Architects of Talent Strategies and Solutions
4 Tips on Thriving in an AI World I have been reading a book about the well-known and not-so-well-known American generals from our many wars. The book rates these generals on their effectiveness, skill, teamwork, and ability to deal with constantly changing conditions. What distinguished the great generals from the ordinary or poor ones was […]
4 Tips on Thriving in an AI World I have been reading a book about the well-known and not-so-well-known American generals from our many wars. The book rates these generals on their effectiveness, skill, teamwork, and ability to deal with constantly changing conditions. What distinguished the great generals from the ordinary or poor ones was partially their communication skills and their use of intelligence to anticipate enemy action. But perhaps most of all, it was their originality – their willingness to improvise and buck conventions when necessary. The great generals were examples of what Jeff Bezos, the outgoing CEO and founder of Amazon, in a final letter to employees, says, “We all know that distinctiveness – originality – is valuable. We are all taught to ‘be yourself.’ What I’m really asking you to do is to embrace and be realistic about how much energy it takes to maintain that distinctiveness. The world wants you to be typical – in a thousand ways, it pulls at you. Don’t let it happen.” Everything from marketing to sourcing and assessment has been augmented or automated. Over the next few months, even more will be augmented. Your current skills will be less and less valuable as Ai becomes proficient – and it will. You will find naysayers and those who refuse to use the new tools. You will face hurdles and limitations from your legal department and many HR leaders. But the demand for candidates will not decrease. Both hiring managers and candidates will expect better service, faster responses, and more thoughtful and honest answers. This will require good communication and influence skills and the ability to provide a human touch. You will also face some big questions. Questions that require thoughtful discourse and open discussion. Should you tell candidates you are using AI? What level of transparency is ethical? Should there be rules or laws governing what can and cannot be posted? Do candidates care whether or not they are interviewed in person or by a chatbot? And does it make any difference? Should AI be governed by ethical rules or voluntary standards? How do we respond to new laws and regulations? Can we influence those laws and regulations? You will add value by thinking deeply about issues like these and developing your position on the use of technology. You must be brave enough to use it even without explicit permission when it adds value or helps you make better decisions. Many new tools are imperfect, but that does not mean they should not be used. It means we need to be vigilant in using them and work around their faults. And remember, hiring managers don’t care about any of this – they just want good people fast. The recruitment leaders who thrive will find a way to be distinctive, to move forward, and not just desperately try not to sink. Take Action. Don’t waste time trying to fix what will never be fixed. Tweaking and fussing around with outmoded ways of thinking and with recruiters unwilling to make changes will get you nothing. One of the other characteristics of the great generals was their willingness to remove any subordinate who could not or would not take action, adapt, and focus on moving forward. Push hard for change even when it is uncomfortable for you. Reduce bureaucracy- Employ technology. Make sure that the recruiting process is clearly understood by all the parties involved. Clearly define roles and responsibilities. Automate or eliminate every process step that does not add value. Use the power of ChatGPT and AI to find and engage better candidates. Work with hiring managers and data to align their expectations with market realities. Measure what you do. Gather competitive intelligence, collect and analyze internal data, and look for bottlenecks or areas for improvement. Establish metrics that tell you something – not just the useless, backward-looking administrative metrics recruiters usually collect and report. Focus on speed and candidate and manager satisfaction. Use an evolutionary approach. Take things one step at a time. Don’t expect recruiters to change overnight, but create incentives that encourage forward thinking and remove anyone who cannot or is unwilling to change. Make people want to use the new approaches because they are faster, better, or cheaper. Set a single top-level goal – give hiring managers what they want and need – good talent as quickly as possible. Be distinctive, be original, and challenge conventions that don’t add value. Help Me Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription.
Navigating the Maze of Internal Mobility: Challenges and Opportunities
Internal mobility within organizations has become a buzzword in recent years. Recruiters have been tasked, in many organizations, with improving the number of people hired internally rather than reaching to outside candidates. However, they are often hampered in achieving this for various reasons that are not within their control. There are still far more people […]
Internal mobility within organizations has become a buzzword in recent years. Recruiters have been tasked, in many organizations, with improving the number of people hired internally rather than reaching to outside candidates. However, they are often hampered in achieving this for various reasons that are not within their control. There are still far more people hired externally than move internally. The Reality of Internal Mobility Internal mobility encompasses various forms, including promotions, lateral moves, cross-functional assignments, and transfers to different geographic locations within the same organization. Organizations would actively encourage and facilitate internal mobility in a perfect world, allowing employees to grow, diversify their skills, and contribute more effectively to the company’s success. Some of the older companies- IBM, General Electric, P&G, for example – have a culture where transferring internally is common. But this is rare. Turnover has been high for some time, and people often give reasons for leaving as a lack of opportunity, lack of skills development, and barriers to movement. Let’s explore some reasons behind this imbalance and examine potential solutions. Reasons for Limited Internal Mobility Lack of Awareness: Employees might not be aware of internal job opportunities due to inadequate communication or a lack of visibility into available roles. HR Policies and Bureaucracy: HR policies often require a certain amount of time in a job before a person is eligible to transfer. This inhibits many from moving and makes moving externally more attractive. Organizational silos and bureaucratic hurdles can also make it challenging for employees to explore opportunities outside their immediate departments or teams. For example, they must notify their manager of their intent to interview for another job. Inertia and Comfort: Individuals may resist change and feel comfortable in their current roles. They might fear the challenges associated with a new position or prefer the stability of their current job. 4. Negative Perceptions Companies often regard external hires as bringing valued fresh perspectives compared to internal candidates deemed less qualified. This contributes to reluctance to hire from within. 5. Relocation Barriers Geographic transfers required for some internal moves can deter candidates from applying if relocation support or remote work options are unavailable. 