They can make a huge difference

Earlier today, I spoke with the hiring manager for a communication function search we are conducting. One of the candidates was in for final interviews. She met with three people – and sent each an individualized e-mail. She took the time to personalize the note to their specific conversation. The impression – EXCELLENT! Each e-mail note was forwarded to the hiring manager just to let him know.

It matters – even in the ‘C’-suite

This is not the first time this ‘old-fashioned’ custom has come up in conversation with a client. Most commonly, I am asked if I received notes from each candidate after my interviews with them. While initially surprised by this question, it has been asked often enough that I actually mentally track who does the best job of follow-up. My continuing level of surprise, however, is that this has been asked with regard to rather senior-level roles – and by very senior-level decision makers.

Common courtesy – not always so common

Taking the time to send a note – it may make you give the same response that my children used to give. Actually sending a note – it can be ‘priceless’!

Imagine receiving one . . . . .

announcing a senior level placement. The name of the placed candidate is mentioned (hopefully with the full knowledge and permission of the candidate AND their new employer). The only problem – your company is where the person came from. Were you on a mass e-mail list? Were you purposely targeted to get the e-mail – in the hope that you will use this firm to replace the person you just lost?

Ethical standards do not, sadly, exist in my industry.

I do wish they did. The professional association in which we actively participate, the International Association for Corporate & Professional Recruitment (see www.iacpr.org), publishes guidelines for its members. Each member, however, has to make their own decisions on how they conduct their business.

Business development is indeed part of running a business and has to be handled in an ethical manner. A sales call should not simply be asking, “do you need a search?” We are a relationship-based industry. Experience certainly matters as does a successful track record. Either way, ethics in how this is done should be key.

Ask questions!

As with my other posts relating to ethics, questions about business practices are rarely discussed. Simply put, ask questions directly to your search partner about everything related to their business. If they are going to be your partner in helping you find a person that should significantly impact your business, you deserve to know how they do their work – in all areas.

The only bad question is the one NOT asked!

Let’s start with thank you!

To our clients, past and present, we thank you for your support and business. Our business, literally and figuratively, is nothing without you and we know that incredibly well. Thank you seems inadequate – but thank you none-the-less.

To our candidates, past and present, it has been a pleasure to get to know you. Each of you have amazing talents. We wish we could select and place more of you. Your understanding of what we do and our goal of ‘fit’ with the client is appreciated.

14 Years of Trends

Since August 1, 1996, we have been through a few major economic cycles. History is an interesting teacher. That said, I wish we had a crystal ball.

• What goes down, must go up. We are all immersed in today’s economic turmoil. Watching the stock market and earnings reports on a daily basis will make a person become insane. What has remained constant is that companies now and always need good talent. Their pace changes depending on the economic time, but talent needs remain.
• Technology versus culture. Technology has impacted us greatly, but people still have to connect in a meaningful way. Our communications go faster with all of the technology available to us. Regardless of how quickly we can e-mail each other, cultural fit still wins out as key to any hire.
• The War for Talent is a long war. The original work was done in 1997 (some say 1996). Two major recessions and our ever lengthening life span has impacted this topic in many ways. Regardless, the War for Talent is best won with proactive strategies regardless of your belief in the studies. There is one truth – baby boomers will retire and there are not enough people to replace them in our current market.

The list is much longer – more coming in future Blog entries.

Happy New Year!

As we enter year 15, let us wish you all a fantastic 2010/2011 and great business and career success. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!

David/Christi/Rick/Mary Lee/Ken/Debra

AND my next call . . . . .

My next call was to another candidate – same search. He was not able to talk . . . . he was in a meeting. So – why did he answer the call? Does anyone have a phone without a voicemail system? (Hitting ’send’ will re-dial the number anyway if no message is left and the curiosity is overwhelming.)

My kids would say I am simply old-fashioned

Has technology and the ability to always be connected helped us or hurt us? When my family or business associates need to reach me, it is nice to have the technology to do so. It is rare, however, that any message I get – personal OR professional – would cause a major problem if I did not receive it for an additional hour or two. My three wonderful young adult children know that cell phones are not allowed at any meal. They have never missed a critical call (I am sure I would know of it if they did).

