Get Out of the SME's Way! (for your own good)

We often talk about Quality of Hire and I agree that is an important thing. However, what about when you hire a quality person but YOU (the Manager or Leader) are in fact the actual road block to their results? We've also heard the saying "Get out of your own way" but what if that is not the case? What if it is your boss that's in the way?

In this employment market (aka War on Talent), the talented professionals out there have choices, networks of people who will vouch for their super-stardom and they are not held to the same standards as the yet-to-be-determined talent. Therefore, finding them is difficult, retaining them is key and more importantly letting them drive is essential.

In a recent conversation with a new found professional acquaintance we discussed this very topic: Hiring a subject matter expert but then under-utilizing them. He said, "My owner has said flat out that he hires people smarter than him and then gets out of their way"! I echo that statement. If you are a leader hiring talent - you want a subject matter expert. If once you've hired this SME and you still feel the need to micro-manage and control their work, then there is a bigger systemic issue.

So, for all you hiring managers who are hiring subject matter experts to push your business forward...

My advice is this:

In the interview and decision process ask your self

1. If I had to take a medical leave and be out of pocket - would I trust this person to handle the responsibilities of the role successfully? 
2. Would I trust them to make quality decisions? 
3. Would I trust them to make me look good to my peers? 
4. Would they be able to push the agenda forward (results, project, resources or whatever)?

If your answers are at least 95% yes - then hire them and GET OUT OF THE WAY!
If your answers are not at least 95% yes - then DON'T HIRE THEM - keep looking!

It sounds easy doesn't it? However, we get caught up in a lot of different things like the length of time to fill the position or the competitiveness of the market and we become very reactive and we essentially do not hire the SME we can trust. Now that is a whole other blog topic!

What are your thoughts on the above? Have you experienced or witnessed this very thing? I have and it can be a costly vicious cycle that is counter-productive to moving your business forward.

Culture or Context?

Culture is one of those buzz words that candidates ask about and employers try to articulate, but in my opinion - you really don't fully know the culture until you are breathing it, living it and judging it for yourself.

Sure employers want to identify culture and use or spin it in a positive light for purposes of branding, attraction and retention. Why not use every arsenal possible?? However, the reality is that often times the way an employer describes their culture is not actually how being in the culture is. If you had an opportunity while investigating whether the company was right for you, wouldn't you like to ask several people of different levels how they would describe the culture of the company? Objective people that have no care for whether you get the job or not? The answers vary sometimes and don't always line up....but when they do, that is also something to pay attention to. I've experienced many cultures in my staffing days and then also as an employee for several.

I have defined a few below (but I am sure there are many other definitions my blogger friends have too):

Brainwashed: This is where the employee brand, mission, vision and values are drilled into the minds of all employees (over and over again) in an attempt to have a uniform voice. Makes sense strategically, but what happens when you start the job and you are subjected to said brainwashing only to find yourself in the job 3 months later going...this is well....Bologna!

Severed Voices: This is where there is no real message and no actual work done on defining the culture. When you ask multiple people, you get varying of answers. One says something cliche' like "we work hard, play hard", while another spouts off some canned response like "our culture is one of collaboration and innovation". These are meaningless to a job seeker because they do not actually represent the culture.

Real Transparent: Very rare, but sometimes employers are open enough to allow a candidate to shadow for the day or attend a company event with the hopes of allowing the candidate to define the culture for themselves. This is unique and it takes a level of confidence on the part of the organization to say, "Who am I to define it? Define it for yourself!"

Foundational: This is usually found in organizations that have the money to actually pull off the whole culture branding thing. There is a person in a desk that owns accountability for this and probably a team of deployment peeps as well. From the website, to the office and through on boarding - you see consistency and the culture is representative even when the honeymoon phase  is over. This is a hard fete and some big companies can't get there because their vision and corporate politics clash.

My advise to a candidate is this: Ask the culture question, hear the answers but know that you will never really know the culture until you experience it for yourself. Each person's experience and definition will vary inevitably. Even the company with the best plan for cultural immersion and employment branding still has the office gossip, the negative nancy, the company champion, the canned responder and the blank stare person.

When on the interview - take in your surroundings. Are people smiling? Are people working together? Or are they whispering by the water cooler? When deciding on the offer - visit the companies facebook and social media pages and look at their pictures and posts! Scope out the LinkedIn profiles of their employees and past employees too. If you see a ton of people who came and went - maybe that is a red flag, but maybe it's not. Be careful with sites like Glassdoor.com, because people typically review a company when they are pissed off. Very rarely do people go.... I love my company culture so much I think I will post a review on Glassdoor! What I think is the most telling is when a company has a high percentage of employee referrals!

