CNNMoney.com reports on a specific area that is experiencing a hiring problem – lack of candidates:

Despite the slump at lowlier levels of the job market, there’s currently a war for senior management talent. In fact, 70% of executive recruiters surveyed by networking organization ExecuNet (www.execunet.com), say there’s a shortage of people who can step in and run things.

We’ve seen this shortage first-hand in the sales arena.  Strong sales leaders are in demand right now, especially in one corporate segment (emphasis mine):

Companies doing the most executive hiring aren’t necessarily the biggest, the ExecuNet study found. Employers with revenues between $51 million and $200 million are expanding their senior-level management teams by almost 30% this year, for instance. By contrast, companies with sales of $1 billion or more plan to hire only 12% more executives.

I wonder how much of this shortage is due to the numbers of baby boomers moving out of the workforce and the lack suitably-experienced Gen X managers to replace them.

Comments(0)

Funny article here from BusinessWeek.com titled Office Wear: A Tale of Two Generations.  There is a definite clash of generations when it comes to business attire, especially among women.  This article provides a discussion from both the Baby Boomer perspective and the Millennial perspective.

Some pull quotes:

It’s no wonder then that she is unnerved by women who drift into work wearing bright tops or fitted dress pants. Or that she is downright shocked when they wear even less, baring bellies, toes, or tattoos. “We banned flip-flops here two years ago,” says Gaines. “I still can’t believe we had to tell people not to wear them.”

Apparently I am dating myself by agreeing here – flip flops in the office?  Come on.

Gaines says Mahoney’s generation never has had to worry about sexism in the workplace, so the women think nothing of wearing clothes that highlight their bodies. Mahoney’s response? “I watch old Murphy Brown shows and see the big shoulder pads and the women dressing more masculine, and it is so off-putting. I don’t think that kind of fashion proves anything today. It doesn’t mean you are more serious. People feel more comfortable dressing in tune with their personalities.”

Murphy Brown and big shoulder pads.  Excellent reference.  I’m no slave to fashion, but I did enjoy the article.

Comments(0)

BusinessWeek.com has an article titled Today’s Top 10 Talent-Management Challenges that provides some interesting tidbits from 3 different talent managers.  One topic leaped off the screen:

6. Stemming the exodus of Gen X’ers from corporate life. A big threat in many firms today is the exodus of mid-career talent—people in whom the organization has invested heavily and in whom it has pinned it hopes for future leadership. For example, developing talent management practices and programs calibrated to leverage technology and create greater work/life balance has been a priority for Mercer over recent years.

The sheer smallness of my generation creates pockets of problems with the marketplace.  This particular problem is one with which I was not familiar.  However, I can attest to the fact that work/life balance is greatly valued among my Gen X friends.  This value has led many of them to pass on management positions in favor of continuing to excel in their current positions.

Now combine the aforementioned quote with this excerpt (my emphasis):

3. Developing a robust leadership pipeline. I believe one of the biggest potential threats to many corporations is a lack of a robust talent pool from which to select future leaders. This is in part a numbers issue—the Gen X cohort is small and therefore, as I like to say, precious. But it’s also an interest issue—many members of Gen X are simply not particularly excited about being considered for these roles. There was wide agreement among the panelists that a lack of individuals ready to move into senior client manager and leadership roles is a critical challenge.

Therein lies the challenge – how to develop leaders from a small (relatively speaking) group.  One possibility is that Gen Y will leapfrog Gen X and take those leadership positions at a young age.  I know this possibility does not sit well with me, but there may be no other solution.

Comments(0)

Proprietary information is a nuclear topic when dealing with salespeople who are leaving a company.  Product info, service plans, actual costs vs. pricing are all hot topics.  But for sales, the one thing that keeps managers up at night is the security of the customer list.

We see many companies who desire to hire a salesperson from the competition with the expressed hope that the salesperson will bring customers with them.  Quick note-it rarely happens, but that doesn’t stop companies from focusing their hiring strategy.

