I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of hearing about how bad the economy is doing these days. But, until it improves a great deal, we all will have to continue to deal with it. Having read several articles about this, it made me think (scary, I know!).
All of the experts advise us to do some key things related to talent management with this economy. Incorporate Lean HR practices wherever possible, focus on talent acquisition to upgrade your staff, etc. Great ideas, but in a practical sense, how do you do those things? Especially if you are a small or mid-sized organization?
I'm seeing more companies turn to technology to accomplish these tasks. Using applicant tracking software and automated onboarding solutions can really help to incorporate those Lean HR principles into most any mid-sized organization. Likewise, using employee assessments or career personality tests that can be administered online can really augment any talent acquisition process by helping to ensure JobFit is present for both the new hire and the organization.
These human capital management systems are becoming more affordable and can really improve the overall talent management function within most organizations. More to come, but if you haven't investigated these solutions, I would encourage you to begin.
There is a higher chance that your competition can replicate your product easier than they can replicate your human capital.So why not invest in the best human resource tools?This does not mean large dollar amounts.What it does mean is investing in highly effective applicant tracking software and career personality tests that can make you the best in human resource planning and management.
The key to staying ahead of the competition is managing your human resource tools to create better employees. If you use effective applicant tracking software that asks applicants for key, job related, information you will increase your ability to create a world class team that can build, market and sell your product far better than your competition.
You spend money and time to protect your product or service secrets, why not find out what little it takes to create the best human resource tools? Even if you have the same product, you’ll win every time with an applicant tracking system that increases the quality of your talent acquisition.
Don’t risk losing your best human capital to your competition.ExactHire can help you.Go to www.exacthire.com.
Companies need to take a rigorous and progressive approach to the hiring process by determining what it is they're really looking for and how to assess it. Who are the "right" people to hire? Members of successful teams differ in complementary ways. If you've ever worked for someone who only hires people like themselves, you know why this is true. Diversity needs to be a part of an office's unique environment. Differing perspectives will keep your company from seeming similar, regardless of the client or the services you deliver. It also helps you round out your team. A team made up of just quarterbacks would not be very successful.
A progressive approach to successful hiring is needed to achieve diversity and success. Do you have a human resource management system securely in place? Have you looked to an outside specialist who can assist your human resources team by using an applicant management & tracking software to help you build a model for successful job fit? The time to invesigate an applicant tracking software systesm is now when you have the time. When the markekt recovers and we return to "green flag racing" we will all be to busy.
The results of an NFI Research survery shows that Senior Executives and Managers select increased salaries, more vacation time and performance based bonuses as their compensation package preferences.
If the same question would have been posed two years ago, the compensation preferences would have produced the same results.
Before interviewing, you researched the company, donned your best clothes and practical shoes the day of the appointment, planned your route to be early, tucked your updated resume in your portfolio and left for your interview with Human Resources.
In the next hour, you do everything in your power to acquaint them with your skills, explain why you fit the job and why they should hire YOU!
But then, the regret letter arrives saying although they were impressed with your credentials, they have decided to go with another candidate.
You think, what could have I done better in the interview and why wasn't I hired?!!
Well if the company did its job right, it used applicant tracking software system to better refine candidiates and subjected you to taking some employee assessments so they knew more about you before the interview. So if they didn't pick you, maybe they did you a favor? If there was no job fit, how long would you have lasted. Companies need to spend more time focusing on talent acquisition.
On your next job interview if a company using applicant management and pre-employment testing make sure you ask them how they define job fit. It will give you better insight into whether this is a good decision for both of you.
I met with some Lean consultants this morning over coffee and eggs. I opened my half of the conversation with the thought that, if a Lean initiative fails, the blame generally falls on the Human Resources. They both blinked, thought, and agreed. Conversely, HR can make a significant contribution to lean success. Lean works if the people are aligned with the processes.
So, which HR practices are helpers of lean success?
First is how performance is calculated, communicated and tied to incentives. Too often, staff go home not knowing (or caring) whether or not they accomplished their goals.
Next is team development. An organization that is based on individual performance will struggle to get the team behaviors needed for lean success.
Then, clarify roles and responsibilities. The job description for a supervisor are different than those of an engineer.
Then, communicate. A lean communication plan must go beyond posters and newsletters into walking the talk and reminding everyone of their success. When you feel you are over communicating, you have it about right.
Finally, celebrate success. A lot of repetitive hard work follows. Before enlightenment, there is chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, there is still chopping wood and carrying water. It's an old saying, but it applies.
Over communicate, celebrate, and clarify roles. Get Human Resources on board, using assessment tools, good HR Management, Human Resources software and a focus on job fit.
Then, and only then, will your Lean initiative survive over time.
