Only one-in-five employees considers their job rewarding and gratifying, according to research conducted by Right Management, while finding good candidates remains the top recruiting challenge for organizations, according to a new survey from Talent Technology Corporation, which also finds the more specific and higher skilled the job requirements, the harder it is to find qualified candidates – it’s been taking an average of 45 days for recruiters to fill a position. Survey results offer other insight: 63.4% of respondents see signs of economic pressure being relieved within their organization, and 51.4% expect to increase in size within the next 12 months (by about 12%) – suggesting new job requisitions, as well as corporate and economic growth, are possible in 2012.

While recruiters face even tougher competition for skilled candidates who will best fit their needs, building solid recruiting strategies is critical for success – as it always has been. For even the most experienced professionals, sourcing remains extremely valuable at the beginning of the process because they understand if they aren’t driving quality candidates into the hiring process they will not be successful in recruiting the best candidates.

This is a primary reason job boards continue to rank as the top source when it comes to finding candidates (at 17%) – even amid growing speculation about their demise. As social recruiting continues to be a hot industry topic, LinkedIn remains the social network of choice for recruiters. However, only 12.5% of candidates come from social recruiting (placing 5th).

The following is a ranking of sources for candidates based on research from Talent Technology:

1. Job Boards – 17.0%
2. Employee Referral – 15.8%.

3. Corporate Websites -13.8%
4. Internal Applicants – 13.7%
5. Social Networking – 12.5%
6. Outside Recruiters – 9.9%
7. Outside Agency – 8.7%
8. Corporate ATS – 8.7%

Source: Talent Technology “State of Recruiting 2012”

Dan Hanyzewski, Managing Partner, West Shore Partners LLC

The title of this piece could easily represent a number of volumes but I am going to humbly attempt to crystallize it in several paragraphs.

In one of his classes, Deepak Chopra, the founder of the Chopra Foundation, talks about what he calls “the soul of leadership” and says “that leaders appear when awareness meets need.” He goes on to suggest that there is a hierarchy of needs that contributes to what roles a leader has to address once that person steps into this void. Even though this premise feels reasonable and pragmatically comforting I am not at all convinced in the practicality of this theory in real terms. Are leaders really made not born? In the midst of chaos and stress can someone who knows what a group needs really prioritize and fill the Leadership Vacuum?

If you were to ask the pedestrian person what the Vacuum is and why it continues to persist in numerous aspects of our lives, I am certain you would get a myriad of answers that have a great deal of emotion attached to them with little in the way of consensus on how to fill the Vacuum. Therein lies the key, in my opinion, as to why the Leadership Vacuum is a real phenomenon and will continue to challenge our humanity.

In “Primal Leadership,” Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee describe six styles of leading that have different effects on the emotions of the target followers. The whole science of EI (Emotional Intelligence) has given way to great understanding of how emotional intelligence contributes to effective leadership by focusing on five essential elements of leader effectiveness: development of collective goals and objectives; instilling in others an appreciation of the importance of work activities; generating and maintaining enthusiasm, confidence, optimism, cooperation, and trust; encouraging flexibility in decision making and change; and establishing and maintaining a meaningful identity for an organization.

Chuck Ballard PE (“A Leadership Vacuum”), along with many other authors, has an interesting take on this phenomenon and suggests that it is the displacement of Leadership with Managership. Drawing on his experiences with Fortune 500 companies across the country, Ballard’s book examines trends in American business today that act to de-emphasize leadership in favor of management techniques and practices. The de-emphasis of leadership has accelerated and could inevitably bring American business to second-class status in a global economy. The reason for this is that leadership, in Ballard’s view, is a dying occupation in American business.

The same dilemma could be identified in politics, sports, education, and in most places we are craving to identify and revere Leadership.

So, is this a creation of generational shift? Is this happening because of negative ramifications for taking a Leadership role? Is it the apathy and numbing of our emotional cortex? When did it start? How do we impact a change in the outcome? As I mentioned earlier, this could be a number of books but I will attempt to give you some answers from one person’s perspective.

Some will say our world faces a moral crisis. We are in a cultural war against principles—lacking a moral compass to evaluate our direction. The AIDS pandemic in Africa, the sex trade among children in Asia, terrorism in the Middle East, drug traffic in Latin America, poverty in half the world’s nations, and a significant moral vacuum in America and Europe are pleas for dynamic, effective leaders to provide direction. Even in the U.S., more than 60% of children are being raised without their biological father. Values are hard to identify. It isn’t enough to add followers. We desperately need to generate class leaders.

