Articles - Sourcing
RSS FeedSourcing Trends and Predictions 2010
Topics: Sourcing
Over the past six months, I've worked with dozens of major companies and some of the latest new recruiting and sourcing technologies. Based on this, it's not a reach to contend that how companies will find, recruit, and hire top talent in 2010 and beyond will be far different than how it's been done in the past few years.
» Continue reading "Sourcing Trends and Predictions 2010"
How to Activate the Best Passive Candidates in the Federation
Topics: Sourcing
Whenever I need an idea for an article I call Doug Berg, the CEO and/or founder, or something like that, at Jobs2Web. So to meet this week's need, Doug suggested I write about my reticular activator. I thought this was a bit personal, and while initially offended, it turned out to be great advice. I think you'll agree, too.
» Continue reading "How to Activate the Best Passive Candidates in the Federation"
Back to the Future: January 2010
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Fast forward to January 15, 2010. What are some of the hiring challenges you're now facing?
» Continue reading "Back to the Future: January 2010"
Adler's Best Sourcing Tip Since the One about Sliced Bread
Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing
"Be found first!"
Two people came up to me after speaking at the SHRM Staffing Management Association (SMA) Conference in Las Vegas last week (April 2009) and said this was the best tip they heard after four days at the conference. Of course, two out of 700 doesn't imply a trend. However, if you were Googling for "best sourcing tips SHRM SMA" you actually might find this article on the first page. And that's what being found first means. Its importance cannot be understated.
» Continue reading "Adler's Best Sourcing Tip Since the One about Sliced Bread"
Lou Adler's #1 Secret to Sourcing Passive Candidates
Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing
Pre-internet, circa 1995, there were three primary means to obtain names of passive candidates: industry guides, cold call ruses, and networking. Today there are at least 30 and the number is growing weekly. Some of these include LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, Broadlook, the AIRS stuff, Twitter, Facebook, Google/Boolean searching, all of the LinkedIn search offshoots, and everything else not mentioned. However, the most important one is getting on the phone and networking.
Because it's now so easy to get names, they become less valuable. Try this string to see how easy it is to get some names of the best pharmaceutical sales reps in New Jersey: "~CV (sales OR rep) awards -reply -respond -yours -jobs -find -results NJ pharma."
» Continue reading "Lou Adler's #1 Secret to Sourcing Passive Candidates"
How to Do Twice As Much With Half the Recruiting Team
Topics: Managing, Networking, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
Times are tough. Even those companies that are doing reasonably well are cutting their recruiting teams by a minimum of 30% to a maximum of 90%, and tightening up expenses to the absolute barest minimum.
» Continue reading "How to Do Twice As Much With Half the Recruiting Team"
Recruiting Lessons from 'Fast Company'
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
The March 2009 issue of Fast Company lists its take on the 50 most innovative companies in the world.
» Continue reading "Recruiting Lessons from 'Fast Company'"
Develop a Recovery Sourcing Strategy
Topics: Sourcing
The economy will recover some day. I'll admit I was a bit overly optimistic in an earlier article this year. It must have been the New Year's bubbly.
» Continue reading "Develop a Recovery Sourcing Strategy"
"Early-Bird" Strategies for Sourcing Top Sales People, or Sourcing Secrets of Top Recruiters - Lessons from a Top Candidate's Search
Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing
Performance-based Hiring is about recruiting top performers, and in today's economy recruiters and companies have a chance to pick up some really great talent. The key word here is "chance." One prerequisite to finding and recruiting top talent is that recruiters must understand the mentality of a top performer. If I had to sum it up in one word it would be "Picky"! Top performers want the right job, not just any job. The job has to offer a challenge and be with the right company and the right people, not to mention offering the right compensation and benefits package. While timing is important, top performers won't rush into taking just any job. They are confident in their capabilities, and their job search is part of an overall master plan.
Are You a Web 2.0 Wannabe?
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
If you don't invest in finding tomorrow's candidates today, you'll become history.
» Continue reading "Are You a Web 2.0 Wannabe?"
Are You in the Stone Ages on the Sourcing Evolutionary Scale?
Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing
Over the past few years I've had the opportunity to work with some of the leading recruiting technology vendors along with a bunch of small and large companies in a variety of industries. What becomes relatively clear as one zooms out is that there is a rapid merging of advanced consumer marketing concepts with recruitment technology. Some might call this Web 2.0 on steroids, or Web 3.0, but it's certainly far beyond the Web 2.0 stuff companies are implementing today.
There are a bunch of common threads that are apparent in those companies that are taking full advantage of these trends. For one, their recruitment leaders are well-versed in the latest technologies and proactively use and support them. Second, these companies tend to be extremely sophisticated on the use of advanced marketing and advertising for their own products and services – this makes the decision to use these same concepts for recruiting top candidates a simple and smooth one, since no convincing is necessary. Third, these companies are relatively flat and not overly bureaucratic – their recruiters work closely with hiring managers, there is a dedicated IT support team for the recruiting department, legal and HR compliance doesn't dominate the decision-making, and the executive team advocates, not merely supports, the idea of state-of-the-art sourcing and recruiting.
» Continue reading "Are You in the Stone Ages on the Sourcing Evolutionary Scale?"
The UAW, the Detroit Bailout, and Related Sourcing Issues
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
A top-down command-and-control structure leads to power grabbing, not power sharing. It prevents people from seeing the bigger picture as groups defend their turfs and fight off change at all costs. This sounds like Detroit, and until Detroit develops and implements a customer-driven strategy with a culture of success before self-interest, the bailout won't work.
» Continue reading "The UAW, the Detroit Bailout, and Related Sourcing Issues"
A Review of the Los Angeles Sourcing Summit
Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing
I know it's a long way to travel to Los Angeles, especially for our East Coast readers, but last Wednesday you missed a great opportunity to attend our first ever half-day sourcing summit. So for the benefit of those who couldn't make it, I'll provide a short summary of some of the "must know" sourcing ideas presented by our panel of experts. When we first conceived of the idea it was an experiment of sorts. Of course, that was also before the economy started heading south, companies like Citibank announced record layoffs (over 52,000 this month), and AIG got its first bailout check. We were a little concerned that sourcing might be at the bottom of recruiters' shopping lists this holiday season, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that interest was still high. While entry-level jobs are a little easier to fill, there is still the issue of weeding through increased candidate flow to find the real gems. Skilled labor is, and will always be, a challenge to find, even in a slowing economy. In fact, recruiters reported that getting skilled labor to move in this market is even more challenging. Recruiters have to use all their skills to make it happen. So our conclusion is that the war for top talent is hardly over, but the battlefield has made some dramatic shifts. In this week's article, I'll share some of the insights and key messages delivered at the summit to help companies build talent pipelines and capture the best passive talent available.
