10 Rules for Dating and Recruiting

10 Rules for Dating and Recruiting
by Amy Kimmes
from http://www.ere.net/2008/08/06/10-rules-for-dating-and-recruiting/

Dating and recruiting have a lot in common. Learn how to improve your recruiting efforts by applying the most common dating rules.

Dating rule #1 First impressions are critical.
Recruiting application:Differentiate yourself. Resist the “I have a great position for you” especially if you have never spoken to them.

Dating rule #2 Don’t believe everything you see. We have all heard stories from people that signed up for an online dating service and were shocked when their date was two feet shorter and 10 years older than the profile.
Recruiting application:Candidates exaggerate their strengths and skills and down play their weaknesses. Do not assume anything. Prescreen, interview, administer assessments, and call the references before you present the candidate to your hiring manager.

Dating rule #3 Play hard to get. Desperation is the world’s worst perfume.
Recruiting application:If you make a huge fuss over the candidate and beg them to interview, you will diminish your negotiating power.

Dating rule #4 Be selective. You can not change people.
Recruiting application:Look for the red flags; don’t avoid them. It is better for you to uncover any candidate weaknesses or issues than your hiring manager discovering them. Your name and reputation is all you have in this business.

Dating rule #5 Prepare for the date.
Recruiting application:If your candidate has spent 20 minutes on the phone with you and takes time off work to come to interview, and then you ask them “so, tell me what you want to do?” — you are wasting the candidate’s time. You should have notes on the candidate’s resume that you want to clarify, and if appropriate, the company profiles that best match what your candidate’s needs.

Dating rule #6 Don’t talk too much. People who express the “enough about me, what do you think about me?” attitude sit home alone, a lot.
Recruiting application:The candidate should be doing most of the talking. Assess what the candidate has to offer, what they need, and then set expectations of how you will work together. Let the candidate talk about the interview before you disclose the hiring manager’s view. If you blurt out “they love you, you are the best candidate they have ever met!” — what do you think happens to the candidate’s salary requirements?

Dating rule #7 Follow up with your date.
Recruiting application:As an industry, one of the biggest complaints we get from candidates and hiring managers is the lack of communication. No news is still considered news to the candidate; make sure you keep your candidate in the loop.

Dating rule #8 Don’t be afraid to end the date early.
Recruiting application:Prescreen carefully, ask the hard questions, and always tell the candidate the truth. If they are not going to fit into your recruiting focus (skills, salary expectations, location, etc.), coach or make suggestions regarding who may be able to help them in the market.

Dating rule #9 Improve your odds by hanging out where (like) people hang out.
Recruiting application:If you are recruiting technology talent, sign up and participate in technology activities in your market. Volunteer at association meetings to check members in: you will meet every attending member, every meeting.
Explain to people you meet that there are two types of people you would like to be introduced to: those who are leaders in their field and are looking for an opportunity and those who are leaders in their field and are not looking for an opportunity right now. You are an expert in your market, so people who are not looking now would still benefit from knowing you and the people in your network.

Dating Rule #10 They will not buy the cow if they are getting the milk for free.
Recruiting application:When you agree to represent a candidate, you are entering into a business agreement. You need to set clear expectations of how the process must work. If the candidate will not agree to the terms, they are not committed to you, so turn them loose.

13 Trends In Corporate Recruiting for 2009

13 Trends In Corporate Recruiting for 2009
by Dr. John Sullivan

(from http://www.ere.net/2008/08/04/trends-in-corporate-recruiting-for-2009/#more-3489)

A significant part of my work involves giving presentations around the world on the hottest recruiting topics. It is an aspect of my work that I truly enjoy because it affords me an opportunity to continuously learn about where our profession is headed.
Through speaking, I not only help companies understand the latest recruiting trends, but I also learn from hundreds of professionals about what they see as hot topics, emerging trends, and how they are approaching them. I wanted to take this opportunity to share my thoughts on what recruiting trends will top the agendas of Global 500 recruiting managers in the next 12 to 18 months based on my interaction with more than 300 organizations around the globe this year.

The Latest Trends in Corporate Recruiting
Based on conversations with recruiting leaders, questions asked during seminars, advisory requests, and best-practice research, expect to see an increased emphasis in:

Upgrading employment branding. Nothing is hotter around the globe in recruiting than employment branding. Firms throughout Asia, in particular, are increasingly adopting employment branding as a wildly important activity for 2009. The success of Google, a firm that has built the world’s strongest employment brand over an amazing five-year period, has led others to focus on this impactful long-term strategy. Key focus areas include increasing media coverage, increasing visibility online, building your “green” brand, and countering your “negative” employment brand. Firms to watch: Facebook, Google, Yum Brands, Tata, E&Y, Enterprise, U.S. Army, and Sodexo.

Reinvigorating referral programs. Despite the growth of career-related Internet sites, the highest volume and quality candidates still come from well-designed employee referral programs. While heavy adoption was initially hampered by cultural issues around the world, today such programs are proving highly effective everywhere. Key focus areas include proactively approaching key employees for referrals (program targeting), leverage non-employee referrals, making reward systems more comprehensive, immediate, and visible, and last but not least, helping employees leverage social media to restore relationships, make new relationships, and build stronger relationships. Firms to watch: AmTrust Bank, Edward Jones, Whirlpool, and Amazon.com.

Renewing the focus on quality of hire. As a result of strong research by organizations like staffing.org, recruiting leadership has begun to refocus its efforts on identifying factors that increase the quality or the on-the-job performance of new hires. Key focus areas include improved quality of hire metrics, calculating the performance differential between average and quality hires, and identifying sources that produce high-quality hires. Firms to watch: Aimco and Wipro.

Reinforcing the business case for recruiting. As budgets tighten and slow economic growth continues, recruiting budgets will face constant constraints. Instead of whining, many leading talent organizations are seizing the opportunity to reposition themselves as non-transactional organizations. When the focus in recruiting is placed on non-transactional, more systemic issues, such organizations can work with the CFO and risk management to demonstrate the importance of supporting recruiting even during times of reduced hiring volume. The key focus areas include predictive modeling, dollarizing recruiting results, and showing the dollar impact of vacancies in revenue generating positions. Firms to watch: Aimco, DFS, Wipro, and Google.

Utilizing social networks. Although using social networks as a recruiting source has been a well-discussed concept for a while, few firms have found productive ways to truly leverage social media sites. However, as new approaches are developed that more accurately align with the paradigm of social media audiences, recruiting on social networks will become more mainstream. Focus areas include encouraging your employees to be more visible online and using networks to identify innovators. Key networking sites include Facebook (global), MySpace (global), Friendster (global), LinkedIn (global), Twitter (U.S.), Multiply (Asia), Mixi (Japan), Cyworld (Korea), and Xiaonei (China). Firms to watch: E&Y, Zappos, CIA, Yum Brands, Google, and Facebook.

Utilizing video. While it may be hard for some to fathom, 1:1 and 1:many video has become a very popular communication medium, surpassing all other forms of Internet traffic. Second only to employee referrals, the most impactful tool for effectively demonstrating the excitement and passion at a firm is online video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then moving pictures demonstrating what it’s like to work at your firm would have to be “priceless.” Focus areas include posting on video-sharing sites such as YouTube (global), Youku.com (China), and sharing employee-generated “unscripted” videos on your corporate site. Firms to watch: Deloitte, Microsoft, and Google.

Upgrading succession planning. A common practice becomes much more critical as global growth and large-scale retirement loom on the horizon. Focus areas include replacing retirees, improved succession planning metrics, adding external candidates to your plan, and fast-track leadership development. Firms to watch: Intuit, Eli Lilly, Deloitte, and TVA.

Using employee blogs for recruiting. A practice that is finally beginning to enter the mainstream is employee blogging to support recruiting efforts. The very best firms use blogs not just to spread their message but also to answer questions and to make their company appear more “real” and approachable. Key focus areas include blogs by employees other than recruiters and micro-blogs. Firms to watch: Microsoft, Google, and Sun.

