About One-Third of Companies Ineffective at Rewarding Good Performance

Workers who feel their good work often goes unnoticed may have a case. More than one-third (35 percent) of professionals polled recently said businesses are ineffective at rewarding their employees’ strong performance. Thirty percent of managers surveyed agreed.

The surveys were developed by OfficeTeam, a leading staffing service specializing in the placement of highly skilled administrative professionals. They were conducted by an independent research firm and include responses from 150 senior executives at the nation’s 1,000 largest companies and 534 full- or part-time workers 18 years of age or older and employed in office environments.

Employees and executives were each asked, “How effective or ineffective are businesses today in rewarding their employees for good performance?” Their responses:

			Employees			Executives
Very effective	18%					7%
Somewhat effective	44%					63%
Somewhat ineffective	19%					25%
Very ineffective	16%					5%
Don’t know	3%					0%
			100%			100%

“Businesses need to make retention an ongoing priority,” said Diane Domeyer, executive director of OfficeTeam. “Rewarding employees for their accomplishments enhances productivity, reinforces positive behavior, and builds staff morale and loyalty.”

Domeyer added, “Firms that fail to reward great work risk losing employees to businesses that do invest in recognition programs.”

In addition to monetary rewards, OfficeTeam offers the following easy yet meaningful ways to recognize staff:

• Say thanks. Don’t underestimate the power of saying “thank you,” either in writing or in person.
  
• Celebrate achievements. Honor employees’ accomplishments in front of their peers. Staff events recognizing individuals or groups can enhance morale while highlighting exemplary behavior.
  
• Give the gift of time. Reward staff accomplishments with extra days off or extended lunch breaks. Time away from the office allows staff members to recharge after major projects.
  
• Provide plum assignments. Give strong performers the option of working on desirable projects. Doing so improves their motivation and enthusiasm for their work, and encourages others to excel in their positions.

OfficeTeam has more than 300 locations worldwide and offers online job search services.

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on June 28, 2007 at 4:11 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

This year, 27% of human resource managers received more than 50 resumes for each job listing. 77% of HR managers look for relevant experience when filling a position, along with self accomplishments at 48% and resume customization at 41%. Because of the high demand for certain positions, HR is forced to use other tactics to survey candidates electronically. When screening resumes, the top-searched keywords are;

• Problem-solving/decision making (56 percent)
• Leadership (44 percent)
• Oral/written communications (40 percent)
• Team-building (33 percent)
• Performance and productivity improvement (31 percent)

HR is looking for students who have a combination of competencies, leadership, participation in organizations and being a team collaborator. It’s now essential for students to differentiate themselves and acquire these necessary strengths or they will suffer when applying for jobs. To make things worse, the value of a resume and the content on a resume has grown significantly. There is no longer room for errors, such as spelling, grammar or misrepresentation. Students must be authentic and exude original Personal Brands to be considered for the most in-demand jobs on the market, after graduation. The VP of Consumer Marketing for CareerBuilder.com explains that “In today’s competitive job market, it’s essential for a candidate’s resume to be flawless.”

Having a “flawless” resume is easier said than done, but students that look to create their brand will be successful in obtaining their dream job. Personal Branding is defined as an individual’s total perceived value, relative to competitors, as viewed by their audience. Before partaking in an interview, candidate’s resumes are screened, either electronically or, if the pool is small enough, by hiring managers. A resume is a student’s first attempt at his or her brand, as it contains all related information, such as experience, competencies, education, leadership and organizational participation. Students need to invest time in discovering who they are, what they are interested in and their goals and aspirations. Discovering your brand will pave the way for success and the earlier to do this activity, the more leeway you will have for incremental improvements of your brand. A resume is part of the creation phase of Personal Branding, where students will compile all this information in a resume format. The resume should lead the reviewer into a story, of who the student is and what they are capable of achieving.