» Continue reading "A Review of the Los Angeles Sourcing Summit"
Use a Cross-Functional Perspective to Implement a Just-in-Time Sourcing Strategy
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Progressive companies are now implementing Just-in-Time (JIT) sourcing programs to ensure they have a ready pipeline of top talent once the economy recovers. This will provide early adopters a significant competitive advantage and an increased share of the best talent.
2007/2008 Ad Contest Winner
Topics: Sourcing
O.G.S.K.S.
(aka Optics Geeks Seeking Kindred Spirit)» Continue reading "2007/2008 Ad Contest Winner"
Run Recruiting Like a Factory Manager if You Want to Hire More Top Prospects
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
I've been around a lot of years, and I can't remember a time when recruiters, recruiting managers, hiring managers, HR executives, and company leaders didn't complain about the lack of good candidates. When the Internet and job boards came along, we were promised the solution was at hand.
» Continue reading "Run Recruiting Like a Factory Manager if You Want to Hire More Top Prospects"
Random Chance and How Managers Make Faulty Hiring Decisions
Topics: Interviewing, Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing
Hiring is too important to leave to chance, but that's exactly what hiring managers do when hiring experienced outside people.
Consider this: managers typically make three different types of hiring decisions – an internal move (either a promotion or lateral transfer), hiring a rookie right out of college, and hiring an experienced outside person for an open position.
What's surprising is that a different set of rules applies for how each decision is made. More surprising is that the success rate for recent college grads and internal moves is far more predictable than for an outside, experienced hire. This suggests that it might make sense to change the outside hiring decision to more closely mimic the process used for college grads and internal promotions.
» Continue reading "Random Chance and How Managers Make Faulty Hiring Decisions"
Oddball Sourcing
Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing
The very fact that you were enticed to read this article proves that Oddball Sourcing works. Just the nature of the title allowed us to attract a different audience. As you may have guessed, we're looking for some oddballs – recruiters and sourcers with open minds, creative approaches, and somewhat odd tendencies. You know who you are, and apparently you've got what it takes to be an Oddball Sourcer or you wouldn't be reading this article.
Some people just think differently. Einstein developed most of his theories while watching the sun rise and set. He asked a lot of questions that other people weren't asking like, "How does a beam of light travel through the universe?" and voila – he invented the Theory of Relativity. I recently listened to the book on CD, Freakonomics, by Steven Leavitt. The entire book is about using common sense, logic, and data to answer some interesting and challenging questions. For instance:
» Continue reading "Oddball Sourcing"
6 Steps for Hiring the Best Every Time
Topics: Interviewing, Performance Profiles, Recruiting, Sourcing
Over the past 30-plus years, I've been involved in thousands of searches, worked with hundreds of hiring managers, trained 3,000 to 4,000 recruiters, and worked closely with dozens of major companies. Following are some of the common threads among the best techniques, processes, and tools that I have seen and used.
» Continue reading "6 Steps for Hiring the Best Every Time"
Are You Suffering from Over-Sourcing Syndrome?
Topics: Assessment, Sourcing
O•ver sourc•ing syn•drome: the need to find more candidates than needed caused by inappropriately eliminating the good candidates you already have.
» Continue reading "Are You Suffering from Over-Sourcing Syndrome?"
Sourcing Basics: Stop Throwing Away Good Candidates for Bad Reasons
Topics: The Official Rules for Hiring Top Talent, Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing
I can't remember a time when recruiters, recruiting managers, hiring managers, HR executives and company leaders didn't complain about the lack of good candidates. When the Internet and job boards came along we were promised the solution was at hand. But more than 10 years later the problems in finding talent have gotten worse, not better. Perhaps, just perhaps, the solution to better sourcing is not better sourcing.
» Continue reading "Sourcing Basics: Stop Throwing Away Good Candidates for Bad Reasons"
10 Great Tips for Using LinkedIn to Find the Best Passive Candidates on the Planet
Topics: The Official Rules for Hiring Top Talent, Networking, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
LinkedIn is a great tool for finding passive candidates who want to be found. This is its little-discussed power. No one would publish their profiles otherwise. While some recruiters are still reluctant to jump on board, others have been making placements since day one. Here are some ideas on how to get started right away to take full advantage of this remarkable networking tool:
How an Intervene-Earlier Sourcing Strategy Can Multiply Your Pool of Top Candidates
Topics: Managing, Networking, Sourcing
We're currently conducting a major research project on how top people look for new jobs. This research will offer great insight into what companies need to do to better align their current sourcing efforts with market realities. If you'd like to take part, just send this survey link to all of your best candidates and those you've recently placed.
A Tale of Two Searches
Topics: Networking, Sourcing
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
This past quarter, I conducted two senior-level management searches. Each one stands out as a shining example of what to do and what not to do. Understanding the differences can double your monthly placement rate in about half the time. Before reading the details, you should benchmark your own recruiting skills using this 10-Factor Recruiter diagnostic assessment to get a sense of what it takes to be a great recruiter.
» Continue reading "A Tale of Two Searches"
The Official Rules for Hiring Top Talent
Topics: The Official Rules for Hiring Top Talent, Interviewing, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
Everybody - from the Board and CEO down to every manager and supervisor - talks about the importance of hiring top talent. But only a rare few have converted the concept into reality. A number of companies have actually succeeded in embedding the idea into their corporate cultures, but in most cases, even these leave the "how" up to the recruiting department and each individual manager. Creating a road map on the "how to" of hiring top talent is the purpose of this book. It's now more important than ever. The worldwide demand for talent has increased as the supply of trained, talented, and available labor has declined. Even a temporary economic slowdown will not alter demographic trends and the long term need for talent.
» Continue reading "The Official Rules for Hiring Top Talent"
12 Great Sourcing Gifts for the Holiday Season
Topics: Interview Training, Interviewing, Networking, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
If you want to generate one great candidate day after day after day, follow my 12 golden rules for sourcing the best. These are this year's stocking stuffers whether you're hiring active or passive candidates.
» Continue reading "12 Great Sourcing Gifts for the Holiday Season"
Translating Marketing into Recruiting
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"
The Official Rules for Writing Creative Ads
Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing
Don't overlook online advertising as a means to find top talent. As described in an earlier section ("Understanding Top Talent"), it was made clear that top people look online for new career opportunities whenever they experience a "job dissatisfaction moment." While these online excursions are short – ranging from 30-90 minutes at a time – a well-positioned and compelling ad can often snare a few top performers. In this section we'll cover some of the tactics you can use to implement a targeted ad campaign strategy to attract this group of top performers.
