OnRec Chicago Conference 2006 - Day 1

Yves Lermusi, President, Taleo

Talent is about a “state of mind”. Your top recruiters are your executive.

Kai-Fu Lee – Microsoft to Google – settlement reached.

27% - amount time spent by executives on talent related issues. (The Economist).

Finds who spend more on training outperform S&P 500. Taleo customers do the same.

HR should be a value creator, not a cost center!!!

Prediction of worker shortage by 2010, 40% of companies have no succession plan. The largest 500 companies will have 50% of senior executives attrite in the next 5 years.

Which metric to use? Wall Street looks at the revenue per employee. Yet this is not good enough. Total labor spent, which should

Return of Workforce = Operating Income / Total Labor Costs

Operating Levers: Skills, motivation, job fill ratio

Workforce Levers: Offshore, Downsize, Change compensation

HR is becoming talent management. Selection and succession planning are becoming strategic drivers. Assess, Acquire, Align and Develop.

Critical things:
Be the enabler of best of class talent management processes.
- Only the Outcome counts: Quality hires that fit. Do I have the right people on the bus in the right way? Do you fit your role? How well do we assess our strengths? Cornell Study - fascinating chart shows self perception of performance versus reality! Retention focus. Cost of workforce 36% of revenue (estimate)
- Screening accuracy – scientific versus art.
Age – bad predictor
Graphology – bad predictor
Education – some degree of validity
Experience – declines after 5 years
Reference Check – some degree of validity
Interview (unstructured) – some degree of validity
Job Tryout – some degree of validity
Cognitive Ability –Top 4 Predictor
Work Sample Tests – Top 4 Predictor
Interview (structured) – Top 4 Predictor
Peer Ratings – Top 4 Predictor (This is interesting as almost all of my linkedin endorsements are from peers)

Communication – Market Maker – communication needs significant improvement

OP + NT = EOP
Old Process + New Technology = Expensive Old Process

Supporters and detractors are built through effective communication.

Summary
1) Executives need to be involved.
2) Quality Focus and you will impact top line
3) Communication with stakeholders must improve

Checkster – new company – matching supply and demand – info@checkster.com

Prediction: In the next two years you will see major innovations in recruiting.

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Dr Marie-Paule Donsimoni-Bupp – CEO, IKM

No Head of HR in the Boardroom – This is a problem!

There is growing and strong competition from overseas for your talent. We can have access to almost anyone anywhere in the world. Example – Wipro – IT outsourcing company.

Blogs (Heather Hamilton for example), Internal referrals, HID

You may not have the people you want to have, but you need to do measure the gaps accurately so you can fill the position appropriately.

Shorten the recruitment cycle – You need to have a human intelligence database to scan your workforce when new roles emerge. Flexibility is paramount.

Strengths and competencies can far outweigh any gap, processes must adapt to this.

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John Zappe – Recruitment Analyst, Classified Intelligence

Personal Referral Programs - 3.9
Online Job Sites - 3.5
Social Networking Sites - 2.8
Career Fairs - 2.7 (Branding & Networking)
Print Media - 2.4

Employee referral plans – 45% expect to raise payouts in 2006
Career Fairs – flat spending
Social Networking – spending going up, though in experimentation phase, many had no opinion yet.

Niche professional sites, general/national sites – outperform

Diversity, regional and executive job boards – underperform

Linkedin – uncertain results, lots of time to farm and recruit

Niche site are on a higher growth rate to fill harder to fill positions

Question – Report shortcoming, no job seeker perspective. This was acknowledged.

Any changes in employee referral programs? Not measured.

