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Engaging Quality, Active Candidates – All About Timing & Your Message!

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Question: Ever wonder how many recruiters are logged into Monster/CareerBuilder at any given time?
Answer : Hundreds of thousands!

Question: Ever wonder how many “hits” a quality candidate gets (in the first 48 hours)  from recruiters after posting their resume online
Answer: 20-100 + +

Synopsis:  While there are talented, active job seekers out there (contrary to what some “experts” might say), the competition for them can be as fierce as it is for those elusive “passive” candidates!

The minute a talented professional posts their resume, you can bet there are hundreds of recruiters, sourcers, competition, etc. ready to pounce on them!  So what can you do to ensure you are making contact with the top job seekers?

Some practical advice on Harvesting Quality, Active Candidates:

Timing:

Since quality talent will get 20-100+ hits from recruiters within 48 hours, it is critical to be identifying talent as they ‘hit the boards’.

Some tips:

  • Set up automated search agents to drive candidates to you (NOTE: A key to this is ensuring you have the right key words set up to harvest talent effectively.  If you don’t have the right key words, you will miss talent).
  • Don’t rely on your search agent (NOTE: comment on keywords above).  Each morning before 8 am (when your competition is getting in), review all resumes posted during the last 24 hours.  Again, your ability to develop key word search strings that will identify all the potential candidates will be your key to success. If you want more info on this subject, contact me.
  • Lastly, MAKE CONTACT WITH THEM. I know many recruiters who have search agents to drive candidate flow to them but. . . only get to them on a weekly basis.   

These tactics will probably ensure that you are one of the top 5, 10 recruiters that are contacting them which is very important. 

Think about it. If you just posted your resume online, what would you be feeling when you started getting responses? Probably pretty excited eh? How about the 83rd response from a recruiter? Maybe annoyed?

IT IS CRITICAL TO BE ONE OF THE FIRST TO CONTACT AN ACTIVE SEEKER!

Your Message:

Regardless whether a candidate is active/passive/unemployed . . . TOP TALENT IS IN DEMAND! 

So what is your value proposition? Why would they want to talk to you? How is your message different from all the others?

As many of you know, the Art & Science of Engaging Top Talent has been a passion of mine for years.  I spend a lot of time working with recruitment teams on perfecting this skill.

Some simple advice:

  • Make sure your message is short, compelling and to the point (100 words or less).
  • Make sure it answers the questions roaming through the candidates mind: “So What?” and “What’s in it for me?”

For more insight, check out this blog post I wrote on the subject.

Remember there are definitely talented active job seekers out there.  But . . . you are not the only one trying to recruit them!

Ensuring you are one of the first recruiters to contact them with a compelling message and . . . the probability of engaging them will go up exponentially!

Posted in David, David Szary, Elite Recruiters, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Sourcing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Building Talent Communities – A Pragmatic Approach using Dunbar’s Principle

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Because we have so much data/intelligence at our disposal, I think we have a tendency to over complicate and analyze things to the extent that we become overwhelmed with WHAT WE CAN’T DO rather than focused on getting started with WHAT WE CAN DO!

No better example of this dilemma is the concept of recruiters building talent pipelines/communities. 

There is so much being written about using social media to develop communities by leveraging viral marketing strategies using multiple channels  (LI, Twitter, FB, etc.) that . . . . it can make your head spin!

And when we humans get overwhelmed, we usually shut down and do nothing.

I was introduced to the Dunbar principle a few years ago.  For more info check out the article on the Dunbar principle. 

The short version of his principle is that there is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person.  No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar’s number. It lies between 100 and 230, but a commonly used value is 150.

I have often recommended that we use this complex (yet very simple) theory to start developing talent communities.  Instead of getting overwhelmed with all the cool new Web 2.0 things you can do (that you are not getting to!), focus on a simple pragmatic process to get  a talent pipeline going.

  1. Identify the job categories you need or want to develop a pipeline within.
  2. Within those job categories, start to identify prospects (via your ATS, online databases, LinkedIn, etc.) that you want to develop  a relationship with.
  3. Make an initial contact to engage in dialog (remember to develop a compelling message).
  4. Over time, develop  a candidate relationship management program to regularly connect with these individuals to cultivate the relationship.
  5. Focus on developing your Top 150 Network – the top 150 candidates that you would like to continually have a relationship with – these can be active or passive candidates.
  6. As you learn more about individuals in your network, think about replacing folks that are not the ‘quality’ you are seeking with others that are (or you think might be).
  7. Invest 3-5 hours a week to developing and maintaining your Top 150 Network.

