Category HR Tips and Practices

Career Update: Headhunting

Executive search is about enticing the right person for a job, writes Vivienne Reiner.

HEADHUNTERS can do no wrong in the current economic climate, with a global skills shortage fuelling growth in their industry. Revenues for executive search firms worldwide have grown by 20 per cent each year for the past two years, and indications are very good that 2006 will also be a year of significant growth, according to US-based Peter Felix, president of the Association of Executive Search Consultants.

“Assuming a 20 per cent increase this year, then the market would be more or less back to its peak 2000 level with worldwide revenues at about $8 billion,” Felix says. “Any growth beyond that would take us to new heights.”

Search has experienced strong growth in the past few years because of a war for talent caused by demographic trends in Western countries and high competition for experienced management in new growth markets such as Asia and Eastern Europe. In Australia, the market is quite buoyant across all sectors, and particularly strong in infrastructure and resources. As well, the rate of change in Australian companies jostling to improve position, and mergers and acquisitions, have placed further pressure on the hunt for executives.

Executive search organisations tend to perform searches for senior positions offering remuneration upwards of $150,000-$250,000. But in Australia search is also becoming more common for more junior roles, thanks to the low unemployment rate. Employers are increasingly turning to recruitment agencies to target specific organisations and people to fill positions below the $100,000-mark.
Recruitment agencies with executive search arms, however, can be less research-intensive than headhunting firms that specialise in search.

Rob Pocknee is a partner in Cordiner King, the Australian arm of leading global executive search group Amrop Hever. Cordiner King receives up to 100 unsolicited resumes every week. But the people Cordiner Kings wants are often those well looked after by their employer, or too busy to apply for a new job.

“Sometimes the best candidates will not respond to an advertisement, and in fact that’s probably becoming more and more the norm the higher you go in terms of the job,” he says.
From the employer perspective, it may also be preferable not to advertise an upcoming vacancy, because this could be sensitive. To some people, headhunter is a bad name, suggesting a profession which poaches otherwise happily employed individuals.

But Pocknee believes the best headhunters present the information and leave the next step to the individual. According to Antony Beaumont, country director for Australia of another big global headhunting firm, Russell Reynolds Associates, people targeted for approach are generally ready for a new challenge. It is increasingly common for their companies to respond with a counter-offer, but Beaumont says about 80-90 per cent of people who accept counter-offers and stay put end up leaving within a year.

Beaumont says one of the exciting elements of working in the industry is the potential for finding the right placement that transforms an organisation. He once saw an injection of outside expertise boost a share price substantially. Some headhunters keep unsolicited CVs, but Beaumont says his firm focuses on search rather than collating and managing the numerous requests for work that come its way.

“It’s like a golden age for executive search,” Beaumont explains. “As companies become more international, the potential impact of executives who can really make an impact and drive performance and demonstrate that superior leadership is more marked. There’s more demand for these people and there’s a relatively small pool of them.”

The job of headhunting may sound mysterious, but there is generally a set way of going about the business that guides the profession. The first task is to get a clear brief from the client — perhaps not so easy when it involves a number of stakeholders. Next is to identify possibilities. Headhunters search their databases, speak to sources and specialists, and look at people in similar roles to the brief.

They then act as a mediator between the short-listed candidates and the client. Getting a meeting between the interested parties can be a job in itself, with full diaries and executives often in overseas locations. A change of mind at the last minute can further drag out the process. Searches commonly take three months or more, and are not always successful.

Headhunting can be done by large international executive search firms, boutique firms that may focus on one or two niche markets, or by national recruitment agencies with executive search arms. Larger firms tend to be brought in for appointments at the CEO level or for positions reporting to the CEO, and where candidates are hard to find.

Stakes are high, with executive search firms generally charging up to a third of the position’s first-year salary — (placements resulting from advertising average about one fifth of the salary, and some headhunters charge a fixed fee). One standard headhunters generally set for themselves is to not approach people previously placed for another client. Damon Sharwood, the director of legal search and recruitment agency, Dolman, says the exception is a past placement approaching the agency off their own intitiative.

Sharwood says in some cases people have said in their exit interview that they were headhunted, rather than admitting they had been looking. “It’s happened a few times and we have then had to go back and explain ourselves,” Sharwood says.

How can people increase their chances of being headhunted? As well as approaching agencies, people should raise their profile. Julie Mills, the chief executive officer of Australia’s peak body, the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association Ltd, says in this new era of privacy law headhunters can face hurdles getting information — but there is nothing to stop people posting their own details on the internet.

