Title Search can be a waste!!
So a lot of sourcers still like to search by title. I mean the full title as listed on their job descriptions (JD). The only problem with this is there are a lot of different titles that can be used for the same job. For example you need a developer. You JD say Sr. Developer. That’s great but I have seen several titles that are used that would find you people with the skills you want. For example; Software Engineer, Software Programmer, Principle, etc. If you search on Sr. Developer you are going to miss out on a lot of people. Not to mention the term Senior means different things to different companies. So my suggestion is to not focus so much on titles, but instead on the required skills, you will find you will get the results you want, without limiting and missing out on possible candidates you would lose out on doing a title search.
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Job Hoppers = no hire…Really
Yup I said it, and this is going to be one of my most controversial posts to date. First let me start by saying this is mostly for corporate staffing. We all know that Hiring Managers (HM), HR, and a lot of Staffing Professionals(SP) have a bias against anyone who has had too many different jobs in a given span. Heck there are a lot of HMs, HR, AND SPs out there who will not even look at a candidates if they had too many jobs within the same company in a given time frame. Why? They will give many reasons; it shows they cannot commit, if they were that good they would not hop, etc. Some of their rational is correct, however for every “hopper” were the above rational is correct there is one where it is wrong. There are in fact legitimate reasons for having to hop. For example; bad luck and having companies go under on you, having a hot skill, gaining experience, looking for the right place, RIFs, career enhancement, etc. The issue is, as we have read and been told by HRE, ERE, the Labor Department, SHRM and many others, we are in a shrinking labor pool. Candidates are getting harder and harder to find, Can we really afford to be so narrow minded and antiquated in our thinking. The key is you should not judge a person just because they appear to be a “hopper” you need to find out, and listen carefully as I have used these terms many many times in other posts, you need to find out the who, what, were, how and why for the appeared hopping. If there is indeed legitimate reason for it and the candidate sis a good one, you present it to your HM and take a stand. If we as SPs do not take a stand and try to change this kind of antiquated thinking will continue and we will continue to overlook great candidates, and in this every decreasing candidate pool we are dealing with loosing even 1 can be huge. Mining for Gold that is already there!!
ATS, HRIS, CRM what do all of these have in common? Answer almost every company has them, but most do not use them right. To that end let the mining or more correctly strip mining begin. How many companies have a candidate database(DB) of some kind, filled with candidates no one ever talks to or if they did it was some time ago. For example a candidate who applied 2 years ago, but did not have enough experience, guess what they might now. The question is what to do about all the hidden gold that exist in your DB. The answer is to create a coordinated data mining operation to clean up, and identify talent within your DB. This can be done by your current staffing professionals or outsourced to a third party for information updating and initial communications. The point is imagine all the hidden or forgotten gold/candidates that are there an d just waiting to be found or refound. So like I said let the mining begin What do candidates really want from staffing process??
What do candidates really want from staffing process? How do they really feel they should be treated? What is good candidate service and satisfaction? These are the questions that staffing professionals have wondered for years. READ MORE!!! The Call!!
(note this post is mainly geared towards corporate staffing professionals) So often when calling a potential candidate, most recruiters go into their sales pitch about a position they are looking to fill, if the person they are talking to seems interested, they might talk more about the position. If the candidate does not seems interested they quickly end the call to move onto the next. In most cases it is almost like they are reading a script and really do not care anything about the person they are talking to beyond if they fit the position they are currently working on or not. The problem is for every one candidate this works on, there are 4 it does not. Instead of making your call about a position, make it about a career. Talk to them about what they want, what they are looking for, in other words talk to them about their career, hopes, desires and aspirations. At some point they will want to know if you have a position for them, and by then you will know. Either way you will have accomplished 3 things;
Candidate and Client Satisfaction!!!- Well this is one of the most important issues for a recruiter/staffing professional. It is not just about filling positions. It is about having a good relationship with your client and ensuring you treat each candidate with respect. Remember it is a small world and I can guarantee you, candidates talk. You treat one bad and it will get around. Same goes for clients, treat one bad and it will get around and make things difficult. If you truly want to be a "world class staffing professional" you must make sure every client and every candidate feels like they were treated with the utmost respect and consideration. The key is to "Treat them the way you would want to be treated", do this and you are golden.
