Jas Chong

Oracle to pay $1.9b for Taleo – FT 9/2/2012

FT says this echoes the pending acquisition of a similar company SuccessFactors by SAP and a move towards cloud computing. Read FT

Taking cue from Google’s new privacy policy in candidate database sharing

Google has recently changed its privacy policy. Instead of different policies for different products and in different countries, it has created a single policy. For a recruitment company that maintains a candidate database, privacy policy is also a key consideration.

Typically, a recruitment company has to have approval of a candidate before they can use their information and retain their information in the system. Every country has different privacy policy. In Europe, the policies are typically tighter especially in southern europe. In Asia, the policies are more relaxed or the laws are less evolved to protect rights. For recruitment companies that have offices internationally, this meant managing as many privacy policies.

There are limitations to maintaining local privacy policies. Most importantly, this meant that candidate information cannot be shared easily even if candidates want to be considered for positions abroad. Taking the lead from google, having a single privacy policy can be achieved. It will not only simplify the process but also allows for sharing of data. Potentially, the database can also be turned into an asset that provides valuable information on trends, candidate behavior etc.

How is creating a single privacy policy useful? As the main use of candidate database is in looking for suitable candidates for open jobs, the most important consideration is if it facilitates this. For a recruitment company that targets blue collar workers or administrative skills, this can be less useful since candidates are usually not mobile. It is more important for a recruitment company that targets middle to senior management level candidates or young graduates. Theses job applicants are usually mobile and willing to consider overseas position when the occasion arises. In some cases, the skills are concentrated in some countries. Allowing candidate sharing will help local offices tap into talents elsewhere.

There are some companies that already uses single privacy policy such as Monster.com. Even though it is an online job positing and application system and not a recruitment company, the same principles apply. Some potential considerations to creating a single privacy policy.

– Consider if a single privacy policy is possible. From the examples of some companies, I would say this is entirely possible. Look at google.
– Are there privacy considerations that are unique in some countries that cannot be excluded? If so, add them as part of the single privacy as a note for “x” country only.
– Using the change in policy as as a marketing initiative to invite candidates to update their records.

All things considered, the politics of the company and inter-country database sharing cannot be ignored. But once this is enabled, the rest is management.

SHL up for sale by HgCapital – FT 29/1/2012

HgCapital putting SHL valued at 700m up for sale to cash in on raising demand for psychometric tests. Public listing is also a considered as options.

Knowledge management as 4 pillars of strategy

Often, when the term knowledge management is mentioned, the next part of the conversation is followed either by

“what do you mean?”

or “do you mean the data base system?”.

The mistake will be to spend time trying to explain it. Too often, explaining about knowledge management only end up labelling it ultimately as a cost initiative.

In a service industry, I like to start with people, the employees who sell and provide services. When a recruitment company sell their services, they are implying a worth in the people who will be performing the services. They deliver services at the best of their knowledge and they way they perform is packaging that adds to a customer experience. If we continue with this train of thought, knowledge is integral to a service industry, it goes straight to top line sales and bottom line profits.

For many knowledge management practioners, initiatives in knowledge management often turned into a cost versus profit discussion. Often it ends up on the losing end of the battle along with other cost centres such as training and development, human resources with funds redirected to systems upgrade and even marketing. Here’s what I will propose as the pillars of success in a recruitment company using knowledge.

Succession Planning
In recruitment, each consultant often holds his/her own list of clients. Leaders in the industry will be familiar with this story, lose a good person and lose a list of clients and it is straight to the bottom line. Whether it is a sudden departure of staff or through retirement, to build a sustainable business that can survive the change in personnel, succession planning is important. And knowledge management has a key role to play.

Creating programs that encourages sharing of knowledge from seniors to juniors or peers will mean continuity and retention of knowledge in the company. The knowledge that is shared will allow other member staff to step up when there is a staff departure. It also gives confidence to clients to continue work with the company.

Upstart new starters or junior staff
While training is the most basic form of initiating new staff, it oftens lack the depth and practicality of daily operations. It is common for a new starter irregardless of seniority to take 3-6 months before creating profits. Knowledge management can provide a new starter with the essential knowledge to kick start their performance.