You never get a second chance to make a first impression

There are books written on this topic; there are also advertising slogans that give us this same message. The experts on interviewing talk about the importance of the first few seconds and minutes. We want to be prepared for everything – a meeting, a presentation, an important interaction, an interview. Why is a phone call from a number you do not recognize any different?

Judgment . . . . . did I learn anything about these candidates? Each interaction is one data point of many that will be considered. Can I project their behavior forward to being the leader of my client company? In one case I can – the candidate was in a meeting at work. In the other case, I can either admire his dedication or question his sense of balance (again with a number that would not be known to him).

Going back to one of the above statements . . . . .

• You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Incremental Gains in Manufacturing

Our manufacturing clients, regardless of specific product line, have been reporting incrementally improving results – since November 2009. While not back to pre-recession levels, they are seeing positive signs of improvement.

Unemployment level for people with a 4-year college degree (and over age 24)

We reported this in a past Blog entry – while today we learned of a ‘lowered’ unemployment rate (to 9.5%), we also learned that the rate for the category listed above dropped to 4.4% (see http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm). In any economic model, this is considered full employment.

What trends ARE we seeing?

The retained search industry is often considered a 6-month leading indicator of the economy. Here is what we are seeing:

1. Pent up demand: companies are starting to fill positions that were budgeted for in late 2008 (for filling in 2009). The initiatives that were to be started are coming back.
2. Operational excellence and revenue generation: operations and sales (high-level individual contributors or leaders) are commonly the two functional areas that lead companies out of a recession. We are seeing those positions from our clients.
3. Retirements are being talked about again: when the Dow was at 6500, people postponed their retirement plans. When it got to 10,000 (regardless of this past week!), these discussions started again. Companies need to back-fill these key roles.
4. Difficulty filling roles: as mentioned in the past, companies are having difficulty finding people to fill their key roles. We are seeing more searches where the client is not seeing what they want through their web postings and advertisements. Simply put, they are again turning to search.

Is this a trend or a short-term ‘blip’?

I wish my crystal ball was clearer . . . . . we have been seeing the above trends since March 1st – four full months. Interestingly, the clients that came to us in March had been seeing their business incrementally increase for four months, for them starting the prior November (2009).

We’ll commit to keeping you up on what we are seeing. Stay tuned!

Should a college degree lead toward future employment?

I am a believer that a college degree should result in a graduate who can find and succeed in employment. The expense of a 4-year degree, regardless of how it is funded, is a great investment. The payback is knowledge – but it should also, in my opinion, lead to a position that uses the graduate’s skills and abilities.

Can we help?

The clients and contacts referenced above often refer their new graduates to us for advice. We welcome those calls – and hope that we can help. That said, we would like to offer advice through this Blog as well.

Stop texting and talk to people

• The job market, at almost all levels, is an extroverted one. While texting works with friends, calling those same people and engaging them in a conversation will be more helpful.

Network

• Nationally, approximately 50% of all positions are found through network contacts. In the twin cities marketplace, that number increases to over 70%. Start talking to people BUT before you do, develop a list of your contacts and ‘grade’ them in terms of how helpful AND friendly they might be. Call them in order of networking value.

Do NOT have your parents do your job search

• I just got off the phone with the mother of a college student who is working fulltime in a summer position that they want to leave. The student does not have the time during the day to search; the mom is calling on the student’s behalf. The impression – we have a helicopter parent!

Make sure your resume tells who you are

• University career centers have strict guidelines on resume format. These guidelines are designed to make it easier for recruiters to review resumes quickly. When a student is networking/using their resume on their own, it can be formatted differently – to show who they are as individuals.

Job searching is a fulltime job

Spend most of your time with or in pursuit of your network. Research people and places. Target what you want to do and where you want to do it. Posted ads get hundreds of responses. Networking leads you to the openings that are not posted – and even if they are, networking will get your resume received AND reviewed.

In January of this year, we had a Blog entry titled Is LinkedIn the new Monster in the room? The implication when I read the above-referenced article is that all search is being replaced by Social Networking – specifically LinkedIn.

