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Articles - Kathy Barton

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How Fast Can You Respond to Change?

Kathy Barton, July 16, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

"Even if you're on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there."
– Will Rogers

"If everything is under control,
you are going too slow."
– Mario Andretti

It is a cliché these days to say that the only constant in the business world is change, but that doesn't make it any less true. Here are some great statements about the way conventional wisdom gets turned on its head:

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
– Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Patent Office, 1899

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
– Harry Morris Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers, 1927

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
– Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
– Bill Gates, 1981

If these guys can get it so wrong, is it any wonder that the rest of us poor mortals have trouble predicting what's going to happen next? Who could have foreseen the depth and breadth of the current housing slump and its affect on the economy 12 months ago? How often do you see a merger or acquisition coming from down in the trenches? How many of us have seen our companies go from a hiring frenzy to a hiring freeze in just a few months?

» Continue reading "How Fast Can You Respond to Change?"

Perfect Candidates and Other Mythical Creatures

Kathy Barton, June 18, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

Most of us outgrow our imaginary friends. We give up Santa Claus in elementary school, lose faith in the tooth fairy once we have our adult teeth, and stop believing in unicorns and leprechauns well before puberty. Beloved childhood fairy and fantasy tales are put away and saved for the next generation.

» Continue reading "Perfect Candidates and Other Mythical Creatures"

The Antidote for Bad Interviewers

Kathy Barton, May 21, 2008

Topics: Interviewing, Newsletter

You've been working hard to put together a strong slate of candidates for a hard-to-fill position, and through networking and sheer force of personality have assembled three qualified individuals. They each have strengths and weaknesses, but they all have been successful in the past achieving the types of goals and completing the types of tasks that need to be done in this job. Your biggest concern: an unpredictable hiring manager. You're never sure just who is going to hit the mark with this manager because it doesn't follow any pattern that you can see. The manager tends to take immediate likes and dislikes to certain candidates for reasons not based on their backgrounds.

» Continue reading "The Antidote for Bad Interviewers"

Effectiveness of Recruiting Tools/Techniques

Kathy Barton, March 26, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

It seems like every day you hear about a new recruiting tool or technique. The question is how many of them are really being used by recruiters? And more importantly, how many of them are effective? We asked that question on the Adler Group's Recruiting and Hiring Challenges Survey of 2008 to try to get some sense of how recruiters rate the tools and techniques they are using. The actual question was, “On a 1-5 scale (5 is best) how would you rank the effectiveness of these recruiting tools?” A rating of 3 means pretty effective, 4 means animportant resource, and 5 means an invaluable tool. In analyzing the results, a tool needs a rating of 3 or higher to be considered effective.

» Continue reading "Effectiveness of Recruiting Tools/Techniques"

Recruitment and Technology

Kathy Barton, February 27, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

Technology is both the booster and the bane of people-oriented processes. The combination of the major job boards and applicant tracking systems (ATS) has transformed recruiting, but has brought its own set of problems. It's a classic illustration of Michael Hammer's views on information technology. In an article published in 1990 in the Harvard Business Review, the MIT professor made the case that companies focus on fixing the wrong issues, using technology to automate existing work rather than using it to make non-value adding work obsolete. BPR, or business process engineering, postulates that unless you review your processes before implementing new technology, you run the risk of doing the wrong things faster. At the very least, you may add an additional administrative burden without concurrent productivity gains.

» Continue reading "Recruitment and Technology"

Winning Despite a Weak Hand

Kathy Barton, January 29, 2008

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting

If you've been through our Recruiter Boot Camp, you know that we advise recruiters to stay current on the business events in their industry. In particular, news of layoffs, mergers, spin-offs and acquisitions, or anything that tends to make good employees nervous about their future at their current company. Good recruiters will immediately begin calling into those companies, using the uncertainty about their companies' future as a tool to coax top employees to jump ship. Many employees are willing to explore their options in these circumstances, so it's a technique that can be very successful.

» Continue reading "Winning Despite a Weak Hand"

Translating Marketing into Recruiting

Kathy Barton, November 28, 2007

Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing

Translating Marketing into Recruiting

I've always thought there were a lot of similarities between marketing and recruiting. Both are often considered "overhead" positions. Both work at proving their value to the business. Both can be poorly understood at the executive level. And both are often undervalued – after all, anyone can be a recruiter (or marketer), right? I once worked at a company where my predecessor as SVP of Marketing had previously been the VP of Engineering. He hadn't worked out in engineering, so they moved him over to marketing – after all, how hard can it be to run marketing (or recruiting)? He was actually there for over a year before he was eased out of the company.

» Continue reading "Translating Marketing into Recruiting"

Rethinking College Recruiting

Kathy Barton, October 25, 2007

Topics: Networking, Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing

College recruiting, like all recruiting, continues to evolve as the demographics in the US shift. Generation Y, also known as "Millenniums," have some distinct preferences in the way they look for work and the way they approach their careers. Even those companies that don't recruit entry-level people need to pay attention to these preferences. Gen Y, those folks born after 1980, make up close to 25% of the current and potential workforce. As the Baby Boomers begin to retire, this group and their attitudes toward employment will increase in importance to employers.