6. Loss of Seniority Sideways career shifts may cause employees to lose their hard-earned status, pay grade, or benefits. This reinforces staying put rather than starting over internally. Lack of Internal Development: Many firms do not provide training or development and often do not encourage employees to learn skills that would make them eligible for other positions. Improving Internal Mobility Recruiters have a limited ability to impact mobility in the face of these challenges. Enhancing internal mobility requires a concerted effort from HR, recruitment, and management. Here are a few strategies to address these challenges: Transparent Communication Organizations should prioritize transparent communication about internal job opportunities. This includes regular updates on available positions, clear job descriptions, and information about the skills required for each role. Skills Development Providing employees with opportunities for skill development and upskilling can boost their confidence to take on new roles. Offering training programs, mentorship, and coaching can be effective. Career Pathing Organizations can work with employees to develop clear career paths and set goals for advancement. This involves regular discussions between managers and team members about career aspirations and how to achieve them within the organization. Leadership Support Leadership should actively endorse internal mobility and serve as role models by pursuing their career progression. This sends a powerful message to employees about the value of internal growth. Break Down Silos Breaking down organizational silos and encouraging cross-functional collaboration can facilitate internal mobility. It allows employees to explore opportunities outside their immediate departments and gain exposure to different aspects of the business. Internal Mobility Programs Establishing formal internal mobility programs can streamline the process and make it more accessible to employees. These programs can include job boards, talent marketplaces, and dedicated internal recruitment teams. Reduce Relocation Barriers Allow remote work whenever possible, and stop requiring people to move. When a move is necessary, provide generous relocation packages. Preserve Seniority Allow employees to change roles internally to retain their tenure, recognition, and some benefits to avoid penalizing mobility. Recognition and Rewards Recognize and reward employees who take on new roles or responsibilities within the organization. This can be through promotions, salary increases, or other incentives to encourage internal mobility. 10. Leverage Analytics Use data to identify skill gaps and forecast emerging needs. Develop predictive models to strategically cultivate required talent pools internally. 11. Continuous Dialogue Have frequent career conversations between managers and employees to discuss development goals and identify next step opportunities aligned with individual passions. Internal mobility is a vital component of talent management and organizational success. Encouraging and facilitating internal mobility benefits individual employees and contributes to a culture of continuous learning and growth within the organization. It provides a community of potential candidates for open positions and can reduce recruiting costs and speed up the time to hire. It fosters a sense of loyalty and commitment among employees, enhancing retention rates. In an era of constant change and innovation, organizations that embrace internal mobility as a cornerstone of their talent strategy are better positioned to adapt and thrive. Help Keep This Coming Your help is essential in keeping this newsletter coming each week. Whatever you can give is greatly appreciated and opens up the entire archive of articles to you. Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. This month you get 20% off on a paid yearly subscription.
Use AI to Improve Your Selection Process
Make a Chatbot Your Most Useful Assistant When we talk about candidate assessment, we are trying to answer critical questions. These questions are often hard to answer, and the answers are open to interpretation. These are probably some of the things you are seeking answers to. Do they have the skills, knowledge, and experience to […]
Make a Chatbot Your Most Useful Assistant When we talk about candidate assessment, we are trying to answer critical questions. These questions are often hard to answer, and the answers are open to interpretation. These are probably some of the things you are seeking answers to. Do they have the skills, knowledge, and experience to do the job? Do they bring diversity of ethnicity, gender, or thought? Are they honest? Will they fit the hiring manager’s and the company’s culture? We rely primarily on resumes and interviews to determine the answers. We study behavioral and structured interviewing and even add observation, at times, through assessment centers. However, the data suggests that even well-done interviews and observations are only accurate a quarter of the time. People who are hired often fail. Early turnover is almost always high. Interviewing is open to all the foibles we humans have. We like people like us; when we like people, we find competencies where others don’t. We infer and interpret what we hear before we have collected anywhere near enough data. We can be influenced by flattery, humor, clothing, and physical appearance. In short, our human needs for friendship and to be liked often overshadow our objectivity. So, how do recruiters become better at objectively screening candidates? Here are five ways to improve your selection prowess: Know what you are looking for. You should have a clear set of competencies defined for every job you are interviewing people for. Without these competencies, you cannot know who you are looking for. Spend time with the hiring manager to define the skills needed to get the job done. I like to ask managers to identify the one or two absolutely needed skills – no more. Verify those skills, if possible, by talking to those already working in those roles. Work with a hiring manager to reduce the requirements to the minimum and the most objective ones. Let candidates select themselves in or out of the process. Provide all prospective candidates with thorough information about the company and the job so that they can decide if it is for them. Chatbots are great at this. They can deliver virtual tours and answer questions whenever it is convenient for the candidate. Many candidates will decide the job or the company is not what they seek. AI has now entered the picture. AI can communicate with the candidate, ask and interpret the answers to questions, administer tests that objectively measure skills and abilities, and match the required skills to those the candidate has through their past working experience or education. These are some ways AI can enhance and improve your selection process. Efficient Screening: AI can quickly review and screen a large volume of resumes and applications. It can identify keywords, qualifications, and experience relevant to the job description, saving recruiters valuable time. Automated Initial Interviews: Chatbots can conduct automated initial interviews with candidates, asking predefined questions to assess qualifications, skills, and cultural fit. This helps filter out unqualified candidates early in the process. Personalized Candidate Interaction: AI chatbots can provide personalized responses to candidate inquiries, ensuring a positive candidate experience. They can answer common questions about the company, job role, and application process 24/7. Skill Assessment: AI can assess candidates’ technical skills through automated tests or simulations. For example, in tech roles, candidates may be asked to solve coding challenges, which AI can evaluate. Predictive Analytics: AI can use historical data to predict which candidates are more likely to succeed in specific roles based on their skills, experience, and past performance. This helps in making informed hiring decisions. Diversity and Inclusion: AI can help reduce bias in the screening process by focusing solely on qualifications and skills. It can also flag potential bias in job descriptions and provide suggestions for more inclusive language. Language Processing: AI can analyze candidates’ written communication skills and language proficiency, which is valuable for roles requiring strong written communication. Candidate Ranking: AI can rank candidates based on their qualifications, fit, and interview performance, making it easier to prioritize top candidates. Continuous Learning: AI systems can learn and improve over time. They can adapt to your specific hiring criteria and preferences, becoming more effective as they process more data. Scalability: AI can handle a high volume of candidates simultaneously, allowing you to scale your recruitment efforts efficiently. Data-Driven Insights: AI can provide valuable insights into your hiring process, helping you identify bottlenecks, areas for improvement, and trends in candidate behavior. Automated Reference Checks: AI tools can assist in collecting and analyzing reference feedback efficiently. When implementing AI in your recruiting process, it’s essential to strike a balance between automation and human touch. While AI can automate many tasks, human recruiters play a critical role in building relationships, understanding cultural fit, and making final hiring decisions. Remember that AI should be used to augment your recruiting efforts, not replace them entirely. It can help you identify and shortlist candidates more efficiently, allowing you to focus on the essential human aspects of recruiting, such as interviewing, assessing cultural fit, and building relationships with candidates. Additionally, be mindful of ethical considerations, transparency, and potential bias in AI-based recruiting tools. Using AI, you will find managers happier with the quality of candidates, candidates happier in their jobs, and you, as the recruiter, moving rapidly ahead in your career. Become a paid subscriber and get 20% off on a yearly subscription. Help Me Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. This month you get 20% on a paid yearly subscription.
