Did you follow Google I/O last week? I’ve been cramming my brain full of info on Google and other Cloud companies. I just finished reading The New Digital Age by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen; I’m listening to In the Plex, by Stephen Levy and was totally fascinated by Robert Scoble’s video blog about Google Glass.

Eric Schmidt calls this the Digital Age, but it’s more. This is the Connected Age, where, unless we choose to disconnect, we are always in contact with our extended communities. One friend posted on Facebook that she had family in Moore, OK, where a swath of tornados sweeped through. She shared that her sister left her workplace, looked behind as she was driving away, and, within a blink, her workplace was obliterated. Within minutes, she received scores of messages expressing concern and support. Facebook is the frontporch of our global neighborhood.

There is no “those guys” anymore. I have friends in all corners of the world, people I work with in India, people I went to school with who returned to live in Asia, and South America. I care what happens to them. I keep in virtual touch thanks to many cloud tools: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, the Google-verse, email and Skype.

Success in the Connected Age will come from leveraging technology to bring us closer to one another, not to create distance. This has huge implications because we often use technology to create walls, to keep people at a distance. This is especially true within the workplace.

In the olden days (some might say the Dark Ages), we had dedicated workers (mostly women) who answered calls at a switchboard, then transfer those calls to someone’s secretary (also a woman), who spoke with the caller (to decide the priority of the caller in her boss’s world). Mad Men is set in that world, if you want a quick sense of how things worked. However, a real person, was handling the interface, which gave you the opportunity to make a connection, who could make the connection happen.

Today, we have Interactive Voice Response or IVR to handle incoming calls. We have voice mail to screen our calls. We have technology to buffer us from the demands of customers, employees, and management. We have been able to work in a robotic environment. What is fascinating to me, however, is that for those who are coming into the workplace, who’ve grown up texting on cellphones and playing with friends on Xbox Live instead of in the neighborhood, technology is the way they connect to one another. And as technology interfaces become more “human,” as tools like Google Glass become available, the way we work will change just as dramatically as the way play has changed.

Technology: to automate or engage?

Efficiency experts, cost accountants, and others who look at ways to increase worker productivity have largely focused on technology to automate tasks, to get workers to do more faster, with fewer errors, etc. However, there are two shifts that have created what I call the Connected Age: miniaturization (nanotechnology) and mobilization offering connections to everyone, even the poor in the developing world.

There are two levels of how we deploy technology. There is technology in the workplace, where we think workstation, or desk, where our concept of work is connected to a physical place, and there is the integrated technology of our lives, where we are in constant contact, if we choose to be, able to communicate real time with people hundreds, even thousands, of miles away. Smart organizations are thinking about how to change the way we work to leverage our collective brilliance. They are thinking about how to transcend robotic thinking to become transforming and talent driven.

We are living in the Connected Age. It’s not the future. It is now. Who is talking about how the workplace will have to change? Who is thinking beyond how to keep employees from tweeting and posting stupid stuff? What will we do to accommodate new ways of working?

I would love to hear from others who are thinking about this. Please comment on this post, or email me.

What should we think about when our virtual and physical worlds begin to converge?

One of my Facebook friends posted a link to a short video addressing how the Internet is changing our brains. In a few minutes, it explains how we are wired for distraction. We need to think about the consequences of continual access to information. Are we are losing our abilities to  navigate, read a paper map, remember things, calculate, to concentrate and absorb information?

Many would like to dial things back. Others want to step on the gas. It may seem as if we are living in The Matrix times, but, unless you want to live off the grid, grow your own food, butcher your own meat, and generate your own electricity, the genie is here, and not going back in the bottle.

The cloud dynamic offers opportunities to preserve ancient wisdom and knowledge. We aren’t losing; we are gaining. My teenage son is now the family chef because of Google and YouTube videos. We can move forward with our traditions intact. We can improve our condition, but we will need to think differently.

