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Posts Tagged ‘talent acquisition’
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
 It’s that time of year! Organizations are involved and engaging executive search & talent strategy firms in conversations on how to make ‘Next Year’ the best year ever as it relates to attracting and hiring the right people! How do we take our key learning’s and challenges of this year and substantially enhance our recruiting and talent acquisition efforts? While this is a great time of the year to plan…let’s TRULY strive to make next year long-lasting by hiring the right people in the right seats who will be encouraged and engaged to utilize their strengths each and every day.
This is the year where your employment brand and recruiting efforts will mean more than ever as the talent war continues to intensify. [Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of The Talent War Has Begun!] Finding the “A” talent will never be more difficult and more rewarding – together let’s make sure we are victorious!
Many of our clients are experiencing the impact of thinking outside the box once again…it is not a matter of having a great post on CareerBuilder or Monster and the hundreds of resumes that come with it. It is about finding the right talent who will be the top performers your organization deserves.
I have been sharing all year that we are in an employee’s market vs. an employer’s market. “A” talent is simply more difficult today to attract, recruit and retain than ever before. This year will be a year where this is amplified as talent becomes more scarce and companies do more to engage their talent. What would you expect if you were being recruited to a new opportunity?
- You would expect to be attracted to an organization and culture where your values and their values align.
- You would seek an opportunity where your goals, personally and professionally, align with the organizations goals.
- You would most likely seek an organization who truly values and lives out community engagement. Why? Because this is what employees value…and this has been proven to improve employee moral & employee engagement.
It’s up to you so let’s think through some questions to ask ourselves to ensure we are recruiting and attracting the best talent for our companies! If your hiring managers and people leaders have the answers to the questions below you are FAR AHEAD of the Competition. If you don’t have answers let’s start working on them!
- What is your strategy to find great people that your competitors can’t and don’t find?
- What does the marketplace think of when they think of your employment brand?
- Are the people you find the best people you can find, or the first people you could find, or the easiest people for you to find?
- Did last years strategies attract many eagles or too many turkeys?
What are your responses to this initial list of questions….share it with us and let’s create conversation to assist each other in our efforts!
Mike Sipple Jr. is Vice President of Centennial, Inc., an executive recruiting, talent strategy and career coaching firm. Mike is passionate about attracting, recruiting, developing, engaging and retaining top talent for changing and growing organizations.
Learn more about Mike and his organization by visiting visit www.centennialinc.com.
Connect with Mike on Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook
Connect with Centennial, Inc. on Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook
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Tags: annual planning, annual talent plan, attracting talent, branding, corporate branding, employee retention, employment brand, hiring talent, recruiting, recruiting best practices, recruiting strategy, setting a talent plan, strengths based leadership, talent acquisition, talent engagement, talent planning, talent strategy, world class recruiting strategy
Posted in Employee Engagement, Employment Brand, Hiring & Recruiting, Recruiting & Executive Search, Succession Planning | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
Generated by: Facebook Members
I was recently asked to share what defines “A” players in the marketplace when recruiting leadership and key talent. The client asked, “what characteristics and traits should we be seeking if we truly want to recruit “A” talent to join our organization – executive leadership, management team and key people leader positions”. Although I could speak about this topic all day long, and technically do, I thought this would make for a great conversation with our blog readers!
First, let me share that this mindset in and of itself is unique. Too many organizations get comfortable in what has been successful and never move the needle beyond the point of yesterday’s success. This client, however, saw an opportunity to capitalize on what success looks like for the future. It’s exciting to partner with companies that are action and results-oriented!
They wanted to complement what has made them successful in the past decades with what will make them successful in the future! They truly do want to soar beyond where they are today…and
Second, I proceeded to share with them that an “A” candidate for one client does not equal an “A” candidate for another. However, after thinking through this organization’s request, I realized there are certainly traits that are consistent of top talent today.
Below is an initial list of traits that I believe define “A” candidates and top talent in today’s ever-changing environment. This list constantly evolves based on key learning’s from our client engagements and the dynamic definition of ideal talent in today’s marketplace. That said, here is my perspective today on what defines “A” talent:
Top 10 Attributes That Identifies “A” Talent
The executive and human resource team that asked this question is leading a growing organization in the consumer package goods and distribution industries and has been wildly successful over many decades. They are reaching for a new level of success and being challenged by the ever changing customer demands and the consumer/customer centric movement. During our engagement together we have been focusing on their identified strengths while recruiting leadership and talent that will stretch their minds and business beyond where they are today as they seek the desired next level of success.
What would you add to this list? What traits do you seek in top candidates and “A” leadership? What traits do you see as the ‘driving motivators’ of selecting the right candidates? How do you benchmark these traits among candidates?
Mike Sipple Jr. is Vice President of Centennial, Inc., an executive recruiting, talent strategy and career coaching firm. Mike is passionate about attracting, recruiting, developing, engaging and retaining top talent for changing and growing organizations. As a second generation recruiting executive this business is thought to be a calling!
Connect with Mike on Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook
Connect with Centennial, Inc. on Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook
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Tags: attracting talent, centennial, employment brand, executive leadership, executive search, hiring, Interviewing, Leadership, leadership characteristics, recruiting, talent acquisition, talent assessment, talent succession
Posted in Employee Engagement, Employment Brand, Hiring & Recruiting, Interviewing, Leadership, Motivation & Inspiration, Recruiting & Executive Search, Succession Planning | No Comments »
Friday, May 21st, 2010
 We get asked this question all the time…Mike Sipple Jr. weighs in to share his thoughts and opinions!
