Hiring right: Finding the faces that fit

As competition for top talent hots up, attracting and retaining the best employees will require an increasingly innovative and focused approach. Here, HR Management speaks to three leading experts in the recruitment/staffing field to get their views on how to manage ‘the talent war’… MRINetwork's Bill Olson, Richard Jamin of The Employment Guide and Mark Hamdan of HRsmart face up in 'the talent war'.

Bill Olson is the President of MRINetwork. His distinguished background includes a number of senior sales, brand management and executive management positions primarily at organizations with large independent distribution networks. As CEO and President of Dunlop/Maxfli Americas, he led a turnaround that included new product innovations and a dramatic financial turnaround; as CEO and president of Guinness North America, he drove the North American growth of Guinness Brewing Worldwide; most recently, he was EVP of Memberswork, Inc., a leading provider of consumer and membership services through affinity database marketing.

Richard Jamin is employed by Trader Publishing Company as the Vice President and General Manager of The Employment Guide. His experience in recruitment covers a broad variety of media and management, where he has overseen the development and multimedia growth of The Employment Guide from a local publication to a network of titles in 65 markets, a series of over 150 job fairs nationwide and an award-winning website serving hourly workers. Richard is active in various industry associations dealing with recruitment practices as well as local charitable organizations.

Mark Hamdan is an established corporate executive and entrepreneur with a wealth of hands-on experience providing focused leadership, building effective management teams and creating (and then developing) profitable infrastructure. Hamdan co-founded HRsmart in 1994, formulating the original vision and strategic direction for the company and assembling the current management team.

HRM. Finding the right employees is becoming increasingly important as companies seek to use their human resources as a competitive advantage. What criteria should companies use to help them attract and choose the best candidates? What systems should they employ?
BO. In today’s job market, the competition for impact players has never been more intense. In order to attract the best candidates, it is critical for companies to offer more than just high salaries and competitive benefits. Qualified candidates also seek out highly reputable organizations that are leaders in their industries and are embarking on compelling projects or developments. Candidates also look for things like flexible work arrangements, a healthy work/life balance and opportunity for growth.

Assessment tools can be useful to screen not only for finding someone who has a strong likelihood for success in a particular position, but also for compatibility with the organization’s culture. These tools are not intended to stand alone, but they can help companies avoid costly mistakes and narrow down the field of applicants. If a company is using a recruiter, they should seek out one who has experience in their industry. That’s one of the most important criteria for success in surfacing candidates who are not actively seeking employment.

RJ. I believe the first thing a company should do is evaluate the current people in each position and create a standard qualification tool to evaluate candidates for that position. By a standard qualification tool, I mean that you should create a profile of the perfect candidate for each position. There are numerous testing programs to help you identify the winning attributes of different positions, or you can create your own.

Once you can qualify your ideal candidate, offer that profile to your frontline hiring managers. Provide them with ideas on sourcing options for that ideal candidate. Target your employment message to the appropriate audience. Look for that person in the places where he or she lives. For example, if you’re looking for accountants, try using an industry publication or collegiate program specializing in that discipline. Likewise, if you’re looking for customer service workers, use a targeted hourly publication.

MH. There are a number of things companies should do to attract the right employees. First of all, companies should classify and fund recruiting as an ongoing strategic initiative and not as a reactive event to fulfill an immediate need. The company and the individual positions that it seeks to fill should be branded; doing so differentiates the company in the applicant’s mind, while the latter makes it meaningful and applicable at the candidate level. The company should proactively source and seek passive candidates, as they are frequently of higher quality. Making employee referrals should be a company citizenship goal and encouraged at all levels by offering pertinent rewards. Finally, your most valuable employees should be involved in the recruiting process. They should be viewed as an invaluable extension to your staffing department; their feedback is important and should be regarded highly.

