Talent Management

Just saw some scary data from a global Engagement consultant.  There were several data points that predict either pain or opportunity, depending on your actions during the slowdown.

Scary things -

The percentage of highly disengaged employees has increased by more than 25% since 2007.  These are "hostile passengers" that are actively hurting you in productivity levels and quality, all of which translate to numbers that matter.

The decline in overall productivity is huge - 3 to 5 percent. 

There is a second "time bomb" with this.  The disengaged are itching to leave - and will leave when the economy starts picking up...which is exactly when you will want them as high performing employees.

The moral is simple.  Get your talent acquisition in place before the green flag is waved.  Use employee assessments to better manage the staff, and use fair and consistent methods, as a part of a Lean HR system, to keep the good ones engaged.

Then, engagement will work for you...and be a competitive advantage.

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.

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 an Applicant 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 we are planning to move our company with three days notice which I discussed in my last blog.

I'm asking myself, where can I find a mover with 6 hours notice?!!  Well one of our employees came to the rescue with a referral to a mover who he knew delivered great customer service.  One phone call and the move was on the schedule!

Lets face it, we all have moved at some point. Don't you wonder what kind of moving crew is going to show up, especially with such short notice?  Well, the reputation of this mover came through. The team that came was great. What made them great you may ask?  They delivered shining service beyond our  expectations. 

They were professional, accomodating, and kept their cool when the job grew to be twice what was antipicated.  They evaluated the situation, called in back-up and finished the job with a smile.

There is no question that when the owner hires employees he ensures they have good Job Fit.   However he does employee assessments at hiring, it is working.  These employees had been with him for a while. It is clear the owner understands talent acquisition and talent management; remember this is a moving company.   

Whatever they do, it was great service.  And you know, if anyone asks us about a mover to use, their name will be passed on.  If you want their name, feel free to ask!

Talent acquisition is changing.  A recent survey reveals that 43% of the companies polled are pulling their spending from Internet job boards and re-directing those resources to better showcase their brand to potential employment candidates. The shift away from job boards is a response to current market conditions, which have made more high-value candidates available to companies looking to capitalize on the market's turnaround with strategic hires. 

There is hope.  While the current business environment remains grim, optimism still dictates many of the respondents' near term hiring plans, with more than 30% planning to increase hiring during the second and third quarter of 2009: adding the fourth quarter raises that number to 41%.

Referrals are still the most popular avenue for sourcing jobs, but the companies polled indicate their Web site or career page as being the next most valuable vehicle for finding candidates. Job boards, while useful for generating a higher volume of resumes, are being criticized for not delivering qualified candidates, which are seen as the key for surviving the tough current economic climate and building future organizational strength.

There is another factor.  In the effort to build a Lean HR hiring process, I have been simplifying the hiring process and getting better results.  This is partially driven by creating new channels for sourcing by using RSS feeds and opt-in email channels, and ties to social networking.  These new channels - especially the RSS one - has big implications for the future.

If you can post for free on a RSS-enabled job board and get good results, why spend big dollars on a formal site that is focused on value?

Question - who has abandoned the big job boards, and why?

For extra credit, how have you tied your applicant tracking system to the new sources?

Social networking is requiring me to say "no" more than I prefer.  At the start, I was happy to add anyone who would have me.  Kind of like dating in Junior High.  With the current business climate, I have been getting requests from a large number of strangers. 

I'm saying "no" to the guy from Utah who is looking for a "new calling" and wants to be a part of my network.  No to a guy with a vaguely familiar name who, from what I can tell, is doing nothing but sending invitation requests to the world.  No to the intern with the perky picture who wants a few minutes of my time to demonstrate a knife set that she is going to be selling as a summer job.  Nothing about what I am interested in, like Lean HR, employee engagement or talent acquisition.

I am a nice guy.  Let me make it clear - I am accepting initiations from interesting people in my world, people that I can help in a reasonable way or people that are a part of my life. 

I am not a cranky isolationist, by nature.  In the work I do with hiring processes, applicant tracking and assessment work, I help organizations screen out applicants that are not a fit for their culture, and screen in those who will probably be high performers.  My clients say that they are having the same problem with their hiring - an overwhelming volume of applicants that do not care about the job description, only that they get in.

So, what have I learned?  Apply your rules of friendship to your in-box - accept those that will benefit from friendship, and will be of benefit to you.  For the others, don't dilute your time and just say "no"

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.

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Change is the mother of invention.  In my work on changing how HR Services are delivered and how assessments are used, I have found some secret methods for making change happen.

There are a lot of self-help books out there with all sorts of advice, and more motivational speakers with messages of treating each other nice and getting things done.  I have a better idea.

Move your office.  All of it.  Get some boxes, and take all of the stuff that is in your desk and on your desk and so on and get busy.  Mark the "keep" and "pitch" boxes and start sorting.  If you don't have a different space to move to, just haul everything out into the hall and only move back in that which is useful.

Do the same with your processes.  Find ways to simplify, find ways to use technology better, and even find ways to stop doing things altogether if they are not aligned with your strategic goals.  This, in a real sense, is how you apply Lean Theory to HR, and make Lean HR.  Eliminate Waste, and rethink the processes at the core of your work.

