9 Out of 10 Dentists Agree – Choose Recruitment Process Outsourcing</h1> <article> <h1>9 Out of 10 Dentists Agree – Choose Recruitment Process Outsourcing</h1> <p>Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:38:00 GMT</p> <p>It’s been more than two years since you’ve visited the local dentistry. Like every sane individual on this planet, you hate dental appointments; how they recline you in that 1960’s vinyl chair chock full off scratch marks, how they poke and prod, and that horrendous bubble gum fluoride paste they bathe your mouth in during a cleaning. You didn’t visit the dentist because it was time for a cleaning, though. You went because you knew there was something wrong, something internal that required external expertise. After the x-ray, cleaning and examination, Doc Dentist trots into the room, takes a peak and concludes:</p> <p>“Someone hasn’t been brushing and flossing…” </p> <p>That’s right, you have a cavity. In fact, you have several cavities in one tooth that have led to a fair amount of decay and need cosmetic work. Dentists from yester-year would suggest silver amalgam fillings—essentially placing a band aid over likely much larger issues. Proactive dentists, however, are equipped with innovative technologies and evidence-based expertise; they will get out in front of decay and suggest replacing the tooth with a porcelain crown. Although a significant investment, crowns are customized and built around your exact needs, and they replace much of the battered and broken tooth with a fully functional, efficient structure that is free from accountability issues, hiring manager dissatisfaction and excessive time-to-fill rates, so to speak.</p> <p>Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is the porcelain crown of the talent acquisition world, while <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/Five-Biggest-Mistakes-HR-is-Making-Today.html">downplaying or sidestepping talent management</a> is the risky band aid/filling; oftentimes, businesses seek out RPO for a quick fix—as a way to instantaneously slash costs and resources and hide a myriad of internal issues. <b>RPO is not a band aid, and it never will be</b>. RPO is a highly consultative function with vast differences in structure, focus, technology and cost. It’s an investment that will optimize your financial and operational health over time and for the long haul; it is not a partnership that will “solve your mess for less” (i.e., improve financial and operational health with fewer resources than those currently invested).</p> <p>Effective RPO solutions clean out decay and build upon the original structure with a much stronger framework, one that is ultimately still your “tooth” but improves functionality, talent acquisition, employer brand, overall recruitment and quality. But how do you know if RPO is right for you? First and foremost, you need to ponder the following questions to truly understand why you are considering outsourcing the recruiting function:</p> <ul> <li>Are internal resources overextended?</li> <li>Is the workforce continuously growing, or are you anticipating a significant growth event?</li> <li>Is your organization’s use of contingent agencies excessive?</li> <li>Has hiring manager dissatisfaction reached the executive or C-Suite ranks?</li> <li>Is your organization in need of greater accountability?</li> <li>Have you realized the importance the right cultural fit?</li> <li>Is the cost of upgrading processes or completely altering the current infrastructure substantial?</li> <li>Are quantitative and qualitative metrics minimal?</li> <li>Are you seeking a transformational recruiting partnership?</li> </ul> <p>If you’re seeking an RPO partnership merely to dwindle the recruiting budget to its skeleton, partnership is not for you. However, if you answered “yes” to any of the questions above; if you desire attracting the right talent, aligned with the organization’s culture and objectives to create a competitive advantage; if you are seeking to create talent communities that personalize communications and provide potential candidates with the depth of information they desire about the organization and position; and you hope to achieve each of these benefits while still having complete transparency into processes as well as final say over hiring decisions—then an RPO-encased crown might be perfect for your organization. Check out this Pinstripe whitepaper, <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/10ReasonstoOutsourceRecruitment.html">10 Reasons to Outsource Recruitment</a>, to further explore if RPO is the right option for you.</p> </article> <article> <h1>RPO and Contingent Staffing: What’s the Difference? (One Writer’s Quest to Understand Why)</h1> <p>Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:16:00 GMT</p> <p>Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) has become a world-wide phenomenon (see: more than $1.4 billion in global annualized spend in 2012), helping organizations improve operational efficiency and quality of hires while reducing costs. How do I know this? Until recently, I had no idea. My foray into the world of RPO began just a few months ago when I joined Pinstripe. Since that time I have been immersed in the RPO industry, discovering a service delivery structure has changed the way I view talent attraction and recruiting. For other newcomers, the following will hopefully help educate job seekers, prospective candidates, content marketers (like myself) and perhaps even HR leaders along the way. <b><br></b></p> <p><b>Contingent Staffing</b><br>To fully understand RPO, it was vital for me to first grasp what it is not: contingent staffing. Such agencies are often referred to as contingency firms or temporary placement agencies. Organizations primarily seek out contingent staffing agencies on a requisition-by-requisition basis (i.e., when hiring needs arise) for a supply of temporary or “temp-to-hire” employees. For example, an excavating company needs three forklift drivers STAT! In this situation, organizational leaders might look to contingent staffing firms to deliver a number of candidates willing to take the job as soon as possible.</p> <p>One issue with these types of agencies is that there are clones (competitors) at every corner providing the same services. I am admittedly biased in this situation, having had a bit of experience with a contingent staffing service. The summer after my freshman year in college, I needed a June-August job in short order. My qualifications at the time consisted of a high school diploma, several gen-ed courses, working as a steak and calzone cook and tutoring under-privileged students at the local elementary school. I submitted my resume to this staffing service and was offered several temp-to-hire positions within three days. These positions included an electrician’s assistant, landscaping and welding. Having had zero experience in each of these areas, how could they assume I was capable of diving into fields that were alien to me? What part of my resume indicated this? I’m sure my potential employers would have liked answers to these questions as well.</p> <p>Many businesses will partner with multiple staffing agencies at any given time in order to expedite the recruitment process. As a result (and as an answer to the questions above), immediacy is and will always be the name of the game; reimbursement for these firms hinge on their ability to fend off competing firms and place people before competitors swoop in with their own prospective candidates. Although contingent staffing agencies can prove effective, the rapidness often means experience, quality of hire as well as hiring manager and candidate satisfaction are not be taken into account.</p> <p><b>Recruitment Process Outsourcing</b><br>Rather than simply supplying prospective hires as quickly as possible, RPO providers offer strategic services uniquely built around their clients’ needs. That is, they act as an extension of the organization’s internal recruitment function and handle the entire new hire lifecycle from sourcing through onboarding and often exit management. Although handling these functions in a timely fashion is imperative, unlike staffing agencies, qualitative metrics like the previously mentioned quality of hire and hiring manager and candidate satisfaction are also a prominent focus.</p> <p>RPO partnerships are meant to be long term, so that teams can build sustainable talent pipelines, establish and grow talent communities, enable leaders to focus on strategic initiatives and reduce employee attrition. This is executed through a service delivery structure that dedicates expert recruitment teams to each client. These teams, though technically employed by the RPO provider, become an extension of the client organization. As a result, recruiters are completely immersed in the client’s culture and are accessible at all times. In essence, the RPO provider becomes 100% accountable for the recruitment function in order to provide a more efficient, less expensive and customized recruiting solution.</p> <p><b>Proactive Versus Reactive</b><br>To provide clarity (for my own sake), consider this: Across the globe, there is always the need for talent. Businesses grow and new positions develop; employees move on and attrition occurs. This creates the need for quality talent in a timely fashion—especially because growth and turnover storm through an organization on a daily basis, rarely leaving time to adjust to the swift and sudden changes they cause. The primary difference between contingent staffing and RPO can be found here:</p> <ul> <li><b>Contingent staffing providers are reactive.</b> Organizations <b>react</b> to turnover, growth or hiring needs by seeking the services of contingent staffing firms after the need arises. These agencies will identify and recruit talent based on current need with the goal of recruiting and filling all positions as quickly as possible. This is talent acquisition.<br><br></li> <li><b>RPO providers are proactive.</b> Conversely, others organizations are <b>proactive</b> by seeking partnerships with RPO providers to bridge the gap between talent acquisition, talent management and talent strategy. Rather than react to need, as an extension of the organization, RPO offers proactive sourcing and builds talent pipelines and talent communities to ensure organizations are always prepared well in advance of need.</li> </ul> <p><b>Why Should HR Care?</b><br>When recruitment processes are handled internally, HR departments need to post job descriptions wherever possible, including job boards and social media networks. They also need to actively engage candidates on these forums day after day. They need to scour the internet for quality resumes; identify, screen, interview and bring in candidates to fill out employment paperwork. They need to conduct background and reference checks, skill testing, as well as gauge personality, work style and cultural fit. Additionally, they need to handle post-employment tasks like evaluating performance and hiring manager satisfaction. With the rise of RPO, many businesses are partnering with a third-party to handle these laborious and cost-hungry tasks by providing comprehensive, transparent services and tailored execution with the evidence-based insight to achieve transformational results.