The key is to keep it simple and focus on developing your first 150 relationships. Dunbar would be proud! 

Recruitment leaders, imagine how powerful it would be if each of your recruiters had a Top 150 Network! 

Once this is created, think about expanding your network by leveraging social media sites, building online communities, etc.    

Of course one of the keys to your success is being able to develop relationships with these individuals.  Best practices include:

  • Becoming a resource to them.
  • Providing information of value.
  • Providing a compelling value proposition that answers the questions “So What?” and “What’s in it for me?”

Please don’t confuse this message. I do believe that social media tools will transform how we recruit in the future.  I am not proposing that you abandon your social media/talent community initiatives!  But sometimes taking a simple, pragmatic approach to launch an initiative is the right way to go!

Posted in David, David Szary, Dunbar Principle, Elite Recruiters, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Social Media, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Eating Frogs Will Help You Enjoy the Holidays

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Like most of you, I find that the holiday season can bring intense pressure to meet deadlines and get things done before we take a few days off (hopefully :) ).

And when you are working at maximum capacity, you have little room for error and/or time to waste on non-productive, non-value added tasks!

In efforts to improve our time management/planning skills, we have studied experts in time management, personal achievement and behavior modification which has resulted in the creation of The Perfect Week/Perfect Day planning methodology . 

I thought I would share a couple of simple, yet powerful, concepts from this methodology to ensure that you finish the year productively!

  1. To maintain focus and sanity in extremely busy times, you must INVEST more time in planning your weekly/daily activities.   Spending ½ hour creating a time-based daily schedule will allow you to be 25-30% more productive during the day.
  2. Make sure you identify and ‘Eat your Frogs’ early in the day.  Embedded into our methodology is Brian Tracy’s (www.briantracy.com) Eat the Frog philosophy.  If you have never watched the Eat the Frog Movie - DO SO NOW!  In one minute, you will grasp the invaluable concept.  ‘Eating Frogs’ early on will build positive momentum and provide energy for the rest of the day!

Some other helpful hints are outlined in our free resources portal under time management/planning.

I hope that your next week is hyper productive so you can enjoy the holidays!

Posted in David, David Szary, Eat the Frog, Elite Recruiters, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Time Management, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Helping Job Seekers helps children in need! PLEASE READ!

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

As many of you know, with the help of recruiters across the country, I finished a book that I believe will help job seekers across the nation - “Best (and Worst) Advice for Job Seekers”.

The book is a quick read with ‘un-sanitized’ information that can immediately help you (or someone you know) with your job search, next interview, resume, etc.

Just as important, 100% of the proceeds on book sales will be donated to an amazing organization close to our hearts – St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

What a Win-Win!

For less than $10.00, you can help a job seeker and the children of St. Judes!

My goal is to raise over $2500 by the end of the year! 

So . . .

If you know of a job seeker in need, what a great gift!

If you counsel Job Seekers, what a great resource to have in your office.

If you just believe in the amazing work that St. Judes does – - please donate!

Please spread the word on the book.

Please share this message via Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. to all your friends, co-workers, associates, etc.

I thank you for your assistance! 

I hope you have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season

David M. Szary

 

NOTE: PURCHASING THE EBOOK (versus paperback) GENERATES THE MOST MONEY FOR ST. JUDES!

PS – If you have ideas of how I can market this book, I would appreciate your input .

PSS – Thanks again to all of the individuals that contributed to this endeavor.

Posted in David, David Szary, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Recruiter Academy, Recruiter Boot Camp, Recruiter Sales, Relationship Recruiter | No Comments »

Expectation versus Reality — Deliver on Your Promises Consistently

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Companies who are serious about their talent need to deliver on their promises consistently.

When a candidate goes to your career website they begin to research your company. They are looking for information, drivers, and attractors that make your company a more intriguing proposition than others. 

Let’s say they decide to apply, and they’re invited in for the interview.  From the moment they arrive at your office they are gauging if the company they saw online matches what they see in reality.  As you go further down the lifecycle of hiring someone, further expectations develop based on the information you portray to the candidate. 

If the recruiter or hiring manager driving the interview process makes statements such as:  “We have a strong work/life balance at our company.  We believe in learning and development.  We have an open door policy in which management is readily acceptable.”  Then the organization better be prepared to deliver on those statements consistently.

Take the Gen X group and the Millenials.  Both of these groups are getting a lot of focus from companies right now to ensure they fill talent gaps as boomers reach retirement.  From our research, one of the key areas of attraction for both of these groups is learning and development.  Another dynamic of these groups is a lack of long-term company loyalty.  If your company states a strong position on learning and development, whether online, during the interview process or during on-boarding, and you don’t deliver on that promise these groups will leave quickly.