In approximately15 years, 40% or more of the current workforce in the U.S. will be evaporating. The Baby Boomers, which are the majority of this group, will be retiring and vacating their roles in business, government, education, churches, and as missionaries. These vacancies must be filled by young, trained leaders. Why? Leaders provide solutions. According to research done by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, leadership qualities can no longer be the property of the elite minority. In today’s world, every student will need to learn and develop leadership skills.

Today, almost one half the world’s population is 21 years old or younger. This means that three to four billion people need to be provided and immersed in leadership skills. Prepared or not, they will attempt to lead our world into the future. The millennial generation (born between1984-2002) is passionate about changing the world. While they can seem to be self-absorbed and impatient, they are optimistic, relational, and adept with technology. It is our responsibility to prepare them to lead the way. It is more effective to influence a young person than it is to reshape an adult.

I would offer up that what I have suggested simply reflects to some, myself included, a rudimentary responsibility that was established in the DNA of centuries of generations in our past. I would like to think we who have experienced great Leadership and understand its magnanimous importance would act as stewards and impart this to our future leaders. One of my significant heroes in life and a great leader who has been studied by many, Vince Lombardi, said, “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.”

To fill this Vacuum we should take stock in our individual responsibility to do what we can and set a course for greater things and many more Leaders to come. The Leadership Vacuum is not only apparent but in practical terms it has been a devastating phenomenon to global aspirations. We look around us and we instinctively can easily identify the impact of the lack of leadership in all things that pertain to the human condition. On a macro level we have seen giants of industry crumble under the direct implications of this Vacuum. We have been impacted personally by policies that have lacked Leadership in the face of partisanship and we have seen the horrors of the Vacuum affect millions in countries defined by tyranny.

To eradicate this void will take an enormous amount of hard work, courage, desire, and vision. By doing so we will be gifted with solutions to problems we have yet to understand and solutions to those we choose to ignore until they become intolerable. It is reasonable to suggest that if we choose not to inspire those willing to step into the fray to fill this void we will all be doing a great injustice to the world we occupy.

Dan Hanyzewski is Managing Partner of West Shore Partners LLC / Redmitten.com, a niche consulting firm focused on delivering high-end solutions to a range of Human Resources, Procurement, Operational, and Finance clients. He is currently engaged by  Sunrise Systems as a principal to aggressively grow that firm and Kelly Services (NASDAQ: KELYA, KELYB) to assist Kelly’s Outsourcing and Consulting Group build out additional capabilities in employment branding, recruitment strategy, and contingent workforce management.

Jeff Davis, Recruiter, Career Strategies, Inc

Whoever came up with the term “tough love” clearly met my father.

I never had any doubt that my dad loved me. He would always plan family vacations and would give my sister and me anything we ever wanted. There was a saying in my house that the Davis children weren’t spoiled, just well taken care of.

And sometimes being well taken care of meant going to live theater. I was completely taken with the magic of theater and the arts but, as my father found out as I got older and started to think of a career, cultivating my love of the arts had some undesired consequences.

I remember when I was a junior in high school my father asked me if I had given any thought to what I would do after graduation.

“Yes,” I said, “I’m definitely going to college.”

His eyes lit up.

“And I’ll study to become…AN ACTOR!!!”

At this, the light left his eyes and he started to give me a stern, sullen look. Now, while my father has many strengths, delivering his opinion with tact isn’t exactly his strongest suit.

“Jeff,” he said. “Well…how should I put this…you can’t act. I saw your last high school play and let’s face it. You’re no Tom Hanks. Hell, you’re not even a Tom Arnold. You’re just not good enough to compete in the entertainment industry. Your mother and I think you should be a lawyer or a businessman. Maybe you should consider that.”

And so the conversation ended, and though my ego was slightly bruised, the more I thought about it, the more certain I was that a traditional corporate desk job wasn’t for me. I knew I wanted to be an artist because art has the ability to make people see the world differently and change people’s lives. I knew I wanted to do that. I had to find a career where I could make an impact, so a while later I came back to my father saying,

“Dad! I’ve got it. I’ll go to school and study to become…A SINGER!!!”

