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- Blog Post: Top 4 Virtual Event Platforms for Your Next Virtual Career Fair
For the event industry, especially career events, 2020 has not been a kind year. Instead of a catastrophic regression, however, the industry has found a new way to…
- Added by Rakuna at 6:59am on July 13, 2021
- Blog Post: 2019 Talent Acquisition Year in Review
Episode 12
Guest Shannon Pritchett from…
- Added by Jeff Weidner at 10:27am on December 30, 2019
- Comment on: Topic 'Chat Stream - Talent Talk Cafe - Tuesday, Sept. 23rd: Topic - Exploring a caree…'
- What are the deciding factors? 1:01pm Susan Burns There are several differences between both careers and its not always easy to cross over. 1:02pm Susan Burns Money can be a big driver for 3rd party but corporate can offer a lot in development and I always liked the close proximity to the business. 1:02pm Susan Burns What are your thoughts? 1:02pm Alex I definitely like the proximity to the client and the business 1:03pm Alex being an advisor vs. outsider 1:03pm Susan Burns Hi Alex - when you say client do you mean hiring manager or business lead? 1:03pm Alex yes, Hiring Manager 1:03pm Jerry Albright I never once consider myself to be a "true" outsider. 1:03pm Jerry Albright As a matter of fact - the term "3rd Party" really bugs me..... 1:03pm Susan Burns HMs can be a challenging group to manager but once you earn their trust and contribute to their team they can be strong advocates 1:04pm Susan Burns Hi Jerry! agree - what would you reco for a different term? 1:04pm Susan Burns And Jerry, can u set that answer to music ;-) 1:04pm Jerry Albright recruiter is just fine. 1:04pm Amybeth Hale You get to really shape the opinions of your colleagues toward the precruiting practice on the corporate side more than on agency, I think. 1:05pm Susan Burns Jerry - how can we differentiate the different types of recruiters for internal and external? 1:05pm Susan Burns Great point Amybeth! If the org is open to innovation and change there can be a lot of "play" and experimentation to shape new strategies 1:06pm Susan Burns When deciding on a corporate role i think corp culture and investment in the recruitment function is critical to explore 1:06pm Alex yes, I like the strategic side as well, that you get on the corp side 1:07pm Amybeth Hale AGREED. On corporate, there is more money typically budgeted for things like training and resources for the ENTIRE staffing team. 1:07pm Jerry Albright Sorry to distract the dialogue Susan. We'll leave my title preferences out of this one! 1:07pm Susan Burns There can also be an array of career options that open up within a corporate setting 1:08pm Jerry Albright As a 3rd party you can "play" and "experiment" with anything you want. Directly for your personal growth. Any time. Any where. 1:08pm Susan Burns Jerry - no distraction. Its an important differentiator and I've struggled with the term as well. Don't like "headhunter" either 1:08pm Jerry Albright I should also add ' 3rd part/independent recruiter. Non-agency. 1:08pm Jerry Albright "Outside" recruiter is fine w/me. 1:08pm Susan Burns Jerry - do resources and access to other functions make that more challenging? Also, is agency different than independent? 1:09pm Jerry Albright It's just that 3rd party makes me feel so "uninvolved" when believe me - I AM involved.... 1:09pm Maha Akiki as an internal recruiter new to the company, I often had to compete with the "outside" recruiter 1:09pm Jerry Albright I came from agency. Like a giant rat house. I'm glad I split. 1:09pm Amybeth Hale I think play and experiment are available of the corporate side, depending on the org. If you work in an org that embraces trying new things, there are lots of opportunities to further your training within the company as well. 1:09pm Maha Akiki they had worked with the HM for years, and proved themselves 1:09pm pam claughton Hi all 1:09pm Maha Akiki and here I am a "newbie" to the org 1:09pm Susan Burns Hi Maha! Hi Pam! Thanks for joining! 1:09pm Maha Akiki I think some "outside" recruiters can be as strategic as corporate 1:10pm Susan Burns Outside recruiters - how about OR for now, can become trusted advisers if they develop the relationships and add value 1:10pm Alex I don't know if it's the model, but as an agency recruiter I was recruiter only, not am so I didn't have access to the client 1:11pm Paul Reino I think a lot depends on whether your client has a corporate recruiter. As a 3rd party recruiter, I can work well with companies but only if there's no internal recruiter competing with me. 1:11pm Susan Burns Good point Alex - it may be valuable to separate agency from independent OR 1:11pm Susan Burns HI Paul! Thanks for joining 1:11pm Amybeth Hale And I have to add, that as a researcher, the landscape is a little different. The $ on corporate is much better for researchers than it is in agency or independent recruiting. 1:11pm Susan Burns Paul - do the corp recruiters see you as a partner too or just competitor 1:12pm pam claughton Corporate varies too, some use agencies widely and some not at all 1:12pm Paul Reino A little bit of both. As soon as I sense that I am perceived as a competitor, than I know it's not going to work. 1:12pm pam claughton When I was on the corporate side, they liked to hire agency recruiters so they wouldn't need to pay fees as much very effective! 1:12pm Susan Burns Amybeth - when u were a researcher in an agency was the relationship with the team different - hope I'm remembering your background correctly 1:13pm Susan Burns Pam - sounds like a "cost-driven" decision. Were the results as effective? 1:13pm pam claughton Interestingly, when I was on the corp side too, they bought research regularly and the recruiters and sourcers would call from lists, very effective 1:13pm Amybeth Hale the recruiter/researcher relationship is essentially the same. But on the corporate side, I get to also interact w/ our HMs which helps to shape their opinions on staffing as well. 1:13pm pam claughton Yes, Susan, we focused on continuously building pipelines and it paid off 1:14pm Susan Burns Pam - buying research can be effective. Amybeth's model is more targeted and long term - and ideally tightly connected to the biz strategy 1:14pm pam claughton I did it for a year, and then really missed the excitement of third party 1:14pm pam claughton and the money of course 1:14pm Amybeth Hale the combination of our great recruiters with the fact that now we have a research/sourcing function has created a lot of buzz for our staffing function amongst our HMs 1:14pm Susan Burns Pam - what made 3rd party/OR more exciting than corporate? 1:15pm Jerry Albright Also - would most of us agree that at least to start your career - agency is the way to go? 1:15pm pam claughton I like choosing who I work with and which searches to devote my energy to, on the corporate side, you can't choose, you have to fill whatever falls on your plate 1:15pm Jerry Albright it is from there that you have more options depending on where your skills develop and which work you prefer.... 1:16pm Alex yup, started off in agency as well 1:16pm Amybeth Hale I agree w/ Jerry. Agency is more fast-paced and you learn more of the basics of what recruiting takes there. 1:16pm pam claughton I love an extremely fast pace too, and while you have that on the corporate side sometimes, it's never as nutty and fun as the agency side....to me anyway 1:16pm Jerry Albright Plus - try hanging out all day on RBC while working as a corpt recruiter! I bet you couldn't. 1:16pm Susan Burns Jerry - I think it depends on the company you start with. A good corporate environment should offer lots of training and biz exposure. I found it invaluable but started on the biz side and then went into recruiting 1:16pm Maha Akiki @JA I can :-) 1:16pm Susan Burns Pam - I know of a place thats nutty and fun inside ;-) 1:17pm pam claughton Honestly, I'm also motivated by money and flexibility and third party offers so much more of both than corporate, if you can produce 1:17pm Julia Stone I can say as an agency, that the thought of being considered "overhead" in any organization doesn't work for me. I want to be revenue generating and always will be. 1:17pm Susan Burns HI Julia! Thanks for joining! 1:17pm Jerry Albright Hi Julia. Donde esta my email? 1:17pm Susan Burns Oooh I hate to think of it as overhead. That could be an opp for a more strategic internal alliance and compelling case! 1:18pm Julia Stone um, I have to get an email out, be back in 3 min 1:18pm Amybeth Hale It does stink to be often viewed as the "red-headed stepchild" of your company, but that's where you have a great opportunity to prove your worth and shape the opinion of the organization . 1:18pm Alex on the agency side, do you time time to source though ? you're competing with so many other agents 1:18pm pam claughton not if you have locked up clients 1:18pm Julia Stone what are you doing if you aren't sourcing, Alex? You compete, but you have to have something to sell 1:18pm Susan Burns At WaggEd the recruiting team was able to deliver $600K in agency savings. At the time I don't think we were considered overhead. 1:19pm Jerry Albright I truly can not imagine life doing anything other than grazing freely on the open range out here on the staffing horizon...... 1:19pm Julia Stone that is ideal, Susan, but I don't think it is the norm 1:19pm Alex I just say that because I think I'd like to focus on a sourcing role but that means I'd have to be on the corp side and I don't see many opportunties on the corp side 1:19pm Susan Burns I do like to think of myself as abnormal ;-) It actually took a lot to change the picture and I love a good challenge! 1:19pm Jerry Albright You could source for other agency clients Alex 1:19pm Julia Stone Alex, I won't hire a recruiter in my agency who doesn't know advanced sourcing techniques 1:19pm Alex ditto 1:20pm Susan Burns ALex - what about external sourcing? 1:20pm Alex you mean working for an agency or independant ? 1:20pm Susan Burns It could be either. Or contract? 1:20pm Slouch Julia, what song are you singing here. http://www.recruitingblogs.com/photo/photo/show?id=502551%3APhoto%3A260412 1:20pm Jerry Albright Julia - I think that policy is limiting 1:20pm Alex Julia, goes back to my point, who has time to source when you're at an agency 1:20pm Susan Burns There are a lot of great sourcing opps coming up as the role is seen as more critical 1:21pm pam claughton You have to source. I did all my own when I was at an agency...you just do it. 1:21pm Alex yeah, but I'm limited in time :P 1:21pm Susan Burns How many agencies are taking advantage of dedicated sourcers? 1:21pm Amybeth Hale From a research perspective, I think there is still a lot on the agency side that needs to be learned such as the true value. Hence, why a research opportunity at the corporate level is more financially rewarding for research than it is at the agency level. 1:21pm Julia Stone Jerry, you may be right. They need to understand the function whether they excel at recruiting or sales though. 1:21pm Jerry Albright We're all limited in time Alex aren't we? 1:21pm Jerry Albright Julia - I'm always right..... 1:21pm pam claughton Susan, I don't think many agencies are yet, but corporate is more and more 1:21pm Susan Burns Within corporate its very challenging to be a recruiter and strategic sourcer becuz of the hiring manager relationship 1:21pm Jerry Albright ;-D 1:22pm Julia Stone JD, thanks for sharing, I think it was "I think were alone now"! 1:22pm Alex yes, but I'm on the bench right now, LOL 1:22pm Julia Stone I have a sourcer 1:22pm pam claughton I have a sourcer starting tomorrow actually! 1:22pm Jerry Albright Alex - what would be the outcome if you devoted your time to recruiting vs. devoting your time to finding a new job? 1:22pm Jerry Albright I'm just being hypothetical here... 1:22pm Amybeth Hale Susan to your question about agencies that have dedicated sourcers, I'd say not many b/c most of those people pull double duty as admin. Or they're considered "junior recruiters" 1:22pm Susan Burns Just saw that Amazon is looking for a sourcing manager - anyone interested? 1:23pm Alex LOL, you are pretty determined Jerry ! 1:23pm Susan Burns Great questions Jerry 1:23pm Alex on site or virtual ? 1:23pm Jerry Albright Source me up an Engineering Manager for South Carolina and you'd make 10K. 1:23pm Jerry Albright In about a week...... 1:23pm Julia Stone amybeth is right, I have worked in agencies going back 10 years that had sourcers and they were considered junior recruiters 1:23pm Jerry Albright From wherever you want. 1:23pm Susan Burns What is the average weekly hours for agency recruiters - anyone know? 1:24pm pam claughton 50-60 at least 1:24pm Jerry Albright But I'm not trying to recruit you over to our side. I'm just sayin'. 1:24pm Susan Burns Julia - if corporate influences the trend that could change soon 1:24pm Alex 50 1:24pm Amybeth Hale And unfortunately that is still how they are considered quite often today, though we are doing a good job of changing that mindset. 1:24pm Julia Stone in Seattle they used to be 50+ 1:24pm Jerry Albright I use to work 30 hrs a week 1:24pm Maureen Sharib You think so AmyBeth? 1:24pm Alex well Jerry, you're the exception ! 1:24pm Jerry Albright There is a huge diff x agency and indy though 1:25pm Jerry Albright I'm indy 1:25pm Susan Burns Amybeth - how are you seeing the landscape change? 1:25pm Jerry Albright Agency was minimum 50 or 60 cuz you had to make 2 people rich. 1:25pm Alex for sure ! 1:25pm Amybeth Hale In some circles, yes. People are starting to see a career path in sourcing that does NOT have to grow up into a recruiting career. 1:25pm Julia Stone I have been rethinking the relationships in our agency & see recruiting, business development & researcher all equally important 1:25pm Susan Burns Julia - which agency are you with? 1:26pm Julia Stone BizWerks, my own 1:26pm Jerry Albright You can not look at any part of the complete placement lifecycle as less important than another - can you? 1:26pm Jerry Albright I thought it was BizWerx 1:26pm Julia Stone but look at the commissions & we do look at it differently as a whole, dont we? 1:26pm Jerry Albright my bad 1:26pm Amybeth Hale And that from research, or sourcing, you pick your poison, there are lots of options, and not always remaining in a recruitment-type role. However, I am seeing more of this on the corporate side than on the agency side 1:26pm Susan Burns Is career progression important in the job decision too? 1:27pm Amybeth Hale Because, no offense to anyone here, but the agencies in which I have worked had an expectation that every person would eventually become a recruiter and be part of the "revenue generation" part of the business. 1:27pm pam claughton depends on where you want your career to go 1:27pm Susan Burns Do agencies encourage/support career pathing and how important is it to each of you? 1:27pm pam claughton If it's to management, corporate offers more choices 1:27pm Alex not that I've seen 1:27pm pam claughton on the agency side, not so much 1:27pm Amybeth Hale Susan, I think they do as long as it fits into the model of the company. Which is why it is so important to talk about that in an interview! 1:27pm Julia Stone I think agencies are woefully inadequate at career pathing 1:28pm Susan Burns Do you all think career pathing is an attractor? 1:28pm Alex depends on the persons motivator 1:28pm pam claughton for corporate yes, not for agency 1:28pm Amybeth Hale If the company expects every employee to at some point become a recruiter, and that's not what you want for yourself, then it's not a good fit. And to force someone to recruit when what they want to do is research is going to make everyone unhappy. 