Best in class companies ask employees if the expectation they have of the company is matching the reality they’re experiencing over time.  Results will show significant drop offs in satisfaction if companies aren’t effectively setting and managing expectations with their new hires. 

The organizations that effectively manage expectation versus reality make sure that the messages they state on their website, during the interview process, and beyond are consistent and truthful.  They also consistently ask the employees what they think.  If the perception of new employees is not aligning with what companies are expecting then they should begin to make changes accordingly.

Posted in Bradley Savoy, Candidate Pipeline, Elite Recruiters, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Uncategorized | No Comments »

‘Beware of overall TTF |All req’s are not equal |Do you measure sourcing time per submittal?’

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

I am a lucky guy!  Why? Because I get the opportunity to work/consult with recruitment teams throughout the country.  This provides me a unique opportunity to not only meet some very good, talented people but also gather perspectives from multiple recruitment teams working in multiple industries.  

Here are some of these thoughts/perspectives (and recommendations) from my last few months of travel:

  • Beware of the overall TTF metric! – The analysis of data from our clients, as well as those involved in our benchmark study, clearly shows that overall average TTF is not indicative of performance. Specifically:
    • TTF for positions filled with internal/active candidates is significantly less than TTF when filled by “sourced” candidates. In a recent analysis, we found overall TTF for an organization was 33 days.  90% of these positions were filled in an average of 23 days while 10% were filled an average of 92 days!  ‘Average TTF’ clearly was not indicative of performance.     
    • We recommend you track TTF for critical/difficult/important to fill job categories. This will help assess performance and improve hiring manager satisfaction.
  • Most organizations treat all new requisitions equally! – When a new requisition comes in, it is worked through the same staffing process regardless of how critical it is to fill and/or how difficult it is to fill. 
    • When a recruiter takes on a position where there is no internal candidates and . . . NEVER has been filled through a posting and/or advertisement, why do we start the search using these tools that do nothing but create waste/time?
    • Make sure your staffing process has a step to identify when a position is ‘business as usual’ (high probability it will get filled by an internal/active candidate) or ‘difficult/critical to fill’ (need to escalate a sourcing strategy ASAP) and work it accordingly.   
  • It takes exponentially longer to source top talent! – Search firms have known this for years!  Just look at how they are staffed.  To fill difficult/critical to fill positions, most recruiters get paid very well to manage a half dozen req’s or less. They are often supported by a research team to do deep Internet mining to fill their positions.  But corporate recruiters are loaded up with 20, 30, 50+ req’s and . . . we are unsatisfied  when they can’t fill them all?!
    • To understand how much time you need to spend sourcing candidates, we recommend tracking a key metric:  Sourcing time per candidate submitted.  This will provide you with a key metric to define how many hours sourcing it takes to fill your critical/difficult to fill positions.   

If you would like to investigate these thoughts/recommendations further, don’t hesitate to email me! 

I hope your having a productive week.

Posted in David, David Szary, Elite Recruiters, Just-In-Time hiring, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Managing Your Hiring Manager, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Time to Fill, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Managing Your Hiring Managers, Part Three

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

We recently posted the first of three parts in our series about Managing Your Hiring Managers. (Part One, Part Two)   We discussed how to understand what your hiring manager’s want through Voice of the Customer (VOC) and how to build credibility with your hiring managers.

Our final post of the series will focus on how to effectively manage the hiring manager relationship.

Effectively Managing the Hiring Manager relationship   

So, you’ve spent a great deal of time assessing your hiring manager’s needs through Voice of the Customer, and you’ve worked hard to establish credibility.  Now, if you don’t effectively manage the relationship with them then all of your efforts will be wasted!!

One important step in the management of any consultative relationship is the ability to establish a strong foundation to the partnership (yes, you’re the recruiting consultant to your hiring manager!).  This starts when consultants engage with clients in the initial intake session.  

Intake Session = Foundation:  If you have a good intake session then you have a strong foundation to build a relationship! A good intake session is not only about uncovering the basic wants and needs of your hiring manager but it will allow you to explore the position in great detail as well, including: 

  • Why is the position open?
  • What are the top 3-5 key objectives for someone in this position?
  • What are the challenges a person will face in this position?
  • How is performance measured?
  • What is your hiring managers style/personality/culutre
  • Sourcing Strategy questions
    • Who are some of your top performers that I could network with?
    • Who are some of the top performers externally that you’re aware of?
    • Are you aware of any companies that might be struggling that I could tap into?
  • What are the selling points of the position?
  • What “knock out” questions do you suggest I use?
  • What is our Service Level Agreement?