When reviewing 50 to 100 resumes, it takes one single distinct piece of content to take a resume from the regular pile to the interview pile. In marketing, we refer to this quality as differentiation, which is composed of a value proposition that sets one product apart from another competing product. Students that adopt Personal Branding methodologies will have to worry less of getting into positions and more about their starting date.

Dan Schawbel has 6 years of experience as a marketing consultant, business owner, web designer, and market strategist. He has motivated, advised and mentored both students and young professionals, watching them excel and uncover new job opportunities. As the Personal Branding Spokesman, he has preached, blogged and written articles for major magazines and newspapers around the world. His blog is one of the top 25 recruiting blogs and his experience includes presenting to Fortune 500 companies and executives. You can email Dan at Dan@PersonalBrandingOnline.com

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on June 28, 2007 at 10:25 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

As a Hiring Manager, don’t be labeled a “gambler” when it comes to hiring employees for your group.

THE FRIENDLY CARD GAME

Imagine that you and a small group of friends meet regularly for a friendly game of poker. You all know and agree to all the “rules” of this fun, family-friendly game: no foul language, keep the stakes small, etc. These rules ensure that each time you meet it is a positive experience that leaves you looking forward to the next time. These rules can be considered the “culture” of the club.

One night, one of the club members brings a casual acquaintance. No big deal, right? But the new player has a very serious demeanor and wants to win, above all else. Then, at the next meeting, he invites some friends of his own.

These guys seem to be governed by a different set of rules and make no attempt to learn or adhere to the existing ones. They come with high stakes poker on their mind, ridicule other players who make mistakes or bad plays, and generally spoil the mood of the game. Worst of all, you suspect one of them of cheating! By now, the original players are quite upset that the card club culture has changed, and they begin to react to this change.

There are three primary reactions:

Reaction #1: Fight

The true leaders of the group may step up and, politely and professionally, fight back against the changes that are disrupting their good thing. They may confront the new players about the importance of the rules and insist that if anyone is to be involved any further, they MUST adhere to the rules. The regular weekly get-together is so important to these members that they are willing to fight to keep it the way it was intended.

Reaction #2: Flight

Some of the members may feel that, because of all the changes and the new members not adhering to the rules, it is no longer worthwhile to show up, and may leave the group. The get-together is important to them, but not important enough to confront the new players or fight for the game to return to its original culture.

Reaction #3: Freeze

This may be the worse case of all. These members are negatively affected by the changes in the culture, but do absolutely nothing about it. They quietly play out their hands while watching the culture of the “good old days” slip away. While they show up each week, they are merely going through the motions and are shells of the energized, fun, and value-adding contributors they used to be.

Whether or not the culture remains true to its original goal is almost completely dependent on how many fighters there are. Sometimes, it only takes a few fighters to incite the others and make leaders out of them. But the more members that choose to take flight or simply freeze and do nothing, the higher the odds the culture will change.

THE REAL WORLD

In any size company, in almost any industry, in any location, culture plays a significant role in both attracting and keeping great talent. When hiring employees, hiring managers have a major responsibility to ensure that each person they “invite to the card game” and introduce into their group has been effectively screened for both their ability to perform their job and their cultural fit within the organization.

The Best Practice

Make sure your recruiting and hiring process considers both skill and culture fit as the basis for selection. Consider breaking your hiring criteria down into a two-part equation — using both a numerator (the X factor) and a denominator (the Y factor) to determine the value of the potential new hire to the overall organization.

The X Factor: The job-related skills that are determined to be vital to the job, and/or are skills needed to be acquired by the group.

The Y Factor: The attributes that ensure the candidate will thrive in and contribute to the organizational culture, while adhering to the cultural “rules.” These include cultural attributes such as strong work ethic, integrity, and the ability to thrive in a team environment while respecting individuality.

Organizations that embrace this hiring formula often put the emphasis on the Y factor. This is because it is easier to provide skill-based training than to change cultural attributes.

Based on a standardized 1-10 scale (with 10 being the best), give each candidate two rankings, one for the X factor and one for the Y factor. Then, set guidelines as to how to select based on these rankings.

