Staffing 2012: How Talent and Opportunity Connect - Part 2

By Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler

(EMA Reporter, January, 2002, a monthly newsletter of the Employment Management Association, a professional emphasis group of the Society for Human Resource Management. Reprinted here with permission)

In the last issue, we met job seeker Jaime-Beth Guzman and followed her as she began a high-tech job search. Part 2 continues to look at where today's technology may take us and offers tips to help employers develop a staffing vision for the future.

Jaime navigated to the career center at her alma mater's "Alumni in Transition" service. An updated checklist was available covering the salient points to a basic career process that included "defining values and interest," "exploring careers," "acquiring and managing networks, leads and connections" and "selecting, joining and succeeding."

There were many choices that allowed professionals like Jaime to manage their career activities. However, the personal and private nature of these services demanded high trust, a commitment to excellence and the ability to demonstrate that the service actually cared about you. Colleges, professional associations and a growing cadre of individual web-based career coaches were becoming the primary providers.

Job boards, staffing agencies and others just weren't effective and lost much of their market share of the employment process. In the case of the major job boards, their quality suffered in an attempt to extract more money or, as in the debacle of 2004, they were caught selling the data they collected. In any case, job seekers increasingly had alternatives that they could trust implicitly because they paid for the services through their membership, while the job boards, outplacement firms and staffing agencies were perceived to serve the needs of the corporations that paid them, no matter what they said.

Number one on Jaime's list of places to search was her technical professional association. A member of a national technical society since her student days, Jaime updated her skills profile, interests and other key criteria that she kept in the association's registry. She also noted that she preferred the states surrounding the Research Triangle. When active, the registry feature allowed anyone to view the profiles. Even so, a recruiter using the registry's search engine would access an anonymous profile. These documents had been on inactive status since Jaime joined Black Rock, which meant that no one had access but her. Now, with a simple click of the mouse, she changed the status to "active" but kept several "deeper" certifications, test results and work preferences hidden.

A quick search of current jobs posted at the association site returned nothing of interest. But, in the resources section, there was a great article by an association member about a job transition, as well as several links to other technical and scientific niche sites. Jaime downloaded the former and saved the latter to her growing bookmarks in a "future job/career" file.

Productivity tools that connect talent with opportunity will be ubiquitous. It's the niches they target that will expand infinitely. She clicked on another link that led her to a web-based help wanted search application. A convenient tool, linked from many sites, offered Jaime an ability to examine most currently available jobs via the web. Jaime quickly highlighted her interests (skills), experience and industry restrictions on a "top" level, as well as the details preferences for style of work and management and required benefits on a deeper level.

The application was able to identify and list more than 400 sites that fit her first level criteria. Then, it automatically and continuously screened these more deeply against her second level preferences. After scanning a final list of 20 leads she deleted several more. The jobs displayed seemed relevant, including several that offered a blinking link for "immediate live discussion." Satisfied but out of time, Jaime saved the page for later review and simultaneously saved the criteria as an activate agent to repeat the process for any new leads being posted. Before getting back to work, she sent a message to two technical e-mail discussion groups asking colleagues living or working in the Research Triangle area to contact her off line because she had a few questions about relocation.

Retention and Employment, Privacy and Disclosure Linked

Jason hung up from his conversation with Jaime with a sense that her concerns were urgent. A quick check of her file confirmed that she was considered a key employee to the success of the company's business plan and was also listed as a high potential candidate for any one of three team leader positions expected to open up during the next year. Accessing her personal file in today's world of privacy protection automatically triggered a note to Jaime indicating who had accessed the file and why. Jason checked that his access had been based on "prior permission from employee," one of several approved categories along with "corporate-wide research" and "performance review" that were established reasons for access.

Ironically, on Jason's list of goals to finish this week was a plan for staffing up Black Rock's workforce to twice its current size in the next 12 to 18 months. Ignoring a key retention problem was only going to complicate meeting this goal.

In the meantime, Jason decided to test how well his sourcing systems were shaping up. In a worst-case scenario, he wanted to see how hard it would be to come up with a replacement for Jaime's projects.

