Employee Referral Programs -Why They Don’t Work

The theory is good people know other good people. This has been the underlying principle driving employee referral programs for as long as I have been in the private sector. You have your superstar performers and you know if you could just get one more of each of them, all of your production, creative marketing, or sales problems would be solved. Clients would flood in and bottom line profits would soar. I just have one question. How is that working for you?
The problem is the traditional employee program is a passive effort. You dangle a carrot and hope they act. The program is dependent on your employees actually going out to their network and driving traffic back. This is the same premise as a channel partnership in sales. You are depending on your channel partner to deliver a consistent, effective, and attractive value proposition with the same zeal with which you would. Don’t get me wrong, there are great employee referral program and there are great channel partnerships. Wouldn’t you make it better though if you could?
The reality tends to be that unless you are a company known as an “employer of choice” (i.e. Microsoft, Google- a company where people want to be) your staff may have a hard time driving candidates to you. Moreover, many do not feel comfortable with talking to their friends about their company. Not everyone is a sales person or marketer. Some are shy and introverted. Some just will not mix social and work. Some may not really like working for your company! They may have a great network of people with skills that would be attractive to your company, but your message will never reach them.
Enter Talent Retriever’s Active Referral Program (ARP). We have established a program that addresses the problems with a passive Employee Referral Program, by making it an active effort. We are working with our clients and identifying their top performers and driving referrals for them. Interested in hearing more about how this works? Give me a call. I can’t give out all of my secrets.
Steve
781-425-6656

Excuse-Makers vs. Opportunists: Which Team is Your Sales Group Playing For?

There is a change brewing. Organizations are starting to put money back into business development. I see PR people picking up speed. Companies that create and drive all kinds of marketing programs are beginning to finally close business that has been in the pipeline since Q3 2008. Great news!

As a marketing professional by trade, I am a huge believer in employing all sorts of tools that support and help initiate sales. But – marketing is only half of what it takes. Great marketing programs that are not complimented by a solid sales force are often wasted.

Now is a good time to take a good and honest look at your existing sales team. Times are tough. Are members of your team hustling or are they making excuses? If you are hearing too much, “well, its just a bad market right now” instead of “This is my chance to outwork my competition,” then you may want to consider some immediate changes. Now more than ever, there is no excuse for having a weak sales team. There are great people both available on the market, as well as those more passive candidates who are willing to take a look at new opportunities.

Superstars are getting job offers – and they are coming in multiples. Don’t settle for the B Team.

6 Steps to a Winning Resume

Your resume is a first impression.  Plain and simple. Your celebrated personality may win over a hiring manager at an interview, but you will never even get to that stage if that one piece of paper doesn’t make a statement.  Invest time in writing your resume.  Draft it, edit it, and most importantly have others look at it and make suggestions. 

 

Know What You Want and Frame Your Resume Accordingly

Before you even start to draft your resume, it is imperative you have some idea of your goal when setting out to look for a new opportunity.  You do not need to list an objective on your resume, but you do need to know what you are looking for.  Is it career advancement to the next level?  A change of industry?  More money?  Whatever the case, decide on some goals.  As for your resume– maybe you are not sure what it is you want to do and have a few things in mind.  If so, you will need tailored versions of your resume.  This extra effort will go a long way.    

 

Silver Bullets

Although you pore over perfecting your resume, a hiring manager will most likely spend about 30 seconds skimming it.  If your resume is difficult to read, you’re toast.  Past accomplishments and responsibilities should be written in bullet form using the least amount of words possible.  Some like to put all their accomplishments in bullets and just list the places they worked.  Not a good idea.  People like to be able to follow a clear employment history.  Highlight accomplishments under each position listed.  One more note on format – use simple fonts in a 10, 11 or 12 pt. type.  Don’t get fancy.

