The labor arbitrage opportunity has lessened significantly as costs have risen in off-shore markets. The issues around data security in many applications are significant and there is compelling evidence that sensitive IT environments should be brought home.

More than anything, there is a compelling argument that we have a strategic obligation and imperative to bring these jobs back to America. IT innovation is America’s most definitive competitive advantage globally. IT jobs are middle class and upwardly mobile opportunities for American workers.

The time to act is now.

We have a once in a millennium opportunity to seize back our own destiny. Our decisions over the next few years will have far reaching affects on our economy, our culture and even national security.

It is time for business leaders to step up and take command. It is time for US business to rally around the concept of bringing our technology jobs home. At bare minimum, the robust middle class we need to buy goods and services from our domestic companies can be greatly expanded by investing in US based jobs in Information Technology. That is a sustainable competitive advantage and dramatic long-term opportunity to replace the middle class, tax paying jobs lost in this most recent recession.

There are signs of life. America always finds a way, if we rally around each other. New enterprises such as Ameritas Technologies have emerged promoting this new way of thinking. Made in the U.S. means something again. Ameritas and companies like them have found the lost message. The message that was sounded so loud and patriotically for much of our great history.

Made in America!

Now, there has to be more than a patriotic rallying cry to all this. There must be a compelling business case. And there is. In its most simplistic form, we cannot just recruit our way out of the looming IT skills shortage as we have in the past. We must look at Talent Acquisition differently.

Holistic Talent Acquisition is simply not the same as recruiting. It is bigger and broader.

Recruiting is a process; A process by which the company needing talent or their recruiting agents scientifically identify and attract ready-made talent from other companies and organizations. That is fine and very important in terms of ongoing talent development and competitive innovation. It is not enough, though.

We need to step back further. There are not enough college students with IT degrees graduating each year to satisfy demand. We are in a sold out market and headhunting from each other to satisfy tactical need will only exacerbate the problem in terms of availability and cost. That alone makes a solid business case for a fresh look.

Human Resources leaders must come together with Information Technology leaders to solve this problem holistically. Talent Acquisition must be viewed as a strategic business function that has far reaching impact on the success of the organization. External Recruitment is one element and a subset of Talent Acquisition, but many times the two are easily confused with one another.

Recruitment process Outsourcing (RPO) is a business model that helps solve the external recruitment piece of the Talent Acquisition challenge but not the entire problem. The supply of needed Talent that must come through competitive candidate sourcing and executive search-like activities and all related processes can be secured through RPO or through the build out of an in house Recruiting function. That is very necessary and what companies like TalentFusion do for a living.

That does not solve the dilemma of a zero sum Technology Talent environment in which we currently operate that will certainly become even more challenging as the economy recovers. We are already sold out in IT. Wait until we get overheated.

The opportunity before us is to change our view of Talent Acquisition. To elevate the discourse to a higher altitude and engage the business stakeholders affected by deep shortages of Talent into meaningful dialogues with Human Resources leaders, Academia and IT Outsourcing and RPO providers.

Historically, the tactical reaction to skill shortage is to recruit more and throw more money into Recruitment Agencies, Internal or Contract Recruiters, Job Boards, temporary staffing agencies, IT service providers, etc. in a fragmented, disjointed manner. All this does is further divide the potential solution to the problem into silos. How many times have we experienced line managers spending vast sums of money on agency fees, only to find out that the resume of the person hired was already in the company’s Applicant Tracking System? Just one of many, many examples of a disjointed view of Talent Acquisition.

We are suggesting that a fresh look be given to the entire Talent Acquisition model and that strategic value and business alignment be assigned to each component and thought be placed into the long-term view of Talent at a company and even the industry or market level.

If we do not invest in Talent this way, we will repeat the so-called “War for Talent” we experienced in the late 90s, which, was simply put, a feeding frenzy of Talent cannibalism and H-1B exploitation (some of which was good as it replenished much needed skills that were and are out of inventory).

