Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership

Few managers are prepared for the overload of post-COVID vacation requests to become their #1 operational problem soon Alert: Expect a high volume of pent-up and overlapping employee vacation requests this summer. Because one survey showed that 92% of Americans didn’t take or postponed a vacation last year due to the pandemic. This built-up demand is guaranteed to overwhelm any …

Unnecessary stress hurts interviewee performance. However, increasing transparency reduces most candidate stress.  Stop Treating Interviewees Like Adversaries By Increasing Interview Transparency Let me be blunt. Most recruiting organizations seem to enjoy making their interviews highly stressful. In fact, throughout recruitment history, job interviews have been highly adversarial and exclusively one-sided. Historically, candidates came into their interviews mostly blind about the …

“What is it going to take to get you into this job?” is recruiting’s most revealing but seldom asked question.  Yes, there is a recruiting variation of this common car salesperson’s “what’s it going take” pitch. It reveals the importance of the recruiting function knowing which factors or job elements must be present to attract top candidates. Yet, in my …

With few face-to-face meetings, remote workers still need feedback, so provide it through performance metrics. Yes, those working remotely no longer have the multiple opportunities to discuss any progress on their work with coworkers and managers. Fortunately, there is an alternative approach for providing feedback that may be more effective in some cases—adding personalized performance metrics for each remote worker. …

The SEC now requires listed firms to report their human capital metrics publicly, so this topic should be our #1 HR issue. However, few in HR seem even to be aware of these new requirements. No less the tremendous impact that these new public reporting requirements will have. Already in effect, the new SEC reporting rules will force HR to focus on identifying, quantifying the impact, and then publicly reporting each of its major human capital initiatives.

Individual recruiters must have the courage to occasionally confront managers with “See I told you so data” that unambiguously reveals that the ratings, advice, and recommendations from their recruiter are often superior to their own.

Employee referrals are the top hiring source, and among niche subprograms, proactive referrals from top performers are the best. So why not prioritize your top-performing employees as a primary source for referring additional exceptional candidates.  All employee referrals are not equal. Because a referral from a top performer employee will produce nearly 3 times more compared to the referral from …

During this pandemic, many “hidden gems” of talent can be found among employees in the retail and hospitality industries. In fact, it’s an amazing once-in-a-lifetime recruiting opportunity.

Credit recruiting with winning the Super Bowl because every Tampa point was scored by recently recruited players plucked from “wrong fit” situations. Yes, each of the 5 Buccaneer players involved in scoring every winning team point during Super Bowl LV. Surprisingly, each individual was recently released from their previous teams because of a lag in their performance. Fortunately, Tampa’s recruiters …

By Mike Digiovanna, Allegations against Angels’ Mickey Callaway prompt scrutiny of MLB hiring practices “It makes you look negligent,” said Dr. John Sullivan, a retired San Francisco State professor of management who has advised numerous Silicon Valley companies, including Google, Facebook and Twitter, on how to vet candidates for past sexual harassment issues. “You should have checked. You should have …