CBI Way blog spot by Lisa Van Ess, Recruiter On-Demand and Managed Staffing Practice Leader

So as a recruiter your #1 goal is to find the best fit for a position. You assess the position requirements, responsibilities, team and company cultural fit and interpersonal interactions with the manager and the team, you begin recruiting against all these hard and soft responsibilities, and find the perfect person. How’s that for a happily ever after?

So what happens when this top candidate gets in front of the hiring manager and the message back to you is: I want someone younger/older/male/female? We all have or will have to face this at some point. Below are three suggestions on what to do when the inevitable occurs:

1.      Ask why - There are sometimes valid (and lawful) reasons to ask for an otherwise protected characteristic. For example, if the job requirement is to model women’s dresses, the most ideal candidate may very well be a woman, or if a job is to design apps targeted for the under 30 market’s use, a Millennial may be the most qualified candidate. It never hurts to ask questions to gain clarity.

2.      Educate – In the absence of a valid reason, it is always recommended you educate (teach don’t preach!) your hiring management about non-discriminate hiring and most importantly the value to the organization of having diverse teams. (Start by reminding them their clients are diverse!)

3.      State your purpose and get back to the first sentence – your job is to find the best fit for the position — to enable the new hire’s, team’s and company’s success! If the first two suggestions don’t yield any traction from your hiring manager, it might just be best to go back to the drawing board and find the best fit!

The CBI Way blog series explores the tools and practices used in Talent Acquisition. CBI Way is CBI Group’s recruiting approach and methodology – it’s how we do what we do! Check in with CBI Way for insights around workforce education and training, the latest trends in recruiting technology, and how to best utilize these tools towards improving your own recruiting practices.

CBI Way blog spot by Lisa Van Ess, Outside-In® Group Lead

Plan the work then work the plan.

It is a simple formula, but funny how we often forget the first part. As recruiting professionals, we are really good at “doing the work”. We get a job order, one of the dozen or more on our desk, and it is a position we have filled somewhere before, so we hit LinkedIn and are off to the races! Yes, I admit doing this from time to time.

As it is the time of year that all of us set goals and resolutions for improvement, how about this simple one – “I will have a sourcing strategy for each position or type of position I recruit for in 2013.” It is amazing how beneficial it is when you slow down to move fast, and how appreciative our clients are when they really know the effort put in to finding the right fit – that it wasn’t simply posted on the company website and you waited for that right candidate to fall out of the sky.

So what makes a great sourcing strategy? Some things to keep in mind when you’re laying out your plan:

• The history of where a similar or the same position was successfully sourced and later retained from in the past.
• A list of competitors or companies that employ the right pool of candidates.
• User groups, university alumni, veteran groups may also result in previously untapped talent.
• The right internet sources for the position, a big general job board vs. a small specific group.

Long ago, in a conference room far, far away, many of us in the talent acquisition field probably gave an answer in an interview that sounded like this: “I love that hard-to-fill position. I love the digging, detective work, the hunt!” Really, we all do. There is a great satisfaction in finding the right talent for the right role after having to put some creativity into it… and I promise you, some planning and creativity will go a long way. Try it with your next opening!

The CBI Way blog series explores the tools and practices used in Talent Acquisition. CBI Way is CBI Group’s recruiting approach and methodology – it’s how we do what we do! Check in with CBI Way for insights around workforce education and training, the latest trends in recruiting technology, and how to best utilize these tools towards improving your own recruiting practices.

CBI Way blog spot by Lisa Van Ess, Outside-In® Group Lead

Have you ever interviewed for a job, met with five people (four are late), one reads your resume in front of you, and – get this – all five ask the same exact questions circa the 1990’s? Wow! Everyone already knows your strengths and weaknesses! They even know why there is a three year break in work on your resume! You leave thinking, “Why did I bother coming in at all?!“

Yes, I have had that interview, too.

One of the great things about CBI Group is that we view our candidates and our applicants as our customers. Therefore, we work to make sure the type of interview experience mentioned above does not happen within our conference room walls. So let me ask you this, as a recruiting professional, how often do you think of the hiring manager as the client? Candidates are probably viewed as inventory, right? Well, if they are, they shouldn’t be….

