With all the emphasis on being “green” and not wasting resources, it struck me the other day that we are not being green in the area of human capital management.  Some of the best and brightest minds in this country are sitting idle, on the bench, resources not being used by companies who are searching for talented people to fill their openings.  We have acres of diamonds in our own back yards, yet we just can’t see them.  Or we see only their flaws rather than their true value.  Our hiring processes are not as effective as they should be, given the plethora of technological tools involved.

I don’t pretend to know how to solve this problem of unused talent, other than to help people one at a time in the course of doing my daily work.  I do believe that we’re all learning to swim in a sea change of transformation similar to other epic economic shifts such as the Industrial Revolution.  Let’s acknowledge that we will be required to reinvent ourselves, individually and in group settings, to meet the evolving needs of our society and the world.  In an age of complexity such as this one, it’s easy to become overwhelmed in the midst of it — but I keep asking myself one question, and that question helps me to achieve progress every day.

In my lifetime I’ve seen the birth of television, the birth of the mainframe computer, the birth of the PC, the birth of the Internet, and the birth of the age of social media.  I’ve seen the death of great leaders like John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, and Indira Gandhi.  I’ve watched catalogs flourish and disappear, along with many once-thriving retail stores, to be replaced or at least diminished by online shopping.  I’ve seen every possible media-tinged vision of life from Father Knows Best to Lady Gaga.  What we see about life through the media’s filter is often intriguing, but it is not the same as the daily reality we each must face.

Therefore, every day I ask myself:  Am I being effective?

Are my activities effective?   Is what I’m doing right now accomplishing the goal I set out to do?  Or is it just another distraction taking me down a side trail and away from my purpose?  Am I focused or scattered?  Is this decision effective?  In postponing a certain decision, am I being sensible in waiting for more information, or am I merely being ineffective?

Whether you’re a hiring manager, a recruiter, an entrepreneur, an employee or a candidate, ask yourself:  Am I being effective?  Do it frequently, and it will improve the quality of your life.  Expect effectiveness from those you interact with, and it will improve the quality of their lives, too.  Or at the very least, it will reveal whom you may want to partner with in your business dealings and even in your personal life.

but it is a turbulent profession.  I’m talking about recruiting, which I have done since 1997….12 years.  Here’s what I love:

• Examining the skills and talents people have.  Interviewing them, getting a glimpse of their history and their progress through the world of work.  Helping them fine-tune their resume if they need help.  Understanding what they want for the future – and helping them find it.
• Being reminded as I talk to people that they ARE unique.  Their skills and talents are as unique as their fingerprints.  For me, recruiting is an antidote to the too-easy-to-fall-into-trap of believing that we are just tiny little cogs in a big machine.  Even the tiniest cog contributes to the smooth operation of a big machine, or to its failure.
• Finding a manager or corporate recruiter who communicates well and values what I do.  Gaining a clear understanding what the employer needs and who will succeed in the position, so I can succeed in my quest to find the right employee.
• Learning from all of the people I talk to….they are both my teachers AND my students…..I believe everyone we meet plays that dual role in our lives, and as I interview candidates and talk to hiring managers and corporate recruiters, that is a continuing theme.  I teach them, and I also continuously learn from them.
• Connecting a quality candidate with a quality company, and placing a person in a really good position that will last…..that is my goal.  If the person is right for the position and the company is right for the person, both parties will ideally gain some stability from the relationship.  
• Getting feedback from an employer or a candidate who says, “Thanks, you really helped me.” 
• Earning commissions from this form of matchmaking that just cannot be done well by automated systems.  There are intangibles involved that a good recruiter senses…..about the candidate, about the employer’s needs, about the suitability and endurance of the match.   I’ve heard recruiters say, “It’s not rocket science.”  That’s true, but a really excellent recruiter starts with good instincts and persuasive communication skills and over the years hones them into something approaching ESP. 
• Thinking about the future…..what kinds of jobs will we be recruiting for in 5 or 10 or 20 years?  Advances in technology, engineering, medicine, nanotechnology, pharmacology — wow, I get excited just thinking about all the progress we will make.

So, am I the recruiter on Cloud 9 with rose-colored glasses?  Well, no — there’s a flip side, of course….here’s what frustrates me:

• Seeing the best and brightest people in our society, smart, well-educated, successful people, sitting on the sidelines without work.
• Only being able to help a few people out of the many I talk to…..if I talk to 20 good people, I may be able to place 1.  The reality is that a recruiter submits only a small percentage of the candidates he or she interacts with.  Wanting to help every candidate, but not having enough time to do so. 
• Employers who give little or no feedback on a resume and then suddenly,  perhaps weeks after submittal, expect recruiters -  and candidates - to be available for a phone interview in one hour, or a face-to-face interview the same day.  This is working right now because of the unemployment situation, but it is not, in my humble opinion, a wise long-term recruiting strategy.   The market will turn and candidates have long memories….and companies do earn reputations among candidates. 
• Employers who rule out the best candidates for a position by including requirements for degrees, certifications, etc., while ignoring the value of experience that is equivalent to, or perhaps better than, degrees, certifications, etc.  Companies that rule out candidates for being “overqualified,” making the assumption that the person will leave for something better…..when the candidate may be quite ready to step back to a position at lesser pay for many valid reasons.  Yet, my job and my truth is to understand that I work for the employer, and to provide what the employer wants, while still presenting the person my instincts tell me is the best, if the employer is open-minded enough to consider this. 
• Candidates who refuse to learn new strategies when the old methods of job search just aren’t working.  Candidates who submit their resume online for dozens or even hundreds of positions and don’t keep track of what they are doing, thus making it difficult for me to represent them even if they are a good match.  Candidates who refuse to see that networking has become a necessary part of the entire process of career management.
• In general, my belief is that thoughtful approaches work best, whether it be for job searching or for filling a position.  Thoughtful approaches yield clarity and results.   This is why we are seeing many good companies not posting jobs on job boards……it isn’t working as well as it used to, they’ve acknowledged this, and have turned to networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook to find people, and for difficult searches, to recruiters. 

