Can Corporate Recruiters Poach?

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Tim Sackett

Before we get right in and answer this question, let’s all get on the same page. What is Poaching? Wiki defines it as:

“Poaching has traditionally been defined as the illegal hunting, killing or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights.”

It can also be a cooking term, like Poached Eggs or Poached Salmon, but that’s not what we’re talking about.

The fact of the matter is that I don’t like the term ‘Poaching’ when it is used regarding talent acquisition. Business Insider loves to use this in titles when they are talking about normal recruiting activity (Here, Here, and Here to share just a few). There’s nothing illegal about ‘recruiting’ someone from another firm. Nothing!

Google has a talented group of Software Developers. Facebook needs Software Developers. Facebook recruits Google developers to come work for them. That’s Recruiting at its most basic. Nothing illegal about that. That’s actually the basis of our capitalist society. Free market economy.

So, why is it that we use the word “Poach” when describing something that is just basic business?

It’s because when an employee leaves you for your competition it pisses you off! You feel robbed. You feel like it should be illegal. “Wait! I spent so much time and effort to get you hear and now you’re just leaving me, for her!!!”

But, it’s not illegal. It’s not ‘poaching’. It’s business. You either do it well, or you use words like ‘poach’.

Can Corporate Recruiters ‘poach’?

Let me put it to you this way. If I was running your corporate talent acquisition department, and we had a recruiter who felt like they shouldn’t ‘poach’ from the competition, I would ask that recruiter to go work for the competition! At that point, that’s basically what they are doing anyway!

I feel so strongly about this, I truly believe a really good corporate recruiting function can cripple your competition. Truly! If your corporate recruiters take the best talent from your competition and bring them to your team, your competition isn’t long for this world. “Oh, yeah, but that’s poaching, Tim.” No, that’s Capitalism. That’s free market. It’s what our country is built on.

So, what I’m trying to say is this, if you don’t poach your competition’s talent you’re not American!

The Candidate Fade Away

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Tim Sackett

There’s this thing that happens with dating nowadays, called the Fade Away. I know this because I have teenage sons. The Fade Away is when you’re dating someone and you know it’s not for you long term, but instead of just telling that person you start the Fade Away process.

You stop talking, and start texting. The texting slowly becomes less frequent, spread out and shorter in length, to eventually stopping altogether. No finalization. No uncomfortable exchange of items. Just fading away into a life without that other person being in it.

You see, back in my dating days, well, we didn’t have texting. You had phone calls that you could duck for a while, but let’s face it your parents were not going to cover for you, so eventually, you had to face the other person. Those conversations were awful, I so wish I had the fade away!

Because of how we treat our personal relationships today, candidates are now using the Fade Away on companies. Recruiters talk to a candidate, they seem excited, they call you back every time you call them. They give you their cell phone number and you begin to text. All is right in the recruiting world. At some point the candidate decides that the position, or the company, or you just isn’t right for them and they stop returning calls and texts. It’s not all at once, it just gets less, until it fades away completely. Just like we were dating.

Here’s some ways to stop the Candidate Fade Away:

1. Be the understanding Girlfriend. You know the type: “No! No! Really! I get it! At any point you aren’t cool with this, I’m totally cool with this, let’s just make sure we are straight with each other and tell each other!” Then you tell her and she loses her effing mind! Okay, ladies, I know, it works both ways! As a recruiter start out the candidate relationship like this, be a pro. “Tim let me tell you how I work up front. There is going to come a time when you might feel I presenting you something that you just don’t want for some reason. I’m completely cool with that, I’m presenting you. I’m your Jerry Maguire. Let me know right away, and I’ll make sure we both look good when speaking to the company and hiring manager. But I need to know up front what’s going on.”

2. It’s about you, not me. Find out how the candidate prefers to communicated to and have them set the terms. This usually works out well, because they become invested. You told me this is how you wanted to be communicated to, and I’m following what you wanted. Experienced recruiters usually hate this route because they’ve been trained to ‘control’ the candidate. Used in the right manner it can be very effective.