21st Century Holistic Talent Acquisition Paradigm:

External Permanent Recruitment

o RPO, Agencies, Internal or Contract Recruiters, Job Boards, etc.

o Interface and exchange with academia supply chains

o HCM Systems and Processes

o Maximize current human capital potential

o Optimize Human Capital productivity

o Ensure proper Human Capital alignment

o U.S.-based IT Outsourcing

o Ameritas Technologies Model

o Off-shore IT Outsourcing when sensible and appropriate

o Interface and exchange with academia supply chains

o Transitional skills acquisition

o As needed on-site temporary staffing

o Scheduling gaps; vacations, leaves of absence

As we reflect on a potential new more complete view of Talent Acquisition, it is important to understand that we have a golden opportunity to get it right this time. Unlike what happened in the 90s, we have a chance to be truly pro-active and contemplative.

We also have an incredible opportunity to solve another vexing problem facing our country. We have the opportunity to close the gap between the 8+% unemployment under which we currently suffer and the sold out IT market. We must make sense of this. We have an obligation to do so; if not moral, then at least practical. Closing this gap will help restore American greatness in our middle class as well as where we should never lose our edge: American Technology Innovation.

David Pollard

CEO TalentFusion dpollard@talentfusion.com ]]> http://www.talentfusion.com/2012/domestic-technology-talent-acquisition/feed 0 http://www.talentfusion.com/2012/what-now-for-rpo http://www.talentfusion.com/2012/what-now-for-rpo#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:50:51 +0000 TalentFusion http://www.talentfusion.com/?p=680 The honest answer is that none of us has a crystal ball. However, I am sensing some trends that might be worth keeping an eye on. Certainly the playing field in the RPO industry has both narrowed and expanded, with numerous original founding players exiting and a slew of new faces and makeovers joining the fray. This may make it harder to differentiate ourselves and harder for buyers to differentiate between us.

Over time the market will take care of itself and the cream will always rise to the top. Organizations such as the RPOA can play an important role in translating for the Buyer community and provide a forum for continuous improvement for the Vendor community. RPO as an industry is maturing. As it does, we as Providers will get better at delivering quality solutions and Buyers will get more sophisticated at selecting the right partners.

Other random observations:

Mid-size and smaller companies are buying RPO services. Fast.

These size firms may end up driving the space in this next economic run up. When dealing with these size firms, RPO providers will be well served to sharpen their game. We will be dealing with tough buyers that will ask tough questions and keep a very close eye on the project. They do not have money to waste and demand ROI every day. They expect to be at the center of the provider’s universe and it will not take months or even weeks to figure out that something has changed.

That is good news for committed RPO providers; for true customer advocates.

Generic RPO will go in one direction. Precision RPO will go in another.

There is a place for large-scale enterprise RPO programs. There always will be. Peoplescout is a good example of a solid player in the large-scale process-centric view of RPO. I have admired Peoplescout from afar as they have built an impressive array of processes, technology and people to drive that kind of RPO. The Walmarts of the world will outsource and Peoplescout will be there to serve them with excellence.

For the rest of the industry, and even in specific mission critical areas of the large buyer, more precision is required. Specialized firms, like many in the RPOA, are emerging as very strong players in providing niche or highly technical RPO hiring. When positions are hard to fill and talent is scarce, these players can be relied upon to provide superior services to the Big Box RPO providers.

Direct Sourcing will become Critical Again.

While the concept of “Direct Sourcing” has changed a lot since I was handed a phone with a wire and a phonebook, the essence of it is about to become a whole lot more important.

Talent in many industries and areas of the country is already hard to find. Technology-driven companies are struggling to find the right skills. There is no unemployment for many talent clusters now and that will accelerate as the economy turns.

Aggressive, outbound direct sourcing is essential. Making actual contact with human beings and selling them on the concept of exploring a new opportunity is important again. Identification is no longer the critical skill it once was due to Linked In and the myriad other Internet search capabilities.

The skills needed to turn ID data into candidate flow is beyond critical. Back to the phones folks. Skillful e-mails and in-mails are important. Communications skills and marketing savvy are critical. Back to the future.

Recruiters are Important.

It has been a tough 4-5 years for the profession both on the corporate side as well as the RPO side. That is about to change.

RPO providers will be well served to adjust their employee satisfaction programs. Our core competency is finding and retaining the best Recruiters in the country. Systems must be built. Programs must be developed. Training will re-emerge as important. Creating an environment that Recruiters want to work in will be important again, if it ever went out of style with some of us.

