Talent 911

The 2015 Spring Michigan Recruiters Conference

I’m super excited to announce I am co-organizing the first ever Michigan Recruiters Conference to be held on March 13th in Lansing, MI starting at 9am!

Jim D’Amico, Director of Talent Acquisition at Spectrum Health, and I have been talking about doing this for over a year and late in 2014 we finally just said, “Screw it! Let’s pick a date and force ourselves to get his puppy off the ground!” And we did it! With a lot of help from Jim’s team at Spectrum, my team at HRU, our techy guy Matt Wagmann and our friends at the Accident Fund corporation!

Register at www.MichiganRecruits.com

Our Goal for the Michigan Recruiters Conference:

We want an event similar to an ERE, but local. Great recruiting and talent acquisition content, without having to pay thousands of dollars to attend. Our fee is $49! We want to raise the level of recruiting in the state of Michigan. We want to offer this in an environment where the corporate Talent Acquisition folks don’t feel like it’s a meat market (i.e., no staffing agencies).

We want to bring in national speakers, corporate talent acquisition best practices and next-gen practices that aren’t even being used by the masses. We want to network and share our successes, and find ways that corporate talent acquisition pros can better leverage each other and their knowledge. We plan on having two Michigan Recruiters Conferences per year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall.

We are not doing this for profit. The sponsors (CareerBuilder is our first, but we would love more!) and fees are only to cover costs of running a great conference like this. Sounds like we want to be a bunch of Hippies! I hope so, this is going to be great!

The format of the Conference:

Unlike normal HR conferences we aren’t looking to do 1 hour and 15 minute sessions. Who the hell even came up with that length of time!? It’s way too long, and just encourages rambling. We are Recruiters, we don’t have time to ramble! Our sessions will be 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 1 hour, depending on the content and presenter. A professional national speaker can easily hold the stage for an hour. Your local sourcing pro who has some great ideas to share, might only need thirty minutes!

We will strive to have you leave each conference with great ideas you can use immediately, ideas that will challenge what you do long term, and increase your network and tribe of other talent acquisition pros you can lean on.

It won’t be a full day. 6 hours or so. Get in, get out, go make placements.

We’ll attempt to always hold these at host corporations who are willing to have this progressive knowledge come into their walls. Thank you Accident Fund Corporate, and Darcy Kerr, for hosting this first conference in Lansing, MI!

Why no staffing agencies?

I’ve already gotten a ton of crap on this. “Tim, aren’t you a staffing agency?” “Tim don’t you rail against being treated as a second class citizen by LinkedIn?” “Tim this is hypocritical!”

Here’s the deal. I speak about a dozen times a year, nationally, to HR and Talent Acquisition pros, and never once have I been accused of trying to sell my services. I’m not worried about me, but I know my industry. I’ve already had agency folks try and sneak their way into the conference like a Catfish! To make the Michigan Recruiters Conference a success we need corporate talent acquisition pros and leaders to see the value of a conference like this. If their first experience is some cheese-ball from RecruitTech coming on to them in the first fifteen minutes, that experience is ruined. So, Jim and I decided, no agencies, yet.

We do see a time down the road, once the conference is established, where we will be able to invite in our agency brethren. Minnesota started in a similar way. Even at that point, we’ll have hard rules around selling at this conference. It’s designed to be developmental. That’s the conference we want.

Sometimes to make something great, you rub a few folks the wrong way. Agency folks are resilient, to say the least, I know they’ll bounce back. I look forward to the day I can invite them as well.

The Contingent Workforce in the U.S. is Growing!

From our friends at Fistful of Talent, you need to check out their recent post on The Rise of the Contingent Workforce by Laurie Ruettimann -- It's great. From the article:

I am just back from the InfluenceHR conference where 100 marketing executives came together to discuss new ways to market and sell technology to human resources departments.

I helped to create the agenda for this event. George LaRocque is my partner. We believe that you can’t sell HR technology if you don’t know the major trends in the workforce.

