The Changing World of Headhunting (Part II)…How it is Impacting the Candidate-Recruiter Relationship.

“The Crystal Wind is the storm, and the storm is data, and the data is life. You have been slaves, denied the storm, denied the freedom of your data. That is now ended; the whirlwind is upon you . . . . . . Whether you like it or not.”
― Daniel Keys Moran, The Long Run: A Tale of the Continuing Time


Once upon a time there were Active candidates and Passive candidates. Active candidates were those who were “actively” looking for a new job. Many were unemployed and looking for any job. Some were employed, but really unhappy, and looking for a better job. Passive candidates were not looking for jobs. In many cases they were not even interested in hearing about a job. If you were an employer needing to fill a position, you ran ads and/or used a search firm. You might also work your limited network or dig though a file of old resumes. But the truth was that many of the best candidates were passive. They were not going to respond to ads and most of them were not in your professional “network”. Even the pool of active candidates was tough to cover. It took time for ads to be published and those ads had to be seen by the candidates. Then there was response time. Maybe a phone call or a fax, but mostly via old-fashioned mail service. It was a slow process.

Once upon a time, search firms had much better networks than employers. Passive candidates had relationships with one or two trusted search firms and that was about it. Employers seldom if ever directly recruited passive candidates. If employers wanted to really open the box and see all of the talent that was out there, it made a lot of sense to use a search firm. If a passive candidate wanted to be presented with specific types of opportunities in a manner that was safe and confidential, working with a headhunter made a lot of sense for them as well. Even active candidates were channeled through search firms. Employers found it difficult to reach them all and the active candidates had no way of knowing about many of the job opportunities. Headhunters spent a lot of time on the phone and touched a lot of paper. It was a slow process. But, in the end, it was a pretty sweet deal for the headhunters.

As noted in my previous blog entry, times have changed. The job search/recruiting process has gone digital and, for the most part, is totally transparent. Today’s passive candidate may not be responding to job postings, but their professional profile is out there on LinkIn and they are gladly accepting “Inmails” about new career opportunities. Assuming someone has written up a decent description of the position, a ten year old kid can pump out messages to prospective candidates. Getting the word out about jobs is easy. Finding people looking for career opportunities is easy. Does “easy” work? Sometimes it does. At least, often enough that it is changing the way search firms operate and add value.

So what does this mean for Candidates and how has it impacted the Candidate-Recruiter relationship? The answer to those questions and more next week.

The Changing World of Headhunting and How It Will Impact You.

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” – Bill Gates



A New Year and time for a new series. For the next few weeks (perhaps months), I will be writing about how “headhunting” is changing and what that means to employers, candidates and recruiters.

First, a little background and perspective. I’m an old guy who started his career in the transportation industry back in the day when the fax machine was high tech. Computers did exist (I’m not that old), but many small and mid-sized companies did not use them or used them very little and/or very badly. But in the years that followed, I witnessed, first-hand, the explosion of technology in our business and professional lives. It is THE GAMECHANGER of our times. I am old enough to remember life before cell phones. Standing in line at airports waiting to get to a pay phone to call in and check messages or return phone calls. I’m even old enough to remember when you had to wait for news. 24 hour cable news was a giant leap forward. Now it’s way too slow. And the print media? They might as well be using stone tablets.

In headhunting everything is different today as well. When I got into it in 2000, the search business was at a crossroads. Some firms were embracing technology and others were dismissing it. Technology offered some good tools, especially systems for tracking candidate/client information, recording contacts or storing documents. But the best technology was still the telephone. And the “old rules” still applied. Stay on the phone, recruit and market, market and recruit. Qualify candidates and qualify searches. Don’t waste your time on active candidates (those who are aggressively responding to ads or working with multiple search firms, or God forbid, are unemployed.) Don’t waste your time with employers who are advertising the jobs, using multiple search firms or have their own in-house recruiters working the search.