At this he gave me the same stern, sullen look.

“But Jeff…well…how should I put this. You can’t sing. I can hear you singing in the shower in the morning and…well let’s just say you don’t have perfect pitch. You’ll face a lot of competition as a singer, and quite frankly I don’t think you’re good enough to compete. Once again, your mother and I think you should be a lawyer or a businessman. Maybe you should consider that.”

And so the conversation ended, and though my ego was slightly bruised once again, I thought about the matter a bit more, and a while later I came back to my father saying,

“Dad! This time I’ve really got it. I’ll go to school and study to become….A DANCER!!!”

At this he gave me that same stern, sullen look, which now looked a bit tired and frustrated by the whole situation.

“Jeff, there’s really no good way to put this. You’re a terrible dancer. I’m surprised you could even do the Macarena at your cousin’s wedding. Really, think about the doctor or lawyer or businessman thing.”

And so the conversation ended, and though my ego was really bruised now because I rocked that Macarena out, I thought about the matter a bit more and came back saying,

“Ok, Dad. I know you’re getting tired of this, but really, I’ve got it this time. I’ll go to school and study to be…A DIRECTOR!”

This time, my dad didn’t give me the same stern, sullen look. Instead, his response shocked me. He said, “Well, you’re stubborn, you can be bossy, and you’ve got an ego the size of Texas. You’d be fine as a director. I still think you’ll face a lot of competition, but if you apply to the most prestigious theater school you can think of and can get in, you have my blessing.”

And so I applied to the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television and lo and behold, I got in! I finally would get the chance to be around creative, narcissistic artists just like me, and I would study under even more.

One of those narcissistic artists I would study under was Michael Hackett. Michael was a legendary director who directed productions all over the world and had even worked as a director for prominent LA landmarks like LA Opera and The Hollywood Bowl. If you ever forgot any of his resume, not to worry. Michael would remind you.

Michael was my professor for my Shakespearian directing class. The curriculum for the class was very simple. There were no textbooks, no tests, and no finals. The only assignment was to direct a 10-minute scene from a Shakespearian play, bring it in for the class to see, have the class rip it to shreds with their critiques, and then bring it back in after another week of rehearsals for some more criticism.

Before we could bring in our scene, we had to get it approved by Michael, so one day I walked into his office and said enthusiastically, “Michael! I know what scene I want to direct!”

“Great, Jeff!  What play is it from?”

“My favorite Shakespearian comedy, ‘Titus Andronicus,’” I said sarcastically.

“Uh, that piece of garbage?” Michael exclaimed. “No one ever does that play.”

“I know. That’s why I want to do it.”

“And what scene do you want to do from it?”

“The one in which Lavinia’s tongue and hands are cut off.” What can I say. I had a very interesting sensibility at the time.

“I really don’t want to see that,” Michael said authoritatively. “Go back to the drawing board and come back to me tomorrow.”

So I came back the next day and said, “Michael, I’ve got it!  I’ll do Petruchio and Kate’s introduction scene from ‘Taming of the Shrew.’ I’ve always loved that scene, and I really want to work with something that’s so physical and slapsticky.”

“Ugh. Why are all my students so obsessed with that scene? Someone brings that in every year. Try something original.”

Instead of arguing with Michael that it’s tough to be original with Shakespeare considering that the source material has been around for 400 years, I went home and came back in the next day.

“Hey Michael. What about ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’?”

“Ugh Jeff.  That one’s overdone too.” He went to his bookshelf, grabbed his copy of “Henry IV, Part 1,” and said “Here, do a scene from this one.”

And two weeks later, I walked into class with a scene from “Henry IV.” I will admit, my scene was held together with nothing more than duct tape and hope. After watching the five minute long train wreck that was my scene, Michael turned to me and said, “You know Jeff, I didn’t see a lot of you in this piece,” and he gave me a C minus.

While I completely agreed with him that my scene was awful, I was infuriated with the whole situation. College theater should have been my time to take on any project I wanted without any rules or boundaries. This was supposed to be my time to discover my voice as an artist and be myself. I expected to have complete freedom to create anything I wanted to and to express myself without hearing the words, “you can’t.” Instead, I found college theater to be unbelievably constricting and political. This was not what I signed up for, and if it was any indication of what to expect in my career, I was in trouble.