So George took the stage during lunch and highlighted three trends in the marketplace:

1. The consumerization of human resources technology
2. A growing contingent workforce
3. A shift towards “bring your own devices to work” policies

George said, “The way that work gets done, and how HR supports it, is going through major changes. We are moving towards a transient, contingent workforce bringing their devices and apps that help them get work done, plugging into I.T. environments that are mobile first, and being acquired as much as they are hired."

I love that quote so much. A transient workforce reminds me of a bunch of hobos and vagabonds who carry knapsacks on sticks. And that’s not far from the truth, actually, because a rise in the contingent workforce means you have an increase in people who come to your company from around the world — equipped with basic skills and abilities — but don’t camp out and stay for the long haul. These workers are unaffiliated with your brand for legal and compliance reasons. When the tasks are completed, they go home...

Wanted to check out the rest? Click on the link to The Rise of the Contingent Workforce

Recruitpedia

Each week I listen and speak with Recruiting Pros who have a language all their own - like most professions - but for me it's always fun to listen to what each person is really trying to say to you.  Here are some of my favorite:

Offer Pending:  What it means - "I'm going to make an offer to an individual"; What it really means - "I didn't pre-close the candidate, so I don't know if they'll accept" or "I made them the offer, but they haven't accepted, but I don't want you to know that, yet" 

Professional References: What it means - "References from those who have supervised you in a previous job"; What it really means - "Those references that you gave me, who are your father's best friend, your girlfriends dad and your 7th grade basketball coach - don't count.  We don't trust they will give us a true insight to how lazy you really are."  or "my boss feels better about your previous boss telling us how great you are versus your priest telling us how great you are"

Market Offer:  What it means - "We combed through salary survey data to determine what the going salary should be for your position, in this geographic area"; What it really means - "We did our budgets 16 months ago and didn't anticipate the market moving so fast for this position, so here's what we can afford to offer you."

Excellent Benefits Package:  What it means - "We offer a wide array of benefit options, which are paid in full by us and you'll not have to worry about anything."; What it really means - "We offer the same kind of benefit package as everyone else - virtually - but saying we offer a "Benefit Package The Same As Everyone Else" doesn't have the same ring to it as "Excellent Benefit Package".

An "A" Candidate - What it means - "This candidate is top level talent in the industry, with the reputation and references to back up their experience."; What it really means - "This is the best person (or only person) we could find to accept your marginal pay rate, crappy location and bad company culture."

Niche Recruiter - What it means - "The recruiter only networks and recruits for a specific skill set, and/or industry." What it really means - "You think you need someone who specifically networks and recruits only for what you are looking for - the reality is a great recruiter can find you anyone you need regardless of skill/industry - but it makes you feel better if we tell you we have that specific niche.  So we are "Niched".

I blame marketing for all of this!  No one can just say what is really on their mind anymore - it's not "P.C."  Instead we "dance" with each other and tell each other what we want to hear - and we leave with this wonderful false sense of security that everything is fine.  And you know what - it usually is - about 99% of the time.  That's the problem - it's that 1% of the time that you need a true partner who is going to tell you "what does this really mean", instead of "tell me what I really want to hear" - it's what gets Talent and HR Pros in trouble!   When in doubt - Speak the truth.

3 Ways To Make Contract Hiring Work For You

I was in a meeting with an HR executive recently talking about some pain points they are having.  You see, in my business of staffing, you don't get in the door unless someone in HR is unhappy with some kind of results in their hiring.  It's the game.  You're unhappy, I come in and tell you how I'll make you happy.  This HR Pro was having a hard time finding engineering talent.  They did what a the majority of corporate recruiting departments do - they used a number of sourcing options, posting options, looked at hiring incentives, made sure they paid competitively, etc.  Not bad, hit all the basics.  After this failed, they went the direct-hire agency route.  Made some hires.  Some worked out.  Some didn't.  Paid fees on all of them, since all made it past the guarantee.

So, how are you going to help me?

Fair question.  Really the only question she needed an answer to.

I dig in and find out that while the direct-hire agency route worked.  It left them feeling 'unsatisfied' because although they didn't blame the staffing firm they were working with for the turnover, they couldn't get over paying all those fees, and now have nothing to show for it.  The reality was, they have a tough environment, a challenging workplace culture, and some managers who aren't the best managers.  This caused the turnover.  Still, they are left in the same place they started -- 'we still need engineers'.