Establishing a Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a key step in effectively managing the hiring manager relationship.  It sets expectations in advance, for both you and your hiring manager about who is going to do what during the hiring process and how long it’s going to take.

For example, a well crafted SLA will outline how quickly you will be expected to provide qualified and interested candidates as well as how quickly your hiring manager will respond once you have submitted an initial slate of candidates.

If you’d like to see an example of our intake and SLA documents please contact me.

Finally, best in class organizations use detailed analytics, trend tracking, and ongoing voice of the customer sessions/surveys to consistently check on hiring manager satisfaction and correct areas of concern proactively. 

If you’re effectively managing the relationship, you’re not only talking with your hiring managers often about the day to day aspects of candidate flow, but you’re also meeting with them at least quarterly to look at your high level results as a team to mitigate any areas of risk.

Have a fantastic week!

Posted in Bradley Savoy, Elite Recruiters, Just-In-Time hiring, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Managing Your Hiring Manager, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Recruiter Training, Strategic Business Partner, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Pragmatic, NO COST Solutions to Reduce Time to Fill

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Over the last month, I have facilitated four LEAN Value Stream Mapping exercises.  As mentioned in a recent blog, I am always amazed at how little time is spent in “Process Mode” and how much time is spent “Waiting”.  With the four organizations I recently worked with, the average Process Time was less than 10% of the total Lead time (AKA – Time to fill). 

Of course the key reason you perform a value stream mapping exercise is not just to map out your current state process but rather to identify solutions to reducing waste and wait time.  In evaluating all four staffing processes, the most wait time “variation” centered around . . . . now don’t be shocked . . . ok I am going to say it . . . HIRING MANAGERS!

Yep, most wait time is centered around:

  • Defining the requisition once it was approved (getting enough information required to begin the search)
  • Managers selecting candidates to interview
  • Managers being available to interview
  • Managers making a decision on hire

Some simple, but highly effective strategies to reduce wait time that resulted from our value stream mapping exercises:

  • In advance of a requisition being approved (if it is pending approval), set up a meeting with the hiring manager to qualify the requisition (AKA – Intake Session). If for some reason the requisition doesn’t get approved, you can cancel the meeting.
  • If one recruiter fills a position with an internal candidate, let the recruiter assigned to back fill the position know ASAP. This gives them a heads up on a future position and they’ll be able to qualify the requisition with the hiring manager long before it hits the “system”.
  • “Batch” candidates for consideration and review with the hiring manager prior to submitting.  Instead of routing candidates as you receive them, wait until you have 2 or 3 candidates.  Then set up a quick con call to review them with the hiring manager. NEVER send resumes or paperwork WITHOUT  a discussion with the hiring manager first.  Call and say “I have 2 candidates I want to review with you that I really like.  When can we discuss for 5 minutes?” Search Firm recruiters have been doing this for years!
  • Of course the ultimate way to remove wait time in the “route-review-interview” process is to eliminate the “route-review-interview” process.  During the intake, identify times when the manager is available to interview (give yourself sufficient lead time) and then just schedule the top 2-3 candidates within those time slots.  Why does the hiring manager need to review candidates before the interview? That is our job :)
  • Schedule a 15-minute “debrief” meeting with hiring managers immediately after the interview.  Send an outlook request to meet to debrief at the same time you send the interview request.

While these seem like simple things to do . . . they can have a huge impact on overall TTF!  We often get so obsessed with trying to reduce sourcing time, pipelining candidates, workforce planning, etc to reduce TTF when . . . while I encourage you investigate all of those things . . . the quickest, lowest cost strategy is just working on your current WAIT time bottle necks!

NOTE: Most of the above are based on the assumption that YOU control the interview/hiring process. I.E. – you assist managers with facilitating the interview/selection/offer process.  If your process is to route candidates to managers and let them control the process . . . I would consider changing it ASAP. While it does take more time, in the long run you will save time/waste by being more efficient. For more information on this – Check out our Blog site and search under “process efficiency”.

If you are interested in more information on Value Stream Mapping, please connect with me

Have a productive day :)

Posted in David, David Szary, Elite Recruiters, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Time to Fill, Uncategorized, Value Stream Mapping | No Comments »

Managing Your Hiring Managers, Part Two

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Last week we posted the first part in this series on Managing Your Hiring Managers.  We discussed how to understand what your hiring manager’s want (or just as important – need) through voice of the customer (VOC).