Using mobile-phone recruiting. As mobile phones with amazing features spread throughout the population, recruiting managers are beginning to realize that they can be a powerful recruiting media. Key focus areas include text messaging, mobile video, and mobile-accessible corporate careers sites. Firms to watch: Google and nearly any firm in Asia!

Revitalizing corporate jobs page. Recruiting managers are beginning to understand that pitifully dull and dated websites drive away innovators. Focus areas include providing personalized information to the visitor, Flash video integration, blogs, podcasts, and virtual Q&As. Firms to watch: Microsoft, Google, and Deloitte.

Using a CRM model for hiring. I’ve been touting the values of the CRM (customer relationship management) model for years. More firms are beginning to understand the value of improving the experience at each “touch point” with the candidate. Key focus areas include relationship recruiting, automated applicant profiling, automated event calendaring, and robust lifecycle metrics. Firms to watch: U.S. Army, GlaxoSmithKline, and E&Y.

Hiring innovators. Rapid product copying and the high visibility of innovative firms like Apple and Google are forcing recruiting managers to modify recruiting processes in order to successfully recruit innovators and game changers. Key focus areas include relationship recruiting, pre-need hiring, and tolerant/inclusive screening and interviewing processes. Firms to watch: IBM and Google.

Recruiting globally. Recruiting managers are beginning to learn how to differentiate multi-national recruiting from true global recruiting. Key focus areas include global sourcing, globalized websites, and globalized employer referral programs. Firms to watch: Infosys and IBM.
Other Trends to Observe
Although these trends aren’t red-hot, they are emerging areas where a few firms have taken the lead and have produced noticeable results. These are certainly not going to become mainstream for most firms during the next year, but if you are an innovator, keep a close watch:

• Virtual-reality recruiting on SecondLife
• Video games as recruiting tools
• Online assessment tools
• Using contests to identify internal and external prospects
• Simulations for candidate assessment
• Inclusive recruiting (replacing diversity recruiting)
• Remote interviewing
• Remote college recruiting
• A renewed focus on internal redeployment
• Boomerangs (bringing back key ex-employees)
• Recruiting at professional events
• Using credit card/sales leads to find prospects
• Using analytics and modeling to predict future workforce needs
• A new focus on the use of contingent workers in the weak economy
• Remote” college recruiting
• A focus on contingent hiring
• Improving on-boarding to build the employment brand
• Reality TV shows as a recruiting and branding mechanism

Not-So-Hot Areas
Here are some areas that vendors and consultants talk a lot about, but in many cases, there is little innovation to report:

• Outsourcing recruiting processes. Protecting your own recruiters makes this option less attractive as budgets get tight.
• Video resumes. It’s still hard to get managers to view them.
• Competency modeling. Too time-consuming to undertake during tough times.
• Large job boards. Always mediocre, and their value is shrinking.
• Retention. In a tight economy, only the very best will consider leaving.
• Speed of hire. As unemployment rises, there is less pressure to make rapid hiring decisions.

HR Professional Directory_LaunchHR.com

LaunchHR.com
is pretty cool web site designed for Human Resource professionals to combine the resources in various HR areas into a single web home page

Creating People Advantage_How to address HR challenges worldwide through 2015

"Creating People Advantage_How to address HR challenges worldwide through 2015"
A comprehensive global study conducted jointly by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA), and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) surveyed 4,741 executives in 83 countries and markets.

Downloadable at http://www.bcg.com/impact_expertise/publications/publication_list.jsp?pubID=2638

Summary
(retrieved from EFMD http://www.efmd.org/component/efmd/?cmsid=080519sqlv&pub=080519pnhr)

Executives worldwide see talent gaps as top people challenge in every region and industry
Managing talent is the most critical HR challenge worldwide and will remain at or near the top of executive agendas in every region and industry for the foreseeable future. The ability to gain competitive advantage through people strategies - or people advantage - requires an overall HR approach. This report suggests that it is vital:

To understand the connections that link HR to metrics and strategy. A most effective way is to create a strategic workforce plan. For doing so, there are two steps

• Understand how strategy drives the demand for people (to provide long term guidance)
• Understand the four bridges that connect strategy and HR, namely: sourcing (recruiting, HR branding,), performance (metrics, incentives,), development and affiliation (compensation, motivation)

To deploy operational excellence to bring the HR function up to speed by focusing on three key areas:

• Strengthen capabilities : establish the HR function as a step on the career paths of high potentials , build the people management skills of line managers
• Establish accountability and efficiency by optimizing the HR delivery model by automating processes, sharing services and distinguishing between the various HR roles
• To increase cooperation by designing key HR processes (people reviews, mobility management) and by serving as experts on organizational issues

The future

This "Creating People Advantage" report furthermore analyses and ranks 17 HR challenges. The top 8 future challenges in HR fall into three strategic categories:

1. Developing and retaining the best employees
2. Anticipating change
3. Enabling the organisation

Developing and retaining the best employees

• Managing talent : attracting, developing and retaining all individuals with high potential and communicating the HR value proposition
• Improving leadership development : defining leadership models, assessing leaders and designing development programmes
• Managing work-life balance : dealing with new and non-traditional expectation about work

Anticipating change

• Managing demographics : namely the loss of capacity, knowledge and productivity with an ageing workforce
• Managing change an cultural transformation : by developing an integrated approach to operational and organisational change, focused on employee behaviour
• Managing globalisation by having the right people in the right location and by enabling effective and efficient cross-country and cross-cultural collaboration

Enabling the organisation to become a learning organisation and transform HR into a strategic partner

HR executives must also excel at the fundamentals of the HR function: restructuring the organisation, delivering on recruitment and staffing and mastering the HR processesThe remaining six HR topics are:

• Managing diversity
• Enhancing employee commitment
• Improving performance management and rewards
• Managing CSR
• Measuring HR and employee performance
• Providing shared services and outsourcing HR

The Boston Consulting Group, visit http://www.bcg.com
World Federation of Personnel Management Associations visit http://www.wfpma.com

The 20 Principles of Strategic Recruiting

The 20 Principles of Strategic Recruiting
by Dr. John Sullivan
(retrieved from http://www.ere.net/2008/07/07/the-20-principles-of-strategic-recruiting/)

Corporate recruiting is an interesting field. There are no books entitled The Theory of Recruiting or Principles of Strategic Recruiting. As a result, most individuals in recruiting tend to make it up as they go rather than follow a more defined set of rules or principles.
There is no formal body in recruiting that “codifies” the established practices. In this article, I am attempting to help resolve that problem by compiling a list (from my 35-plus years of experience in the field) that can serve as a foundation for your actions.
Of course, principles are guidelines to point you in the right direction. Remember to vary your direction depending on your business situation and global location.

20 Principles of Recruiting and Talent Management
The following is a list of 20 principles, laws, or guidelines to help you design and implement effective recruiting strategies and approaches:

1. A well-defined strategy. The foundation of any recruiting effort is a clearly defined and communicated strategy that illustrates the brand message, target candidates, primary sources, and most-effective closing approaches (the who, what, when, and how). Poorly defined or communicated strategy elements results in wasted resources and weak hires. In addition, the best strategies have the capability of “shifting” as the economy and the demand for candidates change.
2. Pipeline approach. The most effective recruiting approach is to build a steady stream of applicants (a pipeline). In order to build a continuous “talent pipeline,” use a “pre-need” approach that includes workforce planning, branding, continuous sourcing, and onboarding.
3. Competitive. The most effective recruiting approaches are compared against and are clearly superior to those of a firm’s talent competitors. Because competitors will quickly copy your most effective approaches, a continuous side-by-side assessment of “yours versus theirs” is necessary. A sub-principle applies to candidates: because the very best are always in high demand, if you don’t have to literally “fight” for a candidate, in most cases, you do not have the best candidate in the field.
4. Employment branding. The approach with the highest impact and the only long-term recruiting strategy is employment branding, the process of building your external image as an excellent place to work. By proactively making it easy for potential applicants to read, hear, or see the factors that make working at your firm exciting, you can dramatically increase the number and quality of your applicants over a long period.
5. Global. For jobs that require top talent, the process must have a global recruiting capability. This is because the very best talent is unlikely to live within commuting distance of your job.
6. Target employed “non-lookers.” The best recruiting processes are designed to identify and successfully hire currently employed top performers. This means that the process needs the capability of identifying and convincing employed individuals who work at your competitors and may not be actively looking for a position. Unfortunately, most corporate recruiting approaches are designed to attract “active” candidates.
7. Speed. Making fast hiring decisions is essential whenever a candidate in high demand decides to make a job switch. Top candidates must be hired using “their” decision timetable. Research shows that top candidates are off the market in less than half of the normal corporate time to fill.
8. Sourcing is critical. If you don’t utilize sources that attract a high percentage of top performers, it is unlikely you will make a quality hire. After employment branding, effective sourcing is the most critical element of the recruiting process. Generally, the most effective source is employee referrals. Other effective but under-used sources include recruiting at professional events and contests. Using ineffective sources means that you must spend inordinate amounts of time and money on candidate screening in order to avoid a weak hire. The source that is used must be shift, depending on the type of candidate required for that position. Unfortunately, many recruiters use the same exact sourcing scheme for every job.
9. Data-based decisions. Base decisions on sources, screening tools, and which individual to hire on facts and data, not emotion or even common practices. Making decisions based on objective data helps eliminate biases and causes the recruiting process to produce more consistent, reliable, and high-quality results. It’s also true that in a fast-changing world, “what works” changes quickly so recruiting practices become obsolete quickly. Unfortunately, rather than being a small part of recruiting decisions, emotions and “it’s the way we’ve always done it” tend to dominate corporate decision-making.
10. Build a recruiting culture. The most effective approaches build a corporate-wide “cultural of recruiting” where every manager and employee is a recruiter. Because of their continuous contact and interaction with outside talent, everyone must play an important supplemental role in identifying talent and in spreading the employment brand. The most effective recruiting strategies convince employees to be 24/7 talent scouts, making every employee a recruiter.
11. A candidate-centric approach. Focus the process on the candidate’s needs, their job selection criteria, and the candidate experience. A significant part of recruiting is “selling” the candidate on applying for and accepting the job. At least in part, recruiting must follow the customer relationship management (CRM) and the sales and marketing models. Often, the number-one reason why candidates reject job offers is the way that they were treated during the hiring process. It’s also important to note that candidates may be current or future customers, so treating them poorly can directly impact future revenue.
12. Prioritize jobs and targets. Effective recruiting processes maximize resource utilization by identifying and focusing on the positions with the highest business impact. That generally means revenue-producing and revenue-impact jobs, as well as jobs in high margin and rapid growth business units. The process should also target high-impact individuals known as top performers, innovators, and gamechangers.
13. Managers are the delivery system. Although corporate recruiting designs the process, managers “deliver” and execute a significant part of that process. As a result, hiring managers must understand its elements and support its precise execution. You must effectively demonstrate to individual hiring managers that they will suffer whenever a bad or “butts in chairs” hire is made. Therefore, recruiting must make a strong business case to individual hiring managers that convinces them of the importance of executing the process precisely. The most effective way of influencing hiring managers is by converting recruiting results into their dollar impact on that individual manager’s revenue and profit.
14. Diversity. An effective recruiting process must include enough variation and personalization to meet the unique needs of diverse individuals from around the world. Diversity and inclusiveness are becoming not just legal terms but critical components in building global sales.
15. Selling applicants. The very best recruiting processes builds “relationships” with potential applicants over time in order to increase their level of trust and interest. Unfortunately, no amount of benefits or job features will be convincing to high-demand applicants without this level of trust. Because all candidate-screening processes have flaws, stretching out the assessment process over time allows you to learn more about the candidate and decrease the chances of making a bad hire. The best approaches are designed to take advantage of the fact that a target candidate’s willingness to consider a new job changes quite rapidly, as a result of changes in their own job and organization.
16. Technology. The best processes rely heavily on technology and the Web in all aspects of the recruiting process. Technology can improve screening, increased hiring speed, cut costs, and provide the firm with the capability of hiring globally.
17. Integration. Recruiting processes must be integrated with other HR processes. Those recruiting processes that operate independently rather than in unison with other HR functions like relocation and compensation will produce diminished results.
18. Talent shortages. Although industries often face talent shortages, individual firms can actually have a surplus of candidates if they have a strong employment brand, a great referral program, and a candidate-friendly hiring approach. For example, handsome movie stars seldom have difficulty getting “dates” even when the average “Joe” can’t find a single one. Talent shortages are relative and depend on your image and what you have to offer.
19. Remote work options. Offering candidates remote work options dramatically increases the candidate pool. Firms that have the capability of managing candidates who work from remote locations have a distinct competitive advantage. They can attract the top performer who doesn’t live in the area, who desires working at home, or who isn’t willing to make a long commute.
20. Metrics and rewards impact recruiting. Every aspect of recruiting improves dramatically when managers and employees are measured, recognized, and rewarded for their contribution to recruiting. By convincing senior management and HR to place metrics and rewards on key aspects of recruiting, you send a clear message about its importance.

Final Thoughts
Almost every business function has come to realize that if you want consistency and excellent results, you must clearly define the rules of the game. There are, of course, exceptions and perhaps even additions that can be made to the principles outlined above.
But, after working with recruiters and recruiting managers from hundreds of companies, I found that these guidelines will give you a pretty good idea of the essential laws of recruiting and where to focus your efforts if you want superior recruiting results.

6 Good Metrics for Recruiting

6 Good Metrics
by Stephen Lowisz
(retrieved from http://www.ere.net/2008/07/07/6-good-metrics/)

Recruiting metrics require a number of characteristics to be considered effective and reliable:

• Metrics must be predictive and actionable. Statistics need to provide information that can be acted upon by providing data to indicate trends.

• Metrics must be tracked over time in order to generate internal benchmarks and analyze internal performance.

• Recruitment metrics should include both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Time and cost obviously comprise the quantitative aspects of recruitment metrics, while productivity, retention, efficiency, and candidate performance comprise the qualitative aspects.

Metrics of the Past
Ten years ago recruiting was often seen as a steppingstone to an HR generalist role. Recruiters were trained to “screen out” applicants, thus making their positions transactionally focused. This led to the two most commonly used metrics: cost-per-hire and time-to-fill.
Cost-per-hire, the most common measurement applied to recruiting, only looks at the initial cost — and not the long-term cost — associated with hiring the wrong candidate. Focusing purely on initial cost will drive recruiters to place a ‘butt in a seat’ without regard to the quality of hire or the long-term production the candidate will or will not deliver.
Time-to-fill measurements are often popular due to the cost associated with positions remaining unfilled. Although this cost can be significant, this metric does not take into consideration the long-term cost associated with greater turnover percentages and additional recruitment costs for hiring the wrong candidates. Recruiters will focus on candidates considered the ‘lowest hanging fruit’ in order to fill positions faster.

Metrics of Today
As I speak with staffing and talent acquisition executives from around the country, they all express frustration in creating a measurable that drives one main objective — getting the right candidate for the job. In order to achieve this objective, we must first look at how the recruiter of today differs from the traditional recruiter of the past. Once we have the right recruiter, we can then focus on defining metrics that drive the right behaviors.
The recruiter of today has to move from being transactionally driven to relationship-driven. Recruiters are now sales professionals responsible for prospecting, building relationships, and advancing the sale. This function change requires the metrics associated with success of today’s recruiter to change as well.
Although the following is not an all-inclusive list, the following six metrics are examples of metrics that drive the right results and create the necessary behaviors needed to achieve these results.

• Performance/Quality of Hire: Data is driven by performance appraisal ratings and/or production 6 to 12 months into the new employee’s job as compared to their peers. Quality should be the first and most important recruiting metric. Since there is no formula for determining quality, recruiters and the hiring managers should define the standards for quality before recruiting. Quality of hire can be assessed through a simple survey that lists each criterion separately and asks the manager how the employee meets each standard on a scale of 1 to 5. New hire quality can also be tracked through formal performance evaluations, production reports, etc. A survey reported in Staffing.org’s Recruitment Metrics and Performance Benchmark Report found that the more regularly recruiting professionals measure new hire quality in an organization, the more satisfied hiring managers are with new hire quality.

