I am not one for the FourSquare type games where you strive to accumulate points and badges, or even worse, spending time and real money maintaining a fictitious online farm. But I recently bumped into my friend Scott Swimley at the HCI Strategic Talent Acquisition conference. He told me about his new company Gild and how they are leveraging gamification for a real purpose.

Click through to InsideTMT to read more………

I think this generation might be more individualistic than any other, and it’s why I prefer to reserve judgement until I meet one and hear it from their own mouth.

Last weekend my oldest daughter graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelors degree in English Literature.   We made the trip to South Carolina for the weekend and after the graduation ceremony there was a small party with a group of her friends and their families.  I had an opportunity to observe and chat with several recent college graduates, all of them representatives of the Millennial Generation.

Here are a few excerpts from the conversations and a glimpse into the minds of three different Millennials:

Q. Are you still planning to be an Architect?

A. No way. There are not enough jobs. I am starting a program in the Fall for Masters degree in Packaging Science. We are going to be doing real research  for businesses on campus, who will pilot our designs and then roll it out to the rest of the world.  I will be able to apply a lot of what I learned in architecture, and the field is growing. I could literally go and live anywhere in the world and find work. 

Q. What do you think of the upcoming election?

A. You mean Romney and Obama? Well, I am not sure what I think yet, but it seems a little crazy that people are holding President Obama responsible for all the problems, I mean, I don’t think he really has that much control as an individual. Nobody does. But it also seems like the people supporting Obama are more about “anybody but Romney,” and the people for Romney are like “anybody but Obama.” Like the only choices are the lesser of two evils.

Q. So when will you be going back to grad school?

A. I had always planned to go back for a graduate degree and most likely to Law School.  But I have been doing the research and have found that the return on investment isn’t really there.  I mean, I could spend another $30K, but what am I going to get for that? Getting ahead today is more about having the great idea, and executing. You have people like Peter Thiel out there offering kids $100K not to go to school and start businesses. I used to be positive about grad school, now I am not so sure.

Each of these kids (I mean young adults) developed their own views based on the world that has been presented to them. As they emerge from the structured world of academia, they are faced with the challenge of tapping into their own creativity to make a life for themselves. Exciting times!

Ultimately it is their individual choices that will collectively determine the legacy of the millennial generation.

But if everyone is saying this, then how do you know who the good guys are? How do you know if you are really that good?

It’s time you step up and prove it!

Click through to InsideTMT to read more……….

But it is so much more than just an award.

Two years ago I joined Elaine Orler and Gerry Crispin to form a non-profit organization called The Talent Board with the sole purpose of creating the Candidate Experience Awards. In 2011 we had about 60 employers go through the application process, we surveyed over 11,000 job applicants, and 24 companies received the award.

THE 2012 CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE AWARDS

The Employer Survey for the 2012 process is now open.

Click through to InsideTMT to read more……..

With so many requisitions and so little time, we must quickly assess candidates and make a decision. The number one method used by most corporations is the behavioral interview. After all there is research to suggest that the competency based behavioral interview is our best bet for predicting future performance.

But I believe you might do just as well by flipping a coin.

Click through to InsideTMT to read more………………

I scoured the report to look for evidence to support my own preconceptions.

Click through to InsideTMT to read more………………..

It did not take Bill long to figure me out, he said “so you do for these customers, what Hunter does for PeopleSoft clients? I’ll call you the Resumix Guy!”

Click through to InsideTMT to read more……..

In the article Gladwell discusses the theory of “risk homeostasis.” Here is how he describes it:

under certain circumstances, changes that appear to make a system or an organization safer in fact don’t. Why? Because human beings have a seemingly fundamental tendency to compensate for lower risks in one area by taking greater risks in another.

In other words, when an environment becomes safer, humans will take comfort and lower their guard. It is why there are more fatalities of pedestrians who use marked crosswalks than those who don’t. Jaywalkers are more careful and are on the look out for oncoming traffic. It is why there are studies that show higher occurrences of poisonings among children even after the introduction of childproof lids on medicine bottles. It’s because adults are less diligent about keeping them out of their reach.

So what does this have to do with hiring? I have always believed that no matter how advanced the art and science of Screening and Selection, making a hiring decision is always a roll of the dice. We have invested a lot in advancing the process of hiring, and we have certainly come a long way. But it does not matter how good your behavioral questions are, how deep the assessment tool, or even if you run comprehensive simulation exercises. You might be able to reduce risk, but there is always risk. All of the technology in the world won’t change that.

Until that person shows up and performs, we are only guessing as to how it will all play out. If we are not too careful, we may end up falling in love with our sophisticated processes and application of scientific methods, and forget that hiring people involves risk. Don’t lower your guard. Stay focussed and use your common sense observations and fully explore any red flags that catch your attention.

Don’t ever forget that every single hiring decision is always a little bit of a crap shoot!