There is a lot of hype in the ATS community about the Applicant Experience. The movement considers everything from the time it takes to apply online for a position, to the number of times duplicate data entry is performed, to those horrible “Thanks but no thanks. Your resume is on file.” automated responses. So what if you are not the CTO and are dealing with some restrictions on the automated front? Let’s not forget good, old fashioned human touch. Let’s look at planning the interview process.

Here’s a simple and effective way to enhance your client’s and candidates’ interview experiences:

1. Have an agenda. Make sure each interviewer has a subject to cover with the applicant.
2. Provide sample questions to each interviewer. These sample questions should be different and unique. This ensures that the hiring decision is made from a fully informed, and well-rounded collection of  perspectives, covering all aspects of the job and cultural requirements.
3. Leave time for questions.  Give the applicant time to ask questions and/or to wrap-up.
4. Enclose a rating form for the interviewers. This will accelerate the speed of decision making. Speedy decision making makes applicants happy!
5. Enclose an Interview Experience Form for the applicant to share with the interview team. (Uh oh! Peer pressure and a little friendly competition to consider!)

Taking one (or all) of these steps will markedly improve the applicant experience. While an interview does not guarantee that the applicant will get the offer – it may mean that they are not the “right person, right now”.  However, your candidate may very well become a paying customer, vendor, partner, or competitor in the future, so be sure to leave every applicant with a great experience.

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The CBI Way blog series explores the technology tools used in Talent Acquisition. CBI Way is CBI Group’s recruiting approach and methodology – it’s how we do what we do! Check in with CBI Way for insights around workforce education and training, the latest trends in recruiting technology, and how to best utilize these tools towards improving your own recruiting practices.

Guess blog post by Lisa Van Ess, CBI Group team member

OK, we’ve all done this. Admit it, we all have this story. Sometimes it stays hidden away, locked in the closet: the embarrassing ’lesson learned’ that we diligently strive to never, ever repeat again. Other times, we share the story with others to try and save them from making the same mistake, but shockingly, history does sometimes repeat itself! Some of us, when we share the various responsibilities of HR, Recruiting, and Team Leadership, may still be painstakingly unraveling all the fun that comes in the aftermath of making the bad hire, the gift that may keep on giving for weeks and months to come…

Most commonly, the reasons I have seen or (gasp!) participated in making a bad hire under duress, fall into the following categories:

Recognize any or all of the above? Yeah, me, too!

So, what can we do as recruiting leaders? The solutions really are simple:

1) Slow down. Slow your client down and reset time-to-fill expectations. This means not settling, this can also mean making the call to say, “I need another two weeks to do this right. I don’t want to do it fast and risk presenting or making a bad or inferior hire.” It is important to get in front of this one early, don’t miss a delivery deadline THEN tell your hiring manager or client it will take longer. Engage in the conversation as soon as you see the issue arise. We often agree to challenging, even impossible deadlines (as recruiters we are a competitive, fast-paced bunch) with the intent to quickly help our clients and solve problems. Being candid and informative with your clients to allow the time to hire the right talent goes a much, much longer way than the I-beat-the-impossible-time-to-fill-deadline by 5 hours! Ever start someone pending the last 24 hours of a background check being complete? (C’mon, admit it, we all know that story – classic example of do it right vs. do it fast.)

2) Offer a contractor or consultant. Help this poor hiring manager manage their work and life with an interim solution while the search for full time talent continues! Oh, and if you negotiate a nice ‘contract-to-hire’ deal, the contractor just may be your hire.

3) People change. Really, they do. Sometimes they change for the better, sometimes for worse, sometimes they’re just different. Even if the potential candidate used to work for you, you worked for them and they taught you everything you know, was at your wedding or college graduation party and is a wonderful person (and they still are). Interview them anyway. Not only is it a great opportunity to catch-up, but you need to take the time to make sure the journey they have been on since you last worked with/for/near them is a match for the next stop on their journey: your current opening. Don’t deviate from your proven successful, consistent recruiting and hiring practices no matter who the candidate might be, and last (but not least) do make sure to complete your background check process and check current references.

