New Phenomenon in Workplaces

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What is a Victim of the Economic Boom you ask?

Isn’t it normally a “victim of the recession”??

There is new phenomenon being observed in many organizations we are choosing to call “victims of the economic boom.”

Unfortunately, many of these victims are at higher levels in companies and cause major headaches for organizations and HR professionals.

So what is a victim of an Economic Boom?

Well over the greater part of the past decade when we saw booms and easy money like no other times in history, which resulted in record profits for many different industries. Many “executives” or managers received prime positions or promotions due to success within their division or organization that was in part attributed to them, or attributed to them by themselves in the case of resumes and interviewing.

So all is going along well when times are good and it doesn’t take a lot of skill to maintain the status quo or even increase revenues, deliverables etc. Even the manager with the least amount of skill can look competent, however once the economy slows down or even corrects watch out.

One of the more unfortunate realities is that many of these “victims” as mentioned, have attained positions higher up in an organization, so when the light is seemingly shined on their true ability or lack thereof, a self preservation reaction sets in and unfortunately when you are dealing with higher level management who have been able to get by unchallenged, their true insecurity comes out. As anyone who has witnessed an insecure manager at work knows the people around them quickly become scapegoats and the whole environment turns toxic.

So why call them victims didn’t they bring them on themselves? Well yes perhaps the use of the word was meant to be tongue in cheek, however in all honesty the true victims are the organizations themselves and the employees and middle management who have to try and deal with these toxic personalities on a day in and day out basis.

I compare it to the real estate industry where there were so many realtors during the boom times because as one realtor friend puts it “a trained monkey could sell houses”, however now that the situation has turned we see a bleeding of realtors like no other industry, because in an business that is self driven only truly competent players can survive, unlike most industries where the incompetent, especially in management positions, can fly under the radar or tread water by blaming their reports or others in the organization who may be a convenient scapegoat.

Fortunately these people are eventually found out and hopefully flushed out, however far too often it is after irreparable damage has been done to their organizations and the lives of people they work with.

Are you losing good people due to this type of behavior? How does your organization ensure this does not happen?

Do you have a similar story? If so we would like to hear it and how you dealt with it by either commenting on our blog or emailing us your story at administrator@revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

Yet another new pricing tactic in the recruitment industry

http://www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com/2/post/2011/02/yet-another-new-tactic.html

In our ongoing review of new tactics that seem to arise as the marketplace as the recruiting industry goes through changes we had yet another interesting discussion with a client.

A note on this particular tactic, while our practice has been to offer packages to clients who are looking for us to take on project hires etc. we do not require a customer to commit to a certain number of hires to get a “better” price.

Last week I was discussing a search with a client and they mentioned that they had been contacted by a search firm, they weren’t familiar with them and I hadn’t heard of them either.

While they acknowledged the call started well, when they asked about rates things started to get a little weird.

The sales reps response was that rates are between 18-20%, when asked about the difference the rep replied depending on the level of position or if you commit to use us for substantial volume.

So my client being fairly outspoken asked about the volume discount? The rep responded that they require clients to commit, via contract, to hire at least five positions throughout the year from his firm to obtain preferred pricing.

My client’s response was “well what if after hiring one person we don’t think you’re the right fit for our company to use or didn’t like your service? Do we have to pay back the 2% or do we owe you for at least 4 more hires at an average salary? “At this point the rep had no answer and was dumbfounded by the question it seemed.

However to his credit received a very timely phone call and had to end the conversation with my client.

Our belief is that requiring a client to commit to using your service in order to obtain a discount is not doable in this industry given the variables that can accompany the hiring volume during the year.

A company should have a competitive well thought out pricing structure that makes sense not only to company but to the client as well, and be confident in the thought that they are offering real value to their clients for the price offered.

Which begs the question what extra value you’re getting for the 15-35% you are paying for recruiting services? Is there a specific offering? Are you required to sign a sole contractor agreement or commit to a certain amount of volume?

Our belief and driving force behind our business model is that the recruitment industry, similar to other long standing industries with large players, have a consensus about pricing structure that is accepted by the majority of firms who have structured their business model around this, other firms will not deviate for fear of retribution or the thought that it is a price accepted by the marketplace already, so why cut into potential margins.

What is lacking is a review of their services to substantiate what value they are offering to the clients that choose to do business with them, if they truly feel that they are offering value to their clients that substantiate fees of 15-20% they should be able to articulate it and have their clients be comfortable with their explanation….

Trends in HR/Recruitment

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Excellent insight below from a portion of an article we found on Canadian PR regarding HR/Recruiting trends in 2011, in particular the migration of talent to other companies positions, will you be ready to attract the best in the field??

"Changing Jobs – Workers are becoming more optimistic about their job prospects in the New Year.  Fifteen percent of full-time, employed workers are actively seeking a new job.  Seventy-six percent reported that, although they are not actively looking, they would change jobs in 2011 for the right opportunity.  Workers aren't necessarily focused on a bigger paycheck.  Sixty-eight percent reported that affordable benefits are more important to them than salary."

