Category: Talent Acquisition – Assessments

It’s a very tough market in electrical and computer engineers for companies that provide security applications, Ai, IoT, and aerospace products.  Under rules from FAA and ITAR to FCC to ITAR to DoD, the education bubble shortage of US born engineers is evident.  Requiring US citizenship or green card (permanent residence status), real unemployment nationwide across all industries is still high.

First we need to understand the reality of the education bubble.  In the USA, the primary reason we have a decline in economic power is that since the 80s we have moved from real education in science, history, english, writing, and mathematics to “social awareness” and social justice teaching.

As such, we produce a declining number of electrical and computer engineers for four decades – especially USA natives. Want proof the education bubble is worsening?  Graduates numbered 14,584 in 2004-05, but declined to 14,209 in 2005-06 and 13,783 in 2006-07. Master’s degrees also dropped in the same time period, recording a significant decrease from 41,087 in 2004-05 to 38,451 in 2005-06, followed by a smaller decrease to 37,320 in 2006-07.

 

Education Bubble Creates Shortage of US born Engineers

 

Enrollment of U.S. citizens in graduate science and engineering programs has not kept pace with that of foreign students in those programs as new foreign student enrollment for 2008-2009 increased by approximately 16.0% from the previous academic year.  Since the federal government took over education with the Department of Education in 1979, our elementary schools and high schools have declined and at the university level the education bubble is worse.

The Education Bubble shortage of US born engineers exists due to this social engineering. The education bubble has come about doe to the federal government’s free-spending ways.  We re broke as a nation and cannot continue to give student loans to those whose GPA is not deserving.  And like my family did for me and my siblings, it is a parent’s sacrifice and savings to put a kid through college.  Or going to school at night while working full time like my father did.

Or going via the GI Bill by serving in the military.  Or busting your butt in 2 years of community college like my own son did (who then received full scholarships for bachelor and master based upon his grades) who then achieved a PhD in Space Physics.  He soundly defeats the issues in the education bubble.

Reasons for the Education Bubble Shortage of US born Engineers

 

Education should be about Learning and Competition

The education bubble shortage of US born engineers exist due to a failure to deal with real life in educating our children.  Just as in life there are winners and losers –  and no one should receive a trophy just because they tried.  And if you did not win, so what?  I was taught to keep trying.   And I spent 2-3 hours a day in homework from elementary all the way through high school.   In elementary and high school  we were encouraged to join clubs and be involved.  Me –  I chose football and Key Club.

Those two things taught me competition, being a team player, and giving of my time to my community.  With fierce competition and high education standards, we had no education bubble.   And the focus on high academic standards prepared me for college.  Today our schools focus on “feel-good” social engineering and teaching children political and social correctness rather than the 3 Rs and molding children for a bright future. We need to address the fundamentals about the education bubble.

We as citizens and responsible voters can CHANGE the education bubble. Scientists and engineers today make up only 4% of US employment; even doubling their number would in itself have a modest overall impact on the economy.  It seems odd to me that for the sake of so-called global diversity, we fail to provide encouragement and programs to elevate our own minority citizens and break the bonds of failing inner-city schools to allow these kids to learn STEM.  I think you’d be surprised how well inner city children in Chicago can become engineers and scientists if only provided the will and means by our academic elitists.

Rather, the point is that scientists and engineers contribute disproportionately to the creation of jobs for the other 96% of the nation’s workforce by generating knowledge, by innovating, and by establishing new companies based on that knowledge and innovation.  We can overcome the education bubble shortage of US born engineers.

First, the outlook for 2018 and beyond is worse unless we dramatically increase H1B visas.  It amazes me how often I hear “we can recruit on our own as so many people looking for work” and Hiring Managers who tell me “HR sends them garbage resumes, but the corporate decision makers have their hands tied.”

If you are in artificial intelligence, aerospace or defense systems, cyber security, industrial manufacturing or robotics, mobile digital media, broadband or mobile network operations, wireless infrastructure or IoT data  / devices / networks, you often are required by federal regulations and laws to hire US citizens or green cards due to the security clearance needed.

More so, when you need vendor-facing, or customer-facing engineers where the candidates in USA must be able to speak plain understandable English, the education bubble shortage of US born engineers is even greater.  Oddly we lead in philosophy, history, sports nutrition, social services, marketing, and law degrees.  Some of those are needed but we are woefully declining in science and mathematics (ranked 27 in the world and dropping) as the education bubble shortage of US born engineers increases.

Choosing the best type of search firm makes all the difference in getting the best possible hire for your team. According to Leadership IQ, 46% of new hires will fail within 18 months. The statistics only get worse.  Take a hard look at the expanded facts as presented by Dr. John Sullivan on ERE. About the 6 Ugly Numbers Revealing Recruiting’s Dirty Little Secret.  Choosing the type of search firm to work with is not an easy choice.  It is astonishing but not surprising.  When the agenda is how cheap can recruiting be done, the results are obvious.

Instead of looking deeply at the process a recruitment firm uses to identify, assess, and deliver potential candidates. When filling a key role, the cost of the fees is the first mindset.  What you should be thinking about is the end game – the services offering differentiation and the results.

