Category Archives: The Recruiting Rules

Why ‘Recruiter’ is the best job in HR.

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I grew up and lived most of my life in Michigan.  There are so many things I love about living in Michigan and most of those things have to deal with water and the 3 months that temperatures allow you to enjoy said water (Jun – Aug).  There is one major thing that completely drives me insane about Michigan.  Michigan is at its core an automotive manufacturing state which conjures up visions of massive assembly plants and union workers.  To say that the majority of Michigan workers feel entitled would be the largest understatement ever made.  We have grown up with our parents and grandparents telling us stories of how their overtime and bonus checks bought the family cottage, up north, and how they spent more time on their ‘pension’ than they actually spent in the plant (think about that! if you started in a union job at 18, put in your 30 years, retired at 48, on your 79 birthday you actually have had a company pay for you longer than you worked for them – at the core of the Michigan economy this is happening right now – and it’s disastrous!  Pensions weren’t created to sustain that many years, and quite frankly they aren’t sustainable under those circumstances).  Seniority, entitlement, I’ve been here longer than you, so wait your turn – are all the things I hate about my great state!

There is a saying in professional sports – “If you can play, you can play”.  Simply, this means that it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, how much your contract is worth – if you’re the best player, you will be playing.  We see examples of this in every sport, every year.  The kid was bagging groceries last month, now he’s start quarterback in the NFL!  You came from a rich family, poor family, no family – doesn’t matter – if you can play, you can play.  Short, tall, skinny, fat, pretty, ugly, smart, no-so smart – if you can play, you can play.  Performance on your specific field of play – is all that matters.  BTW – NHL released this video last year supporting the LGBT community (if you can play…) –

This is why I love being a recruiter!  I can play.

Doesn’t matter how long I’ve been doing it.  Doesn’t matter what education/school I came from.  Doesn’t matter what company I work for.  If you can recruit – you can recruit.  You can recruit in any industry, at any level, anywhere in the world.  Recruiting at its core is a perfect storm of showing us how accountability and performance in our profession works.  You have an opening – and either you find the person you need (success), or you don’t find the person (failure).  It’s the only position within the HR industry that is that clear cut.

I have a team of recruiters who work with me. Some have 20 years of experience, some have a few months – the thing that they all know – if you can recruit, you can recruit.  No one can take it away from you, no one can stop you from being a great recruiter.  There’s no entitlement or seniority – ‘Well, I’ve been here longer, I should be the best recruiter!’ If you want to be the best, if you have to go out and prove you’re the best.  The scorecard is your placements.  Your finds.  Can you find talent and deliver, or can’t you.  Black and white.

I love recruiting because all of us (recruiters) have the exact same opportunity.  Sure some will have more tools than others – but the reality is – if you’re a good recruiter – you need a phone and an ability to connect with people.  Tools will make you faster – not better.  A great recruiter can play.  Every day, every industry.  This is why I love recruiting.

Top Candidate Lies

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Every Monday morning I have a meeting with my recruiting team – it’s a great way to kick off the week – we share what we are working on, we talk about problems we are having on specific searches so the team can share ideas and tips, maybe even a possible candidate they know of, etc.  We also share stories!  Monday mornings are great for sharing recruiter stories – horrible interviews interviews, funny excuses candidates have, negotiating nightmares – you name it, we talk about it!

I was reminded this week how bad of liars candidates can be – we get a lot of candidate lying stories in Monday morning meetings!  So, as a shout out to my Recruiters – and all recruiters – I wanted to put together a list of the Top Candidate Lies.  When I started thinking about all the lies, I found I could break it down by category – so here goes – hit me in the comments if you have a favorite that you get – or think of one I missed:

The Education Lies

– “I have all the credits, I just didn’t graduate.”

– “I did all the classes, I just need to pay the fees to graduate.” (so you spent 4+ years going to school, got done, but that last couple of hundred dollars stopped you from graduating…)

– “I graduated from ‘State U’, but it was a long time ago, I’m not sure why they can’t verify my degree.”

– “I had a 3.0 GPA in my ‘core’ classes, but a 1.9 GPA overall…”

– “Well, it was an Engineering/Business degree.”

