In our industry, there is no bigger elephant in the room than the Job Description.  Yes, they are poorly written, but that’s just the start.  Even the most well written job description will not solve the problem. 

To understand why, you must take a step back and look at the big picture.

What is a Job Description?  In short, it is an advertisement.  In fact, it is the primary instrument used by organizations to advertise their job opportunities. Yet, for no reason other than tradition, job descriptions are not treated like other advertisements.

Creating a Job Description Advertisement

To create a Job Advertisement, you need to treat your unique job opportunity like a product.  As with product advertising, steps include: 

1. Identify your target audience
2. Identify benefits (not features and functions)
3. Maximize reach, frequency, and impact

Every job opportunity has a compelling story.  No matter the title, it is the right job for someone.  You need to identify your target audience and understand what benefits that audience will find compelling. 
Why will this job make someone happy? 

• Life-style
• Unique culture
• Personal fulfillment
• Rewards to help achieve personal goals

Having identified your target audience and compelling story, you are now ready to send your message to the masses.

Advertising Success = Reach x Frequency x Impact

It is always nice to simplify a complex operation into a little formula. Of course, it’s easier said than done. To understand the formula, we will start with definitions:

• Reach is the number of unique individuals exposed to a particular advertisement over a certain period of time.  To maximize reach, identify key channels such as job boards, social sites, or career fairs.  Also, you can capture the most number of candidates interested in your brand by creating a talent community.  The best tool to do this is find.ly.
• Frequency is the average number of times a person is exposed to your advertisement.  To maximize frequency, you must reengage candidates interested in your brand.  This is best accomplished using CRM (Candidate Relationship Management) tools. Some of the more popular applications include Jobvite Source, Avature, First Advantage, and Jobs2Web.
• Impact is the effectiveness of the advertisement. A campaign with an effective message will deliver impact by increasing the percentage of viewers who will respond to your “call to action.”

Measuring Reach and Impact

If you have a LinkedIn Recruiter account, you should take advantage of the “Job Analytics” tool to help measure the reach and impact of your job postings.  It will give you statistics across all of your job postings and on an individual job basis.

To access the tool, select menu item “Reports” and then “Job Analytics”.  To measure “Reach”, select one of your jobs.  On the right side of the screen, you will see the Activity Summary section.

In this example, we first posted the job on March 9th and it has been viewed by 658 people.  That is our “Reach” number.  It is interesting to note the gradual decline in views since it was first posted.  We can look at how many people responded to the “call-to-action” (apply here…) by clicking on the “Applies” tab.  With 80 people having applied to the job, we can calculate that our “Impact” is 12%.

The Job Analytics tool has many other features.  If you don’t currently use it, spending time to learn will return great dividends.

More on the Subject

To learn more about the subject of Job Descriptions Advertising and Business to Talent (“B2T”) Marketing, see our white paper, “Tips from the Mad Men”.  You can access our white papers here: 

http://www.allegisgroupservices.com/thought-leadership/white-papers.aspx

Parting Question

We will reveal the final piece of the puzzle in a future blog posting.  Until then, we ask this question and invite your comments.

What is the difference between a real advertisement and a traditional job advertisement?

 OnTuesday,April 24th, Jeff Holmes (MSP Program Director) from Allegis Group Services presented a webinar co-sponsored with Sourcing Interests Group (SIG).  As stated by Casey Cheche (Assistant Director Member Programs) at SIG, “Jeff is remarkable and this presentation has generated the best attendance rate and the most questions from an audience to date!  I would love to hear him speak at a future SIG Summit.  The audience was fully engaged, so much so that they continued to send questions even after the presentation was over”.  Also from Dawn Evans (President & CEO) at SIG, “Excellent job today.  You were a great presenter, very grounded and never flustered. The webinar focused on the providers, the technologies, and how MSP Partnerships can help a business.

 Click Here Now to Listen to the On-Demand Recording

Don't miss the additional resources below the transcripion for more details. 

Webinar Transcription:

The M Word: The Revolution of the MSP, and its New Perception

Dawn Evans: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. This is Dawn Evans from Sourcing Interest Group and I'm so excited to welcome you to our webinar series.

As you know, our webinar series is every Tuesday and each one does require a unique login. So, upcoming next week we have Tips and Tricks for Taming IT Spend, presented by A.T. Kearney. And, in May, Understanding Legal Discovery and Ways to Trim eDiscovery Costs. So, two wonderful webinars.

But, even more exciting, we have an amazing webinar for you today. Each webinar does require a unique login, so, please, make sure that you log in; register (excuse me) for each one to get a unique login for the webinar series.

Now, before we jump into the body of today's webinar, I want to go over a few other things with you. We endeavor, at all times, to take SIG out to our members. So, we just had our huge global summit. Met with resounding success. Tomorrow, we have our Silicon Valley Regional Roundtable. And then also open for registration is Seattle, Columbus, Atlanta, and Pittsburg.

And as exciting as that all sounds, we also have a group going to Changsha, China, and we'll be leaving the first week of June. So, if you're interested in exploring that region of the world, we encourage you to reach out to us immediately and we can make sure to get you an invitation and everything else. Once you get to Changsha, the entire event is hosted by the Chinese government, and we have a wonderful agenda put in place for you. So, please, look into joining us for Changsha, China as well.

We'll also be going to Nicaragua in July and more information will be coming out about that shortly.

So, a couple of other things to tell you is that our Global Leadership Summit is now open for registration for the fall. It's going to be in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. It's a fabulous property. I won't mention the golf, because I'm sure none of you will want to do that when you're there. But if you come early or stay late, you can golf. But in the meantime we're going to have an amazing agenda for you.

And, folks, we book our hotels a couple of years in advance so the hotel will sell out. I want you all to be at the host hotel. So please make sure you register today and get your hotel reservation right away. But it's going to be a wonderful agenda and we'll be announcing our keynote speakers next week, I'm hoping, at our webinar.

So, today, we're going to jump into Allegis Group Services, The M-Word!: The Revolution of Managed Service Provider, and its New Perception. And with us today is Jeff Holmes.

But before we do that, folks, on the lower right-hand corner of your screen there is a question mark. If you can click on that that will open up your q and a box. At any time during today's presentation, if you have any questions or issues or you don't understand an acronym or you want more clarification or you just have a bizarre question you want to submit to us, go ahead and send it to us. We will try to get to all the questions today. And if not, we will make sure that you can connect with Jeff Holmes after today's presentation.

Allegis Group Services is a wonderful, wonderful provider member of SIG and we're very proud to have them with us today.

And, folks, this webinar is recorded. It will be available for download and replay for three years. So, I know you're going to like what you hear today. So make sure you share this with other people in your organization. Or, if you want to re-listen to it at a later date, if you're a member of Sourcing Interest Group, you can go to our SIG Resource Center and you can download and replay it for three years. So, please, keep the conversation going.

It's also really important that you do send in questions during the webinar. It's always interesting to know what you're thinking, what you're getting, what isn't clear to you, so we can make sure you walk away crystal clear.

If you have any trouble with the sound today, in the upper left-hand corner you can turn up the volume on your computer, or you can also just check your computer itself, your speakers, and make sure they're turned up. If you have any other additional issues, please send us a chat and we'll give you an alternative dial-in number for today's webinar.

So, let's jump into the fun stuff, which is the meat of today's conversation. I have with me today Jeff Holmes, and Jeff is the program director at Allegis Group Services for the world's largest hotel group. He's a 12-year veteran of both staffing and corporate recruiting worlds. He has spent the past six years at Allegis Group in a variety of capacities.

Prior to joining AGS in 2010, he spent five years as a recruiting manager for MarketSource, which is an Allegis Group company as well, revamping the team by designing a scaleable recruiting structure and authoring their Go-To-Market recruiting processes and strategies as support of their Fortune 1000 clients all across North America.

So, Jeff is someone who comes to us with 12 years of staffing and recruiting experience, a fabulous phone presence; I think you'll really love today's webinar. And he's humble. He's someone who says, "Just ask me the questions. I'll explain it to you." He's going to make sure that we talk to you and bring you the information that you really need today.

So, I really enjoyed getting to know Jeff briefly; the brief amount of time I've known him, and I think you will, too. So, Jeff, I want to welcome you to the webinar series.

Jeff Holmes: Thank you very much, Dawn.

Dawn Evans: So, I was going to say, as you jump in, one of the things I'm going to ask you again and again and again is every time you have a three-letter acronym, I'm going to ask you to explain it to us. Is that a fair deal?

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. Absolutely. Before we get into the three-letter acronyms, I'll explain a little bit about AGS; my first three-letter acronym. That's Allegis Group Services. That's the company that I work for. Allegis Group provides human capital management and workforce management solutions.

So, what does that mean? We have a division that's responsible for Managed Service Providers, or an MSP. And that's the division that I work with today. So, that's what we're gonna talk about throughout today's presentation. It's really a 101 about your Managed Service Provider and what the space today looks like.

We also have an RPO division, or Recruitment Process Outsourcing. We have an advisory and consulting division for Allegis Group Services, and finally we have retained executive search. My organization has over 70 clients in 67 countries across the globe.

So, that's a little more about AGS, to have the foundation there. And so let's get into these three three-letter acronyms that we're going to be discussing today for the most part.

As Dawn mentioned, it can get a little confusing, for those inside and outside the industry. So, again, the first is an MSP, or a Managed Service Provider. Organizations like Allegis Group Services, this is typically your program office.

So, at Allegis Group Services I run; as a Managed Service Provider I run a program office, or several program offices, for various clients. This would be your on-site or your remote program office running the day-to-day program. Of the VMS, or Vendor Management Solutions. A VMS is typically your software. That's going to be; I don't want to throw names out there, but that's going to be the technology partners that would be utilized throughout an MSP environment; throughout a VMS environment.

And, finally, the third acronym that we'll talk about toward the end of the presentation, is a VOP, or Vendor on Premise. And we're going to talk about the distinction between the two. Between and MSP and a VOP.

Today, we're going to go through, obviously, we've just done the introductions. We're going to talk a little bit about a classic MSP. We're gonna review what I call the MSP Revolution and talk about how the market's really changed and how managed service providers have changed with the market.

We're going to review today's service offerings. So, what's the added value that's being offered today? We're going to talk about avoiding pitfalls when you're choosing a Managed Service Provider. We're going to get into some closing comments and finally some questions.

