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Military Intelligence: Can You Handle The Truth About Veteran Recruiting?

Imagine that some hiring manager wants to open a req right away for some random role, let’s say, a building maintenance technician.

So he calls the recruiter with his request, and the two talk through the position requirements and what kind of candidate the hiring manager wants for this role. You with me?

So, the hiring manager replies to the recruiter:

“Well, I want to hire a veteran in this role. They’ll show up on time, they’ll take care of business and they’ll respect the chain of command. So, let’s get this done.”

The recruiter responds, as recruiters do, with a complex answer to this simple and straightforward hiring manager request:

“Sure thing,” the recruiter says.

“Let me get out my little Veteran Hiring Guide, and then I’m going to train you on the 10 reasons every employer should hire veterans. After that, we’re going to need to spend about 5 weeks reviewing training on resume translations, and how to manage veteran hires. Oh, and I’ll also need you to get certified specifically on how to interview a veteran. Then, we should be good to go!”

Ever wonder why no matter what, we don’t seem to be moving the needle on veteran recruiting? See above.

Catch 22: The Sad State of Veteran Recruiting.

It’s one thing to wave the flag in theory, but in reality, veteran recruiting takes more than empty words and good intentions.

Unfortunately, it’s work that too few recruiters seem to be willing to put in, which does a disservice to those who served us, to be honest with you. Of course, it’s not their fault that veteran recruiting is, in fact, a pretty big pain in the *ss.

Inevitably – at this point, I pretty much just do it for “fun” – when I post a job description and append any copy associated with my preference to give transitioning military people the opportunity so many need, my inbox is absolutely flooded. Not with veteran job seekers, mind you.

Nope.

Instead, it’s brimming with messages from a cottage industry of consultants and “career experts,” all offering to help me with veteran skills translation, the opportunity to have someone come on site and train my team about why veteran hiring is important, and offers from even more consultants who want to tell me how to retain my veteran hires (mind you, I haven’t even hired them yet).

Still more are notes from people telling me that because I’m not an officially certified veteran recruiter – with the credentials from whatever racket they’re running to prove it.

Veteran hiring is a big business, and the profiteers out there would have you believe that attempting to hire veterans without “training” or certification is somehow an insult to the entire military community.

They’ll gladly wave the flag, except when it comes to putting that patriotism before profit. I’ll let you guess their preference.

What Employers Get Wrong About Veteran Recruiting.

As an industry, we’re on autopilot when it comes to recruiting and retaining “veterans.” Thought leadership on the subject has digressed to baffling cliches and tired aphorisms, and like lemmings, we regurgitate the same well worn lines every time we talk about how important veteran hiring is in the world of recruiting.

This reaction is instantaneous. It’s Pavlovian.

To be honest, our fixation and focus on veteran hiring has actually digressed to paying off what are at best diminishing returns, and at worst, a loss of great candidates due to misinformed or misguided veteran hiring related policies and programs.

It’s slowed down progress in veteran hiring to a crawl, and actually handicaps recruiters in their efforts more than it helps veterans find jobs by focusing on the wrong stuff, honestly. I get it. If you didn’t know any better, you might be tempted to buy whatever those consultants cramming my inbox are selling and spend the time to get training and certification you don’t need to get candidates you can already hire. It’s asinine.

If you’re a recruiter and weren’t in the military at some point in your life, you probably stay away from veteran recruiting, as a rule; it’s scary for civilians to jump into this space looking for talent, networking with transitioning military people or figuring out how to relate to all these “veterans” without looking like a total fraud.

I get it – you’re afraid if you don’t know when the Marine Corps celebrates its birthday, people are going to think you’re a closet Commie or something, right? If you really believe that, then you’re guilty of exactly the same type of bias that creates so many problems so endemic to our industry.

There’s no such thing as a “typical” veteran, which is something we get about pretty much every other protected class (except maybe “Millennials).

Dishonorable Discharge: Veteran Diversity and Exclusion.

It’s kind of crazy, when you think about it – our misperceptions of veterans are exactly what’s inhibiting many employers from actually engaging with and converting candidates with military experience.

We spend tens of millions a year on veteran recruiting, but we don’t spend nearly enough time educating each other on the myths and misperceptions that plague former military hires.

We’re recruiters, so it’s imperative that we can understand a candidate’s pain points, show empathy for their aspirations and an appreciation for their experience and expertise.

That’s why we’re so rigorous in screening for soft skills, working to find the right fits for our organization capable of performing at the level our Company expects while also determining how well they match that amorphous and ambiguous concept of “culture,” data be damned.

We source, screen, slate and select candidates all day long, and we do so for every person from any other company out there (or even those who are currently “between employers”) who have a high enough threshold for pain that they’re willing to go through the gauntlet that is your online application process.

Everyone, that is, except for veterans.

It’s funny. As badly as we say we want more veteran applicants, the moment we find out a veteran applies, for some reason, we stop. Why? Well…because, you know, they need to translate their skills. Even if those skills don’t really need translation. It’s just that, if there’s military experience anywhere on their resume, they’re immediately labeled a “veteran” and treated with some sort of entrenched employment double standard.

When we see a veteran has applied for our job, we stop. We stop because…well, the hiring manager never explicitly told me whether or not they’d consider a veteran.

We stop because…well, our company doesn’t have a formal veteran recruiting program or any veteran retention or development initiatives in place. We stop because…it’s an excuse.

Oh, by the way: I hear a lot about veterans being a flight risk, but there’s no data to support that veterans are any less likely to leave than their non-veteran peers, since, you know, HR makes data driven decisions all the time and all.

Yeah. If we analyzed any of this, we’d see that we put up imaginary obstacles and excuses, rolling out red tape instead of the red carpet for former military candidates because we’re so preconditioned to respond to them as “veterans” instead of, you know, qualified candidates.

Those perfunctory 6 seconds we normally spend scanning a resume are forgotten, and that there’s no translation needed in a resume tailored explicitly for the job becomes extraneous to the fact that veteran applicants require some sort of specialized knowledge or skill to consider for positions, some sort of program to successfully recruit or retain them.

The fact is, if we overlooked their veteran status for a second, we’d see resumes that are probably far more professional than their civilian counterparts, considering the countless organizations out there – literally tens and thousands of them – whose only purpose is to help transitioning service members move from the military to the workforce as smoothly and successfully as possible.

These organizations work with veterans one on one to teach them interviewing skills, how to navigate the hiring process, professional presentation skills and the fine art of crafting a resume that’s going to not only get read, but get their foot in the door as a competitive candidate for your company.

They provide on-the-job training, assist with information and give advice, and ensure that veterans are ready before they ever hit “apply” – but even when those perfectly groomed candidates land at your feet for whatever job opportunity you’re advertising, we stop.

And we tell them to go back, to do it all over again, to “translate,” to do it our way, even if they already are. You know, just because.

Can You Handle The Truth About Veteran Talent?

Look. The fact is, “veterans” are a pretty huge and diverse population.

“Veteran” isn’t a functional skill, nor is it measurable in the sense that one can be more skilled at being a veteran than someone else who happened to have served.

You either are, or you aren’t. It’s a diversity label that needs to be filtered in order to actually find what we’re looking for – because most of the time, we’re sourcing and recruiting candidates based exclusively on functional need, not diversity status or by their protected class.

Which is why even top veteran talent often gets overlooked during most proactive sourcing and pipelining efforts.

Instead, veterans are consigned to some formal program or encouraged to take part in an initiative or join a “talent community” that for some reason exists only for them, treating them as some sort of special, separate class of job seekers that must be treated differently.

We do this largely with good intent, but let’s face it, the fact that we so explicitly talk about “veteran recruiting” programs and policies is inherently discriminatory. If we’re honest, if we were caught doing this solely based on skin color, religion, race or any other protected class, we’re not passing go on our way straight to HR Jail (or a compliance audit).

But for veterans, for some reason, it’s considered OK to take a one-size fits all, prejudiced approach to recruiting and hiring. Of course, if that approach worked, we probably wouldn’t still suck at attracting and retaining veteran talent.

Part 1 of a 2 part series.

About the Author:

Dan Piontkowski is a fun loving guy that has spent too long in the recruiting and sourcing world waiting to figure out what to be when he grows up.

He’s done time enlisted in the Marine Corps, a graduate of the Naval Academy, a commissioned naval officer, developed robust veteran hiring initiatives at big companies and still doesn’t know what a Space & Missile officer in the Air Force does.

He likes Sugar Free Monster because it’s healthier than the regular stuff.

Dan isn’t on Twitter, but you can connect with him on LinkedIn.

How Augmented And Virtual Reality Are Transforming The Workplace.

When it comes to succeeding in business today, you’ve got to make bold, decisive moves about technology adoption. Indecisiveness often means falling behind – and in today’s world of work, that’s something no business can afford.

Being decisive at adopting technology involves not only identifying the right emerging tools and emerging technologies to implement into your recruiting process, but also, ensuring you’re able to leverage every feature and function required to maximize the impact of that technology – and use these changes to your full advantage.

Doing so will inevitably increase your functional flexibility, enhance your employer brand and make the biggest impact on bigger business results – and that’s the bottom line.

An emerging technology category that’s still in its formative phases is virtual reality and augmented reality (that’s VR and AR for short), and the fact that these two technologies seem to be widely neglected within the enterprise or HR Technology space reflects that the industry is taking a “wait and see” approach to adopting or leveraging these capabilities.

Yes, it’s early. But when it comes to AR and VR, don’t wait.

Because it’s better to be on the front of the adoption curve than falling behind, and if you choose to wait to use these solutions to enhance your business, you may soon find that you’re already too late.

Technology and Workplace Transformation: Not so fast.

Technology is only as effective as the people using it. And how well those people are actually using technology, of course, is shaped by whether or not they’re actually using it or not. A big part of end user adoption is driven by a single, simple question: “Will this make my job easier?”

Adoption only happens if it’s a means to get to an end, and that end is always effective if employees are incentivized to use a new technology through actually having it add value instead of complexity, and save them time and effort rather than create it.

They have to get the point of the software, period, or else the rest becomes an exercise in futility, functionally speaking.

Most employers, historically, choose technology based largely off of its future potential than its present product, a misperception of how what’s shiny and sexy will actually help solve real and persistent business challenges, and how adoption will impact their end users and business continuity.

We rarely think about reality, choosing products based off our perceptions rather than their practical application for helping employees and making their world of work work better.

Using this employee-first framework makes it easy to understand just how profound adopting VR and AR in your workplace will mean to your employees, and why today isn’t too early to start seriously looking at these technologies of tomorrow if you’re in recruiting or talent acquisition.

Augmented and Virtual Reality: The Real Difference.

Universum Global recently published a study in conjunction with research from INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute, The HEAD Foundation and MIT Leadership Center, which evaluated how various new and emerging technologies are likely to influence business.

Prominent among these topics, of course, were VR and AR.

While we haven’t fully explored the potential applications of virtual reality in the workplace, some obvious possibilities include improved teleconferencing, situational interviewing abilities, improved delivery for on demand and dispersed L&D courses, skills training and testing – among many, many others.

Augmented reality, unlike VR, provides digital details to augment and enhance, not replace, the world around you. It’s not an immersive environment, but is rather designed to immerse you into your real environment, providing insights and information about what you’re already seeing IRL, in real time.

One common application of AR is finding places like nearby Bars and Restaurants (Yelp’s Monocle is a good example of this); this means if you happen to have a smart phone and had the correct layer displayed, you could easily find out what your dining options are around you, what their menu and hours are, a full price range, reviews and a ton of other rich data that could help make up your mind where to dine.

In the workplace, AR can help workers potentially stay up to date on important company communications, announcements and news; provide profile information and rich data on clients or prospects during a sales call, or share real time insight on optimizing workflows or continuous performance feedback delivered directly while the employee is on the job.

How awesome is that?

Despite the splashy rollouts of sets like Google Cardboard or the multi-billion dollar acquisition of best-in-class VR device Oculus Rift by Facebook, consumer adoption of VR is still very low.

Research suggests that while only 3% of the general population has adopted virtual reality, nearly a third believe that this technology (which most haven’t even tried, mind you) will transform their workplace in the next decade. Similarly, VR was identified by Generation Y and Z workers as the one technology with the most potential impact on business in the years to come.

What these statistics did not reveal, however, is how this technology should be applied. One possibility is that VR and AR could lead to improved work-life balance and greater flexibility, with more people working from home or moving more easily between markets.

The assumption, of course, is that this is the end result most workers want most. Universum found, however, that Generation Z actually prefers working from an office, and puts a premium on interpersonal interactions.

So, depending on your employee composition, embracing VR or AR might actually alienate you from the very part of the candidate population you were targeting in the first place, which might not only hurt your brand, but also erode the relative success of your VR and AR initiatives.

Virtual Reality and the Real World.

Whether or not your organization ultimately adopts virtual reality, augmented reality or both, the key to business success is to make sure those realities are aligned with those that actually exist within your organizations and those of your internal stakeholders.

When investigating VR or AR adoption, reach out to employees, hiring managers and candidates alike to ask their thoughts and solicit feedback, advice and guidance on the best way to leverage these emerging technologies – or if you should even start.

You’ll be surprised at how many will be willing to share their thoughts and provide you with the information and insights you’ll need to create a roadmap for AR/VR success.

The important thing is to listen: use their feedback to guide you about where you should apply VR and AR, where you should ignore it and what impact these technologies make on their ultimate experience and business results.

The result of this exercise should lead to an improved workflow, a stronger employer brand and a culture that embraces technology and uses it to make work easier, instead of forcing it onto employees and turning tech adoption into a chore.

If you’re a company that gets tech, well, there’s a good chance you’ll get tech talent, too. And every other candidate who cares about using the latest and greatest (hint: that’s most of them, really).

This, obviously, is rare enough to provide a competitive advantage that can be a salient selling point to top talent and current employees alike.

But no matter how you use AR and VR, remember, if it doesn’t help really make recruiting really better, then that’s one reality check you’re going to have to check on, first.

Editor’s Note: If you’re interested in learning more about how Gen X, Y and Z workers see the future of technology and its impact on the workplace, click here to download a complimentary copy of Universum Global’s newest ebook, State of (Un)readiness.

About the Author:

Jonas Barck is the Chief Marketing Officer for Universum Global. Follow him on Twitter @Barck or connect with him on LinkedIn.

One Thing: How To Make Bad Recruiting and Hiring History.

