The qualified labour "gene pool" is clearly getting pretty shallow. All indications are that it will continue to get worse. Right now It's as good as it will ever be, and that’s a scary thing to say the least.

With the labour market tightening up, the harsh reality is that there are a finite number of qualified people available for any given job. And everyone wants to hire them.

As the labour pool tightens, it presents a dilemma: how does an organization ensure they will have a good shot at attracting qualified talent?

The answer for many has been to use recruitment or employment agencies. While these types of organizations perform a valuable service, many aren't disclosing the fact that they are recruiting for your competition as well.

Recently the subject of recruitment agencies came up at a conference break. There were several banking organizations represented there and one representative mentioned, "Even though we are working with XYZ Staffing (a well-known national organization), it is still difficult to get the people we need." I noticed a surprised look on the faces of other attendees. It turns out they were also using the same employment agency for their recruiting needs.

Over the next several days and meetings, I came to realize that many banks in the area were depending on the very same employment agency and not one knew their competitors were doing so as well.

Perhaps I am old fashioned but this is just plain wrong. If I were one of the banking clients, there would be one big question that would strike my mind: how do I know that I am getting the best and most qualified applicants? If there are ten banking clients and five "best" applicants, who gets the best five?

Furthermore...

- Why wasn't I made aware of this practice in the first place?
- Is there a lottery system to who gets the "best" applicants?
- Would it be a function of how much I am paying?
- How well I am liked by the employment agency?
- Can I trust my employment agency?

Please don't get me wrong, I am also a headhunter... I am not trying to say, "Don't use employment agencies."

What I am saying there must be full disclosure. If I am retaining the services of a professional service firm and they are providing that very same service to my competitor across the street, I have a right to know that.

I am also saying that if you want complete control of your hiring process, then use the tools the employment agencies use and find your own high performance candidates.

Key thoughts to protect yourself...

• Ask your employment agency if they are hiring similar positions to yours in the same geographic market and in particular are they assisting any direct competitors.

• Ask how they determine where the best candidates go. In other words, who gets the "first look" at the candidate?

• Ask what you can do to be moved up to get a "first look" at prime candidates.

• Ask if they have a "Gold" or "Platinum" plan that enables you a first look at prime candidates.

• Ask if you are getting another competitors' "rejects" - people that didn't "work out" for them but are now being referred to your organization to see if they "work out"

Other employment strategies that can help you work around employment agencies...

• Become an employer of choice. Find out what your employees want out of their working relationship and provide it.

• Check out any free job posting information resources that are available online. Many states have postings of resumes online via a "Job Service". Believe it or not.... Many staffing agencies tap these free resources in their quest for good talent. Why "play the lottery" with already slim pickings via a staffing agency when you can tap these listings for free already?

• Use Job Benchmarking to understand what exactly is needed in the position to ensure you are hiring the right person in the first place. A poor hire decision will cost you in terms of employee retention, morale and productivity.

• Use a Personality Profile to identify the proper behaviours, values, and personal attributes of the candidate match this information to the job benchmark. Again.... The single biggest challenge we see to employee retention, morale, and productivity is a poor hiring decision.

• Birds of a feather flock together. This strategy can work wonders but can also backfire dramatically. Your best team members probably have friends or acquaintances that are similar to them in behaviours and values. Encourage them to share the names of those they feel would make a good contribution. Where this can backfire is if they refer people who don't work out. This puts you in an extremely awkward position. What to do? Use a powerful personality profile like ours to compare the candidate's behaviours, values, and personal attributes to the job benchmark. By doing so, you dramatically reduce the risk of making a poor hiring decision you will regret later.

The labour market is getting thinner and it won't get better any time soon. The ultimate employee selection and retention strategy is you need to take control of your hiring strategy. By job benchmarking and using our powerful personality profile instrument, you will be able to not only improve your employee selection, but also reduce your turnover by minimizing your poor hiring decisions. This strategy will be much more effective than using an employment recruiting agency that doesn't have your hiring needs as their sole focus.

Your bottom line requires this focus anyways.... The more effective your employee selection strategy, the more of the following benefits you will experience....