Is It The End of Recruiting As We Knew It?
Ai Promises to Change Everything, But Maybe That’s Good Every day, new announcements about AI and its growth surprise and frighten. A few days ago, ChatGPT4 announced that it could now speak in five languages and answer questions about photos you present to it. For example, you could show it a picture of a machine, […]
Ai Promises to Change Everything, But Maybe That’s Good Every day, new announcements about AI and its growth surprise and frighten. A few days ago, ChatGPT4 announced that it could now speak in five languages and answer questions about photos you present to it. For example, you could show it a picture of a machine, and it would identify it and perhaps even diagnose if something is wrong. This capability is available to anyone subscribing to the $20 monthly premium for ChatGPT4. But beyond this news is AI’s overall progress in understanding written and spoken language. The image below shows that AI can now exceed humans’ reading comprehension and language understanding. This is possible because of increased computing power and the enormous investments made by firms like Microsoft and Google. The amount of computation used to train AI systems has increased exponentially as the cost of computing has fallen yearly while its capability grows. A Brief History of AI The journey to get to this point is long. Many thought we would never achieve what we now have, while others thought we would advance quickly to the Singularity. Singularity, popularized by Ray Kurzweil, is the time when computers will be indistinguishable from people or will have replaced us in intelligence. This NYT article is an excellent introduction to where we are on that journey. Getting to chatGPT has been spotty, and only recently, with increased computing power and the breakthrough in neural networks, have we advanced. This chart overviews the development timeline with a long gap when nothing much changed between the 1990s and 2020. AI and Recruiting What does this mean for recruiting? Is it the end of recruiting as we knew it? Probably. The skills that got us to where we are are becoming less and less relevant. Many of those skills can be and have been co-opted by emerging AI-based tools. Leading organizations use these tools to find, screen, assess, and engage candidates without the candidates’ awareness. According to Pew Research, most Americans (61%) have heard nothing about the AI employers use in hiring. Candidates are largely unaware that they are being screened or assessed by AI. I was on a plane this evening and sat beside a young recent graduate from university. He told me about his experience being interviewed by AI developed by Hirevue. He was not intimidated or angry but curious as to how it worked. He felt it was a positive experience. The reality is that more and more recruiting functions are incorporating AI into their processes. One question I will not try to answer here is whether or not we should be more transparent about how we use AI and what that means for a candidate. At a more practical level, there has always been concern that candidates do not like to interact with a computer and prefer to speak with a natural person. While it is true that we are social beings and want to talk to others, it is also true that we appreciate fast, efficient, and candid service. It is a myth that candidates do not like interacting with computers or chatbots. There is a long history of people engaging positively with them. I was involved superficially in an attempt to use AI in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We were intrigued by an early chatbot and an often-cited application of AI called Eliza. This was a chatbot developed at MIT that presented itself as a psychotherapist. It responded to users’ quests using non-directional responses that repeated or rephrased what the patient said. The programmer was shocked that many people thought of speaking with an actual human. You can try Eliza here. Is the growth of AI the end of Recruiting as we now know it? And is it this bad? Experiments over the past few years have shown that people generally respond positively to interactions with chatbots. Chatbots streamline recruiting, remove mundane and administrative duties, and give more time for recruiters to develop strategy, improve the recruiting brand, and develop strong relationships with hiring managers. Where We Are Using AI in Recruiting I have listed a handful of areas where AI is already being used or soon will be in recruiting. AI will understand resumes, identify skills and experience, and use that to qualify and rank candidates. Write job descriptions that are engaging and candidly reflective of the work. Post job descriptions to a targeted audience Source and screen candidates through a combination of looking at existing data and analytics to match candidates to jobs and skill needs Communicate with candidates intelligently, answering their questions and concerns without having been previously explicitly programmed with the answers. Assess skills and capabilities based not only on rote mimicry of what is in the job description but also on its interpretation of what is needed based on analytics of the job need and the success of previous job holders. Conduct interviews using natural language in multiple languages. Generate all desired or required reports for internal leadership and to meet legal requirements. Provide onboarding input and engage candidates before arrival Analyze the success of a recruiting campaign Develop hiring plans and forecast needs based on historical data and economic performance. Limits to AI in Recruiting Not everything is rosy with AI. At the basic level, we are still on a learning curve with the adoption and integration of AI into our recruiting flow. It can be expensive to acquire. To fully utilize AI, a recruiting function will need technical savvy to integrate and meld it into current processes or redesign them entirely. At a more advanced level, the algorithms in some AI tools may be biased, search algorithms cannot find people who do not have an online presence, and job descriptions and candidate analysis require data that many organizations cannot tap or do not have. However, the trajectory is forward. AI will increasingly be a part of recruiting, and within a decade, it will have replaced many of the things recruiters now do. Recruiting, as we have known it, will have morphed into a more relationship-driven role. Recruiters can focus on marketing, branding, and building better relationships with hiring managers. There may be fewer recruiters, but those who remain will truly add value and gain influence. Surely, this is good. NOTE: The charts and data in this article are taken mainly from Our World in Data. Help Me Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription.
