importance of attending conferences... and spring

Hello all. I recently attended and exhibited at IQPC event in Orlando, Florida. A small yet very productive few days. The attendees were the decision makers... and it was nice to see current clients and future ones too. Typically we exhibit at 11 events per year, all which I believe pay for themselves within 1-2 months. These hand chosen events include: ERE, Kennedy, Fleming Group Pharma Talent Management Event, AESC, IACPR, SCIP, SIIA, SHRM and IQPC. You can check our conference schedule and links to the conference producers on the SGA website.

This year we are going to MRI's for the first time and very much looking forward to it. I advise anyone who is looking to attend and exhibit to do your research prior to investing time and money. If you wish to ask me about these shows, please do not hesitiate.

Lastly, I would like to share with you my poem I wrote when I was in third grade. Why all of a sudden do I feel compelled to do this? Because my son had to "find" one that he liked for an english project so I shared it with him, and so I thought I would share it with you. By the way, he did give my poem to his teacher along with one that was published.

          "Spring"
Spring is here,
Now we can play outside all day
Our bikes we can ride,
and slide down the slide.
Oh what fun
When Spring has come!!

If you would like to share YOUR poem with us, please feel free.
Happy Spring!! - Sheila

Sheila’s Trends for 2008

I have been reading so many articles on trends for 2008, my thoughts are to do it a little differently. Most of what I have read promotes that certain areas will be strong for recruiting, others a bit weaker, specific functional areas will be strong and others not so strong.. yadayada...

Here’s my perspective garnered from what our teams are experiencing and hearing in our marketplace: many firms are taking recruiting in-house and limiting outside recruiting efforts. More teams are being built internally, with more emphasis on looking at internal talent and shifting people internally. Other companies are hiring at the same rate companies did over the last few years, volume hiring.

With the internet we have our fingers on the pulse of information, sometimes this can be information overload and overkill.  I see this influencing the way some people are positioning themselves and giving trend theories. I like to have this type of information come straight from our customers through surveys and conversations we have every day.

Bottom line is: I believe no “trends” have emerged yet. We just have companies taking a look at where they are talent-wise, evaluating what they did over the last few years, and doing what is specifically right for them and their business environment... period, end of sentence.

I close with saying, “it is what it is”. Hiring is specific to each company.

Yes, some of this may include specific industries or functional areas, but I truly believe a company will just look at themselves and evaluate “what do WE need”. As recruiters we need to be where the money is, but also, as consultants we need to work with our clients right along side them and be nimble enough to “zig” as they “zag”.

9 Facts about me!

  1. As a leader I am a little crazy!
  2. I encourage folks to reach & exceed their goals and have fun along the way!
  3. I hate to spend money, but refuse to stay at a Super 8!
  4. I love Disney so when I grow up I want to work there!
  5. I truly enjoy helping people and I'm still passionate about what I do.
  6. I LOVE BASKETBALL, especially college!
  7. Yes I was and I guess I am still a Deadhead. I went to 56 concerts in a span of 4 years!
  8. I expect everyone to respect each other!
  9. I love competition....and I most enjoy figuring out how to BEAT the competition strategically and tactically! Both on the court and off!!! Tennis is my game!

Kennedy Recruiting conference in Orlando

We are just back from the Kennedy Recruiting conference in Orlando. This event ranks right up there as one of the best we have attended this year. It was an excellent forum for us to share knowledge with and get to know a wide range of HR and Search professionals. The content and conference program were great, the Kennedy staff was very helpful and professional, and the search professionals in attendance were consistently coming by our exhibit to meet us and learn more about SGA.

A highlight for us was co-presenting at the special Sourcing Summit portion of the conference yesterday with Internet "search guru" Shally Steckerl, on "Getting the Results You Need Out of Your Research & Recruiting Process". It was a standing-room-only talk packed with attendees. We got to know Shally when we co-presented a Webinar with us and did some training with the SGA Research team this past July, and it went so well we really welcomed the opportunity to work together again. Shally interviewed Sheila prior to their presentation together regarding "what's important for recruiting professionals in 2008". You can see the video interview with Sheila on Shally's blog.

