resi-logo200pxWLook, I get it.  You’re thinking that the last thing we need in recruiting is another award program.  But, bear with me a minute while I explain the rationale for the Recruiting Service Innovation Awards – the ReSIs.

One of the oldest axioms in business, of course, is that “the customer is always right.”  Not only about returns and complaints, but also about the way they are treated.

That’s at least part of the reason why the Candidate Experience Awards have gained so much attention so quickly.

But there’s a second business axiom that – though often ignored – is equally as important.  Steven Covey put it best: “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.”  That’s why the ReSIs have been launched.

As Covey implied, you can’t optimize the candidate experience if you don’t first provide the tools for recruiters to perform at their peak. So the Recruiting Service Innovation Awards recognize sourcing and recruiting products and services that “optimize the recruiter’s experience.”

Now, some have said that such an award program is inappropriate because there are so many lousy products and services now being hocked to recruiters.  But, that’s exactly why shining a spotlight on the best is so important.  Moreover, selecting the best won’t be done by a bunch of pundits, but by recruiters.  Winners will be determined by a Selection Committee composed of talent acquisition executives and verified by a survey of the recruiters who have actually used their tools.

Others have opined that such awards are just another way for vendors to “pay to play” – to buy the spotlight for their product or service.  Not with the ReSIs.  No company that nominates one of its resources can sponsor or in any way provide financial support to the ReSIs program.  It is administered by the International Association of Employment Web Sites, and its Selection Committee is a totally independent entity.

But, there’s another reason for launching the ReSIs, and it goes to the heart of the challenges now facing many recruiting teams.  You can’t turn on a cable business channel or read the business blogs on HuffingtonPost.com these days and not see some CEO beating his or her chest about how important talent is and how their employees are their most important asset.

But, then what happens?  As soon as the camera lights are turned off or the blog has been ghost written, those same CEOs go back to their corner offices and slash the staff and budget of the recruiting team – the very group responsible for acquiring that talent.

So, the ReSIs are also a way of saying to CEOs – No more excuses!  The products and services your recruiting team needs to perform at its peak are readily available.  Enough with the PR; start walking the talk.  Invest in your recruiting team.

For more information on the ReSIs, please visit http://www.employmentwebsites.org/recruiting-innovation-awards.

weddleAbout the Author: Peter Weddle has been the CEO of three HR consulting companies, a Partner in the Hay Group and the recipient of a Federal award for leadership-related research.  Described by The Washington Post as “… a man filled with ingenious ideas,” he has authored or edited over two dozen books and been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, National Business Employment Weekly and CNN.com.

His most recent books include A Multitude of Hope: A Novel About Rediscovering the American Dream, The Career Fitness Workbook: How to Find, Win & Hang Onto the Job of Your Dreams, The Career Activist Republic and The Success Matrix: Wisdom from the Web on How to Get Hired & Not Be Fired.

Weddle is also the CEO of WEDDLE’s Research & Publishing, which specializes in employment and workforce issues and the Executive Director of the International Association of Employment Web Sites, the trade organization for the global online employment services industry.

An Airborne Ranger, Weddle is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.  He has attended Oxford University and holds advanced degrees from Middlebury College and Harvard University.