• Manager Satisfaction: Data is driven by the percentage of managers who are satisfied with the hiring process and the candidates. This metric provides important, easily tracked data to determine a hiring manager’s preferences before recruiting begins, and then to evaluate staffing performance post-hire. Effective recruiting organizations rely on customer feedback to be successful. However, customer satisfaction should never be viewed as a stand-alone metric because it can be misleading.

• Source of Hire: Data is driven by the percentage of new hires from each defined candidate source. Data is also driven by the percentage of hires per source, with highest on-the-job performance and tenure rates. Tracking source of data information allows management to better understand the quality of their sourcing Strategy. This metric also helps recruiting managers see sourcing channels in terms of outcomes, not just sheer numbers.

• Referral Rates: Data is driven by the percentage of hires from referrals generated by the recruiter. Referral programs are most commonly focused on generating referrals from the greater employee population. Referrals generated by recruiters directly soliciting them from prospective candidates and new employees will have a measurable and positive impact on the quality of hire (studies show referrals make better performing hires), cost-per-hire (little to no cost for these referrals), and time-to-fill ratios.

• Candidate Satisfaction: Data is driven by the percentage of new hires who are satisfied with the hiring process as judged by a candidate survey. Candidate satisfaction surveys drive recruiting organizations to have a greater focus on the quality of service provided to each candidate, which has a positive impact on the brand positioning/employment branding of the company. Additional candidate metrics may also be valuable from candidates who were not selected, and candidates who declined offers. These last two groups are often overlooked, but they can provide valuable information about your recruiting operations.

• Pipeline Development: Data is driven by the number of potential candidates the recruiter has developed relationships with for key strategic positions. Data is managed through an effective CRM system. Similiar to tracking pipeline development of sales professionals, measuring recruiter-developed candidate pipelines can have a dramatic improvement on time-to-fill (candidates are already in process for commonly needed positions), cost-per-hire (pipeline candidates have no additional cost associated with placing them), and quality of hire.
Companies can decrease their time to fill and decrease their cost per hire, but if they can increase their quality of hire and quality of service, the entire game changes. Better employees translate into higher performance, more revenue, and higher profits. By using the right metrics you will encourage recruiters to focus their behaviors on the causes and not the symptoms of recruitment success. The combination of having the right recruiter with the right measurements will lead each recruiter to focus on finding the right candidate.

21 Definitions_A candidate's guide to recruiter-speak

Very funny and interesting article about how recruiter speaks. Really makes me laugh badly. That's probably because it does happen in my daily life right now. Since I started my new role in Talent Acquisition (staffing/recruiting) team one month ago, I have heard lots of those kinds of conversations and usage of terms. I am surrounded by recruiters and coordinators who are talking to candidates, either screening or giving information on an unstopped basis every day. From company's view, the phone presentation of recruiters is stressed since it presents the company. But from candidate's point, be aware how you should interpret the message correctly. : )

21 Definitions

A candidate's guide to recruiter-speak

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 | by Matthew Charney

(cited from ERE http://www.ere.net/articles/db/A068149AAE174D659608A46A0694BD2B.asp)

Every industry and profession carries with it its own distinct jargon. In fact, it is the measure of recruiters' worth to be able to pick up on the unique lexicon of the positions for which they recruit.

Being able to spout off the verbal equivalent of Google Adwords also preempts most candidates' assumptions that as recruiters, we're slightly above amoeba but slightly beneath bonobo monkeys on the evolutionary ladder. (The monkeys do admittedly win by default, though like recruiters, they have been known to eat their young, although most of us do this figuratively through the invention of the concept of "entry-level" employment.)

There's been a lot of attention paid to the banalities of "corporate speak," those words such as synergy, deliverables, scalable, and, my personal favorite, paradigm shift, which sounds suspiciously like a Led Zeppelin cover band or a Tom Clancy novel.

Additionally, there is a preponderance of words that have absolutely no meaning whatsoever to anyone outside of a specialized functional area.

As an accounting and finance recruiter, I am able to speak quite convincingly about Tier One ERPs, f(x) hedging, and econometrics. In fact, I can come across sounding a bit like a wonk, which I will consider a professional asset, given my inability to do simple arithmetic.

I feel a little bit like an expatriate; I'm able to speak the language with some proficiency, but throw in an idiom or colloquialism, and I'm rooting around for my dictionary.

Meaningless Catch-Phrases Take Off

Slowly but surely, these buzzwords have trickled into the public consciousness because most of these words are reserved for candidates specifically. The overwhelming majority of our etymology, in fact, was specifically created for less-than-desirable candidates.

As recruiters, it is vocational anathema to create a negative impression on a candidate, or to in any way create a negative reflection on the organization we represent. A successful recruiter strives to make each candidate feel like his or her interaction with the company was a successful one, even if it was, in fact, the worst disaster since the Hindenburg.

To prevent further confusion, I've provided a quick guide for candidates to decipher recruiter-speak with the hope that it eases the search process by providing the subtext of the terminology recruiters use the most.

While corporate recruiters are honest, we are never brutally honest. Our errors are of omission, and we tend to accentuate the positive, whether in presenting an opportunity, rejecting a candidate, or even closing an offer.

A Growing List

This list is by no means definitive, but it is a start…any suggestions or additions are greatly encouraged.

• Sourcing (v) Usage: "I sourced your resume and thought that you might be a great fit…" Definition: The entry of keywords onto a job board.
• Exciting (adj.): Usage: "We've got an exciting opportunity currently available…" Definition: An open headcount that needs to be filled as quickly as possible.
• Prescreen (n) Usage: "I'd like to set up a brief, exploratory prescreen." Definition: The conversation by which recruiters ascertain if they can afford the talent in question.
• Visibility (adj.): Usage: "This role has high visibility to all levels of management throughout the organization." Definition: The phrase most often used to describe a position with the smallest margin for error and highest turnover rate in the company.
• Growth (n): Usage: "This position is really a great growth opportunity." Definition: The naturally occurring phenomenon by which workers find fulfillment doing exactly the same job in a different company.
• Ad-hoc (adj.) Usage: "There will also be some ad-hoc projects required." Definition: A catch-all phrase used by corporations to describe the countless hours of manpower invested in activities unrelated to one's job function, generally evoked at the whim of departmental heads.
• Expectations (n) Usage: "What are your expectations for your next position?" Definition: The test commonly used during the screening process to see whether the candidate is capable of reading a job description and changing tense from third- to first-person.
• Stable (adj.) Usage: "It's a very stable business unit." Definition: When the collective tenure of a department's employees preempt any consideration of change or improvement upon the status quo.
• Reinventing (v) Usage: "We've had challenges in the past, but we're reinventing ourselves and our processes." Definition: A commonly used tactic employed by recruiters to explain recent or forthcoming layoffs (see: derecruit, reorganization, shared services, offshoring, outsourcing, et al).
• Competition (n) Usage: "You've got some pretty stiff competition for this position." Definition: A word used by recruiters to preempt disappointment for the candidate by establishing expectations upfront. Alternative definition: A tactic employed to make an extremely undesirable position appear more enticing.
• Team (n) Usage: "We're looking for a team player." Definition: The intangible qualities associated with a candidate who will not make waves and demonstrates the willingness to accept abuse by supervisors and fellow staff.
• DOE (acr.) see also depending on experience.Usage: "I am unable to provide a salary range for the position as it is DOE." Definition: Whereby a company unable to pay market rate for a position compensates by placing the blame on candidate deficiencies.
• Best practices (n): Usage: "We're a best practices organization." Phrase has not yet been defined. See meaning of life, UFOs.
• Work-life balance (phrase): Usage: "We put a real premium on work-life balance." Definition: The ratio of one's time at home to one's time at work. The smaller the ratio, the more likely the employee is paid on an hourly basis.
• Overtime (n) Usage: "There may be some slight overtime involved." Definition: An institution imposed by corporations to increase shareholder value without increasing headcount by maximizing working hours of employee population, up to and including Saturdays, holidays, and seminal life events.
• Feedback (n) Usage: "I'll provide feedback from my hiring manager as soon as I get it." Definition: Generally construed as a one- or two-word answer by which hiring managers summarily reject top candidates.
• Next steps (phrase) Usage: "We'll be in touch regarding next steps." Definition: A phrase used to put off rejecting marginal candidates for as long as possible until an offer is accepted by a more qualified party.
• References (n) Usage: "We're going to begin checking your references." Definition: The process by which a recruiter contacts previous coworkers of a potential hire from a list provided by the candidate in an attempt to bring objectivity to the hiring process.
• Background check (n) Usage: "You're our final candidate, but I can't extend an offer until your background check clears." Definition: A control imposed by corporations in order to slow recruiters' ability to extend an offer for a period of time that perfectly coincides with a candidate's extension and acceptance of other offers. Alternate definition: An industry whose practitioners continue to thrive despite the Internet's abilities to perform the same functionality at a fraction of the cost.
• Benefits (n) Usage: "We are proud to offer a comprehensive, competitive benefits package to all employees." Definition: A tactic used by corporations to attract full-time employees and entice temporary ones into menial labor.
• Offer letter (n) Usage: "Congratulations on joining our team. I'm sending over an offer letter that contains all the information you're going to need." Definition: A document or set of documents that contains all information relevant to one's employment with a company, denoting the last communication between recruiter and candidate until the candidate becomes eligible for transfer consideration.