CNNMoney.com provides an article that discusses the legalities of this approach.  In the article is a phrase that I have not encountered before – garden-leave clause.  The explanation:

Greco also advises anyone changing jobs to read the paperwork carefully – both what they signed at their old job and what a new employer is asking them to sign. A growing trend: So-called garden leave (or gardening leave) clauses, which require an employee to give at least 90 days’ notice of his or her departure, during which time the employee must stay home and avoid all contact with customers. (Hence the name: You’ll have time to do plenty of gardening, or whatever else floats your boat.) The purpose of a garden leave is to give your employer a head start in trying to hold on to your clients before you begin working at a different firm.

Interesting approach and one that seems to have some legs based on this generational point:

Young people especially now have an expectation of moving around a lot from one firm to another,” notes Greco. “So it’s important to be aware of these kinds of employment agreements that can really slow you down.”

In sales, we often see the 1 year non-compete agreement which has some impact, but truly is difficult to enforce.  This garden-leave clause, if enforceable, should give companies the time they need to solidify their customer list before competitive pressure from the departed salesperson begins.

Comments(1)

From CollegeRecruiter.com:

Generation Y a/k/a Millennials promise to:

1. Hold only productive meetings. Hallelujah!
2. Shorten the workday by focusing on productivity.
3. Bring back administrative assistants — even if Gen Y pays for them out-of-pocket and even if they’re virtual.
4. Redefine retirement by taking multiple mini-retirements.
5. They’ll find real mentors by teaching older workers about technology and in return be guided through office politics.
6. Put human back into human resources.
7. Promote people to management based on their managerial skills, not their seniority.
8. Continue to value what their parents have to offer because Gen Y respects their parents and their parents respect their Gen Y children.
9. Trade off potential raises and promotions for higher starting salaries.
10. Re-invent the performance reviews by increasing their frequency from semi-annual or even annual to on-the-spot.

I’m with them on number 1 and 2.

Comments(1)

From BusinessWeek.com’s Ten Reasons Gen Xers Are Unhappy at Work (my editing):

Corporations really need Gen X—folks in their 30’s to early 40’s, who should begin to serve as our primary corporate leaders over the next couple years. But I fear many current corporate executives are taking this small and therefore precious group for granted.

Why are many X’ers uncomfortable in corporate life?

1. X’ers’ corporate careers got off to a slow start and many are still feeling the pain. You graduated when the economy was slow and the huge bulge of Boomers had already grabbed most of the key jobs. As an article in the May, 1985 issue of Fortune said: “[T]hese pioneers of the baby-bust generation are finding life on the career frontier harsher than ever…they’re snarled in a demographic traffic jam…stuck behind all those surplus graduates of the past decade.”

2. When you were teens, X’ers witnessed adults in your lives being laid off from large corporations, as re-engineering swept through the business lexicon. This engendered in most X’ers a lack of trust in large institutions and a strong desire for a life filled with back-up plans, just in case. Many of the adults you saw laid off and then struggling to reintegrate were in their 40’s—about the age X’ers are reaching today.

3. Most corporate career paths “narrow” at the top —the perceived range of options diminishes as individuals become increasingly specialized in specific functions or roles. X’ers crave options, which assuage your concerns about being backed into a corner, laid off from one path. The sense of narrowing career paths and increased vulnerability is often most palpable at the transition from middle to upper management—just where many of you are today. This step also often brings demands for relocation and separation from established social networks—an additional assault on your sense of self-reliance.

4. Just your luck—the economy was slow when you entered the workforce and now its slowing once again—just as you are standing at the threshold of senior management. Stepping into leadership roles right now looks more difficult and the roles themselves, more vulnerable than they have at any point in the past decade.

5. And then there are those pesky Gen Y’s. Many X’ers are charged with “managing” Y’s which—let’s face it—is an impossible task, at least if you define “manage” as controlling their channels of communication. While vying for promotions and trying to look good, many of you feel that Y’s are doing an end run around.