 

Does the search firm accept verbatim the job spec verbatim?

 

1. 1. brief overview of the company culture, benefits, and market position. Rather than on the opportunity (USPs) of what this role will do to elevate one’s career. As well as the challenge being offered to entice interest
   2. Job specs focus on responsibilities when the focus should be on short- and long-term objectives with timelines.
   3. Too much emphasis on boiler plate requirements including skills and experience. The focus should be on prior directly related accomplishments & key performance indicators. What the new hire has done and will do with those skills and experiences. Not simply the number of years he/she has had them.

Simple economics is that the supply of good candidates is low while the demand to fill key roles is high.  As such, using job boards or career websites means that only active job seekers. Sadly in today’s market that is most often the underemployed and unemployable.  Because with low unemployment rates, good candidates are very passive.

They don’t look at job postings and they rarely respond to recruiter type emails. Those who are happy with their role, current employer, compensation; as such they are rarely ever looking for a job.  They are open to a challenge, the opportunity (unique selling points), possibly location, product or service, and company size.

 

Does the search firm have a verifiable track record of new hire retention?

 

It seems odd to me that one would not ask for proof of this.  Case in point is I have a direct competitor who is larger than my firm with more offices.  We both have done retained search for the same client.  We have each placed 3 at the C suite and VP levels.  All three of my competitor’s placements departed within 2 years while the three we placed are not only still there at 3.5 years but have been promoted and are meeting or exceeding the objectives for their respective roles.

What makes the difference?  The search process, assessments methodology, using psychometrics and the type of relationship.  My competitor interfaces with and is managed by the client’s HR group while we work directly with Executive Hiring Managers.    One more thing – look at the firm’s replacement guarantee clause.  If it is ranges from 90 days to one year, that tells you they don’t stand behind their work.  At NextGen Global, we stand behind our work with a 24 to 36 months replacement guarantee.

 

Does the search firm use science based methods and AI to identify team dynamics?

 

Let’s go back to that Leadership IQ study where it found that not only do 46% of new hires will fail within 18 months, but at the executive level it is for lack of interpersonal communications skills.  The truth is EACH team is unique.  By creating a composite of the team profile measuring values, motivations, decision-making traits, conflict resolution skills, relational communications traits, leadership and people skills, the recruiter can then compare the potential candidates’ capabilities to make sure they are either a strong or potential match. Choosing the type of search firm as you can see is part science, part experienced based skill set.

 

Choosing the type of search firm based on niche specialty

 

 

We pride ourselves on being startup experts.  While we do perform retained and succession bench search for one role at a time, over the years we have partnered with an outsourced HR and payroll services firm to offer Team Building talent acquisition management services for startups with less than 25 employees in the initial startup phase.

We save clients hundreds of thousands of dollars while filling key roles they need to meet customer or product/service design and roll-outs. Our work is primarily with startups, mid-cap, and spin-offs.  We rarely recruit for publicly traded companies or companies large than 5k employees.  The reason is simple.

As entrepreneurs ourselves, we understand how VC and PE forms work, we work often with board members in recruiting entrepreneurs, risk-takers, movers and shakers who focus more on the value proposition of equity and generous stock options based on meeting performance objectives. For large companies the latter are generally limited to a select few senior executives.

The larger the company, the less effective we can be as they tend to want their HR or TA group “manage the recruiter” demanding we adapt our search process to conform to theirs. This is what we call “tying one hand behind my back” syndrome.  We turn down companies asking us to do that.  If you are a large conglomerate or have more than 5k employees, it is best to go with a very large firm for most positions.  However, if you are looking for a senior executive or functional leader who is a change agent, a turnaround expert, a solid risk-taking decision maker or motivator, for those roles your best bet is the smaller boutique search firm.

 

Two neat tricks to ensure your choosing the best type of search firm

 

1. Look at the Linkedin connections of the recruiters you are considering. If you need to recruit a senior executive, does the recruiter have those connections with both your industry and with C-levels?  If the need is to recruit a VP of Sales of a Director of Engineering, do they have those relevant connections”?  You’ll be surprised to find most recruiters’ connections are with Human Resources and other recruiters which means they have few relationships with the type of people you seek.
2. Does the recruiter have intimate knowledge and experience in your industry? Look at articles and posts they’ve written.  If they are all about just recruiting or job seekers instead of Artificial Intelligence, Wireless, or whatever your industry is, how well do you suppose they understand your products, services, marketplace, or customers>

When you consider the cost of retained search look past the initial fee.  Look at the results of the person hired via the firm.  If the new hire assimilates quickly, is immediately productive, and meets or exceeds the objectives of the role, the cost of the search fee is irrelevant.  And remember, good search firm ONLY recruit “A players” who by definition produce 8 to 10 times more than “B players”.  It’s really a no-brainer in the value.

Let’s look at defining the Key Performance Indicators or even better defining how performance objectives focused recruiting can be used in the recruitment screening process.  Many hiring managers and recruiters for that matter have a misconception that these are used only after the hire or limited to executive leadership roles.