</p> <p>For those of you interested in digging deeper and learning more about the trends leading the global movement to RPO, how you can define RPO for your business, questions to ask and tips to prepare your organization for RPO, check out this Pinstripe whitepaper: <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/thebusinesscaseforrpo.html" title="Get It Right to Get Results: Creating the Business Case for RPO" target="_blank">Get It Right to Get Results: Creating the Business Case for RPO</a>.</p> <p><em> </em></p> <p><em>Post contributed by Richard Ward<br>Follow me on Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/RichWardJr" title="@RichWardJr" target="_blank"><em>@RichWardJr</em></a><em> or connect with me on </em><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/richwardjr" title="LinkedIn" target="_blank"><em>LinkedIn</em></a><em>.</em></p> <br> </article> <article> <h1>How to Improve RPO Services the Elliot Diamond Way</h1> <p>Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:57:00 GMT</p> <P>Recently, Elliot, my son told me that gum chewing was beneficial to academic performance. Since he is 14 years old, I thought this just might be his way of preparing me for a potential call from school regarding a rules violation.</P> <P>Well, I never did get a call from school (thank god); however, I did decide to do some of my own research to validate the benefits of gum chewing.</P> <P>Since researchers believe that the chewing or chomping process is essentially a form of exercise, I really should not have been surprised to find out, like other exercise related studies, that physical activity can produce a mental performance boost. In fact several studies found that chewing gum led to an overall increase in cognitive functioning, particularly working memory, episodic memory and speed of processing, but only when gum was chewed prior to taking a test, not during. The effect was strongest just when a person finished chewing gum and only lasted for about 20 minutes afterward.</P> <P>They even have a fancy scientific name for this effect: “Mastication-induced arousal”</P> <P>So if mastication-induced arousal truly improves cognitive ability, like memory formation and speed of processing, then it must be good for Recruitment Process Outsourcing too. I believe all RPO service providers are looking for an edge to increase results and this seems like a really simple and cost effective method. At <A title=Pinstripe href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/" target=_self>Pinstripe</A>, we provide our recruiters with other tools, like Talent Relationship Management technology and sourcing training, to improve efficiency. These investments are quite intensive while gum is relatively inexpensive. So why not put gum in the supply drawer along with stables, paper clips and sticky notes.</P> <P></P> <P>Let me know how this works out and I’ll let Elliot know that he just may have come up with the next big thing in RPO.</P><EM>Contributed by <A title="Barry Diamond" href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" target=_self><B>Barry Diamond</B></A>. Follow me on Twitter <B>@bddiamond</B></EM> </article> <article> <h1>FGCU RPO</h1> <p>Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:43:00 GMT</p> <P>Little-known <A title=FGCU href="http://www.fgcuathletics.com/mbasketball/" target=_self>FGCU</A> beat San Diego State 81-71 on Sunday night, its second NCAA tournament upset of the weekend. Just like in their opening win over second-seeded Georgetown there were plenty of laughs, dunks and dances.</P> <P>It took Florida Gulf Coast about 48 hours to go from the butt of jokes to one of the most memorable NCAA Basketball tournament stories in history. But just how unlikely was it for the team to have reached the Round of 16? Based on the Nate Silver’s calculations, from the FiveThirtyEight blog, the odds were just 3.3% that Florida Gulf Coast would advance to the Sweet 16.</P> <P></P> <P>It is because of the success of the underdog FGCU Eagles that every once in a while I take a chance on an RPO opportunity where the odds are not really in <A title=Pinstripe’s href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/rpo-solutions/" target=_self>Pinstripe’s</A> favor. Sometimes I just get a gut feeling that an opportunity might not be so far-fetched and I go after it. And if I don’t win the Recruitment Process Outsourcing deal, I have at least got our name out there for the better and made a great impression.</P> <P>The point is simply that the NCAA tournament and RPO RFPs offer lots and lots of opportunities for highly improbable things to happen. More importantly every now and then, we do win the whole thing and, like the Eagles, we celebrate our success with lots of arm waving, big smiles and high-fives.</P> <P><EM>Contributed by <A title="Barry Diamond" href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" target=_self><B>Barry Diamond</B></A>. Follow me on Twitter <B>@bddiamond</B></EM></P> </article> <article> <h1>Pinstripe Healthcare Celebrates HR Professionals for Driving Talent Strategies and Enabling Positive Change</h1> <p>Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:53:00 GMT</p> March 17-23 is Health Care HR week, and Pinstripe Healthcare would like to tip our virtual caps to all healthcare partners and HR friends, extend a note of thanks and show our gratitude for a never-ending, tireless job well done. This week is about you, and we feel honored to join in celebrating your efforts.<br> <p></p> <p>Health Care HR week is meant to appreciate and celebrate HR professionals across the healthcare industry for continuing to drive talent strategies and enable positive change through the services they provide. This work is vital, as your efforts directly impact leaders and employees at all levels, prospective candidates and ultimately the quality of care patients receive. Health Care HR week may only last seven days, but you deserve endless praise for striving to not only attract, hire and retain top-quality talent but drive strategic improvement.<br><br>We appreciate healthcare HR professionals—especially our clients, who are early adopters of RPO—and want to congratulate each of you for making a difference not only across your organization, but across the industry. For all that you do, Pinstripe Healthcare would like to say, “Thank You.”</p> <p><br>Wishing you all the best,<b><br><br>The Pinstripe Healthcare Leadership Team</b>:<a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Jill-Schwieters" title="Jill Schwieters" target="_blank"><br>Jill Schwieters</a>, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Ashley-Gouge" title="Ashley Gouge" target="_blank">Ashley Gouge</a>, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Diane-Fleischmann" title="Diane Fleischmann" target="_blank">Diane Fleischmann</a>, Jennifer Mann, Judi Dorazio, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Kristen-Wright" title="Kristen Wright" target="_blank">Kristen Wright</a>, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Lauren-Trollope" title="Lauren Trollope" target="_blank">Lauren Trollope</a>, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Mark-Tippery" title="Mark Tippery" target="_blank">Mark Tippery</a>, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Mike-Soisson" title="Mike Soisson" target="_blank">Mike Soisson</a>, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Shelly-Olejniczak" title="Shelly Olejniczak" target="_blank">Shelly Olejniczak</a>, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/Tara-Cassady" title="Tara Cassady" target="_blank">Tara Cassady</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>How Walking and Exercise can Benefit Recruitment Process Outsourcing</h1> <p>Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:59:00 GMT</p> <P>Recently, I stayed at the <A title="Westin Colonnade Coral Gables " href="http://www.westincoralgables.com/" target=_self>Westin Colonnade Coral Gables </A>along with my co-workers, Angi Calkins and Sadie Zobel. When we arrived at the hotel, there was a problem with our reservations. While our reservations were in the Starwood computer, they were not in the Westin system and the hotel was fully booked for the night.</P> <P></P> <P>If you think that this situation is heading for disaster with me ranting on and on (like I did several years ago when my Hilton Honor points magically disappeared) and declaring a boycott of <A title=Starwood href="http://www.starwoodhotels.com/" target=_self>Starwood</A> properties, then you are absolutely wrong!</P> <P>Here is how the Westin turned the situation around and made me a happy customer:</P> <P>The 1st thing was that the front desk personnel promptly said “Mr. Diamond, I know we can’t find your reservations and the hotel is booked, but we guarantee you’ll all have rooms for tonight. So why don’t you relax in the lobby while we fix the situation. And while you and your friends are waiting, beverages are on us.” </P> <P>Situation resolved and life goes on…but wait there's more…</P> <P>While I was roaming around waiting for the room glitch to be resolved, I noticed a placard in the lobby inviting all guests to a 6:45 AM refreshing morning exercise walk hosted by the hotel General Manager, Michael McMahon. So the next morning, I joined Michael for a 45 minute jaunt and discussed the hotel business, Recruitment Process Outsourcing and our customer service philosophies.</P> <P>What a fabulous thing Michael is doing! Every morning he connects with his customers, finds out what is on their minds, and learns how he can make the Westin Colonnade Coral Gables a better hotel. Starwood and Westin take notice, clone this guy and make the “walk” a replicable GM best practice.</P> <P>And to my RPO service provider friends, here's my recommendation:</P> <P><EM>Take a walk with your customers, ask questions and spend time listening. You’ll learn a lot and the exercise will be good for you too.</EM></P> <P><EM>Post contributed by <A title="Barry Diamond" href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" target=_self><B>Barry Diamond</B></A>. Follow me on Twitter <B>@bddiamond</B></EM></P> </article> <article> <h1>Post and Pray: Gone and Hopefully Forgotten</h1> <p>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:07:00 GMT</p> In the world of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), the “post and pray” method for recruiting and hiring qualified talent is, to put it bluntly, antique, ancient, archaic… just plain old. Placing a job advertisement in a newspaper or other general location and hoping qualified candidates respond is no longer sufficient. Rather, it’s tremendously inefficient. To put this in proper context, consider Everett Rogers’ world-renowned <em>Diffusions of Innovations</em> theory. The scholar, sociologist, writer and teacher originated this argument to explore the increased prominence of the internet and how it has transformed the way people and businesses not only communicate but adopt new ideas. Rogers’ model features five groups of consumers, including: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards.<br><br><br><br>Businesses still recruiting prospective candidates through the post and pray approach fall in the laggard category. Laggards are suspicious of change, set in their ways and “late to the party” in almost every respect. Conversely, innovators and early adopters are launching new ideas and highly respected as future-forward thinkers and role models. Today’s form of post and pray includes online job boards and career websites. Leaders may believe posting openings on job boards, social media engines like Facebook and LinkedIn, and company career pages are innovative and effective strategies—but in reality, it’s not nearly enough to fulfill the precise, challenging needs of companies already shaken by tightening bottom lines and competitors siphoning off quality talent.