Succession Planning & The Importance Of Mapping The Competition

Mapping The Competition Should Be Part Of The Succession Planning Strategy

Succession Planning & Mapping With SGA Talent - 

Mapping the competition is a smart way to stay informed and often used as part of the succession planning process.   Knowing who and where the talent is inside and outside your organization is critical in the process of succession planning.   Identifying top performers for high impact and high risk roles as well as having relevant compensation information is a very important component in starting the engagement process.   It’s never too early to communicate and get to know potential top performers. In fact, consider putting the process in motion and start identifying, networking, engaging and recruiting future leaders that are the "right fit" for your organizations today. Allow mapping to be part of the process. 

Mapping - Identifying  The Competition: Start with the competition but do not exclude the companies that your company has had great success recruiting from. Below is an example of an organization chart that was created for a succession planning project.  

Profiling The Talent: Now is the time to gather the intelligence that will assist with making smart hiring decisions. Getting to know the talent - who they are, what they do, career highlights, career history and compensation. Once the organization charts are created, profiles must be gathered. Additional information provided are direct dials  and emails.

An example of a biography included in a succession planning report.

Daniel Pinto, Chief Executive Officer, Global Head, Investment & Corporate Banking

Biography: 

Mr. Daniel E. Pinto serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Europe, Middle East and Africa at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Mr. Pinto serves as Chief Executive Officer of Corporate & Investment Bank at JPMorgan Chase & Co. since March 25, 2014. He serves as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Executive Officer of Corporate & Investment Bank and Chief Executive Officer of EMEA of J.P. Morgan Securities Plc. He served as the Head of EMEA at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He has been a Member of Executive Committee at World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva since January 1, 2017. He served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of The Corporate & Investment Bank at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from July 2012 to March 2014. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Europe, Middle East & Africa Region at JPMorgan Chase & Co. since June 2011. He served as the Head of Investment Bank and EMEA at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He served as the Head of Emerging Market at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from November 15, 2006 to 2009. He served as the Head of Global Fixed Income at JPMorgan Chase & Co since April 14, 2012. Mr. Pinto served as the Head of Investment Bank at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and served as its Co-Head of Global Fixed Income from November 2009 to July 2012. He serves as a Director of J.P. Morgan Securities Plc.

Below is a link to one our succession planning projects. 

Click here for Part of A Succession Planning Report SGA Talent Completed

Networking, Engaging, Recruiting - It is never too early to begin engaging a potential high performer. Consider starting today!

With only 20% of passive candidates actively looking, the need to engage with high performers are important from the moment identified and when there is potential interest. Depending upon a company's strategy, and process, the engagement process can start with an email, call, text or possibly even a face-to-face meeting. The good news is that mapping can provide a company with what is needed to start the process. 

As leaders think about succession planning, it is good to consider implementing mapping as part of the process. The process of identifying profiling, engaging and building a pipeline of external potential talent often results in the creation of an immediate pipeline of screened candidates, shortening what is sometimes considered a long cycle time of sourcing. Additionally, another huge advantage of mapping outside high performers is that there are available candidates with whom there is already an existing warm mutual relationship making for the process to be much easier as well. Are you using mapping as part of your succession planning process? 

Since 1989, SGA Talent has been supporting companies of all sizes with mapping and succession planning. We are here for you too. 

Happy Hunting!

Best regards,

Sheila Greco

Contact Sheila Greco sgreco@sgatalent.com

A Big Part Of Recruiting Success Is The Messaging & Using Multiple Messaging Vehicles To Reach Potential Candidates

Recruiting goes beyond just LinkedIn

Connecting with potential candidates requires emailing, calling and for some texting

The truth is, that sometimes it takes two, three, four or five attempts before a potential candidates responds

The war for talent has pushed the need for recruiters to have access to several ways to connect with potential candidates. Many recruiters rely solely on LinkedIn but recruiting must go beyond just an InMail or LinkedIn message. Recruiters should be emailing, calling, texting and using other social media vehicles as additional ways to connect with potential candidates.

The recruiting message is important for sure, but so is knowing who you are trying to recruit and the ways in which the recruit prefers to be contacted. According to Career Builder, there are some generational differences in how candidates prefer to be contacted. It was noted that 57% of Millennials prefer to be contacted by email over phone calls. As for Gen Xers, 47% have equal preferences towards email and phone calls. For the Boomers, 58% prefer to be contacted by phone over emails. However, remember these are preferred methods, but I recommend having at least 3 ways to connect with a potential candidate, especially passive ones. The good news about knowing about these preferences helps me as I begin my initial outreach to these professionals. Again, please recognize that recruiting requires going beyond just LinkedIn. Recruiting is a process and there should be no limits as to how to reach out and connect with potential candidates. Lastly, we all know that not everyone is found on LinkedIn or for that matter uses LinkedIn as much as we would like to think. Go beyond this resource but do not ignore it.

Messaging matters. Keep the recruiting messages less than 200 words. According to RecruitLoop, optimal recruiting emails should be between 150-200 words. Additionally, according to LinkedIn’s data, recruiters can increase their response rate by 27% by keeping their InMails shorter than 200 words. I myself depending upon the opportunity prefer to keep the messages under 200 words but for some it is not about the number of words but writing a message that will get a response. 