To understand why performance objectives focused recruiting is effective, let’s look at a why it should be utilized as enhance both job postings and the screening process.  Typical job descriptions delivers poor results, negative advertising, and lousy applicants. Generally they bespeak of a little company branding, responsibilities, requirements to apply, and a brief overview of benefits.

What does work is to use defining the performance objectives focused recruiting in the job description and developing ideal candidate profiling of a position. The issue is most Human Resource departments, corporate recruiters, and external recruiters lack any sense of understanding of how to analyze how a potential candidate may perform or what they will do to meet those defined objectives.

Performance Objectives Focused Recruiting NOT Requisitions

 

One of the gurus I learned from to define performance objectives focused recruiting is Lou Adler.  Here is a link to his site.  The best description of the SMART techniques come from Lou Adler’s point of view as I believe he states it best.

What do you want the new hire to achieve with “x responsibility”?  Take each required skill and ask what are the objectives of using this skill and how well the candidate may meet those objectives based on accomplishments and similar tasks performed by using SMART techniques.

1. Specific – details of what needs to be done (task, challenge, project, or problem)?
2. Measurable – amounts of change / % of change required
3. Action – what will the person in this role actually do?
4. Results – what needs to happen to accomplish the major objectives?
5. Time – how long will it take from start to finish for this objective to be reached?

Once you have defined the near-term performance objectives, move onto the long-term objectives that will bring real added-value to the company.

​

Candidate Profiling Performance Objectives Focused Recruiting

 

After discovering how to map those objectives you need to develop the ideal candidate profile. Next we will examine how a retained search firm performs these tasks including:

1. when and who should be involved in defining the team profile (not the corporate profile but the actual team the new hire will work within)
2. analyzing behavioral traits of ideal candidates measured against the team profile to determine effect of new hore on team dynamics
3. refining how performance objectives focused recruiting uses team fit and candidate profiling to target and identify the candidates who can meet or exceed the management objectives.

 

From an executive recruiting standpoint, job boards impeding death is apparent.  Job boards have always been a non-issue. The voluminous lists of pedestrian “McJobs” offered on job boards are targeted towards “active” job seekers. Largely all “C players” that make up 55% of the workforce. Who could easily be replaced by automation, software, Ai, or robotics. While they can actively show up and do a job, they add no real value. They are unlikely to contribute to or develop IP, fixing or resolving key issues or revenue rainmaking.  In essence what stockholders call overhead.

To further our assumption, there is empirical evidence that job boards impending death is near. It is agreed they have lost value even for active job seekers, some of the primary reasons being:

1. Companies using job boards rely on applicant tracking systems (ATS) or HRIS systems. These house, sort, and store applicants and employee records.  This means that your resume must be fully optimized to get past the 3-5 second look to be noticed.
2. Because of the sheer volume of responses most companies receive, many will only look at the top handful of qualified results. So active job seekers are competing with hundreds, or even thousands of other people for the same job.
3. A job board submission rarely goes directly to the decision maker or Hiring Manager.  You first must get through the Human Resources or corporate recruiter gauntlet. Many of these are simply not qualified to screen and assess for key roles.
4. Quality positions are just not posted on job boards.  In fact estimates are that as much as 80 % of new jobs are never listed. Instead filled internally or via networking.  Referrals on the other hand, make up 40% of new hires.

Who or What Caused Job Boards Impending Death?

 

Suspect number one: Social Media

 

One of the key trends that is driving job-seeking is the rise of social media networking. With the right research and approach, a job-seeker can generally locate and connect directly with people and companies.  LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook are the go to social networks.  This will hasten Job boards impending death and probably a big bonus for job seekers everywhere. But in terms of executive recruitment, it’s a non-issue. The passive candidates we seek won’t be lurking about in either local in a job-hunting mode.

Suspect number two: the companies themselves

 

Of the thousands of job boards that are out there – from Monster, Indeed and Career Builder to LinkedIn and all the niche sites dedicated to specific industries – there is not one that successfully connects with passive candidates. These A-players, who make up approximately 14% of the workforce, are rarely, if ever, unemployed, and don’t ever use job boards or post their resume online, even if they are searching for opportunities. Of that 14%, only 15% don’t want to move at all, and almost half of them are open to dialogue with a recruiter.

There are a few boards that claim to target passive candidates, but they levy an additional cost on top of your paid recruitment campaign, and still the resulting applicants are (most often) not ideal: they are, in fact, active job seekers and not passive candidates. They now push the idea that new algorithms and predictive data based on utilizing artificial intelligence means they can attract and better match applicants to jobs, yet these are still targeted to those who overwhelmingly use job boards – active job seekers.

So basically, by buying into this thinly veiled cash-grab and stalling job boards impending death, you are wasting valuable time and money when you should be focusing on more traditional recruitment techniques such as networking and relationship building to get the results you need.

Where are all the A-players?

 

The top players, known as “A players” who exist at every level from CEO to janitor, are rarely, if ever, unemployed, they are never actively looking for a job, they don’t post their resume online and they don’t ever use job boards – and for good reason.

