It's not just a recruiting problem...

I’ve been totally slacking with the blog lately, my bad.  Big topic this week, and it’s one I’ve been wanting to write for a while.  

You hear a lot about companies or hiring managers who complain about their recruiting team and how they can’t find the right people.  Well...maybe, I mean sure..some recruiting departments suck but a lot of the time it’s a company wide issue but its much easier to just blame the recruiters.  Why take accountability when you can just thrash the recruiting folks?  It's easy, that's why. However, the truth is recruiting is a company wide project, everyone needs to be all in or you all fail.  It’s that simple.  Here are my quick thoughts on what each person in the company needs to do in order to successfully recruit...leaving out the recruiters of course because um you guys just do your job.

Hiring Managers -  So, these guys are key.  If you’re a hiring manager you've got a huge job to do here.  You need to respond quickly to resumes and be decisive.  If you meet someone great..hire them..don’t play games, hire the person.  Another key way to contribute as a hiring manager is to help sell candidates and close candidates on joining the team.  The last one, and this is important...hiring managers need to be engaged.  They need to listen when the recruiters push back on the process or decision making process.  Recruiters and managers are partners in hiring.

The rest of HR - The rest of HR play a huge role in recruiting.  The biggest, and frankly the hardest is attrition.  HR absolutely needs to focus on making sure people are leaving out back door as fast (or faster) than the recruiting team can hire them.  A lot of HR teams don’t like to hear that but it’s true.  If you have high attrition, you could have greatest recruiting team on earth and you’re still screwed.  HR also can focus on compensation, benefits and all the cultural stuff to make a company attractive.  Like I said above, it’s a team effort and HR/Recruiting are the essence of team so make sure you’re truly supporting each other.

Interviewers - Ahhhh, the interviewers.  Honestly, probably the most unappreciated piece of the recruiting puzzle.  Hiring Managers, HR and Recruiters can all do their job but if the interviewers are late, disrespectful, uncalibrated or just plan bad…….everyone fails again.  As an interviewer you've got pretty clear responsibilities.  Be prepared, be positive and make sure you give the candidate a great experience.  When you’re done, give prompt and decisive feedback to the recruiters so they can hire great people.

Executives - For senior leadership it’s pretty easy.  Stay engaged.  Don’t float above the fray and assume hiring will be easy.  Get into the process, talk to candidates, review resumes and generally do the things you’d have done before you became an Exec.  A lot of exec are “too busy” to interview or give timely feedback….I call BS.  If hiring and recruiting is a priority...get it done or delegate the authority to someone who can and will meet the companies hiring objectives.

The moral of the story here is simple.  Recruiting and hiring is a company wide project.  It’s not just the recruiters who are responsible for hiring...sure, we carry the heavy load but if the rest of the company can’t convert the pipeline to hires….you lose.  It’s that simple.

The problem with saying you'll do anything

Request from a friend and a recruiter “pet peeve” blog this week.   The topic...the problem with saying “I’ll do anything” in the interview.  As recruiters we hear it all the time when we ask candidates what they want to do...and honestly, nothing can be more frustrating to hear during the interview.

The issue really is that when you are interviewing for a job, not only is the company trying to evaluate you...but you’re trying to evaluate THEM too.  Saying you’ll “do anything” sounds great in theory but in reality it confuses the situation and makes evaluating the fit for a job almost impossible.  Here are two quick points to really show what I mean:

1) For you - Like I said above, the interview is as much your opportunity to evaluate the company is it is their chance to evaluate you.  So, saying you’ll do anything doesn’t really allow you to ask the right questions to evaluate the job.  A better thing to do is to say EXACTLY what you like to do and then make sure the role matches your interests.  Being upfront and expressing your interests allows you to openly and honestly see if the role is a fit for you.  Being “open” seems like a good idea in theory, but really does you a disservice.

2) For the company - For the company it’s a little different...basically, things can go two different ways.  The first way...they think you don’t know what you’re looking for and reject you.  The second way...they think you’re a GREAT fit for a role, make you an offer...and then you realize you don’t like the role.  Basically, it’s a lose lose....

So, next time you’re in an interview avoid saying you’ll do anything and be upfront and honest with the interviewer.  It might seem like a great answer but honestly you’ll be much happier in the long run explaining your interests and find a job that makes you happy.

How about a chat for your job search?

Quick post this week...but a really important one for those of you looking to get a little more social in your job search.  The topic, what’s Twitter chat?  Well, a Twitter chat is basically when a group of people get together and use a hashtag to have a conversation via Twitter.  Sound crazy?  Well, it’s not....it’s probably the single best way to network with new, social people today.

Here’s what you do:

1) Get comfortable on Twitter - Don’t tweet much!  Find people in your industry, follow them, and engage.  No one cares if you are watching TV or doing something mindless.....find folks talking about something you find interesting.  Trust me, they are out there.  Search for #jobs or something like that #java, #coffee...whatever, and you’ll be surprised.

2)  Watch a few chats happen - There are a bunch I’d recommend for job seekers, specifically #TChat, #InternPro and #JobHuntChat which are all HR related..lots of great people there, just follow the hashtag and watch the conversation.

3)  Tweet!! - Ok, you knew this was coming right?  After watching a chat or two....start participating.  You don’t have to do much.  Send a few RT’s?  Answer a few questions?  That’s it, start engaging in the community.

4) Network - Many of these chats (InternPro specifically) encourage networking at the end of the chat so people can take conversations offline and help each other off.  So, enjoy the chat and then at the end make a few new connections.

5) Turn your Tweeps into real relationships - This is the key tip.  These online relationships are great but converting them into real connections makes all the difference.  At the end of the day, all these newfangled social tools are great...but the same old networking rules that I preach about constantly apply....

What are you waiting for?  If you’re looking for a new social way to juice up your job search....find a few chats on Twitter and get going.

Hope to see you in a chat online soon!

Avoiding a Culture Trap

Ok, I’m back...been a crazy few weeks between Thanksgiving and the end of the year rush.  This weeks blog, is a special request from a friend and former colleague.  The question is...when looking for a new job (or taking a new job) how do you do a good job during the interview process and avoid a bad culture.

There are a bunch of things you can do, in no particular order:

Glassdoor.com - I’m not a HUGE proponent of this site, too many sour grapes for me BUT you can get a bunch of information here.  The key...do your homework here, get a few themes and then use the other tips to verify.  So...get info from Glassdoor.com but don’t live/die by it.

Trust your network - The best data comes from people you know/trust.  What you want to do is take the information you got from Glassdoor.............and cross reference it with trusted sources.  If you don’t know anyone directly at the company, use LinkedIn to ask someone you know for a referral.

Ask - You know, ask about the culture in your interviews.  Sounds silly right?  Well, if you ask EVERYONE you meet what the culture is like at a company you get similar answers from everyone.  If not.....yellow flag.  If you get crazy answers....red flag.  Lots of candidates shy away from “culture” questions during the interview process but really you should ask.  Companies screen out for “culture” fit all the time....why don’t you do the same?

Fix it - That’s right, you find yourself in a tough culture.  Do what you can to fix it.  TOUGH STUFF to be sure and not for everyone but depending on your role, in many ways it’s your job.  You won’t accomplish this over night, it’s a long term play but if you are a superstar employee...you can impact change across the whole organization.

That’s it this week, good luck out there...hopefully these “fiscal cliff” talks end soon and we can all focus on creating more jobs.