RPO providers must be employers of choice for Recruiters.

Customers ARE the center of our Universe.

More than anything, RPO providers need to learn from this year of consolidation in our industry. Some clients were not well served. RPO has a little damage control to do. Corporate buyers might be a little jaded if they were dealing with a RPO provider that is now just a division in a much larger and somewhat threatening company. Service levels have suffered so we will have to forgive the buyers if the vetting process gets a little tougher.

We would be well served to remind ourselves that without willing buyers of RPO there is no RPO industry.

David Pollard CEO TalentFusion ]]> http://www.talentfusion.com/2012/what-now-for-rpo/feed 0 http://www.talentfusion.com/2011/recruiting-equals-talent-acquisition-is-this-an-accurate-equation http://www.talentfusion.com/2011/recruiting-equals-talent-acquisition-is-this-an-accurate-equation#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:43:41 +0000 TalentFusion http://www.talentfusion.com/?p=473 Perhaps this question would not have been on the table during the 2008 recession. During that time frame, people were focused on economic indicators; the housing market, unemployment rates, budgets, and companies adopting the mentality of “doing more with less.” It was more about survival with an often reactive approach since companies had little time to plan. Frequently, after an economic or financial crisis hits, businesses take a look at how to do things differently and have time to take a proactive approach to conducting business.

In the past recruiting often had a shortsighted goal in order to generate revenue for the customer. The longer the seat was vacant the greater loss of revenue. Recruiters were given a job description, salary ranges and asked to fill the vacancy often having limited dialogue to discuss the requirements, or understand the business prevue. Recruiting was viewed as a transactional, commodity based business function to fill job openings with qualified people. In contrast, Talent Acquisition is distinct elements of the Talent Management continuum, a proactive, strategic function, procuring talent for the organization’s value add. Talent Acquisition is no longer a silo in the human resource function, but collaboration with specialists from other functional areas within Talent Management to posture a company for talent who will evolve and become strategic partners within the organization. Talent Management/Acquisition asks: do we have a strategy in place to attract and retain qualified employees; do we know what business is in the pipeline, what the staffing needs are for the next six-twelve months, bill rates that determine potential candidate salaries, etc. Recruiting is involved on the front end of the process now we have a seat at the table as a collaborative business partner.

Talent Acquisition strategies are not static, initially job boards, employee referrals, etc. were the way to find and acquire talent; now Social Media has become a go to strategy due to the speed and cost savings associated with it. In order to compete in the global marketplace, companies ask themselves; how we go about talent acquisition, do we have technologies in place to attract, engage and retain qualified workers? Are we prepared for and do we have contingency plans for a retirement surge of baby boomers leaving the workforce? Below are a few Talent Acquisition strategies:

• Social Media

  social media networks has an amazing impact on talent management. LinkedIn has over 100 Million users; a sixty-three percent from last year. Facebook has grown to more than 750 million users worldwide all contributing members of the workforce. In addition to LinkedIn and Facebook, among countless social networks like Twitter, Xing you have a powerful talent acquisition tools. Google+ has joined the game as well.

  Social networks allow recruiters to maintain long term dynamic relationships with an extensive pipeline of passive candidates.

• Search Engine Optimization

  Job boards will continue to play an important role in sourcing, search engine optimization will become a key component in strategic recruiting. Talent hubs will gain popularity, allowing candidates to filter jobs by class, location, and company. Organic search engine optimization is viewed as one of the most cost effective and under-utilized ways to generate applicant traffic to a company’s listed job openings.

  We all know the higher your website or job description appears on the list of search results for a given set of terms, the more web traffic you can expect to receive. Quality content that is search engine optimized will get picked up for a wider range of relevant searches, resulting in a higher number of quality candidates and a more effective recruiting campaign.

• Workforce Planning

  Workforce planning will play a critical role in talent acquisition seventy-seven percent of employers have not analyzed projected employee retirement rates or assessed current employees’ capabilities. Employers are becoming more aware of the impact the baby boomer exodus thirty-seven to forty-five percent of the workforce representing a shortage of 10-15 million workers. There will be positions that need to be backfilled. Talk about a war on talent?