Since we don’t need to use our brains to store and recall, or to calculate, we need to use our brains to process and think. The ability to analyse, think critically, and create will be the tickets to the future. Dan Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, lays this out superbly. As we merge with our technology (think Google Glass and Jawbone Up), we need to cultivate awareness and concentration so that we can process and use the information available to us. We need to build and grow real relationships, with our physical and virtual communities. We must understand and expand our humanity.

The world has changed. The train is moving out. Those who aren’t on-board will be left at the station.

A little over a decade ago, I was in San Francisco visiting my son, Randy Bias. This was before he became a cloud computing rock star. He shared a big Victorian house with a bunch of amazing, creative people in the heart of the Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco. One of his housemates was Amit Shoham, now a prominent SF DJ, artist and producer. I had recently released an album and was working hard to develop a career as a recording artist, in my spare time, which is another story.

When I first called him to work out my plans, he said,
“Mom, Amit’s got a studio in the basement. When you get here, we need to lay down some tracks.” “OK. What are we going to record?” “We’re going to lay down some tracks.” At that point, I began to get concerned. You see, recording is not that simple. You need a plan.

I voiced these concerns and Randy told me that we would be recording “house” and it would be alright. We would go in Amit’s studio and lay down some tracks. It was all under control. He had an idea of what we were going to do, but I needed more than idea. I wanted a plan. I wanted a song.

Often, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and start ups take a similar approach. They become captivated by an idea, but when the time comes to execute, the plan is weakly formed. If success isn’t forthcoming, they change direction. What I’ve learned, the hard way, is: make a plan and stick to it.

Nashville is home to some of the greatest songwriters in the world. There are also many wannabes. Smart recording artists learn to write their own songs by co-writing with the best. The ones who make the most money, stick to singing songs they had some hand in writing. They take time to learn the craft.

Smart business strategists take time to do the heavy lifting and work out a strategy. They make their plan and stick to it.

As I continue to reflect on David Smooke’s question, “What can we do to connect people with opportunity?” I wonder why, in this age of light-speed communication, multitudinous weak-tied tribes, and a bandwagon of technology tools to bring it all together, we even have to ask this question. It should be easy—to find a job, to find qualified people, to make good hires. But, it is not.

When I come in and start working with a client on recruitment processes, the first to embrace me are the overwhelmed HR and recruiting staff. The first to resist me are the hiring managers, because I make them sit down and talk to me. I want to know what is going on in their hiring experience. Then, things start to change. They get excited because they see activity and have hope that jobs that have been open for months will be filled. The resistance recedes. My 16 year old son made the comment one time when I was remarking on this, “They love you, Mom, because you make their lives easier!” Funny, but I’d never looked at it that way.

Facilitation makes things easier. Automation makes things faster. Technology should focus on facilitating hiring as opposed to automating recruiting.

In the recruiting process most metrics relate to speed, quantity, cost, and other things that equate to hard work for everyone. We make it hard for applicants to be interviewed. We make it hard for hiring managers to hire. We throw a lot of obstacles in the hiring path to slow things down so that we don’t “mishire,” because then, we will have to figure out how to fire without being sued. We do this in the name of “compliance and fairness,” but what happens to finding great talent?

Without naming names, some of the biggest offenders, with the most arduous hiring processes, are exceptionally well known innovators with thousands of employees and even more thousands of people trying to get their resumes reviewed.

Why is there a problem? What is the problem?

We have focused on automating flawed processes. Our automation serves our need to comply with employment laws but it doesn’t facilitate the hiring process. We have more stuff coming in faster, but the process to hire great people is harder. We need to make it easier, or we will never be able to connect people with opportunity.

It is time to put “ease of hire” at the top of the long list of staffing metrics. In future posts, I will discuss some ways to make things easier for everyone.

Pat Sharp, The Talent Architect blends strategy, technology tools, and assessment tools with marketing magic to create unique talent solutions. Past and current clients include: Motorola, Deloitte, TiVo, and Cloudscaling. Visit The Talent Architect. Photo Credit DevCentral.