There’s an old saying that the only real thing you can ever count on is change.

Even a perfunctory look back at the past reveals that the only real variable throughout the rapid and constant evolution of human history is not whether or not change will occur, but instead, which have – and will – prove to be the most impact on shaping our world and our perception of it.

To understand our past is to understand our present.

And it’s only when we do that can we have any hope whatsoever of anticipating the future, in talent acquisition or otherwise.

Some of the most profound changes throughout history have, in fact, resulted less because of sudden revolution or innovation and more because of constant and continual iteration of the way in which our cultural norms actually operate.

Story of My Life: A Hiring History Lesson.

The Age of Enlightenment, for example, occurred largely because collectively, some of the greatest minds the world has ever seen – think Benjamin Franklin, Descartes, Kant, John Locke, Voltaire, even – began to completely rethink the nature of human existence.

The hugely influential treatises of the time were backed by an emerging understanding of cosmology, physics, mathematics and natural science; our increased insights into our universe and our own minds created a shift in what it meant not only to be human, but the very nature of humanity itself.

Our expectations for what we was possible caused a profound process change on so many levels – as did the magnitude of our operations. We could suddenly build, create or engineer more or less anything, and human greatness became largely limited only by the limits of our collective imaginations.

The unshakeable confidence, our inherent faith in innovation, ingenuity, and our shared commitment to progress, all ideals espoused during the Enlightenment, continue to shape our expectations – and our aspirations – to this day.

Now, imagine a world in which those great ideas were successfully realized, where the most improbable or seemingly impossible innovations are achieved, and where the possibilities of our imaginations become reality.

Of course, all the progress in the world doesn’t really matter if people don’t adapt their behaviors and thinking to new possibilities, challenge the status quo or flaunt conventional thinking. If the mainstream never catches up to the cutting edge, we’re forever going to be left behind; while change is inherently scary, the scariest thing about change is what happens when we resist it.

A century or so after the Enlightenment, mankind underwent yet another rapid, revolutionary “rethink,” as it were, and it led to not only the way we understood humanity and our purpose in the world personally, but our professional perceptions, too.

Through steam and iron, we created new processes for mass manufacturing like the assembly line and the blast furnace; these new advances, of course, required a new set of specialists and professionals, who ultimately gave rise to a heretofore unprecedented Middle Class, credence to the possibility of the “self made man,” and profound improvements in the quality of life for pretty much the entire planet.

The economic growth and positive lasting impact of the Industrial Age would never have been possible had people resisted or ignored these changes instead of almost instantaneously accepting and welcoming them as necessary innovations with the potential for making our lives – and our world – a little bit better. Which is really all anyone can ask for, to be honest.

So, I’m going to ask again: what if the Industrial Revolution happened, but no one answered? What if the factories were built, new processes invented and new tools created, only to see the masses stay behind, perfectly content in staying back on the farm, eking out a living on the same land as generations before them?

If mankind were content in the expediency of today instead of looking forward at the possibilities of tomorrow, we’d remain perpetually stuck in the past – and wouldn’t have progressed nearly as far as we have today.

The explosion of self-actualization and critical thinking of the Enlightenment has largely flatlined, however; the economic and societal gains realized during the Industrial Revolution have similarly plateaued at present. I think that this slowing can be attributed, largely, to our diminished desires to push ourselves – and each other – forward. Instead of embracing progress, we have started resisting it.

And perhaps nowhere is this troubling trend more superficially self-evident – or painfully obvious – than when it comes to HR Technology.

Drag Me Down: How Recruiting Really Became Broken.

Knowing that the past is prologue, it’s important to look at the historical precedent that’s been well established throughout the course of human history to best understand and chart the future trajectory of human resources.

The stasis of today, the staleness of the status quo and the acceptance of the incremental over the desire for the innovative continue to present persistent problems to talent acquisition and recruitment, particularly as it comes to the resistance to technological progress, which we choose (for some reason) to ignore.

In this profession, though, ignorance is anything but bliss.

It’s the biggest professional liability any recruiter can have, really. What we don’t know as recruiters can hurt us, and does.

For decades, employers have operated talent acquisition functions and structured recruiting processes in more or less the exact same way. First, you get headcount approved. Then, you create a job posting, market the job posting, review profiles, collect resumes, source, screen, slate, select, hire, onboard and repeat for every open req. This process is as entrenched as any part of our profession.

Sure, applicant tracking systems and job boards have evolved a bit over the years, and we’ve moved from manual, paper based processes to online, mostly automated and completely digital. These incremental changes, though, only hide the fact that job boards are serving the same role as newspapers, and ATS systems are largely nothing more than the new file cabinet for most employers.

While the tools of the trade may have shifted, the process remains stuck in the status quo. So too does our professional mindset, which is probably why (as every vendor will inevitably remind you) recruiting today is broken. Well, we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves for that fact.

For going on around 15 years now, recruiting has largely lagged behind most other business functions in terms of overall sophistication, organizational impact or bottom line results. The function has become inflexible, anachronistic, and at most businesses, a giant cost center that’s often hopelessly outdated and increasingly obsolete.

Sure, software and systems play a small part in this recruiting reality, but let’s face it. There’s really one big barrier to realizing better recruiting outcomes for talent acquisition professionals and employers (and the candidates we support and serve).

It’s the fact that the best technology in the world can’t fix a broken process – and no matter what systems or software our organizations choose to buy, it’s not going to matter if we can’t figure out how to somehow fix the fundamentals and improve our core processes and professional practices.

So.

Let’s forget about tech for a minute and let’s take a look at the real problem with our recruiting reality.

More Than This: Why Every Recruiter Should Resist Business As Usual.

As I’m sure you probably know by now, there are nearly as many tools for analyzing and interpreting data driven recruiting as their are applications for using these inputs to drive better outcomes and optimal efficiency and efficacy when it comes to hiring.

There are also a plethora of tools for telling recruiters what’s working, what’s not, where opportunities exist and where improvements must be made.

Similarly, technology can help us identify when we need talent, what kind of talent it is that we need, where we can proactively engage those candidates and how we can personalize and optimize our interactions with them.

While we have the means to make a big difference, when it comes to how we approach recruiting, we’ve got to make a radical shift in our thinking if we’re really going to maximize the impact and realize the full potential these new tools and emerging technologies represent. When it comes to recruiting, business as usual is anything but.

That’s why doing the same thing as always and expecting different results is not only the definition of insanity, but a pretty good description of why so many recruiters out there are struggling so badly to compete – and win – when it comes to engaging, attracting and hiring top talent today.

As an industry, we need to revolutionize our approach to recruiting and tip conventional wisdom and established best practices on their head; what’s worked before is not as important as making the world of work work better.

We need to lean less on process and policies and learn that in the business of people, the ability to create a real connection with a real candidate is the only real competitive advantage recruiters have, really.

Perfect: Three Big Questions Every Recruiter Needs To Ask.

That’s why when we think about process, we need to stop putting ourselves at the center and focusing on adopting a candidate centric approach that emphasizes the needs of the person filling the requisition, not simply those of the recruiter or employer responsible for filling it.

Here are some critical questions every employer must answer – and address – before change is possible.

1. Is my career site showing why candidates should consider my company, or does it just list job postings?

Remember, what works for recruiting, say, engineers versus sales professionals versus interns is going to be different, and career sites should reflect this reality through adaptive content and differentiated candidate journeys.

One size fits all never fits anyone.

2. How does my content connect with these audiences? Whether that’s an EVP on a careers site, a proactive email to a passive candidate or even a careers based Twitter or Facebook account, you’ve got to speak in a voice, tone and style that not only tells candidates what they need to know about your company, but is also compelling enough to get them to apply.

Content has to speak the candidate’s language if you want them to actually listen.

3. How am I providing value for my candidates? As opposed to one of those, “just wanted to touch base” networking emails or “I came across your profile and thought you’d be a fit” outreach messages, consider that if you’re asking for value, you’ve got to provide it, too. That has to be the question recruiters continually ask themselves during each step of the process, and the answer must inform the way we communicate and interact with our candidates.

Remember: ask not what a candidate can do for you, but what you can do for a candidate.

All of this, ultimately, boils down to what has to be recognized as a persistent, pervasive problem confronting not just most companies, but our entire industry.

With no agreed upon set of global standards, no universal best practices nor widely accepted standard operating procedures or standardized metrics and measurements, it’s up to us to do what’s right for our candidates and our companies.

That means that we’ve not only got to champion change, we’ve got to create it, too: and that starts by changing how we think about recruiting. You don’t need an Enlightenment to be enlightened to the fact that candidates are our ultimate clients, and ultimately control the relative success (or failure) of any hiring process.

You don’t need an Industrial Revolution to know that when it comes to technology, progress is defined by the people using it; without the right people, there is no progress, period. For recruiters, that means no tech in the world can possibly prevent from becoming absolutely obsolete if they can’t get the fundamentals down, first.

Hiring is hard. It shouldn’t have to be. Let’s change, and finally make our recruiting problems history.

We’ve got to, if we want a future.

About the Author:

Jeff Mills is currently Director, Solution Management, Talent Acquisition for SAP SuccessFactors.

A marketing executive with 15 years of digital and product marketing experience, Jeff began his career in a variety of marketing leadership roles at companies such as JanRain, EthicsPoint and Gartner.

A graduate of Oregon State University, Jeff currently resides in Portland, Oregon.

Follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffMills or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Need to Find Phone Numbers? This Extension Will Find Them Instantly: NetIn

We all want to find phone numbers. Chrome Extension NetIn just made it a lot easier. NetIn allows you to find emails and phone numbers directly from their LinkedIn page. At first glance, this extension may seem like others you have seen before. But it has features that we have never seen in a tool like this.

For starters, NetIn uses public data to determine if a candidate is potentially looking for a new job. The other exciting feature is that it comes with advanced filters so that you can search by school, experience, whether there is an email, and if there is a phone number associated. If that isn’t enough, you can even sort with diversity filters. Another great feature is that all of the results are put in order of qualification.

Pricing

You can start with a free trial. They have a “Basic” package is $200 per month. Their “Professional” that is $500 per month. Click here for your free trial.

Watch NetIn in Action

[youtube url=”https://youtu.be/AP1TA3mkkko” width=”500″ height=”300″]

About the Author: Dean Da Costa is a highly experienced and decorated recruiter, sourcer and manager with deep skills and experience in HR, project management, training & process improvement.Dean is best known for his work in the highly specialized secured clearance and mobile arenas, where he has been a top performing recruiter and sourcer. Connect with Dean at LinkedIn or follow @DeanDaCosta on Twitter.

The Five: Chrome Extensions to Manage Chrome Extensions

Most recruiters spend their day working directly in Chrome using Chrome Extensions to help find top candidates. But, is there a point where you can have too many extensions? In short, yes. New extensions come out every day in the name of productivity but the truth is, if you have too many productivity extensions there is no way to be productive. The trick is getting the organized before becoming an extension hoarder. Here are The Five: Chrome Extensions to Mange Chrome Extensions:

NooBoss

How can you not like a Chrome Extension when it is called “NooBoss?” But that is just a bonus. This tool does more than just get obtrusive Chrome Extensions out of the way. With NooBoss, you can also check the community tags for each extension, to see if it is worth downloading or not.nd tag it so others will know if it’s a good extension or not.You can also set rules for extensions so that they will be enabled only when you opened certain websites. For example, if the extension only works with LinkedIn, then “mute” it when you are not using LinkedIn.

Custom Chrome – Extension Manager

What I like most about “Custom Chrome” is that you can sort your extensions into various groups. Want to gather all of your extensions that find email addresses? Just click the plus button at the top and enter a name. Then you can click all of the extensions that you use for searching email. The next time you want to look for an email extension, you just have to select your list.

Extensity

Extensity is probably one that you have heard of before. It sits right next to your address bar. You can disable or enable any extension right from the drop down list. I have noticed that some Chrome Extensions do not play well with others. With Extensity, you can disable the problem app and enable it when you are done.

One Click Extensions Manager

With on click, you can use one button to show installed extensions -Click extension name to enable/disable this extension -Right click the extension name to uninstall the extension(with confirm) -Disable all extensions with one click -Open the extension’s options page by clicking gear icon after it’s name -Type in the search area to search the extension quickly

Switcher

The core feature that the Extensions Manager provides is the ability to quickly enable or disable extensions, applications or themes in the browser which is different than the other tools listed on this page. It only takes two clicks, one on the extension icon and the second in the checkbox to enable or disable select extensions.

As you can see, there is hope for those of use that have too many Chrome Extensions! Once you use one of these tools to manage your extensions, you can download even MORE extensions. (But don’t get crazy!)

The Week That Was 3.10.17: Triplebyte, The Whether, and 300 Women

Every Friday in case you missed it, ‘The Week That Was” is all you need to know about anything that matters in recruiting. We go out to the interwebs and gather interesting and insightful recruiting news we will interest you. This week we learned it is time to check the whether, Triplebyte is growing up, and we brought you a list so you can hire more women. Duh.

Recruiting Terms Defined:

Reality Challenged – Candidates who think they are qualified when they are obviously not. “I am obviously a surgeon; I have an app.”

Tweet of the Week:

Women only make up 30% of the #tech industry. Read how you can increase that number in your company https://t.co/wtR9q4OZt8 #recruiting pic.twitter.com/Il52w28AmB

— eTeki, Inc. (@eTeki_Inc) March 8, 2017

Triplebyte is all Grown up.

Triplebyte, who once only worked with Y Combinator-incubated companies is now working with industry whales like Facebook and Apple. The reason for their popularity is that they have taken out the need for resumes or looking at what credentials a candidate has and just getting down to finding top talent. To do this, they are using relevant data, not a gut feel. “We’d like to have data across the lifetime of an engineer,” Taggar said. If TripleByte’s software was even trained on a sufficient volume of data, Taggar imagines it could even make the hiring decision if the technical ability is the sole criteria.

Whether you Like it or Not, The Whether Wins!

The Whether is an inbound college recruiting app that automates how you attract, engage and hire relevant college students by presenting your brand and opportunities within an exceptional experience along the candidate journey. This week, they were able to beat out nine other opponents and win the coveted SXSWedu’s Launch Competition.

This is a culmination of all the hard work we have done for a long time,” said Better Weekdays CEO Chris Motley just after the winners were announced on Wednesday night. “Being a minority-led company, it’s so good to be validated by the industry.

Looking for interns and recent grads? Check The Whether first.