Going forward a Holistic Talent Acquisition will encourage organizations to maximize their talent pool by aligning it with short and long term business objectives; it encourages an organizational culture of engagement and innovation, requiring organizations to view talent acquisition, development, retention, and employee management as an entity rather than distinct parts. Human Capital Management and HR professionals will become catalysts for strategic change when they understand the relationship and interconnectedness of the different components of the end-to-end talent lifecycle. From attracting and selecting talent wisely, retaining and developing tomorrow’s leaders, helping former employees transition out of the company, talent management will streamline the entire talent lifecycle.

In closing, recruiting and talent acquisition are unique, we as consultants are increasingly becoming more aligned with talent acquisition. We can all recruit, yet are we aware of the strategy behind hiring qualified people to augment the clients whom we are supporting? We are TalentFusion’s value add to the client, and are an integral part of the “big picture” as consultants who work strategically to exceed client expectations.

We are all change agents… Happy Talent Acquisition!

—Sandy

I suspect the reason for the limited content on recruitment leadership is that so much energy goes into either the actual practice of recruitment, which is very helpful, or upon what industry pundits view as leadership, such as their limited take on who the so-called stars in our profession are, or how big their company is or who they know as opposed to any real support for their abilities to provide real business recruitment leadership.

In 1996, I was very lucky to join a great company called Keane. I inherited a terrific group of Recruiters and Managers. Some of the best I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Prior to joining Keane, I was more of a Sales and Business guy with a smattering of recruitment. Maybe that is what helped me, with the help of my great team, re-frame recruitment as a business function. I did not know any other way and that ignorance and naïveté may have played an important role in both elevating the function and holding it accountable in the same manor of a sales operation.

So, we started with measurement and I think this is a critical element of providing leadership. Metrics were a relatively new concept, particularly in the area of recruitment. So, we began publishing monthly reports on key metrics down to the individual level to provide organizational visibility on the recruitment function and a certain level of uncomfortable scrutiny on each Recruiters performance.

New at that time, I think measurement remains critical today in providing recruitment leadership. It is critical to set clear goals, per management 101, and then measure performance towards those goals. It is also critical to establish reward systems that recognize outstanding performance publicly and in a meaningful way. We did that at Keane by creating a President’s Club-like program called the Leadership Circle that recognized the top Recruiters each year with awards and a nice trip to a warm climate.

Next, and in support of the now very measured and aggressive recruitment goals, we provided tools, technology and best practices. It is critical to provide the material needed by Recruiters to achieve the goals that have been laid out. This remains true today. At Keane, and at TalentFusion, we took some of our best practitioners into a think tank environment to contemplate and then provide the “best practices” as they relate to all facets of the recruiting function. This led to a stream of innovations and published tips and techniques that enabled continuous learning and systemic improvements to the process. This enabled further improvement in the performance and elevation of the recruiting function.

From a leadership perspective it is critical to align all this activity with senior management. That is a very important job for executive recruitment leadership. It also takes a lot of time, energy and even some personal risk. If we are going to treat recruiting as a business function then it needs to take on a share of the risk that the business feels. That needs to be communicated and committed to at the highest possible levels of the organization.

For TalentFusion and other RPO providers, that business alignment is somewhat natural. Recruiting is our business and therefore, the function is already aligned with business by definition. By the way, this is one driving force behind outsourcing as it allows organizations to outsource a business process that may be important but is not core to a firm for whom it is both.

In the corporate world it may prove a little more difficult but still very necessary and do-able. If you are in a position of recruitment leadership, I would encourage you to spend energy here. Alignment with the business is key. Are you meeting with your business leaders? Do you or your boss report to one? Are you communicating to the business what your recruiting strategy is and seeking their input? Are you demonstrating to those leaders that you are driving recruitment the same way they drive their business function?

There is a lot to leadership. It is complex. There are all the intangibles like motivation, presentation, speaking skills, negotiations, strategic thinking and maneuver just name a few.

Having said that, if you are in a position of recruitment leadership you will make huge strides forward if you measure, enable and align the function with the business. Just those three things, which are no easy task, will elevate the function to a business level and separate you from much of the pack.

More to come in later discussions on other areas of recruitment leadership.

Good Luck!

—David