» Continue reading "Rethinking College Recruiting"

To Poach or not to Poach - is that Really the Question?

Kathy Barton, September 20, 2007

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing

Last week on one of our free public webinars someone asked whether I thought it was okay for recruiters to "poach" another company's employees. This got me thinking about where the term "poaching" originates. Here are some definitions:

» Continue reading "To Poach or not to Poach - is that Really the Question?"

Compared to What?

Kathy Barton, August 30, 2007

Topics: Interview Training, Interviewing, Newsletter, Performance Profiles, Recruiter Training, Recruiting

I spent the first half of the '90s working at GE. This was in Jack Welch's heyday: best practices, work-out, and management course from Harvard professors at the training center at Croton-on-Hudson (affectionately referred to as Camp GE.) It was a great experience, but there were a few things about GE's personnel policies that didn't really make sense. One of these was what we called the 10-80-10 policy.

» Continue reading "Compared to What?"

Would Your Recruitment Ads Win a Super Bowl Contest?

Kathy Barton, August 2, 2007

Topics: Newsletter, Performance Profiles, Sourcing

Ok, I admit it. Unless my team is playing, I only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. And for advertising agencies, the Super Bowl is every bit as critical a contest as it is for the football teams. It defines bragging rights, generates huge publicity, and can mean millions of dollars in future business. If you search the web for Super Bowl advertising, you get over 2.6 million hits--there is actually a site called superbowl-ads.com. There are hundreds of sites that ask you to vote for your favorite (and least favorite) ads. It's become part of our culture. Job Boards such as CareerBuilder (with their chimpanzee campaign) have used the Super Bowl to generate enormous awareness of their offerings.

» Continue reading "Would Your Recruitment Ads Win a Super Bowl Contest?"

Making your Job a "Dream Job"

Kathy Barton, July 12, 2007

Topics: Networking, Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing

Depending on which survey you read, 40 to 60 percent of the workforce is just waiting for you to call them with a great job. The number of people who are dissatisfied with their current job seems to climb with every new report. CareerBuilder's "Dream Job" Survey in January 2007 revealed that 84% of US workers are not in their dream job. No, these are not the jobs we dreamed of as children (in case you were wondering, the most popular are firefighter, princess, dancer, and cowboy). The definition of a dream job for us "grown-ups" is far more prosaic that that. According to CareerBuilder, "Workers said they want to enjoy their work experience, apply their talents and feel like they're making an impact. Having fun at work was the most important attribute of a dream job for 39 percent of workers, which heavily outweighed the 12 percent who said salary was most important."

» Continue reading "Making your Job a "Dream Job""

In the War for Talent, the Biggest Talent Pool Wins

Kathy Barton, June 14, 2007

Topics: Networking, Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing

Last year, in 2006, a momentous event occurred - the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup (yeah!). In addition, however, and more to the point, the demand for labor statistically exceeded the supply. The long-predicted labor shortage arrived in fact. The timing and severity of the shortage over the next 50 years is subject to debate, but its existence is not. In the two decades between 1980 and 2000, the U.S. workforce grew by 54%. From 2000 to 2020, it is predicted to grow by only 3%, due primarily to the retiring of the baby boom generation. For those of us in the recruiting and hiring field, this makes a difficult job even more difficult. Given a projected gap of 14 million skilled workers by 2020, it's only going to get harder.

» Continue reading "In the War for Talent, the Biggest Talent Pool Wins"

Job Satisfaction as a Recruiting Tool

Kathy Barton, May 3, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

Last week we held our Performance-based Hiring Tour event in Chicago to a full house. It was a great event and, as always, I learned something new from the participants. Ed, the owner of a recruiting firm, shared a May 1 Harvard Business School article called Inner Work Life: Understanding the Subtext of Business Performance. The authors, Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer, describe the article as "the first comprehensive look at what employees are thinking and feeling as they go about their work, why it matters, and how managers can use this information to improve job performance."

» Continue reading "Job Satisfaction as a Recruiting Tool"

Advertise like the Big Dogs (on a Chihuahua budget)

Kathy Barton, April 12, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

Most of the employment advertising we see is pretty bad. It's boring; it's uninspired; it's not engaging. In fact, it's often no more than a paid placement of a company or job description that's weak and overly long.

» Continue reading "Advertise like the Big Dogs (on a Chihuahua budget)"

The Amazing, Confusing and Sometimes Shocking World of Government Compliance (Part Two)

Kathy Barton, March 15, 2007

Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting

You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough, in the second half you give what's left. - Yogi Berra

This week we'll talk about the issue of recordkeeping around individuals that have been considered for a job. (The second part of our two-part article on OFCCP compliance.) Unfortunately, it's not as easy as defining who is an applicant, following that definition consistently, and gathering EEO data on that applicant. The OFCCP now requires companies to keep records on individuals that have been considered for a job, not just on applicants.

