Recruiting Vs. Hiring

I have been working as Human Resource Consultant and for me Recruiting is most important part. I really feel that if you recruit right person then you don’t need to work hard on other aspect of Human Resources. To recruit the right person the company named Zappos pays new employees to quit. They want to make sure they recruit the best and most suitable ones. These companies are always looking for recruiting the best and not just hiring when they need it.

Now my question is that are you Recruiting or Hiring? When you see this question you might feel that Recruiting and Hiring are the same. So, what is the question about?

According to Seth Godin’s, “Recruiting is the act of finding the very best person for a job and persuading them to stop doing what they’re doing and come join you.” It is about recruiting passive job seekers. Passive Job Seekers are those who are satisfied with their current designation in their present organization. They are high flying executives formulating successful strategies for the companies. Most importantly, they are highly engaged, motivated and not seeking a change. They don’t even update their resume. These employees are self motivated and are too satisfied or too successful to even consider shift. These are the decent percentage of the best talent in the industry. Recruiting is slow and need lot of passion and hard work to pursue the passive job seeker. It is future oriented and helps to achieve organization long term goals.

Hiring is just about filling your current Human Resource Need. It is about letting the world know that you have job vacancy for the active job seekers. Active Job seekers are those who are not satisfied with their current designation in their present organization or those who are in desperate search for the job in the market. Mostly they are an average or low performance staff. They demand lot of things and are mostly unhappy and de-motivated. Hiring is fast and easy where you just collect the application from people looking for a job and then select one from those candidates. This only help to fulfill your  current requirement but doesn’t help much in achieving your long term goals.

I hope now you are clear about Recruiting and Hiring. Both are important in their own way. So, choose the right mix according to your company strategy and goals. All the best…..

I just read one article titled “Why the Wrong People Get Laid Off — And How to Prevent It” written by Peter Bregman on Harvard Business Publishing which write about how wrong/good people get fired and how we can prevent it in future. So, I though of listing it in my blog as well.

Lisa (names have been changed) held a mid-level position in Human Resources at a large bank and received stellar performance reviews every year for five years. Conscientious, she delivered projects on time and communicated clearly with her manager. Responsible, she organized her work so that if she was sick or on vacation, others would know how to respond to requests or issues that cropped up.

Several months ago, she lost her job.

Here’s the kicker: she wasn’t laid off despite her superb work habits. She was laid off because of them.

To understand that, let’s go back a year to when the U.S. government bailed out AIG. “Too big to fail,” we were told. The fallout would reach every nook and cranny of our economy. The reverberations would be felt around the world. Failure was not an option. So we pumped billions of dollars into their survival.

On the other hand, when Lehman was teetering on the edge of collapse, the government decided it was small enough that failure was an option and, given the alternatives, the best one available. So Lehman failed. And our economy went into free fall. Oops.

The government’s mistake was in judging Lehman by its size. They thought Lehman’s collapse would be contained, affecting only Lehman and a few other companies. But they were wrong.

Because it was never about size. AIG and Lehman weren’t too big to fail. They were too confusing to fail.

Their businesses were too complicated. Countless little deals that nobody — including their leaders and managers — fully understood. They broke up huge pieces of business into innumerable little bits and then spread them around to millions of people. The business was untraceable.

Which created a Gordian Knot. Legend has it that Gordius, king of Gordium, tied a knot so intricate that no one could untangle it. There were no visible ends. It lasted for centuries.

The lesson here? The more difficult it is to untangle your work, the more dangerous and unpredictable it is to let you fail. On the flip side, the easier it is to untangle your work — to understand your job, how you’re doing it, and who you’re affecting — the safer it is to cut you loose.

Which bring us back to Lisa. I spoke with Lisa’s manager, Sam, about why she got fired. Sam was upset about it too; the decision was made higher in the organization.

“Honestly?” Sam told me, “Lisa was fired because she was safe to fire. We knew what she was doing, who she was working with, what she was responsible for. Her work was contained. We understood the impact. There are other people who are less effective, less productive, less good but we can’t fire them because we don’t fully know what they do, what ramifications it would have.”

In other words Lisa was clear, conscientious, and contained enough to fail. So she was fired. Other employees, possibly more reckless ones, whose jobs were less clear and more confusing — the individual equivalents of AIG or Lehman — posed more of a risk. So their jobs were safe.