For the most part, the job boards don’t do a good job of attracting A-listers. Jobs posted on job boards focus solely on responsibilities, skills required and corporate culture selling points. This amounts to mostly boring descriptions of positions that mention nothing about the actual opportunity in terms of learning or career growth.

Further proof in the death of the job board is their postings also rarely mention “performance objectives.” They rarely, if ever, describe the “team culture,” preferring to use ambiguous terms like “corporate culture,” or “vision,” creating a huge disconnect between our A-players and any available positions.

Be Part of The Team

Team culture is also important, but you’ll never see anything about that on a job board. Individual work groups are unique and have their own “team culture.” A team culture is defined according to the personalities and behavioral patterns of each individual team member, as well as how they all work together.

The only way to determine whether a candidate will fit with a team culture is through personal connection – something you just won’t get with a job board.  When recruiting A-players, you must present them with opportunities that are significant.

This could be reflected in title, objectives, location, an attractive company size, growth, and product/service market share, but at least one of these things must be present to assure that you are piquing their interest enough to even have a shot.  As for how and where to find the A-players, if you take away the online and the bulk of social media, traditional recruitment methods always win the day.

Numbers never lie

 

If you’re looking for proof that job boards impending death is near, look no further than your own ROI. Numbers never lie. For every job board you invested in over the course of a year

1. how many hires occurred?
2. how much did each hire cost you?
3. what was the level of the positions you placed from a job board candidate?
4. were there any critical roles filled? What is the retention rate of those hired from a job board?

 

Most evident is just to take a at Indeed, a job aggregator service and you will find that the same jobs are not only posted by the actual employer / company, but also by numerous contingency search firms. and RPOs  Its recycling the same “C players” – that 55% of the workforce that are bodies and will show up to work to be paid, but contribute nothing to the bottom line.  Once you start crunching the numbers, the evidence will probably give you a clear picture of the unfortunate, unvarnished truth.

 

Personal connections always yield the best results

 

Retained executive search companies have always relied on interpersonal and industry relationships to bring about successful results. As anybody in this niche knows, the discovery of most A-players come from actual conversations that bring forth referrals. Technology has infiltrated our society and industry, changing the way the world around us turns. It is still the tried-and-true grass-roots efforts that win the day.

The verdict on Job Boards Impending Death

 

 

In closing, let’s consider the advantages that a niche, retained executive search consultant brings to the table.  If using a retained executive search professional, the hiring manager doesn’t end up with an inbox full of “flypaper” resumes. They instead receive a shortlist of 2-3 “finalists” who can meet the performance objectives of the position. These people are truly A-players who will produce 8-10 times more value than B-players.

This proves that the result is well worth the placement fee and time investment. Leading us to conclude with confidence that this is a far more valuable. Not to mention a more viable and cost-effective solution over the waste in the death off the job board.

The objective is to conduct forward-looking interviews  about what this person would do in short and long term coming on board.  Many recruiters lack depth in screening, interviews, assessments; rarely discover how a candidate will affect team dynamics.

This causes the Hiring Team to waste valuable time in an interview performing screening of candidates’ background and experience.  This tells you that the recruiter failed to do their job.     Which begs the question – exactly WHY and HOW is your recruiter earning a fee?

 

Why do Forward-Looking Interviews Work?

 

The recruiter should provide detailed documentation about relevant experience, accomplishments, leadership/staffing abilities, budget/P&L performance, analysis of industry expertise; depth of industry relationships.

For Engineering and Product Management roles, the recruiter needs to document patents and intellectual property development.  In addition, address how they affected product or service R&D, delivery, market impact;  customer / vendor relationships, GTM strategies.

For sales and business development roles it’s all about how did the candidate grow existing or creating new markets, quota vs. actual, average sales volume / sales cycles.

For senior executives the recruiter needs to determine key accomplishments such as turnarounds and growth types; industry leadership by being a major speaker at industry trade shows / conferences and relationships w/ customers, vendors, analysts, and investors.

Doing these allow for the  Board or CXOs to conduct forward-looking interviews.

 

 

Forward-Looking Interviews Get the Best Candidates

 

If the recruiter began the search by identifying the short and long term objectives of the role. everything  else falls into place.   Combine that with scientifically based team profiling and determining a strong team fit.  It is important to know the leadership qualities, relational communications style, decision making traits, selling of ideas or products / services, and conflict resolution skills.  These types of interviews will reveal much more than rehashing what is on a resume.

For an in-depth look at how to utilize proper recruiting methods that will prepare your team to schedule time ONLY the best candidates in forward looking interviews,  please view of download the PDF titled Why Forward-Looking Interviews Work Best in Recruiting.

 

A well designed employee recognition program results in higher levels of engagement have proven, repeatedly, higher levels of employee satisfaction, greater increase in productivity, greater company loyalty, higher profits, and better customer satisfaction.

Let’s look at the facts. In 2013, a poll conducted by Gallup found that 87 percent of workers surveyed in countries all over the world were disengaged with their jobs. Only the remaining 13 percent stated that they were satisfied with their jobs and felt deeply engaged with the companies they worked for.