AMA (American Management Association) seminar

There are some free recorded webcasts and podcasts available online on the topics in:
§ Business Writing
§ Communication Skills
§ Customer Service
§ Finance and Accounting
§ Human Resource Management
§ Information Technology Management
§ Interpersonal Skills
§ Leadership
§ Management and Supervisory Skills
§ Marketing
§ Office and Administrative Support
§ Presentation Skills
§ Project Management
§ Purchasing and Supply Management
§ Sales
§ Strategic Alliance Management
§ Strategic Planning
§ Thinking and Innovation
§ Time Management
§ Training and Development

Below is the note from one of webcasts that I just had in Business Writing
How to Write d Darn Good E-mail? By Philip Vassallo, Ed.D.
1. Get Started Quickly : 3As
a. Aim (reason to write)
b. Audience (reason to read)
c. Area (issue to address)
2. Write Attention Subject Line, Opening and Closing. Getting to the point.
a. Purpose in subject
b. Purpose in first paragraph
c. Use a do and a to for purpose statement
3. Create Clear, Concise E-mails that Get Results
a. Include ONLY what your READER need to know
b. Focus on reader benefit
c. Separate the beginning from the middle, and middle from the ending
4. Maintain a Professional Tone
a. Remember the durability of the written word
b. Do not demean, harass, or threaten readers or subjects
c. Consider whether e-mail is the best way to reply
5. Polish to Perfection: clear, concise, correct (use pullet points)

It seems very easy to understand but hard to keep in mind in every mail you send out. I totally agree with “durability of the written word” and “professional tone”. Every word you send out stand for yourself. There is nothing should be compromised if doing so would hurt your professionism. Also, not only for the written words, the way you talk, behavior, and look always matter. Many times, perception becomes the reality even though it is not the fact at all. Keeping on top of it, you gotten learn how to shape the perception, and how to project your image in a consistent way while packaging yourself to impress different audiences.

Public Speaking_Toastmasters International

Recently started again to have some training on my public speaking/communication skills through the Toastmasters International. Since last time having the formal public speaking, it has been about one year that I didn't have really stand up and do the public presentation. In Toastmasters International, theere is the educational program consisted of series of projects on public speaking to learn different experiences.

-------

Here are two major professional organizations for speakers:

The National Speakers Association (NSA)
is the leading organization for experts who speak professionally. NSA's 4,000 members include experts in a variety of industries and disciplines, who reach audiences as trainers, educators, humorists, motivators, consultants, authors and more. Since 1973, NSA has provided resources and education designed to advance the skills, integrity and value of its members and speaking profession. Visit NSA's Web site at www.nsaspeaker.org.

Toastmasters International
is known as the number one source for Public Speaking information. Their main goal is to help you become a better speaker, thinker, listener and leader by exposing you to a wide range of communication experiences. Includes lots of tips and information about local chapters.

Other resources: check http://www.speakermatch.com/showcase/resources/skills.htm

Use Your Strengths to Strengthen Others

Use Your Strengths to Strengthen Others

Found this very interesting article while browsing through Workforce.
Source from http://www.workforce.com/section/09/feature/25/45/14/index.html


The real impact of human resources comes when HR professionals turn their knowledge and skills into productivity for others, author and consultant Dave Ulrich contends.
By Dave Ulrich

---

You can’t walk into a conference these days without bumping into a speaker who is trumpeting the value of building on your strengths. It’s easy to understand why this message resonates. From the time we start school, we are evaluated on our weaknesses. Most of us dread this. "Build on your strengths" sounds like one of those alternative schools where people played sports, painted or sang and danced all day instead of memorizing dates in history or taking pre-algebra. Who wouldn’t rather sing and dance or play sports?

The logic of "build on your strengths" comes from outstanding work by Martin Seligman, who with his colleagues defined and shaped the field of positive psychology. Instead of focusing on what is wrong with individuals, they emphasize what is right. Instead of overcoming depression, they offer clients ways to find authentic happiness. Instead of diagnosing pathologies and overcoming them, they want to identify strengths and build on them. In Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, a 2004 book written with Christopher Peterson, Seligman and colleagues identified 24 generic strengths that individuals might possess in six domains:

Wisdom and knowledge: the ability to acquire and use knowledge (creativity, curiosity, love of learning)

Courage: the ability to accomplish goals in the face of opposition (persistence, vitality, integrity, bravery)

Humanity: the ability to tend to and befriend others (kindness, social intelligence)

Justice: the ability to experience a healthy community life (fairness, teamwork, social responsibility)

Temperance: the ability to protect against excess (forgiveness, humility, self-control)

Transcendence: the ability to connect to a larger universe and provide meaning (gratitude, hope, playfulness)

A simple definition of a strength is that it’s something that we find easy, energizing and enjoyable. The authors’ premise is that when you do well in what you identify as a strength and capitalize on it—rather than trying to shore up your weaknesses—you will have more success and more positive experiences. You’ll find happiness. (You can take some of Seligman’s strengths tests here.)

It is very hard to disagree with this logic. Marcus Buckingham and others have argued that discovering what we do well is a first step to lasting success. Leaders whose strengths are around creativity will be more successful in innovative organizations and work environments, for example.

But building only on your strengths is not enough if those strengths do not create value for those you lead. In college, I majored in English. I developed a knack for reading novels. I could read two or three novels a week and found this easy, energizing and enjoyable. But what I have since found is that few people care about my strength of reading novels. What they really care about is my ability to analyze a situation in ways that help them reach their goals. Reading and interpreting good writing is a sustainable strength when it informs my ability to diagnose and help others work through their problems.

According to the recent movie The Bucket List, the Egyptians believed that the gatekeepers of heaven ask new arrivals two questions about their lives on Earth: Did you find joy? Did you bring joy to others? The first question is about building on your strengths to find joy. It is necessary, but not sufficient. It is about the self, not others. The second question shifts the focus of joy to helping others find it. Put in terms of our strengths discussion, this means that we should build on our strengths that strengthen others.

"Building on strengths that in turn strengthen others does not mean pandering. It does not mean you will say and do anything someone wants. it means having a clear sense of self."

Leaders may strive to acquire strengths of authenticity, judgment, emotional intelligence, credibility and other noble attributes, but unless and until they apply these strengths in ways that create value for others, they have not been totally successful. Some in the strengths movement have missed the conclusion Seligman reached in his 2004 book, Authentic Happiness: "The meaningful life: using your signature strengths and virtues in the service of something much larger than you are."