So, Managed Service Providers. This is what I call the expletive screen. Ten years ago, if you spoke to a hiring manager or a staffing company, and you mentioned that your organization was choosing a Managed Service Provider, this was the response that you received. Having working in staffing during that time, I would say that this is absolutely the response that you would receive from me.

And a lot of people wonder why. A lot of the original MSPs did business differently than they do today. They created an unnecessary filter, creating a bridge between the hiring manager and the staffing supplier. They increased communication gaps, so areas where relationships were built and a manager and staffing provider were able to talk together about the profiles that not only the tangible needs of the business but also the intangible. Those communication gaps would essentially hurt talent. And, finally, they would drive rates too low in instances and place the overall talent at risk.

What I will say and what I'll say throughout the entire presentation is that people make companies. And in order to attract the best talent, your suppliers have to be motivated to be able to support the business and your hiring managers have to have that capacity to be able to draw in and attract the best talent.

So, why was I on the expletive bandwagon 10 years ago? Well, I had my personal MSP horror story. In 2004, I was a branch operations manager for a local staffing company in Atlanta, and I had a national account, and that national account was a valued partner of ours. And they made up about 35 percent of the revenues for my business. I had not only, you know, were the spend amounts high for my program, but I also had a lot of people that were out there working. We did a ton of business and I had a very close, personal relationship with the hiring managers out there.

So, when I was informed that this national account was moving to an MSP, I absolutely panicked. And why did I panic? Well, because organizations, especially staffing organizations, had that expletive view of an MSP. And back in the day, because of the unnecessary filter, because of the communication gaps and the way the processes were driven from top to bottom, it was very easy to jump on that bandwagon. It was very easy for folks to have an issue.

So, we're going to break it down and talk about, you know, why this horror story happened and how MSPs, in the past, could fail an organization.

So, MSPs, or the "classic MSP" overview is really simple. The old systems offered base-level value. They were strictly administratively focused. They were designed to manage the technology. So, the program office would manage the technology. They would manage the staffing providers. And they were there to provide a base level of cost savings.

So, to drive into this, we're going to take it piece by piece. So, the first and foremost is managing the technology. Well, the first question I had was, from a staffing perspective, is: How do you manage a technology? These were new vendor management systems. Not many people had a lot of experience with them. They offered limited functionality.

So, the system itself was designed and geared and set up to open positions, to submit candidates through there, and for the managers to be able to review them in the system. And, obviously, for the program office or the MSP, to help steer the process along.

The only problem of this was, obviously, the limited functionality in the technology. But in addition, the inexperience of those program offices back in the day. Unfortunately, a lot of the original MSPs didn't come from a staffing background. And those that did created unnecessary levels of competition, which we'll talk about as we proceed on. An inexperienced program office was really a huge piece and a huge downfall for those original MSPs. And managing the technology.

The second piece was managing the staffing providers. Again, if you have an inexperienced program office there, and you have staffing providers who have handled this business or managed the business day in and day out for years, there's an instant level of lack of respect that comes through that when you have someone who really doesn't understand the staffing and recruiting worlds coming in to manage a process and dictate the process.

And that leads to perception. So, right, wrong, or indifferent, the perception that would take place in the staffing industry were a definite barrier for the organization. The perception of the supplier being greedy, or trying to dictate the process. And then the other side of, you know, the MSP being ignorant to the process or ignorant to the client. And so those initial perceptions really hurt MSPs in the beginning.

And, finally, the last piece is the competitive program office. And, again, we'll talk much more about this as we go through. But program offices saw all those staffing providers as competition and vice-versa. And when those originals tried to manage that process from the beginning, if you're not really providing value back to your staffing provider and working as a true partner, that's where this classic MSP failed.

Last but not least, we'll talk a little bit about the classic MSP overview of providing cost savings. Cost savings are still, today, one of the greatest values of having an MSP and being able to manage costs. What I will say is, you have to balance out cost versus quality. And I'll explain that.

So, again, people make up an organization. People make up companies. And you have to be  able to attract the best. The original MSPs were designing the cost models or the not-to-exceed rates or putting people in mark-up models. And if cost is your number one focus, cost savings can obviously be achieved. You just have to manage it through cost management and not through cost savings.

The mark-up model is really kind of where this takes the highest turn and the highest toll. Imagine this: So, let's say you've got a mark-up model and it's 35 percent over what the pay rate is. Well, if there's not an experienced MSP in place from that classic MSP model, to be able to say what the rate should be to be able to put a rate card in place and have some cost guidance, then you can end up getting, you know, a $100-an-hour person in place of a $90-an-hour person.

And, obviously, the candidate itself is going to be making the same amount. So, in that instance, you're looking at a $20,000 difference that staffing supplier would be able to make. And these types of things happen. And they happen quite frequently, and you've started to see price-gouging through those mark-up models.

What I will say is that mark-up models can absolutely work. I would say that the mark-up model in the right industry can be successful. But it has to be managed by an experience Managed Service Provider.

Last but not least…

Dawn Evans: So, Jeff, would you tell us; when does a mark-up model work best. I mean, why would you say it works well in some industries than others?

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. So, here's what I would say. I would say that mark-up models are not a best practice for an organization. In certain industries, where you have a supplier or a few key suppliers, and those suppliers have access to 100 percent of the business.

And what I mean by "a few" is I mean one, two, or three suppliers and you're giving them the bulk of your business. They can afford to take the hit. They can afford to balance the quantity versus the quality of compensation flowing through their organization. In other words, if you're giving them millions and millions of dollars worth of potential business, versus, you know, a little.

The mark-up model works best in industries for lower-level positions. So, what I would say is industries such as manufacturing. We see those processes going in place today. And there are still struggles. And it has to be managed and it has to managed efficiently and effectively. Once again, if you have a true partner or a staffing subject matter expert as your MSP that's there, designing process top to bottom, then you're at less risk.

Dawn Evan: So then, how does it, if you're not doing a mark-up model, then how are they setting the pricing for these people? Is it on the overall contract value; the millions of dollars? Or is it; it's still some kind of mark-up on what they pay them, is it not?

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. So, what I would say is I can't speak for every Managed Service Provider in the field today. But we have an entire team that manages that process that's led up by an economist.

They go in and they look at labor market analytics throughout the region. So, they're not setting the costs across the U.S. They're literally looking at costs per region per city. They're balancing things like unemployment rates for those levels of positions and they're taking true market data and labor market analysis to be able to develop what we call a "not to exceed rate card." And that not to exceed rate card would be the costs associated with whatever type of contractor that would come in from that.

So, you're looking at pay rate, a staffing company's burden, and, obviously, their ability to make profits on top and still be able to attract the right level of talent.

Dawn Evans: OK. Thank you.

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. So; and those types of things can directly affect time to fill. Time to fill is absolutely critical. Can you attract the right level of talent in the right amount of time? Because, obviously, if you have positions that are open, that's costing your business as well.

So, what I'm saying is, the higher the cost, of course, typically, the quicker the time to fill. But you want to be able to find that balance. And in a classic MSP profile, sometimes cost savings was too much of a factor and those times to fill began to slip.

So, all these things took place, in my experience, with my account. And I had lunch one day with my client. We had gone over our relationship and how long we had done business together and how successful we were. And we took a look at all of the struggles that we had had. We took a look at an antiquated model that was providing a base level of value. We were essentially navigating the chaos every single day.

He wasn't happy. Obviously, I wasn't happy. His talent level had decreased. My revenues had decreased. There was a lack of communication. There was no; there was essentially no communication. It's what we call the "black hole," where you submit a candidate into a system and you receive no feedback and it stays that way.

And, obviously, there was a lack of communication but there was also a lack of quality candidates. So, when you eliminate that level of communication, that's a huge risk to an organization.

And, really, the question became: How much value is an MSP providing today? And we determined that the old model, that's the classic MSP model that was there, really didn't. So, he and I made a pact. And that pact was to do everything we could to work around the system.

So, the value of the MSP became business as usual. So, they were on-site. The organization was paying technology fees. They were essentially paying for the MSP, and we were doing everything we could to work around the system. So, their costs had increased and we were doing business as usual.

It was very unfortunate. And then, obviously, being a program director at an MSP today, I was able to see that side of the business and I thought it was great. Because 10 years later, when we look at home times are changing, when we look at the abilities for MSPs today, it's dramatic what's happened.

But 10 years ago, that antiqued model of base-level value and, again, navigating the chaos, was a risk to his organization and it was a risk to mine.

But today we talk about the revolution of the MSP, and that's really what the presentation's about today. We're going to talk about, obviously, what happened in the old model and where the failures were. We're going to talk about how a few select MSPs have really come into the industry today; Managed Service Providers that are doing it the right way. And we're going to talk about why they're successful.

We're going to talk about the offerings that they have, and really get into the nuts and bolts of what a true MSP is and how the revolution has people excited about it. We're also going to talk about how many organizations today are adding MSPs.

So, if you're a staffing partner, if you're a hiring manager, if you're an organization, this is really the nature of the business. And it's not necessarily a bad thing anymore. So, my perception has absolutely changed and today has really helped steer some of those perceptions back to: It's not as bad as it used to be.

So, the MSP revolution. It all starts as one thing. The old model, again, was administratively focused. The new model; it's all about talent consulting. And we're gonna break that down into three different divisions that we're going to talk about today.

We're going to talk about the providers. We're going to talk about the partnership. And we're going to talk about the technology, or the VMS.

So, we're about 20 minutes into the conversation. So, just to kind of reiterate, for those who joined the call late, what we're discussing today is the MSP; the revolution of the MSP and how things have changed.

But we're also going to talk about the three three-letter acronyms that we're going to use in the second part of the presentation that we used in the first part of our presentation.

The first, again, is MSP, which is a Managed Service Provider. That's typically your program office or the organization that's running the process from top to bottom. The second is your VMS, or your Vendor Management Solution. That refers to the technology; the technology partners. So, that's the system similar to an HR applicant tracking system. However, this is focused primarily for contingent labor.

And last but not least, we're going to talk about VOPs, or Vendors on Premise. And we're going to talk about the distinction between a Vendor on Premise and a Managed Service Provider.

So, let's start with the MSP revolution and let's start with the providers. What's really changed, as I mentioned, is the new MSPs today and the folks who are doing it right are true consultants. They're staffing subject matter experts. They know talent. They understand processes. They know data trends.