Are you a frustrated candidate who needs coaching with your job search?  Or a frustrated manager who needs to find a great employee?  Contact me at lizk@talentlegends.com and I’ll do my best to assist you in reaching your goals.

1. an OB-GYN completing residency in 2010, to join a thriving practice in coastal Carolina….lucrative pay, beautiful town….
2. QA Manager with med device or Pharma QA and manufacturing experience, NY state, salary $85K+ range, bonus, full benefits, company will assist with relo
3. Product Development Engineers, 2 openings, Philly area, med device b/g required, must have BSME, salaried, bonus, full benefits, company will assist with relo
4. a hedge fund marketer/wholesaler to partner with a thriving smaller financial services firm….can be located anywhere in the US….unlimited commissions based on production
5. Experienced financial advisor who wishes to expand product line with A rated products from a well-respected firm, no captivity, increase your bottom line by $50K min, unlimited commissions

More searches, including software engineering, network engineering, doctors, pharmacists, nurses, project managers and engineers with full scope polygraph clearance, controllers, across the US.  Too many openings to post…..contact me at adfwrecruiter@gmail.com and we’ll set up a time to talk about your goals.

As someone who grew up in the fifties and sixties, one of the big changes I’ve seen in American society involves the quantification of things that perhaps should not and literally cannot be measured with dollar signs. Examples would be:
–raising a child takes $xxx,xxx — you fill in the blank, but it’s generally a 6-figure number–vs. the understanding that children are a blessing and bring immeasurable joy to the lives of family members and society in general.
–employees are a burden –you fill in the overhead numbers –vs. the understanding that employees are the engine that drives a company to its goals. Excellent companies understand that excellent employees are a blessing and not a curse….especially in difficult times when work ethic, integrity, and determination to persist really matter to companies and to society in general.
–the only thing that matters to consumers is the lowest price (i.e., the Walmart-ization of America) vs. what truly matters to us is value, which is a combination of quality and price. Now I’m not trying to pick on Walmart…..although Walmart certainly bears a great deal of responsibility for the globalization of our retail world.

Let me give an example of what I mean by low price vs. value in our everyday lives.

I recently mourned the loss of a Mr. Coffee coffeemaker purchased in the 1970′s. Yes, it achieved a 30+ year career in my kitchen dripping coffee into its glass pot every day….and it made darn good coffee. I went to Target and with great nostalgia purchased a Mr. Coffee thinking I would get a pot with the same work ethic as its grandfather (grandmother?).

Wrong. From day one the brand-new made in China Mr. Coffee overheated the coffee and gave it a burned taste. Each day was a bit worse than the next. After about 10 days I returned it to Target, which is good about taking things back. We replaced it with a slightly more expensive Mr. Coffee. It worked for 3 days and then it just died. We took the little white corpse back to Target, got our money back, and bought a Continental from the Dollar Store.

Thus far, it is working…..we’re on about the 40-day mark. The new pot is harder to clean than the original, but it does make good coffee — it serves its purpose.

What I’d like to know is — who is measuring the dollar cost of the lack of quality and the defectiveness of foreign-made products? There’s a cost to the consumer, not just in dollars, but in wasted time and grrrrr….aggravation. There’s a cost to the retailer that has to handle the return. There’s a cost to the manufacturer.

Okay, all you quality folks out there — I’d like to know who is measuring, how it’s being measured and what the real dollar cost is to this great country of ours. Does anyone know? Is anyone estimating – or guesstimating the true costs? Or would we rather have everything made somewhere else for the sake of low costs, thus contributing to high unemployment here in the US?

And while we are at it, let’s try to quantify the value of a child to its family and society, and the value of a good employee to a company and society. I can almost guarantee you that while you can measure the cost of a child, an employee or an appliance — the value is much higher than the cost, and much more difficult to quantify. Your thoughts?

We have always understood that information gives people power.  The advancements we’ve seen in recent years due to the tools provided by the information technology industry, telecommunications, and the increasing use of the Internet have led to world-wide changes in how we earn a living.  Some would view those changes as negative, and if we look at the world in its present condition, we might fall into despair; however, that will not provide us with solutions to our problems.   Every problem provides opportunities; every dilemna gives us the chance to think creatively as we search for answers.  Information has “flattened” the world, thus giving new options to every literate person living today.

I believe we are living thru an Information Equalization Revolution equivalent to the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  It is no longer enough to rely solely upon an employer to provide your livelihood, since employers are also struggling with the sweeping changes in the world today.  So I am searching – like you are – for alternative ways to earn a living, to thrive, and to continue the American Dream, version twenty-first century.