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The Red Carpet Experience

Career Insight, Human Resources, Leadership, Recruitment /

Cue the traditional scenario: it’s Friday afternoon, and your best employee walks into your office before the weekend: EMPLOYEE: I’m here to resign from my position EMPLOYER: This is troubling and terrible timing. Is there anything I can do to change your mind? How much have they offered you? I’ll match it right now! I’ve kept it brief for the sake of LinkedIn… Accepting a counteroffer might seem attractive in the moment, especially if your reasons for leaving in the first place were not iron-clad. I’d like to caution anyone who is on the verge of handing in their resignation to remain firm on their stance. Don’t allow promises or more money to derail all of the work it took to get to that point… Accepting a counter offer can have an adverse effect on your career. Here’s why: The most obvious impact is that you’re now marked by your employer as that disloyal employee who tried to leave once. Don’t expect a red carpet to your next raise or promotion within the company. Hidden however, and more important is your ability to navigate the outside marketplace. By accepting a counteroffer that is $10,000 or 20,000 more than what you were prepared to accept from the other company, you’ve now misaligned yourself in your marketplace. If the median salary for a Project Manager in the Biomedical industry is $130,000, your offer from the other company was $145,000, and your current company has countered at $155,000, then you’re now $25,000 over the market value for your position. If you decide to leave or are laid off, it will be difficult to negotiate your way to the salary you left behind and what you’ve become accustomed to making. No one ever wants to accept a lower salary, even in a desperate market. We end up creating an artificial bubble in the marketplace that no longer relies on market data & research but is now predicated entirely on our feelings about what we think we’re worth. This is usually skewed based on scenarios like what I described above. THE SOLUTION FOR LEADERS: treat people well enough in the first place so another company won’t have a runway to steal them away from you THE SOLUTION FOR EMPLOYEES: stick to your original decision to leave as a way of protecting your career trajectory and its integrity

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Retained Is The New Predictable

Career Insight, Employer Insight, Leadership, Recruitment /

There are a lot of trust issues in the current marketplace. Much of it is justified… There’s also A LOT of information from experts and people who are well-intentioned circulating… Poor experiences, coupled with advice from every angle have made the current marketplace stressful to navigate through. I’ve been privileged to work in a profession that I love for 15 years… As such, there are best practices that I try to disclose to anyone who will listen. Key word being “listen.” It’s ultimately your decision, but as someone once said, “knowing is half the battle.” Whether you’re a job seeker, employed, unemployed, or underemployed, there is a standard that you should expect from everyone in the Talent Acquisition business… Cue the typical email from a Recruiter: Hello – our client, a global entity and leader in the pharmaceutical sector, is looking to hire a new Director of People. We have an older resume of yours in our database, and I was wondering if you would be interested in hearing about this exciting opportunity. Please respond to this email with an updated resume. There are many things wrong with this email, but my primary concern is the lack of trust that it conveys to a top prospect. Who is your client, and why is that a secret? I’m amazed that this approach worked for as long as it did. Why would anyone take a call from a recruiter who they don’t know, listen to what they have to say, share personal things about their background & personal life, disclose what they are earning and would like to make, and agree to update a resume that they haven’t touched in 10 years, all without knowing who your customer is? Many recruiters do not have legitimate contracts or relationships with these companies and therefore can offer little to no direction or insight into the opportunity. Hence the reason why you often don’t hear from them after you’ve submitted your resume. These companies are not getting back to them, so how can they get back to you? Without a real relationship, expect to be ghosted. Your question to that recruiter before you agree to do anything should be: “Can you please describe the nature of your relationship with the company you are representing? Have you been contractually retained to handle this search?” Side bar – being retained doesn’t necessarily mean that a recruiter won’t operate transactionally, but if their customer is treating them seriously, then it’s predictable that they will treat you in the same manner… Qualify that recruiter before they qualify you. Call me crazy, but I’d only entertain an introduction that sounded similar to the following: Hello, Jane – under my current contract with XYZ Plastics, I’ve been asked by the President of the company to identify a new Director of People to help them bolster their HR division. You’ve been identified as a person of interest by the President, and he is interested in speaking with you. I’m here to mediate those discussions. Is this worth a closer look? Or Hello, Jane – you’ve been identified as a top prospect by our organization. Confidentially, we are handling XYZ Plastics’ search spearheaded by the CEO for a new HR executive. I’m here to mediate those discussions. Is this worth a closer look? I hope this tip helps you to weed through the noise in the marketplace and positions you closer to your next opportunity.