As we mentioned, they just provide an additional level of value; an additional layer. Instead of just being administratively focused, these are your go-to people. If you have a question about talent, they should be able to steer you down the right path. They should be able to really hold your hand and walk you through making the right decisions for your organization.

Now, these; most MSPs don't make the decisions for their organizations. They're there to give options and guide best practices for your organization. So, ultimately, they're going to give you options to make the right decisions for your company. To make the right decisions for your market. And that's obviously going to be dependent on the different business units.

They're experienced. And, finally, again, there's that strategic level of having somebody on site who's worked in either the staffing or the recruiting world who understands this business, or an organization that's large enough, that has enough clients to be able to support and give you the feedback that you need to make those right decisions.

And this is really where the MSP has evolved, and where the revolution has come in. Because it's not just the days of somebody off the street coming in and we've built this company and we're gonna call it an MSP and we're gonna try to drive change throughout the organization. The providers today, the ones who are leading the space, really understand that in order to provide value and in order for the industry; for an MSP to provide true value, you have to be experienced and you have to be strategic.

The second piece, and, probably, I would say the most important, since we've got these MSPs now who are subject matter experts is there has to be a partnership. And that partnership has to come from the staffing providers as well as a partnership with the hiring managers.

A Managed Service Provider is the liaison between the two. They work hand-in-hand in tandem, designing processes and working through between the hiring managers and the organization, funneling that information to the suppliers and back and forth. It's all about empowerment.

When you're setting not-to-exceed rates, when you're setting processes, are you setting processes that are beneficial for the organization or are you considering the partnership that you have with your staffing suppliers? It's absolutely critical. There has to be reciprocation. It has to be reciprocation on every level, so a supplier is motivated to send you their best talent day in and day out.

Now, obviously, that's within reason. And that's what the MSP is there to do. It's there to balance that out and ensure that both parties are getting what's expected out of the situation.

Obviously, as a MSP, I work for my client. I don't work for the staffing providers. However, we want them to have a positive experience so they continue to send us the best talent day in and day out.

The second piece is that the MSP revolutions are really steered more toward a non-competitive environment. In the old, perceptions really steered folks down a path and there was a lot of head-butting between the two. The best thing about the MSP revolution today, and about this partnership of empowerment and reciprocation, is building a non-competitive environment.

If you have a staffing company that is, what we talked about, a VOP or a Vendor On Premise, and they're essentially taking business today; so, when your requirements go live, the staffing company disguises themselves as an MSP and they begin to work on the positions. They begin to filter the jobs first. And then they farm what else is left to the remainder of the supply base. So, the remainder of those partners.

This type of competitive environment, when someone disguises themselves as an MSP, can be absolutely detrimental. It happened  a lot in the beginning. It still happens a lot with certain organizations today. What I would say is, the best way that an MSP can evolve, that the MSP market has evolved, is less and less of this business today, where you have true MSPs that are in there that are managing the service, they're managing the providers, they're managing the supply base, they're distinguishing it within a vendor-neutral model to be able to push a non-competitive environment.

And when that happens, when there's reciprocation and empowerment between managers, between the suppliers, all filtering through the MSP, it's highly successful.

Last but not least, what's really changed in this revolution is the technology or the vendor management solutions. The systems of yesterday, again, were antiquated. It was very difficult to get information when a resume was in the system and you went to view the resume it was usually in some sort of html format. It was very difficult to see and very difficult to navigate the process, even with a Managed Service Provider steering that process through.

The technology providers, and because of competition in that space today, have really come a long way. The technologies are ever-evolving. We see increased functionality through these. What we find is in today's VMS, or Vendor Management Solutions, you can open a requirement. You can have resumes submitted to that. You can score those resumes. There's auto-messaging that takes place in the system whenever different tasks are made.

You can hire the person in the system. You can, after hiring the person in the system, obviously, it's going to handle all of your invoicing. It's going to handle all of the time cards and those pieces. And your MSP is going to help manage that process from top to bottom.

And you can take that individual all the way through off-boarding. And you've got a candidate file of your contract workforce. That's phenomenal. And that level of transparency and visibility is absolutely critical to any business.

Finally, about transparency and visibility through the technology is the ability to report. So, most of new VMS solutions that are pushing through process today; all fields are reportable.

And when you have a program office of an MSP on site who knows how to use that data correctly and knows how to pump that information back through the organization to change process, to formulate best practices, to calculate true savings, versus cost avoidance. To look at the ability to uncover market trends and trends in your business as a whole. To maximize your budget and really use data correctly.

That's really the transition of where MSP technology has really become much more forward-thinking. Much more progressive. And reaping the benefits of that partnership with the MSP through this.

Now, what I will say is that a VMS still has an opportunity to be a black hole today. In other words, a resume goes in the system and there's no feedback. That's where the MSP fills the void.

And so when we talk about the MSP revolution and we talk about how far the technology providers have come, what I will say is it is ultimately the responsibility of your program office, of an MSP, to bridge that gap to make sure that communication is flowing seamlessly between the technology and between the hiring managers. And if your MSP can't provide that value today, you should probably begin to look for other solutions.

I believe someone had a question?

Dawn Evans: So, Jeff, yeah, there's a couple of questions that came in and some of these are clarifying questions. So, the MSP, the Managed Service Provider, typically partners with a VMS technology solution. Is it ever their own solution, or do they partner with other people's solutions?

Jeff Holmes: What I would say is that there are absolutely Vendor Management Solutions that do run their own process and say that they have an MSP. And in some regards they do, and in other regards, they don't. And, again, this is just me, personally: What I would say is there are providers out there that also provide an MSP solution.

I think when you're managing the entire process and there's no level of oversight, I think there's added risks that can go there. So, it takes a true provider and a true partner to be able to manage that process. It wouldn't be the first solution that I would go with. I would absolutely shop around. But absolutely, there are instances where the technology manages itself.

There are also instances where you could purchase a VMS technology and you could run it yourself in-house. That happens as well. What I will say is that those can be successful, but you have to have the right team. And to hire a company that's experienced, that has the clients and the foundation and has been in the market for awhile to really steer your process, you're putting yourself at much less risk, and you're really getting more for what you pay for.

Dawn Evans: So, would you say best practice is; the question was, "I'm launching a program. What do I do first? Choose a technology or choose an MSP?" So, which; what would the best practice be?

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. What I would say is an MSP can lead you to the right technology. So, a good Managed Service Provider is going to help you make that decision. But the first thing that I would do is I would reach out to an MSP partner. I would reach out to someone who's, again, a staffing subject matter expert who understands contingent labor, who understands procurement services, and can really help you design your program.

Again, they're offering options and they're offering best practices. They're not making decisions for you. So, if a partner begins to make decisions for you, that's where I would begin to question that partnership. Again, it needs to be reciprocal throughout the entire process.

So, I would say choose the MSP first and they will help you find the right technology partner for your needs.

Dawn Evans: OK, so then, I choose an MSP. Jointly, the MSP and I decide on our VMS technology. So, now we've got technology and somebody to oversee the entire program from top to bottom. How do I determine the appropriate number of suppliers that are capable of submitting resources, then, for open positions?

And this question came in from a company and they said: If we have, for example, over 30,000 employees, how do you know how many people should be allowed to submit resumes for open positions?

Jeff Holmes: So, the first half of that question was: How many suppliers per head count? Or, how many suppliers do I need?

Dawn Evans: Yeah. What's an appropriate number of suppliers capable of submitting resumes? Is it open to all? Do you limit, and do you choose?

Jeff Holmes: So, there is no magic number. So, I'll speak to my programs and I'll speak a little high level to best practices. So, one of my programs has $40 million in IT spend. They're all very senior-level positions. They spend a lot of money on IT services.

When our program went live, they had roughly, I believe, 40 or 50 overall suppliers through the program. Now, with that level of spend and the amount of just head count that's there, what you want to do is you want to make sure that you have the right solution; that you have the right partners who can support all of your business. And if that's five, fantastic. If that's 10, fantastic. If that's 20, that's fine.

What I would say is creating partnerships with your suppliers is key. So, you want to make sure that you have individuals who all have different delivery models, who can recruit in different markets, and everyone's not farming from the same job boards over and over again. And your right MSP is gonna help you vet those suppliers.

So, one thing that most true MSPs do, and we'll get into this a little bit later as well, is supply-base management. They help you manage that process to determine how many specifically.

So, there is no right number or wrong number. It really depends on their model. It depends on the different delivery models. It depends on their ability to support your business.

What I will say is, if you currently work with 50 today, all 50 shouldn't be rolled into your program. That all 50, I would assume, should keep their head count. Those individuals should be able to be legacy suppliers in the business. But I would say a best practice would be to then choose the folks who support the breadth of the business, and then filter in.

On my program today, we have 10 preferred suppliers. That number's still probably high based on the amount of spend that we have. But we're going into year two of our program and we're vetting to ensure that we have the right suppliers.

Also, unemployment for IT in Atlanta, Georgia is astronomically low. It's less than 4 percent; closer to 3 percent today. So, what I will say is, we also have to make sure that we have enough variant delivery models to be able to support the breadth of the business. So. . .

Dawn Evans: OK, so; I'm sorry; I didn't meant to cut you off. Go ahead.

Jeff Holmes: No, I was going to say, it's really an MSP's responsibility to come in and be your partner and help steer through those best practices to help you decide what supply base fits your organization.

Dawn Evans: OK, so, is an MSP ever also the staffing firm that may serve as one of the staffing arms. So, let me get the language right: We've got the MSP managing the program top to bottom. Then we have a bunch of suppliers, or, I don't know what you want to call them; staffing firms, who are going to submit resumes.

Is there a problem with ever the MSP also being a staffing firm, and isn't that like the fox in the henhouse in that case?

Jeff Holmes: So, what I will say is that is absolutely a risk. So, when I talk to the suppliers that we currently have on our program today, and they talk about other programs here locally, one of their biggest frustrations is a situation where the staffing provider in on site. They are the MSP and there's what's called the supply-base distribution is off.

So, in other words, I'm an MSP but I'm also filling the position, so I'm competing, or that competitive environment, with the other suppliers. That's absolutely a risk, and it's absolutely a risk because if they can't support the business or if they don't support the business who, then, does it go to?

So, even with the backup supply base; so, let's say I am a staffing company and I'm also an MSP. And for first seven days I'm going to take all the business. I'm going to fill whatever I can, and I'm going to farm out whatever else I have left to the remainder of my supply base. Well, who's going to want to work on the leftovers, from a supply? I mean, you're essentially devaluing your suppliers. You're devaluing those individuals.

