Sirona Says

The recruitment reality check: Your employees are leaving sometime soon!

Are you one of those companies who like sticking your fingers in your ears, while singing 'la la la' out loud. hoping that it won't happen to you? Come on, you know you are!
After all, all your staff are happy, you have a great employer brand and everything is 'nice and dandy' with your employees, right?

WRONG!

You need to order in some of the reality check cookies and start munching away quickly. Whatever you think you are as an employer and however loyal you think your employees are........... think again - we have entered a very interesting recruitment phase at the moment, that doesn't appear too often.

Some economists would probably call it, 'post recessionary recruitmentism' or some other 'over-clever' mumbo jumbo .................. for me it much simpler. I just call it recruitment reality.

We are coming out of recession (well most places are, anyway) , M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) activity is buoyant again and there is (finally) talk of large hiring strategies again. Things are already changing fast with regards to candidate availability, as recruitment markets are quickly picking up again - most recruitment agencies have been seeing a surge in demand for candidates now for the last few months. For many it is the busiest they have been for the last 2-3 years.

So what is going to happen?Here are my five 

1. It's hemorrhage time (go on sing it to MC Hammers famous song - you know you want to!). Candidate attrition has been still running at just over 18% on average  during the recession. This would mean that you would lose one in five of your workforce this year. BUT, realistically this could double if not treble over the next 12 months, as candidates start sticking their heads above the parapet again.  - Yes! Many companies will have staff turnover rates of well over 50% in the next 12 months!!!  What are you going to do about it then?  Are you ready to replace half your workforce? Where are you going to find them from? When was the last time you looked at your career site? You need to have a recruitment strategy in place (NOW!) just to maintain your existing workforce levels.
2. Past employers will return like Great White sharks. Remember they couldn't get rid of their employees quick enough two years ago could they?  You snapped up some great catches then, didn't you? Well, now they are leaner and meaner and ready to come hunting for your staff. And don't think your employees won't consider going back, they will for the right package - the recession has taught them to forget about loyalty (unfortunately) and focus on themselves and their own needs (perceived or real). You won't know anything about it until they are gone!
3. Recruitment agencies are also sniffing for blood. A fact of employment life is that your good staff WILL be getting calls from recruiters, looking to prise them from your company. Ignore this fact at your peril - a good recruiter is like a pitbull - once they have the teeth into your employees, they just simply won't let go, until they get what they want - your staff!
4. Thanks to social media it has made it even easier to find your employees!! To be fair, it has never been easier to find candidates, what with LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs and of course Google. Obviously 'finding' candidates isn't recruiting them, and that is a whole different ballgame! But, they are there waiting to be found, and there is nothing you as an employer you can do to stop that happening.
5. Finally, what about all the 'regular ordinary workers' - your company's lifeblood -  out there, that are unhappy in their work? There are many! During the recession, they just keep their heads down, grateful for continued employment. Now the grass is looking greener again. They have started to realise that there are more jobs out in the marketplace again. They are starting to actually look for jobs again! >>> Now this is a BIG problem. These are the workers who you BELIEVE to be your loyal subjects, and happy in their work. When was the last time you said (about them) "they won't leave, they are like part of the furniture here" to a colleague? Don't say I didn't warn you - they WILL be walking out the door sometime soon!!

Now you may feel I am being a little over dramatic here - I just wish I was. I am having these conversations with companies every day - they are seeing their staff leave EVERY day, and yes they can counter offer, but that is only temporary. I read a survey last month that said 84% of all employees expect (or want) to change jobs in the next 12 months - now that is scary stuff!
Employee engagement, employer brand and (dare I say it) salary package reviews are all areas of focus at the moment, but is it too late for your company?

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So, why do you like using social networks?

So why do you like using social networks like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn? Is it for work, a recruiting tool, social recruiting or just staying in contact with friends and colleagues?
Someone asked me that the other day, so I thought I would share my answers with you. It would be great to hear your reasons why social networks are good for you (please post in comments)
Why do I like using social networks?:

1. It started as a curiosity - a sort of 'what is all the hype about' approach. I started with LinkedIn 5  years ago (thanks Jacco!), using it as a tool for my recruitment business. Then Facebook and Twitter followed - and as a person that likes to build relationships for business etc I became an evangeliser very quickly when I saw how great these sites are for that.
2. They are all great for business. I have now generated over £150k's worth of business directly from people reading this blog over the last three years. I find that I use LinkedIn, Facebook and particularly Twitter for building new business relationships and identifying new opportunities. I have met some fantastic contacts on these sites, that moved offline that I would never have got access to otherwise.
3. Fonts of knowledge. They really are a tremendous source of mind blowing amounts of information. The recruitment /HR/ consulting space is well catered fro on all the networks, and the links, websites, ebooks, interviews, product knowledge etc etc that people post on these sites is just brilliant.
4. Sharing. It gives me the chance to really share information tips, experiences, contacts etc with a whole diversity of people around the globe. This blog is read worldwide, and I love being able to share my opinions and advice with many people - and the social networks just help me do that. Having comment and conversation in countries such as America, India, Canada, New Zealand and all of Europe of course really does make me feel good, and just drives me on further, to write and share more on my blog.
5. Superb recruiting tools. (No.6 explains why) Were they invented for recruiters?
6. Access to people you wouldn't normally get anywhere close to. Social media has broken down many barriers within the business world (and the celebrity world of course), and it allows 'normal' individuals to enter dialogue with high profile individuals that previously would have been out of bounds. Of course you still have to go about it in the right way, and make contact in a correct and respectful way, but at least you have a chance to engage with them. They may of course choose to ignore you, but hey, they did that before didn't they??
7. Engaging. Contrary to what people think about social networking - they are very engaging, and it both allows and facilitates conversation, relationships and opportunity.
8. It is fun!!

So, come on then, why do you like using social networks then?

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What many in the recruitment sector fail to realise - job seekers are their lifeblood!

People will pay for the value THEY perceive NOT what you tell them it is

Sounds like a bit of an obvious statement doesn't it? But just think about it for a moment. As a consumer (customer) do you buy the product you are interested in because you believe 100% in what the salesperson said to you? Are you mesmerized by the sales patter, and just have to have the product at any cost?
Unless you are either a shopaholic, an impulse buyer or you have an urgent need for it then the answer is probably no.

Why? One good reason is that the product isn't of enough value TO YOU, to make you part with your money. This is key - THE VALUE TO YOU, not the value that the sales person has assigned to it.

Right, I now want you to put yourself in the mind of a job seeker just for a moment.

You are looking for a new job and as part of the process, you will be applying for jobs - direct with companies, via job boards, social media channels and recruitment agencies.
All these channels are 'selling' their products - jobs - to you.

Question time: Which ones are of most value to you, in your goal of helping you find a job?

Answer: the ones that have invested in understanding what you actually want.

Let me explain....

Many companies with career sites have little consideration of the candidate experience.The reason is that they have opted for 'listening' to the software vendors (of the online recruitment systems /ATS aka applicant tracking systems) candidate workflow and 'many years of experience' when implementing a new system.
The majority of these processes are way too long, complicated, have no candidate empathy, high drop-off rates and are, quite frankly, a horrible experience, which reflects badly on the employer brand.
Is it any wonder then, that some new players such as HarbourATS have successfully entered the marketplace, with a real focus on the candidate experience, not the unnecessary software add-ons they can sell to the unsuspecting client.

Message to companies with career sites: Think what the candidates actually want NOT what you think they need. When was the last time you actually sought any opinion at all on your online recruitment process?

Job Boards, have been around for a while now, and they provide an essential service to candidates (and clients alike) looking for a job. They will continue to do so even with the advent of social media job channels, but they also need to be thinking of the candidates and not their bottom line.
For a job board it is a fine line - they stay in business because they sell their service to clients wanting to advertise jobs. But they need candidates to keep arriving at the site to apply to the jobs - without this traffic, clients would stop advertising, and they would cease to exist.
So, with this in mind, do many actually give a sh*t about candidates? Some, like Jobsite, have invested heavily in understanding what the candidates want and expect from them - resulting in real social media functionality be added to their site earlier this year. Many other job boards just worry about the numbers, they don't care about the candidate experience, they just want to be able to brag their latest traffic stats to the clients they are selling to!

Message to job boards: consider the job seeker a little more with your processes, and focus on making it a simple, useful and enjoyable experience for them. While you need traffic (I do understand that), better to have a referral network of happy job seekers to compliment all your Google Adwords spending isnt' it?

Recruitment agencies are to be honest an enigma. For every good one that has a great candidate experience, and one that candidates come back to and happily refer their friends, there are three others that (unbelievably) don't give a crap about the candidates that make them their money!
The good ones take the time to build relationships, the bad ones have no time for any relationship - candidates are just like tins of beans on a shelf to them - use them when they want and discard them when they have finished with them.

Message to recruitment agencies: Just think for a second about the experience you give your candidates. is there any wonder why many of the candidates registered with you, have turned to social media websites to find a new job? Maybe it's because they don't value what you do?