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How Could He Resign With Our Company Swag?!

Employer Insight, Human Resources, Leadership, Recruitment /

A good onboarding experience is vital to ensuring that a new hire stays beyond their first year. Too many relationships have failed within the first 365 days post hire due to a bad first impression. Let me first state that everyone is well-intentioned. It is not my thesis that a leader within an organization sets out to create a negative experience for a new employee. The reality is that too many new hires are left with more questions than clarity after their onboarding/orientation period. Despite the excitement communicated about the role during the interviews, chemistry, & position fit, none of that matters if the welcome committee is not in one accord, moving with purpose to create a clear, and pleasant experience for their newest hire. When a new hire’s onboarding experience feels more like a “by the way” task or a checklist item, they may not physically quit in the moment, but they’ll remember how they felt. It will also speak volumes to them about the quality of the company. “I wonder how they treat their tenured employees?” Now, empathy dictates that those who are responsible for the onboarding activities (HR/Hiring Manager) are busy with equally important tasks that require their immediate and focused attention. Empathy dictates that people get sick, teams are understaffed, members are going through personal circumstances outside of work or are juggling too many tasks at once. These are realities that we all face. Too things are important to winning the war for talent: People want to feel prioritized. They want validation that everything they heard in the interview process is true. They want to be assured that they made the right decision by taking your offer and not a competing organization’s offer. They want to know that they are not walking into a dysfunctional environment with no clear direction. Here are the priorities (by priority): A supported and collective onboarding experience is a great way to strengthen retention. It also creates a referral funnel for people who that employee knows (word of mouth still exists). Let’s stop dropping the ball – the experience still matters.

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The GK Style of Leadership

Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

He challenged me, and the experience changed the trajectory of my career in recruitment. He had 2 Master’s degrees, a Mathematician with a deeply analytical mind. Uniquely, he was also a tremendous people person with an uncanny ability to tear down barriers that most people put up. He asked thoughtful questions, while giving you his undivided attention. When he spoke to you, you felt like you were the only person who existed in the universe. He was one of the most life altering leaders I’ve served under, despite my best efforts to escape his influence. Hereinafter, referred to as GK. GK was a perfectionist & a problem solver by nature, who practiced what he preached. You talk about having compassion for people – he had it in abundance. Sadly, I was too immature to appreciate what stood before me. I thought he was out to get me. My conversations with him were intense – usually confrontational with him calling out my nonsense (almost daily). I avoided him at all costs, greeting him only when I had to, keeping everything surface level. I didn’t understand him, and I had no intention of changing that. Hindsight being 20/20, I now see that he was challenging me not to think like the average recruiter. He taught professionalism at the highest level, the importance of subject-matter competence, and treating people with respect. He believed that you could only be seen as credible in the profession if you understood the market/industry you worked in. His premise was that you cannot effectively recruit people who operate at their highest level in their field if you don’t understand what they do and how they do it. The used car salesman, ‘one-size-fits-all approach wasn’t going to cut it under his leadership. GK was loved by the frontline staff and was a thorn in upper managements side. Mainly because he held them accountable by calling out things that didn’t make sense. He wrestled with the CEO for pay raises for his staff, while holding those same people to unwavering excellence. He ate dinner at the office and was normally the last one out. A true professional if there ever was one. The turning point: My perspective of GK changed the day I was told that he renegotiated his salary (inversely) during a downturn in the company. He proposed cutting his salary directly in half to free up cash flow, which was of course agreed to by upper management. He switched to a part-time schedule going forward, but between you and me, his part-time productivity was equivalent to (maybe surpassed) the output levels of his full-time counterparts. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is, and checking your ego at the door. Leadership requires action, not generic statements or catchphrases. It’s about doing what you said you would do, and not compromising on that. Hypocrisy is one of the toughest pills to swallow for those you’re leading. Leadership is a responsibility, not a right. Lead with your heart, and you’ll never have to convince people to go the extra mile.