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Discussion Panel:
Chair – Carl Kutsmode, Principal, Capital H Group
Ron Weber, Global Staffing Manager, Schneider Electric

Mobility when they are young, training the mindset, you must be comfortable with ambiguity, defining your terms (Ron)

General Questions on this topic – nothing groundbreaking

Germany – don’t put salary info in the ad, UK put it in the ad (David Hurst)
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Jerome Ternynck, CEO, MrTed.com

150 customers, 50,000 corporate users in 100 countries

China –
War for Talent in fierce in China
70% companies report problems to recruit
Salaries are growing fast
Staff Turnoveer average 13%
Agency market is booming
Becoming a “sales process” more than a “recruiting process”

But there is a contradiction…
Mismatch – 4 Million Graduates are coming out of Chinese Universities in 2006 and they have a hard time finding a job.

Steps to Success:
Gain Control
Streamline Delivery
Source Smart – no set standards in company brands – yet…
Hire Right
Train to Retain

If you follow these practices you will be in the top 5% of employers and have an advantage.

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Steven Rothberg, President and Founder, CollegeRecruiter.com

Extremely basic introduction to social networking – though much of the room seemed unaware of what he was speaking about in general.

Talked extensively about Generation Y attitudes and how they are indifferent to what is being perceived. (What he didn’t talk about is that perhaps the viewer should not be so judgmental and more understanding of these issues as they affect corporate culture even in the perfect candidates.)

Posting information on the Internet is kind of like getting a tattoo.

Problems for employers (assumes the information is accurate):
- If true, great for background checking but perceived as an invasion of privacy
- If bogus, lack of judgment by candidate but best candidates eliminated
- If bogus and posted by third party can you tell?
- Legal – tortuous interference with employment opportunities?

Sincere potential for potential backlash.

Legal issues:
Discrimination
Federal Communication Act – TOS outlaw commercial purposes

Benefits –
Remember this is all about networking
Alternative to resume searching
Candidates can advertise availability to you

Every employer should have a Myspace page. (While I agree with this sentiment, if you maintain the pathetic 94% non-response rate I saw quoted frequently throughout the conference it would be damaging to brands).

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Barry Mehrman, Director Employment Strategy, US Human Resources, McDonald’s

Workforce trends –
Aging
Workforce supply is beginning to tighten
Shortfall by 2010

Technology – POS, etc

Tope Sources:
Employee Referrals
Customer Employment merchandising
Community organizations
Media

Careerbuilder (29,700/420,000) higher application rate than Monster (19,550/479,200*) 2006 YTD *25% of visits come from mcdonalds.com

McState.com – local site

60% of hires come from Internet

Retention efforts are an area of increased focus

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John Benson, CEO, eFinancialCareers.com (has print media background)

Founded in 2000, publishes websites 14 countries and 6 languages

jobsinthemoney.com

Increased demand for professional skills
Increased demand for more diverse skills and cultures
The adoption of global norms, standards & qualifications
Skills becoming increasingly mobile

Demographic shift – the population is both aging and declining

How far would you move for a new job? 55% said they would go to a new country or new geography.

Solutions;
Work longer, retire later
Export jobs
Import talent

Content on sites drive traffic: pay news, hiring trends, etc

Does considerable Search Engine Optimization and Marketing techniques to create traffic.

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Chair, Hank Stringer, Managing Director – Qtalent, Consultant – ItzBig Partners
Bryan Burdick, COO, zoominfo.com
Faryan Yahsin, President, International Group, Careerbuilder
Matthew Embrescia, CEO, Dotjobs
Teresa Fearis, Partner Manager, SHL
Don Ramer, CEo, Arbita

Disconnect between expectations and realities of online recruiting exists. (Don)

People view it as a transaction and it can be transformational to both the individual and the company. (Don)

Online recruitment is a resource to attract talent. It is a sourcing channel not a complete solution. (Faryan)

Getting the right person in the right role at the right time, you need to work collaboratively to find the right role. (Teresa)

It can be more than just finding candidates. It’s a sales role more than a recruiting role. (Bryan)

We have dehumanized the process. We have to remember it’s about the people. It’s about a match between vision and value. (Don)

You gain a lot of efficiencies with online recruiting, but recruiting is a personal activity. (Faryan)

Transparency is bi-directional and an agreement of values. (Don)

Marketing will be necessary for the next generation of online recruiting. (Bryan)

We ought to be looking at how to make I more simple. (Don)

Candidates want quality, time savings and feedback. (Hank)

Aggregation of vast quantities of information is not what people want. People want to match their values with the ability to be value add to an organization.