3. Call out the Fade Away! Making fun of what is going on won’t connect with everyone, but it will definitely connect with some. Many folks will get defensive if you call them out on the Fade Away, but if you have fun with it, you’ll get some to come back around and laugh it off. “Timmy! Are you trying to break up with me!? Come on, let’s talk this out, we could be so good for each other, at least talk to me before you break up with me!” You’ll get a response to this, trust me!

The 5 Most Common “I Missed My Interview” Excuses

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Tim Sackett

There’s one thing that happens to all recruiters when the job market shifts from employer driven to candidate driven: candidates accept interviews, then don’t show or cancel at the last minute. Many times the candidates come up with the lamest excuses on why they have to cancel. Rarely, will they just come out and say, “Hey, I just don’t like you guys that much!” It’s the one thing, no matter how good of a closer you are, as a recruiter, you have to deal with almost daily in our business.

Since I’ve been in the business of recruiting for twenty years I’ve heard all the cancellation excuses. I’ve become numb to the entire process. Great HR Pros have to. While it is upsetting to have someone cancel, it’s not surprising. Our reality is we offer a potential candidate an opportunity and the best of us make it sound very enticing. Many times once the candidate comes back to earth, they realize for whatever reason, the opportunity isn’t for them. Being that most people are super conflict avoidant, they won’t just tell it to you straight, that make up little white lies that seem believable. Believable only to themselves, that is!

Here are the 5 most common “I missed my interview” excuses from candidates:

1. My Grandfather died! Really! Really. Really… In twenty years of recruiting I’ve had more candidates have someone die in their family than I believe is statistically possible, and I’m not just talking agency hires, this is corporate as well! At a point, I want to laugh out loud on the phone when they call in and say it. Not that I think death is funny, but it would be comical to them if they were sitting in my seat, knowing how many ‘death’ calls I take annually! Also, grandparents are the most common death, because it seems to make most sense. This is all a good excuse because most people believe they won’t get a call back from the recruiter because they won’t want to deal with the death issue!

2. I got into a car accident! But, I’m okay, just can’t make the interview. This one is a good short term excuse, but it still sets them up for a follow up call to reschedule. Still, it’s used a lot! Besides my staffing agency business, I also want to open up a body shop and funeral home all right next to each…

3. My kid got sick, I can’t go to the interview. Another very believable and understanding excuse, but, again, it sets them up for the reschedule. The problem with any of these types of excuses is they seem great when you’re leaving a message, but then you have to put up with a recruiter leaving thirty voice mails asking you to reschedule the email.

4. My employer needs me to travel out of state! We work in tech so we actually get this one a lot. This also comes with a built in reschedule excuse, “Can’t reschedule now, not sure how long I’m going to be, gotta go, big emergency, the data center is down!” Ugh. This one is tough to combat from a recruiter perspective.

5. I had to have emergency surgery! Another good excuse that doesn’t have to be as bad as it sounds because they’ll add in the ‘dental’ component. “I had to have an emergency root canal, can’t talk, will call you when I can.” Can also use it for ankles, knees, etc. Which gives the built in excuse of not being able to walk. Plus the added benefit of, “I probably shouldn’t change jobs right now, with insurance, with this going on…”

If, and after twenty years in recruiting that’s a huge if, I was a very trusting man, I would have a view of the world that I must be the most unlucky person ever to have all these bad things and unfortunate timings happen to me! But, since I’ve been in recruiting for twenty years, I get the game.

What’s the most used excuse you get from candidates who no-show or cancel out on interviews?

Dad’s Don’t Get Work-Life Balance Empathy

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Tim Sackett

Max Shireson, the CEO of mongoDB, turned in his resignation this past week. That announcement in itself isn’t really that big of a deal, CEOs turn in resignations every day. The reason he turned in his resignation is huge. I’ll let him tell it in his own words from a letter he sent to mongoDB’s workforce:

“Earlier this summer, Matt Lauer asked Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, whether she could balance the demands of being a mom and being a CEO. The Atlantic asked similar questions of PepsiCo’s female CEO Indra Nooyi. As a male CEO, I have been asked what kind of car I drive and what type of music I like, but never how I balance the demands of being both a dad and a CEO.