There’s a simple solution to tech’s gender imbalance… hire more damn women.

For the majority of my career, I only worked for women. Considering that I got my start in IT, this seems impossible in hind site. However, it is true; I saw women daily making a difference in tech. If you look around, however, many companies did not get the “hire more women” message. The most common reason why? That not enough women apply. Wednesday, March 8th, you may have noticed, was International Woman’s day. In honor of that, William Tincup put together a list of 300+ Women In HR Technology Worth Watching. You can no longer say you can’t find enough women again. #BeBoldForChange

8 Recruiting Website Mistakes that could cost you BIG

According to Business.com, 75% of consumers determine an organization’s credibility simply on their website design. Don;t lose your chance to wow visitors. Simply creating an attractive front page doesn’t mask other problems that may be lurking beneath the surface. Read on to see if you’re guilty of making these recruiting website mistakes Adam Appleton talks about.

Recruiters Reveal The Most Ridiculous Job Interview Answers Ever.

If you’ve ever spent any time as a recruiter, you know that there’s nothing more painful than having to sit through a terrible job interview.

That is, unless you’re the one being interviewed. Let’s just say that even in the best of times, interviews are never exactly a walk in the park.

More often, it’s like running some sort of ridiculous recruiting gauntlet, full of specious questions and potential landmines; simply getting through the interview can be difficult, much less getting through why you’re the best candidate for the job.

After all, there’s normally a lot riding on an interview, and there’s a ton of stuff that can go wrong – which means that it’s pretty common to get stressed out, which can kill anyone’s chances of successfully scoring that job.

If you’re one of the many who suffer from interview anxiety, rest assured you’re far from alone; in fact, a recent survey suggested a staggering 92% of Americans reported suffering from some sort of anxiety during a job interview.

Many job seekers psyche themselves out playing the “what if?” game of hopeless hypotheticals:

What if you say something completely inappropriate? What if the filter between your mouth and your brain suddenly disappears? What if you lose the power to articulate any rational thought? What if you forget the extensive research on the employer you’ve done on LinkedIn and Google? What if they hate you?

If you’re like most people, you know exactly what I mean.

Of course, the torture isn’t over just because the interview is complete; deconstructing and dissecting the experience almost always leads candidates to focus on what they did wrong, instead of what went right.

Hindsight is 20/20, which means most of us see how badly we screwed up quite clearly after the interview is over. Thing is, no matter how badly you screwed up, no matter how poorly you think you performed, most recruiters have seen it all – and unless you’re some sort of special case, they’ve seen way worse.

So what’s the worst that could happen? We asked hiring experts, recruiters, and CEOs from across industries and markets to discuss their most embarrassing, ridiculous or hilarious interview experiences ever. Most interview advice focuses on what candidates can do right, we instead wanted to let you know what the worst that can happen really looks like.

Whatever you do in an interview, don’t do any of the following, whatever you do.

“Please Hire My Boyfriend:” Making Sure You’re A Match.

Pascal Culverhouse of Electric Tobacconist once had an interview with a woman who appeared to be perfect for his company’s role..

“She was a strong candidate, she sailed through the interview and she seemed remarkably skilled for the position at hand. By the conclusion of the interview, I was convinced and offered her the job on the spot. At which point she smiled, thanked me, and asked if her boyfriend could have the role instead. I’d never met the man.”

Interview tip:

Always make sure you are right for the role, and the role is right for you. Interviews require a lot of time and money, and should be taken seriously. No matter how supportive you are of your significant other, in no circumstances should they stand in for you in an interview.

Which really should go without saying, people.

“I Have A Hairy Chest”: Be Careful With Competitive Differentiation.

Julie Bishop at Jobhop makes a career out of helping employees find the right job but, sometimes, the candidates don’t help themselves. Just as she thinks she’s heard everything, someone takes her by surprise.

“I once asked the fairly standard question: ‘What makes you unique?’ This regularly throws up some interesting responses, and it’s great to see how candidates think on their feet. This one gentleman considered the question, and paused a few moments to gather his thoughts. He then replied, rather confidently, with ‘I have a hairy chest.’”

Interview tip:

Honesty is normally the best policy, but there’s such a thing as too much information. And there’s a whole lot of stuff no recruiter needs (or wants) to know. Make sure you don’t cross that line, or you’re going to make things awkward for both of you.

Before going to any interview, do a little legwork and prepare yourself for the most commonly posed interview questions and try to have some go-to responses that are professional, thorough and, most importantly, don’t freak the hell out of the recruiter.

Talk about “greatest weakness…”

“You’re Hot For A Recruiter”: Why Flattery Gets You Everything But A Job.

Stuart Hearn of Clear Review has conducted a lot of interviews over the years and most of them have been fairly standard. However, one particular interview really stands out for him — for all the wrong reasons.

“When I asked the candidate ‘How did you prepare for today’s interview?’, the person responded with ‘I did some research on you and heard that you were rather attractive’. I was completely speechless. I’d never had someone try to chat me up as a way of getting a job.”

Interview tip:

You want recruiters to remember you at the end of the day, and want to stand out from the competition; bland and unremarkable aren’t normally the attributes that end in an offer. The thing is, you want to stand out through stuff like soft skills, emotional intelligence and interpersonal empathy.

It’s always a better idea to show a recruiter why you fit in than go out of your way to stand out. It’s a strategy that can badly backfire. And remember: don’t get too fresh or familiar with your interviewer.

You’re more likely to end up with a lawsuit than a job, so remember that there’s a line that should never be crossed – this isn’t casting, it’s recruiting.

“Whoa. Where Am I, Again?”: Making Sure You’re In The Right Interview.

Ida Banek of GRIT International once had an interesting interview with a gentleman who had applied for a position in the tobacco industry. Ida asked him what he knew about the company. At this point, it became clear that something wasn’t right.

“He began talking about how much he loved chocolate, and he joked about how he would love to receive some free samples as a job perk. I was confused, but it became very clear that the candidate didn’t know what role he was interviewing for.”

Interview tip:

If you’re really eager to get your career moving in the right direction, it’s tempting to apply for as many jobs at possible and cast a wide net, effectively throwing stuff to see what sticks. At best, you’ll end up with a bunch of interviews for random jobs at random companies that you don’t want in the first place.

In person interviews, particularly when scheduling a bunch of them all at the same time, can be hard to keep straight, but that’s no excuse for completely blanking out on where you are and what you’re interviewing for.

This probably won’t impress the company, and rightfully sends up a red flag that you don’t have this whole “adulting” thing down just quite yet, much less professional potential worth investing in. If you need a helping hand to keep your interview schedule organized, the good news is, there’s an app for that.

“What’s 600 Miles, Anyway?”: Fit Happens. But Only If You’re Realistic.

Keith White of Dobell Menswear has had his share of enthusiastic interviewees, but one keen candidate stands out above all others.

“I once interviewed someone who was in the process of moving to the UK from Poland. He had moved to the UK on the day of the interview, which demonstrated just how confident he was! Fortunately, he was extremely competent, and I offered him the job. As we were wrapping up, making small talk, I asked him where his new flat was. He responded, ‘central Aberdeen’. He assumed that the UK wasn’t that big and he could commute from Aberdeen to Brighton every day, and wondered if there was a direct train. It didn’t work out in the end…”

Interview tip:

No matter how gung ho you are about any given opportunity, there are certain factors that common sense should dictate probably constitute a crap career choice. In recruiting, like in real estate, location is everything; despite the increasingly interconnected world of work and rise of flexible work arrangements, commuting times are steadily increasing.

Long trips to work come at a psychological cost, which studies show can seriously impact your productivity and performance. Driving yourself insane probably isn’t worth sitting in traffic to get to a job that you’re going to underperform at once you finally get there.

“I’m Good With The Ladies”: Know Which Skills Are Transferrable.

In 2015, Luke Hughes of Origym found himself in desperate need of a new sales rep. He was so eager to get the new rep hired and working that he agreed to meet with an eager candidate on a Sunday afternoon. Luke was skeptical about the gentleman, given his youth, lack of experience and limited qualifications, but he was holding out hope for a gem.

During the interview, Luke asked “Why do you think you would be good at sales, despite not having any sales experience?” The candidate replied:

“Well, my friends say I have the gift of the gab. When I go out clubbing, I always go home with a girl.” Taken aback, Luke asked how that helped in a sales role. The candidate replied: “It shows I can talk to anybody, in any situation.”

Interview tip:

If you have no experience whatsoever for the role in question, interviews can be pretty damned difficult. Perhaps you’re just starting out in your career or maybe you’re making a transition, but either way, the classic Catch 22 remains: you can’t get the experience to get a job because every job requires experience.

The best way to overcome this, of course, is by demonstrating transferrable skills and how they relate to the job – but remember, not every skill is one that you should bring up to a recruiter. Let’s just say, make sure it’s NSFW, or you’re going to be SOL.

“I’m the Best, Baby”: Listen Before You Speak.

Alina Morkin, Vice President at Voices.com, once enquired how skilled an interview candidate was with a particular piece of software.

“I thought it was a pretty straight-forward question. But the interviewee immediately answered with “Level 2! No. Wait. Level 3. Actually — the highest level!”. Not only was it clear that they were lying, it reminded me of Brick Tamland from the movie Anchorman, yelling “I love lamp!” Clearly, this candidate had no clue what they were talking about.”

Interview tip:

If for whatever reason you don’t understand what a recruiter is asking, make sure you follow up and get the clarification you need before answering. Your interviewer wants to make sure they’re getting the necessary information and relevant insights to make the right hiring decision.

If you don’t get what they’re going for, don’t just guess at an answer – you’re probably going to get it wrong, and look like a complete idiot, not to mention a complete liar, too.

Any recruiter will see right through you.

“Hire Me, And Then I’ll Answer”: Don’t Be Shady.

Rachel Carrell, CEO of childcare tech startup Koru Kids, was once left open-mouthed during an interview for a senior role. Rachel was trying to find her next Head of eCommerce, but the interviewer refused to ask any questions regarding content or strategy.

“The candidate told me: ‘I usually get paid a lot of money to answer questions like that’. The interview was ultimately very short-lived. How can I gauge your skill level or evaluate your appropriateness for the position if you refuse to discuss content?”

Interview tip:

You might come with glowing references, effusive recommendations, an established track record of success and a top notch set of skills, but remember that the recruiter doesn’t really know you, no matter how confident you are in your abilities. That’s the point of the interview, of course – but if you dodge questions, act shady or refuse to play the recruiting game, you’re wasting everyone’s time.

Besides, only hiring managers can get away with that sort of thing.

About the Author:

Kaz Osman is a software developer and director of Career Ninja UK — a career hub that delivers employment news, interview tips, and career advice.

Kaz is passionate about helping people find the career of their dreams and providing all the information necessary to climb to the top of their field.

Fool Us: Which Recruiting “Trends” Are Total Bulls*it?

I read a ton of blogs, participate in a lot of Twitter chats (or as I call them, “pithy parties”) and listen in on a lot of presentations about top recruiting trends in talent acquisition and HR technology.

But what’s trendy among the industry “influencers” who need your company’s cash to keep the lights on don’t necessarily jibe with the stuff that really matters to candidates and employers.

That’s why I’m breaking down which recruiting trends are actually worth the hype, and which industry buzzwords are really BS during my featured presentation at SmartRecruiters Hiring Success 17.

This conference is billing itself as “The Ultimate Recruiting Event of The Year,” so it’s going to be the perfect venue to go after the hype (and hyperbole) so endemic to our industry.

After all, there are 2+ days of networking involved, so you know it’s gonna be straight up lit.

Hiring Success 17: Why What Works Matters More Than What’s New.

I know conference preview posts are generally pretty pithy, but the thing is, I really hope you can join me in San Francisco on April 10-12 if for nothing else than to watch the awkwardness ensue after I undermine most of the other sessions on the agenda by following their “thought leadership” with a little critical thinking.

Spoiler alert: you’re probably not going to learn a ton in my session you don’t already know.

That’s because I’m going to take a common-sense approach to solving your hiring problems, instead of making recruiting way more complex than necessary.

That’s what the 30+ other sessions are going to be for. I’m kidding.

But I’m confident that the myriad case studies, pundits and practitioners on the Hiring Success agenda will live up to its name, which is why I’m so excited to be a part of what should be a pretty killer event.

I’m going to break through the noise and go beyond the buzzwords and maybe, just maybe, figure out how to fix what’s broken in your recruiting process without making stuff up so we can push product or sell services.

To Tell A Lie: Don’t Believe The Hype About These 5 Recruiting “Trends.”

Here’s a sneak peek at what to expect from my feature session, “Beyond the Buzzwords: Which Recruiting Trends Are Worth The Hype and Which Are Total BS?”

Don’t worry. I’m saving the good stuff for SF. See you there?

1. Talent Communities.

While most companies are out there trying to create some sort of artificial online destination, slapping some branding on there and forcing engagement with people who’d rather be looking at LOL Cats, that’s not really the talent community that matters.

Instead, the real talent communities out there are already working – and interacting – within their organization. Occasionally recruiters run into them in all hands meetings or when venturing out of the HR Ivory tower and into the actual line.

These talent communities used to be called “departments,” “teams” or even the “employee population” at any given organization; thing is, the talent communities which mean the most have existed, formally and informally, since the first org charts were created and the first water coolers installed.

With retention, employee tenure and internal mobility rates all on the decline, the existing talent communities within an organization should be the ones recruiters focus their engagement efforts on exclusively.

After all, the accepted definition for a “talent community” is basically an affinity group built around a shared professional interest in a company, business unit, or job function – and existing employees handily meet this definition.

So instead of wasting time building a group on Facebook or creating some sort of automated e-mail list that’s going to sit in a Spam folder next to the desperate pleas of some prince from Nigeria, maybe focus on the real life talent community of employees whose referrals and institutional knowledge will actually generate hires and push the business forward.

Given the fact that internal transfers and promotions are still the top source of hire for open positions, you’ve got a better chance of meeting your next hire here than on any online network, statistically speaking.

Giving a good employee a good opportunity for professional development and advancement is guaranteed to create a fan in the first place – not to mention, more than likely, that always elusive “brand ambassador.” You just likely don’t need to intervene to get them to tell their networks about the opportunities at your company or its culture.

That’ll happen when they update their social profiles to show that you’re doing more than paying lip service to career advancement and development opportunities through slick corporate copy. Anyone can do that – and everyone does.