Data Collection and Analysis, Planning Drive Staffing Processes

From a staffing control panel built into Black Rock's intranet pages, Jason checked an "interest" database composed of nothing more than emails linked to location and skill requirements. The database was the result of visitors "driven" or invited to Black Rock's website who eventually ended up leaving a "non-work" e-mail address for positions that weren't yet open. Black Rock promised that when these positions became available, these visitors would be the first to receive the announcement, along with an invitation to demonstrate their qualifications or have their questions answered. Jason found nearly 50 registrations showing interest in positions similar to Jaime's. Jason also noted that nearly half of the visitors who registered had also engaged and completed a skills contest designed to help them become candidates and learn what it takes to succeed at Black Rock. The contest was not designed to select, only guide, but, the results showed Jason that at least 10 of the registrants were already qualified-though he couldn't tell which ones.

While curious about the source of potential candidates, Jason ran a report that showed, as expected, that nearly 50 percent of all registered visitors had come to the site through employee referrals. Newspaper ads, journals and banners on association and niche third-party sites were evenly split. Several hundred individuals were registered by agencies that Jason occasionally worked with who constantly monitored the company's newest openings. Many came from local library and college resource centers. Several were from a community service agency specializing in helping the physically challenged with which Jason had been developing a relationship to increase his ability to target.

Few resumes (really multi-layered profiles) were ever entered into the system that Jason and his colleagues used for hiring. Even those that were entered were maintained on a temporary basis for the first stages of active openings and the critical back and forthwith the hiring manager before selection. If the applicant was hired, the relevant data collected during the hiring process was automatically transferred to the HRIS system; if not, the e-mail contact was deleted or redistributed to one of several opt-in "contact" databases and returned to an "interest" status. The entire system was designed to "keep-in-touch," not "keep in limbo" and, using readily available content from internal and external sources, potential candidates were periodically made aware of available positions that matched their skills or of how to get and demonstrate the skills to qualify. In any case, the hiring managers seemed to be managing their end and few red flags were present.

Next, Jason checked the web site of the consulting agency that Black Rock partnered with to implement and suggest staffing strategies. Jason noted that a job fair was taking place in Philadelphia next month with a focus on candidates with just the skills he sought. Jason hadn't actually been to a job fair in years and this one, like the others he was used to attending, offered a virtual component that would allow him to interview attendees from his office in Grass Valley. He sent a request for more information and details to Black Rock's account representative and asked for a meeting to discuss ramping up their efforts for the next few months.

Returning to the Jaime issue, Jason left an voice mail message for his boss outlining his interest in discussing a retention issue and e-mailed Jaime to see if she might be available to meet on Thursday. He hoped he might have a few options to outline by then.

Emphasize Candidate Selection Processes

When Jaime arrived home an hour earlier than expected, she saw a note from Jim. He was at soccer practice with Sally. With some time alone, Jaime decided to follow up on her previous efforts. She also was thinking about Jason's intriguing e-mail that she received just before leaving work. Jaime hoped there might be a solution at Black Rock to help her balance her work and family obligations. But just in case there wasn't, Jaime needed some back-up strategies. She quickly logged onto the Internet, downloaded her job search files and reviewed some of the leads that had come in.

Next, Jaime researched the web sites of more than a dozen companies high on her employer of choice list. Based on the content available on the companies' web sites, five were of immediate interest. One company had a great section on "Getting To Know Us" with text, video and audio streams from employees describing the challenges and opportunities that had convinced them to join it. Another had a graphic sequence of its project life cycle with clips and links to individual participants. Most companies had eliminated "resume builders" and simply captured the link to her "registered profile" along with permission to retrieve it. All of the sites had the agent capability and encouraged referring a friend, but now wasn't the time.

Almost all of the corporate websites provided a glimpse of company culture, values, vision, benefits and a means to self-select (realistic previews, self-assessment, etc.) before requiring visitors to register their interests (never personal or skill-related details). This was extremely helpful to Jamie in narrowing her search. She also was glad that she had gotten into the habit of saving the e-mail addresses of headhunters she had spoken with over the years. In five minutes, she composed an e-mail broadcast letter and attached the link to her abbreviated skills profile from the registry (with limited contact data and a separate return e-mail address).