These old rules-of-thumb don’t work these days. Now a search firm has to be open to working on searches and with candidates they would not have touched in the past. Most candidates are active to some degree. They either have a resume posted on some job board or their professional profile (the virtual resume) out on LinkedIn. Most employers have their jobs posted, at least on their company website and often on job boards. Many allow consolidators such as Indeed to post their jobs as well. Professional groups have a “career center’ tab on their websites. Social networks broadcast opportunities. All but the most confidential searches show up somewhere and once they show up, they often go viral. Large employers now have in-house recruiters, either employees or contractors who “headhunt” for them. There are a lot of big nets in the water. Some are fishing for jobs, some for candidates and some for both. Job searches and candidate recruiting have gone digital and become very transparent.

The “search and hiring process” itself has to a large degree been unbundled. There are firms that specialize in “data mining” and “sourcing”. They do work for companies as well as search firms. Some of these specialty firms take the sourcing function to the point of actually recruiting and qualifying candidates. And more than a few of these specialty firms are working from places like India or the Philippines providing “virtual” recruiting assistants who are degreed, speak perfect English (or Spanish or whatever you wish for them to speak) and do a fairly good job for what amounts to minimum wage. Background and reference checking is now outsourced to specialty firms who can do it better, faster and cheaper while at the same time limiting the potential liability for employers. There are testing services and consultants who specialize in interviewing and evaluating candidates for specific opportunities. For all but the most senior positions, there is little room for negotiation on compensation, benefits or relocation allowance. It is whatever company policy says it is. Welcome to “The Machine”. And if the employer so chooses they can just hand all or most of these activities over to a third-party RPO (recruitment process outsourcing). And the RPO, in turn, will likely sub out parts of the process to these various specialists as well.

These are just a few highlights of what is changing in the world of job search and candidate recruiting. If you’ve looked for a job in recent years or sought to hire someone, you know that it’s changed. If you are a full-time recruiter, you absolutely know that it’s changed. And, if you’re still making a living as a full-time recruiter, you’ve changed. Next time, we’ll look at what these changes mean for candidates and how they are likely to impact the candidate-headhunter relationship.

Farewell 2012….Welcome 2013

Time for my Top 10 predictions for 2013. But, before I put those on the record….how did my 2012 forecast turnout?

My 2012 predictions and results.

Prediction Number 1:
The Packers win the Super Bowl. They will beat New England in an epic game that goes down to the wire.

Results: New England made it, but the Packers let me down. The Giants, the NFC representative did win the game. But it was not “an epic” game. Prediction Grade: C-

Prediction Number 2:
Big trouble in the Middle East. Things will come to a head this year and the results will drive up oil prices and cripple the global economy in the second half of the year.

Results: As usual, a lot of problems in the Middle East, but not as bad as predicted and oil prices did not go crazy. Prediction Grade: D

Prediction Number 3:
President Obama gets another term. The Republicans blow it but retain a majority in the House.

Result: Got it right. Prediction Grade: A+

Prediction Number 4:
The U.S. economy overcomes the impact of predictions 2 & 3, limps along and fairs better than many of our global competitors.

Result: Prediction 2 really didn’t come to pass, but #3 was spot on. I think our economy has faired better than most of our global competitors. Prediction Grade: B+

Prediction Number 5:
More crazy weather and rising commodity prices.

Result: Record heat and drought. Rising commodity prices. Prediction Grade: A

Prediction Number 6:
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement grows and becomes better organized.

Result: Did not happen. I guess the rabble went home and worked on getting out the vote for Obama. Prediction Grade: F


Prediction Number 7:
Tiger Woods does not win a major.

Result: Although TW had a good year, he did not win a major. Prediction Grade: A

Prediction Number 8:
The unemployment rate drops below 8% (but then edges back up).

Result: The rate has dropped below 8% and really hasn’t edged back up yet. Prediction Grade: B

Prediction Number 9:
We will add over $1 trillion more to the national debt.

Result: Done. Grade: A+

Prediction Number 10:
The world will not end on December 21, 2012

Result: We’re still here. Grade: A+

************************

And now for those 2013 predictions.