An example of a guideline is to say that no candidate would get considered if the cultural fit was ranked a 6 or below on this scale:

• A great hire would be an 8/8 ranking. Significant job-related skills with room to grow, and seemingly aligned with the organizational culture.
  
• A good hire would be a 7/7 ranking. Majority of job-related skills and meets minimum standards of cultural fit.
  
• A marginal hire would be a 5/7 ranking. Essential job-related skills but will need some training and support to get to peak performance. Cultural fit suggests they will make it.
  
• A bad hire would be a 7/6 ranking. Essential job-related skills but will need some training and support to get to peak performance. Cultural fit suggests they may not make it. That, on top of need for skills training and support, increases chances of this employee failing or quitting.

A possibly tempting, but potentially disastrous hire would be a 9/5 ranking. This candidate has superior job-related skills and thus can seemingly add tremendous value to the organization. However, the cultural ranking suggests they would actually disrupt your existing culture and couldn’t thrive in it.

These are “prima donna” employees selected purely on their X Factor. Once hired, their dissonance and contempt for the cultural “rules” begin to change the culture, causing the same effect on the other employees as was seen in my card club analogy.

Fighters will confront such a new employee, and if not handled properly, this can lead to a rift in the team and a weak team spirit. Flighters will resign, and you will lose some good employees who have been valuable contributors for a long time. Freezers will do nothing at all about the culture changes, but will withdraw from the mission, becoming drones. They lose their edge and the organization does, as well.

The Benefit of Culture Fit

As you can see, the stakes are much higher in the work world than in the example of our friendly game of poker. This is why you can find attention to the X Factor within any recruiting and hiring process that serves business leaders who want to build great companies. The organization prospers when the culture is healthy and vibrant. Everyone wins!

Once the word gets out that an organization puts this much emphasis on culture fit, you will begin to attract talent to your organization with a shared vision of your cultural environment, which continues to fuel the organization well into the future of workforce planning. As a hiring manager, you are the key to ensuring that the next “player” you invite to your card club thrives and survives within the culture, and has a positive, value-adding effect on your existing members. Don’t gamble! Use the X/Y Factors to win each hand!

Article by Scott Beardsley courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on June 26, 2007 at 2:18 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

After years of being a career coach, I've recently transitioned back into Corporate HR as Director of Talent Management for one of the world's most well-known brands. Who I work for doesn't matter. What I see and hear does.

This time of year we have a few interns floating around the office. They're working in various capacities--PR, marketing, finance--you name it. But my colleagues, my peers, are more grateful to have interns than I have ever seen at any other company. I haven't seen anything like it. Usually corporate clowns like me like interns, but are often too busy to really give out the real work. Unless they k

Here's the thing, being an intern isn't glamourous. You may be pouring coffee, fetching files or typing endless documents. But the reason my colleagues love their interns is that the interns take those tasks and put effort and a smile into them. It makes the managers less busy, they appreciate the positivity and they can build a relationship with the intern. They trust him or her.

Then, they give out the real assignments. The ones that you can use in job interviews as examples of stretch roles. The ones that will help you decide whether this job, thiis field, this profession is for you. You've got an entire summer ahead of you, and a choice in how you approach each day at your internship. Choose wisely!

========
Susan Strayer, SPHR
Author, The Right Job, Right Now
www.susanstrayer.com
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Posted by Susan Strayer on June 21, 2007 at 9:36 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

With participation in study abroad programs on the rise, students are certainly taking advantage of opportunities to travel internationally. According to the Institute for International Education (IIE), the number of students going abroad increased by 144 percent from 1995 to 2005.

Study abroad is generally lauded for the value it adds to the college experience. International programs enable students to visit world-class cities, attend top educational institutions, and appreciate diverse cultures. In addition to enriching the experience of higher education, study abroad improves the likelihood of adaptation and success in future foreign places... like the workplace.

As companies continue to establish or expand their global footprints, the experience of travel becomes more relevant. The obvious correlation is that going abroad as a student is a good indicator that you could go abroad again as a professional. However, there are other more subtle ways of utilizing your travel experience to build your case as a solid candidate.