Recently we tested a variety of email messages to see which received the best response and below are a few examples that yielded a great response rate.  Overall our messaging is personalized, yet easily customized, provides a bit of information about the role that will prompt a response if there is interest and it includes a closing option that allows the recruit to commit to a conversation or state there is no interest, now.  

1.     Personalize the message

I reviewed your career history and you are someone I would like to speak with regarding an opportunity I am working on.

Upon review of your background, you are someone I would like to connect with regarding an opportunity I am working on.

When we last spoke I noted that you wished to stay connected and hear of future opportunities. Do you have time to speak regarding an opportunity I am working on?

2.     Opportunity Details

We have been retained to identify a Director of Internal Communications. Ideally we are looking for someone who has experience with both External and Internal communications as well as being passionate about being part of a company undergoing a lot of change to include many merger and acquisition activities. This is an exciting time for our client and if you are interested in being part of this, let’s chat.

We have been asked to recruit several sales professionals who exceed sales goals not just meet them. If you are top of the list, love to sell, interested in being part of a growing company in a niche market, we should have a conversation. 

As an accomplished consultant in SAP, I am interested in speaking with you. We are looking to recruit technical professionals who are great listeners, communicators and results driven. The reason for my outreach is to get to know you, your career aspirations and to learn how you accomplished what you have done thus far.  I welcome the opportunity to spend 10-15 minutes with you to learn more about you and what you wish to accomplish in the coming years.

3. In Closing

Realizing you are very busy, if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please provide me with a few dates and times that may work for you so I will be sure to make our call happen. If you are not interested, please let me know as well. Have a great day and I hope to connect soon.

Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco

Talent Mapping Has Multiple Uses - Today SGA Talent Presents the Multiple Uses of Talent Mapping While Exploring “The 25 Best Tech Companies to Work For in 2016,

Click to see our July Study here.

Talent Mapping's Multiple Uses

1. Recruiting - Creates talent pools specific to a company’s recruiting requirements
2. Sales, Marketing - Used to create specific lists of potential decision makers
3. Talent Management - Provides a resource to compare internal talent to talent outside of the organization
4. Competitive Intelligence - Diversity comparisons, reporting relationships Talent Mapping 

Talent Mapping is an effective research/recruiting method that supports numerous teams within an organization.  This process has been proven to create recruiting efficiency while ensuring completeness of the recruiting process. Talent Mapping goes beyond social media, and other research/recruiting tools. Talent Mapping also assists with opportunity hiring, future candidate pipelining, creating awareness among future high potential candidates as well sales, talent management and competitive intelligence. Talent Mapping offers names, titles, profiles, as well as relevant contact data to include emails and telephone numbers.

Today SGA Talent Presents the Multiple Uses of Talent Mapping While Exploring “The 25 Best Tech Companies to Work For in 2016, According to Employees". As intended the study looks inside each company's leadership teams and gives examples of how the data can be delivered to meet a leader's expectations. As with our other reports our methodology included mapping out the leaders’ teams used to provide valuable information included in the study being shared. 

Enjoy the report and we look forward to connecting with you. Click to see our July Study here.

Thank you

Happy Hunting,

Sheila Greco

sgreco@sgatalent.com

SGA Talent Releases 2017 Chief Financial Officers Study

 

Today, SGA Talent Presents  A Look Inside The Chief Financial Officers and Those Who Lead The Finance Team’s at Fortune's 250

 

SGA Talent Knows Talent - Who They Are - Where They Are & How To Gain Access To Them

Recently we were asked to research the Chief Financial Officers at the Fortune 500 and Barron's 400. In an effort to complete this task we were required to create a comprehensive list of these highly skilled individuals as well gather profiles, emails, organization charts and more. Due to this, we decided to build upon our findings and release our study; A Look Inside The Chief Financial Officers and Those Who Lead The Finance Team’s At The Fortune Companies"

SGA Talent's Study, "A Look Inside The Chief Financial Officers and Those Who Lead The Finance Team’s At The Fortune Companies" is a 81 page report listing the names, titles and profiles  of those who lead these great finance teams along with many statistics surrounding education, career paths and of course women leaders too. 

About The Study:

Every day SGA Talent creates talent pools of skilled talent to help our clients recruit high potential professionals. Part of our job is to know where the talent is and of course who they are.  This month we wanted to highlight those who lead the finance teams of the Fortune 250 Companies.

The Study Discovered Education is Important

The majority of these Chief Financial Officers understandably have an educational background in finance, business, economics or management as well as a master’s degree in accounting or other finance-related studies. It was discovered that of the 250 professionals, 127 had a Masters of Business Administration, with 32 having undergraduate degrees from a top-tier university. Additionally, it was uncovered that 11 of these very talented individuals have a Juris Doctor Degree (JD).

The Study Showed a Professional’s Track Record Matters

A big take away was that while education and the relevant qualifications are all-important, the quality of a professional’s working experience and professional track record is the strongest indicator for potential Chief Financial Officers.

The Study Uncovered That Chief Financial Officers Knows More Than Just the Numbers

The role of a Chief Financial Officer today is not just knowing the numbers, but to know Shareholders, Employees, Operations, Products, Customers, Vendors & Suppliers as well. It became obvious when the profiles were gathered and examined.

Women Are Making Some Advancements Within these Ranks

We discovered 14% of The Finance Leaders In the Fortune 250 Are Women, compared to just 8.8% in 2010. As we identified all 35 women and reviewed their profiles it becomes evident why each has progressed to this level. 