» Continue reading "The Official Rules for Writing Creative Ads"
Hiring and Recruiting Challenges Survey 2008 Preliminary Results
Topics: Interviewing, Managing, Recruiting, Sourcing
We are currently in the midst of our somewhat annual Hiring and Recruiting Challenges 2008 Survey. You should take the survey. Just the questions will get you jazzed. The answers, on the other hand, will make you shudder.
» Continue reading "Hiring and Recruiting Challenges Survey 2008 Preliminary Results"
The Secrets of Top Recruiters Finally Revealed
Topics: Interview Training, Interviewing, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
I'm very proud of the fact that I've helped hundreds (maybe thousands) of recruiters in the U.S. and around the world increase their monthly placement rate by 50-100% and in some cases much more. As part of our planning for our 2008 "The Official Rules for Hiring Top Talent" tour, I've put together my list of "recruiter essentials" we'll cover during the workshop. These are the secrets that every top recruiter follows in order to maximize their placement rate. [FYI: We've incorporated these same points into our final Recruiter Boot Camp Online program for this year (the four-part course starts Nov. 2, 2007) and our San Jose LIVE: Performance-based Hiring Tour 2007 event on December 5, 2007.] While there are about 20 key techniques we teach during the workshop, in my opinion the following 10 techniques represent the difference between average and great recruiter performance:
» Continue reading "The Secrets of Top Recruiters Finally Revealed"
Rethinking College Recruiting
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"
The Seven Axioms of Yves Behar
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Don't use Wal-Mart advertising techniques to sell to a Tiffany's buyer - Lou Adler
Great design is at the heart of great marketing. For years, I've been preaching about the need to use advanced consumer marketing concepts to attract top talent. Every issue of Fast Company has some great marketing ideas that can be incorporated in your recruitment advertising and sourcing programs. The October 2007 issue is no exception.
» Continue reading "The Seven Axioms of Yves Behar"
Get a Life! AND recruit candidates at the same time.
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."
The Official Rules for Advertising Your Jobs
Topics: Newsletter, Recruiting, Sourcing
- Show some R.E.S.P.E.C.T. This is the most important rule of them all: treat candidates as exceptional people and show them at least as much respect as you show your customers. It seems that retail organizations and those close to their end customer clearly understand this. From a sourcing standpoint this means you emphasize what's in it for the candidate over what's in it for the company.
» Continue reading "The Official Rules for Advertising Your Jobs"
How to Recruit the Best Passive Candidates
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Passive candidates are, by definition, people who are not currently looking for a job. Despite this, most people in this category would be willing to discuss a new career opportunity if it offered some significant upside opportunity.
» Continue reading "How to Recruit the Best Passive Candidates"
To Poach or not to Poach - is that Really the Question?
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?"
Hot Tip #29 - Humongous Techniques to Boost Your Recruitment Advertising Efforts
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
I've just finished reading Dan and Chip Heath's Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. This is a great book on marketing and how to influence others, and many of the ideas can be directly applied to recruiting in general and recruitment advertising in particular. When you combine this with Hire With Your Head you'll be finding more top candidates and making more placements before the week is out.
Fixing Corporate Recruiting
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"
Hot Tip #28 - The Anatomy of a Great Ad
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiter Training, Sourcing
If you want to attract top people online, your ads need to be outrageous, compelling and found. To prove it we're launching our first annual outrageous ad writing contest. To win a fully-paid scholarship to Recruiter Boot Camp Online (a $1200 value!) you need to follow these guidelines on how to write and post ads that really pull in top people. We'll also award a second scholarship if you can get better results doing it a different way, but I personally wouldn't waste my time. With that said, here's the template we've used to write ads to successfully attract great candidates from entry-level to executive.
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #28 - The Anatomy of a Great Ad"
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Topics: Interviewing, Negotiating, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
I'm in Australia this week working with a number of different recruiting organizations. In Australia the talent supply is far short of demand, so getting assignments is relatively easy, while finding and closing strong candidates takes exceptional sourcing and recruiting skills. Candidates always have multiple offers and counter-offers are standard. To meet this challenge head on, the recruiting teams I'm working with wanted to figure out how to double their monthly production within six months.
» Continue reading "Work Smarter, Not Harder"
The Psychology of Recruiting Top Performers
Topics: Negotiating, Networking, Recruiting, Sourcing
You've just placed a top performer in a new job. It's a great fit right off the bat. The job is as advertised, job expectations were clear, the person is making an impact, doing work she enjoys, working with a great team, and working for a top-notch manager who is a true mentor.
» Continue reading "The Psychology of Recruiting Top Performers"
Hot Tip #27 - Double Your Placement Rate in Half the Time
Topics: Interviewing, Networking, Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiting, Sourcing
Let's start by identifying some of the biggest yield losses in the recruiting process and begin improving these. Starting with the worst, here are just basic metrics you might want to consider to achieve our goal:
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #27 - Double Your Placement Rate in Half the Time"
Are You Masking Your Hiring Process Problems with the Wrong Solutions?
Topics: Interview Training, Interviewing, Newsletter, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
Just about every corporate recruiter has too many requisitions to handle as effectively as possible. The problem is magnified when good candidates get excluded for dumb and preventable reasons, generally weak interviewing skills on the part of the hiring manager or a candidate who wasn't at his or her best. Sometimes good candidates are excluded before they're even seen because they don't have exactly the right background. Sometimes good candidates pull themselves out to of the process because the job doesn't seem interesting or the candidate didn't like the hiring manager. Few companies address these problems directly--instead they avoid them, focusing most of their energy and resources on hiring more recruiters or developing new sourcing ideas. This is comparable to buying more raw materials than necessary for a factory that has an excessive scrap rate rather than fixing the scrap problem.
» Continue reading "Are You Masking Your Hiring Process Problems with the Wrong Solutions?"
Hot Tip #26 - A Partial List of the Ten Commandments of Recruiting Passive Candidates
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
There's a great article about recruiting in the September 2007 issue of Fast Company - "The Inevitability Of $300 Socks." Actually, it has nothing to do with recruiting unless you read between the lines. And what a great story is told between those lines! Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of the business best seller Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, make the point in their article that some basic products attain premium pricing when they're seen as ideas rather than mere commodities. The Heaths cite alcohol, jeans and spa treatments as idea-based products and oil changes and fax machines as idea-free. You obtain premium pricing and margins with idea-based products and basic market returns with basic commodities
Hot Tip #25 - A Partial List of the Ten Commandments of Recruiting Passive Candidates
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
Here's a modified version of an earlier article that's worth considering today more than ever. Over my 25 years of recruiting experience, I've learned a few important principles about how to effectively recruit passive candidates. Most were learned by trial and error, and while they might not all be applicable to your specific situation, collectively they offer a pretty decent road map of what it takes to hire more top passive candidates on a consistent basis. Here are the first five of my favorite ten commandants for recruiting passive candidates. The next five will be covered in next week's Hot Tip article.