The Five Cs of Being Overseas

1. Confidence

It takes self-reliance to step out of the comfort zone of campus life and into a new environment. Prove that you did this successfully when you joined a rafting trip down the Zambezi River, and assert that you will do so again when you join the corporate world.

2. Creativity

Study abroad is about translating the unfamiliar into something that you can understand and apply. Prove that you did this when you put peanut butter on your sadza, and describe how you will do it all again when you learn and apply your potential employer's business.

3. Communication

When you go abroad, you are not only challenged to break down barriers and form new relationships; you are also faced with the barrier of distance as you attempt to stay connected to home. Show that you learned the value of communication when you used your conversational Dutch to navigate your family through the streets of Amsterdam. Emphasize that you will do so again when you work with coworkers and clients to build a professional network.

4. Cooperation

Living in another world is a balance of your expectations and the reality with which you are presented. Relate your ability to manage that balance when you waited for two hours in a petrol line during your field trip to San Gimignano. Confirm that you will do so again when you match your career ambitions to the needs of the hiring organization.

5. Character

For better or worse, studying abroad is nothing if not character-building. Explain the discoveries you made about yourself and the impact of your experience. Talk about the direction it provided and the values it confirmed. Even if you can't always guarantee where you are going, prove that you are charting a promising course based on where you have been.

Bridget E. Quinn is a Recruiting Specialist for Protiviti. Protiviti is a leading provider of independent risk consulting and internal audit services. Protiviti recruits Accounting, Finance, and MIS majors for internships and full-time positions. For more information, please visit www.protiviti.com

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on June 18, 2007 at 7:56 AM | Leave a Comment (1)

New Survey Points to Productivity Gains When Friends Work Together

Gathering with the gang after work can be fun -- and a new survey suggests it may also benefit on-the-job performance. Fifty-seven percent of executives polled said that office productivity improves when coworkers are friends outside of the office. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of employees surveyed agreed. But managers and employees aren’t as aligned when it comes to just how beneficial it is to have buddies on the job: Twenty-two percent of employees said befriending coworkers has a “very positive” impact on productivity while only 2 percent of managers felt as strongly.

The surveys were developed by Accountemps, the world’s first and largest specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. They were conducted by an independent research firm and include responses from 150 senior executives -- including those from human resources, finance and marketing departments -- with the nation’s 1,000 largest companies and 519 full- or part-time office workers.

To gain the perspectives of managers and employees, both groups were asked: “In your opinion, when coworkers are friends outside of the office, how does it affect productivity?” Their responses:

• 2% of Executives responded very positively, while 22% of Employees responded very positively
• 55% of Executives responded somewhat positively, while 41% of Employees responded somewhat positively
• 28% of Executives responded they saw no effect, while 25% of Employees responded they saw no effect
• 13% of Executives responded somewhat negatively, while 7% of Employees responded somewhat negatively
• 0% of Executives responded very negatively, while 1% of Employees responded very negatively
• 2% of Executives responded they didn't know, while 4% of Employees responded they didn't know.

“Colleagues who are friends are more likely to support one another when presented with challenges or new responsibilities, enhancing workflow and team spirit,” said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Motivating Employees For Dummies® (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). “Supervisors can increase camaraderie by sponsoring team-building events and giving staff members the opportunity to get to know each other outside of an office setting.”

Messmer added, “It’s especially important for new employees to have the opportunity to build rapport with staff members. Those who are able to form friendships early on the job are likely to acclimate quickly and stay on board for the long term.”

Accountemps has more than 350 offices throughout North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, and offers online job search services at www.accountemps.com.

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on June 14, 2007 at 12:13 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Once upon a time there was this little search firm. It received a call one day from a local office of a national financial services company.

The manager from the company stated “having difficulty” finding a trainee for one of their underwriting openings.

All they wanted was someone with a degree in finance, good understanding of financial statements, a high gpa demonstrating ability to work hard and school smarts, and good communication skills to articulate the person’s financial findings to others.