- Improved Productivity
- Increased Employee Morale
- Increased Employee Retention
- Improved Customer Satisfaction

- DeTimes

I recently was asked to give a presentation to a group of CEOs about how to select top management talent. Given the expense associated with recruiting executives and the high cost of making poor choices you would think executives would want to do this well. However, I am continually amazed at how frequently senior HR folks will tell me that they have a very difficult time getting their bosses to follow "best practices" in the selection of executives. That may explain in part why "33 - 50 % of executives selected for senior positions fail..." according to the most current research. Usually the failure has little to do with the executives' basic competencies but more to do with the wrong matching of executive to a job. "Wrong person - wrong job... usual cause for failure..."

I have interviewed hundreds of executives. I am continually amazed at how often they will tell me that when they were interviewed by a CEO or a Venture capitalist, as a frequent example, that the interviewer spent most of the time talking and mostly trying to sell them on taking the job. That is a recipe for disaster.

Below are the 11 Steps for selecting top management talent:

1. Have a well-thought-out recruitment process in place - Be Systematic. Don´t shoot from the hip. Prepare in advance and follow the steps below.

2. Identify the interview team and ensure everyone who will interview the candidate has been trained on interviewing techniques. Interviewing well is a learned skill.

3. Develop a role expectations description based on criteria that everyone agrees upon. It´s important to have all the interviewers on the same page about what is required. For example, if one person thinks a certain personality type is needed while another thinks differently they will be cross-wise when they compare their evaluations.

4. Ask behavioural, open-ended questions based on the position requirements to guard against "would do" vs. "have done." It´s usually not very helpful to ask candidates "can you do this or that?" 9 times out of 10 they will say yes because they think they can. Remember, "The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour." When you´re spending big bucks you want to hire people who have a track record doing what you need done. So ask something like, "Tell me how you handled dealing with x?" If you are looking for "creative," "out-of-the-box" types you will need to ask questions that explore how they were creative in the past. If they have been creative they will likely continue to be...under the right circumstances. One caveat; you better provide a healthy work environment or even the most creative person will wither.

5. Decide who will ask the candidate what questions. It´s usually best to divide the questions based on interviewer competency. For example, let finance people ask the finance questions.

6. Prepare interview questions in advance. Take notes so that you won´t forger what they said. I guarantee that you will either forget what the first interviewee said or mix his/her responses with subsequent interviewees if you don´t take notes. Ask each candidate the same questions so that you can compare answers and more accurately and yes...more scientifically, compare candidates.

7. First date; don´t go too far too fast. Don´t make a hiring decision based on your first interview. Take your time. Compare candidates.

8. Make the candidates feel comfortable - they reveal more if they aren´t on guard. Sure, if you make the interview feel like an interrogation you´ll know how they respond to questioning under pressure but it´s unlikely they´ll tell you much revealing about themselves because they will be on the defensive. So, if you want to hire tough but defensive people...interrogate away.

9. Always allow enough time in the interview for the candidate to ask questions -- the number and calibre of their questions will tell you a lot about how they think.

10. Do extensive reference checking (minimum 6) using prepared behavioural questions to verify "have done vs. will do." Make sure the candidate has actually done what they say they have. And at the CEO level, be very careful not to fall for the "halo effect" (see below), a very common interview "selection bias error."

Research has shown that interviewers commonly fall prey to one or more types of "selection bias errors." So, don´t fool yourself...be systematic so that you are not fooled by your "gut feelings" which might actually be unconscious selection bias errors. Being systematic and following the above steps will also help you more likely counter "selection bias errors" such as the following:

Primacy effect - picking a person because they are the freshest in your memory

Order effect - more often than not, people think the first or last interviewee was the best even when the middle one was the true star.

Subjective weightings - check those biases at the door, e.g., male/female, colour, height, school, country club, accent, how they are dressed, etc. You get the picture.

Self-image hiring - Just because they think like you doesn´t make the candidate a terrific choice. Halo effect - Especially for CEO candidates, be careful about the impact reading about a candidate in the press or seeing them on TV may have on you. Or...if a Venture Capitalist says..."he´s doesn´t have what takes to be a CEO" meaning he or she is charismatic. Too often interviewers are bias toward "charismatic" personality types even though there is no scientific evidence to support that charismatic leaders are more effective.