Page #1 does not tell the entire story

Studies show that most of us, in this very busy world of sound bites, do not read entire articles anymore. (Most resumes are written with bullet points – we do not read paragraphs anymore.) If a person only reads the first paragraph or the first page of the article, they will miss some of the more pertinent (and balanced) points made. Page one leaves the reader with the impression that LinkedIn (and other social networking sights) is simply replacing search.

Is EVERYONE on LinkedIn?

We decided to do a quick check – looking at our list of clients and seeing if their officers are on LinkedIn. Our initial findings were very interesting.

• a large percentage, but not all people at the director and below level, are represented (i.e. – have a LinkedIn profile)
• many profiles are incomplete – with just the person’s name, company name and title listed; it is not uncommon for profiles to have just 1 connection
• the percentage of employee profiles at the Vice President and ‘C’ level drop off significantly

We call it search, not find

Finding a name on LinkedIn is different than searching for and/or having access to all candidates. One of the sayings commonly used at our firm is, “there is a reason they call it search.”

Some things work better than others

In general, search works best when you (as the talent management or functional leader) have developed a realistic game plan taking into account your organization’s overall reputation, financial standing and ability to offer a competitive package and compelling reason to join your organization:

• a pre-approved budget for search
• positive, concrete ideas about the role it seeks to fill and about the kinds of background and experience that will work well in the position
• analyzed your and other leader’s networks and professional contacts and understand where it can be helpful to your retained search firm
• internal politics have been reconciled before initiating a search
• salary, benefits and relocation have been fully discussed and agreed upon
• you provide direct, clear and uncensored feedback to the search firm through out the process – with a clear emphasis on getting candidate feedback

Feedback please

Have you worked with a retained search firm of late? What worked for you and what didn’t? Could the search process have been more efficient/effective had you reviewed and followed the list above?

Let us know – david@abelnmagy.com or rick@abelnmagy.com

What if you have a Bachelor’s degree or higher?

This is where the numbers get interesting. We have always talked about the importance of education. In each search we have conducted (459 and counting!), the importance of education and continuing education is discussed. Without going back to count, I will venture to guess that over 95% of our clients require a bachelor’s degree; many want more.

What is FULL employment?

When I studied macro economics in college, my instructor was Walter Heller. He had been (MANY years earlier) the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors for President John F. Kennedy (no age jokes here please!). While I can NOT say that I remember everything from that class, I do remember that he stated that full employment was between 3.0% and 5.0% unemployment. His point at that time was that you needed some unemployment for a healthy economy – assuring some room for movement.

Government websites – are they ever easy to read?

Check out http://www.bls.gov/news/release/empsit.t04.htm. This is the website that breaks down the unemployment rate by education level (for the age 25+ population). The conclusion is clear if you are advising people about going to/finishing college.

From a search perspective, it continues to support the trend we are seeing – that candidates for senior level positions are in great demand as the general economy slowly improves. We mentioned last week that we are seeing candidates considering multiple opportunities and getting multiple offers. This data may help further our understanding of why.

Incremental improvement in the economy

These are the words that seem to best describe what we all are hearing, seeing and reading. Nothing monumental – but incremental and in a positive direction. While search professionals are notoriously optimistic people, there are actually multiple sources for the information.

Executive Hiring on the Upswing

• This is one of the headlines from the recent ExecuNet RecruitSmart Today e-mail (May 6, 2010). They are reporting an upturn in executive hiring. Their 18th annual report represents a survey of 3,636 participants including executives, search firm consultants and corporate human resource professionals.

CEO Survey

• A special thanks to Clark Waterfall, one of the other members of the planning committee for the IACPR conference referenced above. He conducted a Q2 2010 CEO Survey. From his survey, he states that “CEO sentiment from our last survey has demonstrably shifted, with almost 75% of CEO’s indicating that the economy has either bottomed out, or is recovering” (see his firm’s Blog at www.bostonsearchgroup.com/blog/ to see the entire survey).

Multiple offers?

• While not the final indicator, many candidates for varying searches in multiple industries and functions are being considered for multiple positions and in two recent cases, received other offers during their consideration by our clients.

This is something we as an industry have not seen for over a year. (Interestingly, our industry is considered a leading economic industry.)

We’ll end as we began:

• What a difference a year makes!

Stay tuned – the next Blog entries will also be ‘learnings’ from the conference.