One of my corporate clients has pointed out to me that my posts seem to be favouring the knowledge needs of the Consulting Firms.!
Having examined my last half a dozen posts ....i am convinced that ....."he is right" :-(
So having sworn to make some amends ...i am launching a grandiose project on "Recruitment Strategy"
Over the next weeks ...i would like to elicit from all and sundry your ideas on this subject. I have also tagged a small survey next door for you to fill on the same subject - do go thru it...
along with the same i shall be writing my tidbits on the same...
This week ...let me address a fundamental question ....What is Recruitment Strategy?
well strategy is this really hep sounding word ...often confused with Annual Plan, Annual Forecast ....etc ....
Strategy ...if I am to peruse some B - School strategy texts......is the process of achieving organisational objectives by leveraging a series of niche advantages/ capabilities that the Organisation possesses.
For e.g if Company A wishes to recruit 100 C/C++ candidates at the entry level. And if Company A has the niche advantage of being the best paymaster, it will achieve this objective by paying the best in class compensation.
Compensation is the strategic advantage that Company A possesses.
Companies have to continuously work on creating strategic advantages. There are of course many means by which this is done. For e.g. influencing the environment and making internal processes efficient are some e.gs.. of the same...
So Recruitment Strategy is the process of achieving one's Recruitment objectives by leveraging the company's niche strength or advantage.
Strategy is the journey to achieving a company's stated goal - in this case its Recruitment objectives
For e.g if Company B has a Recruitment Objective of recruiting fresh BA candidates ....then Company B would leverage the management trainee system that it is well known for to train and then finally select the right candidate. So that is a strategic process that Company B uses since the Management Trainee program of Company B is considered as top class and a huge source of attraction for young candidates who wish to obtain the best possible training .....
Monday, February 12, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
More on managing clients
More on rules on managing clients....
2. The client lacks functional knowledge of the search mandate:
This is increasingly a reality in corporate India. The sheer variety and complexity of roles that exist has rendered the Hiring function incapable of understanding all the functional aspects of the open positions.
So on one hand the Hiring Manager will not accept this inadequacy and on the other the Recruitment Firm flounders due to ignorance.
Accusing the Hiring Manager of incompetence is definitely suicidal....but taking the blame for the failure to fill a position is also unfair.
A mid path which is win win for all is the have an open and transparent conversation with the hiring manager.
Confess: "we do not understand this mandate" can you suggest means by which we can go forward. If you still do not get further info ....then "SUGGEST"
I have seen Recruitment firms suggest that they would like to talk to the Line Manager. And then onwards they neatly side step the Hiring Manager without hurting the latter's ego.
It is also win win since the headache of explaining the search mandate becomes some one else's . The Line Manager who most of the time is the person putting the blame on the Hiring Manager gets to understand the hurdles that exist in attracting the right candidate.
Do Home work: Also as a consultant it is useful to do a Google cum Wikipedia search or speak to candidates who do similar jobs and bring that all for the discussion with the Line Manager - it will definitely take the latter's respect for the consultant a couple of notches higher.
2. The client lacks functional knowledge of the search mandate:
This is increasingly a reality in corporate India. The sheer variety and complexity of roles that exist has rendered the Hiring function incapable of understanding all the functional aspects of the open positions.
So on one hand the Hiring Manager will not accept this inadequacy and on the other the Recruitment Firm flounders due to ignorance.
Accusing the Hiring Manager of incompetence is definitely suicidal....but taking the blame for the failure to fill a position is also unfair.
A mid path which is win win for all is the have an open and transparent conversation with the hiring manager.
Confess: "we do not understand this mandate" can you suggest means by which we can go forward. If you still do not get further info ....then "SUGGEST"
I have seen Recruitment firms suggest that they would like to talk to the Line Manager. And then onwards they neatly side step the Hiring Manager without hurting the latter's ego.
It is also win win since the headache of explaining the search mandate becomes some one else's . The Line Manager who most of the time is the person putting the blame on the Hiring Manager gets to understand the hurdles that exist in attracting the right candidate.
Do Home work: Also as a consultant it is useful to do a Google cum Wikipedia search or speak to candidates who do similar jobs and bring that all for the discussion with the Line Manager - it will definitely take the latter's respect for the consultant a couple of notches higher.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Managing clients
For a recruitment firm - the client is king. The revenue is dependent on the client.
In the case of a small recruitment firm the client is almost God - because the firm has in most cases only one client.
Sustaining such relationships are critical to the Recruitment firm.
Some basic rules that one needs to keep in mind
1. The client is not necessarily always right: but this does not mean that you have to accuse him. You can always tell him why he is not right ....gently....
