Own the Quality – Part 1

Posted on April 4, 2012 by John G. Self

A recruitment process that consistently delivers exceptional results is not cheap.

Corporations who cut corners in acquiring talent, focusing on process to save money in the name of efficiency more than the success of the new employee, will almost certainly have more significant, disruptive recruiting failures and higher turnover. In the end, these companies almost always lag behind their competitors.

Companies should measure the cost of recruiting – using executive search firms or building an internal recruiting infrastructure — not just the expense line of a financial statement but the results that new leaders deliver to the organization.

There are several things that a company can do to avoid a costly miss-hire. Since this is all about people, you should begin by focusing on people – your search firm consultant or internal recruiter.

Just because the recruiter has years of experience or the firm has a national or global footprint does not guarantee a successful search. Look at your recruiter’s specific results, not just the partner, but also the members of the team who will actually do the recruiting and candidate evaluation. What is their success rate for candidates who have stayed more than three years? Five years?

If you are using an outside recruiting firm, how long is their placement guarantee? Contingency firms, which typically do less due diligence regarding the client culture or candidate’s experience, will usually offer a guarantee ranging from 90 to 180 days. The vast majority of retained search firms offer a 12-month guarantee, which for executive level assignments, is really no guarantee at all. Push them to provide you a guarantee that is at least as long as the industry average candidate “stick” rate of two years. Anything less may be a red flag that they lack confidence in their screening process or that they don’t want to own the quality of their work. Claiming that they can’t control what happens to a candidate after they are placed in an organization is the most common excuse recruiters use to push back on this issue.

Too bad that claim is not appropriate. Do not let them get away with charging you a princely fee without owning the quality of their work. Funding will be tighter regardless of who is elected President and consultants have a responsibility to help their clients by delivering more value for the money they pay.

For corporate recruiters, hire people who have a verifiable record of recruiting successful people. Insist that they be honest and transparent with their internal clients and the candidates. No exceptions. Then tie their performance in finding people who deliver measurable value to a condition of their own continued employment.

If you take this approach, plus use recruiters with a gold-plated candidate evaluation tool or implement one for your internal management executive recruiting team, I guarantee you will improve the quality of your management and leadership recruits. I will discuss the candidate screening process in my next post.

Know Your Rights in the Job Search

Posted on March 9, 2012 by John G. Self

Executives in the job search should consider the cautionary tale of a man we’ll call Joe. Joe was a skilled leader at a small New England healthcare organization who had always felt he could do better. When a recruiter came calling with what sounded like a fantastic growth opportunity at a larger hospital system, Joe jumped on it. The salary sounded good, and he’d always wanted to live on the West Coast. It was a competitive search, but he landed what he thought was a dream job. He pulled his two kids out of school, packed up the wife and family, and moved across the country.

Six months later, Joe’s wife had moved the kids back home, the new house was back on the market, and Joe was looking for another job and wishing he’d never heard that recruiter’s name.

Joe’s dream job wasn’t what he’d thought it would be, and whose fault was that? The hospital’s? The recruiter’s? Or Joe’s?

In truth, the responsibility for ensuring a perfect match of candidate and hiring organization lies on all three. But unfortunately, not every recruiter has the candidate’s best interests at heart. To protect yourself, you must know your rights in the recruiting and executive search process.

Get Answers
When it comes to something as important as a career move, there’s no such thing as a dumb question. The recruiter and employer have their checklists and lists of interview questions, so make sure you have yours. Ask about everything that matters to you.

A few other important points to consider:

The recruiter should offer all relevant information about a position. You should never have to pry for details such as the hiring organization’s name or the title, salary, reporting relationship and location of a job.
Timely contact and open communication are vital, and help you build a strong relationship with the recruiter.
If the recruiter is not willing to retrieve information for you or avoids your communication efforts, it might be time to move on.

If a recruiter makes a job sound too good to be true, it probably is. Every organization has its challenges, and every group of people have their unique way of interacting. One of the trickiest questions often left unanswered is why a position is open. The answer is important, so be persistent. A good recruiter will tell you the good, the bad and the ugly about the organization, its problems, its culture, how decisions are made, and how you will be held accountable. It’s far better to find out what you’re getting into ahead of time, rather than after it’s too late.

