Category Archives: Recruiting

Your Recruiting Process Is Doomed

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Here’s the real talk: sooner or later, you or anyone in recruiting will feel the itch to shake things up, thinking it’ll make the process smoother, sharper, or just better. The old ways failed, usually because you didn’t create them, so you figure a makeover is in order to match today’s standards. The revamped process promises to make hiring managers happy and completely change how talent flows into your organization.

Sounds legit, right?

It does, been there, done that. But here’s the kicker – it won’t work. The ‘new’ process is just the same old one with a fancier look. Sure, it might be somewhat ‘better,’ but that’s not the issue. The real problem is you’re missing something crucial. Why the urge to ‘re-process’? Let’s say it’s about getting “more” out of your recruiting game – more talent, more compliance, happier managers, better retention, just more.

But let’s be real. If your current setup was delivering, you wouldn’t be fixing it.

Wondering why the ‘new’ process won’t be your golden ticket either? It’s not because you don’t want ‘more.’ You’re scared of it. ‘More’ means facing things you could dodge in the old routine.

That’s the real reason your ‘new’ process is set up to fail. Deep down, where water cooler talk doesn’t reach, you don’t actually want it to work.

Having a successful process means opening up to failure. It needs hard numbers, accountability, a clear line in the sand that screams “we own this.” Those things spell out success and shout out failure. Success is cool to show off, but no one wants to flaunt failure. So, you go on this ‘re-processing’ spree, hoping to secure success without risking failure. Newsflash: that’s not happening. Success only matters when you know what failure looks like.

Sure, failing as a team isn’t the end of the world, but on a personal level, it’s terrifying. This fear keeps you from building the process your organization actually needs. A process that calls out the winners and the not-so-great players. A process that pinpoints where things need fixing. A process that calls for clear decisions.

Why is your new recruiting process doomed? Because you’re not willing to build one that shows your failures.

Here’s an idea, just do the job you were hired for

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Every day, people get worked up over stuff they can’t control. Everyone’s telling you to be this or that, depending on the latest trend or generation.

I’ve stopped listening to people who don’t know my job or haven’t been in the field for ages. Instead, I talk to my employees – the young, the old, and everyone in between. They all matter because they all contribute to moving the organization forward.

I don’t care about what others think; I focus on what my employees are telling me. Their problems are personal, from daycare and student loans to health scares. Forget the big world issues; help them with the close ones first.

Your employees are individuals with their own problems, and millennials aren’t college kids anymore. The newbies might have different labels, but they’re still young people with their own issues.

At the end of the day, employees want to succeed. Helping them be successful is my top priority as a leader. Success is personal, so I figure out how to tie it to the organization’s goals.

We keep letting others tell us how to do our jobs. I’m sticking to doing the job I was hired for because, frankly, no one knows it better than me. Maybe we should all just focus on doing the job we were hired for.

The Career of a Mediocre Recruiter

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Shoutout to Aerotek for being the pioneers in figuring out how long it takes for someone to realize they’re not cut out for recruiting – usually around 9-14 months in the game. Whether you’ve barely dipped your toes in Talent Acquisition for 13 minutes or have been in the field for a while, you’ve likely come across tons of resumes that tell a familiar story.

Just having some recruiting experience, especially in IT or Technical stuff, can keep you in the game for a good ten years or more, even if you’re not the best at it. As the President of a recruiting firm, and someone who has run corporate TA shops for years, I’ve seen these candidates pop up regularly:

  1. They kick off their recruiting journey fresh out of college, working at a big agency sweatshop for 9-12 months. They leave, citing issues with the management style, but truth is, they couldn’t meet their goals. Cut them some slack – those sweatshops are tough.
  2. Next, they usually move to another agency or a small corporate gig, lasting less than 9 months. Same old story – couldn’t hack it the first time, and it’s not likely to change now!
  3. If they’re playing smart, they jump ship from the second gig to a big corporate role with tons of recruiters, buying them about 24 months before being exposed as a recruiting flop. In these big places, it’s more about posting and praying than actual recruiting, so they can survive a bit longer.
  4. Eventually, the big organizations catch on that they’re not bringing much to the table. But armed with the big corporate name on their resume, they snag a senior recruiter role with another big firm. The big secret is, they have no secrets, and neither did the last big org they worked for. Once the fake secrets run out, it’s time to start scouting for a recruiting manager gig in about 18 months.
  5. They grab the first recruiting manager job they can find at a mid-sized firm, with high expectations because of their big company experience. Spoiler alert – they’re out the door in 9 months.
  6. Back to the agency world they go! Bouncing around, bragging about their ‘contacts’ at big companies, they’ve hit the 8-10 year mark in their recruiting career, and they’re just not cutting it.

If they’re lucky as a mediocre recruiter, they might land a gig with a college or university, or something. These places are like havens for subpar recruiters. No pressure to do anything valuable – just show up, get a paycheck, and follow the process. It’s never their fault, and moving too fast isn’t on the agenda!

The best recruiters don’t move around because they’re so valuable the organizations they work for won’t let them leave! If you’re crappy, people are hoping you leave! Please take your crappy recruiting skills to our competition!

5 HR Habits to Drop Now

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Are you doing everything you can to be a top-notch HR pro? Sometimes, it’s essential to take a step back and see if certain habits might be holding you back.

Here’s my list of what habits are holding us back as a profession:

  1. Keep It Personal: In HR, relationships matter. Instead of relying on emails or texts, try talking face-to-face or picking up the phone. Building real connections helps create a positive workplace and makes you a more effective HR professional.
  2. Be Open-Minded in Hiring: Don’t let small things affect your hiring choices. Whether it’s where someone went to school (God forbid they went to your rival) or how they shake hands, focus on what really matters – their skills and qualifications.
  3. Deal with Salary Realities: It’s easy to get frustrated about pay differences between departments. But instead of dwelling on it, concentrate on excelling in your HR role. Understand that each department has its challenges, and your HR skills are crucial in their own way. No one wants to hear about it.
  4. Skip the Power Trip: Avoid using power just for the sake of it. True influence comes from collaboration, not strict rules. Approach your role as someone who facilitates, helping people succeed without unnecessary control.
  5. See the Bigger Picture: While HR is important, it’s not the only show in town. Shift your focus from thinking HR is superior to understanding how you can contribute to the whole organization. Use your HR skills to make everyone’s life easier.

If you want to be a better HR pro, start with these simple steps:

  • Regularly talk to colleagues in different departments. Find out what challenges they’re facing, not just HR issues, and offer real help. This “Business Partner” approach goes beyond typical HR duties and makes you a valuable asset.
  • Learn on the Job: Don’t worry if you don’t know everything about every department. Talk to your peers, learn from them, and use your problem-solving skills to contribute to their issues. Being willing to understand different parts of the business will make you a better HR professional.

Improving as an HR pro is about letting go of limiting habits and being more collaborative and supportive. This way, you’ll become a more effective and valued member of your organization.

Make my birthday wish come true!?

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Guess what?

It’s my birthday! Let’s make this one for the books – literally! The only thing I want is for you to go pre-order my new book The Talent Fix, Vol. 2. Head over to the pre-order page, secure your copy, and let the countdown to the book release begin!

I’m beyond grateful for your ongoing support and am lucky to continue sharing this incredible journey with you. Cheers to another year of growth, learning, and a leader’s guide to recruiting great talent.

HR and Parking – Parallel Practices

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Did you know parking lots are their own big industry, just like Healthcare or Banking?

For city folks, dealing with parking lots is a daily thing. Like other industries, parking is using tech to get more profitable and efficient. Supposedly, people waste about 20 minutes per trip looking for parking. Yet, booking parking in advance is still kind of new. Ideally, folks should know where spots are, compare prices, and pick the best one.

