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Articles - Bryan Johanson

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Seven Deadly Sourcing Sins

Bryan Johanson, May 7, 2008

Topics: Newsletter

You all know about the seven deadly sins. Commit any one of these and your eternal future may be in jeopardy. Today, I'll reveal the seven deadly sins of sourcing. While their eternal consequences may not be quite so dire, their negative effects on your ability to attract the best talent are an absolute certainty. For those of you who are well versed in classic literature, now would be a good time to recall Dante's seven levels of hell or some of the more graphic Greek tragedies. If I remember correctly they don't end well. So, to avoid similar consequences you might want to pay careful attention to these common sourcing pitfalls:

If you were able to answer these questions with some degree of specificity, you may now proceed to the next six sins. All good sourcing activities require deep job knowledge, so it amazes me how many recruiters expect to attract top talent without it. Your ability to create a compelling pitch, post a killer ad, or convince a candidate who's on the fence to move forward all comes from job knowledge. Job knowledge also allows a recruiter to understand what the benefits are for the candidate (i.e., opportunity, growth, stretch). Otherwise, all you have left is compensation and benefits, and in this market, that's not nearly enough.

» Continue reading "Seven Deadly Sourcing Sins"

Building Your Personal Recruitment Brand

Bryan Johanson, April 9, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

When your clients or hiring managers think of you as a recruiter, what words come to their minds? Reliable? Insightful? Unresponsive? Bureaucratic? Whatever the words, these concepts define our personal recruitment brand. Hiring Managers may not communicate these directly to us in formal meetings, but they definitely share their opinions among their peers. Below is a short quiz which should help you get a jump start on where you stand with your personal recruitment brand. Ask yourself each of the following questions and be honest in your answers. No one’s looking, I promise.

» Continue reading "Building Your Personal Recruitment Brand"

Plan, Do, Study, and Act - The Foundation for Continuously Improving Recruiting

Bryan Johanson, March 12, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

Plan, Do, Study, and Act is Dr. Edward Deming's approach to Total Quality Improvement. If you know anything about The Adler Group, you know that we believe hiring should be a predictable, repeatable business process. We advocate a process called Performance-based Hiring which we firmly believe allows organizations to systematically hire top talent. To make it predictable and repeatable there must be a structured approach to hiring that can be scaleable throughout an organization and a continuous process of planning, doing, studying, and acting to improve upon that process. There are four components to this process including the creation of a Performance Profile for each position, a focus on sourcing top talent (we call this "Talent-Centric Sourcing"), an evidence-based interview using our Two Question Performance-based Interview, as well as an integrated process for recruiting and closing the candidate. In our recent survey we asked candidates to measure the effectiveness of key aspects of the hiring process from the recruiter's perspective by answering the following question:

» Continue reading "Plan, Do, Study, and Act - The Foundation for Continuously Improving Recruiting"

Recruiting Metrics

Bryan Johanson, February 13, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

Question 12: How would you rank your company in using the following metrics to track performance?

One of the areas we wanted to explore in our recently completed survey was the use of metrics in tracking recruiting effectiveness. We asked recruiters and recruiting managers to rank their use of a particular set of recruiting metrics in tracking their team’s effectiveness. We picked metrics that we considered to be some of the most important indicators of recruiting efficiency and success. These include:

Candidates interviewed compared to number presented Candidates interviewed per hire Number of candidate interviews set up by recruiter by week or month The use of web trends to track ad performance Quality of candidates hired by recruiter and by manager

Quality of candidates by sourcing channel Time to hire Candidate on-the-job performance compared to predicted performance Turnover by position Turnover by manager

» Continue reading "Recruiting Metrics"

The Year of the Race!--Recruiting, Restructuring, and Rebuilding

Bryan Johanson, January 16, 2008

Topics: Managing, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting

2008 is the year of races, including the all-important race for the Presidency of the United States. As the presidential hopefuls gear up for their longest job interview ever, we shouldn't forget that the race for top quality talent in our own organizations has already begun, and candidates are bolting out of the gate at a tremendous clip. Unlike the presidential race, where now nine hopeful candidates are vying for one top job, the talent race is upside down with hundreds of thousands of candidates and even more open positions. As one pundit put it last year, "The talent wars are definitely over and the candidates have won!" Just like the bloated real estate market, we've got a glut of jobs and a shortage of talent (except perhaps in Michigan), and more recruiters than ever pitching their opportunities to an ever shrinking talent pool. Even if the economy dips into the dreaded recession, we'll still have jobs for talented people. It's a buyers market even for average talent, and recruiters are going to have to step up their game if they expect to attract top people. And just for the record... it's always a buyers market for top talent regardless of the position, industry, or economic circumstances.