 

Focus on Accomplishments:  Be Specific and Quantitative

Generalities can be red flags to a hiring manager.  They may judge a candidate as not having a lot of substance if there are no specifics.  Often the case, one thinks about what they do all day from a task perspective, rather than what they have accomplished and where successes have come.  The key here is to include relevant statistics that highlight the results of your work.  If you are in sales, emphasize quotas and how you matched up against them if successful.  Identify how you ranked among your sales team if you were highly productive.  Perhaps you are in a tech role, finished a project early and saved the company money — point that out.  If you were responsible for marketing efforts that helped drive revenue, write about it.  If you manage others, include the number of employees for which you are responsible.  Just be sure you are prepared to be asked more detail about your statistics in an interview.  Be sure you can back it up. 

 

And…Action!

Presumably you are trying to convince a hiring manager that you are a hefty contributor to an organization.  Strong action verbs help to create the take-charge impression you need to make to show your ability to be proactive.  You don’t want to just look like a participant.  Hiring managers like leaders.  For example, rather than writing “Helped with marketing efforts” you should be more specific and exemplify how you were an essential player in the department.  Try, “Executed details of newly developed webinar which resulted in 1000 new sales leads.”   

Blah, Blah, Blah

Irrelevant information should not be included.  Some may be of the opinion that listing hobbies and activities adds personality.  We all have pastimes that we love to talk about, and sometimes those may even come up in an interview.  However, a resume is not the place to tell a future employer that you love hiking with your dog.  Don’t waste valuable resume space on facts that don’t matter. And please, please, please do not say “References will be furnished upon request.”  Have you ever seen a resume that says, “I refuse to provide references if you need them”?  Of course not. At the appropriate stage, it is a given that references will be requested by a potential employer. 

 

Keep It Short

Remember that high school English teacher who was always reminding you that sometimes less is more when writing papers?  Well, that notion is equally important when writing a resume.  There is no reason for your resume to be longer than two pages.  If you feel that is that is impossible, evaluate what work experience will be most relevant to the position for which you are applying, as well as consider just listing the name of your company and your title for older positions.

 

Now go get ‘em.  Good luck!

Cloud Recruiting for the Company

So you have an internal recruiting department or you are using external agencies to fill your position. Let me start by saying I know a lot of first rate agencies out there. I also know way too many that are staffed with recent college graduates who have low morale and high turnover. Do you know which one you are working with? Every agency you talk to will claim they are cutting edge. They will talk about calling into competitors and direct sourcing…if you are lucky enough to find an agency actually doing that you are lucky. Remember they are commission-based and looking for the quickest buck. As I said, there are some good ones, but they tend to be the very small boutiques –people who have built relationships and branched out on their own because they are that good.

If you have an internal recruiting department and you are not hiring, what are your recruiters doing?

Regardless of how you are managing your talent acquisition, let’s get to the heart of the matter. How are they finding your people? In a recent blog post, I wrote about the evolution of the job search. It went something like this…started with typing resumes on a typewriter and mailing, progressed to a word processor and faxing, evolved to MS Word and emailing, and now seems to be stuck at posting on job boards. I talked about how the “most desirable candidates have progressed to online branding or C.P.R. (Candidate Public Relations).”

If your method of talent acquisition, whether that be an internal staff or contingency agency, is still sourcing off the boards, get rid of them immediately. They are wasting your money. Hiring managers want the best available talent, not the easiest talent to find.

The best talent, for the most part, is still employed. Companies are holding on to their finest talent as they work to remain viable and competitive in this down economy. Do you subscribe to the notion that 80% of your company’s chance of surviving is coming from the top 20% of your thought leaders and performers? If so, then those are the people you as a manager want to know. So how do you find them?

The most obvious example for me is the open source code world. Developers are writing and contributing to a bigger community. The leaders in this space all know who the other thought leaders and “up and comers” are. There work is out there for everyone to see every day. You don’t find these people on Dice or Monster, they hang out on Linux.org, KPLUG, or sourceforge. You find them in their circle. They are out there and hiding in plain sight. We are working with our clients to ensure their “social presence” puts them in the same circles as these top people. We are showing companies how to approach and build relationships with these most desirable candidates.

If are working with some who claims to be doing this, test them. As a professional in “your space” you know the trade publications you subscribe to, you know the blogs you visit to keep current, you know the social sites that have the professionals who are thought leaders in your space. Ask them where they are. Better yet, if they were active in “your space” would you already know who they are. It’s a tough economy and everyone seems to be an expert at everything. I know I get agencies that call me all day wanting to work with our strategic partners. There are ways to help you separate “the wannabees” and “the been there done that”.