1:28pm Susan Burns Many of my former team members at MAcy's Inc have moved into bigger roles in recruiting and HR 1:29pm pam claughton people who go agency are motivated by money, and the better you do, and more senior level you are, the more money you make 1:29pm Julia Stone I would have never gone out on my own if I had a good career path 1:29pm Jerry Albright Here is the promo path in an agency: Recruiter....Senior Recruiter.....Bail out to do your own thing...... 1:29pm Susan Burns We used to map people in/out of HR from the biz side at times too. 1:29pm pam claughton but there's no real career path. I've seen top billers promoted in mgmt and fail or are miserable 1:29pm Jerry Albright Pam - can I disagree just a pinch? 1:29pm pam claughton generally two very different skill sets 1:29pm pam claughton of course Jerry I'm generalizing 1:29pm Susan Burns So Jerry - is agency a stepping stone to independence more so than corporate 1:30pm Jerry Albright I am motivated by the amount of free time I can spend with my family. It's just it takes money to take time off 1:30pm pam claughton Yes, growth in agency is going on your own. 1:30pm Jerry Albright Oh yes Susan. 1:30pm Susan Burns Pam - is the failing sometimes influenced by a lack of additional development 1:30pm B.Morris Hello 1:30pm pam claughton probably, because top sales people aren't necessarily good teachers, they're more doers 1:30pm Susan Burns I think the same thing happens with engineers that aren't given management development training 1:31pm Susan Burns Hi B. Morris – welcome 1:31pm B.Morris Thank you 1:31pm Julia Stone I commonly hear people say that people leave agencies for corporate because they are not able to make it in the outside world. 1:31pm Amybeth Hale Yes just b/c someone is good at their job doesn't mean they can help others become good as well. If their people/communication skills are lacking they won't do well in a management role. 1:31pm pam claughton and they usually miss the rush of being a top biller 1:31pm Alex Julia, that's what my ex boss used to tell me, but I disagree 1:31pm Amybeth Hale Julia, ouch! 1:32pm Susan Burns Julia - sometimes they want to be part of the biz and have a direct contribution too 1:32pm Julia Stone I agree with Susan, but it is a common view in the agencies I think 1:32pm Susan Burns In corp it was difficult to hire agency recruiters well into their career becuz they struggled with the HM commitment 1:32pm Maha Akiki Julia, it is those who have that view that fail in forging a relationship with the corporate recruiter, sometimes VERY important 1:32pm Amybeth Hale That's a really good point. 1:33pm Julia Stone My personal view is that they are different personality types as a whole 1:33pm pam claughton I agree 1:33pm Julia Stone farmers vs hunters 1:33pm Susan Burns The most challenging thing about corp is the HM relationship. The closer you are to the customer the more intense the expectation 1:34pm Susan Burns Julia - can u share more on that thought 1:34pm Amybeth Hale FOr certain. Most of the agency recruiters I've known were very very metrics driven, and volume based. The corporate recruiters I have come to know (and love) are more concerned w/ cultural fit and client delight. 1:34pm Sarang Brahme Hi - I am Sarang here.... I think corporate recruiters are mostly process oriented and agency ones are suppose to be hunting.... is that true everywhere? 1:34pm pam claughton Susan, that's one of the things I miss and really enjoyed was being closer to the HM 1:34pm Maha Akiki talk about expectation, where I am right now, they see me as the saviour, and I need to mostly manage expectations 1:34pm Alex yes agree with amybeth 1:34pm Susan Burns Hi Sarang - welcome. I would disagree. The corporate recruiters I've worked with were serious hunters - but they nurtured their crops too! 1:35pm Jerry Albright Just a word about being "a part of the biz"......When I drive down the highway - like on my way back from Toronto - and see all kinds of trucks with my clients names on them it is a rush! I am not only part of a biz - I am a part of many businesses! 1:35pm Julia Stone internal recruiters are driven (perhaps overdriven) by systems these days. They have their hands full with cultivating the relationships with candidates that come into the pipeline. What choice do they have? Really, how many req's do internals work at the same time? 1:35pm pam claughton Yes, I have to say, I was really impressed with the corporate recruiters I worked with, they didn't hesitate to cold call 1:35pm Maha Akiki JA, it also depends on the industry you're in if you're corporate 1:35pm Maren Hogan wow you guys are tearing this up. I am learning so much 1:35pm Susan Burns Pam - it is a double edge sword but when there a good partnership it feels as if your part of their biz and cool to see people grow into their roles 1:35pm Alex 30 reqs 1:35pm Julia Stone External is about finding the perverbial needle in a haystack, 1:36pm Maren Hogan Some of my internals that I work with on the 3PR side are working 50 and wonder why they are ineffective 1:36pm Amybeth Hale I guess it depends on what drives you, as to what setting suits you best. For me, I hate metrics and would rather research and find 10 people, 8 of whom are a fit for our jobs, than to compile a list of 1,000 people and only have 20 respond. 1:36pm Alex ditto Amybeth 1:36pm Susan Burns 30 is high depending on the type of talent they are looking for. I would try and keep a balance of about 15-20 and then as a team we would dive in and support the recruiter with a heavy load 1:37pm pam claughton Susan, that's a perfect req load, it gives time to really recruit 1:37pm Maren Hogan Tp inject soem Psych 101 into the equation, I think thir party learns that there is a lot more rejection on the sales side if htey run a full desk and corp recruiters are usually calling with something to offer not something to sell, so they have less fear surrounding cold calling 1:37pm Amybeth Hale the time it would take me to pull together the 1,000 would be better spend finding the right fit for my organization, than crossing my fingers and hoping that 1) a couple of people on the large list fit and 2) that I don't piss the other 980 people off for spamming them :D 1:37pm Susan Burns That's also where the sourcer comes in and anticipating the biz needs based on the strategic plan 1:37pm pam claughton Once you get upwards to 30 you can barely keep up with scheduling let alone recruiting 1:37pm Julia Stone Susan's right. I tend to have my people work 4-5 reqs at a time 1:37pm Amybeth Hale But again, that's the corporate side of my opinion now. 1:38pm pam claughton I work fewer reqs at a time now than I did on corporate 1:38pm Susan Burns 30 is total burn out and setting someone up for failure - may as well open the door for them now 1:38pm Julia Stone 30=paper pushing only. No way around it 1:38pm Susan Burns Unless your working on hourly roles with a general skill set. 1:38pm pam claughton I once had 35 and that was a bit nervewracking 1:38pm Alex that's been my avg on corp side 1:38pm Jerry Albright Julia - can I be one of your "people"....if so send me an email. 1:38pm Julia Stone skill vs volume is a fair debate though 1:38pm Jerry Albright {:-) 1:39pm Susan Burns It also depends on the technology that's in place - we used to have auto scheduling for hourly and it made a huge diff 1:39pm Julia Stone Jerry, answer my direct mail & I will sent it :) 1:39pm Carolyn Hi friends, I am a corporate recruiter, I generally work on 15-22 reqs at a time. 1:39pm pam claughton We had dedicated schedulers that helped quite a bit 1:39pm Jerry Albright Did 1:39pm Susan Burns Hi Carolyn! Is this Carolyn Hudson? 1:39pm Julia Stone the carolyn? 1:39pm Carolyn its not bad, it is definately busy though - yes its me 1:39pm Carolyn Hey Susan :) 1:39pm Alex hey chickie ! 1:39pm Carolyn LOL the?? 1:39pm Carolyn Hey Alex 1:40pm Susan Burns Thanks for stopping by and diving in! 1:40pm Julia Stone just because, carolyn? 1:40pm Maren Hogan Hey Carolyn!!! 1:40pm Carolyn I was tryin to catch up wtih you guys - you are covering a lot of ground!!! 1:40pm Carolyn :) 1:40pm Sarang Brahme Carolyn, out of those reqs - how many you normally able to close on an average... also does closure to open reqs ratio depends on the number of reqs you handle at one time? 1:40pm Carolyn yes thats me!! 1:40pm Carolyn My goal is to close 5 per mth 1:40pm Carolyn but we do have a very long process 1:41pm Sridhar Hi Friends 1:41pm Carolyn yes i would agree Sarang 1:41pm Julia Stone you are independent, right carolyn? 1:41pm Carolyn when i have a higher number, some reqs take longer - i have to really priroitize wht i am working on 1:41pm Susan Burns Hi Sridhar - welcome! 1:41pm Carolyn I am an outsourced vendor but working in-house 1:42pm Sridhar Hi Susan 1:42pm Sarang Brahme RPO? 1:42pm Sridhar thank you.... 1:42pm Sridhar how are you Susan 1:42pm Susan Burns Carolyn - any guesses as to how much longer - in days, it takes to fill reqs as the number of reqs goes up 1:42pm Susan Burns That metric can be a good influencer to get more resources. Just convert the #days to lost biz 1:43pm Carolyn Hmmm no I wouldnt guess at a number Susan, every search is a totally different story, that is good to think about though 1:43pm Carolyn something maybe I should keep better track of 1:43pm Sarang Brahme also Carolyn, do you use external vendors? so do they come under equation in corp staffing? 1:44pm Susan Burns Its note easy to track. If the company has tracking for time to fill then just look at patter of reqs per recruiter 1:44pm Jerry Albright Is "patter of reqs" some type of corporate lingo? I really am missing out........ 1:44pm Jerry Albright Oh - and I'm a smartass. 1:45pm Carolyn Sarang - we sometimes use agencies but this accounts for less than 5% of our hires 1:45pm Susan Burns Sorry that was pattern of reqs. We used to look at # of reqs per recruiter but also capture the type of req - level as example. It creates an important picture for an all-up view 1:45pm Susan Burns And yes, you are a smart ass OR ;-) 1:46pm Susan Burns But a FAB dj! 1:46pm Carolyn Thanks Susan, I will speak with my mgr about taking a look at those numbers! It will be interesting to see if there is a trend there - Im sure there is 1:46pm Susan Burns I'd love to hear from each of you what the top three things are that you want out of a job or career in recruiting. 1:47pm Jerry Albright Feel free to book me for your next catered event Susan! 1:47pm Amybeth Hale Kristin is here. She might be able to offer up a good perspective 1:47pm Susan Burns Hi Kristin - where are you?? 1:47pm Jerry Albright Freedom, recognition and money. 1:47pm Julia Stone make money, connect people, make a difference in people's lives 1:48pm Kristin Kalscheur hi 1:48pm Amybeth Hale Top three things? Influence, Respect, and Opportunity (for promotion) - all outside of appropriate compensation of course :) 1:48pm Susan Burns Oooh these are good - keep it going! 1:48pm Maren Hogan Significance freedom and opportunity 1:48pm Jerry Albright Make a difference? Come on Julia.... 1:48pm pam claughton Money, help build careers and companies, flexibility 1:48pm Maha Akiki i'll have to second Ambyeth 1:48pm Alex challenge, money and people contact 1:48pm Maren Hogan Jerry, you are so the class clown. 1:48pm Jerry Albright No I'm not. 1:49pm Susan Burns These are great. I'll be capturing the chat stream and posting later 1:49pm Carolyn for me it is the opportunity to learn/grow, recognition for hard work and work life balance would be nice :) 1:49pm Jerry Albright I just razz people who would rather work down at the county building handing out pamphlets..... 1:49pm Maren Hogan Yeah the balance thing is hard for third party folks with a killer work ethic 1:49pm Jerry Albright helping people. 1:49pm Kristin Kalscheur to build a pipeline, create freedom in my life based on having that network, and work my way to the top of course! 1:49pm Jerry Albright Maren - I disagree. 1:49pm Julia Stone help starts at home, jerry 1:49pm Maren Hogan I believe in JULIA! :) 1:49pm Susan Burns balance can be a challenge in corp too - lost of nights and weekend can pop up 1:49pm Maren Hogan don't tell me that! :) 1:49pm Jerry Albright I"ve got a killer work ethic and an excellent balance. 1:49pm Susan Burns GO Kristin - can I work for you one day ;-) 1:50pm Susan Burns uhhhmm we need to talk my dear Maren! 1:50pm pam claughton Yes, I saw issues with balance on corporate side 1:50pm Amybeth Hale Julia, small things done with great love are what change the world :) You hang on to your desire to better people's lives :D 1:50pm Kristin Kalscheur ;) riiiiiiiiiiight Susan 1:50pm Maren Hogan Jerry I believe you, I just think it takes time when you are learning at the same time as you are working 1:50pm Maren Hogan Fudgsicle 1:50pm Jerry Albright Agreed Maren. 1:50pm Carolyn LOL yes the balance is hard because everything is super-urgent!! 1:51pm Jerry Albright And I absolutely DO change lives - but only as a side benefit to my primary "self" goals...... 1:51pm Kristin Kalscheur oh and I want to recruit people in industries that are changing the world for the better of course 1:51pm Susan Burns Isn't that what recruiting is really all about - bettering peoples lives 1:51pm Sarang Brahme for me it would be money, challenge and building knowledge / expertise 1:51pm Susan Burns Kristin - can u work on the gov! 1:51pm Jerry Albright Don't get me started here people..... 1:51pm Maha Akiki Kristin you can work in the life sciences 1:51pm Kristin Kalscheur that would be a good starting point! 1:51pm Susan Burns Go Jerry Go! 1:52pm Maha Akiki that's why i love working pharma/medical 1:52pm Alex why i like tech 1:52pm Susan Burns Maha - which company are u with - I forget 1:52pm Maha Akiki rigth now it's Sentinelle Medical 1:52pm Kristin Kalscheur i like environment/green and Corp social responsibility, public affairs 1:52pm Susan Burns Tech is a great place to influence the future Alex 1:52pm Jerry Albright Have we helped Alex much today? 1:52pm Alex lol, I think I'm more confused 1:53pm Susan Burns And Maren! What do you ladies think 1:53pm pam claughton there's always a 'hot' area in tech 1:53pm Jerry Albright Me too. 1:53pm Amybeth Hale lol KK always thinking in WE terminology 1:53pm Kristin Kalscheur that's not just WE terminology! 1:53pm Kristin Kalscheur doing a pro-bono side search for a green co too! 1:53pm Susan Burns Isn't it about personal desires more than anything. After that its finding the right culture fit if you want to go to corporate or agency 1:53pm Carolyn LOL, yea tech is awesome, but also fast paced right, that is probably where the super-urgent/ yesterday mentality comes in 1:53pm Kristin Kalscheur YES Susan 1:53pm Jerry Albright Oh gawd... 1:54pm Kristin Kalscheur if you are not happy how do you succeed? 1:54pm Alex so many next talk should be virtual/off site vs. in house ? 1:54pm Kristin Kalscheur must put #1 first 1:54pm pam claughton super urgent is across all industries I've found! 1:54pm Amybeth Hale You can think of your career path in terms of Maslow's hierarchy. Your personal desires are like the basic necessities of being successful in your career. If those are not being met, not much else matters. 1:54pm Maren Hogan urgent is not the same as important, strategy can get lost in the hubbub 1:54pm Carolyn good to know Pam! 1:54pm Julia Stone Jerry, if you noticed the 1st answer I gave was money, it was 3rd on your list. Just saying.. 1:55pm Susan Burns We used to have a retail saying that everything was 1st degree murder - there are no traffic tickets - everything was urgent! 1:55pm Kristin Kalscheur A+ Amybeth 1:55pm Kristin Kalscheur Maslow's the man 1:55pm Jerry Albright Julia - I don't really need any more. So it's kinda lost it's sparkle..... 1:55pm Kristin Kalscheur SO true Maren 1:55pm Amybeth Hale I made a smart observation. Yay me! 1:56pm Maren Hogan Jerry you can send me some money if you have too much. . . 1:56pm Alex and what aboout that cottage you still want to buy 1:56pm Jerry Albright No problem. I'll need an address. 1:56pm Jerry Albright Good one Alex! 1:56pm Susan Burns Jerry - can u help the gov bail out the IBs too 1:56pm Susan Burns It would help my tax impact! 1:57pm Maha Akiki So Alex, OR or CR? 1:57pm Jerry Albright Oh I think we all just did - or will in the morning - actually that is mostly what we will ALL be doing for A LONG TIME..... 1:57pm Alex I guess it all depends on the opportunity/environment/moneyh 1:57pm Carolyn LOL yay Amybeth! I gotta take off now guys, thanks for the chat - OMG dont mention taxes Susan - I have to do mine asap!!! Shoot. 1:57pm Susan Burns Alex - anything you want to toss out as a final question to the group? 1:57pm Jerry Albright Alex - what niche are you most familiar with? 1:57pm Alex software, I guess ? 1:58pm Alex no thanks Susan 1:58pm Jerry Albright Would you enjoy being your own boss? 1:58pm pam claughton Alex have you done any financial? Bank of America has an extensive sourcing department 1:58pm Jerry Albright Some people would rather not - and I get that. 1:58pm Maha Akiki JA, I object, leading questions 1:58pm Carolyn Hell Yes Jerry - and one day I will be :) 1:58pm Alex yup, did financial 1:58pm Carolyn ok bye for now guys 1:58pm pam claughton If you ping me, may have some contact names for you 1:58pm Alex no, did that, didn't like it 1:59pm Alex will def do that Pam 1:59pm Susan Burns Alex - what about financial services? 1:59pm Slouch Thanks Susan, Great chat 1:59pm Alex I did recruiting at a Bank 1:59pm Alex yes, thanks Susan 1:59pm Alex twice 1:59pm Maren Hogan glad I got to catch the tail end. it was a great chat, so many lively voices! 1:59pm Kristin Kalscheur thanks sorry I joined so late!!!! 1:59pm Susan Burns This is for retail brokers? Would u be interested? 2:00pm Jerry Albright Cool Alex. I will no longer try to use my powers to influence you in a direction which would not be good for you! :) 2:00pm Alex lol, thanks Jerry 2:00pm Jerry Albright Good bye group! 2:00pm Julia Stone Interesting dynamics today. Great enthusiasm for sure. Thanks Susan! 2:00pm Alex yes, retail would be interesting 2:00pm Susan Burns Thanks everyone for a FANTASTIC Talent Talk Cafe! Its been great and look for the transcript a bit later today.…