6. X’ers are, in fact, surrounded by a love fest—and not feeling the love. As I wrote in last week’s post, Boomers and Y’s are learning from each other—and enjoying their interactions. It’s easy to feel left out.

7. X’ers are the most conservative cohort in today’s workforce—and you’re surrounded by “shake ‘em up” types on both sides. In your personal lives, X’ers are not particularly keen on rules, but you had to follow them in the workplace—and you resent it when others now don’t. It seems unfair to be rewriting corporate etiquette when you’ve had to toe the line for so long.

8. Many X’ers’ are guarding a closely held secret: you’re not all as comfortable with the technology that is changing the way things are done as everyone seems to think you are. While it’s perfectly acceptable for Boomers to feign ignorance and ask for help, it’s embarrassing for X’ers to do so.

9. And if Boomer colleagues are annoying, the Boomer parents of your Y reports are down-right over-the-top. X’ers can’t believe the frequency of Y-parent interactions and are deeply turned off by parents who make their presence felt in the workplace.

10. Finally, your own parenting pressures are at a peak. You’re deeply committed to spending more time with your kids than your parents did or were able to spend with you, but juggling is getting more and more difficult.

Perfectly stated in my Gen X opinion.  I definitely feel like we are the forgotten generation stuck between two huge generations that suck all of the oxygen out of the room.

Comments(0)

I have a friend who is one of the steadiest guys in the world.  He is extremely talented, has worked for some large companies and has an impressive list of degrees.  However, he has been working on his career path since the moment he graduated college in 1992.

He has worked for 4-5 year stints at a few companies before joining a company now that is the realization of his chosen path.  The humorous aspect of his journey is that his employer is an old company.  Their initial review of his stellar resume was this – he is a jobhopper.  I still laugh when I think about that line applied to him.

It is all perspective, right?  He thought his 5 year stints were fairly secure while this company viewed it as risky.  He got the due to a strong recommendation despite the hiring manager’s concerns.  My friend has since started to climb up the corporate ladder with one success after another.

His story came to mind when I read this article from abcnews.com.  The article speaks to the increasing number of employees who work from home.  But tucked inside the article is this information (emphasis mine):

Having to replace a star employee who flies the coop can cost a company 150 to 200 percent of that worker’s salary, Seitel says. Considering Millennials and some of the youngest Gen X employees job-hop every one to three years, she adds, that turnover gets pretty pricey. Employers must spend time and money to hire and train new employees while sustaining losses in productivity, she said.

The hiring manager from my friend’s company would have a myocardial infarction if he read that statistic.  Every 1 to 3 years they change jobs!  The entire jobhopping definition is going to be turned on it’s ear by Gen Y.  They are looking for a career path like my friend except they are not going to be as patient.

Retention will continue to be a top priority this year and will increase with time.  Nomadism is going to be one important, low-cost tool for companies in their quest to keep their top employees.

Comments(2)

Not my words, but rather a quote from this Selling Power article:

“If I had to use one word to describe Generation Y, it’s empowered,” says Ann Fishman, president of Generation Targeted Marketing Corporation, a specialized marketing firm providing insight into consumer preferences, trends, and buying habits affecting the six generations of Americans. “This is a generation who has a tremendous amount of self-confidence. They are civic minded, optimistic, and want to be involved in their futures. They are going to come on very strong.

And now for some tips:

Fishman notes a few things to keep in mind when going through the hiring process with this group. First, Generation Y is very interactive, says Fishman and suggests getting them involved in the interview process very early.

The other thing that is really important to this generation is bonding and branding, says Fishman. “This group bonds to companies very early – they start bonding at age 10 and they are almost fully bonded by the age of 15,” she explains and advises offering summer internships, sponsoring field trips, sport teams, or volunteer causes. “You have to support their volunteer causes. This group has been volunteering since pre-K. Establish name recognition with them early on.”