So make your community actually stand out by focusing on the one your company has already built: your workforce

2. Social Recruiting.

All recruiting is social – even the most vigilant gatekeepers eventually have to talk to a candidate at some point during the hiring process. But social networks aren’t actually a recruiting strategy – they’re a platform which should augment, not replace, old school, albeit decidedly unsexy, efforts like posting jobs, cold calling and networking with your actual network, online or otherwise.

When 92% of companies are recruiting with social networks, this is actually more ubiquitous than job boards ever were, so don’t be duped into the illusion that you’re doing anything more unique or innovative than posting and praying. You’re just doing it via a slightly different online medium. Nor is social recruiting direct sourcing.

Quite the contrary –candidates are becoming increasingly savvy at working their online profiles and professional networks to their advantage. Unlike most recruiting techniques, however, they actually have an upper hand here, since the average 13 year old is more well versed on social media than your typical corporate recruiter.

This changed dynamic can mean that unlike other mediums for messaging, social media actually puts the recruiter or employer at a competitive disadvantage during the pre-hire process.

Even if you identify a candidate, you still have to get them into your system and put them through process – and a profile isn’t a resume. Resumes sometimes hyperbolize, but are almost always pretty accurate – there’s no expectation, or actual practice, of veracity in one’s online identity, and that just adds to the onus of prescreening.

If you find and engage a candidate on a social network, they’re almost unilaterally looking for a job – it’s just now you can see a picture and personal information of the people who you wouldn’t hire in the first place. If you want to search for warm leads, maybe try checking your ATS for once.

At least you’ve got a resume to work back from.

3. Passive Candidates.

This oxymoron is, well, moronic. Think about it: if someone is in any way a candidate, or if they can be converted through mobile, employer branding, social or any of the other “passive candidate” recruiting tools presently en vogue, then they’re not passive.

All of those studies and best practices posts about “passive candidate job seeking behavior” are founded on a fallacy; passive candidates don’t look for jobs, and if they are, they’re actually active, whether or not they’re actually employed.

There’s another myth: that the best candidates are already working, and that there must be something inherently wrong with talent if they’re not already employed.

Employment status shouldn’t be a pre qualification, since it’s a transient and temporal condition; experience and soft skills, however, are not necessarily subject to the whims of at will employment and corporate belt tightening.

In fact, if you’re able to convert even the most resistant of qualified workers into candidates, that should send a red flag that even if they’re hired, engaged and satisfied with their work, this employee, A-Player or otherwise, will always present a flight risk (as they just proved to you).

But give a qualified “active” job seeker an actual opportunity, and they’re more than likely to reciprocate that loyalty for the foreseeable future – not to mention the added advantage that these candidates actually are lower cost and quicker to hire than their fully employed counterparts.

But bottom line: if you’re a candidate for a job, then you’re not passive, and if you’re not considering a career opportunity, then you’re not actually a candidate. No matter consultants and contingency recruiters alike want you to think otherwise.

Of course, all of these topics are SEO and traffic generating gold, and since I’m in that particular business, I, for one, will probably continue to add to the conversation rather than actually solve any of the problems these solutions purport to create.

Call me a hypocrite, and you’d be right – after all, I am in content marketing. But if you’re a real recruiter, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment in the box below.

Although I get real recruiters, most likely, just don’t have the time to read this crap in the first place – nor actually care about any of the “conversation” about any of these issues since they have nothing to do with real recruiting in the first place.

4. Mobile Recruiting.

Mobile is obviously a huge part of recruiting, because, well, recruiting is online marketing, and most online activity now happens from a mobile device. Google penalizes sites that aren’t mobile optimized, meaning a majority of Fortune 500 career sites, which makes it hard for candidates to find your company and opportunities.

Furthermore, most passive talent (which is to say, people with jobs) is loathe to look for jobs on their work computers and within their corporate firewall, but do a majority of their job search due diligence at work – on their own phones. BYOD policies have only increased this trend.

All that is to say there’s no understating the importance of mobile in talent acquisition, but this might be the only industry who’s still talking about this like it’s some sort of new concept. A lot of companies pay big bucks to agencies and point solution vendors to develop branded apps, but this is, for almost every employer, a huge waste of money.

The average person has 25 apps, and unfortunately, the kinds of targeted talent most companies are looking for probably isn’t going to take the time to download yours – they just want to apply for jobs. Build a responsive website in HTML 5 and you’ve at least entered this decade on the backend – building a device specific experience is also cheap, easy and effective.

But seriously, mobile, like social, needs to be seen as a platform for distributing jobs and disseminating employer brand as part of a holistic recruiting strategy, not as this crazy, futuristic independent entity. The fact that we’re still having to build a business case for mobile in this business is kind of sad, because the rest of the world is too busy staring at their smartphones to really care.

If you want to talk about improving candidate engagement with mobile, which actually can be achieved through SMS campaigns (but again, that’s like 10 years ahead for most employers), here’s a tip: try using that mobile device to actually call a candidate.

Turns out those devices work for that, too – and phone calls are still an effective way to “engage candidates in a careers conversation” and be social. That much is unlikely to change anytime soon when it comes to the hiring process.

5. Employer Branding

Employer branding, like mobile, is really important, but, to quote my friend Bill Boorman, almost all of it today is designed with the goal of “employer blanding” – making your company as generic as possible.

All those shots of your employees in action, collaborating in open work environments with the same accouterments as a daycare center aren’t going to convince a candidate that yours is the career destination of their dreams.

Nor are those slick, professionally produced videos which have a lot of close-ups of employees in stage makeup and great lighting talking about their awesome experience – the average candidate doesn’t really care to take the time to watch the career version of “Triumph of the Will.”

They just want to apply for a damn job, or see what kinds of jobs you’re actually hiring for.

That’s why a well written, engaging and easy to understand job description, really, is the most important – and most ignored – employer branding mechanism.

It’s cool to make a company look sexy, but taking a generic but hard to fill job like a Senior Accountant or an Operations Manager and making that position look appealing? That’s the real challenge – and, if you succeed, the cheapest and most effective employer branding vehicle out there.

Or, you know, you could spend a lot of money into building a great looking careers site that completely detracts from the entire point of a careers site: finding and applying for open jobs. That’s way more important than making sure you slap a generic value statement and some employee headshots up there any day of the week.

But since I don’t make any money consulting on any of these topics, I probably don’t know what I’m talking about – and the vendors charging for these services likely have the white papers full of biased research to prove I’m wrong.

I’m pretty sure the rest of the speakers at SmartRecruiters Hiring Success 17 are going to take care of that, too. So I hope to see you in real life for this one of a kind event. For reals.

Alternatively, you can call me out by leaving a comment below – engagement is everything, you know.

Click here to register for Hiring Success 17. Use code MCVIP100 for $100 off registration exclusively for RecruitingDaily readers (you’re welcome).

Editor’s Note: This post was sponsored by SmartRecruiters, and RecruitingDaily received compensation for publishing this post. But you probably figured that out by now. The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the view of RecruitingDaily or its partners.

One last little bit of disclaimer (thanks, lawyers): this post does not constitute an endorsement of SmartRecruiters on behalf of RecruitingDaily, but we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a kick butt event, and hope to see you in SF.

About the Author: Matt Charney is the Executive Editor and Chief Content Officer at RecruitingDaily. Follow him on Twitter @MattCharney or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Verify Your Email Search for Free

After identifying a candidate, it is time to find an email search. In general, candidates don’t make their contact info easy to find. The further down the proverbial “rabbit hole” someone’s email is, the more effort it takes to find.

I have reviewed a ton of tools to help find emails. I can tell you; they are not all created equal. The challenge is finding accurate results. This is why I like Email Catcher. Email Catcher uses LinkedIn and company domains to find email addresses.

Features:

– Find emails directly from Linkedin. Open a page, target your prospects/contacts profiles and find their corporate emails in seconds.

– Find emails from domain.com. Do you need all emails from a precise company? Use our emails search engine with the domain.com of the company. For example, write google.com to find all emails of google firm

– Find emails of a precise person from his first name, his last name and the domain of the company he’s working in.

Pricing:

The pricing is very reasonable. As you can see below, there is a free option as well.

Watch the video below to see Email Catcher in action. Click here to try for yourself.

[youtube url=”https://youtu.be/0mMYE8yqNKI” width=”500″ height=”300″]

About the Author: Dean Da Costa is a highly experienced and decorated recruiter, sourcer, and manager with deep skills and experience in HR, project management, training & process improvement. Dean’s keen insight and creation of innovative tools and processes for enhancing and changing staffing has established Dean as one of the top authorities in sourcing and recruiting. Connect with Dean at LinkedIn or follow @DeanDaCosta on Twitter.

RecruitingDaily Presents: 300+ Women In HR Technology Worth Watching.

It happens to all of us. That moment in our lives where we stop looking for inspiration for a moment, take a step back and realize that inspiration, in fact, comes to us.

It’s not something you intentionally seek; given the right circumstances and the right timing, inspiration almost always has a way of finding you. Most of the time, we don’t even know it.

That’s why I periodically try to understand how, exactly, I’m inspired – and where the sources of inspiration in my life, in turn, impact my life.

Inspiration doesn’t happen without introspection, though, which is why I conduct these audits to try to pinpoint those moments, those ideas, those people (most of all, those people) who have inspired me the most.

I know what you’re thinking, and yeah. It sounds a little new age and out there at first, I admit. And I understand that not many people are in the habit of doing periodic “inspiration audits,” making me somewhat unique (or weird, depending on your perspective) in my approach to self-actualization, actually.

I get it. I know it’s a bit unusual but bear with me for a minute.

You’re My Inspiration: How Women in HR Technology Influence Our Industry.

Specifically, those women sitting squarely at the intersection of HR and technology.

These include startup founders like Kathryn Minshew or Laurie Ruettimann, internal HR tech practitioners like Deb Maher or Chris Havrilla, or HR marketers and public relations gurus like Maren Hogan or Jeanne Achille.

As I kept thinking on who was inspiring me and my work, women seemed to dominate my list; in fact, the overall gender breakdown wasn’t even close. To be honest, it was such an obvious inspirational insight I’m surprised I’ve never noticed this fact before, but it was glaringly obvious during this particular audit.

Of course, this peaked my interest: had this always been the case?

I have no idea if I’m being honest. But this particular pattern recognition pointed me on a path to understanding exactly why it seems, I’m so inspired by those women who play such in integral role in the HR Technology industry.

Why are female voices so prevalent when it comes to shaping my own?

These are the types of questions that are the real reason I conduct these audits, you never have to resort to imitation or desperation if you know exactly where you’re looking for inspiration. You can’t hope to inspire anyone else without knowing who inspires you, and why.

And in my case, why so many women? Weird.

Rewind one year (give or take). I was in New Zealand at Destination Talent, an annual antipodal event organized by Phil Tusing. One of the other speakers on the agenda was Katy Anquetil, who was discussing recent research conducted on the phenomenon of what’s called Conscious Inclusion.

While Katy happens to be an American (Seattle, to be precise), she lived and worked in New Zealand (yeah, I was a little jealous). She did an amazing job at the conference, and her presentation was probably the most popular and powerful of the entire event.

Inspiration #1.

Fast forward a few months to September 2016. It was another speaking engagement, this time in San Francisco at Glassdoor’s Employer Branding Summit. My session was more or less me and four industry colleagues doing improv from the main stage.

We killed it, but we were soon upstaged by Arianna Huffington, socialite, internet entrepreneur, a one-time candidate for governor of California and, apropos to this speech, author of a new book called “The Sleep Revolution,” not to mention a newly formed wellness company, Thrive.

If you haven’t heard of Thrive, it essentially operates on the central belief that when companies prioritize employee well-being, it eliminates stress and burnout, which in turn positively influence critical talent management metrics and core HR competencies such as employee engagement and retention.

And let me tell you Adrianna’s speech was simply friggin’ awesome.

As an added bonus, Glassdoor had purchased copies of the book for all summit attendees; naturally, I grabbed my copy and queued up for the chance to shake hands with Adrianna and have her sign it. The whole experience was surreal and spectacular.

Like many of you, I fully admit to being a long time fanboy of hers, having first read her tremendous treatise on Picasso, “Creator and Destroyer,” when it first debuted all the way back in 1988. That seems like a lifetime ago, but the fact that this writer, thinker, and innovator I’d so long admired was now running an HR Tech startup made her message, and the moment, even more special.

Inspiration #2.

The next moment of inspiration came from Lynn Miller, whose articles I first came across on LinkedIn Pulse, oddly enough. I did some digging into her background and research, and the more I read, the more impressed I became with her insights and ideas.

Among the many articles she’s produced, one in particular, “Game Changers – Female CEOs in HR Tech,” really resonated with me. This post, which outlines her findings after interviewing many of the women CEOs informing the HR Technology industry, included some salient points which stay with me to this day. For example:

“The type of relationships Female CEOs have with customers goes way beyond selling to them … Our customers want us to succeed because they know we fight hard for them and have their backs.”

Interesting, right? Lynn is also the creator of a members-only think tank called Women in Growth Stage Tech, which serves as a community for providing female founders and CEOs with the content, conversations, and connections required to take their business strategy to the next level.

The high performing companies which constitute this community are an impressive list, as are their shared commitment to building customer-centric cultures.

Miller is planning an event this June to further develop this group and advance her research; more to the point, she also hopes to bring together the women leaders shaping the current landscape and future direction of HR Technology to talk, to share and to help push each other – and our industry – forward.

Inspiration #3.

Around the same time I came across Lynn’s stuff, I also came across a two part blog series put together by WISP (part 1, part 2) listing 35 Women in HR Tech. The fact that it was the sort of listicle that’s commonplace in content marketing these days wasn’t spectacular – in fact, this kind of content is kind of cliched these days.

But what stood out among this otherwise mundane list was the fact that after reading it, I realized that it was the first I’d read that focused exclusively on HR Tech leaders who happened to be women. My research confirmed that this seemingly simple idea hadn’t, in fact, been done before, far as I could find. Inspiration number #4.

Shortly after this, I was talking with Marc Coleman, founder & conference director for HRN which produces HR Tech World (London, San Francisco, and Amsterdam) about some of the recurring themes and top trending topics he was seeing in their research with their global client base, spread out over one hundred countries all around the world.

Marc and I have this kind of call fairly routinely. He mentioned to me that after a successful 2015-2016 campaign for HRN, where they correctly predicted that the current leadership crisis would emerge as a central theme.