Guest blog spot by Lisa Van Ess, CBI Group team member

Those of us in the recruiting and HR business have used a lot of terminology over the years to describe what can simply be defined as an employee service. Clear communication (even to the point of corporate jargon interpretation), match-making, coaching, and advisory business are all components of this service. The newest descriptive term happens to be Talent Acquisition. Perhaps it is my years in financial services, but this one has the same ring to it as Human Capital.

Both terms seem to monetize people; which, while I have built and sustained a career in the solid belief that people are any organization’s greatest asset, looking at them as purely dollars and cents feels like they are just numbers. Companies, leaders, and recruiters don’t really get and keep talented people through acquisition (unless your organization merges with or takes over another firm), or the occasional bidding war for talent that may feel like a hostile takeover, especially when you lose this compensation-based battle.

Recruiting is really all about identifying, attracting, and retaining the talented individuals that fit the culture and values of your organization and who can take your team to the next level. A really simple process for this is:

1. Know your client, company, or team’s business and culture; and know the job you are seeking to fill really, REALLY well.
2. Identify and reach out to networks of talent whose experiences and values are a fit for open opportunities and genuinely tell your client’s or company’s story with detailed information about the job.
3. Those who respond to your story will be potential ‘fits’ for your opportunities, follow-up and don’t let a talented person slip into that legendary recruiting/HR Black Hole!
4. Thoroughly screen and get to know your candidates – A very wise recruiter once told me that there are only two questions you need answered in determining if a candidate is a fit for a job: “Can this person do the job? Will this person do the job?” I focus on the ‘Will’. Will they do it? Will they be happy doing it in the long run? Will the team/organization be happy with them? I have learned along the way that someone who ‘Almost Can’ but ‘Definitely Will’ can be taught the necessary skills while a ‘borderline willing person’ may never fit.
5. Set clear expectations about the job, culture, company, career and compensation advancement – the good , bad, and the ugly. Let people be fully knowledgeable about signing up for something, eliminate surprises!
6. As a leader, HR, or recruitment practitioner deliver on the expectations you set and invest in your newly acquired, talented employee! Lead, coach, tour-guide and mentor – acclimating to a new job is never easy. Remember why you selected this talented person and support them, you won’t be sorry.

So, whatever we call it next year, the constant practice of finding, attracting, relating as a human and collaborating honestly through the recruiting and on-boarding process, investing in and supporting people will always result in the building and retention of talented teams!

Outside-In^® is blowing the customers mind. Every nuance of the experience, every moment, every touch point, every moment of truth is the best it could be. Did you ever stop to think that it was intentional? Outside-In^® experiences must be planned and well-orchestrated. They do not just happen with “Rah! Rah!” speeches and directives from leadership. You must have the power of intention.

This power of intention applies to any and all business situations. Picture the college I mentioned a few blogs ago, Messiah College. They recruit with intention. This is a Division III school without scholarships, mind you. Yet kids go there willingly and have to pay full freight. Why and how can they do this? First of all, it takes years of practice. The key? — the power of intention. The coaches and existing players plan every single detail of a recruit’s visiting weekend. This is not just video games and a party….which most schools do. No, this is well thought out. This is stuff of legends. Players spend the entire weekend with the recruit. They get to the kid, they see the strength, bonds, and team chemistry and want to be there. Captains take parents to dinner. Seniors spend real time with the recruit. They don’t assign the recruits to lowly freshmen, instead it’s a privilege.

Now imagine your business. Imagine how you handle a day of candidate interviews in your business. Or what you do when a client is coming to visit. Does everyone know their role? Is their intention to create an unbelievable Outside-In^® experience?

All of us know the answer: Sometimes… or: It could be better…, or: Wow, what a great concept! Imagine getting everyone to be intentional and contribute to these moments? I am never surprised at what is possible and what can get done when everyone is clear and excited about creating a unique experience.

Remember this is about recruiting the best talent or customers to your business. You can’t afford not to do this. So now that I may have ruined your day, go examine how your last guest was treated. It always gets worse before things get better.