Being assertive is important but not aggressive.
For example when a client rejects a resume on some trivial ground - its frustrating for the recruiting firm who know that their client has just committed hara-kiri
In such circumstances using tact is very important. This means having done your home work.
Explain the reasons why you think that the candidate is good....summarise individual skills and also summarise the constraints of the market - meaning what is the next best choice that exist.
Provide reference of other reputed companies with whom he has interviewed and has been offered...!
Give references of individuals in the industry who have referred him
And lastly go over the specs of the job description underlying the mandatory aspects of the candidate profile.
All of this will set the client thinking again.
Do not resort to mere pressure tactics ..such as "take him" "he is the best" "it is very difficult to get another candidate" "it will take a lot of time to find someone else like him"
clients are not impressed by excuses.
They are considered to be mere short cuts that the consultant wants to take.
Avoid creating such a perception
In the case of a small recruitment firm the client is almost God - because the firm has in most cases only one client.
Sustaining such relationships are critical to the Recruitment firm.
Some basic rules that one needs to keep in mind
1. The client is not necessarily always right: but this does not mean that you have to accuse him. You can always tell him why he is not right ....gently....
Being assertive is important but not aggressive.
For example when a client rejects a resume on some trivial ground - its frustrating for the recruiting firm who know that their client has just committed hara-kiri
In such circumstances using tact is very important. This means having done your home work.
Explain the reasons why you think that the candidate is good....summarise individual skills and also summarise the constraints of the market - meaning what is the next best choice that exist.
Provide reference of other reputed companies with whom he has interviewed and has been offered...!
Give references of individuals in the industry who have referred him
And lastly go over the specs of the job description underlying the mandatory aspects of the candidate profile.
All of this will set the client thinking again.
Do not resort to mere pressure tactics ..such as "take him" "he is the best" "it is very difficult to get another candidate" "it will take a lot of time to find someone else like him"
clients are not impressed by excuses.
They are considered to be mere short cuts that the consultant wants to take.
Avoid creating such a perception
Monday, January 22, 2007
Death of the mandate?
you must have been surprised to notice that this blog has suddenly had a large output - almost a torrent ...
but for the knowledge of every one who is about to have heightened expectations from this blog...
the fact is that i had cut pasted some of the posts that i had been writing for a corporate...i found these posts relevant to the content of this blog ..but let me assure this is genuine stuff and written by yours truly only
anyways i was having a discussion about writing good job postings to a friend from the Recruitment Firm fraternity. She was not too impressed. In fact she was out rightly cynical about it - told me that i was living in some fantasy world
according to her recruiting divisions in companies do not really give detailed recruitment mandates since they themselves are not too clued on to the technical aspects of the role
They are in a hurry and expect the Recruitment firm to do research on the same and come back with a fleshed out mandate
Though i was tempted to disagree with her - after all i used to be on the other side as a Recruitment Manager not too long ago, i stopped myself.
Again every coin has two sides to it....
I decided to explore this angle ....
Why is that Corporates really do not give good search mandates.?
while i have mentioned some reasons in the course of the last couple of posts - and my friend has also mentioned a couple her self...there is more to it that that meets the eye...
There seems to a be a crisis of skill here ...traditional recruitment has always been the responsibility of the HR function. With the massive surge in hiring it was spun off to become a completely separate function. However it still was considered to be a spin off of HR - attracting people who wanted to pursue a career in HR and looked at Recruitment as a back door entry.
Recruiting requires a completely different set of skills versus hr -ref my blog on Recruiter Skills
in the sept 2006 blog post
Secondly roles are a lot more complex and high on multi-tasking resulting in the death of the job description.
The corporate recruiting department depends on the verbal information provided by the line managers while putting together the search mandate ...and here there is a lot of spillage... A lot of what line managers mention do not reach the ears of the Recruitment Firm.
Similarly recruitment firm have not paid too much attention to client management skills. Again these firms also attract a lot of HR personnel who donot possess client facing skills.
So there is clearly a concerted need for the Recruitment team within the corporate and consulting firms to work on the same
So the reason for this lengthy essay was to just state this simple point that there is a need to up the ante on the client management skills of the Recruitment Firms and the vendor management skills of Corporate Recruiters ...both of these topics we shall look at in detail in the coming posts
but for the knowledge of every one who is about to have heightened expectations from this blog...
the fact is that i had cut pasted some of the posts that i had been writing for a corporate...i found these posts relevant to the content of this blog ..but let me assure this is genuine stuff and written by yours truly only
anyways i was having a discussion about writing good job postings to a friend from the Recruitment Firm fraternity. She was not too impressed. In fact she was out rightly cynical about it - told me that i was living in some fantasy world
according to her recruiting divisions in companies do not really give detailed recruitment mandates since they themselves are not too clued on to the technical aspects of the role
They are in a hurry and expect the Recruitment firm to do research on the same and come back with a fleshed out mandate
Though i was tempted to disagree with her - after all i used to be on the other side as a Recruitment Manager not too long ago, i stopped myself.