And Gaby Riddington, senior principal at local recruitment firm Hamilton James & Bruce, which also does executive search, says people can become more visible by presenting themselves as expert in their area — especially beneficial for those who do not network outside the workplace to make presentations at conferences, publish papers or do volunteer work for professional associations.
Riddington says people who are looking for new opportunities should not get complacent, or let their standards drop. And she says it is worth the effort to recommend a suitable person if someone approaches you for help in a search — it’s likely the favour will be returned.

China recruiting tips:12 Questions to Measure Employee Engagement

Do your opinions seem to count? Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important? Have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
——————————————————————————–

After hundreds of focus groups and thousands of interviews with employees in a variety of industries, Gallup came up with the Q12, a 12-question survey that identifies strong feelings of employee engagement. Results from the survey show a strong correlation between high scores and superior job performance. Here are those 12 questions:

Do you know what is expected of you at work?

In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

China, Japan Inc. Recruiting Koreans

Previously employed by a major Korean consumer electronics company to supervise one of its production facilities, A is working for a Chinese electronics manufacturer (referred to as B) as an executive. After recruiting A, B copied the manufacturing system and even operational processes and organization of A¡¯s past employer. At the request of his current employer to ¡°bring talented workers from Korea at every opportunity,¡± A has recruited seven Koreans.

A¡¯s case reflects the ¡°talent war¡± waged between Korea, China and Japan. Given the cultural similarity among the three, it is relatively easier for them to capitalize on one another¡¯s talent pool.

Unfortunately, Korea is losing that ¡°war.¡± While China and Japan have rolled up their sleeves to attract as many talented workers as possible, Korea is losing a significant number of workers to non-Korean employers overseas due to job shortages. Moreover, Korean companies are not making enough systematic efforts to retain workers.

China is eying Korea¡¯s high-tech workforce who they think will boost its industrial growth. Grappling with an aging population, Japan is looking for workers who will help relieve itself of the burden of workforce shortages.

Outflow of Korea¡¯s Skilled Workers ¨C

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP) estimates that about 9,000 skilled workers were employed out of Korea last year and that 3,000 to 4,000 of them went to China.

The number of job seekers who found work in China through the Chinese online placement agency China Tong more than doubled from 1,094 in 2001 to 2,232 this year. One third of them are estimated to have been hired by Chinese companies.

Japan is luring more Korean workers to enhance its IT competitiveness and resolve its workforce shortages problem caused by aging. Indeed, the Japanese government and businesses are making hard efforts to recruit Korean and Chinese IT workers under the second-phase ¡°e-Japan¡± project whose main objective is Japan¡¯s comeback as an IT powerhouse. Headhunters in Japan are so eager to find Korean IT workers who are willing to come to Japan that some call the whole situation an ¡°IT Korean wave.¡±

Potentially A Hard Blow Against Korea¡¯s Competitiveness ¨C

Compared to the two neighbors, Korea¡¯s record of attracting talented foreign workers is far below expectations. According to the Ministry of Information and Communication, non-national IT experts working in Korea are just 1,122, whom include only 87 Chinese and 41 Japanese. The combined number of non-national high-quality workers in Korea (excluding those at language institutes) stands at about 2,000.

The Koreans who chose China or Japan did so because companies in the two countries came up with more attractive employment offers, including better living conditions.

Korean programmers working in Japan say, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go back home because I feel mistreated there.¡± An employee of a Korean company in Beijing says, ¡°Recently, Korean companies reduce their staff in China to cut costs. So more Koreans in China are quitting to remain in China.¡±

The Benefits of Outsourcing for Small Businesses

Outsourcing ¡ª the practice of using outside firms to handle work normally performed within a company ¡ª is a familiar concept to many entrepreneurs. Small companies routinely outsource their payroll processing, accounting, distribution, and many other important functions ¡ª often because they have no other choice. Many large companies turn to outsourcing to cut costs. In response, entire industries have evolved to serve companies’ outsourcing needs.

But not many businesses thoroughly understand the benefits of outsourcing. It’s true that outsourcing can save money, but that’s not the only (or even the most important) reason to do it. As many firms discovered during the outsourcing “mania” of the early 1990s, outsourcing too much can be an even bigger mistake than not outsourcing any work at all. The flat economy caused many companies into huge layoffs and subsequently outsourced functions that were better kept in-house. Wise outsourcing, however, can provide a number of long-term benefits:

Control capital costs. Cost-cutting may not be the only reason to outsource, but it’s certainly a major factor. Outsourcing converts fixed costs into variable costs, releases capital for investment elsewhere in your business, and allows you to avoid large expenditures in the early stages of your business. Outsourcing can also make your firm more attractive to investors, since you’re able to pump more capital directly into revenue-producing activities.