- Added by Susan Burns at 10:52am on September 24, 2008
- Blog Post: How To Recruit On LinkedIn
- Added by Ninh Tran at 3:52pm on May 23, 2016
- Blog Post: Why Should a Recruiter Think Like a Marketer?
In the competition of talent acquisition, it is essential that recruiters should think like marketers in planning engagement strategy. Our video will point out the benefits of thinking like a…
- Added by Rakuna at 11:55pm on May 11, 2021
- Topic: Recruitment 4.0: Crowdsourcing, Gamification, Recruitment as a Profit Center, … and the Death of Recruitment Agencies!
- sting 3.0. But what direction are we heading in? Is it a coherent journey? Is there a clear destination/end goal? 4.0. What on earth could that include? How’s this? Recruitment transitions from being a “cost center” into a “profit center”’! The collapse and insolvency of many recruitment agencies. Job boards stuttering and collapsing … and repurposing themselves Companies hiring “through the sky” through external referrals and crowdsourcing Exclusive/VIP/premium paid in-community content and paid mobile apps Gamification shapes recruiting strategies and generates stickiness and virality Companies rated globally by crowd opinions Before anyone screams “unrealistic” or “utter fantasy” or cries B.S., let’s be clear that Recruitment 4.0 moves into the territory of vision. This is some years off. But by calculated hypotheses it is clear there will be a 4.0 and that it is a natural progression of 3.0 and builds sensibly on its foundations. Let’s recap the different versions of recruiting. Recruitment 1.0 encompasses traditional recruiting over a huge timeline, including good old-fashioned fax machines, print advertising, (post, spray ,and pray), and Rolodexes moving into traditional ATSs. Recruiters more focused on processes than end results. The basic any-bum-on-any-seat philosophy. Recruitment 2.0 saw the move onto online and using technology for recruitment purposes, including the advent of online job boards & online CV searches. While the technology moved forward, the traditional methodology of 1.0 was prevalent, including online post, spray, and pray candidate attraction (aka the recruitment lottery of let’s hope the right-ish person looks at the online advertisement, at the right time and feels willing to go to the effort to apply). Both Recruitment 1.0 and 2.0 were/are fundamentally focused on the active job seekers, (applying to vacancies, on agency books, and those watching job boards like a possessed predator). Recruitment 3.0 is a huge leap as it moves recruitment out of its comfort zone. The beating heart of 3.0 is the non-active/passive individual and a focus on “best talent” and building predictable talent pipelines. In addition, the philosophy of “everyone is a potential candidate so engage them” is central. 3.0 takes us into building engaged, two-way, free-conversation based, transparent communities. This is anchored by things like employment branding, marketing, and PR. 3.0 is not only concerned with building communities but mapping key competitors and seducing cream-of-the-crop talent with your brand and in-house opportunities. What is Recruitment 4.0? Recruitment 3.0 is all consumed and focused on building communities. 4.0 is all about the value of those communities, both real and perceived. Recruitment has traditionally been a cost center. It sucks money from the profit line like Count Dracula on a feeding frenzy in Transylvania, especially if agency fees are involved, coupled with advertising/job board fees etc. Add this up and it can be an overwhelming drain on resources. Remember that many of the Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies are addicted to agency hiring and mass job board advertising like an alcoholic drawn to drink. Why highlight the Fortune and FTSE companies? Primarily they should have the advantage and resources to wean off agency addiction, source passive candidates far more easily than small to medium companies, (but funnily enough it is the small- and medium-sized companies who are far more fleet of foot and innovative). Recruitment 4.0 sees recruiting move from being a cost center (a loss-making division) to being a profit center. Reflect on that statement. It’s huge and revolutionary. Recruitment being a profit center. “Impossible,” you cry. Perhaps not if you reflect and apply some visionary foresight. Recruitment 4.0 is some years off. But not as far as some may think. Consider the world we live in. Value is defined differently. Companies like Zynga, Facebook, and LinkedIn have massive valuations, well above their profitability margins. Their reach and potential reach and the size of their mass following — an engaged following. Our generation is living in the information age. The power lies in networks. Networks are data. Data is power. And data is money. We all want data. Especially recruiters and marketers/salespeople. So how does a community, (or let’s crudely call it data) = value = monetization = recruitment becoming a profit center? There are several facets to recruitment moving to a profit center. Reduction of recruiting costs to a minimum, (agency usage close to zero, less need for mass job board advertising, reduction in number of in-house recruiters employed). This depends on building and nurturing a “qualitative” community, a strong employment brand, vibrant social networks, mapped competitors, and putting in place a predictable talent pipeline for key hiring channels. The community itself evolves into a self-service community, where recruitment can be executed by crowdsourcing, and by hiring managers becoming more engaged into pipeline generation and hiring. Everyone can use LinkedIn. Why not hiring managers? Value in the community is identified by both internal and external advertisers/marketers that allows for revenue for recruitment. A sense of increased value is attached to belonging/being part of that community, hence VIP/exclusive areas/content that people are happy to pay for. Gamification principles create more engagement and sense of belonging and stickiness to sites, hence driving potential of more opportunities for monetization. Actual games/cartoons/content that people subscribe to have repeat value. Let’s look at some of those in a little more depth. Traditional advertising is failing. The days of successful, targeted TV and print advertising are long behind us. Ways to communicate, once limited and restricted, are now numerous and disperse. Looking at TV, the former medium of choice for mass communication, now diminished, as people are now hungry for choice and happily spread their viewing over a diverse and numerous multitude of TV channels. If an advertiser manages to define a great TV slot to advertise to reach their target audience they are thwarted by the fact that people can now record and Tivo, hence skipping ads. TV advertising then is a busted flush. Print advertising? Again, some national newspapers and magazines are spiraling downward from their heyday readerships. People tend toward reading the latest news online 24/7 or from niche web sites. They don’t want to wait the next day for old news. Print has had to be more salacious and do what it can to get the best scoops to get whatever sales possible. Online, people not only digest news, but have the benefit of posting comments and engaging in discussions. So traditional messaging vehicles are struggling. This coincides with a time when recruiter networks are expanding. Combine a recruitment database (with some companies having in excess of ½ million – million names), with social media networks, a targeted mass of names, email addresses, with perceived affinity to a business or product, and a growing realization awakens that this has a marketable value. A marketing department does not have this scale, (or quality), of information on its database. Recruiting does. Now the first step is for recruiting to cross charge its marketing division to advertise to its database and community. Why not? Many marketing departments don’t see or understand the value of recruiting databases. They’re a potential goldmine of information and data … and potential business opportunities. Taking this a step further, why not allow specific external companies the opportunity to advertise to your community? (Mindful of data protection and ensuring a community buys into contact by third-party advertisers). You remain in charge of the names and not divulging data, but certain advertising is safe to your community and could be revenue-generating for recruiting. As this thought sinks in, revenue potential opens up. The Death of Recruitment Agencies At the same time, savvy companies will be seeing their recruiting costs decreasing. As companies build their databases of talent, via sourcing, identification through LinkedIn, talent mapping, and coupled with their valued online communities, the need and reliance on recruiting agencies, both contingent and retained, will dramatically lessen. This will also coincide with less of a need for corporate in-house recruiters. Hiring managers are more than adept at searching on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is greatly expanding its offering and making recruiting easier for everyone. Initiatives like ‘Genome’ from LinkedIn will radically lesson the need for dedicated in-house recruiters in the future. Coupled with your community recruiting on your company’s behalf (crowdsourcing of talent), the need for recruiters will lessen and hence accelerate cost reduction. The very future of recruitment agencies depends on their ability to adapt to the new realities that companies are waking up to the need to break out of the active candidate pool and identify and attract passive candidates. If we take as an approximation that of the 100% of candidates qualified for your job, only 10% are active with agencies and job boards, then it’s the 90% who are more attractive to companies, and the agencies need to identify, attract, and present those candidates. Contingent recruitment agencies, especially the large ones, are in the business of competing to be the first to present the CV of that 10% active pool, all trying to Bolt out the blocks. Unless they start to adapt by attracting and mapping out the 90% non-active and building their own communities, their model will face extinction. Now is not the time to rush and buy shares in traditional contingent operators as a long-term investment. Even worse, the business model of traditional retained search and selection companies, as we reflect on it in this modern age, is founded on the delusions of lunacy. A client pays a 30% fee for first-year guaranteed compensation (or even just basic salary only), split into thirds, a third for commencement of the project and a third for presentation of a shortlist — the risk all loaded on the fee-paying client. Certainly, cost models will change toward loaded placement fees. The irony is that search firm marketing is based on its peerless reputation as the ultimate Rolodex of all the golden names in the industry. Their network is the goldmine that we are seduced to unlock. If their databases are that peerless and they have done hundreds of similar searches, why then does it take four to five weeks for a shortlist? Perhaps that question is not raised enough. The zealots will cry that the search agency is peerless in assessment and interviewing. But is that not we do in house? Why am I paying two-thirds of a fee without a placement? It’s even more laughable when the shortlist of contacts is most likely generated by a fresh graduate on $40,000 a year in the back room of the search agency, who then passes all their lead generation to the search consultant. Alternatively, a growing trend is using a new breed of company that is engaged in market mapping, talent pooling, and recruitment research solutions — hence providing a company with a mapped market of qualified talent, with contact details and candidate profiles that the recruiter then follows up on. Not every company can afford internal sourcers, and this is the next best thing, and significantly cheaper/more cost effective than a full search. However you cut it, the future is not bright for contingent and retained search and selection unless they adapt to changing new business realities. Not many currently have that foresight as they focus on short-termism. Hopefully agency CEOs have strong managers in their crow’s nest who are prepared to shout “iceberg ahead” before disaster strikes. Job Boards Faltering Coupled with the death/decline of agencies will be the faltering and restructuring of the large job boards. As companies build their own recruitment databases and even more importantly their own communities, they can use creative ways to sourcetalent. Communities themselves will evolve around certain disciplines/careers/industries and hence negate the use for paid job boards. Why pay for a large job board in the active pool when we can reach passive candidates in a free community? Job boards will have to look at community-building themselves and earn their revenue through product placement advertising rather than paid-for job advertisements. Companies have always embraced the concept of internal referrals. Why not the reverse? External referrals — even better through crowdsourcing using their communities. Naysayers will point to the rewards attributed to internal referrals, generally through monetary bonuses, and hence the difficulty of applying this externally as companies don’t want to pay for talent they would have got anyway. But recent times have showed the power of recognition and “public reward” through games like Foursquare. People