Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership

No matter how long you have been in the HR profession, this might be the onlycomprehensive list of retention strategies you have ever seen. This is true because retention is not yet a distinct discipline, and because most retention managers and consultants laser-focus on their favored approach. In order to provide you with a big-picture view of the available strategies, I’ve used my …

As the economic turnaround picks up steam, turnover rates in many organizations are likely to skyrocket and recruiting replacement workers of the same caliber will be extremely challenging. Study after study has confirmed the notion that many employees would have left their employers months/years ago had the option to do so been viable. The economic downturn, combined with the mortgage …

One of the worst-kept secrets in recruiting is that source of hire data is inconsistently gathered and rarely accurate. To many corporate recruiters, the validity of source of hire data is a non issue; after all, once the hire is generated, their role is over. However, if you view recruiting as a marketing and sales job (as I and many …

It’s hard to argue against the concept of strategic integration. Having related business units working closely together, rather than operating as independent silos, almost always increases efficiency, reduces errors, and improves overall results. There’s no better example of what integration can accomplish than the modern-day supply-chain organization, which used to operate as four independent functions (purchasing; inventory management; warehousing; and …

Being strategic always requires some degree of unconventional thinking. If you are a corporate recruiting manager and you are looking for an opportunity to have a strategic impact, you need to understand why today is literally the best time to be actively recruiting in at least the last 25 years. I’ll demonstrate why there is a confluence of factors that …

Most corporate recruiting functions inexplicably restrict the effectiveness of their employee referral program by limiting senior management participation. Instead, recruiting directors should design a unique “executive referral program” that encourages executives to make referrals for your high-level openings. You might think a separate program is unnecessary because high-quality referrals should flow naturally from your executives as part of their job, …

Last week in Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that as the global economy continues to emerge, many organizations may find themselves needing to cut labor costs on a recurrent basis. During times of economic decline, the need may be for drastic cuts, which the options presented last week can address, but it is entirely possible that smaller or moderate cuts …

When many organizations are faced with the need to cut labor costs, the approaches taken are generally unscientific and poorly researched. Many simply do what other organizations acting before them have already done. The decision-making seems almost whimsical, with the final option selection process akin to throwing darts. The end result of such whimsical action is well established; most labor-cost-containment …

For many organizations the time is right to build capability within the talent acquisition function to recruit executive level talent. Globalization combined with aging leadership demographics imply that a majority of organizations will need to recruit a record number of external leadership candidates in years to come, the cost of which would be prohibitive if traditional third party executive recruiters …

Now is the perfect time for organizations to bring executive search capability in-house. While the business case for this strategic shift has been clear for some time, ongoing cost-containment efforts combined with increasing demand for strategic staffing make now the perfect time to execute the shift and build out the tools/approaches needed. In many organizations, executive search fees consume double-digit …