» Continue reading "The Amazing, Confusing and Sometimes Shocking World of Government Compliance (Part Two)"

The Amazing, Confusing and Sometimes Shocking World of Government Compliance

Kathy Barton, March 8, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra

Now that the OFCCP's Definition of an Internet Applicant is starting to be tested in audits, confusion continues to reign around what companies should and shouldn't be doing to comply with the regulations. The best source for answers to this is the OFCCP itself. Here's a link to their continually updated FAQ. For those who want a little background, here's an overview of what the OFCCP said and some ways to make compliance easier.

» Continue reading "The Amazing, Confusing and Sometimes Shocking World of Government Compliance"

If You Build It, Will They Come?

Kathy Barton, February 15, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

The "it" I'm referring to in this case is a great career web site. Yes, I mean great; not mediocre, not so-so, not okay, not what your technical people put up for you, but great. Oh, there are lots of poor career web sites around - we work with clients to improve those all the time. Great isn't easy to do, but it isn't rocket science either. Okay, you ask, so what do you mean by a great career web site?

» Continue reading "If You Build It, Will They Come?"

The Cost of a Missed Hire or Why Recruiting Shouldn't be like Dating

Kathy Barton, January 24, 2007

Topics: Newsletter

There has been a lot written about the cost of a bad hire. The cost of replacing an employee has been estimated at anywhere from one times salary to three times salary, depending on who you ask. But how do you estimate the cost of not hiring a great candidate? Or even a good candidate? How do you estimate the impact of a non-event, of something that doesn't happen?

» Continue reading "The Cost of a Missed Hire or Why Recruiting Shouldn't be like Dating"

The Truth About Great Hires

Kathy Barton, December 13, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

The Magic Number

Three is a magic number,
Yes it is, it's a magic number.
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number.

The past and the present and the future.
Faith and Hope and Charity,
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number

From Schoolhouse Rock.
http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/Three.html

There are three foundational principles to the Performance-based Hiring^sm system. Last time I wrote about the second, "Wait 30 Minutes". Lately I've been thinking about the third principle, "No 2s". (No, this isn't about an unreasonable prejudice against the number two.) It's based on the Performance-based Hiring rating scale of the 10 Factor Candidate Assessment, developed by The Adler Group to assess candidate competency across a wide range of variables. Often hiring managers will focus on the areas that are most important to them (such as technical ability) and consider other factors less (like team skills or motivation). These 10 factors combine competency models, required skills and technical ability with the actual performance needs of the job to provide a highly accurate assessment of the candidate. The competency levels used in the 10 Factor Assessment are:

» Continue reading "The Truth About Great Hires"

Blink and Why First Impressions Must be Ignored

Kathy Barton, November 22, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Recently, during a training class in Houston last week, I was asked a very interesting question. As many of you know from following Lou's columns over the years, Performance-based Hiring^sm has three fundamental principles. One of those principles is to "wait 30 minutes" during the interview to assess the candidate's possible fit for the job. (Just for fun, I'll send a free copy of Lou Adler's Basic One-Question Interview CD to the first five managers who email all three fundamentals to Kathy@AdlerConcepts.com.) "Wait 30 minutes" arises from the fact that the typical employment interview renders a 57% accuracy rate - only 7% better than flipping a coin. In fact, the Wall Street Journal did a study showing that 70% of hiring managers make a judgment to advance the candidate (or not) in the first three minutes of an interview; then spends the rest of the interview gathering information that reinforces that first impression. (This first impression is based on the candidate's presentation - how he or she looks, speaks, dresses, shakes your hand, meets your eye, etc.)

» Continue reading "Blink and Why First Impressions Must be Ignored"

Message to HR: Stop Bringing the Donuts!

Kathy Barton, October 11, 2006

Topics: Newsletter

Okay, I admit it. I was a liberal arts major. I never took a single college level math or statistics course. And yes, sometimes I forget what you have to divide into what to get the right percentage. Despite this, I love metrics. Maybe it comes from my years at GE where measurement was more than a science and more than an art; it came close to a religion. If knowledge is power, then metrics are the basis of knowledge.

» Continue reading "Message to HR: Stop Bringing the Donuts!"

When Semi-Passive Candidates Become Active

Kathy Barton, September 20, 2006

Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing

Here you are: an experienced recruiter with a high-profile requisition involving hard-to-find experience. You rise to the challenge, investing time with the hiring manager to define the 6-8 critical things the person needs to do to be successful in the job (what we call a Performance Profile). Next, you write a great job ad with an attention-getting title because you know to find top talent you need to offer a top job. You post your ad on all the big job boards, including some niche boards that have been successful for you in the past. You use the latest networking tools, like ZoomInfo, LinkedIn and Jobster to come up with names that seem to have the right experience. You network your socks off generating a short list of qualified people. Of course, all of them are currently working. So you turn on the charm, approaching each of them with both persistence and respect, and manage to get three of them to agree to an interview.

» Continue reading "When Semi-Passive Candidates Become Active"