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Topic: Meet Melbourne's Charles Van Heerden, "Three Decades, Mandela to Change Management": series please click here." Sage words from 'Van Heerden:' "I am a firm believer in measurement. I have a value score for my contacts based on the level of interactions by email, phone or face to face. You have to make friends now with the people you may need later." "... Rather than trying to fill traditional full-time roles, companies will have to consider flexible approaches to resourcing to fill skill gaps. The other big driver is technology .." • RecruitingBlogs Profile • Linkedin • Facebook • Twitter • Website • Personal Blog • Community Volunteering: I am on the Corporate Advisory Panel of an educational organization (Open Universities Australia) as well as about 10% of my time is pro-bono work which I provide to clients and customers based on needs Office: +61 418 271 506 • Personal Email Charles Van Heerden Observes his Three Decades, Generations & Countries, from Nelson Mandela to Change Management. A Veteran of the Staffing Industry, Charles has over thirty years of expertise which he regularly and generously shares to the RecruitingBlogs.com community. He is a Change expert, commercial HR Director & innovative OD consultant, authentic leader & executive coach. His experience includes services (consulting, information technology and research), heavy industry (mining, engineering), FMCG (dairy, beer and carpets), working with medium and large scale organisational change, including acquisitions and mergers. Tertiary qualifications include psychology, industrial relations, human resources and change management. Q&A with Charles Van Heerden Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Charles: After getting married on my 21st birthday we have defied all the odds and my best friend Marianne and I have been married this year for 30 years. I am good at remembering our wedding anniversary, but tend to forget to buy a card or gift. We have two darling daughters; Tanya (27) and Leana (25), who both live in Melbourne as well. Tanya has a daughter (Felicity) who is ten months old. I really don’t feel like a grandfather as many of my friends recently had babies, so we enjoy being a close family, getting together on a weekly basis. We live in the outskirts of Melbourne on a golf estate designed by Greg Norman, which should be really good for my handicap, but I still struggle to find enough time. I used to do a lot of running, including about a 100 half-marathons, until I did my first marathon in New Zealand, running around Lake Rotorua. After that, I reverted back to more gentle pursuits. The last couple of years we were based for most of the time in Warrnambool, which is based at the end of the world famous Great Ocean Road. This is known as the Shipwreck Coast and the weather can be pretty wild. Contrary to most of Australia, the Southwest is very green with lots of rain, very similar to New Zealand. My life can easily be divided into three chapters, the first half living in South Africa, then moving to New Zealand for ten years, followed by the last eight years in Australia. Six Degrees: What are some of the unexpected adventures in your life's journey's outside of the staffing industry? Charles: We lived in South Africa during a turbulent time and I was working for the most progressive employer (SAB), which included various meetings with the ANC, including a very special dinner with President Nelson Mandela, including meeting him personally, just before the 1994 elections. I had the opportunity to meet him and other key ANC figures; I was quite involved with an organization that assisted returning exiles to the new South Africa. This included several trips to the UK. One of my fond memories is a presentation to a large group of graduates on how to prepare for interviews and the best way of finding a role. It was really difficult to make the decision to leave South Africa, but we decided to leave due to the high level of crime. My next-door neighbor was the MD of an arms company and had guards outside with machine guns. I wasn’t sure if we should feel safer or whether we run the risk of being shot in case of mistaken identity. Unfortunately we had to leave our three Persian cats behind, as the quarantine period was nine months, just too long so we found them good homes. It wasn’t long before we had another three cats in New Zealand, which my company agreed to move to Australia. Due to old age we lost two of them in recent months, with one faithful tabby, Tammy, now being spoiled. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Charles: It is getting close to three decades, most of it as a corporate recruiter. I have been involved with all types of roles, from shop floor to technical, with my expertise around management roles, as I have been head of HR from age 26. In my consulting roles I often redesign structures, resulting in revised roles or new roles. I refer any recruitment to recruiters, as WaveBox is not a recruiter but a strategic HR consulting business, developing strong relationships with other consultants. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Charles: My very first reference book was on recruitment (Successful Staff Selection), which is still in my extensive library of a few hundred books. So I got into recruitment from the start, initially as a Personnel Officer. Most of my career has been in corporate HR, culminating in heading the Personnel function, which included Talent Management and Recruitment for South African Breweries (now known as SAB Miller). After about 15 years in HR, I moved to New Zealand and was appointed in a senior line management role, which means I had to manage a team of twenty consultants, providing services to about 500 customers, from large companies like Gillette and Phillips, to very small companies. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Charles: Recruitment has been an integral part of my career, including managing the Employment function for the Feltex group. It was during this time that I was leading a project that was recognized as a best practice in recruitment, working with Management Search International. Terry McCloy, the MD and I were able to develop and implement a true partnership model, where MSI was doing all external recruitment for Feltex. This resulted not only in a 30% reduction on recruitment costs, but a significant improvement in quality, including retention and time to fill. This model served the business very well for about three years, until we bought an Australian company and we had to change our resourcing strategies. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Charles: Though I have been able to work with some excellent recruiters, I have learned most by leading teams and energizing and motivating HR teams to create a culture where the company is a great place to work. Getting feedback from my teams and others has been the biggest influence on my career. Six Degrees: Tell us about your position, Charles. Charles: My current focus is on change management and Strategic HR, including talent management. This includes Leadership Risk Assessment, which means that my key contact is with recruiters. I work hard to try and understand the real strengths and specialty areas so I can match it with specific clients. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Charles: There is a company in NZ (Kerridge & Partners) that I would regard as highly innovative. Six Degrees: (B) In what aspects are they superior? Charles: They are the first firm as far as I know, to have engaged a global CA firm to review their performance and confirm statistics based on an assessment of every assignment completed, not just a sample. This is an extraordinary high level of transparency, giving clients a sense of actual performance and accountability. They also offer an integrated search and coaching solution – taking full responsibility for identifying, assessing, attracting and developing senior leaders into critical roles. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Charles: The way in which we work is changing profoundly, which means companies will have to adapt the way in which they consider their talent requirements. Though it may not be quite as radical as making a movie, the concept of getting a group of talented people to deliver a project will require more innovative ways to attract talent. Rather than trying to fill traditional full-time roles, companies will have to consider flexible approaches to resourcing to fill skill gaps. The other big driver is technology, which means that a virtual team can be established, consisting of permanent, casual and contract staff, supported by consultants. Virtual leadership is demanding a different skill set, by getting a diverse and dispersed group to deliver outstanding results. Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry: Charles: Conferences are great to stay in touch with networks. I am fortunate that I have been invited to speak at a number of international conferences, though I now try and limit it to special events. When I chaired a conference a few years ago we had a number of speakers pulling out on the second day (highly contagious?) so we got the speakers together in a panel, which proved to be the best session! My key topic areas are around strategic HR, managing change and talent management. Most recently, I spoke at a regional HR conference about configuring the workplace in recessionary times. Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche? Has it affected your job or that of your fellow team members within the organization? Charles: The GFC impacted most industries in Australia though we have been fortunate that a strong banking sector, and a positive approach by the Government’s fiscal stimulus package have made it less severe than many other parts of the world. We haven’t yet seen much of an upswing and our client base is indicating little improvement until early 2010. The only sectors spending in real terms are government related projects. There are some signs of life at the lower end but more senior roles are still scarce. HR seems to have been hard hit and know of several senior HR people having been moved on. Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities. Are there specific groups, both online and in-person that have proved fruitful in extending your personal brand and job seeking prospects? Charles: Rather than networking in a haphazard way, I prefer a more structured approach. It takes time, but it means that you are more strategic in your networking. I am a firm believer in measurement. I have a value score for my contacts based on the level of interactions by email, phone or face to face. You have to make friends now with the people you may need later. This was a key lesson I learned from a previous CEO, Sam Magill, who did quarterly staff communication sessions. Sam also used to say: “I is no good trying to talk to staff in bad times, you have do it during the good times so you build a trust relationship”. Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do? Charles: As a result of my moves across countries I had to rebuild my networks twice from the ground up. I have been able to build enduring relationships. There are probably three things I would highlight: (a) It is important to stay in touch with your existing network, as much as it is vital to keep expanding and adding new contacts. People quickly realize when you are like a butterfly moving from one contact to the next. (b) Linked to this is the recognition to close the loop by keeping your network posted on your interactions with any referrals. (c) Lastly, it helps everyone if you are generous by introducing others to your network. Creating a closed society is not beneficial to anyone. It really has to be a give and take. Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Charles: Reinvention is the key to success and through WaveBox, my consulting business, I am developing a portfolio of innovative programs to cover key gaps in the market place – coaching/mentoring of HR Practitioners is an area I particularly enjoy. Another project is around talent management and helping people to grow their careers, which strongly relates to recruiting. Through my networking I developed great relationships with a number of consultants and we are working on a number of projects, all around improving business performance through people. Almost finished is my first eBook on Job Search, which has been commissioned by a career development web site. I would like to spread my time doing consulting, training, speaking and writing, which is why I really appreciate the great feedback from the recruiting community.…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 2:43am on November 16, 2009

Topic: Meet Carol Mahoney, Live & Leaping From Yahoo! to Talent Acquisition On Demand: ortant, and sometimes lonely job. I know because I’ve had the job more than a few times in my career." "Central to an organization’s talent acquisition success is: an engaged executive and management team; a creative, competent and accountable recruiting organization; and a relentless focus on the candidate as the customer." "A good 85% of recruiters hate a structured process imposed on them. If your tool also imposes a process, the likelihood of universal adoption is low. You can beat them mercilessly but they will evade you at every turn. It’s not always “user error” or poor configuration decisions that make a tool bad. Sometimes the tool is slow; or the search capability is uneven; or it simply does not work." Carol Valenti Mahoney Consultant, Talent Acquisition On Demand A division of Live and Leap, Inc. Phone: 650-799-9431 • RecruitingBlogs Profile • Linkedin • Twitter • Facebook • Business Website: "Professional TA"; F5 and Live And Leap • Personal Blog: http://www.liveandleap.com/blog Carol Mahoney has always been an early adopter. In 2010 we find the vernacular passe' but in the 1990's she co-founded "Guerrilla Recruiting” tactics, a hands-on workshop geared at helping high-growth companies compete. She was one of the first to recognize the significance "e-cruiting," and was innovative in recognizing the value of hiring sourcers to use the internet to produce passive candidates. What makes Carol unique however is how she treats people. I have had the pleasure of visiting the Yahoo! campus on two separate occasions, and I was immediately aware that a special culture had been fostered under her leadership. A Margarita machine, balloons, and schwag galore were within my peripheral vision and employees were ... happy. It was downright festive as it was hectic; a bee hive swarm of activity with a common vision. When you walk the halls with her, take an elevator - it's never quiet, the pulse of the organization followed Carol and it was contagious. It was the only campus I have ever walked into where you had the pervasive feeling this staffing organization was a family not simply a team. Talking to her, you have the sense that she is one of the most elite of subject matter experts in her field, and yet she has a familiar, approachable air around her that is filled with a bellowing laugh. To make the point sink in, when I first visited Yahoo! my ears had popped on the plane upon landing and I could barely hear a thing. It was her laughter catching fire within the cubicles assembled throughout her floor that resonated that this was the place to be. It was obvious that her recruiting org had enlisted enthusiastically on behalf of her War for Talent. She was the boisterous thinker overseeing the battle plans in all things. Today, Carol Mahoney