Again every coin has two sides to it....
I decided to explore this angle ....
Why is that Corporates really do not give good search mandates.?
while i have mentioned some reasons in the course of the last couple of posts - and my friend has also mentioned a couple her self...there is more to it that that meets the eye...
There seems to a be a crisis of skill here ...traditional recruitment has always been the responsibility of the HR function. With the massive surge in hiring it was spun off to become a completely separate function. However it still was considered to be a spin off of HR - attracting people who wanted to pursue a career in HR and looked at Recruitment as a back door entry.
Recruiting requires a completely different set of skills versus hr -ref my blog on Recruiter Skills
in the sept 2006 blog post
Secondly roles are a lot more complex and high on multi-tasking resulting in the death of the job description.
The corporate recruiting department depends on the verbal information provided by the line managers while putting together the search mandate ...and here there is a lot of spillage... A lot of what line managers mention do not reach the ears of the Recruitment Firm.
Similarly recruitment firm have not paid too much attention to client management skills. Again these firms also attract a lot of HR personnel who donot possess client facing skills.
So there is clearly a concerted need for the Recruitment team within the corporate and consulting firms to work on the same
So the reason for this lengthy essay was to just state this simple point that there is a need to up the ante on the client management skills of the Recruitment Firms and the vendor management skills of Corporate Recruiters ...both of these topics we shall look at in detail in the coming posts
Rejection Criteria
The criterion based on which a company rejects a resume is one of the central aspects of screening and is called the REJECTION CRITERIA
Accordingly it is most imperative that the Job Posting covers this aspect in the appropriate way possible.
Some of the rejection criterion that i have seen include
1. candidate should not be more than "35years old" or candidate should have a "minimum" of 15 years of experience
2. knowledge of the local language (Tamil) is a must
3. candidate should be open to travel and job relocation
In fact i firmly believe that Rejection Criteria should not be hidden away in reams of language but should be there for all to see ...
After all it saves the time and energy of all and sundry concerned - most importantly that of the candidates who normally are unable to fathom why they were rejected ..
its funny but i am sure many of you have noticed that the rejection criteria is normally tucked away right at the bottom of a job profile almost with the intention that the candidate should not see it ....I mean is it not a lot better if the candidate gets to see that right away so that he does not spend more time on your Job Posting or inadvertently apply.
Of course a word of caution - it is important to be politically correct about the rejection criteria.-Writing "women candidates need not apply" might be far too strong ....though you might be only sincerely trying to portray the reality .
Do soften it by saying that "males are preferred" or state the reason for the statement if possible ...such as "job will be in the night shift, males preferred"
do not utter statements which clearly reflect unethical employment practices - such as "south Indians need not apply", maharastrians preferred etc...
So good luck on a great job posting....next week i am going to review some of the job postings that I have come across and look at what were the wow(!) and ugh(!) factors..
Accordingly it is most imperative that the Job Posting covers this aspect in the appropriate way possible.
Some of the rejection criterion that i have seen include
1. candidate should not be more than "35years old" or candidate should have a "minimum" of 15 years of experience
2. knowledge of the local language (Tamil) is a must
3. candidate should be open to travel and job relocation
In fact i firmly believe that Rejection Criteria should not be hidden away in reams of language but should be there for all to see ...
After all it saves the time and energy of all and sundry concerned - most importantly that of the candidates who normally are unable to fathom why they were rejected ..
its funny but i am sure many of you have noticed that the rejection criteria is normally tucked away right at the bottom of a job profile almost with the intention that the candidate should not see it ....I mean is it not a lot better if the candidate gets to see that right away so that he does not spend more time on your Job Posting or inadvertently apply.
Of course a word of caution - it is important to be politically correct about the rejection criteria.-Writing "women candidates need not apply" might be far too strong ....though you might be only sincerely trying to portray the reality .
Do soften it by saying that "males are preferred" or state the reason for the statement if possible ...such as "job will be in the night shift, males preferred"
do not utter statements which clearly reflect unethical employment practices - such as "south Indians need not apply", maharastrians preferred etc...
So good luck on a great job posting....next week i am going to review some of the job postings that I have come across and look at what were the wow(!) and ugh(!) factors..
Job Posting Tips 3
The last one is "Candidate profile".