Implementing AI Takes Time and Good Structure
Why Fast is Not Alway Good All corporate functions receive shocks from the market, the economy, the pandemic, and new technologies. New technologies, especially, create a buzz and come with great promise but little maturity. AI and Chatbots are good recent examples. Why are some recruitment functions able to use these technologies well? And why […]
Why Fast is Not Alway Good All corporate functions receive shocks from the market, the economy, the pandemic, and new technologies. New technologies, especially, create a buzz and come with great promise but little maturity. AI and Chatbots are good recent examples. Why are some recruitment functions able to use these technologies well? And why do many other functions falter and fail to incorporate them successfully? If we think about change as a multilevel process, with some levels changing faster than others, we can pose answers to these questions. Recruiting and other functions comprise separate components or layers that operate differently and have different speeds of change. Each layer is also, to a degree, independent of the other layers, but each layer impacts the other, and they all influence each other. For example, the demand for talent influences sourcing, sourcing influences the recruiter’s ability to present a candidate, and the technology they use can slow or speed up that process. A recruiter’s influence, persuasion skills, and ability to assess a candidate also impact speed and quality. Fast layers (technology implementations) initiate change; slower layers (structure and culture) remember and absorb the shock. Fast is fleeting, but get things moving; slow lasts longer and puts the changes into action. Fast is usually smaller and is moderated by slower and bigger layers beneath it, which gives consistency and strength. We pay the most attention to the fast, but the lower and slower layers have the sustaining power. Without the lower layers, there is rapid but unsustainable change. In these cases, the function cannot absorb the shock and falls apart. Look at a typical recruitment function comprising at least five layers. Layer #1: Demand for Talent The first is the demand for talent. It is the direct response to market drivers and powerfully influences all the other layers. The second layer, which responds to the demand for talent, is often technology. In recruitment, it includes AI, chatbots, and all the tools that aid in finding and hiring talent. The third and fourth layers are the structure and the underlying corporate and talent culture that comprise the function. The final layer is the overall resilience and strength of the industry. Layer #2: Technology Talent demands often influence recruitment leaders greatly, and technology promises quick solutions. Frequently, a disproportionate number of resources are focused on acquiring and implementing technology to service the demand and to compete with competitors. Today, it is all about artificial intelligence and Chatbots that promise to speed up and improve the ability to find, screen, and engage candidates. As is often the case, the technology does not live up to its promise, costs more, and takes longer to implement than planned. When this happens, disillusionment follows. Layer #3: Structure & Culture However, the layers of demand and technology push the function into new thinking and stimulate change. If unchecked, they can lead to failure. Still, if the overall structure of the function is solid, there is enough stability to absorb the initial excitement over the promise of the technology. This structure and maturity can help the function slowly learn how to use the technology and how best to incorporate it into the work process. This is why having an effective structure, good processes, and a stable and well-articulated talent culture are essential to long-term success. Layer #4: Resilience Structure and culture are the restraining forces, pushing back against the change layers of demand and technology. These layers change slowly and provide stability, absorbing the shocks of change. Underlying all the layers is the overall industry and function maturity and resilience. Example Let’s give an example of these layers in action. A large recruiting function in a global company is facing a demand for increasingly hard-to-fill software engineers. The sourcers are working overtime to locate top talent and attract it to the company. Because of the demand pressure and need for speed, they turn to AI and other technology to help them source, assess, and engage top performers. The tools they use are new. Many are barely out of beta testing and may not work as well as advertised. They spend inordinate amounts of time learning to use the software. Sometimes, the software may deliver exceptional results, but at other times, it may not. There will be bugs and implementation issues that take time to solve and remove the sourcers and recruiters from finding and assessing the candidates they need. In extreme cases, more and more time and effort are spent trying to use the tools, and things begin to get out of control. Hiring managers are unhappy, the time to fill goes up, and candidate engagement goes down. But suppose the function’s overall structure is stable and built on corporate values. Suppose there are good policies and processes to compensate for errors or issues from using the new software. In that case, the function will adapt to the technology, use it better, continue providing suitable candidates, and remain on track. The structure is like the bones in your body, giving strength and shape. Values and talent philosophy guide behavior and how to respond. However, if the underlying structure is weak or disorganized, or if the function is moving away from the company’s fundamental values, the entire function may fail. In this case, the culture and structure provide the continuity and integrity to grow with the new software and slowly incorporate it into their work. This model also provides a way to understand why change efforts are often unsuccessful. Revolutions are rarely successful unless they build on existing structures and cultures. When changes are made at the superficial top layers without giving the structure time to absorb, the change will be short-lived or lead to failure. It is essential to understand that change takes time to filter into the structure and get incorporated into a modified way of doing things. Evolution is a more successful practice. The changes need to be aligned with the organization’s underlying culture, as well. As a leader creates or builds a function, large or small, it is helpful to keep this model in mind. When introducing AI or any new software or practices, allow time for filtering and the structure and other layers to adapt to the new. Adopt slowly and allow for a learning curve. Moving quickly is often touted as necessary for survival, but in reality, rapid change most often leads to collapse. Quick is not always good. Let’s Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. Book a Speech, Briefing, or Webinar If you would like me to speak at an event, virtually or in person, or give your team a briefing, I would be pleased to discuss it with you.
