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Leadership

A Cost Effective Approach To Profitability

Career Insight, Career Preparation, Leadership, Recruitment /

One of the weaknesses of leaders that I’ve witnessed is their resistance to engaging in proactive dialogue with talent in their industry. Most decision makers are reactive when it comes to talent acquisition. It’s for certain that an organization will experience turnover by way of resignation, retirement, parental leave, termination, or death. We know these things will happen as a normal course of doing business, yet we wait for the inevitable, and scramble to fill these gaps in our talent structure. These are generally not when the best decisions are made. Hires in these moments are normally made out of convenience to stop the bleeding. The best time to take a loan is when you don’t need one. The same theory applies to hiring. The smartest time to be engaging in conversations with suitable people in your marketplace is when you don’t need to, or when your team is running at full capacity. Talent scouting should not take a break since you can’t control people and the decisions they make. We’ve all had those untimely meetings with our best people on a Monday morning. They usually start with, “Good morning, Steve – I’d like to thank you for this amazing opportunity to work with you and my team at XYZ Company for the past 10 years. That being said, I’ve decided to take my talents to South Beach.” The first reaction is usually how you can soften the impact of this person’s departure and prevent any disruption to the core activities of your business. Counteroffers seldom work, and the process of searching for a replacement is time consuming and taxing emotionally for all involved. What I’m proposing is the initial investment of 1 conversation a week with someone in your industry. However this person comes to you, you should be receptive to these meetings / discussions as a way of evaluating your market, that person’s fit, and the likelihood of a hire now, or in the future. This is proven, and guaranteed to solve a lot of your people problems. The argument against this might be, “It’s a waste of time to engage in these discussions without an official hiring request.” Or, “this goes against company policy. All such conversations should be had with the appropriate HR or TA professional within our organization.” Fair. Follow the appropriate policies and procedures. Don’t burn bridges. I’m speaking to a minority of decision makers at the highest level who can afford to be having these conversations with key people in their industry, choosing not to handle such situations as they come. This is detrimental to talent building. By the way, these discussions should also be happening internally with members of your current team as a way of succession planning, and knowing what roles are appropriate to be evaluating externally. You may need to push back on the conventional mindset, and that requires diplomacy and patience. What’s for certain is you’ll be ahead of your competitors, and your brand will reach those in your marketplace that wouldn’t have known about you otherwise. Your organization will reap the benefits for years to come. This is what good leadership looks like.

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The Colonization of Good Leadership

Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

Unprecedented circumstances call for unprecedented leadership. Followers are crying out for compassionate leaders who put the human above profit. Morals above self-interests. This starts at the ground floor… Ground floor? – Making better hires. This requires doing a better job of vetting current and future leaders. The growth of any company requires enlisting the service of competent professionals who work and lead with character. Any company that cuts corners when it comes to hiring the best their marketplace has to offer, is not interested in sustainability. By cutting corners, I refer in part to hiring strictly based on technical prowess and business acumen, while ignoring gut or instincts. Hiring for character & integrity has nothing to do with credentials from an accredited institution… Engineers are notorious for being highly analytical and data-driven… The best that I’ve witnessed and had significant exposure to, were able to level the brilliance of their engineering minds and couple that with instincts, sometimes used interchangeably with making decisions with the heart. However you choose to spin it, there is a demand for leaders who are balanced and who can cultivate new leaders. That’s the mark of effective leadership – its ability to replicate itself. This leads to great financial, and people returns for that organization. My premise is simple – if I’ve been enlisted to find a replacement for an employee who has left the organization, wouldn’t it make sense to investigate the reasons for that failed relationship? Too many in the recruitment and talent acquisition space are complicit in these failed relationships. How many of us have nailed a “jumpy” professional to the wall in a condemning manner and let poor leadership off the hook (Jumpy – a term used amongst recruiters to describe someone who moves from job to job frequently (i.e., months or a year at a time). We scrutinize those employees without holding leaders to the same level of interrogation. We have a responsibility to ensure that we are putting people into organizations that are healthy, working for leaders who understand their own responsibilities.

