Getting Through The Maze

Given the current state of affairs on the unemployment front these days it probably comes as no surprise that two of the most asked questions we get from ExecuNet members who have been caught up in all this are:

1. What is the "secret" in dealing with recruiters, and

2. What sort of strategies are there for moving from one industry to another?

I could easily list another ten to twenty questions that would all have double digit percentages in terms of how often they come up, but for now and in the interest of both time and space, a comment and a recommendation.

Comment: When someone finds themselves in a job search, it has long been both a knee jerk reaction for the person to say to themselves that one of their primary strategies is goiing to be one of "working with recruiters." On the surface, of course, that has some logic to it in the sense that most equate recruiters with jobs.

What is forgotten all too often however is that recruiters "work for clients" not candidates. Once they have sourced a candidate they may "work with them" to help get them ready for presentation to their client, but they are a long way from being the person who is going to help the candidate find the next job.
Of course the other fact that is easily forgotten (maybe repressed?) is that the percentage of positions filled by recruiters vs. what is out there is relatively small. The numbers vary, but if it reaches as high as 20% that would be pushing the envelope. It is more likely 10-15%.

So maybe the question really ought to be not about working with recruiters but rather how should I be interacting with them as one potential contact point in my search.

Recommendation: While our members have any number of resources to draw upon, including a whole section of the site that is focused only on recruiters, if people ask me for just one resource that I think puts this all in perspective and has excellent, solid and practical advice, I point them to Nick Corcodilos and a book entitled: How to Work with Headhunters.

Recommendation: When it comes to looking for similar quality input on the issue of making a change from one industry to another (not an easy task by any means) my suggestion is to check out Nick's latest which he calls "an answer kit" that carries the title of (as you might guess) How Can I Change Careers? This is a 36 page PDF crammed with answers on this tricky challenge.

One of the hardest things about dealing with the issues of transition is trying to make some sense out of something that leaves many of us with the feeling of being caught in a maze and continually running into dead ends.

If you are looking for a maze guide, Nick comes highly recommended.

Houston: My Net Isn't Working

Aside from the frustration experienced by job seekers from what feels like the "black hole" in responding to postings on job boards (and there is enough on that subject to provide fodder for posts for the next year!) the next major pain point often seems to be around the dreaded word for anyone in transition: networking.

Yes, they have read the stats be they from our own Executive Job Market Intelligence Report or a zillion other sources all of which report that at the executive level somewhere between 50% and 80% of the time, networking is what made it happen. Our own experience has been consistantly at the 70% level which is one of the reasons we invest so much time and energy to provide our members with the ways and means to expand their personal and professional networks both on and offline.

[And BTW, ExecuNet networking meetings around the country and in Canada are open to anyone, be they a member of ExecuNet or not].

In any case, armed with all this overwhelming data, why is it that I continually hear from people who say to me, "Well, this networking stuff may work for someone else, but it sure as heck isn't working for me."

After talking with such a person for a while, it usually becomes pretty clear pretty fast that they are still on a learning curve when it comes to really understanding what networking is. They are still at the stage where they think that networking is a noun.

In their mind networking is a "thing." They haven't quite gotten the message that really effective networking isn't a program ~ it's a process. Said another way, networking isn't a formula that you plug in and a job falls out at the other end. What is it? Short version: It's a process of building a relationship.

As you might guess when I say that, heads nod in agreement, but when we talk further it becomes clear that the "agreement" is really more about "understanding" the concept on an intellectual level not on a "personal/emotional" level, to which I usually says something like: "This just in, real relationships are personal and are based and built on trust not concepts."

After that, not a lot of time passes before I hear something like: "Okay Einstein, and I do this how"? To which I usually respond by asking some questions like: "How have you built relationships in the past"? "Were these relationships where you weren't worried about getting something"? "Did the relationship start with you trying to help this person"? "Where was your focus - on them or yourself?"

So what I am trying to do here is actually stumble to a point: behavior is driven by attitude.

If you enter a relationship where "getting" comes before "giving" people will sense it and if that is the attitude they continue to see, what you will have, best case, is an acquaintance and probably not one whose face will light up at the mention of your name.