Seven Reasons To Not Be A Corporate Recruiter
Many contract recruiters wish they had taken that internal recruiting position offered 2 or 3 years ago. As in every slowdown, being an internal employee is viewed with envy. It seems logical that as layoffs and cutbacks significantly reduce the number of contract recruiters, the interest in being a regular employee rises. The lure of […]
Many contract recruiters wish they had taken that internal recruiting position offered 2 or 3 years ago. As in every slowdown, being an internal employee is viewed with envy. It seems logical that as layoffs and cutbacks significantly reduce the number of contract recruiters, the interest in being a regular employee rises. The lure of a steady paycheck, benefits, and the sense (although false) of security score high. But I am not sure that a contract recruiter should want to be an employee. Organizations realize that they overhired during the pandemic and have more employees than they need – and often in the wrong jobs. Why should any organization spend salary, development, and retention dollars on employees who do not generate new products or revenue? Does an internal recruiter add enough more value than a contracted recruiter to justify the cost? Hundreds of companies have replaced their recruiting team partly or entirely with contractors and RPOs and have had success. Unfortunately, most recruiters are convinced their organization could hire the best people without them as employees, but I think they are wrong. Organizations are automating as many services as possible and outsourcing many non-core functions. This puts the independent professional in a good position. Outsourcing firms and corporations are looking for people willing to work on fixed contracts with performance clauses. Recruiters are in a good place. They can perform with little internal support other than IT. Here are seven reasons that being a contract recruiter is better than being an internal employee. Reason #1: Job Security There is no job security working as an employee. I think anyone in a job that does not generate revenue, invent new products or services, or strategically interact with customers is in jeopardy of being laid off at some point. There is no better security than the security you create for yourself. If you build the networks and skills to weather the downtimes, you will find excellent security in working for yourself. Reason #2: You Do More and Do It Better As an entrepreneurial recruiter, you must develop more cost-effective and efficient recruiting methods, keep costs down, and improve customer satisfaction. These have been elusive goals for corporate recruiters, who struggle with internal bureaucracy, an HR leadership team that does not understand or appreciate what a recruiting function needs to be successful, and few dollars for investment. There is almost no benefit to a corporate recruiter in being more efficient or cost-effective. If they try to do so, they will lose budget dollars and staff. Contract recruiters can make prompt decisions and invest where they need to and better serve their customers. Reason #3: You get more respect As an independent professional, you automatically get more respect from clients. If your demeanor and attitude are also professional, you will be listened to, and hiring managers will take your advice. Contrary to the experience of many corporate recruiters, managers will solicit your opinions and market knowledge. The expert contract recruiter understands and can explain the labor market to hiring managers. They can give examples of what other clients are doing and can apply the best practices of many. These are benefits that are hard for a corporate recruiter to offer. Reason #4: You are rewarded for your performance No one keeps a contract recruiter because they are nice people or because they have been loyal. Contract recruiters are rewarded for performing well – no matter the circumstances. You are always paid the amount you convince and show managers you are worth. That’s why internal recruiters are often jealous of contract recruiters: they are only paid according to some general HR pay scale that has very little or nothing to do with how well they perform. Reason #5: You can have more fun and be more flexible Being on your own is scary at times, but it has its rewards. You get to take on the work that excites you and interests you. You can say no. You work where you want, work your own hours, and take vacations when they suit you. You can adjust your workload to match your energy levels, abilities, and family needs. This flexibility and freedom to enter new markets can be enough reason to go independent. Reason #6: Candidates and employers will trust you more Independence is associated with neutrality. Providing you give honest opinions and represent both employers and candidates fairly, you will gain a reputation as someone who fairly assesses candidates and employers. Candidates value that above almost anything else, in my experience. If you can let a candidate know they are not a good fit for a particular employer, both appreciate it. Hiring managers often turn to outside recruiters when they wish to keep searches private and seek the widest reach and most objectivity. These are powerful assets for a contract recruiter. Reason #7: You are cheaper No matter what your hourly rate, assuming it is market competitive, you cost an organization less than the loaded salary of an employee. You also do not require internal promotions and pay for your training. There are no pension requirements or expectations of continued employment. It is challenging to learn new behaviors. Working for corporations is a very established behavior that takes time to “unlearn.” Over the past decade, the number of independent workers has grown faster than any other type, and lots of people who were laid off in the pandemic and past recessions have learned to love being independent. You may be asking, what is the difference between a contract recruiter and a head hunter? It’s really about how you work and market yourself. Contract recruiters usually work for a particular corporation or other recruiting firm and do not own their own business. It’s a fine line, and you may decide to become a third-party recruiter. Either way, you maintain your independence. The time you spend looking for a new job can probably be better used to develop the marketing, selling, and negotiating skills you will need as an independent. Hopefully, these are challenges that you are willing to face. Even though you must face the consequences of your choices, nothing is better than being free to make those choices. Fixing Work – A Recommended New Book Thomas Bertels’ and David Henkin’s new book Fixing Work: A Tale about Designing Jobs Employees Love is more than needed in today’s changing business environment. The book outlines practical ways that work and jobs can be designed to be both engaging and productive. It is written as a story about a manager named Jerry and his challenges as a boss in today’s work environment and how he struggles and succeeds in making work fulfilling. This book is easy to read and has great ideas on redesigning work. I highly recommend picking up a copy today. Let’s Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. Subscribed Book a Speech, Briefing, or Webinar If you would like me to speak at an event, virtually or in person, or give your team a briefing, I would be pleased to discuss it with you.
How Automation and AI Have Changed Everything Smaller organizations and many startups are leading the way in automating and outsourcing non-core functions. Core functions are those that generate revenue (sales), invent new products or services (R&D), or deeply touch customers (customer care and support). Non-core functions are everything else. Internal recruiting functions are not core. […]
How Automation and AI Have Changed Everything Smaller organizations and many startups are leading the way in automating and outsourcing non-core functions. Core functions are those that generate revenue (sales), invent new products or services (R&D), or deeply touch customers (customer care and support). Non-core functions are everything else. Internal recruiting functions are not core. For as long as people have lived together, there has been a tendency to centralize and create hierarchy. We have seen the growth of many huge, centralized systems, including government, corporations, schools, utilities, health care, and so on. Most of us currently work or have worked in one of these organizations, and most of the recruiting practices we use have evolved and been shaped by the needs of these organizations. In a world where work was primarily physical, and it was not easy to communicate quickly, centralization and formal structures brought efficiency and speed. Hierarchical organizations allowed the consolidation of people, machinery, and money, which made mass production possible and lowered prices. Societies moved from tutoring a small number of elite children to creating formally organized and regulated schools designed to educate the masses. Even in the creative world, formal organization became necessary for a while. Movie companies could muster the capital and the equipment to produce complex and expensive movies and distribute them to physical movie theaters. Actors were hired by one production company and signed up for life. Advertising, public