To download a complimentary copy of our report,  click here or visit SGA Talent Study Tab to do so. Enjoy

If you want to learn more about the study or are interested in the additional data that was gathered throughout the research process, please contact Sheila Greco, President SGA Talent - sgreco@sgatalent.com

Recruiting Kick-Off Meetings Are A Must

Recruiting Kick-Off Meetings Do Matter

Before we begin any recruiting project, even recruitment research assignments, we ask for a kick-off meeting prior to the start. This routine activity is a time where everyone can learn, share and discuss relevant information as well as discuss expectations. I believe recruiting kick-off meetings set the stage for the win-win partnership that lies ahead of the team.

Embrace Kick-Off Meetings

Recruiting kick-off meetings act as the first formal meeting between the client, their team and the recruiting team (s) for a specific assignment. These meetings need to be embraced, not ignored or taken lightly. It is a time to set expectations, discuss the recruiting process, a time to ask pointed questions, learn about the role, each team player’s responsibilities, as well as discuss other relevant information that cannot generally be answered from just a job specification or informal meeting. It is a time to build rapport between all parties, strengthen the relationship and quite frankly is the start of what needs to be a successful partnership that must yield success.  Therefore, the act of engagement before and during the kick-off meeting from all parties is a must.

Meeting Overview

Kick-off meetings are generally used to introduce the team, understand the search, the strategy, the process, the goals, set the timeline of expectations as well as discuss how all involved are going to work together effectively.  In effect, the recruiting kick-off meeting serves multiple administrative purposes. These recruiting kick-off meetings also establish communication protocols, discusses specific recruiting and interviewing processes. It is also a great time to discuss timing around start date and on-boarding. It is the time to discuss when to expect feedback from the hiring manager after a candidate has been presented, set dates for update calls with regards to the progress as well as a great time to talk about the target list, potential talent pool and how many candidates will be presented weekly. I believe recruiting kick-off meetings set the right tone for each recruiting engagement and should never be omitted from the recruiting strategy or process.

The Agenda:

The agenda should be kept simple while allowing enough time to cover the role, the process and expectations. Each item should add value to the discussion. Most importantly it is recommended that all parties are prepared. Often the recruiting kick-off agenda is developed beforehand and sent to all parties prior to the meeting. 

1. Start with the introductions of each attendee while focusing on the role he/she will be involved with during the search. Allow some time to discuss past recruiting experiences that produced results, ones that worked well and should be mimicked.  
2. Discuss and review the job specification in detail - Discuss ideal candidates to include, musts, needs and wants. Define the skills, traits, and qualifications the hiring manager is seeking. Discuss companies in which the client has had success recruiting from, companies of interest and those which are off-limits.
3. Discuss the recruiting process details – Every client has a recruiting process that needs to be followed. If there is not a specific one in place, create one. There needs to be a roadmap to follow and stick to. Use this time to gather emails and telephone numbers of each team player so that communications amongst the team can be made quite easily.
4. Set the expectations of each team player, discussing accountability and involvement - Be sure to communicate the role of each, timelines of expected reports and candidates as well as all follow-up activities. 

The Meeting - It Can Be Face-to-Face or Simply Done Over the Telephone

1. Start on Time - To show respect for all parties involved, the meeting should start promptly. To facilitate this, it is recommended to send copies of the meeting materials in advance. This may include the agenda, job specifications, the list of those attending and biographies or links of those attending.
2. Allow the client or someone from their team to drive the process and meeting -  During this time, typically the client will speak in detail about the role, the process and expectations. This is the time recruiters and those who are executing need to listen, learn and ask questions. 
3. Recognize the fact that the kick-off meeting is the beginning of the recruiting engagement - An effective recruiting kick-off meeting presents a unique opportunity to establish the tone of this mutually beneficial partnership. For the client, it is a time to explain the role, the team, the company and the importance of the role to this hiring manager. For recruiters, it is a time to show the client you are an expert and you are the trusted partner who will deliver results by delivering interested, qualified candidates quickly. You are the recruiter who will identify, recruit and vet the high potential candidates your client so deserves. Now is the time to define your own responsibilities for the engagement. It is okay for you, the recruiter to "sell" but not oversell, the recruiting function to the client as a value-added service. Lastly, it seems logical to use this time to build trust between all parties involved. Game on!
4. When the discussion is winding down, the recruiter can suggest he/she will send a follow-up email, recapping what was discussed – This ensures everyone is on the same page.

Happy Hunting and be sure to include a recruiting kick-off meeting as part of your next search engagement if it is not part of your recruiting process. 

Sheila Greco

Sign-On Bonuses Are Not Exclusive To Senior Level Executives

As The Economy Continues To Grow And The Challenges Of Recruiting Top Talent Remains, A Sign-On Bonus Could Be Just What Is Needed To Get The Candidate A Company Desires

Sign-On Bonuses Are Back

The purpose of a sign-on bonus is to lure top performers who possesses special skill sets or experience a company requires. For years this added incentive has been very successful for recruiting senior level executives as well as professionals in particular industries to include professional services, healthcare (nurses), technology (especially women and software developers) and financial services. But sign-on bonuses are coming back strong and are used for all levels of recruiting. Just last week Wells Fargo announced plans to sweeten recruitment bonuses to lure new advisers. Sign-on bonuses can be just what is needed to land a high potential candidate in this very challenging recruiting environment.  This type of bonus may be the incentive or an inducement to get a candidate to say "yes" to the job. 