love the status of being the Mayor of a local curry house. Why not take this principle into recruiting and reward referrals from crowdsourcing: Public recognition and rewards in the community, (badges, leaderboards), on a sliding scale to reach actualization of ”real” rewards, be it monetary bonus, vacation, or a PC or iPad? External Referrals through Crowdsourcing Recruitment can learn a lot from crowdsourcing. This term was arguably defined by Jeff Howe in the June 2006 issue of Wiredmagazine. Howe states: Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers. Howe further drives this home by stating that “it’s only crowdsourcing once a company takes that design, fabricates [it] in mass quantity and sell[s] it.” In laymen’s language, a company posts a problem online; a vast number of individuals offer their opinions and ideas as to how to solve it; the winning idea is rewarded in some form; and the end result is the company adopting the idea for its own benefit. Some great examples of the power of crowdsourcing exist on Wikipedia: (the following are all directly quoted from Wikipedia). In 2005, Amazon.com launched the Amazon Mechanical Turk, a platform on which crowdsourcing tasks called “HITs” (Human Intelligence Tasks”) can be created and publicized and people can execute the tasks and be paid for doing so. Dubbed “Artificial Intelligence,” it was named after The Turk, an 18th century chess-playing “machine.” Cisco Systems Inc. held an I-Prize contest in which teams using collaborative technologies created innovative business plans. The winners in 2008 were a three-person team, Anna Gossen from Munich, her husband Niels Gossen, and her brother, Sergey Bessonnitsyn, that created a business plan demonstrating how IP technology could be used to increase energy efficiency. More than 2,500 people from 104 countries entered the competition. The winning team won $250,000. The Democratic National Committee launched FlipperTV in November 2007 and McCainpedia in May 2008 to crowdsource video gathered by Democratic trackers and research compiled by DNC staff in the hands of the public to do with as they choose — whether for a blog post, to create a YouTube video, etc. Facebook has used crowdsourcing since 2008 to create different language versions of its site. The company claims this method offers the advantage of providing site versions that are more compatible with local cultures. General Electric organized a multimillion dollar challenge to find new, breakthrough ideas to create cleaner, more efficient and economically viable grid technologies, and to accelerate the adoption of smart grid technologies. The winner will be announced on Nov. 16, 2020. The Vancouver Police Department has put up a website entitled Hockey Riot 2011, informing people about the VPD′s investigations into the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot. It also asks people to contribute any pictures or video that they may have taken during the riot, with the goal of identifying people who may have participated in the rioting. The site also reminds people to not use social media to take justice into their own hands, instead leaving it to the police. As of July 1, 2011, 101 arrests have been made. IBM collected more than 37,000 ideas for potential areas for innovation from brainstorming sessions with its customers, employees, and their family members in 2006. L’Oreal used viewer-created advertising messages of Current TV to pool new and fresh advertising ideas. Pepsi launched a marketing campaign in early 2007 which allowed consumers to design the look of a Pepsi can. The winners would receive a $10,000 prize, and their artwork would be featured on 500 million Pepsi cans around the United States. Unilever has recently decided to drop its ad agency of 16 years, Lowe, and has turned to the crowdsourcing platform IdeaBounty to find creative ideas for its next TV campaign. Unilever has worked with Lowe on the snack-food brand Peperami since 1993, but has decided to submit its brief out to the public, rather than a small team of creatives. Ironically, Wikipedia is itself a successful example of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing, as a concept, lends itself perfectly to recruiting. Posing the question to your community, “We are looking for a dynamic Product Manager, with x/y/z experience … any ideas/recommendations?” will soon become a normal sourcing/name generating activity for recruiters. The key is how to incentivize/inspire/motivate the crowd to do your recruiting. LinkedIn gets it. It’s already making headway toward this goal, aiding a company’s ability to use employee networks and matching up people who are connected to our employees who closely match our job specifications. But what about the wider crowd? That’s where attention will turn next. Premium Paid Content Recruitment 3.0 recognized that recruitment is fundamentally boring. People tend to only visit corporate careers pages when they are looking for work. There is no engaging “repeat visit” content that drags them back for more. Many companies are using social media as a replacement job board and listing jobs with hyperlinks back to the job site. It’s hardly the most engaging content. Recruitment 3.0 involves building “engaged” communities. The key is compelling, rich content, creating a destination that people want to go to on a frequent basis. That is not a list of jobs. Remember again that recruiting is not about “bums on seats”; it also encompasses nurturing a strong employment brand proposition, attracting and seducing those not familiar with your brand, and taking them on a journey to either apply to work for your company or be an active brand ambassador in your community. As communities build up in 3.0, underpinned by engaging content, and when those communities reach a critical mass, the next step is starting to grant VIP access and exclusive content to community members. If communities are engaged, they will be, by definition, happy to pay to be part of the VIP area, and we will see the monetization of these communities and a potential revenue stream for recruiters. Aggregating all your social media feeds — Twitter, Facebook, YouTube content, and your blog — is the first step. This could and should be aggregated both on your corporate careers site and your mobile phone app (for those who want to be part of the community on the move). A one-stop shop for people to engage and follow your company encourages repeat visitors. This content on the social media sites needs to feel personalized and humanized, giving exclusive access behind the scenes of your company and the individuals behind it. But what else? Understand the public pulse. There is no better place than the Apple Store. This shows what content keeps people coming back and is most popular to download. And guess what that is: News & Information (knowledge and exclusive access news) Games (fun games but also including quizzes) Comics & books (The appeal of an ongoing story that people want to follow) Photography/photos/videos (uploading and sharing) This content often focuses on getting people involved, something to do with your friends, and brings that “global community” together. Each of these is “sticky” and keeps people coming back. Why can’t recruiters use these same concepts as part of their community building but adapt them for their own companies? Recruitment Embraces Concepts of Gamification Gamification is the latest buzzword. What’s funny is that some well-known commentators are rushing to speak about this subject but end up mirroring granddad at the disco trying to throw “cool” shapes to the latest bangin’ tune but instead look rather doddery and completely out of touch. People love to be entertained. Gaming is huge. Not just “serious” video console games like the Call of Duty’s, FIFAs, and Battlefields, or the PC games like World of Warcraft, but the spread of casual gaming whether on Facebook or on mobile shows the power of people of all ages wanting interactive entertainment. Gaming educates us about the dynamics of engagement. (Some would take this further to addiction.) What a great game does is ingrain itself into the conscious and subconscious of the player. You think about it and love the roller coaster of emotions that the game takes you through. You may pull an all-nighter, or get up extra early to get in an hour or so before having to venture off to deal with humdrum reality. Escapism is the new drug of the austere Tens. But what else can we learn? Casual games are the key to the door of mass/mainstream and that elusive community engagement via compelling content that we all seek. Casual games are those that embrace all demographics, are simple, fun, accessible, and from which users get an instant form of gratification. This is different than “serious games” that are deeper experiences and are perhaps less accessible due to the time invested and the barrier of controllers/complexity of purpose. Farmville on Facebook is a classic example of community-building and demonstrates some key buttons in engagement theory (in a social context). Farmvile has been such a success for a number of reasons. First, it recognized the unbridled thrill of “gifting.” When you first visit your farm, you don’t go straight to it but to a page with a list of gifts. Many games ask you to spam mail your buddies to play the game. Farmville cleverly goes further by allowing you to send a gift of an animal or plant/crop to your friends. Of course, when we receive gifts, we also like to give them back, starting the spiral of interaction. Part of this psychology also encourages you to help your friends by reminding them to harvest their fields and to weed their farms. It’s very community-friendly stuff. These gifts also have a perceived value. The whole point of Farmville is to build a busy and profitable farm and maintain it. But to do this, you need to build and grow the farm, which is time-consuming and takes a while to buy plants, crops, and trees, etc. But luckily your saving grace is your friends as they help out by sending all these valuable items for your farm. Hence my farm looks better with more content so I will invite more of my friends to play, give them gifts, and expect/request gifts in return. It’s a clever use of personal psychology and satisfaction of wants. Farmville also gets that the game has to be accessible and simple. There are no extra levels; you just keep on growing the size and scope of your own farm. The only limitation is money. But having lots of friends gets around that. Now the clever part kicks in. The game keeps you coming back. Certain crops you plant require harvesting at certain times. Some crops will die if you don’t come back. Strawberries mean you come back every four hours. That locks in an engagement and repeat visit. “I must log back in at 2 p.m. or my crops will die!” Farmville also cleverly gets the whole concept of one-up-manship and competing to have the bigger farm, the more money, the latest gadgets 00 and that’s where monetization kicks in. Someone can pay to get ahead of their friends, and for many that is a key driver. “I must have the biggest farm and the latest items and be ahead of my mates!” Hence Farmville teaches us there are three things to making social games huge viral successes: getting users to invite their friends (virality); getting users to return frequently (stickiness); and people competing to win/be ahead of their friends (showing off). Interestingly, one of the first to understand these dynamics was the Hotel chain Marriott, which has released a Facebook game designed with the goal of introducing potential employees to life in the hospitality industry.MyMarriottHotel gives players the opportunity to “work” in various hotel roles, including hospitality manager. You can start by working in the hotel kitchens and gain points for excellent customer service and profitability. The game is geared to raising awareness among millennials to job opportunities around the world (cleverly available in five languages). Critically for recruiting, the MyMarriottHotel Facebook game includes at the top of the game a banner shouting “Do It For Real” that hyperlinks to Marriott’s jobs site. Marriott’s goal is to fill 50,000 positions at its hotels around the world, helped by this game raising awareness, (predominantly outside the U.S.). So what is gamification, and how can it be applied to recruiting? Gamification is using game mechanics/methodology to inspire engagement in activities that otherwise would be considered boring or routine. Recruitment certainly sits within that definition. Key concepts of gamification that recruiters can learn from when developing communities and building compelling, repeat visit content, include: The key word when engaging in social media and community-building is remembering the key element, often-forgotten, is social Keeping activities/content simple, fun, and interactive. When people read your blog/social media, is it light, carries pictures, short, informative, stimulating, or even entertaining to read? People want to know what other people are doing, especially their friends. Can people see what their friends have been doing? People love engagement and giving their opinion, be it by rate-this-page, commenting, oropinion polls. These are all interactive elements that engage. As people interact, degrees of personalization and humanization help, such as the uploading of avatars and/or people’s pictures. People prefer engaging with “perceptibly real” other people. Avatars aid that. Are you encouraging sharing content/activities with your community? Are people rewarded or recognized for sharing content? Inspiring members of your community’s “friends” to get involved and get their friends engaged, i.e. virality, sending community growth viral. “Gifting.” Can content be shared amongst friends/can someone get something in return? Keeps em coming back for more. Certain times of the day/week that the community has to be there. Prizes/giveaways ingrain this activity. Some companies do specific content “reveals” at certain times of the week. Live webcasts also encourage set-time attendance. Competition against friends/leader boards. It could be quiz-questions about your company, the most referrals of job seekers, or the most comments made in your blog/social community. Leader boards keep people coming back to chart their progress and see who is on top, and if they are ahead of their friends. “Easter Eggs” — those intentionally hidden features that people can’t find. Especially cool for college sections and can be used to encourage people to find about more about your company and unlock exclusive content. Enabling unique experiences/personalization. Can people create their own unique user account, personalize their landing pages, and personalize their experiences? Progress bars. People are addicted to completion, and progress bars are often used in online shopping as you are guided to place things in the shopping cart and progress to the checkout. Progress bars fit nicely with job application processes of a series of tasks that people will want to complete. “Completism” is a natural human psychological compulsion. User-generated content, and games like LittleBigPlanet have showed us that people love creating their own content and sharing that content with the community. Can your community do the same, involving uploads to your blog/corporate careers site? These concepts can all be applied to corporate career sites, which are purely a repository of information overload and fundamentally dull, and of course tomobile apps. People, bored sitting on the train, plane, and bus, want content to engage them. Some corporate sites already include games and other challenges — almost always in the Careers section — and some companies have added game elements to the recruitment process. Some are asking, “Is this expensive? How can a recruiting department