The Expanding Role of Recruiters in Strategic Talent Management

Broader recruiting roles that leading firms have adopted TriState SHRM Conference April 8, 2010 © Dr. John Sullivan Professor, Author and Advisor to Management www.drjohnsullivan.com THE EXPANDING ROLE OF RECRUITERS IN STRATEGIC TALENT MANAGEMENT

Dr. Sullivan’s current books On-boarding HR Strategy Productivity Metrics Recruiting Employee referrals Employer Branding Recruiting tools

Topics that I will cover today:
My role for today
Some illustrations on how dramatically Talent Management has changed
The benefits from an expanded role for recruiters
The 5 Talent Management areas to consider
Recommended areas to expand into first
Best practice benchmark firms to learn from
Any additional questions

I was asked to be a provocateur
As a provocateur… my goal is to make you think
2 quick examples of being provocative
Name the most innovative firms in business today?
SecondLife, Genentech, Wikipedia, MySpace, Yelp, Microsoft, Craigslist, Intel, Cisco, Pixar and Oracle
What do they have in common?
And #2, what is this?
And where is it located? Swiss
Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube…

My role for today
I’m from “the other coast”, where firm’s are willing to do anything to capture the best talent
I’m here to expose you to some new possibilities… and perhaps to get you to consider whether your current approach is too conservative in today’s competitive world of talent

How about 2 quick examples to illustrate our different “other coast” approach >

Competitors use more aggressive approaches here (Yahoo)
Recruiting posters first at Yahoo's entrance & restrooms…
and then across the street

We also look for “different” kinds of people
What do these people have in common?
Gates Ellison Jobs Larry/ Zuckerberg Sergey “ Other coasters”, & college dropouts billionaires

The 2 coast comparison is a… tradition based “it’s not broken/ we have always done it this way” vs. a “ assume all tools become obsolete , so continually seek out something new” (80% fail and then learn)

The other coast approach requires you to move past your comfort zone
It’s important to realize that recruiting is a form of fishing…
And you are not likely to “catch” your fair share of top talent if you use a
And your competitors…
Have more aggressive strategies
Newer / more effective fishing gear
More advanced technology
And better skilled fishermen/ women

What are the consequences of using outdated tools?
How can anyone outperform … if they are using 1987 tools?

What are the 9 characteristics of the “other coast” recruiting approach?
A WOW and people virally pass it on
Measurably better results
Aggressive to keep talent competitors off guard
Hard to copy by competitors (Competitive advantage)
Personalized or customized
Measurably faster Prom
Uses technology and metrics
High ROI not just cheaper
It is assumed that it will become obsolete (constantly looking for replacements ) (Newspaper ads)

Lets now shift to a quick view of how dramatically Talent Management has changed

The leaders in recruiting now openly brag

Is this bragging?
Zappos publishes a book full of 300+ employee written stories about what it’s like to work there (Available on Amazon)

Is this bragging? Deloitte film festival

Is this bragging?

The leading firms in recruiting have gotten very aggressive

Would this be aggressive? EA vs. Radical entertainment (ASK-EE) “ It’s time to come home” boomerang program

Aggressively e-mailing a competitor’s employees
Hi
I am a member of Microsoft's marketing staffing team …
I know a lot of people from Yahoo! have been reaching out to us lately because they are nervous about the pending layoffs …
You've read this far so you must be at least a bit intrigued by what we may have to offer. ..
Global Central Sourcing Team, Microsoft >
We’re Hiring!
Silicon Alley Insider 1/08

The leaders in recruiting are using referrals as their #1 tool

Referrals are #1 (% of all hires)
Reached and maintained a +70% referral rate
Edward Jones reached 55% with no bonus
Referrals have the highest quality of hire
Referrals have higher retention rates
No adverse impact
Social networks can easily create numerous referral opportunities

A parking lot full of BMW’s will impress

Best practice example Referrals - Endeca gave a flat screen TV as a referral bonus for college students referring a friend from Harvard, MIT etc. that gets hired

The leaders in recruiting are using new finding tools

A compelling message from Google

Looking for talent through contests Used by Google, Yahoo, Sun, Intel and Microsoft

Facebook’s puzzle page contest Facebook invites budding computer engineers to try one of their ‘puzzles’…in order prove their worth and attract the attention of the company bosses

Army, Deloitte, Mitre use video games to recruit

Web 2.0 can build your image as “edgy” Bain, HP, IBM, e-bay, Deloitte, Verizon, EMC, Sodexho & Microsoft use SecondLife and it’s “avatars” to recruit Hyro hired 30 in 2 months in 2007

Contests find the names of the very best

MBA poker event Dell, Microsoft, Harrah’s and Nationwide attempt to recruit over 1000 MBA’s

Google recruits at public events

Are you ready for this? Individualized recruiting is here They plastered their name on billboards, pizza boxes and gas pumps -- and even aired a commercial on MTV -- in hopes of getting her to enroll. As one message put it: "We just hope you're on your way to Wilkes University next year." (Domino’s)