Sign-on bonuses don't necessarily need to be huge when enticing someone to join your company. Unfortunatatley for some companies and roles, companies may not have much of a choice other than offering one. For example, when a candidate's acceptance is critical and the need to do whatever it takes to get the candidate on-board, offering a sign-on could get the job done.  But the size of the bonus can vary. According to an article in HR Magazine, the average amount of these bonuses ranges between 5-20% of a candidates base salary unless it is used for relocation expenses or a way to compensate a professional for money that may be left behind such as a bonus, commission, vacation or raise. Most of the time these bonuses are good for each party.

A Sign-On Bonus Not For Everyone

As we all know, a sign-on bonus is an expense for corporations therefore companies try to refrain from having to offer one, unless it is truly needed. Of course offering a sign-on bonus can motivate a professional to choose one company over another, but company's need to be sure it is necessary before offering one. Before offering a sign-on bonus to potential candidates, hiring managers as well as recruiters need to seriously analyze the situation, the competition, the job market, and of course the candidate to determine whether a sign-on bonus is necessary before moving forward with one. 

Sign-On Bonuses Can Be Well Worth The Cost

Sign-on bonuses have been known to build trust, loyalty and can create long-term positive effects for employees who received one. Those who are offered a sign-on bonus often feel more committed and have a desire to do more. These candidates feel the company went the extra mile for them and they need to do the same. 

Just saying....

Sheila Greco

sgreco@sgatalent.com

Case Study - Client Faces Multiple Recruiting Challenges Requiring Multiple Recruiting Strategies

Not Every Recruiting Challenge Is The Same

There Are A Variety Of Recruiting Strategies That Can Be Customized To Each Recruiting Challenge - We Helped Our Client Recruit Talent A Number of Different Ways 

Sometimes even the best corporate recruiting teams need to outsource a piece of their recruiting efforts!

Introduction

Our client is an Entertainment Diversified Company which experiences annual hiring spikes, average turnover and anticipating several senior level executives to retire. Although promoting from within is always our client’s first choice they realized they needed to expand their search activities.  The decision was made to partner with us to execute a six-month recruiting effort to assist with recruiting for current roles as well getting a jump-start on future pipelining efforts.   Prior to coming to us our client created an internal team to assist with accomplishing these goals.  The internal team consisted of four senior level executives and the talent acquisition leader.  Their mandate, set by the Chief Executive Officer, was to hire qualified talent to fill current needs and to create a process that will lead to opportunity hiring and future pipelining.  

Our Client’s Recruitment Challenges: The Pursuit to Do More as Needed

Let’s face it, recruiting today can be very challenging in this very tight talent universe. A constant flow of candidates is not just desired it is expected. Companies that are often satisfied with current recruiting strategies and processes sometimes need to realize it just isn't enough.   As with our client, the need to outsource part of their recruiting efforts became obvious. 

The Process: Methodical and Process Driven

For this client, we had to use a variety of recruiting strategies and methodologies to achieve each of their goals. Even filling the current openings required the use of two different strategies along with a third strategy for pipelining and opportunity hiring.

Current Openings: Today’s need for speed, efficiency, low cost and results driven recruiting mindsets often impact the recruiting process strategy therefore we had to employ a very methodical end-to-end recruiting solution that best fit our client’s needs. Recognizing this, our team and our client's internal recruiting team, became a "recruiting machine" for the next six months.

Process:

1. Identify the Talent Pool: Our solution always starts with creating a target list of companies to recruit from and build a potential talent pool that best fits the needs of each role. As we began the process, our research teams began creating talent pools for each role, with the overall mission focused upon providing a talent pool of potential candidates. The talent pool had to be robust, filled with relevant, important, detailed information on each professional.  The data collected included, company name, professional’s name, title, address, telephone number, direct dial, email, profile and more. Our client expected this from us and we wanted to be sure we were very thorough with our results. As we told our client, we believe creating a strong talent pool of potential candidates sets the stage for the recruiting process and overall success. We believe it ensures the recruiting process to be a thorough one so that the recruiters working the search can present the best, the brightest and most qualified, interested, ready to be interviewed candidate pipeline. 

2.  Recruiting Process: Connect, Recruit, Vet and Present – For this client we had to use multiple recruiting strategies.

A.  Recruiting Strategy # 1- Two Very Specialized Roles – The Hiring Manager Wanted To Review The Potential Talent Pool Prior To Reaching Out and Apply Two Different Recruiting Approaches

With these two roles, the hiring manager wanted to be very engaged in the recruiting process due to the fact the talent pool was relatively small and the skill sets needed were very specialized. Our strategy for these two roles were to first create the talent pool and gather detailed profile information on each professional all of which was to be shared with the hiring manager prior to reaching out. From there, the hiring manager decided which approach the recruiter was going to use for each professional.

The process involved a "two-prong approach" to recruiting

Approach # 1 - For those who were qualified and seen as a great recruit, the recruiter was tasked with connecting, recruiting, vetting and presenting interested qualified candidates as they were identified. A very traditional, typical recruiting approach.

