WHITE PAPER. Be Active about Passives! Why Corporations need to rethink how they recruit for executive and strategic roles

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER Be Active about Passives! Why Corporations need to rethink how they recruit for executive and strategic roles Published by Dillistone Systems September 2015

2 Introduction Today, passive candidate pipelining and recruiting is taking root in the very foundation of the in-house recruitment strategy. More and more corporations are following retained search techniques in nature research and sourcing to attract such candidates for specialist, or mid-level management positions. But why target the Passive candidate instead of the Active one? What are some approaches that can be used to identify the right people? And does traditional applicant tracking technology address the need to manage all collected candidate intelligence? As the passive status evolves from preference to prerequisite for many roles, there is nothing passive in the process used to find such talent.

3 What Are the Differences Between Passive and Active Candidates? Some may simply define an active candidate as one who is pro-actively looking for a new job, while a passive candidate is one who is not pro-actively looking for a new job. In practice, though, there are degrees of passivity which must be considered in order to label a candidate appropriately (please refer to diagram below). An individual, for example, who keeps an updated profile on a job board or a social network may be considered to be somewhere between the two extremes. Why Care About Passive Candidates? Typically, a passive candidate will be harder and more costly to recruit. This may be quantified to an extent by looking at the Search fees paid to Retained versus contingent recruiters; a retained search firm (traditionally dealing exclusively with passive candidates) will bill around 1/3 of the total compensation of the placed candidate while a contingent (who will typically work with both types of candidates) firm may bill half that. Usually, corporations are prepared to pay a retainer if they perceive that a wider range of passive candidates may lead to a more successful and effective placement (since the candidate will present a proven

4 record while serving in a similar function at a competing company) and this placement will have a significant impact on the fortunes of the business unit for which the hire is made. Scenarios: When should a corporation consider passive candidates? Active Candidates may be most appropriate for: Relatively Generic Position with a relatively high profile employer Relatively large volume of Candidates with appropriate skill sets Relatively simple to target candidate audience Strategic importance of not hiring the optimum candidate is relatively Low Passive Candidates may be more appropriate for: Specialized position Relatively low availability of candidates with appropriate skills sets Necessity of identifying specific experiences as opposed to simply characteristics (Generic marketing manager as opposed to market manager with experience of marketing luxury goods into Japan) Selecting the wrong candidate may have significant impact on Corporate performance Though retained search firms continue to dominate C level recruiting, the same logic applies in mid-level execs/specialists positions. The more senior or the more specialized a position is, the more a corporation looks beyond a database of job hunters. Obviously, in either of these scenarios the corporation will still benefit from considering a candidate pool incorporating passive candidates. For the most senior positions, the corporation should consider retaining a search firm. For positions that demand certain expertise, though, the corporation should adopt techniques practised by retained executive search firms research and sourcing to identify passive talent. Complementary Approaches to Acquire the Right Talent There are three main sections to the talent acquisition team: Recruiting, Research, and Sourcing. Though recruiting may be straight forward in its term research and sourcing may not. The difference between the two is: while research teams do the name generation and, many times, candidate development for specific, and current, openings at the company, the sourcing teams do the on-going talent pipeline building independent of any open reqs; sourcers don t recruit anyone and many times don t even do the candidate development since their sole task is to identify names of potential candidates within target competitors, so when such a

5 position must be filled, the researchers and recruiters can tap into the pool of names gathered by the sourcing team. Many times though, corporations don t have the technology to manage these research-driven efforts. ATS Stands for Active-Applicant Tracking System: Truth be told, Active Candidates will apply for positions. The most active will visit a corporate website and register an interest. Slightly less active may register a resume on a job board or via a contingency recruiter. An ATS is used to manage the process of handing applications and manage the process of interviewing and selection of active candidates. Functionality which allows an ATS to upload positions to and download candidates from job boards may allow firms to attract semi-active candidates, but this does not attract generally passive candidates from the right hand side of the passivity diagram above. Furthermore, ATS Systems tend to be based on the management of candidates by volume; low touch, high efficiency recruiting. This is not the approach required to woo a successful professional from a competitor. To put it simply, Applicant Tracking Systems are designed to track applicants. Passive candidates do not apply for positions; hence, by definition, an ATS cannot be the solution for a firm wishing to pro-actively reach out and attract passive candidates. Essentially, using an ATS for this is the technological equivalent of using a retained search firm to dig out a superb candidate from a market leader only to ask her in interview, So, why are you so desperate to come and work for us? Competitive Intelligence is Key to Building Effective Talent Pipelines Passive Candidates need to be identified and approached. They will not apply for jobs, nor will they register on job sites. Therefore, recruiting technology is required to support the Sourcing Process (Name identification) and to build relationships with those individuals who are targeted. Most sourcing processes begin by target top performing competitors. It is a Company Centric-Approach. This is because the experiences of an individual are likely to be as important as his or her specific skills. If a firm needs a candidate with knowledge and experience in marketing luxury goods into China, then the average job board is likely to provide little in the way of candidates. In this situation, candidates are scarce, the position is not generic, and so passive candidates may well fit the requirement. The recruiter should consider recruiting