I was reading a resume for a client last week, and hit a phrase I had not seen before - "top to top selling". Since I work in sales, I "got it", but others might not. I realize that there have been several new words cropping up that were not there before...
Joining the Twitterverse A "torch and pitchfork" group Nanoblogging WILB - Workforce Internet Leisure Blogging
...and so on.
Those of us that need to keep up (and we all do...) need a simple resource to look these words up. That way, our performance management systems and Applicant Tracking Software can be capturing meaningful words, and we can guide better talent management decisions. If we keep up with the words that are used, we can keep up with the people.
Here is a secret weapon - WordSpy.com. I love it - you can quickly find out what it REALLY means. The last one I came across on a tech resume was Ubicomp. Huh?
I looked it up. It is short for ubiquitous computing. And, now I'm current. Word.
Picking the right people is never easy. You would think that years of experience would bring you closer to a hiring expert but it does not.
Your candidates can present an eye appealing resume, have great presence and charm, or communicate like a scholar but that doesn't mean they are right for the job or your company's culture! Remember, if they look too good to be true, than they probably are.
Don't flip the coin in hiring. Don't rush headlong to fill an open position. Pedigree can be less important than experience, entrepreneurial nerve and commitment.
Build a hiring science to your company through the use of hiring assessments and applicant tracking software. Help your company be successful by developing a culture that attracts high performers and allows for employee engagement.
Working on a Applicant Tracking site this morning for a client, I realized how much I dislike job descriptions. If the goal of a hiring system is to source and select high performers, job descriptions can work against you.
Top people don't need or want a job description to begin exploring an opportunity with an organization. With good candidates going online, the objective of a job description should not be to pre-qualify the person, but rather to generate interest in the position and company.
A job description seldom does this. It's the "buzz" that does - the marketing, the branding, the word on the street. An opening page summarizing a group of jobs with some facts about the company values and attitudes is a good start. These pages should describe the company culture, the importance of high performing talent in the company, something about career opportunities and a few reasons why these open jobs are important to the company's future. By the way, these statements need to be true.
Once you interest a candidate in a class of jobs and the company, then you can begin a the dance of selecting and screening. This is where good career personality tests and job performance metrics can come in - and pay off.
On job descriptions - less in the way of task and responsibility lists can produce better hires. That is, after all, our goal, right?
People who are thinking of installing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)need to step back and think for a second.
An ATS is a system that is built to manage resume flow and gives the recruiters the ability to sort, sift and prioritise candidates on the basis of keyword searches. Great technology, perhaps… but built to speed up a flawed process. The same hiring answer is arrived at, just faster.
What people should want is anApplicant Relationship Management system. An ATS, if you will, that has ties to social networks and a database of interested people. It would give the candidates a chance to interact in an uncommitted way with the company – register to get cool stuff and targeted communication – then give them a chance to get interviewed online when they are ready to do so. Meanwhile, the company learns a huge amount about their various demographic target groups and gets a chance to grow relationships over time. Then, good human capital management can start happening, with job fit and Lean HR principles in place.
That is when the front part of hiring gets really interesting, and high quality candidates start emerging from the sourcing process. None of this has ties to the expensive world of the online job boards...which is why it is even more interesting.
Does anyone know of someone already doing this? Let me know...
"The future is already here. It's just applied unevenly"
Want a competitive advantage in HR? Categorize your current recruiting efforts into one of these three groups to see your strategic progress versus your competition:
1. Doing what everyone else is doing. Safe, incremental changes. These types of changes are not significant enough to allow an organization to keep up with the rapid changes taking place in the global employment marketplace. If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, you’re falling behind.
2. Big steps. Significant changes that take months to implement, such as a major ATS upgrade, rebuilding your career website, adding assessments or systemic training for managers. These are essential if you want to maintain your current position in the marketplace.
3. Bigger steps. These are changes and opportunities designed to increase an organization’s market share of top talent. This requires a rethinking of everything currently being done, including an employer re-branding effort and a reorganization of recruiting.
My advice? While you need to be implementing lots of level 1 changes, you’re not going to see significant improvements unless you move to level 2 and 3, the major steps. This is where you get real traction. Staying busy in level 1 might seem satisfying, but it won’t get you the competitive edge needed for 2010 and beyond.
Kick it up a notch and get ready for the future. What are you doing to get ready?
People are under pressure, and wanting simple answers to complex questions. A silver bullet, if you will. In the past week, I have received several phone calls from prospects that have bothered me.
I have set up employee assessment systems in a lot of different situations. I know the amount of work needed to build a talent acquisition system that produces good job fit. I have set up the feedback loops that are needed for a good Lean HR system. All of this makes sense.
The problem often comes from the corner office. It happens when the CEO or somebody on the senior team goes to a board retreat and falls in love with some particular assessment tool. As this is often the first assessment tool that they have personal skills with, it becomes the window that they start looking through for all HR matters.