Their accurate assessment of what would become one of the hottest topics in talent allowed HRN to include leadership experts like as Martha Lane Fox, Sir Richard Branson, Simon Sinek, Gary Hamel and others to anticipate this debate, and inform the direction, discourse and dialogue of the leaders working within our own industry.

This year, Marc told me, he was seeing similar demand for content related to gender diversity, with many of his customers and clients putting this topic high on their list of most important issues and organizational imperatives in talent today.

Being the savvy show producer that he is, Marc and his team have forged alliances with a who’s who of some of the world’s top women leaders, including such bold-faced names as Arianna Huffington, Baroness Karen Brady, Belinda Parmer (to name just a few) in this year’s research and programming agenda at HRN.

I have it on good authority that there are going to be further big announcements coming from this corner on the intersection of women leadership, gender equality, and HR Technology. Spoiler alert: it’s going to be awesome.

Inspiration #5.

Recently, I was researching ZipRecruiter, a company I’d always been curious about, but hadn’t spent a whole lot of time investigating or interacting with their product and their people.

So, I did what I got curious: I stalked them – er, “researched” them. And in my, uh, sourcing (stalking, whatever), I came across Mandy Schaniel. I discovered that she had created a Lean In Circle for Women in HR Tech.

That seemed like a really cool idea, and a really nice medium to help like-minded folks find each other and more resources about what it takes to follow the Sheryl Sandberg path to success in the HR Technology industry.

Inspiration #6.

Best Recognize: What’s New and What’s Next for Women in HR Technology.

I know you’re wondering what my point is, but I wanted to give some specific examples and detailed exposition of what, exactly, inspired me to put together this post. Now, if you know me, you know a little something about how I normally work. I get curious about something and start gathering information.

Usually, I start the same way so many of you probably do when sourcing or researching anything online: with a simple Google search. The results generally point me in the right direction, and from there, I try to find out as much as I can about whatever it is I’m investigating, online or offline.

Which is why I started putting together my own list of “Women In HR Technology.”

At first, I admit I wasn’t going to share this list with anyone, but as I kept adding more names and finding more women leaders worth including, I realized that keeping this document to myself would be pretty selfish.

I mean, I figured instead of having this just sit somewhere on my Google Drive or Dropbox, it was the type of thing worth sharing with everyone with an interest in HR Technology. So, I decided to share the results of my research with the readers here at RecruitingDaily.

A few housekeeping items: like any preliminary research, but particularly with lists, I’ve probably inadvertently excluded thousands of women in HR Technology who deserve to be recognized. The problem with lists is, they’re inherently exclusionary, and no matter how exhaustive a list might be, inevitably it’s going to miss myriad folks.

I know I’ve done this with this list, and for anyone out there I might have missed this time around, I’m truly sorry; I’m not happy with the oversight, either, but figured that since this represents a working document and one that I plan on updating and enhancing over time.

So acknowledging the fact I’m aware there are many women leaders missing and this list is anything but comprehensive or complete, please know this:

If you’re a woman in HR Technology and I missed you, forgive me. Please let me know via whatever media or medium you want if you’d like to be included, and I’ll make sure to add you to the list. Note: I’m a pretty easy person to find online – so please reach out if you’re not included and I’ll fix that anon.
If you’re a woman, and I missed Women in HR Technology you personally know who deserve inclusion on this list, again, please let me know who they are and their information so I can make sure that they’re included going forward. And, again, forgive me for anyone I left off the first time.
If you’re a dude and you know of Women in HR Technology that should be on this list, again, again, again, please forgive me and let me know and I’ll get them added to the list.

Cool?

I’d like to grow this list as a resource for anyone interested in this industry in general, but in particular, to provide as comprehensive a destination as possible for the conferences, companies and investors who are looking for the most badass women in our industry, or for the most kick butt HR Technology companies out there which are owned or led by women.

Like many male conference speakers and frequent content producers in our industry, I often hear “we’d love to have more women speakers,” or “we’d love to find more kickass HR Technology companies owned or led by women,” but the fact is, the recurring reason most event organizers or investors claim to exclude these badass women is “we just couldn’t find any.”

This silly and specious line I’ve heard more than once, and this list is a reaction to this ridiculous rationale for not including more women – and hopefully, a way to ensure that we’ll never hear that bullshit again from any conference producers, event organizers, angel investors, VCs or other institutional investors.

Ditto for companies looking to invest in tech and are interested in considering HR Technology products and talent technologies founded or operated by women. Hopefully, you’ll never have an excuse for excluding these imperative industry influencers and innovators ever again.

In reviewing the list, you’ll no doubt notice that it’s largely centered on vendors, and, well, that’s my fault. Thing is, I’ve spent most of my career working with vendors, so that’s the side of the industry I know the best. I’d like to start listing the female CHROs at HCM companies (both software and service providers) and internal HR Technology leaders alike moving forward.

Suffice to say, I want to know every single woman in the world who’s helping to shape the world of HR Technology, whether they are an investor, an entrepreneur, a consultant, an analyst, a blogger, or whatever. If they’re a woman, and if they have an active interest in or involvement with HR Technology, I’d like to make sure they’re represented on this list moving forward.

I want to ensure every woman who wants to be is included in what I hope will evolve into the single most comprehensive resource for Women in HR Technology out there, period. But I need your help. So, there you go.

Oh, one last thing: please don’t hold the fact that I’m a dude against me or assume I had some sort of ulterior motive for putting this list together.

It really does come from a good place, and all I’m doing is paying it forward to some of the women who have inspired my own career, and recognizing the badass women who are making a difference in the HR Technology industry. Turns out, there are a ton of them – and thing is, this is just a start.

So, yeah, I’m a man. But that doesn’t mean I can’t give at least a shout out to the many women who have supported me – and our beloved HR Technology industry – over all these years. After all, that’s kinda what this whole “equality” thing is really all about, all things being equal. Here’s hoping.

RecruitingDaily Presents: 300+ Women in HR Technology Worth Watching.

Okay, without further ado, here’s the RecruitingDaily list of Women in HR Technology you should know and follow (listed in order by first name):

Jump To Letter:

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A || Go to Alphabet

Abby Cheesman || Skill Scout || Twitter || LinkedIn
Aimee Schuster || Yello || Twitter || LinkedIn
Aimee Stone Munsell || PeopleDoc || Twitter || LinkedIn
Aisling Teillard || Tandem HR Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn
Alexandra Cavoulacos || The Muse || Twitter || LinkedIn
Alexis Ringwald || LearnUp || Twitter || LinkedIn
Aliah Wright || SHRM || Twitter || LinkedIn
Aline Lerner || interviewing.io || Twitter || LinkedIn
Alison Hadden || Glassdoor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Alli Baker || Workible || Twitter || LinkedIn
Allie Kelly || Jazz || Twitter || LinkedIn
Allison Kruse || Kforce || Twitter || LinkedIn
Allison O’Kelly || Corps Team || Twitter || LinkedIn
Amanda Lannert || Jellyvision || Twitter || LinkedIn
Amber Lloyd || Infor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ambrosia Vertesi || HR Open Source || Twitter || LinkedIn
Amy Cropper || Amazon || Twitter || LinkedIn
Amy Miller || Microsoft || Twitter || LinkedIn
Amy Noah || JobsInLogistics || Twitter || LinkedIn
Amy Richman || Gartner || Twitter || LinkedIn
Amy Wilson || Golden Seeds || Twitter || LinkedIn
Anada Lakra || day100 || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ane Ohm || HarQen || Twitter || LinkedIn
Angela Hills || Cielo || Twitter || LinkedIn
Angela Lamsback || ZipRecruiter || Twitter || LinkedIn
Angela Lockman || Equifax Workforce Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn
Angela Trombatore || Randstad Sourceright || Twitter || LinkedIn
Angie Kramer || JobBliss || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ann Bares || Altura Consulting Group || Twitter || LinkedIn
Anna Gilbert || Looksharp || Twitter || LinkedIn
Anne Fulton || Fuel50 || Twitter || LinkedIn
Anne Nimke || The Good Jobs || Twitter || LinkedIn
Arianna Huffington || Thrive Global || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ashley Hoffman || Brazen || Twitter || LinkedIn
Athena Karp || HiredScore || Twitter || LinkedIn
Autumn Manning || YouEarnedIt || Twitter || LinkedIn

B || Go to Alphabet

Barbara Marder || Mercer Match || Twitter || LinkedIn
Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan || Clustree || Twitter || LinkedIn
Beth Carvin || Nobscot || Twitter || LinkedIn
Beth Thompson || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Betsy Rowbottom || The Good Jobs || Twitter || LinkedIn
Bianca McCann || SAP || Twitter || LinkedIn
Brianna Foulds || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Britt Davies || Achievers || Twitter || LinkedIn
Brynne Kennedy || MOVE Guides || Twitter || LinkedIn

C || Go to Alphabet

Caitlin MacGregor || Plum || Twitter || LinkedIn
Carmen Doherty || Hodes || Twitter || LinkedIn
Carmen Hudson || Recruiting Toolbox || Twitter || LinkedIn
Carol Leaman || Axonify || Twitter || LinkedIn
Carrie Corbin || American Airlines || Twitter || LinkedIn
Cecile Alper-Leroux || Ultimate Software || Twitter || LinkedIn
Celinda Appleby || Nike || Twitter || LinkedIn
China Gorman || Universum Americas || Twitter || LinkedIn
Chris Havrilla || ADP || Twitter || LinkedIn
Christa Degnan Manning || Bersin by Deloitte || Twitter || LinkedIn
Christina Bottis || Paycor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Christine Bird || Plum || Twitter || LinkedIn
Christine Dover || SAP || Twitter || LinkedIn
Christine Nichlos || People Science || Twitter || LinkedIn
Cindy Songne || Jobs2Careers || Twitter || LinkedIn
Claire Schooley || Forrester Research || Twitter || LinkedIn
Crystal Miller Lay || Branded Strategies || Twitter || LinkedIn

D || Go to Alphabet

Dale Clareburt || Weirdly || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dani Johnson || Bersin by Deloitte || Twitter || LinkedIn
Danielle Weinblatt || Take the Interview || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dara Brenner || Gr8 People || Twitter || LinkedIn
Daria Friedman || Brandon Hall Group || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dawn Hrdlica-Burke || Daxko || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dawn Lyon || Glassdoor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Deb Maher || DeVry || Twitter || LinkedIn
Debbie McGrath || HR.com || Twitter || LinkedIn
Deborah Lyons || SAP SuccessFactors || Twitter || LinkedIn
Deborah Muller || HR Acuity || Twitter || LinkedIn
Deirdre Pelrin || SmashFly || Twitter || LinkedIn
Diane Smith || Gr8 People || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dianna Sheppard || CloudMills || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dimple Lalwani || TalkingCircles || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dina Medeiros || Blizzard Entertainment || Twitter || LinkedIn
Dominique Rodgers || Rep Cap || Twitter || LinkedIn
Donna Wells || Mindflash || Twitter || LinkedIn

E || Go to Alphabet

Edna Nakamoto || The Applicant Manager || Twitter || LinkedIn
Eileen Carey || Glassbreakers || Twitter || LinkedIn
Elaine Morgan || Skillsoft || Twitter || LinkedIn
Elaine Orler || Talent Function || Twitter || LinkedIn
Elena Valentine || Skill Scout || Twitter || LinkedIn
Elena Windgate || MosaicTrack || Twitter || LinkedIn
Elizabeth Casey || Snagajob || Twitter || LinkedIn
Elizabeth Wurm || IntraWorlds || Twitter || LinkedIn
Erica Palko Pearce || The Marcus Buckingham Company || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ester Martinez || People Matters || Twitter || LinkedIn
Eynat Guez || Papaya Global || Twitter || LinkedIn

F || Go to Alphabet

Faith Rothberg || College Recruiter || Twitter || LinkedIn
Farah Patel || Portfolium || Twitter || LinkedIn
Felica Moghadam || Sity || Twitter || LinkedIn
Fiona Anson || The Workible Network || Twitter || LinkedIn
Folia Grace || Anaplan || Twitter || LinkedIn
Frida Polli || Pymetrics || Twitter || LinkedIn

G || Go to Alphabet

Gen George || Skilld || Twitter || LinkedIn
Georgene Huang || Fairygodboss || Twitter || LinkedIn
Greta Roberts || Talent Analytics || Twitter || LinkedIn
Gretchen Alarcon || Oracle || Twitter || LinkedIn

H || Go to Alphabet

Heather Huhman || Come Recommended || Twitter || LinkedIn
Heather Kinzie || The Strive Group || Twitter || LinkedIn
Heide Abelli || Skillsoft || Twitter || LinkedIn
Heidi Spirgi || The Marcus Buckingham Company || Twitter || LinkedIn
Helen Poitevin || Gartner || Twitter || LinkedIn
Holland Dombeck || Cox Enterprises || Twitter || LinkedIn
Holly Simmons || ServiceNow || Twitter || LinkedIn

I || Go to Alphabet

Ilonka Jankovich || Randstad Innovation Fund || Twitter || LinkedIn

J || Go to Alphabet

J.T. O’Donnell || Work It Daily || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jacki Bassani Willis || Towers Watson || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jackye Clayton || RecruitingDaily || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jacqueline Kuhn || HRchitect || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jamie Gilpin || Envoy Global || Twitter || LinkedIn
Janet Clarey || Bersin by Deloitte || Twitter || LinkedIn
Janet Dwyer || TalentBrowser || Twitter || LinkedIn
Janice Presser || The Gabriel Institute || Twitter || LinkedIn
Janine Truitt || Talent Think Innovations || Twitter || LinkedIn
Janine Yancey || Emtrain || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jayne Kettles || Gr8 People || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jeanne Achille || The Devon Group || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jen Fremont-Smith || Happie || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jen Grogono || Ustudio || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jennifer Farris || Squadley || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jennifer McClure || Unbridled Talent || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jennifer Newbill || Dell || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jennifer Payne || Tops Markets || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jennifer Reimert || Globoforce || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jennifer Shoop || Fizz || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jenny Dearborn || SAP || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jessica Lee || Marriott International || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jessica Miller-Merrell || Workology|| Twitter || LinkedIn
Jill Witty || Entelo || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jo Mills || Fuel50 || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jo Weech || Anthem Engineering || Twitter || LinkedIn
JoAnn Corley || The Human Sphere || Twitter || LinkedIn
Joanna Riley || 1-Page || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jocelyn Mangan || Snagajob || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jody Kaminsky || Ultimate Software || Twitter || LinkedIn
Joni Thomas Doolin || TDn2K || Twitter || LinkedIn
Jonna Ward || Meridian Knowledge Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn
Joyce Maroney || Kronos || Twitter || LinkedIn
Julie Dodd || Ultimate Software || Twitter || LinkedIn
Julie Knight-Ludvigson || Reflektive || Twitter || LinkedIn
Julie Yoo || Pymetrics || Twitter || LinkedIn
Julie Zadow || TalentFirst || Twitter || LinkedIn