One of the best ways to increase engagement is to make sure that employees feel appreciated and that hard work is suitably rewarded both financially and in some other ways. Having a strategic employee recognition program in place is one of the most effective ways to get results and take advantage of the following three key benefits:

Employee Recognition Program Improves Business

 

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that happy and motivated employees are better equipped to address customer concerns. Staff members need to feel that they have personal stake in selling the brand and its products and services, while also offering impeccable customer support. Around 40 percent of companies that have adopted a peer-to-peer employee recognition program claim to have increased customer satisfaction.

Many senior managers consider them an investment rather than an expense. People want to be rewarded for good work and they’ll be mentally far better equipped to face the monotony of modern corporate culture if they know there’s a good bonus and other rewards waiting for them.

Decreases Employee Turnover Rate

 

While money is obviously a primary motivator in almost any job, offering a pay raise isn’t the most effective method to hold on to employees. In fact, studies have shown that about half of employees leave within two years after accepting a raise, a statistic that clearly indicates that salaries and job satisfaction don’t always correlate.

Often as important is employee recognition, which has proven to lower turnover rate significantly. Employees who are widely recognized and rewarded for their work are about 30 percent less likely to leave the company.  Other benefits of an employee recognition program include increased happiness and productivity and reduced stress and frustration levels. A lower turnover rate also saves money, since a direct replacement cost up to half the previous employee’s annual salary.

Increase Engagement and Productivity

 

An employee recognition program is all about clear communication, transparency, and having a solid rewards-driven system in place. Such a strategy leads to greater employee engagement, since it makes members of staff feel like they’re a part of something bigger.

An employee who has a personal stake in the direction the company is heading will be genuinely concerned about the day-to-day operations of the business.

By contrast, someone who counts themselves in the 87 percent of people who claim to be disengaged with their jobs will be more likely to sleepwalk through each workday while looking forward to nothing more than the paycheck at the end of the month.

Additionally, the Gallup survey showed that two-thirds of employees considered praise from managerial staff to be the top motivator.

Final Words on Employee Recognition Program

 

There are many ways to implement an employee recognition strategy and most of them don’t require a huge investment. Some of the most popular methods include publishing the company’s greatest achievers in email newsletters, using staff meetings as an opportunity to include praise, or preparing regular status reports. However, a more original and engaging employee recognition program might include an achievement- or score-based system complete with rewards and prizes for top workers.

Comprehensive pre-employment background checks are an absolute necessity.  Your time is a valuable commodity. When you consider taking on a high-touch candidate destined for executive placement it is of even greater importance, as the time you spend performing comprehensive background checks may be considerable. Above all, you don’t want to lose on your investment.

Knowing what potential dangers lurk before you put a lot of effort into somebody makes good business sense. If it were a business acquisition, you would be performing the same sort of due diligence on the company you intend to purchase, so why not apply this to your human assets also?

Conducting comprehensive pre-employment background checks prior to in-person interviews is one of the surest ways to confirm that your candidate is representing themselves with verity — your brand reputation and the company’s future depends on it. When it is a leadership, management or customer-facing role, it is even more important to know exactly who is sitting on the other side of that desk. In this age of lawsuits and litigation, being armed with verified, up-to-the-minute information is your best protection.

Performing comprehensive pre-employment background checks before you hire is important. Performing a background check during the course of the recruiting process is just as crucial.  The more you know about a candidate, the better you will be able to predict their success or lack of it.

Making sure you are placing the right person in the right position is so much more than just job experience and having the appropriate demeanor: ensuring that your candidate will meet all expectations and does not present a danger to you, the on-boarding company, their brand or their staff assures a return on your investment. It also gives you a stronger platform to work from when negotiating the deal. If you are committed to presenting the best candidate for the job, having a thorough background check in place is not just an option – it is a necessity.

Most HR departments, hiring managers, and recruiters ask their candidate to supply several references.  Let’s be honest – these are peers, friends, and by and large 50% are therefore biased. Retained executive search firms like NextGen dig up and cold call references we find who are past internal customers the candidate interfaced with, vendors, external customers, and those who reported to him/her, as well as his/her former superiors.  These names we dig up are caught off guard, are honest, and really do help to provide an accurate balance of professional references in comprehensive background checks.

Define comprehensive pre-employment background checks

 

SSN trace, search and validation: This verifies your candidate’s identity. A social security number is specific to the state and city where it was obtained, and can tell you a great deal about an individual, such as their residential history. A verified SSN can also help to verify other information that the background check might reveal.

County criminal record searches: This will reveal if they have been in trouble locally.

Current and previous residences: Frequent moves can be a harbinger of trouble to come, revealing transiency or any kind of trouble in holding down a residence.

National criminal file: This is a validated result that is cross-referenced to known addresses. Care must be taken to verify this information against a known quantity, such as an individual’s SSN. There are likely thousands of William Smith’s in the world, for example.

Federal criminal record searches (last 7 years): Any federal criminal offence will appear here. Federal offences are far more serious, and include many ‘white-collar’ crimes such as fraud.

Federal civil records searches (current and previous residences): this will illuminate problems with money, handling money, securities and bad debt–very important in hiring for fiduciary positions. It will also reveal past marriages or any civil proceeding that the candidate has been involved with.