Increase efficiency. Companies that do everything themselves have much higher research, development, marketing, and distribution expenses, all of which must be passed on to customers. An outside provider’s cost structure and economy of scale can give your firm an important competitive advantage.

Reduce labor costs. Hiring and training staff for short-term or peripheral projects can be very expensive, and temporary employees don’t always live up to your expectations. Outsourcing lets you focus your human resources where you need them most.

Start new projects quickly. A good outsourcing firm has the resources to start a project right away. Handling the same project in-house might involve taking weeks or months to hire the right people, train them, and provide the support they need. And if a project requires major capital investments (such as building a series of distribution centers), the startup process can be even more difficult.

Focus on your core business. Every business has limited resources, and every manager has limited time and attention. Outsourcing can help your business to shift its focus from peripheral activities toward work that serves the customer, and it can help managers set their priorities more clearly.

Level the playing field. Most small firms simply can’t afford to match the in-house support services that larger companies maintain. Outsourcing can help small firms act “big” by giving them access to the same economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that large companies enjoy.

Reduce risk. Every business investment carries a certain amount of risk. Markets, competition, government regulations, financial conditions, and technologies all change very quickly. Outsourcing providers assume and manage this risk for you, and they generally are much better at deciding how to avoid risk in their areas of expertise.

Nine Tips on Checking References

Checking applicants’ references is one of the most important procedures in the hiring process. Many job seekers misrepresent their backgrounds and credentials; others simply leave out important information. And no matter how honest applicants are, you can still learn a great deal by talking to other people who know them well.

Checking references takes time, but it can save you a lot of money and headaches down the road. A negative reference could save you from hiring someone who is woefully unqualified for a job or who has destructive tendencies that could land you in trouble. For example, you can be held liable for a new hire who becomes violent and injures an employee or customer, or commits fraud ¡ª if it’s proven that a reference check could have stopped you from hiring the applicant. The best rule of thumb: always check applicants’ references before offering them the job.

These nine tips will help you get the goods on a job applicant:

1.Tell all applicants that you will check their references before you make any hiring decisions. Business owners often hire applicants because of a sharp-looking resume or a “good feeling” from an interview. No matter how quickly you’d like to get a position filled, always perform due diligence before you take the hiring plunge.

2.Ask each applicant to sign a release form permitting you to ask detailed questions of former employers and other references (sample background check permission forms are listed on this page). Make sure the form prevents the applicant from suing you or any former employers based on the information you learn during the reference checks. Without this permission, you may only be able to confirm employment dates, pay rate, and position ¡ª information that tells you little about a prospective employee’s character. Also, check with your lawyer, because some kinds of liability cannot be waived.

3.Fax over a copy of the prospective employee’s background check waiver and your personal credentials before you call a prospective employee’s references. Many employers fear being sued for defamation if they say anything negative about a former employee. Your fax will ease their fears. Keep in mind that some states now consider employers’ comments to be “qualifiedly privileged.” That means the employer cannot be held liable for the information he or she reveals unless he or she knows it to be false or reckless. If that’s true in your state (check with your lawyer), make sure the references know it.

4.Verify basic information such as employment dates, job titles, salary, and types of jobs performed. If one of the basic checks doesn’t match the prospective employee’s resume or what you heard during an interview, you’ve got a clear sign that something may be amiss.

5.Avoid vague questions. Ask specific questions based on what you learned about the applicant in the interview. For example: how did the employee contribute to projects mentioned in the interview?

6.Pay attention to neutral or negative comments from references. Lukewarm comments or half-hearted praise speak volumes. Ask the former employer if they would hire the person back. If they hesitate, move on to the next applicant.
Put less weight on positive references. Most people can find someone to say something good about them. And some employers give positive references even to bad ex-employees, because they’re afraid of legal action or are tired of paying unemployment taxes on the applicant.

7.Use former supervisors or senior coworkers as references. An applicant might not want you to contact their current employer (who might not know about the job hunt), but there are always people who can provide a reference.
Don’t rely on prospective employees’ verbal word regarding salary figures. Ask for a current pay stub to verify employment and pay rate.

8.Another bit of research you might conduct on a prospective employee is a background check. Not every company does this, and not every position merits it, but it might be appropriate for many of your staff. Learn more about how a background check is different from a reference check.

Our guide to online recruiting includes some general guidance on interviewing, reference checks, and other aspects of hiring, and it also tells you about the different online resources available to support your hiring and recruiting.