I know this sounds horribly naive, but I can't help it; for good or for ill it seems to be in my DNA. To over simplify, at a macro level, I think there are two types of people running around the planet: givers and takers.

Now for sure, the "takers" get more ink (think too big to fail?) and I don't have stats to prove it, but my life experience suggests that at least when it comes to making a career move, the "givers" make changes a lot faster than the "takers."

Technology Is A Means, Not An End

Like many other businesses with a major online presence, we do lots of "live" programs which means there is no time for a do over. A few weeks ago, we experienced a techno glitch during one of our online programs. It was a sold out show and halfway through, our web meeting provider lost our connectivity. Not only was access lost, so were a few pounds from the stress.

Fortunately, these problems have been few and far between. Since ExecuNet was founded in 1988, obviously the business was built on the old fashioned forms of communication. We migrated online 15 years ago when the Internet was still a fledgling outlet.

Having gone through this migration, over the years we have seen firsthand how the Internet has the power to bring people together. Our members report deep and long-term networking bonds with each other, without ever having met in person. I also doubt that any of us would argue that contacts, referrals, introductions and advice are instrumental to getting help with both business issues as well as career management challenges and I would be lying if I didn't say that is has been deeply rewarding to be part of an enterprise where one of the fundamental goals is to help foster these relationships.

On the other hand, incidents like this one when we got "unplugged" serve to remind me more than ever, that as wonderful as all the technology is, businesswise or career wise, it is still about relationships that are built on trust.

This is one of the reasons why, even with all the electronics today, we still tell people, there is no substitute for face to face. It is also why our networking meetings are open to anyone be they members with us or not. Indeed, the whole purpose of the meetings is to give all those attending one more venue in addition to everything else one would hope and expect they would be doing to expand their personal and professional network.

All we ask is that people come with the attitude and spirit of helping each other. If you haven't checked out a meeting, come join us. You can always check out the upcoming events in your area by just clicking here.

It's Getting To Be That Time of Year

I don't know about you, but in my case I can tell you that when they were passing out the genes for creatvity I was either sick or on vacation. It's a good thing for me that my wife got more than her fair share otherwise both our house and my home office would look like it was decorated in an "early Salvation Army" motif, and that's only on the personal side.

On the business side they simply have stopped asking what I think about the design of anything be it print or electronic. After all, back in the day, I thought the Edsel was cool looking.

All of which is to say that I hold anyone who has design talents in awe. Not just because of the professional talents they bring to what they do, but also because of the frustration they must feel in dealing with something so subjective. How they ever get clients to agree with anything is beyond me.

If you have read this far you are probably wondering (and rightfully so) what, if anything, this has to do with the title of this post? Such as it is, here's the link:

A few days ago we got a notice from the Connecticut Food Bank that a donation had been made in ExecuNet's name (specifically on behalf of our VP & Executive Director Lauryn Franzoni). The donation was made by Rob Hudgins the president/creative director of a graphic and web design firm down in Florida called 50/50 Design. Rob has been a prime design resource for us for years.

As it turns out, Rob's company marked their 10th anniversary this past July, and to mark that occasion rather than spend lots of money on self-serving hoopla, he decided to go to each of his clients and have them select a charity of their choice to which he then wanted to make a donation on their behalf as his way of saying thanks to the companies who have helped bring his business to where it is today.

When I learned all this, it got me to thinking that before any of us know it, the holiday season will be here (Sam's Club has Christmas stuff out already and it isn't even Halloween!) and lots of businesses big and small will be thinking of how to say thanks to their customers/business partners, etc.

While it is true that the economy is slowly trying to pick itself up off the floor, as we all know for millions of folks through no fault of their own, getting off that floor is still many months away.

So, if your company is looking for a really nice way to say thanks and give some extra help to those in need, you might want to borrow Rob's idea when someone asks "does anyone have any ideas of what we should do this year."?

Members vs. Subscribers

One of the really interesting things about having been around as long as we have is that we have experienced what it is like to be part of a community both on and off the Internet.

As many who read this blog are aware (i.e. both of you) I started ExecuNet in 1988. Hell, now that I think of it, there were fax machines then and we still thought technology had gone beyond amazing and then along came CDs and left us speechless. Time flies as they say.