OFAC terror watch/sex offender check: It probably goes without saying, a history that includes terrorism, violent crime or a sex offence has the potential to cause a great deal of harm to your company, your customers and your workforce.

Education verification (2 highest degrees): Education verification to prove your candidate’s claims.

Employment verification (last 3 employers): Verifying past employment, positions held and more proof of claims.

Professional character references (past superiors, direct reports, internal/external customers as applicable): How your candidate interacts with others should be of great interest to you. This is the trickiest part as most HR departments lack the skills to conduct job references pertaining to those whom the candidate interfaces with. It’s not just the interactions, but the mentor and coaching capability, listening skills, ability of the candidate to sell their ideas,  examples of conflict resolution, and teamwork.

Social media reputation reports: Many people reveal their true character online in ways they never would to your face. It’s not about the kids, the cottage or the kittens, but if your candidate is a drunk or has a tendency to bad-mouth their employers or even worse – their customers – online, you’ll want to know.

PEER credit report: A PEER credit report takes an individual’s personal credit, residential and employment history into account and is a little more detailed than a standard background check. The PEER report is more a gauge of dependability than credit worthiness, and does not result in a credit inquiry for the candidate. Use for C-Suite level, VP and fiduciary roles.

‘Ban the Box’ laws impacts comprehensive background checks

 

In states or municipalities where a ‘ban-the-box’ law is in place, access to your candidate’s criminal history in comprehensive background checks could be limited until later on in the hiring process. You might think that this legislation has limited influence with regard to executive search and placement, but it still has the potential to lead you down a blind alley every once in a while. You might, for instance, spend a great deal of time on a candidate during the on-boarding process only to find that there were some legal or ethical issues that you just cannot afford to take a chance on.

The legislation itself applies to federal government job applications, some private contractors and companies operating in specific regions that have adopted the policy. While it is arguably a useful and constructive way to level the playing field, it could still impede your process when hiring mid-level to senior management.

Since the legislation can be enforced at the state, county or municipal level, it is important to find out what the laws are in your area, and understand what you can and can’t legally ask up front.

Most ban-the-box laws do not prohibit an up-front comprehensive pre-employment background checks, but some do require the employer to wait until after the first interview or even later in the hiring process.

Running comprehensive pre-employment background checks

 

Your HR department can check references and social media, but a verified background check ensures the information you obtain is bona-fide and that the person whose life you are looking into is actually the one you intended. Additionally, there is a lot of information that cannot be uncovered in a limited search.

Some data can only be accessed by a licensed firm that specializes in comprehensive pre-employment background checks. Such companies have the experience to get you what you need in an expedient manner, and will help to prevent you from looking at personal data that might put you in violation of state or federal law. If you are in doubt, consult your legal department first. Most states require that you obtain a written consent from the candidate prior to conducting a search. You should also expect to provide a copy of that search to the subject in addition to any related communications or recommendations.

Above all, look at a broad spectrum of information. Don’t just look at the negative, and don’t focus too closely on any one thing. The sum total of your candidate’s data should tell a story – hopefully a good one – that will help you decide how best to proceed.

Loads of companies and recruiters use some type of screening tests but few look at the all important concept that faster productivity + team dynamics in whether a potential new hire is both a role fit AND a team fit   We know that a new hire impacts team dynamics.  While some have a one-size-fits-all behavioral analysis testing for the candidate only, what are the recruiter or hiring manager comparing the candidate to?

Some measure job skills, others measure interpersonal and communication skills, planning and organizing, and some measure aptitudes, and still others cognitive ability.  There are even some that test applicants on their ability to make presentations or on their behavior pattern in a simulated meeting, however they still fail to consider profiling hiring teams in order to form a target candidate profile as part of measuring team fit to make a new hire impacts team dynamics positively.

 

Productivity in how New Hire Impacts Team Dynamics

 

One way to understand the first part of performance based recruiting is in the discovery step prior to planning a search strategy. Sadly too many internal recruiters and HR managers put too much emphasis on matching potential candidates to a “one-size-fits-all” corporate culture.  They fail to take into account that EACH TEAM is UNIQUE.

Each team has it’s own culture that is not a clone identity to the corporate culture.  If you want to achieve faster productivity, recognize how new hires impact team dynamics in recognizing the positives and negatives.  You must take that individual team culture the new hire will work within as part of your search strategy.  What the executive search consultants at NextGen do is to ask the stakeholders (listed below) to take a brief less than 10 minutes online survey that can be taken 24/7.

1. his/her direct report/hiring manager
2. at least 2-3 internal customers
3. for sales, product management, product marketing, and sales engineering roles, we recommend at least  1-2 key external customers on whom this position will have an impact.

This is where many internal hiring managers miss the boat.  Many in Human Resources and even some executives fear asking external customers (who can be direct customers, partners, or vendors) to participate.  Their immediate thought is to perceive this as negative.  Rather it is completely positive as those external stakeholders value and appreciate you have included them on designing a target candidate profile.  It makes for better customer interaction because you are taking into account how not only how they interface with this role, but also the impact the potential new hire will have on productivity + team dynamics.