I thought about giving up as soon as I realized I wasn’t getting what I expected, but I decided that I’m not a quitter. I carried on and stayed in the Theater Department, but everything changed one night in the fall of my senior year. I decided to order a pizza during a night of late night cramming, and the pizza delivery man just happened to be someone I recognized. No, it wasn’t Professor Hackett, but it was a recent graduate of the UCLA Theater Dept directing program.

I was staring at my future, and he was holding my meat lover’s pizza.

At around 10 o’clock that night, I called my father, crying as I ate my pizza.

“Jeff? Why are you calling at 10 o’clock at night? Are you ok?” my dad said in one of his rare panicked tone.

“No,” I managed to get out between tears. “I’m—I’m gonna end up a pizza delivery man and I’m scared.”

My dad asked me to explain, and eventually dad was able to calm me down.

The following day, my dad called me.

“So Jeff, are you ok?” he asked in a gentle tone.

“I’m ok,” I said. “Still about worried, but I’m ok.”

“Well I have some ideas for you,” dad said, in his patented problem-solver tone.

“Dad, I really don’t want to be a lawyer or a businessman,” I said back.

“Well what about Human Resources?” he asked.

“What the hell is that?” I asked. I had never heard of Human Resources before, and it sounded like it dealt with illegal black market organ trading.

After Dad gave me a brief definition of Human Resources and explained how my outgoing personality, my passion for solving problems, and my desire to help others would be an asset to that field, my ears perked up.

“I really think you should take a class in this,” Dad said. “You’ve got nothing to lose.”

A few weeks later, I started my Introduction to Human Resources course, and I immediately fell in love with it. A few months later when I took my first recruiting class, I became obsessed. The idea that I could make a positive impact on someone’s life by finding them their dream job—and by using nothing but my personality, my communication skills, and my gut instincts—inspired me more than anything I learned in four years in the UCLA Theater Department.

I finally found my calling, and I’ve never looked back since.

I have, however, thanked my dad profusely for his years of tough love. At the time, my ego got a bit bruised, but in hindsight, I realize that my dad was always trying to guide me into a career that would make me happy and successful. He understood and recognized the skills and talents I had when I was focusing on the skills and talents I coveted but never really achieved.

I’ve meet a lot of successful HR and recruiting professionals so far in my career, and none of them dreamed of a career in that field as a kid. They all fell into it by accident. I didn’t fall into it. I was pushed through some tough love and pizza, and I am damn grateful for both.

So, dear reader, I hope you can learn from my story. We all have goals, dreams, and aspirations, but those goals, dreams, and aspirations can change over time. I’ve heard time and time again that when it comes to your career, you should follow your heart and the money will follow. I completely agree, but I will add that sometimes people have a change of heart. That’s ok. If your heart is no longer in whatever you’re doing as a career or you feel you’d rather do something else, then do something new. You’re not trapped, and you’re not quitting. You’re just continuing your career in something different and new and daring. And pay attention to those voices in your head (or if you’re like me, the voice of your father) that tell you you’d be better suited for something else. Sometimes that voice, whether it’s internal or external, is onto something.

Jeff Davis is a graduate of UCLA and has an extensive background in Human Resources and Recruiting. He currently works for Career Strategies Inc (www.csi4jobs.com), a staffing firm specializing in direct and temporary placements in corporate capacities.

With a weak job market and tools which allow applicants to apply for jobs almost instantly, recruiters and hiring managers are becoming more overwhelmed with the volume of resumes pouring in – yes, even with utilization of applicant tracking systems (above 90%) designed to filter out unlikely candidates (screening out about half of all resumes). Job boards and networking websites help companies broadcast their job openings to a wide audience they normally wouldn’t have access to, which results in an increase of unqualified or unwanted candidates. According to a recent survey from The Wall Street Journal, most recruiters report at least 50% of job hunters don’t possess the basic qualifications for the jobs they are pursuing.

According to other information from The Wall Street Journal, in order to stem the number of duds companies receive, many have begun to seek alternative methods of hiring – and/or finding the right “fit” for their organization’s needs.

One company, which has a strong investment in the Internet and social-media, asked applicants to send links representing their “Web presence” (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.) and submit videos demonstrating their interest in the position. Their method results in better-quality candidates and saves much time for the hiring team – and time for the potential hire.