So, I would say it's absolutely a risk. What I would say is that as long as an MSP is not actually doing the recruiting, then they can manage that process. So, there are lots of instances where you might have multiple suppliers and those suppliers might have a relationship with an MSP. As long as the relationships are truly vendor-neutral, and their requirements are going out competitively to the market all at the same time, that's the most important piece.

So, in other words, when Job A comes open for a Director of Operations, that job would go to all of the suppliers on the preferred base at the same time to create that competition. That competition's going to help drive your costs down and that competition's going to help increase the quality; the overall quality.

And if the MSP has done a great job of vetting and ensuring that suppliers are there from different delivery models who have different networks and different candidate pools to be able to draw the best in, then the MSP's doing their job. If there are struggles, then the MSP better be proactive about filling those gaps.

Dawn Evans: OK. So, now, this question; I did go back some; we've got a couple of responses and I'm not it's sure something you can answer off the top of your head. But they asked for, "What is the typical. . ." (Where is the original question?) "What is a typical USD (U.S. dollar; one U.S. dollar) breakup for contract staffing revenue?" And the explanation was, the typical breakup of $1 in terms of staff pay, taxes, and other cost profit; is there a typical break down of a dollar when you're talking about staffing models?

Jeff Holmes: What I would say is it depends on every staffing company. So, I think that's a question that a lot folks try to; that's the purple squirrel that people try to get to so often. It's very unique. And every staffing company has a different what we call "burden." Or, their cost of business is different. Do they offer benefits? What are their benefits costs? Obviously, the cost per state can be different. So, there is no. . .

Dawn Evans: Hey, Jeff? Jeff? Excuse me. Something happened to your microphone. You're very, very, very faint suddenly.

Jeff Holmes: I'm not exactly sure what happened. Can you hear me now?

Dawn Evans: Now I can! So, whatever that little shift was, stay right there. That's perfect.

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. So, what I was saying is, there is absolutely no singular model to do a breakdown there. Every staffing company has a different cost of business. They have a different cost of business. One might offer benefits, the other might not. So, what they call a "burden" is different.

What I would say is, you know, when I was in staffing my office's burden was 19 percent. And that's relatively high for the market. They can go as low as 15 percent. Depending on the size of the organization, some can go as high as maybe, you know, 20, 21 percent.

So, with that being said, I would say that there's not; if that individual wants to converse with me directly after the call, obviously, I'd be more than happy to answer any follow-up questions they have to help kind of define a structure.

But, again, any good MSP is going to be able to go in and assist you with a not-to-exceed rate card. And they're going to be able to really go through; again, our economist is phenomenal about looking at the rates, looking at unemployment, and setting an environment that allows for cost savings and what we call "cost avoidance."

So, just because a not-to-exceed rate card is there, if every supplier is coming in at the max not-to-exceed rate time and time again, I mean, is your MSP really doing their job? They need to look for cost savings throughout. Unless a recommendation was made for a not-to-exceed rate card and those numbers were dropped dramatically.

Again, with the market turning, especially in certain industries, that would be where I would see the change or the challenge.

Dawn Evans: OK, perfect. So, then, this question is more around choosing the VMS solution. It says, "To shop around for a Vendor Management Solution, the technology, it's typical to lean on your Managed Service Provider to help navigate the market and get the right fit for the tool. But why, then, do most MSP markets, or market players, typically only recommend the same two to three VMS vendors when there are dozens out there?" Is that just because you have favorites; you have people you enjoy working with, people that you trust, or are there really only two to three best-in-class and the rest are just out there?

Jeff Holmes: So, I'm going to answer from my personal experience. I have been on the staffing side of the business and I have been on the corporate recruiting side of the business. I have worked with applicant tracking systems as well. And what I would say is it's the same in the applicant tracking space. There are a handful of providers that are best-in-class, that really do things the right way and they're progressive. They're highly configurable. Maybe not customizable but highly configurable, and they allow you to do business. And they allow you to report in certain ways.

What I would say is most of the MSPs from baker's dozen would definitely give you a handful of, you know, three or four names. And the reason being is because those technologies absolutely lead the space.

And while there might be bells and whistles on some of the up-and-comers that are extremely attractive to an organization, what I would say is the two to three best providers absolutely do things the right way much more consistently. They're easier to work with. They have less technical, or technology, breakdowns, so there's less downtime.

And, obviously, if your technology is managing, or your MSP is managing the technology, if the technology breaks, you know, you're back to a situation where there's chaos there.

So, I think the reason that two to three consistently go is because of each of use, because of configurability, and, obviously, customer service as well as, you know, strength of their actual technology platforms.

Dawn Evans: OK, very good. So, interesting question: "For a global organization, does an MSP or should an MSP also incorporate management of off-shore suppliers and/or resources?"

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. And this is really getting into the end of the presentation, which is great. So, we talk a lot about what we're doing today and how MSPs are changing; what's in the future. What we're seeing is we're seeing many more global expansions. For my organization, almost every new client that we're hiring; excuse me: that we're partnering with, has a global expansion in mind.

They're expanding to multiple business units, where an MSP might have just been for this level of spend or this industry. You know, and now it might be sales and marketing and IT and administrative and professional.

And we definitely see more project-based work coming through as well, for the future of the MSP. So, I would say that if you have offshore resources, if you have projects based, an MSP can manage that. And one of the huge values is just, again, in the transparency and the visibility that it provides.

There's no more hollow feeling for an organization to not know where all of their contract labor is. They don't know where it's at. And you'd be surprised how many leading organizations today don't have a grasp on how many head count they have, where they're located, what the pay rates are, and why is there no consistency in this market; why is there no consistency in that market?

One of the biggest values of an MSP is really to bring order to that chaos. And the technology partner alone can't do it. It can give you visibility into it. But having somebody really steer those best practices, not only from a North American standpoint, but from a global standpoint.

But, again, you have to make sure that you're partnering with someone that truly does have a global footprint and has the resources globally to be able to support your business.

Dawn Evans: You mean from a VMS technology perspective?

Jeff Holmes: I was referring much more from, yes, the VMS technology, but definitely the MSP as well.

Dawn Evans: Oh, all right. So, then help me with that question then. So, if I have an MSP and I have a Vendor Management Solution; so I have my technology and MSP, do they both have to have known how to move into certain countries, or do I have to have the technology there before I can move my MSP to that country? Or does the MSP bring the VMS provider?

Jeff Holmes: Um, what I would say is, the MSP should have some sort of foundation there currently. The technology providers, you know, in drafting things in various languages, I would say, again, the top two are very forward-thinking on there. The top two to four have plans, you know, to make sure that that's happening.

So, I would say that you definitely need a foundation of both. But let your MSP help steer that process for you, and help make sure that the foundation is there before you move into that market.

Dawn Evans: OK, so then, so, if we had a group of 30,000 employees, would that company typically fill the role of MSP internally, or do they typically outsource to an MSP?

Jeff Holmes: So, you're saying that. . .

Dawn Evans: Is there, I guess, a magic number of employees? At what point do people do the Managed Service Provider office themselves? Or is there not a secret number; it's just really the company itself?

Jeff Holmes: Yeah, it really varies on the company itself. What I would say is managing a project that big and trying to hire internal resources who have no experience in the industry as a whole is a huge risk to your organization.

The value of an MSP, the value of a true MSP, again, is much more than just managing the process. It's being that subject matter expert for all things. It's having the economists team, it's having the supply base management team, it's having the ability at a moment's notice to get on the phone with someone and pull different data and statistics versus having to try to crunch through and do it yourself.

The other value of using an MSP is, you know, we talk about the technology partners is that most MSPs have relationships with multiple technology partners and they have multiple relationships; the larger MSPs do. So the value is there.

OK, I'm a client, something's going wrong with my technology, there is a glitch. I need to get on the phone and open a ticket. Well, when you have a provider as well that has multiple relationships, those resolutions to get those things fixed happen a lot faster. It's sad, but it is true.

Dawn Evans: That brings up a really good point. So, no, I think everything you said, from the economists to the access to information, it seems like you would get so much more by having an MSP, and so much more efficiency and effectiveness.

So, I have a question. They said, Are there ever situations where the same candidate comes in from multiple suppliers or providers, staffing companies, at different rates, and if so, what's the best practice to handle that situation?

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. So, this happens consistently. So, many of the technologies will inform you when that's happened. And there's a few ways to handle it. One of the things that we've done with one of the programs is we have what's called a "right to represent." And there's a time signature on that right to represent and that time signature takes place.

If the candidate is shopping multiple companies, and a candidate gets through the system, and there are certain instances where we choose not to work with those candidates in that stage of the game, just because they've jeopardized the relationship between multiple suppliers.

I mean, if you give one person a true right to represent you and then you give someone else, I mean, obviously do you have the morals and the ethics to be a part of the organization.

Dawn Evans: But your right to represent is coming from the person that's being staffed. So, they assign a true right to represent; they typically do it just one agency, is that what you're saying?

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. Just to one agency. But it does happen, and it does happen, you know, on a semi-regular basis. Obviously, the supplier who submitted first that had the right to represent first is who you'd go with.

Now, if their rate is dramatically different from the rate of the other, that's when you begin to ask questions. Did the other supplier truly have the right to represent? Did they truly vet the individual? And you know that you want to hire this person. That's when that competition helps you drive the rate down. And a good MSP's going to help you do that as well.

Obviously, the cost of business is different, so you can't expect one to match the other. But if they are significantly different, the supplier who submitted at the higher rate, even if they were the first, is just going to need to be prepared to be much more flexible.

Dawn Evans: OK, good. So, the questions are flying in on this board right now. I know you have a couple more slides, so why don't we try and go through those and, folks, keep your questions coming, because this has been an amazing conversation.

And, Jeff, you are amazing. You haven't stumbled once. So, thank you. But I'm going to let you go through your slides for a minute.

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. So, just to pick back up where we left off, and I'll rush through this to leave as much time for questions as possible. What's really changed about MSPs today are today's service offerings. It's not just staff augmentation offerings anymore, or just your contingent labor. Obviously, that's a huge piece. But the second piece is around services procurement solutions, or your SOW; Statement of Work business.

The portals in business today are allowing you to manage this as well. When you couple the two together, and you have your contingent workforce management, and you have your services procurement solutions, you're able to have one platform that can report on all of your head count, all of your business, and it's tracking everything for contingent labor.