A crisp job description should clearly identify the ‘must have’ requirements of the position versus the ‘desired’ attributes. A deliberate screening strategy that can be adapted to both active and passive candidates should be incorporated. The initial screening stage should be automated as soon as you are comfortable with the results so recruiters can devote more time to nurturing quality candidates. There should be clear consistent ownership of who screens for what, against what criteria, for each interviewer (competence, character, commitment, compensation and chemistry), and opportunities must be matched to the candidates; the better the match, the better the performance, which results in long-term retention. Finally, the candidate’s credentials (education, employment history, background checks, etc.) should be thoroughly checked.

HRM. Staff retention is also critical. What approaches to effective staff management can companies take in order to help them retain their best staff and leverage these key resources as a strategic advantage?
RJ. The most important approach is utilizing effective hiring practices. If you hire the right people for the job, retention will improve. Ultimately, your people are your biggest asset; your employees make your business happen, from sales to customer service to accounts receivable, and the whole company rests on the quality of the people you hire and retain. Once you have established a standard qualification tool to evaluate your new hires, you must continue to measure them against the optimum performance standards for their positions. If you manage to expectations, then you set clear goals for all employees. Rather than manage to the lowest common denominator, ensure that all of your employees are operating at a higher standard. Referrals for new employees, strong employee morale and pride in their work will follow.

MH. Companies need to begin with a comprehensive inventory of existing talent – what are the company’s benchmark strengths and weaknesses in all departments? Employee preferences and aspirations should be captured and internalized by deploying a comprehensive career development and succession planning solution, and a comprehensive performance management solution that is tightly coupled with compensation and total rewards management should be employed. Development gaps for managers and individual contributors should be identified and addressed with applicable training, and the matching and scheduling of training programs should be automated with a robust learning management solution. Finally, frequent and direct communication with employees is a key success ingredient. Employee surveys and 360-degree feedback should be automated and any uncovered opportunities for improvement should be acted upon promptly.

BO. It is critical that companies place a high value on their current employees. Staff management should encourage feedback from their employees to determine levels of job satisfaction and to better identify potential problems early. By establishing an open dialogue with employees, management will also be able to more effectively communicate the business’ goals and initiatives, and highlight the critical role employees play in the direction of the company.

HRM. Companies are demanding ever more flexible recruiting and staffing systems that adhere to individual company requirements. How is technology impacting on the recruitment/staff management aspect of HR?
MH. Technology is changing the role of the recruiter and the manager. It is allowing them to focus their efforts on higher-level strategic activities by minimizing their ‘administrivia’ burdens. Solution portals have extended beyond HR departments and are providing self-service convenience and effectiveness throughout companies. Paper notices and ink signature approvals have become things of the past. Automation and electronic communications have compressed decision-making cycles by magnitudes. And comprehensive and intelligent reporting allows HR to proactively and strategically address leading indicators instead of reacting to lagging consequences.

These changes are enabling HR to bridge the gap of geographically dispersed offices, both nationally and internationally, and establish consistent, flexible and agile processes. It also allows HR to concentrate on strategic, more value-added workforce planning initiatives; lower overall administrative costs (centralized, error-prone paper processes) while providing quicker, more convenient and accessible service; collect and track accurate metrics that enable intelligent allocation of resources based on proven ROI data; and provide immediate feedback and communicate policy changes in record time.

BO. Technology has streamlined the recruiting process and allowed hiring managers to reach a larger audience of potential employees. Job postings, on both company homepages and online job boards, allow companies to more effectively reach these (often passive) candidates. There was a time when it was predicted that job boards would be the answer to every recruiting need, but that hasn’t happened. Technology is another tool in the arsenal, but the ‘human’ will never be obsolete in HR. That being said, there are many ways that technology makes managing the recruitment process easier and more effective. For example, if a company is seeking to substantially increase its sales team for a new product rollout in several countries, an online management tracing system can be invaluable.

RJ. Technology offers many solutions to workflow issues, and automation of good processes can streamline effort and cost – but, ultimately, it’s people who make the hiring and evaluation decisions, and manages the staff. Technology offers companies, large and small, the means to organize vast amounts of data and, hopefully, provide clear work paths for our managers and recruiting professionals. If used correctly, HR software programs can help managers select good sourcing options and establish standard qualification and evaluation tools. There are some terrific new products available to help HR departments better serve their field managers and help them make good hiring decisions. Many of the products are internet-based and easily connected to other services. Compatibility with existing services and internet-based products will be the driving force in their success.