So maybe the right questions are:

What percentage of your hires come through employee referrals?
What is the average tenure of your employees?
What do your people like most about the culture?
How can I get a better feel for what it will be like to work for your company?

Never Super-Glue, Always Engagement

Employee Engagement - big words in the HR world. 

What are the benefits? Oh, let me count the ways...

• Cut recruiting costs
• Cut long term training costs
• Increase productivity
• Healthier workforce
• Strong company culture
• Pipeline for succession planning
• Better customer experiences

You can see why these two words hold such importance in a company, however promoting, developing and enhancing engagement is not a simple thing and there are so many variables.

• Compensation
• Benefits
• Management and Leadership
• Corporate Culture
• Learning and Development
• Career Paths
• Work/Life Balance Programs

and so on...

I personally feel that management is one of the more important variables in employee engagement strategy. I've worked for organizations that automatically look at recruiting as the culprit of poor retention. As if recruiting can influence an employees dissatisfaction in their job a year after hire... 

Yes, onboarding is a recruitment function that is vital to retention, but people quit and stay for a multitude of reasons. Some argue that quality of hire is where the buck stops. I find this funny, because in a past position I was hired to upgrade talent, so I did just that. A year later, I was refilling the same positions due to attrition. I can distinctively remember saying, "I can bring them in, but I can't manage and retain them too". 

In the exit interviews we would get a ton of feedback on why people decided to leave. 8 out of 10 times it was because of their manager. Now, I realize every organization is not one-size-fits-all and each organization experiences different struggles. I think in this particular company there was a clear arrow pointing to management style and corporate culture. Incidentally, this particular organization did not have a management development program which is an opportunity sorely missed in my opinion.

There is a great book by Kevin Sheridan called, " Building a Magnetic Culture"  . It's a quick read and covers the idea that engaged employees attract customers. I also read a recent Gallup report "Employee Engagement Insights for US Business Leaders", where they also indicate that engaged workforces attract and retain customers, thus improving the bottom line. 

Now I ask my readers - what do YOU think are the key items to effective employee engagement? Do you agree that engaged employees improve business bottom lines by attracting and retaining customers?

Now wouldn't life just be easier for us HR practitioners to use super-glue instead of  engagement strategy...Ha!

Candidate Xperience

In my first post, I listed the candidate experience as one of the things that should be important to a Recruiter. This last week I had two examples of how this "Candidate Experience", at its basic element, is about being customer focused and your ability to build relationships - even if only for a week.

Case One: I referred my friend (let’s call him Ted for purposes of privacy) to a job posting by a professional acquaintance (Tiffany). Tiffany connects with Ted to discuss the details of the position and they move forward having Tiffany represent Ted for the role. During this process, Tiffany questions Ted’s integrity in his transparency of salary requirements. Ted takes offense because his integrity has never been questioned. In fact he is so adamant to prove his integrity, he is willing to prove himself through W2's and check stubs. While this is sometimes just part of the process; Tiffany back tracks realizing her delivery was poor and that she upset her candidate. Ted feels Tiffany does not have his best interest in mind, so he backs out of the process to interview for this job. Talk about LOSE/LOSE situation that could have been avoided!

Here’s the thing… if the recruiter had the candidates best interest in mind, as well as, her clients – she would not have approached the candidate in a way that was accusatory. If I were put in the same predicament as Tiffany, I would have asked the questions necessary for the client but also given the candidate the benefit of the doubt.

Suggestion: Emotional Intelligence is something that can be developed and it would have helped the recruiter with her delivery and her ability to understand her audience. Any business professional (HR or otherwise) should be developing their EQ quotient as it is a proven key indicator of success and even more so when your profession is with people! Daniel Goldman is a thought leader on this subject; you can follow him on LinkedIn!

Case Two: An old colleague (from a previous job) reached out to me. I maybe had 3 total interactions with him in 4 years, so it was a surprise to hear from him. He was looking for direction on his job search. I asked him, "why me"?  He said that all his past experiences with me were positive and he considered me trustworthy even though we were just barely acquainted. I was flattered to be chosen and happy to give him the direction he needed. I helped him narrow down the type of job he was looking for and the job titles he needed to search for. It felt good to give back - it was like chicken soup for my recruiter soul!

Here’s the thing….We should always treat the people we interact with respectfully and with a customer focus; no matter what their role or level. People remember when they have positive experiences and they are willing to be your internal and/or professional advocate. A sense of community is a huge advantage to a recruiter!

Suggestion: Give back what you know to others. You never know when that very person is helping you out in return. Karma is a beautiful thing!