While the press haven’t asked me, it is a question that I often ask myself. Here is my situation:

* I have 3 wonderful kids at home, aged 14, 12 and 9, and I love spending time with them: skiing, cooking, playing backgammon, swimming, watching movies or Warriors or Giants games, talking, whatever.

* I am on pace to fly 300,000 miles this year, all the normal CEO travel plus commuting between Palo Alto and New York every 2-3 weeks. During that travel, I have missed a lot of family fun, perhaps more importantly, I was not with my kids when our puppy was hit by a car or when my son had (minor and successful, and of course unexpected) emergency surgery.

* I have an amazing wife who also has an important career; she is a doctor and professor at Stanford where, in addition to her clinical duties, she runs their training program for high risk obstetricians and conducts research on on prematurity, surgical techniques, and other topics. She is a fantastic mom, brilliant, beautiful, and infinitely patient with me. I love her, I am forever in her debt for finding a way to keep the family working despite my crazy travel. I should not continue abusing that patience.

Friends and colleagues often ask my wife how she balances her job and motherhood. Somehow, the same people don’t ask me.”

When we talk about ‘inclusion’ we aren’t really talking about everyone. That’s the problem. We wonder how possibly a woman could handle the pressures of being a CEO and being a Mom, but we never wonder, or even care, how a man handles the pressure of being a CEO and a Dad. It’s expected a man can do both, we question if a woman can do both.

There is a cultural expectation, wrongly, that as a man I can be CEO and a Dad and perform just fine. As a woman, I’ll have trouble doing both jobs, because the Mom does more than the Dad. The mom cooks and cleans and nurtures and schedules and kisses booboos and, well, does everything for the family. The lazy asshole Dad comes home and waits for the Mom to fix him dinner and his drink. Really!?! Is that where we are in 2014?

I’m a Dad and a President of a company. I feel for Max. My wife does a ton, it can’t even be measured. I don’t expect her to do everything and help out a ton with parenting when and where I can. I assume if the roles were changed and my wife was a CEO, I would have to pick up more of her home and parenting duties.

This goes beyond just duties, though, this is about emotional connection. As a Dad, like Max, why should I have less of a connection as a parent than my wife. Why do we throw that cultural expectation onto our employees, on to our executives? As a father I frequently feel failure. Maybe it’s because I missed being able to have lunch with my son at school. Maybe it’s because my wife has a stronger relationship with my kids than I do. Maybe it’s because I trying to live up to a cultural expectation that I should be less of a parent.

No one ever wants to talk about how hard a man has it, trying to be a father and work. It’s not ‘politically’ correct. Men have it easier. End of story. That sucks sometimes.

Why Changing How You Recruit Is Really, Really Hard

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Tim Sackett

Very quickly we are entering candidate driven markets in almost all segments of job categories, in almost all segments of the country. Obviously, a better economy and increasing retirements from Boomers play a major role in this. This is causing most companies to recruit differently than they have in a number of years. I’m hearing the pain from corporate talent acquisition pros daily. All over the country recruiters are having to actually recruit for the first time in a long time!

Getting recruiters to recruit is really hard.

Let that sink in for a moment. Getting recruiters to recruit is really hard, when they haven’t really had to recruit for 10 years.

This will take change and here’s a glimpse of what most Talent Acquisition executives are facing right now:

1. We can’t get talent, we need to start doing this differently (Big Change, Uncomfortable).

2. Those who will have to change (Recruiters) immediately voice their displeasure, at a minimum. “Wait! What! You’re going to start measuring our activity!? Oh! You don’t trust us!”

3. Those who will get the benefit of change (Hiring Managers) sit quietly and watch, partially disbelieving anything will really change. Welcome to organizations.

That’s why changing how you recruit is really hard. Those who have to do the recruiting don’t want change and are letting you know about it. Those who need you to change don’t believe you can do it, and want you to prove it. Neither side, seems to be on your side.

Changing how you actually recruit is very easy. Getting people to change how they actually recruit is really, really hard.