K || Go to Alphabet

Karen Cariss || PageUp People || Twitter || LinkedIn
Karen Caruso || viaPeople || Twitter || LinkedIn
Karie Willyerd || SAP SuccessFactors || Twitter || LinkedIn
Karin Bootsma || RiseSmart || Twitter || LinkedIn
Karlie Jessop || ADP || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kassandra Barnes || Paycor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kate Ahlering || Glassdoor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kate Donovan || ManpowerGroup || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kate Fletcher || Fairsail || Twitter || LinkedIn
Katherine Jones || Mercer || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kathleen Smith || ClearedJobs || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kathryn Minshew || The Muse || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kathy Rapp || hrQ || Twitter || LinkedIn
Katrina Collier || The Searchologist || Twitter || LinkedIn
Katrina Kibben || RecruitingDaily || Twitter || LinkedIn
Katy Anquetil || Manpower Group || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kelly Cartwright || Amazon || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kelly Dingee || Marriott International || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kelly Long || Capital One || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kelly Renz || Novo Group || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ken Ratri Iswari || Geekhunter || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kerry Noone || CVS Health || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kerry Sain || SAP SuccessFactors || Twitter || LinkedIn
Khalda De Souza || HfS Research || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kieran Snyder || Textio || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kim Lamoureux || Bersin by Deloitte || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kimberly Cassady || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kimberly Pope || WilsonHCG || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kirsten Helvey || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kirsten Smith || Glassdoor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kirsti Grant || Populate || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kizaan Knapp || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kristen Hamilton || Koru || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kristen Wright || Cielo || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kristi Jones || H&R Block || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kristin Lewis || Equifax Workforce Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn
Kristina Cleary || Ceridian || Twitter || LinkedIn

L || Go to Alphabet

Laci Loew || Laci Loew & Company|| Twitter || LinkedIn
Laura Bilazarian || Teamable || Twitter || LinkedIn
Laura Gomez || Atipica || Twitter || LinkedIn
Laura Mather || Unitive || Twitter || LinkedIn
Laurie Brednich || HR Company Store || Twitter || LinkedIn
Laurie Ruettimann || GlitchPath || Twitter || LinkedIn
Laurie Zaucha || Paychex || Twitter || LinkedIn
Leah Daniels || Appcast || Twitter || LinkedIn
Leela Srinivasan || Lever || Twitter || LinkedIn
Leighanne Levensaler || Workday || Twitter || LinkedIn
Leslie O’Connor || Search Wizards || Twitter || LinkedIn
Linda Brenner || Talent Growth Advisors || Twitter || LinkedIn
Linda Ginac || TalentGuard || Twitter || LinkedIn
Linda Jonas || Small Improvements || Twitter || LinkedIn
Linda Mougalian || ADP || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lindsay Euller || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lindsay Stanton || Digi-Me || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lisa Cervenka || BrandAmper|| Twitter || LinkedIn
Lisa Hartley || SuccessFinder || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lisa Rowan || IDC || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lisa Skeete Tatum || Landit || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lisa Sterling || Ceridian || Twitter || LinkedIn
Liz D’Aloia || HR Virtuoso || Twitter || LinkedIn
Liz Ryan || Human Workplace || Twitter || LinkedIn
Liz Wessel || || WayUp || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lori Sylvia || SmashFly || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lori Winters || Choice Payroll || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lucinda Carney || Actus || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lucy English || Horizons Workforce Consulting || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lucy Suros || Articulate || Twitter || LinkedIn
Lynn Miller || Institute for Corporate Productivity || Twitter || LinkedIn

M || Go to Alphabet

Maddie Grant || WorkXO || Twitter || LinkedIn
Madeline Laurano || Aptitude Research Partners || Twitter || LinkedIn
Mandy Schaniel || ZipRecruiter || Twitter || LinkedIn
Maren Hogan || Red Branch Media || Twitter || LinkedIn
Maria Christopoulos Katris || Built In || Twitter || LinkedIn
Marie Burns || Untappt || Twitter || LinkedIn
Marie Schneegans || Never Eat Alone || Twitter || LinkedIn
Marisol Guzman || TIMESOFT|| Twitter || LinkedIn
Marlina Kinnersley || Fortay || Twitter || LinkedIn
Marnie Larson || StarGarden || Twitter || LinkedIn
Martha Switzer || Sprout at Work|| Twitter || LinkedIn
Mary Delaney || CareerBuilder || Twitter || LinkedIn
Mary Ellen Slayter || Rep Cap|| Twitter || LinkedIn
Mary Faulkner || Denver Water || Twitter || LinkedIn
Mary Grace Hennessy || SmashFly || Twitter || LinkedIn
Mary Kaylor || SHRM || Twitter || LinkedIn
MaryAnn Holder-Browne || Oracle || Twitter || LinkedIn
Maury Hanigan || Sparc || Twitter || LinkedIn
Meghan Biro || TalentCulture || Twitter || LinkedIn
Melanie Lougee || Gartner || Twitter || LinkedIn
Melissa Fairman || Mickey Thompson Performance Racing || Twitter || LinkedIn
Melissa Hargis || Betagig || Twitter || LinkedIn
Melissa McCreery || The Muse || Twitter || LinkedIn
Michael Moon || ExcelHRate || Twitter || LinkedIn
Michelle Haworth || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Michelle Lanter Smith || EPAY Systems || Twitter || LinkedIn
Milena Berry || PowertoFly || Twitter || LinkedIn
Mira Greenland || CareerArc || Twitter || LinkedIn
Miranda Nash || Qeople || Twitter|| LinkedIn
Mollie Lombardi || Aptitude Research Partners || Twitter || LinkedIn

N || Go to Alphabet

Nancy Sansom || PlanSource || Twitter || LinkedIn
Naomi Bloom || Bloom & Wallace || Twitter || LinkedIn
Natalie Baumgartner || Achievers || Twitter || LinkedIn
Natalie Feller || Remesys|| Twitter || LinkedIn
Natalie Severino || getTalent || Twitter || LinkedIn
Natalya Shvalyuk || Tigli Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn
Nina Merklina-Morrison || LineHire || Twitter || LinkedIn
Nisha Raghavan || American Heart Association || Twitter || LinkedIn

O || Go to Alphabet

P || Go to Alphabet

Pamela Harding || Metzano || Twitter || LinkedIn
Pamela Webb || SafeGuard World International || Twitter || LinkedIn

Q || Go to Alphabet

R || Go to Alphabet

Rachel Bitte || Jobvite || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rachel Cooke || Brandon Hall Group || Twitter || LinkedIn
Raluca Druta || Technology Evaluation Centers || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rayanne Thorn || Dovetail Software || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rebecca Henderson || Randstad Sourceright || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rebecca McClure || Meridian Knowledge Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rebecca McKenna || LRP Publications || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rhonda Larson || HackerRank || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rhonda Taylor || HRmarketer || Twitter || LinkedIn
Robin Erickson || Bersin by Deloitte || Twitter || LinkedIn
Robin Schooling || Hollywood Casino || Twitter || LinkedIn
Romy Newman || Fairygodboss || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ronda Grimsley || Triad HR || Twitter || LinkedIn
Rosaleen Blair || Alexander Mann Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn

S || Go to Alphabet

Sabrina Baker || Acacia HR Solutions || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sally Thornton || Forshay || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sandy Perlman || LifeWorks || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sara Pollock || ClearCompany || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sara Sutton Fell || FlexJobs || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sarah Brennan || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sarah Doughty || Montage || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sarah Morgan || SafeStreetsUSA || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sarah Nahm || Lever || Twitter || LinkedIn
Ségolène Finet || Talentsoft || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shannon Pierce || SmashFly || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shannon Pritchett || SourceCon || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shannon Russo || Kinetix || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shannon Seery Gude || Hodes || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sharlyn Lauby || HR Bartender || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sharon Birkman Fink || Birkman International || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shawna Berthold || Talentegy || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shelly Mudd || Jobs2Careers || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shelly Singh || PeopleStrong || Twitter || LinkedIn
Shoa Tavassoli || HR Avatar || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sonia Tews || ZipRecruiter || Twitter || LinkedIn
Stacey Browning || Paycor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Stacey Epstein || Zinc || Twitter || LinkedIn
Stacey Harris || Sierra-Cedar || Twitter || LinkedIn
Stacia Sherman Garr || Bersin by Deloitte || Twitter || LinkedIn
Stacy Chapman || SwoopTalent || Twitter || LinkedIn
Stacy Donovan Zapar || Tenfold || Twitter || LinkedIn
Stephanie Lampkin || Blendoor || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sue Marks || Cielo || Twitter || LinkedIn
Susan Hanold || ADP || Twitter || LinkedIn
Susan LaMotte || exaqueo || Twitter || LinkedIn
Susan Magrino || Talent Circles || Twitter || LinkedIn
Susan Van Klink || SuccessFinder || Twitter || LinkedIn
Susan Vitale || iCIMS || Twitter || LinkedIn
Sussane Bond || Halogen || Twitter || LinkedIn
Svetla Simidchieva || Placement Feed || Twitter || LinkedIn

T || Go to Alphabet

Tacy Byham || DDI || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tamara Cohen || RealMatch || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tamra Chandler || PeopleFirm || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tanya Bakalov || BetterSkills || Twitter || LinkedIn
Teresa Thieme || SAP SuccessFactors || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tiffany Appleby || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tiffany Kuehl || Versique || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tiffany Pham || Mogul || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tracy Burns || Hytched || Twitter || LinkedIn
Tracy Strauss || Cornerstone OnDemand || Twitter || LinkedIn
Trish McFarlane || Infor || Twitter || LinkedIn

U || Go to Alphabet

Ursula Mead || InHerSight || Twitter || LinkedIn

V || Go to Alphabet

Vera Reshetina || CactusSoft || Twitter || LinkedIn
Violetta Stemasova || Talentuch || Twitter || LinkedIn

W || Go to Alphabet

Wendy Werve || Virgin Pulse || Twitter || LinkedIn

X || Go to Alphabet

Y || Go to Alphabet

Yscaira Jimenez || LaborX || Twitter || LinkedIn
Yunita Anggraeni || Geekhunter || Twitter || LinkedIn
Yvette Cameron || SAP SuccessFactors || Twitter || LinkedIn
Yvonne Chen || Udemy || Twitter || LinkedIn

Z || Go to Alphabet

William Tincup is the President of RecruitingDaily. At the intersection of HR and technology, he’s a Writer, Speaker, Advisor, Consultant, Investor, Storyteller & Teacher. He’s been writing about HR related issues for over a decade. William serves on the Board of Advisors / Board of Directors for 15 HR technology startups.

William is a graduate of the University of Alabama of Birmingham with a BA in Art History. He also earned an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

Follow him on Twitter @WilliamTincup or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Moneyball: Hire Candidates That Will Stay

This post is a partial preview of my presentation on Money Ball for the Talent Function at #SHRM2017 in New Orleans this June.

Turnover is at an all-time high and engagement at an all-time low. In fact, Corporate Executive Board (CEB), did a survey where they discovered that 23% all new hires leave within a year. It seems, very little has been done to figure out what constitutes effective recruiting, metrics, or methodology. How can you hire candidates that will stay? It is time to find out. It’s time for Disruption in the space.

For those who frequent RecruitingTools.com, you know I am a bit of an HR renaissance man. I am an old schooler who likes his Converse Chuck Taylors or Puma Clyde Frazier’s over any Air Jordan’s or high tech shoes on the market today. But with all of the data available, you would think someone would have figured it out by now. Well if you have ever read the book Moneyball, even though author Michael Lewis is not a recruiter, he may be on to something.

The central premise of Moneyball is that the traditional statistics to measure a baseball player’s performance was not getting the best results. The Oakland A’s’ took a different path and decided to look at some data that is often overlooked to determine a team’s success. They figured out that they could not only have a better performing team, but they could also do it cheaper than their competitors. What if the Talent Industry’s collective wisdom is flawed? What if we are deluding ourselves with the belief that all those items we have used for years really don’t matter?

Play Ball

What metrics do you measure for actual performance? Sure, you may measure time to fill and cost per hire. But both of those relate to financial metrics. Do you measure passion? What if success was primarily based on passion, savvy, and tenacity? You know, a metric based on your favorite phrase, “Employee Engagement.” It may sound crazy but hear me out.

We want the best candidates available. Daily, we hunt for the most experienced and talented candidates we can find. What if we just hired people that are passionate about their work and the industry we serve? In The Five: Tools to Determine Cultural Fit, there is evidence to this point. Just because someone is talented, does not mean they are the best fit. It is time to stop looking at how fast we can hire and pay attention to the best fit we can hire.

Change the Game

It is time to go to my old school roots and tell you that hiring for fit is nothing new. “Back in the day,” Human Resource teams would look at the top performers within a department, and look for patterns they could copy. Then, they would look at a resume and try to match keywords and experience. The problem is, all that does is find similar resume writers and good test takers.

In my day, we used to try to get “asses in seats.” And yes we want to make the hire. The difference is, we want “fans in seats.” In other words, hire people that will fit not because their resume matches someone else’s. Hire people that you can develop into top talent. Like they said in Moneyball the movie:

[quote]It’s about getting things down to one number. Using stats to reread them, we’ll find the value of players that nobody else can see. People are overlooke for a variety of biased reasons and perceived flaws. Age, appearance, personality. Bill James and mathematics cuts straight through that. Billy, of the twenty thousand knowable players for us to consider, I believe that there is a championship team of twenty-five people that we can afford. Because everyone else in baseball undervalues them. Like an island of misfit toys.[/quote]

Homerun

If you are to win, it is time to change your metrics. No more time-to-hire or cost-per-hire or offer to acceptance ratios. Here are the matrices we need to analyze if we are going to measure fit and passion.