make games? But at minimal cost there is a thriving development community and graduates studying at colleges who would love the opportunity and exposure that creating and publishing a game on a corporate site brings them. Development time on games for mobile is minimal but the key is fun (look at games like Doodle Jump and Flick Football, massively popular but simple to develop). Many recruiters are currently using Empire Avenue as a way of engaging with communities and making new contacts. Some are even using it as a sourcing tool to recruit from. For those who don’t know, Empire Avenue is fundamentally a stock market simulation social network game that encourages users to buy and sell shares of people and websites. Players have their own portfolio in a virtual economy and earn money, called Eaves, by investing in other people. This sees your own net worth rise by encouraging friends and community members to invest in you. What is cool is that when all accounts are linked together, including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, and blogs, your net worth rises based on the content you either create or share. What’s cool about this approach is that it combines simplicity with what we do on the web every day: creating and sharing content. Interestingly, Empire Avenue mimics the other sites as it’s also a social network itself. It’s allows opportunities to connect and debate with others by finding affinity groups (“Communities”) within Empire Avenue. Clever engagement mechanisms at play. Concurrently, Google is also on the move with its Google News Badges. We all read the news, and applying the above theory — let’s call it gamification methodology — Google has created “Google Badges.” Google News users in the U.S. can earn different pins for reading the news, starting with bronze and moving up to Ultimate. There are more than 500 badges available to suit all types of interests, such as “stock market,” “Harry Potter,” and U.S. elections. These “Google Badges” follow closely on the heels of Google launching its own social network, Google+, and is increasingly trying to get people to share content via its network of services in a similar fashion to Facebook. This will sound very similar to users of Foursquare. Foursquare is a location-based social networking website based on mobile phones. Users “check-in” at venues using a mobile website, text messaging, or a device-specific application, and select from a list of venues that the application locates nearby, e.g. restaurant, library, pub, house, etc. Each check-in awards the user points and sometimes “badges.” The first time a badge is unlocked on Foursquare, be it an easy achievement (like the “Superstar” badge for 50 check-ins), or one that comes as a surprise (“Douchebag Badge,” which is unlocked after checking into venues tagged with “douchebag,” or the “Don’t Stop Believing Badge,” awarded for checking in to three venues tagged “karaoke” in a month), the game keeps people engaged with rewards that makes members want to use the system even more and compete with friends. Especially those who live or work in close vicinity of each other as they compete to be the Mayor of a location. Why is gamification so important? Interestingly, to give more credence to this area, Gartner, in research published in April 2011 stated: By 2015, more than 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes. By 2014, a gamified service for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will become as important as Facebook, eBay, or Amazon, and more than 70 percent of Global 2000 organisations will have at least one gamified application. That’s a big statement. 70 percent of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application. Many commentators see that naturally fitting in the corporate careers site. Perhaps gamification will be taken more seriously among current recruitment leaders moving forward. Global Community Rating of Companies People trust each other and members of their community far more than they do advertising or company communications. Paul Gillin, author of The New Influencers, talked about the impact of social media. One of his key points was that 78% of consumers trust each other more than they trust advertising — which is why they read blogs and go to chat rooms. There are many examples to back this up, particularly when we go on vacation. The holiday industry has had to get far more authentic and responsible in its communications. No more fantastic ratings of restaurant food when it is tripe; no more “the beach is in walkable distance” … but only for those who are happy to walk for two hours; and no more “great local entertainment” when it is two people playing spoons. Why is that? Many people now check out Trip Advisor and read how people have voted/rated their vacation/hotel en masse and then read through some of the commentary. Real. Authentic. Trustworthy. No hidden agendas, just shared experiences. Companies value their placing on “best companies to work for” and “great places to work” lists. And these are a mix of internal questionnaires of employees’ experience and then a specialist evaluation of policies and internal structures by a panel of experts. Glassdoor is the closest to a trip advisor for recruitment. Its bias is more U.S.-focused and needs to hit that critical mass to be held in the same esteem. As we head to 4.0, those principles behind Glassdoor will see job seekers trust the crowd, and companies will value that authenticity far more than traditional manufactured best-places-to-work lists. Size Doesn’t Matter Some reading this will rightly raise the question of whether this is all this scalable. Cynics will openly proclaim there will always be a need for local agencies to hire receptionists, builders, joiners, hairdressers, admin assistants, and hosts of other roles. Screams will be heard: Job boards will never die! This was all predicted 10 years back and it never happened! How can a small company generate its own community? Many criticisms/protection of vested interests will emerge in this debate. They’re fair points to discuss. Interestingly, when Hard Rock Café wanted to open a new venue in Florence, perhaps the initial reaction of many recruiters was to advise them to go to local “high street” agencies, or place an ad in the local press, even on a job board. The Hard Rock took a different approach and used Facebook to reach out and recruit. It built a community around the new venue opening. Hard Rock needed to hire 120 staff across eight categories from waiting staff, barmen/women, to accounting. It was inundated with responses and was able to interview 600 candidates for the roles and whittle down to the 120 needed for opening. Whatever the size of a company, all the concepts here are relevant. It may be that a company does not have the time to build its own community but will be able to access other communities and groups, be they local or discipline-specific, such as hairdressers, and crowdsource their vacancies. Technological, access to information, and communities know no boundaries. That’s the difference the past 10 years have made and why jobs boards and agencies have to adapt, or else. Conclusion Recruitment 4.0 is a long way off; yet, many of its concepts are resonating today and being built upon and planned. Some early adopters are even implementing some of the component parts. 4.0 is a natural progression from 3.0. It takes the community concept to the next level. While some will be initially shocked at the radicalism involved at suggestions of recruitment transitioning into a profit center, crowdsourcing talent, and entertaining/gamification, with a period of reflection it makes sense as a natural strap-on to 3.0 communities. Many of the recruitment leaders in place today are not ready for 3.0, let alone 4.0. They have been schooled in traditional recruiting techniques that will soon be outdated and detrimental to their business. Many more are worried about process than end results. Where does your leader stand? Imagine those recruiting leaders who can go to their CEO and demonstrate that they have been able to map out competitors, and identify and build relationships with cream-of-the-crop talent. Leaders who have helped shape and who have put in place engaged communities with positive two-way communication social media channels, thus enhancing employment brand attractiveness, (with a positive spinoff for the consumer/product/service brand), and have hence been able to slash expenditures on recruitment and are now coming up with proposals of how to turn recruitment into a profit center. Compare that to your current recruiting leader. Are they shaping your future in this direction? Who do you think your CEO would prefer as a recruiting leader? The one described above or your current one? There is plenty above to chew on and debate. Agree or disagree, what is certain is that exciting times lie ahead for recruitment. And before someone asks, will we see an article on Recruitment 5.0 anytime soon? Not from Autodesk. We’ve got to focus on delivering 3.0 and 4.0 with the great team at Autodesk. There’s lots to do and achieve. …
- Added by Rajnish Sinha at 4:58am on November 1, 2011
- Topic: Meet Claudia Faust, "Pearls of Wisdom Delivered Not Only on Wednesdays"
- book Profile Email: claudia@improvedexperience.com Phone: 954-692-3553 OR 877-344-4300 Meet my friend Claudia Faust, Independent provider of recruiting services including executive search, professional staffing and passive candidate sourcing. As a recruiter and leader of corporate recruiting organizations for 14 years, Claudia Faust brings her passion for people and analytics to hiring and retention. Over the years she has recruited and managed staffing organizations for globally recognized brands such as T-Mobile USA, Amazon.com, Microsoft, Sprint PCS, and Burger King Corporation; her expertise includes executive search, staffing, recruiter development and training, metrics development and implementation, workforce planning, recruiting technology and vendor selection. Claudia took this opportunity as a featured member in our interview series to do something those who know her are quite accustomed to: she shared of herself for others, and in the most personal, poignant way. When you venture forward, her responses regarding home and history, - be it children, marriage, and career, - she shares the type of deeply personal and introspective flashbacks that good friends do on a warm summer night sharing a few spirits under a full moon. When all is said and done, you leave refreshed and empowered someone cared enough about you to entrust a part of themselves. For anyone who knows Claudia, it is a familiar take away in what it is to befriend her. She is entirely authentic and even more formidable if you recognize her wisdom is not solely pertaining to a certain day in a week. Truth be told, I look forward to conference season each Fall and Spring, it gives me an opportunity to see friends new and old, and in each venture I get a hug from my friend Claudia and that endearing smile that is so sincerely welcoming. Claudia is many things, not least among them a class act and someone who so consistently provides value to her industry. More importantly, Claudia is a friend to something far bigger than you or I - she is a confidante and mentor to the daily visitors of RecruitingBlogs.com, not to mention the spotlight featured guest sharing "Wednesday Wisdom" Improved Experience builds feedback portals to help companies measure and improve the engagement and retention of their best talent. From earliest contact and throughout the employment life cycle, the Better HiresTM suite of products measures and benchmarks critical indicators of workforce engagement, employer brand, and recruiting effectiveness. Improved Experience products are real-time and subscription-based, utilizing patent-pending survey technology. Sales, operations and customer support are provided from Dallas, Miami and Copenhagen Q&A with Claudia Faust Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world, Claudia. CLAUDIA: I currently live in Plantation, Florida, about 10 miles inland from Fort Lauderdale. I say “currently” because my husband and I speak often about other places we’d like to live, and who knows where we’ll be five years from now. My husband is a brilliant, kind, wonderful engineer, and we’ve been married for three years; it took me forever to find my match (you’d think that as a matchmaker I would have been better at choosing a life partner for myself, but that wasn’t the case for me), so he sits firmly at the top of the list of blessings I count every day. I also happen to think he’s the cutest boy in the world, but that’s another story. I didn’t know my husband when I moved to Florida six years ago, and the story of how we met is too good not to tell you. At the time I was actually dating someone else: an Italian Count I had met while on a cruise from Venice to Istanbul; I dated the Count for over a year while thinking long and hard about what I wanted next from my life. In the summer of 2003 I decided to leave T-Mobile and step headlong into his world; we traveled frequently between his homes and businesses in Italy and south Florida for many months before I concluded that this nomadic life was not for me; I missed my kids and my friends, and even my work -- alas, I was living someone else’s fairy tale; it seemed only fair to acknowledge it and move on. It was the middle of January by then, and I had a choice: I could return to Seattle, or stay in Florida for a while. I chose the second option (no brainer), and took a condo on the beach for a much-needed sabbatical. It was a life-changing four months: I ate when I was hungry, slept when I was tired, and even recruited a bit here and there to replenish my savings account. But mostly, I walked the beach for hours every day. Family and friends came to visit, and I began to feel like an improved version of my old self once again. It was at sunset on one of those beach walks that I had a chance meeting with the cousin of one of my neighbors, a dark-eyed Turk with a quiet smile and a European accent wasn’t easy to place (turned out to be Denmark, where he had spent many years on his own journey). We chatted for a moment and then I went for my walk, returning an hour later to discover that he was gone, but a note in a bottle was carefully tucked into my sandals. The rest, as they say, is history; we were married two years later at sunset on that same beach, and my life feels like it has come full circle. Our blended family is split between two continents: in Denmark it includes a son, two daughters, and four amazing grandchildren, and here in the US, two sons and two more amazing grandchildren. Note the underscore on amazing , and yes I do love being a Grammie. Last summer our family expanded again with the adoption of three feral kittens that have since domesticated well and taken over both the house and our hearts. Life suits me just fine these days. SIX DEGREES: Tell us about a day in the life, what is that eclectic past time that makes you tick? Make us believe, Teresa “We Hardly Knew Ye!” CLAUDIA: Travel is perhaps the most visible pleasure for me – it doesn’t matter where I go or how I get there: I can be packed in a heartbeat, and if I forget something they probably sell it there too. There are so many beautiful places to see in the world, and fascinating people from every culture to meet. How can my feet not itch to start the next great adventure? I’m not athletic by any stretch of the imagination, but my interests are eclectic; I like to bike, ski (the jet-, water-, and downhill variety), snorkel, sail, and go for road trips in my Z3 (straight six, open road, let the big dog eat…you know what mean). I’ve also started working on a dive certification this year because the Bimini Road is both in my back yard and on my Bucket