Okay, now it's my turn.

Me: "How about you try contract?'

Her: "We don't use contract, we want to hire direct." 

Me: "Why?"

Her: somewhat stunned I asked this question and expected an answer -- "Well, we need these people long term, not temporarily, and we want top talent and I don't think hiring contractors would give us top talent."

Here is HR executive's dilemma: first, they need engineering talent; second, they turn over talent because of their environment; and third, they don't want to pay fees.  Whether she wanted to hear it or not, Contracting was the answer to her problem.

Here was my conversation with her:

"You need to bring in Contract Engineers to fill these jobs.  We will find talented people, you will be amazed.  After 12 months, I'll let you have them for no buy-out.  Thus, you'll have no fees.  You have a bad environment with high turnover, you need us to find you engineers who can survive this environment and help you move forward all at once.  Contracting is great for this.  For many reasons people decide to contract.  Folks like you judge them for that, and consider them low talent.  I can give you a list of clients we are working with right now that will share stories with you about how wrong this is.  You will find great loyal talent when using contractors."

"But it costs so much!"

"That is another misnomer! Let's say your total hourly cost for an engineer is $60/hr, which includes pay, benefits, PTO, bonus, 401K match, taxes, etc.  I can get you that same level talent for $60/hr.  I can do that because I don't pay all the fringes you pay, I pay the same taxes, and lower amounts of PTO.   Your cost on a 12 month contract hire is virtually the same as if you would have hired the person direct, plus if you fall in love with them, you pay nothing after 12 months."

It's not a sales pitch.  It's just the facts when you work out the numbers.  She signed up.  I'll let you know how it works out, but to be honest I already do.  We've been doing this for 33 years.  It will work out great, and she'll solve her problem.

There are 3 concrete ways which Contract Hiring is a no-brainier:

1. High Turnover positions.

2. Short Term Projects - 3 months to 3 years - but basically we don't nee the person on after that

3. Beginning or Ending of a location.  Need to grow quickly, or shutting down a location

There really isn't any reason to be paying 20-35% fees (yes, I spoke to a company paying 35% the other day!) for direct hires.  The industry found a better way, HR Pros just struggle to change.  One other major factor that makes contract hiring work, is it seems to make companies more comfortable in taking some risks in hiring people they normally wouldn't.  'What the heck, they're on contract, if we don't like them, we can replace them." Every time I hear this, it makes me smile, because I know they'll like the person!  But if contracting gives them that 'freedom' then I'm all for it!  I hate telling them they have the same freedom hiring direct!

Want to hear some more?  Call me - I've got more miracles. [email protected]; 517-908-3156 or @TimSackett  - my company delivers staffing miracles every freaking day! 

HR - It's You or It's Me

I love 'end of days' type posts and articles.  The end of Job Boards!  The end of HR!  Here's another one great one over at ERE by Dr. John Sullivan called: The End of Sourcing Is Near..., which talks about how eventually (in John's opinion) most sourcing information will be readily available to almost everyone.  This makes really the only thing left to do in recruiting is to sell the candidate on your job and your organization.  Sullivan explains the importance of this very critical step in recruiting - the sell:

"Recruiting leaders should begin focusing on these selling aspects because, as previously stated, “finding” is becoming so easy, and there is little push for change in candidate assessment because most recruiters and hiring managers are comfortable with the existing process of assessing candidates through interviews.

Once you realize that the selling aspect of recruiting is almost universally under researched, underfunded, and it is almost always executed in an unscripted manner, you’ll see that it’s ripe for significant improvement and change. If you review the recruiting literature you will find very little written about the science of selling and the importance of using data-driven selling approaches within the recruiting function. The pressure is increasing on recruiting leaders to make a decision to shift resources away from sourcing by recruiters and toward the remaining big challenge: selling."

Like most 'end of days' type posts, Sullivan's end of sourcing post is probably a little over the top, but he makes a great point.  HR Pros don't recruit well for one simple fact - HR Pros didn't get into HR to sell - they got into HR to do HRy things like: build processes, improve processes, administer people practices within an organization, training, problem solving, etc.   They didn't go - "Oh boy! I can't wait to get into the Fortune 500 HR shop so I can sell our company like a a life insurance salesman trying to make quota!"