Massive changes in the recruitment industry!

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com 

When we first launched we received some less than welcoming emails from some in the recruitment community, as we look back, we still firmly believe that we have changed and continue to revolutionize the recruitment industry for the better.

One email specifically (which is posted below) talks about how we are trying to “undermine” the recruitment industry, we assume that the emailer is referring to our pricing structure which is radically different from traditional recruitment rates.

To be clear we are not adversarial with “recruiters” many of our best clients are former “external recruiters” because they quickly saw the value when we first came to market.

The email also refers to “getting what you pay for” in regards to this, we thought we would revisit the email and address the reason behind our fee structure.

As with any other industry as technology improves our processes and creates efficiencies traditional pricing is often the first thing reviewed, we compare our industry loosely to the cell phone or cable TV industry or even real estate for that matter, where technology has made it much easier to deliver services (or content) than ever before allowing (in theory) for more competition.

Initially these adjustments are always met with the same reaction from larger incumbents claiming that the service won’t be the same or the product is somehow inferior (which never seems to be the case), unfortunately this is just a natural reaction to the fact that long standing industry norms are changing and this includes high price structures that are required to support existing business models.

So how do we support our pricing structure when it’s so radically different from the majority?

Do we cut services in any way? No, in fact we feel we can offer more focused personalized service as we are HR professionals with industry contacts, we know that credentials aren’t  all that matter when you’re doing something so important as hiring an employee into your company, we feel that every hire is an opportunity to take your business to the next level.

We don’t employ armies of sales people and admin staff to stock pile resumes that loosely fit positions, because we have been on the internal recruitment side and know that every company requires certain intangibles from every employee to fit their culture.

We don’t post phantom postings (or any other postings for that matter) on Craigslist or other job boards. While some of our candidates may have applied to job boards in the past we feel that the best people are often the passive job seekers that are full of passion and talent but are just waiting to have the right opportunity presented to them.

What we do is leverage technology, relationships, social media and recruiting talent to bring you the right candidates faster, more effectively and more efficiently than anyone else.

The email below served as motivation for continued success, we revisit it regularly as we received it just as our success started to really begin and companies began to take notice.

We look forward to working with you to build your teams in 2011!

Enjoy the email below from “John Smith”

“Your business concept is weak and your feeble attempt to undermine the industry isn’t the first and, like those that came before it, will certainly fail. You know the old saying; "you get what you pay for" Better get your resume out there............”

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

Repost of readers comment regarding "phantom job postings"

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Chris Wallace

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 7:57:03 pm

I'm glad someone is addressing this. Sadly, after 5 months of perusing job boards I've come to the conclusion that every single recruiter is doing this. There is no sense in listing names since they all do it. Some are worse than others, though. The bigger the name, the worse they are. Someone from Robert Half went so far as to email me and tell me to stop submitting resumes. They are still posting the same jobs.

I see the same positions and job description pop up week after week. If I change my profile on Careerbuilder, for example, it will generate automated "interest" and I will get an email about a position. My responses to these are never acknowledged. I suppose they are as desperate as us job seekers but that does not excuse dishonesty. If I lie on my resume, that is really bad. If they lie about jobs, no big deal. Nice hypocritical double standard there. "Unscrupulous" is think is most appropriate word. Just a step above Nigerian scammers.

It is really common right now for government contract work. REcruiters want those government contracts bad and most related job postings are to pad their databases with degreed people with ACTIVE clearances. That means the recruiter nor the government have to pay the investigation costs and is a selling point to government agencies. Really beware these postings. Most are fake.

What to do about it? I don't know. Like any business I am displeased with, I tell anyone who will listen what kind of low-lifes they are. They will ultimately ruin their own reputations with professional job-seekers and hopefully go away.

Role of a Recruitment Agency

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How they can help the Employer looking to fill a role

Aug 11, 2007 Megan McConnell

When you approach a Recruitment Agency to fill a role, do you know exactly what you want? And just how can the Agency do what you can do yourself?

As a Recruitment Consultant, one of the objections that is constantly thrown by prospective clients is "why should we use you when we can do everything that you can, and for free".

Well, you probably can, but it's certainly not for free!

What it costs you to fill a role yourself

Many people think that because they are using the existing resources of their company to fill a role, that it's free.

This is not the case.

Even if your company has an active HR department that includes a recruiter, the cost of it will be billed to you; and there are some things that the HR department cannot do, so your time will become involved.

So, your time (and the cost of that time) starts to be involved in the cost of hiring the right person. You need to review resumes and interview candidates. If you've got no HR department, or choose to handle everything directly, then you also have to screen the original applicants.

Then there is the initial preparation - writing the job ad, uploading it to the internet or putting it in the newspaper.

You need to screen applicants, and also take telephone enquiries about the position. Unsuccessful applicants from your first screening need to be contacted to advise them, and then you need to contact those who you want to interview, or check further, to arrange for an interview, or even just have a quick conversation with over the phone.