Another company launched a program dubbed Code Foo. This program, which taught programming skills to passionate gamers with little experience, paid participants while they learned. Instead of asking for resumes, they used a series of challenges aimed at gauging candidates’ thought processes and asked candidates to submit a video demonstrating their love of gaming and the company’s products. This method resulted in nearly 30 people out of about 100 applicants who were picked for the six-week Code Foo program – six eventually hired full-time, several of whom were nontraditional applicants who hadn’t attended college or had thin work experience and wouldn’t have been hired simply based on their resume.

In times of high unemployment, bypassing resumes can also help companies weed out candidates from a broader labor pool. Yet, at most companies, resumes are still the first step in the recruiting process – even at supposedly nontraditional organizations. Meanwhile, companies are increasingly relying on social networks such as LinkedIn, video profiles, and online quizzes to gauge a candidate’s suitability for a job. While most still request a resume as part of the application package, some are bypassing the requirement altogether because they don’t provide the same in-depth review of the candidate as online profiles.

Bill Humbert, Recruitment Consultant

When trusted employees are promoted into management, generally what is their first task? Replace themselves. How do they interview candidates for their replacement?  Go to HR and ask for a list of acceptable questions to ask. If they are lucky, HR has a list of “approved questions.” Are the questions targeting the skills required to be successful in the position? Generally not, they are simply acceptable interview questions. Do those questions include, “If you were an animal, what would you be?”  Probably not, those questions are usually created by managers who feel they need to ask something more in order to get a better picture of the candidate. Is interviewing taken seriously in corporate America? If it were, hiring managers would be trained to be more effective in the interviewing process. As a matter of fact, trained and “certified” hiring managers from every company function would be developed. For instance, there would a certified interviewing manager in accounting, another in marketing, another in sales, etc.

If executives truly understood the cost of hiring the wrong person for a job, they would require the same or greater due diligence on the selection of a new employee as they require on the selection of a new corporate acquisition. This due diligence would include a meaningful job description, a meaningful interviewing process, and meaningful due diligence on the selected candidate after the interview.

Let’s examine the cost of hiring the wrong person. The first assumption is that they are in the position for two years before they make the grievous mistake that gets them fired (after being put on plan). Let’s say that person is earning $60,000 per year plus full benefits. They are in a decision making position, possibly team leader/supervisor. Let’s also say they have some client contact (customer service is full-time client contact). Does this begin to sound like someone your company has hired?

What are your hard costs of this hire? Did you pay a recruiting fee, relocation, advertising for the position (Internet postings, newspaper, other), attend career fairs, etc.? What time was spent by individuals in your company during the interview process? Did you need to pay the candidate expenses to interview them in person? Did you need to call in an employment attorney prior to letting them go? Did you pay severance? Were you sued by the candidate for wrongful termination when they were let go?

Many companies will glance at their hard costs of letting someone go but never even consider their potentially catastrophic soft costs.

Let’s examine the soft costs of someone who has been in a position for two years but is only doing part of their job – and not doing it that well. What is the cost of the work that is either not done – or done by another member of the team? What is the cost of their disruption to the team? What is the cost of the credibility of the manager for hiring someone like them? Have they driven away a customer or other employees? What is the cost of managing, coaching, and correcting them? What was the cost of the management time spent interviewing them; and then their replacement? Has their employment affected your brand as an employer? How has that affected recruitment? There may be many negative impacts.

On one occasional, I conducted an interview training session with a small consulting firm. The attendees included the CEO and CFO. At the beginning of the session, I asked the previous questions. The table with the CEO and CFO estimated that the potential damage to the company could reach to $1 million over two years. Imagine hiring just four people like that over a couple of years. Potentially that could make the difference between profit and loss – even between staying in business and going out of business. That is how important interviewing and selection skills are.

10 Tips for Successful Hiring Manager Interviews:

1) Create effective job description that includes the three, six, nine, and 12 month goals for that specific position (http://www.recruitingtrends.com/building-an-effective-job-description). This exercise makes the skills and experience necessary to be successful the first year crystal clear. Then the manager is able to focus questions on those skills and experience.

2) Use the goals and the departments this position interfaces with to create an interdepartmental interviewing team that focuses on its specific area and general corporate fit.