That's where I come in.  I don't hire HR pros to work in recruiting.  I don't sell the recruiting position as an HR position.  I don't go over to Michigan State's HR program and speak to students about 'getting their start' in HR by coming to work for me.  99% of those folks, while great people, would fail in my environment.  They want to be in HR - Recruiting is not HR.  There in lies the problem for most HR shops.   Most HR folks - probably 70-80% - have to do some 'recruiting' in their organizations.  They don't have a recruiting department or a sourcing group to do all the heavy lifting.  Most HR Managers, if they're lucky, have a full time recruiter, but this still means, when it's busy, they still have to recruit.

That's why so many HR pros engage recruiting agencies.  We offer a skill set they don't, necessarily, have on their staff.  We sell.  We sell the crap out of a position and your company.  We can make an average company look like the Best Place to Work and a really bad company look like the next big opportunity.  No power steering - No problem - manual steering builds up great arm muscles!  Want tinted windows?  Yeah, we can get those installed.  Recruiting is selling.  In fact, Recruiting is double selling.  You sell the candidate on the position, then you sell the hiring manager on the candidate.  Good recruiters can work in any industry - because selling skills are transferable to any product or service.

So - do you want your HR Pros to sell, or do you want me to sell?  By the way - I don't hire HR Pros, I hire closers.

Let my company do some selling for you - let's connect: [email protected]; 517-908-3156 or @TimSackett.

The A+ Player Employee

I know a ton of HR/Talent Pros are sick of hearing employees broken down into A, B and C players.  It seems played out and dated.  But I like it.  I'm simple and the ABC player scenario is easy for me to describe, in very quick manner, how someone is performing.  I'll give you, though, there are problems.  Once you have your "A" players, how do you tell which is the best one?  Can't a "C" player be close to moving up to "B", but another "C" be close to getting terminated?  The problem is, ABC doesn't accurately enough describe individuals, it just describes groups of employees - a range of performance at any given snapshot in time.

I was having a conversation about this the other day with a peer and was describing a person's performance who worked for me - an "A" player.  As I was describing this person, I said, "but you know what, they are better than an "A" player - they're an "A+" player"!   Oh, boy, here we go.  What the heck is an A+ player?!

Traits of your A+ Players:

- All the talent and performance of your traditional "A" player, but with:

A.  Work like they're a "B" player hungry to get to "A" status

B.  Lack the ego some "A" players tend to catch upon gaining "A" status

C.   Don't believe they've reached "A" status, even when they have.

A+ players are special.  As soon as you read the traits you had an individual come immediately to mind.  That person who is a great performer, but also someone you wish all of your employees would emulate.  A person who is a joy to work with, and gets things done.  Maybe not the best at any single task - but the person you want to do every task.  A+ players aren't culture changers, they are the culture.  Not everyone has an A+ player, and I don't believe you can create one.  You usually have to hire them - and they ascend to A+ level very quickly.

When people tell me they only hire "A" players I tend to judge them as not having any idea about HR/Recruiting/Life.  You don't hire "A" players.  You hire talent you believe is capable of becoming an "A" player within your organization.   Because they were an "A" player at another organization, has very little impact on their performance level within your organization - unless you somehow magically cloned their previous environment, leadership and resources and put them back into that same place.  It's true that past performance is predictive of future performance - but only when you put that talent into a very similar circumstance.

That's why it's really hard to find A+ players, because you don't even know when you hire someone if they will reach that level.  You might have a feeling - like - "oh boy, we've got someone special coming in", but you don't know, until you know.  All I really know is when you have one, do what you have to keep them around, because you'll never know if you'll get another one.

