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Winning Despite a Weak Hand

By Kathy Barton, January 29, 2008

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.

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But what do you do if you are the company at risk? How do you retain your top employees, and actually convince candidates to come work for you if your company is openly for sale, being divested from its parent company, or has posted huge losses with rumors of layoffs? I recently spoke to a client that not only is in a position of being divested from its parent, but recently lost its top HR executive to a competitor. This is a large and stable company in a good industry that is used to being an employer of choice. Now turnover is rising, and it's getting harder and harder to get good candidates in for interviews. How does a good recruiter overcome these circumstances?

Unlike poker, the last thing you want to do in this situation is bluff. Make sure that you have the best information you possibly can about your organizational situation, and ensure that you got it from a reliable source (this is not a time to rely on rumor and speculation). Then create a best case/worst case scenario for all the possible outcomes. It might look something like this:

Outcome

• Company is purchased

Best case:

• Combined company is a stronger competitor
• All the change around the merger leads to faster promotion
• More opportunities with a larger company
• Better benefits due to more resources (such as additional training)

Worst case:

• Jobs are eliminated due to the merger, and last in, first out
• Due to organizational changes, you end up working for a different manager or with a different group
• All the change makes it hard to get things done, with a lot of frustration involved

With the exception of the first item under worst case, everything under the worst case scenario is manageable to an experienced employee. And the items under the best case scenario could be pretty interesting. The most important thing to know is whether the job you are currently filling is likely to be eliminated. In general, if a company believes that a job is in an area where consolidation will take place, they don't fill. They institute a hiring freeze. After all, no company likes layoffs, and there is a lot of time and energy that goes into planning how to avoid them or to mitigate them. Ask your manager, or the hiring manager, if it would be better to fill this spot with a contract worker. If you are told that they want a permanent employee, ask if they are willing to offer a severance clause in the contract if the employee is laid off during the first two years (or some reasonable period). If they agree to this, then the chances are that this position will not be affected by the merger.

Now you're in a position to sell the positive aspects of the possible outcomes, and to reassure the candidate about the negative ones. Emphasize the fact that you are looking for people with a high tolerance for change, with the ability to stay focused in an environment that is in flux, and can act as a stabilizing influence for other employees. After all, this is what you're going to need, so you might as well challenge your candidates to give you examples of times when they have thrived in a rapidly changing situation. If they are clearly uncomfortable with the concepts, then target people who have worked with rapidly growing companies, companies that have seen a lot of merger and acquisition activity, and companies with a reputation for on-going transformation.

In other words, recruiting during tough times is no different than recruiting during good times--you just have to get a bit more creative. Just like always, you must really understand the job so that you are in a position to sell it to the right candidate. Maintain candidate control. Don't compromise on the level of performance and motivation you need. In addition, make sure that you are targeting your top employees for promotion and interesting lateral moves during this time. Nothing proves your point about the linkage between change and opportunity like starting with your employees as your best candidate pool. Maybe this is the time when hiring managers are willing to take a chance on a strong internal candidate, even if they don't have quite as much experience or the perfect resume for a position. Even if a strong candidate doesn't get the position, being considered can be seen as a positive, especially if the new position is a stretch. It's important to focus on retention as well as recruiting, since the better your retention, the less recruiting you have to do.

Whatever you do, don't tell your candidates something different from what you are telling your employees. This is the best way to create distrust with both groups. Finding a way to stay positive, realistic, and honest with both candidates and employees during a time of uncertainty and change will help create a culture that will serve you well when things are resolved and the company is in a position to move forward once again.