Prediction Number 1:
Green Bay (of course) and Denver meet up in the Super Bowl. But The Pack goes back to Green Bay without the trophy. Denver wins and the game will be a classic.
(Closer to home…Karma kicks Jerry Jones in the ‘nads and the Cowboys lose to the Redskins this Sunday, missing the playoffs yet again.)

Prediction Number 2:
We postpone going over the fiscal cliff by passing a very weak compromise with some tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, caps on future spending and a “commitment” to really address the problem this year.

Prediction Number 3:
We do NOT address our fiscal problems this year, but continue to dance along the edge of the cliff.

Prediction Number 4:
Israel opens up a 55 gallon drum of whip ass on Hamas. Iran makes the mistake of getting directly involved and things go very badly for them as well. The impact on the global economy is severe, but short-lived. Assad finds a way to stay in power another year in Syria.

Prediction Number 5:
The U.S. Economy drifts along with moderate growth. Unemployment finally dips below 7%.

Prediction Number 6:
Attempts to ban the manufacture, sale and ownership of assault weapons will fail again. Additional background checks and restrictions are put in place. More mass shootings will occur.

Prediction Number 7:
Tiger Woods will not win a major.

Prediction Number 8:
Nick Saban will return to the NFL

Prediction Number 9:
A major railroad will purchase a large truckload carrier.

Prediction Number 10:
50% of my predictions will be accurate.


“Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge.” -Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher, 6th Century BC

Christmas Letters...It’s a Wonderful Life Isn’t It?

“You keep on talking about the good life, Elton, 'cause it makes me puke.” – Bobby Dupea

(Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie, Five Easy Pieces.)




I will admit to being somewhat of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas. Christmas holds religious significance for me and I really enjoy the way little kids get so excited about Santa Claus. But, I could do without the rest of it. Too many commercials, too many television “Christmas” specials, too much Christmas music playing in the background wherever you go, too many strangers expressing holiday greetings, too many parties, way too many decorations, just too much Christmas stuff period.

But, the thing that I dislike the most about Christmas is the “Christmas Letter”. It should be called the unaudited Annual Report of Your Wonderful Life. Who really wants to read one of these? If I care to know about your life and you care that I should know, then we need to be in contact on a regular basis. Especially in this age of instant information and communication. If I don’t know what’s going on in your life, I probably don’t care to know or need to know. And if I do know what’s really going on in your life, it is likely that I know a lot of stuff you definitely don’t want in your Christmas Letter.

Most Christmas Letters are all about what a wonderful life the person is living. If anything negative is mentioned it’s usually about someone else. But it doesn’t qualify as gossip because it’s “for the best” or a “blessing in disguise” or we need to “keep them in our prayers”. People who write Christmas Letters always have great jobs. Their homes are new or newly remodeled. Worst case, they finally put in that pool they’ve always wanted. Their children are on the honor role. Mom has lost 10 pounds and Dad just ran his first marathon. People who write Christmas Letters always take great vacations and love to tell you about them. People who write Christmas Letters brag about the good deeds their family has done over the past year. People who write Christmas Letters are proud of themselves and you should feel honored that they have chosen to send you this letter along with an air-brushed photo of the family you wish you could be a part of.

Here’s my advice. If you have the urge to write a Christmas Letter, then write an honest Christmas Letter. Write down all of the good and the bad and the ugly. Write about the losses as well as the gains. Count your blessings and your bruises. Acknowledge your regrets and sorrows along with your hopes and joys. Write about what you need to do better next year, not just what you did well over the past year. Take your time and really think about your Christmas Letter. Read it at least three times. Once you are sure that you’ve written all that needs to be written, do yourself and your family and your friends and the hapless souls who somehow found their way into your address book a huge favor….delete it.

Now go… Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Firepower

I live in one of the reddest counties in one of the reddest states in America. I am in the old white guy demographic. Most of my friends are old white guys. Last night I was at a holiday party with old white guys and their ageless, forever young-looking wives. (I am not stupid…someone might actually read this.) Conservative old white guys and their lovely, equally conservative wives. The wives talked about holiday plans, family, food, fashion, football, the horrific Connecticut school shootings and gun control. Their husbands talked about local politics, the fiscal cliff, Obama, deer hunting, the drought, football, the horrific Connecticut school shootings and gun control.