A key to building a consultative partnership with your hiring manager is by getting to know them personally and building credibility with strong functional knowledge of their organization, business unit and staff.  

How do you accomplish this? The following questions will help guide you so that you can become recognized as a true staffing partner with your hiring managers.

Knowing Your Hiring Managers & Building Credibility – Self Assessment!

  • Do you have strong, personal relationships with your hiring managers? Do you know where they are from, their hobbies and interests?  You don’t need to be best friends.  But, you should have some basic knowledge of your customer and who they are. 
  • Do you know their administrative assistants or other support staff well? Often the most important contact you’ll have is the Administrative Assistants and other support professionals aligned to your hiring manager.  They can be your best ally to ensure you’re given access to the hiring manager’s schedule and they always have an ear to the inner workings of the hiring manager’s department.
  • Who are their top performers?  Do you have a relationship with them?  If you’re trying to build a business for your hiring manager, you should always look at their leadership team.  From the successor of the department to the top performers, the traits from these team members are what the hiring manager is seeking to build in his/her department and what you should look for when courting talent.  Also building relationships with these leaders will ensure your opinion is vetted throughout the key influencers in your hiring manager’s world.
  • Do you have a strong functional knowledge of what they do?  What does the hiring manager actually do every day?  You should have a basic understanding of how they spend their time.  They should also know how you spend yours. :)
  • Do you keep up with the industry?   Sure, you should be reading Workforce & HR magazines, but you should also be reading up on the latest trends in your industry. Whatever the industry (i.e. healthcare, banking, home building), you should stay abreast of trends there.
  • Have you visited the department or met their staff?  If you have the ability to make a visit in person do so.  One of my clients within the insurance industry conducts site visits once a month to make sure they have a face tied to the name.  
  • Do you understand the career progression for each department?  How do people move up, or transfer out of their department.  This can be a key selling point if this particular manager has a track record of creating star performers for your organization or system.
  • Do you meet with your managers quarterly to quantify your performance/ROI?  As part of a quarterly touch base (or onsite visit), do you present meaningful data to your hiring manager to show what you or your function has done for them in the past 3 months?

We have added this self-assessment tool to our Good to “Elite” competency/skills self assessment library (see below).

Click here to participate.

If would like a copy of your (or your team’s results) results, please email us.

Join us for our final installment next week when we’ll focus on how to effectively manage the hiring manager relationship.

Have a great week!

Posted in Bradley Savoy, Elite Recruiters, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Managing Your Hiring Manager, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Recruiter Sales, Recruiter Top Gun, Recruiter Training, Strategic Business Partner, Workforce Planning | No Comments »

Managing Your Hiring Managers, Part One

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

I’d like to share some highlights from my recent presentation at one of our local SHRM chapters, “How to Manage Your Hiring Managers”.

The most important thing to remember is you need to understand what your hiring managers want! You can’t manage a relationship if you don’t know what your customer wants or expects.  Below are some good questions to keep in mind:

  • What are your hiring managers’ business goals?
  • What are their challenges?
  • What are their business drivers? 
  • How does your department help your hiring managers achieve their goals? 
  • Can you show alignment to these goals? 

As we approach the end of the year and start to plan for the New Year the above questions can be used to help guide you and your hiring managers’ planning discussion for 2011.  Be sure to capture and review the “wants/expectations” with your hiring managers on a regular basis to make sure you are on track and nothing has changed. This relates to one of the topics explored during last week’s webinar on planning for 2011.  If you are interested in getting a copy, please email us.

Another great way to assess the needs of your hiring managers is by analyzing the “Voice of the Customer”. This can be achieved by using a variety of tools such as; surveys, polls, and focus groups.  However, it’s always important to consider: 

  • What is your customer’s expectation throughout the process ranked by importance?  (See illustration below)
  • How does your customer rate their experience?

 Blog92910

Once you’ve gathered this data, you’re now armed with the information you need to address your hiring manager’s needs. You’ll be able to add this metric to your talent management dashboard under Quality.  This is commonly referred to as Hiring Manager Satisfaction. 

In the next posting we’ll focus on building credibility with your hiring managers, and close with how to effectively manage those relationships.

If you’d like to see some examples of the tools we use to gather “Voice of the Customer”, please contact me.

Posted in Bradley Savoy, Elite Recruiters, LEAN recruitment, Lean Human Capital, Managing Your Hiring Manager, Recruiter, Recruiter Academy, Strategic Business Partner, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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