Speed Recruiting in China

R¨¦sum¨¦ flow is strong and time-to-hire is fast in Asia¡¯s largest labor pool. Broad statements in the U.S. media about an impending talent shortage in China are not borne out by more granular data on the labor supply and direct reports from companies engaged in heavy recruiting.
By Fay Hansen ——————————————————————————–
San Francisco-based Freeborders reviewed 25,000 job applications in China last year, conducted 3,400 first-round and 800 second-round interviews, and hired 251 new employees for its IT outsourcing services facility in Shenzhen. Recruiting is proceeding at roughly the same pace this year, with more than 2,000 r¨¦sum¨¦s flowing in each month for 30 to 50 positions.

Gomez Inc., another U.S.-based high-tech firm, moved from no presence in China to a fully functioning R&D facility for new-product development in less time than it takes many companies to hire a single advanced-degree engineer in the United States. The company posted positions in May and opened its new Beijing office in July.

Despite widespread predictions of looming talent shortages in China, where GDP growth is now clocking in at 10.2 percent, Freeborders¡¯ recruiters are swimming in r¨¦sum¨¦s in Shenzhen and the company¡¯s CEO discounts reports of acute shortages of managerial and high-level technical workers. Gomez¡¯s executives anticipate no difficulties in building headcount in Beijing.

Broad statements in the U.S. media about an impending talent shortage in China are not borne out by more granular data on the labor supply and direct reports from companies engaged in heavy recruiting.

Hard data offer no evidence of tighter labor markets, even in China¡¯s first-tier cities. In 2005, 295,000 new university graduates looked for work in Beijing alone. The highly developed Chinese university system is pumping out an ever-larger annual pool of candidates whose skills more closely match the needs of high-growth multinational companies than graduates in the United States and most of Europe.

Simultaneously, China¡¯s recruiting infrastructure is growing to meet the needs of employers, including multinationals expanding in the urban areas. The number of online job boards in China hit 2,000 this year and online sites have become the dominant form of recruiting for large companies, according to BusinessForum China. Last year, Monster Worldwide bought a 40 percent stake in one of the largest players, ChinaHR.com, which currently offers 480,000 jobs and 7.5 million registered job seekers.

Bulking up
Freeborders announced in June that it plans to quadruple the size of its Shenzhen facility to accommodate 2,000 employees, who will work in coordination with the company¡¯s U.S. and European project managers. Freeborders has stepped up its recruiting efforts to sign on hundreds of new employees in short order.

“We plan to hire several hundred graduates majoring in software development in a month or two as trainee developers,” Freeborders CEO John Cestar reports.

With revenue up 45 percent in 2005 and year-over-year bookings up 30 percent, Freeborders is a high-growth firm recruiting in a high-growth market.

In Shenzhen, Freeborders can pull from the 600,000 technology professionals who live there or the thousands who pour in from other regions of China every month. Most of Freeborders¡¯ new hires come from outside the Shenzhen area.

Shenzhen is home to 3,000 software companies. GDP growth for the metropolitan area is topping 15 percent a year. IDC forecasts that China will be the largest IT services market in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010, with a 24 percent share of IT spending in the region.

But those growth rates do not necessarily translate into tight labor markets. Instead, they act as a magnet for new investment and job seekers. China¡¯s Ministry of Science and Technology is pouring money into incentives for investment in new technologies, particularly in e-commerce, logistics, design and finance, and the Education Ministry is moving in tandem with university programs that boost the supply of tech candidates.

When Freeborders moved into China five years ago, it recruited 20 Chinese nationals who were working for software multinationals in North America and Europe. This core group then recruited for Freeborders¡¯ Shenzhen expansion. The company now runs a nationwide recruitment program through its own network, Web sites and job fairs.

“Our strategy is to focus our hiring for the key technologies that we know North American and European companies have demand for,” Cestar says. “We determine these needs through client surveys and training-needs questionnaires with our workers. Our software graduates speak good English and become highly valuable resources after going through our rigorous training program.”

Freeborders has not been forced to accelerate salary increases or bonuses to meet its recruiting goals.

“We find that many of our employees choose us because of the opportunity to work with Western clients,” Cestar says. “It¡¯s a source of prestige and they know it¡¯s good for their careers to deliver services to Western companies. That¡¯s our main selling point. When we survey our teams, compensation is usually the third or fourth reason they chose Freeborders.”

Freeborders minimizes its use of expatriates, but most of its senior managers in China have worked or been educated in the United States. This is changing, however.

“We are leveraging our current employees to recruit heavily within their personal networks to find managerial talent,” Cestar says. “We also plan to promote the next group of managers from within.”

Securing the managerial talent in China is a top priority for the company.