Originally Published on the SmartRecruiters Blog

David Smooke is a blogger’s best friend when they are blocked. He asked me to write about the “industry” so I asked him to define the industry for me. The title of this post is his definition.

I don’t share his definition, by the way, but I do think his definition is how those of us involved in any form of recruitment, staffing, hiring, or talent acquisition, should think about what we do.

There are plenty of people thinking about the opportunity side of the equation; that’s where the money is. But far too few of us really stop to consider the poor schmuck who is looking for a job. I am talking about the new college grad who has to start repaying loans in 6 months, and the single mom who needs someone to watch her kids while she goes to a networking event, and the 58 year old guy who was laid off after 20 years because he was too naive to read the signals that he needed to upgrade his skills, and the highly educated administrative assistant (premed at Stanford) who, although highly engaged with and committed to the company’s business, neglected to negotiate a fair salary and demand appreciation for her value to the firm.

There is a shortage of people who have the requisite skills for many positions open in this country. In this article, I will look specifically at jobs in IT, because I know it well. I believe the same issues occur in areas such as healthcare, skilled manufacturing, and services.

In my area, middle TN, specialized IT jobs are open for months. Employers wrestle with relocation and work visa challenges while those doing the work of IT wonder if they will be able to take a vacation. Those who lack skills try to find a way to get them, but the educational institutions teach dated and irrelevant skills. What is wrong with this picture?

In the meantime, “staffing” firms, internal recruiters, and agencies chase the same resumes on job boards and LinkedIn. They post positions everywhere they can think of. They make calls to people in their databases and ask for candidate referrals. Local candidates play musical cubicle and nothing really changes.

Many, if not most, would say that this is just a result of simple supply and demand. But, if there are plenty of people of average intelligence (the majority of us) who are willing and able to work, we should be able to acquire enough skills to do this work. When nearly everyone who is near a public library can access the internet, it should be easy to find out where we can go to learn something new that will help us get paid a reasonable wage.

Companies have contributed to this shortage. When some realized they could find cheap help desk talent in India and decided to outsource in droves, this dried up one avenue of apprenticeships or ways that people could learn on the job. It also discouraged people from pursuing these jobs because of concerns that once they did acquire the skills, they would be laid off anyway.

Now, one of my clients has international help desk support in the US, Europe and backup support in India. It’s a model that works well and the help desk is the primary entry point for people with minimal technical experience (a year or so) to get into a global company, build skills, and move into more demanding roles. This is great, but more entry points are needed. This scenario is what every IT manager I know goes through each time a key person leaves.

What are companies doing to address this problem?

They are forming talent communities to try and connect talent with their culture. I am not sure this is working as well as intended, but it is an interesting development.

There have always been college internships and entry level positions for recent grads.

But, what about people who aren’t in college? Many are able to do these jobs, with a little training.

What are staffing firms doing to address this problem? Could they partner with community colleges and/or training companies to train and test potential workers, then place them in entry level positions to gain some work experience?

All parties would have to give a little. Employees would need to accept lower wages than those with experience. Staffing companies would need to accept lower margins. Companies would need to invest in training people who aren’t actual employees, but, they could cherry pick the best and the brightest with minimal risks.

I’ve had discussions with local thought leaders who proclaim that the colleges in our area aren’t doing enough to provide relevant education. But, education is not the same as training. Someone pursuing a computer science degree is on a bit of a different path than someone who wants to learn how to maintain a computer network. I think the gap is in training opportunities. Companies aren’t training workers the way they used to.

When it comes to the build or buy decision, they’d rather buy. It’s perceived to be faster. But, as long as there is a huge gap between the demand for skills and the supply, the buy decision will work best for those with vast resources. The rest of us need to be resourceful and innovative as we find ways to equip people to become the talent we need to compete.