11. Used scientifically validated and sophisticated pre-employment assessment tools. Assessment instruments have come a long way in the last 20 years. Used appropriately and with the proper training, assessment instruments designed for selection can help you pick top talent well matched to your company. Pre-employment tests, validated specifically for your organization can also be developed. These types of instruments can help you clearly target the critical characteristics and traits necessary for success in your organization, helping you hire candidates who will perform at a high level. One of the added benefits of using pre-employment tests is that they are not prone to "selection bias errors." The assessment software programs don´t fall for the "halo effect" or "order effect," for example.

Last tips...

You must sell the candidate on the job and company but don´t talk more than 20% of the time. Let them tell their story.

Don´t over inflate the company- truth in packaging! For example, if your company is struggling, don´t gloss it over. There really are people who would prefer to take on that type of challenge than to work for a mature predictable company. Match the person with the right job by telling the truth about the job/company.

Don´t ask "yes" or "no" questions.

Remember - Recruiting is a Marketing Event for the company and for you! Treat all candidates respectfully because even if they aren´t hired they will remember how you treated them and they may just refer to you a top-flight candidate and save you big recruiting bucks! Furthermore, they might choose or not choose to become a customer some day depending on how you treated them. Lastly, your interviewee might be your interviewer some day!

-  DeTimes

Pay peanuts and you get monkeys

–James Goldsmith

 A Message to India Inc.

You are bananas over a high flying SUPERMAN for your company, but only have monkey nuts in your bank account?

If you were an experienced professional - say a lawyer or an accountant - and you received an email like the one below, you would probably find it somewhat insulting.

"Just draft a free contract and if we like it we might get you to sue someone."

"Just do us a free audit and if it’s okay, we might ask for some tax advice."

What is it about the word "writer" that makes people think we’ll jump through hoops like performing seals to get our hands on a $50 gadget in order to get a gig that pays a fraction of our standard rate? Nothing! Really!

Similarly, it is true for international search partners with best practices, but who are small. Customers write into me, “Please do this search assignment at 8.33% of CTC this time. And we will make a payment after 1 month from the date of joining of the selected candidates.” This is when a company is appointing a partner to find them a Vice President. The standard practice for senior level mandates starts at 16.67% plus an expense cover. I propose working with a fly-by-night operator in this case. That’s exactly what you are looking at, only short term benefits that will eventually lead to long term disasters.

This is an appeal to India Inc. Please take a note of the following:

-          It is true that when you pay peanuts you can only get monkeys. This is true for both search partners and employees in its real sense.

-          When you do such a thing don’t cry foul on attrition. It is each company's need (rather than responsibility) to retain people. Need of the highest order.

-          Serious and Committed long term players go miles beyond just sourcing candidates but they come at an extra price. You will only get what you pay for. Expect only as much from a partner as you are willing to give.

-          Don’t talk about urgency, when you can’t make fast decisions.

-          Don’t talk mutual benefit, when you offer one sided deals. It is only value for both parties that must be created for any relationship to go a long way. Remember, RETENTION!

-          One often feels a sense of high for a day, when he negotiates a flat deal which is one side. He is happy that day only. Beyond that, the partner makes short term money and ruins the long term vision of any company by rubbing the wrong sides, unknowingly. Ultimately, YOU see the doom’s day. The PARTNER has made his MONEY and is GONE. YOU pay for it heavily, anyways. Instead, paying a little extra for a good cause goes a long way in PAYING BACK.

-          The RIGHT PARTNER doesn’t COST. It ONLY PAYS OFF in the long run. Realize that before it is too late even for a resurrection.

-          Be realistic with what you really NEED and not what you WANT

-          It is more necessary for YOU to work with HONEST people, because that is only for your BENEFIT. They provide services that go miles beyond what you can think of. The fringe benefits are massive.

When people make statements, everyone likes it. Especially statements like “A Company is only as GOOD as the PEOPLE it KEEPS.” When it boils down to practicing it, it is seen as COST, surprisingly and shockingly. Well so be it, you will pay for it tomorrow, in any case. You may be lucky to see some short term gain. But eventually, it only leads YOU to the DOOM’s DAY. It is high time, that money is spent wisely.