Hot Tip #24 - These Six Techniques Can Improve Your Productivity by 100%!
Topics: Assessment, Interviewing, Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiting, Sourcing
Most recruiters waste too much time doing unnecessary work. The solution is not reducing your req load, it's cutting your sendouts/hire in half. This will increase your productivity by 100%. In the process you'll start hiring more people who are top performers, but not great interviewers, and you'll stop hiring people who are great interviewers, but not top performers. Here's how to pull off this amazing feat:
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #24 - These Six Techniques Can Improve Your Productivity by 100%!"
Would Your Recruitment Ads Win a Super Bowl Contest?
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?"
Are You On YouTube?
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?"
Hot Tip #22 - Sourcing Passive Candidates is More than Lead Generation
Are You Wasting Major Time on Minor Stuff?
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
Here's my minimalist definition of sourcing: presenting qualified and interested candidates within a reasonable period of time to a hiring manager, and have 100% of them be interviewed.
The 10 Pillars of Effective Sourcing
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Too many companies fall into the trap of using a "by default" sourcing strategy as their primary means to find top people.
» Continue reading "The 10 Pillars of Effective Sourcing"
Hot Tip #21 - Talent Hubs, Mashups, and Widgets
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiting, Sourcing
The fundamental sourcing strategy for any major corporation should be the building of the biggest proprietary database of resumes, contacts, and leads as possible. From this database candidates should then be culled and contacted based on specific job needs. Building the database and keeping it warm are two separate tasks. For this article, let's address the building of the database.
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #21 - Talent Hubs, Mashups, and Widgets"
Making your Job a "Dream Job"
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""
Hot Tip #20 - Stop Googling and Start Networking
Topics: Networking, Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
A piece of data worthy of note: some old friends just told us that their daughter - a very talented Gen Xer - has just joined a professional business network weeks after landing a new job. The only thing unusual about this was that she told her parents she was using this network to plant the seeds for her next job.
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #20 - Stop Googling and Start Networking"
An Open Letter to Our Candidates
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Imagine that this letter appeared on the first page of your company's career website, or perhaps on your company's home page in place of the "Careers" button.
» Continue reading "An Open Letter to Our Candidates"
Hot Tip #19 - Passive Candidate Recruiting Requires Professionalism and Product Knowledge
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
If you do any passive candidate recruiting you should go to LinkedIn.com and link to me using my lou@adlerconcepts.com email address. Of course, I won't give you a pass-through to any of my one million plus first and second degree candidates unless you clearly understand real job needs (here's an article on how to take the assignment and using performance profiles that you must read first) and have sent me a compelling email as to why this is a great job for a great person. Of course, that's not the purpose of this article, but it's a good introduction to my real point on how to contact and recruit passive candidates.
Fail to Plan or Plan to Fail -
Have a plan before you pick up the phone.
Topics: Newsletter, Sourcing
Before you pick up the phone and start calling potential candidates and referrals, what's your plan? Whom are you calling? Why are you calling? What's in it for the people you are calling? Know the answers to these questions, the approach you want to take, and what you want to achieve with every call, or stay off the phone. There is nothing worse than blowing a call with a great contact because you were not prepared to speak intelligently about your company, client, or the positions you are representing. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
» Continue reading "Fail to Plan or Plan to Fail -
Have a plan before you pick up the phone."
Hot Tip #18 - On the Sourcing Edge - New Ideas for Passive Candidate Development
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
I've recently created a ning.com business networking site called Sourcing Strategy. You should join it if you want to hear about the latest techniques in Internet sourcing. We'll be using this site to share, discuss, and create some great new ways to attract top people to a company's career website. The most obvious "in your face" idea is the use of a business networking site like this one to find and recruit top talent. I suspect some recruiters are already calling other recruiters who post clever, practical, and innovative ideas. Those who philosophize and pontificate are quickly shunned.
The Most Advanced, Innovative Career Website in the World
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
I'm in the process of preparing a product requirement document for a state-of-the-art career website, and I need your help. While cash is somewhat limited, creativity isn't. The client has even suggested that the product spec by shared with every other company in the world as long as they help input some ideas into the design process.
» Continue reading "The Most Advanced, Innovative Career Website in the World"
Hot Tip #17 - Googling for Resumes Using Performance Terms
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Recruiting, Sourcing
When cold-calling passive candidates or searching for names, lists, and resumes on line, I make a point to maximize my time by only talking with high performers. This way, even if these people are not perfect for the assignment at hand, they know other top performers who are. Of course, to be a successful full-cycle recruiter you have to be very good at getting these top people to call you back, then recruiting them and then getting the referrals (we show you how to do this in Recruiter Boot Camp Online). To save time at the front end you must limit your calling to only top people. You can do this by adding recognition terms, honors, and awards into your online searches.
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #17 - Googling for Resumes Using Performance Terms"
In the War for Talent, the Biggest Talent Pool Wins
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"
Waking the Sleeping Giant - Passive Candidates Won't be Passive for Long!
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!"
Hot Tip #13 - How to Use the Phone to Get Referrals
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
I'll take Kevin Bacon's Six Degrees of Separation to a minor extreme, I suspect that with just the names on ZoomInfo, LinkedIn, or a simple Google search you are only one person removed from everyone in the country. (P.S. You can connect with me on LinkedIn using my email, lou@adlerconcepts.com. Everyone who buys my book can also connect with me and share advanced recruiting ideas like these on my Ning Recruiting Tactics site.)
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #13 - How to Use the Phone to Get Referrals"
Hot Tip #12 - Use MySpace to Get More Employee Referrals
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
If you don't have a MySpace page, get one so you can see how it works. Once you have the page start linking to all of your friends, then start adding other recruiters to your Friends List. If you go to MySpace find me via email (lou@adlerconcepts.com) and send me your link, so I can add you to my Friends List. Of course, that’s not the point of this hot tip. Leveraging technology is the point.
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #12 - Use MySpace to Get More Employee Referrals"
Hot Tip #10 - New Weapon Now Available to Win the Talent Wars
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
Stalemate.
If every recruiter and every company builds compelling talent hubs, creates search engine optimized career sites, runs exciting ad campaigns, implements a proactive employee referral program and uses the latest name generating techniques, all you'll get are average results. With a finite supply of top people what else could you expect? Of course, if you do all of these things first, or better, you will get exceptional results for a short period of time, until diminishing returns sets in. However, there is still one weapon that is more important than all of the rest combined - that few companies use to their advantage - the hiring manager.
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #10 - New Weapon Now Available to Win the Talent Wars"
Retail Marketing Meets Corporate Recruiting
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"
Do You Have a Winning Sourcing Strategy?