Those of us who comprise the “industry” need to propose and promote practical and workable solutions. One thing that will help is to educate job seekers on what they can do to be more competitive. No one is helpless; we are just woefully naïve and unaware of what our options might be. Since I am on my high horse here, I will put a stake in the ground and offer a series of three free one-hour Career Catalyst Audio Conferences to help job seekers. I would love to actually have a practical panel of experts. Who would like to partner with me on this?

To help jobseekers by participating in the Career Catalyst Audio Conference, comment on this article, or email David@SmartRecruiters.com or Pat@thetalentarchitect.com

Pat Sharp, The Talent Architect blends strategy, technology tools, and assessment tools with marketing magic to create unique talent solutions. Past and current clients include: Motorola, Deloitte, TiVo, and Cloudscaling. Visit The Talent Architect. Photo Credit PSconsulting

Post Originally Appeared on the SmartRecruiting Blog.

Are “Passive” Candidates Superior? In the olden days, before the internet, when search consultants (recruiters) received fees of 25% or more for white collar professionals with 3-5 years of experience (those were the “good” olden days, believe me!), those of us who wanted to catch the big fish, realized that the money was in finding great candidates who worked for the client company’s direct competitor. We guarded our Rolodexes with our lives. We didn’t call them “passive” candidates, but we were looking for someone who was happy with their company and not on the job market. The perception was (and I think it was reality at that time) that people who were “on the market” were there for a reason, and it wasn’t a good one.

Today, it’s a different story.

Behind the idea of the passive candidate is the notion that if someone is happy, they are engaged in their work. This may not be the case. Perhaps they are comfortable and in a cushy situation, which is why they don’t want to leave. Sometimes (in my experience, often) someone who fits the “passive” profile is not the most engaged employee. Passive doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Active job seekers (like much of the LinkedIn crowd, except for the recruiters) may be looking because they don’t feel valued. Many people on LinkedIn are actively interested in making a job change; having an impressive profile is an alternative to shopping their resumes. Does this mean they are truly passive candidates? They may be bored. They may feel their talent is wasted. I know of a data architect who left her last job because she felt the leadership team didn’t have its act together. She decided they were wasting her time! She is now “unemployed,” but, not for long. She’s the real deal!

Unemployed doesn’t mean inferior. It may mean that the employer is unimaginative about how to effectively deploy talent or worse, perhaps the managers, who have been there too long, are incompetent. Depending on your generation, you may see Greg Smith (“Why I’m Leaving Goldman Sachs” ) as a hero or a rat, but I very much doubt that he is incompetent.

When companies have massive layoffs, do you think it’s the employees who are incompetent, or those who are responsible for developing and implementing a competitive strategy? What does it say about talent innovation when companies choose to outsource rather than invest in their people? We can do better.

While passive candidates are not a “bad” thing, they are not necessarily superior candidates for employment. Many players in the talent acquisition ecosystem have economic incentives to promote passive candidates as the preferred choice. Recruiters who get paid for placing talent have less competition when presenting someone who isn’t actively looking, but wise employers will use objective measures to assess ALL applicants to choose the best. They will cast a wide net and seek out diverse sources of talent.

Pat Sharp, The Talent Architect blends strategy, technology tools, and assessment tools with marketing magic to create unique talent solutions. Past and current clients include: Motorola, Deloitte, TiVo, and Cloudscaling. Visit The Talent Architect or drop her a line at pat@thetalentarchitect.com. Photo Credit MyPencil.

Post Originally Appeared on the SmartRecruiters. Post a Job. Hiring Made Easy

I’ve lived and worked all over the US: Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, Oregon, and the east coast. I chose to make my homebase in middle Tennessee, just south of Nashville. Tennesseans have many passions: football, music (all kinds) and fishing are at the top. I fit right in. I love football; I came here for the music; and the fishing is fantastic.

Since football season is over and the daffodils are popping up everywhere, it’s only natural to think about fishing. As I fantasized about fishing, I realized how similar recruiting is to fishing. Recruiters have distinct styles that correlate to 4 types of fishers: Noodlers, Opportunists, Net fishers, and Fly fishers. What type best describes your recruiting style?