When I am writing this, a lot of people will take it as an offence. Only those, who are wise, will truly appreciate it to the core. Ultimately, TRUTH has to go a full circle. It will be ridiculed today. But tomorrow, it will be embraced. I am sure. But then, will it not be too late? Who loses here? The COMPANY. Not the PARTNER.

I am not writing this against any person, or company. This is against a trend in general, a perception of high flying HR Managers, which needs to change. This message must reach out to the BOD to put their act together when it comes to people, because niche is always in scarcity. It is already becoming tumultuous for companies to find the RIGHT mix of people. Hence, the problem of high attrition levels, sometimes even beyond 50%, which means you hire a whole new organization every second or third year!

Here is another classic case of FALSE POSITIVES:

One HR Manager dies and instantly he is in a meeting with GOD.

GOD asked him, “Where do you want to go? Heaven or Hell? You can try one day each at Hell and Heaven...”

HR Manager tries out Hell on day 1. He has a day full of fun with ex-colleagues, friends, golf courses, discotheques, etc. etc. and doesn’t even realize that the day is over. It was total fun and he has a ball of a time there.

Next day, he is in Heaven. Things are quite cool even there. A bit slower and less fun compared to the previous day in Hell. The day passes by.

On the third day, GOD asks him, “So have you decided, where you want to go? Heaven or Hell?”

HR Manager says, “Yes GOD, I have decided. Hell was complete fun to be in. I will go to Hell.”

Almost instantly, he is put there. To his shock, he finds a barren land with nothing that he saw the other day. No one around, no golf courses, no discotheques, etc. etc. He is terribly shocked. He goes up to GOD and asks Him, “What is this? There is nothing in Hell that I saw the other day. Why?”

GOD replies back with a grin, “Yesterday, we were HIRING you. Today you are an EMPLOYEE!”

I can only humbly advice. Be on the TRUTH’s side and it will pay off. Certainly, after some level of difficulty. But it will most definitely PAY OFF. At the same time, it is an appeal to be fair with the HONEST PARTNERS because they will only HELP YOU... DELAY is not DENIAL.

 -  DeTimes

One is often amazed normal individuals with really impressive track records are furtively transformed into corrupt monsters when they become CEOs. In reality, they would have had serious flaws in the character which is often ignored or hidden for years.

Corporate boards or search partners cannot identify these by just reviewing their resumes or by standard interviewing process. This raises the concern of how can we penetrate the facade of an upwardly mobile executive, who, in reality, is a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.

What traits or signals do show and what can be done to reduce the likelihood of hiring a dysfunctional CEO? Below are the potential traits to look out for:

-          Obsession to acquire prestige, power and money

-          Tendency of developing high-flying strategies with little thought on implementation

-          Liking towards a data driven management style that overshadows broader goals and vision

Many good CEOs also exhibit a few of such traits. However, potentially bad CEOs possess several of these traits and show them time and again.

There is certainly, no ideal process/method to select a CEO, and also there may be no position available which can catalyse as a true test of a person’s fitness to assume the BIG chair. But there are several ways that companies can use to mitigate these risks when hiring a CEO. Some of them include, disregarding the rule of track record being the predictor for future results, performing a thorough reference checking focussed on integrity and interpersonal skills, using an experience based interviewing process, etc.

Ponder for a moment the last person you hired. After you selected them, did they work out as intended? Or did they turn into somebody totally unlike what you thought when you interviewed them?

The most important aspect of any business is recruiting, selecting, and retaining top people. Research shows those organizations that spend more time recruiting high-caliber people earn 22% higher return to shareholders than their industry peers. However, most employers do a miserable job selecting people. Many companies rely on outdated and ineffective interviewing and hiring techniques. This critical responsibility sometimes gets the least emphasis.

