The recovery is coming, and it will arrive with a pent up demand for products and services.  There will be fierce competition for market share, and the organization prepared with the best strategic plan will surely be the winners!  But only if they have recruited and trained the key employees needed to carry out the plan.

Will your company be one of the winners, or…

1. In our panic to cut staff have we cut staff too indiscriminately?
2. When attrition is used to accomplish a reduction in headcount, ‘talent flight’ occurs!  Are we left with only those who could not find a more secure opportunity?
3. In the absence of the normal active recruiting for top talent, has our normal distribution of skill sets become distorted?

Are we missing Top Performers? A consortium of internal staffing managers and professional recruiters (each with over 4 plus years of experience) brings the following wisdom to the search for talent:

If we categorize the entire labor talent pool by productivity…

• 1st  quartile - the most productive 25% of total talent population,
• 2nd  quartile - the 25% slightly above average,
• 3rd quartile - the 25% slightly below average and
• 4th quartile - the least productive 25% of the available workforce population

Then we can analyze the content of each of the following sources for talent!

Many individuals, including a significant number of internal HR staffing organizations believe that big internet job sites, like Monster and Career Builder, should be their primary source of candidates!

BIG INTERNET CAREER SITES

Yet logic demands that the candidate pool available through these massive job sites may well harbor disproportionally large quantities of candidates with 4th quartile capabilities, with only small quantities of 1st quartile talent.  This seems reasonable when you consider an overall unemployment rate of close to 10% causing many of the people with 4th quartile capabilities, to be among the ranks of the unemployed and overly represented on the job boards.  While some 1st quartile talent may happen to be caught in an occasional, ill-designed “reduction in force” (RIFs), they obviously remain unemployed for a shorter period.  In general, 1 st and 2nd quartile (above average) are hard to find on the big boards  One frustrated internal recruiter admitted, “It is hard to find a ‘1’ in a herd of 3’s and 4’s.”

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Social Networking internet sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and others faired only slightly better in our groups analysis, with some quality talent well hidden among massive numbers of below average and unemployable candidates.  

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Professional trade associations, particularly those offering training and certification programs, reversed this pattern with all quartiles being represented but exposing larger segments of 1st and 2nd quartile talent, primarily because these groups tend to include many individuals seeking continued education and certification.  Members of these organizations are willing to put forth the extra effort to become professionals within their technical fields.  (Professional associations considered for this example were APICS, ISM, CSCMP, IIE, IEEE, ASME, SME,PMA, ASQ, etc.)

Visit the APICS Atlanta Career Center - to gain access to local certified candidates for FREE!  And join the organization to grow your professional network.

PROFESSIONAL SEARCH RESULTS

At the top of this hierarchy is the population of the workforce being presented to smart companies by their professional recruiters.

Professional Recruiters are not restricted to recruiting only from the ranks of the unemployed.  A client company pays for the luxury of choosing from a short list made up almost totally of 1st and 2nd quartile talent, with confidence that the new employee will earn for the company, enough profit (in sales, savings, or productivity) to cover both the agency fee and their own salary many times over during the first few months of their employment.

“No client should be willing to pay to acquire below average talent.” was the explanation of one experienced professional recruiter.

It may be difficult getting agreement on when the recession has officially ended, but now may be the perfect time to make a strategic investment in recruiting that special talent who can help your company win the race for market share.

Please contact us today, so that our consultants can assist in your identification of people needs and help you find the least expensive solution that satisfies your company’s financial and organizational goals.  Call us with your ideas and challenges today.

JD Harvill CPC, jdharvill@psa-recruit.com or 770-952-0009