The Perfect Fit

Empowering Employees

After my most recent post on team and organizational leadership, I started thinking about employees' most popular complaints about their employers.  There's an eerie similarity to most employees issues with their existing employer.  Yesterday I was going to write a blog on those almost universal issues employees have.  These are the issues most important to employee retention.

Before I had a chance to compose that blog posting, I received an email from a candidate I've worked with over the past couple of years.  His admitted "rant" and obvious passion do a wonderful job of saying many of the things I'm going to write about.  This gentleman is a new media Creative Director and Producer, with expertise in online communication and story telling by utilizing a myriad of various media.  Any employee can substitute their professional function(s) for some of these specifics and I bet they can wholeheartedly empathize.

The candidate wrote to me:

"I want an executive level producer position that will allow me to work on fun, high level, CREATIVE projects that include audio, video, web, stage events, etc.  Anything entertainment related! Projects that mean something!

I want to work for a company that RESPECTS their employees and APPRECIATES their talent and years of experience.

I want a position that will allow me to grow professionally, as well as help grow and build the company, with the possibility of ownership or stock.

I DO NOT want to write code any more!  I am more than happy to work with developers at laying out how something should function, but I do not want to be the guy to code it.

I DO NOT want to work for a company or clients that EXPECT you to find freelancers and talent that will work for FREE!  I respect the time and talents of people I work with and I want the company I work for to do the same.

I want a position that pays at least $75k per year plus benefits.  I would consider taking less for the right position, but there would have to be a potential up side down the road.

I do not care if the position is in St. Louis or out of state.  I am open to the possibility of relocating for the right position and the right salary and benefits.

I know that was a rant, but that is what I am looking for.  It may not be out there, but at this stage of the game, that is what I need.

I am attaching my promo kit as a refresher.  I look forward to your feedback be it positive or a smack in the head.

Thanks my friend."

I smiled when I read this, in appreciation of his honesty, energy and frustration.  It seems so simple to give an experienced, competent professional the support they need to do their job . . . then let them do it! It's remarkable how infrequently that happens.

So tell me, how many of you can empathize with his frustration?  Care to share some frustrations of your own?

Empowering Leadership Leads To Success

I've been paying more attention to Twitter lately, investigating how I can use the tool to add value to our clients and candidates.  I invite you to follow me at HeadhunterBob.

I received a tweet yesterday from a fellow member of the Washington Universtity Alumni Association.  That tweet was "What does it take to be a great leader?" and referenced a recent interview in the New York Times.  That article is an interview with Shantanu Narayen, President and Chief Executive of Adobe Systems.  The article was written by Adam Bryant for his "Corner Office" column.

I was hooked when I read Mr. Narayen's response to the first question, "What's the most important leadership lesson you've learned?"

 "I think two leadership lessons really stand out for me. He forced me to think about doing things that I did not think were possible. Challenging individuals by setting goals and then letting them use their ingenuity to accomplish them is something that I hope I can pass on as part of my leadership style. If you set a common vision and then get really scary-smart people, they do things that amaze you.

The other aspect of being a good manager has always been getting gratification from what others do, because the higher you get in management, frankly, the less you do yourself."

I think this article is a wonderful comment on managers letting their people work. Give them the opportunity and support, and let 'em go!  I'm continually hearing from candidates that their employer, or manager just wants to micro-manage, or in some other way hold them back.  Employees aren't given the freedom, opportunity or support to show what they can really contribute.  It's frustrating for employees, leading to frustrated employers, who then feel a need to manage more.  It's that vicious, never ending circle of frustration that compels employees to want to find a better place to work.

I encourage you to take a moment to read the entire article.  It has simple, yet profound insights for company owners, executives and employees alike.  You can find the online version of the Times article here.

Proud To Be In IRSA, International Retained Search Associates

Remember that club in high school that you so wanted to be a part of, but were never invited?  Or more recently,  that exclusive professional organization or association that so attracts you, but membership is by invitation only . . . and you aren't so presumptuous to think you'll ever be invited?  Well, IRSA is just that sort of association for me and Bishop Partners, LLC . . . IRSA stands for the International Retained Search Association, and I was invited to be a member in January of 2008.

Since that time, IRSA has been refining its role and value to the members.  I'm pleased to have lead the drive for a new identity and positioning for the organization.  The re-branding effort was lead by St. Louis' own branding and design consultancy, Yank and LImey.  My good friend Ben Franklin, who in my opinion is one of the best designers of brand identify anywhere, created our new logo and identity.

I'm also proud of the new website we've just rolled out.  To view it, click here.  My fellow IRSA members trusted me to direct the design and development of the site, which is intended to highlight the value that IRSA members consistently deliver to their clients.

IRSA is a group of about 25 retained recruiters, all of whom are leaders in their specialties.  Most have been retained recruiters for decades, and know exactly what they're doing.  Many are such accomplished recruiters, that they are routinely chosen to train other recruiters at national association gatherings, like the NAPS (National Association for Personnel Services) event coming up in Las Vegas.  To get an idea of what those events are like, you can check it out here.

From the moment I heard about IRSA, I was hopeful to become a member.  We meet twice a year to intensively discuss and share best practices with each other.  Since there is no "right" way to succeed at recruiting, different people have different approaches.  The glory of IRSA is that the members are very willing to share all their methodology with fellow members.  The value of that open sharing and mutual support is absolutely immeasurable.  It's not an exaggeration to say that every IRSA member is a better recruiter as a result of their involvement.