Achieving Longer Retention | New Hire Impacts Team Dynamics

 

It is designed to gauge and measure each respondents view of the role and team in terms of values and motivations, relational communications traits, decision making and conflict resolution skills.  These questions in the survey, combined with how each stakeholder views the OBJECTIVES of the role instead of the requirements and responsibilities, is used to create a Composite Team Profile.

With the information gathered the original job spec, the discovery step, and the composite team profile, the recruiter can effectively construct a Search Strategy including a Target Candidate Profile for screening and assessment.

The end goal is to identify, recruit, assess, and determine a shortlist of candidates that are both a role fit and team fit, meaning that they have a high likelihood of achieving the objectives of the role.  In other words, new hire impacts team dynamics becomes a positive impact. NextGen’s award-winning Leadership Vault search process has resulted in 94% of our placements still working for the company we staffed at 3.5 years of employment.

In addition, the most common feedback is that the candidates we presented not only met, but exceeded client expectations.  Combined with an industry leading 24 to 36 months replacement guarantee and performance based recruitment fees, we are often called upon when other search firms have failed to deliver.

 

How do you improve talent acquisition to be more efficient, less costly, and produce results when it comes to executive management and functional leadership roles?  Today companies have a hectic schedule due to keeping up with the competitiveness of the industry. Resources and time becomes constricted and companies do not have the time to implement a thorough recruitment and screening process.

Relying upon job boards, LinkedIn, focusing on branding and “social responsibility” on web site career portals brings in hundreds of applicants, but rarely the right applicants and most of those applicants are “C players”, the 55% of the workforce that  can show up to do a job but don’t add to increasing revenues, lowering cost, or creating new intellectual property.

Many companies employ internal recruiters of contract recruiters, and while they can produce more applicants, the quality of the candidates is at best “okay”.  Contingency search firms are internally measured on the number of sendouts (resumes) emailed each day, the focus in on quantity, not quality. If a company must conduct a phone screen, simply put the recruiter failed to do a good job in screening and assessment.

Companies engage a retained search firm to manage the recruitment process and to get down to a shortlist of highly qualified candidates ready for in-person interviews.  Retained search firms that are niche or boutique working in the company;s industry NEVER look at active job seekers who dominate job board and Linkedin job postings, but instead use their vast internal rolodex, identify and cold call, and reach out to those contacts to being them an opportunity and a challenge.

• Client-focused in time management – retained search improve talent acquisition as we only work on only a few select searches at a time per executive search consultant. Because the lead recruiter has a team behind him, each task from sourcing to pre-screen to deep interviews is assigned.  Since the focus is on quality, retained executive search consultants are not measured by the contingency search firm focus on sending out x number of resumes daily.
• Industry Expertise in Your Market – possess a higher level of proficiency when it comes to finding potential candidates for a specific niche industry and market.  These firms specialize in what are the trending news in the market, recruiting, executive changes at your competitors, and news about the current and future strategy of your market and your competitors.

 

Rather than using a typical job description quoting responsibilities and requirements, the approach is to identify team dynamics and documenting KPIs to ensure potential candidates can meet the objectives of the role.

Instead of focusing on a checklist of x number of years’ experience and skills, retained search focus on what the potential candidate will do with those skills to meet the performance objectives of the role rather than just having x years of experience with that skill.

The costs are much lower in the Long Run –  utilizing the expertise of a good recruitment team shows that retained search lowers the expenses used to screening applicants and potential sourced candidates.

 

Improve Talent Acquisition with Onboarding Tools

 

A custom onboarding tool that works is one that uses a psychometric composite team profile with the corresponding candidate profile and performance objectives of the role.  No lengthy involvement of time and effort by multiple executive staff members.  It is customized and easy to use.  It should include a personal action plan for the new hire that identifies his/her strengths and weaknesses and provides the designated mentor with an effective coaching and evaluation tool.

Retained search improve talent acquisition like NextGen Executive Search as clients has shown that the 72% who use the custom onboarding tool realize quick assimilation into the corporate culture and team dynamics, faster productivity, and longer retention.

Final Thoughts on How to Improve Talent Acquisition

 

 This relieves the company’s HR department of the expenditures that are used in screening processes such as background information, investigating previous employment records, filling up Hiring Managers inboxes with unqualified flypaper (resumes).  Searching for the ideal candidate for the job can take a lot of time and expense if the company does it alone.

Much Higher Retention Rate with Low Turnover – retained search improves talent acquisition with a much higher retention rate for candidates they’ve placed (NextGen Global has a 93% retention rate for placed candidate still working after 3.5 years of being hired and 87% still there at 5 years).

Retained search improve talent acquisition with a competitive edge as the people they place outperform, meet, or exceed your expectations and significantly contribute to the success of the organization.  Hiring the right staff, not just at the senior executive level, can propel the company towards success and development, but hiring the wrong ones stagnates the progress.  Improve Talent Acquisition by Elevating your Recruitment on Improve Talent Acquisition by Elevating your Recruitment to improve talent acquisition.