Programs such as mentoring, seminars will bring similar subject matter experts in contact with new starters. Through sharing of experience and working knowledge of the company, the culture and politics will help a new starter settle in quicker and focus on performance. Such program’s can also benefit new starters.

Commercial Positioning
Recruitment is one of the most fragmented industry full of companies in various sizes. A client has a wide selection of companies to work with and often, the client can ony rely on past experiences to decide. Often, it is simple as how comfortable or confident they feel about the recruiter. It can be hard to qualify how to increase such a confidence.

Knowledge is by far a much better argument to raise confidence. To industrialise the recognition of a company’s knowledge and thus expertise, it will require a recruitment to use expertise as a forefront of their positioning. There are other positioning elements such as size, geographical reach for example that are commonly used. However, if you ask a person who has a severe headache who they prefer to see, it will be a head specialist than a generalist.

Client Intimacy
A client is not just the company a recruitment firm is working with. In the people business, it is the individual hiring managers and decision makers. Whilst they may not have working knowledge of recruitment, they have working knowledge of their industry and function for the role a recruitment firm is asked to recruit.

Creating client intimacy requires a few tactics. One way will be to speak their “language”. This can be easily achieved if a recruiter has knowledge of their client’s area of work. Knowledge management programs that provide a recruiter with such knowledge or enable them to be more knowledgeable will help. Also, don’t forget, your client has knowledge you can tap into and it is often free.

The next time the subject of knowledge management comes up, it should be a topic of necessary investment and not optional cost.

The 3 numbers that count in recruitment

No business is foreign to metrics or key performance indicators. For the recruitment profession, this is integral to avoid month end shock or quarter end nasty surprises. More importantly, it is to provide a line of sight for management in a service industry where delivery is not as predictable as the manufacturing of goods. It is of no wonder that in recruitment, there is also an overflowing list of indicators. Sometimes, it seems we measure everything including the number of times we breathe! While management prowl over these numbers, recruiters drown in them. So how many calls do we have to make? And how many visits? And how many interviews? The list goes on.

To be sure, there is great merit in numbers. However, if the meaning of the measurement is lost, then it will only create more confusion and work around. Often, it is also useful to remember that it is the sum of numbers that tell a story.

For a recruiter who wants to track their performance, I would propose to start with 3 most important numbers: bill, work in progress and pipeline. The other metrics will help to find areas of improvement.

Bill
This is the most direct financial measurement of performance. Every recruiter who has completed a placement will bill a client. The split in fees can be complicated but every recruiter knows their bill since their commission is dependent on it.

Work in progress
There are many names to this number. Essentially, it is the remaining amount a recruiter can expect to bill when the work is performed. This may mean the 2nd and/or 3rd stage recruitment fees not collected yet. In cases where fees are paid upon success, this can be taken to be the expected amount to bill upon success where success is most likely.*

(* In a success only case, it is hard to know if a placement will result. Perhaps the easiest is to pick a point where you consider success to be close and stick to it. Example, where the client has positive feedback after the first interview with your candidate.)

Sales Pipeline
This is often a difficult but necessary gauge. For a recruiter who has responsibilities in sales, this is an important reference point towards bill. The exactness of the number in itself is not as important as its use a ratio to bill and manage activities accordingly. Normally, it is the most straight forward to fix a point where a sales potential is considered a pipeline. Example, it can be the point of price negotiation or when the client asks for a proposal. The pipeline will be the projected recruitment fees.

The sum of 3
Whether it is bill, work in progress (WIP) or pipeline, it is meaningless to look at 1 number alone if the aim is to manage activities. On a weekly and monthly basis, these numbers together can provide either a form of assurance on month end result or a form of motivation to get more done when considered together as predictable performance.

Example:
At the beginning of the month, my bill is 0, my WIP is 100k, my pipeline is 150k. At the end of the month, I manage to bill 50k from the WIP and I managed to convert 50k of my sales pipeline into WIP and my pipeline is left with 100k.