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The Great Separation – Why Organizational Leadership Finds Itself On The Unemployment Line

Career Insight, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

Never in my 15 years in recruitment have I ever seen more qualified people looking for work. By qualified, I refer to people who would ordinarily not find themselves unemployed in a traditional marketplace. The other variable is the length of time they find themselves in the market. Good people find jobs, and find them quickly. This has been the expectation for years, but not the case anymore. The market isn’t just candidate heavy, but it’s ‘top-tier’ candidate heavy, and this worries me. The caliber of talent that I am witnessing enter the market is mind-boggling and lends itself to deeper reasoning and investigation. The market has changed drastically over the past 5 years. We’ve lived through a global health pandemic that changed the landscape of how we perform our jobs. We learned quickly that we were capable of being just as productive working outside of the office – the ingenuity of the human race was in full display. This opened up an entirely new marketplace for organizations. They could now explore talent outside their geographic limitations, not to takeaway from the heightened level of safety we all felt as a result of working from the comfort of our homes. Working from home was not only more convenient, but it quickly became the norm, and some have never looked back. With everything in business, there’s always a trade-off. Companies were granted access to a wider and more diverse talent pool, but at what cost, and how has that impacted the future of work, employment, unemployment, and the next generation of workers? Did decision makers over-extend on hiring out of excitement or fear? Did they over-forecast or underestimate the work from home phenomena? Were execs so ‘hire-happy’ that they failed to properly plan for the future? Let’s explore 2 reasons for the rise of unemployment amongst senior leaders. Cost Cutting Due To Redundancy The surge in hiring during covid resulted in widespread redundancy within the workplace. We are currently going through a workplace refresh, with leaders facing tremendous pressure to bring people back into the office. This is hinged on the belief that too much influence has been given to workers. After all, employees now demand/expect to work remote or on a schedule that fits their needs. Many roles were also created during covid to provide the necessary leadership and technical coverage during a moment of great unpredictability – roles that under normal circumstances would not have been necessary. A “swing for the fences because we don’t know if we’ll live to see tomorrow” mentality was now prevalent in the workplace, and this caused a period of irrational behaviour amongst leaders. Consequently, we have an over-populated workplace with no chemistry. This disconnect, coupled with the hires of those with similar skill sets & competencies, has forced decision makers to trim their workforce, starting naturally with the highest paid. Only the 1% have weathered the storm. AI/Technology Has Made Key People Expendable This is a sensitive subject because AI has become integral to how we work and do business. The influx of senior talent entering the market in search of a new career is deeply concerning, but what role has AI/technology played in this shift? Companies are opting to retain their technical gurus with the latest software under their belt over the detached C-Suite professional, primarily because employees are smarter, self-sufficient, and self-managed. Technology after all needs to be managed by someone, and it definitely won’t be by the Director or VP who has little to no contact at the ground-level. The approach is now to automate where & what you can, and trim what is (who is) left. If you’re a Senior Leader in today’s workforce, it’s imperative to remain closely tied to the technical aspects that govern the organization. The days of leading a technical team without understanding what they do or being able to do it yourself are over. We expected hybrid as a type of work, but what we didn’t expect was a movement towards a new hybrid style of leadership – leaders who can teach and also do – this is the 1%. Your leadership style is great (who doesn’t love servant leaders), but tell me the last time you wrote (or understood) a clean piece of code? What are you doing to remain relevant technically? I’m concerned, but optimistic. Good people always land on their feet, and wherever they land it’s for certain that they will replicate past success & cultivate high performers and future leaders. Let’s Sum This Up For anyone who is thinking about changing careers or switching to a new company during a period of great instability such as a recession or another pandemic, make the transition with caution and qualify the legitimacy and future of the position in question. Ask probing questions to better understand the vision the organization has for the role. That new Chief Of Something may sound great on the surface, but is it a role designed to address an immediate leak or a position they believe will be intricately woven into the fabric of the company for years to come. Try these: These questions are circumstantial, but listen for the answers. The more you hear, the more secure you should feel one way or another. Every role should have at minimum a 5-year outlook, a vision of relevancy that extends beyond the short-term. This is especially true for a position that is being created or has not existed beyond the 5-year mark. For more content like this, please follow me here on LinkedIn.