Our NEW White Paper: Getting the Most from Research

I've just finished my new white paper on "Getting the Most from Research and Why it should be Part of the Recruiting Process". We wanted to complete it in time for attending a conference that we sponsored last week, Hunt Scanlon's "The Talent-minded Organization". What a hit. SGA's Research services as well as SGA ExecutiveTracker Pro received a lot of interest at the conference.

Speaking with many of the folks who have also requested the white paper has helped me to realize that there's still a wide range of people in our industry that don't know research exists and also are not sure HOW to use it within the scope of their recruiting process.

If you haven’t read my white paper yet about research, you should! If you have, let me know your thoughts.

What’s in a Name, A title… titles? More than you know!! What is research? It’s more than a name…..
Let me explain and take you all through an exercise that my client has most recently done with our research project.

The client, a Fortune 500 company had us develop organization charts of the sales and marketing teams of its 20 competitors. One month later and over 1400 names, our client chose to do two things with it. He gave the names to the recruiting team to go off and recruit and fill a pipeline for current and future hires AND he gave it to the Competitive Intelligence Team to obtain profiles, ranking of executives by region(s), gain an understanding of the senior level executives and how they think, hire, promote from within, as well as a complete understanding of diversity and how they stack up to the competition. Wow, now that is a lot. He just called me the other day and said both Senior Vice President’s of Sales and Marketing loved it and will be sharing their thoughts with other functional areas and teams throughout the company. Now that is what I call “using research. “

We have built a thriving business on research because it's a valuable service that continues to make our clients happy. If you would like to receive a copy of the white paper, or speak to me to learn more about how to use Research to its fullest, call, Register here, or email me.

SGA's New Partner - Sendouts

We are pleased to announce our new partnership with Sendouts.

Be sure to have a look at Sendouts if you are in need of a complete, web-based recruiting management software solution. As a bonus they have created a terrific integration with excellent executive contact data from SGAExecutiveTracker as well.

We also just returned from the Sendouts User Conference in St. Louis. The Sendouts team, led by founders Don Breckenridge and Rick Hall, did an outstanding job. The User Conference was a top notch affair. We all continue to be impressed by the Sendouts team's attention to customer service, which we recognized from the start of our partnership as an important common value shared between the Sendouts and SGA teams.

The conference included an opportunity for partners like SGA to showcase our solutions, as well as a  program featuring industry best practices for owners, recruiters and account managers. The Sendouts team's attention to the customer also extends to knowing how to have fun & host a great party. They rented out the St Louis Hard Rock and hired a talented live band for the Networking event!

 

Getting the Results You Need Out of Your Research & Recruiting Process

I am happy to say that the July 17 webinar we sponsored "Getting the Results You Need Out of Your Research & Recruiting Process" co-presented by myself and Shally Steckerl exceeded my expectations and was a HUGE success.

It was a dynamic presentation in great part thanks to our over 200 attendees and Shally's cybersleuthing expertise. Our participants were VERY active in asking questions relevant to their everyday challenges in Research and Recruiting, and we did our best to answer them, with Shally providing a wealth of sourcing knowledge and a great amount of specific Internet cybersleuthing search tips.

I was especially pleased by the many Thank You emails I received after the webinar from attendees, praising the value of the information and asking for a copy of the slides. In case you didn't get a chance to attend, Shally's info combined with some techniques we've learned at SGA in our years of experience providing custom research and high quality candidate data to our clients is contained in the slide presentation, which is loaded with detailed info about maximizing the effectiveness your search process. You can click here to request a copy of the presentation.

A transcript of the great Q&A dialog we had is posted below. Based on the response from our colleagues you can be sure that more webinars are coming soon from Sheila Greco Associates!

Q&A Transcript from our July 17 Webinar 'Getting the Results You Need Out of Your Research & Recruiting Process"

Q: in the presentation, you mention you should make four calls. How often do you call back on those initial calls?