In this scenario:
Bill = 50k
WIP= 2 x bill
Sales pipeline = 3 x bill or 1.5 x WIP

With these ratios as guidance, the weekly and monthly activities should be governed by the WIP and pipeline to achieved the desire bill. If the WIP is shorter than required or if it is the pipeline, then it can be predicted that bill will suffer. Efforts can be put in to look into adjusting sales activities or delivery activities accordingly.

If each recruiter man recount these numbers easily, they are more aware of their performance towards the end of the month. Other activities such as sales calls, visits, interviews are complimentary to understand what works and what more is required.

That is for another time. And so is contracting.

The Death of a Recruiter

I had a flash thought the other day that recruitment is a dying profession. Or maybe it is not the profession but the professionals themselves. I have a doubt.The world has gone through many changes. From the industrial revolution to the technological revolution, these changes have affected all industries including the recruitment industry.

Recruitment started in an era where people were employing people they knew through their family and connections. Recruitment companies offered a greater range of people and skills to feel the roles, especially for female employees who had started entering the work force when the men we’re still at war.

With the Internet, it changes the way people look for jobs. Recruitment companies could gather more candidates in their database and forward relevant resumes to employers. Companies no longer need to rely on distant relations and connections to hire. It also meant that recruiters spend more time managing resumes and responses.

It is this transformation that I thought recruiters had succumbed to the temptation of “mass attack”. Instead of careful selection and hand picking the right candidate, it may seem easier to just send a mass of suitable resumes to the hiring party or send a good resume to a mass of companies who may recruit. It seemed to have worked for a while particularly for more junior positions. The art of client and candidate intimacy was lost in the passage of time that transformed the practice.

However, the complexities of work has also increased. A rose by any other name is no longer a rose. The variety of jobs has changed to such an extent that few professions are homogenous even if they are called the same. 2 accountants in the same company could be performing very different tasks. So can an accountant in 2 different companies. In addition, education may not have evolved at the same paced of work place transformation. Both trends meant that the likelihood of finding someone with the exact fit to the job is low. In such a climate, it is even more important for recruiters to understand the requirements and demands of the job and find the person most likely to succeed by extrapolating their competences and knowledge into the future.

Does this mean that sourcing is dead? I imagine it is more alive than ever with heightened selection. It can no longer satisfy a client with extensive databases and extravagant sourcing methodologies. The client expects that. What may blow them away is the knowledge in the field and communicating a convincing argument why a talent whilst not having the exact profile can do the job and be very good at it. And on top of it, they don’t have to pay a higher salary to attract them from a close competitor and risk losing them a few months later to another competitor.

It is a dying breed of recruiters who would spend time with job seekers, understanding them and advising them. The whole candidate experience is very different when he/she is talking to a recruiter who knows what they are talking about and add value to them to another who is just a “cv pusher”. The correlation of loyalty to time invested is a linear one. Many of my friends who had been introduced to good recruiters will always return to them for their job change or when they are in the position to hire.

It will be a mistake to say that recruiters do not understand this concept. Many do. Then why are there so few doing it or seem to do it well? We need to look no further than the people in-charge. If the performance indicators and reward systems do not encourage it, the the message is “do what you can to get money”. A crude but understandably common message in times of crisis.
Contrary to belief that crunch time is doom time, it is rather the best time to save the death of recruiters. When clients and candidates become more and more selective as they prowl over every decision that has a monetary impact, it is survival of the fittest. In hay times, the mediocre can ride on the wave of growth. In a tempest, recruiters will have to review their profession and be better at what they do. There is incentive to be more knowledgeable, hold on to a lead stronger and be more resourceful.

Every good recruiter I know has said this, nothing rewards more than the thrill of finding the right person for a difficult role and have both the candidate and client congratulate them for a great match.

That is also why recruitment will always run in my blood. Let us not be the dying race.

Cultural differences in training

A friend exclaimed one day, why do the French need all these meetings? For which I respond, why are the Americans so agreeable?