The Noodlers (Catfish)

Noodlers wade right into the mud. They get down and dirty. Using their hands as bait, they go after the biggest catfish they can find and wrestle them out of the lake and onto the shore. This sport is not for the faint of heart. And, while you might think this sport is only for men, there are women who are formidably fearless in their pursuit of big game cats (catfish, that is!).

Recruiters who seek out the most impressive LinkedIn profiles, who lure those people with enticing bits of company information, and who stop at nothing to get them onboard, remind me of noodlers.

Casting a Wide Net

Net fishers make a living from the quality of their catch. They go to the best site (ocean, bay, farm) and cast the widest net possible. Their biggest dilemma is how to handle the unwanted catch. Sometimes they catch a dolphin when they wanted a tuna. How do they save the dolphin without losing the tuna which will pay the bills? Then there are the tiny fish that just get lost in the shuffle. Do they get tossed or used as bait?

Recruiters who have to tackle volumes of openings (retail, contact centers, truck drivers, etc.) have to constantly think of creative ways to attract talent. They not only have to attract good ones, they have to find civil and legal ways to throw back the ones who don’t fit. And, when you have lots of fish flopping all about, that’s not an easy task. These recruiters have to be as adept at using recruiting technology as they are at being charming at job fairs. The pace is exhausting and many times their catch is rejected when applicants’ drug screens or background checks don’t make the grade.

Fly Fishers

While they don’t make movies about noodlers, A River Runs Through It won an Oscar for best cinematography in the 90s. There is even a “Zen and the Art of Fly Fishing.” Watching an expert fly fishing is almost like watching ballet. It seems more art than sport. Masters are experts on every element: fly tying, fish habitat, casting technique, etc. They remind me of the sophisticated executive search consultant who knows how to source and seduce the highest paid executives. However, I suspect there is often more mystique than technique.

Opportunistic Anglers

These are opportunistic fishers who make a practice of knowing when and where the desired type of fish is. For example, when I was a young girl, I went trout fishing the morning after the stocking truck had dumped a load off the bridge. Guess where I cast my line? That’s right. A few yards from the bridge is a nice little pool. Always caught my limit of trout in less than an hour.

This is my preferred recruiting style. Fish in open waters. I like to work smart, not hard, or maybe I’m just lazy. Opportunists know where the best candidates hang out and how to get their attention with a compelling message. They offer bait using nets, traps, poles, or employee referrals.

Now you know what makes a noodler, fly fisher, net fisher, and opportunistic angler. What type are you?

Lessons I’ve learned from fishing that work for recruiting:

• Know where the fish are
  • Habitat
  • Bait preferences
  • Best times to catch
• Have a plan. Match your strategy (bait, technique, etc.) to your objective. Don’t use a net when you need a hand tied lure. Don’t get down in the mud and noodle for catfish when you are hoping to find a small mouth bass. Choose the recruiting strategy for the conditions.
• Put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to get out and mix with the fish. As they say down here, either fish or cut bait!
• Be patient. If you’ve done your homework, you will have success.
• Don’t rule out Lady Luck. Keep your eyes open because often, the biggest fish are where you least expect them. I have filled many jobs when someone popped up who was perfect, but if I hadn’t kept my eyes open, I would have missed. Don’t be too proud to use your luck.
• Most of all don’t obsess about the one that got away.

Happy fishing and recruiting!

Video Credits National Geographic, Creeksprinter17, OnlineFlyFishingShop, and Pixelopolis

Photo Credit FieldsAwake

Pat Sharp, The Talent Architect blends strategy, technology tools, and assessment tools with marketing magic to create unique talent solutions. Past and current clients include: Motorola, Deloitte, TiVo, and Cloudscaling. Visit The Talent Architect or drop her a line at pat@thetalentarchitect.com.

Editor’s Note: To fish – ahem, recruit – from all channels, Post Originally Appeared on the SmartRecruiters Blog em>

John Sumser “published” an HRxaminer article, Star Candidate Experience in 17 steps on Jan 25.