<br> <br>Assuming applicants will not only stumble upon your job advertisements but meet your salary requirements, live in the perfect location, be experienced, and have zero non-compete issues is a pipe dream. Further, many businesses no longer have the internal resources to pinpoint and hire best-fit candidates; they no longer have the luxury of posting a job opening and waiting for the applicant to come walking through their door. As we move further into an era driven by budgetary restrictions and the need for efficiency, those who refuse to catch up risk being left behind by the competition.<br> <br>In light of these industry challenges, many leaders are turning to RPO to reduce expenses while attracting and retaining a motivated and engaged workforce. In fact, according to a study by Aberdeen Group, Inc. in late 2012, more than half of surveyed businesses are currently investing in or planning to invest in RPO within the next several months. Effective RPO involves attracting the right talent, <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/Its-Time-to-Hire-for-a-Cultural-Fit.html" title="aligned with an organization’s culture" target="_blank">aligned with an organization’s culture</a> and objectives to create a competitive advantage. It involves creating talent communities to personalize communications and provide potential candidates with the depth of information they desire about the organization and position.<br> <br>However, many RPO providers operate under the principle, “<a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/rpolosophy/bid/127813/Cow-Pie-RPO" title="Give ‘em exactly what they ask for." target="_blank">Give ‘em exactly what they ask for.</a>” If businesses request or have only ever known post and pray, rather than helping them transform, lazy RPO firms will continue to offer exactly that. Failing to truly capitalize on an RPO partnership can stick businesses in the mud of the laggard category. Innovative RPO is transformative, customized outsourcing performed by a strategic partner—one that recognizes the need to respond to new changes and dynamics and ensures organizations stay ahead of the curve.<br> <br>To learn more about how Rogers’ <em>Diffusion of Innovation</em> model relates to talent acquisition and how HR leaders can pave the way toward meeting the risks facing all industries by staying ahead of the innovation curve, check out Pinstripe, Inc.’s recent webinar, <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/EarlyAdoptionWebinar.html" title="Is Early Adoption Against HR’s Nature?" target="_blank">Is Early Adoption Against HR’s Nature?</a> <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/EarlyAdoptionWebinar.html" title="Examining Innovation Adoption Models" target="_blank">Examining Innovation Adoption Models</a>—featuring the insights of China Gorman, HR thought leader and CEO of the CMG Group. <br> </article> <article> <h1>Effective Outsourcing is Out-of-Sight, But Never Out-of-Mind</h1> <p>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:35:00 GMT</p> Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) continues to grow in prominence, as leaders across all industries seek to deliver better business results and position themselves to adapt to the always evolving landscape. In fact, a 2012 study conducted by Aberdeen Group indicates 53% of surveyed organizations are currently or planning to invest in outsourcing relationships over the next several months. An additional survey conducted by Aberdeen suggests that human resources outsourcing delivers more strategic support while simultaneously providing the tools necessary to enhance day-to-day talent management—burying the perception that outsourcing is simply a way reduce the tactical burden on the shoulders of HR.<br><br>Despite irrefutable benefits of an outsourced partnership, there are still holdouts who believe out-of-site translates to out-of-mind; these holdouts also believe out-of-site partnerships lead to a general lack of control and transparency when team members are not working at the same physical location. For organizations enjoying the competitive advantages of an outsourced relationship, this perspective feels as archaic as refusing to embrace technological advances like email. However, there are a number of legitimate concerns in forming a successful out-of-site partnership that must be addressed through proper management. Like all relationships, a successful business partnership must be built around accountability, transparency into expectations, mutual trust, and credibility.<br><br>Effective RPO solutions deliver <em>out-of-sight</em> outsourcing relationships by maintaining a customer-focused, personalized methodology. At Pinstripe, we do this by holding true to our <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/" title="WE BECOME YOU™" target="_blank"><strong>WE BECOME YOU</strong>™</a> approach; we initiate relationship building by gaining insight into our clients’ objectives and style of work to ensure our teams deliver strategic consulting and recruiting services that are molded to fit perfectly within your organization. We become fully immersed in your culture and work seamlessly as members of your team to deliver the talent and analytics that will optimize your bottom line. Recognizing organizations’ desire for relationships built around accountability, we strive to be a <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/143599/Pinstripe-Receives-2013-CareerBuilder-Excellence-in-Applicant-Experience-Award" title="highly renowned customer service organization" target="_blank">highly renowned customer service organization</a>—bringing the focus on innovation and industry evolution to the best practices from organizations like Zappos and Southwest Airlines.<br><br>In today’s environment, the perception that out-of-site translates to out-of-mind is obsolete. Organizations must embrace the inherent strategic advantage of focusing on what your organization does best and partner with experts to elevate non-core functions to their very best as well. Business leaders that believe they can’t benefit from, or are unable to adapt to, an outsourced relationship risk falling behind their competitors.<br><br>So, the question you should be asking yourself is—Will your HR department sit on the sidelines while competitors recruit, hire and retain top talent, or will they move quickly enough to embrace the advantages and make an efficient <em>out-of-sight</em> relationship their very own.<br id="tinymce" class="mceContentBody "> </article> <article> <h1>RPO Algorithms</h1> <p>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:11:00 GMT</p> <P>About a month ago, I heard author Dan Slater interviewed on NPR. Dan Slater’s new book, “<A title="Love in the Time of Algorithms" href="http://www.npr.org/2013/01/24/170129748/online-datings-siren-song" target=_self>Love in the Time of Algorithms</A><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">,</SPAN>” explores the history and modern-day implications of the explosive growth of online dating, now a $2 billion business in North America. His book offers an interesting history of computer-aided matchmaking and an investigation into the mystery of whether science, with the help of a computer program, can actually predict love.</P> <P></P> <P>When I heard Mr. Slater interviewed on public radio, I naturally thought of all the possible RPO algorithm applications. It seems to me that it would be so much easier for buyers if they could go to RPOmatch.com or RPOharmony.com enter some data, have some automated reasoning applied and out comes their RPO service provider soul mate. </P> <P>No more RFPs. No more site visits and lengthy presentations. The entire recruitment process outsourcing vendor selection would be completed by buyers’ and service providers’ profiles being connected through mathematics.</P> <P> </P> <P>For example, if a Recruitment Process Outsourcing buyer entered the follow characteristics:</P> <UL> <LI>Pure play RPO</LI> <LI>Financial Services Life Sciences, Healthcare, Technology and Consumer Brands industry focus</LI> <LI>Has exclusive TRM technology</LI> <LI>Loves challenges, directness and innovation</LI></UL> <P>Then the algorithmic RPO service provider output would be:</P> <UL> <LI><A title=Pinstripe href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/rpo-solutions/" target=_self>Pinstripe</A></LI></UL> <P>Fascinating!</P> <P>I like everything about this revolutionary matchmaking method except, there would be no need for sales people anymore and I’d be out of a job.</P> <P>Yeah, now that I think about it, RPO algorithms would never work.</P> <P>Post contributed by <A title="Barry Diamond" href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" target=_self><B>Barry Diamond</B></A>. Follow me on Twitter <B>@bddiamond</B></P> </article> <article> <h1>Accountability Check: What’s the Status of Your New Year’s Resolution?</h1> <p>Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:53:00 GMT</p> In January, Pinstripe, Inc. founder and CEO, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/SueMarks" title="Sue Marks" target="_blank">Sue Marks</a>, explored in an <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/TakingSmartRisks.html" title="article published by Talent Management Magazine" target="_blank">article published by Talent Management Magazine</a> the importance of taking smart risks when establishing New Year’s resolutions—including steps to help HR drive innovation in 2013. As she explains, the increased rate of change across all industries has made the power to adjust with these changes more and more valuable. However, depending on where you look, somewhere between 70-95% of personal resolutions are destined for failure from the very beginning. <br><br>In general, this is because we set impossible goals, push ourselves <br>beyond our limits, or accept defeat at the first hint of failure. For example, empowered by an inebriated state on New Year’s Eve, people establish personal resolutions like vowing to give up the Mc-Whatever (with extra cheese), quitting smoking, or promising to put down the remote and pick up a book every so often. Whatever the commitment, we rarely hold ourselves accountable because failure can be excused with a simple, “I’ll get ‘em <br>next year!”<br><br>For HR leaders and businesses, however, failure to achieve organizational goals is not an option. In the current economic environment, with competitors lurking in every corner of the market and the landscape continuing to shift without notice, it’s vital to set realistic yet challenging goals. But what’s the solution to our resolution challenges? The answer is accountability and, according to Sue, “Organizations need new insights to achieve growth, and must quickly adapt and respond to new dynamics as the business landscape shifts.” Responding to new changes or dynamics means taking steps such as: <br><br> <ul> <li>Fostering experimentation and collaboration</li> <li>Encouraging the courage to innovate</li> <li>Leadership holding themselves accountable for driving innovation</li> </ul> <br>Check out the complete article, <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/TakingSmartRisks.html" title="Add “Taking Smart Risks” to Your New Year’s Resolutions" target="_blank">Add “Taking Smart Risks” to Your New Year’s Resolutions</a>, where Sue expands on the above bullet points and provides additional steps to drive innovation and talent acquisition. For leaders seeking to reassess goals established at the outset of 2013, the article can act as a barometer—helping leaders make sure their New Year’s resolutions are supporting a culture of growth, innovation and accountability. <br><br> </article> <article> <h1>Competence: Enemy of Change?