Checking e-mails, Jaime saw two from colleagues on the discussion groups she had contacted and replied with a series of questions about the Research Triangle area. Coincidentally, one message was from a member who was working at a company she had just researched minutes before. Jaime asked if she might give him a call or have him refer her, knowing how important Black Rock's employee referral program was and assuming it might be the same elsewhere.

As Jaime worked, e-mail responses to her earlier messages were coming back acknowledging her interest and promising to keep in touch if her qualifications matched open positions. One message even described how to use the company web site to track the progress of her application and assigned an employee who volunteered to guide her research and answer questions. The employer also invited her to answer a few optional personal questions but promised to protect her privacy and explained how the data would be used to improve the company's plans. She complied.

A sudden flashing icon appeared in the bottom right corner of her monitor, indicating that someone was on-line and was inviting her to "connect" for a quick discussion. Someone must be working late. Clicking the flashing icon, Jaime found herself in an audio mode with John Singh, a Chicago recruiter, who had received her profile. He was sitting on the elevated subway on his way home from work when her forwarded profile activated his wireless handheld. Singh was working on two related assignments in North Carolina. After a brief discussion, Jaime agreed to forward a deeper transcript for review. John also asked Jaime if she would be available for an initial screening interview the next day with video. Jaime agreed to a 4 p.m. Central Standard Time interview after checking her calendar. Logging off, Jaime couldn't help thinking that it was a busy day at Black Rock and there was a lot to discuss with Jim.

An Unrealistic Scenario? Perhaps.

Black Rock's size, human resource capabilities, locations, staffing needs, budget, scarce skills, business plans and investment processes, as well as their relationship with colleges, industries, communities, vendors, professional associations, etc., may never develop quite like other companies. Their technology however, is very real. All of the products and services implied in this story exist today. it's just the infrastructure and the identity of the players that requires a leap. And, of course, what might happen if scarce skills, concerns over privacy, migration away from cities for work and other factors actually take place. Few companies today claim that they have seamlessly integrated their hiring process, but technology is not the problem. Vision, implementation skills and a solid business case for the return on investment are what are too often overlooked. Willingness to risk the changes necessary is also a key component.

Imagine the possibilities. Think about what could be. The first step to getting there is knowing where you want to go.

The Real Challenge

I challenge you to develop a staffing vision for your company. Here are a few thoughts about researching this rapidly growing industry's tools and toys and becoming a force for change.

• Follow the job seeker. Conduct focus groups with new employees as part of the orientation process. Discussing how they were found or how they found you goes a long way toward arming the HR department with data about your company's "readiness" for emerging technology. Survey the employees who have left you- especially six months later-and not just for the traditional reasons. Increasingly, you'll find that the techniques they used once they decided to look have a bearing on your policies and choices about the tools and techniques you might use. After all, retention has a direct impact on the employment function. Can you "draw" your employment process? Can you draw it from your candidate's point of view? Is your process linked to the performance of your organization and people within it?
• Network to build community: "Whoever owns the most e-mails, wins." Get personally involved in regional and national meetings of professional associations such as the Employment Management Association where the best practices, issues and ideas are discussed in a setting that maximizes professional learning. Join online discussion groups and message boards where recruiting discussions take place and where practitioners share tactics and strategies. Develop your strategy around communicating with potential candidates and applicants rather than collecting and storing outdated and potentially flawed resumes. Protect their privacy, disclose what you'll do with their data and walk the talk.
• Measure everything. There is no substitute for results that can measure your process and your contribution to your company's business plans. Look for research-related articles and surveys with hard data that minimizes the hype and focus on the facts that compare products that claim to meet your needs, your processes, not their view of your processes.

These articles are based on the foreword to the 2002 edition of CareerXroads: The Directory to Job, Resume and Career Management Sites by Gerry Crispin, SPHR, and Mark Mehler. This is the seventh edition of the book, an independent reference guide to job sites. If you have questions or comments about the scenario pictured in these articles, you can visit Crispin and Mehler at CareerXroads, or reach them at mmc@careerxroads.com.

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