Todd's Thoughts
Perceptions vs. reality in the The Great Battle for Talent in Michigan; Getting Michigan’s workers back to work.
Perception is a key component in “people” business. Often times hiring managers rate how they perceive a candidate as one of their main hiring criteria. That same approach is also executed by job seekers. One misperception I've run into a lot is that staffing firms like Diversified Industrial Staffing are only in the business of providing temporary staffing or that we only work with candidates who otherwise could not get a job. These negative, outdated and essentially false assumptions cause people on both ends of the equation to miss out. Companies looking for quality help may not get it, and qualified candidates may not find a job that is perfect for them. This type of misperception can cost both companies and candidates the opportunity to create a profitable business relationship.
One strong misperception is that the candidates we place are the chronically unemployable; quite often they are the exact opposite. For our clients, we share with them that reality that The Great Battle for Talent in Michigan has begun. The recent trend we have seen is the difficulty in locating candidates who have a high skill level, dependable work history and the strong work ethic our clients seek. A lot of those people have jobs, have moved out of state or have retired. It's like finding a golden needle in a haystack. It may be hard to find, but it's worth it. For our candidates, we help them conduct a better second interview with our clients. The majority of our candidates are only looking for work because their company went out of business, which is something they didn’t control. Many of our candidates haven’t interviewed in 5 or 10 years. Studies show that conducting a job search and attending job interviews is one of the most anxiety filled experiences adults face in the United States today. We help those candidates overcome those fears, coach them on how to better present their skill sets and work traits, which diminishes their anxiety in subsequent interviews, allowing our clients to see the “true” candidate, compared to a nervous and anxious candidate.
There's nothing wrong with temporary work, obviously. Many people find regular work by accepting temporary assignments through temporary help firms. However, many people who are looking for permanent positions are afraid to work with staffing agencies because they assume all jobs are temporary jobs. Truthfully, staffing firms like Diversified Industrial Staffing work with companies to fill primarily permanent spots because hiring managers are often too busy with a multitude of responsibilities and we free up those resources by going through the hiring process for them. Companies with job openings cannot afford to be constantly interviewing and screening new applicants. Candidates need to accept that in the Flat World, hiring outsourcing and screening is here to stay and is seen as a valuable time saving business tool. Candidates should keep in mind that a recruiter can often times be an advocate for the candidate, and if the hiring manager truly trusts the recruiters talent evaluation skills, the recruiter often can get the candidate a job interview he or she could not secure on their own.
The Battle for Talent in Michigan isn’t going away any time soon. It is our job as recruiters to be an advocate for both sides to bring down the misperceptions and help Michigan and its workers get back to work.
Betting on Michigan Women
No longer content to pound against the proverbial glass ceiling, more and more businesswomen are constructing their own buildings these days. Whether it's private enterprise or public service, Michigan women are emerging as both dynamic leaders and entrepreneurs. One has only to look to the governor's mansion where the state overwhelmingly elected its first female governor –twice.
And women are self-starters. From 1997 through 2006, the Detroit area saw a 59% increase in the number of majority women-owned privately held firms, compared to 32% growth in all such firms. This is in line with the national trend of women-owned firms growing at roughly double the national average for all firms, according to the Center for Women's Business Research.
Still, only three out of nearly 40 high-growth companies presenting to investors at the recent Michigan Growth Capital Symposium venture capital conference had women at the helm. Jan Gensheimer, president and founder of Saline-based Seracon, Inc., a firm providing consulting and turnaround services to small and start-up high-tech companies, says women are still a significant minority at the president and founder or board member level of such firms, opting for "lifestyle-type businesses."
With all the state's talk of investing in resources and technologies that will help evolve Michigan's economy, perhaps the time has come for us to nurture and develop the untapped talent of women. After all, they compose more than 50% of the graduates at Michigan's three largest public universities – the University of Michigan (U-M), Michigan State University (MSU), and Wayne State University. Not coincidentally, two of "The Big Three" have female presidents: Mary Sue Coleman at U-M and Anna Lou Simon at MSU.
While the challenge for capital is universal, Michigan is in the perfect position to empower businesswomen who are more than ready to meet that challenge. With women already leading its government and top research universities, the state could and should aim to be the national trailblazer for women-owned businesses and economic leaders.
Source: Tanya C. Muzumdar - Metromode Media
Four Simple Ways to Improve Hiring (Part 1)
Change #1: Develop process and role oriented job descriptions
The Problem
Most jobs are filled using a job description that is outdated and inaccurate. The description is most likely task oriented and gives little insight into the environment, the expectations for the position, or the barriers to success. Information on what is “really expected” is left for the interviews.
To make it even worse, these outdated descriptions are extremely dull and do not attract top candidates. Listing detailed tasks and behaviors only attracts those job applicants that are “unemployed” and somewhat desperate. Employed individuals are looking for new opportunities and challenge.
The Solution
Individuals who are successful in the knowledge-based economy are looking for the ability to contribute to the organization. They want to understand what is expected of them on the job and what the issues that could affect their success are. They are not afraid of a challenge, but want to understand the situation. A job description or employment ad needs to provide this type of information to entice a top candidate to apply.
Change #2: Use objective screening device to screen applicant pool
The Problem
Most corporate hiring processes rely heavily on resumes and interviews to screen and select candidates. Both of these methods are high subjective. With the wide introduction of career coaches and consultants both methods can be easily rehearsed and enhanced making almost any candidate presentable and possibly enticing. The result is increased type 1 errors (hired the wrong candidate). The ability to determine whether an individual will “get it” on the job is difficult to determine from a resume and interview.
On the flip side, there are individuals who have a history of high job performance, but they have a position, haven’t recently updated their resume, haven’t read the latest advice on interviewing and resumes, or they just don’t fit the stereo-typical expectations of the hiring manager. The probable result is that the candidate will be eliminated, even though they are very qualified for the position.
The Solution
A quick (less than an hour) written assessment can objectively vet the candidates and “Identify individuals with the right stuff.” It provides a quick evaluation of bona fide occupational qualifications needed to be successful in a knowledge-based environment. Things such as cognitive abilities, self-reliance, self-direction, team orientation and being a life-long learner are all measurable qualifications that can be tested. The measured qualifications are different from many psychometric tests used in hiring that measure preferences or personality and not job performance. While personality and preference tests can be useful in career planning and team building they are unable to predict job
performance.
Source: AdageSolutions.net White Paper May 2007
(Look for Part 2 in next month's newsletter)