6 from the marketing teams of organizations already successfully selling luxury goods into China. Building a talent pipeline involves identifying where a corporation might need to hire in future, identifying those competitors which over perform in those areas, and then mapping out the individuals and teams responsible for that over performance at those competitors. A true talent acquisition system will allow Sourcing teams to do just this. It will do this in part through research techniques which allow users to search corporate websites, social networks, and news sources to identify names, and partly through the ability to record and understand the structure of these targets through organization charts and relationship diagrams. Such a system will therefore allow a company to build a genuine understanding of talent pools at competing organizations. Those talent pools may become the future talent pipeline for the corporation. Converting a Talent Pipeline to Talent Involves Relationship Building The identification of potential candidates is simply the first stage of the talent acquisition process. If a passive candidate is performing well for a competitor he is unlikely to move without good reason. Bridges will need to be built and this requires CRM. Most sourcing and recruiting teams will have access to some form of CRM product. However, the CRM tool should be fully integrated with the sourcing tool because it is vital for a user to see more than just who is known within a competitor. The truth is most recruiting software is candidate-centric and does not link multiple people to a single, defined company. Therefore, there is no simple approach to reviewing relationships at a Company level; or more specifically, who have I spoken to at this firm? Or even, who has been a useful source? For effective sourcing, this type of information is key. A Genuine Talent Acquisition system will allow communication to be viewed from both a candidate-centric and a company-centric perspective. Reviewing a company record should show every conversation had with any employee or former employee of a competitor, while reviewing a person record should show every conversation had with that individual, throughout her career. With recruiters now using numerous electronic devices and working from various locations (and sometimes at unsocial hours) there is an important question that should be asked can users access critical business information from any device available to them?

7 KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK: Which devices do my team members use? How will that change in future? Do I wish to allow users to access data from beyond the confines of my office? Few professions are as dependent on out of hours work as that of the recruiter. The nature of the profession, where conversations can only be held at opportune moments, and where meetings in hotels and at airports are common, means that providing team members with a PC at the desk is not the best way of maximising productivity. Users will need to be able to access information from a variety of devices. A recent survey suggests that the average executive search professional has access to 2.9 devices 1. These may include a PC in the office, a mobile phone, an ipad and a home machine increasingly a Mac. This excludes the machines owned by third parties that a user may have access to as he or she goes about their daily work. The user experience on a small screened mobile device will never be the same as that on a large screen desktop, but by providing users access to data and functionality appropriate to each device, a business maximises productivity. If you or your users intend to access your systems from a Mac, it is important to understand the three different delivery models a Native Mac product, emulations and access via a Mac friendly web browser. A native Mac product is one developed specifically for the Mac environment. Although Macs are growing in popularity, they still make up less than 7.5% 2 of environments. As a result, few business suppliers develop niche applications specifically for them. The second option is emulation. This involves using a tool such as Parallels or Bootcamp to allow a Mac to run Windows applications and is not without its critics, having been described as being like putting ketchup on steak 3. The third option is to use a WebApp. Many older WebApplications were not designed for Macs, but modern HTML5 based products should give as good an experience on Safari (the default browser used on the Mac) as on Internet Explorer or Chrome. Most systems allow users to mix and match different versions of the product. Some suppliers might offer a desktop product and a mobile app; at Dillistone, we offer a combination of a desktop product, a range of Outlook plugins, a light Mobile app and a WebApp. Whichever supplier you chose, you should be able to mix and match delivery options. This is important as certain delivery environments lend themselves to certain tasks better than others. For example, a desktop product is 1 Search-Consult survey, Summer

8 likely to offer superior Internet Research tools than a pure browser product. A pure browser product will likely allow users more flexibility in where they work. Prior to selecting your executive search management system, use the table below to determine which devices your team members require access from. Description My users work on Windows PCs My users work on Macs My users work on machines where no download is possible (PCs in a hotel or at a client office for example) My users work on an ipad / iphone My users work on a Windows tablet / phone My users work on an Android phone or Tablet I must support this Nice to support this FileFinder for Desktop / Outlook on Desktop (Or Office 365) Full Functionality via Installed Software Full functionality only via emulation NA NA NA NA Add on FileFinder for Browser, FileFinder for Mobile and Office % functionality available on PC via browser with no download required 70% functionality available on PC via browser with no download or emulation required Office 365 recommended. 70% functionality available on PC via browser with no download required. Office 365 recommended FileFinder Mobile app. On larger devices, further functionality may be available via Outlook Web App, via Chrome. FileFinder Mobile app. On larger devices, further functionality may be available via Outlook Web App, via Chrome. FileFinder Mobile app. On larger devices, further functionality may be available via Outlook Web App, via Chrome. * FileFinder for Desktop and FileFinder for Browser are both access points for sharing the same information. As a result, they are typically used in conjunction.