“It is a challenge simply because the universities are churning out so many young and highly skilled technology workers that there are not enough middle managers to handle the massive labor pool,” Cestar notes. “But it¡¯s a manageable challenge. Over time, this shortage will shrink as the junior-level technology workers grow in experience to become middle managers. It¡¯s only a matter of time.”

Meanwhile, Freeborders¡¯ global structure allows the company to segment tasks when necessary.

“Because we¡¯re a U.S.-based company, we mitigate a lot of the risk by having a strong U.S.-based project and technical management component to our teams,” Cestar reports. “They essentially work with the client on site and with our offshore teams at all hours of the day.”

Starting from scratch
While Freeborders is calmly recruiting more than 1,000 IT workers in Shenzhen, Gomez is expanding its R&D staff in Beijing, bringing in additional support staff and basking in the new recruiting environment that China offers.

“We were up and running in Beijing with 20 R&D employees in 12 weeks,” reports Richard Darer, vice president and CFO of Gomez.

“We never could have done that in our U.S. office near Boston, no matter what we threw at it. The talent pool is so much smaller in the United States that there simply isn¡¯t sufficient r¨¦sum¨¦ flow.” The company pulled in 3,000 r¨¦sum¨¦s to fill the Beijing jobs.

“In the United States, we use job boards like Monster, but we end up hiring contract recruiters,” Darer says. “The universities in China are turning out so much talent that it¡¯s a different situation.”

In its site search, Gomez considered Shanghai, but it settled on Beijing because of its exceptionally strong university system. The company¡¯s new facility is located near Tsinghua University, China¡¯s leading science and technology institution. The Beijing area is home to 274,000 tech workers, with scientists and engineers accounting for 83 percent of the total, according to the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

Gomez provides Web application performance management solutions for 400 companies worldwide, including Amazon, Yahoo and Best Buy. Headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, with European operations centered in Hamburg, Germany, the company reported Q1 2006 revenue growth up 50 percent compared with Q1 2005. As its first step in expanding into China, CEO Jaime Ellertson personally recruited Yuan Cheng, a Chinese national with an engineering degree from Tsinghua University and a doctorate from MIT, as general manager for China.

The new office will triple Gomez¡¯s product development staff by the end of 2006. To recruit the first group for the Beijing location, Cheng tapped job boards such as ChinaHR.com and targeted university online job sites. The company¡¯s online job postings for China include JavaScript software engineers and technical support engineers.

“Cheng screened the r¨¦sum¨¦s to find candidates with the right technical skills and to eliminate job jumpers,” Darer says.

From the 3,000 r¨¦sum¨¦s, Cheng invited 200 candidates for interviews, most with two to five years of experience and 40 percent with graduate degrees.

Large groups of candidates attended high-level presentations on the company, followed by one-on-one interviews that used the presentations as the context for detailed technical questions.

“Our challenge was screening out candidates, not finding sufficient talent,” Darer says.

He worked with technology companies operating in India before joining Gomez, and notes the sharp differences there.

“If you want to fill two positions in India, you make offers to four candidates because only two of those will actually show up to start the job,” he says.

During Gomez¡¯s initial recruiting drive in Beijing, a few candidates who received offers didn¡¯t accept because of compensation issues.

“Our challenge in China is that compensation is beginning to move up,” Darer says. “But the economic cost ratio for the United States and China is 3-to-1, so even if compensation creeps up in Beijing, there is still a huge cost advantage.”

Darer is not concerned about retention in the Beijing office.

“We work on the cutting edge of the Web and e-commerce, and part of the attraction for our employees is the opportunity to work on exciting and sexy stuff,” he notes. “You can see the gleam in their eyes.”

The R&D employees in Beijing develop new products with worldwide reach and the company now plans to hire direct-sales and support staff, but with different language skills.

“When companies set up R&D in China, they have to think about language proactively,” Darer advises. “For some of our key managerial and customer support positions, our employees must be fluent in English. But we do not require fluent English from our engineers.”

Darer, who received an engineering degree and an MBA from Harvard, sees his HR responsibilities as a logical part of his work as CFO.

“As we all know, our assets walk out the door every night at 5,” he says.

Managing talent is a critical component in the company¡¯s financial success.

“And the talent in Beijing is well beyond our expectations,” he notes.

How to Build a Strong Human Resources Partner

What is the secret to creating and managing a successful human resources function? With so much at stake, HR must step up and demonstrate it is worthy of the human and financial capital entrusted to it.
By Derek Carissimi
——————————————————————————–

e¡¯ve all heard these words, or something similar, uttered at one time or another by every CEO in the country. We¡¯ve heard these words so often they¡¯ve become clich¨¦, and almost meaningless.