It did not even matter what type of industry or company the person obtained their previous experience from providing they had the criteria listed.

The recruiter listened attentively, took notes, and asked lots of questions.

The company hire manager added, “We’ve been using Gigantor Recruiting and they laughed at us when we told them we wanted a finance guy with good communication skills … do you think you can help?”

The recruiter replied, (without laughing) “Yes we should be able to help … give us a few weeks and I will get back to you.”

That small search firm filled that position within a few short months. The person hired did so well, he was rapidly promoted, and the company hiring manager returned to fill the newly vacated slot again.

That office hired some twelve individuals from that search firm during the next five years. News of their success of finally finding a reliable and trustworthy recruiting service spread to other offices.

The Philadelphia office also wanted to know who the “Little Search Firm” was that had filled a competing regions positions so consistently. Next the Boston manager wanted to be included in the game. Then Syracuse, New York.

Cincinnati .. St. Louis. … Atlanta … Dallas all wanted to work with the Little Search firm as they found out positions that had previously taken a year or so to fill were now being filled in four weeks.

Within ten years The Little Search Firm that Could … which provided recruiting services for ho-hum, run-of-the-mill, mid-five figure salary searches that Gigantor Search felt was “below their stature” wound up filling more than one hundred of such positions at a dozen offices all over the country for Financial Services Corp.

During this period the company had also grown. It had gone from being a small player in the field to a Fortune 1,000 company.

Fast forward another ten years and today that company is a Fortune 500 … doubled in size within 10 years and quintupled the revenue it generated when it had first sought out the services of “The Little Search Firm That Could”.

The results of this twenty year relationship are summarized as follows:

1. $250,000,000.00 = Estimated amount of additional annual revenue generated and managed by all the employees placed during 20 years by “The Little Search Firm”.

2. 145 = Approximate number of total individuals placed throughout the country for “The Company”.

3. 100% Growth = The amount of revenue growth “The Company” posted during its relationship with Little Search Firm.

4. “Fortune 500” – The ranking this company was designated last few years in great part due to a long relationships with “Little Search Firms”. It was previously a Fortune 1000, and before that an obscure and unrecognizable entity no one had ever heard of.

Along the way the “Little Search Firm That Could” invented, tweaked, perfected, and refined a process for consistently finding the individuals this company needed within 4 weeks time frame every single time regardless of level.

The “Little Search Firm” had developed the “Secret Recipe” for consistently finding the people “The Company” needed.

The company eventually used “The Little Search Firm” for retained executive hires for corporate executive positions.

Great story right?

A Happy Ending?

Not Quite!

There was never a banquet in honor of “The Little Search Firm”.

No Plaque recognizing its decades of loyalty.

No trophy. No award. Not even a letter saying “Thanks”.

(Granted they did pay all their bills on time.)

You see … somewhere along the line a human resource executive found out about “The Company’s” little secret of how quickly it found hirable employees.

The new Human Resource Manager was not about to let one “Little Search Firm” be so instrumental or critical in “The Company’s” operation.

No Sir.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of “The Little Search Firm that Could” and read about how the new Human Resources Director was going to turn the “Little Search Firm that Could” to the “Little Search Firm that will die trying”.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Frank G. Risalvato, CPC
www.iresinc.com
www.searchwizardry.com
Call (973) 300-1010 for our life changing custom coaching sessions.

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on June 14, 2007 at 11:47 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Two recruiters called me last month to offer recruiting assistance on a project they had learned IRES, Inc. was working on for a period of time that seemed to be longer than usual. This was a routine search in the fifty to sixty-thousand range that we had filled hundreds of times before, but just got caught in a backlog this one instance.

The recruiters were right about the period of time being longer than usual. And they were both right we had reached the point And since both were esteemed individuals I’ve known and respected for well over ten years I decided to invest about a half hour with each so as to fully explain the search.