relations, and media firms were also large and hierarchical. But this has changed mainly because of two factors: the growing capability of automated tools and a change in worker’s attitudes. Decentralization and Recruiting The power of artificial intelligence and the complexity and capability of automated tools have accelerated the movement toward decentralized, distributed systems, particularly when it comes to breaking up the traditional media distribution hierarchies: television networks, movie studios, music producers and distributors, and newspaper empires. The decentralized, multiple-input capabilities of the Internet have battered all of these. Distribution requires no physical movement of stuff but only the movement of electrons through space. The need to centralize has been reduced in almost all cases and eliminated in many. Automation has contributed to this by making it possible to produce physical things with fewer and fewer people. This means manufacturing has become smaller and more distributed: a product is designed in one place, prototyped in another, and manufactured elsewhere. Marketing is outsourced, as is distribution, sales, and service. For example, scripts can be written, and movies can now be generated by artificial intelligence. Fearing for their jobs, writers and actors are on strike in Hollywood. Recruiting, too, will be decentralized. Routine hiring may be outsourced to an RPO. Sourcing is already partly automated and this will only improve. A handful of consultant sources will fill in the gaps. Hiring managers will use AI tools and apps, consulting with expert recruiters only when these fail them. Candidates will largely communicate with chatbots, and various apps will screen them for skills and abilities. Recruiters will meet only with high-value candidates when asked by a hiring manager, The Shrinking Corporation This trend is now moving into corporations, sensing what E. F. Schumacher said long ago: that small is beautiful. More organizations are trying to stay small or at least “right-sized” for the goals they set out to accomplish. The idea of growth for the sake of growth is dying, and more organizations are discussing how to spin off business units, outsource transactional work, and simplify their core businesses. There is an understanding that centralization reduces creativity and creates barriers to communication. The largest automobile companies are failing, and the outcome will be smaller car producers, perhaps many dozens of them, innovating on a larger scale than ever. Think Tesla, Rivian, and a host of other small producers of electric cars. The people who staff these newer firms are less traditional in their thinking and tend, in most cases, to be open to trying new employment models. Large corporations are trying to cope with changes in employee attitudes by offering hybrid work arrangements and virtual work. Schools and Recruiting Schools are slowly following this pattern. With the ability to distribute information through the Internet, they are undergoing significant change. School systems are experimenting with virtual classrooms, and fewer are investing in new physical campus buildings. Online tutoring, individualized learning programs, and project-based lessons are becoming more common and will likely change how we think about educating people. This means college recruiting will look very different in a few years from today. Articles I have written earlier this year point out some of the changes in college recruiting that are already happening and others that are on the horizon. Recruiting Future This move to decentralized and smaller organizations means that the way recruiting is structured and staffed will change. While corporate recruiting won’t disappear, it will morph into a different function. The evolution may take several years for large multinational firms, but it is already a reality in many small and startup firms. The recent mass layoffs of recruiters, sparked by economic worries, is a lasting trend. Rather than the large functions many organizations fund today, the remaining ones will be much smaller. They will be staffed with broadly skilled and experienced talent professionals who are comfortable talking with senior management, building relationships with recruitment vendors and internal managers and candidates, and contributing to (or even creating) strategic talent plans. However, the bulk of recruiting will be automated or outsourced to RPOs that specialize in quickly finding and presenting qualified candidates. And even in RPOs, the recruiters (if we call them that anymore) will need to be highly skilled in multiple areas. I could imagine a person who focuses on managing a community of talent for a specific client. They might be able to do this for multiple clients, given the evolving technology. Another person might focus on career development, candidate assessment, and coaching to fuel the pipeline for a talent community. The competencies involved will include sales, relationship building, technical savvy, business knowledge and skills, sourcing, and social media skills, as well as the ability to move between these competencies easily. At a high level, what is going on is the continuous movement from systems that are formally organized by a management team and where entry is closed and controlled to systems that are self-regulating, open, distributed, and filled with individuals making choices about their roles and outputs. It’s about the rise of collaboration and sharing of ideas in less structured ways. Whether we like this trend, agree with it, or embrace it, nothing seems to stop us from moving in this direction. The only question is how fast? You should ask yourself if you are getting prepared, building the right skills, and moving into the right place. Fixing Work – A Recommended New Book Thomas Bertels’ and David Henkin’s new book Fixing Work: A Tale about Designing Jobs Employees Love is more than needed in today’s changing business environment. The book outlines practical ways that work and jobs can be designed to be both engaging and productive. It is written as a story about a manager named Jerry and his challenges as a boss in today’s work environment and how he struggles and succeeds in making work fulfilling. This book is easy to read and full of great ideas on how to redesign work. I highly recommend picking up a copy today. Let’s Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. Book a Speech, Briefing, or Webinar If you would like me to speak at an event, virtually or in person, or give your team a briefing, I would be pleased to discuss it with you.
Langdon was tired – really tired of his profession. He had been a recruiter for more than a decade. He had enjoyed it for the first few years. He felt he was helping his organization find the best people and helping people find jobs where they could excel. But lately, he had been having doubts. […]
Langdon was tired – really tired of his profession. He had been a recruiter for more than a decade. He had enjoyed it for the first few years. He felt he was helping his organization find the best people and helping people find jobs where they could excel. But lately, he had been having doubts. His company didn’t seem to know what kind of people it wanted, and when a hiring manager did describe what she wanted, Langdon had more and more difficulty finding the right person. According to the hiring managers, even the people he hired who had the “right” skills were not successful. Many of these hires were also frustrated because the job they found themselves in wasn’t what they were hired to do. Langdon is not alone. Recruiting and work are at a turning point. Thousands of recruiters have been laid off, and there is fear that AI will replace many of them permanently. No one seems to know what skills recruiters will need to be successful. There is concern that hiring managers do not understand that the skills they seek either don’t exist or exist in more than one person. There is a lot of talk about internal mobility, but the reality is that not much movement is happening. Workloads are heavy, and budgets and headcounts are not expanding. Work is changing as well. More people are working remotely, even though CEOs encourage workers to return to the office. Hybrid work is common. Some firms are shortening the work week while others offer more work to part-timers and contract workers. This has changed who recruiters are looking for and complicated sourcing. Over the next few years, recruiters will have to not only deal with these challenges but also with these. #1. Who are we? We are confused about who we are and what we should do. The demands hiring managers are making on us are either not enough for our skills and experience or way too much. There are many paradoxes we are living with. One manager says, “Just recruit – post jobs and bring in candidates. I’ll decide.” Another says, “What’s your advice? After all, you’re supposedly the people expert. What competencies should I be looking for?” We have no consensus on what skills we should have or be getting to survive and thrive in the emerging workplace. We have to find answers to these questions. Who are we? What is a recruiter’s role? How do we add value when automation and AI may take over large parts of what we now do? #2. What skills will candidates need to have? Moreover, just when we have the technology and some reasonably good tools to define the