How can you stop sourcing in the HR world? Or researching? Or name generating? Or pipeline building? How can you say you never need to look for people or that you have enough? OK, I’m done let’s close shop? Not happening in my world!  

I love the JIT Sourcing concept from Glen Cathey (you’re my latest hot thing BTW Glen <smiles> ) and am all over the lean concepts which help you maintain that fine balance between efficiency and effectiveness (two different things in case you don’t get it) but in my holistic approach to HR, whether it is for a new company preparing to explode with good talent, a third party recruiter working a search assignment for an external client or just a really well established, been-around-for-ages firm, doing what they do best everyday; the “quest” for finding talent never really ends. Unless of course you get hit with a Recession BAM! like we did last year (the economy is still climbing out of the ditch mind you). But even in the deepest depths of a horrible last year, smart recruiters and sourcers kept going.  Even when working a search, the best recruiters know the search is not done till it is done and so the sourcing for fresh meat continues (my apologies Vegans – you can read that as fodder or grass).

Knowing where to go to get good talent is like having that quintessential little black dress in your closet. OK dudes, a suit and god forbid I ever get into a little black dress! The knowledge that it’s always there no matter what and that you can use it in any kind of emergency, formal or informal, is priceless! Keep looking, happy sourcing.

A word of warning to all of you FaceBookers out there that may soon be looking for a new job. Knock knock…”We can see you!”. Example, you just graduated from college and you want to get that dream job. You apply for positions at a few companies and you do not get the job though you seem really qualified for. Why you ask?!? Because perspective employers are using the likes of FaceBook, MySpace and other “personal” sites to get a little better look at who they are about to hire. Do you really want a soon to be manager looking at pictures of you getting wasted at a fraternity party? See you later job offer! BYE BYE! To avoid this, #1 Keep it clean or #2, Keep your profile “exclusive” and/or private to select friends. Good luck and happy FaceBooking!

It’s ALL in the Details – From a Recruiter’s perspective

What do we recruiters need to know to help find that perfect candidate for our clients?  Is more information or less information better? Is just a job description enough?  Well for me, a recruiter at a contract research recruiting firm, partnering with our clients is almost as if we work at their site.  We are actually an extension of their recruitment team and sharing the right information is key to our success. 

Sure, job descriptions are important and yes, all the technical requirements are a must have to find the right candidates, but honestly it’s not enough. Clients need to provide details such as:

-why the positions are open
-team or department structure
-details on hiring manager (his/her management style)
-expectations
-what the team lacks
-how long positions are open
- challenges as to why they have not been able to fill the position on their own to date

I can go on and on; you get my drift, right?  Details!!!  Speaking to a hiring manager is also a bonus; his/her version of the position and ideal candidate provides incredible insight.  Sharing their knowledge, what he/she really is looking for, what the must haves are for this candidate, what he/she is willing to bend on or be flexible on is very valuable.  This type of information can’t be picked up from a job description alone. So yes, hiring managers on intake calls should be a RULE.

(more…)

I am sure we have all heard variations of this story, legend, chain emails -  call it what you like. The author is unknown and Snopes makes several references to this story from its association with Royals to our fair neighbor Canada. It is a great tale of heart warming anticipation where you hold on to your fork because pie/dessert is coming next and therefore the best is yet to come.

Nice story and all and some may wipe a tear but what the heck does this have to do with you and me, all the unemployed people who have been despairing over the past months and the entire staffing/recruiting/HR bandwagon that has been hurtling downhill all year? You see, I’m the eternal optimist when it comes to new ways of doing things – Web 2.0, automation, spider technology,  semantic, Boolean, 3G, 4G, Artificial Intelligence  – better, smarter, faster, interactive, more intuitive, streamlined, and the fact that mankind is always improving on things.

Don’t get me wrong, there are days/times when I am down. But in spite of the fact that Nearly 16M People Can’t Find Jobs Amid Claims Recession Is Over  or the fact that U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 10.2%, Highest in 26 Years I have eternal hope.

I and all my tribe are cheering for a quick end to the bad times. OK so shoot me,<gobble, gobble> but if we all don’t think that the only way out of this is up, we’re all toast, man. It is just a question of time.  Because in the midst of the doom & gloom all we need is more good news like Bay Area Tech Company Needs to Hire 200 Recruiters & Sourcers, One Year Contract .

A past Executive Admin once said to me, “The Universe, my dear, has a way of balancing it all out” as I pulled my hair out on a frightfully annoying, ongoing, “client kept changing the specs” search.  A lot of truth in that as I eventually found out.  So let’s celebrate Thanksgiving (I sure hope the more fortunate, still employed among us will invite at least one unemployed family to share the meal) and be “THANKFUL” for what has been and for what we have enjoyed (granted it’s been a while when the unemployment paycheck has been coming for months). 

The next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you ever so gently, that the best is yet to come. Count your blessings and here’s to better times for all.  

Happy Thanksgiving y’all!

Here’s a simple tip to help increase your ROI on Candidate Development (CD) projects, and make your recruiting efforts more proactive.

I should point out that it is still important to maintain a fairly tight focus on the criteria for the position(s) that initiated the CD project, in order to produce the kinds of people you seek to fill that opening. However, in every search we generate people/resumes/leads that are close but not quite a fit for the current opening.

In some cases people are too junior or too senior. Or they might not have all of the skills/experience that you were looking for in this specific position. Then again, we might also come across people that work in the same department, but have a totally different role. In each of these situations, these people might just be the exact person you’re looking for on another search in the future. Or perhaps they’re the perfect fit for another hiring manager in your company. And if we’re targeting specific competitors/companies where you normally find and hire good talent, then they are definitely worth capturing.

(more…)