Does Job Security Matter Anymore?

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Tim Sackett

Tower’s Watson released some data recently from a fairly large study of over 32,000 employees and 1,600 HR professionals which ranked critical factors of retaining your employees. Here are the results:

Not surprising, money pretty much rules as always. You want me to stay? Pay Me!

What is surprising is how high up “Job Security” is on the employee side of the study. For years Millennial experts have been telling us how these young kids don’t care about job security, they care about balance, importance of the work they do, challenging projects, etc. Apparently, HR got the message, but the kids didn’t!

Studies like this always make me question ‘experts’. Don’t you get the feeling that millennial experts are really just snake oil salesmen? Never has a millennial expert said kids care about job security. “Oh, these kids will work 10-20 jobs in their lifetime! They are not looking for life time employment.”

So, employers believe job security isn’t important to employees (or probably more truthfully is the fact that employees have very little control over job security), so they push factors like Career Advancement and Challenging Work. When in reality it’s very Maslow-esque easier than that. Employees today, much like employees 100 years ago want basically the same thing:

1. Money

2. To know they have a job when they show up in the morning

3. A chance to move up in the company they work in.

Fairly straightforward. Fairly easy. Fairly consistent over time.

The question is, can you deliver this as an employer?

The 1 Reason You Can’t Find Talent Right Now

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Tim Sackett

There’s one big reason you can’t find talent right now. Here it is:

Simple economics plays a huge role in your ability to hire well. We all like to think we are super star rock star talent acquisition pros, but the reality is we are mostly just pawns in economic cycles. Sure you can have a great employment brand, and have great recruiting tools, and even have the most talented recruiters money can buy. But rarely can’t you beat simple supply and demand.

Want to know why you’re struggling to hire right now? There aren’t enough candidates for the jobs you need to fill. It’s really quite simple.

We have an extended recession where almost all employee development and employee growth programs got cut to the bone. No apprenticeships. No internships. Old people held onto their jobs because of the recession, while younger people went and found other ways to make ends meet. The stock market that was in the tank during the recession came back bigger than ever. The old people now want to retire, and they are in bulk!

Now you want to hire because business is back! You have new positions to add. You have old employees leaving you with all of that knowledge, and you haven’t seriously tried to grow an employee in a decade.

It took you 10 years to get to this point. It’s going to take you more than increased job board ads and new ATS to get you out of this. Here are few tips to get you through a Candidate Driven Marketplace:

1. Start growing your own now. No, it’s not a short term solution. But you must realize your problem is both short and long.

2. Get comfortable with stealing talent from your competitors and anyone else. Also, they’ll be stealing from you. Welcome to the show.

3. Upgrade your recruiting staff, yesterday. Yeah, I like Bonnie to, but she can’t really recruit.

4. You have to get your organization to understand your reality. Like Hillary said, “It takes a village”.

5. Learn the concept “Total Talent” and get comfortable with it. The rest of the world already has. The U.S. is a decade behind. Total talent is the concept that an organization has many avenues of talent: direct employees, consultants, contract employees, temporary employees, part time, job share, etc. No longer should you even want just ‘direct’ employees. Smart talent acquisition strategy incorporates all levels of talent, not just one. Unless your name is Bonnie.

There Are Only 5 Real Jobs

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Tim Sackett

For those who didn’t see this last week the former NBA great and round mound of rebound Sir Charles Barkley made this comment:

“We got great lives. Why would we be miserable? Like, I’ll tell you, there’s five real jobs in the world: teacher, fireman, policeman, doctor, and somebody who’s in the armed services. Those are five real jobs.”

For those who don’t know Charles he makes outlandish statements all the time, that’s why he gets paid more now to be a commentator on TV than he probably ever got paid to play basketball. But his statement got me to thinking, how many ‘real’ jobs are there really!?

First, you have to define ‘real’ job. Charles believes talking about basketball on TV is probably not a ‘real’ job. It doesn’t really add value to peoples lives further than to those who enjoy watching basketball and listening to other people talk about it. So, it would seem that for a job to be real, it must have some value further than entertainment purposes.