So, let's say today I'm only in IT. Well, then I grow into sales and marketing, and then I grow into professional, and then I grow into administrative. Now I really have a repository of a process that's being managed and I have that full visibility into those types of environments. And with a true MSP and a true partner, it's really a huge value-add to have that.

Again, today's service offerings and how they changed from yesterday, again, is around that supply-base management. Yes, it's being a partner with the supplier, but it's also holding them accountable and vetting them out and ensuring that you have the right supply base, as we mentioned before.

And then last but not least, let's talk about compliance. And that's the other great thing about an MSP. We stay ahead of the curve on all issues about compliance. And, obviously, internal contractor and 1099 compliances are a huge risk for an organization today.

I don't know that every company offers this, however, Allegis Group Services does offer a lot of protection from those types of organizations in steering best practices and really shielding processes that really help support that business as a whole.

So, today's service offerings, again, I used the words before, but they're progressive, they're forward-thinking. And it's all about reaping the benefit of a true partner and a true expert from a staffing perspective.

So, avoiding pitfalls. It's really the next piece of the puzzle and what you want to avoid when you're looking for a staffing company. So, I'm just going to talk about this very briefly.

So, talked about an MSP versus a VOP, and since we already covered this, what I will say is, just be wary. The organization that you're coming into should be prepared to be supplier distribution centric. It needs to be a vendor-neutral model. There needs to be multiple suppliers competing for the business. That level of neutrality helps support the business. It helps drive costs down. It's supply and demand.

What I will say is on this last bullet: The dedicated supplier model can absolutely work. So, depending on the amount of spend, depending on the partnership with that supplier, having one central, dedicated supplier can absolutely work, especially if that organization has been a partner for years.

I would say that you would want to vet that process out. But it can only work if it's truly managed by an MSP. So, if someone's on site, again, if I'm the MSP but I'm also filling jobs alongside of the competition. That's not a true MSP. That's a Vendor On Premise. That's a staffing company that's sitting in your ranks and managing your processes, filling whatever business they can and then farming the remainder out.

Now, a dedicated supplier model is completely different. And that dedicated supplier model is absolutely set up where you can have one supplier, one trusted partner, for whatever region, for whatever business unit, and they're filling all of the requirements. But they're being managed by the MSP. They're reviewing their statistics. They're reviewing the costs. They're ensuring that the speed is there and that the quality is there.

And that's the piece, obviously, where you want to avoid the pitfall. If you're not getting that, you know, if you're not getting an MSP service then you might have a VOP.

Dawn Evans: OK, so. . .

Jeff Holmes: And, just, obviously, closing comments real quick. What to look for: You want to look for an experienced partner. You want to look for someone who's building a symbiotic relationship between the staffing partners and the company. You want an expert.

And what to avoid? You want to avoid everything we talked about from that classic model. You want to avoid an inexperienced or administratively focused program. And, last but not least, you want to avoid the VOP model. Because I promise you it doesn't do anything to save costs. It doesn't do anything to drive quality. It's giving everyone a hundred percent of your business with no oversight.

Dawn Evans: OK, so now you need to move into your last slide, because we do have some of these questions, and they're not silly.

So, you're doing a tremendous job helping us understand the whole marketplace better. So, let's talk about a couple of things. One, you talked about; let me go back to the question here. You talked about having someone represented by just one service, or one staffing firm. Is that typically a legal agreement, or is that just an email?

Jeff Holmes: I would say that that would probably be a contract that you would have with your organization; with the organization. If was going to give somebody a hundred percent of my business, I'm pretty sure I would want some sort of contract in place and not just an email.

Dawn Evans: OK, and then, this is very interesting. Do you recommend that the MSP contract directly with the VMS, or does the VMS supplier always contract with the company you're representing as an MSP?

Jeff Holmes: So, there's different models that work. And so what I will say is I have the pleasure of being on both sides of the coin. So, there are situations where as an MSP I hold contracts with our staffing providers, and there are situations with another client of mine where the client holds those contracts.

What I will say is there are advantages to both. There are absolute advantages to both. Having the freedom to be able to navigate those relationships and really hold suppliers accountable and make changes is a huge value to an organization. At the same time, you know, having more consistency of building a stronger relationship with multiple suppliers that we have, and really having those relationships on a national basis and being able to leverage that.

So, yes, we're talking about this particular account. However, we work with you on multiple aspects of business in being able to leverage that to really hold suppliers accountable is great. So, I think I answered the question. I hope I did.

Dawn Evans: Well, actually, you answered it about the staffing firm, but what about the VMS technology? Do you contract, as an MSP, with the VMS or does the VMS contract with your client?

Jeff Holmes: So (and this is my recommendation), again, it goes both ways, and, again, on the two programs that I currently manage today, it's different. So, what I will say is on the one where the client holds the contract with the VMS partner, the technology partner can be a little slow to respond. And we're always leveraging our relationship, and I would say the Allegis Group Services relationship, with that supplier. Or, I'm sorry; with the technology partner. And the reason we do that is because we can get them to act, you know; typically if there's an issue we can get them to act pretty quickly.

So, from a VMS perspective, my recommendation would be that you have the MSP hold the relationship, as long as your MSP is a trusted provider in the market.

Dawn Evans: Interesting. OK, so do you get more; because you do so many more deals with the VMS technology supplier, they're more apt to pick up the phone and answer your questions quicker than a single client.

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. And they're also, obviously, you know, from a cost perspective, I think that leveraging that relationship also helps really have an added benefit of managing the overall costs of the technology.

Dawn Evans: OK. So, here's one. They say, "Companies that have already picked their VMS technology but don't have an MSP in place and then they start choosing their vendor suppliers. Are they really doing a disservice to their company, doing it that way?

Jeff Holmes: I would say they're not doing a disservice to their company doing it that way. What I will say is that they will probably have some more struggles throughout the overall process.

If you don't have an MSP and it's something you are trying to do yourself, what I would say is I would go out and I would look at the baker's dozen and I would look at names on the top of the MSP baker's dozen, and I would, you know, start to vet the process through to make sure that you're going to be given a program director or a program manager to manage that program office who really understands what they're doing; who really understands the process.

So, I don't say that you're necessarily doing yourself a disservice. However, what I would say is I would want to be very proactive about ensuring that I had the right processes in place should there be issues down the road.

Dawn Evans: OK. So, folks, we just had a box come up on your screen that is to push the slide back to you. You should have received a PDF version before we started today. And this is another way you can save it right to your hard drive.

Once again, this is going to be housed and retained on our website for three years. I encourage you to go download and replay it. But, because I try and respect your calendars, it is right at the 3 o'clock hour on the East Coast. So, we are going to end today's presentation.

And we have at least five to 10 more questions in the queue. So, what I'm going to do  is make sure Jeff gets these questions. And, Jeff, will you follow up directly with people and get the questions answered?

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely.

Dawn Evans: And will you come back and do another one on this? Because you generated more questions than I've seen in a long time.

Jeff Holmes: Absolutely. Thank you very much, Dawn. I really appreciate y'all for having us. Thank you.

Dawn Evans: Well, good. The "y'all"; that's the southern in you. I can hear it.

Jeff Holmes: That's the Atlanta, Georgia.

Dawn Evans: So, folks, I want to welcome you to the webinar series, if you're new today, but please join us again. Week after week we bring you the most exciting topics, from, obviously, fabulous presenters. So, make sure you join us for other webinars. Join us at a regional meeting. If you're in the Silicon Valley tomorrow, make sure you join us there.

If you're interested in going to Changsha, China with us in June, please let me know. All you have to do is get your flight over to China and everything else is covered. And we have a wonderful agenda.

And make sure that when you come to our next summit, you look for Allegis and you have a conversation and pick up the phone and talk to them in the meantime. It's a great group.

So, Jeff, thank you so much for your time, and thank you everybody else for joining us today.

Jeff Holmes: Thank you.

Dawn Evans; Thanks. Have a great day, everybody. We'll see you next week on our webinar series. Bye-bye.

Additional Resources:

Jeff's Article: The M-Word! The Revolution of the MSP and Its New Perception

Allegis Group Service's Blog

Endless Escalator

There is a deep contradiction brewing within the constructs of the working world that is psychological at its core. Although this is not a new problem, it seems to be a growing topic of debate (as are many issues) with the newer generation of the global workforce.

When we as human beings work hard to achieve success and finally attain a lofty goal, the typical progression is not to celebrate and decompress, but to set an even more aggressive benchmark to strive towards. Although admirable, the core flaw in this logic is that for many individuals, success equals (at least in part) a large portion of our happiness. In addition, happiness facilitates productivity. 

To summarize, what we have is a subconscious, ever-cycling meme within the workforce that speaks to our conscious mind only one future– a continuous flow of more work. While in theory this may seem good for business, at least from an economic standpoint, our brains are left wondering why we work so hard and achieve goals, while never realizing true mental success.

Author and “Happiness Expert” Shawn Achor recently gave a humorous and convincing speech at a 2011 TED conference titled, "The Happy Secret to Better Work" where he touches on this issue. In regards to goals he says, “Every time your brain has a success, you change the goalpost of what success looks like. If happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there.” Aside from the long-term psychological effects this has on your brain and its outlook on the corporate world, it’s simply bad for business. If the only reward for plowing through a workload in record time is another stack of work, burnout eventually ensues and productivity dips exponentially into the red.

Paradox Within a Paradox

Another contradiction springs to mind when looking at the overall association between goal attainment, happiness and their intertwined relationship with productivity. In a utopian work world, employees would finish a large project or close huge sales, then perhaps take a week or two off to be with their families and breathe in the successes – coming back to the office rejuvenated and ready again to take on the world. However, we do not live in a utopian society and in our current construct, those individuals would come back to the office after the decompression period with monstrous workloads, unhappy managers, and companies suffering dwindling sales numbers in their respective departments.

Formula for a Solution

In our current model, the solution lies not within bonuses, time-off, or material recognition, but through a continuously positive workplace culture where increasing happiness is equally important as increasing the bottom line. The brilliance with this formula is that the heightened satisfaction achieved through the work environment and culture will by proxy drive stronger productivity, higher sales numbers, and a healthy bottom line. Citing rigorous research, Shawn Achor reports, “Only 25% of job successes are predicted by IQ. 75% of job successes are predicted by optimism levels, social support, and the ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.” If we hire intelligent individuals to account for the initial 25% of success (IQ), and create an environment where those employees can flourish within the other 75% (culture), we will in theory be operating at a 100% success rate.

