It begs the question, “Do you feel like you are running at light speed literally through your day, week or month” and wonder if you are accomplishing what matters most to you?  The miniature cars speed through twists and turns.  It mirrors our own flight from one place to another whether you are on the freeway or not.  I attended a great webinar this week where Harry Kraemer, former CEO of Baxter and current Professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg School, spoke of living our values honestly.  He suggested that every day, we ask ourselves, “What did I accomplish?” and “What am I proud of?”  He asks that of himself every day along with, “If I were to live this day over, what would I do differently?”

I love that reflection exercise to put perspective on this accelerating, email driven work world we are in. Read his book, “From Values to Action”  and also visit LACMA – great inspiration for the soul.

We have been discussing the HR business partner and client relationship for years.  Understanding the business and helping the client solve for their business challenges takes the HR professional to a relationship level that is critical for achieving a shared “people” plan.  The same  holds true for Recruiters.  We don’t see the investment in teaching Recruiters this skill.

I see more invested in sourcing and developing new channels in finding talent, but little invested in the most precious and highest return on effort element, which is teaching Recruiters about the client partner relationship.  Katherine Moody, my colleague of many years,  has written a thoughtful summary of the challenges and what gets in the way of great client or “talent advising” when recruiting for top talent.  Read this and ask yourself :

Do hiring managers ask for your advice?

Do they respond promptly to your requests for information?

Can you deliver “bad news” without having to resort to a push back stance?

Do  you have the tools and time as a Recruiter to be a “strategic advisor?”

Read this ebook summary and we hope it generates discussion and ideas for development.  The Recruiting challenges of finding top talent will only increase in the coming year – be ready!

Clients are still quite demanding “ideal” candidate requirements.  I admire clarity.  However, it is our job as Talent Advisors to help our managers understand the market, and challenge assumptions about how much experience is really needed vs. culture fit and learning ability.  I just read “the Zappos Experience” by Joseph Michelli and love the focus on core values.  Even after someone is hired there, if in the onboarding experience they see a disconnect between their values and those of Zappos, they invite that person to leave.

As Talent Advisors, let’s help our hiring managers define values and requirements.  Screen for both and assess capacity for change and learning.  These are powerful criteria for success in today’s changing and chaotic environments.

My colleague, Katherine Moody has written a very insightful ebook on Recruiter as Strategic Advisor.  It will be on our site soon but if you would like it to be sent, please let me know.  Time for all of us to step up to strategic consulting with our hiring managers in a time when the demand for top talent is growing.

1.) Working on things that don’t matter – Ask yourself if this work effort is producing a result that you and your company values.  If it does not matter and it falls into the category of “we always do it this way” then re-evaluate and ask thoughtful questions.

2.) Mindless networking – Are you adding up contacts in your social network without thinking about why? Or what value you might give to this connection.

3.) Falling into a “Get” mindset – Try to approach each interaction with a sense of generous giving and helping vs. getting something.  Rather than saying, “I need this from you”  try out “how can I help you?” and then see ways you can learn from each other.

Have a fabulous launch in 2012 and wishing you all continued success and learning.

We are so used to creating a job posting that lists lots of requirements and what the company needs from this person.  It is so rare to see the other, “how can we support you in getting what you need in your career.”  This team was open to the concept and we actually created some great authentic stories about what their candidate may get to do and learn if they join them.  Congratulations to this team and huge kudos to the HR leader who sees that this must be led by managers.  They know the value they are offering!  It takes a little bit to move that from their head to their heart and then share it, but it moves them to a better place for sure.

Pay for Performance was our Boomer approach to pay – Pay for Potential is the way of the future and from what Jim says, it is the best way to recognize and reward those that achieve “rock star” status regardless of age.  Share your views on this, we want to hear.

So why don’t we have more Talent Advisors?  Shifting from the descriptive to observation based assessment takes skill in selection that many companies are not investing in.  I don’t hear of many companies that invest in the development of Recruiters on the consulting skills.  We spend the money on AIRS and sourcing technology.

Share your success story about developing Recruiters as Talent Advisors.  What has worked for you in shifting your process and transactional recruiting to advisory, business savvy recruiting?  Do you have Recruiters or Talent Advisors who have earned the right to influence their hiring managers?