How many organizations really believe these words and conduct business accordingly? How many give human resources equal status and importance with finance, marketing, medical affairs and patient services? The good news is: more and more every day. The bad news is: not enough.

As staffing shortages continue; the true cost of employee turnover finally hits home; the connection between employee satisfaction and patient satisfaction is recognized; the importance of effective employee relations understood; the number of dollars and percent of budget devoted to employee benefits acknowledged; and the exposure to employee-related lawsuits realized; organizations throughout the country are coming to appreciate that employees truly are the organization¡¯s greatest asset–and expense.

As such, human resources, which is charged with managing the “people function,” is a very important role and needs to be on the same level of the corporate food chain as finance, marketing, IT, et al.

That being said, what is the secret to creating and managing a successful human resources function? With so much at stake, HR must step up and demonstrate it is worthy of the human and financial capital entrusted to it.

Traditionally, this has not been a strength of human resource leaders. Reliance on the touchy-feely and warm-fuzzy intangibles is no longer adequate as HR must step up to the plate and become a true business and strategic partner.

How to step up to the plate? Here are the building blocks to establish an effective human resources function:

Aggressive recruitment
Keeping the organization staffed is, and will continue to be, an essential function of the effective HR department. Today¡¯s recruitment strategies, however, must be different than in the past.

Very few organizations have invested in the most fundamental and necessary component of a strong recruitment program¡ªthat being the preparation of a workforce projection document. Workforce projection consists of an in-depth analysis of the staffing needs of the organization five to 10 years into the future.

This analysis, done by job classification (i.e., staff nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, food service workers, etc.), must include the following components: (1) projected voluntary and involuntary turnover; (2) projected retirements based on the current age of employees in each job classification; (3) projected growth or decline of each of the organization¡¯s service lines; (4) anticipated population growth or decline in the community or communities the organization serves; (5) geographic shifts in the population, anticipated growth and strategies of the organization¡¯s key competitors; (6) future plans of local and state governments.

Only after the workforce projection analysis is complete is human resources in a position to aggressively recruit, and even more important, direct resources in the proper direction, effectively utilizing budget dollars.

Aggressive recruitment in today¡¯s world is definitely different than in the past.

Newspaper advertising, long the staple, is no longer effective. Spending significant amounts on newspaper recruitment is a waste of resources. Instead, more creative methods are required.

Today¡¯s recruitment requires the extensive utilization of on-line methodologies, including resume mining, applicant tracking, on-line applications, the extensive use of banners and headlines, and direct messaging to the targeted audience.

Cold-calling, direct mailings, recruitment events, employee referrals, internal career mobility programs and the use of targeted professional journals are the ways to attract candidates. It is also important to include current employees in the formulation of strategies and focus groups in the community, and elsewhere, to determine what the public thinks of you as an employer, and why current employees came to, and stay with, your organization.

It is also crucial to have a robust exit program to determine why employees leave the organization. Lastly, recruitment must not be the sole responsibility of human resources.

Hiring departments–and indeed, all managers–must have a stake in keeping a low vacancy rate. The best way to accomplish this is to include it as a performance measurement item that determines pay adjustments.

Education
Invest in your employees. Once on board, new employees must be immediately immersed into a culture of continuous learning.

Starting with the new-hire orientation program, employees must feel the organization¡¯s commitment to education and continuous learning. Such commitment translates into an investment on the part of the organization to its employees.

Meaningful tuition reimbursement programs, salary increases for certifications, salary adjustments for the attainment of degrees, tapping skilled employees to teach, career ladders, the opportunity to attend internal and external workshops, rewards for publishing articles and books and for presenting at professional conferences, mentoring programs and internal career mobility programs are all ways to demonstrate commitment to education and a culture of continuous learning. With a little creativity and innovation, these outcomes can be achieved with less expense than one might think.

Communication
Communicate early and often.

There is no substitute for communication in establishing a loyal workforce. Human resources should be the focal point for employee communication.

Organizations frequently hide behind the cloak of confidentiality as a reason for not communicating with employees. In reality, however, there is a lot we can tell employees without hitting the confidentiality barrier.

To be credible, communication needs to be open, honest, truthful, frequent and humble–and should disclose as much as possible, good news or bad. It must also be two-way and come in a variety of formats, such as newsletters, open meetings, letters to the home, opinion surveys, 360-degree evaluations, management rounding, rumor hotlines, open-door policies, broadcast voice mails, management meeting minutes and information centers.

There is no secret to effective communication. It is easier said than done, however. If an organization trusts its employees as stakeholders in the business, this process of communication will come easily. Without trust, it will prove very difficult.