Approach #2- High potential recruits-  The less traditional recruiting approach was used. Our recruiting strategy for this approach was to have the recruiter engage in an introductory conversation with these professionals and ask if they may be interested in having a casual meeting with our client about a current role or potentially a future one. Unconventional, yet creative and yet very smart. This type of recruiting method allowed our client and the high potential client to get to know one another and to alert the high potential candidate that he/she was on the hiring manager’s radar screen. Additionally, it was the start of a relationship that could benefit both parties long-term. Needless to say, both hires for this particular hiring manager were the result of the nontraditional recruiting method.

B.  Recruiting Strategy # 2 – Filling High Priority Current Roles –  Team Approach With Our Recruiting Team and Our Client's Internal Team - We Still used two different recruiting methodologies to achieve our goals.                   

As for these high priority current openings, our recruiting strategy was to “attack the roles” as a team and employ two different recruiting methodologies. It was decided to split the number of roles between their internal recruiting team and ours. For the most part, the roles we were recruiting for were at the Director and Manager levels, requiring specific skills sets, some requiring industry experience while others did not. Again, we started each search by having our research teams create potential talent pools and provided each assigned recruiter the information gathered. As for those roles in which our team was responsible for the recruiting, we were partnered up with a recruiter on their team to whom we sent the qualified candidates to. From there, their recruiters would review each presented candidate, have a quick call with them and then send them directly to the hiring manager. The good news for all involved is the fact that our client’s recruiting team had a history of great recruiting success so the process was relatively quick. It became obvious to us that our client's internal team was strong, had earned respect and trust amongst company leaders resulting in the hiring managers’ confidence to interview those candidates the recruiting team recommended. It was nice to work with such a strong team.

Pipelining and Opportunity Hiring

As we all know the key to recruiting is to always be recruiting and a major key to diversity recruiting is to always be recruiting and networking. Therefore, recruiting efforts should be continuous.

Pipelining and Opportunity Hiring:  Long-term, continuous recruiting efforts have been known to reduced time to hire, reduced recruiting costs and provides access to an engaged community of high profile potential candidates. Those companies who employ pipelining and opportunity hiring recruiting efforts have discovered that these recruiting strategies help with hiring professionals who fit very specific roles and needs that may not always be for current roles, but future and/or anticipated ones.

Realizing the benefits of pipelining and opportunity hiring, our client asked us to help jumpstart this type of recruiting effort for the team. Our focus was to first create a target list of companies and then create robust, detailed talent pools focusing on functional areas where our client believed there existed future needs and gaps. The deliverable of the research portion of the process was provided in organization chart format and excel spreadsheets. Organization charts were at the request of the senior level executives and the recruiters preferred the excel spreadsheets because they can be sorted and exported.

In keeping with the spirit of recruiting and networking, I suggested that it would be a good idea that as their internal recruiter began connecting and engaging with these high potential recruits, that he/she is made aware of the fact that they have been identified by the company as such and the recruiter would like to stay actively connected with them. It was agreed upon that this would be done and their internal recruiting team began making their connections.

Once the initial connection was made with these high potential candidates, continuous recruiting efforts included monthly emails that were full of information about the industry and the company. Part of our continuing role with this effort was to create "recruiting-marketing emails" we believed would be of interest to those in the network.  Their efforts continue......

Need help with finding talent. Let's chat. We look forward to it.

Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco

Recruiting Skilled Talent In 100 Hours

Recruiting Skilled Talent in 100 Hours

Hire Fast

Hire Cost-Effectively

Keep The Process Simple 

Finding and recruiting skilled, qualified talent is very challenging for companies of all sizes.  It is not just the norm for a specific industry, function or level. With low unemployment and a talent climate that is favoring candidates, without a doubt the pressure is on hiring managers to move quickly.  To help with this pressure, a fully engaged recruiting team can get the job done quickly, efficiently and without giving up on quality.  

With the average recruiting time of 18-21 days, this 100-hour recruiting model can work.  There is no need to cut corners with the quality of the hire and the recruiting processes it, it just means recruiting is a priority to all involved and a proven methodology will need to be adhered to.

Recruiting skilled talent in 100 hours is actually doable and simple: Believe it or not the process itself does not change from the traditional recruiting/search process, the focus is on timing, deadlines, accountability and quick results. 

Recruiting skilled talent in 100 hours fits nicely into the average recruiting time of 18-21 days. Most often in these scenarios, hiring managers will be interviewing interested, qualified potential candidates in weeks 3 & 4 or days 15-20 of the recruiting period.  

100 Hour Recruiting Skilled Talent Methodology

Goal: To create a talent pool of approximately 100 qualified potential candidates and present 3-5 candidates within 3 weeks (100 hours). 

1. Days 1-5 (40 hours)- Start with a Kick-Off Meeting – Every recruiting assignment requires a kick-off meeting to set the objectives, discuss responsibilities, accountability, the creation of the target list, recruiting strategy all while focusing on the ideal candidate(s) the client is seeking.  The first three days are critical for the overall success of the project. This is when the talent pool is carefully being built and the recruiting activities are at the beginning of being fully executed.  Overall, the goal for the first week is to create a talent pool of 60 to 70 potential candidates, all with direct dials, emails, and profiles so that each can be connected with at least twice, via email and Inmail this first week.

2. Days 6-10 (80 hours in ) - The recruiting process is fully underway and calls have been made to each in the talent pool. The goal for this time period is to actually connect, recruit, vet, network and present the best 2 to 4 candidates while adding at least 30 additional potential candidates to the talent pool so that the total will be at approximately  100.