The Background Check Lies

– “No, I’m not on drugs.” Then fails drug screen. “Oh, you meant Marijuana as a drug…” 

– “She told me she was 18.”

– “They told me in court that never would be on my file, so I didn’t think I needed to tell you.”

–  “No, I don’t have a felony.” (Oh, that felony! But that was in Indiana…)

The Experience Lies

– “When you said Java, I thought you meant experience making coffee.”

– “I was a part of the ‘leadership’ team that was responsible for that implementation.” (So, basically you knew of a project that happened while you were working there…)

The No-Show Interview Lies

– “My car broke down.” (Either through some fantastic wrinkle in space, or gigantic amount of lying, candidates have more car trouble per capita than anyone else ever in the world who has driven a car)

– “I couldn’t find the location.” (So, your answer to this dilemma was to turn around and go home and not call and let us know you got lost?)

– “My son/daughter got sick, so I can’t make it.” (Again – crazy coincidences that happen with candidates and sick kids…)

The Termination Lies

– “It was a mutual decision that I left.” (“So, you’ll ‘mutually’ decided that you would no longer have a job?”, is the question I always ask after this statement! Candidates – this statement sounds as stupid as it reads.)

– “I (or any family member) was in a bad accident and in the hospital, so they fired me for not showing up to work.” (No they didn’t – there are some bad companies out there, but no company does this.)

– “I play on a softball team and after games we go out and have a couple drinks. The next morning my boss smelled alcohol and fired me for drinking on the job.” (This was a true lie I got from an employee – it started out as me just giving him a written warning – until I went lunch, not joking – 10 minutes later at the Chili’s down the street from the office, and there he was belly up to the bar drinking a beer…upon cleaning out his desk we found a half a fifth of vodka.)

Here’s my take on candidate lies – candidates continue to lie, because Talent/HR Pros don’t call them out on it.  We (HR) also perpetuate this problem by hiring the folks who give you the crappy lie, but don’t hire the folks who come clean and tell you the truth.

 

Check out my follow up to this post: Top Recruiter Lies!

 

 

 

The Cost of Bad Hires

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If there is one constant in HR and Recruiting – it is the fact that no one will ever agree on how much a bad hire costs an organization!  Never!  It doesn’t matter how much time you put into coming up with some algorithm, how much research to back up your numbers – it’s still going to be 90% subjective/soft numbers at best.  This is the main reason executives in our organizations think the majority of HR/Talent Pros in the world don’t get business!   We come to them with stuff like this:

“We need to reduce turnover because of Engineer who leaves us, costs the company $7,345,876.23!”

Then you go through a 73 slide PowerPoint deck showing how you came up with the calculations all the way down the parking meter expense during the interview, and when you’re done – no one believes you’re even close to an actual number.

The gang over at National Business Research Institute put together a pretty good infographic proving my point – take a look:

NBRI - The Cost of a Bad Hire Infographic

97%+ of the ‘lost’ cost is from “Training” and “Productivity Loss” – those are very subjective measures in almost all organizations.  What that says is – ‘Oh, Jimmy isn’t working out – fire him – and because he wasn’t working out we lost ‘X’ percent of productivity over any other possible replacement (which in itself is a whole other leap)’.  And, we lost 100% of training we put into Jimmy because he is now not here.  Which again is subjective, since most training isn’t one-on-one, and resources used to train are almost always not used just on one person, etc.

So, here’s a better way to figure out the cost of a bad hire:

1. Ask your head of finance or accounting what they think it costs? “Ballpark it for me?”  $10K? Sounds great! We’ll use $10K.

2. Use $10K as your cost of bad hires.

Your reality – HR’s Reality – is it really doesn’t matter what the number is – only that the powers that be in your organization all agree on the number. Stop wasting your time trying to come up with a better number – just come up with a number that those signing the check agree is probably legit.

 

The 4 Letter Word We Never Use In HR

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I’m not sure about your HR experience but in my HR experience I’ve used every 4 letter word known to man – except one.  That word is:

Luck.

This came to mind recently when I was speaking to a really close HR friend of mine who happens to work at a really great company.  The kind of company who wins all of those HR and Recruiting awards and accolades for doing ‘great’ HR work.  For being the industry leaders in HR and Talent.  For being the company ‘we’ should all follow and emulate.  My friend is funny, I like hanging out with funny people, and she told me the only reason they’ve won any of those awards is luck!  Not skill, not hard work, not better HR/Recruiting talent – it is luck.  Granted, their team had to do some work after the luck to take advantage of timing – but the Luck is the reason they got to ‘greatness’.