Culture Fit. Find out if the candidates work ethic and drive matches the company.
Net Promotor Score. What is your overall employee satisfaction?
Retention. What is your turnover? Why are people leaving?
Employee Experience. You have heard about “Candidate Experience” but what happens when the candidate starts?

Truth be told, the traditional matrices have their place. But they are not the only things that you should look at. If you have to backfill the same position every year, you are doing something wrong. Hire candidates that will stay. You have the brains, and you for sure have the data. It is time to hit a home run. Everytime.

About Our Author: Mark Fogel is a Disruptor in the HR space and known for his HR with an Attitude. With 15 years heading HR at 3 prominent organizations and a slew of National Awards, including the SHRM Human Capital Leader of The Year, he has made a major impact on the Human Capital function. He is also the co-founder of Human Capital 3.0, an HR boutique with some very big clients. Often quoted in national media, Mark is an HR Thought Leader with a unique point of view. He can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on twitter at @HC3.

The Five: Tools to Determine Cultural Fit

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was Christmastime early in my recruiting career. The company was doing well, and we were achieving unprecedented success. So much so, that it was determined that we were going to need to hire about 300 more people in the next few months. To help with that, we needed to hire about five more recruiters. We interviewed what seemed like hundreds of potential candidates. It was exciting when we narrowed it down to the top ten candidates. Next of course, narrowed that number down and hired what we thought were the top five candidates.

“BlanketGate”

All of the hires were to start the same day as our gift exchange. During the onboarding process, we discussed the basics, and at the end, I proudly said, “We call it a gift exchange, but really it is more like a top shelf liquor exchange.” The gift exchange was always one of the biggest highlights of the year. The day of the party, people are selecting presents under the tree, trying to steal gifts that they found more desirable you know, the usual. There was this odd shaped gift that eventually got selected. We are all yelling and carrying on to see what was in this weird shaped package. Finally, someone opened it, and it was… wait for it… an electric blanket.

No one said anything, and no one fessed up to bringing the blanket either. But everyone was thinking, whoever brought the blanket is not going to last here. Remember that look that Michelle Obama gave Melania Trump when she handed her that Tiffany’s box? That had nothing on the looks on our team’s faces. Let me be clear, I didn’t work for a company that manufactured liquor, we didn’t drink during work, new recruits were not brought to the bar as part of the onboarding process, and there were no standing happy hours going on. But, we had a pretty solid culture at the company I worked for, and I don’t think anyone noticed until “blanketgate,” as it would come to be called.

#Same

Now keep in mind, you may not want to hire your drinking buddies, but, to reduce turnover, you need to make sure that the person you hire is ok with your existing company culture. You can find out if your candidate will “fit” in part to questions you ask during the hiring process. Here are some questions to consider:

What are your biggest pet peeves at the office?Everyone has pet peeves. So if someone says, “people tapping their pens all day.” OK, we can deal with that one. But if they say, “Too many company meetings” and you know that are your company has daily meetings, this could be a problem.
Describe the management style that will bring out your best work and efforts.All employees are motivated differently. Some are motivated by money, other recognition, some job title, etc. If you hire the candidate who is recognition driven and you know the hiring manager things that a paycheck is thanks enough, be prepared to backfill this position.
What made you proud to work at your last company?This will give you an idea of the sort of projects the candidate worked on and what makes them tick. Also, listen to see if what they were proud of was a result of teamwork or individual work.

As with any buzzword, there are several products that can help you determine company culture fit. At least they say they do. The biggest problem seems to be that the culture reflected in the company mission and vision statement, does not always align with the culture a company actually has. Here are the five tools that can help you determine if a candidate will be a good cultural fit, by helping you decide what the cultural fit is in the first place.

The Five Tools to Help Determine Cultural Fit

Instatalent:

Instatalent, helps you find candidates that fit your culture before you hire them in the Information Technology, Healthcare, and Finance verticles. What stands out as a bonus with this tool is that by using their app, you can post a job, find candidates and look at resumes all from your phone. Instatalent is powered by IBM Watson to determine fit based on natural linguistic data and uses something called a Cognitive Talent Discovery Engine’ (CTDE) to understand candidates personality attributes. Scary.

TinyPulse

TinyPulse has two tools. TINYpulse Engage is their survey tool, and TINYpulse Perform is a performance management tool. Basically, TinyPulse allows companies to keep a pulse on how employees are feeling. (Get it?) Part of why people like TinyPulse is because the surveys are short, you can use it on your phone, and it is easy to use. And of course, it is completely anonymous.

CultureAmp

CultureAmp uses data received from employee surveys to determine Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, and Employee Effectiveness. That is the short version. They actually have a team of organizational psychologists and data scientists to back this stuff up. You longer have to figure out on your own what the information you got from a survey means or hire a data scientist to do it for you. Watch this to learn more.

https://vimeo.com/124897520

RoundPegg

RoundPegg has several products, but when it comes to hiring, they give candidates a pre-hire assessment tool and gives each candidate a “fit” score to determine cultural fit. They determine the fit because existing employees are asked to fill out a 7-minute survey. As long as ALL of them complete the survey, employers can get a Culture DNA. A piece of this tool that really stands out is their custom interview questions. Once a candidate completes the pre-hire assessment, RoundPegg will let you know areas where they think the candidate will fit as well as areas that you should probably pay attention to.

Weirdly

Weirdly makes the arduous process of searching for culture fit fun for the candidate and the recruiters. You tell Weirdly what kinds of attributes you are looking for and how weird you want the quiz to be. They will come up with quirky questions to pose to candidates. Say you pick flexible, pragmatic and competitive as attributes you would like a candidate to have. Questions like, “How much do you like surprises?” or “How fast do you walk?” You have to admit; those questions are more exciting than, “What is your greatest weakness?”

The takewaway – don’t hire your drinking buddy. But more importantly, pay a attention to the signs that a candidate won’t be a great fit for your company. It is not worth the cost of replacing that candidate. When a candidate tells you they will not be a great fit, beleive them.

Who’s The Boss: Recruiter or Hiring Manager?

If you’re like most employers today, there’s a good chance that you’re spending a lot of money establishing your company’s recruitment marketing initiatives.

Whether that’s establishing an employer brand, replacing or enhancing your existing applicant tracking system, developing a killer career site or purchasing premium versions of sites like Glassdoor or LinkedIn, the costs associated with acquiring top talent today can often be steep (or even prohibitive) for many employers.

Factor in the price of posting on paid job boards, SEO/SEM, social media, content marketing, in person hiring events, direct sourcing and pipeline building activities, the right tools to obtain actionable analytics and the technologies required to effectively attract passive candidates (and convert them into active applicants for open requisitions), and you’ll see why employers spend an average of $140 billion every year on recruiting related activities alone.

Turns out, there’s a lot that goes into talent acquisition today, and success requires more resources, and more spend, than ever before. Companies are devoting an inordinate amount of money, resources and time into simply sourcing candidates.

Trust The Process.

Unfortunately, as companies invest in delivering the right talent for the right role at the right time, many employers are neglecting to consider that getting great candidates to hiring managers is only a small part of the hiring process.

Too many, however many spend far too much on acquiring and developing candidates (both passive and active), mostly to the neglect of the rest of the process – which is getting those candidates to accept an offer.

The best recruitment marketing in the world isn’t worth a dime if you can’t actually fill a req. All the sourcing and pipeline building in the world, similarly, is worthless if those leads can’t make it through the rest of the recruiting process and actually convert into actual hires.

This is why it might be time to take a step back and reconsider the relative costs and bottom line results of the entire recruiting process, not just the front end of the funnel.

For example, how much money and time has your talent team spent on training people on core recruiting competencies like phone screening, candidate relationship management and offer negotiation?

What kind of tools or tech do you have in place to streamline not only sourcing, but also to make candidate screening and selection more effective and efficient?

How much thought goes into establishing process improvements like structured interviewing, skills testing or optimizing onboarding?

You Get What You Pay For.

Employers spend a ton of time and money on making first impressions count with candidates through recruitment marketing and employer branding, but few focus on what that candidate will experience once they accept an offer and become an actual employee.

Maybe instead of equipping our candidates to succeed at getting through the recruiting gauntlet, we need to also consider giving our new hires the information and insight they need to make their first days and weeks as employees as smooth and productive as possible.

Remember, recruiting doesn’t stop with an accepted offer.

So why does our spend seemingly stop well before an offer is even extended?

It’s rare to find a company that invests in process improvement instead of simply pipelining candidates, so rare, in fact, that many employers simply neglect to consider what happens after an applicant becomes an candidate. Recruitment marketing is only as good as the recruiting process supporting it.

Inherently, employers know this, but neglect to focus on the fundamentals because marketing and sourcing are way sexier than the more mundane parts of the talent acquisition process.

Hiring is a marathon, but almost every employer spends like they’re sprinting, instead. Only the right process can companies truly find the right pace for winning the race for top talent.

So why do so many companies assume that recruiters – who have a tenuous connection to the role they’re recruiting for, little functional experience or specific expertise in screening for skills and finding candidates based not only on the position prerequisites, but success propensity and growth potential, too?

The problem starts at the same place as most searches: the job description.

The Root of All Recruiting Evil.

Let’s face it: job descriptions kind of suck.

These much maligned documents are not known for their utility or clarity, and are often ambiguous, misleading or incomplete, and yet, we’re reliant on these to shape our strategies, define our spend and dictate how and whom we hire.

The irony is that as much as we spend on recruitment advertising and marketing, we largely ignore the single most important component of those efforts.

In doing so, do a disservice to our hiring managers, our candidates and our own talent teams, too.

Occasionally, the hiring manager will either be open minded enough to let the recruiter look for personal potential over professional experience, but it’s rare that we hire for anything but skills, which is why job postings almost always play a bigger role in determining candidate fit than either the recruiter or the hiring manager.

This is why recruiters struggle with submissions, and hiring managers are rarely happy. What the recruiter is looking for and what the hiring manager really wants rarely matches what’s on the job description, which explains why so many hiring processes break down not during sourcing, but during screening and selection instead.

With the clearly established criteria constraining recruiters to more or less taking orders, talent acquisition practitioners tend to play it safe, delivering candidates who meet what the job description requires instead of what the real requirements of the hiring manager and the bigger business picture.

This leads to filtering out potential game changers and A Players who might be missing out on one or two preferred qualifications, but whose professional skills, attitude and potential might be far harder to find than the basic criteria listed on the job description.

Bad job descriptions aren’t written for great candidates, only minimally qualified ones. This is a huge loss for your candidates and clients alike.

Steal This Post.

By overemphasizing the job description, the hiring process is subordinate to the job posting. In this model, the JD drives the process rather than the recruiter or hiring manager. Sometimes, when an opening is created, the hiring stakeholders will take the time to edit and optimize these JDs for the type of talent the role really needs instead of the basic skills the opening requires, but this is exceedingly rare.

Too often, a JD is nothing more than a copy of a copy of a copy of some outdated and archaic compensation document that was written long enough ago where most of the requirements long ago rendered extraneous or irrelevant by changes in market conditions or business needs.

These should be dynamic documents, but too often, these remain static and stuck in a status quo that’s stuck in the past.

In fact, I’d wager that at least 25% of all job descriptions posted to the public steal entire sections from other companies wholesale, reflecting what other companies are looking for in a candidate instead of what your company and hiring team really need or want.

The more short cuts you take with a JD, the longer the hiring process will probably be; this is particularly true when a posting is approved and effectively locked in without any input from either the recruiter of record or the hiring manager; this leads to hiring managers screening and selecting candidates based off of someone else’s prerequisites rather than their personal preferences.

This disconnect is one reason recruiters have such a hard time keeping their hiring managers happy – and getting the JD right is an essential start to every search, not just a means to an end.

Most hiring managers see JDs as an obstacle to the goal, a hurdle that must be overcome in the hiring process. This means most don’t put the work in; instead, they’ve got their work cut out for them when it comes to recruiting.

Brand New Day.

When hiring managers overlook job descriptions, recruiters almost always play it safe, choosing cookie cutter candidates with similar skill sets and experience; this process is defensive and tactical, rather than strategic and opportunistic.

People who aren’t an exact fit are filtered out; instead, we choose the candidate who looks best on paper instead of the best looking candidate, period.

As any recruiter can tell you, there’s a big difference between the two.

In this model, hiring managers largely dictate the recruiting process, with the end results being inherently mixed. Recruiters review resumes that meet minimum qualifications, send stacks of these over to the hiring manager, and more or less make them pick between strikingly similar options.

Recruiters are tasked with delivering qualified, interested and available candidates, and hiring managers are left, largely, to do the rest. The core benefit here is that we can assume that the hiring manager has a better sense of what kind of candidate might be successful in the role.

They can be opportunistic and see the new skills a candidate might bring to the team and weigh the value of those new skills against someone who has exactly what was asked for and little else.

But there are areas for potential disaster here. How does a hiring manager learn how to hire? We expect that someone who has achieved this station to have gone through the process as a candidate other places and can think clearly about what skills the new role requires.

That’s all. Raw experience and the hope that the hiring manager can see potential in new skills. You know how that story goes. In reality, hiring managers are incentivized, like recruiters, to make the safe choice instead of the best candidate.

Without anything other than a JD to distinguish good candidates from great ones, and without any training or support on standardized scoring, screening or selection, hiring managers’ choice is largely limited not to the best candidates, but the ones who look the best on paper.

Of course, resumes are almost as misleading as job descriptions, and trying to match these two documents and hope for the best is just wrong.

Hiring managers don’t generally have any specific expertise or training on how to hire, leading them to pick the candidate that’s the easiest to justify internally, both to their own teams and to their bosses and senior leadership.

Going With Your Gut Gets You Nowhere.

If we can assume that, on average, one hire out of every five doesn’t work, then it’s the hiring manager’s ass on the line for having made that decision; it’s far easier to justify making a safe pick who didn’t work out than taking a chance on a risky candidate and having that decision backfire.

As the old saying goes, “no one gets fired for picking IBM,” and no one ever got let go for going with the candidate who looked good on paper and met all the requirements, even if they weren’t the best fit for the role or the company culture.

The best choice isn’t always the safest, but in recruiting, the rewards of taking a chance are rarely worth the risk, at least as far as most hiring managers are concerned.