By Tim Sackett, SPHR

Connect with Tim at [email protected], 517-908-3156 or on Twitter @TimSackett

Lawyer-Up

Years from now when I retire and look back on my career in HR I think I'm only going to be surprised about one thing.  It won't be how crazy some employees can be, or dumb things supervisors have said to employees or even the shocking employee relations issues I've dealt with.  The one thing will be how totally comfortable I've become in dealing with lawsuits and potential lawsuits!   If you really thing about it, most people in the world are not comfortable with lawyers.  Just as HR Pros are looked at like the Grim Reaper in many organizations - no one wants to see the lawyer's number pop up on their caller ID!  Combine the Lawyer and HR Pro together and you have most employees worst nightmare.

I've gotten to the point now in my career where I actually try and beat employees to the punch.  Here's how it normally goes: Employee is either being terminated, or had a boss be a little too touchy or somehow slipped in the parking lot on a dry sunny day and HR gets a call/visit that sounds something like this:

Employee: "Yeah, well, 'we've' got a problem!"

HR Pro: "Really!? What problem do 'we' have?"

Employee: "Jill took my stapler and told me my 'Boo' is sleeping with Mary."

HR Pro: "And..."

Employee: "And!  And that's stealing and I'm working in a 'hospitable' work environment!"

HR Pro: "Hostile."

Employee: "I'm not being "Hostile"! Oh, you're against me to - I see how this is. I know my rights! I don't want to have to get 'others' involved but I will."

HR Pro: "Others. Oh, you mean a lawyer?" (I like to act like I'm surprised and that thought had never come to me that they might go this direction.) "Tell you what - I think you're right on.  Have your lawyer contact me immediately so we can start working through some of these details, like how another employee stole your work issued stapler and how your "boo" is sleeping with Mary."

That usually ends the conversation right there.

The fastest way to get an employee off 'Lawyering-Up' is to push them to 'Lawyer-Up'.  The reality is for HR Pros - either way - you will either need to Lawyer-Up or you don't, depending on the details.As an HR Pro I've become very comfortable with this issue.  I think about 100% of the time when  I hear from an employee that they are "going to call their attorney", I try and tell them that is a really good idea.  I encourage them constantly to seek legal advice. Why? Because here's another thing I've learned from being an HR Pro - the majority of attorneys will tell people to take a hike when they have nothing.  Honestly. We tend to think lawyers will sue for anything, but in most employment cases they won't. 99 out of 100 times you have an employee seek legal advice - you'll never hear from them again because some attorney will tell them - "You have no case."  The one case you do hear from - is probably the one you already knew you had problems with already.

Yep - being told "I'm going to sue you", who knew someone could ever hear those words and not feel nervous!? Only HR Pros and Lawyers.

By Tim Sackett, SPHR

Contact Tim directly at 517-908-3156, [email protected] or @TimSackett on Twitter to discuss how your company can partner with HRU to find the best Tech talent on the market.

Packing Parachutes

I attended SHRM National a few weeks ago and got a great once in lifetime (at least for me) experience - jumping off the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.  850 feet, 108 stories - called the SkyJump (check it out! it was fun).   While I was up on the 108th floor getting ready to jump, I was reminded of a quote a supervisor of mine once told me:

"Tim, some people just aren't cut out to pack parachutes." 

I'm not sure why that quote came to me, at that exact time, could have been I was about to jump off a very tall building and I might have been a bit concerned about the individuals chosen to ensure the safety of the equipment I was about to use - yeah - I'm fairly certain that was the reason!  When you are looking 850 feet down, and getting ready to jump, it might be the only thing going through your mind - "I hope these people know what they are doing!"   But how do you know - how do you know the person selected was "cut out to pack parachutes"?

My old supervisor told me this as I was trying to talk him into moving an individual into a role that he obviously feel the employee in question wasn't ready for.  I think we as HR Pros are always trying to find the right fit for individuals in our organizations, and many times we are trying to make "Parachute Packers" out of individuals who aren't cut out for such an important, permanent type of job!  Since we rarely move someone into a life and death role, in our organizations - we think it's alright, they'll be fine - even if they fail, it's good experience.

But it's not.  It might be the one weakness we commonly have as HR Pros, we don't view the roles we move our employees into - important enough.  We don't treat them likes its a life and death decision - it's just business.  Is it?  Or is it the life of our organizations and companies that we are taling about?  Maybe it's time we start treating these moves with more reverence!