is the leading the way with "Live and Leap, Inc." The company, founded in June 2009, is comprised of two separate ventures: F5, Forums for Females Focused on a Fabulous Future; and a consulting arm dedicated to providing on-demand Talent Acquisition capability and support for high-tech companies – most recently Juniper Networks. Prior to founding Live and Leap, Carol was Vice-President of Talent Acquisition at Yahoo, Inc., where she built a formidable global talent acquisition machine that produced thousands of high-profile hires to fuel Yahoo’s hyper-growth. In her 20 year HR career, Carol has held a variety of leadership and consulting roles for high-technology companies including Intuit Inc., Apple Computer, Synopsys Inc., Digital Equipment Corporation, and Advanced Micro Devices. Carol graduated from Santa Clara University with a Bachelor of Arts in English. Q&A with Carol Valenti Mahoney Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world, Carol. CAROL: I’ve been married to Frank for 22 years. We have a 21 year old son, Douglas, and a beloved labradoodle, Luke. I live on the ocean in Pacific Grove, CA and I enjoy the gorgeous seaside as much as I can. I walk along the trail daily and often take the laptop down to the bench across the street to bring the concept of “working at home” to another level. I’m absolutely passionate about using my energy, connections and sense of humor to inspire women to create a “fulfilling, fabulous future”. To that end I produce a blog and have sponsored 2 forums for females. Six Degrees: How did you get started in the recruitment industry? CAROL: A hiring freeze at AMD took me away from my dream – a marcom job. The dream job that went “on-hold” gave way to an interim job as recruiter. I never looked back. I loved the recruiting game and quickly found that I loved to manage recruiting and HR. I was one of the youngest Recruiting Managers when I put the management career on hold to spend more time with my one and only son! The result was that I began contract recruiting – a job I thought would allow me to balance my role as mom more easily than a corporate manager role. The rest is history. I re-entered the work world as head of TA at Synopsys and continued along that path (with one notable detour – more later) until I left Yahoo! last year as Vice-President of Talent Acquisition. The exception? A brief detour in charge of Recruiting Operations with ProQuest (now Duran HCP) that also included developing and delivering Guerrilla Recruiting™ in partnership with at Gardner Consulting. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? CAROL: The biggest impact to my recruitment management career came in 1999 when the rolodex gave way to what, at the time, I dubbed “e-cruiting” I knew that sourcing would never be the same and had to trick my employer into hiring sourcers who would use the internet to produce candidates. It was a resounding success and today I’m blown away by the frontiers yet-to-be conquered, as social networking bulldozes onto the recruiting scene. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? CAROL: I have many mentors – mostly women – who have taught me about great leadership. I believe at the heart of any great organization, are great leaders. This applies to talent acquisition organizations as well. So I continually strive to hone my management skills, my strategic mind and my ability to connect with others in the pursuit of a meaningful, successful career. Mentors include: Cheryl Van, ex-VP of Talent at Yahoo! – she taught me that engaging your heart is as important as engaging your head. Great leadership means bringing the whole woman to work – and that means bringing compassion and respect too! Every night she walked the halls to encourage people to go home – work-life balance actually meant something to her. Libby Sartain, ex-Chief People Officer, Yahoo! – the woman laughs louder than I do…a feat I thought was impossible! She taught me that a successful woman doesn’t need to button up so tight that she doesn’t even recognize herself. Libby allowed her personality to color her leadership and she was best when she was unadulterated and un-cut! Sherry Whiteley, SVP of HR at Intuit – some of us suspected that she was a fortune teller on the side. She had an uncanny “gut” and her intuition complimented her intellect allowing her to achieve near-miracles on a frequent basis. I thought my intuition was something to keep quite about, even embarrassing, until I met Sherry. Now I wish it was as honed as hers. Six Degrees: Tell us about your current projects. CAROL: While I’m currently a one-person show, I intend to grow this year. I am president, the number one consultant, the bookkeeper and web master. Offerings Include: • For larger companies or ones with an established TA function: o Assemble, deploy and manage outsourced SWAT team (recruiters, sourcers, program owners, etc.) to address specialized or unplanned recruiting needs. o Best Year Yet™ for Talent Acquisition: Partner with Talent Acquisition head to customize and facilitate a team-building and goal setting process that will ensure maximum performance of team. (I did this for 2 years and I am a huge proponent of the process!) o Deftly manage