And then the tip that caught my attention (emphasis mine):

Along those same lines, you need to be careful once you hire Generation Y employees; make sure that they have a clear understanding of what’s to be kept confidential. This is a group that has no concept of privacy. Their lives are online with MySpace, Facebook – everything is exposed and open to the public.

That is an excellent point.  I suspect there has always been some intellectual bleed from companies in the past, but Gen Y could multiply it by an order of magnitude more.

Lastly, a tip for hiring:

Speed is very important to them. They’ll give you a quick turnaround, but they expect a quick turnaround. If they can’t text message, then they don’t understand why. Email is almost too slow for them. A sales career is a great match for them, because the sales industry is fast paced.

Since they are speed demons, they aren’t really good at handling long-term projects. Fishman suggests breaking up long projects into shorter segments. Along the same lines, if you decide you want Generation Y employees, you need to hire them right away. They won’t wait around for six-month background checks or interview processes that take weeks. They want a quick response.

We got a bloody nose on this topic when we lost a good, young candidate who wouldn’t wait for our plodding customer to work through their baby boomer hiring process.  The candidate took another job before our customer finally decided to move forward.

We learned a valuable lesson from that experience.

Comments(5)

The Wall Street Journal provides an article that does a nice job of laying out the upcoming shortage of workers.  The focus is upon the different generations and the general drive behind each.  The article is rather rudimentary, but it provides a clean view of the problem.

First:

Americans of childbearing age simply are not producing enough kids to meet the economy’s future need for workers, notably in fast-growing fields such as medicine and engineering. The shortfall is coming largely because the fabled baby boom generation was so huge—75 million Americans born in the 18 years from 1946 to 1964—that no other generation can be expected to match it any time soon.

Ok, that point leads to this:

They are being replaced by two younger generations, each with its own desires regarding the opportunities and rewards available at work. The challenge for hiring managers is to figure out what these workers’ needs are, so that employers will be able to find them, hire them, and keep them on the job.

Retention is going to be a top business initiative over the next couple of decades which is a simply outcome of supply and demand.

The baby boomers: They place a heavy emphasis on work and successfully climbing the corporate ladder. Work is an anchor in their lives.

The Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1980: They enjoy work but are more concerned about the work-life balance.

Generation Y, also known as Millennials, born after 1980 and now age 28 or younger: They often have different priorities than their Gen X and baby boomer counterparts, Smith says.

“Because of their reliance on technology, [Millennials] think they can work at any time and any place and believe they should be evaluated on the basis of work produced—not on how, when or where they got it done. Curiously, most Millennials want long-term relationships with employers, but on their own terms,” Smith says.

And finally, here is the rub we have seen between Baby Boomer managers and Gen Y employees:

The Millennials respond poorly to those who act in an authoritarian manner and those who expect to be respected due to higher rank alone. They believe they can learn quickly, take on significant responsibility and make major contributions far sooner than baby boomers think they can.

Exactly.  There has to be a balance between the boomer manager allowing the Gen Y worker to grow quickly in the role and the Gen Y worker not expecting too much, too fast.  There is distinct tension between these two goals.

As they see, read the entire thing.

Comments(1)

From CollegeRecruiter.com’s Sample Interview Questions for Those Hiring Millennials:

William recommends that interviewers “incorporate more personal questions that expose a candidate’s personality, work ethic, and personal motivations” because “how a person approaches life is often indicative of how they’d approach work.” He therefore recommends rephrasing typical interview questions in a way that they better apply to the personal lives of your candidates. Sample interview questions in this area include:

• How do you primarily communicate with friends? How often?
• When you have a dilemma to solve, how do you approach it?
• How do you spend your free time? (Do you prefer doing activities solo, with friends, or in groups?)

Excellent advice for interviewing a Gen Y candidate.  The questions will lead to revealing insight into the candidate.  The secondary benefit that now you appear to be speaking their language which is valuable in itself.

If you were to tie these questions to an assessment, you would have an in-depth view of this candidate like you have never seen.

Comments(0)