She says that they were your average to below average company – nothing special – when a perfect storm of timing hit them.  They had a product that became popular and they went virtually overnight from being a nobody to a somebody.  “We were the same company, but now everyone wanted to know how and what we were doing in HR and Recruiting!  Internally, we laugh about it – we weren’t doing anything new or different – but being asked to accept awards and come speak.  To hear professionals all of sudden think your something special is a pretty cool feeling!  Everyone should experience it, but it makes me sad because I know HR pros who are hell of lot more talented than I working at crappy companies doing much more than we are in HR to turn their companies around – and they’ll never get awards and no one wants to hear them speak – and quite frankly they do HR better than we do!  We got lucky…”

In HR, and probably most parts of our organization, we never want to give Luck credit for anything.  It diminishes us as professionals, and diminishes the profession.  It can’t be LUCK that is making us ‘better’ it’s our skill!   We didn’t get lucky by hiring that designer who after 5 years just had inspiration and got our company noticed, our selection process picked that person. We didn’t get lucky by winning that harassment lawsuit, it was our training.  Luck is a very bad work to use in the corporate world!  Can you imagine going into your CEO when she asks “So, how did you guys lower our turnover by 25% in the past 12 months?”, and you go “Luck”!  But how many of ‘us’ had these conversations in the past few years when we saw our turnover plummet because of the recession, and our employees having no other job choices – go into our executives and talk about our ‘processes’, our ‘engagement programs’, our ‘programs to reduce turnover’ – when in reality you could have done nothing and turnover was going to plummet.  Luck, was on our side.

I like to give Luck credit.  I’ve been very lucky in my career – and I’m always willing to give it credit.  I think luck has more to do with success than people want to give it credit for.  Sure, once luck comes your way, you better have the skill and motivation to take advantage of your situation – but luck is behind so many great pros.  I still believe in hard work and skill will take you far – but hard work, skill and luck – will take you farther!   That word Luck is real tricky.

Fast: As Defined By Various Hiring Managers

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I’ve been in Recruiting now for 20 years!  Can you believe it?!  That I started recruiting at 10 years old…

The other day I was thinking about how the word ‘Fast’ takes on many different definitions when you talk to various hiring managers, or in my case, various hiring managers at various companies.  When most people think of the word ‘Fast’ in the world, I assume they are thinking about timing – quick timing, short timing, etc.  In the recruiting world when a hiring manager tells you – “We need to fill this position ‘Fast’!”  99.9% of recruiters will feel that means if I find the a good candidate – that manager will move right away to interview, offer and fill the position.  Not so ‘fast’ my friends!

When I hear ‘fast’ come out of a hiring managers mouth I get excited! Finally! A hiring manager who wants to move – a go-getter – a doer – I’m closing this puppy by the end of the week!  In my mind I start to calculate how ‘fast’ we can actually fill this position.  It’s Monday – I can find a candidate by Tuesday, Interview on Wednesday, offer on Thursday – it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the candidate can start on Monday! That’s like hitting for the cycle in Recruiting!  A one week recruiting process – now that’s ‘fast’!

Here’s how Webster defines ‘Fast’:

1 –

a : firmly fixed <roots fast in the ground>

b : tightly shut <the drawers were fast>

c : adhering firmly

d : not easily freed : stuck <a ball fast in the mouth of the cannon>

e : stable <movable items were made fast to the deck>

2 –
a: firmly loyal <became fast friends>

 

It’s not until you get down to the third definition in Webster’s that you being hearing words like: quick and rapid!  Now, as a Recruiter, ‘Fast’, in terms of a hiring manager makes complete sense!  Firmly fixed! Tight! Adhering Firm!  Not easily freed… 20 Years is how long I’ve been recruiting and thinking that ‘fast’ actually meant ‘quick’ and ‘rapid’ when filling positions.  Now, I just feel stupid!  This whole time I thought hiring managers wanted me to fill their positions quickly.  So many days being frustrated when the hiring managers were slow to move on candidates, when I thought they were going to move ‘fast’ – now – only to find out they were moving ‘fast’ – hiring manager ‘fast’…

