The Resource Collaborative

Talent Acquisition and Hiring - a New Approach

It’s Always Been All about the Customer!

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All of this fuss about predictive insights into customer behavior, customer market share and customer focus is not new…It all started many years ago when technology folks introduced the concept of contact lists and files…way before most CRM systems, as a way for sales and marketing folks to keep their contacts and activities in some reasonable order. Then, Zeus of Marketing said “this is not enough”…we need to be able to track what we are doing with each prospective customer and continue to do so once they are our customer – enter, the CRM system!

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Fast forward a few years and I can remember when large diverse service organizations, like commercial/retail banks realized there was yet more to be had…we have customers who participate in one area of our service offerings and we should be able to capitalize on this information across the enterprise to be able to qualify them for other “go to market” opportunities. This was no little wake-up call…this was a technology revolution in its infancy…enter large relational databases and data warehouses with the capability to gather and house all of this customer information. At this point, the tools needed to retrieve this information in useable format, were complex and could most productively be used by an IT staff in responding to requests from the various marketing/product teams.

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We are in the midst of an exciting opportunity to, once again, transform the organization’s customer relationship capabilities. What makes this time so different is that if positioned collaboratively, the IT Team can finally take its place at the table, not as an enabler or support arm, but as an integral part of the business’s capability to identify, target and service customers, not only from within the organization, but now from anywhere, anytime!

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To do this effectively, both IT and Marketing needs to understand the digital transformations that need to occur and agree to face them as one team. It is time for these groups to work together to produce measurable results – ah, and that should mean reaping the accolades, and walking across the coals of the fires together! This will require a clear understanding of emerging and disrupting technologies – by everyone… the huge difference today, from when we have done this in the past, is that now your business success is tied to how well you understand, deliver and manage emerging technologies.

How are you handling this transformation within your organization? How is the Technology-Marketing relationship evolving? What has worked best?

For more scintillating conversation that makes your day…please comment on our blog and follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter

HIRING FOR SUCCESS & LONGEVITY

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Are you a hiring manager torn witless by the number of resumes flowing into your inbox on a daily basis and yet, no shining star has appeared?

You are not alone!  Most hiring managers meet with an internal talent acquisition representative to formulate or revise a job description for a resource need.  The talent acquisition representative goes to the market to find a candidate with the skills to fill the requirement.  You receive the resume and see the relevant skillset.  You meet with the candidate and walk away underwhelmed…knowing they will not be successful on your team.

“Hmmmm”, says the talent acquisition representative…”how could that be”?  And back out to the market for another candidate and the cycle continues.

What is missing?  The cultural “fit”…not just within the overall company, also within your team.  Once you get past the skills assessment, what is it that makes an individual successful in this position within your team?  Successful broadly meaning, not only successful at the results they are producing, also successful in how they feel about the results they are producing.

The answer to this conundrum lies in the definition and quantification of this cultural piece.  It is every bit as important as the skillset required and should hold a place of honor on the job description.  All of us have seen some of the “quality” attributes on a job description – excellent communication skills, critical thinker, adaptable, etc.  While this is fine to include, perhaps a more productive targeted way to get a quantifiable read on a candidate’s cultural “fit” would be to include a list of questions that would indicate a candidate’s suitability and test for the “success factors” for a particular opportunity?

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As a matter of fact, one could say in today’s fast changing world of technology, the skills needed today are the skills of tomorrow as quick as you can blink an eye.  Finding people who are a “fit” and will stay with your organization, is perhaps more important than one skillset today.

 

Some questions or “TO DO” TIPS…

  1. Can you articulate your organization’s culture?
  2. Do you have a list of questions to test for a cultural “fit”?
  3. Who on your current team exemplifies a great “fit” and why?

Answering these questions and turning them into guidelines will go a long way to ensuring hiring for success and longevity!

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At The Resource Collaborative, we understand how costly turnover and attrition can be both in hard dollars and in productivity.  Therefore, we take the time to learn about the cultural “fit” for each position we are asked to fill and we offer to work with the hiring manager to determine what this “cultural fit” looks like so that we can formulate the appropriate questions for candidates to address.  Give us a call today to learn more about this service.