9 The Importance of logging s KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK: On which devices do my team members access business s? Do they need to log s from those devices in their database? There is little doubt that in some roles within a business, management is key. Although not true for all job roles, certain users like to live in Outlook, and this can certainly have an impact on user adoption. Outlook plugins have been around for more than a decade. However, usage of these are changing rapidly as a result of a significant change made by Microsoft when it launched Office Prior to this, Outlook plugins were typically delivered via a Com Object. This was a piece of software that sat inside Outlook. Office 2013 took an entirely different approach however and, while it continued to support the old technology, it introduced a new type of add-in, based on HTML5 (the technology of the Web). While the old style of Outlook plugin could only ever work on a PC, the new model is designed to work anywhere where Outlook is available including the Outlook WebApp and Outlook on the ipad. It s relatively simple for a user to tell which version of the plugin they have installed. The old fashioned COM object is typically delivered as a tall, vertical bar to the right of an . The new style HTML5 add-in is typlically delivered in a wider, flatter format above or below an (the Outlook Social Connector or the LinkedIn plugin would both be examples of the new style). According to Litmus.com 4, only 29% of s are opened and read within desktop software, with only 13% being opened inside the Outlook software product 5. More than half are now read on mobile devices, with the remainder read on some form of webmail. It is widely acknowledged that the percentage associated with desktop reading will shrink. 6 The old fashioned Outlook plugin if installed may facilitate management of the 29% of s read on the desktop. It will not and never will be able to facilitate management of s being read on the ipad or in a browser. HTML5 based plugins will work just as well in the desktop version of Outlook as they will within the Outlook webapp or Outlook on the ipad. Office365 on mobile is growing rapidly and is likely to take further market share 7, but the oldfashioned COM object solution is still supported by Microsoft and is the only solution for older versions of Outlook. As a result, a combination of both the

10 old style and the new style of plugin will give your users the best access to management within Outlook. Description My users read s in Outlook (Desktop) My users read s on a web browser My users read on mobile devices I must support this Nice to support this FileFinder for Desktop / Outlook on Desktop (Or Office 365)* FileFinder for Outlook offers powerful functionality inside Outlook Desktop Version. NA NA Add on FileFinder for Browser, FileFinder for Mobile and Office 365 FileFinder for Outlook offers powerful functionality inside Outlook Web App, part of Office 365. FileFinder for Outlook offers powerful functionality inside Outlook Web App, part of Office 365. FileFinder for Outlook offers powerful functionality inside Outlook Web App, part of Office 365. On smaller screen devices, reduced functionality is available via FileFinder for Mobile. * FileFinder for Desktop and FileFinder for Browser are both access points for sharing the same information. As a result, they are typically used in confunction. User adoption the importance of making things simple The key to achieving a return on your investment is user adoption. If your users can t or won t use the system, your investment will be unsuccessful. Larger suppliers will have used specialist User Interface Designers to ensure that products are easy to learn and get the most out of. Some of the key areas to look at in terms of the product are: Can a user have multiple records open simultaneously? How are these managed (some systems are dependent on multiple pop up screens!)? How many clicks does it take to move between recently used records? How is the screen laid out, and how configurable is the screen? Some systems cram extensive information into limited space when reviewing candidates, users need to be able to see a screen full of records not less than a dozen! How much going backwards and forwards between different tools is required? Accessing your database from within your system may make users

11 more efficient; accessing a browser from within your database may make researchers more efficient. How quickly can users access frequently used information? Does the system support Most Recently Used and Pinned records? Does the system present information from multiple information silos simultaneously? How easy is it, for example, to access the database record of the company, the latest news on the company (from the web), a map and social media information? Having to click between web browsers and databases is a major efficiency loss. MRU lists facilitate quick access to information Just as important is training. Understand how your users will be trained. Will webinars be used? Live or recorded? Face to face or online? Is out of hours training available? Are recorded webinars available on demand? Different users learn in different ways and at different speeds. The more training options available, the more chance of a successful roll out. FileFinder Anywhere is a Genuine Talent Acquisition System Many products which carry the label Talent Acquisition System are fundamentally designed for the recruiting of active candidates. For corporations wishing to widen the net to recruit from a wider pool of candidates, a genuine Talent Acquisition System such as FileFinder Anywhere from Dillistone Systems should be used. FileFinder was traditionally used exclusively by Retained Search firms and is the market leading product in that space (with installations in over 60 countries); but with the rise of the in-house research-driven talent acquisition team, FileFinder is being implemented for leading corporations to manage their recruiting assignments... all ranging from relatively small organizations up to Fortune 50 companies in sectors as diverse as financial services, media, internet and technology, entertainment, consumer goods, management consulting and retail, as well as not-for-profit and education. The product is typically implemented alongside the traditional ATS and will be used by both Sourcing and Recruiting teams. It provides a range of functionality designed to both identify and recruit passive candidates.

12 The product is supported by Dillistone Systems - part of Dillistone Group (DSG), a publically traded, profitable, and debt-free organization with offices in the United States, Europe and Australia. What to do next? To request your FREE demonstration of FileFinder Anywhere, sales@dillistone.com or call one of our Regional Offices listed below: AMERICAS: +1 (201) ASIA PACIFIC: +61 (0) EMEA: +44 (0) OR +49 (0)