List. I love baseball (to watch, not to play); hate pub crawls (although hanging out for a while is lots of fun); love dancing (took belly dancing lessons my first year in Florida); and learned to hate golf the minute someone insisted I had to keep score. Pretty much a classic Gemini. SIX DEGREES: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? CLAUDIA: It feels like a lifetime, but it’s only been 14 years. Even though I’ve run a software company for several years now I still tend to think of myself as a recruiter first. SIX DEGREES: How did you get started in recruiting? CLAUDIA: I took a job at an executive search firm in Seattle back in 1995. The owner wanted to train someone to do candidate development for his clients in the wireless telecom industry; I spent the next two and a half years working beside him on what I like to call my hands-on MBA. I didn’t know much of anything about how big business worked before I met Marc, and I soaked up everything he was willing to teach me. It was an excellent education, and I’m thankful for it to this day. In 1997 my curiosity about the software industry drew me to a consulting firm that placed contractors at Microsoft; it was my introduction to technical product development and the “back office” side of the Internet, and I grilled the developers and architects I placed there to understand how all the parts fit together. This is where I also accepted what a geek I am at heart: my recruiting library contains books like “C for Dummies,” and “From Cloud to Code” that opened for me the world of a well run software organization. There was no shortage of recruiting opportunities in the late 90s in Seattle; I was recruited to Amazon.com next (where at one point my work load exceeded 400 requisitions); rather than obsess over the obvious, I mostly focused on sourcing and headhunting executive talent for new lines of business. This part of my job was pretty funny, by the way. Recruiting as a function was new to Amazon at the time and there wasn’t a lot of respect for the role there yet. So I was instructed to “go find candidates for the executive team to talk to” – but new business lines were so top secret before launch that I wasn’t even allowed to know what they were. So calls to prospects were interesting to say the least (“Hello Fortune 500 Executive, we’re looking for exceptional leaders with full P&L experience to lead business lines that I can’t tell you about or I’ll have to kill you. Interested?”). Lucky for me the Amazon.com brand was powerful even then, and the doors that it opened with candidates were truly amazing. In 1999 I joined yet another great Seattle company, T-Mobile USA, where I had the good fortune of leading Corporate Talent Acquisition for several years. If my time at the executive search firm was an experiential MBA, T-Mobile was my final exam. TMO was in a massive growth mode that year that came to a screeching halt when the Internet bubble burst in the economic recession of early 2000, and then rebuilt with locomotive speed in the years that followed. TMO gave me hands-on experience as a recruiting leader; I worked with an amazing team of recruiters, and had a front row seat to the effects of both good and bad HR and recruiting practices on every functional area of the business. It was, as Charles Dickens penned, “the best of times and the worst of times” as the company grew from fewer than 10 thousand employees to more than 22 thousand in four short years, and simultaneously grappled with stunning turnover rates in many departments. There’s a silver lining to every cloud though, as what I learned there became the catalyst for product development that would follow at Improved Experience. SIX DEGREES: Tell us about your company, “Improved Experience” CLAUDIA: Improved Experience is the company I founded with Alise Cortez in 2006, to provide enterprise feedback solutions for HR and recruiting. Some of my biggest frustrations as a recruiting leader came from the incredible lack of data (and data collection systems, for that matter) that were available to feed the decision making process when allocating recruiting resources, or planning outreach initiatives. It occurred to me that if I could somehow capture feedback from all of the stakeholders in the hiring process – candidates, new hires, hiring managers, recruiters, even my boss sometimes – and present it in a simple and compelling way, I could put critical business intelligence into the hands of recruiting and HR leaders to measure and improve business performance. So we built an online “feedback portal” technology – a diagnostic platform that measures and manages perception in the hiring process, after onboarding, and throughout the first year of employment. It took two years to finish the engine and the interactive survey technology that feeds it. Since then, we’ve released two products: Get Better Hires, a tool that explores candidate and new hire feedback and engagement; and Make Better Hires, a tool that explores feedback from the internal business customer about Quality of Hire, recruiting services and support, and talent market conditions. SIX DEGREES: What single event had the most impact on your career? CLAUDIA: I don’t think that for me it was a single event; rather, it was the opportunity to see recruiting from so many different perspectives: executive search, contract agency, corporate recruiting and corporate leadership. Each has its own unique drivers for success, and that understanding has powerfully impacted my view of recruiting as well as the business solutions my company offers today. SIX DEGREES: Do you have a mentor? CLAUDIA: I’ve been fortunate to work for some great companies along the way, and some very smart people. Janice Dilworth hired me at T-Mobile, and I still consider her a mentor; I wasn’t sure if it would work so well at the beginning, because she was a veteran HR administrator and I had a lot of assumptions about HR that came from years of working in a third-party environment (the old “us versus them” mindset). Janice trusted my expertise when it came to setting a bar of excellence for the team, and I came to deeply to trust her abilities to set broader strategy and protect us from the politics inherent in really big, rapidly growing companies. I learned not only from her knowledge, but by her example. SIX DEGREES: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry? CLAUDIA: I truly believe that if something can be measured, it can be improved. My work at Improved Experience is about leveraging perception to improve business performance. By creating a mechanism that collects and reports this data in a transparent and compelling way, we can deepen communication between all of the stakeholders: the internal business customers who drive the hire, the recruiters who make it happen, and the talented candidates and employees they want so dearly want to attract and retain. And if that helps to solve the problem of the dreaded black hole in recruiting, while building stronger businesses, I think we’ll have accomplished something amazing. SIX DEGREES: What inspires you as you continue in your career? CLAUDIA: I’m inspired by people who don’t give up, ever. Churchill once said, quite simply, “Never, never, never quit,” and I think that that is perfectly said. I’m inspired by the part of the human spirit that rises in adversity, that stands its ground, that finds courage, that clings to hope. My youngest son spent ten years in the hell of drug addiction; watching in horror, I was there with him. My first year as a recruiter was his first failed attempt at recovery; he was 14 years old at the time. He tried again to get clean when he was 18, and failed again. At 22 he tried a third time; 60 pounds under weight for his six foot frame by then, we all knew that he didn’t have many chances left. He finally did it, and remains clean and sober 4 years later. People who don’t give up are rock stars to me. SIX DEGREES: What is your next career goal? How do you expect to get there? CLAUDIA: You know, I still can’t believe I’m doing what’s on my plate today. In the past three years I’ve taken all I know of recruiting and built a couple of software products, filed a patent, and worked with developers all over the world to get it done. I still have two more products that need to be built to complete this suite of enterprise feedback tools. Who knows what will happen after that? All I can say is that I’m pretty darned sure I won’t be bored. Recommendations For Claudia “You have an amazing concept that will revolutionize the industry. Treating applicants with respect will allow a company to attract the best candidates, and maintain a large labor pool!” February 27, 2006 Kathy Gillen “Claudia is a very talented professional with the ability to make candidates feel relaxed during all phases. She follows up with candidates and lets him know the status in an inspiring manner whether the results are positive or not. Claudia is difinitely a champion among executive search professionals.” July 19, 2005 Jonathan Jordan, client “As an executive recruiter, Claudia shines! She possesses all of the technical skills and knowledge of a superb recruiter, as well as the innate ability to align with clients and candidates. Her even cadence and unfaltering delivery have earned the trust of top executives world-wide. Claudia reels-in candidates that had no intention of "leaving home". With Claudia you truly get what you pay for.” June 23, 2005 Christy Miller, Senior Manager of Talent Acquisition, T-Mobile USA “Claudia is the very definition of what recruiters can and should be. In a world where so much focus is placed on process, Claudia is always looking for the desired outcome and managing to it with her stakeholders. A true a thought leader in her field, and among the most genuine people I know. I would highly recommend as a trusted advisor.” May 21, 2008 Michael Gaul, Director of Compliance & Fulfillment, American Background “Claudia was a great leader for myself and the entire recruiting team at T-Mobile. Her leadership and support never faulted and her consultative skills are beyond reproach.” August 6, 2007 Nathalie Becker, Manager, Talent Acquisition, T-Mobile USA “Claudia Faust was more than my manager, she is my mentor. She is a strong leader and extremely relationship oriented. She truly understands the recruiting industry and how talent is a competitive difference for companies. She is strategic in her approach to bring people and opportunites together. I recommend her highly to do retained search work or consult on best practices. Judy Wright” June 21, 2005 Judy Wright, Employment Brand Manager, T-Mobile “Claudia implicitly understands both the art and science of ALL aspects of recruitment. She is an incredible coach and mentor and very generous with her time and knowledge. I can’t recommend enough to partner with Claudia for any recruitment related needs. You are guaranteed a positive experience and solid results!” June 21, 2005 Annie Rihn, Sr. Recruiter, Zillow “Claudia has shown time and again her ability to find not only the right skillset but also the necessary personal qualities for senior level positions. Her attentiveness to the process makes candidates feel honored to have been considered no matter what the outcome.” June 14, 2005 Sharon Fitzpatrick, SPHR (LION), Senior HR Manager, T-Mobile “I worked with Claudia at T-Mobile. She is an exceptional recruiter and evaluator of executive talent. In addition to her great senior recruiting work she put together very good processes to improve the evaluation process and make the interview experience better for candidates. Claudia is very knowledgeable, and just as importantly, is a great person to work with. I recommend her highly.” June 10, 2005 Randall Birkwood, Director of Talent Acquistion, T-Mobile “I am pleased to endorse Claudia on two counts. First, as my manager, she was easily the most professional, supportive, instructive, competent manager I have had in my 20+ years in the workforce. As a recruiting professional, she has the best command of executive recruiting I have ever encountered and is a true class act.” June 8, 2005 Alise Cortez, Technical Recruiter, T-Mobile…
- Added by Dave Mendoza at 4:40am on March 9, 2009
- Topic: Meet Larry Gonzales, 20 Year Veteran "Blessed To Give Blessings"
- te Photography, Cooking, Good Wine, Reading Interests: College Football, Art (Impressionist, Old Masters, Roden's sculptures), World History Favorite Music: Everything from The Beatles to Hendrix to Opera to Lady Gaga Favorite TV Shows: CSI Miami, Csi Vegas, Leverage, Love Saving Grace!, Burn Notice, Damages, Discovery Channel, ESPN, Favorite Movies: Casablanca, All About Eve, Citizen Kane, Trading Places, Errol Flynn Movies, James Bond, The Princess Bride, Jason Bourne, Tombstone, Armageddon, Army Of Darkness Favorite Books: James Patterson, John Sanford, Of Mice And Men, Osterman Weekend, Dostyesky, Dante's Inferno, The Prince, The Art Of War Favorite Quotations: The Proverbs of Solomon: "The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all, is the person who argues with him", "Youth is wasted on the young", "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" • Office/Cell Number 408-838-0637 • Personal Email Larry Gonzales is actually a colleague I worked with when I consulted at Palm. Unfortunately, as a virtual sourcer I never had the honor of meeting Larry face-to-face, but his reputation then as it remains now was well established as a 20+ year veteran of the staffing industry. I was well informed of Larry's formidable resume - a man of all seasons: experienced in the design, implementation and administration of recruiting strategies, staffing planning, and process improvement programs. Larry has managed a recruiting departments, including budgeting, metrics reporting, and recruiting technology. He has a broad working knowledge of HR practices including compensation, performance management, diversity, branding, and employee retention. Larry is proficient in federal and state employment practice regulations, applying and interpreting employee-relations policies, Affirmative Action, Diversity Hiring, EEO-1, VISA Processing and employment law. His Specialties include the following: Mobile Device Engineers, Human Factor Design, Media Designers, Mobile TV, PC-TV, Embedded Software Engineers, Home Entertainment Solutions, RF Engineers, CDMA handset, Risk Management, Sarbanes Oxley Compliance, SAS70, Specialized areas of finance (AML, FAS109/123R, SOP97-2, and SEC Reporting), Sales/Business Development, and Product Marketing. Q&A with Larry Gonzales Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Larry: I am fortunate to be married to a beautiful and wonderful “Texas Girl”. My wife and I were born and raised in Texas and regardless of how long we live in California, we will always be Texans! Our fourteenth wedding anniversary is coming up next week and I thank God for blessing me with such a great partner in life. I have been involved in charitable fundraising since I was in Middle School. Although the charities and my levels of participation have varied over the years, I feel it is important to give back. My minister always reminds us that “We are blessed, so that we can be a blessing”. I am a cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with cancer in January 2003 and through the efforts of prayer, positive attitude, and the fantastic physicians at Stanford Medical, I have been cancer free since May of that same year. After my full recovery from chemo and radiation, I focused on supporting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through TNT. I decided to train and participate through Century Bike Rides. I hope to become a mentor next season and help train (mentally and physically) new participants to the program. I am an avid reader of fiction/mystery along with many business periodicals. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Larry: I have been in the staffing industry for over 20 years dating back to index cards, real cold calls, and ruses. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Larry: Like many of us, I never expected to go in to the recruiting. I had been working for AT&T, designing and selling telecom systems for the transportation industry. I primarily handled air transportation to include airports, airlines, and airline sales offices. I was referred to a “headhunter” that was looking for someone with my background. When the opportunity did not materialize, my recruiter asked me if I would be interested working for her company. I told her that I would rather be a “pimp, than a headhunter”. Famous last words! Needless to say, the reputation garnered by headhunters in those days was less than respectable. She nurtured the relationship and had me meet with the owner of the firm, which was based out of Atlanta. I also meet with all (12) of her colleagues in the Dallas Office. I found myself drawn to the group and to the challenge the job represented. About 90 days later I ended up working for her firm. Since then my experience has included agency, professional services, corporate, and RPO environments. I have held individual contributor, director, and managing partner roles. Regardless of title and responsibilities, I have always been a hands-on contributor. I am a person that gets easily bored, so the ever changing world of technology has been my salvation. To be successful you have to stay abreast of technology trends, understand the industry and known how it applies to business. This requires research and a certain amount of trial and error. Typically, experience helps you shorten your ramp up time to production. You have to continually learn to excel. One of the keys to my longevity is that I always try to specialize. I choose the hottest or up and coming technology and become a subject matter expert. Through the years, I have supported specific software and hardware technology. I get involved in SIGs, Alliance Groups, and conferences. I do not want or expect to be everything to everybody. A “Jack of all trades is a master of none”. However, my experience allows me to talk intelligently across many disciplines. I am equally adept at discussing the hardware design of mobile devices to financial audit and SOX compliance. Right now the mobile device industry is still very strong and within the Silicon Valley area you have a large mix of industry leaders and start-ups. Even with the high unemployment, almost all of my candidates have multiple offers. Find your niche and work it. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Larry: Moving to San Jose in January of 2000 and suffering through the highs and lows of the dotcom era probably affected my life the most. I relocated from Texas and had never really gone through a downturn in business. The economy in Dallas was very diverse and not dominated by any one industry. Even the oil and gas industry represented only about 10% of the total employment population. So when one industry stalled, you had others as backup. 2002 was a rough year. You saw many recruiters leaving the industry (for the mortgage broker industry!) and we see what inevitably happened to them. You also had a large group of recruiters that held on to the belief that they were actually worth the outrageous rates they were being paid before the bust. They would not even think about going to work for less than they were previously making. I find that arrogance is a very ugly trait. I think that it is a combination of at least 3 of the 7 Deadly Sins (Greed, Vanity, and Pride). I think most of us in the recruiting business learned or reinforced our idea of the value of humility. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Larry: I often recall the story about the headhunter that got me in to this business? Her name is Dee Jabaut and she exemplifies all that is good in our industry and in life. She is a valued and loyal friend and everything that I would hope to be in life. She is a consummate professional, wonderful parent, always gracious, diligent, charitable, and patient. Six Degrees: Tell us about your position, (responsibilities, size of your staffing organization) : Larry: I have spent the last three years primarily in an individual contributor role. My responsibilities have included project management, client manager relationship, sourcing, recruiting, and new business development. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Larry: Without firsthand experience, it would be hard to designate who has the best recruiting practices. If you look at the top 25 in Fortune’s Best Companies to “work for list”, I had heard horror stories about some of their staffing organizations. Regardless of the success of the company, I think that the overall candidate experience is vital to managing employee branding. Whether or not the candidate is hired, what they tell their circle of influence is ultimately important to the future of their recruiting. I think that this is even more magnified with the advent of applications such as Twitter and Facebook. I think that it would be a healthy, although not practical exercise, to make corporate recruiters interview externally at least twice a year. This would remind them how it feels to be on the other side of the equation. I also feel that the true measurement of recruiting comes 90-180 days after the hire. Measuring employee and manager satisfaction, employee performance, and attrition are key metrics. There are definitely some companies that stand above the rest, companies where employee and customer loyalty rank high. I admire companies like Southwest Airlines, Whole Foods, Frito Lay, Qualcomm, Ernst & Young, and Boston Consulting. (B) In what aspects are they superior? Larry: Branding, internal and external. Treatment of employees, quality products, and customer satisfaction. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Larry: More tech firms innovate in Silicon Valley but sell overseas! Companies that focus on mass market (China, India, Africa, and South America) are finding greater success. “In down economic times, every company should be thinking: Do I have my balance right? Instead of spending so much money on marketing in some of these depressed markets, some of that should be diverted to parts of the world that are not as negatively impacted.” These markets have typically been ignored. Successful examples are companies like Telegent Systems, Ruckus Wireless, UTStarcom, and Legend Silicon. Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry: Larry: Outside of local SIGs and affiliations with IEEE (The Consumer Electronics Society and The Antenna and Propagation Society), I have been regretfully reticent. I have been focused on international recruiting to include EMEA, Africa, India, APAC, and South America. I do plan on attending the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next year. Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche? Larry: I am fortunate that my current client has not been greatly affected by the global economic downturn. We have been actively hiring for the last 14 months and have aggressive hiring goals throughout 2010. 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. Larry: Over the last three years I have intentionally built out my Linkedin network by industry segment, targeted companies, and international exposure. That foresight has allowed me to actively search for my current needs. It is an evolutionary process or one might say intelligent design! It is better to be in a revolutionary rather than reactionary mode. 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? Larry: Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Most people are willing to help you achieve your goal if you ask politely. Aristotle stated that “man is a political animal, meaning an animal with an innate propensity to develop complex communities”. By nature we want to help people, preferably if that help doesn’t require a great exertion of time and energy. Using Linkedin as an example, if you use the route of requesting an introduction in order to present an opportunity, most people will forward that introduction when approached professionally. Granted, the degree of assistance increases with the proximity to the person we are helping. Of course for expediency, you should simply try calling your intended candidate. People are also more willing to help if you are offering value to their cooperation. Whether that is an offer to help a friend, an offer to help them in the future, a monetary offer, or sometimes a simple thank you. Remember not to be demanding or too persistent. I prefer the term, gently persistent while trying to achieve a goal. Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Larry: Ideally I would like to secure an opportunity as a staffing director/manager. The best position I have ever had was managing and mentoring a staffing organization. I like being responsible for the overall talent acquisition process. There is a great deal of satisfaction growing your own company. That is the one element missing from project based staffing. I need to find a start-up or small company willing to give me the opportunity to run their staffing organization. Either that or a regional staffing management position for a large international corporation. Recommendations For Larry “Larry is an excellent and very professional recruiter. He is very dedicated, hard working, committed, and driven to results. I’ve had the chance to work with him at Palm as a technical recruiter for my system electrical engineering design team. He was very thorough in his search for potential candidates and has successfully provided quality candidates. He is excellent in identifying good candidates and recognizing their talents and the fit in my team. He is very proactive and follows up with the candidate regarding interview schedule, information about the position, feedback, and negotiating offers. He also is very good in communicating with me regarding progress and updates. He is definitely a pleasure to work with and an asset to a company!” November 11, 2008 Bernadette Lozano, Hardware Development Manager, Palm “I worked with Larry in two different ways. First of all, he was instrumental in getting me hired to my current position at Palm. Larry was in Palm's HR/staffing department but it almost seemed like he was my own recruiter. He always kept his promises, followed up on time, and worked hard to meet or exceed my requests. Even after I accepted the offer, Larry followed up with me and wanted to know if there was anything he could do. This has definitely been my best recruiting experience so far. Secondly, Larry also helped me find candidates for an open position at Palm. I have been very pleased in his abilities to provide me with candidates that matched the job description.” August 25, 2008 Thorsten W. Hertel, Sr. Antenna Design Engineer, Palm “I am appreciative to Larry's consistent and thorough search for candidates during this critical time for our project to find qualified candidates. Larry did an excellent job following up with the candidates to arrange for interviews, giving feedback and negotiating offers. Worked closely with us and he is proactive in returning e-mails and phone calls.” July 13, 2007. Top qualities: Expert, On Time, High Integrity Sameer Haddad, Sr Staffing Consultant, Spansion “I had the opportunity of working with Larry at Spansion, a leading supplier in flash memory. Larry is a seasoned recruiting professional who brought leadership and stability to Spansion’s recruiting team. As a senior technical recruiter Larry’s focus was in the device space, which is a very difficult area to recruit for in the semiconductor industry. Larry established solid relationships with hiring managers, was a valued business partner and was able to consistently met expectations. Larry was definitely a team player and a pleasure to work with.” October 30, 2007 Wayne Widdig, HR Manager, Spansion “Larry supported our Connected home and mobile device business at Motorola. In a short period of time, Larry was instrumental in making several critical hires on a high profile project. I found Larry to be a strong E2E staffing professional. Moreover, the clients (hiring managers) found him to be a valuable asset, identifying highly qualified candidates for hire.” October 23, 2007. Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, On Time Nick Mailey, Staffing Manager, Motorola “Motorola hired Larry through his company i-Hire to do some recruiting for us in the N. CA and S. CA areas. I found Larry to be very professional, have good technical knowledge and deliver great customer service in a timely manner. I would work with Larry anytime.” July 22, 2007. Top qualities: Personable, Expert, High Integrity Lynda Harris “Larry is excellent to work with and is results oriented. He is very responsive and professional and knows his business.” July 13, 2007. Top qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative Leo Barnes, Staffing/Business Development Manager. RemX IT “Larry and I worked together to staff one of my projects. I found him to be a joy to work with under demanding deadlines in a high pressure environment.” December 28, 2006. Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity Scott Wright - hired Larry more than once “Larry is a professional in the true sense of the word. He has an uncanny ability to communicate and understand conceputal issues at all levels. Larry gives 110% to ensure the project you are assigned is satisfactory. It has been a pleasure working with Larry and I will be glad to do so in the future.” August 2, 2006 Manoj Goyal, Independent Consultant, Squar Milner Reehl Williamson, LLP “I relied on Larry to staff two critical roles in my company's Marketing organization. Through Larry's diligent search capabilities, his attention to my specific criteria, and his follow-up throughout the negotiation process, I recruited two "anchor" members of our current team. They significantly deepened my team's bench, and both exhibit the capability to advance to higher leadership roles.” January 9, 2006 Kristin Jordahl Hansen “I have had the pleasure of working with Larry over the past year. He is not only well polished but also has a high level of integrity. Larry has proven to be a very effective recruiter and account manager and thus is within the top 2% of producers at our company.” April 13, 2005 Chris Stewart, Account Manager, RemX IT Staffing “I was first introduced to Larry when his company brought a recruiting plan to my organization to help us source hard-to-find technical jobs and fill positions that had been vacated due to the dot-com frenzy. Larry led the effort as project manager and offered workable solutions that allowed us to surpass our hiring goals. Larry gets results because he is a professional recruiter who knows technology and offers exceptional customer service.” October 2, 2007. Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Good Value Brenda K. Brown, MS “As a manager and leader, Larry is someone who is committed to developing your skills and knowledge. He's the type of leader that likes and wants to help you out as much as he can. He's a great listener and is very empathic. I know that he has grown a lot of valuable relationships because of these characteristics. As a Sr. Level recruiter, Larry is the best I know. He's a great networker, aggressive, and is very creative in finding the right candidates.” October 1, 2007 Racquel Cariaso, CIR, Recruiter, eJobs “Larry is always focused on the task, ready to do whatever it takes to get the job done. He's an exceptional leader, as well as a committed team player.” June 22, 2007 Garry King, several, Ejobs…
- Added by Dave Mendoza at 11:31pm on August 9, 2009
- Blog Post: Staffing agencies: do they have a future?
