have proven time and time again that one size doesn’t fit all, that each country has their own unique dynamics that one must understand and respect in order to prosper there.”

“Unless there are regional liaisons who have this local knowledge and are rapidly and accurately passing it along to the global person, their ability to know all the ‘local’ dynamics are very limited at best.”

Later, Tracey Friend – who everyone must have in their network – offered, “…it is the HOW that changes, not the WHAT. Language. Culture. The HOW Factor. People’s buying behaviors.  All of these impact a global recruiting strategy.” In response to her quest for things that stay constant globally and things that vary by country, I defer to a company I discovered some ten years ago that publishes books on topics germane to understanding cultural differences – and constants.

A primetime TV soap-series with a business take on career happiness, this new series will take a dark look at the recruiterazzi, where the secret lives of names sourcers and talent scouts aren’t always what they seem.

The series began with Noreen Collin picking up her Panasonic telephone and placing her Plantronics wireless headset across her perfectly coifed hair – and calling the main number of a Fortune 50 company. Now she takes us into the lives of recruiters, gatekeepers, passive candidates, clients, and yes, even the occasional attorney, commenting from her elevated POV.

Her circle of girlfriends on Hysteria Lane include Michelle Romula, the divorcee and sole proprietor recruiter who will go to extraordinary lengths for new clients; Apple Roberts, who recently went from being a work-from-home recruiter back to her fast track career in corporate talent acquisition; Joan Summers, a Shally Steckerl on steroids, whose recent layoff as head of sourcing from the world’s largest employment firm has completely reeked havoc on her perfect life; and Candida Sellus, the ex-superstar account manager with everything she’s ever wanted – a rich husband who owns the Internet’s largest online recruiting community, a big house, and now a baby to go with it all – the problem is she’s not sure if her ex’s site really is the largest; and serial commenter Caren Sweerd, a self-appointed recruiting expert whose opinions have everyone buzzing. Enter newcomer Betty Wont and her handsome recent MBA son, Willy, who mysteriously moved into a vacant office they’d never seen in the middle of the night.

Then there are the men: Willy Makeit, a supposedly widowed agency recruiter who has won Michelle’s heart; Apple’s adorable husband, Glenn, who volunteered to be a stay-at-home “Mr. Sourcer” so his wife can go back to work; Candida’s better half, Russ, who is currently in jail in Virginia and recently learned of his wife’s cheesy business development activities with Joel, the creative blogger; and Noreen’s widowed husband, Bob, who is on the run from the bad recruiting debt in his past.

From her unique vantage point, Noreen hears more now than she ever did, and she’s planning to share the magic of the method that she uses to uncover the secrets lives of recruiters, gatekeepers, passive candidates, clients, and yes, even the occasional attorney – all who hide behind every company’s quest for the perfect American balance sheet.

Have a friend who had been interviewing for a head of recruiting position with a well-known company; like Michael Homula, he is a TPR – this would be his first corporate role. During the 15 plus hours of interviewing, he was driving on all cylinders, discussing strategy, sourcing, tactics, metrics, etc.

He was recently told that if he had in-house experience, he’d have been a shoe-in. Yes, after 15 hours of interviews it purportedly came down to that. I’m sure there are other reasons – perhaps a single person didn’t like him and this company is one of those 100% consensus types…you know them, paralysis by analysis. Still, it’s pretty screwy if you ask me.

Since all great recruiters know that sales are rarely made on the first call, I suggested that – and he agreed – he write a letter to his new boss and re-sell. He plans on calling early next week.

I don’t view this company as one in need of a Fab Five Recruiting Makeover (hmmm, another idea for a series); there’s just so much low-hanging fruit available for the picking. A recent book by Michael Levine entitled, Broken Windows, Broken Business, points out that by not fixing the small things quickly – like that broken window – customers will notice and the business will suffer; not fixing these quickly also reinforces that larger, more complex problems exist. Oh, and broken windows can also be broken employees, processes, etc.

Great recruiters enjoy picking low hanging fruit not because of the instant gratification but because they know that there’s much more work ahead. Don’t be afraid companies – hire these people!