key projects or initiatives that have no internal owner (e.g. branding campaign, social networking strategy, systems deployment, etc.). • For smaller companies or those without a TA function: o Assess and recommend TA Strategy and Plan based on needs of company vs. TA capability. Implement plan if required. o Interim recruiting leader - temporary, part-time and outsourced. o Apply expertise and network to identify and select talent acquisition contractors, employees, vendors. o RPO: Staff and manage outsourced teams of recruiting resources. Efficient and compliant. Six Degrees: What speaking events, awards, publications, have you been featured to represent your company? CAROL: I’ve had a number of speaking events in the last few years for organizations like Kennedy, SHRM, AustralAsian Talent Conference, HRTC, and many more. When I headed at Yahoo! my branding efforts yielded several webby’s – for our careers site and our branding campaigns. In addition, under my reign, Yahoo’s revamped career site won best career site through ERE. Six Degrees: Tell us about Your new venture, Carol CAROL: I founded Live and Leap, Inc. in June, 2009. It is the umbrella company for two separate consulting ventures: Talent Acquisition On Demand – a Talent Acquisition management solutions company; and F5 (Forums for Females Focused on a Fabulous Future) – a venture dedicated to providing tools, inspiration and support to women compelled to transform their lives. Today, I’m focused on getting the word out about my Talent Acquisition practice – what I’m doing and why. Six Degrees: What is Your Company’s Value Proposition? CAROL: I love leading Talent Acquisition. But instead of working “inside” running one organization at a time, I’m interested in broadening my reach and leveraging my extensive Talent Acquisition management background, experience and access to talented recruiting resources to benefit a host of organizations in a variety of industries. My solution offerings, though varied, are designed to help the leader in any organization who says, “the buck stops with me to ensure that talent acquisition efforts at my company result in producing the knowledge workers required to create marketplace advantage.” It’s a tough, important, and sometimes lonely job. I know because I’ve had the job more than a few times in my career. When I was VP of Talent Acquisition at Yahoo, I often looked for consultants with recruiting expertise and management savvy to augment my leadership team during peak activity periods. While recruiting and talent experts were available in the consulting marketplace, I found that Talent Acquisition Management consultants and experts were in short supply. I’m a talent acquisition management veteran who has "been there and done that". I have the perfect background to help clients bridge TA management gaps through consulting, tools and coaching. Six Degrees: What is the pricing structure for your services/products? CAROL: Pricing will vary depending on the assignment. In general, I plan to offer my services on a retained basis for less than 1/3 of the cost of a contract recruiter. Six Degrees: Do you blog? CAROL: Right now I do a blog for F5 – focused on supporting women in transformation. I plan to start a TA blog on management as soon as I have a little more fodder. “Watching Carol Mahoney in action was like seeing the leader at the World Series of recruiting. For nearly six years Carol successfully orchestrated the recruiting efforts that resulted in the hiring of thousands of exceptionally talented employees worldwide. The largest increase in Yahoo!’s history. Carol raised the standards and wrote the book on how to create a successful world class recruiting team (is the booking coming soon, Carol?). Without missing a beat she built & motivated a talented staffing team of over 250 people, she created a award winning career portal, nearly eliminated the use of outside agencies and she effectively brought executive recruiting inside. Her legacy included leading effective marketing campaigns over several years (& won numerous awards), and spiking the employee referrals to an all time high. No wonder that Carol is in demand on the speaker circuit and not just because of her superior reputation as a brilliant & innovative recruiting visionary but because she is also a rousing story teller with fabulous sense of humor. I would the welcome the opportunity to work for her again.” Noelle Tardieu, Recruiter for Talent Acquisition, Yahoo! “I have worked with and for Carol Mahoney for nearly 10 years and two companies. At Yahoo! Carol built a small and poorly organized staffing organization of 35 to nearly 250 at one point. Carol has an amazing strategic ability coupled with operational rigor to develop a high performing and (multiple) award winning organization. She brings humor, candor and an amazing ability to not only see the big picture but pull the right talent into the right jobs to achieve amazing results. I say today, what I've said before, "I'd work for Carol anywhere."” Stephanie Prout, Sr. Manager, Talent Acquisition Programs, Yahoo!…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 5:21pm on January 24, 2010

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