» Continue reading "The Year of the Race!--Recruiting, Restructuring, and Rebuilding"

The One Question Interview Challenge

Bryan Johanson, November 7, 2007

Topics: Interview Training, Interviewing, Newsletter, Performance Profiles

Two months ago I gave a presentation to a room full of HR managers and executives from an engineering company in Omaha, Nebraska. After the presentation I had several conversations about their hiring challenges with individual managers. I ended up giving three people copies of the audio CD, "The One Question Interview," with the challenge that they use this approach on their next big hire and report back on their results. Last Thursday I received the following voice message from John Martin of Cascade Engineering. Here's what he had to say:

» Continue reading "The One Question Interview Challenge"

Get a Life! AND recruit candidates at the same time.

Bryan Johanson, October 11, 2007

Topics: Networking, Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing

Today I'll share with you the inside scoop on Sodexho's first foray into using Virtual Job Fairs in Second Life. I recently interviewed Anthony Scarpino, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition for Sodexho, and Amy Brooks, one of Sodexho's recruiters who participated in their first ever virtual job fair. Amy recently attended our online Recruiter Boot Camp and graciously volunteered to share her experiences using Second Life to attract candidates.

» Continue reading "Get a Life! AND recruit candidates at the same time."

Fixing Corporate Recruiting

Bryan Johanson, September 14, 2007

Topics: Networking, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing

Last week I met with a Director of Recruiting from a major Fortune 200 company in the Midwest. In a recent meeting with one of her top corporate executives, the executive made the comment that he finally considered the recruiting department "fixed." The Recruiting Director was so taken back by the comment that she didn't really know how to respond. She was genuinely troubled by his comment. What does he mean by "fixed"? Perhaps it was a backhanded compliment or maybe he meant "fixed" in the sense that he's crossed it off his to-do list—he's no longer worried about it. Perhaps he believes that because they recently installed a new ATS system, added two or three additional recruiters, and restructured their sourcing department, he doesn't really need to worry about it any more.

» Continue reading "Fixing Corporate Recruiting"

Unmasking the Well-Prepared Candidate

Bryan Johanson, August 17, 2007

Topics: Assessment, Interview Training, Interviewing, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting

It's back-to-school week here in Colorado, so my eight children are beginning yet another year of school. It's always interesting to me to gauge their reactions to their new teachers. They form their impressions very early, and some of those impressions are negative. Last night my son told me about his new sixth grade math teacher from you-know-where. "Oh dad, she is absolutely awful! She's extremely strict, she doesn't allow talking in class, and home work has to be in on time. If it's a minute late you get zero credit. She's way too serious, no fun, and she's the hardest, worst teacher in the school. Can you help me transfer out of her class?" We've all had teachers like this one, but what's interesting to me is that as you go through this process over and over with so many kids, you realize that the first day of school is very much contrived. It's a huge multi-act play. Every teacher has on his/her game face. Some try to scare the kids into submission while others try to win the students over by being open and friendly. Each has their own strategy and it's all carefully orchestrated to set the stage for the coming year. In two or three weeks once the impact of the teachers' "first day of school" speeches wear off, I'll start to get the "real" scoop. Sometimes the toughest teacher becomes my child's favorite. What I really care about is simply their ability to teach my children their subjects well.

» Continue reading "Unmasking the Well-Prepared Candidate"

Are You On YouTube?

Bryan Johanson, July 26, 2007

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing

The FBI is looking for a few good interns, and they are looking on YouTube. Surprised? You shouldn't be. In June I spoke at the Arkansas Association of Colleges and Employers. As I travel I always ask my audiences, "What's new in recruiting? What have you seen that's really innovative and cutting edge?" One of the leaders of this group, Ron, mentioned the new campaign that the FBI launched three months ago on YouTube. He was so excited about it that his career center is now in the process of producing something similar to promote internships at his college. Naturally I had to take a look.