Most folks, especially folks from “the Left”, would predict that this crowd is in the “pry the gun from my cold dead fingers” camp. And I guess, to some degree that is true. But only if we are talking about hunting rifles, shotguns and pistols. Maybe it was just the reaction to the latest mass murder, but no one was advocating that citizens had the right to own automatic or semi-automatic, assault weapons (rifles or pistols). Who needs 15, 20 or 30 round clips of firepower? Sure, there are people on the fringes who are preparing for life after the “big one” (whatever the big one might be.) They are storing food, water and fuel. They are armed to the teeth and prepared to defend themselves against the stupid and unprepared masses that won’t be able to survive when the shelves at Wal-Mart are empty. But these “survivalists” are few and the reality is that they will find a way to arm themselves.

What concerns the mainstream, even the conservative, gun-toting mainstream in places like Texas; is the firepower that is now available to virtually anyone with an ID, a little money and a few days to allow for processing the paperwork. We fear that the next mass murder may be in our school or our church or our mall. As I have written in the past, we are not shocked anymore when these things happen. It’s almost become the norm in our society. While we are not likely to stop the crazies from killing people, we can at least take steps to reduce the body count.

The other concern is that every time we have guns used to commit mass murder, we move closer to the extreme position that citizens should not have guns in the first place. Oh perhaps, you can “own” a deer-rifle or a shotgun for hunting. But those need to be secured in a locker somewhere (not your home) and only accessed during hunting season and with the proper licensing and authorizations. Now that’s not going to happen, but when folks in this part of the country hear liberal knuckleheads preach gun control, we fear even the possibility of such controls and limitations of our gun rights.

Last night I heard conservative, gun-owning and gun-toting Texans saying that something has to change. They weren’t spouting the “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” mantra of the NRA. They were saying ENOUGH…we’ve had enough and if we don’t crack down on the ownership and possession of certain types of weapons, we are at risk of losing our rights to own and possess any type of weapons. And, we and our children and our grandchildren are at risks of becoming the next victims of a mass murderer wielding guns designed for killing dozens of people in only a few minutes.

I have friends and family who literally hate guns. Don’t own one and would never allow one in their home. I respect their point of view. Don’t agree with them, but respect their viewpoint. I do own guns for hunting, varmint control and self-defense. I live in a rural area, no police patrols and no next door neighbors. If someone decides to enter my home uninvited while I am there, it is very likely that they will be shot. I have more than one gun in more than one place. This is not unusual for people in this part of the country. (And when kids are around the guns are locked up. So if the bad guys hit us when kids are around I guess we're just SOL.) But I don’t need assault weapons with 20 round clips of ammo. If I can’t stop the bad guys with my .357 revolver or 12 gauge shotguns, then I deserve to be a victim. And if my lovely wife goes off the deep end someday and shoots me, I will probably deserve that as well. So don’t blame the gun.

Gun control will be a hot topic for the next few months. Like most controversial issues, the majority of Americans are somewhere in the middle. Those of us on the right have concerns about losing our guns. But we know that something has to be done to restrict the types of weapons and the level of firepower. We understand that there needs to be more extensive background checking and if that means it takes longer to purchase a gun, so be it. Most of those left of center are not for taking our guns away. They are for banning assault weapons and having tighter controls on who can purchase or possess firearms. We must find solutions. They may not be perfect and they may not satisfy either side completely. But, it will save lives.

A Clear Message

I get it. Last week’s blog was too abstract. I liked it or I would not have put it out there. But, I’ve received more than a few “I don’t get it” messages. I was actually planning to put out another list this week that would include certain individuals, activities and creations which would argue against the theory that “humans may be gradually losing intelligence”. But it was going to be a much, much shorter list.