Here are three things HR can pick up from parking lots:

  1. Smart Talent Use: Drawing from the parking lot playbook, HR should take a closer look at whether having a full crew around the clock is really necessary. In Europe, they’ve figured this out by using more contractors and adapting to the demands of the moment. However, the US is a bit slow to jump on the bandwagon, possibly due to sticking to traditional hiring practices that may not be as efficient.
  2. Pay for Good Work: Similar to forking out more for a prime parking spot, companies should be willing to invest more in top-notch talent. HR needs to break free from the shackles of outdated pay systems and embrace a new approach that rewards the best talent available in the entire job market. It’s not just about acknowledging the best within the company; it’s about recognizing and compensating those who stand out in the broader talent pool.
  3. Teamwork: Taking a cue from the cooperative spirit of parking lots, HR could explore the idea of sharing employees with neighboring companies. Imagine two adjacent companies both in need of similar skills, like developers. Why not collaborate and share the talent pool? Sure, there are hurdles like legal considerations, sorting out the pay scale, and managing benefits, but with some effort, it’s a feasible strategy worth exploring. This kind of teamwork could lead to mutual benefits, just like parking lots sharing information on open spaces.

Any others I’m missing? How about don’t be an ass? Keep it between the lines?

Burning a Hire

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If you’re a fan of baseball, you know there’s this cool thing in the game where a pitcher throws a ‘burn’ pitch to set up another one. It’s not about scoring a point but getting ready for a better play down the line.

Ever thought about doing that in HR? Ever burned a hire?

In big companies, sometimes you have to burn hires to make a point or get your hiring managers on board. I remember when we brought in this fancy pre-employment test, and the managers hated it. They didn’t trust the science behind it. Good assessments only work if everyone believes they’re worth it in the end.

I let the managers hire people they liked, even when the test said they might not work out. It was a gamble, but I wanted to show the value of the tools we were using. I wouldn’t keep doing it, but sometimes you need to prove your point for the greater good.

I’ve also burned hires with executive referrals. Top-level folks sometimes want to get jobs for their family, and most of the time, these hires don’t work out. But fighting against it isn’t smart, so you burn a hire.

Not many HR people openly admit to burning hires, but behind closed doors, we know it happens. Sometimes, the small battles aren’t as crucial as the bigger internal war, so you let certain hires go through even when you’d normally stop them.

This doesn’t make you bad at HR; it’s just being strategic. Like the pitcher, you’re setting yourself up for success by burning a hire here and there.

Hiring on X (err. Twitter) just got easier!

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For the last decade, you could find content on how to hire on Twitter/X. it was mostly crap. No one was really hiring anyone on Twitter in any real numbers. It was like fishing for one certain minnow in an ocean. But, boy, did they like to talk like Twitter was a “real” source of hire. It wasn’t.

Elon bought Twitter, and changed the name to X, and decided, wait, we have this giant community why shouldn’t people be able to post jobs and hire on here? So, they made some changes. Will it be the next big great source of talent? Probably not, but it’s worth checking out because it’s definitely easier now to at least test it and see.

New @Xhiring

I love that recruiters can add a hot job to their profile!

Add a job to your X profile.

Some folks love to dump on X because of Elon. What I find is that recruiters are fairly agnostic politically when it comes to finding new sources of hire! It really doesn’t matter if you love or hate Elon. The job is about getting the best talent for your organization.

I’m a big advocate of Recruitment marketing and advertising, in that you get your jobs in front of everyone. If you can, you post your jobs everywhere. Your career site, Indeed, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, CareerBuilder, lawn signs on the corner, the bulletin board at church. EVERYWHERE!

Your job is to fill the req.

What does the X Talent pool look like?

  • 500 million month users
  • The largest user group – males under 35 years (58%) – is more tech-savvy than average.
  • 87% of X users also use Instagram (cross-promote)
  • Average users are on X for roughly 34 minutes per day.
  • Facebook is still the largest social media site, followed by Facebook-owned Instagram and TikTok – all have audiences in the billions.