One survey used by Intuit, a very successful software firm, uses Engagement survey items such as “being proud to work for the company, or motivated to go beyond what is expected” to measure how engaged their employees are.  They found that highly engaged employees are 1.3 times more likely to be high performers than less engaged employees and five times less likely to leave the company voluntarily.

The aim of this process of collecting employee input should produce insight into how “motivated” your employees are to produce great outcomes.  Those outcomes could be delighting customers, or being innovative or meeting goals.  We want to know if employees will go “the extra mile” for you. We suggest that the Engagement survey should cover the following areas:

• Satisfaction with the job or organization
• Commitment to the work, supervisor or organization
• Willing to encourage a friend to join the company, be an advocate of the firm

A few sample statements in a survey might be the following; “I am satisfied with this company as a place to work or in my work unit; you can feel the high energy and excitement; or my manager inspires the best in people.”  The data from these questions gives the company a great platform upon which they can facilitate dialogue with managers and employees to determine what might be getting in the way of satisfaction or what is working well.

My colleague, Margaret Walker, of FutureSense states, “ an engagement survey helps you identify the gaps” and “creates an opportunity for employees to participate in explaining the gaps and developing improvement plans.”   Aim for 75% employee participation in a survey during the first year.  Once you have the data, it is important not to be quick to judge.  This is one piece of information regarding the health of the organization.  The senior management team or a project team will be assigned to oversee this effort and lead employee focus group discussions.  Our experience shows that an organization can see results and behavior changes within 6 -9 months with focused work on the areas needing improvement.  My last suggestion is not to start this survey process unless your organization is committed to acting on the data and maintaining open communication regarding change initiatives.  It is a highly effective way to know how your employees view their work and company.

To make connections in business communities, companies are taking a new approach to their recruiting practices. Best practice leaders build places on the Internet where candidates can interact with them, other employees, hiring managers, and peers. This works to break down the walls of traditional one-way dialogue in the recruitment process. By breaking down these barriers, candidates and all of us get what we expect: transparency, personalization, and politeness.

Common courtesies like these are what my former boss, Steve Harrison in his The Manager’s Book of Decencies, say creates a corporate culture where candidates can see how they are valued and feel appreciated.  Such sentiments lend to a climate of sharing and contribution in the workplace. Considering how many abusive hiring processes still exist, we have to ask where these decencies have gone. Let’s figure out how to bring these people practices into our business with the help of social networking technologies. Here are some ideas to consider:

1. Seek to Understand – Conduct focus group sessions to understand what your newly hired employees thought of their hiring process. Be open to listening and changing your process or suggesting strategies that support a “human-approach” blended with technology and direct response.
2. Teach Hiring Managers that Actions Speak Loudly – If you value community, build it. Nurture connections even though they do not produce a hire today.  Teach hiring managers that a long view pays off.  Responding to candidates promptly and professionally means a lot and gets shared in positive ways across your network even though they may not get hired.  Have your manager check out glassdoor.com to see the other side of the coin.
3. Build a Community Strategy – Collect information from contacts at your career site, whether they are interested in a position or want to know more about future needs. A recent article on Sodexo, a global outsourcing firm, shows they are leading the pack in building talent networks.  They segment their candidate pool prior to responding so that there is a “personalized” response based on the candidate’s level of interest. Blogs also allow for dialogue with candidates prior to hire.
4. Challenge the “Confidential” – I see a growing increase in confidential searches this year.  Here is an opportunity for HR to create forums for quarterly talent reviews and coach executives on giving sensitive, honest and direct feedback to incumbents. This would, hopefully, in some cases ultimately reduce the confidential search.    
5. Acquire Contact Management Systems – Just like sales professionals, recruiters are managing multiple contacts and networks of individuals that require varying levels of “reach-out.” Here is our chance to take Applicant Tracking Systems to the next level and compete more effectively for talent.  Matter of fact, according to Bersin’s Talent Acquisition Systems 2010 Study, 41% of respondents (or staffing leaders) are seeking contact management systems this year.  This is very exciting for managing long term relationships with candidates and former employees.

As Recruiters, we know which practices engage talent. Let’s leverage our potential and that of our hiring managers by updating candidates, thanking them for their interest, returning a call, or simply being there to share a point of view. It does take time and focused effort, but small steps can pay off. If you are a recruiter and reading this today, what one step can you take and introduce to your hiring mangers?