Hopefully, this week’s message is clearer. This is from a friend of mine who pastors a church up in Oklahoma:

“Thanksgiving” is more than a day. The truth of the matter is that on the day we call Thanksgiving there is very little “thanks” given when you compare it to all of the other events of the day. There’s lots of turkey and dressing, ham, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pies. There’s lots of great conversation between family members as we catch up with one another. There’s hours upon hours of football to be enjoyed. It has been my experience, at the Thanksgiving gatherings I’ve attended, that the “thanks” offered would fit nicely in one of the TV timeouts of any of the football games. I’m not as troubled as I used to be by this because I’ve come to the conclusion that Thanksgiving is a lifestyle and not a designated day.

Those who are truly thankful are thankful on the coldest winter night as they are on the hottest summer day. Those who are truly thankful praise God when the sun is shining down on them as well as when the storm clouds are swirling overhead. Those who are truly thankful praise Him on Monday morning when the alarm sounds as well as on Sunday morning when the choir lifts their souls. Those who are truly thankful are able to see His gracious hand in the mundane moments as well as in those majestic moments in life. Those who are truly thankful don’t need any “reason” to praise God–they thank Him for who He is.

Thanksgiving is a conscious effort made by those who choose to live with their eyes wide open, actively looking for God’s bountiful goodness that is poured out upon them each and every day of the year. I want to do a better job, on Thanksgiving Day, of consciously thanking God for all of the many blessings He has showered upon me. Even more than that, I want to live a thank-filled life during each of the days He gives me. Give thanks. “

-Rev. Mike Hays, Britton Christian Church, Oklahoma City, OK.

Human Intelligence

Sometimes a blog post just writes itself.


David Petraeus
Rush Limbaugh
Charlie Sheen
Rachel Maddow
Secessionists
Paula Broadwell
Paula Deen
Chris Matthews
Ann Coulter
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
FEMA
Jerry Jones
Al Sharpton
Sean Hannity
Sean Penn
Tom Cruise
Sky-Diving
Rahm Emmanuel
Ron Paul
The Electoral College
Plutocrats
Democrats
Barack Obama
Vegetarians
The GOP
Al Gore
Mitt Romney
The Designated Hitter
Anthony Weiner
Glenn Beck
Toby Keith
Mitch McConnell
The Tea Party
James Carville
Tommy Tuberville
Gamblers
Birthers
Alec Baldwin
Botox
Super PACs
Socialism
Artificial sweeteners
Joe Biden
Golf
Long commutes
Automatic weapons
Big Government
Harry Reid
Video games
&
Brittany Spears…

“Humans may be gradually losing intelligence, according to a new study. The study, published Nov. 12 in the journal Trends in Genetics, argues that humans lost the evolutionary pressure to be smart once we started living in dense agricultural settlements several thousand years ago. "The development of our intellectual abilities and the optimization of thousands of intelligence genes probably occurred in relatively non-verbal, dispersed groups of peoples [living] before our ancestors emerged from Africa," said study author Gerald Crabtree, a researcher at Stanford University, in a statement.”…

The Tax Code
Paul Ryan
Soy products
MSNBC
Bill Clinton
Dick Vitale
Cialis commercials
Daylight Savings Time
Facebook
Reality Television
Breast Feeding Five Year Olds
Tail-gating
Rick Santorum
Twitter
The Fiscal Cliff
The BCS
George W. Bush
LeBron James
Mayan Prophecy
Derivatives
Karl Rove
Soccer
Dick Morris
Katy Perry
Bling
Pornography
The Food Channel
Free Agency
Spam
No Child Left Behind
Global Warming
Nancy Pelosi
Home Equity Loans
The Ed Show
High Heels
Fast Food
Wrestling
Fox News
John Boehner
Statins
Todd Akin
Justin Bieber
Atheism
Sarah Palin
NASCAR
Jeremiah Wright
Skype
Kenny Chesney
Grover Nordquist
Sexting
Obamacare
Rick Perry
&
Blogs


“Man - a creature made at the end of the week’s work when God was tired.”- Mark Twain