By taking all of the flotsam and jetsam of your office and sifting through it, boxes and boxes of waste will be generated.  This is good - you will be amazed at how liberating it feels to have a new, clean focus.  Now, do the same with your Human Capital Management processes.  All of the talent management ideas, all of the job fit efforts, everything.

If you need some help after you get everything out in the hall - give me a call.  I'm happy to be that ruthless, objective friend that can help clean out the closets...and, also, I have just moved my office, so I'm an expert.

My question is this: if you could change one part of the hiring process, what would it be?

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...

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.

Definition of Core Values: Operating philosophies or principles that guide an organization's internal conduct as well as its relationship with the external world.

You think you are too young or too small to need and establish core values?  Think again!  Bring your core values to life. This is a valuable process needed for your company's strong cultural foundation.  Strong culture leads to superior performance, higher employee retention and a better aligned organization.

A strong organization driven by core values sets a benchmark to lead people, gives a foundation to make tough decisions, and will bring simplicity and clarity to the "people" side of the company.

There is nothing magical about these concepts.  You know that your company's core values are taking hold when you hear your employees restating and using them in their daily interactions. 

It is the discipline of execution that distinguishes great companies. This is about building an organization that has purpose, focus and alignment, that lives its values every day and that creates an environment that allows employees to grow and to produce superior results.

This core ideology - our vision, purpose and values - is the heart and soul of ExactHire. We believe that adhering to this core ideology will help us become a strong, sustainable organization - a leader in an evolving business world.

Your core values will be used in talent acquisition, performance management, employee assessments, interviewing, orientations and human resource planning.

Keep in mind:  The key is not what core values an organization has, but that is has core values at all!

Well, the whole issue of the different generations has just shifted.  As I have presented over the last 5 years, I have predicted that all of the boomers would retire within months of each other when the stock market climbed above some arbitrary point - my guess was 13,500 on the Dow. 

Well, with the economic meltdown, all bets are off.  Talking with several senior HR people today (all of whom were boomers) they both report that retirements are certainly off for their "on the cusp" employees, who have watched their 401k plans divide by half.  That means that all of the generational issues we have been watching are suddenly becoming bigger, with cranky boomers who wanted to retire rubbing up against Gen X'ers who are hoping that the boomer's retirement would create some promotion and growth opportunities.  Space to grow?  Not so much.

In all of this, HR is an important tool.  If you can, build HR Services that use assessments and career personality tests to predict job fit and succession planning.  Recognize that the generations see the economic meltdown differently, as seen in this news story.

We've all got to get along, and good talent management will go a long way...

"There is something rare, something finer far, something much more scarce than ability. It's the ability to recognize ability."

Writer Elbert Hubbard penned those words to live by many years ago, but they still have legs today. Consider organizations facing tough business decisions. They need the most competent people they can find to help them survive. It is all about "the ability to recognize ability," and what to do about it once you discern it.

It is important to ask every worker to give his or her all on the job. That means all of their creativity, innovation, inspiration and energy. Of course asking them to give 150 percent every day comes after finding, developing and retaining the people who can roll with the bumps. One crucial piece of advice is to count your blessings if you are not operating under a hiring freeze. But don't stop with hiring well!

In our next blog will supply suggestions on applicant tracking, employee assessments, how to survive tough times with lean HR, Pre Employment testing  and applying best practices in talent acquisition.

In today’s economy, surviving the storm has become an organization’s main priority. The uncertainty that makes quick changes necessary means organizations must rely on their well-trained employees to carry them through. Strong workers who come to work each day with enthusiasm, focus and creativity make for trusty copilots during times of economic turbulence. They can help navigate above, below or around obstacles while offering solutions that no one else has thought of to help calm everyone aboard.

Remember, nothing is more crucial than hiring competent people and helping them develop the skills necessary to help pilot the plane. Making sure your employees have the talent, skill and knowledge to make it through the storm is more important than ever.

We have some fresh data about the ethics of the youngest workers just entering our organizations - and the data isn't good.  Josephson Institute's 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth is based on a survey of 29,760 students in high schools across the U.S. The results paint a troubling picture of our future employees and reinforce the need for better employment screening.

 In bad news for business, more than one in three boys (35 percent) and one-fourth of the girls (26 percent) — a total of 30 percent overall — admitted stealing from a store within the past year.  this is up significantly from only 2 years ago - in 2006 the overall theft rate was 28 percent (32 percent males, 23 percent females).

Read the entire report here.

The survey results were just released yesterday, and the question remains if the drop in personal ethics comes from increased pressures on people, or from apathy about ethical standards.  Whatever the cause, it waves the warning flag for employers that better screening methods are a must, especially for any position that handles cash or merchandise that is easily taken. 

Additionally, the inreasing economic pressure from the downturn will be applying more pressure, not less.  I recommend a mix of pre-hire assessments,  applicant tracking, and a strong fucus on job fit - all a part of a good talent acquisition system. 

Heads up!