3) Create an interview that combines behavioral interviewing with 1 and 2 step interview questions to probe skills and experience.

4) Each interviewer focuses on their skill area – and reports how well the candidate would do in their area.

5) Treat the candidate as a potential client – they may be in the future if they are not already.

6) After the interview and within 24 hours, the interview team meets and discusses the candidate. Each member of the team gives thumbs up or down. The hiring manager accepts their opinions and makes the final hire/no hire decision after the reference check/drug test/background test processes.

7) The hiring manager is taught how to conduct reference checks since they know everything the candidate will need to accomplish. Remember, they make critical decisions every day that impact the company. They will conduct a more meaningful reference check than anyone else. Coach them as you would for interviewing.

8) Once the reference check/drug test/background check processes are complete, the final hire/no hire decision is made.

9) Based on the information collected during the interviewing and reference checking processes, create an offer based on corporate compensation, budget, and scarcity of candidates.

10) Begin your offer process by selling the candidate on the position again, asking how they will handle the counter offer, and extending the offer.

Using this straightforward process will improve your company’s candidate selection process—and, as a result, improve employee retention.

Bill Humbert is an expert nationally based Recruitment Consultant and the author of “RecruiterGuy’s Guide to Finding a Job.” His business, RecruiterGuy.com, specializes in recruitment continuous process improvement, employment branding, creative candidate sourcing, interview training, and how these tie together to attract Impact Performers.

Sara Sutton Fell, CEO/Founder, FlexJobs

2.8 million Americans now consider their home offices to be their primary workplace and 27 million Americans have flexible schedules. Between 2005 and 2009, telecommuting grew 61 percent and is expected to grow another 69 percent by 2016. Despite the rapid growth of remote work and flexible jobs, they continue to be discussed by many employers as though they are a scarce, and perhaps even scary, way of working.

New data, however, shows that remote work and flexible jobs are available in a wide variety of industries heading into 2012. The Flexible Job Index (FJI) for December 2011 shows that the top five industries with the most flexible jobs are all over the place, from health care to education and everywhere in between.

The top five fields with the most flexible jobs include:

1. Medical & Health – 7.6% of total job listings

2. Administrative – 7.1%

3. Education & Training – 5.6%

4. Computer & IT – 5.1%

5. Sales – 5.0%

Flexible job listings in the medical & health career field rose 21% in December, helping the category regain its long-standing position as the top job category after coming in second to administrative jobs in November. In addition to the medical & health career field, account management jobs saw a large jump with an increase of 22%, and nonprofit & philanthropy jobs saw a 24% increase in listings.

In contrast, it’s been a tougher month for job seekers hoping to secure flexible employment in several fields which saw a decrease in job listings. Drops include graphic design jobs, down 39% despite their popularity in the telecommuting arena, as well as bilingual jobs (-28%), website and software development (-25%), and art and creative jobs (-20%).

The FJI is compiled and released every month by FlexJobs, the leading website for flexible job listings, and details the top 25 industries with available flexible jobs. The jobs in the report include remote work or telecommuting jobs, part-time jobs, flexible schedule jobs, and freelance jobs.

While people generally expect that jobs in computer and information technology translate well into remote work, some very surprising, more traditional jobs exist in the remote work and flexible jobs arena. In the past few months, FlexJobs researchers have found openings for these traditional roles being filled as telecommuting or remote work:

• K-8 Teacher
• State Director of Nursing
• Business Process Quality Manager
• Insurance Inspector
• Chief Executive Officer
• Paralegal
• High School Math Teacher
• Regional Human Resources Representative
• Attorney

With more and more traditional jobs being listed as remote work or flexible jobs, it’s a great sign that all industries increasingly see the value in remote work for businesses and employees alike.

Sources:

Flexible Job Index, December 2011
WorkShifting.com
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Telework Research Network

Sara Sutton Fell is an online job market expert whose company, FlexJobs, is the leading career website for telecommuting, flexible, part-time, and freelance work opportunities. FlexJobs is a free resource for employers to source, screen, and recruit top-notch candidates for telecommuting and flexible jobs. Twitter @FlexJobs

John Mattone, President, Executive Development Associates (EDA)

The following is an exclusive excerpt from John Mattone’s new book, “Stealth Leadership: Using Assessment & Coaching to Propel Your Leaders & Organization to Greatness.”