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John Bell, CEO, Boxwood Technology

Looking for candidate that loves sports, food, money, SEX (millionairematch.com)

Dead last in where recruiters currently look: Association web sites

Associations Industry is huge!!!!!

86,000 associations in the U.S.

Annual budgets exceed $62 Billion Dollars

113 Million Dues Paying Members

27% goes to Education & Public Iinformation

21 million people attend conferences

5 million attend committee and board meetings

Micro niche job boards – percentage of total market matters

Afponline.org, American Marketing Association, aaf.org, the-dma.org, marketingcareernetwork.com

How do I find and association “job title” and “association”

(If you attended the ERE conference - come see what you missed at Onrec!)

Latest Google Recruiting “Error”, Day 14

On September 1st, I posted this entry. It still hasn’t changed. Will Laszlo Bock waste the entire month’s advertisement? He’s almost halfway there now!

Packers Shutout Means Free Furniture

Gotta love the customer satisfaction here!!!

Roughly 150 shoppers will be reimbursed for leather sofas, china cabinets, kitchen tables and beds bought during a wacky Labor Day promotion that unexpectedly paid off at World Furniture Mall in Plano. They owe nothing, and they owe it all to the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers and Randy Gonigam. “We’ve been pretty busy. Lots of very happy customers have been calling us,” said Gonigam, owner of World Furniture at 5606 W. Route 34.

M & A Lotto

Josh Kopelman has another great post challenging conventional wisdom where he says the odds of winning the lottery are better than selling your company to Yahoo! or Google. It’s time for people to stop focusing on Web 2.0 and focus on real businesses that satisfy real unmet needs which also can be profitable.

On another note, congrats to Josh on winning the 2006 Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership!!!

Marshall Field’s Sentiment has Blogosphere Legs

Yesterday’s loud announcement of a Macy’s boycott (forward via e-mail to friends) and destruction of new Macy’s credit cards to loud cheers shows that customers aren’t satisfied with Macy’s decision to remove and destroy the Marshall Field’s (and other) brand name. If Federated’s CEO Mr. Terry Lundgren and board of directors thinks this strong feelings of people are going to go away on this they are wrong. Since traditional newspapers get significant advertising revenue from Federated they have little incentive to push the true story (notable exception: big props to P.J. Huffstutter of the LA Times), this is a job for bloggers to work to reduce the store’s sales and eventually force Federated to sell these stores to someone who will change the name back to Marshall Field’s. This may take months or even years, but it can happen!

Notice all the blog posts out there, the conversation is only starting to link, bond and discuss (use “Macy’s boycott” and “Marshall Field’s” in your posts/tags): Dauber’s Chicago Blog, The Budget Fashionista, Metroblogging Chicago, Beyond Madison Avenue, The Berghoff Memorial, YoChicago, Serenade in Green, baka_duo_neka, ikam, Temporary Trouble Spots, All-American Girl’s Road Trip, etc…

The Chicagoist.org also recently reported Macy’s doesn’t even know what street it’s located on!!!

Stay tuned to fieldsfanschicago.org and the blogosphere for more info. Rumor has it Macy’s is seeking a variation to put up a large neon sign and that there is a zoning committee meeting on September 15, 2006 at Chicago City Hall regarding this eyesore. Contact your Alderman and ask that this be stopped!