</h1> <p>Tue, 26 Feb 2013 21:53:00 GMT</p> <em>Reprinted with permission from China Gorman. Originally posted on <a href="http://chinagorman.com/2012/11/20/competence-enemy-of-change/" title="ChinaGorman.com" target="_blank">ChinaGorman.com</a> on November 20, 2012. </em><br><br><em>China joined Pinstripe to present a webinar, Is Early Adoption Against HR’s Nature?, which is available to view ondemand here: <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/EarlyAdoptionWebinar.html" title="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/EarlyAdoptionWebinar.html" target="_blank">http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/EarlyAdoptionWebinar.html</a></em><br><br>When organizations are planning to introduce some kind of change into their system – structural change, new technology, new leadership, the merging in of an acquisition – planning for the implementation is key, right?<br>Usually a change management model is chosen on which to build the process, and there are lots of them:<br> <ul> <li>Bridges</li> <li>Kotter</li> <li>McKinsey Seven S</li> <li>Lewin</li> <li>Nadler Tushman</li> </ul> Each of these models places an extreme value on communication. And rightfully so. Most experts advise that when you think you have communicated enough about change… communicate some more. Not bad advice.<br><br>But the advice that almost every model neglects is this: spend more time training than communicating; spend more money on training than on communication; spend more leadership time and energy in training than in being visible; spend more innovation on training than on well, innovation.<br>Here’s the deal: adults like to be competent. It’s important to them. It’s motivating because it generates feelings of mastery and gives the sense of control. When you introduce change that suddenly makes them incompetent, productivity plummets. When you make them incompetent, morale decreases. When you make them incompetent, turnover increases. When you make them incompetent and don’t give them a fast path to competence, your change management process is sunk.<br><br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence" title="Burch’s work for GTI" target="_blank">Burch’s work for GTI</a> that identifies the pathway from unconscious or conscious incompetence to unconscious or conscious competence ought to be at the heart of any change management process. You want your employees to adopt your new technology solution? Be sure your change management process focuses primarily on moving your employees out of conscious incompetence to conscious competence ASAP.<br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence" target="_blank"></a><br>Because guess what? Communication doesn’t cure incompetence. Telling doesn’t change behavior, training changes behavior. So change management plans that focus more on communication than training don’t achieve the desired adoption outcomes.<br><br>All but the most change hardy in your workforce – that small percentage of Early Adopters – will resist changing because being competent is everything. And that old technology solution you decided to replace? Well, everyone was competent on it. And now, with the decision to move to a Cloud-based, mobile-enabled, SaaS solution, you’ve made them all incompetent.<br>So help them out. Communicate like crazy. And get the C-Suite involved.<br>But spend every waking minute ensuring that that training on the new solution is available 24/7. That it’s available in classrooms and webinars. In every language your workforce speaks. In every location your workforce reports to duty. During every shift your workforce works. Multiple times. Let your employees participate in the training more than once. Make it easy and convenient to get competent.<br><br>And when the project goes long and over budget, don’t you dare touch the training budget. In fact, if it goes long and over budget, increase the training budget.<br><br>Because competence is the enemy of change.<br><br><em>China Gorman has been in and around HR for more than 30 years. She started her career as an HR newbie at the publisher of The Christian Science Monitor and then spent 20 years in the HR consulting world specializing in the career transition, executive coaching, and leadership development arena as a business leader at the local, regional, national, and global levels. Most recently she was the Chief Operating Officer for SHRM (The Society for Human Resource Management), the world’s largest professional association for human resource professionals with over 250,000 members in more than 140 countries.</em><br><br id="brighton_col1"> </article> <article> <h1>Pinstripe Commended for “Knocking the Socks Off” of Applicants’ Experiences</h1> <p>Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:41:00 GMT</p> <p>Pinstripe, Inc. was recently recognized by CareerBuilder for its continued <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?sd=2%2f20%2f2013&siteid=cbpr&sc_cmp1=cb_pr740_&id=pr740&ed=12%2f31%2f2013" title="Excellence in Applicant Experience" target="_blank">Excellence in Applicant Experience</a>. With more than 24 million unique visitors a month and global presence of approximately 300,000 employers around the world, CareerBuilder conducted a study to pinpoint “best-of-breed” practices in communicating with job seekers. More than one million individuals who have applied for positions at more than 1,000 businesses over the past year were surveyed. CareerBuilder applauded the efforts of a lone RPO company, Pinstripe, for its dedication to knocking the socks off of job seekers worldwide.</p> <p>However, the survey results also highlight a tremendous disconnect between reality and expectation. For example, 82% of applicants expect to be communicated with regarding their application regardless of intent to hire, but only 25% are actually contacted. This 57% gap represents the “black hole” into which candidates feel they are drowning when they apply for a position but are never contacted. Poor applicant experience can damage not only the employer’s brand, but negatively impact market share—particularly for consumer brands whose applicants are likely customers. Fortunately, business leaders are beginning to understand how a negative candidate experience can damage their brand and ability to attract qualified candidates, especially in an era where social media can spread negative perception faster than wildfire.</p> <p>32% of job seekers note they actively seek to avoid purchasing products or services from a company that fails to communicate something as simple as “Your application has been received.” Pinstripe mitigates this challenge for clients through its rigorous brand standards, diligent training and devotion to outstanding applicant experience. As highlighted by its praise from CareerBuilder and the one million plus candidates participating in the aforementioned study, Pinstripe consistently “knocks the socks off” of candidate experience in the following ways:</p> <ul> <li>One-call resolution expectations – No robotic voicemail message, or transferring, just answers</li> <li>Human contact – Real people answer the phone, chat and email</li> <li>Service standards – Resumes are reviewed and feedback provided in quick turnaround</li> <li>Dedication – Teams know clients inside and out</li> <li>Employee empowerment – Employees are empowered to make decisions for customers</li> </ul> <p>In an era of fiscal uncertainty, a “black hole” may lead to a point of no return; as candidate expectations increase, human resources must rise up and meet this challenge head on. Dedication to service excellence in RPO is how Pinstripe consistently rises up to meet the desires of both job seekers and its clients. Additional insight into Pinstripe’s Excellence in Application Experience Award can be accessed here: <br><a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/143599/Pinstripe-Receives-2013-CareerBuilder-Excellence-in-Applicant-Experience-Award" title="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/143599/Pinstripe-Receives-2013-CareerBuilder-Excellence-in-Applicant-Experience-Award" target="_blank">http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/143599/Pinstripe-Receives-2013-CareerBuilder-Excellence-in-Applicant-Experience-Award</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Hooked on RPO</h1> <p>Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:05:00 GMT</p> <p>Living in Wisconsin has its benefits especially if you like weird and offbeat news. I know all places have odd happenings and news stories, but it seems like our state has more than our fair share. Just ask someone from Sheboygan, WI if this is true. In fact, in a scene from General Hospital on March 16, 2011, Alexis tells Luke and Ethan that they belong in Sheboygan, WI. She was referencing Sheboygan because Sheboygan has the distinction of being the <a href="http://www.tableseed.com/strange/">17<sup>th</sup> strangest city in the US</a>. If you want to read more about Sheboygan’s quirkiness, then check out the site: <a href="http://onlyinsheboygan.tumblr.com/"><b><em>Only in Sheboygan</em></b></a>.</p> <p>And Sheboygan is not alone in Wisconsin for its wackiness (we are the only state with 3 cities ranked in the top 25 of weirdness; Madison is 3#, Sheboygan is #17 and Milwaukee is #21). For example, this week two dancers at a Juneau, WI exotic club brawled over $1. When the sheriff arrived, he reported that both women were “tussling on the floor, punching, slapping and pulling each other’s hair” because a customer tried to give a dollar to one of dancers and the other dancer took it. And to add to the insanity of this, one of the women is pregnant.</p> <p>As I envisioned this scuffle (thankfully no pictures accompanied the newspaper article), it kind of reminded me of a few RPO deals this past year where the battle to win seemed way out of proportion to the revenue potential and any associated industry prestige.</p> <p>So why do we treat these RPO opportunities as duels to the death? Why have an epic battle and try to obliterate the competition over a smaller recruitment process outsourcing opportunity or project? Joe Namath once said “If you're not gonna go all the way, why go at all?” Is that why some RPO service providers act like the 2 Juneau, WI strippers fighting over a client’s single dollar bill? Maybe in sports and exotic dancing the “win at all costs“ attitude works, but this is not how we should conduct ourselves in RPO. Right?</p> <p>Since it is January and I’m still working on my 2013 resolutions, I will add the following to my list of New Year pledges; if I have to do something equivalent to mud wrestling my competition in a speedo as perquisite to winning a fringe deal, then I will find another opportunity more suited for <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/" title="Pinstripe" target="_self">Pinstripe</a>.