3. Days 11-15 (Completing 100 Hours Recruiting Skilled Talent - Following up and wrapping it up - During this time period communication with all parties involved must be focused upon. Speaking with candidates, the hiring manager and keeping with the spirit of a cohesive recruiting team is very important during this critical time period of the recruiting process. For which the goal to achieve success has arrived with either a hire or close to having one. Team goals results in team successes and makes for a very happy hiring manager. Need I say more….

This aggressive, focused methodology is not new. All it does is put actionable, accountable recruiting parameters around timing, process and results.

Lastly let it be noted and openly discussed that our experience in professional services recruiting shows that recruiting skilled talent in this industry requires on average 160-200 hours of recruiting or 4-5 weeks with a talent pool of approximately 200 names. These numbers are more in-line with recruiting reality for the professional services industry.

Just saying….

Best regards,

Sheila Greco

SGA Talent - Celebrating 28 years in business. Thanks for your support!

SGA Talent- Proud To Be Celebrating 28 Years!

Thank You

SGA Talent is well known as a pioneer in the recruitment/research industry and we are proud to say we are now entering our 28th year.  Since 1989, due to our clients we have long enjoyed a position of leadership in this research arena and most recently in the On-Demand Recruiting world as well.  I want to take this time to thank my team, our friends, family and of course our clients, to whom we continue to have trusting relationships with.

But of course, I must say that SGA Talent's success is also due to the passion of our team. It was the passionate belief of our first employees to make our company, the company of choice by always putting the client first.  These very same people today continue to lead, mentor, build teams and satisfy our client's needs quickly and cost effectively.   Just as we believed in 1989,  we continue to believe and live by today; our clients are always right and only charge for what we did! We only want to satisfy our clients, keep them as clients and build a strong win-win continuous relationship.

But, 28 years ago, even before we became a leader, we recognized that to maintain and sustain a successful company we had to truly become not just a strategic vendor but a value- added partner to our clients.  Part of our evolution is due to that fact that we listened to what our clients needed and did so by expanding our service offerings from just recruitment research to recruiting, customized competitive intelligence and in 2005 created a telephone verified Research/Recruitment Database SGA ExecutiveTracker.  Building off of our leadership in recruitment research, we set our sights on becoming a full service recruitment company. Today still servicing corporations and executive search firms our goals remain the same, deliver what you promised, do is quickly, cost effectively and be the strategic partner our clients want to work with.

As we continued to evolve and as we listened to our clients by offering recruiting services, it became part of our offering to provide all of the data gathered during the recruiting process to our clients, it also includes data analytics. The recruitment research almost always at the core of this service and to this day without question our greatest strength as well as our advantage.

As today sets a milestone for SGA Talent, we will continue to push the boundaries, challenge our team and if necessary get outside our comfort zones to deliver the best services and results to our clients. It remains our mission to be the very best at what we do.

As I believe, our success can be measured, in part, by the adoption of our continued evolution, new service offerings and the many projects not to mention deliverables that we have spawned and contributed. But it goes beyond that too. It is all about our clients. Without them we would not be celebrating 28 years.

As I continue to say to our team, we are playing in a very competitive space that continues to transform with new technologies, new tools, and the competition is getting stronger we must stick to our roots and be the value added strategic partner our clients need. Go beyond what is expected and be the expert and share with our clients what we know.

Thank you everyone who I have had the privilege of working with and I so look forward to celebrating our 28th year. We are proud of what has been accomplished thus far, yet it is just the beginning. We look forward to continuing our strong relationships with our gold clients and ready to assist our new clients. We are here for you always.
Happy New Year and happy hunting.

Sheila Greco
sgreco@sgatalent.com

Successful Recruiters Characteristics

Do you have what it takes to be a successful recruiter?

Why are some recruiting teams more successful than others? Having been in the business for over 30 years, I have seen many recruiting teams succeed while others not so much. Sure the leader of the team matters, but the players matter just as much. As the year comes to a close, I want to share with all of you the top five characteristics of the successful recruiters I have dealt over the years.

Sheila’s Top 5 Recruiting Characteristics of Successful Recruiters

1. Successful recruiters have relationships with their hiring managers.  Without strong relationships easy searches can become dreadful and difficult searches, disastrous. Be sure your recruiter has a relationship with the hiring manager

2. Successful recruiters are knowledgeable. Successful recruiters understand the trends in the marketplace, the industries in which he/she is recruiting; the challenges of the role and of course the advantages of the role. In order to be top of your game, a great recruiter needs to be knowledgeable.

3. Successful recruiters ask questions, read, learn, and pay attention during the kick-off meetings. Most successful recruiters take the time to prepare themselves prior to these meetings. Being prepared before you recruit is a must.

4. Successful recruiters know how to choose the appropriate tools that will help them succeed. These tools should include social media and of course the telephone. Some tools are good for the research phase, while others such as the telephone AND the computers are the tools that can make the difference in recruiting the skilled talent the client deserves and requires.

5. Successful recruiters know how to proactively recruit. This requires the ability to write customized emails that get responses and use the telephone to reach out, network, recruit and vet exceptional talent that will quickly fill the pipeline with qualified candidates.

Recruiting is a process. Not all recruiters are successful ones. Do you have the characteristics of a successful recruiter?

Just saying...Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco

Having an Identified & Engaged Pipeline of Ideal Candidates has Many Benefits

Having an identified & engaged pipeline of ideal candidates ready to recruit from makes recruiting sense and helps with recruiting the in-demand, highly skilled talent everyone wants.