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Some Vultures Wear Custom-Fitted Suits

Career Insight, Leadership, Recruitment /

Recruiters! You’re feeding on dead-end positions; chasing after them like hungry vultures; willing to compromise for an organization that will not give you repeat business. You’re feeding on dead-end positions; positions that have no legitimacy or strategic direction, no growth trajectory for top prospects, no upper management support, and will likely end in termination or resignation of the hired employee within a year. This cycle has repeated itself time and time again, and you’re guilty by association. You’re complicit in this hoax of a hiring process by accepting these types of roles from hiring managers that are looking to exploit the most vulnerable the marketplace has to offer. Top performers don’t trust you, and rightfully so. Why would I put my career and family’s well being in the hands of someone who operates out of desperation and purely transactionally?! You have been biting the fee bait, taking anything dangled in front of you, and feeding this into the marketplace. We have a responsibility to the people, families, and corporations we represent to hold ourselves to a higher standard. There are times when you will have to walk away from something (or someone) to guard the integrity of what you do as a profession. This test will come to all of us. If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

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Don’t Take Time For Granted

Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

There’s a war for time! More time with the family. More time with your children. More time to complete that project. More time to exercise. More time to eat. More time for everything you hold dear. We’re all given the same allotment of time in a day. It cannot be subtracted from, or added to… 24 hours is our daily portion 🕰️ The difference between a good professional and a poor professional is their ability to give you a return on your time. You pay a plumber to fix that leak because it will save you hours of trying to fix it on your own, which gives you more time to do the things I mentioned above. Don’t take time for granted. We think we’ll always have more time. Hiring Executive – “I don’t believe in retaining a recruiter!” You’re essentially saying that you have no regard for your time. You’re willing to commit your most valuable commodity to a search process with 3️⃣ to 4️⃣ recruiters who have not given you their undivided attention. The majority of decision makers have confused the benefits of retaining a search partner. They think it’s about paying you for work you haven’t done yet. What you’re really doing is retaining the time of that partner. Why do we continue to take time for granted?! That position will go unfilled for months/years despite your elaborate job advertisement, LinkedIn post, network, or even your robust TA team. A good recruiter marries all of the variables and people involved in the hiring process. We are the glue that allows for a seamless engagement of top talent. We ensure superior brand representation by crafting a go-to-market campaign that is sure to sift the best out of your marketplace. Why do you continue to put your “people problems” in the hands of those who have “people problems.” Give yourself a return on your time.

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Why The Recruitment Industry Can’t Move Forward…

Career Insight, Leadership, Recruitment /

Trust is key across all relationships. The issue that most have with recruiters is they are just untrustworthy… It starts with the initial outreach… A smooth pitch and tons of promises about how great an opportunity it is for your career… Followed by a request for your resume, then… Silence. This is precisely why the profession isn’t taken seriously… Most recruiters don’t set out to work this way. In fact, I’d like to think that the majority start out sincere with the best of intentions… They don’t want to operate transactionally, and they believe in treating people well, but pressures and quotas internally prohibit the operation of ethics and best practices… Recruiters are tossed into the deep end with no real training and are expected to deliver. When they don’t, they’re callously let go, and the process starts with another recruiter… The problem starts within our own ranks. This is why leadership at the forefront of this industry matters. KPIs and quotas are great measurements for success, but when it becomes all about benchmarks, then you prematurely weed out talent that can be groomed into high performers with time and patience – I fell into this bucket. I was not a top biller when I started in this industry, but I was resilient and learned how to remain relevant. Many top billers have fallen by the wayside either because of arrogance or complacency… Slow and consistent remains underappreciated. Many decision makers are comfortable engaging two to three recruiters for a given search despite the poor results associated with doing so. These recruiter cage matches are bad for everyone’s business. “We’ve always done it this way!”… …I think someone said that this mindset is the quickest way to go out of business. We’re willing to revamp other business practices, yet we remain archaic in how we handle recruitment, the growth engine for the enterprise… Your business deserves better representation.