• Did you greet the guest on time or late?
• Did you have their first name somewhere to welcome them?
• Were they offered refreshments? Made to feel comfortable or offered any creature comforts like bathroom locations or water fountains?
• Was your team on time and prepared?
• Did each of your team members know their role?
• Did you send thank you’s? You do want to make a unique impression right?

I am pushing the envelope to prove a point. Your intention can be what fits your world. Just know there is an experience that can be bettered in your building. What is your power of intention?

Today’s workers have it tough. So much continues to change and there is too much new happening to fully absorb it all. For so many generations now, the western world has viewed education as the key to a better life for their kids. Education improves our quality of life, earning power and the ability to make a difference. All of us want this for our children. But there is a rude reality to all of this as of late. A college education is no longer a guarantee of anything. The numbers traditionally show that college education increases earning power over ones lifetime and also that less college graduates are unemployed than those with lesser education. But don’t ask this of recent grads.

Just this week it was announced that the number of recent college graduates unemployed or underemployed is well over 50%. I can’t say that this statistic really shocked anybody. I am in the field of employment and my company certainly was not surprised. We all hear about high unemployment numbers on the evening news. Yes the economy is better, but there is a long, long way to go.

I was taught by a great mentor that the key to life is to make decisions with better information. See. Think. Act. Such simple words right? Try and apply them. So many times in work, life and play we don’t gather information before we act. We hope to, but we don’t know how to gather it. So instead, we simply act and shoot from the hip. Job seekers perceive any action as progress… they send resumes, surf job boards, do Internet research — feeling “good” about their job search.

So at the risk of being preachy, I have some hard-fought, earned advice for a college graduate looking to start their career and get their first real job. Perhaps the initial steps towards better information… But first, this disclaimer:

Each generation grows up heavily influenced by the events and trends of the world around us and with four generations working today? Well, let’s just say it is hard to walk in each generation’s shoes, to seek to understand other generations. While I may not know exactly what you’re going through because of these differences, bear with me.

Also, there are reasons why companies are not creating jobs for college grads. That is not your fault. However, you need to know what they are. Businesses add jobs when they can get a return on the investment, when they can grow and when the economic and political environment is more certain. So in the short-term over the next year or so the world is going to be extra competitive!

My Advice to College Graduates:

1. This is not the first recession. Yes this is a bad one. But there is work if you are willing to work for it. Start in retail management if you have to. Think retail is below you? If you are a business school major, why not learn about hiring and firing, budgeting and customer growth in one of the few places that will give this responsibility to a grad. This is what I did.
2. You are not owed anything. You have to work for it. Starting in an entry level job is not below you. Not even close. Your boss does not care about your debt or your life style. Starting at the bottom is where all of us have to start. The key is what happens next.
3. Starting is the key. Once you have the entry-level job, take on the challenge. Ask for the tough project. Ask for the learn. Learn the business. Every business needs employees that are willing to grow themselves.
4. While you just “finished” school, the learning has just begun. You and only you are responsible for bettering your skills and knowledge.
5. Knowledge is followed by success. The more you know the more money you will make. The more your title will change. The more you will get to wherever it is you want to be. But…
6. You can’t skip steps. In baseball, you can’t score if you miss a base. In work, you cannot be VP and drive a BMW without being of real value to a business. Risk and Reward.
7. Take the risk and get the reward right? Well, life is not always fair. Starting a company is not easy, most fail. Working for a start-up builds great skills and will broaden your exposure. But it does not make you an entrepreneur.
8. Your first job is not the rest of your life. The first one is like your first year of college, it is to grow up in the world of work. To learn about business, clients, culture, styles of leadership. The first job is about how to fit in and find your place. And most importantly, the first job is probably more about what you do not want to do for the rest of your working career.
9. What you do not want to do. This is the most honest advice of all. It is up to you to fit in. The workforce won’t change for you. I know you want the world your way… working from home, time off, promotions, whatever. Work is about your ability to earn and gain influence. Your influence and trust (AND your ability to get results) get you what you want.
10. There is a gap. And you don’t even know it yet. The gap is the space between who you are today and what you are capable of. Know that employers today long for a worker who knows this and works at it closing it.