A: Once or twice a day, leave no more than 4 voicemails over 10 days

Q: When working on a contingency basis, how soon do you recommend sending resumes? The last slide indicated 2-3 weeks before sending candidates - is this for retain search?

A: Most of the times, particularly on contingency search, send in resumes as soon as you have a solid candidate who has been screened and qualified. In some cases with Executive Search, clients may request to review the “Top Three” or the “Top Five” all at once. 

Q: What are the primary objections that a recruiter may face while asking these questions?

A: Objections like “Who are you” and “Why are you calling” and “How did you get my name”

Q: On LinkedIn, how can you contact/email someone without using up all your 'inmail' allocation, etc.? You can search for them on pipl.com, Google.com or zabasearch.com and find a personal email or home phone. You can also find their company phone number and call direct

Q: Please give me an example of a rolling document.

A: A document that is sent back and forth between the researcher and their customer. It is kept constantly updated - like a shared spreadsheet or word document, and may even be color coded for various statuses. 

Q: Hope this question gets in. Do you overlap on all duties--ie. soucer/researcher/recruiter or do you separate them and just have a defined process. Or does your sourcer always/never make those initial calls. Just want to know your defininitions of what you think each person should / does do as part of the recruitment strategy?

A: It depends on the size of your organization, and the number of hires you are expected to complete. If you are one of a very few recruiters then you will most likely need to do both the sourcing and candidate relationship. In mid sized or large companies, with economies or scale, specialization becomes more important and there you may have different teams of sourcers, recruiters, and cold callers.   

Q: Would it be wise to gather a list of people who have those titles on LinkedIn and do the interviewing from there to gather the details for the Org chart?

A: Yes, this question answers itself. Excellent recommendation! In the presentation, some LinkedIn hacks can help with this technique.

Q: What is your plan of attack to get by the Admin of a Sr. Person you are trying to get to?

A: Try to get a direct dial so you can call after hours. That is why direct dials are important to get.

Q: As a Recruiter or Researcher - do you hide your contacts on Linkedin? Just curious as I do and have been getting mixed feedback on that....

A: No, I do not. They are already on there so I share them openly. If I hide my contacts, others can still find them. By sharing them, all you are revealing is that you are connected to them. Others could still find someone you are connected to in LinkedIn but without sharing your contacts people just won't know that you are directly connected to them. Hide your contacts only when you are protecting the nature of your relationships and the fact you are connected to someone but you are not actually hiding the contacts themselves.

Q: Would you also share leads with similar companies if you are on a similar search?

A: That is up to you and the relationship you have with your clients. I do not share contacts I find for one client with another new client, but that is my own personal choice. Some researchers choose to keep a database of contacts the source for future use.

Q: Great Model, but where does Feedback to the Researcher or the Sourcer fit into the Model?

A: Shelia said that is in the presentation stage, at the time you send your first batch of leads, or present each developed candidate.

Q: What would be the point of presenting a "B" list of candidates

A: Sometimes this may be requested by the client/customer in order to have an alternate list. There is no need to provide this unless you agreed to it as part of the scope of the project. 

Q: What is a sample question that one would ask to get the information for an org chart?

A: Sheila suggested “I’m conducting some research – can you confirm Mr. Smiths exact title?” and then confirm reporting structure by saying something like “And Ms. Jones reports to Mr. Smith, correct?”

 

Q: Why do you use -~jobs in the Google search?

A: This works only on google.com and what it does is eliminating job, jobs and other synonyms from the list of results. The purpose is to eliminate job postings and focus the search on leads. 

 

Q: In biotech position titles often vary greatly, so key words help calibrate the needs of the hiring managers to the resources available fo sourcing I think thats what I got.

A: I think this was an excellent comment, though not a question. I would add that org charts help greatly here because they talk about relationships instead of just flat titles which as stated could mean very different things across companies.

Q: Is there some sort of formula to use based upon the amount of time it takes to generate a lead as opposed to the likelikhood it will lead to a placement?

A: Depending on the project researchers should be able to begin getting results within one business day, with more complex searches taking about two to three days to get the initial short list of leads. The larger the project, of course, the more time it will take unless you have additional researchers you can bring in.