 

I’m sure HR never would define ‘fast’ like a hiring manager…

 

 

So, you think ‘your’ job sucks…

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You probably saw this bouncing around the social channels last week because it talked about ‘Brazilian Waxing’ and ‘Getting Fired’ (and if you come to this blog you either are in HR/Recruiting, or you’re my wife or Mom) – two things that when put together grab the attention of HR pros!  Here’s the background story from Huffington Post:

 

“A Western Pennsylvania woman has sued the Pittsburgh waxing salon that employed her, claiming she was fired after refusing a Brazilian wax treatment as part of her training.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court last week, Jennifer Finley, 35, says a corporate trainer from her waxing chain, the European Wax Center, told her and her colleagues in October that they would have to perform the bikini wax treatment on one another. After declining, Finley says she was immediately terminated.”

This is where we all get to snicker and play the HR Game of “What Would You Do!?”

Here’s what I would have done:

I would have fired her.

What!?

She was hired to give Brazilian Waxes, of which, she wasn’t trained to do and as part of her training she had to learn how to give a Brazilian Wax. Did I mention she accepted a job to give Brazilian Waxes?  So, I’m know expert in the training of Brazilian Waxes, but I have had to do training, so my guess is the best way to train is to do it on non-customers.  You see ‘paying’ customers tend not to want the trainees when it comes to stuff like haircuts, spray tanning, eyebrows, plastic surgery, root canals, Brazilian Waxes, etc.   They’re paying for a ‘trained’ professional.  When the server comes to the table when you’re at Applebees and she has a ‘trainee’ with her – you’re alright with that – I mean will Mandy really screw up my Strawberry Lemonade?!  Probably not.  When Jennifer comes at me with bowl of hot wax and has on the ‘trainee’ name tag – we’ve got problems!

The main problem was the fact this women had to perform her training wax on a coworker.  Uncomfortable, right?  But you took a job to do Brazilian Waxes – did you really think you were going to make it out of training without seeing some…well you get the picture!  The last I checked people in America still have a choice of which job they take.  While certain people might have more limited choices than others – you still have choices.  I struggle to have sympathy for individuals who choose a profession, then complain that they don’t want to ‘do’ the job.  You chose a job that removes the hair off – again – this is a family show, you know where this is going!

I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t want to be a Brazilian Wax technician/or what ever that title might be.  But I am 100% certain that if I chose to be in the Brazilian Wax field of study that at some point before they let me around the Happy Meals (don’t let your mind go south – this was a line from Chris Rock about working at McDonalds!)  – I need some practice – some training – some live interaction of what you’ll be asking me to do.

What would you have done?

*******Updated 7-8-13 at 11:00am EST****************

Ok, apparently I’m twisting this a bit – the lady in question didn’t want to have a coworker perform a waxing on her.  So, not quite apples-to-apples.  Some will say – ‘I can be a tattoo artist and not want to get a tattoo’ or like Greg mentions in the comments – ‘brain surgeons don’t perform surgeries on each other’ – both correct statements – but both are not really the same thing, as in both other examples there are proper training and techniques you can do without having to do this on coworkers.  Not quite sure how you would ‘train’ on waxing without getting some wax on yourself…nor do I really want to know!

The question still remains – how would you have handled this?

 

I Love Hiring People Who’ve Been Fired

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Their are few truisms I know in HR.

1. As soon as you think you’ll never be surprised again by something dumb done by an employee – you’ll be surprised.

2. You’ll be asked every year in HR to reduce your budget.

3. Employees will always believe HR knows more than HR really does know.

4. HR vendors always say they’re giving you their ‘lowest’ price, until you say ‘no’, then a magical new lower price will come up.

5. . Many employees who get fired were at one time really good employees.

The last one is one I really love!  It is a simple fact of life that most people will at some point in their life be fired from a job.   Might be their fault, or not, either way it’s not uncommon.  Here’s what happens to most people when they get fired – it’s like the 5 stages of grieving : You’re shocked – even when you know it’s coming; you’re pissed – how could you do this to ‘me’; you’re sad – what am I going to do; you’re anxious – I’ve got to get something, now!; and you’re determined – I’ll show you.   It doesn’t happen in this exact path for every person – but for many the flow is about the same.