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Leadership Is A Mirror

Career Insight, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

So, why do you put so much emphasis on people? I wrote a blog post 2 years ago, entitled: The Great Departure – A Recruiter’s Guide To Retaining Your Best Talent (read it here – https://talentsearchpartnersinc.com/the-great-departure-a-recruiters-guide-to-retaining-your-best-talent/) That post did very well, and the feedback supported that… In it, I discussed the 6 areas where leadership has failed, and it resonated with readers… One of the benefits of serving under a poor leader is you get to eye witness everything they are doing wrong, which allows you to not repeat those mistakes… It pained me to watch good people leave that office… Rather than accept the blame for the revolving door that existed, my then boss blamed those who left, highlighting their weaknesses, rather than taking ownership… I did what I could to save what was a sinking ship, but the damage was irreparable, and he was delusional… So, why do you care so much about people and good leadership? Because, no matter how much you’ve made financially or how large your office is, how you treat people will ultimately determine your success & longevity… He spent money on “things” to keep the office running, but he treated people like replaceable resources, and not assets… The office eventually closed. He said very little, but it was the way he treated us that scarred the most… It would’ve been an easier pill to swallow if he had yelled, heaved chairs across the office, put holes in the walls, or kicked the water cooler. But it was his silence that pierced. It made you feel like you didn’t exist. Almost like you were being done a favour… It felt like he kept a life vest in his office, and everyone else was vulnerable… I vowed to never make another human feel like that; not on my watch… He ended up alone, and that came as no surprise. Sad, but not surprising. The best amongst us know how to pull the best out of people. They leverage technology, resources, business intelligence, etc., but they never lose sight of the human factor… The way you make people feel can either build up or tear down. My role in recruitment has afforded me the privilege of working with some great people. I am directly tied to an organization’s growth by aligning them with talent, and with that comes great responsibility… As such, I will not misrepresent an opportunity to a candidate… The people who were hired to work for my former manager were deceived, quickly realizing that the man they interviewed with, was not the same man they encountered 6 months into the role. The honeymoon phase was short-lived, and the list of casualties kept growing. The tipping point for me was his inability to see his own errors. In that state, he was incapable of changing, and my days in that office were numbered after that conversation… Leadership is a responsibility. It’s not a right, and it’s nothing to boast about… If you are leading a team of 1 or 30, it’s a responsibility, and how you make people feel will monetize every time… You won’t need to convince them to go the extra mile. They will go willingly because they know that you will secure their life-vest before you tend to your own… I know they say that you must first put the oxygen mask on yourself during an aviation emergency, but real leaders put others first… This is your competitive advantage.

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What Do You Need To Earn? (Lessons From Lacrosse)

Career Preparation, Compensation, Employer Insight, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is a privately held sports league started by Paul Rabil (former player) and his Brother, Mike Rabil. It’s a fascinating story about Paul’s rise through the sport to league founder/owner. Mike is featured in this interview and provided an interesting answer to a question about recruitment. You can play the clip below, but it got me thinking about the simplicity of the answer and why more business owners don’t come up with competitive and creative ways of compensating their best people. They’re a growing league looking to increase viewership & revenue, so recruitment & retention are everything. To summarize, Michael describes a situation where any additional revenue that is pumped into the league by way of sponsors would be then allocated to the players (who by the way also have equity in the league), thereby increasing their annual salaries across the league. As a business leader, having a strong brand in your market adds credibility to your pitch, but it doesn’t stop there. You’re competing for talent in your market, yet there’s a significant wage gap across the board, and I learned quickly that people change careers for 2 reasons: meaningful work and compensation (sometimes there’s a trade off, but in a perfect world, there shouldn’t be). I like to take a compassionate approach to compensation, and I think we should reframe how we tackle the “money conversation”. It’s transactional at best and entirely skewed towards the employer with interests in keeping salaries offered as low as possible. Asking a prospect ‘what they need to earn’ conveys a degree of empathy that will change the dynamic of these discussions. Again, the more money flowing into the league, the more available capital to pay their players. Not the board or the stakeholders, the players. Paul & Mike don’t have a league without players, and they have figured out what seasoned executives have failed to accept. If you’re a company that has just secured a new project that is approved to add $350 million to your bottom-line once completed, then compassion dictates that there is additional cashflow that can be distributed to those within the company who helped to win and execute the project. Why aren’t salaries increased at that point? Profit sharing is one way of sharing the wealth, but that is only a fraction of earnings that the average employee sees. The majority stays at the top of the funnel. New projects drive market awareness. Market awareness drives new business opportunities. New business opportunities drive earning potential. Additional earnings should drive up employee wealth, ownership, and intellectual property. Kudos to the Rabil brother’s and the PLL for redefining the employee (athlete) / employer (owner) relationship. View the clip here – https://lnkd.in/gcSNS2C6

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“I Could Never Work For That Guy!”

Career Insight, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

He was on his phone during the interview…………and it wasn’t the candidate. It was the CEO/Founder of a multinational company with roots that span over half a century… It was shocking to me and the candidate that a CEO would behave in this manner… What a first impression for a seasoned executive who had great meetings with everyone up to that point within the organization… The fit was strong, and the ROI was clear… The candidate had a strong leadership background working for a variety of manufacturers and expertise in the standardization of processes, something the company lacked and desperately needed to compete outside of their immediate marketplace… He was also excellent at developing talent. His people-centric style of leadership resonated with his potential counterparts and addressed major retention issues with the company… It’s tough, I get it. Change breeds uncertainty, which is the reason it’s avoided. The human element is also prevalent in these cases. We are innately biased & insecure, and that influences decision making… A few things come to mind… 1️⃣ If you’re running a company that produces a product for customer use, then you need standard processes and procedures that will exist beyond your tenure with the company. The opposite of standardization means that you’re constantly moving your goal posts based on present day circumstances, and you don’t understand the essence of succession planning. Standardization essentially allows you to effectively plan for the future, while holding people accountable. You don’t get to make things up as you go… 2️⃣ As a leader, you have to be able to trust the team under you. This sounds simple, but it’s the hardest thing for many leaders to do. They are hyper-active in areas that should be delegated to their leadership team… 3️⃣ Decency is required to succeed. It’s inappropriate to be on your phone while you are interviewing someone for a position within your company… 4️⃣ Empowering others to make decisions doesn’t diminish your authority… 5️⃣ If longevity is truly your goal, then you’ll do what it takes to accomplish that, even if it means checking your ego.