In 1995 we silently and with great trepidation turned on our website, we were concerned about a lot of things, not the least of which was losing the relationship with our members who up until that point could not become a member without actually talking to a real live person and/or getting hundreds of emails a day from high school kids with nothing better to do.

The email overload turned out not to be a problem then, but it is now with the never ending SPAM for Viagra, Rx offerings from Canada and easy money opportunities from the President of Nigeria.

While executives can now join online, we have held firmly to our belief that really effective networks/communitites (be they for business or career or both) are built and based on real relationships not simply a collection of Vcards.

I was reminded of this recently when I thought about a panel I was on some years ago wtih Craig Newmark of Craigslist and Laurel Touby, the founder of Media Bistro. The subject we discussed was the building of online communities.

Even though none of us had talked to the other about what we were going to say. The common thread was that each of our sites had grown by personal referral and personal involvement with our "community."

“Word-of-mouth” is obviously impossible to actively control, but when it works in your favor, the positive results can be quite powerful. ExecuNet was, as mentioned above, formed well before commercial Internet usage, and obviously at that time we relied heavily on referrals from our members.

Now nearly twenty-two years later, we still credit recommendations from our members for much of our success and longevity.

In today's world, the value of word-of-mouth buzz is compounded by the speed in which news travels over the Internet. My desktop blinks constatly as the "tweets" pour in.

No matter how people get here, however, I have always felt that personal referral was the most powerful advertising there is, and that is evidenced by the fact that the community we have with ExecuNet is based on the commitment that comes from being a member. That was -- and still is -- the key factor in why personal referral remains the way most of our members get here.

One of the first questions many people who contact us for the first time ask is how we measure our effectiveness as a resource for senior-level executives? My response is usually along the lines of "How did you hear of us?"

The answer more often than not is "A friend of mine told me about you." To which I then respond, "Well, you have now found a good part of the answer -- by reputation. Most people I know don't refer people to something unless they feel there is value there. I don’t, and I wouldn't expect you to either."

There is a real difference between being a member of something and simply a subscriber. Subscribers transact; members TRUST.

Putting America Back to Work

Bill George is, as many already know, a professor of management at HBS and the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic. He also wrote the 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. In short, he is one of those people who as the old E.F. Hutton commercial said "when Bill speaks, people listen." And well they should.

If you didn't see his piece in the past week's edition of BusinessWeek it is well worth the read. If you are short on time, the Cliff's Notes version is that he shared some ideas of what we should be doing as the country keeps moving toward rebuilding our economy and creating sustainable jobs.

Specifically, he argues that we should be focused on "innovation, entrepreneurship, small business and new company formation." which if you believe in history seems pretty hard to argue against.

To prime the pump he thinks that if tax credits for long-term investments were raised along with making the current tax credits for R&D permanent it would go a long way to creating jobs in the aforementioned areas.

Moreover, he points to renewable energy, information technology and healthcare as logical places to start which also may seem obvious to many but these too are hard to argue against.

When I had finished reading Bill's op ed piece and put BW down, I was reminded again of just how important innovation is and how it really is and has been the engine that drives job creation, and if we don't make a concerted effort to provide an environment that fosters innovation far more so than is currently the case, "Do you want fries with that?" could well become our epitath.

Perceptions Are Real to Those Who Hold Them

Our banjo playing Chief Creative Officer, Sue DiAmico, is, among other things, a multi-tasker extraordinaire, so I wasn't surprised when she found the time in her cyber travels to forward a piece that appeared on the eMarketer Digital Intelligence site. The article was entitled: Job Candidates Both Hurt and Helped by Social Networks. As the title implies, the information about you on the Net can be a two-edged sword.

As I continue to contemplate the electronic world in which we live and while I am fascinated with it all, at least when it comes to the "digital dirt" issues that face some of the Gen X and Y folks, I not only feel for them but actually feel lucky that I was born way too soon.

Indeed, once I had read the piece, I could not help but think of the fact that if some of the stuff that I did when I was in college (or high school for that matter) ever made it to the Net, and I was a hiring manager and saw it or read about it, I wouldn't have made a phone call to me, much less hired me.

