There was a great response to my best practices request. Sorry, I couldn’t mention them all. This is a continuing process so if you do something innovative, please send it on to me at JohnS@sfsu.edu. REWARDS FOR SAME DAY HIRING – SUPERIOR BANK
Our company, Superior Bank is a nationwide $2billion dollar sub-prime mortgage and auto lender. We have 2,000 employees. I have recently created incentive for my two recruiters by rewarding them with points, which count towards gifts they may select from a merchant catalog like Sharper Image or Sony. The incentive works like this, for every candidate that we can close in a one day turnaround, I award them a predetermined number of points. The requirement is for an interview by the hiring manager, a discussion of the candidate’s qualification with our recruiter, a recommendation and approval by me on the hiring rate and a phone call and acceptance by the candidate – all in the same day. While the program is only two months old, I have already awarded points in 4 different hiring situations. It rewards speed, and provides a sense of urgency to our hiring decisions that I hope will communicate our desire to the hiring managers and our recruiters that “you snooze you lose.” Peter Altuch
REFERENCES AS SOURCES / ALUMNI DIRECTORY – MCI WORLDCOM
I look at every resume and if it has a reference section, I look at the person and their job title. For example, If I need a hotel recruiter and need a General Manager I will look for GM references on a candidate’s application. If I find one I call them and network with them to see if they might know of a good GM candidate for my position. Another method I use is getting my hands on an alumni directory. You can’t use this method for every recruiting need, but if you are looking at a specific industry (hotels) you can get the alumni guide for a good hotel school and look at the graduates and where they are in the industry. I will call them and tell them I got their name from my Univ. of ??? Alumni guide. This way it is a non threatening call and they are usually open to conversation. Mike Walton
MORE REFERENCES AS SOURCES – MULBERRY NECKWEAR
After weeks of courting a passive candidate (an EE referral with some very specialized experience), she accepted and we moved on to checking references – which I always feel is only a marginally productive activity. Yet, I have begun to use this chore as a way to market our company – a “two for one,” which extends the task by no more than 10-12 extra minutes with great potential in returns. I had a great conversation with the new hire’s previous manager, and ended up encouraging her to e-mail me a resume and have another “two for one.” If we found a second candidate 1 in 15 times this way, we would improve our recruiting efforts by 6% – with no additional costs and minimal time on the part of HR. If nothing else comes out of it, we have improved our brand imagine and what’s that worth? Jenelle Everett
ENHANCED INTERVIEW “SIGN-UPS” – CREDENCE SYSTEMS CORP.
For college recruiting at schools such as Stanford University, employers are given a list of students who MAY be interested in being interviewed. Employers make their selection and HOPE the students sign up for an interview. Rather than be passive and “wait and hope,” I have sent individual letters with recruiting materials (and giveaways, sometimes) to the students we “hoped” to interview, encouraging them to sign up. My success rate was so high that Stanford University’s recruiting office called me to find out what we’d done! This also works to stay in touch with candidates who aren’t yet looking, who rejected offers, etc. It’s more impressive than an e-mail or a phone call (both of which may not be returned), provides a much more personal touch, and is more substantial. I have used this approach primarily in college recruiting, but it also works in general recruiting. Becky McIntyre
HOW AGENCIES CAN BETTER PREPARE CANDIDATES – ELECTRONIC POWER SOURCE – EPS-AZ
Web site Address – Once there has been an interest generated, I supply the company Web site so a potential new employees can more easily do their homework about the company with which they will be interviewing. Contact is important – especially after the process begins. Keeping the candidate informed of what is going on so they don’t feel they are out their alone lets them begin to depend on you, and builds up their trust in you, which is something you MUST have if you are going to be able to be influential with their decision making in the future. Garry Moore
GENERATING RECRUITING IDEAS – BANK ONE CORPORATION
Our National Staffing Group is responsible for hiring about 28,000 people each year. In addition to the obvious challenges finding and attracting good people, we face the challenge of sharing successful ideas among nearly 200 recruiters across more than 25 markets. In an effort to generate the ideas and strategies we need to attract prospects as well as share ideas and successes across our many groups. Under our program, each member of the staffing team — recruiters, support staff, and managers — is expected to generate sourcing ideas. To make the process more fun, we use a “Create the Magic” theme. Under the Create the Magic Program, everyone on the staffing team has a framed certificate to display in their office or work area. Every idea submitted is rewarded with a sticker that has a magic theme (rabbit, hat, etc.) Each certificate holds 12 stickers, and when a certificate is filled, that person is entered into a drawing for a prize valued at about $150. They also are recognized as a Spell Maker Spectacular. To encourage submission of ideas that a recruiter may not be able to personally use, ideas can be submitted and will earn a sticker even if they have not been implemented. Each quarter, all the ideas submitted that have actually been implemented are pitted against each other in a contest to determine the four best. Ideas are evaluated on results as well as novelty and creativity. The four winning ideas each earn a prize valued at $250 and are entered into the annual contest. The quarterly winners are also recognized with Master Magician status. The 16 quarterly winners are entered in an annual contest and the winner gets a 3 day trip for two to the destination of their choice. They are also recognized as Merlin the Second, Magician of the Year. In addition to energizing the group and formally recognizing successful creativity, the program facilitates the gathering of ideas and their systematic disbursement across the organization so they can be used in other markets. This is accomplished by an intranet site established for the submission and cataloging of ideas. In addition, creative leaders in each region are expected to highlight good ideas and share them systematically within their groups. The program is supported by the formal performance management process which that includes objectives related to creative sourcing. The first “quarter” of the contest was actually just a 6 week period in which nearly 100 ideas were submitted. Submitted by Mark O. Thomas. Betsy Dey is the Project leader.
QUICKIE TIPS
- In addition to job posting, we use the recruiter agent on Monster.com. It “pushes” resumes to us based on specific criteria. — Karen R. Sarcone – Command Data
- A photo-copier repair guy comes into our office. He asks our receptionist what we do. She treats him with respect and goes into a little presentation about what we do. Just then, a senior consultant walks by and hears the conversation. She elaborates a bit more (still thinking – this guy only repairs photo copiers!) Long story short, she treats him with respect – listens and answers a few short questions and goes on to place his brother – a professional engineer in an automotive parts manufacturing facility (one of our specialty). The golden rule applies to recruiters too!! — Kimberley Chesney – Prime Management Group
- A simple and timely strategy for today is to speed up the processing of internet resumes by creating a macro in VB so as to standardize the formatting and correct HTML character flaws while you copy and paste. So now you copy-paste-macro-autoformat-save. This saves untold hours of correcting errors and formatting changes created by the simple act of pasting resumes into word or any other application. — John Dugan, John Dugan & Associates, Inc.