What you find is that someone who has been fired from a job comes with this cool little chip on their shoulder when you hire them.  It’s this deep down fire to show you and everyone else they know – that the person who was fired, isn’t who they truly are – they are more than that person.  This motivation is great!  It’s a completely different motivation than you get when you hire an employee who is currently employed and doesn’t really need your job.  I want people with some ‘want’ in them – some hunger – maybe a little pissed off with a chip on their shoulder! This edge, and memory of being fired, can carry people to great performance for years!

In our organizations we fire so many people who use to be great, and for a number or reasons you now believe they are crap.  And for you, they truly might be performing like crap – but for me they might be willing to be great again!  We had a saying when I was in HR at Applebee’s, while doing calibration of our teams – “if you talk about someone for more than 10 minutes they turn into a piece of crap”.  Doesn’t matter who – our best to our worst employee – the longer you talk about them, the worse you start to view them.  This happens because it’s in our nature to focus on their opportunities, not their strengths – so the longer you talk the more you talk about what they can’t do, not what they can do.

So, there you have it – send me your crap employees – I’ll love them!

 

 

The Laziest Referral Request Ever!

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This is an actual email message I received last week:

 

Good afternoon,

 

I am going through updating our resume database and it looks like we have an old one on file for you. If you are currently seeking new restaurant management opportunities or know of someone that is, please email me your most recent resume, explaining any gaps of employment (if any).

 

If your referral is placed through us, we will send you $100.

 

Thank you,

Kim Cox

Recruiting Facilitator

“Industry Experience. People Results.”

Premier Solutions

5623 N. Western

Oklahoma City, OK  73118

(405) 948-4050 Ext. 401

(877) 948-4001 Ext 401

Fax (405) 948-1290

kcox@psokc.com

www.premiersolutionsinc.net

 

Let’s break this down for Kim and maybe we can give her some pointers on the next communication she sends out:

 

1. “Good Afternoon”  – I actually received this email at 11:56am – so it was close to afternoon – I would have hoped for maybe a little more personal context – “Good Afternoon Tim!”

 

2. ” I’m updating my database” – good for you! I can’t remember ever sending my resume to someone in Oklahoma or being a restaurant manager, but apparently I’m in the database. Might I suggest a bigger call to action.  “We have a client who has interest in your background! Contact me regarding this opportunity!”

 

3.  “If I’m seeking a restaurant manager opportunity or know someone who is” – I’m not, I don’t – does that mean I don’t have to contact you back!?  Or does it mean I should send you a referral and my resume – I’m a little confused.

 

4.  “Email me your most recent resume and explain any gaps” – Well, we hardly know each other, but alright, I guess…

 

5. “If…We’ll send you a $100” – So, let me get this straight – I send you a referral, you hire them and Bam! I send me $100!  Wow – will it be cash or check?

 

I wanted to share this message in its entirety just in case someone might know of a restaurant manager and need an extra $100!

 

To Kim’s credit, her signature line and contact information is great!  Sure it lacks any social context of Twitter or LinkedIn, but 4 colors and 3 fonts – someone put some time into that!

 

People – it really just isn’t that hard to do recruiting – but we make it look like we are trying to launch the space shuttle sometimes.  Come on, at least put in a little effort!

3 Reasons To Hire Back An Employee You Fired

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There is an unwritten HR law that needs to be addressed.  This law states:

“If you fire an employee, at no time in the history of mankind should you hire back that employee to your organization.”

So it is said, so shall it be…

I was reading an article recently about ESPN’s new CEO, John Skipper, when he was asked about bringing back former polarizing Sports Center anchor, Keith Oolbermann.  Here’s what Skipper had to say about the possibility of bringing back Olbermann:

“I wasn’t here when Keith was here, but he is very talented. So I had dinner with Keith — it was delightful and fun. And I would not have had dinner with him if we didn’t sit around and think about whether there was a reason to bring Keith back. I haven’t met with him again, but we don’t have a policy here that you can never come back.”

So, ESPN doesn’t have a policy about bringing back terminated employees.  Do you?