Social media recruiting, in general, is tough. Those who do it best tend to be great content producers and build big audiences. Those who do it awful tend to just post jobs and ignore it. iIt’s very labor-intensive to do great social media recruiting. The average TA shop will not see social media in their top 10 sources of hire normally, so you must weigh the cost/benefit of this.

Now that I’ve told you how worthless social media recruiting is, I still like what X has done and is doing around hiring. There is a converted effort by X to cater to employers and make it easier to leverage their audience and your audience to make hires. X seems to be the only large social media company who is paying attention to recruiters!

Why You Should Recruit from Competitors

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Is it cool to hire from your competitors? This usually gets mixed responses. If you ask 100 Talent Acquisition Pros, half might say it’s a no-go due to agreements not to poach from each other – a common practice in the corporate world.

Infamous legal dramas, like the Silicon Valley case, highlight the downsides of these secret pacts. Between 2005 and 2009, tech giants allegedly avoided recruiting each other’s people, causing lower wages and less job mobility. The lawsuit claims this left workers in the dark about better-paying opportunities.

Surprisingly, openly declaring an agreement not to recruit from competitors is not just ethically weird – it’s illegal. Yes, you heard that right. While it’s tempting to dodge the hiring treadmill in a competitive market, there are smarter ways to deal with it.

One approach is to invest in better pay, engagement, and talent development. DUH! Smart companies know it’s crucial to pay at or above market rates to keep their team happy. Instead of reacting to high turnover with higher wages, these companies stay ahead by regularly adjusting compensation to retain top talent.

Choosing between paying upfront or dealing with turnover costs is a classic business challenge. Reactive companies end up paying more on the back end due to turnover and higher wages. On the flip side, proactive organizations invest upfront in talent development, keeping a competitive edge by promoting from within and having visionary leaders.

I would actually love to see legislation that makes it illegal if you’re a corporate recruiter and you don’t make cold calls to recruit! You saying you’re a ‘Recruiter’ but you don’t recruit! That’s the real criminal activity going on!

Can someone make a Recruiting Degree happen?

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Ever wondered why colleges don’t offer a degree in recruiting? With plenty of human resources programs around, it’s always surprised me that there’s no focus on recruiting and talent acquisition.

Typically, folks in recruiting come from programs like Communications, Business Administration/Marketing, Liberal Arts (not known for job prospects), Sports Management, or Human Resources. These degrees open doors to a field where newbie recruiters can earn $40,000 to $50,000 in their first year, and the top ones make six figures.

Imagine a Bachelor’s degree in Recruiting, with classes designed to prepare students for the real deal.

Timmy’s Proposed Bachelor’s in Recruiting Classes:

  1. Recruiting 101 – History of Recruiting
  2. Recruiting 102 – Recruiting Processes and Procedures
  3. Recruiting 103 – Recruiting Communication and Marketing
  4. Recruiting 104 – Sourcing
  5. Recruiting 105 – Negotiation, Offers, and Recruiting Finance
  6. Recruiting 106 – 100 Ways to Connect with People – #1 is the Phone!
  7. Recruiting 107 – Writing Job Descriptions like a Marketer
  8. Recruiting 201 – Employment Branding
  9. Recruiting 202 – Candidate Experience
  10. Recruiting 203 – Recruiting Technology
  11. Recruiting 204 – Advanced Sourcing
  12. Recruiting 205 – Specialty Recruitment
  13. Recruiting 206 – Recruiting Analytics
  14. Recruiting 207 – The Law & Candidates
  15. Recruiting 301 – Senior Project – solving real-life recruiting problems in real-world companies

So, if colleges had a Recruiting degree, would employers hire those grads? Definitely. Employers would dig hiring folks with targeted recruiting skills.

What do you think? Any other cool ones you’d throw in? I think the potential for creating practical content in a Recruiting degree is huge.