Doctor’s add value beyond entertainment, but so do nurses and dentist and physical therapists. So, are not those other health professionals ‘real’ jobs? If we had no nurses, could doctors, theoretically, do what nurses do? Yes. Okay, so a we add another element to determine ‘real’ job. It’s a job no one else can do, but that profession could do the other jobs if they had to.

Teacher. You don’t have doctors without educators. Someone has to teach the kids to be doctors. So, teachers are for sure a real job. Could a teacher be a doctor? Now, we are starting to run in circles. Not all teachers could be doctors, some just wouldn’t be smart enough. So, beyond, doctors and teachers, it would seem like there needs to be someone who just is simply brilliantly smart. We don’t really have a job title for just smart guy or smart girl.

I will say fireman, policeman and armed services all seem to have a very similar skill set. I would lump them into all one job – people savers. That gives us really 4 jobs: Teacher, Doctor, Really Super Smart Person and People Savers.

Is there any others?

I’ve got one I think most people won’t even consider. Sales Person. Think of all those ‘jobs’ we have that are really just sales: Politicians, Clergy, most business professionals, educators, etc. Our reality is that we need to people to sell us on stuff. If no one sells, we all just sit around and wait for stuff to happen. Politicians sell us on the importance of change. Our religious leaders sell us the need to be good and get better. Educators sell us on the importance of learning. We are constantly being sold something.

So, for my money, there are 5 Real Jobs in the world:

1. Teacher

2. Doctor

3. Really Super Smart Person

4. People Savers

5. Sales People.

What would you consider a ‘real’ job? Hit me in the comments.

Why Your Employment Brand Really Matters

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Tim Sackett

There’s really only one reason that you should have any concern over your employment brand and it’s this:

Job at Great Brand = High Self-esteem

Stop for one minute and don’t think like a marketer, but like a normal person. Why does a normal person want to go to work for a great brand? Why would you?

Let me put it another way. Why do you buy and wear brand name clothing? It’s not because it’s, necessarily, better made than any other brand. It’s because it makes you feel good to wear that brand. People look at you and see that you’re wearing that brand. It gives you a boost to your self-esteem.

Now, think about the brands you love. For me, I love Nike. Always have, since I was a kid. I have a lot of Nike stuff in my life. When I see someone that works at Nike, I get excited. I want to know more about how they like it, what its like, etc. I’ve applied to work at Nike early in my career, and got shot down. I know working for Nike would have made me feel good about myself and the company I was working for. I have a belief that others would have been ‘impressed’ I was working for Nike. Whether if it was true or not, that was my perception.

The only true reason your employment brand is important is because of this. People want to work an organization that is a boost to their self-esteem. Even if your brand is neutral in doing that, it’s a negative. They want to work for a brand ‘they’ feel others will be impressed by for a number of varied reasons: it’s cool (Google/Zappos), it’s important (Universities/Government/FBI), they do good stuff (Hospitals/Teachers), they make a ton of money (Berkshire Hathaway), they are innovative (hot new tech firms), they are professional (law firms/banking/professional services), etc.

Your employment brand, for some segment of your hiring population, needs to raise their self-esteem. Find out what it is about you that does that, and you’ll have employment branding figured out.

HR Emoji Etiquette

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Tim Sackett

I never was a huge fan of emojis. I’m probably just too old, and out of touch to really understand. My emojis consist of basically two: smiley face 🙂 and winky face ;). Really, I’ve been able to get through my life with these two emojis. I’ve never truly felt compelled to go beyond these. I either liked what you wrote = smiley face, or I wanted you to know I wasn’t seriously going to fire you = winky face.

One of my favorite comedy writers is Jenny Johnson and she recently had an article in GQ Jenny Johnson’s Guide to Emoji Etiquette. It’s brilliantly funny and it gave me the idea that HR should have its own emoji etiquette, so I decided to give it a run. Here’s what I came up with:

I’m going to fire Fred in Accounting with the creepy mustache:

(you’ll notice I like my HR ladies to wear a crown!)