As my grandfather said, "When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." When the CEO hears of other assessments that are different than the one they know, they push back. The project stops.
There are more than 3000 assessment tools out there, all measuring different things. Many are only suited for one or two specific tasks. Many are not suited for organizational use at all, but are for clinical settings. My task is to work backwards from the need, and recommend the tool for the job. Not just the hammer.
So, if you are considering an assessment tool and someone in the "C-Suite" recommends an assessment that they know and love, go ahead and examine it, but be very careful about the validity and reliability of how it measures what you are looking for.
If you need help in selecting or with strategies on how to push back without getting fired, give me a call or ping me with an e-mail. Part of my passion is finding the right tool for the right job fit. Not just the hammer or the silver bullet....
There he was. A nicely dressed man in a necktie on the main corner in town. I couldn't tell the color of his suit because he was wearing a sandwich board that was almost as tall as he was, saying "Hire ME!" He had his profession and his phone number on the sign, and he was waving at me with a hopeful sign as I drove by.
Wow. I realized that these are strange times. Even stranger, less than a day later, I got a call from a local journalist, doing a story about hiring in general, and about the guy in the sandwich board in particular. "Had I seen him? " Yes. "What did I think?" Hmm.
I said that I had two opinions. First, he would probably be successful for a variety of reasons - that nobody else was doing it so he would stand out, that he was showing determination and a willingness to try new ideas, even if the concept of holding a sign in public is certainly 100 years older than the Internet.
Then, I said he was a shining example of how flawed and overloaded the current job search process is. Organizations are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applicants, and job seekers are willing to do WHATEVER it takes to get past the screening and get a job. Any job. He was certainly giving up on the Internet.
Savvy organizations are using this time to redo their core processes, putting in assessments and applicant tracking, using human resources software and talent management concepts to predict good job fit.
If not, when the economy turns (and it will) the organizations that did not focus on job fit will have their high performers leave and their mediocre people stay. What you want is to have the high performers stay. That requires good talent management.
I hope your filters and systems are in place, and that you will be rewarded by a sustainable culture of high performance. And, if the guy in the sandwich board is reading this, call me. I would be happy to help with your search.
Stop making problems biggger than they have to be. As we work our way out of this economic wiredness, we are watching the complexity of the economy and organizations play out. Who knew it was all connected? Yikes.
Keep it simple as we fix it. As I work with applicant tracking and assessments, I find that the processes that fail are the ones that are too complex and/or don't have a dose of common sense. It is human nature to try to fix a problem by making lots of little changes and building in checks and balances that get very complex over time. As the layers pile up, there is a tendency for the system to fail in new and more clever ways. I am reminded of this by NASA. It is very difficult to get a rocket into space, and the simpler ones have a better history than the fancy, gizmo-laden space shuttle.
True story - when NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface.
The Russians used a pencil.
The human resources software that I install is often not as complex (or costly) as the huge enterprise sytems that are out there. But, as we know, simple is good...
Okay, bear with me as this story takes some imagination and introspection.
Over the course of the last days watching the snow come down, working from my home office because it was too difficult to drive to the office, I was struck with the thought of how satisfied one can be when their job fits what is important to them.
What really is job fit? Some of us are fortunate enough to have experienced it. Some say it is when your job truly aligns with your core values. While that is true it may be hard for us to grasp that concept. More specifically I think it is when the requirements of the job and the core values of the company align with your skills and values. This seems to make sense and most of us agree with this statement.
However, during the interviewing and hiring process it seems to be that neither the company or the candidate spend enough energy on making sure it is there. For the most part companies get very tied up in skills and work experience and than wonder why the employee fails. At the same time the candidate is trying to land the job and does not do their homework either.
When job fit exists, employers end up with engaged employees who are loyal, like what they do and enjoy their chosen occupation; it not just a job. Everyone can tell the difference especially the customers.
In my next blog I will discuss how this can be accomplished by using applicant tracking software and employee assessments to gain more knowledge much sooner in the process.
I knew she was going to make the top 5. I just knew it. The selection of a Hoosier as Miss America came a surprise to many, but I was an early predictor. With all of the work I do in assessments and applicant tracking, I have a more than passing acquaintance with how to pick a winner.
The importance is gaining family bragging rights. I have a daughter and sister-in-law that are big into watching the pageants and guessing the outcomes, and I have gained quite a bit of street credibility in the family by doing very well at their game. The rules are simple - at the start of the telecast, all contestants make a brief statement and wave. At the end of this, each family member text messages the others their top choices, and these are compared to the top 5 and, of course, the winner. No formal scoring is done, but bragging rights are big around here.