Trickle-Up Effect

It is crucial to be inclusive and create a unique culture where positivity thrives. Here are a few ways you can heighten the environment at a grassroots, personal level.

• Don’t wait for your manager to drive team recognition. If a peer does something well, be the first to send out a congratulatory group e-mail
• Extend celebrations outside of the workplace. Creating an event out of recognition further solidifies a positive mental success
• Incorporate these ideas into discussions with prospective candidates to showcase your culture
• Create a section in your new hire on-boarding that covers recognition philosophy in the workplace
• Don’t submit to cynicism. Drive solutions instead of contributing to the noise
• Write articles, blogs and publish media that continues to push this aspect of your brand. Make it part of your social legacy to change the psychology of the working landscape

Please weigh-in on the comments section with some healthy debate and more ideas on how we can increase happiness in the workplace and drive production.

In this webinar, Ronald Kreugel, explains how companies can benefit from a total talent management approach. Some key benefits this webinar touches upon are: people-driven growth, dramatic soft cost reductions, rare talent, accelerated performance.

Click here now to listen to the on-demand recording.

 A few of the key discussion points you will have the opportunity to review are:

• Understand why total talent management will add value to your company
• What HR's role is in leading overall Talent Management
• Dynamic workforce management to overcome unique operating challenges
• Analyse the latest market trends and developments in workforce planning
• Up skill recruitment team(s) for greater results in recognising talent
• Linking workforce planning to business strategy
• Analysis tool: Harness workforce characteristics and capabilities

Ronald Kreugel is the Director of Business Development for Allegis Group Services (AGS), and has over 17 years of international staffing and recruitment industry experience.

Don't miss our special section for addition resources under the transcription.

Webinar Transcription/Notes:

Thank you for the introduction and information, John and on behalf of Allegis Group Services I would like to welcome everyone to this webinar. My name is Ronald Kreugel and I am the Director of Business Development for Allegis Group Services based in Europe. Over the last 17 years I have worked for large staffing and recruitment services organisation and have been responsible for advising customer how to manage their contingent workforce efficiently and helping them achieve their contingent workforce objectives.

With me today I have Maria Boyse, our executive director human capital solutions based in California. Good morning Maria and could you please introduce yourself to our audience today?
Thank you Maria. As not all of you have heard of Allegis Group let me shortly introduce our company to you. Founded in 1983 Allegis has become the world’s 4th largest provider of staffing and HR services and over the last decade we have become the global leading provider of Human Capital Solutions including over 55 neutral Managed Services Programmes with large blue chip companies and were ranked highest in quality of services according to Baker’s Dozen MSP list 2011 by HRO Today. Besides MSP we provide a wide range of solutions including Recruitment Process Outsourcing, HR Consulting and Executive Search.

For today’s webinar which will last almost 1 hour we have compiled an agenda as follows:
First we will share our vision on the global business trends and what the implications are on people management and HR. Then we will go into more detail on Total Talent Management and workforce trends. Since we at AGS strongly believe that contingent labor should be part of the total management strategy we will share our thoughts on how organisations including HR should look at contingent workforce now and in the future.

Once we have gone through all slides we will conclude and also provide you useful tips about total management and why we think total talent management is key for HR leadership. So I hope you are all ready and please feel free to submit any questions via the chat.

I think we all know that there is a lot happening in today’s world and that we are going through a global transformation. For years now it appears that the world is getting smaller and globalization is an ongoing trend, which I believe is unstoppable. New economies are emerging and the so called BRIC countries are considered to have a significant impact on the global economy, which by the way is still uncertain when looking at the crisis in Europe which is affecting the global economy as a whole.

Studies show that there will be large demographic changes coming over the next years and aging workforce especially in Europe will have its effect on organisations. The global population is still rapidly growing but mostly in other parts of the world than Europe, simply have a look at India and China. It is unbelievable how many graduates we can expect to have coming from those countries, which will force organisations to think about workforce diversity and cultural change.

Last but not least the impact of technology is tremendous. The speed of publishing, sharing and finding information is truly amazing these days and you wonder how we were able to manage this flow of information b.G. (before Google). Mobile internet and mobile devices will become increasingly important and will let people have access whenever and wherever they want it. More people are bringing devices to the workplace and social media is another unstoppable trend which will have its affect on organisations – think about how Facebook, LinkedIn and other platforms are already impacting the daily work of recruiters and HR.

So when looking at the megatrends of globalisation, demographics and technology each one of these trends has an impact on organisations and business. The financial crisis started in 2008 is still not resolved and looks like economists predict further challenges and issues for the next few years. Organisations need to actively manage cost and often this results in lay offs and headcount reduction. I have read an article which concerned me regarding the ongoing reorganisations in the life sciences/pharma industry. A lot of that has to do with stricter government rules on medicines, all of them are looking for the next ‘blockbuster’ medicine but in the meanwhile many pharmaceutical companies are laying off people all over the world.
The demographic changes will bring new generations and I think more than enough is said about generation X, generation Einstein, etc, etc. Probably it just me getting older and seeing my kids develop fast, which make think about the differences between generations but I believe this is from all times. However I do believe that future generations will feel more social responsibility and will care more about their work-life balance. Also immigrations will play a role as this will lead to more diversity and workforce challenges in terms of culture, policies, languages, etc.

Technology is rapidly changing and predictions are that in 2015 there will be computers that will have the capabilities of a human brain, perhaps governments already have these but simply are not telling us. At least we already know the power of internet, mobile devices and social media which will require each organisation to rethink how to attract talent and access global talent pools. Furthermore company policies on usage of this media will be very important in this modern age.

So these trends are putting business under pressure, obviously the usual pressure on cost management, higher productivity by doing more with less and making sure that organisations will have the talent they need which is aligned with the business strategy and objective.

On top of the usual pressure we also see what we call ‘crisis pressure’ which has a negative effect on employee engagement. Doing more with less and increasing productivity will affect the workforce and having lay-offs mentioned in the newspaper or on TV news affects the employer branding of enterprises. Do you really want to work for a company that hires/fires people that easily? And what if that enterprise wants to attract different skills? Pressure to reduce human cost will certainly impact the total talent management strategies of many enterprises, but on the other hand can also be helpful to rethink this strategy.

Going through these changes a lot of organisations seem to be challenged and wonder what they need to do to respond to the changes. Perhaps I am over simplifying things here, but actually I would like to challenge you a little bit here.

What is your organisation doing? Is a traditional thinking company where focus lies on maximizing cost savings, stopping all new and innovative projects in order to reduce headcounts and cost? Do your organisation requires your staff to increase sales whilst reducing budgets? Obviously challenging times require organisations to rethink and it is more important than ever that leaders will make the right choices.

Or is your organisation a more forward transformation thinking company? The opposite of traditional thinking where innovations and new operating models are embraced ultimately leading to changing conditions, making organisations and people more creative which can then lead to new organisation models and even more innovative behavior. Hang on, because this will certainly impact the talent your organisation is hiring, which can bring new skills and thinking.

Personally I am a strong believer of the statement: “Change is the only constant” and we all know that changes will impact people. Each individual will react differently to change, some will hate it and some cannot live without constant change. From my personal point of view those enterprises that will put people first will most likely have a better chance to grow their future business as people will drive innovations, engagement of employees will be higher and overall performance will increase.

In the past the role of HR was very much focused on administration, ensuring that the payroll was executed correctly, ensuring benefits and pension/retirement administration, consultative role for business regarding labour legislation and HR only played a small role with regards to policy and planning. Often HR was informed last about business strategy and objectives, which led to a more reactive than pro-active role. Obviously depending on the industry or organisation you work for it may still be like this, but I do believe that many organisations have made significant changes to the HR strategy and departments.

In most organisations CEO’s and senior management teams have learned over the past years that people and talent management are becoming increasingly important and that HR plays a pivotal role. A lot of enterprises have transformed their HR departments into HR business partners in order to have direct contact with line managers. Working closely with line managers, truly understanding the needs they have and translating this into policies and planning as well as immediate actions will help business to accelerate. A separation between administration and people management is often made and the pressure on HR to reduce people cost has led to more standardization, less spending and even outsourcing activities and self-services for managers and employees.

That brings us to the next item on the agenda – Total Talent Management

“Talent Management” is more than a hype, but still you can find this term across 90% of HR whiteboards or plans today. However does it mean the same for everyone? Is labeling your applicant tracking system as “talent management” the solution? Or is it a combination of initiatives that can be called “talent management”?

Depending on your organisation’s definition, talent management is about having the right skills and workforce to maximize the performance of your organisation in order to achieve the strategic  objectives. We believe that is about attracting, hiring, developing, training and retaining staff that will help your organisation achieving the goals defined by your organisation.

Every organisation will say that people will make a difference, there is not a single CEO who will argue that. However if it so important to your organisation’s success then it needs to be more than a catchy term in your next PowerPoint presentation. Your organisation needs to be concerned with deploying a talent management strategy throughout the organisation in order to obtain the best possible results. And this strategy needs to be an initiative where various components are integrated.

Hiring  or developing great people is one thing, but it will certainly not be enough. Even though you may have great people, you may have lousy results so you will still end up with having a lousy company. So this means that results must be obtained, if not you fail. So obtaining desired results rests on aligning and integrating the key components of talent management. How do you do that?

Strategic Workforce Planning:

What are the goals of the organisation and the objectives you expect your people to deliver? Do you have the people to accomplish this?

Total Talent Acquisition:
Where and how will you get the talent to fill the gaps you identified in planning?

Employee Development:
How do you train and prepare your people so they will be successful?

Performance Management:
Are your people successful and are they accomplishing the goals you set for them?

Succession Planning:
Do you have a plan for key people and roles?

Strategic Workforce Planning:

It all starts with the end – now you probably wonder what I mean with that. We have not started yet and you are already at the end? I think it was Steven Covey if I remember well, who said that effective people start with the end. So let’s start with defining the needs and goals of the organisation? What is it that your organisation would like to achieve in 1, 2 or 3 years from now. Is it growth of sales, revenue or margin? Is it a growth of market share? Is it becoming the best company to work for? Whatever you determine it will be the beginning of your talent management strategy as the goal(s) will cascade down to all departments. Each department will require to contribute to the overall goals and objective and the key tasks need to be completed by their staff. Making sure that the departments plan their workforce and identify needs or possible gaps in terms of quantity and quality will form the basis for your talent management strategy. I will explain that further in the next slides.