Social Media channels are so new to the recruiting space, that they are really just finding their recruitment feet. One thing is already clear, though. Candidates are using them by the bucket load, and will continually choose to do so. And all the time other options are not giving them the value they want, they will stay in the social media land.

So, if you are a company that works in the world of recruitment - and there are literally thousands out there - take a minute to consider your currency  - the job seekers - and just ask yourself;  what is the value that job seekers ACTUALLY see in your product or service? If you don't know the answer, maybe now is the time to ask..... before it is too late!!

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The Social Recruiting Road (cartoon)

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Is this the ultimate talent acquisition strategy?

We all know the world of sports is a rule to itself when it comes to employment law and contracts. Today I want to ask your opinion on what I see as a very worrying trend at one Football Club, that is either unethical, unfair or just good business sense in the world of talent acquisition.

The Scenario: The football team in question is Manchester City, of The Premier League in the UK.They are owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and literally have unlimited wealth (£Trillions) at their disposal.
Over the course of of the last 12 months they have been buying many of the top talent (footballers) from clubs around the world paying huge sums of money in transfer fees and player wages to acquire them.
They have assembled a first team squad of over 50 top quality players that would get into most of their competitors teams.

The Rules: The Premier League, this year brought in squad size caps, limiting a squad of players at any Premier League club to only 25 players for the season (with changes only allowed to be made in January).

The Problem for the Employer: Talent management - keeping the talented players happy that don't get selected for the final 25 player squad. After all, all they want to do is play football, right?

The Solution (as Manchester City see it): They loan out all these talented individuals (that haven't made the 25 player cut) to other companies (Football Clubs) to ensure they stay plying their trade (football) and keeping fit - all the time paying their exorbitant wages as well at the same time!!
BUT, they control where the players go - and they certainly WON'T let them go to any of their competition in the Premier League (which is understandable).

THE BIG QUESTION

Is is right, morally or ethically, to 'buy up' all the talent available in a marketplace just to restrict your competitors getting access to it, just because you have the wealth to do it? OR, is it a good business decision that should be applauded accordingly?

What do you think? Are Manchester City demonstrating the ultimate in a talent acquisition strategy, designed to reach their goal of reaching the top ?

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Has social media saved generation Y in the workplace?

 

Two years ago they were going to be the salvation of the global workforce, weren't they? Do you remember all the interest generation Y created? Everyone was clamouring to get their hands on them!
Companies were looking to change their long standing recruitment policies, workforce management strategies and career management paths etc.....just to satisfy the gen Y'ers, and make themselves more appealing to them. They were trying to compensate everything (or so it seemed) just to position themselves to attract the gen Y'ers to their companies.
Quite simply, if you were a gen Y'er (good or bad in many cases), you would likely have been in a position of not only having the choice of three or four jobs, you would also have been in a position to dictate your terms at interview as well!

Things were really looking good, expectations were high, and quite literally, they were really top of the tree. So everything they had been told by their teachers and their parents - they could be anything they want - really looked like coming true.

Then of course their world simply fell off the side of a cliff - the recession happened and the same companies simply stopped hiring gen Y'ers, in favour of 'experienced' workers being laid off from other companies. The reason? - purely money........... jobs were needed and out of work people were lowering their salary demands....fast!  And of course, as soon as they arrived into the price bracket of the companies that were still hiring, it was always obvious what they were going to do.

Move forward two years and into the 21st century.

Who should you involve in your social recruiting strategy?

When looking at using social media in your recruitment - aka social recruiting - you need to understand that the whole concept of social media - engagement, communication, transparency, immediacy and brand are all incorporated within your thinking. For that reason it is always advisable to get the 'buy-in' or (at least) acceptance from colleagues and departments that may well be impacted by the sudden demands of going social.
There are a number of key departments that you should look at internally to help you make your social recruiting strategy a successful one. Obviously there are some obvious ones like Sales, Marketing and PR, as well as an obvious one (to me, but not many companies it seems) - and that is customer services. There are others you have to consider as well.

So just who should you be involving in your social recruiting program?

 

HR: Recruiting will normally sit within HR, so this function should be heavily involved.

IT: They are responsible for the network (and turning on Facebook and LinkedIn availability!)

Customer Service: Crucial to involve them as they could be on the end of some very interesting response handling!

PR: Essential to get their experience to distribute the message accordingly, and promote your social media externally.

Marketing: A key part of the social space, and ones that will be responsible for the brand management.

Sales: Key to have their input, as the sales team (and therefore the company) will benefit from using the social tools.