</p> <p>Post contributed by <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" title="Barry Diamond" target="_self"><b>Barry Diamond</b></a>. Follow me on Twitter <b>@bddiamond</b></p> </article> <article> <h1>Downton Abbey RPO</h1> <p>Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:39:00 GMT</p> <p>Recently, Barbara, my wife, had surgery (fyi - she’s doing well) and needed a couple of days to recover. To pass the time as she recuperated, she watched seasons 1 and 2 of <b><em><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/" title="Downton Abbey. " target="_self">Downton Abbey. </a></em></b></p> <p></p> <p>For those unfamilar with the show,<b><em><b><em> Downton Abbey</em></b></em></b> is a British period drama television series. The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the Edwardian and post-Edwardian era — with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.</p> <p>Several of the story lines revolve around the issues between the British aristocracy (the people who live upstairs) and the manor staff (the people who live downstairs). The priviledged upstairs lords and ladies want everything to stay the same, while many residing downstairs look to embrace change and rise up in the evolving world order. </p> <p>As the New Year begins and I survey the Recruitment Process Outsourcing landscape, I see some characteristics of Downtown Abbey in our industry. There are a group of RPO vendors at the top (with "top" being simply defined by size) that are clinging to the old ways of doing things…what they deliver today is basically the same as what they delivered a decade or more ago. Some have maybe repackaged their steadfast products and changed their website, but at the end of the day there is not much difference in what they do and how they do it. Pricing models have not evolved; SLAs look basically the same; and resource org charts are still filled with the same labels.</p> <p>Conversely, there are RPO service providers who are embracing the new; new delivery models, no governannce structures and new technologies. As these RPO firms look up at the “aristocracy” they see that some of these top firms are starting to lose existing clients and marketshare because yesterday's solutions are not sufficient for the dynamics of today's market. The downstairs RPO providers are truly attracting attention with their ideas, differences and boldness. And while these "downstairs" RPO providers might not be winning every deal, they are turning heads and making progress.</p> <p>And where does my company, <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/" title="Pinstripe" target="_self">Pinstripe</a>, fit in to Downton Abbey RPO analogy? At Pinstripe, while we are a <a href="http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/hro-today-reveals-results-of-annual-rpo-bakers-dozen-customer-satisfaction-ratings-1698738.htm" title="Baker's Dozen RPO" target="_self">Baker's Dozen RPO</a> company, we continue to act like we did in the beginning; our attitudes around evolving and transforming continue to drive our success and we refuse to get caught up in our own success and become complacent. Our goal has always been industry substance over industry status. In my opinion, this is the only approach to long term sustainability and professional satisfaction. </p> <p>Happy New Year and have a great 2013!</p> <p>Post contributed by <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" title="Barry Diamond" target="_self"><b>Barry Diamond</b></a>. Follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/bddiamond" title="@bddiamond" target="_self"><b>@bddiamond</b></a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Because I Said So RPO!</h1> <p>Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:49:00 GMT</p> <P><B><A title="Ken Jennings" href="http://www.ken-jennings.com/" target=_self>Ken Jennings</A></B> is one of America’s most recognized game show contestants. Jennings is noted for holding the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show <B><EM><A title=Jeopardy href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!" target=_self>Jeopardy</A></EM></B> and as being the all-time leading money winner ($3,172,700) on American game shows.</P> <P></P> <P>And for 2012 holiday season, he just published his newest book: <A href="http://ken-jennings.com/biss"><B><EM>Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids</EM></B></A><EM>. </EM>The book looks at 125 classic mom-isms and then either proves or debunks these yarns through the miracle of science.</P> <P>Here are 4 examples that are examined and explained by America’s trivia guru:</P> <OL> <LI>Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis</LI> <LI>Don't cross your eyes or they'll stay like that</LI> <LI>Swallowed gum stays in your stomach for 7 years</LI> <LI>This will go down on your permanent record</LI></OL> <P>Is any of it true? If so, how true? Armed with medical case histories, scientific findings, and even the occasional experiment on himself (or his kids), Jennings exposes countless examples of parental wisdom run amok.</P> <P>So, while I'm clearly not in Ken Jennings’ league, I do want to share my top RPO industry tales that many believe as fact, but are mostly fiction:</P> <OL> <LI>Recruitment Process Outsourcing is primarily about cost savings. Clearly cost is a consideration but so many organizations have been burned over the last decade by engaging with the lowest cost RPO provider that current buyers are looking more and more at value and Return on Investment versus simply price.</LI> <LI>A majority of HR professionals know what RPO is. In a recent market research study, I learned that a lot of HR leaders still grouped RPO with agency hiring and contract/temporary staffing. In fact, survey participants identified RPO services with some staffing companies that did not even have an RPO offering. It is disturbing that RPO service providers have not done a better job educating and sharing what we do and our value proposition.</LI> <LI>RPO only works for hourly, high volume hiring. The notion that RPO is best suited for job families like retail or call center needs to be debunked. At Pinstripe, just as much effort is on professional hiring like engineering, sales and nursing. Every organization has different needs and for RPO to be effective it must address these needs regardless of the type of hiring. </LI> <LI>HR leaders lose control with RPO. They might lose direct report headcount but this should not be equated with control. My experience is that HR leaders in fact gain control because they have so much more available data and service provider consultative resources to make fact-based decisions and talent acquisition improvements.</LI> <LI>All RPO service providers are created equal. If this was a true statement, then all service providers would all be expanding by the same general RPO market growth rate. This is not the case and those that follow the industry closely know that in 2012 there were definite RPO winners and RPO losers.</LI></OL> <P>Have a great holiday (and safe) season!</P> <P>Post contributed by <A title="Barry Diamond" href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" target=_self><B>Barry Diamond</B></A>. Follow me on Twitter <A title=@bddiamond href="https://twitter.com/#%21/bddiamond" target=_self><B>@bddiamond</B></A></P> </article> <article> <h1>Pinstripe’s 2012 Top 10 Downloads</h1> <p>Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:26:00 GMT</p> <p>2012 has been a great year for Pinstripers and our clients. All year, we have been sharing insights that help with the unique challenges and opportunities in talent acquisition and management. </p> <p>We’ve assembled a round-up of the most requested content to help you hit the ground running in 2013. Throughout the month we will tweet about each piece so make sure you follow the hashtag #talentmindset on Twitter. And feel free to give the gift of knowledge to your colleagues and share any interesting learnings with them. Enjoy!</p> <p><strong>1. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/Quality-of-Hire-Myth-or-Measurement.html" title="Quality of Hire: Myth or Measurement" target="_blank">Quality of Hire: Myth or Measurement</a></strong><br>Take a look at the historic problems with measuring quality, view the challenge through a new lens, and learn to establish a definition of quality for each position, develop standards to measure quality of hire, and investigate new screening and selection tools to proceed in a more effective way. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/Quality-of-Hire-Myth-or-Measurement.html" title="Quality of Hire: Myth or Measurement" target="_blank">Request Download >></a></p> <p><strong>2. <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/135159/New-Research-from-Everest-Group-Quantifies-Business-Impact-of-Recruitment-Process-Outsourcing" title="RPO 2.0: Paradigm Shift in RPO Value Proposition" target="_blank">RPO 2.0: Paradigm Shift in RPO Value Proposition</a></strong><br>According to a report from global research and advisory firm Everest Group, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) has evolved to what it describes as RPO 2.0 to address the new challenges facing HR leaders in making business impact through their talent acquisition and management practices. <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/135159/New-Research-from-Everest-Group-Quantifies-Business-Impact-of-Recruitment-Process-Outsourcing" title="RPO 2.0: Paradigm Shift in RPO Value Proposition" target="_blank">Learn More >><br></a></p> <p><strong>3. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/thebusinesscaseforrpo.html" title="Get It Right to Get Results: Creating the Business Case for RPO" target="_blank">Get It Right to Get Results: Creating the Business Case for RPO</a></strong><br>The current uncertain economic climate may be the ideal time to consider the benefits of partnering with an external recruitment provider. According to many studies, Recruitment Process Outsourcing solutions consistently achieve results equal or superior to alternative models. This whitepaper includes a thought provoking framework beginning with the definition of RPO, moving to sharing the financial and operational benefits, and ending with a helpful guide for spreading the discussion across your organization. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/thebusinesscaseforrpo.html" title="Get It Right to Get Results: Creating the Business Case for RPO" target="_blank">Request download >><br></a></p> <p><strong>4. <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/137980/HR-Executive-Thinking-Global-Hiring-Local">HR Executive Magazine: Thinking Global, Hiring Local</a></strong><br>In this article, Pinstripe Executive Vice President Angela Hills shared her thoughts on how HR leaders should select and work with a recruitment process outsourcing partner for global hiring. <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/news-and-events/press-and-media/bid/137980/HR-Executive-Thinking-Global-Hiring-Local">Learn more >><br></a></p> <p><strong>5. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/PinstripePresentsCorporateRecruiting.html">Corporate Recruiting: How Does Your Organization Measure Up?</a></strong><br>A strong talent acquisition function enables organizations to source and select the best talent for driving success today and prepares the business for tomorrow’s needs. In this on-demand webinar, Kim Lamoureux, principal analyst for talent acquisition at Bersin & Associates, presents benchmarking data from its 2011 Talent Acquisition Factbook study and shares key insights for improving the quality of each hire. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/PinstripePresentsCorporateRecruiting.html">Access on-demand webinar >><br></a></p> <p><strong>6. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/BersinReportInvestmentsinRecruiting.html">Investments in Recruiting: Getting the Most for Your Sourcing Dollars</a></strong><br>In this report, we highlight where talent acquisition dollars are being spent, where investments are being made for sourcing and from where new hires are actually coming. This report has been excerpted from the Bersin & Associates Talent Acquisition Factbook® 2011: Benchmarks and Trends in Spending, Staffing and Key Recruiting Metrics. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/BersinReportInvestmentsinRecruiting.html">Request download >><br></a></p> <p><strong>7. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/BersinReportRecruitingAnalytics.html">Recruiting Analytics: Key Metrics and Approaches for Improving Quality of Hire<br></a></strong>In this report, we share quality of hire metrics and approaches for improving quality of hire. This report has been excerpted from the Bersin & Associates Talent Acquisition Factbook® 2011: Benchmarks and Trends in Spending, Staffing and Key Recruiting Metrics. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/BersinReportRecruitingAnalytics.html">Request download >><br></a></p> <p><strong>8. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/MontageVideoInterviewingWebinar.html">Lights, Camera, Action! Is Video Interviewing Right for You?</a></strong><br>In this on-demand webinar, Grant Burrall, Strategic Partnership Manager, and Michele Ellner, Director of Marketing, at Montage, a leading video interviewing solutions company, provide an overview of the basic mechanics of video interviewing and discuss how it improves the pre-hire screening process. <a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/MontageVideoInterviewingWebinar.html">Access on-demand webinar >><br></a></p> <p><strong>9. <a href="http://biztimes.com/article/20120917/MAGAZINE03/309149986/-1/MAGAZINE">Milwaukee BizTimes: Be Bold: Culture of Innovation drives Pinstripe's growth</a></strong><br>Pinstripe’s executive leadership team was profiled in a Milwaukee BizTimes cover story entitled, Be bold: Culture of innovation drives Pinstripe’s growth. <a href="http://biztimes.com/article/20120917/MAGAZINE03/309149986/-1/MAGAZINE">Read the complete article and view photos of the team >><br></a></p> <p><strong>10. <a href="http://smsepub.com/publication/frame.php?i=122778&p=&pn=&ver=flex">Talent Management: Take Employer Branding to the Next Level</a></strong><br>Pinstripe Executive Vice President Angela Hills was quoted in the September edition of Talent Management magazine in an article entitled Take Employer Branding to the Next Level. <a href="http://smsepub.com/publication/frame.php?i=122778&p=&pn=&ver=flex">Read the complete article (beginning on page 24) >></a></p> <a href="http://smsepub.com/publication/frame.php?i=122778&p=&pn=&ver=flex"> </a><a href="http://smsepub.com/publication/frame.php?i=122778&p=&pn=&ver=flex"> </a> </article> <article> <h1>What a difference a decade makes</h1> <p>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:18:00 GMT</p> <p>I recently had to replace a car and say goodbye to my beloved 2001 model year vehicle. The fact that it was totaled by my babysitter is a story for another time (everyone is ok), but it did lead to one of those moments where you realize how much change and innovation has been passing you buy. So much for considering power windows a luxury feature – now Bluetooth for your phone, built in GPS, and ports for all your technology do-dads seem standard in even the most modest of cars. Old news to all of you I’m sure, but it was hot off the presses to me. I was amazed at how much I had been doing without, and of course, now that I have all these features at my disposal, shocked that I survived without them.<br><br>That’s how change works. What else in our lives do we just not notice until something jolts us into the need to realize that there has been a seismic shift since the last time we looked? I’m a big believer in the fact that the notion of incremental change is somewhat flawed, at least when it comes to human beings. Most change we experience, or create for ourselves does not go slowly. Catalytic events occur, they force us to take a leap forward, not just a step. A major organizational change forces you to take on new work, or leave the work you thought was all you knew. Some major crisis smacks you in the face and makes you realize that the way you have been doing things just won’t work anymore. The unexpected call from a recruiter about a job you never even knew existed when you were sure you weren’t interested in a change comes out of nowhere.<br><br>These are the things that help us stay connected. They are sometimes painful, but essential. I bet most organizations also make the same mistake sometimes. If something isn’t broken, let’s not replace it until it crashes into something else. Only then do we realize we’d waited way too long to make things better and to take advantage of what today has to offer. I still miss my old car, and I would have preferred on one level to wait until next year to replace it as planned, but in the end, I can’t complain. Change for the sake of change can be a good thing too.<br><br>Post contributed by <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/angela-hills/" title="Angela Hills" target="_self">Angela Hills</a>. Follow me on Twitter <a href=" http://www.twitter.com/angelahills" title="@angelahills" target="_blank">@angelahills</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>ARGO RPO Yourself</h1> <p>Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:23:00 GMT</p> <p>This past weekend Barbara, my wife, and I went to see the Ben Affleck movie, <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film)" title="Argo" target="_self">Argo</a></em>. Based on true events, Argo chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis-the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA "exfiltration" specialist named Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. </p> <p>The movie is about deception, bluffing, lying and trickery in order to save the lives of the six Americans. The CIA sets up a phony cover story for the six embassy staff around the making of a science fiction movie, <em>Argo</em>. For the ruse to be successful, the six Americans need to pose as Canadian film makers scouting Middle East movie locations as their exit strategy from Iran.</p> <p>So what does <em>Argo</em> the movie have to do with RPO? Well, as RPO has gained popularity, some opportunistic RPO providers have taken a page from the CIA’s play book when it comes to using smoke and mirrors. Their near term goal seems to be: "fake it until they make it."</p> <p>Here are the top 5 ways that some less honorable Recruitment Process Outsourcing firms are deceiving the buying community:</p> <ol> <li>They are advertising "dedicated resources" for their clients, but many critical services, like sourcing and screening, are really being transacted by a pooled group of workers who may or may not have much specific industry or client knowledge.</li> <li>While clients are paying for recruitment marketing and should have ownership of all candidates, the reality is that some RPO service providers are co-mingling client databases (and creating compliance issues).</li> <li>In the RPO world, we tell our clients that we are promoting their employment brand exclusively; however, more often than not, I’ve observed that RPO firms are either advertising under their name or co-branding with their clients. The only way to be true to the essence of RPO is to use the client’s employment brand. Anything that deviates from this formula dilutes the success of RPO.</li> <li>At <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/rpo-solutions/" title="Pinstripe" target="_self">Pinstripe</a> we work diligently to fully integrate into our client's world. However, not all RPO firm make this effort and, if fact, I have been told twice in the past few months about service providers flatly refusing to take this strategic approach. I’ve even heard recent stories about RPO firms that decline to use their client’s applicant tracking system even though it creates data integrity and compliance problems.</li> <li>Pipelining, social recruiting and building talent communities is a very hot topic right now and every RPO company is saying “we do that!” but the reality is that few RPO service providers really are intergating long-term talent attraction strategies into their programs. One can speculate why, but I believe it has to do with the cost per hire pricing model (and I plan to write more about this in a future blog post).</li> </ol> <p>In conclusion, there are many good RPO services providers (beyond just my employer, Pinstripe,) who are true to their RPO word and deliver on their talent acquisition promises with no deception whatsoever. Unfortunately, not all firms fall into this category and all I can do is hope that these “Argo” RPO companies have the same success as the actual rescue operation but I doubt it.</p> <p>Post contributed by <strong><a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" title="Barry Diamond" target="_self">Barry Diamond</a></strong>. Follow me on Twitter <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/bddiamond" title="@bddiamond" target="_self">@bddiamond</a></strong></p> <p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Mind the Gap</h1> <p>Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:00:00 GMT</p> <p>Earlier this year, Everest Research reported that nearly 400 Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) partnerships were coming up for renewal in the next two years. Wow. There is no doubt that some of these RPO clients will be rethinking first, whether the RPO model works for them, and second, whether they have the right partner. When is the last time you heard as much energy around the number of contract renewals coming up for bid in payroll outsourcing? No doubt businesses change partnerships from time to time, but rarely do you hear of organizations choosing to in-source their payroll functions after they’ve made the leap. I believe this is a key indicator of where we are on the growth and adoption curve of RPO. We’re past early adoption, experiencing solid growth as more organizations see the value in the model, and will likely continue to see growth in adoption even if the economy does stumble again.<br><br>Being at this stage in our growth curve as an industry also means a lot of attention – new entrants, acquisitions, and mergers, seem to be regular news in the industry and it isn’t likely to change anytime soon. It is a big part of what happens to any industry as it matures. What does this mean to those involved, those of us not sitting on the sidelines? What the industry looks like today and what it will look like next year or the year after will likely be very different. It seems that most players in the industry have chosen to ‘declare’ their intentions – whether it be to align with staffing, technology, HR consulting and HRO, or to remain solely focused on RPO, through the choices made in acquisitions, mergers, and other capitalization efforts. The choices each has made tell a lot about an organization’s focus, but guaranteed, several years from now, it will be different again. Small players will grow, large players could choose to focus in new directions, and someone will eventually crack the nut of what global RPO really means. For those looking to choose an RPO partner, the gaps between what current providers are today and what they may become in the future makes any decision challenging. Yet, it is also want makes it exciting. It puts us all in the mix together as we shape what talent acquisition is in the future. Watch your step, but jump on board!