I used to say, generalisation is the basis of all jokes. So it is with much tongue in cheek and humour that I use the following examples to explain cultural differences. In my past life, I had the opportunity to conduct the same training in over 10 countries in Europe. In all the sessions, I find myself adapting each training workshop to the nationality of people I’m training. This is how I explained to my friends the cultural differences in the simplest way I can.

The French

With the French, a meeting is only to confirm what has been discussed and agreed over coffee, walkways, phone conversations and individual meetings. In fact, before the training, the material has been circulated, discussed and explained so many times in resume that I knew when they come for the final session, it is merely to reinforce and not to impart knowledge.

The key: the battle is already won before meeting in the field.

The Italians

During the training, I would find excuses after each 20-25 min session to leave the room, it could be coffee breaks for all, toilet breaks, smoke break etc. The Italians need to fight it out, discuss, dispute and argue. Since I don’t understand Italian, it works in my favour to leave the room and let them fight it out rather than implicating myself in the discussion. I would return to answer questions which had been filtered out by internal discussions.

The key: give them time to talk / fight it out. Freedom to express with passion is a way to their heart.

The Dutch

If you haven’t worked with the Dutch, your first encounter will be brutal. They are painfully honest and they mean no harm of disrespect. I usually allow for a 5 min question and answer after ever 45 mins for them to voice their thoughts. And then, I will address them logically and if it is a matter of policy, I would explain it as such. They will understand that some decisions may not appeal to them or seem to make sense but needed to be implemented. And we would be able to move to integrating that into their work life.

The key: accept what they have to say and react calmly. Respect their indivualism and you will be equally accepted.

The Spanish

I had the most fun with Spanish training sessions. They are warm and open people and welcome you with open arms and a great deal of jamon. If you return with the same passion, the rapport is immediately built. Having said that, their enthusiasm is also a reason for easy oversight. They will receive what you have to say quickly and with enthusiasm especially in a training environment. With the Spanish, I would devise difficult questions intent on testing their understanding and agreement. And maybe, I’ll add controversy to see how they would apply the understanding and force them to tell me exactly what they think. And of course, always with a pinch of humour to keep the mood light.

The key: always ask a second time to ensure understanding. Team enthusiasm with curiosity for the best results.

Central Eastern Europe

Every country in this block is different but I have found similar strategies in these countries: Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. While I’m training these countries, I cannot help but observe the impact of communism in the cultural. The importance of hierarchy and authority in getting agreement cannot be overstated. Once I had arrived in a training without the endorsement of figure of authority because the manager had left and a replacement had not been found. To my greatest distress, I had a walk out. After a coffee break, only 50% of the attendees returned. The rest had found reasons not to return. The next day, I had to assumed a figure of authority instead of the friendly trainer. When I said that if they leave, they can never return to the next sessions, I found attendance improve dramatically.

In the CEE block, I also find the best use of instant feedback. After each session, I would hand out colourd post-its for participant to comment what they liked, disliked, want to see more of. Each evenings I would adjust the next day’s training according to these feedbacks. This typically improves attendance and participation dramatically when they see that efforts had been taken to consider their feedback.

The key: always arrive after endorsement from a figurehead. If you have something to say, say it with authority.

Nothing written above is meant to harm, I have come to respect and love (in some way) the people I had met on the road. In general, I think it always work when I have no assumptions before I arrive. Work with the situation and adapt accordingly is my best philosophy thus far.

In Asia, I had a vastly different experience but that is a story for another time.

Tell me about your experiences, did you encounter the same or vastly different?

Corporate Social Recruiter

There is no need to gasp, there is no need to frown, there is no need to point fingers. Because modern day slavery exist and is rampant in modern economies. There is no controversy, except irresponsibility.

I refer back to Dan Rivers’ report on CNN which is part of the modern day slavery series of program. This time, it was related to the electronics industry who had engaged workers from Cambodia to work in Malaysia through agencies and created opportunities for workers to be exploited. Many are responsible in the supply chain, as a professional in the recruitment industry, this is where I’ll focus.