Q: Are you referring to an org chart for a company with a passive candidate, or an org chart for the client requesting staffing assistance with an open position?

A: In this case, we are identifying an organizational chart for the purposes of finding passive candidates

Q: Why would you include the number and email in the org chart?

A: So that the recruiter or client will be able to call them or email them (Calling is much preferred in my personal opinion).

Q: Why do you wait a few calls to announce what you are looking for? Why not just say on the first call what you want? Doesnt it lessen the likelihood of people returning your call?

A: We usually say it on the first call, unless it has not been announced. It truly depends on the assignment. 

 

Q: Sheila, will your target list indicate degree of viability or availability of a candidate?

A: Sheila didn’t have time to answer this but call her or email at sgreco (AT) sheilagreco (DOT) com. In my personal opinion, deciding on the viability of the candidate should be left to the recruiter who understands the client, not to the researchers. Researchers should be able to identify potential, but they should not be conducting full recruitment phone screens. In the case of contingency search, the staffing firm is presenting a fully developed and viable candidate, not a list of research, so in those cases then of course the recruiter at the staffing firm would be identifying the candidate’s viability and presenting only highly qualified prospects.

Q: Is SGA ExecutiveTracker a standalone application for purchase or is this a marketing demo for SGA?

A: SGA Tracker is a standalone online database available for purchase on a subscription basis

Q: Does the NEAR have to be in capitals?  (this is in reference to searching on Exalead.com)

A: Yes it does.

Q: Do you find that indeed and Zoominfo capture the same candidates or are they very different results?

A: Indeed is for job postings - what I showed in Zoominfo is a list of target companies. You can actually also get a list of target companies from Indeed, but only those that have posted jobs.

Q: I say that I am doing networking in their industry and they are a person of interest for me to speak with.

A: This is more a comment but I thought it is a good one to share

Q: What is the difference between OR and |

A: They are the same thing. I use the pipe symbol (the key is located between the Backspace and Enter keys) to save space and reduce errors. If you use mixed case or lower case the OR will not work, but the | will always work. 

Q: Is it possible to get a copy of the tracking spreadsheet by e-mail?

A: I am happy to share mine – email me at shally (AT) jobmachine (DOT) net and ask for the tracking spreadsheet in the subject line and I’ll send you my very basic example.

Q: What would be the number of names you would want for a more senior role, ie. top vp in company or c level?

A: Usually around 50 names – remember this is a list not fully developed candidates.

Q: Do you use the inurl:resume to pick out the resumes?

A:  Yes, but like this: inurl:~cv. Keep in mind that not everyone publishes a resume :)

Q: Sheila’s product is called "Executive" Tracker. If I don't hire executives will the product work for me?
A: You should call Sheila for a demo and they can do specific lookups live with you on the phone on the types of professionals you are seeking to see if it's right for you. (ED. NOTE: ExecutiveTracker is SGA's premium source of telephone verified passive candidates available in a powerful online tool. It tracks up to 2000 or more executives mid-management and above at each of the top public and private companies. )

a great event... Sales Leadership Conference

What a great one day event I just attended and which SGA also sponsored: Selling Power magazine's Sales Leadership Conference on June 21 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia.

Selling Power Publisher Gerhard Gschwandtner really knows how to put together a one day conference that is packed full of good panels and speakers. Not to mention the Ritz was a great choice for the conference site.

The day started with learning Gerhard's background...who by the way is inspiring, smart and really has a lot to offer professionals at every level!! The keynote was Bill McDermott, President & CEO of SAP Americas....wow what a dynamic guy! other keynote speakers included David Berman, President, Worldwide Sales and Service at WebEx, Monica Messer, COO at infoUSA, and Jerry Whalen, VP Sales for the US Postal Service. 