Hiring and interviewing is both art and science. Refusing to improve this vital process will almost always guarantee you will be spending money and time hiring the wrong people. Here are several reasons why traditional techniques are inadequate:

* The majority of applicants "exaggerate" to get a job

* Most hiring decisions are made by intuition during the first few minutes of the interview

* Two out of three hires prove to be a bad fit within the first year on the job

* Most interviewers are not properly trained nor do they like to interview applicants

* Excellent employees are misplaced and grow frustrated in jobs where they are unable to utilize their strengths

Hire the best and avoid the rest. Cisco CEO John Chambers said, "A world-class engineer with five peers can outproduce 200 regular engineers." Instead of waiting for people to apply for jobs, top organizations spend more time looking for high-caliber people. An effective selection and interviewing process follows these five steps:

Step 1 -- Prepare. Prior to the interview make sure you understand the key elements of the job. Develop a simple outline that covers the job duties. Possibly work with the incumbent or people familiar with the various responsibilities to understand what the job is about. Screen the resumes and applications to gain information for the interview. Standardize and prepare the questions you will ask each applicant.

Step 2 -- Purpose. Skilled and talented people have more choices and job opportunities to choose from. The interviewer forms the applicant's first impression of the company. Not only are you trying to determine the best applicant, but you also have to convince the applicant this is the best place for them to work.

Step 3 -- Performance. Identify the knowledge, attributes, and skills the applicant needs for success. If the job requires special education or licensing, be sure to include it on your list. Identify the top seven attributes or competencies the job requires and structure the interview accordingly. Some of these attributes might include:

*  What authority the person has to discipline, hire, and/or fire others and establish performance objectives

* What financial responsibility, authority, and control the person has

* What decision-making authority the person has

* How this person is held accountable for performance objectives for their team, business unit, or organization

* The consequences they are responsible for when mistakes are made

Step 4 -- People Skills. The hardest to determine, as well as the most important part of the process, is identifying the people skills a person bring to the job. Each applicant wears a "mask." A good interviewing and selecting process discovers who is behind that mask and determines if a match exists between the individual and the job. By understanding the applicant's personality style, values, and motivations, you are guaranteed to improve your hiring and selecting process.

Obviously many jobs, particularly sales jobs, require a high degree of people contact. By placing someone in this job who dislikes interaction with others would be a mismatch, affecting his or her job performance.

Pre-employment profiles are an important aspect of the hiring process for a growing number of employers. By using behavioral assessments and personality profiles organizations can quickly know how the person will interact with their coworkers, customers, and direct reports. They provide an accurate analysis of an applicant’s behaviors and attitudes, otherwise left to subjective judgment. The D.I.S.C. Assessment and the Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values are popular and useful tools.

Step 5 -- Process. The best interview follows a structured process. This doesn’t mean the entire process is inflexible without spontaneity. What it means is, each applicant is asked the same questions and is scored with a consistent rating process. A structured approach helps avoid bias and gives all applicants a fair chance. The best way to accomplish this is by using behavioral based questions and situational questions.

Behavior Based Questions

Behavioral based questions help to evaluate the applicant’s past behavior, judgment, and initiative. Here are some examples:

* Give me an example when you . . .

* Describe a crisis your organization faced and how you managed it.

* Tell me about the time you reached out for additional responsibility.

* Tell me about the largest project you worked on.

* Tell me about the last time you broke the rules.

Situational Based Questions

Situational based questions evaluate the applicant’s judgment, ability, and knowledge. The interviewer first gives the applicant a hypothetical situation such as:

“You are a manager, and one of your employees has just told you he thinks another worker is stealing merchandise from the store.”

* What should you do?

* What additional information should you obtain?

* How many options do you have?

* Should you call the police?

End of Part 1...

- DeTimes

What should expect from a Recruiter? How much should I pay? What type of guarantee should I get?

1. What should you expect from a Recruiter?
Expect only as much as you are willing to give.

A few things are very important to understand when you are hiring a search firm. Their understanding of your business is important. Not just an industry vertical. Each business has a different product/ services/ strength/ weakness matrix. You can only expect the right result from a recruiter when you have enabled this understanding. Let's define a Recruiter's job. His job is to find you the right talent. Some mistaken it for best talent on market. But is that best RIGHT for you?