For leaders, this means that it is not enough to do our work well. We must also use our strengths to deliver value to others. HR professionals who want to build on their strengths in order to strengthen others should consider the following:

Focus on outcomes, not activities. It is tempting to focus on what HR does without fully considering what HR delivers, but it’s an incomplete goal. The outcomes of an HR activity might include employee morale, but could also be expanded to customers, investors and communities outside the organization. We have asked HR professionals to answer the query "so that …" to turn an activity into an outcome. For example: "We are investing in a performance appraisal (training, 360, communication or other HR process) so that … ." The answer to the "so that" query focuses on an outcome, not an activity. Outcomes are what we should be measuring.

Help leaders define their results. Many leadership programs are filled with exercises and seminars meant to help leaders learn and grow as individuals. They can identify their strengths and build them. But unless and until those strengths help others, they are incomplete. My colleagues at the RBL Group and I have adapted a fantastic exercise from Marshall Goldsmith. In a workshop, we ask leaders to think about their personal strengths and what they want to improve to be better as leaders and as people. Then, we ask them to stand and talk to five to seven other people who can coach them about using those strengths to strengthen others. Suddenly the focus is not just on what they want to do better, but on how their personal improvements will help others do their own work better. HR professionals who coach leaders about behavioral change can direct those improved behaviors to improved results.

Build a positive culture from the outside in. Most people acknowledge that companies have a culture, or way of doing things. This culture filters who joins the firm and how people act once they are in the firm. But often this culture is an inside-out view. It is defined as how we do things, our norms, our values, our expectations and our behaviors. By focusing on strengthening others, HR professionals can diagnose a culture against the standard of how it reflects desired outcomes by those outside the organization—customers and investors, for instance. HR professionals can ask leadership teams questions like: "What do we want to be known for by our best customers (or investors)?" By focusing on the strengths that others want to see in us, then translating those expectations into internal leadership and organization actions, we can make a culture an enduring source of value. Strengthening others affects not only the individual but the organization.

Be a contributor by working with business leaders on their issues. HR competency models that focus exclusively on what the HR professional should know and do are insufficient. The real impact of HR professionalism comes when HR professionals turn their knowledge and skills into productivity for others. HR professionals should know the business so that they help their business leaders achieve financial and customer results. HR professionals should build innovative and integrated HR practices so that strategies turn from aspirations to actions. HR professionals should be credible activists so that they can help those they coach reach the results they desire.

Develop HR professionals who are curious. In doing HR work, HR professionals should start by identifying their audience and what they want and need. This requires HR professionals who desire to learn first, then act. HR professionals should ask questions about what the business requires, about what leaders are accountable for, about what employees need, and about why customers select one provider over another. By asking these questions, HR professionals spend less time on what they are good at, and more time on what they can do to help others succeed. Curiosity means HR professionals begin their work by learning what others want rather than what they know. Strengthening others means good HR is less about what HR knows and more about how that knowledge affects others.

Building on strengths that in turn strengthen others does not mean pandering. It does not mean you will say and do anything someone wants. It means having a clear sense of self. It means identifying, developing and investing in personal strengths without arrogance or compromise. But, it also means applying those strengths to the service of others.

As the strength logic evolves and applies to HR, successful HR professionals might quietly say to themselves, "I am able to help someone accomplish what they need to do." And that happened because they used their strengths to strengthen others.

Workforce Management, March 17, 2008, p. 28-29

Creating People Advantage: How to Address HR Challenges Worldwide Through 2015

BCG (Boston Consulting Group) Report

[PDF] Creating People Advantage: How to Address HR Challenges Worldwide Through 2015
by Jean-Michel Caye, Andrew Dyer, Michael Leicht, Anna Minto, Rainer Strack
April 14, 2008

People challenges are greater than ever before at companies, thanks to globalization, an aging workforce, and employee desires for work-life balance. This report, which is based on a worldwide survey of more than 4,700 executives, lays out a comprehensive approach to enable companies to understand the HR environment and how they can create a people advantage. When companies that understand how to measure the effectiveness of their people and harness their talents, they will achieve a lasting edge. This PDF is an executive summary.

It is pretty short and well summarized, available on line at BCG website

Article from SHRM summarizing this report as well:

Global HR Professionals Learn They Are More Alike than Different

By Adrienne Fox

LONDON—Despite diverse languages, cultures and geographies, human resource professionals around the world face similar challenges. That’s the finding of a new survey conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm based in Boston, and the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA). The results were previewed at the associations’12th Annual World Congress here on April 14, 2008. The full report, Creating People Advantage: How to Address HR Challenges Worldwide through 2015, was to be released May 5.

Managing talent, improving leadership development and managing work/life balance are the top HR challenges in every region and industry, according to the survey of more than 4,700 HR and non-HR executives in 83 countries. The study was enhanced by in-depth interviews with 200 executives.

The survey asked respondents to rank 17 HR issues in order of their most critical future challenges and asked how they plan to address them through 2015. In North America, respondents reported that managing talent, managing demographics, improving leadership development, managing work/life balance and transforming HR into a strategic partner are most critical. Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management and a WFPMA board member, said the transformation of HR could be helped by establishing two distinct career paths in the way finance and accounting have become separate, and sales and marketing have two different tracks. “Both functions are critical to HR,” she said, discussing the survey findings at the WFPMA Heads of Nations meeting here on April 13. “But one would handle compliance and administration while the other would be strategic.”

Common Challenges

The top future HR challenges in Latin America are managing talent and work/life balance. “We have a permanent mixture of business and personal lives,” said Horacio Quiros of Buenos Aires, president of the Interamerican Federation of People Management Associations. “We are facing a new confusion because there is no separation. It has to fall to the individual to balance work and life.”

Ernesto Espinosa of Manila, who becomes president of the WFPMA at the conclusion of the World Congress, said HR is stumped on how to address work/life balance because the phrase is a “misnomer. It should be called work/life harmony.”

Executives in China and India added becoming a learning organization to their list of top challenges. Respondents in other parts of Asia put managing globalization among their top three concerns. Pacific Region executives added managing change and cultural transformation to their top future HR challenges.

In Europe, demographics and managing talent were identified as the key challenges. Rudolf Thurner of Vienna, president of the European Association of Personnel Management, said HR needs to change its view of who is talented. “We reject the notion that only 5 percent of the working population is talented and the rest is disposable,” he said.

WFPMA board member Tiisetso Tsukudu of Cape Town, South Africa, agreed. “Talent is only seen at the top, and we in HR need to change this because we need long-term talent from lower levels. Talent is not the same as genius. Everyone is capable of being talented.” In Africa, the survey found, the most pressing concerns in addition to talent, work/life balance and leadership development are managing globalization and diversity.

Solutions

In response to the talent management challenge, 70 percent of North American respondents said they would need to develop tailored career paths for employees, even though only 41 percent are currently using that solution; 61 percent believed they would need to develop specific compensation schemes for top talent, a strategy only 38 percent are using today; and 48 percent said in the future they would source talent globally, with only 22 percent saying they cast the net globally now. In all other regions of the world, these three strategies were identified as the most effective solutions to managing talent in the future.

To better anticipate change in demographics, globalization and corporate change and cultures, the report advises HR to restructure its organization to be more nimble: “While restructuring is commonly viewed as a cost-reduction exercise, the topic also applies to growth scenarios.”

HR functions should assess and improve all HR processes systematically to enable the organization, the report states, starting by separating administrative services from strategic tasks in HR to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Next Steps

The Creating People Advantage summary concludes with advice on how to use the findings in your organization. The first step is to understand the external environment by analyzing general industry and economic trends, business challenges and the corporate strategy. Then understand the internal environment by conducting an HR audit. “Ask your business executives how HR rates on the 17 HR topics and then select the top three most critical ones for your business,” Rainer Strack, partner and managing director at BCG in Düsseldorf, Germany, told the World Congress attendees. Once you identify the three challenges, initiate projects with dedicated teams to address them.