<br><br>Post contributed by <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/angela-hills/" title="Angela Hills" target="_self">Angela Hills</a>. Follow me on Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/angelahills" title="@angelahills" target="_blank">@angelahills</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Call Me Ishmael RPO</h1> <p>Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:28:00 GMT</p> <p>Google celebrated the 161st anniversary of Herman Melville's "<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Moby+Dick" target="_self">Moby Dick</a>" last week. The book holds a very important place in English literature. A survey of 100 authors from 54 countries named "Moby Dick" as one of the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0612/The-100-best-books-of-all-time" target="_blank">100 best books of all time</a>.</p> <p>But public opinion was very different 161 years ago. When "Moby Dick" debuted in 1851, reviewers trashed it. Many argued that it wasn't even one of Melville's best books.</p> <p>"Moby Dick" tells the story of a sailor – call him Ishmael. He finds himself aboard a whaling ship led by Captain Ahab, a peg-legged man with a single mission: Hunt down and kill the whale that took his leg. But as they chase the ferocious Moby Dick, Ahab's determination soon descends into madness.</p> <p>In some ways Recruitment Process Outsourcing has fared similarly. When RPO debuted (some time in the mid 1990’s), there were a lot of HR professionals who did not support the outsourcing of talent acquisition and were quick to trash RPO. They predicted that RPO would never gain traction and ultimately recruitment would stay as an insourced function. These critics could never imagine a 3<sup>rd</sup> party acting on their behalf, representing their culture and delivering a higher quality of candidate.</p> <p> And like Moby Dick, RPO is now widely esteemed. The original vision of a service provider providing strong recruitment results is now mostly the reality. In fact the current success and long-term industry trending of RPO was recently highlighted in NelsonHall’s October 2012 RPO study. NelsonHall shared that RPO is the fastest growing HRO service with RPO buyers seeking specialists to develop their company's employment brand, create talent pools, improve quality of hire and provide employee engagement and retention. In addition, the Global RPO market is expected to double by 2016, reaching $4.9bn. And if one is still skeptical of the industry robustness, just look at the recent scamble by companies to enter the RPO market through acquisition (RTI by ADP and Kenexa by IBM). </p> <p class="Default">So while Google hasn’t celebrated RPO's milestones yet, the success and viability of RPO is being validated by the substantial number of global strategic HR leaders who are seeking out RPO services in order to transform their talent acquisition function.</p> <p> Post contributed by <strong><a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" title="Barry Diamond" target="_self">Barry Diamond</a></strong>. Follow me on Twitter <strong><a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/bddiamond" title="@bddiamond" target="_self">@bddiamond</a></strong></p> </article> <article> <h1>Scrum - Rapid Innovation through Disciplined Execution</h1> <p>Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:16:00 GMT</p> <p>At Pinstripe, Continuous Improvement is Continuous Innovation.<br><br>But how do we as leaders support the creation of rapid innovation on our teams and still maintain disciplined execution to drive quality results on a continuous basis?<br><br>Our Service Delivery Leaders recently had the opportunity to experience the answer to that question through a hands-on Scrum simulation workshop.<br><br>The result? Seven colorful and creative brochures for the Ultimate Resort, Inc. produced in just 8 minutes of construction! <br><br><strong>A Powerful Force for Innovation</strong><br>How is that possible? When utilized correctly, Scrum can be a powerful force for innovation and will drive results that delight both the customer and product team. Openness, imagination, and even courage to identify issues and root cause, are all supported and encouraged through the framework to help teams integrate continuous improvement into their day-to-day work.<br><br>Here’s a few pics of the teams sharing their innovative results:</p> <p><br> <strong>Scrum is Challenging</strong></p> <p>In addition to the fun and levity that ensued from the collaboration during the session, the teams learned that transitioning to Scrum is challenging. There were new roles to learn, work to prioritize; planning meetings, daily scrums, reviews, and retrospectives to conduct – and ultimately a product had to be delivered. All of this “newness” was compounded by the fact that everything had to be accomplished in the space of 45 minutes. Seem impossible? With Scrum, it became possible! And it was amazing to see it all come together for each team!</p> <p><strong>Future Discussion</strong><br>Following are some of the revelations that were shared by various team members during our session debrief:<br><br>“As a Product Owner, it was difficult to resist the urge to tell the team what to do, or ‘how’ to build the product”<br><br>“As Scrum Master, managing the team and Product Owner collaboration requires skill and work!”<br><br>“What about team members that aren’t interested in participating in Scrum? Do you force them to participate?”<br><br>“How many sprints does it take for the team to get the hang of this?”<br><br>“Do we need to do retrospectives at the end of every sprint?”<br><br>“Do daily scrums, really need to be daily?”<br><br><em>What has been your experience with these challenges and questions?</em> I look forward to discussing these and other questions and insights from the teams in future posts.</p> <p><strong>Pinstripe’s Agile Journey</strong><br>We are in the early stages of our Agile journey at Pinstripe, but already, we have seen some amazing results from our teams that are currently engaged in the Scrum framework on a daily basis. When coaching teams through the framework, I often will liken it to “learning to write with your left hand, when you are right handed.” After embracing the change and much practice, it becomes easier, and pretty soon, you don’t remember writing any other way – it becomes your preferred method of writing.</p> <p>I feel very privileged to be a part of this exciting transformation at Pinstripe, and am eager to see the results as these talented Service Leaders and teams apply the discipline of Scrum to drive continuous innovation for our clients!</p> <p><em>What activities have you used to teach the Scrum Framework? </em> I would love to hear your ideas!</p> <p><em>Post contributed by Janessa Huber</em><br><em>Connect with me on <a href="www.linkedin.com/in/janessahuber" title="LinkedIn" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a></em></p> </article> <article> <h1>What the Heck is Scrum?</h1> <p>Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:00:00 GMT</p> <p>I joined Pinstripe as Service Experience Director earlier this year. My primary focus has been working with the Service Delivery Teams to operationalize a Continuous Improvement framework and toolbox. It has been exciting to see Pinstripers from the Executive level down adopt the Agile philosophy and begin leveraging the Scrum framework to manage continuous improvement initiatives. Simply stated, Scrum is a framework that allows the Agile philosophy to be put into action! It enables teams to emphasize people over processes and collaborate as a team and with clients to respond rapidly, remove impediments to success, and deliver value quickly and often.</p> <p>My first introduction to Agile and Scrum began as the General Manager of a small software firm. I was new to the software development industry – my background essentially had been in the civil engineering, real estate, and food ingredients industries. But I was very familiar with Lean Philosophy and Practices and its effectiveness to drive continuous improvement in any industry. Initially, I was asked to focus my attention to issues in the Administrative and Customer Service departments, as leadership was convinced that the root cause of their business struggles resided there.</p> <p><strong>Pitching Hand Grenades</strong><br>Over the next few months, as I worked to put out fires in these departments for good – one fire kept coming back each time there was a software release. It was like someone was pitching a hand grenade over the wall from software engineering to customer service – and then on to our customers. I had a great customer service and training team, but there was no way that even the best could succeed under such a firestorm each month!</p> <p>On the other “side” I had an engineering team that - true to Lean’s core principle - “no one comes to work to do a bad job” - was struggling with the perception that they didn’t know what they were doing or worse, that they didn’t care – moral was low to say the least.</p> <p><strong>Stop Fighting Fires!</strong><br>We had tried a number of obvious solutions – better testing processes, modifications to our internal tracking system, better role definition, celebrating victories, etc. – these only provided short term solutions. Our breaking point came when, after one very large software release, our support lines were flooded within the hour with over 350 calls from distressed clients. Clearly, we needed to drastically change our entire development model! Because I had experienced firsthand how effectively Lean practices could not only surface issues, but empower employees to take ownership of responsibilities, (and apply continuous improvement initiatives daily), I began researching a Lean solution that would apply to the software development world, and, low and behold, discovered Agile and Scrum!</p> <p><strong>Magical Results from Mere Humans</strong><br>It is true that Scrum is not a magic, silver bullet – but witnessing firsthand the results following our Agile transformation, it truly was magical!</p> <p>Scrum’s Results: <br></p> <p><em><strong>I loved the fact that instead of spending all of our time fighting fires, the teams could now engage in some truly innovative solutions to grow the company.</strong></em> Resolving all of the “noise” in operations allowed the business to turn its focus from resolving client tickets to growing the client base and designing new features and products. Our trainers no longer had to be concerned about getting blindsided with software issues at a client site, but instead could engage our clients in feedback regarding new features and sales opportunities. As a result, the company recognized record revenue (more than double the previous year) from client contract renewals and new sales. Culturally, it was gratifying to see new leaders growing in the Scrum Master role and the cohesiveness between the teams.