If You Achieve HROE Will You Be a HERO?

In a recent study that was part survey, part focus group, IBM researchers surveyed 707 HR leaders of companies of all sizes around the world; 600 of them were interviewed face-to-face. According to IBM’s senior VP for HR, J. Randall MacDonald, “HR leaders expect their businesses to remain focused on two equally important goals during the next three years — the need to drive growth yet, at the same time, maintain operational efficiency. Their immediate focus, as you might expect, is on present conditions. Wresting the maximum efficiency out of the operation is the overriding business challenge for 64 percent of the global HR leaders.”

After reading this article, written by John Zappe for ERE Daily, I immediately went to my trusted dictionary to look up the definition of operational efficiency. Here it is.

Operational Efficiency is - what occurs when the right combination of people, process and technology(tools) come together to enhance the productivity and value of any business operation, while driving down the cost of routine operations to a desired level. The end result is that resources previously needed to manage operational tasks can be
redirected to new, high value initiatives that bring additional capabilities to the organization.

There it was right in front of me, a very concise description of what our company and other companies like ours strive to deliver to our clients in the area of talent acquisition, Operational Efficiency (OE).

To achieve OE within the recruitment domain the following areas would need to be addressed.

· Sourcing

· Screening

· Selection

· CandidateRelationship Management

· Requisition Management

· Reporting and Metrics

And each area would need to be assessed utilizing a capability maturity model.

· Level 1 – Ad Hoc

· Level 2 – Repeatable

· Level 3 – Defined

· Level 4 – Managed

· Level 5 – Optimized

The goal would be to bring each element of the recruitment domain to a level that would begin to produce desired results of the HR business unit. It is not necessary for all elements to be at level 5.

So, is Operational Efficiency an overriding business challenge for you and your company? Would achieving HR Operational Efficiency make you a HERO? These are questions that only you can answer.

As for me, what struck me most from the survey data was the fact that 64% of the 707 HR leaders surveyed had Operational Efficiency as their overriding business challenge, that’s roughly 452 HR leaders potentially looking for some assistance in this area.

I am now off to make at least 452 calls.

Comment by Paul Alfred on October 26, 2010 at 5:17pm: Wow ... I am looking forward to see a Company Implement a CMMi Quality Model for Talent Acquisition .. This is not a Software Development Life Cycle process Nick .... We keep forgetting that this is a people to people business (Achieving quality standards are complex because of this) only a few of these variables can be controlled...

Achieving Operational Efficiency is an ongoing feat .... This is why its a Billion Dollar industry....

Comment by Nick Tubach on October 27, 2010 at 10:58am: Paul, the CMMi Quality Model is a process improvement approach that helps organizations improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. Initially developed for software developers, the concepts can be used to improve operational efficiencies at any level. Q4B has been using this approach with all of our engagements in order to improve the quality and speed of hire while reducing talent acquisition spend. If the CMMi Quality Model works well for developing world class software, why not use it to hire world class software developers.

Comment by Paul Alfred on October 27, 2010 at 11:31am: That is just it ... Software Product development and Manufacturing of Products like cars theses Quality Models( CMMI, Six Sigma, ITIL,and even KAIZEN) are great for these endeavors but the hiring of people require people input and the measure of personalities and skills to fit in with a environment culture controlled by people with personalities, biases, preferences, etc- ... You can only improve some aspects of the process outside of people input ... The hiring of people I would say involve far more complexities that can't be controlled by a model .... And I can prove it ... Than writing and sticking to a Framework for developing Quality Software or other end products...

Just input the variables and you would see that Companies that have invested in these tools can improve certain aspects of the Talent Acquisition Cycle - They still utilize third party recruiters I have seen full strategies in place and in the end Companies still watch the P/L to see the agency spend rise with respect to hiring of the World Class developers you speak of...

Until you can factor in the `People hire who they like`Variable The Talent Acquisition Process improvement will be an ongoing endeavor - You should be happy ....Ìts still good for your business`....

Comment by Nick Tubach on October 27, 2010 at 12:24pm: Paul, the reason that we use the CMMi model is that it allows us and the client to understand where they are, where they want to be and how to get there when applied to the hiring process. Yes there is always that "people variable" but without some sense of process it would be impossible for a company to identify bottlenecks, address the issues and improve the output. Even with software development and manufacturing there is a "people variable." Quality is not limited to one or two functional areas within a company. Hiring great talent does not happen by chance.

Comment by Sandy Beardsley on November 2, 2010 at 2:44pm: Operational Efficiency!!! The World's Battlecry. In the area of Talent Acquisition, Q4B is here to help meet that state.

Comment by Lori Siets on November 3, 2010 at 1:54pm: Absolutely Right! Companies that tap into additional resources to help them achieve OE in the talent aquisition process will be able to redirect their activities to bringing more value to their customers, which will ultimately foster long-term client relationships and it will lead to increased revenue.

Comment by Kristen Watson on November 3, 2010 at 1:55pm: I agree with you on this to achieve OE within the recruitment domain the following areas are critical.
• • Sourcing
• • Screening
• • Selection
• • Candidate Relationship Management
• • Requisition Management
• • Reporting and Metrics
Companies need to remain competitive in an increasingly competitive world, businesses must boost operational efficiency wherever possible. By having structure and a plan in place as a guide then this will help track what is working and what isn’t working. By doing this it will help to see what is cost effective and what will be best for the company at that time. When you have operational processes in place when it comes to talent acquisition it makes things easier in the long run.