About four years ago I had heard from one of our consultants that Annie fell ill at work and had to be hospitalized. It was the kind of thing where the symptoms pointed to a brain tumor. Turned out to be an aneurysm, but it took them quite a while to figure it out. She remained in the hospital for an extended period of time, out on disability.

I remember thinking to myself that this was not good. I always try to maintain positive thoughts, but we have heard this story before.  Even if she recovered, I assumed there would have to be some irreparable damage. I had lost touch with the situation and had not heard any updates in years.

A couple of weeks ago at the ERE Expo in San Diego, I bumped into Annie at one of the receptions. I was blown away. She did not only look good, she looked fantastic, better than ever. She filled me in on the rest of the story, here it is in her own words:

……I just recently celebrated the 3 year anniversary of my brain surgery. I suffered a brain aneurysm that ruptured and filled my head with blood. I was in ICU for almost a month until they could figure out the source of the bleed. It wasn’t for another 6 months, countless MRIs and CT scans that they could locate the source of the bleed and operate. I had a 10 hour surgery and came out with 43 staples on the back of my head. When you survive an incident like this, you are thankful for the many blessings in your life and the simple ones, like health. I was never a great athlete or even an active one for that matter. I decided to create a bucket list of things I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to do a triathlon and run a marathon. I first had to learn how to swim. I slowly started working my way to recovery and health along with my training. The long distances and heat would trigger migraines so I had to pace my body.

I was able to have some procedures done to decrease the pain and increase my distance. I was then able to train harder and longer and on my way to my marathon goal. I completed my first half marathon on October 2011, Long Beach. I was bitten! I have since completed 5 half marathons and one full marathon. I did the Long Beach in 3:20 and my last half was 2:16 a couple of weeks ago. I just qualified for the Half Marathon Fanatics Club so I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

I try to inspire others by coaching a group at my church (Salem Lutheran) called “The Goal Line”. We help people accomplish a goal, whether it be their first triathlon, half marathon or 5k. Running has saved my life just as much as my surgery. It has brought me an incredibly healthy lifestyle, the ability to connect with people and a passion for life that I never had before.

And I can tell you from the time I spent with Annie in San Diego, her passion for life is transparent and contagious.  We talked a little bit and discovered that we are both in a similar situations.  Considering what will be the next chapter in our professional lives.  I hope that whatever we end up doing, I will have the opportunity to work with her again.

If you have ever felt down and out about anything trivial, think of this story and count your blessings.

I recently started evaluating job opportunities, and the experience has been eye opening. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way companies recruit talent.  Think about the basic steps in the traditional process:

1. Requirements: A hiring need is identified and a requisition is opened.
2. Sourcing: The job is posted, candidates are sourced.
3. Screening & Selection: There is a phone screen and a coupe of in person interviews (maybe 1-2 by video)
4. Offer/Hire: And then we push to make a decision and extend an offer because the clock is ticking and we don’t want to mess up our time to fill metric.

Most companies are trying to keep their time to fill below 50 days. So we are essentially making hiring decisions based on our experience from about 3-5 interactions over the course of 2-3 months. It’s like we are trying to know the least amount of information about a person as possible, just enough to make a decision as quickly as possible. We all know what it costs to make a bad hire but its a double edge sword.  We know so little about the candidate we may pass on someone who might actually be great. So why do we do it this way?

It’s because traditional recruiting is inherently Reactive. Organizations go about their business until there is a specific need to hire new employees.  Sometimes there is advance notice, like when opening a new plant. But when it is due to turnover, it is likely that the requisition is not even approved by the time the position is vacant.

It’s not like we havent’ heard the R word before. We have been trying to get proactive for as long as I can remember.  The answer has been to get better at forecasting. If we can predict when we will have a need, or when a position will go vacant, then we can start recruiting for it well in advance. But in most cases this just leads us to the same process only there is a gap after the prescreening and we wait until there is a requisition to schedule hiring manager interviews. While this might help our time to fill, we still don’t know that much about the people we seek to hire, let alone have a relationship.

Requisitions? We don’t need no stinking requisition!

In the last 5-6 years we have seen the explosion of the “social recruiting” craze.  But while the tools and technology have changed and offer the opportunity to develop relationships, most companies are using social media to do the same thing they have always done. Fill requisitions.

I understand the need for requisitions. Checks and balances, corporate governance, maybe even Sarbanes Oxley.  But recruiting should be completely disconnected from requisitions. Organizations should take the mindset that hiring new employees is inevitable, because it really is inevitable.  Recruiting should also be the responsibility of many employees, not just the recruiting department or HR.  At a minimum every single hiring manager should have specific goals for identifying future talent, and to engage in specific activities to get to know them.  And get to know them well.

It should not be about trying to fill a requisition, it should be about building a network of known quantities, so that when the need arises, we don’t have to go hire a complete stranger.