I have heard many cheerleader reports attempting to claim the recession is over and the recovery has begun. I’m not so certain especially when these people note the stock market as the leading indicator. This article from CNNMoney.com explains why this cheerleader approach is flawed (my bold): Several experts point out than many of the relatively strong earnings reports helping to lift the markets in recent days are being driven by cost cuts, rather than strong revenue growth that would be a better indicator of consumers and businesses being willing to spend again. If businesses keep cutting costs to make the numbers that Wall Street wants to see, that can… Read More
Continue ReadingSpin Defined
From a CNNMoney.com article this morning (emphasis mine): Private sector employment fell more than expected in September, but the pace of job losses continued to slow, according to a report released Wednesday. Automatic Data Processing, a payroll-processing firm, said private-sector employers cut 254,000 jobs in September, down from a revised 277,000 in August. It was the smallest monthly total since July 2008. The decline was greater than the 200,000 loss economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast. But the difference was “not statistically meaningful,” according to Joel Prakken, an ADP spokesman and chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC. “Not statistically meaningful” – tell that to the 54,000 people who lost their job… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Trial Hire
I’m back from a needed break in this sour economy. Everywhere I go I ask people about their business. It is fairly consistent – something from “could be better” to “really down.” That economic context allows some freedom for hiring companies to incorporate what I call contextual hiring techniques. These are typically techniques that take longer to measure and allow the hiring company to see the salesperson in action. Some examples: Job Shadowing – just as it sounds, the candidate spends time with an existing sales rep to get an understanding of the position. Peggy McKee at Medical Sales Recruiter has a post on this topic. A friend of mine… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Pain Of A Lagging Indicator
Hiring, that is, and it appears that it is going to be an even rougher road over the back half of 2009. If you are in the recruiting, hiring, assessing business you are aware of this fact. 9.4% unemployment is remarkable. From abcnews.com: The percentage of people without jobs in this country is now at the highest point in nearly 26 years. Every month since January 2008 we have seen jobs disappear. So far the economy has shed 6 million jobs since the recession started push (sic) employers to start handing out pink slips. I’m still looking for the report that lists the number of jobs “saved” by the stimulus… Read More
Continue ReadingFunnel Or Sieve?
This Selling Power article title made me laugh – Are You Using a Funnel or a Sieve? I laughed because my son is a hockey goalie so the word “sieve” carries a special horror. That horror is compounded by the fact that we just returned from a hockey tournament in Winnipeg where I expected to hear some rowdy crowds and perhaps a sieve chant towards my son. My fears were unfounded as the Canadians were extremely pleasant. Hockey colloquialisms aside, this article makes many excellent points before turning into an advertisement. This entire graph is valuable: It’s an issue that makes sense from a cost standpoint as well. Karam says… Read More
Continue ReadingGet The Culture Right…
everything else falls into place. -Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com Now that is an interesting position, isn’t it? The article is from Human Resource Executive online and features a brief look at Mr. Hsieh’s “unorthodox” HR strategy. “We do two [job] interviews — the first for skills and the second for cultural fit,” he said, adding that the company has opted to not hire many talented candidates and has fired employees because they didn’t fit the culture or weren’t passionate enough about customer service. Fifty percent of the company’s performance review focuses on culture fit, he said. To ensure employees are committed to Zappos’ core values, it offers new hires… Read More
Continue ReadingThe 7.2 Flu
Today’s announcement of 7.2% unemployment is remarkable in a bad context. Yet, I do appreciate the AP writer’s opening sentence (my color): The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs. Dramatic, wouldn’t you say? Look, it is bad and most people realize that fact, but this type of fear-mongering is over the top. How about the third graph: For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost. That was the first half; here is the second half (can’t… Read More
Continue ReadingProper Interview Follow-Up
As an employer what type of follow up should you expect from a candidate? Should you receive a thank you? Should that thank you be a hand written mailed thank you, an email thank you or a quick text on your cell phone? Did that last one get your attention? It did mine as I read a post from Steven Rothberg. The post used a couple of quotes from hiring managers that were offended by candidates sending out an email from a blackberry within minutes of the interview and a text message to the managers cell phone. The hiring manager that received the text felt her “personal space” was infringed on. If… Read More
Continue ReadingJob Change Motivators
I like to say that people are the ultimate variable – there are almost limitless possibilities, variations, surprises, etc. One aspect of hiring that often gets overlooked is motivation. In sales, money is the common, assumed motivator. In many cases this is accurate, but money motivation can manifest itself in different forms. Our website illustrates some subtle differences between motivators. Selling Power has an article that speaks in slightly more general terms. I think these 4 are quite accurate in terms of my own interviewing of candidates. The second one is quite prevalent amongst Gen Y: Situations. This usually doesn’t have anything to do with the actual job, says Radin.… Read More
Continue ReadingJob Churn
The Career News newsletter has a short article about “job churn” that provides some good news for our present economic situation. The immediate reaction of companies, in a slumping U.S. economy, is to pull back on hiring activity, declare hiring freezes and even make layoff announcements. But these are only short-lived strategies as employers soon realize that they are deficient on talent in a competitive job market. After a period of reactionary cutting and freezing, hiring activity will return to a level of normalcy. Hiring is largely a function of ‘job churn’ and there is no evidence that churn will do anything but accelerate in the coming quarters. Churn is… Read More
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