This association also helps each member recruiting firm provide additional support and capability to all of our clients.  Since the organization is truly international, with firms from every continent except Africa and Australia (at the moment), existing client relationships can be leveraged to provide those clients with additional capabilities and service all over the world.  The client can rest assured that they will be dealing with an experienced retained recruiter with the highest ethical standards and success rates.

I also work with a number of candidates who are interested in working in other countries.  IRSA will give Bishop Partners a far better opportunity to be able to move those candidates to spectacular opportunities in other cities from Beijing to Paris.  It's an exciting additional capability.

I'll also have the ability to provide candidates for our partners in other cities, who are looking for premier performers in the areas of marketing, advertising and corporate communications. 

Succession Planning or Getting Out Alive?

St. Louis is blessed to have a myriad of small to medium sized firms, many of which are doing absolutely outstanding work.  Some of them are creating "properties" beyond normal marketing communications, which will turn into "assets" and reap absolutely sensational sales and profit.  There's an exciting diversity of work being delivered by a wildly diverse group of organizations.  Some of those are more organized, than others.

Many of the principals and owners in this group of agencies (for lack of a better term) are in their 50s, some staring at 60 or more. (I should point out that the same thing is happening with privately held companies, and the phenomenon is not limited to St. Louis).  Some of those principals have done an admirable job of planning for the succession of leadership in their shops, many more have not.  It's surprising to me. 

The benefits of succession planning include the ability to plan for stability and growth into the future . . . beyond the working years of the existing leadership.  That is of course to say that properly executed means the existing principal can continue their income beyond their working years.  The additional benefit of succession planning is the retention of existing employees and the ongoing ability to recruit new ones.

Employees worry when there's no clear plan for succession.  They're not stupid . . . they "get it".  From the employee perspective, lack of succession means lack of stability which inevitably leads to a lack of long term security for them.  The obvious and logical next step for those employees is to actively be keeping their eyes open for new opportunities as they become available.

I know of cases where the only thing keeping existing employees (and I mean productive and successful employees) where they are is the lack of alternative opportunities.  Even though I make a living recruiting premier performers to other career opportunities, I'm continually preaching to my clients that they need to focus on retention.  If they have great employees, they need to keep them, period!

There are loads of reasons owners don't focus more time on retention, they're "too busy", it's too soon, they believe their value to be such that it can't be replaced, they can't "let go", or even worse they don't care, or believe that they're the ones who're actually going to get out of this alive!

There are probably others, but none of them work.  They're all excuses.  If an owner has a viable business and is not focusing how how they can keep that business stable in the longer term, one has to wonder why.

Working With Headhunters, Part III

It's interesting to me to see which posts elicit responses and which do not.  If you haven't been following the saga surrounding the provocative email I received from candidate Jeff, you might start by reading Working with Headhunters and then Working with Headhunters, Part II.

Here's another thoughtful comment that was emailed to my by my friend John Salazzo, Director of Marketing for Craftsmen Industries, the leading manufacturer of customized vehicles for the event and promotion industry.

"I know its strange to hear from me twice in the same week but I saw your post on Plaxo about recruiting and had to make a comment.

I’ve been on the other side of the equation for years, hiring and working with recruiters. You know I haven’t worked with you yet so please realize this is from my experience with others. There are two important points I’d like to make.

Point One is that many recruiters don’t really do their homework and confuse quality with quantity. Some just aren’t good listeners and feel that through their salesmanship they can convince a company that the three selections are right for them when they are not. Additionally, the fee structures are high, especially when the recruits they send are not the right fit. One more thing, some recruiters take weeks to “comb over resumes”, I can tell you from this side, we all feel its an excuse for the high rates. Its especially true when the 3 resulting candidates are completely unimpressive.

Point Two is that many unemployed people are scared, desperate and naive about recruiters. They need to understand that they are the inventory for the recruiter. You work for the Company, he is your client. If there is no demand from a client for their skill and qualification set then they won’t get contacted every week by the recruiter. I don’t touch the spaghetti sauce until I’m making spaghetti—sorry for the poor metaphor. Recruiters can get a bad wrap from both sides. The candidates feel they are ignored after several very good conversations with the recruiting firm (“why don’t they call anymore”) and recruiters get burnt by candidates and companies. The candidates inflate their resumes and experiences, which makes the recruiters look bad and the companies either try to “backdoor” the recruiter or don’t really know what they are looking for.

It’s a tough business, especially now. I hope your experiences have had none of the above. I’ve used recruiters in Boston, NYC and London and there is a common thread. Recruiters are in business to make money. They exist to deliver a quality product at a perceived value, to meet a requirement. Like I said, it’s a tough business but I’m glad folks like you are in it."

I would love you to post that response as a comment on my blog at www.TheMarketingRecruiter.com.  Your comments are well put and to the point.  One of the reasons I’m writing this blog is for exactly these sorts of reasons.  I’m trying to help candidates better understand what recruiters do and how they do it.  Your note moves that conversation forward.

Thanks John.

I understand that many candidates don't know what to expect from a recruiter.  I try to manage expectations from the first contact. I try to be clear on my website, when I talk about "What should you look for in a recruiter?"