1. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
2008
Winning the Human
Capital War by
Effective Recruiting
By Don W. Gee
Enclosed are highlights and methodologies of my background in Recruiting, Talent
Strategy, Recruiting & Sales Management, Training and Model Implementation
Don W. Gee
DonGee@onebox.com
Phone: 213.716.5563

2. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee

Management & Training Achievements & Recruiting Achievements
Highlights & Highlights
 As a Sr. Manager with Hall Kinion-Chicago,  Have implemented Talent Strategy standards,
created a Recruiting Training curriculum for metrics and training programs for various
new hires. Due to its success, was retained by organizations throughout the U.S. which has
the Corporate Office to conduct a formal included the following; talent strategy audits,
training program at the Global Headquarters, reducing CPH & TPH, vendor evaluation and
which was videotaped & instituted company- consolidation, employer branding, retention &
wide as the new recruiting methodology. recruiting strategies, CRM implementations,
 As a Sr. Manager with Hall Kinion, grew the compensation surveys while spearheading
Chicago location from $1.7MM to $10MM in Talent Fulfillment delivery
two years. Also produced two Recruiters that  With Escendent, designed a Human Capital
were globally ranked #2 and #5, and produced Solutions Fulfillment Model & implemented an
the #4 Sales Executive in the company. Also Organizational Design Model for consulting
produced the “Rookie of Year,” and yielded the engagements for Essential Insight (subsidiary of
highest bill-rate than another office in the Escendent)
company world-wide.  As the Lead Sales Recruiter for Business.com,
 With Esquire Deposition Services, re-engineered 2nd month on contract, enabled Business.com
the Midwest regions sales methodology. Also to exceed their hiring goals for the first time in
implemented a 52-page sales guidebook, which the companies history
outlined Esquire’s new sales methodology,  As a Corporate Contract Recruiter for Amdocs
scripts, checklists and tactical strategies for (world’s largest telecom-billing software
Account Retention & Growth and Business company) I streamlined their hiring process and
Development. Hired, trained and produced saved Amdocs over $360,000 by reducing
three sales executives that yielded 190%, 300% vendor utilization and reducing TPH from 8
& 181% territory growth (all within their first weeks to 3 weeks. Was also responsible for
year of employment, all with no industry staffing 7 locations throughout the US, including
experience). solely staffing one of the most prominent Fraud
 With Essential Insight (subsidiary of Escendent) Detection software development projects in the
designed an Organization Evaluation model for industry
performance-based companies. With Escendent  As a Project Recruiting lead for ITG, staffed a
designed a recruiting model & delivery program web based/OO project headed by Ivar Iacobson
& a comprehensive Human Capital delivery & (author of Iacobson use case methodology) for
fulfillment model for Project-based Human Icon Nicholson in New York
Capital engagements. With Essential Insight,  With Hall Kinion, I headed up a Recruiting Team
designed an Organizational Evaluation Model for that staffed one of the first project teams for
Performance-based companies Motorola for their StarTec/Webphone project.
I have recruited in the following industries/domains; Retail, Technology, Consumer Products, Financial,
Telecommunications, Government, Entertainment, Manufacturing, Semi-Conductor, Online Advertising,
Advertising, Professional Services, Banking, Financial Services, Legal (Including Litigation Support,
Document Management & Litigation Technology) and Insurance
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3. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
Background & Services Provided:
Talent Strategy Consulting - Streamline an Recruiting Services
organizations talent acquisition function
through audits, talent acquisition organization I have fulfilled
design, strategy development, e-Talent various positions in
acquisition strategy, hiring process consulting,
various industries
employer branding, vendor management, and
training (both contract and
employment) by
Hiring Audits – I have provided detailed audits
utilizing my personal
of a talent acquisition function to maximize the
efficiencies and costs as well as providing database, my
detailed reviews of a clients function in network of contacts,
comparison with industry leading best-practices leveraging the power
of the internet, direct
Organization Design – I have developed talent
acquisition strategies and organization models sourcing & referrals. I
for organizations to properly structure and have have placed
the capacity to organically build an organization
contract/temp
to support efficient, timely, and cost-effective
growth resources from $8.00
per hour, up to
Internal Recruiting Design – I have hired,
$275.00 per hour. I
trained and assembled extremely successful
recruiting programs, as well as training have placed full-time
programs on industry leading best practices in resources from $28K
employer branding, creative direct candidate to $225K a year.
sourcing, organizational design, etc.