So if you show commitment to finding the right talent, a recruiter will do his job at best. This will happen if you don't work with fly-by-night operators. You still need a long term partner. So first choosing the right partner is important, and then working with commitment is important to enable the best output from a recruiter. And it DOESN'T COST, rather IT PAYS.

2. How much should I pay?
This question is fairly simple. There is a standard industry practice, it ranges anywhere between 15%-30% of annual gross compensation. Thats the minimum you need to pay. For a retained search, 0-30-60 is the model and for contingent search payment on output is the model. However, if you say, 0-30-60 is not acceptable for a retained search, then expect compromising results. This happens only because there is no tangible commitment from your end and it doesn't go well with world class partners. Trust the partner and commit yourself for a long term relationship, they might make mistakes in the beginning but in the long run, they will prove extremely worthy. This is typically true for senior level and critical and/or urgent requirements.

3. What type of guarantee should I get?
The word guarantee is very tricky. There is a warranty clause usually for a free replacement or a rebate on a sliding scale. For senior level, it can be upto 180 days or less and for lower levels it can be upto 90 days or less. Or on a sliding scale for up to 12 weeks. However, there is no guarantee of the person's actual performance etc as many things like attitude can change with time. So only an thorough effort can be put to know these factors realistically, but its still a gamble.

- DeTimes

It is important to keep in mind that most senior executives are appointed through the crony system, therefore many organizations if they do go out to the market to hire are filled with nervousness and trepidation.

As a follow on from this hand wringing they develop a wish list of must have's for the selection process. These wish lists are often decided by committee where those in attendance try to outdo each other with the "muscular toughness" of their exacting criteria. So the brief, the recruiter receives is a requirement for someone with 7 degrees, 3 Ph.D.'s, 30 years experience and the candidate must be under the 21 yrs of age. If the hiring manager really doesn't have a clue as to what they really want( and many don't) then the job brief the recruiter gets will be "find us a good person who fits our culture".

However, On an average (in normal situations with a serious need) it takes 6-8 weeks for generic positions. It can take a lot longer for niche positions. This is a general situation.

We must consider several factors to estimate time-lines including:
1. The Employer and their employment brand
2. Urgency of need
3. Response and Decision making time frames
4. Accessibility of THE RIGHT profile
5. Negotiations and various other process factors.

From one of my experiences, it took us 6 months for placing a candidate in a company only because it was a strategic recruitment decision and response times were very slow from the clients end. So there are such cases as well.

It can happen faster as well, like in one of our assignments it took 7 days flat to roll out the offer letter because the need was extremely urgent. So it is quite situational and client's commitment, priority and nature of need does play an important role here.

- DeTimes

There are several factors that need to be considered and critically evaluated while signing up with a search firm.

1. What is their domain expertise?
Do they have the domain expertise in your industry vertical. If they don't have are quick learners? Are they willing to put in the extra effort honestly to help you with your needs.

2. What does their team look like?
Do they have dedicated people, who are experts in your industry?

3. What is their value system internally?
Are they ethical search partners. Do they follow a very transparent communication system? Credibility, Integrity, consistency, reliability, honesty are some other values to actively look out for. I agree with many here.

4. What is their long term proposition?
Are they looking at building organizations in the long term or are they just looking at sourcing some candidate for you and raising the bill?

5. Obviously, are they result oriented and do they have best practices in place? By result orientation, I mean, are they known to produce the right result? Or are they just pushing for a closure on sub standard candidates?

6. How good do they understand their clients with a wider spectrum? How good they understand that a cultural fitness is important? And various such questions can be food for a brain storm with a partner.

7. Do they have a wide spread network of people to produce apt result within a time frame?

8. Do they commit less and deliver more? Or is it the other way round?

9. Can you speak to another customer on his experience with a particular search partner? If its a start up company, then they may not have customer recommendations/testimonials at all. But in that case, a good judge of the individual is required for evaluation. They can prove to be good. In fact better to many other established firms because they put in more honest efforts, they learn with you, they provide a lot of flexibility etc. But judgement can be made only after you have understood them deeply.

10. Watch out for fly-by-night operators. They will never add value to your organization in the long run. Avoid hiring them completely.

There are many other points to ponder on, but this is a brief outlook for hiring services of a search company.

- DeTimes