Total Talent Acquisition

Once your organisation defined the needs and gaps in the workforce planning, it may be clear that there an organisation needs to acquire specific skills or simply need to acquire more talent to achieve their goals and objectives. There are various talent pools for acquiring talent, including:
•  Internal Employees
•  External candidates for full time positions
•  Contingent workers
•  Offshore labour
•  Project and statement of work based labour 

If your organisation will have a wide view on talent and is able to source talent from various sources, you should be able to acquire better talent than your competitors. At AGS we believe that total talent acquisitions means that anyone doing work for the organisation should be considered talent and therefore should be integrated in the total talent management strategy. Now here is why integration of components is crucial, today a lot of organisations do not have a comprehensive perspective on their workforce. HR is often only focused on their full time employees having a company badge, and too often exclude external employees. More often contingent workers in IT or business departments are managed by these departments and will determine the success of these departments without having HR involved.

From an outside point of view organisations’ failure to integrate the strategy, sourcing, and evaluation efforts of all the talent pools will lead to great inefficiencies and lost opportunities to maximize performance. So combining these will be needed as well as ensuring that acquired talents will be successful. 

Employee Development

After identifying needs and gaps and acquiring talent, it is now time to address the following question:
“Are our people prepared and able to deliver the results we expect?”
Knowing the goals and objectives for this and next year or the year after, your organisation may require different skills than you will have today. Obviously each organisation must understand the individual ability of each worker as it relates to the core competencies identified in the the strategic workforce planning. This should be integrated in the talent management strategy as one of the components.

Personal profiles and resumes contain much of the information that needs to be considered in employee development. But only gathering information is not enough, what do you with it is even more important. You cannot expect that employee development is a simple stage that happens and ends. It will continue after you acquire and hire your talent and increases the probability of success.

One of the first things you need to do with your acquired talent is execute the on-boarding process successfully. This more than showing where the coffee machine is and handing out a password. Your on-boarding process is all about getting your talent productive fast! Induction, training, e-learning, mentoring and making sure they know what is expected from them should be part of a good on-boarding process. Once we have done that we can hold them accountable, which leads to the next item performance management.

Succession Planning

Last but certainly not least is succession planning. Every organisation has key people and key positions that are important to the success of the company and achievement of its goals.  But simply achieving goals isn’t enough, being prepared for the future is also important. Depending on the history of your company or the industry it is active in, some companies have been around for hundreds of years. Other have just started in the last years but no matter how old or young your company is, objective is that it is here to stay – otherwise you would probably not be in business.  

Perhaps it is a shock for some managers, but surrounding you with great talent that are able to replace is actually a good thing. Personally I believe that everyone should look to have a successor for his or her job. I hope you are not like me and manage this informal and based on gut feel, this how I often did it in the past. Serious talent management advocated proactively identifying key people in the organisation and develop a plan to manage those key people and key positions. Also technology can play a role here and will certainly help to streamline the process and planning as long as it is integrated or linked to other components.

But simply having a talent management plan or installing talent management software isn’t enough. I strongly believe that winners in the war for talent will be those that invest time to define a clear talent management strategy and process for all components I showed you. Success of this total talent management strategy will depend on C-level commitment, which need to help remove obstacles and political boundaries. Too often key talent decides to leave an organisation if they do not see a clear perspective or plan and therefore talent management must be part of a company’s culture and not just an HR programme. Organisations need to have a more holistic strategy to talent management vs. departmentally as well as having a wide view on various talent pools, internally as well as externally.

So coming back from a total talent management theory, we need be looking at real life and translate that into business. It is clear that Global Business Trends have an immediate effect on the workforce of enterprises. Due to economic uncertainty in Europe, but also in Asia and other parts of the world most companies are actively manageing their cost and risks in order to stay competitive. A lot of companies are reducing headcount and are actively addressing the challenges around workforce planning. This year and years to come workforce planning – managing and working with the available skills and talented workers – is a major theme for large enterprises, regardless of your company’s industry.

Aging workforce is probably a challenge that companies find difficult to face. Everyone knows that large enterprises will lose skilled workers and valuable knowledge, but due to uncertain economic conditions find it hard to come up with an answer how to deal with new generations on the work floor. In economies where unemployment figures are up, it is notable that a large part of unemployed people are young people. One example is the economy of Spain, where now 1 of 5 workers is unemployed and a whole generation of young, educated people may lack working experiences in years to come. In those economies where young people get jobs, the interest and engagement is different than current employed workers. New generations care more about having meaningful jobs, sustainable organisations and whether your company is doing good in terms of social responsibility.

recruitment specialists social media such as LinkedIn, Xing and other platforms make it easier to identify passive job seekers and establish networking groups with special interests and/or skills. There are even sites such as Find.ly where recruiters can have an up-to-date social talent community of people who are interested in your company’s jobs. Already today, but even more importantly tomorrow and workforce planning is all about having the best skilled people available at times when you need them and you better know where and how you can find that talent.

Due to uncertainty more and more companies are increasing the usage of contingent labour. Where in the past enterprises would have an occasional temp worker during the peak season or to replace a perm employee temporarily, almost everyone working for a large organisation has seen an increase of people working at your company who are not employees of that company. In just 20 years the percentage of of work allocated to contingent labour on average has increased from 6% in 1989 to more than 27% in 2009. Lately the percentage seems to have dropped again, but like it or not contingent labour now plays a significant role in providing both organisational capacity and capability.

Not knowing exactly when to hire talent or knowing what type of talent to hire makes it difficult for organisations to decide what their recruitment teams should look like. In 2010 and beginning of 2011 it seemed that business was getting back to normal and a lot of companies started hiring again, but end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 show less activities when it comes to hiring talent. However I should note that this is not the same for all industries as there appears to be a mismatch of required skills and availability of skilled workers. Agile and flexible recruitment teams that can easily scale up or scale down are required and often non-core activities are outsourced to partners, so that internal teams can focus on the value add services they need to provide to their business.

The perspective on work-life balance will be different and once they have entered the workforce they look for instant gratification through promotion or other means. Personally I believe this is of all generations, because often I recognize the same ambitions that I had (and by the way still have) when I was younger. So we should not exaggarate and label all new generations to come. I wonder what that’s gonna be like with my kids, already they are using an iPad and get annoyed when an app is not doing what they expect it to do.

With the internet and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets many organisations have to rethink their talent acquisition and sourcing strategy. Facebook, LinkedIn and free jobboards are quickly replacing printed advertising and traditional jobboards such as Monster, CareerBuilder, Indeed and others.

Social media plays an important role and many HR departments and corporate recruiters use social media for profiling or reference checking, although when asked they will immediately deny this due to privacy laws. 

Additional Resources:

http://www.ere.net/2012/01/25/hr-still-struggling-to-be-strategic/

http://www.ere.net/2011/12/05/10-predictions-for-2012-the-top-trends-in-talent-management-and-recruiting/

http://www.taleo.com/researcharticle/what-talent-management   

http://www.hrotoday.com/content/4552/total-talent-management 
 

http://www.skillsportal.co.za/page/human-resource/1119702-The-changing-role-of-human-resources-management

http://blog.allegisgroupservices.com/post/2011/12/12/5-Steps-to-Building-Your-Holistic-Recruiting-Strategy-(Reactive-Recruiting-vs-Holistic-Recruiting).aspx

On Wednesday, May 2nd, Bruce Morton, Allegis Group Services' CMO, will be speaking at the HRO Today Forum. Join Bruce, and other top HR industry leaders and policy makers for an event of learning and networking. 

Bruce Morton: Hi. I'm Bruce Morton, Chief Marketing Officer of Allegis Group Services.

I'm going to tell you about the great event that HRO Today are putting on:

An HRO Today Forum, in Washington, D.C., April the 30th to May the 2nd. 

We've got a great lineup of speakers.

If you're in the world of HR, and you're challenged with finding great people and putting them into great jobs, it's the place to be.

The lineup includes the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

And I'll be speaking myself, as well.

I'm going to be talking about the changing social contract.

So, hey, check out the website: HROTodayForum.com.

Hope to see you there. 

Everyone has their own reasons for becoming a recruiter.  For some it’s the compensation, others it’s relationship building, but for me it was the “woo” of the highly skilled candidate.  While it has been a few years since I sat in a recruiter role and there are some aspects of the job that have changed over time (thank you social media!), the principals behind how to woo top candidates have not. Here are some of my methods for wooing great candidates that led to success as a recruiter, as well as relationships that continue many years after I changed careers. 

Understand The “Why”
If you were in a candidates shoes, whom would you want to find you your next job?  Would you want a recruiter who randomly emailed you a job description you are “perfect” for (a.k.a their Boolean search results uncovered your resume), or would you want a recruiter who asked the right questions before sending you opportunities to consider?  You would want to know that the person on the other end of the phone understands your goals, whether they are professional development, increased compensation, better work-life balance, etc.  

Know Your Audience
Now that you know the “why”, use your knowledge of what the candidate does to begin establishing trust and respect.  For example, if you are recruiting UX Designers and you fully understand what this position does and the technologies (new and old) they work with, the candidate will begin to respect  your knowledge of his/her industry.  Trust me, I was no SME, but I did know more than the basics of the job titles I recruited.   I read book and articles, attended workshops (great for networking, too!), and if a new technology or methodology had emerged I sometimes asked former candidates I’d placed if they had any exposure - -if so, tell me about it!  

Do Not Go Dark
We have all experienced it at least once - - the disappearing candidate.  The candidate that you call because you have an interview or offer lined up, and they never call you back.  Would you want to work with a recruiter who did the same?  If the candidate is a casual job seeker then at a minimum make sure to check in once a week. Even if you do not have a new opportunity for them to consider, they will appreciate the follow-up. If you are working with an active job seeker you may need to check in multiple times.  Provide them with submittal updates, new opportunities, etc.  Let them know that they have not fallen into a black hole of candidates you are working with.   

Maintain The Relationship
Many times I found this to be one of the most important aspects of recruiting.  While I did not place every single person I first wooed, I still maintained contact for a few reasons.

1. Referrals.  They may no longer be looking for new opportunities but they may have some really great previous co-workers or friends that are.

2. Does anyone ever stop looking for a better career opportunity?  You may have something land in your lap a year after meeting on of your candidates who is “no longer available”. While they may not have been expecting the opportunity to come along, send it their way and see if it’s too hard for them to pass up!