</p> <p><strong>Scrum is not just for Software Development</strong><br>What about Scrum success outside of software development departments? Can Scrum help teams succeed in other business functions? Absolutely. In fact, after empowering our Software Development teams – we moved on to leverage the framework for our Customer Service and Sales teams – with great success</p> <p>At Pinstripe, we have begun leveraging the framework successfully, to integrate Continuous Improvement into the teams’ day-to-day activities. True to CEO Sue Marks’ description of Pinstripers: ‘Happy, friendly, smart, walk fast,’ adoption is moving quickly among the teams and I enjoy the challenge of keeping up with the many facilitation requests, trainings, and questions they bring my way! We recently engaged the Service Leaders in a fun <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/rpolosophy/bid/83341/Scrum-Rapid-Innovation-through-Disciplined-Execution" title="Scrum Workshop event" target="_self">Scrum Workshop event</a> in which they experienced first-hand the effectiveness of the framework at delivering value quickly, as they collaborated, designed, and created brochures in 8 minutes!</p> <p><strong>A few things are key to early success with a Scrum implementation:</strong></p> <ol> <li>Support coupled with an Agile management philosophy at the executive and management levels is critical to team success in adopting the framework – lead by example by engaging the Scrum framework for your own work and initiatives</li> <li>Collaboration is key, as well as keeping an open mind to new ways of doing things at all levels of the organization - recognize that Scrum is going to surface impediments to success that may not always be “comfortable” to discuss or change</li> <li>Invest in staff and team training - and a knowledgeable, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">pragmatic</span> Scrum coach/facilitator to guide the implementation</li> <li>Training and setting up the Product Owner role and responsibilities from the start – a clean, clear backlog is critical to team success – as well as communication of business vision and goals</li> <li>A “natural” Scrum Master who truly enjoys and is effective at coaching and mentoring teams and individuals to success is essential</li> </ol> <p>So What the Heck is Scrum? Only the greatest management discovery of all time!</p> <p><em>I would love to hear your experiences regarding the implementation of Scrum in non-software development environments.</em></p> <p>If you are interested in learning more about Agile and Scrum, I recommend the following reading: <br><a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/Portals/100395/docs/introduction-to-agile-and-scrum.pdf" title="Introduction to Agile and Scrum PowerPoint" target="_blank">Introduction to Agile and Scrum PowerPoint</a> by Janessa Huber (me)<br><a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/Portals/100395/docs/agilecrossing-wp-2012-what-is-scrum-rb.pdf" title="What is Scrum whitepaper" target="_blank">What is Scrum whitepaper</a> by Roger Brown</p> <p><em>Post contributed by Janessa Huber</em><br><em>Connect with me on <a href=" www.linkedin.com/in/janessahuber" title="LinkedIn" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a></em><br><br></p> </article> <article> <h1>Innovating for Results: HR’s Role to Lead and Foster Innovation</h1> <p>Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:03:00 GMT</p> <p>Becoming an organization that hardwires Innovation into its DNA takes a disciplined approach to developing a culture that empowers and rewards innovation. Starting at the top, executive leadership needs to set the vision and aspiration of becoming an organization that innovates as a competitive strategy to provide the best patient care. HR plays a strategic role in developing a culture of innovation by hiring the right mix of Discovery Driven and Delivery Driven individuals. Discovery driven people will create the vision while delivery driven individuals will ensure a strong execution of the vision. Organizations need to assess where they are today and then develop a plan to ensure they are hiring the right individuals to achieve the right ratio of discovery verses delivery driven individuals. What is that ratio? It varies for each organization but you will know when you are out of balance when innovation stalls. Do you have a lot of great ideas but they never go anywhere? You need more delivery driven individuals. Do you lack vision of ways to innovate? Is your focus exclusively on 100% compliance with current process? It is likely then you are too heavy on delivery driven individuals. Every organization needs to strike its unique balance of individuals to ensure a strong flow of ideas that are then carried out into real organizational change. HR Executives play a key role in ensuring the right talent is brought into the organization and then providing the right coaching and support to help them become effective and supported throughout the organization.</p> <p>Needing additional inspiration? Look to industries outside of healthcare that have successfully ventured down this path to innovation. Which organizations make it easy for you to do business with? What companies seem to have just what you need? Tap into them and learn from their experiences. With the rapidly changing healthcare environment the ability to adapt and change has never been more critical and HR is poised to make a significant impact in the development of a culture of innovation.</p> <p>I would encourage you to join me for an hour-long recorded session to hear the best-practice stories of executives and HR leaders that have risen to the challenge, taking incremental steps to create environments in which innovative thinking and delivery are making tangible differences in the lives of employees, patients and their communities.<br><br><a href="http://resources.pinstripetalent.com/InnovatingforResultsWebinar.html" title="Request the webinar download to learn more >>>" target="_blank">Request the webinar download to learn more >>></a></p> <p>Post contributed by <a href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/about-us/team/ashley-gouge/" title="Ashley Gougé" target="_self">Ashley Gougé</a>. Connect with me on <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleygouge" title="LinkedIn" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Back to School RPO</h1> <p>Tue, 04 Sep 2012 18:01:00 GMT</p> <P></P> <P>Summer is basically over and this week our boys, Samuel, Elliot and Aaron, returned to school. The start of school also triggers the annual conversation with our boys about our expectations for the upcoming academic year.</P> <P>I know we sound like a broken record to them, but here is what Barbara (my wife) and I tell our boys on the 1<SUP>st</SUP> morning of each new school year:</P> <UL> <LI>Be a leader</LI> <LI>Be respectful of others</LI> <LI>Use your brain</LI> <LI>Do more than what is expected or asked of you</LI> <LI>Don’t drink chocolate milk at lunch</LI></UL> <P>In the <A title=Pinstripe href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/" target=_self>Pinstripe</A> Recruitment Process Outsourcing world, I sometimes get the opportunity to interview our prospective Client Services, Solution Design and Business Development candidates. Recently I was asked by a candidate “What will make me successful at Pinstripe?” My answer was simple. I just regurgitated the bullets points from my most recent conversation with Samuel, Elliot and Aaron:</P> <UL> <LI>Be a leader</LI> <LI>Be respectful of others</LI> <LI>Use your brain</LI> <LI>Do more than what is expected or asked of you</LI> <LI>Don’t drink chocolate milk at lunch</LI></UL> <P>FYI - The chocolate milk thing is really key because I cannot ever recall seeing a high performer at Pinstripe drinking chocolate milk.</P> <P>Post contributed by <STRONG><A title="Barry Diamond" href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" target=_self>Barry Diamond</A></STRONG>. Follow me on Twitter <STRONG><A title=@bddiamond href="https://twitter.com/#%21/bddiamond" target=_self>@bddiamond</A></STRONG></P> </article> <article> <h1>Lies Some RPO Companies Tell Themselves and Believe</h1> <p>Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:30:00 GMT</p> <P>I was reading a <EM>Politico</EM> story last week about the Presidential Campaigns and their potentially fatal delusions. The essence of the story was that both the Obama and Romney campaigns have convinced themselves that certain factors about the electorate are true and these factors will lead them to victory in November. However, the report points out that what the campaigns believe as absolute truths are simply speculation, not actually grounded in fact and could be just wrong.</P> <P></P> <P>For example, the Romney campaign has convinced themselves that the public has no interest in seeing more tax returns and the issue will just fade from the news and never resurface. Likewise, the Obama campaign is sure that their base will come back by November and that Democratic voting public will be as energized as in 2008. In reality, both parties are seriously deluding themselves and are holding steady to critical beliefs which cannot be substantiated. </P> <P>Delusion is not limited to politics and there are RPO service providers who have fallen into the same trap. I have observed that some of my RPO competitors are lying to themselves about their "strategic" approach to RPO and unfortunately believing it. And you might ask yourself, why should Barry care? Well, in our relatively small industry, we are all impacted by the actions (and inactions) of each other. When an RPO firm stumbles (or succeeds) it affects all of us and our overall industry reputation.</P> <P>So here are 4 key falsehoods I’ve observed in some of my competitors:</P> <UL> <LI>Incumbency matters more than quality of services. A client would rather keep an under performing service provider than invest in the process of finding a new partner.</LI> <LI>Change management and transition services are overrated and most companies won’t pay for it. Lifting and shifting the current process is good enough for most clients.</LI> <LI>RPO recruiters don’t need on-going training and development. Since clients can’t “see it” then they don’t appreciate or value it.</LI> <LI>Prospective clients will never know if any RPO contracts have been terminated for service delivery gaps. RPO buyers are still not that savvy. </LI></UL> <P>Fortunately at <A title=Pinstripe href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/" target=_self>Pinstripe</A>, we actually went out and did research of current and future RPO users. Here is what we learned and aligned our solutions to:</P> <UL> <LI>Quality always trumps incumbency. If your not delivering you better not plan on being around for the longer term.</LI> <LI>Change management is essential and desired. Clients really want our expertise and strategic input. If they did not want it then they'd just build a solution on their own.</LI> <LI>Investment in RPO recruiters is clearly valued and clients see this as a huge differentiator (especially is the recruitment training is aligned to their specific industry)</LI> <LI>RPO users talk and they are telling others about both their good and bad experiences</LI></UL> <P>Both political parties need a big dose of reality if that want to succeed. And the same is true for some high profile RPO service providers whose over confidence is obfuscating reality and negatively impacting their futures.</P> <P>Post contributed by <STRONG><A title="Barry Diamond" href="http://www.pinstripetalent.com/RPOlosophy/about-us/team/barry-diamond/" target=_self>Barry Diamond</A></STRONG>. Follow me on Twitter <STRONG><A title=@bddiamond href="https://twitter.com/#%21/bddiamond" target=_self>@bddiamond</A></STRONG></P> </article> </main></body></html>