Macy’s is not what the lady (customer) wants, she wants Marshall Field’s (other flickr photos):

Marshall Field’s - Always Alive in Our Hearts

Though the name Marshall Field’s survived 154 years, two major fires and one flood of it’s basement, those heartless people at Federated Department stores have already killed Marshall Field’s and it’s web site - a full day early! OK, for those of you not in Chicago, some “branding geniuses” thought changing the name of Marshall Field’s after 154 years to Macy’s was a good idea, but it’s isn’t, wasn’t and never will be. You can see the hatred in Chicago blogs. See the outpouring of emotion on this issue here and here and well you get the idea already.

Please join us to witness anger, tears and protest at 9AM Saturday in front of the Marshall Field’s State Street store!

Tumi - Big Thumbs Up!!!

My Tumi laptop bag strap wore out recently. I called Tumi’s 800 number regarding their lifetime guarantee and within a week, a new strap arrived at no charge on a 6 year old item!!! Yes Tumi is more expensive, but the service level justifies it based on their actions after this phone call.

It’s great to see a company that stand behind their product and are customer focused like this, it’s all to rare. So please join me in showing Tumi some love as an example of a company that sets the bar in how to treat customers.

Jim Stroud Gives Me Shelter

I stepped into the Recruiter’s Lounge with Jim Stroud, he interviewed me briefly about my experience with Intellext and my attendance next week at the Online Recruiting Conference here in Chicago.

Future CEO Hired Outside of Industry

In a smart move, Ford hired outside it’s own industry for it’s next CEO.

Imagine that, hiring someone for their knowledge and competencies, realizing that fresh perspectives are necessary to lead in a different way and solve unique and complex problems. Great article and a better decision. Are you listening search engine and interactive marketing leadership and boards of directors?

Good luck, Alan Mulally, you are taking on an immense challenge.

Jesse Jackson Jr.

Chicago despereately needs new leadership and an economic revival.

I met Jesse earlier this year, he is so different than his Dad. We shared a great conversation earlier this year.

I look forward to hearing more about issues and ideas in his “exploratory campaign“.

I’m Outside The “Frothy Bubble 2.0″

Why do I love holiday weekends? Because the major media goes home and there is a ton of great blog posts out there based on people’s core thoughts everywhere I look (including my blog) instead of the major media discussion follow on. In fact, why does David Sifry of Technorati make the mistake of classifying these big media sites as blogs at all if they don’t allow trackbacks, comments and true discussion? David you should really fix that.

What Scoble talks about in his post along with a cast of great comments is interesting and all too accurate. But the notes about lack of retail investor involvement are encouraging, I don’t think we have Silicon Valley restraint to thank for that I think we have Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley (higher cost of doing IPOs and being public now).

In Flickr doesn’t suck, the Don McAskill post states, “Companies triumph over market leaders all the time. They do it by innovating and executing brilliantly.” What a refreshing thought process. Sad to see it on a site discussing 19 zillion unnecessary photo sharing sites that gets tons of traffic discussing this topic, but refreshing nonetheless. So, maybe people are focusing on the businesses that tech guys are building and hyping because they are missing the critical element - business skills, search engine optimization and related expertise. A product manager is someone with a combination of business and technical skills in every successful company I’ve ever been a part of, I doubt this rule will change. People need to think bigger than “Google will buy us”.

What is wrong with Frothy Bubble 2.0? It’s not based on basic business principles like customer satisfaction, unmet needs and workable business models. I can spot this stuff a mile away when I talk. For example, when I went to Search Engine Strategies last month, one Web 2.0 person I know asked me, “Why are you going to such a boring conference, dude?” That sentence wouldn’t be right without the dude would it? Well, I had the time of my life and I learned a ton of great stuff to boot! Meanwhile his project is $100,000 in expenses and no revenue in sight.

So what is there to do? How about looking at some of the business plans I’ve seen that make sense, have revenue models and either go into new markets or attack fundamental basic flaws in the existing search engines? Naw, that would take real work, less photos at parties and it would take brainstorming and thinking outside of the box.