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It is six months into 2016 and there is no doubt that our industry has been experiencing one of the most challenging recruiting environments since 2008.   Recruiting specific highly skilled professionals, not to mention the perfect candidate the hiring managers are seeking is requiring the recruiting team to have access to the entire talent pool to assure recruiting efficiency while ensuring a quality pipeline of candidates.  In this day and age it is all about building awareness, creating strong professional relationships and networks that help us stay connected with the talent ourselves and the hiring managers’ desire.

Having a fully identified and engaged pipeline of ideal candidates has multiple benefits.   The main benefit is having the ability to recruit from an already vetted out talent pool of highly qualified and desired talent.  This practice certainly shortens the time to fill the pipeline of qualified candidates which directly decreases the recruiting cycle time immensely ultimately saving time and money.   This recruiting strategy is not just for the Fortune 500 companies but it is successfully being used by companies of all sizes who too have a hard time competing for the in-demand skilled talent.

The process is simple to follow and implement. At first it may sound difficult to do, but the more it is done, you will  quickly see how it creates recruiting efficiency.

Start by identifying the professionals of interest, connect with them, create company awareness, express interest in staying in touch and continue reaching out. Don’t fall into the trap of your networks being one-sided, be sure to offer assistance and guidance when approached. Don’t be afraid to email, call, in-mail or text these professionals as often as you wish without being a pest of course. Try sending out emails sharing company news, a networking text or just to say hello and is there anything I can help you with will also do. Be sure you continue to express your interest in them. Recruiting requires building relationships, maintaining them, while just as important making sure to listen and respond to their requests, questions or comments. Make a friend, be a friend and build your networks with thein-demand talent. This all makes recruiting sense.

As we all know, the talent shortage is not going away. Does your recruiting strategy and process include having a fully identified & engaged pipeline of ideal candidates? If not - you should definitely consider it.

 As always ….. If you want to learn how, let's chat.

Sheila Greco

Accentuating The Positives

Accentuating The Positives

Infuse Your Workplace With Positive Energy

Be A Positive Leader People Want To Work With

One of the nicest things we can give our co-workers, family and friends are positive comments.  Authentic compliments make people feel better about them selves, especially if you praise a job well done. The truth is that people want to be around positive people and definitely work with them. Little things such as remembering someone's name, saying thank you, great job or just recognizing someone's good deed is all you need to do. Obviously, accentuating the positive goes a long way, not to mention helps us pay attention to what is going on around us.

Accentuating the positives can start by committing random acts of kindness, providing positive feedback, and being honest. Accentuating the positive can help those around us prosper professionally and personally, often enabling others to feel good about themselves, allowing them be better co-workers and ultimately benefiting everyone, more broadly.

In the workplace be the leader who engages in positive leadership.  Focus on the team's, and each individual's strengths while having them capitalize on them. Be the leader who sets people up to succeed while allowing them to thrive. Positive leaders know how to create succesful teams, build positive work cultures, establish teams who are engaged, productive and produce positive results.

Accentuating the positives has many advantages, for one it produces a happy and healthy workplace which in turn creates a successful organization. Producing positive results more often than not translates into happy clients, good customer service and a win-win relationship for all involved. Having a positive environment and workplace culture not only boosts moral but carries outside the organization directly to the clients. Happy team, happy clients.

Be the leader who leads by being positive. Be part of creating a positive workplace and culture.  Be sure to acknowledge good work and good behavior. It's all about accentuating the positive. Just saying..

Sheila Greco

Using The Telephone To Recruit Can Be Well Worth The Call

Using The Telephone To Recruit Can Be Well Worth The Call

Using the Telephone To Connect and Recruit Can Be Very Effective When Making Important Decisions

Using The Telephone Is A Traditional, Easy, Relevant Way To Recruit

Using The Telephone Typically Produces Immediate Results

Use The Telephone To Recruit And You Will See Its Many Benefits

The telephone is not just a vehicle used to connect and recruit professionals, but also a great resource used to make important recruiting decisions. Someone's voice, demeanor and how well someone communicates can either help or hurt a potential candidate's candidacy. Therefore when you use the telephone to recruit, be sure to listen to what the person is saying and how they are saying it.

When using the telephone to recruit it can be a great resource to learn about a potential candidate's wants, needs, desires as well as an understanding of their long-term and short-term goals. Communicating via the telephone evokes an immediate personal response allowing a potential candidate to express emotions through their voice while being interactive and of course confidential. It is one of the easiest ways to build a relationship through speaking rather than an email or in mail.  Recruiters can use a resume or profile as a door opener, but a conversation reveals a lot more about the person. Therefore using the telephone to recruit is a proven resource that should be used when recruiting and seeking out rock stars.

As you use the telephone to recruit let me provide you with a few suggestions:

• Answer a returned call promptly - keep to the 24 hour rule
• Be sure to use the person's name whenever practical but don't overuse it
• Allow your smile and friendliness to come through the phone - be personable
• Since everyone's time is valuable be sure be mindful of this - don't be afraid to ask the question; is now a good time for you to speak?
• If someone is interested or you are very interested in them, be sure to use this time to get to know them and they get to know the role you are recruiting for
• Have your list of questions ready so the call can be productive for all parties involved
• Listen-potential candidates have lots of questions
• Be sure to promptly follow-up to any correspondence, stay connected and engaged
• Provide timely feedback whether it is good or bad, just be honest these candidates could be your next client
• Keep your conversations confidential for you should be a recruits trusted professional partner

Good luck using the telephone to recruit. Now go call and connect with future candidates before your competition does.