» Continue reading "Are You On YouTube?"

Waking the Sleeping Giant - Passive Candidates Won't be Passive for Long!

Bryan Johanson, May 31, 2007

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing

Life in recruiting used to be simple. Recruiters had exclusive jobs to offer to passive candidates who weren't looking for a job. Recruiters were the only ones who knew about these jobs, which gave them some element of control. The internet didn't exist and passive candidates stayed passive. Today the line between passive candidates and active candidates is crossed regularly.

» Continue reading "Waking the Sleeping Giant - Passive Candidates Won't be Passive for Long!"

Retail Marketing Meets Corporate Recruiting

Bryan Johanson, April 19, 2007

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing

Circuit City has taken a lot of heat in the last few weeks for their recent "wage" action. If you didn't hear, they recently fired hundreds of higher paid ($12/ hour) sales people only to replace them with lower paid ($8/hour) entry level sales - translated "they don't know squat" sales people. A bold but very misguided move on their part. So let's imagine that because of their recent actions they want to dramatically boost sales in the short run. They go out and hire a brand new Vice President of Sales to come up with a whole new approach to retailing. After careful thought, a few late nights and way too many "Red Bulls", the new Vice President decides that what they need is a much more structured and focused sales approach.

» Continue reading "Retail Marketing Meets Corporate Recruiting"

Back Woods Recruiting

Bryan Johanson, March 29, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

Last week I traveled to Pennsylvania to conduct a Recruiter Boot Camp training class for a small recruiting firm in the backwoods of the Poconos. When I say the backwoods, I really mean up in the trees, out in the boonies, and completely isolated. I felt a little like I was entering into a real time warp. Just to give you a flavor for the group, it's like one big happy family. Monday nights and Wednesday nights are reserved for their regular pool tournament. They have a company team and some of them are apparently pretty good players. Tuesdays and Fridays are bowling nights. Thursday is of course date night. The CEO and founder graciously skipped her Wednesday evening at the pool table to join me for dinner.

» Continue reading "Back Woods Recruiting"

The World of Hiring - Changing Faster Than Most Companies Can Respond

Bryan Johanson, March 1, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

Last week we kicked off our live Performance-based Hiring Tour 2007 with the first event in Washington, D.C. to a sold out crowd. On Wednesday evening, Lou Adler hosted 21 recruiting leaders in an intimate roundtable discussion about state-of-the-art recruiting in corporate America. Since it was an invitation only event - all participants were directors and vice presidents of recruiting, or Vice Presidents of HR, with direct responsibility for recruiting.

For those of you who couldn't make it, or would rather be a fly-on-the-wall, I thought I'd share a few of the issues discussed by this high powered group. These may be some of the very issues you'll want to address in your own hiring strategy for 2007.

» Continue reading "The World of Hiring - Changing Faster Than Most Companies Can Respond"

Are You Ready to Interview the Class of 2014?

Bryan Johanson, February 7, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

Today at 2:00, I have the distinct honor of going to my son's 5th grade class and teaching 11-year old kids basic interviewing skills. The class is preparing for their Ameritown project - when they'll actually run a small town for a day. Each student has chosen a job to do and is preparing to compete with other kids in the class for the position they want. My goal is to teach them how to ace the interview to get the best job, while beating their friends in the competition. Sound familiar? I like the whole concept. It's edgy, it's real, and it's a true taste of how it's going to be once they get out of school and into the dog-eat-dog world of business.

» Continue reading "Are You Ready to Interview the Class of 2014?"

Candidates, are they finding your company career web site?

Bryan Johanson, January 17, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

In this week's article, I interview Doug Berg, CEO and Founder of HotGigs. He and his team have recently developed a new product called Jobs2Web which addresses a growing issue for many companies. This interview is not intended to be an endorsement for the Jobs2Web product, but rather an exploration of the issues that make such a product necessary for companies that want to fully leverage the internet for recruiting.