When the wrong person is fired, it hurts everyone involved — the person and his or her company. There’s a better way to solve this problem and a worse way. The worse way first: If you’re an employee and want to protect yourself, you can do two things:

1. Be excellent. The more effectively you deliver on your goals the less likely you’ll be let go. Employers value productivity.
2. Be confusing. The more ambiguously you achieve your goals the more difficult it will be to fire you. Employers fear uncertainty.

There are two problems with this. One, it might backfire. Being too opaque could get you fired, especially if you’re not quite as excellent as you think. And two, while this strategy might help you as an individual, it hurts the company which, eventually, will hurt you as an individual.

We got ourselves into this economic mess in part because leaders didn’t understand what was going on in their own companies. While tying a Gordian knot may help individuals keep their jobs, untying it will help the businesses stay viable. That’s the critical challenge facing industry today.

Here’s the better way — one that helps everyone. Don’t let anyone be a Gordian Knot. Leaders and managers can’t afford mystery. They need to know what each person in the company is doing. Not just the results but the behaviors as well.

Write out role descriptions (or have people write their own); ensure each person has a transition plan with a clear, organized, standardized system of managing information; and, above all, communicate. I’m not suggesting you control everything people do — that would be micromanaging — I’m suggesting you know what they do.

When a company fires the wrong person, it’s more than simply a bad decision. It’s an injustice. And, with a little work, it’s preventable.

There’s a beautiful story told by Isaac Luria, a 16th century Jewish mystic. According to Luria, God placed divine light into a number of special vessels to use in creating the world. But God’s light was too vast to be contained and the vessels were shattered, scattering shards of light throughout the world. It is our job to repair the world by gathering the lost light. It’s a job that is passed from one generation to the next; a job that is never finished.

As we navigate through the complexity of repairing our companies, a job that may well take generations, let’s build stronger vessels to contain the light. That way, even if they do shatter, at least we’ll have an easier time picking up the pieces.

At Christie’s auction house in New York a painting by Lucien Freud will go up for auction. It is of a rather Rubenesque nude woman asleep on a couch. It is expected to fetch the highest price ever for any living artist. Its title: “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping.” That is not the image the HR function needs!

So what’s the solution? How can HR practitioners elevate the strategic importance of the function and attract the best talent to this incredibly important field? HR isn’t about paperwork and summer outings. It’s about the acquisition, development, and measurement of talent. It’s a deeply strategic field with the power to make tangible and lasting effects on the organization.

In the hands of the right people, HR would not be a career dead-end; it could be the new road to the top. It’s a sad state of affairs that crunching data and managing outsourcers are considered better career tracks for aspiring leaders than creating and executing people strategies — but that appears to be the case.

Even though I’m not in the field, I’m fed up for my HR brethren. HR is a critical player in executing a company’s larger talent management strategies – something lost, it seems, on too many companies. After all, what moves the organization? Its people. Recruiting the best and the brightest talent, implementing strategies to get the most out of them, guiding the development of top performers, addressing weak links, measuring the value people deliver to the organization. What could possibly be more important?

Apparently everything else — at least if you judge by the career tracks and opinions of most executives. So where does HR stand in your organization? Is it a disrespected function or can it be rehabilitated? Is it even possible to move HR out of the wings and onto center stage? If so, how?

Now is the time for a magnanimous but totally basic gesture. It is simple and free, and will lift your spirits too. It is so simple that as a “sophisticated” Harvard Business School expert, I am almost reluctant to mention it. But it works.

The gesture: Send notes of appreciation to the people on your team telling them specifically what you value about each of them as colleagues. Surprise them with something they might not know that you notice. No form letters. Preferably handwritten notes, to stand out in the impersonal email clutter.

If you are not the big boss, you could also ask the next level above you to send a letter to your team acknowledging their contributions.

Some of the best CEOs are known for their handwritten notes. When Jeannette Wagner headed Estee Lauder, she always had stationery with her on trips to keep getting out those notes, sometimes sent in the next hour after a meeting. U.S. Presidents have built their goodwill banks of future supporters through handwritten notes (not the ones generated by machines). One of my most revered bosses, former Harvard Business School Dean John McArthur, wrote them. Former Harvard president Neil Rudenstine did too, winning over the same contentious faculty members responsible for the overthrow of his successor, Larry Summers, who was more likely to dole out criticism, not appreciation.

In organizations and professions where a show of emotion is rare, recipients might secretly treasure the note because it is unexpected. Your own mood will improve as you think positive thoughts. This is scientifically proven.

Of course you know this! This is just a reminder. It works at home, too.

Author : Rosabeth Moss Kanter

In this context I would like to share an article by Damon Darlin in New York Times.