Sheila Greco

sgreco@sgatalent.com

Soft Skills Do Matter In The Work Place & Should Not Be Overlooked When Evaluating A New Hire

Soft Skills Do Matter When Hiring

When hiring technical professionals technical skills matter

When hiring  marketing professionals  specific marketing skills matter

When hiring data analytics consultants having the right skill sets matter

When hiring in general, soft skills do matter

Obviously matching a professional's background to the requirements of the job description matters, however,  just as important is the professional's soft skills.  Yes, soft skills do matter!  Long term new hires need to possesses soft skills sets to include strong work ethic,  positive attitude, and strong communication skills. Such crucial soft skills are the ones that count toward a professional's  overall success which in turn results in the company's and team's success.

Having exceptional soft skills  do matter! Having these skills help make an employee a better employee and a leader a better leader.  Having the ability to trust,  be trusted, problem solve, delegate, motivate and build strong teams are a heck of a lot easier if a professional has strong soft skills.  Unfortunately way too often are these soft skills undervalued and even overlooked when evaluating a professional for a role. Moving forward, try to make it part of your interview process to evaluate a potential candidate's soft skills because soft skills do matter. Let's not believe or  expect people know how to behave on the job and assume they understand the importance of being on time, taking initiative, being friendly, and producing high quality work. Just saying…..

Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco

SGA Talent-Sheila Greco Associates LLC Announces Re-Launch of SGA ExecutiveTracker LIVE

 

Celebrating a decade of excellence this enhanced version allows users to more quickly access and intuitively understand the professional backgrounds of potential candidates and networking contacts of interest.

SGA Talent –Sheila Greco Associates LLC today announced their launch of SGA ExecutiveTracker LIVE.     Originally launched in 2005, this enhanced version is the company’s response to the industry’s needs.   Recognized as a premier on-line research tool, this “go to tool” once again is being praised by recruiters who hunt, source and identify passive candidates not just found on the Internet.   “The re-launch of SGA ExecutiveTracker LIVE is just another way our company continues to evolve, listen and react to the changes in the recruiting industry,” said Sheila Greco, President of SGA Talent.

Enhancements include the ability to view public profiles and data as it relates to each contact from within the tool.  “The more user-friendly interface allows users to quickly find information that can help them decide if the professional is someone they want to connect with.   It also allows users to directly connect via email and LinkedIn with those professionals of interest,” said  Sheila Greco.   The result of these enhancements is to create greater recruiting efficiency compared to other tools. SGA ExecuitveTracker LIVE is used as a stand-alone research/recruiting tool and a complimentary tool for some. Either way it continues to speed up the recruiting process which in turn filling the candidate pipeline faster.

Pricing starts as low as $139.00 per month per user. SGA ExecutiveTracker Live should be part of your recruiting toolbox.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, New York, SGA Talent, Sheila Greco Associates LLC is one of the leading recruitment research and recruiting firms specializing in synergy services.

Recruiting Efforts In 2016 Will Need To Be Aggressive

Recruiting Efforts in 2016 Will Need To Be Aggressive

Recruiting Efforts in 2016 Will Need to Be On-Going

In Friday's  job report it showed that the United States added 292,000 jobs in December, making it the second-best year for job growth since 1999.  With employment rates at 5%,  many believe we are just about at full employment. If we really are at full employment, it may have cause for concern for those needing  talent.  To add a bit more of concern,  there too exists a  shortage of skilled workers too.  So......companies need to be aggressive with their recruiting efforts in 2016 as they look to hire, grow, compete and even sustain their position in their industry.

Don't let the stock market dictate your recruiting activities.

Yes, the stock  is taking a hit right now, China's manufacturing is in turmoil, but no need to fret,  the United States has shown resiliency during times like this before.

Now is the time to implement a recruiting strategy that is aggressive and continuous.

Be sure your recruiting strategy includes activities that will provide access to the entire talent pool of candidates. Be sure to use your professional networks and relationships to recruit. Use tools that are good for you! Use recruitment research as part of the recruiting strategy. Having access to a number of recruiting resources truly helps with uncovering the talent needed by most.

Don't be that recruiter or team that limits recruiting activities in any way.   If you do, you obviously limit your potential recruiting successes and ability to recruit top talent.   If you don't have access to them, you can't recruit them. Find resources that will assist you with having complete access, not just a name, but complete access and contact information so you can get to this limited skilled talent group before the competition does. Seriously!

Stay focused recruiters!

Recruiting efforts in 2016 will need to be aggressive and on-going. Start the new year by using tools and methods that will give you access to the hidden talent, the passive candidates, the skilled workforce your company and clients need. Start identifying, recruiting, vetting, presenting and of course building your networks. Now is not the time to let up, pause or stop your recruiting efforts. It is time to be aggressive and get to know, not to mention hire the talent before your competition does.........just saying.

If you need assistance with your recruiting efforts, SGA Talent is here for  you.  We have a number of options which can help  you with keeping your recruiting efforts aggressive and continuous while saving you money during the process.

Just give us a call, we look forward to it.

Sheila Greco 518 843-4611

sgreco@sgatalent.com