Employment Branding - I have worked with
companies to build employee commitment and
position organizations as an employer of choice.
Competitive Intelligence, Research, & Name
Vendor Management – Have worked with Generation – I have provided research for my
various organizations by implementing clients’ competitors; utilize the power of the
evaluation and measurement criteria to ensure internet to mine for the best possible talent,
potential vendors will be a strategic resource, and utilize direct recruiting techniques to
for current vendors they will be measured to deliver perfectly matched passive candidates
ensure their performance justifies their costs. for our clients needs

4. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
Common Recruiting Downfalls
Corporations Agency Sales/Recruiting Cycles
 In most companies (both large and small) a Most “Recruiting Agencies” divide their
traditional HR Department is tasked with organizations into two divisions, sales and
the recruiting function which is often too recruiting. 80-90% of Recruiting Agencies have
reactive an internal hierarchy that places more
 Time per hire is too long significance on sales and not recruiting.
Recruiting Agencies that are potential vendors
 Cost per hire (in both soft and hard cost)
will assault clients with sales calls, hefty
are too high
promises and eloquent sales presentations.
 Too much dependence on recruiting
However once a client agrees to utilize a
agencies
Recruiting Agencies services, their internal
 Lack of employer branding/competitive
recruiting efforts fall short by one or more of
positioning
the following: leaving the position open or
 Effective negotiating
unfilled, providing candidates that are poorly
 Too many consultants, not enough screened and bombarding the client with a
employees mountain of resumes to sift through (these are
 Lack of Proactive Recruiting Campaigns just to name a few).
 Lack of Competitive Intelligence
Traditionally there are two sides of the
Recruiting Agencies business, each having representation by the
 Recruiting Model is inferior to an agencies following, Sales Function (Client Side) and
sales efforts Recruiting Function (Candidate Side). The
 Recruiting is reactive vs. proactive levels of difficulty for the Sales Executive and
 Recruiters often do not know how to utilize Recruiter change throughout the
behavioral interviewing Sales/Recruiting cycle.
 Too much dependence on Job Boards
 Lack of recruiting life cycle integrity Sales Cycle (Client Segment)
 Body Shop tactics Sales Executives are assigned to acquire new
 Lack of quality screening clients with endless promises of excellent
 Recruiting one dimensional candidates, candidates and stellar services. There is no
seeking candidates with a specific skill set refuting the level of difficulty for the SE in the
only vs. seeking candidates with strong skill beginning of the Sales/Recruiting Cycle.
sets, strong domain experience and a high Landing an account, opening a new one,
degree of business acumen establishing a new relationship can be
 89-90% of Recruiting Agencies have an extremely difficult, especially in the current
interior model that defies the rules and market conditions. However, once a
conditions of the marketplace “client/potential client” sees the value in our
services and agrees to a potential relationship,
the level of difficulty for the SE significantly
declines, now it’s the responsibility for the
Recruiting Team to deliver the candidate.
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5. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
Recruiting Cycle (Candidate Segment)
In the beginning of the Recruiting/Sales Cycle,
Starting in the late 90’s to
the level of difficulty for the Recruiter is exactly
the opposite. To call a candidate who is seeking
an opportunity is not that challenging for a
2001, after spending massive
Recruiter. There is very little, if no sales
resistance, whereas for the Account Executive, amounts of capital on
it’s the exact opposite in the beginning of a
cycle. However, once a candidate (especially a staffing agency outsourcing,
marketable one) begins a pre-submission phase,
the Recruiters job becomes substantially more high agency attrition and
challenging; therefore the level of difficulty rises
sharply. poor service, organizations
To continue to pre-close a candidate and re-
close a candidate once an offer is extended began to shift their models
becomes even more challenging. Often times,
candidates will have other offers, other to a more “organic” hiring
opportunities in the works to continue to
manage this process prompts the level of
structure by separating HR
difficulty to rise substantially.
Here is an example of what a typical agency and Recruiting into
cycle looks like.
separate entities within HR.
12 This trend continues
10
8 however most organizations
6
4
Recruiting design & methodology for an
Sales
2
internal recruiting function
0
is not as effective as it could
As a business cycle begins, levels of difficulty swap from sales to
be.
recruiting; sales faces a higher level of difficulty & complexity, but as
the cycle moves forward recruiting faces a higher level of intricacy.