This is definitely the most important one since an accurate description will attract the most appropriate candidate.
Candidate profiles must be clearly categorised between what i would call the 1. "must have"
2."preferable" 3. "desirable parameters"
Lets examine each of them....
MUST HAVES
This is the mandatory stuff ...the minimum parameters which the candidate has to compulsorily fulfill to be considered for the job. For e.g for the role of a Software programmer at Microsoft India the candidate has to be an engineer with a major in either computer science or electrical or electronics.
Conversational knowledge of a particular language is sometimes a Must Have for some positions
PREFERABLE
The preferable would include a couple more stringent parameters which if the candidate possesses would hold him in good stead and give him an edge over others. For e.g in this case if the candidate is an engineer from one of the NIT or IITs he would have a better chance over others who have passed out from less known institutes
DESIRABLE
The desirable would be a set of parameters which describe the perfect candidate. For example an Engineer who is a computer science major from a renowned institute and who has previously worked with renowned product companies like ADOBE SYSTEMS would be considered as an ideal candidate.
it is important to itemise the candidate profile in an order which puts the Must Haves right at the top.
There is no point in writing a lengthy candidate profile only to hide aspects which are mandatory - for e.g the maximum years of experience
And this brings me to another aspect - REJECTION CRITERIA...lets discuss that in the next post
This is definitely the most important one since an accurate description will attract the most appropriate candidate.
Candidate profiles must be clearly categorised between what i would call the 1. "must have"
2."preferable" 3. "desirable parameters"
Lets examine each of them....
MUST HAVES
This is the mandatory stuff ...the minimum parameters which the candidate has to compulsorily fulfill to be considered for the job. For e.g for the role of a Software programmer at Microsoft India the candidate has to be an engineer with a major in either computer science or electrical or electronics.
Conversational knowledge of a particular language is sometimes a Must Have for some positions
PREFERABLE
The preferable would include a couple more stringent parameters which if the candidate possesses would hold him in good stead and give him an edge over others. For e.g in this case if the candidate is an engineer from one of the NIT or IITs he would have a better chance over others who have passed out from less known institutes
DESIRABLE
The desirable would be a set of parameters which describe the perfect candidate. For example an Engineer who is a computer science major from a renowned institute and who has previously worked with renowned product companies like ADOBE SYSTEMS would be considered as an ideal candidate.
it is important to itemise the candidate profile in an order which puts the Must Haves right at the top.
There is no point in writing a lengthy candidate profile only to hide aspects which are mandatory - for e.g the maximum years of experience
And this brings me to another aspect - REJECTION CRITERIA...lets discuss that in the next post
Job Posting Tips 2
Now Job Description is another difficult one. In recent times organisations have pretty much stopped creating job descriptions, making it even more difficult to come across a good one.
A job description is a " pen portrait" which helps the potential candidate to "visualise" the job - in a manner that is attractive.
However a job descriptions is not an exquisite example of prose, providing no clarity
Job Descriptions should clearly explain the following
1. The Key Result Areas - what is the individual expected to be delivering and will be assessed upon. Note : KRAs also tend to be very superficial - explaining them at the execution level by along with a time line inked into it will help . E.g Specific KRAs for the half year or year.
2. Provide details of Roles and Responsibilities : Again the same should be described at the level of execution. To increase clarity explain using a time line.
A good e.g of the same is "Responsible for Sales Forecasting on a quarterly basis for the Northern Region"
3. Describe briefly the role and responsibility of the reporting manager - this would aid the candidate in understanding the breadth and depth of own position
4. Describe the non negotiables of the job - do not hide it, at the same time do not describe it in an undesirable manner. An e.g is explaining the travel demands of the job. "This job requires extensive travel" is definitely more frightening than "This job requires approx 2-4 days of travel per week" . The candidate is normally happier when it is quantified and when it is a range - gives a sense of flexibility
A job description is a " pen portrait" which helps the potential candidate to "visualise" the job - in a manner that is attractive.
However a job descriptions is not an exquisite example of prose, providing no clarity
Job Descriptions should clearly explain the following
1. The Key Result Areas - what is the individual expected to be delivering and will be assessed upon. Note : KRAs also tend to be very superficial - explaining them at the execution level by along with a time line inked into it will help . E.g Specific KRAs for the half year or year.
2. Provide details of Roles and Responsibilities : Again the same should be described at the level of execution. To increase clarity explain using a time line.