The evolution of the job seeker from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to WALL-E

Remember when you used to type up your resume on a manual typewriter? Oh, the correction tape we burned through….sorry if I am dating myself. Some of you may even be saying, “What is a manual typewriter?” Then came the IBM Selectric. What an advance that was for people like me who can’t type. I know what you’re thinking, if I have been typing that long, I should know how by now….nope, not happening. You would take that resume, tri-fold it, put it in a nice envelope and mail it. Three weeks later, you would get a letter from the prospective employer acknowledging receipt of the resume. Two weeks after that you may get a call from an HR person to screen you or got the dreaded “Thank you for your interest” letter. Oh, you were applying to more than one company, then repeat the entire process. Ever look back and wonder how we got jobs back then?

Then came the fax. It was like the stuff from Star Trek. You could beam your resume to an HR person within minutes. Wait a week and get a letter acknowledging receipt of your resume. Two or three days later you get a call asking you to set up a screen or the still dreaded “Thank you for your interest”letter.

Then we enter the 1990’s the decade of some of my all time favorites Mars Attacks, Men In Black, and Independence Day. Things sure were moving fast then, remember. You could email a resume to HR and get an auto response in minutes. We would wait a day or two and either get a call looking to set up a screen or, the still dreaded, “Thank you for your interest” email this time.

Welcome to 2009 and beyond. The age of social networking, personal branding, and Job Seeking 3.0. If you are still using job boards you are not going to find a job with a forward thinking, entrepreneurial company. Those companies are using the techniques we are teaching them on how to reach the most desirable candidates and “A” list players who do not post a resume. Just as there are “Employers of Choice”, there are “Desirable Candidates” that companies actively court. Would you like to be someone that a company calls to ask if they would be interested in working for them? Check back and I will tell how. People we are working with, both happily employed and actively looking, are branding themselves as “Desirable Candidates”.

NOW is The Time to Build Your Talent Reserve®

Cari Tuna from the WSJ published an article on April 3rd (“Some Employers See Hiring Opportunity” http://tinyurl.com/dyynzh) which got me thinking and opened up a number of questions.

Cari references numerous companies that are being “overwhelmed” with applicants responding to job openings – a company that once had to stand in front of a mall and hand out applications to attract candidates now has over 1000 applicants for 100 openings – another drew over 4,000 applicants for 80 positions at a new facility. We have all seen and heard stories like this.

First question – is leadership taking notice? Are people recognizing that this is a buyer’s market? This does not mean you need to make an immediate purchase – but you should be building your network and defining the ways to sustain this network (how you will remain connected to these people over the longer term). Relationship building is key. And NOW is the time to do it.

Remember 12 months ago when you couldn’t find a candidate to speak with? When candidates where in hiding and good people could not be found? The 900 people that the company in Florida did not hire – what happens to them? Let’s assume there are a good number that are overqualified and others that are not the right fit – let’s say there are 150 candidates that are qualified – what happens with these people?

Invest in the future of your recruitment. This is a great opportunity to save time and exorbitant fees in the future. Build a network around these candidates – find ways to communicate with them regularly. Over time the network will increase in size and “quality” and during your next hiring cycle you turn to these folks first.

Contingency agencies are doing this now. They are gathering people, generating names, building relationships and expanding their network – all so that they can generate large fees in the upturn. Sure – when you are ready to hire, the contingency firms will have great candidates delivered to your doorstep —all yours for a fee of 25%.

Building out your Talent Reserve® can be done cheaper and more effectively. Not only can you accumulate your own database of A-Level talent that you’d love to have join your company sometime in the future, but you also have the opportunity to begin building a relationship with them. The goal is to get this top talent to have a desire to work at your company. Building an allegiance right now is the perfect time. When they hold all the cards (and I assure you, we will be back to a “candidate’s market”) if you have already invested the time and energy in developing a relationship with them, you will be ahead of their other suitors.

Let’s first worry about identifying the “best” leaders!