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6. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
Vendor Management What is the vendors’ internal process to source,
evaluate a candidate’s skills, background and
Companies that need to hire difficult to find overall professionalism?
candidates or have an internal recruiting
function that does not have the capacity to During the evaluation process, it is imperative
fulfill them, staffing agencies can be a resource to understand how an agency manages their
that can be helpful to compliment an candidate screening process. Do they provide
organizations efforts. It is often prohibitive for
values in areas such as; direct sourcing passive
companies to maintain the level of recruiting
job seekers, niche’ focus into a specific
organization necessary to consistently find
some of these positions. candidate competency/skill set or industry and
leverage a quality large database. What is the
Outsourcing should be strategic and quality of their internal recruiting function? Is
vendors/staffing agencies should be utilized if there recruiting process thorough? Lastly,
there isn’t an internal capacity sufficient to what is the agencies recruiting personnel
fulfill the needed resources. In other words, it
turnover? If a vendor claims to be experts in
should be a last resort. It is common (and
recommended) to utilize a vendor/staffing the human capital business, however, their
agency for temporary resources. internal recruiting function has a high
turnover, question their process, model and
The particular positions being referred to quality.
staffing agencies will dictate the type of
companies able to find these people. A Basic Vendor Utilization Criteria:
combination of search firms the company has
worked with in the past and others providing
similar services should comprise the evaluated
group. Historical hiring data is collected and
examined to determine the current levels of
service enjoyed by the company. Service levels
will be determined for the types of recruiting
services required.
If an agency utilization historical data shows
above 15% attrition, low resume submission,
low interview volume, above 60% offer
rejection it may be time to re-evaluate that
respective vendor/vendors.
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7. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
marketplace and determine how difficult the
position will be to fill.
When a position remains unfilled,
it would be recommended to Within the first 2 weeks of the opening, if there
evaluate the compensation isn’t at least 3 candidates that have moved from
package of the role and evaluate a recruiter pre-screen to a face to face
interview (or at least a hiring manager phone
if it is competitive. With skill sets
screen), that could be the first indicator that
that are in high demand,
outsourcing to a vendor might be the best
compensation variances can vary
course of action. Also, after 15 business days,
from quarter to quarter. if there hasn’t been at least one face to face
interview, it might be time to outsource to a
vendor.
Escalation Process
Process Centralization
After determining the number and types of
All vendor activity (outsourcing requisitions,
candidates that need to be hired, an
vendor evaluation, and vendor selection) should
assessment must be made regarding the
be centralized and supervised by the
company’s ability to hire them. Once that
HR/Recruiting department. Department heads
determination is made, another assessment
or hiring managers may have pre-existing
must be made to determine an escalation
loyalties or relationships with certain agencies;
process to determine if a respective
however these agencies should be evaluated
requisition/requisitions need to be outsourced.
and held to the same standards as other
First and foremost, the goal of any organization
agencies. A centralized vendor process ensures
is to fulfill their requisitions organically, this will
better quality control, accurate performance
enable an organization to maintain a lower CPH
and accountability tracking.
and reduce attrition (that national average for
agency attrition is 20% and above). It can be
This process needs to be centrally managed by
common place to utilize agencies for
the HR/Recruiting Department.
temp/contract positions, however, for full-time
positions; agency utilization should be a last
Outsourcing Process
resort. It is recommended an escalation
process be created to determine whether or
not more time is needed to continue internally
recruiting or outsource the position/positions to
a vendor.
Metrics to Consider
Before a requisition is outsourced to a vendor,
first of all how well is the internal recruiting
function performing? Once a requisition is
approved and opened, evaluate the
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8. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
The Cost of Outsourcing
To ensure a client understands the cost of
outsourcing (both in hard and soft costs) they
need to fully understand in “black and white”
the costs and risks that are associated with
For every 100 positions excessive outsourcing.
that are outsourced, the
Outsourcing to agencies can be costly. If a
hard cost of agency thorough process has not been implemented to
evaluate and re-evaluate vendor processes,
utilization can exceed vendor standards and performance the cost can
$1.4 Million. be devastating to an organizations bottom line.
Snapshot of Averages:
Add the soft cost of On average IT positions are outsourced more
agency attrition, which than any other skill set, and the national
average for base salary for an IT professional is
averages over 20%, the $70,000. In the Chicago marketplace, the
average IT salary is $71,400.
total cost of agency
utilization can exceed  Most agencies charge a fee on the first
year’s salary between 15-25%.
$2.2 Million.  To fulfill individual requisitions, most
organizations under $500MM outsource
Most organizations over 50% their hires
 Agency attrition averages above 20%
don’t do enough to
investigate the If an agency hire voluntarily resigns from a
position within the first 90 days, an agency
capabilities of the should refund the fee or given a chance to refill
the position at no charge.
vendors they select.