Even if you have somebody else do all of this, their time is still used. And while you or somebody else is doing this, they are not doing their normal work.

So - add up all the hours it takes to do all this, including interviews, second interviews, preparing letters of offer, and then look at what your hourly pay rate is, and then the lost productivity while you fill an empty position.

When it all comes down to it, it will cost you over $15,000 to do it yourself - and we're not even looking at what happens when you make a mistake and have to start all over again!

What does an Agency cost

Many agencies have a sliding scale of costs, depending on the role to be filled. As an average, though, 15% of the total package is the charge.
This means, that if the package is $40,000 per annum, then the cost you will pay to the agency is $6,000.

What do you get for the cost?

The agency you choose will work with you to fill the role. They will prepare all advertising (everything except newspaper display ads are included in the cost), screen all applicants, take the enquiries, and even help you to prepare a position description.

They will conduct interviews and shortlist 3 or 4 candidates for you to see. They will make the offer to the successful candidate, advise all the unsuccessful ones, and help you prepare the letter of offer.

They will also offer a replacement guarantee (usually 3 - 6 months) that if the person doesn't work out, or leaves of their own accord, the Agency will find a replacement free of charge.

How the Agency will help you

The key to getting the best results is to be prepared yourself. Get recommendations from other companies as to the agencies they have success with. There are also "co-ops" of agencies, where if you use one of the members, you, effectively, have all of them working for you, at no extra cost.

The best known of these is NPA Worldwide, based in the US, but with members all over the world.

One of the advantages of using a member of a group like NPA is that the members have to meet specific standards in service, which is a big relief!

Also check with the Recruitment Industry Association in your country. They can assist in finding a reputable agency, and can also assist in letting you know of any that there have been problems with.

When you contact the Agency, they will usually assign a Consultant to look after you and your vacancy. This consultant will usually visit you at your workplace so that they can discuss the position in detail with you, and to find out not only the sort of role, but the type of person who will fit in best within your company.

If you like, they will also help you do a HR audit to refine the role, and prepare a position description.
Then, they move into their main role: filling the job. The Consultant works with the other people in their agency to prepare a job ad, and also search their own database for prospective candidates.

They screen, and shortlist. You will receive 3 or 4 resumes, and a short summary of each candidate from them. This includes the salary/wage they are looking for, and their availability.

By the time it comes for you to interview these candidates, it's more a "get to know you" meeting, as the people that the Agency has sent will have the skills to do the role.

It's important that you trust your Recruitment Agency. They will build a long term relationship with you, getting to know who you and your company are and working with you to build a workplace that people will enjoy working at.

You won't loose productivity when you have a vacancy to fill, and will find the whole process less stressful.
Recruitment Agencies are experts - and can save your company time and money in the long run.

Used vacuum salesmen of the new millenium??

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Why has the recruitment industry earned such a poor reputation in some circles? A story from a friend over the weekend paints a picture.

A close friend who is a high level HR manager was over on the weekend and we were discussing recruitment and the HR industry as a whole.

The friend, while gainfully employed, was told of a posting with a recruitment firm we’ll call “comfortable fit staffing solutions”.

Now, this friend doesn’t typically apply to postings however this particular posting was looking for an HR Manager with the specific background he had, given it was posted only days after he called the recruiter he felt he could at least get an idea of the position before applying if he liked the opportunity.

After playing phone tag with the recruiter he finally got him on the phone but was a little confused when the recruiter kept asking when he sent his resume in, as he had told him the previous three times that he hadn’t yet and identified that in the email.

Additionally the recruiter didn’t know which position he was referring to, even after he read out the entire posting to him.

When his memory was finally jogged he was sorry to tell my friend that the position had been filled, when my friend questioned him about the timeline (as the position had been posted only 2 days earlier) the recruiter stated that they often fill openings the same day (although most reputable companies will have more than one interview so we’re not sure how that timeline works).

He then began to pressure my friend to submit his resume so when they get another “great” opportunity, he can be one of the “lucky ones” that they call.

When he stated that he wasn’t looking for opportunities only to discuss that particular one, the recruiter from “comfortable fit staffing solutions” became agitated and told him that he wouldn’t get any calls unless he submits his resume beforehand because that’s how their process works!!..

Now we are all for being proactive with people that really want you to keep your eyes open for opportunities, however misleading people with phony phantom jobs and using high pressure sales tactics to force them to submit their resume is ridiculous and cheapens the industry, at Revolution we don’t post jobs as it is, but to post jobs when there isn’t even a job as represented??!!

In today’s market job postings aren’t effective for getting the truly qualified game changing employees anyhow so posting phony jobs surely won’t bring in the best talent.

As my friend demonstrates the best talent can sniff out a phony sales job instantly, however not only will this hurt the recruiting industry as a whole but how will it help the image of the company who decides to use one of these “recruiters” who are turning the industry into the used vacuum sales people of the new millennium with these ridiculous tactics.