competencies our employees will need on the job, we aren’t sure if those are the competencies that will matter or that are pivotal to the success of our organization. Even though we know that diversity is critical to innovation, we are urged to hire people who are as similar to each other as they can be. We are facing hiring managers who don’t know what they want or which way to turn, so they reach into the past. They ask us to get people with the skills that used to be essential but may not be tomorrow. How do we know what competencies to hire? What strategies could you recommend to the hiring managers? Is the past the best predictor of the future? How do we talk to and convince senior management? #3. Dealing with Complex Candidates Candidates are not what they used to be. A few years ago, a candidate was generally looking for a long-term position and was focused on one primary area, such as engineering, human resources, or accounting. Signs of organizational stability attracted many candidates. Today’s candidates are a mixed bag. Many want very flexible work times or to work virtually. Some seek part-time work, and others want a schedule arranged just for them. Many candidates are interested in holding different positions, rotating, and gaining experience in many functions over time. Skills may be spread across disciplines, and putting some candidates into any category is getting more complex. Many are also demanding more personal recruiting and work experience than are available. How do you deal with this potpourri of people? What relationships rule? Who does what in your company, and who decides? #4. Souring and RPO We don’t know who to work with or how to work with all the current talent suppliers. Historically, the supply chain was quite simple. Candidates mostly came from referrals or job boards. Hard-to-find candidates were often sourced by your internal sourcing team or by headhunters. Today, RPO has gained credibility and popularity. A good RPO can often find candidates faster and cheaper than you can. Many firms are using RPO to replace most of their internal recruiting functions. Should you use an RPO? When and for what positions? How do you choose the right one? What happens to your internal recruiters? #5. Artificial Intelligence and Our Future And last of all, we are in technology hell. We are bombarded with ATS systems, CRM tools, assessment products, e-marketing concepts, and tools for analyzing everything from competencies to how well our career site works. We all know that technology will drive our recruiting strategies and be at the center of everything we do. And, to stay in the mainstream and be a player, we must make decisions about the software and the technology we acquire. Artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT promise to take on much of the administrative burden. Chatbots can communicate with candidates and answer their questions. They can screen them and assess competency, skill, and attitude. Over the next few years, this technology will transform recruiting and change the skills needed to stay relevant. What will A.I. be able to do for us? Will it replace us? How can we add value? What will our new role be? What skills will we need? Hopefully, this article will spur conversation and discussion about our profession and its future. Please give us your thoughts in the comments. If enough of you provide your thoughts, I will summarize them and put them in a future article. Let’s Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. Book a Speech, Briefing, or Webinar If you would like me to speak at an event, virtually or in person, or give your team a briefing, I would be pleased to discuss it with you.
Is automation the inevitable future of recruitment? Will artificial intelligence replace the recruiter? These questions are asked frequently, and the opinions on both sides bounce around the Internet almost daily without resolution. Recruiters are more resistant to automation than most other workers, perhaps because they work primarily with people, not processes and machines. They are […]
Is automation the inevitable future of recruitment? Will artificial intelligence replace the recruiter? These questions are asked frequently, and the opinions on both sides bounce around the Internet almost daily without resolution. Recruiters are more resistant to automation than most other workers, perhaps because they work primarily with people, not processes and machines. They are too close to the problem and invested too much in maintaining their current state to be useful critics or innovators. And, like everyone else, they are fearful of losing their jobs. Their arguments are basically of two types. They argue that automating many recruiting functions, such as sourcing, assessment, and engagement, is impossible. They are too complex and involve understanding the nuances of a hiring manager and the corporate culture. Automated tools cannot do these with quality. They also argue that recruiting is personal, and candidates expect a face-to-face encounter. On top of that, algorithms are biased and cannot be trusted to make objective decisions. There is truth in these arguments, but they do not fully account for the benefits these tools can provide them or the continuous progress developers make in improving these tools. Users of a product or those who provide a service often can describe a problem, but rarely do they come up with the best solution or the solution that would benefit them the most. Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Even though recruiters complain about having too many requisitions to fill, the talent shortage, fickle hiring managers, and legal hurdles, they still do not appreciate that automation, and A.I. could free them to do more useful work. This is not unusual. For example, tellers and many bankers thought ATMs were just a nice addition to their services. They never considered that they would replace bank tellers and automate most banking, freeing people to become loan officers or financial consultants. So it is natural that recruiters have a hard time accepting that recruiting may be largely automated and that candidates may like an automated process and find it better than working with someone. History is also not on their side. History tells us that in the end, there will most likely be a partnership between people and A.I., with A.I. doing most of the tedious and routine activities involved in hiring and recruiters taking on roles that involve personal relationships. In failing to embrace automation, recruiters make many assumptions without the data or experimental evidence to prove or disprove them. #1. Automation is impersonal and bad for the candidate. What does the evidence tell us? Automation is not bad in itself. It can improve the recruiting experience by making it less bureaucratic, faster, and more objective. But it requires recruiters to adapt and figure out how to add personalization and communication with candidates and hiring managers. Rather than being stressed with administrivia, they can devote more time to developing and nurturing relationships. And, after all, this is the essence of good recruiting. Almost everything else recruiters do is wasteful. #2. They assume that people prefer to communicate and get information directly from others. What does the evidence tell us? Chatbots are popular, and data shows that candidates like them for their speed and ability to provide information and answer questions without the hassle of connecting with an elusive recruiter. Likewise, FAQs and other data sources are heavily used. #3. They believe their intuition and experience are better predictors of success than tests or other assessment tools. What does the evidence tell us? We have tons of academic research that show how inaccurate and biased people are in deciding who to hire. Charles Handler, a leading I/O psychologist, recently wrote an article in ERE.net that discusses this in detail. One of my recent newsletters also talks about how invalid our interviewing process is. #4. They believe they must influence candidates, coach them, and influence hiring managers. What does the evidence tell us? This assumption may be valid, but automation does not exclude them from coaching candidates or hiring managers. Overall, candidates are most heavily influenced by the organization’s reputation, products, services, level of innovation, benefits, salary, and location. #5. They believe they have insights into the hiring manager’s needs and personality and choose candidates that the hiring manager will want to hire. What does the evidence tell us? Artificial intelligence, combined with analytics, can give recruiters tons of information about who a hiring manager has hired, the consistent traits that appeal to them, and much more. An intelligent recruiter would embrace A.I. and analytics to be even more effective in influencing managers and in choosing the right candidates to present. Automation offers to make recruiting a truly candidate-centric and personalized experience. It frees a recruiter to spend more time adding real value by coaching, using data to help select better candidates, and simplifying the entire process. Let’s Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. Book a Speech, Briefing, or Webinar If you would like me to speak at an event, virtually or in person, or give your team a briefing, I would be pleased to discuss it with you.