Outsourcing hiring Request for Proposal
Based upon examination of the historical data
needs to an ill-equipped and consultation with company leaders, a
Request for Proposal (RFP) should be
staffing agency can be a constructed. Weighting of factors important to
financial disastrous the company will be given and the RFP will be
sent to the prospective vendor pool. Upon
option. receipt of the results a list of companies to be
interviewed will be determined and the results
of those interviews will finalize the selections.
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9. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
Prime Vendor New Hire Onboarding
Outsourcing certain or all hiring to a Prime Minimizing attrition starts on day one. It is
Vendor enables a company to appoint one crucial when an employee first starts, there is
vendor to manage the entire human capital NO DOWN TIME. There needs to be a clear
process. program for new hires, orientation and
transition. Not only should a structured,
Outsourcing the entire process can relieve a meticulous orientation be created, but once an
company from having to maintain staff orientation is completed there is a system in
dedicated to vendor management. Fluctuations place to plug the employees into their position
in hiring needs can leave a company with and begin their knowledge curve. Orientation is
people responsible for agency hiring when no important, but there must be other activities
hiring is needed. A prime vendor assumes after orientation to ensure the candidate is
responsibility for managing all hiring done with welcomed such as; introductions to their
any agency and allows a company to ratchet up managers and team, site tours to internal
their hiring capability at will with out the cost of training.
internal staff.
Employee Communication
Communicating with employees can accomplish
Retention Evaluation
more than meets the eye. Keep the company
up to date with company news, key new hires,
Most organizations have a sound recruiting significant company accomplishments and
process but do not take an honest look at their other news that will keep employees in the
attrition and evaluate what more they can do to loop.
improve employee retention.
Benefits
Ensure you’re providing a good benefit plan.
To evaluate an organizations attrition Also, offer the best vacation package you can. If
percentage, this will require intensive research. your competitors are offering two weeks, offer
The following data will be evaluated to analyze 3-4 weeks.
the variables that can contribute to high
attrition: Awards
Recognition is another way to raise
performance. You can have awards for “Best
Cost of Attrition
Employee Award,” or “Best Turnaround,” or
As a rule of thumb, when an employee resigns
whatever highlights your company culture. If
that can cost the company 1.5 -2 times of the
you want to tie in a bonus to this award, that
vacated salary. The hard and soft cost includes
can further compel individuals to exceed
time and money spent on refilling the position,
expectations, but not necessary.
advertising fees, agency fees, employee
development and training. This does not
On Going Training
include other hard and soft costs such as lower
Offer your employees opportunities to further
productivity, company morale and the impact
their respective skill sets through training.
this could have on customers/clients. When an
Depending on the cost of the training, you can
organization loses someone, they are also losing
either reimburse them or pay for the training
revenue and profitability.
directly.
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10. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
Talent Strategy Delivery
Recruiting Cycle
This is my basic 4 step recruiting cycle. This model may change, depending on the environment or
domain, but this is a basic blueprint I adhere to. In my 7 page Recruiting Cycle; each step is outlined in
precise detail. My Recruiting process is strict, thorough and precise. This cycle acts as a “filter,” to
ultimately identify several key candidates out of many that will ultimately be a fit for what my client is
looking for.
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11. Winning the Human Capital War by Don W. Gee
Case Study
This is a case study that highlights my results as a Contract Recruiter/HR Consultant for Amdocs (the
world’s largest Telecommunications software billing company).
Client Challenge Solution
One of the world’s largest Create a strong brand Audit of hiring practices
telecom billing software Create a high volume growth Branding campaign to
strategy and build an
companies position the client as an
engine to fuel the
Proj. Employee growth of explosive growth employer of choice
over 75+% per year Reduce the cost per hire to Designed a recruiting
HR had little recruiting create substantial cost strategy
experience and was savings Designed a new hiring
Reduce the hiring cycle time
relying heavily on outside process
substantially to grow
search firms quickly Consolidate vendor list
Average Cost per hire was
$11,700
RESULTS
• Successfully filled positions in St. Louis, Chicago and Portland with little vendor
assistance
• Reduced the hiring cycle time from 6 weeks to 2 weeks, resulting in bottom line impact
of increased project delivery and completion
• Total Savings of over $360,000 in recruiting costs
• Reduced CPH from per hire from $11,700 to $3,200
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