Organizations fight to survive every day.  We as HR Pros need to have that same kind of fighting for our survival mentality, especially when making lasting organizational decisions - like making personnel moves.  These moves are too important.  The next time you get ready to move an employee into a new role in your organization, ask yourself one question. 

Would I allow this person to pack my parachute?

It's not in a literal sense, but in a way that gets you to really think about the move you are about to make, and the person you are about to saddle that hiring manager with.  No move is too small or unimportant in your organization to not ask this question.

As for me - I won't hire anyone into my company or keep anyone on my team, that I wouldn't feel completely comfortable packing my parachute!

Tim Sackett is the EVP of HRU and has over 18 years of corporate HR and Talent Acquisition background working with Fortune 500 companies.  Tim speaks nationally on the topic of Talent and probably likes to hear himself speak more than anyone.  When he's not talking, he is probably bugging the recruiters on why they aren't on the phone - and yes, he really does look like Richie Cunningham from Happy Days ...connect with Tim.

Know Thyself

The great folks over at Sonar 6 (check them out -seriously the best Performance Management Feedback program I've seen to date) asked me to write up something for a Coaching Series they are doing for Corporate HR folks, in giving them some tools to help mentor hiring managers in how to deliver better employee feedback.

My idea started with the concept that most adult learners struggle to really make major steps in improving their opportunity areas (and there is a ton of research to back this up on adult learning), but each person has strengths and those same adults will make great strides in even getting better at their strengths.  Managers spend so much time focusing on the opportunity areas, instead of just accepting those and really finding out ways to leverage this persons strengths, and making them an even stronger part of the team.

On top of that, most of our managers, were by nature - the Best worker - that's how they became manager - so they struggle to understand why others aren't as good as them, from a technical standpoint.  If we can get our managers to understand, not everyone is going to be as good as they are technically, but these people on their team probably bring other strengths that the manager doesn't have - the team overall is stronger for it. 

It's a great series and they have additional Coaching tips coming out each week from really strong HR Pros all over the country (and the world for that matter).  Check it out: www.sonar6.com/colorpapers/Know-thyself

 

4 Career Lessons from Hip Hop Godfather Russell Simmons

Dan Schawbel wrote a recent article over at Business Week outlining Russell Simmons new book "Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All" (Gotham 2011), where Uncle Russ gives us all some advice on how to be successful in life.  Simmons breaks it down to 4 lessons:

1. Choose passion over money. (I can't not agree with this, but have you ever noticed the only people who give this advice are either super rich or super poor?  If you have a 3 bed/2 bath home in the burbs, making payments on 2 cars and carting your 2.3 kids around to basketball and ballet practice - you tend not to be giving out the "work your passion" advice - I'm just saying...this is also advice that works better for the young - I love coaching - but the pay sucks starting out, so you would have to follow that passion right out of college - before wife, before kids, before house, before car with no rust, before food - you get the picture!)

2. Have a positive attitude. (Again, easier if your rich - they say "More money, more problems" - but if you have money - it's easier to take care of your problems! But I agree with Russ on this - I want to work with people who have a positive energy - who believe the sun is coming up tomorrow - because you know what? It will.)

3. Think before you speak.(I wish I had a hot tub time machine so I could go back to my younger self and give out this advice...at many times.  This can be a huge career derailer for many people - I understand that people get passionate, but saying the wrong thing at the wrong time in front of the wrong people - can end your career progression at a company faster than bad performance.)

4. Give before you receive. (We all know these people - we envy them and want to be like them.  It seems like every time you need something, they come through.  Certain people have learned that their success is not about being better than everyone else, but making everyone else around them better.  If you can find some of these people for your team - you win.)

I think one thing that Russell and it seems many people who very high success tend to leave out of their advice is one very critical component - Right Time, Right Place - and (this one is critical - because many people are at the "right time, right place" moment) - Make the Right Decision.  People never want to believe their success could have anything to do with this "fate" concept - but all to often in life, your success comes down to making the right decision at the right time.  I don't really believe that's fate - I tend to believe it's about making good decisions, and your willingness to make decisions.  In the end if you don't make a decision, it will be made for you.