Category Archives: Talent

If You Want to Attract Talent, Start with a Good Advertisement

As per SI’s blog on Friday that noted that you have a talent management problem if your job advertisement reads like carbon copy blah-blah-blah, if you want to attract talent your have to have an interesting job, an exciting career path, and an advertisement that conveys both.

So what makes a good advertisement? There are various theories out there, but, at a minimum, it must:

  • Be Specific
    From a clear and simple title or headline to a detailed job description to details of the company, specificity helps. “Sourcing Manager IV” means nothing outside your company, “buy goods and services” is part of every Sourcing Manager’s job, and “at a top tier CPG company” doesn’t differentiate you from Discount Dave’s trying to pretend they are bigger than they are.
  • Focus on the Role
    Remember, you are focussed on recruiting Gen-Y and they want a challenge, excitement, and an opportunity to advance their career. Not an opportunity to be stuck in a paper-based back office faxing POs to suppliers who haven’t heard of the internet yet. And if you don’t go into details, they are going to assume that your organization is a Supply Management laggard. Also, be sure to list the top five to 10 duties as well as normal working hours. If you expect the Sourcing Manager to be on the phone with China for 2 hours every day during normal working hours in Beijing, that better be clear.
  • Clearly Specify Minimum Experience and Education
    If you will not interview anyone with less than 3 years of relevant experience (which should include experience with the product or service in question and not just a Sourcing Role — who better to source a product than an engineer who used to make it who has had some financial and sourcing training), state that. Also, if your policies demand a bachelor’s degree or a professional certification, state that too. But don’t make ridiculous requests, especially if the pay is not on the high end or the locale is expensive. No Sourcing Manager with a Masters, 2 professional certifications, and 10 years of experience is going to accept a position for 90K in downtown Manhattan.
  • Sell the Culture
    Remember, Gen-Y is the most social, hooked-in, “hip” generation yet. They want a constantly communicating culture. (But don’t promise what you can’t deliver.)
  • Advertise the Benefits
    “Great Benefits Package” sounds like Used Car Larry’s “Solid as a Brick” sales pitch. Sure the frame is solid, but so is the engine. (And an engine that doesn’t turn doesn’t run.) Advertise the benefits. Health Plan. 401-K (or RRSP) matching. Gym membership. Show you put some thought into what prospective employees need.
  • Include FULL Contact Information
    Specifically, the company web-site and a link to a more detailed job description, the mailing address and fax number, and a contact number of someone to contact with questions.
  • Guarantee a Response
    And follow up. Guarantee receipt of application. Guarantee a time by which applicants will be notified of whether or not they will be interviewed. Guarantee a time by which selected applicants will be contacted to set up an interview. To find someone who will work hard and respect you, show that you respect them and their time.

If This is Your Advertisement for a Sourcing Manager, You Have a Talent Management Problem.

You can’t manage talent unless you have talent. In order to have talent, you have to attract talent. In order to attract talent, you need to have an interesting job and an exciting career path for them. And, unless you already know of some really good candidates that you think you can attract, because you have talent who has worked with these people before and is actively recruiting them for you, your only hope to attract the attention of talent is through a public job advertisement. And I can tell you right now that you’re not going to attract anyone if your job advertisement isn’t good.

For example, if you send out something like the following, which is along the lines of something that recently hit my inbox, don’t expect much. (A few details have been changed to protect the guilty.)

Here’s a superb opportunity for an experienced sourcing manager within the hardware and software domains looking to join a top tier investment bank. This is a permanent position based out of New York City that will pay a base salary of 150K plus a competitive bonus and benefits package.

 

In this role you will manage Hardware and Shared Infrastructure Software sourcing initiatives, support the post contract supplier management of critical suppliers, and liaise with the legal department to ensure favourable commercial terms. In addition you will constantly interact with senior management to relay critical information about vendor relations and contracts.

In order to be considered for this position, you must have worked as a hardware and software sourcing manager on a global scale within the financial services industry for several years.


This is an excellent opportunity for a qualified candidate who has had strategic sourcing experience looking to manage a high visibility, multi-million dollar project for a leading investment bank.

Now, many HR people are probably saying “what’s wrong with this?”. The answer, just about everything. There’s so much wrong that I don’t even know where to start, and I already wrote a long reply to the sender about how, in my opinion, their chances of finding a top candidate with this was pretty slim. But let’s take it from the top.

Top Tier Investment Bank
If the bank is so good, why are they hiding that they are looking for a talented candidate. Good brands attract good talent.

Based out of New York … will pay (a) competitive …
How competitive? An investment bank in new york is likely in the financial district where nearby 2-bedroom apartments go for 2,500 a month. (In comparison, in the North Dallas area, you can get a 2,000 sq. ft home for 1,000 a month.) New York has one of the highest tax burdens. In fact, it’s about 40% cheaper to live in Dallas than New York. So, 90K in North Dallas is almost as good as 150K in New York. A salary range should not be mentioned unless it’s better than average for the region and, if you’re looking nationally, attractive to top talent in other cities with similar talent. (And given that top talent in Dallas, Texas will probably be making 120K, it might actually be a pay cut for them in terms of their net cash position.)

manage Hardware and Shared Infrastructure Software sourcing initiatives, support the post contract supplier management of critical suppliers, and liaise with the legal department to ensure favourable commercial terms
In other words, what you would do in any sourcing job that managed the IT category. What is different or unique?

you must have worked as a hardware and software sourcing manager … within the financial services industry
So, unless you’ve worked for a bank, you haven’t done squat? Let’s ignore the fact that many multi-national retail companies need systems that are actually more complex as they have to manage a myriad of tax issues across multiple countries and states, manage global logistics, and allow for TCO calculations on products and services with a global footprint. And let’s ignore the fact that sometimes the best talent is someone from outside the industry who brings fresh insights on how to do things more efficiently and effectively. Like Alan Mulally who turned around Ford almost single-handedly with essentially the same team as his predecessor.

a multi-million dollar project
Well, duh. First of all, most financial institutions support a number of on-line, real-time systems that require banks of servers in geographically dispersed data centres. A 13U rack of high-density, low-power blades can easily cost 250K to 500K. So it’s obviously in the millions. It only gets interesting in the tens of millions or more.

high visibility … project
So, there might actually be something exciting to attract a candidate and you don’t at least drop a hint?