The study found that executives rated the performance of their company’s HR function 18 percent higher when dedicated teams of employees inside and outside of HR oversaw critical issues. Finally, secure top management support, which may be easier if teams are cross-functional.

“Maintain rigorous quality control on all 17 HR topics,” said Strack. “But reduce emphasis on existing HR topics that are not as critical to your company success” and steer resources accordingly.

Adrienne Fox, a freelance writer and editor in Alexandria, Va., is former managing editor of HR Magazine.

Recruiting Professional Website

ERE
http://www.ere.net/
An online community where recruiting professionals share best practices, network, and the latest trends in the recruiting industry.

Certified Compensation Professional (CCP)

It has been a while that didn't update the blog. Just so many things going around.
One of these is being busy on the progress of CCP. So like to take the opportunity to introduce CCP and WorldatWrok, The Total Reward Association.

Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) is the certification for compensation. It is recognized as the world's standard since 1976, and is offered by WorldatWork Society. The CCP designation is known as a mark of expertise in compensation, requiring a passing score on 9 exams. (Yes... that's 9 exams... ). There are corresponding courses offered by WorldatWork for these courses. You can either attend the courses and take the followed exam, or just purchase coursecast or exam material for self-study.

At WorldatWork, the "total reward" consists of 5 main areas: compensation, benefits, work-life, performance and recognition, development and career opportunities. WorldatWork provides educations, publications, researches, seminars, certifications, etc. to support the expertise development in these areas.

Corporate Leadership Council (CLC)

Another HR resource: Corporate Leadership Council (CLC)

“The Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) provides best practices and quantitative research and executive education to the largest global network of HR executives. The Council focuses on topics that are most critical for senior HR executives: employee engagement, performance management, leadership development and succession management, diversity, HR service delivery, and executive compensation.”

“Members have unlimited access to the Council's proprietary quantitative databases, best practices case studies, on-demand customized research, interactive member networking events, and online benchmarking data, issue-specific decision support centers, and diagnostic tools and templates.”

Just know I have membership access for free (if your company is one of memberships already)and I like their research and tools.
Also, another two related websites under Corporate Executive Board
HR Leadership Academy & China HR Executive Board

The 2007-2008 Workplace Trends Lists

The 2007-2008 Workplace Trends Lists
_The Top Trends According to SHRM's Special Expertise Panels

It's a summary of the Society for Human Resource Management Special Expertise Panel 2007 Trend Reports. Come to learn what issues that HR subject matter experts believe will have biggest impact in workplace.

Key theme emerged:

• The importance of globalization and integrating markets
• Demographic change and its impact on diversity and labor availability
• The Implications of increased health care costs
• Immigration and global labor mobility
• Skills shortages and a greater emphasis on talent management
• The growing importance of demonstrated ethics and corporate social responsibility
• The influence of new technologies, especially social networking and HR technologies
• A greater reliance on metrics

You can see most of trends are related to the "globalization", including the implication of health care costs, skills shortages, and new technologies which to greater extent also contribute to the increasing importance of globalization.

Let's take one step further to look into the trends of Global HR in the order of importance:

1. Managing talent globally and having the “right” talent to achieve business strategy, particularly in high-growth countries.
2. Multiculturalism of global workforce.
3. Global teams that can manage distances effectively and balance a U.S.-centric view versus a global view.
4. Global leadership and the recognition of a need to cultivate specific global leadership competencies.
5. Demographics: Generational differences in work styles/preferences as well as workplace shifts as baby boomers retire.
6. HR communication and expertise across borders to leverage globally dispersed pockets of knowledge.
7. Demand for HR skill sets (strategic/international versus transactional).
8. Immigration reform and the staffing shortage (construction, engineering, output from universities).
9. Domestic is global and global is domestic.
10. Movement of people in Western multinational corporations (MNCs) to other economies and growth of emerging-market-based MNCs.

So, how would you or your company position yourself in the trends?

More quarterly and special report about "Workplace Trend and Forecasting" are available at SHRM website (http://www.shrm.org/trends/)

The Art of War for Women

THE ART OF WAR FOR WOMEN
_Sun Tzu’s Ancient Strategies and Wisdom for Winning at Work
By Chin-Ning Chu


When I first read “The Art of War” two years ago (another book), I instantly knew that’s something I have been looking for, something I really love, something allows me to explore the environment around. It is very attractive to me in a way that there is no specific answer in there. It is all about strategy. “What” matters, but “how” you apply them, utilize them, and position yourself counts even more! It is really an art in which all of the factors are interrelated and every situation is so unique. That’s the beauty of it!

There are lots of books out there writing about Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”. In fact, it is not an easy book at all. Many people may misinterpret it, and the tricky part is, sometime you thought you got it, but actually you didn’t really do. The philosophy does require certain level of mastery on understanding the holistic philosophy. Probably it is the reason why every time when I read it, I always have different thoughts related to its concepts.

This one is written by Chin-Ning Chu, also the author of Thick Face, Black Heart. The theme is to show how to adapt principles of “the Art of War” to the workplace/career in particular from women perspective. However, while I was listening to it*, I didn’t think there is much difference when applying these principles from women or men’s perspectives. But it does keep me alert about the “stereotypes” that women have been put in, increasing self-awareness.
Final word, play the game or you are played by others… instead of hating or criticizing the “dark side” of human being, I think I would CHOOSE to LEARN to ENJOY the game….

* It is the first audio book I used. I found it is very efficient by listening while driving, working out, or just simply getting my eyes relaxed. It helps save lots of time and also pushes me to concentrate and think/reflect quickly. There have been many online websites supporting audio book where you can easily download to you MP3 or IPOD. (http://www.audiobooksusa.com/)

HOW TO BE A STAR AT WORK

HOW TO BE A STAR AT WORK
_Nine breakthrough strategies you need to succeed
by Robert E. Kelley

Be frankly, I didn’t expect much from this book in the beginning. It has been in my shelf for over half year since I bought it. Recently, I finally got the chance to read and I was really surprised with its profound.
I thought it was like the books we normally see in the book store: a quick fix guide or self-help, feel-good ones. However, what sets it apart is its solid research base: with more than one decade involvement in the intensive study of star performers. Even though this book is more focused on the Bell Lab workplace study (well, this has been well-known when it comes to organizational/workplace behavior study). The goal is to unveil the secret of star performer: what exactly set them apart from the rest of average performer?

An “astounding” answer: the data shows no appreciable cognitive, personal-psychological, social, or environmental difference between starts and average performers. Those are all factors that people believe in contributing to the difference. This really intrigues me to going forward …So, what exactly is it all about?

(highlights from the books: the nine strategies)

1. INITIATIVE: blazing trails in the organization’s while spaces

· Getting beyond: Seek out responsibility above and beyond the expected job description
· Helping out: Undertake extra efforts for the benefits of coworkers or the larger group
· Following through: Stick tenaciously to an idea or project and follow it through to successful implementation
· Risk taking: Willingly assume some personal risk in taking on new responsibility

Choosing the right initiatives: steps
1. Do you current assignment well
2. Follow the initiative value trail: who benefit? need to have payoff for someone other than you. (if there is nothing in it for someone besides you, don’t call it an initiative)
3. Stay close to the critical path (e.g. reduce the cost, increase the revenue; get the bottom line)
4. Choose high level initiatives: moving from “horizontal” to “vertical” initiatives’ solves whole set of similar problems not only in the same category, but throughout the entire system; capturing the high-level systems perspectives by going from local to corporate-wide optimization
5. Determine the probability of success and the cost of failure: start out from smaller more private setting and seek support from others; also know when to cut the losses

Final word
· Have a keen sense of how initiative is defined in workplace/by manger and peers
· CHOOSE WISELY
· Work efficiently in their own jobs to have more time pursue initiatives