I clicked to read it right away – intrigued – for candidate experience is not usually the focus of articles on recruiting strategy. The article was as you would expect from one of the oldest and most respected voices in Internet recruiting, John Sumser. But, 17 steps is a lot to remember. In fact, the 18^th step of the article reads, “and so on.” Then John wrote, “If this list seems familiar, it might be because it’s a seven year old piece,” which links back to a post published in July 2006.

Can’t we be more direct? Can’t we make it simpler? Can’t we make it EEEasier?

The three Es to create a great candidate experience on a careers page are: easy navigation, engage the visitor, and educate.

1. Easy navigation

All kinds of people visit your careers page. Customers, investors, students, teachers, competitors, and, oh yes, people checking out your company to see if it’s a good place to work. Anyone who visits your corporate website may decide to check out your jobs. So, put the Careers link right up front. Don’t make people have to search for it. Don’t bury it in your “about” link, or “contact” link. If you have a great company, then, let your visitors know it’s a great place to work.

Your jobs should be searchable or listed by location, job title and job function. It should be easy to get to a specific job. Each job should have its own page ID, so that all those people who visit, are just “shopping,” but, then see the perfect job for their next door neighbor or cousin or boss and can email the URL and spread the word. Ideally your job ads should have one click sharing features to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. It’s a key component of viral marketing. Don’t miss this opportunity to leverage web of mouth advertising.

2. Engage the visitor

The best way to engage people is with a story. We want to hear stories about real people who work there. In fact, we want to see real people. It’s easy to post videos of real employees talking about what they do and why they love working there. If you don’t have such employees, your problems won’t be solved by a great career page. Candidates want to see your people philosophy and strategy, what HR Influencers are currently calling “talent management.”

Now, how do you get great stories? Engage your marketing department because recruitment is a marketing problem (to be discussed in a future article) and they understand how to connect the message to the receiver. Ask your employees to volunteer their stories. We live in a reality television age and everyone seems to be friends with the camera. Can you think of a better employee recognition program? Plus it’ll be fun (if you think making a company video can’t be fun, you haven’t seen Twitter’s Join the Flock viral video…)

Prospective employees also want to know about your products and strategy, so consider including interesting tidbits about a best selling product. Steve Jobs was a master at this. That’s why Apple’s employees are so engaged. They have a common goal of delivering game changing products.

In stories about your company’s leadership, toss the suits. Lose the formality. Theory X is passé, anyway. Show their human side with pictures and videos of them talking to employees in a real work environment. If you have great managers, let your employees brag about how much they get from their managers. If the number one reason people leave is their manager (some say, “People don’t quit jobs, they quit managers.”), what do you think is one of the biggest motivators to join a team?

3. Educate

This is a best practice for careers sites, and job ads. Be transparent.

It will save you lots of time later and get them on the right track, even before they get their badge. What to teach?

• Your values and culture, key for new hires to know.
• Something about your industry and the competitive environment is good, too. Yes, of course, the highly motivated job seeker will do their homework by viewing your Social Media Footprint and your annual report via Yahoo! Finance, but you need to think about what any new employee needs to know to be successful. It amazes me to walk into a client’s facility and discover an employee who knows exactly how his or her job contributes to the company’s goals.
• Keep your topics employee-centric, with information about benefits and career options.
• Information about the hiring process (don’t lie!) is great, too, so that people know what to expect.

The overall goal is to communicate why great people want to work at your company. Don’t muddy the message with HR compliance speak such as “we are committed to a diverse work environment” and “we are an equal opportunity employer.” If your HR exec insists on such messages, put it in the fine print at the bottom of the page. If you want a diverse workforce, then show pictures that prove your commitment to diversity. When candidates read the “commitment to diversity” blurb, then go to the “leaders” page and see and read little to no diversity, candidates will think the company is lying. If you want to attract the right kinds of people, then look for ways to broaden this depiction of your company culture. Don’t be afraid to ask your marketing department for help.