The day got better and better. It closed with a cocktail party where lots of laughter could be heard. I just want to say as I looked around the room, there were 200 of the best sales leaders in the country who openly shared ideas, experiences and gave advice when asked. These folks were not afraid to  talk about the strengths and the weaknesses of their teams with hopes of finding a solution or helping their fellow peers. I enjoyed all of the vendors, who also shared lots information with hopes to work together as well. Selling Power can count me in as a sponsor and attendee for the Chicago meeting later this year.

the "SPIRIT" of the Fourth of July

Feeling the SPIRIT of the Fourth of July? I AM…having said that I must share with all of you the real answer to the question, why limes? For those of you who have not seen our trade show exhibit graphics, the theme is bright blue with limes. We are always told how sharp it looks and always asked why limes. The answer…drum roll please…I love Margaritas!!!  Try this recipe and tell me what you think.

Sheila’s Favorite Margarita!

- 1-1/2 cups of good tequila! My favorite is Jose Cuervo 1800 <http://www.tequilas.com>
-1/2 cup Grand Marnier. Some prefer to float this on top but I mix it in with the blender.
- 1/3 bottle of beer. I discovered that the best results are with a standard American icon beer like Budweiser, Coors or Miller.   Try not to use   micro-brews with lots of character as this will leave an aftertaste in the  margarita.
- 1 can frozen lemonade concentrate.  I've experimented with lime-aid, and all sorts of lemonades.  You will have to do the same.
-A big long healthy squirt of Real Lemon. This is real lime juice concentrate and also adds the lime tartness for a subtle enhancement.
-Water or Ice to fill up the blender.  I prefer add half ice and half water to fill up the blender to the top.  This way you are not serving a frozen margarita but a very cold one.
Depending on what you like I like to  pour the margarita over a heaping full glass of ice that starts to dilute the power of the cocktail as it melts. I also like it straight up or "perfect" in a margarita glass or  a martini glass. Shake it up on the rocks and pour it in straight up.
-Sugar to taste.
Thanks for all the compliments at the shows and here you go the answer to the question…WHY LIMES! Stay safe and enjoy the holiday!

Fondly
Sheila

Webinar: Five Easy Steps to Start Your Sourcing

Hello All. Its been a while...But I am happy to say we are swamped as I assume all of you are. Heads UP! I am holding a free webinar on July 17, 2007 at 1:00 EST which will be co-hosted with Shally Steckerl called "Five Easy Steps to Start Your Sourcing". Very soon we will begin sending invitations with hopes of having new and current clients take away a few tips as it relates to recruiting and sourcing. It will cover all the steps of the recruiting process, examples of the processes used by 3 companies, tips on using the internet to source resumes, contacts and tools used by successful recruiters, to include a 5 minute demo of SGA ExecutiveTracker and a question and answer time period. We are very excited about it and we look forward to this being our first of many. Check Shally out at www.jobmachine.net.

The war for talent...

The war for talent...we are all feeling this effect. Corporations and search firms alike are seeking the best, most talented professionals when conducting search assignments. After speaking with 20 professionals in this space, all stated that a majority of their hires are coming from the results produced while speaking with professionals in the industry  and doing direct sourcing. Many corporations are building up their internal search teams and hiring telephone direct sourcing recruiters. How powerful and meaningful it is to the team when a  potential candidate is uncovered from a targeted list of companies and names produced either internally or externally. In order to stay ahead of the competition, driven producers still pick up the phone and recruit. Research is needed for this type of work, and can be done in a variety ways to include research tools, the Internet, associations, using an internal database etc.

As the conversations continued, a few began to say that they believe within the next 5-10 years a true research analyst will be hard to find. Wow....do you think this is true? I began to think about this, wow! Anyway, just food for thought. But for now we move on and continue using research in a variety of ways. We use the Internet, many firms have Internet researcher, which is very valuable too, but so is finding the untapped professionals. Those who use both can say that they are really looking at the entire universe of candidates, each complements the other.

Remember, recruiting is a process and every step is important. Research is very important and we should thank the ones producing the names and the candidates. So don't forget to say thanks to the team when a hire is made!!! And when it is not, it is not just the little guy/gal on the totem pole's fault. Team work is where it is at!!! Things to take away from this.....there is a talent shortage, maybe soon in our world too;search is a process that needs to be carefully executed, by using all the tools available to you, pick up the phone and search out the candidates and find the potential candidates together, as a team.