Legal: I know I have given legal the joker card, but that is just to make some of them smile (they are a bit boring after all!). Seriously though, in the fast moving social world, good legal advice is critical.

So what about the leader of the pack?

Well to be honest, it doesn't really matter as long as they are passionate about the project (so that rules out IT then!) and they are able to manage the different parties and stakeholders accordingly.

Social media is about collaboration and communication - the only problem being that in some companies, the communication is actually the biggest obstacle!

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Just tweet about food and the Twitter Police will get you! (Funny video)

As it is a Friday I want to share with you a great video that was forwarded to me. This is what happens if you use Twitter to continually choose to tweet about eating and drinking, and at the same time checking into coffee shops with Foursquare. It is a great parody on the US cop shows....

Just bear in mind the Twitter Cops are out there............... just waiting for your next tweet!! (Some profanity - but a very clever take on the US cop shows!)

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Social Recruiting has to be a symbiotic relationship to be successful

Before I explain my thinking, let me first give you a biology lesson. Hands up if you studied biology at school? Well if you did, then you will know what symbiosis is and how it works - if you didn't let me just explain:
A symbiotic relationship between two organisms means that they need on each other to survive. An example from nature being the clownfish (above - you might know it better as Nemo!!). They feed on small invertebrates which otherwise potentially could harm the sea anemone (the habitat they live in), and the fecal matter from the clownfish provides nutrients to the sea anemone.

Ok, biology lesson over now.

Working with many companies on the subject of social recruiting / social media in recruitment, it is becoming very obvious that that they want to make it work. However, many are still failing to understand that for it to be successful, they NEED to make their social recruiting a symbiotic relationship.
Their social media interactions will die if they don't have the engagement of their followers, fans, readers, community or group members. Yes they can keep 'feeding' the online world with their content, but unless their followers, fans, readers, community or group members provide them with the 'nutrients' of comments, engagement and communication then their social recruiting strategy will simply die!

Equally, from the other perspective, if companies are not 'feeding' their communities with interesting, relevant and regular information then they facilitating their own demise themselves - 'starved' communities will simply go elsewhere for their 'nourishment'!

Remember, a symbiotic relationship is one where both parties need each other to survive. Social recruiting, for me, is a perfect example of this.

Now I have got you thinking biologically, I am going to change the word, and see if it makes further sense to you.

Take symbiosis and replace it with the word engage. Now you will see where I am coming from.

You go down the route of setting up a social recruiting strategy and engage with your followers, fans, readers, community or group members. This provides the two way communication you need to make it all a success:

Failure to engage will kill your social recruiting strategy dead:

As more and more companies take the (necessary) step into social media and social recruiting, the need to understand the route to success is critical. Yes, you can use the medium to broadcast out jobs, information and the latest news - but that isn't social recruiting. All you are doing is creating further broadcast channels to add to your marketing mix.

To understand social recruiting is to understand what your followers, fans, readers, community or group members want, and learning how to engage them in the most efficient way.

Without a symbiotic approach, then you are just kidding yourself that you are using social recruiting for real!!

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Don't become a recruitment Dodo - embrace social recruiting now!

Are you happy to stay in the recruitment dark ages and perish accordingly?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting at an excellent conference run by Caterer.com. The theme of the conference was showing the hospitality and hotel HR sectors that social media, and in particular social recruiting is something that they cannot ignore any longer.

So, my presentation was titled very appropriately!

Why Social Recruiting Has Changed the Face of Recruitment Forever and Made it Sexy Again.

Below is a copy of the presentation. My message was a simple one - 'old style' recruitment got a little boring, repetitive and mundane, and the lack of enthusiasm from candidates sometimes echoed that. But now with all the different social media tools, products, services and ideas out there, I believe recruitment has become a sexy topic again.

Why?

Simple - Companies can be creative in their approach - they need to be to be able to engage with prospective candidates, like they never have done before. The options for them are unlimited, with all the different social media channels offering different approaches and entry into different pools  and networks of people.
Candidates now have so much more choice and access points, and with the surge of iPhones, Blackberries and Android smartphones, they don't need to go near a PC, they can do all their job hunting from the palm of their hand................. now that is a sexy thought!

Here is the presentation I delivered:

Why Social Recruiting Has Changed the Face of Recruitment Forever and made it sexy again.

View more presentations from Andy Headworth.

If you have an upcoming conference or workshop, and would like me to come and talk about the sexy subject of social recruiting (either from a beginners entry level or right through to advanced methods, strategies etc), then please get in contact - I would love to hear from you.

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