Business is all about head-to-head competition. Firms regularly compete for a limited supply of customers by designing products to outstage the competition, pricing products to undercut the competition, distributing products as close as possible to the customer, and branding them to drive loyalty over time. In each competitive arena, leading …

Recruiting Managers, Do You Really Have a Recruiting Strategy? Part 1. What is a recruiting strategy? When I meet with directors or managers of corporate recruiting, I routinely ask them a simple question: “What is the name of your recruiting strategy?” Almost without fail, I get one of two basic …

Basic recruiting strategies This group of strategies isn't particularly exciting or new. But these strategies do offer viable options for less-aggressive talent functions. Butts/bums in chairs: This strategy emphasizes hiring the cheapest and then releasing them when their pay-level makes them too expensive to keep or they themselves get frustrated …

These two common errors are: Developing and implementing HR metrics in a vacuum Developing more metrics than it is feasible to maintain and utilize The most common error that I find is that of HR managers trying to create and implement metrics in a vacuum. Instead, I recommend a collaborative …

Of course, these individuals frequently call themselves "business partners" or strategic individuals. But the fact is that you could tell immediately that they are not like CEOs just by their talk alone. Even though few corporate recruiters have had the opportunity to meet and spend time with their CEO, only …

Risk Taking CEOs love to bet on almost anything for fun, to show that they are good at taking calculated risks. Some CEOs will literally say that they are "betting the future of their corporations" on some of their major decisions. CEOs get major kudos and bonuses when they produce …

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 In Part 1 of this three-part article series, I defined recruiting strategy and the benefits of having one. Here in Part 2, I highlight the 12 essential elements of a comprehensive recruiting strategy. 1. What are …

Business Reasons for Improving the Applicant Experience There are several reasons why recruiting organizations should focus on improving the way that applicants are treated. Some of them include: Passive candidates demand quality treatment. They are used to it at their current job and they expect the same level of respect …

If you were going to attempt to recruit Tiger Woods to play for your golf team, you would realize early on that it would require the use of a different approach than most corporations currently use. Tiger certainly wouldn't respond to the traditional approaches, like ads in newspapers, or and …

The differences between the FirstMerit approach and that of most organizations comes down to the complete integration of two key recruiting concepts into every thing they do. The two key concepts that guide recruiting at FirstMerit: It's a war. While corporate recruiters occasionally use the term "war for talent," most …