So I take this seriously, and use my Human Resources and Selection skills for an important purpose. Since I can't use recruiting software and get each applicant to fill out assessments, I work with what I have. I pay attention to the last few winners, and project from that what the "job fit" issues are. What is important? Athleticism? Volunteerism? Diversity? I listen to the interviews and promotions leading up to the event, and try to figure out the "job fit" model that the judges will be working toward.
The big clue was a news story on how the contestants were a more toned and athletic group than previous years. I saw this as a message that the swimsuit portion of the contest would have more importance than the evening gown or the talent portions. I then noted in a press release that the winner of the preliminary swimsuit competition, announced a week early, was Miss Indiana. Hmmm.
So we popped a bowl of popcorn, and I entered my choices early - Indiana, Hawaii and Tennessee. While I was lukewarm about her chances after the evening gown moment (Looked like a tablecloth to me) and the talent portion (OK but classical music is often lost on younger judges) I was proud of the selection. Happy that Indiana finally got out of the "never won" column, and even happier that my ability to predict job fit has a payoff in bragging rights within my family.
The pageant has updated the selection process to include 10 choices from viewers, with an on line survey. I propose that next year they have all contestants fill out a thorough application form using applicant tracking software, and have the results on-line for all to see. Then I can really make some predictions based on solid data. In HR, that's what we need these days...
In two days, we swear in a new president. The top job of our complex economy. The selection process, while flawed, has taken two hundred years (and more) of democratic rule and has emerged relatively unchanged. While we are lucky to have a culture that allows a governmental change that is smooth, we could be doing a better job. May I make a few suggestions?
Why not use pre-employment testing on the candidates? Give each one a simulation of a day in the oval office, and treat it like a reality show. The apprentice, without The Donald. Use some career personality tests and share the results with the voting public. THAT would be a good use of technology.
In short, if talent management and job fit and assessment are good enough to run organizations, why not use it for our government?
I watched the opening show of the current Bachelor season last night. I enjoy the show - it is all about assessments. The cast of characters is following predictable patterns, and I can look at the statistics of past seasons to predict the outcome.
Season 1: Alex Michel selected Amanda Marsh. They
broke up after several months. Season 2: Aaron Buerge selected Helene Eksterowicz . They broke up after several months. Season 3:
Andrew Firestone selected Jen Schefft They
broke up in December 2003. Season 4: Bob Guiney Selected Estella Gardinier.
They broke up after the show aired. Season 5:Jesse Palmer selected Jessica Bowlin. They broke up
after several months. Season 6: Byron Velvick selected Mary Delgado. She was recently arrested for assaulting him. They claim the wedding is still on. I'll bet they don't...Season 7? Yep, they broke up. And so on.
They should apply what I am very passionate about - good talent management processes and pre-hire assessments - to the craft of making good decisions. Might not make good television, but would make better matches. Job fit has a lot in common with dating, don't you think?
I will be watching the current season, with some amusement...
Your organization's survival hinges on keeping your top performers.
Whether you are selecting the team that will remain or hiring for growth or attrition, if you have a group of top performers and you add anything but a top performer to join their group, bad things happen. Within days, if not hours, everyone understands their level of performance. The top producers then compare their compensation package and output with the new arrival, and are upset. Ask top producers how they feel in a situation like this, they will say “insulted, angry, and that they are hoping for management to step in and correct the error.” If nothing is done, the top producers know that, even in tough economic times they can be quickly reemployed, and they leave.
Simply put, to not focus on top producers results in a retention problem of the worst kind - the average producers stay. The poor producers stay. The superior producers find places where they are welcome. This kind of retention problem may not show up on normal retention statistics, because many organizations do not have a performance management system that allows tracking of the retention of superior producers. As top producers are less than 20 percent of the overall organization, high turnover in their segment may not show up as an alarm in the overall retention numbers.
What can be done? Manage the talent pipeline as if your organization's life depended on it. Use assessments, applicant tracking, and talent management to keep your organization's efficiency high, and getting higher.
The distractions of the stock market are keeping the headlines off of the real news - the unemployment rates. As the ranks of job seekers swell, the arms race of polishing resumes and practicing interview questions is on. Think you have a good screening method? think you can compare resumes and get an "apples to apples" comparison? Think you have "radar" that is good at picking up false answers? Think again.
There are some great resources on the applicant's side. On-line research about your industry in general and you, the employer, in specific. Software to craft a very impressive resume. Videos and podcasts to guide the "soft skills" part of the interview. All of this produces a predictable result - erratic job fit and poor job performance.
Want to see what the applicants are using? Try this link for some interview advice. Try this link to review a blog that is intended to help applicants get by your pre-employment testing. Or even read this website that is intended to help applicants fool drug testing.
My point is simple. As the employment pressure climbs, raise your standards and get pre-employment assessments into the mix. As applicants are preparing their answers, you should be preparing your questions...and building them into your talent management system.
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