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A Technological Approach To Ghosting Candidates

Artificial Intelligence, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

There’s no doubt that AI and Recruitment will be married for the foreseeable future. If leveraged correctly and with balance, it will only serve to optimize the service and address more needs. While the benefits are clear and lucrative, I worry about placing an AI band-aid over a broken system and mindset. Let’s dive deeper… ​Ghosting for instance has been commonly associated with recruitment for years now, and while I don’t know when it became a thing, ghosting has become a predictable outcome when dealing with recruiters. What is Ghosting? In my own words, it is the complete disregard of basic human decency – the prioritization of profit over ethics. A practical example of ghosting is calling a candidate about a position that you’ve received from a client, qualifying them, submitting their resume, coordinating the interview(s), and not getting back to them with the results. Most are familiar with this… There are an assortment of other questionable practices that recruiters engage in that has created a negative impression of the industry… Ghosting is really a mirror of deeper issues within our own ranks. Poor leaders have produced poor recruiters. The pressure of meeting quotas has removed quality and integrity from the equation… Fast forward to 2023 – cue the rise of AI… Like any prior great discovery or invention, AI serves to enhance the human experience or expose our flaws… Without dealing with the core issues in recruitment, I worry that we will only make negative experiences more prevalent… Automating your service does not address the trust and credibility concerns that decision makers and candidates have about recruitment… Your tech stack might be great, but your people lack resilience and character to weather the turbulence that is coming their way… We are attempting to cover up our “people problems” with automation, and that’s a recipe for disaster… Until we address the elephant in the room, I’m afraid that AI/technology will never complement the human experience in the way it was designed to… You’re simply automating ghosting. Personal story: ​Just yesterday, I had a candidate reject an offer from my customer. I prefaced the formal offer with a pre-acceptance letter outlining the terms of the offer as a way of addressing any concerns beforehand; normal practice for me. I was confident that it would come back signed. The following day, the candidate called me to say that his Wife had concerns that could not be overcome with more money. Completely understandable; take care of home. I asked whether he had discussed the opportunity with her during the process. He said yes, and her remarks were: “you get calls like this all the time, and they never go anywhere.” In other words, recruiters call you all the time and never follow through so I thought this was one of those cases about to repeat itself. Deal lost because of a failure to take the outreach seriously. Let’s get back to providing a memorable experience to everyone involved. AI is the cherry on top!