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing, Sourcing
What's your company's sourcing strategy? Do you have a target audience in mind you want to hire, and do you have the appropriate plans, tactics, and resources in place to pull it off? If you do, you probably have this strategic plan written out with the trade-offs analyzed and argued about and each sourcing channel then optimized to produce results. Of course, before it was implemented, the plan was presented to your senior management with all of the ROI "guesstimates" for approval.
If you don't have this type of sourcing strategy process in place, you might find this article of interest.
» Continue reading "Do You Have a Winning Sourcing Strategy?"
Hot Tip #5 - The Adler Group Recruiting Hot Tip of the Week - March 27, 2007
Topics: Recruiter Hot Tips, Sourcing
This week's tip relates to the emergence of Google Base ads showing up more frequently in candidate searches. As you're aware (hopefully) there is an increase in candidates using Google to look for jobs before going directly to a company career site or one of the major boards. A typical string would include the job title, a location, a keyword or two and the term jobs. "Dallas jobs sales" would be a typical example. While it doesn't always happen, more and more you'll see an unusual search box appear at the top of this listing. Here's what it looks like:
» Continue reading "Hot Tip #5 - The Adler Group Recruiting Hot Tip of the Week - March 27, 2007"
Recruiting Circa 2010: Critical Hiring Trends You Must Watch
Topics: Interviewing, Managing, Recruiter Training, Recruiting, Sourcing
Web 2.0 has resulted in a rapid change in how hiring top talent could be conducted. But from what I can tell, very few companies are moving rapidly enough to take full advantage of this great opportunity.
» Continue reading "Recruiting Circa 2010: Critical Hiring Trends You Must Watch"
Sourcing and Recruiting a Mobile Workforce
Topics: Sourcing
While completing the research for the third edition of my book, Hire With Your Head (Wiley & Sons, June, 2007), I found out a lot has changed. The thing that stands out most is the profound increase in workforce mobility in the U.S. labor market.
» Continue reading "Sourcing and Recruiting a Mobile Workforce"
Shift Strategies, Not Tactics, to Make More Placements
Topics: Sourcing
Most hiring managers are disappointed with the candidates presented by their recruiters, whether they're internal or external corporate recruiters.
Right or wrong, here are the typically cited reasons:
» Continue reading "Shift Strategies, Not Tactics, to Make More Placements"
When Semi-Passive Candidates Become Active
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"
What You Absolutely Must Do to Find Better Candidates
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"
Five Great Things You Can Do Today to Find More Great People Tomorrow
Topics: Sourcing
In our just completed 2006 Recruiting and Hiring Challenges survey, 68% of the respondents indicated that sourcing was a major problem - comparable to dealing with hiring managers who supposedly don't know what they're doing. This seems very odd, since 55% of this same group said that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their sourcing efforts. The only thing I can infer from this seemingly inconsistent data is that people are measured largely on how busy they are, not on the results they achieve.
» Continue reading "Five Great Things You Can Do Today to Find More Great People Tomorrow"
News Flash: Why U.S. Companies Are Losing the War for Talent
Topics: Sourcing
In the May 13 Los Angeles Times, a front-page story described how top-tier college grads were making decisions about which of their many job offers to accept. The article started with the idea that when the demand for talent is far greater than the supply, companies need to be more aggressive and more creative in their recruiting efforts.
» Continue reading "News Flash: Why U.S. Companies Are Losing the War for Talent"
The Best Article Ever Written on Passive Candidate Recruiting
Topics: Sourcing
This could be a very good article, maybe even a great one. It all depends on your point of view. For the chance it turns out to be a great article, wouldn't you agree that it's certainly worth investing a few minutes' reading time?
» Continue reading "The Best Article Ever Written on Passive Candidate Recruiting"
The 10 Commandments of Recruiting Passive Candidates
Topics: Sourcing
During my 25 years of recruiting experience, I've learned a few important principles about how to effectively recruit passive candidates. I would now like to pass these on to you.
» Continue reading "The 10 Commandments of Recruiting Passive Candidates"
The Search for the Perfect Candidate - Part 4
Topics: Sourcing
In the previous three articles in this series on the search for the perfect candidate, I made the case that three fundamental changes were required to hire more top performers:
» Continue reading "The Search for the Perfect Candidate - Part 4"
In Search of the Perfect Candidate - Part 3
Topics: Sourcing
In recent articles, I've made the case that the search for the perfect candidate was unlikely to be successful - unless some big changes were made:
» Continue reading "In Search of the Perfect Candidate - Part 3"
In Search of the Perfect Candidate - Part 2
Topics: Sourcing
In a recent article, I made the contention that perfect candidates for your open positions might not have exactly the same background listed in your job descriptions.
» Continue reading "In Search of the Perfect Candidate - Part 2"
In Search of the Perfect Candidate - Part 1
Topics: Interviewing, Recruiting, Sourcing
Everybody wants to hire the perfect candidate. And why not? These are the people who have great track records, great academic backgrounds, great personalities, great experience, and have worked at companies doing just what you want done. Even better, these great people are just like you - smart, savvy, and ready to move ahead.
» Continue reading "In Search of the Perfect Candidate - Part 1"
How to Stop Making Dumb Hiring Mistakes
Topics: Interviewing, Sourcing
Over the past years, I've made the case that there are two pervasive problems preventing companies from hiring enough top people.
» Continue reading "How to Stop Making Dumb Hiring Mistakes"
How to Use Advertising to Attract Top People
Topics: Sourcing
Here's something you might want to consider whether you're hiring active, passive, or not-so active or not-so-passive candidates.
» Continue reading "How to Use Advertising to Attract Top People"
10 Steps to Finding and Hiring Diversity and High-Demand Candidates
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Here are two basic principles of recruiting that you need to apply when targeting passive candidates, diversity candidates, or any type of candidates in high demand:
- The more competition there is for a group of candidates (like nurses, pharmacists, sales reps who always exceed quota, design engineers who were elected to Tau Beta Pi, diversity candidates, etc.), the more recruiting effort is required to attract and hire them.
- Top people want top jobs, regardless of their cultural, ethnic or religious background or gender.
» Continue reading "10 Steps to Finding and Hiring Diversity and High-Demand Candidates"
Sourcing in the Sweet Spot
Topics: Sourcing
As I've mentioned in other articles, the iPod offers a great model for sourcing and recruiting. Three things stand out:
- It's a system. The iPod is a fully integrated information system — not simply a standalone music player. In comparison, most corporate recruiting departments resemble a hodgepodge of different technologies, tools, competing processes, and poorly linked information channels.
