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You are the Red-Headed Stepchild. Embrace it.

Recruiting is classically the red-headed stepchild of any organization. It’s just a fact of life. You’ve known it, you’ve either embraced it or you’ve spent the better part of your career trying to fight it. But when it boils down, we hear the same things. “Its an operational role”, “They are not a revenue-generating department” “All they do is shuffle paperwork”. Yep, all of these sound familiar to you if you have been in recruiting for any significant period of time.

Is it true? Probably not. Think about it – sure, we are an operational unit, and yes, we probably are responsible for more deforestation than any other team in a company (But we’re all starting to digitize, right?!?). What I cannot get over, and trust me I’ve fought this battle in my head for years, is the “non-revenue generating” claim. Exactly who do you think produces the candidates from thin air who DO generate the revenue? Without a strong recruiting function, there aren’t any “rainmakers”, “sales kings” or any other fancy name you want to derive. We may not hit the P&L as “sales”, but almost all of our jobs involve a level of sales, and showmanship.

What we really need to do (and this includes me, TRUST ME), is to just embrace the fact that there are some perceptions we may just never overcome, no matter how much data and “metric-y” information we provide. What you can do, is to build a trust and rapport with those in your organization who will ultimately recognize the value of a strong recruiting function. By doing this, you’ll be building an army of supporters who can voice to the organization that they just can’t live without you. Having that voice be speaking on your behalf will ultimately get you the seat at the table you so desperately want. That, and solid data to prove what you contribute. Not just time to fill, and applicant source data. Data that speaks to the revenue generating side – cost effectiveness, business savvy with contracts (job boards etc.) How much money did you save by employing your vast set of skills. Sales folks don’t just say “hey I closed 3 deals this month!”. They say “hey I closed 3 deals this month worth $425,000!” You can be an efficient recruiter, but be sure to quantify HOW efficient you’ve been.

If you don’t, the beatings will continue.

Authors Note:
Sadly, I wasn’t sure sure how the phrase “red-headed stepchild” came about, but I got curious and looked. You should too. Looks like we have Charlie Sheen to thank, at least in part.
http://bit.ly/9Z6BWK

Thanks Charlie - you've doomed us all.


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 Posted on May 5, 2010 by

 Life, Recruiting, Recruiting Life, The Hiring Process, Uncategorized

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Cover letters? Are We Thin-Slicing Recruiting?

What is it with the love affair people have with cover letters? Is it professional? Sure. Is it a nice way to give a complete presentation of your professionalism? Check. Does it show you completed a basic course in business writing in college? Probably. But is it absolutely necessary to have in order to be considered a top candidate for a role? In my opinion, no. But that would differ from a great deal of opinions from people in the Twittersphere and Blogosphere right now.

There are a number of people out there who feel the cover letter is an essential piece of the puzzle, and key in determining the validity of a candidate. Just this week, there was banter out there on Twitter about how one Twitster would toss out the resume of a candidate who did not have a cover letter! Really? Are you that flush with candidates that you can just arbitrarily throw out potential stars because they didn’t have the obligatory “pick me” letter? I’d be hard pressed to believe that is the case with many companies in many areas, where the pool for talent is being thinned by everyone, and in a market where a large percentage of seekers are top performers, hit hard by the economy.

What I don’t get, is what are you getting from the cover letter that ensures that this candidate is better than everyone else who doesn’t have one? Writing skills? Ok, sure, but won’t the resume give you some inclination of the writing skills? Or the e-mails you have traded back and forth with them (assuming you DID e-mail with them). Most importantly, won’t their previous experience, and the phone call that you have with them tell you a bit more accurately if they are the right choice? Thing is, I think we’re becoming to focused on the quick hit, the “thin-slicing” of the recruiting process, to steal a phrase from Malcom Gladwell’s book, Blink. Don’t mistake me, recruiting is a quick moving, minute-by-minute profession, but we also need to step back at times, and make sure we’re taking in the full picture. Too often, we see no cover letter, and think “oh well they are not professional”, or “they couldn’t take the time to write me a personal cover letter?”

Lest we forget, that in this day and age, it’s becoming profitable to be a cover letter or resume writer. Do a quick search on Twitter for “cover letter” and you’ll get a minimum of 5 services in the 1st 25 tweets, for people peddling their services. (I’m not knocking it as a profession, it’s actually quite a needed service for some folks.) But, let’s remember that there’s a better than average chance, the cover letter you covet (too much ‘cov-” there? Ah, I digress) so much has a good probability of being written by someone else anyway, so it’s still not giving you the indicator of the candidate you want.

We need not kill off the cover letter. I think it’s a nice touch, and I’ll read it if there is one. But that said, let’s not let it become the determining standard. As with social media, it’s not the end game, its not the sole strategy, but more of a tool in the arsenal.

What a lovely segue to my follow-up post.


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 Posted on January 8, 2010 by

 candidate relations, Job Hunting, Recruiting, Resumes, The Hiring Process, Twitter, Uncategorized

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2009 – Whew, I am EXHAUSTED

Quite a year. Quite a decade, come to think of it. I’ve had some time to reflect recently on the last year, and also the last decade – Having to drive up and down the eastern seaboard does that do a man. I’ve come to know quite a bit in the last decade, my first one in the recruiting industry. But first, the year in review:

  • Changing jobs is never going to be easy. No matter how many times I’ve done it, or will do it going forward, its never easy. It might be right, but never easy.
  • 2009 was the year Social Media truly crossed over into acceptance. You know why? Data. And data doesn’t lie. It also helps you to get budget money.
  • There is a balance for work life and personal life. I’m not sure I’ve found the crux of said balance, but I got much closer this year.

All in all 2009 was a good year, per se. Hey, I’ve had worse. But raising a 16 month old, trying to be a good dad and husband, all while working, and doing all the things that life entails is truly exhaustive.