A good e.g of the same is "Responsible for Sales Forecasting on a quarterly basis for the Northern Region"
3. Describe briefly the role and responsibility of the reporting manager - this would aid the candidate in understanding the breadth and depth of own position
4. Describe the non negotiables of the job - do not hide it, at the same time do not describe it in an undesirable manner. An e.g is explaining the travel demands of the job. "This job requires extensive travel" is definitely more frightening than "This job requires approx 2-4 days of travel per week" . The candidate is normally happier when it is quantified and when it is a range - gives a sense of flexibility
Job Posting Tips 1
A job posting is the candidate's first glimpse of the organisation that he or she wishes to apply to...
A job posting provides the relevant information which will help the candidate to arrive at an accurate picture of the organisation and the job profile.
The standard pieces of information that the job posting should include are
1. Organisational Profile
2. Designation
3. Location
4. Reporting relationship
5. Reportees(if relevant)
6. Remuneration range
7. Job Description
8. Candidate Profile
while Points 2-6 is pretty straight forward it is Points 1,7 & 8 that faces a lot of bungling ...lets discuss each of them in detail
1. Organisational Profile - while a short summary is more than enough to describe what the company does - with maybe a link to the website if the client is willing to disclose the identity . However what will create that "edge" and hence make that difference is sharing of the 'unique selling proposition' such as details of employee friendly policies or unique facilities - such as a child pick and drop facility. Depending on the kind of candidates that the organisation wishes to attract it is important to highlight facilities or policies which could be instrumental in the candidate applying ...i shall talk about the other areas in the next post ...bye
A job posting provides the relevant information which will help the candidate to arrive at an accurate picture of the organisation and the job profile.
The standard pieces of information that the job posting should include are
1. Organisational Profile
2. Designation
3. Location
4. Reporting relationship
5. Reportees(if relevant)
6. Remuneration range
7. Job Description
8. Candidate Profile
while Points 2-6 is pretty straight forward it is Points 1,7 & 8 that faces a lot of bungling ...lets discuss each of them in detail
1. Organisational Profile - while a short summary is more than enough to describe what the company does - with maybe a link to the website if the client is willing to disclose the identity . However what will create that "edge" and hence make that difference is sharing of the 'unique selling proposition' such as details of employee friendly policies or unique facilities - such as a child pick and drop facility. Depending on the kind of candidates that the organisation wishes to attract it is important to highlight facilities or policies which could be instrumental in the candidate applying ...i shall talk about the other areas in the next post ...bye
Monday, January 15, 2007
Scorching growth & Bottomline heartburn
I took the title for this blog from an article in today's newspaper.
Now i am sure you are left wondering what has all this got to do with Recruitment.....
Let me elaborate....
The article is all about how companies are forced to invest faster and more than what they are getting back in return - as in profits. The scorching growth is because of the tremendous demand that is whizzing every where.
So if your products/services donot reach faster than your competitors - then you are going to be left behind....
with a strong banking system providing for excellent finances ...companies are willing to invest more and more to keep ahead ...
the outcome is of course the fact that the speed of returns has declined .....
While this is a short term illness it requires great courage to be able to brave it.
what does this mean for the hiring industry ...it means that the war for talent becomes even more acute ...after all it is better intellectual capital which can see to that resources are utilised in the best manner ....
also the scorching manner has meant that the companies have become mean hiring machines willing to recruit good talent at a fast pace ....
the turn around time for talent acquisition is being shaved off every day.....
so we have a talent war, plus an operational imperative to acquire fast and of course most importantly talent retention.....
every time talent leaves a company - especially at the middle management levels the impact on the business is radical ....not to talk about the cost of replacement(quoted to be at least 6-7 times the annual salary of the candidate - it gets worse if the attrition is that of a high performer)
Now i am sure you are left wondering what has all this got to do with Recruitment.....
Let me elaborate....
The article is all about how companies are forced to invest faster and more than what they are getting back in return - as in profits. The scorching growth is because of the tremendous demand that is whizzing every where.
So if your products/services donot reach faster than your competitors - then you are going to be left behind....
with a strong banking system providing for excellent finances ...companies are willing to invest more and more to keep ahead ...
the outcome is of course the fact that the speed of returns has declined .....
While this is a short term illness it requires great courage to be able to brave it.
what does this mean for the hiring industry ...it means that the war for talent becomes even more acute ...after all it is better intellectual capital which can see to that resources are utilised in the best manner ....
also the scorching manner has meant that the companies have become mean hiring machines willing to recruit good talent at a fast pace ....
the turn around time for talent acquisition is being shaved off every day.....
so we have a talent war, plus an operational imperative to acquire fast and of course most importantly talent retention.....
every time talent leaves a company - especially at the middle management levels the impact on the business is radical ....not to talk about the cost of replacement(quoted to be at least 6-7 times the annual salary of the candidate - it gets worse if the attrition is that of a high performer)
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