Since the phrase outsourcing is coined, companies have seeked ways to reduce their cost by outsourcing part of their production to more cost effective partners. These partners who can be contract manufacturers in this case, then seek to reduce cost by hiring temporary or contract workers to maintain flexible cost management – hire more where required and keep workforce at minimum. There is no evil in this. The evil lies in the way workers are hired and accountabilities managed.

In countries where there are no minimum wage laws, abuse is even more rampant. Without the protection of the law, the labour market is determined by demand and supply. Where possible, employers will try to keep labour cost as low as possible and it is up to workers to accept or not. In these countries, the influx of less developed economies meant greater willingness to work at lower wages. But this also meant that employment agencies can misguide employees who are unaware of cost of living in another country to make the pay look attractive. They are then deceived into believing that their fees to agency can be easily paid off since they are promised a high pay in comparison to their own country. Since immigration requires administration and papers, these agencies also has an upper hand in controlling the administrative process and then hold the workers hostage by means of with holding passport or exit papers.

How can that be tolerated? Before we ask that question, we need to inspect another question, do we keep our eyes open to injustice or is it easier to ignore? Here, it is the sin of omission that allowed this to perpetuate. Before recruitment professionals point their fingers to the companies who hires blue collar contractors, let me identify the personage and there are quite a few white collar in this chain.

– the supply chain and procurement professionals – these are white collar executives who study price competitiveness and find the most cost effective supply. Sometimes, pressured by their company to justify their existence and to cut cost, they will seek cheapest price as oppose to most effective price.
– the human resources professionals – white collar executives tasked to set up labour contracts and advise supply chain and procurement professionals on recruitment agencies and labour sources. They can recommend responsible vendors or round up a major list and leave this to their colleagues to select. They can also advise the minimum cost and/or market cost of hire for their colleagues to benchmark cost. If the HR professionals can highlight a reasonable benchmark, red flags will be alerted to very low price competition.
– management of both outsourcing parties and outsourced companies. They have the responsibility to set examples and maintain no-tolerance to bad practices.
– the recruitment agencies of blue collar workers and the recruitment agencies of the above white collar workers.

Sales professionals in the recruitment sector is faced with fragmented competition. The price of recruitment services and contract labour in both recruitment firms for permanent workforce and contract workforce alike are often determined by competition, and indirectly by clients. I have no short of examples where clients pressed the recruitment agencies to low margins including low wages to keep both direct cost and indirect costs down. And it is more appalling when your competition agrees to these prices to “buy” the business. And sometimes, I had asked, how is that possible unless illegal. Sometimes, clients may even “suggests” ways to get around the law. It is up to the sales person decide if they want to walk away and be responsible or forget responsibilities and succum to pressures.

Let me return to recruitment. I have been a contract employee, a client and someone who does the recruitment. Most often, it is my business to clinch a deal that my colleagues can work with. I’ve seen work from different angles and I was an underage labourer too. I will say this, be brave and stand up to unfair practices. Because we are part of the supply chain. There is no point in saying competition does it and/or I may lose my job over this. Because if you do lose your job over this, you can fight and if you don’t, you win the respect of both clients and your employers.

Be responsible because you can. You don’t have to do much more than hold your ground. It is already enough.

Some practical steps:
– politely correct someone who uses the term “bodyshop” other than to refer to the company that sells toiletries.
– learn about labour law in your country and geographies you operate on, especially on minimum wage and benefits. You can advise on what is legal and fair practice.
– walk away from a client who “suggests” other companies who can do it cheaper that is not fair practice
– recommend the right people to key jobs such as supply chain and procurement, human resources. If the job profile suggests that the incumbent has to face tough situations and keep cost low at whatever costs, question the validity of such a profile.
– call out your competition who is operating irresponsibly
– manage your sub-vendors where applicable to ensure they also practice fair recruitment practices.

Recruitment is not social work but our work impacts the society, a person’s work life (over 30% of a person’s waking hours) and the people they work with.

Let’s fight back on agencies who give us a bad name. We are much bigger in numbers, I hope!