It is human resources¡¯ responsibility to develop the good will and foundation for effective communication. It is then HR¡¯s responsibility to coordinate the ongoing process of solid two-way communication.

Without a good communication program, there is no way an organization can succeed. With one, there is no way it can fail.

Recognition
The fourth building block for constructing a strong human resources function is an organized and methodical employee recognition program. Many organizations believe they have a recognition program because they have a service awards luncheon once a year and an annual company picnic.

These activities are good if part of larger effort, but virtually worthless if they stand alone.

Today¡¯s recognition programs must be broad-based, long and short term in nature, individual versus event-oriented, and woven into the culture of the organization. A culture of recognition is one where employees know they are appreciated every day, without corny or awkward gestures from managers and administrators.

There are five objectives for a recognition program:

To build a long-term relationship with each employee.

To address issues before they become major problems.

Recognition programs sound like a no-brainer. It¡¯s hard to disagree with the concept, isn¡¯t it?

Nevertheless, a relatively small number of employers actually have one. It¡¯s easy to throw together a couple of events every year and say we have a recognition program.

But we don¡¯t.

A true recognition program must be systematic, methodical, in writing and measurable. It must also allow for spontaneous recognition every minute of every day, and it must allow for employee peer recognition. A recognition program that doesn¡¯t allow for spontaneity, and for employees to recognize one another, is doomed to failure.

Organizations without comprehensive recognition programs should remember the following: (a) praise and recognition are keys to employee satisfaction; (b) employers receive the lowest ratings from employees in the area of recognition; (c) high employee satisfaction equals low turnover; (d) according to employees, being ignored is the worst.

In conclusion, despite the clich¨¦, people really are the organization¡¯s greatest asset; as managers of the people function, human resources deserves recognition as a business and strategic partner, but must step up and prove its understanding and connection to the business; and the building blocks of a strong human resources function are (1) aggressive recruitment, (2) education; (3) communication and (4) recognition.

An HR function strong in these four areas will be successful and meaningfully contribute to the success of the organization.

Senior engagement key to employer branding

SHRINKING TALENT pools, increased mobility of workers, an ageing workforce and a desire on the part of younger generations to work for companies that are honest in their dealings with employees are driving an increase in employer branding.

Brett Minchington, managing director of Collective Learning Australia, said HR professionals need to engage senior executives in the benefits of developing a strong employer brand and its impact on the ability of the firm to attract, engage and retain talent.

¡°In essence, HR needs to develop a business case that is written in the language that will engage the hearts of mind of those at the top,¡± he said.

¡°To develop a culture that is supportive of the employer brand concept and is reflected in the actions of leaders at all levels of the organisation, firms should measure employee engagement and/or satisfaction and commitment on a consistent basis and link the results to financial performance.¡±

Speaking at a recent Select Australasia event in Sydney, Minchington also said employer branding should not be the sole responsibility of HR, even though research shows that, globally, the strategy is generally driven by the HR department.

¡°Ideally HR should work closely with the marketing and internal communications department to ensure that there is consistency in the development and communication of the employer brand internally and externally,¡± he said.

¡°Without the support of the MD or CEO, it is unlikely employer brand efforts will achieve the financial and operational outcomes being experienced by firms that integrate employer brand efforts into their overall business strategy.¡±

He also noted that the biggest criticism by owners and senior management of employer brand activities has been the lack of measurable outcomes for their investment.

¡°In simple terms, what doesn¡¯t get measured doesn¡¯t get managed. There are a number of human capital measures to determine the ROI of your employer brand program,¡± he said.

HR’s Hand in Productivity

Few HR leaders attempt to take responsibility for their workforce’s productivity.
By John Sullivan
——————————————————————————–
Iroutinely ask HR leaders around the world, “Do you see increasing productivity of your workforce as a primary part of your job, and do you compare your results with those of your worldwide competitors?” The response of most leaders is the same: bewilderment, a long pause, a blank stare. It continues to amaze me that HR leaders do not recognize that every business function, whether it be marketing, finance, production or HR, is in the productivity business. That means continually getting more out of every dollar you spend on the resources that you control.
Workforce productivity is in the news: I am highlighting this issue because workforce productivity is in the news on a daily basis. Corporate giants like Ford, Kraft, Hewlett-Packard, United Airlines and General Motors are being pounded by analysts because their labor costs are skyrocketing past those of their domestic and foreign competitors.