The Makeup of a great Staffing Professional!!
So what is the secret sauce to being a great Staffing Professional? That is a question that has been debated for years, so I figured it’s time to answer it. A great staffing professional will be inquisitive, they will be a hunter, a salesman, a writer, a PM and more. However the barebones of what makes a great staffing professional great is simple. A great Staffing professional will be; quick of wit and thought, will be a supreme hunter, a top notch analyst with the ability to not only think in but also out of the box. They will have a great work ethics, and unquestionable integrity. They will be second to none with regards to their passion, and organization. The will have a can do, take charge attitude and be committed with no quit in them. So there you have it; Organized, quick thinking, integrity, high work ethics, take charge, passion, commitment, and not knowing the word quit. Hmm sound familiar? It should, we just described the core of the US Military. Analysis Paralysis!!
Over the last few months I have posted numerous posts about staffing matrixes. The main point was to not over analyze or get so caught up in the different stats and matrixes that you forget the who, what , when , how and why of the numbers. Well there is another potential problem with having too many matrixes that is “Analysis Paralysis”. Meaning you have so much info that you have no clue were to start. Worse the info contradicts each other. Remember stats and numbers can be made to show whatever you want. For every stat that shows a problem there is one showing there is not. When you get so immersed in matrixes, and stats that you are not sure what to do you have essential entered a states of paralysis, and you end of stuck. Hence why I always say simple is better. Utilizing simple matrixes designed to only find the most important stats and then finding out the who, what , when , how and why of the numbers, helps you to steer clear of “Analysis Paralysis”. Is resume optimizing cheating?
So recently I reposted a few posts to help people looking for work. One of the posts was about optimizing a resume for ATS and resume databases. I posted or reposted it, and got some interesting feedback form a few recruiters. One said I was telling their secrets, that by telling candidates how to optimize their resumes it will mean they will have more junk resumes to read. Another said it was cheating or falsifying a resume. I replied to both. For the first I said, you can look at it that way or you can look at it as an opportunity to find great resumes that you might have overlooked because you were searching for one key word that was not in a candidates resume. Example I used was if you are looking for a “Visual Basic” developer and all you do is look for “Visual Basic” then every candidate who uses VB instead will not get pulled up. Now of course I do know that most experienced recruiters will search under both terms knowing they are the same. However there are allot of young in experienced database recruiters who will not. Also add in you might be looking for something allot more involved than VB and there might be other terms that can be used or the skill or software was called something else at one time. This will especially help recruiters who do not do research prior to sourcing. For the second I simply said how is it cheating? How is it falsifying anything? All you are doing is ensuring the skills you have can be picked up no matter what buzz words are used to source. You are not lying, just optimizing there is a huge difference. I went on to ask are you cheating or falsifying a job description (JD) when you optimize it? Of course not you are simply ensuring that the JD will come up in a search as close to the top as possible no matter what word the candidates searches for. It is no difference for a candidates and their resume. In the end they both reluctantly agreed with me. So the morale is Optimizing is not cheating it is simply smart. Project Management (PM) staffing style!!
One way I have found to be very successful as a staffing professional is to Treat every opening like a project and use the basic PM steps to ensure you do the job right. Step one is to do needs analysis. This is the same thing as your first meeting with your client to determine what they need, write the JD etc.. Then you go on to the next step and so on till the position is filled. There are six main steps in managing a project. 1. Define the problem-Your client has an opening and you meet with him to determine the opening and write JD. 2. Develop Solution Options-you decide on whether this can be filled internally or externally and the process that will be used. 3. Plan the Project-You create a sourcing plan. 4. Execute-you execute on the sourcing plan, this includes interviewing, screening, etc. 5. Monitor & Control Progress-you do reporting and have weekly or bi-weekly meeting with hiring manager and team to discuss progress. 6. Close project-Hire made, and if time allows you and the Hiring Manager and team have a meeting to discuss what went well, and what could be done better. Of course some steps take less time than others, and can be done at the same time. The key is communication and documentation. But when you treat each position like an individual project, and use PM techniques, it becomes much much easier. |
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