Post Originally Appeared on the SmartRecruiters Blog.

There are days when I love LinkedIn. Last week, after posting to this blog, I was reading a LinkedIn discussion about SmartRecruiters receiving a $5 Million capital infusion. There was some debate on the viability of their business model and strategy. Being a bit of a strategy geek (two degrees and too many books on it!), I was hooked. I quickly scanned the news and visited their website. I bookmarked it to revisit when I had more time.

That same evening, when I returned home after being onsite at a client’s all day, I received an email from David Smooke, SmartRecruiters marketing maven, which read, “Hey Pat, You understand the importance of a career Site. Any interest in collaborating with me and writing on SmartRecruiters’ SmartRecruiting Blog?”

Intrigued, I decided to investigate further. I listened to Wempen and Tincup’s interview with SmartRecruiters Founder/CEO, Jerome Ternynck. Jerome has a fascinating story. He was unable to find work in France, his home country, and emigrated to Poland to work. He is now in San Francisco, ostensibly to have a better vantage for the 2013 America’s Cup, but, I’m guessing he had a taste of Peet’s coffee, something I miss nearly every day <sigh>. California wine is tasty, too, but, I digress.

Tincup, as always, gave a great interview, highlighting Ternynck’s passion for zero unemployment. Now, that’s a first! Most recruiting tools are recruiter/employer centric, with secondary (if any) thoughts of benefits to the job seeker. A free applicant tracking/job posting service that cares about people looking for jobs? Whose founder is on a quest for zero unemployment? How could I say “no” to David’s inquiry?

I hope you will visit and comment on my posts. I will post links here, of course, and, now, because I have a new home to talk about talent acquisition, I will write about strategy and innovation here. For the record, I will not be paid to post; my thoughts remain unfettered. Stay tuned!

Last summer, I had the opportunity to help a friend who was having some challenges staffing his infrastructure team. I hadn’t actively recruited for over five years, but, I thought it would be great fun to be onsite, work with smart people and play with new tools such as Jobvite and Checkster.  It seems like yesterday that I was having coffee with Jobvite founder, Jesper Shultz, as he shared his vision for a unique recruiting tool that would leverage social networks and help recruiters manage their applicant flow.  Yves Lermusi, who developed Checkster in his post-Taleo career, was a memorable speaker at one of our NCHRA meetings. I discovered (as Raghav Singh tried to tell me) that in spite of some really cool tools, the recruitment process hasn’t changed since I first cut my teeth at the Santa Cruz Operation in the 80s.

I’ll stake my career (spanning leadership roles in technology, professional services, and HR) on three things:

1. Your company’s career site must function

Your marketing team spends a lot of money to attract customers to your site. While they are there, they will almost always look to see if you’re hiring. Any one who becomes aware of an opening you have (via employees, job postings, advertising, etc.) will go to your website to learn more. Don’t blow your biggest opportunity to attract talent with a dysfunctional site.

It needs to be easy for people to navigate and apply. If it isn’t, the best ones won’t bother. Only the most desperate job seeker will bother to click more than 3 times to apply. If your applicant flow is slow in this job market, look at your career site with a critical eye. It may need an overhaul.

2. No murky messages

Potential employees need to know what you want.  Don’t be lazy with your message. Most job postings are cut and pasted versions of job requisitions, which are rarely read internally. Netflix’s jobs page is a great example of how to do it right!Treat applicants as nicely as you do your customers

3. Treat applicants as nicely as you do your customers

The dreaded white postcard or automated response that says, in essence, “we got your application. Big deal. We will review it when we get a chance, and maybe, just maybe, you will hear from us” is no way to treat future employees, who may be one of your customers.

It isn’t that hard to answer an email or return a phone call. Customer service reps are adept at this and customer service skills are important competencies for recruiters and HR professionals.

To attract people who will make a difference, focus your resources on these three things.