My point is simple: Despite the constant rants by analysts and CEOs, few HR leaders attempt to take responsibility for their workforce¡¯s productivity. In finance, for example, calculating the productivity of financial investments is a common practice, as in real estate, marketing, manufacturing and supply-chain management. Measuring workforce productivity is not that hard. The most basic measure is simply the cost of the inputs (all salaries, benefits and HR department costs) compared with the value of the outputs (production output value, revenue or profit).

HR must declare itself “captain of the ship”: One argument I often hear is that HR does not directly manage the workforce and therefore cannot be held directly responsible for productivity. That argument is weak. Every other corporate function is held accountable when the resources that it manages do not produce adequate results, so why should HR be exempt? HR must declare itself accountable and then design systems that influence, cajole and sell managers and employees so that the productivity levels of the workforce remain competitive.

Cutting costs is easy; managing strategically is hard: Occasionally HR leaders will respond that they do manage the productivity of the workforce by manipulating labor costs. Any accountant can figure out how to shave 10 percent off the budget, but developing systems to maximize the output of all the budgeted pieces requires significant thought and coordination. This, in my estimation, is the true purpose of HR: to increase workforce productivity through activities that increase the other (but most important) side of the ROI equation, which is revenue. If HR leaders can shift their emphasis to driving increases in workforce output without increasing people costs, they will have demonstrated that they can strategically manage the workforce.

Global competition is forcing HR to change: Globalization and economic growth in China, India and Eastern Europe, where labor rates are significantly cheaper than in the United States and Central Europe, will make managing workforce productivity an imperative for organizations that wish to survive. This new imperative means that HR must monitor labor productivity and advise senior management when moving offshore or outsourcing presents an opportunity to better compete. HR must begin to look at what type of work must be done and under what parameters, and then suggest to management what labor type to use and where such labor should be sourced or located. In addition, HR must advise managers when they have too many employees before a wide-scale correction is needed. Labor costs will be a component of the analysis, but they cannot be given more weight than quality, innovation and agility.

I argue that these wake-up calls signal that it is time for the DNA of HR to change. The new HR leader learns from the old slogan “What¡¯s good for General Motors is good for the country.” But the lesson learned is a new one: Managing workforce productivity like HR at GM has may be the cause of your organization¡¯s downfall.

Job Search Strategies Like Playing Chess

Every job seeker…and there are lots of you out there…wishes there was a “magic formula” to accelerate their job search. The truth is how well your job search fares is directly dependent on preparation. Just like in the game of chess, a sound strategy before you start to play is more likely to reap success than just “winging it”.

Here are 3 preparation strategies you can use now, so your job search is equipped with a winning game plan:

1. Get FOCUSED: What specific occupational field, what level within that field, and what industry (or industries) of choice are you targeting? For example, you may be passionate about outdoor adventuring and have a background in retail sales and sales management. You may choose to focus on Retail Sales (occupational field) Manager (level within that field), Outdoor Sports Equipment, Accessories, Services and Vendors (industries of choice). The employers in your industry (or industries) of choice are your target audience, rather than any employer anywhere!

Trying to be all things to all employers in a “generic” resume just doesn’t work anymore. Keyword resume-sniffing software mandates that the job seeker or career advancer identify exactly what they are going after, and then crafting their marketing message around that, incorporating required and desired keywords for the occupational field, level of position, and industry.

2. Get BRANDED: Differentiation is key to career and job search success. You cannot appear to be just another one of the thundering herd. So knowing your personal brand – what makes you unique and different from your competitors, as well as what attributes your target audience really values – AND being able to express that in your marketing materials (like your resume and cover letter) will put you ahead in the job search arena.

Personal branding and the 360Reach personal branding assessment – a confidential online branding assessment – can aid you in unearthing your personal brand so you can begin to use it effectively in your job search.

3. Get UPDATED EDUCATION and TRAINING: Do not assume that Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree you got 10 or even 20 years ago suffices anymore. Employers want to see that you are actively engaged in learning about advancements in your field. They do not want to have to train you on what they believe you should already know.

If you technology skills are rusty, look at non-credit courses at your local community college or even tutorials online. To stay updated in your professional field, you can take courses (credit or non-credit) or join a professional association in your field and attend the workshops and conferences. If the association offers credentialing, consider it. Objective evidence of up-to-date skills and knowledge, like credentials, offer proof that you are serious about your career and the value you can bring to a potential employer.

BONUS – Keep track of your ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Accomplishments are the “meat” that makes up your resume’s main course. Without relevant and convincing results, you may be perceived of by an employer as just a “seat warmer” in your current (or past) jobs. That’s not exactly a stellar approach to securing a potential new employer’s interest. But, benefits (accomplishments) are! What better place to showcase the benefits of hiring you than by demonstrating what you have been able to accomplish for others in the past.