“The first step is to be sure you truly know what you’re looking for. Who are the decision-makers in the process? Have you all met around a table to agree upon what the ideal candidate profile looks like?
Have you agreed upon the benchmarks for the candidate evaluation? What do you want to be different than the last leader who held the position? What similarities and differences do you want in the next candidate compared to the past individual and others on the leadership team?
What behaviors should you be looking for in candidates? What are the behaviors needed today, and what’s needed to get your company where it needs to be in the future?
Once these questions (and more!) have been answered and agreed upon, we suggest you start by looking to an outside advisor who specializes in the process of recruiting and attracting talent. Also, look to people in your network who know you and what you are about. Who do you know and trust? Who understands and appreciates your business and culture? Who can identify and refer you the leadership and talent that will fit your organization?
This is where Centennial is especially strong, because we’re constantly out meeting people and networking. We are regularly communicating with the top leaders, whether they’re currently looking for opportunities or waiting for the “right time.” We invest the time with our clients to understand goals & objectives, challenges, opportunities and “fit” and match this to the leaders who can meet and/or exceed expectations.
If your preference is to use the job board process, that’s ok too, as long as you have the proper expectations. In this scenario, you’re really only looking at the best of who applied. There’s a difference between this approach, versus proactively communicating a message, networking and searching for candidates. You may be able to find an “A” player on a job board, but how can you be sure? How could you benchmark that?
It’s critical to understand and clearly communicate not only “what” you’re looking for, but also “who” you’re looking for. The “what” is defined by the role, responsibilities, and critical success factors to meet goals and objectives. The “who,” which is equally as important, is defined by the intangibles – chemistry, culture and character. They key is knowing both “who” and “what” you want, so you’re able to hit the target on the first round and the bulls-eye on the second round!”
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Tags: candidate engagement, employment brand, recruiting, recruiting process, recruiting talent, talent acquisition, talent engagement, talent retention
Posted in Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Employment Brand, Hiring & Recruiting, Leadership, Recruiting & Executive Search | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 21st, 2010
What’s the best way to find the “needle in the haystack” when we get hundreds of resumes for every job posting?
The ideal solution is actually not to be in this position in the first place.
Instead of managing a flood of applicants, you should always be ‘on the lookout’ for key talent that will help your company become more successful. You can cast wide net into the sea to be reactive to needs…or you cast a strategic net to be more focused on wooing the right people to your organization on an on-going basis. (The best solution is likely a combination of both.)
That’s the greatest advantage of partnering with a recruitment firm, actually. Because we’re always networking and meeting people, we can identify some of the best talent that may not be actively looking, in addition to the talent that is more openly communicating their employment needs. 
It’s important that we truly partner with our clients; so we’re not just recruiting, but we understand your business and goals. When you share your strategy for the next one to five years, it provides us with the right insights to identify the best talent to help meet your goals and objectives. As we’re continually talking with people in the marketplace, we can find that “needle” and bring them to you.
If a job posting is required, though, here are a few things I would recommend.
- Know what you’re looking for – not just from a skills and experience standpoint, but also from a chemistry, character and culture standpoint.
- Be just as aware of what you don’t want, so you can quickly sift through resumes.
- Recognize that the “best” candidate may not come to you via an online job posting.
- Engaging your network is a key factor in finding the best talent.
- Use an assessment tool as part of the process, once you’ve identifies the top candidates.
- Ensure – through several discussions -that a position with your company would, indeed, be a win-win situation for both the company as well as the individual.
View more thoughts on executive search, recruiting and talent acquisition from T.J. Bugg
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Tags: executive recruiter, recruiter, resumes, talent acquisition, talent assessment, talent engagement
Posted in Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Employment Brand, Hiring & Recruiting, Interviewing, Recruiting & Executive Search, Succession Planning | No Comments »
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
In the market today, the “noise” is at a considerable volume. There are very talented professionals, who got caught in unfortunate layoffs and are still in transition. There are highly skilled people who have jobs today, but with the positive trends in the economy, are starting to feel less afraid about making a career move. Then, of course there are the plethora of ‘others’ in job seeker mode. Their resumes look fairly solid, and they can interview fairly well, but are they the best fit for your role? How can you feel confident that you’re getting the ‘right’ person for your position? And how can you prevail against your competition to get them?
Based on our extensive experience, here are some tips and suggestions we recommend to get the best talent for your organizational needs.
- Be sure you can clearly identify and articulate the resource needs you have. Be ready to define the details of who you’re looking for as much as what you’re looking for. Understand clearly what kind of person would make the best fit (and be sure they don’t already work for you!) Also be prepared to make the appropriate investment for this talent. Do your research and be knowledgeable before you begin your search process.
- Don’t mistake resume activity for successful recruitment progress. Quantity is different than quality, and as earlier stated, there’s a lot of noise out there to sift through. Questions regarding chemistry, character and cultural fit are equally as important as understanding qualifications. Unless you are specifically targeting the most qualified people, expect that you’re going to have to sift through a massive amount of resumes…and you still may not find the ‘ideal.’
- Recognize that it’s a different market out there today. Candidates are working hard to promote themselves and to ‘fit’ into many different roles. You should explore to clearly understand a candidate’s highest and best use to determine if they’ll bring the right value you need for your organization.
We will provide more to think about in the next post…Part 2 of Prevailing In The Talent War!
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Tags: executive search, hiring, Interviewing, passive candidates, recruiting, retaining talent, talent acquisition, winning the war on talent
Posted in Employment Brand, Hiring & Recruiting, Interviewing, Recruiting & Executive Search | No Comments »
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