Jack Ma, the chief executive of Alibaba Group, stopped by to talk about his plans for Alibaba.com, the Chinese Web site for making business-to-business connections, and Taobao.com, the Chinese answer to eBay.

As a prominent businessman in China, Mr. Ma gets asked a lot about the declining state of the world economy. He said that he was eating at a restaurant recently when the owner recognized him and asked when the recession will be over.

“Next year,” Mr. Ma replied.

The restaurant owner was surprised, Mr. Ma said. “The recession will be over next year?” the man asked.

“No,” said Mr. Ma, “Next year, we’ll all get used to it.”

Mr. Ma thinks the recession is going to last three to five years. “If you don’t accept that, you are in trouble.”

Mr. Ma said he was in the United States looking for partnerships. He thinks that Alibaba could help out-of-work Americans looking to start a small business. A person goes to the site to find suppliers among the directory of about 4.2 million companies. A click of a button next to a listing generates an e-mail asking about prices or samples.

Someone with an idea for a new product could use Alibaba to find a contract manufacturer, said Mr. Ma. They could also use the service to get a prototype built.

At least, he hopes he can appeal to entrepreneurs. He worried that the American dream is dying here. “You don’t see the hope here,” said Mr. Ma. “This time they are waiting for the government.”

Layoffs affect survivors in various ways. Here’s what you can do to limit the damage.

Creativity. Evidence from several researchers suggests that downsizing dampens survivors’ creativity – a potentially dangerous development for almost any company. Because this effect appears to be related to employees’ negative perceptions of their work environment, put renewed effort into team building to maintain or improve work-group stability and into providing challenging work, which stimulates creativity.

Communication. Downsizing tends to disrupt social networks and information exchange within companies, adding to employees’ negative feelings. Encourage increased contact among managers and employees, promote active listening, institute open-door policies, and get employee input into decision-making.

Perceptions. Downsizing tends to increase stress, burnout, insecurity, and mistrust of management and reduce morale, job satisfaction, and commitment. Such perceptual changes are linked to greater turnover, diminished helping behavior, and poorer job and company performance. Reduce layoffs’ fallout by helping employees to see the process as fair and showing that other options were considered first. Something else that might help: A moratorium on future layoffs, even if it has an explicit endpoint. One study found that the anticipation of downsizing can have an even stronger effect than layoffs themselves on employees’ negative perceptions of their work environment.

Turnover. Our own research shows a substantial increase in voluntary departures after layoffs, even if the downsizing was small. The costs of being understaffed, as well as of employee replacement and training, are unwelcome expenses when a company is attempting to save money. All of our recommendations above can help limit voluntary turnover. And for the future, institute HR policies promoting a sense of justice, such as confidential problem-solving avenues and an effective grievance or appeals process; companies with those practices had lower rates of post-downsizing increases in voluntary turnover.

Stars. Pay special attention to high performers. Research by one of us (Trevor) shows that employees who perform better and have more training, education, and ability are the most likely to quit if dissatisfied. Provide support and encouragement, and help them see that downsizing opens new opportunities and channels for promotion.

Source: Andrew O’Connell

After posting a job ad, the responses start to come in within a few hours. 95% of the time the candidates have no idea how to reply to the job ad and will either send over:

• The same old copy-paste reply which they use for every job ad
• A vague reply in which they don’t sell themselves to me

Having been on both sides of the fence – as an employer now, and as a freelancer about 5 years ago – I’ve come to learn what makes a great response to a job ad on a freelance site such as those listed above, and I thought I’d give you a few pointers in this article to help you win any and all freelance jobs you apply for.

1. What’s in it for me, the employer?

If you’re replying to my job ad for a freelancer, you need to sell me on your skills and the benefits of hiring you. The best way to do this is with a short list of bullet points, such as:

• Expert technical writer whose written for Microsoft and eBay
• Fully dedicated to your project with a keen eye for detail
• 100% money back guarantee if not satisfied for any reason
• Fast turn around time

In the example above let’s assume I’m a freelancer trying to win a freelance job relating to technical writing. First up I “name dropped” Microsoft and eBay. As an employer this would get me thinking “wow, this guy’s written for Microsoft and eBay. He must be good, I’ll keep reading.”

Next, you’re telling me that you’re a harder worker and you’re SO confident in your work that you’ll give me my money back if I’m not happy. That eliminates all risk for me from the get go.

Finally, you’ve guaranteed me a fast turn around time, which I like because I have 100 other things to worry about and don’t have time to micro manage you.