I used to work for a staffing agency. A good one at that. One that tried hard to recruit good consultants, who, on the whole, tried hard to do a good job finding the right people for their…
- Added by Nick Leigh-Morgan at 7:21pm on May 30, 2012
- Topic: Meet Julia Margherita-McInerny, Adobe Alum - Enjoying The Hunt As A Fearless Sourcer & Her Starbucks
- infrey Show Fan of the following: Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger and Starbucks Coffee Company Admire of : Shally Steckerl and JobMachine Cheatsheets Quote: " .. You can find us walking the dogs downtown Willow Glen stopping at Starbucks to refuel" Community Volunteering: Human Society, ASPCA, PugPros, Local Hospital, Reading for elementary school students through a Junior Achievement program" • Email Julia: juliamargherita@sbcglobal.net • Phone 408-504-4061 ** Currently Seeking New Opportunities** Q & A with Julia Margherita-McInerny Julia Margherita-McInerny is a Corporate Sourcer based in San Jose, California. Her staffing areas of expertise are in Advanced Internet Research identifying passive candidates, full-cycle recruitment, cold calling, and networking. She has worked at prominent Silicon Valley companies such as Intuit, The Gap, and most recently, as a Talent Scout at Adobe where she worked for the last three years until this past February. Julia has experience targeting varied job req disciplines, i.e., Marketing, Product Management, Human Resources, Legal, Corporate Communications, Internal Communications, Real Estate, Corporate Architecture & Construction, Visual Merchandising, E-commerce, User Experience Designers, Visual Designers, Technical, Engineering, Finance, Internal Consulting, and Customer Support. Life is an adventure, and Julia has a team effort supporting her latest chapter. Aside from her recent job search efforts, Julia has experienced the more satisfying life transitions that come with a recent marriage this past October with her husband Tim McInerny and building a nest with their two dogs, Carson the Mastiff and Lola the Pug. Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Julia: My husband Tim and I were married this past October. We had a beautiful wedding in Los Gatos, CA with 150 of our closet family and friends. We are settling into married life quite nicely along with our two dogs Carson the Mastiff and Lola the Pug. We are working on adding to our family! Since we both waited to marry a little later in life, we feel very lucky to have found each other. I’ve always said that finding your soul mate is like searching and finding the perfect candidate -- sometimes you have to search high and low and wait for the right one! We enjoy eating out and trying new restaurants. We also love entertaining and having friends and family over. On the weekends, you can find us walking the dogs downtown Willow Glen stopping at Starbucks to refuel or going to the dog park. Anyone who knows me knows I am an extreme animal lover. If I could adopt all of the stray and rescued dogs and cats out there, I would! I am a strong supporter of the Human Society, ASPCA and try to help PugPros, a local pug rescue group when I can. When I was growing up, I really wanted to become a veterinarian but I think it would be too hard for me to see animals hurt and in pain day in and day out. I can’t even make it through commercials about abused animals without shedding a few tears and forget any movies where the family pet passes away in the end!!! I also enjoy reading in my spare time. I’m always game for anything Oprah recommends! I also never get tired of a few of the classics including "Catcher In the Rye", "The Great Gatsby", "To Kill A Mockingbird", etc. For kicks, a good laugh and to keep in touch with the girly side of me, I’ve also ready the "Confessions of a Shopaholic" series! I have done some volunteer work in the past at a local hospital as well as reading for elementary school students through the Junior Achievement program. I’ve always found volunteering very rewarding and hope to donate more of my time soon. I try to stay active and make it to the gym a few times a week. I’ve dabbled in yoga and core training classes. I also love playing tennis and have played golf a few times but get frustrated easily! Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Julia: I started recruiting in an agency in San Francisco in 1997. I placed paralegals and case clerks in some of the top law firms in SF. Prior to settling in staffing, I was a paralegal right out of college and worked for a large SF law firm mostly working on environmental and insurance defense cases. After 7 years working for lawyers, I decided it was not the right career for me -- I wanted to interact with people not documents day in and day out! I had always had an interest in human resources and recruiting so I decided to make a go of it. It was an easy and welcomed transition for me and I never looked back! After working for the agency for a few years, I desired corporate experience and really wanted to work for an internal staffing organization so I landed at Gap Inc. as a Sourcer and stayed for 5 years. I had the pleasure of working on all of the fun, creative jobs in the company including Advertising and Visual Merchandising. My hiring managers were the brains and talent behind all the Gap commercials and photo shoots -- I thought I was the “coolest” sourcer in town!! At that point in my career, I wanted to get exposure to the high tech and software industry and landed a contract gig at Intuit where I was hired to support Marketing and Product Management. Intuit was a wonderful experience and the free tax software was an extra bonus!! I joined Adobe Systems in 2006 as a Talent Scout and was brought on to source for the G&A functions including Marketing, Finance, Legal and Human Resources. I was also fortunate to get exposure to many other business functions within the company including User Experience Design, Professional Consulting, Customer Care and Inside Sales. I challenged myself every day with hunting for User Experience Designers/Architects and Computer Scientists!! Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Julia: It’s hard for me to narrow it down to just one event that has most impacted my sourcing career. Every company I’ve worked for has been unique from the other. Working for Gap in 1999 was really exciting -- we had prospective candidates beating down our doors wanting to work for the hip khaki retailer! Then the dotcom boom burst on the scene and we were fighting to save recent hires from going to start ups! It’s been such an experience watching the cycles of the economy and how it’s affected sourcing over the last 10 years. By the time I joined Adobe, I realized just how much I had learned about sourcing and what it takes to truly find and attract the ultimate passive candidate. One project that does come to mind was at Adobe and I was asked to become part of a team of recruiters and sourcers to staff a customer care center located in Canada. We were given the task of sourcing and filling over 100 positions within a very short period of time. The open positions were very technical and skill specific. The screening process for each candidate was very lengthy and detail-oriented. Sourcing for 100+ positions in a small market with a limited talent pool proved to be very challenging. I was not really familiar with the market in Canada let alone the complexity of the regions but I had to learn very quickly! Along with sourcing the candidates, I was also managing full cycle recruiting on this project. Through excellent team work and exceptional hiring managers, we were able to meet our goal and complete the project. This was very rewarding and will always have an impact on my career. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Julia: I have been fortunate to have had many different mentors to whom I have looked up to throughout my career. I have had some wonderful managers who have been truly devoted to guiding and developing my skills as a Sourcer. I would have to give kudos to one of my managers at Gap when I started as a Sourcer who told me “you have to be fearless”. I remember being scared to death to make my first cold call! But I jumped in feet first and guess what happened!? The person on the other end of the phone was rude and hung up on me! I didn’t let that stop me - the more calls I made, the easier it became! I haven’t tried to model my career after anyone specific. I’ve really tried to make it my own and play upon my strengths. I have learned and gained best practices from all of the wonderful and talented Sourcers I have worked with throughout my career. I do, however, admire industry leaders such as Shally Steckerl and Dave Mendoza. Six Degrees: Tell us about your most recent gig as a talent consultant at Adobe, Julia. Julia: During my time at Adobe, there were three Talent Scouts (Sourcers) including myself, each supporting multiple recruiters. I had the opportunity to learn about many functional areas of the company but the most recent group I supported was the Technical Recruiters. This team of recruiters supported the business functions including Creative Solutions, Knowledge Worker, Advanced Technology Lab, Platform and Adobe’s User Experience Design organization. My main job was to source and build pipelines of candidates -- both active and passive. To find the “best of the best” and find out where they live, both physically and virtually! I conducted a lot of research of professional organizations, conferences and dove deep into social networking sites. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Julia: Definitely Microsoft for its complexity and best practices through word of mouth. They are always such a fun company to watch and have no trouble attracting prospective candidates. It’s exciting to see how their brand evolves and how they change their recruitment marketing. I try to educate myself and follow the trends by reading different recruiting blogs and news stories. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Julia: I think all the general hype around social networking sites are and will have an impact on the role of a Sourcer now and in the future. Most or all of the Sourcers I know spend at least 90% of their time networking and searching sites such as Linked In and Facebook. I really feel they will eventually take over completely. Perhaps even take the place of job boards -- at least for a means of sourcing candidates. Six Degrees: Have you been involved in broader industry events as of yet? Julia: No speaking events or awards to mention -- yet!! Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Julia: I really feel I am in a good place right now. I am content in the role of a Sourcer. I enjoy the “hunt” and like the research aspect of the job. It is a thrill to source and develop a candidate that results in a hire. I am looking to be a part of a cutting-edge recruiting organization that isn’t afraid to push the limits. I thrive in a team environment where I can learn from my colleagues and feel my ideas are being heard and contributed. As long as I’m feeling good about what I am doing on a daily basis and my work is rewarding, that is all that matters to me. “HOW DOES THEY DOES JULIA DO IT?” Six Degrees: How many applicants at your present employer do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals? Julia: In my experience, the companies I have worked for have focused on continually increasing the number of hires through employee referrals. In general, the number of hires from referrals fluctuates between 30-40%. It seems companies are constantly trying to improve their employee referral programs to make the rewards more enticing for employees to refer great people but truth is, in this economy, it is more challenging. In general, I think about 10% of hires come from a corporation’s website or posting. A strong number of my hires have come from Linked In. I think in this economy, people are more open to networking and referring colleagues/friends for open jobs. In these tough times, people are more apt to help one another. Six Degrees: What is the source of the "Most Hires" collected from at your present employer? (In terms of Quantity #) Julia: In my experience, it really depends on the positions you are recruiting for. If I’m looking for a Computer Scientist or a specific type of Engineer, most of these hires seem to come from recruitment research done either internally or externally. Typically, these guys won’t have their resumes posted on job boards so a passive pipeline must be identified. There are some positions that are filled by job board resumes however, the types of positions I have worked on, require much more digging! Six Degrees: What is the source of your "LOWEST COST OF HIRES" - (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality) at your present employer? Julia: In my experience, a low cost hire is someone who has applied or submitted their resume in response to a posting or a resume posted on a job board. Also, prospective candidates who are already in our resume database are a good source. There could be someone who applied for one job but may be right for another. I usually go after the “low hanging fruit” first and I’m not implying they may be less qualified in any way -- the right candidate could be there right under your nose!! Another way to keep the cost of hires low is to leverage your own network. Reach out to current and former colleagues to see who they may know. Linked In has a great feature where you can send out job descriptions to your network to help with your sourcing efforts. No matter where I go or who I meet, I try to network -- you never know who you could meet! Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review? Julia: I have had the opportunity to research and target numerous niche groups for the areas I have supported. Most of the positions I work on require digging and finding conference attendee lists, white papers and other publications, user groups, etc. For example, I have worked on a lot of User Experience Designer positions and this talent pool does not post their resumes on general job boards. The good talent is usually already working and in high demand AND receiving lots of calls from recruiters! There are a handful of niche designer websites/job boards I have to target to get their attention and potentially look at their portfolio. Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of? Julia: In the past I have taken a few of Shally Steckerl’s seminars as well as attended AIRS training classes. I still use JobMachine’s cheat sheets! I recently participated in one of Craig Silverman’s webinars. I also subscribe to the recruiting/sourcing blogs and keep abreast of the news that way. I really like reading the daily blogs for tips from other sourcers or recruiters. Six Degrees: What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit? Julia: Google and Yahoo search engines for Boolean searches of course! I have also been exposed to Virtual Edge, Filefinder and other ATS. Most of the jobs I have worked on have been based in the U.S. or Canada but it is important that any tool we utilize can be used globally as well. Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career? Julia: When I worked for the agency, we were still using hard copies of job orders and Excel spreadsheets to track candidates! I also used something similar to ResumeMix. Six Degrees: How did your expectations of being a recruiter compare to the actual, first time you got on the phone or in the cubicle? In your opinion, how do people's assumptions about our vocation differ from reality? Julia: When I worked for the agency, it was easy because all the candidates I called or interviewed came to us to register so there was no fear of the “unknown response!” I remember the day I made my first cold call -- sweaty palms and all! Of course the person on the other end of the call was rude and eventually told me never to call them at work again! What a way to start! But I kept going and it got easier as time went by. It’s easy to sell the company you are working for but it’s another story when you don’t know ANYTHING about what the person does that you are targeting!! I find it easier to let them talk about what they do. It helps me really learn the technology. Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t…and how that was a learning experience? Julia: Well, everyone makes mistakes now and then! I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to gather all of the pertinent information from the candidate the hiring manager is looking for -- leave no stone unturned. You really need to know their compensation expectations, relocation requirements (if needed), visa needs and any other expectations in the beginning of the process to avoid any obstacles down the road. Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry, and/or at your place of work? If you started that process, outline the problem, your solutions, and the vision. Julia: I don’t know that I can change our industry but I can certainly work on changing and improving on my skills. If I can contribute creative ideas to an organization, I will feel good about what I am doing every day. I have good days and bad days -- there are some days when I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels with no results but that is what happens in the staffing world! Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general? Julia: There are some days when I feel I haven’t accomplished much…..no matter how much research or digging I do, I still haven’t produced a viable candidate! I will complain and be frustrated one day and the next I will find three great candidates -- it’s very cyclical. Six Degrees: What are the most common themes of strategic and/or tactical mishaps involving past or present HR/Staffing org? Julia: I think staffing organizations sometimes get a bad rap. There are some individuals out there that think recruiters are paper pushers who sit back and wait for resumes to come in and offer no value to an organization. When in fact the reality is, there is a lot of strategic work that goes on behind the scenes. There is a perception out there that most staffing organizations out there are more reactive than proactive. This is simply not the case. Six Degrees: Considering all of the frustrations you have experienced in your career as a recruiter, -- what inspires you as you continue in your career? I try to remember all of the hires and successes I’ve had. It is so satisfying identifying and developing a candidate who gets hired and eventually comes on board and is so ultimately happy where they are. Also, working with a supportive team keeps me going. If my colleagues are happy and are having fun with what they are doing, it is very refreshing! Six Degrees: What one thing do you ideally hope to accomplish in 2009? Julia: I really want to double or even triple my current networks! Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug? Julia: I am currently looking for my next sourcing opportunity - please contact me if you are interested in reviewing my resume!…
- Added by Dave Mendoza at 11:31pm on April 5, 2009
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