All I can say is if you write this swill, don’t be surprised if your applicant pool is full of swine. The vast majority of candidates who are going to apply to this are going to be out of work or not content with their current work, and probably a little desperate. Given that top talent saves an organization money, if a sourcing manager is out of work, there’s a good chance there’s a reason for that. Similarly, if a candidate is not happy, there’s typically a reason for that too. And these days, it’s because they’re overworked. But let’s not kid ourselves. Chances are that, given most corporate situations and the economy, they’re going to be overworked in your job too. And if they can’t stand the heat … (Now, sometimes they’re just unlucky and got axed in an across-the-board cut and sometimes they really do have a bad boss, but it’s not the norm, and most of the candidates that do apply will likely not be right for your organization.)

Is Your Supply Management Organization Ready for Gen-Y?

Hopefully, now that you understand that Supply Management is the solution to the woes of the company as well as the country, your organization is ramping up, hiring, and looking for new talent. At approximately 70 Million strong, Gen-Y, also known as the Millennials, will soon become the largest generation in the workforce. As a result, they will soon represent the largest talent pool available to your organization. But is your organization ready?

The Millennials are not like the Baby Boomers, who looked for long term job stability and growth. Whereas your average baby boomer might take a job with the intention of staying with the same company for her entire career, a recent survey conducted by the Australian Experimental Learning Centre found that 64% of Gen-Y employees intend to stay less than two years with their employer. Current estimates are that most members of Gen-Y will have 20 to 25 jobs in their lifetime.

This poses three major challenges for your organization:

  • Recruitment
    Gen-Ys are always looking for the next great opportunity. Why is your opportunity the next great opportunity?
  • Training
    Given the average lifespan of a Millennial in your organization, you will need to get Millennials up to speed quickly and efficiently in order to maximize the value you get from them before they move on.
  • Knowledge Capture
    You will need a great Knowledge Management Program that captures, indexes, and makes available all the knowledge they bring to, and create for, the organization. Otherwise, each new Millennial will have to start the cycle anew.

Is your organization ready?

Are Your Employees Disengaged or Frazzled?

A recent article in Industry Week on “putting brain science to work in your company” that reviews Daniel Goleman’s The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights, which addresses the question of how you get the most from your people, is right when it notes that disengaged and frazzled employees aren’t really contributing to your organization.

Disengagement, where an employee is in a low-motivation state where they are distracted and inattentive to the task at hand, occurs when an employee is not inspired, motivated or engaged in the work they do. A disengaged employee performs well enough to keep his job, but no better.

Frazzled, where an employee is flooded with a cascade of stress hormones that causes the employee to focus on the problem bothering him rather than his job, occurs when the employee is upset with something. A frazzled employee can only address the problem, not the solution.

Only an employee in the flow, a state of neural harmony, where only what is relevant to the task at hand is what is activated, can be truly productive. The flow maximizes cognitive abilities and puts people are at their best. An employee in the “flow” isn’t the problem.

Moreover, not only will disengaged or frazzled employees not be productive, but their disengagement and frazzledness can spread to their coworkers. It’s hard to give a cr@p when no one around you does. And if everyone is stressed out, chances are you will get stressed out to.

Thus, if an organization wants to be productive, and take it to the next level, the first thing it should do is identify those employees who are disengaged or frazzled and figure out why. If an employee is disengaged because tasks, in an effort to become lean or efficient, have been broken up to the point where they are monotonous, then the organization should address its processes and procedures. Sometimes assembly-lining tasks is a good idea, sometimes it isn’t. If all a person does is check totals on reports, that’s not a good procedure. And if a group of employees who are always frazzled have the same boss, chances are that the boss is the problem. Shape him up (with training) or ship him out (with a pink slip). Next level requires productivity, productivity requires engagement, and engagement requires being in the flow. Make sure your employees are there before trying to knock it up a notch.

Talent Development: A Litmus Test

A recent post on the SCMR blogs by Robert Rudzki on “Talent Development” provided a great litmus test for determining whether or not your organization has what it takes to achieve the next level, which requires top-notch talent.

Bob provides an 8-point litmus test which includes the following key points:

  • Has the company’s strategy and objectives been translated into the required skills and competencies for the supply management organization?
    Talent cannot be developed appropriately if the organization does not even know what skills and competencies its talent needs to have.
  • Has a curriculum of development opportunities being created and made available to all personnel?
    It’s going to be hard to get talent interested in development if they are not even aware of the opportunities available to them.
  • Has a time budget been established?
    Talent development takes time. Time must be allocated for talent to train and develop, and such training and development must be mandatory, not optional.
  • Has a career ladder been established and communicated?
    If the organization wants talent to apply themselves and reach the next level, the talent must see a reason for doing so. If talent does not think they will get a reward for their effort, they will not see a reason for doing it.