Until next time....

Our Women in Technology Study on Forbes

I am proud to say that SGA's 2007 Women in Technology study was the main source for the recent Forbes article "Tough, Tech-Smart--And Female" by Rachel Rosmarin.

It is a must read for recruiters and any one interested in what is happening in this area. Just to share a few of the details, the number of woman who have the title Chief Information Officer is up to 9% from 7% compared to a few years ago. Thirteen percent (13%) seems to be the lucky number of woman in technology’s representation from 1075 companies that have been analyzed by us since 1998. If you are interested in knowing who these women are, we have the top 25 listed in the report and for a price we can sell you 135 women in technology contacts we uncovered while working on this project this year. Register here to receive a complimentary copy of the Women in Technology study.

Net/Net, we need more women in these jobs. If your daughter asks what profession she should be in, you may want to think about having her go into the technology field. When college graduates enter this field, the salary level is pretty constant and similar; however as they climb the ranks, the salary levels begin to separate and the male counterparts begin to make more money. What women need to do is negotiate more as they climb the ranks and take other positions both internally and externally from their current organizations. As a thought leader in this space, if you are looking for a tech position, want advice or are recruiting in this space, let’s chat. I look forward to it.

AESC's Researcher & Associates Summit

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I am very excited about starting this and hopeful that all of you will enjoy it.

As a thought leader in the research and recruiting world, part of my responsibility is to attend events where I can learn from others and share with them what I know. Just recently we were in New York City at AESC's Researcher & Associates Summit (May 3, 2007) and it turned out to be one of the best events we have attended. It was very relaxed, informative, and many of the professionals were actually speaking about how business is conducted at their firms. Lots of sharing of ideas were buzzing all around, the energy levels were high, and all were there to learn and walk away with actionable & beneficial knowledge.

I truly enjoyed one of the last events, the panel discussion that took place at 4 o’clock called the Value of Research. It was an open conversation in Q&A format moderated by Veness Nettles of Russell Reynolds, and there were 4 great panelists: Susan Chadick of Chadick Ellig, Daniel Kelley of Heidrick & Struggles, Carrie Pryor of Korn Ferry, and Joseph Ziccardi of Cromwell Partners.  AESC did a great job of constructing the panel. Some firms on the panel have a recruiting process which relies almost exclusively on external research firm resources like SGA, while others primarily rely on internal research, only going to a third party source when internal research can't come up with desired results or they are under "last minute" time constraints. All agreed that Research firms like SGA are a valuable resource, and also that when you decide to team up with a research firm they all target to bring them on as early as possible in the process.

What impressed me the most about this panel was that all were honest about how they conducted research within their individual practices. They all really talked openly about how research was viewed in their businesses and what could be done to make it better.

I found this very uplifting that there is hope that we can all share ideas and best practices amongst each other at these events as opposed to holding information close to the chest. Let me know your thoughts.

Introduction to the SGA Blog

Hello, I’m Sheila Greco. Welcome to my blog. For those of you who do not know me, I am President and Chief Executive Officer of Sheila Greco Associates, LLC. As an entrepreneur specializing in human resources consulting, I have gained extensive experience in research, recruiting, competitive intelligence, and business intelligence focused on company and executive contact information. As a strategic results oriented leader, I pride myself on building long-term and solid relationships with clients and candidates. I have over 20 years experience and I am STILL PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT I DO. 

I want this blog to be a very interactive forum. I encourage questions regarding corporate research, recruiting, benchmarking studies, corporate and executive information. I encourage that same open forum policy myself here at SGA. As a result, myself and my team of Research professionals at SGA can offer you valuable information that is not always available to you from other sources or elsewhere on the internet. I plan to share my experiences in the business as well as what I learn at industry events, evaluating them and offering suggestions. I want this to be a source of information to those in need of company and executive contact information.

So let me know how can I help you. I look forward to providing great information to you and all my readers.