We’re going to have a different kind of keynote, today. Keynotes are usually meant to set a tone or inspire. They’re not always solution-oriented. They’re often meant to invoke a sense of purpose and get the audience excited. I’d rather have a conversation, today, because I think many of the conversations we have in the recruiting industry are pointless. We’re emerging from an economic crisis and it feels like we’re wasting time. So I’d like to talk, and if it goes an hour, great. If not, we’ll stop sooner and you can check your email. Sound good?
We’re recruiters. We hire people. Sometimes I think we are our own worst enemies. We get excited about technology, but we still operate under a broken system. I think we need to slow down and rethink everything, including how and why we hire people. We’re often the last ones asked to consult on strategic workforce planning initiatives. We’re not invited to executive retreats. We’re coaches and consultants but we’re not relevant. We’ll talk about the state of our industry, today. We’ll talk about how to do recruiting better. More effectively. To be more credible. It’s okay to be excited about social recruiting, but let’s get excited about changing the profession of recruiting and getting people back to work.
Who am I? I’m your crisis counselor. BIO SLIDE PRHR/CATS HISTORY BONA FIDES I THINK RECRUITING AND HR CAN DO BETTER WE OWN IT WE ARE THE EXPERTS WE SHOULD START ACTING LIKE IT CREDIBILITY COMES FROM BEING INFORMED, EDUCATED, AND CURRENT
How many of you have been to one or more recruiting or HR conferences this year? We’ll review what everyone else is talking about and how none of this matters to executives. We’ll compile a list of the things we should be talking about to job seekers, executives, and fellow recruiting professionals.
Most of this makes me barf. Not because it’s not important, but mostly because these trendy issues in recruiting and Human Resources undermine some of the work we need to do within our profession. Why are HR professionals and recruiting professionals so antagonistic to one another? Why are there 45 open reqs on your desk and some hiring manager wants to see more candidates even though you’ve given him some great resumes? Why can’t you get interviews scheduled between managers and candidates? Why doesn’t your CEO know you on a first-name basis? Why is turnover so high in your company during a recession?
What’s happening is that HR and recruiting are being commodotized, like they always are, and conferences and sessions are popping up everywhere that offer easy solutions wrapped up in a bow. Buy a seat at a conference and solve your problems. It’s not that easy because the problems with the talent acquisition processes in your organization are systemic.
How many of you believe that you should talk politics at work? I think work is political. As recruiters, we should wake up every morning and think about these core issues and how it affects our candidate pipeline. We should wake up and think about how our jobs solve some of these problems in our country. We should work hard to understand how every action we take is informed by these events. We should be relevant. We should have relevant conversations with leaders. We should have relevant conversations with one another.
For example, let’s talk about unemployment. How many of you have immediate family members who’ve been out of work for more than a six months? A year? Is anyone in this room currently looking for work? The recession touches us, and we are workforce experts. What bothers me, and I don’t know if this bothers you, is the concept of the A PLAYER. Can we talk about that for a second? NC has 11.1% unemployment. If you work in this state and there’s a req open for more than 45 days, something is broken. We have a talent shortage, sure, but give me a break.Your mom is being passed over because a recruiter or hiring manager says she’s not an A PLAYER. Your dad can’t find a job because he’s not an A PLAYER. How do you respond when you hear that?
Bankruptcies are on the rise in America. Link to Forbes article. How does a really great candidate interview when he needs a job because he’s financially downtrodden? What happens when a really great candidate is flagged because of a bankruptcy on his record? What happens when an internal candidate is going thru a divorce or a separation? (Office gossip.) What are you doing to ensure that wages are keeping up with the cost of living? That there’s parity between CEO pay and worker pay? Are you doing anything?
What happens when your business can’t get a loan to expand? Offshoring jobs to China and India? Eliminating roles and asking employees to do more with less? Increased worker productivity on morale? When the economy does grow and some jobs are created, how are you preparing yourself for the great shift?
How many of you have worked with candidates who have lost their homes? Here are some articles for you to read. Foreclosures are already on the rise in 2010. New buyers may dry up when the tax credit expires, thus pushing a whole new category of people into the foreclosure process. The housing market is frozen, and since companies aren’t taking homes into inventory as part of the relocation process, the employment market is frozen. What about candidates who are really great but have marred their credit record due to foreclosure? Anyone deal with that? Anyone work around some of these foreclosure issues? Have you been able to help candidates in new and innovative ways? Why aren’t we talking more about THAT?