Finding and Keeping the “Keepers” - Recruiting Front Line Employees
June 22, 2008
The latest chapter of the book we’re writing on achieving your optimal front line retention strategy is written by our board member, Mel Kleiman. The focus of this chapter is the key role that recruiting practices play in ensuring that the right talent is available, willing and able to serve on your organization’s front line.
For some organizations, the challenge may be finding an adequate supply of necessary talent. For others, the candidate supply may be steady, but choosing those who are the right fit for the job may often seem hit or miss. In either case, the organization will suffer if these root causes can’t be addressed. Mel’s article addresses the supply question as well as the issue of assessing a candidate’s suitability for the position in question, discussing the differences between candidate populations and how organizations can tailor their recruiting messages and approaches to different target candidate audiences.
I thought about this when I was shopping for a Mac Book for my son this week. We went to the hyper-glossy Apple store on Boylston Street in Boston. The floor staff have specialized roles, and gracefully handed us off amongst themselves as we sorted through the hardware and software requirements dictated by the NYU film department. Our principal guide was Chris - who himself had a deep knowledge of film editing on a Mac. We couldn’t have had a better shopping experience.
When I was leading a recruitment outsourcing practice in a past life, we used to talk about three dimensions of fit: skills, willingness to do the job, and cultural fit. Mel takes a similar approach in this chapter, exploring the assessment of existing candidate capabilities as well as an individual’s willingness to do the job in the way the organization wants it done. I don’t know what Apple’s approach is to recruiting and training their front line retail staff, but the results are impressive if Chris is a typical example.
You can read Mel’s chapter here. You can also hear a podcast of an interview between Mel and me regarding his approach to hourly worker recruiting.
Mel Kleiman interview on recruiting hourly workers [28:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (451)
Doing the Talent Acquistion Limbo
January 31, 2008
In a new article from our board member, Steven Hunt, he talks about the challenges of keeping your selection standards high when the labor market is tight. He discusses the downside of lowering the bar to increase your applicant pools - increased turnover, decreased morale, lower productivity - and suggests a number of strategies to avoid the adverse consequences of lowering the bar for incoming talent.
While many organizations are competing for talent, one desirable population, the Millenials, may be underlooked. In a recent BusinessWeek article about the importance of the youth vote this election year, our board member Jared Bernstein is cited as saying Millenials “start lower and grow slower” than their parents did when it comes to employment opportunities in the US as many former middle class jobs have shifted offshore. Proactive organizations are reviving their college recruiting efforts and making investments in growing their talent from within. Although their recruitment strategies may be cutting edge (Facebook, MySpace) the employment brand value proposition may still be old school. It’s made clear in the BusinessWeek article that Millenials share many of the same priorities with their parents when it comes to employment - with health benefits topping the list.
What is your organization doing to recruit and develop talent from the Millenial generation?
Hiring by Design - Finding Job Candidates with the Right Fit
December 19, 2007
Why the quilt picture? I’m a quilter. While I didn’t make this quilt, it’s by one of my favorite textile artists, Kaffee Fasset. He makes beautiful quilts, knits, pottery and other wildly colored beautiful objects. Like the quilt shown here, they may look somewhat ad hoc. They are all, however, carefully designed in order to achieve the right balance of color and movement in the finished product.
In a previous post related to candidate assessment, I wrote about the manager’s role in helping ensure that recruiters understand the competencies and qualities that will ensure success on the job. In this recent article from Talent Management Magazine, Steve Hunt expands on strategies that hiring managers can employ to retain qualified hourly workers by investing more time in the first stages of the hiring process to clearly articulate the skills and qualities that correlate to success (and satisfaction) on the job. In this article, Steve provides step-by-step guidance on how to identify these desired candidate attributes. Specifically, he helps managers and recruiters dig below generic platitudes (good attitude) and surface job specific descriptions (dependable attendance).
Another interesting aspect of this article is Steve’s discussion of thinking about candidate fit not only from the perspective of what the individual has done in the past (experience), but also what candidate can do (potential) and is willing to do (motivation). Hiring managers often focus their attention on candidates whose prior experience directly maps to the job at hand. When they do so, they not only limit their talent pools unecessarily, but may also be setting themselves up for retention challenges with employees who will become more quickly bored with a job, vs. those who’ll remain engaged longer as they learn new skills. As is the case with the vibrant quilt pictured above, the effort managers expend in the design phase of the hiring process will pay off in a more successful final outcome - employees who are more successful and engaged in their work.
Measure Twice, Cut Once - Thoughts on Candidate Assessment
December 6, 2007
We have just posted a chapter from Steve Hunt’s book, Hiring Success, in the tools section of this site. The book is a great read for any manager interested in improving his/her skills in selecting candidates who can do the job at hand. Candidate assessment - and specifically the use of science based tools to help with assessment - remains somewhat controversial. One of the key questions facing recruiters and hiring managers is “ what is the right blend of art and science in candidate assessment?”
The proliferation of internet enabled hiring technologies – from job boards to applicant tracking systems to science based predictive tools – provides organizations with a growing arsenal of tools they can use to attract, screen and hire employees. While many of these tools have massively increased hiring efficiency, we still need to ensure that the hiring process will be effective in delivering candidates who can fit the position at hand. My experience with a large array of buyers of these technologies suggests that companies that balance a sound recruiting process with an appropriate level of hiring manager flexibility will always trump those who expect that technology alone will provide them with an edge.
I’m not talking about anything too fancy. Start with the basics. When a hiring manager invests time in a conversation with a recruiter about the unique requirements of a position, that recruiter will deliver better fit candidates to that hiring manager. When the recruiter and the hiring manager take the time to develop an interviewing strategy – preparing screening questions, choosing the right interview team members, deploying sound assessment tools and exercises – they will likely get a better result from the process. When they take the time to not only check candidate provided references, but also to pursue unsolicited references through the many Web 2.0 alternatives (LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, etc.), they will have more complete information on which to base a decision.
I’d love to hear from you about what’s working – and what’s not – in your organization when it comes to candidate assessment. And do take the time to checkout Steve’s book….
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