Big words right? Are you now a college graduate that needs help? Do you know someone who is? Get them in contact with me. We will get them some help. Why? Good karma.

It is the contemporary point of view of talent management experts that hiring A players and keeping A players is the way to go in business. A’s outproduce B and C players tenfold and A’s don’t play well with B’s and C’s.

Over the years, I have been taught a similar theory in hiring. We all want to hire 10′s. The challenge is that over time if your hiring process is not a focus, 10’s tend to hire 9’s, 9’s hire 8’s and so on. And if you’re not careful your business could be full of 1’s and 2’s.

We see this in our work with customers every day. It’s never intentional. We tend to hire staff we are comfortable with. We want to hire people that can grow into the job. We want comfort and ease, not a strong push and challenge from our team.

Growth is a also a factor. When we are growing, we skip steps in our hiring. We forget to reference. We hire in a hurry to get to the tasks at hand. We compromise and select from the candidates that are available. We don’t take the time to put together quality job descriptions. We don’t invest in using search firms or focus on building a talent acquisition function or competency in our business.

We do not want an overly arduous process either. If you take too long you will lose great talent.

But if you are not careful in your zest to grow and get the job done, you might just find yourself surrounded by 1’s and 2’s at a time where it takes 10’s to make a real difference!

As I get older, my belief that less is more grows stronger. For twenty years I have been in and around the world of hiring. Yes, I am so old that my degree is in personnel management and I fell for the lure of human capital too. But buzz words always create a buzz for a little while, right?

Based on my line of work, I am asked multiple times a week about hiring systems. What are the best practices? Should I use tests and assessments? How do I determine fit? Is it skills and experiences that matter or is it competencies? How do I improve my hiring success? Can it be validated? Is it legal? Is it the right thing? Should I reference? Why do you have folks observe their jobs? Too many thoughts. Too complex. Just too much.

For me, it comes down to attitude. We will hire a positive person over experience. We will take a “half full” person over those with the “half empty” view any day. We all control our reaction to life. A negative person blames and and says woe is me. They don’t handle change well.

A positive person deals better with change. They smile their way through tough times. They are easier to be around. They take less energy to deal with, to live with, to manage, to be with on teams. So put away your check book and stop reading every hiring book.

Let’s learn to keep it simple, to keep it positive or leave the open job unfilled.

Get involvement when you hire. Make everyone in the office aware and give them a role. We recently had candidates in our office to observe the role they were going to interview for. You do have observation as as a part of your hiring, right? Most don’t. Time is too precious; speed is too important. I am here to tell you that hiring slow is the smartest thing you can ever do.

When candidates observe different roles in the business, they are able to get comfortable with my team. This is great stuff. They can ask informal questions. They can build rapport and relax. Some people learn by seeing… sometimes more action and less talk is good. This simple practice can make or break a hire. The candidate will open up! They’ll confide in my team that she was unemployed and lied on her resume, that he was going to ask for more money than he made in his last job, that she was just biding her time until a real job that she wants opens up, that they were curious if they could work from home right away and get an advance on their first paycheck too. And oh yeah, is the boss for real around here?

So I kid. But there is truth in there too. I have exaggerated the many things that have come out of observations. Yes, I know the negative ones are just so much more fun to talk about, but great things come out of it too. Good, honest candidates realize they are not ready for the role and they tell you so! Great candidates share that they thought the job was, well, different than they saw and they let you know! And they are often a fit for other roles with different needs.

My belief is that you choose candidates by letting them have some say in choosing you. Most of us can tell a technical skill fit; however, after 40 years of Placers experiences behind a Burkhard staffing leader the rest is very, very tough to do really well.

Let your village help you hire. Let the evaluation of candidates start with by integrating with your team. When applicants call, when they sit in your lobby, when they observe your working environment, they are evaluating you and your team. When you make your staff hiring decisions, be sure to bring the village members together for a full evaluation from many different perspectives!