To make matters worse, that choice is largely influenced by hiring managers “going with their gut” in choosing one cookie cutter candidate over another who looks nearly identical on paper, and most of the time, that means opting for the candidate who’s the most like themselves, or who “looks” like a fit.

This destroys diversity, increases hiring bias, and can negatively impact a business and bottom line. . It doesn’t matter if you have invested in a diversity program if you haven’t trained your hiring managers to think through the entire process, determine quality metrics and spot internal biases before they start their phone screens.

So: who’s the boss? The recruiter or the hiring manager? If you’re like most companies, the actual answer is both are subordinate to whatever job description they’re stuck with. And all the recruitment marketing spend in the world can’t fix a broken JD.

Whether you’re a hiring manager or recruiter, that’s your job.

Remember: you’ve got to pay the costs to be the boss. And in this case, losing top talent to crap JDs is one cost no company can really afford.

About the Author:

James Ellis is currently Managing Consultant at BEX Consultants, which focuses on helping recruiting organizations develop and activate their employer brands while teaching hiring managers how to pick great candidates and radically improve hiring success.

Prior to joining BEX consultants, James most recently served as VP of Inbound Marketing at TMP Worldwide, where he was responsible for establishing TMP as the preeminent leader in recruiting content, tasked with developing and leading a global team dedicated to activating employer brand through content and media strategy. James started his career as a content consultant and commentator for SaltLab.

James currently lives in Chicago, where he hosts the Talent Cast podcast, and spends his time partnering with Fortune 1000 clients to develop recruitment marketing, digital and content strategies to find and attract the best talent.

Follow James on Twitter @TheWarforTalent or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: How To Avoid Becoming The Uber of HR.

While it’s only just now March, for Uber, 2017 is already shaping up to be a horrible, no good, very bad year – something of an annus horribilis for a company that not all that long ago was seen as a seemingly unstoppable burgeoning tech behemoth.

Its meteoric rise to prominence, fueled by soaring valuations, hockey stick monetization model and brand ubiquity, was perhaps unprecedented even by the heady standards of Silicon Valley.

Perhaps no other company served as the poster child for startup success, or cipher for the possibilities inherent to the emerging “sharing economy” quite like Uber. That the company became synonymous with the category it helped define proved, at first, to be a significant advantage.

Uber was inventing the future, and the company was widely hailed by most press, partners and end users alike as the gold standard for the gig economy.

Pick Up Lines.

Sure, there was some bad press about what drivers actually got paid, or about how user information was being collected and utilized. But for the most part, Uber appeared to be coasting to a record IPO and inevitably, world domination (at least outside China and France).

Most consumers were staunch supporters and brand advocates of the app even as potential storm clouds continued to surface, considering the cost savings and convenience Uber offered benefits which imminently justified the small potatoes stories and attack pieces occasionally popping up in the press. These issues seemed to be really nothing more than the natural growing pains for a company in hyper growth.

These early lessons learned, turns out, were not isolated hiccups or anomalous incidents. They were, in fact, only the tip of an iceberg whose depths we’re all still discovering. Obviously, Uber’s recent foibles have been well documented, from the #DeleteUber campaign that cost them half a million users to their much publicized trouncing by Chinese competitor (er, “partner”) Didi Chuxing, forcing them out of the world’s fastest growing market.

But one story, of course, stands out, particularly for those of us who happen to work in HR. If you’re a recruiter, in particular, there are quite a few takeaways from this cautionary tale, but one thing sticks out in particular: always learn as much about a candidate as you can before making a hire.

Because as Uber recently reminded us all, the cost of one bad hire can be too great for any employer to bear. It just takes one bad recruiting decision to push an entire business to the brink – and if it can happen at a company like Uber, it can happen to you, too.

Consider this a cautionary tale – and a wake up call.

Taken For A Ride.

A little backstory. In January 2016, Uber hired former Google executive Amit Singhal to be its new SVP of Engineering – a big feat.

Singhal was hired to “solve the puzzle” and things were looking up for the guy who looked like he retired from Google after heading up the most lucrative division of Google, Search.

Now a year later, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick asked for Singhal’s resignation. Why?

Because the reason for Singhal’s Google retirement was due to credible allegations of sexual harassment, a dispute Singhal did not disclose to Uber. Sexual harassment at Uber?

No way! Yes way! Keeping Singhal now that the allegations at Google have surfaced was just too risky as it would mean automatic liability for Uber if he did it again.

Think of that for a minute – automatic liability.

So recruiters, what do you need to learn from this? Do your homework.

While Uber claims that they did an extensive background check on Singhal before his hire, it wasn’t enough to prevent what the company itself has described as a “failing culture.”

The Sharing Economy: 3 Recruiting Lessons From An Uber Termination.

Here are some easy steps you can take to make sure that what happened at the ride sharing giant isn’t a shared experience:

1. Start With A Simple Search.

Use Google. And, I mean, you’ve got to really search the search engine beyond simply looking at the top ranking results to get the sort of information that’s likely to sink you – the first ranked results are probably pretty common knowledge.

Take the time to review at least the first few pages of results when doing recruited related research, and really google Google (yeah, the irony is not lost).

Today, if a startup wanted to hire Singhal, they’re not going to have to look very hard to uncover the skeletons in his closet, particularly the very public allegations surrounding his tenure at Uber and the reason for his separation.

Not every candidate has similar coverage and content about their previous professional and personal history, though, and know there’s no such thing as “Feeling Lucky” (to use Google’s nomenclature) when it comes to pre-hire due diligence. Because you never know what else you might find – and in the age of the Internet, the truth is always out there. You just have to do some digging.

You’ll probably never see any immediate red flags for the candidates you’re considering, but as Singhal showed, the time and effort this process takes is an opportunity cost no company can afford to pass up.

Remember: it only takes one bad hire. And you don’t want to be the recruiter of record when that happens.

2. Ask Questions After The Initial Interview.

Ask if an employee has ever been involved in any sort of dispute at work that involved the intervention of either Human Resources or Employee Relations.

If the answer is affirmative, make sure you understand exactly what the details of the investigation entailed and how it was resolved.

It’s unlikely they’ll be too eager to share details, so you may need to explicitly ask about the nature of the offense in question; if it involves allegations of harassment, this should serve as a red flag, regardless of culpability.

That’s not to say this should preempt an offer, but the onus is on you to ensure that the candidate does not have a pattern of this behavior, because ultimately the liability for their actions will fall on your company should they succeed in receiving an offer. That’s a pretty big chance for TA to take on any candidate, regardless of skill set or experience.

Obviously this is a sensitive topic, no matter who was accused or how it was handled, and it’s not your job to assign guilt – only to assess relative risk. This should be done as late in the hiring process as possible, ideally while conducting any other required preemployment background and reference checks your company performs before extending an offer.

Ideally, you should not be the person running point on this due diligence; have another hiring stakeholder, like an HRBP or another recruiting team member assist with the investigation. It’s imperative, however, that the hiring manager is not informed of this back office background checking unless it’s to inform them you’re unable to extend the offer due to the circumstances.

This outcome is rare, so you probably want to ensure that what happens in HR stays in HR unless you have irrefutable evidence preempting your ability to extend an offer of employment. When in doubt, always seek legal advice and proceed with caution.

3. Try To Develop Backdoor References.

Ask any recruiter, and they’ll tell you what everyone already knows: when candidates provide their own list of references, those references are almost universally past colleagues and connections who will provide positive feedback and platitudes about the candidate in question.

Reference checks are designed to limit liability, so if you have information a candidate may have a black mark on their permanent professional record, it’s your job to uncover this during this part of the process.

Many background check providers will not uncover HR infractions during their due diligence, largely because their access to information is limited to publicly available information, and few internal investigations are ever elevated outside the company or litigated outside of binding arbitration.

This makes this sort of tricky, but developing independent references is a great way to get the information you need discreetly and as part of the background check process. It’s a small world, after all, and it’s not hard to find either a mutual connection or previous coworker who might provide additional insight into the candidate and the incident in question.

It’s essential when you contact these references not to imply or lead their responses nor provide any information about the specific claim you’re investigating. Simply ask if there’s anything you need to know about the candidate or something similarly open ended. You’re unlikely to get any explicit information, but subtext is everything.

Any hesitancy or equivocation, such as “I’m not legally allowed to say anything about what happened,” or, “I don’t really want to get into that,” for example, are signs you might want to dig a little deeper during the background check process.

It’s by no means a suggestion of wrongdoing, but you’d be amazed at how much these references can often tell you without saying anything at all. Just stay on your toes and try to get as much information as possible without being too proactive.

Remember: you’re not a detective, you’re an HR professional. You want to indemnify your employer, not convict your candidates.

Sexual harassment has long dominated the national news and discourse, from Presidential politics to the tech industry to college campuses and beyond. It’s a pervasive problem, and a hot button issue, but the important thing is to ensure that it doesn’t happen in your company. Period.

Recruiters have to hire the best talent. That’s our job. But so too is finding fit, and no company should ever hire anyone who could create an unsafe work environment for your other employees, or harm your company culture or brand, as happened with Uber.

No one deserves to be harassed, but if you’re a recruiter who fails to preempt a hire with a history of these behaviors, you’re essentially enabling and condoning whatever happens after they’re hired. Because as important as finding the right candidate can be, recruiters should remember that their job is also to ensure that you don’t hire the wrong ones, either.

Uber learned the hard way. You shouldn’t have to.

About the Author:

Kate Bischoff advises organizations in a wide range of industries on employment law and human resources issues, from recruitment and workplace culture to terminations. Kate is passionate about improving company culture and using technology (social media and data analytics) in the workplace. Kate speaks from experience when advising clients when administrative and court matters commence.

Prior to founding tHRive Law & Consulting, Ms. Bischoff served as a Human Resources Officer for the United States Department of State at the U.S. Embassy Lusaka, Zambia and for the U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem. Kate is also an Adjunct Professor at Mitchell Hamline, serving as faculty for the School of Law’s HR Compliance Certificate Program.

Follow her on Twitter @k8bischHRLaw or connect with her on LinkedIn.

The Week That Was 3.3.17: NASA, Nimble, LinkedIn and Pickit

Every Friday in case you missed it, ‘The Week That Was” is all you need to know about anything that matters in recruiting. We go out to the interwebs and gather interesting and insightful recruiting news we will interest you. This week we learned Nimble got some cash, NASA released software to launch your recruiting game to the moon, LinkedIn admitted defeat, and if you are looking for graphics, we can help you Pickit. (And no, that is not a typo.)

Recruiting Terms Defined:

Employer Blanding – When a companies Employer Branding efforts are boring, bland, and lacking any visible innovation.

Tweet of the Week:

It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist: NASA Releases HR Tech

NASA just released their 2017-2018 software catalog. Included is a huge portfolio of software products all free of charge to the public, without the need for royalty or copyright fees.

“Software has been a critical component of each of NASA’s mission successes and scientific discoveries. In fact, more than 30 percent of all reported NASA innovations are software,” said Dan Lockney, NASA’s Technology Transfer program executive. “We’re pleased to transfer these tools to other sectors and excited at the prospect of seeing them implemented in new and creative ways.”

Don’t worry about it being too hard to figure out how to use it. NASA dumbed it down for use mortals by automating the process making implementation pretty straight forward. The best part for us? This year’s catalog includes HR Tech Software including their Integrated Cognitive Assessment Tool. In a nutshell, the Integrated Cognitive Assessment Tool will tell you if your candidate has the brain power to perform a specific task. Don’t worry if you are not planning on sending someone to the moon; this tool includes traditional performance measurements that may be useful to you! Click here to try it for yourself.

Bow Down: LinkedIn is Bringing Some Pre-Update Functionality Back

People totally hate the new LinkedIn interface. As a matter of fact, hundreds of thousands have gone to LinkedIn with their concerns, and LinkedIn listened. As a matter of fact, they are gradually roll out:

Text fields for keyword searches: Refine your search by first name, last name, title (current), company (current) and/or school using text fields on the Top and People pages. Like our search operators, these fields support the AND, OR and NOT boolean operators
Sticky Filters: When you select filters for your search they will remain in place for future searches until you deselect them using the Clear all button at the top of the filter list
Saved Searches (also known as search alerts): Save and reuse your favorite searches
Speed: We’re taking our first steps towards a dramatically faster search experience

Believe it or not, David Flink, Director of Product Management, Search & Discovery for LinkedIn said:

“At LinkedIn, ‘Members first’ is one of the core tenets of our engineering process. “Members first” means listening to our members, deeply understanding their needs and building products that meet them. It also means acknowledging when you didn’t get it quite right.”

Um. That is all we want to say about that. In the meantime, click here to see the LinkedIn changes that you should know.

Goodbye ClipArt. Hello, Pickit.

Speaking of Employer Blanding, have we got news for you! Microsoft Ventures just forked over $4.6 million for Pickit’s Series A round. This means that Microsoft Office users can step up Employer Branding because of the new access to thousands of professional-looking pictures, images, and icons. Mathias Björkholm, Co-CEO, and Founder of Pickit said:

[quote]With this latest round of financing, we truly get the chance to expand our business model and create a dedicated image bank for modern Microsoft Office users. We’re already adding value and functionality to the Microsoft Office applications that people use on a daily basis and we look forward to working with Microsoft Ventures and our other partners as we continue to increase productivity.[/quote]

There is a little catch, however. It only works on Word Online and:

2013 Service Pack 1 or later
2016 or later
Word 2016 for Mac

CRM Nimble Raises $9 Million Series A

Part of CRM Nimble’s success is because it is so easy to use. No matter where you are – Gmail, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook or even a Forbes article – you only need one click to pull info from emails and web pages and enrich contact records. Of course, it also brings together your calendar, contacts, and email, Nimble CEO Jon Ferrera said.

That way, workers don’t have to spend a lot of time gathering background on people by doing Google searches and the like, he said, it just presents contact information whether the user is in their email program or the Web via their computer or smartphone. And the Nimble solution is layered onto the Google G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 platforms for ease of use.

“Today’s legacy CRMs are too complex and hard to use, and we end up spending more time maintaining data in our CRMs than letting our CRM platforms work for us. The resulting low-end user adoption is a significant cause of failure for CRMs,” said Ferrara. “At Nimble we’ve solved the end user adoption issue and have built a CRM that end users love to use by seamlessly integrating with Office 365 and Google G Suite Emails, Contacts and Calendars, eliminating tedious data entry, and automating repetitive tasks. Nimble lives where users work: in email, the browser, and on their mobile devices.”

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