I know of companies that actually have it written into the policy manual about bringing back terminated employees.  Sometimes it’s a time thing – ‘it has to be more than 5 years’ – or a position thing – ‘it has to be into a different position than they had previously’  – or a severity thing – ‘the termination could not have been for cause’, etc.  Sometimes it’s just the classic unwritten rule thing!  Regardless if it’s written or unwritten any organization that refuses to hire back terminated employees is extremely shortsighted!  Let’s be clear – I’m not saying your should bring back the jerk who embezzled money or sexually harassed every female employee.  What I’m saying is – if you analyzed every single termination you’ve had over the past 10 years in your organization, there are probably some really good hire-backs in that group!  But you wouldn’t know that – because it’s not something you’re going to do – it’s a policy…err…un-policy thing!

Here’s 3 reasons you of when you should potentially hire back a previously terminated employee:

1. They’re the best at what they do.  Yep – talent and performance trumps all.  Well, mostly!  If the person got fired for some kind of behavior that they can’t or won’t change – well, it will end bad again – but many times – having years away and proving themselves all over again in another organization – makes these folks ultra-valuable again to your organization.

2. New Leadership.  Let’s face facts – a large percentage of your terminations happen because of personalities not matching.  In almost every leadership change organizations see high turnover.  This doesn’t truly mean those leaving are bad employees – it’s a phenomenon that happens when you new leadership and ideas meet old leadership behaviors and ideas and they don’t match.

3. Former Employee and You (your organization and leadership) have had significant growth.  I’ve seen some young, less experienced people get fired, who 5 -10 years later were completely different people.  All of that blind fight and energy that had when they were younger which distracted from their talent is gone, and what you have left is this focused high performing employee.  At the same token, our leader who was less experienced and didn’t know how to handle high potential employees, now does.  Growth happens.

Unfortunately, 99% of organizations refuse to bring back an employee who was fired, ever!  It’s too bad really – you’re probably missing out on some great talent, especially if you’re in a smaller geographic area with limited talent pools to begin with.  Sometimes it’s up to get our organizations to become a little more open minded to the fact that change happens, and not every person who gets fired, is a bad employee.

Coming out of the Unemployment Closet

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I have an acquaintance who was out of work for an entire year.  Not surprising with all the stories we’ve heard throughout the recession.  The surprising thing was that over that entire year, and him knowing exactly what I did, he never once reached out for help.  In fact, I didn’t even know he was out of work and looking for a job.  Not only did I not know, but our friend group did not know as well.  He hid it from us.  He hid the fact he had lost his job for an entire year!  I found out when he got his new position and finally came clean what he had been going through for an entire year!

It hit me that he is not alone.  What he did and felt is very common.  He was embarrassed about losing his job, and not having a job, so he kept it a secret.  Got up everyday like he was going to work and went somewhere to do his job search.  It pains me to know so many people in our culture are embarrassed about not having a job.   That so many of us judge people based on whether they have a job or can get a job.  This concept of ‘being embarrassed for not having a job’ actually hurts the job seeker tremendously!

When a job seeker is hiding the fact they are out of work to friends, peers, acquaintances, etc.  They are limiting themselves to all kinds of opportunities that might be out there for their network to recommend them for.  I think back on the past year and think to myself  – how many positions did I hear about over the past 12 months that this person would have been perfect for!  I cringe at how many.  At the stress he put himself and his family through because he was too embarrassed to say “Tim, I lost my job, just wanted to let you know in case you hear of anything.”  It seems so simple – yet so many people don’t have the courage to even say it because of how culturally we treat the unemployed!

I don’t know if this will help – but I want every job seeker to know – I’ve got your back.  You can tell me.  Don’t be embarrassed.  There is a better way to handle this.

What is that way?

Tell everyone!  Put a freaking sign in your front yard! On your car!  When you go jogging in the morning put it on your t-shirt! We’re going to own this! We’re going to make you come out of the Unemployment closet! We need to let everyone know you’re on the market, you’re ready to work and you’ve got passion to do great things for organizations.  You don’t have time to be embarrassed. To care about what others might think of you because you lost your job.  Your career is waiting!  We need to show the world you are not someone who is going to back down! I don’t want one more person that I know to go through this, ever.

Please come out of the closet for me.  It’s alright – I’ll support you!