- It's strategic. Healthy businesses grow and change when strategy drives tactics. The iPod has metamorphosed Apple Computer. When tactics and processes drive strategy, companies languish and so does sourcing. Too many recruiting departments are driven by tactics, bureaucracy, and processes. For example, why do we still post boring job descriptions online?
- It's customer- and market-driven. The iPod is compelling, easy to buy, simple to use — and fun. The sourcing processes at most companies treat potential employees as vendors. The processes are impersonal; jobs are hard to find; the marketing copy (a.k.a. the job description) is boring and exclusionary; the application process is demeaning; and the interviewing process is unprofessional.
» Continue reading "Sourcing in the Sweet Spot"
Understand How Your Customers Buy Before You Start Selling to Them
Topics: Sourcing
Let me make a few points about sourcing:
» Continue reading "Understand How Your Customers Buy Before You Start Selling to Them"
The Essential Elements of Every Great Hire
Topics: Sourcing, Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
As I get ready for another great ER Expo in Boston (September 28-29, 2005) and a chance to meet old friends and make new ones, some big recruiting questions come to mind. Here's probably the biggest
» Continue reading "The Essential Elements of Every Great Hire"
Marketing 101 for Recruiters
Topics: Sourcing
This is an article about how to find more top candidates. It might not seem like it until the end, though.
» Continue reading "Marketing 101 for Recruiters"
The #1 Secret of Hiring Success
Topics: Interviewing, Performance Profiles, Recruiting, Sourcing
If your hiring manager clients are not doing a good job of assessing your candidates, you should review this article with them. No matter how good a recruiter you are, if your clients pass on your good candidates, you're working too hard doing searches over again. The key is just to assess a candidate's motivation to do the work.
» Continue reading "The #1 Secret of Hiring Success"
Get Off the PC and On the Phone
Topics: Sourcing
We're now in the midst of my annual recruiting and hiring challenges 2005 survey. You might want to take it. You'll be doing yourself a favor by participating in an important industry study. It will be especially important to you if you're not hiring enough top candidates right now. The survey will show you what you need to do to break this bottleneck.
The preliminary results so far are quite revealing. Two big findings stand out:
» Continue reading "Get Off the PC and On the Phone"
Sourcing 101
Let's separate fact from fiction. This will help you find and hire more top candidates. It'll also help if you read the last two paragraphs of this article first. The article will have more value this way, since it will change your perspective about the real reason why you're a recruiter.
» Continue reading "Sourcing 101"
Developing an International Sourcing Strategy
Topics: Sourcing
It's May 7, 2005 as I write this, and in today's news, four headlines were worthy of note. They will affect you, your career, and your company:
» Continue reading "Developing an International Sourcing Strategy"
A Service Level Agreement for Hiring Passive Candidates
Topics: Sourcing
As recruiters make the shift to hiring more passive candidates, having a formal service level agreement (SLA) in place with their hiring manager clients becomes more important. While I don't do as much recruiting today, I still never take an assignment without having a formal agreement in place with the hiring team as to what each person's roles and responsibilities are in the search process. I use this agreement both to establish my professionalism and to insure that the hiring manager and the other members of the interviewing team don't do anything that would compromise the search process.
» Continue reading "A Service Level Agreement for Hiring Passive Candidates"
Are Passive Candidates Becoming More Passive?
Topics: Sourcing
John Sullivan's great article on innovative sourcing ideas should be read by everyone in recruiting. The essence: You need to be super creative to reach out to the best candidates - who by and large all are passive. This requires a shift in resources, from waiting for people to apply to reaching out and getting them interested.
The implications of this shift in sourcing are huge.
» Continue reading "Are Passive Candidates Becoming More Passive?"
The 10 Commandments of Recruiting
Topics: Interviewing, Recruiting, Sourcing
Recruiting is like sales and marketing rolled into one. If a company has a great brand, a great job, and a great hiring manager, not too much marketing or recruiting is required. But if your company lacks one or more of these factors - or if you're targeting hard-to-fill positions - then stronger recruiters are required.
» Continue reading "The 10 Commandments of Recruiting"
Handling the Problems with Passive Candidates and Hiring Managers
Topics: Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
There are more name-generating tools becoming available everyday. My favorites include Jobster, SearchExpo, Broadlook, ZoomInfo, AIRS Oxygen, and LinkedIn. These and the other networking tools should be checked out and used.
But there's more to recruiting and hiring passive candidates than generating a list of names. Success with these tools depends on how well you convert these cold names into hot candidates.
Here are some other factors that need to be considered when hiring passive candidates:
» Continue reading "Handling the Problems with Passive Candidates and Hiring Managers"
The Passive Candidate Report: Networking and Metrics
Topics: Sourcing
For the foreseeable future, I'll be using this weekly ERE column to write exclusively about the challenges of finding and hiring passive candidates. Feel free to comment, send questions, or suggest topics. Recruiting less active and passive candidates will become the focus of attention as corporate recruiting resources are shifted away from pursuing active candidates.
» Continue reading "The Passive Candidate Report: Networking and Metrics"
4 Things Recruiters Must Do to Hire Passive Candidates
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
If you missed ERE's ER Expo 2005 Spring in San Diego, you missed a great event. You should attend one of these bi-annual event every year or so, just to stay on top of the latest trends. There is some great practical information presented by an extraordinary group of recruiting experts.
» Continue reading "4 Things Recruiters Must Do to Hire Passive Candidates"
"Blink" and Hiring More Passive Candidates
Topics: Sourcing
If you want to hire more top-performing passive candidates, you should read a new book called Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. While it has nothing to do with hiring or management or recruiting, reading it will make you a better recruiter, since it has much to do with human nature.
» Continue reading ""Blink" and Hiring More Passive Candidates"
How to Attract and Hire Passive Candidates, Part 5
Topics: Sourcing
Candidates can be divided into four broad categories, depending on how active or passive they are:
» Continue reading "How to Attract and Hire Passive Candidates, Part 5"
How to Hire Passive Candidates, Part 4: The 30% Solution
Topics: Sourcing
Over the past few weeks I've been focusing on what it takes to hire more passive candidates. Here's a quick take on the key themes:
» Continue reading "How to Hire Passive Candidates, Part 4: The 30% Solution"
How to Hire Passive Candidates, Part 3: Sourcing Strategies
Topics: Sourcing
Here's a basic principle you'll need to follow if you want to hire more passive candidates: Offer careers, not jobs. But more on this in a moment.
» Continue reading "How to Hire Passive Candidates, Part 3: Sourcing Strategies"
How to Hire Passive Candidates, Part 2: The Basics
Topics: Sourcing
Passive candidates are different from active candidates - in both how and why they look for new opportunities. If a company wants to hire more passive candidates, it must rethink every aspect of its hiring and sourcing processes. In this series of articles, I'll describe what it takes to set up a corporate recruiting department to hire passive candidates.