The leading firms have dramatically changed their work environment

Remote work… sends a brand message
Results Only Work Environment
Pick your hours
Pick where you work
No in-person meetings required
The business impacts:
The cost of turnover is $102k per employee, ROWE teams have 3.2 % lower turnover ($13 million per year)
When workers switch to ROWE, their productivity jumps by 35%

Zappos is a billion dollar success
Even the best recruiting fails occasionally… so Zappos offers $2,000 to anyone who agrees to quit during their initial training… 2 - 3 % take the cash
Also - Every Zappos’s employee is on Twitter

W/L balance? Keep them in the office Facebook offered a $7000 yearly bonus to live close

Google leads the way in demonstrating... that they are different!
“ Pajama day” at Google
Martini “blowout”

The new Google Zurich office sends a message

Even HR policies have changed
Our Dog Policy
“ Google's respect and affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture.
We have nothing against cats, per se, but we're a dog company , so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our campus would be fairly stressed out”
Do you have a “100 foot” rule?

Internal competitions can build your image MGM Grand sends a message that talent triumphs over tenure Picture varies from actual

The leaders have dramatically changed interviewing

Firms have shifted to video interviews
Initial interviews are now done live but remotely using a web cam
Firms that have use it include Zappos, HP, Microsoft, Google, Whirlpool, E*Trade and PepsiCo

Alternatives to traditional interviews
Travelodge and the Salt River Project use the
“ speed dating” format to interview candidates
From valleywag

Simulation to assess team skills
Toyota also puts potential hires in an actual manufacturing team situation (simulation and job pre-view) and only 10% pass

Pay for interviews can attract reluctant candidates Google, Yahoo and Facebook… are bold enough to pay for interviews with top candidates

If these examples represent 100 on an other coast scale…
What number does your firm rate?
Now let’s shift to the second topic area…
Expanding the role of recruiters

It’s not a power grab…
There are many benefits for seeking out
an expanded role for recruiters

8 reasons for expanding the role of recruiters
Benefits to the firm of an expanded recruiting role
The skill set of recruiters have broad applications and benefits to other functions
It provides agility, which is needed because rapid changes in business needs require all functions… to be flexible
Lean employee levels in other “still busy” functions require “peak time” or overload help
“ Fresh eyes” can spot problems/ opportunities

Reasons for expanding the role of recruiters
Benefits to the recruiting function include:
The need to maintain up-to-date recruiting capabilities (and staff) for key jobs even during slack times
The need to be able to explode “out of the blocks” when the turnaround comes
The cross training, the expanded contacts and their better understanding of their internal customers… will make them better recruiters
Increased job security for the recruiting staff

What are the different areas where recruiters can help out?
Let’s first look at the 5 major elements
in strategic Talent Management ?

When managers need more talent / work resources More productive make internal talent more productive Build internal talent Move internal talent Buy external talent Use substitutes for labor (Technology or software) … they have 5 basic choices

I recommend that you focus on the following high impact areas within TM & HR where recruiter skills can help the most

Recommendations
Buy external talent

Recruiting related possibilities
Within recruiting , resources can be shifted to:
Executive recruiting – do more executive recruiting internally
Alumni network – build it for sales referrals, employee referrals and boomerang re-hires
Contract labor – utilize recruiters to find contract / contingent labor… which will add needed flexibility if the upturn is short-lived (MS 54%)

Recruiting related possibilities
Within recruiting, resources can be shifted to:
Provide external succession plan candidates – help your organization expand its succession bench strength possibilities by identifying external candidates and adding them to the plan
Work with compensation to improve offers – work with comp. during this lull to improve the speed and the “accuracy” of the offers that they provide

Building competitive intelligence
Use recruiting skills for competitive intelligence
Competitive intelligence – gather information from key competitors about their recruiting approach and possible targets (During interviews and on-boarding)
Competitor analysis – conduct a competitive analysis of your “talent competitors” to ensure that side-by-side, your programs are superior. Use the info to predict their talent management moves and how they might counter yours

Employer branding related roles
Shift recruiters to employer branding activities
Employer branding – utilize their social network and social media skills to build your employer brand, which may be tarnished due to layoffs etc.
Identify negative branding information – recruiters teach employer brand managers how to develop a process to identify, counter or “bury” negative info.
Exposure coaching – advise managers and employees how they can be more “visible” online, especially on social networks and forums

Building story inventories – use your knowledge of what makes the firm exciting to provide stories and content for “best place to work” awards, speeches, employee referrals and media inquiries
Internal branding – advise branding on how to keep awareness of the firm’s extraordinary talent programs in the minds of your employees
Help in winning awards – provide information about what makes the firm great to those preparing the award application >

Coach managers on how to make jobs more exciting – advise managers on how to redesign their current and open jobs to make them more appealing to top performers (Remote work, 20% time) >

Recommendations
Build internal talent

Development related possibilities
Development possibilities:
Teaching TM to leaders – coaching and teaching future leaders on the best approaches to attract and retain top talent
Assessing high-potential individuals – utilize your recruiter’s advanced assessment skills to identify high-potential individuals for development and promotion
Recommend new-hire s for development – recommend outstanding new-hires for early or fast-track leadership development programs