Think about it, pick up the phone if you have a real idea or you are an angel investor - especially if you are one that doesn’t even own a camera - then I really want to hear from you!!!

Costco (COST) - Needs Customer Focused Perspective

Before attending yesterday’s Chicago Cubs game upon a surprise invitation from my friend Pat Cunningham, I went to Costco. Before I talk about that though, the Cubs played the San Francisco Giants and Barry Bonds hit his 728th home run, he is now only 27 shy of Hank Arron’s record. You will notice that the ball thrown back on the field was not the actual home run ball per this ESPN Video, you wouldn’t have noticed it if you were at the game though.

During this Costco visit, they had recently redesigned the store layout, so much so that I simply gave up on a few of the items I was trying to find. As I waited in the checkout line I wondered if my actions were signing the death warrant for these items I skipped because all the buyers for Costco never look at these issues when they make their decisions. It’s clear that the company is moving away from its’ roots, providing excellent value. Every time I turn around something is being replaced with a “superior image product” that costs significantly more. The membership isn’t as valuable to me as it once was due to this continuous series of actions. The constant brand swapping can drive any serious food lover to near insanity when they find a brand they really like and then it’s replaced by an inferior brand by Costco’s buyers.

Two examples: 1. Earlier this year the Costco Lincoln Park Chicago location had these awesome Palmiers (somewhat like these) for several months, they moved them around the store no less than four times and they are no longer stocked - I firmly believe this was due to the movement factor affecting sales.

2. For what seems like forever, Costco carried New York Style Texas Garlic Toast in large economy sized boxes. Then a few months ago it stopped and replaced with a package of garlic bread in loaf form, not useful for sandwiches that was a fraction of the size and costed more! OK, one this one it’s clear the buyers have no clue how and why they choose certain products.

On my way out the door, I stopped and talked with the store manager, Brian. We talked about how the Customer’s viewpoint is never taken into account by the buyers. In fact, I showed him sympathy because he isn’t empowered to fix these issues or even experiment with such things as express checkout.

Costco is an example of an organization that would benefit greatly from blogging, but blogs should be the last and not the first step I now believe. The first step is to change the organizational focus so that customer’s voices are heard as loud if not louder than Wall Street’s voices. Without this dramatic top-down culture change of action, not words in regards to customer focus, then they would be a great blogging candidate to put the effort on steroids. I pitched to Brian the idea of having the buyers come into his store on a Saturday to actually listen to customers for a full day preceded by a 4-week period of pre-announcement - I told him that the store would likely have its’ busiest day ever and that this would be a very eye opening event for the buyers. I asked him to escalate my request for such an event internally so that this could occur and offered to e-mail him my blog post to save him time in explaining and communicating the idea during our brainstorming discussion. Maybe one day Costco might even create the role of Chief Customer Officer, I would love that!

Good Luck on creating that buyer visiting day, Brian. The blogosphere and customer champions everywhere will be routing for you.

Amish Gokarts

Greg Boser and others have pointed out this interesting abnormality.

It will be interesting to see which camp, Matt Cutts or the others, in the discussion is correct about cause. We may never know though.

Latest Google Recruiting “Error”

The September issue of the United Airlines onboard magazine, has one of those full page Google recruiting micro site ads on it. You’ve seen those nifty ads with the cute childhood pictures on it. Well, the URL in the full page ad doesn’t work at present. Great use of capital to create shareholder value…NOT!!! This is just another in a long series of embarassments by Laszlo Bock’s team where the recruiting process doesn’t function.

Upcoming Conferences!

Online Recruitment Expo (Onrec) - Global Summit for Online Recruitment
September 12-13 - Chicago - See the speakers list which includes Joel Cheesman and Shally Steckerl. Critique my online presence!

Strategic Public Relations Conference - September 20-22 - Chicago
Be sure to attend the pre and post conference sessions! See Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang and other speakers. Check out the PR Rehab wiki.