Organization Charts of Competitors Can Be Used For Recruiting & Diversity Data

Recruiting from competitors and best of breed companies often times results in identifying great talent. Once again it requires stealth research, organization chart development, mapping, identifying passive candidates, call it what you want, but it is a necessary step in the recruiting process. Another benefit of this activity is that it can also identify diverse talent within those organizations of interest. This often times requires another step in the process, but none the less, it results in obtaining critical information. Below is a simple process to follow when identifying talent that can be used to recruit and identify talent within the companies. Depending upon the assignment, the information can have as little as just a name, title and telephone number but it can also contain, emails, direct dials, biographies and more. The results are priceless! Again this information needs to be part of your recruiting process.

Think about the possibilities of having access to such data. Having organization charts of the companies that matter most to your organization provides such insight and can be used in many ways. If you are not taking part in this activity you should because your competitors probably are....just saying!

If you wish to learn more, I would be happy to speak with you.

Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco

The Value of Hiring Best-Of-Breed Talent!

Retailers Want Best-Of-Breed Talent!

The Importance of  Best-of-Breed Talent To the Retail Industry!

 

There is no question about it; there is a difference between good talent and best-of-breed talent.  My focus today is on the retail industry. Why?  Keep reading to find out! 

The retail industry as a whole is in the midst of a talent war.  Faced with high turnover, access to mediocre talent, the cost of training and trying to retain talent continues to rise thus negatively affecting the cost per hire for some retailers.  Similar to other industries, retailers are now finding it necessary to create a cohesive relationship between the talent management and talent acquisition teams. Many retailers now believe that In order to be successful on a long-term basis, recruiters need knowledge, access to best-of-breed talent and a process that allows the recruitment of these individuals to be in place. It has been proven that great companies are made up of great people; therefore it makes it very important to find and recruit best-of-breed talent at every level.

Where do recruiters get this knowledge?  They get it from the competition and companies who have hired previous employees from these firms.  The knowledge comes from knowing who the talent is and having access to that talent. The nice thing about knowledge like this is that it can be shared with  talent management professionals and used in a variety of ways.   Let me tell you that retailers who employ these strategies have very low-cost per hire numbers.   I know because we continue to help them.  This strategy does work.

For years my firm has assisted retail clients with identifying top talent.  As the assignments roll in, I continue to preach that there is talent and there is best-of-breed talent. What is the difference you ask?  Well, for starters qualified talent can do the job and perform its day-to-day tasks. Okay you may say.  Best-of-Breed talent is different! These professionals can excel within the organization and have high potential to grow and advance, as well as positively affect the productivity of their team(s) as a whole.  Hiring this type of talent can also lead to lower turnover if continued internal growth occurs.

Retailers have come to understand the importance of a process driven recruiting strategy and how critical it is to be sure there is a strong candidate pipeline of best-of-breed candidates to choose from.  Beyond contrary belief this is even occurring at a variety of levels to include store managers, buyers, not just manager levels and above.  The result is hiring “the right professionals” while hiring the “right candidates” who want to be part of a winning company.  This in turn can and will reduce employee turnover over time.  Retailers are not any different from other industries. In fact because most retailers do have such heavy turnover that maintaining and hiring the best talent can be at times more difficult. But now understanding the value of hiring best-of-breed talent at every level, will long-term have a positive impact throughout the company in a variety of ways.

Many believe turnover can be reduced by creating a work environment that offers career growth, continuous learning, development, having a career nurturing superior, team support, receiving recognition, respect and having a feeling of autonomy.  All of these things are true, however I continue to believe that none of these things matter if you don’t start with hiring the best-of-breed talent at every level. 

Don't stop now! Each hire needs to be looked upon as a great hire, not just someone filling a role.  Great hiring also starts with having access to great people.  We advise our clients when hiring not to just focus on filling the current role, but to find future leaders, those who can be part of the company for a long time. As we all know, this strategy can positively affect the talent management needs too. It allows great talent to have continued growth within the organization. 

I believe that talent management is no longer a luxury to be focused on senior leaders and managers, but must be viewed as essential and integral part of corporate sustainability and long-term growth.

Why retail? The exciting news for everyone in the retail industry is that SGA Talent, A Sheila Greco Associates Company has created a private retail networking community where best-of-breed vetted out talent (passive candidates) can have access to opportunities as they become available before they even hit job boards. Over the next few months we will begin reaching out to many best-of-breed professionals to join our exclusive community.

If you would like more information on our invitation only retail network, please contact me at (518) 843-4611 ext 282 or via email at sgreco@sheilagreco.com

Happy Head Hunting! 

Sheila Greco

 

 

Knowing who you are looking for is the first step in finding them…

Recruiting Top Talent Requires Knowing Who You Want & Knowing Where You Need to Go to Find It!

Executive Research & Passive Candidate Recruitment

Chapter 1 Who

Who are we looking for? We start by creating the Profile/Job Description. The description should be simple and include such things as title, reporting relationships, overall role & responsibilities, qualifications such as particular skill sets and experience, and education. You also need to know who the client is really looks for and needs & wants. What makes he or she tick.  Remember, likes like likes so you need to know as much as you can about the hiring manager, the team, what the team is good at and what the team is not so good at.You can use this information as you begin to think about the research & recruiting strategy. Why? As you fan out from the target list you have other places to look for potential talent Stay tuned. As you go through this exercise you will now begin to understand the talent you need to find, recruit, and present

Chapter 2 Recruiting and Research Strategy

This step is very process driven and simple. This will include such things as creating the target list, the appropriate level or title we are seeking, favorite companies that the hiring manager or company has had success recruiting from, not the mention the ones that have not been so favorable. Discuss direct competitors, industry leaders, back yard warriors, best of breed companies, just a few categories that need representation when creating the target list.  Keep in mind, this step is the foundation of every successful assignment and is the starting point of finding and identifying top talent and uncovering the potential talent universe.

As the target lists are created, edited and finalized, the research phase begins. This includes building organizations charts around the talent of interest at each of the target companies. As the research is being conducted, it is imperative to not only obtain the names, titles and complete organization charts, but you must also be sure names are spelled correctly, titles are exact, emails gathered are verified and direct dials are confirmed. This makes reaching out to these folks easier and with a variety of ways.

Below is an example of an organization chart used for recruiting.

Something funny happened today at work.....

Accuracy Counts

Information is 100% the day it is presented!

When we conduct research or name generation, we like to produce organization charts. We KNOW that it is accurate the day we send it to our clients.

Just today a client called us up about his presentation regarding last weeks research and asks, how accurate is this research. I go on to say well when we sent it last Tuesday it was 100% accurate and today we would like to say 95%, but we will go back to double-check the information.

Anyway, when we went back, we had to make one change, and it just so happened that change made it 95% accurate until we went back to make it 100%....lesson learned...here today, gone or changed tomorrow so stand behind your research and it is only 100% the day you get it. Things change and people change.

Any way our client went on to say....thanks and I am glad you can say with 100% confidence, today's work is 100% accurate.

Research is only as good as the people giving us the information on the other side of the telephone. I tell people to double-check the information prior to sending the work. This includes dialing the telephone numbers (direct dials) and checking the emails again. Although you may say this is time consuming....it is a best practice method to follow...so our teams do this.