Simplify and Speed Up Your Process Recruiting is a wasteful process – filled with inefficiencies and administrivia. Using lean manufacturing concepts, waste is defined as any non-value-added process. Value-add means improving or moving a process to the next step with maximum speed and quality. In recruiting, most processes are labor-intensive and time-consuming and lead to […]
Simplify and Speed Up Your Process Recruiting is a wasteful process – filled with inefficiencies and administrivia. Using lean manufacturing concepts, waste is defined as any non-value-added process. Value-add means improving or moving a process to the next step with maximum speed and quality. In recruiting, most processes are labor-intensive and time-consuming and lead to slowing the process rather than quickly moving a candidate along. We may feel that by moving slowly, we are being more careful in selecting candidates or more thorough in screening them, but there is no data to support those claims. Improving our current process requires three steps: 1. The hunt for waste and its elimination. Find all the steps that interfere with or slow the process of qualifying a candidate, helping the candidate get to know and understand the job, and making a hiring yes or no decision. We need to ask some tough questions: Where are the bottlenecks? Why do we do this step at all? What value does it add? 2. Understanding and eliminating variability in the recruiting process. One of the core requirements for a lean process is consistency. To provide a consistent and seamless experience, the recruiter needs to know what causes variations and provide ways to reduce the variability or channel it to productive ends. Questions: Why did we take five days to hire one role and only two days to hire another? What is causing slowdowns? 2. Using technology to add efficiencies and consistency. Are we using the tools we have effectively? Is one recruiter using a tool and another is not? Why? Let’s look at each of these in greater detail. Waste Elimination As we have just pointed out, recruiting is a wasteful process as it is commonly practiced. There are many non-value-added activities, including everything that has to do with handling data, scheduling and report writing, and much of the candidate and the hiring manager interface. Take a typical recruiting day. A recruiter may start her day by looking at an email or an ATS report and perhaps quickly scanning resumes that have accumulated overnight for the positions the recruiter has open. A half-day or more may be taken up simply by scanning and screening emails and resumes, with no decisions being made and no candidate contact. The rest of the day may be taken up with phone screens for the few good candidates, many of who will turn out to be not so good, or in chats with hiring managers updating them on progress or querying them about the skills or background of a particular candidate. There may be an interview or two or the need to meet a new hiring manager and determine the requirements for a new position. Out of all of these activities, only a tiny percentage is value-added. Determining what adds value is one of the most challenging aspects of lean process improvement. Adding value in recruiting would be when you talk directly with a candidate to either close them or convince them to join your organization. Adding value is when you are directly conversing with a hiring manager about a candidate or a position. Value-added is when you are networking with potential candidates or communicating with candidates. Waste occurs when you are doing data entry, filing, database searching, resume review, scheduling, and even some levels of interviewing where you are not a decision-maker. Waste also occurs when you have steps in your process that are redundant or unnecessary. Lean processes are efficient, meaning they use the shortest time and resources possible. Recruiting processes are filled with steps that do not necessarily lead to better or faster decisions. Law or corporate policy requires some steps, but many can be eliminated or shortened. The focus should be on determining the best theoretical cycle time – the minimum amount of time it would take for the perfect candidate to be identified and hired. If, for example, it were possible to identify and hire a person for a particular position in two days, given that everything went smoothly, all interviews took place efficiently, and so on, then that would be the cycle time you should aim to achieve regularly. You can then work backward and eliminate or reduce everything that gets in the way of achieving that. Understanding Variability Recruiting is often cyclical. There are times when the demand for candidates is so high that every recruiter is frustrated, and other times when not much is happening. This is true of many functions, and one of the critical lessons of lean process improvement is understanding and leveling out these cycles or adapting to them. One method is to use historical patterns to predict variability. It is common for organizations to have seasons when recruiting is very slow and others when things tend to pick up. As holiday sales increase, the retail world can safely predict a hiring “binge” every October and November. By using technology well, using resources in multiple ways, and by being able to reallocate resources quickly, it is possible to smooth out this variability and maintain low recruiter headcounts while still handling a high volume of candidates. Most recruiters could significantly increase candidate loads if they used technology better and eliminated waste, as we have defined it. Remain Adaptable by Improving Processes and Applying Technology Adapting to ever-changing customer demands and expectations – both those of candidates and hiring managers – is a skill we will all need in increasing amounts as we move into a renewed economy. Technology can help at every step. For example, social media can brand your organization, persuade and sell the organization to candidates, and screen candidates to a level where an investment of the recruiter’s time makes sense. Technology can automate the scheduling and backend processes that are so wasteful in recruiting, and it can give the recruiter the freedom to be adaptable and move to areas that need attention while not being swamped with other activities. Every recruiting function could find steps in their processes that could be eliminated and procedures that could be streamlined or automated by technology. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit. I believe an average recruiting function could improve its capacity twofold and its candidate quality with a very tiny amount of technology and process improvement. Applying these basic principles to your recruiting function can make you much more effective and improve candidate and hiring manager satisfaction. Let’s Keep This Sponsor Free Paid subscribers have access to ALL my hundreds of articles and white papers. This is not available to free subscribers. Your subscription also keeps this newsletter ad-free and unbiased. And, a few times a year, I publish something just for paid subscribers – a white paper, report, or podcast – I try doing two or three of these yearly. Thanks for considering upgrading to a paid subscription. Book a Speech, Briefing, or Webinar If you would like me to speak at an event, virtually or in person, or give your team a briefing, I would be pleased to discuss it with you.