First some background. When the Internet was first invented (not by Al Gore) it was touted as the great disintermediary. No longer would we have to go through middle men to get to products and services. The Internet would flatten the world, allowing buyers to purchase directly from the manufacturer at lower prices, with greater service and more communication. Unfortunately, with only a few exceptions such as Ebay, the first wave of successful Internet companies has really just been another vehicle for middle men to tap their target markets. Job seekers still generally go through middle men like Monster or CareerBuilder.com or any number of other niche sites. With the cost of ads rising (over $400 an ad) and the reach declining, these middle men are getting top dollar, delivering less and providing a market place which does not differentiate job offerings. Doug Berg describes why companies should start driving traffic to their own websites and not rely solely on the job boards. So sit back and enjoy a different world view:

» Continue reading "Candidates, are they finding your company career web site?"

Being Found
How to Help the Hidden Job Market Find You

Bryan Johanson, December 6, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Prior to the advent of Internet job boards, savvy job hunters who wanted to tap into the hidden job market would start by identifying recruiters who had an industry specialty. Job seekers would network directly with the recruiter to get a pulse on who was hiring and what positions were open. Recruiters would keep these candidates' names on file for a rainy day; and, when they were ready to make a move they would start dialing for dollars. The Internet has changed this landscape considerably. The job boards have indeed created a fluid marketplace for talent. However, the best talent still does not look actively; nor, do they want to be found in the resume banks on the Internet.

» Continue reading "Being Found
How to Help the Hidden Job Market Find You"

Putting the Great back in Hiring

Bryan Johanson, November 15, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Fortune magazine ran an article in their October 28^th edition on "What it takes to be Great". If you haven't had a chance to read it, it is well worth your time. I quote liberally from the article below. On one hand, the article has nothing to do with hiring. On the other hand, the article has everything to do with hiring. Everybody wants to hire "great" employees and many managers have a vision in their minds of what would make the perfect employee, but few truly understand the essence of greatness as it relates to a particular job.

» Continue reading "Putting the Great back in Hiring"

Dealing with Darwin

Bryan Johanson, October 25, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

I recently picked up a book entitled Dealing with Darwin - How Great companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution. The book was recommended to me by John Ganley, former director of recruiting for Quest Software who was recently promoted to Vice President of Human Resources at Quest. This is another Geoffrey Moore book which focuses primarily on high tech companies; however, its lesson can be applied widely across any type of organization and functional group in any size organization. The basic premise of the book is that in order to thrive, companies must innovate. Change is of course inevitable; all innovation is not equal, nor does it provide the same level of benefits to a company or organization. Appropriate innovation is dependent on the product lifecycle, the market, and the customers who are being served.

» Continue reading "Dealing with Darwin"

Technology Won’t Save Us, but The Right Technology Can Help!

Bryan Johanson, October 4, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

In previous articles, I’ve written about the need to reverse engineer job postings to ensure they are visible on the web to prospective candidates. As job boards become more and more busy, employers must go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their opportunities are seen. While we teach some key techniques for accomplishing this in Recruiter Boot Camp, the ultimate solution will eventually be found in enabling technology. Following a recent Recruiter Boot Camp session, one of our attendees confided, “This is great stuff, but where am I going to find the time to do it all?” Herein is one of the great dilemmas of corporate recruiters; they don’t have enough time to do true passive candidate sourcing. Some corporate recruiters don’t even have time to do a great job of active candidate sourcing; so, they end up just administrating the process.

» Continue reading "Technology Won’t Save Us, but The Right Technology Can Help!"

What You Absolutely Must Do to Find Better Candidates

Bryan Johanson, August 30, 2006

Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing

Want to dramatically reduce recruiting costs, improve candidate quality and reduce the time to hire? Who doesn't? Here's a new idea: STOP ADVERTISING ON THE JOB BOARDS. Just say no! Go cold turkey. True, it's a pretty risky strategy if that's your only sourcing channel, but most large corporations report that fewer than 7.5% of all hires come from mainstream job boards. The sea is changing and all indicators point to a dramatic decline in quantity and quality of candidates coming from the job boards. Why not just take a short break and reinvest those dollars in recruiter training, better employee referral programs, networking and relationship recruiting? Maybe the major job boards will get the hint and actually change their approach and come up with better ways to provide real value to the candidates and employers they serve. While part of the blame for this decline lies with the job boards themselves, some of it rightly resides with the companies that use them. A short term time-out may be exactly what we need to spur some serious rethinking of how we use job boards in our overall recruiting strategies.