2. Does your subject line get my attention?
When I post a job for a freelancer, 99 times out of 100 the subject line will be something like “Re: Technical writer position”. If I have 85 emails in my inbox then that wont get my attention.

Be creative with in the subject line of your email and do whatever it takes to get the attention of the person who posted the job. Here are some good examples that have worked on me:

• “You will NOT find a better technical writer than me. Guaranteed.”
• “Delete your post on eLance – read my resume to find out why”
• “I’ve worked with 2 of your closest competitors”
• “I am an expert at using your product and can write your user guide with my eyes closed.”

Compare the subject lines above to this: “Re: Technical writer position”
… and you can see what a huge difference just the subject line can make.

3. Are you a real person?

You’d be surprised how many candidates don’t include contact details in their reply to a freelance position. Just because you work from home it doesn’t mean your only communication methods should be email and IM.

Employers want to know you’re a “real” person, so to get the ball rolling and have a better chance of winning the job, try ending your email with something like this:

“I’m located in Los Angeles, California, and am able to begin working on your job right away. Please feel free to call me on 555 0199 to discuss the project any time. I look forward to hearing from you.”

Even if the person who posted the job is comfortable dealing with you via email, just showing you have an open line of communication can make a world of difference when it comes to winning a freelance job. You’d be surprised by how many offshore freelancers pose as being from North America.

I hope these 3 quick tips have given you a few ideas on what you can do to win more freelance jobs in the future. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below!

Here, I am going to write about the Company named “Zappos” who pays their new employees to quit. Isn’t it sounds abnormal and different? Yeah, I was also surprised to read the article “Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit – An You Should Too” by Bill Taylor. In this article he focuses on one small practice that offers big lessons for leaders who are serious about changing the game in their field – and filling their organization with people who are just as committed as they are. Here goes the basic insight of the article.

Zappos hires new employees and then provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers. People get paid their full salary during this period. After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls “The Offer.” The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit!

Why? Because if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for. It’s hard to describe the level of energy in the Zappos culture—which means, by definition, it’s not for everybody. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick—and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-center employees take the money and run.)

Indeed, CEO Tony Hsieh and his colleagues keep raising the size of the quit-now bonus. It started at $100, went to $500, and may well go higher than $1,000 as the company gets bigger (and it becomes even more difficult to maintain the all-important culture and obsession with customers.)

It’s a small practice with big implications: Companies don’t engage emotionally with their customers—people do. If you want to create a memorable company, you have to fill your company with memorable people. How are you making sure that you’re filling your organization with the right people? And how much are you willing to pay to find out?

With this Zappos has been able to create the following Core Values:
• Deliver WOW Through Service
• Embrace and Drive Change
• Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
• Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
• Pursue Growth and Learning
• Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
• Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
• Do More With Less
• Be Passionate and Determined
• Be Humble

(Source: Bill Taylor and Zappos)

Amazing right?

Enjoy
- Sakin

Recruiters, Hiring Mangers and Internet Sources can use Facebook as one of the good sources for finding potential job seekers and candidates. Using this you can also search passive job seeker and approach them to join your repudiated company. Here are a few ways to do this:

1) Use Facebook Friend Finder:
This features automatically scans your email and address books. This will list out your friends, colleagues and other people you know who have already joined Facebook and will provide the option to send invitation to connect them. From here you can see your mutual friends and also look into their other friends as well. You can see the names and minimal information for friends that are “not mutual”, but you do have ways to reach out to them and connect directly. In most cases, you can use Facebooks option to “poke” them, write on their “wall” in their profile, or see if they posted contact information on their page – such as a phone or email address.

2) Use search Options:
Facebook offers Basic search by keywords to advance search by tons of options, such as location, company, education, and title). The one drawback on Facebook is that it will only let you search your network (I’m from Pittsburgh, so my network is limited to Pittsburgh connections and anyone else I connected with). One way around this is to connect with others outside of your network, but are only limited to see those contacts in the other networks. Another option is to change what network you want to be designated on Facebook.

3) Posting Jobs to the Marketplace:
Posting are free on this site and go out to your network. There are lots of job categories listed.

4) Join Groups:
This is the best part in Facebook, where you are most likely going to find people and connect. You can join the group which you are interested in and then connect and discuss with the group members. There is a discussion board open for discussion.

There are plenty of other ways to use Facebook, such as asking questions to your network, participating in or sponsoring events and uploading tailored videos for others to see. You can customize your profile and advertise your interests in connecting and job openings that way as well.

Enjoying using Facebook
- Sakin