» Continue reading "How to Hire Passive Candidates, Part 2: The Basics"
How to Hire Passive Candidates - Part 1
Topics: Sourcing
As I read the articles published every day on ERE, it's very clear to me that as writers we live in two different worlds. One group provides advice and insight on how to hire active candidates more efficiently. The other group focuses on how to hire more top passive candidates. When looked at from this perspective, the reasons for disagreements are obvious. The tools and techniques required to hire passive candidates are far different than those required to hire active candidates.
So, if you're a recruiter who wants to hire more top passive candidates, read on.
» Continue reading "How to Hire Passive Candidates - Part 1"
Technology Trends: Recruiting Passive Candidates
In a recent ERE article (Recruiting Lessons from the iPod) I made the case that recruiting must become more iPod-like. The point was that the iPod is more than a music player, it's a music system. By tying together a very neat music player with simple player management software, an online store, drop-and-play plug-in sound systems, and a host of well-designed accessories, Apple quickly became the dominant name in the music industry.
» Continue reading "Technology Trends: Recruiting Passive Candidates"
How to Recruit and Hire Passive Candidates
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
To get started recruiting and hiring top passive candidates, it's important to understand the theory of recruiting. The following has never before been revealed in print, so please tread carefully as you proceed through the balance of this article.
» Continue reading "How to Recruit and Hire Passive Candidates"
Is Your ATS an Asset or Liability?
Topics: Sourcing
In the past few weeks I've written about two seemingly unrelated issues - the shift in corporate America to emphasizing the hiring of less-active candidates, and how to assess executive potential in up-and-coming managers.
» Continue reading "Is Your ATS an Asset or Liability?"
The Future of Hiring: The Shift Is On to Hire Less Active Candidates
Forget active candidates. Pursuing less active candidates should be your goal.
» Continue reading "The Future of Hiring: The Shift Is On to Hire Less Active Candidates"
The Anatomy of a Search: Week Four
Topics: Sourcing
This is the fourth week of our search for a VP Operations at an East Coast healthcare organization. We're now heavily into the recruiting, assessment, and selection process. This article describes what it takes to recruit top passive candidates.
» Continue reading "The Anatomy of a Search: Week Four"
Case Study: Are You a Strategic or a Tactical Thinker?
Topics: Sourcing
I have a simple rule you might want to follow if you want to achieve any one of the following hiring results:
» Continue reading "Case Study: Are You a Strategic or a Tactical Thinker?"
The Anatomy of a Search, Part 3
Topics: Networking, Sourcing
This is the third week of our search for a VP Operations for an East Coast healthcare organization. We're now heavily into the sourcing, networking, and candidate presentation process. This article describes in detail the semi-sourcing and networking phase of the recruiting.
» Continue reading "The Anatomy of a Search, Part 3"
The Anatomy of a Search, Part 2
Topics: Networking, Sourcing
We've just finished the first week of our search for a Director/VP Operations for a $300 million medical services company. I'll be documenting the results of this search over the next few weeks. The overall project plan and how we got the business and prepared the performance profile were summarized in the kick-off article. This week, we prepared the sourcing plan and began our advertising and networking program.
» Continue reading "The Anatomy of a Search, Part 2"
The Anatomy of a Search
Topics: Networking, Sourcing
This is a reality article series. Over the next few weeks, I'll document an actual retained search we've just received for a VP of operations for a $300 million medical services company. Our goal is to start presenting candidates within two weeks.
» Continue reading "The Anatomy of a Search"
Why Job Branding Is More Important Than Employer Branding
Topics: Interviewing, Performance Profiles, Sourcing
What's all the fuss? Hiring top people isn't as tough as most recruiters and hiring managers make it out to be. Job branding is the key. But before you start job branding, you must first stop doing dumb things that prevent you from hiring top people. No hiring initiative will work effectively unless you stop doing these things first:
» Continue reading "Why Job Branding Is More Important Than Employer Branding"
Joining the Geek Patrol, Convergence, and Other Advanced Techniques for Finding Semi-Candidates
Topics: Sourcing
This is not an article on semi-sourcing. It's a quiz. After each sourcing problem described below, you'll be asked a multiple-choice question. If you get all of the questions right, you'll be able to attend our free August 2004 online course on how to find top people. Actually, if you just take the quiz and respond reasonably well you'll be able to attend. Just send an email to info@adlerconcepts.com when submitting your response.
If Hiring Is #1, Workforce Planning Must Be #2
Topics: Sourcing
The following are the results of a survey taken by over 100 hiring managers and 200 recruiters. How would you have answered the questions? After you read the results, you'll be asked to determine what year the survey was taken.
» Continue reading "If Hiring Is #1, Workforce Planning Must Be #2"
Why You Must Hire Top Employees, Not Top Candidates
Topics: Assessment, Sourcing
If you do things better, you'll get a nice raise, a pat on the back, some recognition, maybe even a promotion. If you do better things, you'll become famous.
» Continue reading "Why You Must Hire Top Employees, Not Top Candidates"
ATS Survey Results: Why You Must Defend Your Desktop
Topics: Sourcing
This is an experiential and interactive article. Another first, but that's not the real point. Stay with me on this, if you can.
» Continue reading "ATS Survey Results: Why You Must Defend Your Desktop"
10 Outside-the-Box Wacky Ideas for Hiring Better People
Topics: Networking, Recruiting, Sourcing
Over the past few years I've made some pretty wild assertions on these pages about how to hire better people. While they have caused quite a stir, and despite the inevitable nay-saying, they've all proved out to be extremely effective. Here are my choices for the top 10 wackiest ideas on how to hire better people.
» Continue reading "10 Outside-the-Box Wacky Ideas for Hiring Better People"
Defend Your Desktop: Help Design Your Next Applicant Tracking System
Topics: Sourcing
Making hiring top talent a systematic process requires some bold initiatives on the part of the HR/recruiting department.
» Continue reading "Defend Your Desktop: Help Design Your Next Applicant Tracking System"
Why Your Hiring Strategy Must Map to Your Business Strategy
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
"Each year China produces as many engineers and scientists as the United States does -- and while its numbers are going up, America's are going down."
-- Fortune, February 23, 2004.
This is serious stuff that must be considered now. But how many HR/recruiting departments have a five-year hiring plan that supports the company's business strategy and addresses issues like this one? What about a one-year plan? How many recruiting departments wait until a requisition is approved before they even start to look for people?
» Continue reading "Why Your Hiring Strategy Must Map to Your Business Strategy"
How to Win Candidates and Influence Clients
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
Here's a basic principle worth considering: a recruiter's performance is based largely on the quality of the last candidate recommended. How well you do here depends primarily on how well you handled taking the job assignment.