Development related possibilities
Development possibilities:
Job rotation programs – support the development team in identifying and filling job rotations for development purposes

Recommendations
Move internal talent

Internal movement possibilities
Expanded internal movemen t roles for recruiters
Intra-placement team – utilize recruiter's skills for developing a proactive process for faster & more accurate permanent internal movements. Especially between disparate business units and regions (Booz Allen, Microsoft)
Contests for promotions – utilize their knowledge of external recruiting contests to design internal contests for promotion (MGM Grand) >

Expanded internal movement roles
Redeployment process – develop a formal process for moving large numbers of employees and teams into new business areas, where their skills can have more impact
“ Right job” movement for the succession plan – identify and move individuals on the succession plan to jobs that fit their “right job” factors… in order to increase their development and impact on the business

Expanded internal movement roles
Short-term projects for bus needs – develop a process for identifying and recruiting employees to fill short-term project opportunities (Whirlpool, Google)

Recommendations
More productive Make internal talent more productive

Workforce planning
New workforce planning roles might include:
“ Explode out of the box” plan – help workforce planning develop turnaround plans for talent management areas
Help to refine forecasts – supplement broad industry or regional forecast, with forecasts customized to your firm that specify its future talent “supply” and “talent needs”

Retention related possibilities
New retention possibilities include:
Prioritizing – help managers and the retention function prioritize high impact jobs and individuals for retention
Extending the role – extend the recruiter’s role beyond hiring to include retention responsibilities for the first six months
Identifying who is “at risk” – because recruiters are continually aware of job seekers, alert managers about those employees that are active (Recruiter calls, visibility on-line & at job fairs) >

More retention possibilities include:
Blocking recruiters – use your knowledge of aggressive recruiting to help develop effective blocking strategies (FirstMerit)
Career coaching – use recruiters as key individual “career coaches” to help employees create career progression plans, right job placement and to increase retention
Outplacement – utilize recruiter knowledge of great resumes and job search tools to help place employees being let go (Corning/ SW) >

More retention possibilities include:
Retention interviews – utilize recruiter interviewing skills to conduct “Why do you stay” and Post-exit interviews to improve retention and internal brand approaches

On-boarding
New on-boarding roles might include:
On-boarding content – ensuring that the employer brand is reinforced during on-boarding. Also ask new-hires for referrals and “what worked” and “what didn’t work” in order to improve the recruitment process
Continue the relationship with the recruiter – In addition to a retention role, also assign recruiters to continuing on-boarding for up to six months. Also “fix” poor “initial placements” >

On-boarding
New on-boarding roles might include:
Actually conduct on-boarding – utilizing the recruiters knowledge of the organization, offering “targeted” on-boarding locally, at the facility or at the departmental level

Off-boarding
New off-boarding roles might include:
Prevent negative brand messages – redesign the process to make sure that they “leave happy” for branding and potential re-hire purposes
Convince departing employees to join alumni networks – use recruiter sales skills to convince employees

Recommendations
Outside of HR

Mergers and acquisitions
New M&A focus areas include:
Identify firms to target – utilize their knowledge of a firm’s talent in order to recommend to senior management whether the firm would be a good acquisition target based on their talent capabilities
Assist in due diligence – when firms are targeted, assist in assessing the quality of the talent and what percentage will stay
Assisting in redeploying talent – after the merger, assist in assessing and redeploying both your own and the other firms talent

Advising and coaching manager roles
New manager advising & coaching focus areas:
Get managers to prioritize recruiting – advising hiring managers and recruiting leaders on how to identify and then prioritize key positions (revenue, revenue impact, customer impact and mission-critical positions)
Offer coaching to managers – offer online and face-to-face coaching on interview “selling,” improving the candidate experience and successful offer closing >

Advising and coaching manager roles
More advising & coaching managers focus areas:
Social network “coaching” – provide advice on the most effective profiles for recruiting and visibility, knowledge sharing as well as information on the best sites to utilize Facebook. LinkedIn, twitter, YouTube

Temporarily assuming other business roles
SW Air placed recruiters temporarily in
Customer service
Sales
Outplacement

And last
Best practice firms

Best practice benchmark firms
The best firms to study include:
Microsoft Corning
Booz Allen DaVita Healthcare
Eli Lilly MGM Grand
WellPoint Intel
Southwest Airlines

Did I make you think? How about some questions? www.drjohnsullivan.com

http://www.drjohnsullivan.com	375
http://www.techgig.com	330
http://drjohnsullivan.com	10
http://www.slideshare.net	9
https://www.drjohnsullivan.com	8
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1

The Expanding Role of Recruiters in Strategic Talent Management

by Dr John Sullivan on Apr 08, 2010

Accessibility

Upload Details

Usage Rights

6 Embeds 733

Statistics

The Expanding Role of Recruiters in Strategic Talent Management — Presentation Transcript