 

The HR recruiting process with the highest business impact often has a failure rate of 50 percent according to  Dr. John Sullivan on ERE in his article “The 6 Ugly Numbers Revealing Recruiting’s Dirty Little Secret”      In this article we will address the problems in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition and how to avoid common pitfalls that harm recruiting efforts.  For the company’s senior executives and board of directors, the dependence and overhead on HR internal recruitment and Talent Acquisition groups does not produce the results desired for the company to achieve success.

 

Stop treating every potential candidate as active job seekers and applicants

 

In a soaring economy where the supply of good candidates is far outweighed by the demand to fill jobs (7.5M jobs currently remain open), the company and the recruiters are the seekers, not the other way around.   Posting job openings on job boards and social media by and large generates applicants who are underemployed or unemployable.  Most good potential candidates are happy with their employer, their current role, and are paid well.  These successful people are not looking at job postings and are so inundated by emails and social media messaging from HR, TA, contingency, and RPOs they don’t read or respond.

 

Avoid Common Pitfalls That Harm Recruiting in the HR Process

 

Forcing potential candidates that you’re looking for to go to your website to fill out an application is untenable.  Just because you have an HRIS or ATS process that governs every candidate perform this, remember it is you that came looking for him/her; they are NOT applicants.  And demanding potential candidates at the very beginning to reveal their current compensation is unethical or in many states, illegal.

If you want to attract the ideal candidates, first HR must stop the age old process of creating job postings and messages that don’t work.

The same old blah-blah corporate culture, responsibilities, requirements, and benefits overview is boring to successful people, whose actual interests will be one of the following: a new challenge, more authority, a particular product or service where they can make an impact on the market, location, company and team size, and a competitive compensation package.  Appeal to their desires to attract them.

 

Failure to build relationships with professionals who can become future candidates

 

The HR recruitment process focuses on building a resume database rather than real relationships.  Good executive recruiters are successful because they consistently foster relationships based on common interests with professionals – not by approaching them as potential candidates but as peers and colleagues within an industry by sharing ideas, making introductions, and asking for their advice.

 

Many Hiring Managers assume they are great recruiters

 

All hiring managers like to think they are excellent recruiters.  But the track record is such that only “A players”, the top 10% of the workforce can claim that distinction.  Think about it – regardless of title your primary time is focused on building sales, engineering, product management, operations, etc.   How can you possibly excel at something you spend very little time doing when retained executive search consultants spend most of their time on actual recruiting.

 

Avoid Common Pitfalls That Harm Recruiting in Dual Role Reality

 

Those dual roles of being a CXO or VP with outstanding capability to lead strategy, manage a team, and deliver while at the same time having the skills and time to conduct recruiting is very, very rare.  Want further proof?

About one-third of the hiring managers today just want a few notes and a resume.  The resume is by far the worst presentation tool ever created.  It is generally a one-size-fits-all document.  It reveals experience, skills, education, and accomplishments.

It is generalist in nature and rarely delves into how a person used those skills and expertise in relation to the objectives of the role you need to fill.  Worst of all…and the reason to always avoid looking at the resume as a presentation tool, is once a hiring manager views the resume, 75% of their mind is already made up.

Makes no matter if you provide comprehensive interview notes, measured KPIs, numbers, relevant details of similar accomplishments, and depth of industry relationships to prove the candidates can meet and exceed the objectives of the role; often their mind is already made up based solely on the resume.

 

Salary ranges and corporate culture fit ignore the rule of supply and demand.

 

Many companies have this set-in virtual stone salary ranges.  Thinking that a cyber wireless engineer or AI architect are just software engineers and must fit within the SW engineering salary range is not reality.  Ask Google, Uber, Microsoft – many of these types of engineers make higher compensation that their boss.  It is reality with the law of supply and demand.  Some companies even offer candidates less than they are making now, believing that the in-person interview revealed how much the candidate liked the company and team and expressed desire to come on board.  It is simply absurd and insulting to offer someone less if in same location where cost-of-living makes no difference.

 

Having HR or TA make offers to candidates is not the right way to go

 

The person who has built a relationship of trust, usually the recruiter or hiring manager, should always be the person to make the initial verbal offer.  When someone in HR or TA group makes an official offer, it is usually someone who has no real relationship with the potential new hire.  The results can often be negative as the candidate feels his/her value is not appreciated and they are negotiating and speaking with someone they do not know. Avoid common pitfalls to recruiting where the HR process often fails by causing the recruiter or hiring manager to have to come in and save the day while the damage has already been done.

 

Low retention rates cause teams to not develop properly

 

Most companies have some type of on boarding but, it is more orientation and documentation.  And even expensive one-size-fits-all on boarding plans fail because they require too many people to be involved.  A custom on boarding plan should always consist of two parts: a self-development plan for the new hire and a mentor / coaching plan for the person the new hire will report to.

This simplifies the on boarding process by focusing on utilizing the strengths the new hire brings to the team creating action plans to address potential weaknesses.  This ensures the new hire’s impact on team dynamics is positive by ensuring the objective of proper on boarding is met, which is to promote quick assimilation into the team, faster productivity, and longer retention.  If you adapt your HR process and learn to avoid common pitfalls that harm recruiting, you will make a positive impact on your business growth.