» Continue reading "What You Absolutely Must Do to Find Better Candidates"

Job Boards - The Neglected Opportunity

Bryan Johanson, July 11, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Below are two facts that illustrate one of the great paradoxes of modern corporate recruiting.

Fact #1: The best people aren't found on the job boards.

Fact #2: 85-90% of corporate recruiters use job boards as their primary (nearly exclusive) source of candidates to fill positions.

Herein lies the paradox! Corporations want to hire the best talent possible, but they structure their corporate recruiting function so their recruiters only have time to source active candidates fishing primarily in the shallow end of the talent pool. Here's what we hear from corporate recruiters about their ability to source passive candidates:

» Continue reading "Job Boards - The Neglected Opportunity"

The Secrets of Sourcing Less Active Candidates - Finally Revealed

Bryan Johanson, June 14, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

For the next few months my column will be devoted to the secrets and nuances of sourcing top employees using the mainstream recruiting tools like Monster, Careerbuilder, Zoom info, Linked-in and a whole host of other tools designed for high volume sourcing. I'll be experimenting with several new ideas and reporting on their success. These tools are the bread and butter for corporate recruiters with lots of requisitions and limited time. If you want to be part of our formal sourcing study or want to contribute some of your own lessons learned using these tools, just drop me a quick email (bryan@adlerconcepts.com) and we'll gladly include your experiences in our research. In the meantime...

» Continue reading "The Secrets of Sourcing Less Active Candidates - Finally Revealed"

Performance-Based Hiring^sm - A Systematic Process of Hiring Top Talent

Bryan Johanson, May 17, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Dr. Edward Deming, the father of Japan's industrial revival and quality movement after World War II is well known for his famous "Red Bead Experiment." In the experiment, students are asked to select a certain percentage of white beads from a jar containing both white and red beads using a small wooden paddle with holes in it. By design, the tool they use produces random results and yet Dr. Demming rewards students who get closer to the right percentage even though the results are completely out of their control. In last week's article Lou made a strong case that HR is wasting a great deal of money by propagating an antiquated, broken and fundamentally flawed hiring process. Much like Demming's experiment, the reason hiring remains the most random business process is the lack of proper tools, process controls and real knowledge about what drives hiring success. This week, part two of our three part series, we'll discuss the investments that companies should make in their hiring process if they want to gain control of their most important procurement process - the process of acquiring the right human capital. Below are the four most important changes companies can make now to save thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in wasted time while raising the bar for hiring across the board.

» Continue reading "Performance-Based Hiring^sm - A Systematic Process of Hiring Top Talent"

Crossing the Great Divide Part II

Bryan Johanson, April 19, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Two weeks ago I wrote an article about bridging the gap between the hiring manager and the recruiter. Most of my advice in that column was focused on the hiring manager - in my estimation the weakest link in the hiring process. While hiring managers absolutely need to change some of their bad recruiting habits, much of the burden for helping them make those changes falls squarely on the shoulders of the recruiter. Just to refresh your memory, below is a list of common complaints I hear about corporate recruiters from hiring managers:

» Continue reading "Crossing the Great Divide Part II"

Crossing the Great Divide

Bryan Johanson, April 5, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

I continue to be amazed at the great divide between corporate recruiting professionals and the hiring managers they desperately want to serve. Even with training in the proper tools and techniques there seems to be a great division, a lot of finger pointing and a growing frustration. In the last two weeks I've personally trained several large organizations in the basics of Performance-based hiring^sm. Some of these training sessions were focused on hiring managers and others were focused on the recruiting departments. Here's what I heard from hiring managers:

» Continue reading "Crossing the Great Divide"

OFCCP's Recent Guidelines on Internet Applicants

Bryan Johanson, January 17, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Last week I started reading "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman. His basic premise is that advances in telecommunications, education and the technology infrastructure have dramatically leveled the playing field making it viable for countries like India and the Ukraine to compete globally. His arguments are convincing - the world has indeed become flatter. The flattening process however, is not just limited to high tech sales and support, but has vast implications for human capital markets, recruiting and hiring right here at home.

» Continue reading "OFCCP's Recent Guidelines on Internet Applicants"