No matter where you are philosophically, when it comes to the debate over the separation of business lives vs. personal lives, if you are looking to make a change on the business side and whereas you might put points on the board for freedom of expression when the cover of an album on your Facebook page is a picture of you and your buddies standing by someone's VW that you just put on their porch last Halloween, points, not paychecks will be about all you'll get.

I don't know how many clichés there are or ways to say "You only get one chance to make a first impression," and for sure there has been plenty written on the subject (e.g. when I goggled "digital dirt" I got 3,600,000 hits); and yet even in this super competitive market I can't get over how we still see way too many people head out into the market before they are really ready to make sure that the impression they are going to leave be it verbal, print or electronic is at the quality level that they not only would want for themselves but which others would expect.

I am not talking about the crazy stuff that most of us did. If it's out there, it's out there, and while there are still plenty of folks who are at senior executive levels today who have been eliminated by recruiters due to stuff the recruiter has found online, for the most part at senior levels it isn't the skinny dip photos that gets your resume shredded. It is much more likely to be sloppy spelling, poor follow-up, poor communication skills, poor grammar, or maybe a resume that looks like it is a "before" sample.

With the pressures facing organizations these days, they don't have and won't take the time to get a second impression, so taking the time to make sure that "the product" is ready for prime time is not only time well spent, it is absolutely essential.

The Biggest Bang for the Buck

If one of your goals as a leader is to become a better communicator, there is no better time than now to do just that. Indeed, given the present economic envionment, if you are a leader there has never been a time where it is more important for you to communicate to those you lead.

As we all plan to spend the balance of 2009 moving beyond the recession and into some sort of recovery, the fact remains that the economy and its instability are top-of-mind for most employees. Therefore, it’s crucial to keep the lines of communication open as you navigate your company through these uncertain times. Employees are counting on you for that.

Consulting firm Watson Wyatt surveyed employers about communicating in this rough economic climate. Among the topics employers said they are addressing include company performance and solvency as well as job security — issues employees say are of the most interest to them. Hardly surprising.

How is this communication occurring? According to the survey, the most popular methods seem to be town hall meetings, staff meetings and face-to-face talks. Even email and company intranets are effective tools. Apparently the survey was done before Twitter came on the scene or it probably would have had that as a source as well.

Regardless of the channel, the good news is that the majority (62 percent) said they’re not going to stop. In truth, I was a bit disappointed and surprised that the percertage wasn't higher, but 62% is a good start and hopefully once times improve they will not go back to "business as usual" and allow the "grapevine" to communicate for them.

Why was I disappointed even with 62%? The answer is because if I was the head of HR and the boss came to me and said your budget for the year is $1.00 and you must pick only one item on which to spend it, I would tell him that I was going to spend it on communications with the staff. That's how important I think it is and here's why:

The real driver for productivity doesn't come from the application of technology. The technology is just the tool. The real difference maker is the committment level of the individuals in whose hands the tools are placed and my belief is that committment comes from the motivation that is bourne out of trust and good news or bad (especially bad) the enteprise that levels with its people - wins.

This is not to say that there aren't any number of other elements involved, of course there are, but if these are not bulit on a foundation of trust, long term the organization will find committment replaced by people who are simply going through the motions.

And before you say "Hey Dave, tell me something I don't know," explain to me why more companies don't do it? Maybe it's because as my mother used to say their leaders have the "morals of an alley cat?"

Looking Ahead

As most readers who know ExecuNet are aware we have been up to our ears in the career and business issues impacting senior level business leaders for 21+ years.

Among other things this means as an organization which is focused on the executive level we have been around for the last three recessions and because of our relationships with not only our executive members but our RecruitSmart members as well we hear a great deal of the business buzz both positive or otherwise, and it is no secret that much of what all of us have been hearing for a long while falls into the category of "otherwise."

Nonetheless, we keep our radar open and operating and going back to March of this year and "otherwise" notwithstanding, we were reporting and seeing and hearing about "green shoots".

