6/27/2005

Overwhelmed in-house recruiter should not sacrifice quality hires

I'm an in-house recruiter and I'm often overwhelmed by my workload. I typically have 25 or more open requisitions to fill that each have the same tasks: resume reviewing, phone screening, and on-site interviews. All of these take a good deal of time to do properly. I'm curious to know where you think we might be able to cut services to our clients (department heads, hiring managers) and still provide what they need. How do we determine where our best value-add is and what we might sacrifice for the sake of efficiency?

Carrying twenty-five open requisitions at one time can be a challenging and daunting task, particularly if the requisitions are for many different positions in a market with serious supply side issues. Please keep in mind that the most important recruitment metric is "time to fill." Your real challenge is to meet this goal without sacrificing quality. If you cut services or make sacrifices for the sake of efficiency, you might lessen your workload but not meet the needs of your client organizations.

I am assuming that you don't have an applicant tracking system. If you did, with today's technology, resume reviews and telephone screens can be virtually eliminated by the use of sophisticated online tools. My first longer term recommendation is that you and your manager start looking at these products. The productivity savings alone will more that justify the investment.

Having said that, there are some things you can and should do in the short term. I would suggest that in concert with your hiring managers you redefine the process. It is important to note that you must get your line managers to buy into any changes in process. Any unilateral changes will have a negative impact on customer satisfaction. You currently have a three-step process: resume review, phone screening, on-site interviews. The one step that I would relook at is the telephone screen. Telephone screens usually add little value other than ascertaining somebody's salary or if they are relocatable or the like. All of this can be captured in the face-to-face interview and shared with the hiring manager at that point in time. I would eliminate the phone screen (provided you get your clients to agree). Hopefully this should help you better manage your workload.

-- LOUIS RUBINO

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Measuring cost per quality hire

What is the most efficient way to measure cost per quality hire?

Cost per hire is a very overrated metric with little real value because of so many variables. If you are intent on measuring cost per hire in a traditional manner, I would suggest two sources: the Saratoga Institute and Staffing.org. The Saratoga model calculates the average cost per hire by dividing the total recruitment costs by the total number of hires. Total recruitment costs include all sourcing expenses, internal recruiter and infrastructure costs, and relocation and travel expenses. The Staffing.org model focuses more on a staffing efficiency ratio by dividing total recruitment costs by the total compensation for recruited positions.

When you add the word "quality" to the cost per hire equation, you must look at the metric retrospectively: the only way you can measure cost per quality hire is much after the fact. A quality hire by definition is someone who stays with the corporation for a long period of time, adds significant value, receives outstanding performance evaluations, is viewed by that person's peers as a team player, and is promotable. The ROI on these employees is immeasurable and the cost of hire insignificant.

-- LOUIS RUBINO

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'Cutting edge' practices in recruitment and retention

I've been tasked with finding out what "cutting edge" companies are doing in regard to many different topics. Are there any new or unique methods being used by cutting edge companies to recruit and retain their employees? I've been using national online job boards and recruiting agencies without a lot of luck.

Many organizations focus primarily on their product brand rather than their employment brand. However, leading edge companies are using a well-articulated employment brand as the foundation for attracting, selecting and retaining top talent. Here are some steps within each of these three areas:

Attracting
• Articulate an ideal talent profile that reflects brand as well as key competencies for positions
• Integrate your employment brand into your recruitment marketing campaign
• Conduct an internal communications audit to assess ability to attract internal candidates.

Selecting
• Integrate your employment brand into your assessment instruments. Use multiple assessment tools to measure employees' competencies against critical success factors and brand.
• Use employment brand as a foundation for your behavioral interviewing protocol
• Involve your employees, who know your brand, in the selection process.

Retaining
• Perform an HR Programs Audit to determine alignment with your employment brand
• Have a proactive "onboarding" strategy to introduce the brand to new employees early as possible
• Integrate brand expectations and recognition into your performance management strategy.

Other best practices are linked to talent management in organizations. For example, employee development is linked to retention in most organizations. Research has shown that while only 30 percent of companies consistently use a formal approach to develop high-potential talent, 83 percent of high-performing companies do. At a time when organizations need to grow talent from within, many do not have an established process for doing so. One recent research study showed that only 34 percent of organizations can effectively identify future leaders.

The benefits of an effective talent management and selection strategy and program are many, including retention of top performers, reduction of recruitment search costs, and improved business performance and shareholder value, among others. Best practice companies, when compared to average performing organizations, are far more likely to include middle managers and key individual contributors in their succession management systems, and they are also more likely to have a talent management system that integrates succession management, recruitment, performance management, and reward systems.

Yet another retention strategy is to develop an effective employee engagement and communications strategy. Steps to improving engagement and communication include:

• Articulating your business strategy and mission clearly and concisely so everyone understands what's important
• Translating your business strategy into very specific employee behaviors that can be modeled by your leadership team and customized to departments and jobs
• Developing a plan to engage leadership to ensure they model the messages and listen to employees.

-- CHUCK MOLLOR

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Running CORI checks on a range of candidates

Can an employer choose to run CORI checks in a standardized way, with a signed release from the employee, even if the employer doesn't have an especially compelling reason for doing so (no fraud risk, employees not dealing with children, etc.)?

The Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) provides information to non-criminal justice agencies such as schools, day care centers, home health aides, youth athletic coaches, and municipal government agencies. Fees associated with the CORI range from $15 to $30 and in some cases may be waived. As long as the candidate consents (eg, signs a release) and the employer pays the fees associated with running the CORI, the employer can "CORI" any candidate for any job. However, due to costs involved, most employers do not run CORI checks for all positions but rather limit it to those that are most relevant and/or pose the most risk (i.e. working with children, money, etc). For more information on running a CORI check in Massachusetts, visit www.mass.gov.

-- TRACY BURNS-MARTIN

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Think beyond bonus to other retention tools

In this world of outsourcing, do you have any suggestion regarding a specific percentage of base salary for a retention bonus and/or any other vehicles that have proved successful?

First, think beyond retention to engagement. You need employees who are not merely sticking around, but are also enthused about their work and "in gear" to deliver on your organization's goals. Our latest research indicates that the top reason employees stay is that they like the work they do. Other key retention factors include favorable job conditions (flexible work hours, a good commute, etc.) and opportunities to use their talents and pursue career goals.

Second, get to the "reason behind the stated reason" people leave. It isn't always easy. Exit interviews usually provide more clarity than surveys because a skilled interviewer can ask follow-up questions. "Career," for example, means very different things to different people (everything from new challenges, new skill sets, to a new title).

Third, invest in hiring, training, and holding your managers accountable for strong leadership. Bad managers have been shown in multiple studies to send employees heading for the door.

Finally, consider retention or "stay" bonuses primarily as a way to get through difficult times such as a merger or impending layoff. There is no hard-and-fast rule for how much is enough. Higher-level employees usually receive a higher percentage of their salary. Many organizations cut case-by-case agreements with key employees. To make sure you maintain productivity, not just headcount, include specific performance goals that need to be achieved within a set time period.

-- MARY ANN MASARECH

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