The New (Old) Reality
It’s not news that a renewed war-for-talent is coming on, but I think the shifting mindset to maneuver successfully through the battles warrants discussion.
A few years back, winning the war amounted to one thing: a sense of urgency. Time was the enemy. It still is. In the recruiting (or any) service industry, time is always of the essence. But if you are involved in hiring from any angle at the moment, a quick check of the urgency gauge is advised.
Our client partners who are faring the worse in the talent battles at the moment clearly have 1 thing in common: timelines. In this age, if you’re committed to hiring the best of the best, it is simply unacceptable to be content to pass on a potential candidate because you feel rushed. It’s an arrogant attitude, and a killer. The truly great talent is being courted by many suitors. Missing or delaying interviews, waiting on additional candidates to interview simply because you want a choice or variety, or simply delaying the decision-making process because the involved parties can’t get in the same room together to discuss, is so ridiculous that it should be embarrassing. Companies who are still in this mindset are losing great candidates to their competitors, overworking current staff, and generally doing a disservice to their own clients and customers.
Every CEO worth his/her weight in salt will passionately state that people and talent are the company’s #1 concern. If only I could believe it based on how the recruitment process is conducted in some cases. Our client partners who are successful in both recruitment and retention all have 1 thing in common: they know what they want, and they don’t hesitate to go for it.
Posted: September 30th, 2005 under Do's and Dont's.
Comments
Comment from AJB
Time October 4, 2005 at 11:10 pm
Good topic. I’d like to go off on a slight tangent though…
The lack of a sense of urgency is something I find time and again as detrimental to my company’s (and ultimately the clients’) business. Seems as though a job well done in my agency’s hiring… quick, to the point. We’ve had a lot of turn over in the last year, but HR, in tandem with upper management, has come up aces with acquiring new, young talent.
On the contrary, there seems to be a hiccup in the, ahem, firing. Something I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around (let’s face it though, I’m still a young professional; maybe time will tell) is the inability for large agencies to cut the fat.
Let’s face it, the economy is down, the client doesn’t have the extra ad budget they used to, and efficiency, now more than ever, is key to fulfilling strategic business objectives and realizing revenue growth… that goes for both client and agency. What I’m getting at, I suppose, is that quick hiring has its advantages — no holes in the agency armor. To that point though, quick hiring not only confirms that you’ll snatch up the best available talent, it can also leave you susceptible to ‘packing on some unneeded weight’.
Tricky thing is that putting on a little extra weight isn’t such a bad thing… until someone notices. And in my experience, this is usually first done by those lowest on the org chart; the ones actually carrying the load who have no authority, or clout, if you will, to do anything about it. This, of course, adds to an already tense workplace, lack of trust in upper management to see and resolve the issue, and ultimately turnover depending on the severity of the situation. And in my short career, I’ve found that once the first person removes him/herself from a situation like this, it’s not long before the others follow suit.
So, to your point that the people of the agency should be the CEO’s #1 concern, I agree. But I feel that this not only constitutes hiring, but also firing (and quickly), to relieve excessive workloads, improve agency morale, and increase overall efficiency.
Comment from silverseal
Time October 14, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Well ronr3, I can completely relate. How sad that my similar experience isn’t an isolated incident. I had hoped, being my optomistic self, that is was. I had a large Seattle agency string me along recently and now believe there should be some sort of felony rating for managers that behave in this offensively cavalier fashion, don’t you? It’s a misuse of power and just proves that at least one zipperhead with zero ethics or business sense has managed to wangle into a high up position at an agency. A fine arts degree does not a manager make. I’d been courting this company for well over a year and had positive feedback on my work from the Pres, Chairman and Exec Creative Dir. After a successful phone interview with the latter, I was offered a trip at the end of the week to visit in person, as you were. The ticket never came, time went by and upon contacting the Creative Director to touch base 4 times over the next 6 weeks, I was given a different excuse aka bald faced lie each time via email as to what was going on. Believing the holdup was in HR as he’d said, I paid my own cash (don’t ever do this friends) to travel to Seattle to an interview that was never meant to be, with a company who had already decided against me to see a manager who didn’t have the let’s call em rocks, to be direct and let me know “We’ve gone another direction in hiring for this position.” So, Ron, long story short, I finally got to the bottom of my situation and discovered that two of the associate creative directors had ko’d my portfolio. I’m guessing that’s what happened to you as well. This particular manager was very insulting when I finally confronted him via email and told him I thought he could have been a bit more direct. He told me I ’shouldn’t have spent the money to visit with such little encouragement’, (Mind you, I’ve had a mentor at this agency for nearly two years) and that ‘most people would have gotten the point and gone away.’ Ouch! Newsflash managers, juniors aren’t in the mindset to go away, they are optomistic, so have some rocks and give it to us straight, hmm? I have learned a lesson that’s certain, and hope this posting can help someone else to avoid the same. I hope that if there are any agency managers or presidents reading this, you’ll be sure to promote senior creatives who not only have vision, but also have a business education and the courage and ethics to play fair. Mr. Bernbach would be very disappointed. I’m willing to take a few in the chops but not be beaten for two months with a sack of pennies. As for the manager I dealt with, I hope I run into you someday in Cannes so I can pour sand down your shorts.
Comment from RonR3
Time October 3, 2005 at 5:00 pm
Boy is this the truth. I have a slew of stories like this during the course of my search.
Working and looking for a new gig is tough enough, but to face some of the folks who sit in the decision making process is mind blowing. How did they get in those spots.
I can not tell you how many times I have gone back for interviews only to get to the end where they tell you “Are you really interested? Great, we will wrap this up next week.” Only to find that when next week comes they are still in the process of seeing a few more because they don’t want to get burned and are affraid of making a decision. I actually have one shop saying they will wrap it all up in November. This has been going on since July.
Then there was the shop that did all the phone interveiws and even sent me the ticket to fly down for a meeting. The day before I was to fly out I got a call that things were on hold for a while. The next week I saw they re-posted the position. When I inquired as to what happened they said that they wanted to try to find a more perfect fit from a competing agency.
All I know is when I have to hire someone I don’t let them go so easily if I believe they are the right ones.
Not everyone thinks that way of course.