The “Stealth Fighter” Model: The Power of Your Succession Management Value Proposition

The “Stealth Fighter” Model offers a compelling, symbolic way to understand the predictive relationships that exist between critical human capital/succession management processes (the 4 D’s), critical “leading indicators” (capability, commitment and alignment—more on these later), intermediate outcomes and ultimate outcomes. The 4 D’s essentially act as the 4 turbo-charged engines that propel the “Stealth Fighter” towards its target—defined as an organization’s “Future Desired State” and the required leadership competencies to execute both the current and future business strategy. By way of analogy—if the 4 engines are “well oiled” and functioning at a high level (i.e., optimized) and working together (i.e., integrated), they will propel the “Stealth” towards its goal.

In practical terms, an organization’s Succession Management Value Proposition (SMVP) is the holistic sum of the following practices: (1) Demarcation-performance management; (2) Diagnostic—objectively assessing leaders and potential leaders; (3) Deployment-structured meetings to integrate performance and potential assessments, calibrate capability, determine development options, and identify potential replacement scenarios; and (4) Development—coaching, on-the-job development and training programs—and their relative impact on multiple levels of business outcome—such as capability, commitment and alignment (leading indicators), intermediate outcomes such as individual and team performance, bench strength, percentage of women and minorities promotions versus percentage in pool, percentage of women and minority successors, retention rate of successors, percentage of key positions filled internally, promotion rate of successors, success rates of those promoted and cost to fill key roles (lagging indicators), and ultimate outcomes such as organizational revenue, profits and operating ratios.

Regardless of the exact words used to capture a given organization’s SMVP, one thing is sure, the elements identified in the “Stealth” need to be well thought out, believed in, communicated, executed, and measured (assessed)—continuously. At its core, a great SMVP encompasses everything leaders and future leaders experience and receive as they are employed by the organization—including the degree of engagement they experience, their comfort and “fit” within the culture, the quality of leadership, the rewards they experience, etc. A great SMVP always encompasses the ways in which an organization fulfills the needs, expectations, and dreams of leaders. More than anything, a great SMVP clearly connects winning succession management practices to business and operating metrics. As was discussed earlier, there exists no better way to create the belief in the value of the human capital asset than by demonstrating the connectedness between winning succession practices and operational success.

The research is clear and compelling. The Hackett Group’s 2009 Talent Management Performance Study involving hundreds of Fortune 500 Companies gathered both qualitative and quantitative data showing enterprise financial, operational and process payoffs from talent management. Companies with the most mature talent management capabilities (i.e., the 4 D’s) had significantly greater EBITDA, net profit, return on assets and return on equity results than those companies that were immature in their talent management processes. Additionally, mature talent management companies had leaders who believed in the value of the human capital asset, were passionate about investing in building and growing talent, were relentless in their assessment of leaders, individuals and teams, and shared their human capital responsibilities with line managers and the Human Resources function.

It is clear that organizations that excel operationally excel initially with their human capital/succession management practices. They select and promote only those leaders and future leaders who demonstrate (as a result of performance and objective assessments) they have the highest probability of being successful; they benchmark and essentially “certify” (as a result of assessments) that leaders and future leaders have the capability, commitment and alignment required to execute strategy; they provide a rich, compelling, engaging and dynamic learning and performance support environment that motivates leaders and future leaders to become the best they can be; and they reward and recognize those who truly execute.

A strong SMVP foundation leads to: (1) Capability-“Can Do”; (2) Commitment-“Will Do”; and (3) Alignment-“Must Do.” Great organizations excel in creating the belief that their leaders and future leaders have the “can do” (i.e., the skills, the talents, the behaviors) to execute; the “will do” (i.e., passion, motivation, drive) to execute; and “must do” (i.e., an overwhelming sense of connectedness to the culture, mission, strategy and values of the organization) to execute. To put in different words, a strong SMVP is the foundation for an organization to build and sustain a culture in which leaders and future leaders become continuously more capable, committed and aligned. In fact, organizations that excel in promoting and developing leadership talent—with a focus and unwavering commitment to optimizing these “leading” indicators—as indicated earlier—achieve impressive operating results.