Everywhere you look people are talking about executive compensation – capping the amount business leaders can earn, how they are compensated, what they receive for perks and bonuses, etc. etc.  I understand all of this concern.  There have been enough cases of executive greed to cause such an outrage and our current fiscal crisis has most looking for people to blame.

 

My concern is the lack of discussion surrounding the identification and assessment of those in leadership roles.  Before we start saying that someone doing X should earn Y – lets first determine who best can do the job. 

 

The assessment of prospective leaders (both in business and politics) needs to ensure that not only does someone possess the right skills and experience but also encompass strong ethics and morals and demonstrates that they will take responsibility for their actions.  All of these things can be assessed from prior actions and should be our first concern. 

 

Capping the income of a leader is great – if the right person has been identified AND they can do the job AND will do the job correctly – for the compensation being paid.

Job Openings with Our Clients

Talent Retriever is currently seeking candidates for the following positions:
(To apply for one of these positions click on the appopriate link)

Ecommerce Specialist

Sales Minded President

Financial Advisor

Regional Sales Manager

Really – you’ll provide me with references? Thanks a lot, Mr. MOTO!

Attention Resume Writers:  I am making an appeal to everyone writing their resume for the first time in years, as well as those just making updates.  If you have the following:  “References furnished upon request”, please delete it immediately. 

 

I’m not exactly sure how long this has been floating around, or when it gained such popularity, but think about it.  Offering up references as if they are the sparkling alternative to tap water?  Come on.  Of course you will provide references if you are longing to get that dream job – or even a job that will barely suffice for the time being.  References are an absolute given.  Although some employers may not ask for them, they fully expect for them to be available. 

 

Oh – and who is Mr. MOTO ?  He’s Master of the Obvious.

Are You Influencing the Economy?

Everyone seems to be asking the same questions — “When is this craziness going to end?”  “How low can the market go?”  “What will become of our economy?” 

 

No one can predict this, of course, but do we have the ability as a business society to help the process along? How much truth is there to the “psychological” impact on the economy?  In my opinion, psychology carries quite a bit of weight.

 

OK – sure – let’s restate the obvious — many companies are really in trouble.  They are laying off, cutting salaries and shutting down.  Those are the ones you hear about every time your blackberry beeps with an email delivering the latest grim statistics from a news outlet.  For some reason, the country thrives on bad news. Was the average American checking their portfolio every 2 hours twelve months ago?  Were we on edge waiting to hear the latest statistics when unemployment was at 4.6% in 2007? 

 

The fact is, when things are good, most are not paying very close attention.  When things go wrong, everyone is keeping an eagle eye.  Just like dealing with clients – no one is going to tell you how great things are when you are performing at or above expectations, but first time something goes wrong, you will hear about it…and hear about it…and hear about it some more.  Negativity gets people excited.

 

So where do we go to find the feel-good stories about companies that are growing and doing well?  Since that topic is not one that is high on the list for most news organizations, it is tough to find.   There are actually a number of companies that are thriving right now.  How are they dealing with the recession? 

 

Unfortunately, psychology is playing a part here.  We see numerous organizations that are flourishing getting caught up in the headlines, which has brought on a case of paralysis to their organizations.  Over and over I hear many report to be ”doing great”, but are “waiting for the other shoe to drop”.  You have to wonder how much they are hurting themselves.  Imagine the missed opportunities, the loss of productivity and the potential revenue that is left on the table.

 

So we just wait, I guess…..But — if you are smart, motivated and have the resources, now is a great time to step it up. 

 

Don’t worry about the factors that you can do nothing about.  What you can do – which will help the big picture, is get moving.  If it makes sense, invest in marketing, build out your sales team, upgrade your current employee base. 

 

On a positive note, I am happy to report that in the past two weeks, we have seen some multiple offers being delivered to candidates.  Usually – being in the business of talent acquisition — we don’t love to see any of our candidates have competitive offers, but right now, we will make an exception.  If it is an indication that companies are starting to move, then we’ll take it. 

 
The point is, you need to look at your own situation and make an assessment.  Are you avoiding risk at the risk of lost opportunities for your company?