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He Brought A Sledgehammer To Work On His First Day

Career Insight, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

As a newly hired business leader within an organization, the first 6 to 18 months should be a learning period. You should be spending the majority of your time getting to learn the company, your team, the culture, & your customers. Avoid making any major decisions during this time until you’ve had a chance to survey the landscape of this organization – this requires patience. As a leader, you’ve become a steward of the organization’s assets, primarily its people. Unless you were hired with a specific mandate with an aggressive timeline to achieve a set of goals, the agenda should be to understand the business and forge alliances within your team. This does not happen on your first day. For any leader who is going through the interview process, one of your primary questions to the CEO or President of a company should be: What is your vision for this position within the first year? If that goal is cost-cutting centric for instance, then I’d question that. There’s a lot that you don’t know about the company and won’t know until the completion of your first year, in some cases longer. You may discover through your own exploration that there are issues that require a different approach that will ultimately lead to the same end goal. One of my most tragic placements came with a company that I had served for several years. I built a great relationship with one of their key executives and became a trusted partner for him in the development of his engineering team. Through that relationship, I was able to break into other areas of the business, culminating in a conversation with the CEO to help him find a new VP of Operations. I sifted the marketplace to find someone who had served in a similar capacity in his previous role. He was young, energetic, communicated well, had great references, and he genuinely hit it off with the team. He was hired! Shortly thereafter however, things took a weird turn… Hidden within his briefcase was a sledgehammer (not a literal one) and he wasn’t timid about using it. He made his primary agenda to find and expose problems, rather than formulating solutions. He alienated members of the leadership team, rather than leaning on their expertise and experience to understand the business and its direction. Granted, there were issues within the company, but as a new leader and someone who had been hired to drive new processes and procedures, his first course of action should’ve been to get to know the people by watching what they do and learning how they do it. Along that growth path, some people will be weeded out, but that should be handled delicately, not with a shotgun as one of the team members shared. He was ultimately fired by the CEO, and his departure came as a sigh relief to those within the organization. Lessons for newly hired leaders…

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The Real Measure Of Value

Career Insight, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

My walk last night did little to solve my value conundrum. The dog feces left along my path certainly didn’t help the situation… I’m struggling with value… Every recruiter pitches their value the same… “a huge database of resumes” “years recruiting in your industry” “a team of recruiters who will be dedicated to your roles” “flexible fees” …a great list of value cliches, but this is not real value because it doesn’t address the needs of the end user… Recruiters are in over-supply and the demand for talent is at an all time high. There is a recruiter on every street corner and the trail of scarred executives runs deep… I’ve encountered executives within companies who would rather struggle to fill positions through their own efforts than work with “another recruiter.” Hard to blame them… 3-months, 6-months, 9-months, a year goes by, and the position still hasn’t been filled… If recruiters are in over-abundance with demand for talent running at the same pace, then why haven’t these two variables been able to marry each other at this equilibrium point… If there are so many of us and an equal number of roles to be filled, then why are executives reluctant to sign on that dotted line to engage that recruiter? Why would they rather deal with the lost revenue and frustration of having positions go unfilled for quarters… I believe the issue lies in quality, not supply… Recruiters for years have over-promised and under-delivered. They talk a big game but fail to show up when it counts. This has happened so many times over the years that companies have caught on and would rather forgo the trauma of another failed attempt to work with a recruiter… The missing link in this relationship has nothing to do with statistics and experience. It has everything to do with doing what you said you would do… Executives are tired of being taken on a roller coaster ride. For most, the thrill no longer exists, and they are exiting the ride in droves… Most executives in my opinion could live with the result of a failed attempt to fill their position if recruiters demonstrated traits of resilience and integrity… We don’t need another recruitment agency. These days anyone with Wi-Fi and a cell phone plan can be a recruiter… What we need are professionals who understand the importance of what they do and how they can drive an economy forward. The key is to serve, not extract, with the end goal of facilitating lasting partnerships. This remains the greatest stumbling block within the recruitment process… I don’t mind paying for a service (even overpaying) if I believe there will be a true exchange of value & a commitment to quality. The reason why there is so much negotiation is because of a misunderstanding of how both sides benefit in this equation.

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