John Mattone was recently named by Thinkers50.com as one of the fastest rising stars in the field of leadership development. The Thinkers50, a biennial list of the world’s top business thinkers, identifies those people who are making a real difference in the world of business. John was ranked as one of the world’s emergent thought leaders and appears on the 2011 Thinkers 50 “Guru Radar” list.

Barbara Bruno, President, Good as Gold Training, HRSearch Inc.

The competition for top talent will continue to increase as the job market improves. Most hiring authorities have been in the driver’s seat for the past two years and have not had to sell their opportunity or company. This is not reflective of today’s reality.

It is important for you to attract, interview and present the best talent available. Part of your job is to excite the job seeker about your company and opportunity. It is also important that you begin to prep your hiring authorities.

Inform your hiring authorities that there is competition for top talent. As a result, it is important that they accomplish the following:

• Understand the hot buttons of each job seeker (what would they change about their current job if they were their boss?)
• Show how their opportunity answers what is most important to the job seeker
• Sell their company culture and reputation
• Stress the retention of current employees
• Share their story and the reason they love the company
• Share success stories or testimonials from current employees

In the not too distant future, many hiring authorities will be more interested in the candidate than the candidate will be in the opportunity. This is why it is so critical that hiring authorities realize there is increasing competition for top talent.

It is estimated that job satisfaction of current employees is at historic lows. Many employees have not received raises, are doing the work of what used to be two people and have not received promotions. Individuals have been afraid to leave their jobs due to the unstable job market. As the job market improves, you could experience higher levels of turnover.

Whether you are hiring full time employees, contractors or temp workers, these individuals will be attracted to the companies who offer what is most important to them. The more you can share the hot buttons of these candidates, the better chance you have of extending an offer that is accepted.

Obviously, you are not going to tell a hiring authority that you need to prep them for an interview. You will tell them that you have inside information about what is most important to your candidates, which will help them attract the person they want to hire. This approach will make your hiring authorities much more receptive to this process.

It’s time to add the extra step of a thorough interview prep to your process so you can identify, interview and attract the top talent your company needs to hire today and in the future!

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS is one of the most trusted experts, speakers and trainers in the Staffing and Recruiting Profession. Barb has spent several years helping Owners, Managers and Recruiters increase their Sales, Profits and Income with her top-rated web based training Course, the Top Producer Tutor.

John Sumser, Principal Analyst, HRxAnalysts

Social technology has been evolving for nearly a decade (LinkedIn opened for business in 2003). For that entire time (more if you count the emergence of blogging in 1997), we have been trying to harness social technology for Recruiting purposes. All manner of company has emerged to aggregate data, introduce people to each other, harness referrals, post job ads, augment resumes and smooth out the hiring process.

It’s been the work of evangelists trying to shoehorn new ideas into old shapes. Reminiscent of the first automobiles (which looked more like buggies than cars), these endeavors give us an ever clearer picture of what doesn’t work and what doesn’t work very well. Nothing that resembles the power of the job board or the employment section of a website has turned up yet.

This is the work when you are handling second generation technology. The things that social technology will ultimately do remain beyond our imaginations. Throughout 2012, expect to see an acceleration in the number and quality of experiments.

Here are the major areas:

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers added 200,000 jobs last month – contributing to the lowest unemployment rate in about three years (8.5%). It’s the sixth straight month the economy has added at least 100,000 jobs. Although seasonal hiring contributes to the job total, other evidence of some form of recovery comes from a report on CEO turnover compiled by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., which finds the economy saw 1,178 CEO changes for the year – the lowest since 2004. Among those departing CEOs, 341 cited resignation as the reason for departure; another 245 CEOs retired from their companies; while 223 stepped down from their positions but stayed on the board.

Meanwhile, a study conducted by CareerBuilder finds voluntary staff turnover is on the rise, with 34% of HR managers reporting an increase. Employers cite the desire for higher compensation and feeling over-worked as the top two reasons employees gave for resigning. CareerBuilder also reports 30% of employers acknowledge they lost top performers to other organizations in 2011, and, among those surveyed, 43% indicate they are concerned top talent may jump ship in the new year.

However, employers are bridging the gap by training their employees as well as the unemployed – with 38% indicating they plan to train people who don’t have experience within their particular industry.

Given these factors, and increased job creation, it may not be long before there is a complete jobs recovery, or until unemployment drops significantly.