Tough Times, Tough Actions: Five Steps to Becoming Business Focused
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about HR cuts. "Those HR workers delivering layoff news at your workplace may face their own job cuts," reads the article. Why? "Because they don't directly produce revenue," according to the article. It then goes on to say, "companies are turning to software and outsourcing to replace HR functions such as payroll and benefits." I might have added, had I written the article, recruiting and recruiters.
After the Slowdown? Try Developing a Talent Strategy
It's February of 2002 and things are looking up! The reqs are rolling in and your depleted staff is struggling to deal with the requests from hiring managers. All those resumes you have been storing are looking more and more useless each day as other firms scoop up the people you've been hoping to hire. You're also fighting off the bad reputation your firm has earned from all the layoffs you did in early 2001. Turnover has shot up, as those who couldn't leave during the slow times make their moves.
Good Job Descriptions Equal Good Hires
So often managers cannot clearly explain what kind of person they need to fill a position. They call up the recruiter with a new position but with very little in the way of competencies or specific job duties. The typical phone call goes something like this:
"I want to open up a req for a webmaster," says the manager.
"Okay," says the recruiter.
Customer Service, the Follow Up: Volume Is No Excuse
Talk about a hornet's nest! Last week's column on the lack of customer service in our industry got responses — lots of them.
Where Is Our Customer Service? A Plea for Improvement
An acquaintance recently applied for a job with a major firm. This person is a programmer with several years of experience and a work experience record that is enviable. He never heard a single word from this firm, other than the bounce-back email reply saying that his resume was received.
Another friend's son, a college freshman, applied for seven jobs via the Internet and never received any responses.
Some Current Myths About Recruiting Debunked
At the SHRM conference in San Francisco this week over 19 individual sessions and workshops were related to employee selection, staffing, and retention. The thousands of attendees seemed very focused on recruiting issues, giving some indication that attracting and keeping talent remains of huge interest despite a slow economy.
But throughout the session, I kept hearing statements that I think we need to examine a bit.
The Retention Riddle, or Who Owns Retention and Why?
Keeping a company's workforce has somehow become a job for recruiters in many organizations. I happen to think that's scapegoating — putting the blame for poor hiring decisions on the recruiter. If there is anyone to blame it has to be the hiring manager.
And if there is anything we do understand about people, it is why they tend to leave their employers. The reasons are always complex and involve several variables, none of which have much to do with the staffing organization.