HRM. As companies expand into global markets – whether large multinational corporations or SMBs looking to expand their operations overseas – they are inevitably faced with hiring a range of employees, from executives to middle management to clerical and labor. What challenges need to be addressed when hiring a global workforce? What are the key considerations?
BO. Most companies have found that they must hire nationals or locals in their overseas operations. That means they have to have a representative who works in the individual countries. They have to look to recruitment organizations that have a global network that can be managed by a single point of contact. Recruiters must understand the cultural challenges and requirements of different countries and have a deep expertise in finding candidates in each market.

RJ. The same considerations hold true whether you’re hiring a local workforce or a global workforce. Certainly, there are cultural and legal issues with hiring overseas, but the fundamental issue is the work involved. It is perhaps more important in a global setting that you have a clear picture of the job functions and expectations of each position. With that in hand, you can begin to identify the appropriate sources for each position. When you’re entrusting your business to employees, be they American or foreign, you must find the right people for the job.

MH. Global managers need to understand the significant differences that exist among different countries and cultures. Whether the differences are related to language, culture, work ethic, education or regulations, the hiring manager needs to internalize these differences and use them to their advantage. The utilized technology needs to be modular, flexible and readily adaptable to allow for a global implementation.

HRM. In the wake of rising security concerns, employee background screening has been placed in the spotlight and US companies are leading the world in their implementation of this. What best practices need to be adhered to when employing background-screening techniques?
BO. By working with a reputable third-party firm, hiring managers will be able to effectively investigate employees’ backgrounds and ensure they do not pose a security risk to the company. Before embarking on the process, it is critical to obtain the consent of the potential employee.

MH. First, the necessity of the implementation and the gravity of the underlying liabilities to the hiring managers need to be communicated. The process needs to be explained, and proper expectations with prospective applicants need to be set. This should be made a required step in every hiring decision with no exceptions. The process should be automated and integrated into the applicant tracking system to facilitate its adoption. Finally, when, what, how and who will communicate the results if a candidate’s background check yields undesirable results should be decided prior to results.

RJ. Security is everyone’s issue now. Whether you’re investigating illicit substance abuse or criminal backgrounds, it is critical that you provide a safe working environment for all employees and customers. Each company needs to evaluate their security risks to evaluate the critical factors for measurement, but the most important aspect of any security program is consistency in its implementation.

HRM. Finally, what trends/developments do you think will have the greatest influence on the recruitment and staffing sector over the next 12-18 months?
MH. In a nutshell, the main trends will be the increased use of technology, the retirement of the baby-boomer generation, an increased shortage of specialized talent, globalization and the expansion of the virtual workforce, and decreased loyalty resulting in shorter tenures.

BO. With the improving economy and low unemployment, companies are going to have to become more effective at attracting passive job seekers away from their current positions in order to obtain the best talent. In the managerial/professional sector, the unemployment rate is now down to 2.3 percent – that’s getting close to virtual full employment. This will be exacerbated by the expected retirement of large numbers of the existing workforce. We are likely to see more efforts to hire mature workers or to offer retirees the ability to work part time.

RJ. We’re returning to a low unemployment situation where skilled employees will be more difficult to hire and retain. Competition for skilled workers will increase, and it will be important for recruiters and hiring managers to measure the success of their sources and hiring practices. As a provider of candidates through our print publications, website and job fairs, we are particularly keen to be able to deliver measurable results. We constantly strive to improve our services based on quantifiable results, but there is no standard metric for success at this point – it is a factor that is individual to each company. Each employer measures cost-per-hire differently, and expense-tolerance will vary per employee. We pay close attention to our clients’ metrics in order to help them find the right source for their particular need. As this tightened employment atmosphere continues, we hope to be able to help define the critical success factors for the recruiting paradigm.