Keep Private Information Secure
We’ve all heard horror stories about identities being stolen, so we’ve learned to keep a tight rein on personal identifying information, such as Social Security numbers. But, legitimate recruiters do need to ask for such details to verify college credentials and complete background checks. How can you tell if a recruiter’s request is legitimate, or if the person on the other end of the phone is really a scam artist?

First, if a recruiter you don’t know calls you and quickly requests personal identifying information, hang up. Second, if the recruiter won’t tell you the name of his or her client, do not give them any confidential information. Third, expect a proper release form when asked to provide personal data. Never give confidential information over the phone or in an e-mail until you know the position is real.

If you’re currently employed, chances are you don’t want your employer to know you’re in the job market. Always use a personal e-mail and phone account, as well as your own computer and electronic devices, when accessing job-search information or communicating with a recruiter. Legally, your employer has full access to any information in a company e-mail account or their own devices. In addition to getting you fired, such violations could get you sued by your employer.

Protect Your References
Potential employers have the right to ask for and check your references, but it’s your right to ask what kinds of questions your references will be asked and how the potential employer will get in touch with the people on your list.

If you’re active in your job search, your references may be getting multiple calls. Keep a list of more than five references, and offer only a few at a time, so that no single individual will be inundated with calls. Fail to respect your references’ time, and they will be less willing to go to bat for you in the future.

Negotiate the Right Salary
As a rule, never take a job without taking a step up. Executives should not accept less than a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in salary and/or a better title with a broader scope of responsibility. Take anything less, and you are telegraphing that you are being forced to change jobs. That devalues you, permanently. Too many people damage their career brand by accepting a lower-level job rather than taking a step closer to fulfilling career objectives.

Salary is a tricky subject in recruiting. For executive-level positions in the healthcare industry, employers always set a pay grade and/or salary range. If a recruiter doesn’t share this range in the position overview, it’s a red flag. Be warned: Some unethical recruiters may also encourage candidates to ask for more money in hopes of padding their own fees, which are based on a percentage of the position’s compensation.

Be Your Own Advocate
While a recruiter can be a big help in landing you a new job, keep in mind that recruiters are paid by the hiring organization – they are not working for you. A good recruiting firm serves its clients well by thoroughly educating and screening candidates, so that the person who gets the job is more likely to stay for the long haul. If the recruiter does his job well, and you do yours by knowing your rights as a job seeker, you’re more likely to land in a job that’s an ideal match.

Video Summaries of Candidate Interviews Leads To Greater Success

Posted on December 13, 2011 by John G. Self

Video Summaries of your search firm’s recommended candidates can help organizations avoid a costly leadership miss-hire; not video conferencing, which is widely overused in executive search, but edited video summaries of your recruiter’s in-depth face-to-face interview with the candidate.

Using videoconference technology to conduct the defining interviews that will be used to select their recommended candidates is a big mistake, the purported cost expense savings notwithstanding. Reviewing an edited version of the interview allows the client to make an informed decision as to which of the four or five candidates on the panel should be invited for a site interview.

The proof is in the record of success. Clients who have used search firms that incorporate video summaries as part of their candidate presentation say that it is “incredibly helpful” in selecting the right candidates . “In the past, we had to rely solely on the recruiter’s judgment, and in many larger firms, the partner has only limited exposure to the candidate in the screening process,” one CEO said who asked that I not use his name out of concern that there might be negative repercussions. Anyone who understands how most large consultancies work — and search firms are consultancies — knows that the partner is a rainmaker first, a client relationship manager second, and a working consultant a distant third.

Providing clients video summaries is a game changer in the client-search firm relationship.

The CEO continued that over a seven-year period and 12 searches, “having the videos helped us avoid some big mistakes. Over that period of time we only had one candidate who did not work out and that individual left after two years and the search firm provided a replacement.” He is not alone in his assessment.

The cost of a miss-hire at the executive level is extraordinarily costly, from 50 to 500 times the failed executive’s annual base compensation, depending on the size of the company and the that individual’s scope of responsibility.

Using videoconference interviews between the recruiter and candidates for the final panel is penny wise and pound foolish.

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