» Continue reading "How to Win Candidates and Influence Clients"
The Wrong Solution for the Right Problem
Topics: Sourcing
It's important to segregate problems associated with implementing a systematic approach for hiring top talent into two different groups. The first involves the effectiveness, or quality, of the process itself. The second addresses the consistency, or how well the users implement the process. In this case, users are the recruiters, hiring managers and members of the interviewing team. Overall success depends on the two factors of the process: quality effectiveness and user consistency.
» Continue reading "The Wrong Solution for the Right Problem"
Isn't It Time for HR to Become a Strategic Partner? Here's How!
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
In his book, Only the Paranoid Survive, Intel's Andrew Grove describes the importance of "strategic inflection points" as both historical and mind-changing. Strategic inflection points are events that fundamentally alter the nature of a business or profoundly change the rules of the game. The introduction of the PC was one of these. So was the Internet. Cell phones with email, PDA and camera functions are probably another, especially when you add virtual keyboards and screens.
» Continue reading "Isn't It Time for HR to Become a Strategic Partner? Here's How!"
Become Famous! Make Hiring Top Talent a Systematic Business Process
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
No one would disagree that hiring top people needs to become a more consistent and systematic business process. Too much time is wasted by too many recruiters and hiring managers doing too many different things, many of them counterproductive.
» Continue reading "Become Famous! Make Hiring Top Talent a Systematic Business Process"
Boom! How to Handle the 2004 Hiring Explosion
Topics: Managing, Recruiting, Sourcing
[Note: Recruiters, you might want to send this article to your boss, your clients, and your CEO. It's about your well-being in 2004.] Here's some holiday advice for hiring managers and HR/recruiting managers, and anyone else who works with recruiters or will need recruiters to help them hire people in 2004:
» Continue reading "Boom! How to Handle the 2004 Hiring Explosion"
Why Forward-Looking Metrics Are Needed in a Changing Economy
I just read an article about the supposed "benefits" of the steel tariff, but which also reminded me that there are really three types of metrics.
» Continue reading "Why Forward-Looking Metrics Are Needed in a Changing Economy"
If You Must Use Job Boards, Here's How!
Topics: Sourcing
Job boards could be more effective if they prevented unqualified candidates from ever applying for an open job in the first place. Here's one idea on how they could do this: kill candidate agents, and limit to three the number of jobs a candidate can apply for daily.
» Continue reading "If You Must Use Job Boards, Here's How!"
Red Alert: Why You Must Stop Using Job Descriptions, Today!
Topics: Managing, Performance Profiles, Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
As most of you know, I don't hide my beliefs very well. For example, in recent articles I've been lambasting job boards as being the number one way not to hire good people. But actually, job boards are number two on the list of obstacles preventing companies from hiring top talent. Number one is the traditional job description.
» Continue reading "Red Alert: Why You Must Stop Using Job Descriptions, Today!"
Hiring 2.0: Moneyball, and Why You Must Defy Conventional Wisdom
Topics: Networking, Recruiting, Sourcing
Hiring 2.0 is the operating system for the next generation of hiring tools. The objective of Hiring 2.0 is to establish the standards for making hiring top talent a systematic business process.
» Continue reading "Hiring 2.0: Moneyball, and Why You Must Defy Conventional Wisdom"
Why You Should Stop Using Job Boards, Today!
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
If everyone stopped using job boards to find candidates, everything would start to improve within one week. This is one of those things that can jump start the Hiring 2.0 revolution (Hiring 2.0 is the concept that hiring top people can by a systematic formal business process.).
» Continue reading "Why You Should Stop Using Job Boards, Today!"
Implementing Lean Hiring: The Revolution Gets Serious
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
The goal of the hiring revolution is nothing less than making hiring top talent a systematic business process. Everything else is secondary -- processing resumes, reducing costs, improving time to fill, even metrics.
» Continue reading "Implementing Lean Hiring: The Revolution Gets Serious"
There's Going To Be a Revolution
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing, Working With Hiring Managers
Dateline: New York City. Sometime in the distant future. Band of 176 Recruiters Start the Hiring Revolution This is a strange but true tale about 176 conspirators who started the hiring revolution. Their objective was nothing less than making hiring top talent a formal Six Sigma process.
» Continue reading "There's Going To Be a Revolution"
The Emperor Has No Clothes
Topics: Recruiting, Sourcing
Are our hiring processes built upon a pillar of salt? I was thinking about this while stuck in L.A. traffic recently, and it became clear to me that we're solving the wrong hiring problem.
» Continue reading "The Emperor Has No Clothes"
Networking Semi-Candidates
Topics: Networking, Sourcing
As many of you know, I advocate (and use) a policy of sourcing that emphasizes semi-candidates. Semi-candidates are either semi-active candidates who look on the job boards infrequently; or semi-passive candidates who don't look at all, but want a recruiter to call.
» Continue reading "Networking Semi-Candidates"
Systematizing Semi-Sourcing
Semi-sourcing is a recruitment technique that maximizes candidate quality while minimizing time to hire and cost per hire. Most current recruiting programs focus their efforts on finding a few good people in large pools of active candidates - for example, by using job board advertising. Surprisingly, most companies continue to spend too much money and time on this tactic and are having limited success.
» Continue reading "Systematizing Semi-Sourcing"
These Secrets of Semi-Sourcing Will Change the Way You Find and Hire Top Candidates Forever
Are you aware that you are one of 10,000 people who saw this headline?
Are you aware that you are one of 1,000 people who decided to read this article?
Are you aware that you are about to be only one of 100 people who will respond to the offer I'm making at the end of this article? As a result of responding to this offer, you are about to become a better recruiter. Enjoy!
The Sourcing Sweet Spot: How to Find the Best Without Really Trying
While there are only three types of candidates in the world, there's a world of difference in how you find and hire each type. If you're not seeing enough good candidates, it's possible you're using the wrong tactic to find the right candidate.
» Continue reading "The Sourcing Sweet Spot: How to Find the Best Without Really Trying"
The Best Way to Find Top People Is Still Networking
Topics: Networking, Sourcing
If everybody knows that one thing is true, why do so many people try something else?
Most companies will tell you that their employee referral program is the best way to find top talent. Most recruiters, including me, will tell you that networking with former and current candidates is the best way to find top talent.
» Continue reading "The Best Way to Find Top People Is Still Networking"
Shaking Things Up With Outrageous Ads
Topics: Sourcing
I wrote a great recruiting ad the other day. Maybe you saw it - maybe you even answered it! It was the one that asked the candidate to fast-forward to next year and listen to a boss raving about all the terrific things that candidate had achieved during the past twelve months. I closed by saying, "If you'd like this story to be yours, send in your resume..."
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