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How You Present Something Matters

Human Resources, Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

An A5 steak with its complementary sides is not very appetizing if served on a dirty plate You can have the greatest invention known to man or a service/product that can change lives, and none of that is of any significance if it is not introduced in a way that resonates with your audience This is precisely what’s hindering the recruitment industry from reaching its true potential. The service is credible, your tech is world-class, but the messaging sucks… • Check out our extensive database…(irrelevant to a decision maker)• We have experience in your industry…(everyone does)• We just filled a similar role 3 weeks ago…(prove it)• Our fees are flexible…(reeks of desperation) Decision makers are craving tangibility They care about their time and recruiters are known for wasting it They care about moving their organizations forward by filling roles in the shortest time possible They care about retention – backfilling poor hires is time-consuming, expensive, and frustrating They want to be/feel prioritized; not 1 of 4 hiring managers you’re presently dealing with (even if that’s the case) If you’re dealing with HR, they want to feel included. Valued. Kept in the loop. They don’t want their role reduced to signing agreements and setting up interviews Rather than cliches, lead with insight, evidence, & specifics Rather than big promises, be honest and realistic. Set clear expectations and keep your word Let’s plate our service in a way that is appealing and appetizing to decision makers and candidates.

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Real Leadership Starts At The Pumpkin Patch

Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

Leadership is a privilege, not a right of way. You cannot inherit it; it’s a calling for a few. Yet, leadership advice is available on every street corner. Real leaders nurture future leaders, and are only interested in the development of people, not processes, strategies, or goals. If you take care of people, then those very people will take care of the business. It’s no wonder why your people are drowning in anxiety, having conversations with recruiters, & taking time off work to meet with your competitors. Real leaders don’t make counteroffers – they take care of their people in the first place. Losing your people is not a poor reflection on your leadership. In fact, effective leadership makes it easy to move on. It grooms and equips you with everything you need to replicate that leadership in another environment. Real leaders create a runway for their best people to reach their potential, wherever that may be. They celebrate your departure and pursuit of greatness because they know you’re ready for it. The best thing I can do for my Son is to train him well enough so he can one day leave my home and lead his own family. I would be doing him a great disservice if I hindered his personal pilgrimage towards manhood because of my own selfish agenda. Real leaders are groomed from within; in the dark when no one sees. Take me to your home – let me see how you treat your family. Are you received with joy when you walk through the door or do those around you run from your presence? I served under a man who created a culture of fear and hid office supplies in his office. I served under another man who took a pay cut to create more cashflow for the company. One was tolerated; the other was celebrated. Real leaders treat their people like ambassadors of the company, not employees. Ambassadors embody the values of the organization and their leaders. Ambassadors have rights, privileges, and a stake in the organizations success. They think about what they can do for their organization. Employees are managed by poor leaders and can have their rights taken away from them when it’s convenient. They ask what can my organization do for me. Before I seek leadership of a fortune 500 company, let me first master my own home and strive to be loved by the people who matter the most.

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The Embassy Of Search

Inspiration, Leadership, Recruitment /

In my role as a search partner, I am an ambassador for my customers. As an official partner for these organizations, I represent their corporate interests & goals in the marketplace. I am an extension of the brand, a defender of the reputation, and an enthusiastic promoter of current and future plans. Once an agreement is signed, the search partner and that organization become one. Agendas are fused and a relationship is forged based on the alignment of values, proper business practices, and basic human decency. The role of an ambassador also means that there cannot be any lapses in integrity – character is vital. Your decisions are hinged on a core set of values, and any sign of compromising will undermine the very foundation of that partnership, even if that means forgoing a fee payout or the end of a relationship with a tenured customer. The same level of service, protection, and advocacy applies to candidates. That search partner should symbolize a place of refuge for candidates who are seeking guidance in their career pilgrimage. Like an embassy, the role of a good search partner is to foster relations based on trust with candidates, facilitate communication between the candidate and hiring company, mediate negotiations, and offer whatever support is necessary, pre & post hire. They understand that a good candidate/company fit isn’t just about resume or technical alignment. It’s values and culture centric, and they know how to navigate these conversations on both sides. A good search partner knows that they cannot work with every organization. Similarly, an embassy only represents the citizens of its home country. Neither one is a universal service for all people (or organizations). The recruitment industry is not as saturated as we might think. There are only a few who operate from a place of excellence.

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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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