From the rest of the 00’s, or whatever the hell we’re calling this decade, I learned/determined, or was otherwise informed:

  • Recruiting without passion for it, is just not the same. I’ve seen great passion and great lack thereof. Great passion wins out every time, and makes more money.
  • The best recruiting bosses, are the ones who have been recruiters. Those that have not, well,……you know.
  • Social Media changed the way I do my job, the way I approached it, and grew my love for it. Calling resumes and scouring Monster, CareerBuilder, and the like, would have driven me out a long time ago.
  • This is a people business – if you can’t work with people, get out now. You don’t have to LOVE people, but you need to be able to sell, relate and empathize – everyday.
  • Be curious. No one is asking you to be a generalist, but know how all the pieces move together. With that, comes respect from others.
  • Let your career take you. It’s an exponentially more fun ride, that forcing everything.
  • Find a mentor. Be a mentor. Both help you to be your best, and having one helps you find the joy in the darkest of recruiting days.
  • Speaking of dark days – this profession is the worlds wildest roller coaster. The highs are high, and the downs are as low as you can imagine. Just remember at each end, it always shifts back and forth.

The best advice anyone gave me? Two pearls of wisdom:
“Remember, you are dealing with people, its the most unpredictable commodity in the world.”

“Treat people as though you were sitting on that side of the phone, because one day you just may be.”

Cheers in the New Year all. Do what you love, and do it well.

Twas a wild and wacky decade


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 Posted on December 31, 2009 by

 Life, Recruiting, The Hiring Process, Uncategorized

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To Test or Not to Test? THAT is the (Eternal) Question

Ever had to give or take a test while you were in the application or interview stage for a job? Chances are, if you’ve made a job change in the last 5 years, that’s likely the case. And no, we’re not talking about some wacko Rorschach Test, where and ink blot will revive that long suppressed memory of your icky Aunt Ida at Christmas time. I’m talking about the major players in the marketplace: Myers-Briggs, Wonderlic, Gallup, and the like. Many people wonder what those tests actually tell you about the likely future success of the employee. Others, they swear that it tells them who the A, B, and C players are without having to spend a dime on them.

Maybe my next best hire is here?

While, there is data to support both theories, it varies by company, industry, and heck, it even varies down to department and team levels. Here’s my quick and dirty theory on it (and it’s just a theory, so let’s not fire off any burning arrows at my door if you disagree – after all, that’s what these “interwebs” are for, good banter):

Pros:

  • Yes it gives you some insight as to the work style, cognitive ability, or basic skills that a person may require for a given role.
  • You can use it as an inital benchmark for who you want to pursue further in the process, and also eliminate people who may not fit right away.
  • These tests have been through a battery of assessment and validity tests, by qualified, accredited psychologists and I/O shrinks.

Cons:

  • It’s just a test. What if you get someone (say someone who looks like me with the same name!) who is not a test taker, but a paper-writer? Do you pass on a superb candidate because they don’t “test” well?
  • Nothing will ever, (I’ll repeat that) EVER, replace the power of an interview, and what you can tell from the person sitting across the table from you.
  • People can still fake their way through a test.

In the end, I’m not necessarily beholden to being PRO or ANTI-testing in the recruitment process. I think it has it’s merits, but as a TOOL in the process, and not the end-all-be-all in the selection process. There are companies that use it as the primary indicator, and while they may get good test-taking robots, they probably have a competitor who has a rock star employee working for them, who could have been theirs if not for that ol’ test.

We need to encourage the Company powers-that-be, that this is a tool, but it’s not the only tool. As Yoda said, “”The Jedi use the force for knowledge and defense, never for attack”. Let’s use testing as part of the greater solution in finding the best talent out there, not as a way of truly evaluating talent on a multi-level basis.

Side Note:
Clearly, I took the wrong path in life, because a smarter version of me would have become one of the test peddling companies. (Have you ever seen the PRICE on these things?) OY.


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 Posted on December 24, 2009 by

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Too many tools?

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Doostang, Plaxo Digg, I could go on and on. Is it possible that we’ve acquired too many tools in our “Recruiter’s Toolbox/Arsenal”?

Pick your poison.

In all reality, how many sites can you really keep as current and still be effective at your job? I’m a fan of the “master a few, but be aware of as many as possible”, school of thought. I mean, you never know what tools are going to start to emerge as a premier source for finding talent.

I once thought that I should get on as many of these sites as possible, network ad nauseam, connect, connect, connect and make sure everyone can find me. I learned a few things there.

  • 1. Everyone WILL find you, even if you don’t want them to. I Learned the benefit of a “qualified network” from that.

    2. If you get on too many of these sites, your quality on each will diminish, and you’ll spend more time finding your passwords than you do networking. Unless of course your job is Chief Networking Officer. (In which case, e-mail me for my resume)

    • 🙂

    I really like the approach of looking at networking like a starting pitcher. Sharpen skills in a few key areas, and like a pitcher, throw 3-4 solid types of pitches as your bread and butter (the “outs” pitches) and a few that you throw in for some changing up.

    Don’t worry, I’m not going to go off on some “Less is More” rant, like Jerry Maguire. I just think that focus in important when considering your networking approach. We’ve already become an ADD-riddled society with our technology, and the recruiters are supposed to be the very epitome of the ultimate multi-tasker, so don’t fall prey to spreading too thin.

    My personal favorites right now, are LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter and ERE, as well as being an avid reader of numerous blogs (Thank you AGAIN, Google Reader). This style won’t work for everyone, but as with the networking sites, its a choice.

    What do you think?


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     Posted on December 15, 2009 by

     LinkedIn, networking, Social Media, The Hiring Process, Twitter, Uncategorized

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