I am happy to say that this has continued, and if you are interested in a take on the economy both current and going foward gleaned from our somewhat unique perspective, you might want to take a few minutes (less than five) to hear what our President (and resident economist) Mark Anderson's thoughts are as he looks at where things stand now and what he sees in the coming months, all of which were captured by ExecuNet TV and posted on YouTube just yesterday.

Agree or disagree, feel free to comment.

Hiring Roulette

Among the all-time debates with no answers such as: nature or nurture; chicken or egg and of course DiMaggio or Mays there remains the nagging one of hiring or retention.

What is tougher, making a good hiring decision or retaining "A" players once you find them? These are issues that probably have been studied, surveyed, poked and prodded by more organizations than have sworn off applicant matching systems, attitude surveys and exit interviews combined, but that doesn't mean that we don't keep on looking for the answers even though much of the time the results in the real world make us think that our resident guru is Monty Python rather than McKinsey.

But undaunted, we keep trying, and even though the study will be a year old come October, the Corporate Executive Board and more specifically the Recruiting Roundtable which is a subsidiary of CEB released the results of a significant study last October which they say was the first of its kind in that they tried to actually identify the key reasons why more than 50% of the hiring organizations or the new hires themselves regret the decisions they made.

When one thinks of the time, energy and money that is focused on the issues of hiring and retention, this is not a number that generates optimisim on either side of the debate.

In any case and for sure, the issue is certainly not going to be solved here, but nonetheless I thought the study was of sufficent interest to share in the event there were those who might not have seen it or like me, had forgotten about it as we are wont to do. Even so, the data has lost none of its importance to any one of us who sit on either side of the desk:

The study details several contributing factors, including that 40% of new hires report the information they received about the job when they were applying was less than accurate. Overall, only half the time will organizations and new hires achieve a win-win outcome where both agree that they made the right decision.

"Given the high cost of early career turnover, organizations cannot afford to make the wrong hiring decisions," says Senior Director Donna L. Weiss. To save millions, the Roundtable aims to help organizations reach that win-win outcome closer to 100% of the time. After analyzing data from more than 8,500 hiring managers and 19,000 of their most recent hires, the Roundtable identified three important reasons organization fail to consistently hire high quality candidates:

(1) they over-rely on candidates describing themselves rather than having them demonstrate what they can do,

(2) they don't follow a consistent, evidence-based selection decision process and

(3) they fail to provide the candidate with enough information and 'experience' about what the job is really like.

Based on detailed quantitative analysis and over 100 interviews, the Roundtable has identified 10 key strategies that organizations can deploy to improve their selection processes.

One recommended approach is to move beyond the traditional selection process to include an experiential component to the process. Weiss adds, "By providing candidates with an experience that is either 'on-the-job' or that is key to job success, organizations can better observe a candidate's capabilities and a candidate can get a better sense of what the job is really like. This is one way to drive to more win-win outcomes."

If you felt the information in the study was interesting and/or helpful, on Friday, August 21st at 1:00 p.m Eastern, you might also want to consider joining Leah Haunz Johnson who is the Senior Director of the Corporate Leadership Council of CEB’s Human Resources Practice. Leah is going to be the featured presenter on an ExecuNet Webinar called: Motivation vs. Malaise: Driving Engagement in a Troubled Economy

About the Recruiting Roundtable

The Recruiting Roundtable provides research, training, and tools to help recruiting executives and their teams make decisions that achieve the highest return on their investments. Roundtable services address key recruiting challenges in areas such as recruiting strategy, sourcing, candidate assessment, diversity management, employment branding, onboarding, outsourcing, metrics, workforce planning, among others. Additional information on the Recruiting Roundtable can be found here.

About the Corporate Executive Board

The Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) provides analysis and authoritative guidance to the world's most successful organizations. With a member network of over 80% of the Fortune 500, the Corporate Executive Board delivers indispensable resources for timely decision-making on all issues related to strategy, operations and general management. For more information you can click here.

I have purposely left the information on both the Recruiting Roundtable as well as CEB here in case some readers might be becoming aware of one or both for the first time. If you operate in or care about hiring and/or retention space either from the corporate side or the staffing industry side these are sources for thought leadership that merit your continued attention.