In my opinion, The Candidate Experience is about being positive, helpful and focused on your customers’ satisfaction. In a Recruiters life, the customer is the hiring manager, the candidates (all in the pipeline) and the support professionals (inside your organization) that provide you the ability to successfully onboard a new hire. 

Look… I know we recruiters have large workloads and the whole life balance struggle.  However, I think the candidate experience also provides good recruiter karma! It not only proves your organization cares about your hire, but it helps before the hire with offer closing, networking/employee referrals and even helping an old colleague find a job. There is a great blog post on Smashfly about Candidate Experience, if your interested in a deeper dive, rather than my mumblings!

What examples do you have of The Candidate Experience either making or breaking the deal?

How to be a "Rock Star" Recruiter

In my career, I have heard others use the term rock star to describe that special person that just excels and shines in their role. This person is in their element and passionate about what they do, therefore it’s noticeable and magnetic to others. Being in recruiting for as long as I have and working with so many recruiters both collaboratively and competitively; I feel like I have a good definition of what a rock star recruiter is. Below are the key ingredients to rock star status:

Work with a sense of urgency. If you do work hard, people are more likely to respect you and you want respect over being popular first and foremost.  It’s respect that gets you through mistakes and often leads to promotion. With a sense of urgency you are exceeding your customers’ expectations. This is not always done, so when it is – it’s noticed!

Build relationships and always be networking. You just never know when you meet someone who knows someone perfect for your job. This is where social media becomes a recruiter’s best friend, because you build a network of likeminded networkers and helping becomes reciprocal. So, build that network and make time for small chat too. Recruiters build reputations in their market. Word of mouth that is negative can have a negative impact on your long term career goals. Be careful how you treat people because it is a small world after all.

Curiosity builds good business acumen. You should do an equal amount of listening to speaking. Ask open ended questions and probe. This is not just with applicants, but also with hiring managers. Be sure to narrow down hard and soft skills. What makes people successful in the department. What are the deal breakers? What are the prices of admission? Take a consultative business partner approach to their needs. Use those needs to guide your networking prowess and ability to find “the one”.

Be systematic and have a full and diverse calendar. Your calendar should include blocked times daily for sourcing, social media, phone interviews, in-office interviews, meetings when applicable and administrative time. Which brings me to….

Time management is key. There is a lot to juggle in this profession! Keeping to a calendar is vital to staying on top of it all. Always stagger your appointments so you have time for breaks and returning emails/calls. Staying busy means you are busy accomplishing things.

Work with transparency - it builds credibility and integrity. Another reference I have for Recruiting is to view it as a love relationship; each party has desires and needs. In the employment context you need to make sure there is a good match between the candidates career desires and the employers’ business needs. This helps with retention. If you inform the candidate of the good and the downsides of the job, you force them to make an unconscious commitment. When they continue to pursue the opportunity knowing the truth, they expect difficulties along the way.

The candidate experience matters, so it should matter to you! Whether you realize it or not, candidates are judging the company from the start of the process. If there are typos in  job descriptions and emails, lack of communication, poor offer processes – you question whether this is a sign of the companies culture. Are they outdated or close-minded? Are they not professional? Do they not value their employees? Do they hire sub-par talent and do I want to be in that pool? You can eliminate those concerns and assumptions by running a tight ship!

Onboarding is even more important than recruiting. Starting a new job and switching jobs and/or industries can be very stressful. The first day is important, so you want a smooth handling of paperwork, communications and overall welcoming by the team and manager. Additionally desk preparation, equipment access and training are also important. To be most effective you should also consider a structured 30/60/90 day schedule of expectations and feedback. No one enjoys being dumped in an unorganized desk, waiting on equipment and left to figure out everything on their own. Trust me; I’ve been there and it makes for second thoughts on taking the job!

View Recruiting as Sales. Selling employment opportunities, company culture and knowing your product are foundational. Recruiting has a parallel to Real Estate because the industry connects two parties, the buyer and seller or in this case, employer and employee.

Always be closing. It’s important to ask closing questions on the first call. You should always know the following things:

·         Time line for hire – are they employed and need to give notice? Are they available immediately?

·         What is their current compensation and what amount will close the deal? Knowing the rock bottom compensation needs help you save time and be the expert in the negotiation process.

·         What are their motivations for looking for a job and specifically the particular job in question?

·         How does their motivation meet the job, company culture and needs of the hiring manager?

 Keep Positive. Positivity and negativity rub off on others…it’s just a bad practice to put that energy out there. Recruiting is stressful enough without Negative Nancy in your ear. Leave that crap at home!

In closing, this is my professional perspective but I would love to learn from your experiences.

What do you think makes a rock star recruiter?

-Crystal