2. KNOWING WHO KNOWS: plugging into knowledge network
· The knowledge deficit: knowing what you don’t know matters!
· Networking: the critical path goes from mule trail to autobahn; work a network, not just do it by yourself
· Networks of the stars: mutual benefit; one-to-one interactions
· Networking fundamentals: stars have the networks with better quality and operate faster through the connection of knowledge itself, organizational support and technical/physical environment

Skills of the stars: the eight network nodes
1. Mental models of networking:
o Knowledge is not a public resources and access to it is not a basic right; it’s privilege that must be earned (or traded)
o It is a critical personal and community infrastructure that must be carefully maintained
o The first skill the star performer demonstrates early is the ability to establish some kind of expertise – a specialty area that will be of value to others by reducing their knowledge deficits exist in the department and which ones they can help fill
o Trades with a shrewd sense of cost and benefit
2. Weed and Seed
o Shrewd ability to choose their trading partners – identifying qualified knowledge givers and making them part of their network
o taking the opportunity to observe/searchà identify and seeking out/ask
3. Proactive One-Way Trading:
o Give first; build it before you need it
o Laying the connection groundwork from work related issues to personal
4. Networking etiquette on the critical path (courtesies and considerations in the networking process): earn your place by acting as solid vouchers and reference pointers (help all parties involved)
5. Do your homework (make a good impression and set the stage for a long-term networking relationship): link their problems to a discipline or an area of interest that intrigues the expert.
6. Credit lavishly
7. The benefit of newness
8. Be a good network citizen: taking and giving

Final word
· Social networking (benefit your organizational savvy) vs. Knowledge networking (more central and critical to your success and productivity)
· Choosier in what types of networks and in the extent to which they will be involved: settle into the networks and recruit experts with an eye toward getting the best job done on the critical path!

3. MANAGING YOUR WHOLE LIFE AT WORK: self management
· First step to star-quality self-management: managing to work only on activities directly tied to the critical path (evaluate “important vs. unimportant” first and then “urgent vs. not urgent” on important tasks). Their success in doing this depends on a deep understanding of what the critical path is in their organization and where they should be positioned on it to contribute in most productive way.
· Cannot depend on traditional management structure to put them on the critical path. “I realized just because they wanted me to do something, it didn’t mean it was on critical path. I had to be responsible to getting myself on the critical path. So, finally I took control of my to-do list”
Proactively getting on the critical path
· Understand the company’s goals and bottom line
· Tie your efforts to the firm’s bottom line, self-manage your way and transfer your skills to a more value-directed job, form reactively problem solving to proactively drive the business
Self-knowledge in self-management
· Stars who develop good self-management techniques have incorporated them into the mix of traits and quirks that define them as individuals in the workplace. There is no single personality trait that will make you a star performer
Self-managing and job satisfaction
· Know yourself wellà know the kind of work you do best and that you want to doà take control of your career path by developing a plan to connect yourself to the work you enjoy most and to connect that work to the company’s critical path
Managing flow: the productive state of mind
· Find meaning and enjoyment in the workà create a work environment that gives you the mental space to get into your work
· Organized self-management: getting the job done
· What star performer do differently: they have evaluations come earlier in the process; have a early warning system and a fallback plan in the event of crisis; tend to build a lot of forward-thinking behavior into their self-management system. (the constant weighting and analysis of the work has implications down the road for both short-term and long-term career choices)à The stars, in effect, take controls of both daily work routines and career choices, knowing the days when a paternal hand would reach down from upper management to guide the way are long gone
Organizing self-management: Company and career
· Stars do proactively be involved in managing their work flow and career paths. Care what project they do? Who would be great to work with? How the project fits well into critical path? By sculpting a piece at one time. [Foundation of work relationship: increased productivity and value added to organization]

4. GETTING THE BIG PICTURE: learning how to build perspective

· Sat performer seeks out learning experiences that pushes the limits of their knowledge and make sure they learn from it by internalizing patterns and forms
· Star performer develops a deeper more well-rounded understanding of their field, which in turn leads to pattern recognition skills that form the foundation of perspective
· Pattern recognition is the essential foundation for star perspective and it can only be attained through experience
· But what makes a difference is whether they incorporate their pattern recognition ability into the kind of perspective and strategic thinking that leads to expert judgment!

Getting outside the box with the five Cs’ perspectives
· Colleague
· Customer
· Competitor
· Company-management
· Creative dissonance

With the ability to recognize patterns, to think creatively outside the box, to exercise expert judgment, and to discern the changing games and their changing rules, you have the essential perspectives keys to gain entry to star performer ranks.

5. FOLLOWERSHIP: checking your ego at the door to lead in assists

“Brainpowered Followership” means
· …being actively engaged in helping organization succeed while exercising independent, critical judgment of goals, tasks, potential problems, and methods
· …having the ability to work cooperatively with a leader to accomplish the organization’s goals even when there are personality or workplace differences
· …being key players both in planning the courses of actions and implementing in the field
· …use other productivity-model skills to choose the matter and timing

Work strategies of the star follower:
1. Self-leadership: know how to lead themselves, and demonstrate personal reliance
2. Focus/Commitment/Incentive: a passion that engages their hearts as well as focusing their minds, emotionally fueling their everyday work activities
3. Competence that leads to credibility: always have higher standards for themselves; sharp observers of new technology and societal trends, working to stay up to date; first to take advantage to improve their performance
4. Courageous conscience
5. Disagreeing agreeably: steps to control your ego to work cooperatively with the leader: be proactive
o be a fact finder
o be an advice seeker
o be a system player
o be persuasive: speak in the language of the organization; frame the message in consistent with the values and vision of the organization and back up by solid and objective information
o be courageous: go over heads when absolutely necessary; work on the confrontation and courage-building skills on a daily basis, practicing insightful, positive challenges to small directives in order to establish both a reputation and an experience level that prepare them for the heavy crisis that will eventually present themselves
o be a collective follower to plan well to stand alone

6. SMALL-L LEADERSHIP IN A BIG-L WORLD
To be an effective small-l leader, a team member must secure the respect of coworkers in at least one of three areas covered by the critical skills of Knowledge Quotient, People-Skills Quotient, or Momentum Quotient.

7. TEAMWORK: getting real about teams
· The culture of teamwork: see if the people at the top act as a team
· Choose team wisely: learn to be selective (How close it is to critical path? Benefit you? Don’t just be one person in the team, make sure it would add value to your company as well as your development)
· Contributing to the team: making sure the team knows its purpose
· Getting the team’s job done
· Paying attention and contributing to group dynamics

8. Organizational Savvy: street smart in the corporate comfort zone
· The ability to manage competing workplace interests to promote an idea, resolve conflicts, and most important, to achieve a goal
· The savvy surveyor: getting the lay of the land à organizational chart vs. real power
· The savvy insider: culture, attitude, symbol, quirk, etc.
· The savvy apprentice: finding a mentor; you need to surround yourself with people who are going to be really direct with you, not fawning “yes people”; seek out assignments where you can work closely with potential mentors
· The savvy explorer: experiencing the land you’ve map; the star lobbies to get the assignment, find ways to get experience in different parts of the company, seeing from different perspectives, ground themselves indentified knowledgeable colleagues to gain the valuable insights and build working relationships.
· The heart of organizational savvy: it’s all about relationship buildingà do understand the organizational etiquette and create an environment of conflict
· Create a niche: find an expertise niche that adds value to the organization, not only in their position, but in the rest of the workplace à take advantage of daily opportunity to publicize your niche area
· Advertise your expertise in different ways: bottom line is to advertise to the critical path and paying attention to organizational protocol; respect the niche-area boundaries of colleagues
· Developing the credibility: combined with other rules to build the reputation of integrity and credibility

9. SHOW-AND-TELL: persuading the right audience with the right message
· Know your audience
· Craft your message to that audience
· Make your message relevant and interesting to your audience.
· Put it in human terms, not purely technical ones: telling a story, not transmitting the factsà a good story engages the listener with something worth listening to: an intriguing plot, a human drama with twists and turns, fascinating characters, tension and conflict that get resolved, humor, and crisp visual images that capture the imagination; then the imaginative process kicks in
· Use props to enhance your story, not to steal the show