While I mentioned that I enjoyed wooing the highly skilled worker, the comment is partly due to the fact that I recruited highly demanded, highly skilled, Sr. level candidates.  However I believe you could apply these methods to any level of skill set and the results would be the same.  

We are often asked by potential customers, “So tell me … what is different about your company?” They want to understand, what differentiates us from our competitors?  Perhaps the customer currently has or previously had another RPO firm providing services or they may be exploring making the initial move to an outsourced provider. Either way, there are a few key differentiators that add value to customers, their candidates, hiring managers, and other stakeholders.

1. Recruiting resources that are “right-sized” to the customers’ hiring requirements.  At both pre and post-launch of services, providers should work side-by-side with their customers to fully analyze client historical and current data. Projected business plans must be determined so that both parties can collectively develop and agree on the scope of hiring and size, skills, competencies and location (on and off-site) of talent acquisition resources. 
2. Greater emphasis on sourcing and attracting candidates.  First, all companies should place an enormous premium on attracting, hiring and retaining the best recruiting talent in the marketplace. Recruiters must be “hunters” of talent who understand the value in identifying passive talent and then have the experience, skills and depth of knowledge to attract and present the most qualified candidates to hiring managers.  Second, recruiters  should be aware of the best social sourcing tools. Just using LinkedIn is no longer good enough. In the new social economy, recruiters must actively develop innovative sourcing strategies – and continue to evolve with the marketplace focusing on social networking, talent communities, search engines, referrals, and job boards.
3. Greater focus on alignment with business strategy.  Account leaders and their teams must be trained and experienced in developing deep and broad, relationships with senior business leaders, hiring managers and key process stakeholders to ensure that recruitment efforts are completely aligned with the goals of the business. A firm that is a seamlessly integrated partner will be the greatest value to your company.

 Focusing on these key differentiators will provide recruitment platforms that can deliver improvements in:

• Time-to-Fill
• Candidate experience through increased contact and relationship management 
• Quality of candidates through more highly focused sourcing and screening 
• Responsiveness, communications and issue resolution

So many RPO providers today are selling the “P” in the RPO formula, rather than the “R”. They are offering “off the shelf” solutions that appear glitzy and easy to “plug in”. And while these models fit a provider’s internal financial needs, the reality in most cases is they do not have the will or the experience to put forth effort to build flexible, customized solutions that a true RPO partner will seek in order to guarantee long term success. However, the unfortunate demise of many RPO engagements can be directly attributed to the fact that many RPO providers often do not listen well. An RPO provider who is driven by the passion to find top talent in the marketplace, who listens to the client and can evangelize that message out to the marketplace, is the one that can make the most strategic impact to your organization. While everyone wants more efficient processes, it isn’t process that gets you better talent. It is innovative, unrelenting recruiting that gets you the best people for your organization.

The DNA of The RPO Provider

The difference between a successful and unsuccessful RPO often lies in the fundamental DNA of the provider. In today’s marketplace, the core of corporate recruiting has been turned into a processing and administrative function, rather than the hunt to find the best possible talent in the shortest time. For example, a vendor who is proficient in call center recruitment will find the leap to corporate/mid-level recruitment an enormous canyon to cross. Whereas, an RPO provider, whose roots are in executive search, and whose culture is focused on the relentless recruitment of top-tier talent in the marketplace, will succeed in upgrading an organization’s talent when compared to a firm that focuses primarily on the process of hiring less complex, high volume roles. RPO firms who evolved from true search are trained to dig and listen, to understand your business and then tell your “compelling story,” one candidate at a time.

Cost is Important, But so is the Cost of Failure

In today’s economy, companies understand that they are engaging RPO providers for purposes other than supplementing recruiting needs. Utilizing an RPO engagement in a volatile economic climate can keep your organization lean and efficient. In a majority of instances, RPO will be a cost efficient measure. Companies who are looking for flexible, scalable recruitment solutions should recognize that cost is as important as price flexibility in terms of selecting a provider. An RPO provider should deliver savings, however a true RPO solution is an investment into the recruitment of quality hires. The real value of an RPO provider will be determined by its ability to deliver on business strategy through full client partnership.

Choices, Choices, Choices: The Candidate Experience

Do you remember back to when you accepted your current or previous position? Why did you choose to join the firm? Research has proven we buy mostly on emotion, or the “feel” of something. The top marketing companies know they need to create an emotional connection with a buyer. An RPO provider is the face to your candidates and they are responsible for ensuring the superior candidate experience from first phone call, to interview day, to presenting the offer. Great candidates must feel at home from the very first contact if you want them to become great employees. RPO firms who evolved from search are uniquely trained to care for each candidate, recognize the value of successfully acquiring the best candidate, and ensure that all candidates have a positive “brand” experience in the process.

One Size Can Never Fit All

The best partner is one who listens to the client and then offers customized solutions which are relevant to their needs. The same then is true for the best RPO partner. They understand solutions are long term in nature and take work and mutual commitment. It’s like getting married and never taking the time to find out what the partner wants out of life. Just like in a marriage, compatibility, compromise and partnership is at the heart of success. Together, your goals, values and cultures need to fit well. As such, a successful RPO partner should be able to offer flexible solutions such as a best-in-class hybrid model. This may include integrating RPO staff with existing internal staff, focusing on process improvement and cost reductions, evaluating the workforce and changing the source mix.

Conclusion

Let’s face it - there is no mold that all companies fit. During the vetting process, it is very important to speak about the details of how a relationship might work. Be specific regarding operational issues. In order to truly succeed, partnership must go beyond just a client/vendor relationship to one that is vested in mutual success. Start listening to each other from the very first meeting and it will make the likelihood of success much greater.

Can you believe it’s already time to come up with a New Year’s resolution again?  Personal resolutions come and go, especially if they contain the word “gym,” but commitments you make for organizational change can’t slip.  Does your recruiting department need a New Year’s resolution?   Not sure?  Ask which model most accurately describes your recruiting department?

Reactive recruiting

Holistic recruiting

• Anticipates talent needs based on workforce planning    
• Talent network oriented
• Sustained talent pipeline for difficult jobs 
• Short time to fill

The biggest difference between these two models is in the result.   Reactive recruiting attracts people who need a job.  Holistic recruiting attracts high potential employees with the skills and career goals that match the trajectory of your organization.

These steps will help your recruiting department adopt a more holistic approach in 2012 and beyond:

1. Workforce Planning

Workforce planning must start at the leadership level.  The purpose is to align the workforce with the organization’s objectives and growth plans.  It is a complex subject that cannot be fully outlined in this space, but the key elements that will affect your Talent Acquisition strategy are:

• Build a competency model for each title/function
• Measure your current staff against that model
• Perform a gap analysis

Too often, competency models focus only on skills, but it should also include knowledge and attributes relevant to your culture.  For example, someone might have the right skills for a job but their work ethic does not fit your performance culture.

2. Interview Planning

The work you put into the competency model feeds into the interview questions that should be covered for each title/function.  Questions should measure specific performance indicators (skills, knowledge, and attributes).   Each interviewer has a specific role based on her/his area of expertise.  Interviewers communicate results on a scorecard; rating candidates based on specific performance indicators.

3. Candidate Sourcing Strategy

Despite the high national unemployment rate, qualified candidates for skilled positions are harder to find than ever.  Whether you are recruiting for an HVAC technician or a Software Architect, a dynamic sourcing strategy is required.  Consider the following to develop your sourcing strategy:

• Identify positions to focus on.  Which positions have the longest time to fill?  Which positions have the highest turnover?  What skills are required?

• Competitive intelligence.  Who are your talent competitors?  What organizations should you target?

• Talent communities.  Where do these people congregate?  What social networks are most often used by target candidates?  Can you expand outreach to additional communities such as diversity, disability or veteran candidates?

• Recruiting channel options.  What is the most effective way to reach candidates?  The channel options are many:

• Job boards such as Monster, CareerBuilder, Dice, and Workopolis
  - Job aggregators such as indeed and simplyhired
  - Search engines such as Google and Bing for “X-Ray searches”
  - Social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter
  - Employee referral programs, a great benefit that helps keep your cost per hire down.
  - Candidate referral tools such as Jobvite and Wildhire
  - Campus recruiting
  - Career fairs
  - Trade associations Many associations will allow you to post your job for free. 

4. Build a Sustained Talent Pipeline

Reducing time-to-fill (TTF) is one of the main benefits of a holistic approach.   The key to reducing TTF is in the development of a true talent pipeline.  Starting from scratch every time a new requisition opens can only lead to frustration.  Holistic recruiting builds a talent pipeline by interacting with talent communities on a sustained basis.  To do this, you need a communication strategy focused on engaging candidates in a two-way dialogue.  It is not about advertising!   Instead, you ask how the talent market currently views your organization and what elements make it a unique and exciting place to work.  You then develop integrated campaigns targeting prospective candidates and former employees.  Candidate Relationship Marketing (CRM) tools such as Avature, Jobvite Source, Find.ly and Jobs2Web can help automate the process. 

5. Recruitment Team of Brand Ambassadors

Recruiters are a quirky bunch and asking them to change is easier said than done.  The transformation from a reactive mindset to a holistic approach requires a significant cultural shift.  Developing a recruitment team of brand ambassadors does not happen overnight.  This struggle has led many organizations to adopt a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solution.  The best RPO providers have helped clients make the transformation many times over.  It does not require drastic steps and layoffs, just expertise and committed leadership.

Bruce Morton, AGS CMO, on the coming TalentNet Live Recruiting Conference and how social media is changing the landscape of recruiting.

Have ideas or questions? Pose them to Bruce now.

#TNL Chicago National Recruiting Conference
December 5th, 8am
JSTN HQ - 2880 Vision Court
Auora, IL 60506

Bruce will be joined by some of the world's top minds in Social Media and Recruiting. They will be sharing their tips for Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Employer Branding, Content Development, Profile Optimization, Cold Calling to Warm Calling, Personal and Corporate Branding, Location / Mobile Recruiting, and the latest tools.

Speakers you’ll be learning from and networking with include: William Tincup, Crystal Miller,Jason Seiden, Veronica Ludwig, Amber Osborne, Matt Charney, Craig Fisher, Trish McFarlane,Ryan Leary, Lars Schmidt, Maren Hogan, , Sarah White, Marianthe Verver, Geoff Webb… and more!

Leave your ideas and comments in the comment section below.