I should emphasize both of these individuals travel through recruiting associations, attend conferences, keep their skills sharp, and represent that single digit minority I would entrust sensitive projects to.

You could understand why I was frustrated when after both told me “we’ll get right on this” they proceeded to not call back for one week. Then two weeks. Then three weeks.

Sadly – this is the manner in which many recruiters treat their clients. This type of behavior is not limited to recruiter versus recruiter relationships alone. And this is why most clients and hiring managers develop a disdain for recruiters.

At the very least one could have called back after two weeks and stated something along the lines of:

“You know Frank I really worked hard on this … but I could not find anyone suitable that I felt I could refer to you.”

Or something such as:

“I’ve had some other commitments come up and can’t work on this. I wanted to get back to you rather than leave you with no follow up communication.”

There’s nothing worse to a hiring manager (I consider myself a hiring manager as well as a recruiter) than long periods of dead silence after a recruiter provides a convincing enthusiastic belief he or she is about to help you out.

It would be best had you not called at all. Now not only did you not perform up to your expectations, but actually fall short of your previous image and brand you created.

So what exactly is the right time period you should never allow the “sound of silence” to exceed?

Is it one week?

Two weeks?

One call per month?

I say it depends on the level of a search and specificity of the industry and skill set.

But for a few exceptions, when you are dealing with positions in the under $75,000.00 per year range there is no reason I can find as to why you should not call your client and provide some feedback on a semi-weekly basis.

I have one account that demands we conference every Friday. We did just that until there was an ample pipeline of candidates and the conferences were no longer needed.

I like clients that demand action. Because I usually get reaction in return for our efforts.

In my real life experience whenever I have actually called a client and “fessed up” that their search is proving to be more time and effort than what we had anticipated, they have always appreciated knowing such information. Especially if there are particulars that go with it.

Sometimes by providing follow up and feedback, the client relaxes criteria or increases salary. Other times they have decided to rearrange the retainer so as to not have IRES walk away.

But to not call back at all is inexcusable, unprofessional and a complete waste of valuable business time I can no longer recover which I was made to invest in that recruiter. I’m just as mad as any client would be not hearing back from a recruiter for three weeks after being promised action!

As it turns out our organization finally found the “right candidate” a within the next week or so after sharing this search on a split arrangement with my two trusted colleagues. So the subcontracted assistance was thankfully no longer needed.

Trouble is they don’t know that due to their own inadequacies.

You see I decided to call each of them to notify them of such. I figured just in case they are working late into the evenings making dozens of calls and foregoing golfing on weekends on my account … I best advise them their services were no longer needed and that our candidate had been selected.

The real punch line to this story is when I called and left a message they still did not call back!

This tells me:

a. They never took the search seriously
b. Demonstrated lack of respect or consideration for my time
c. Probably never spent more than one hour once they got off the phone with me
d. Probably treat their clients the same way
e. Have little regard for image they create for themselves

In a recent Fordyce Letter column more than a few recruiters from around the country reported back they had no qualms “walking away from difficult clients” if the search proved to be no longer worth the effort.

Walk away? Just like that? And leave another client scratching their head as to what’s wrong with our industry?

To walk away with no explanation tarnishes the search industry.

To walk away and explain why this is necessary is a much better choice.

I have no problems walking away from a search if warranted every now and then but
folks I assure you the one that prompted this article was a very routine search.

Please don’t give the rest of us a bad name through your long periods of silence!

Call your clients. Call them weekly or semi-weekly. But please let them know something rather than handing them long periods containing nothing but the sounds of silence.

By Frank G. Risalvato
www.searchwizardry.com
www.iresinc.com

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on June 12, 2007 at 5:01 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Last year's bestseller The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman took my fancy, so I bought it, and it was more than worth the money.

One story that really sticks out is the one about call centres taking over the ordering for drive-in McDonalds in Missouri. This is a great story and it has some lessons for hiring and retention. Not just in the US and especially as it relates to them being processes.

In summary, what happens is that order-takers are based in a remote call center instead of in the McDonalds location. The main call centre is in Los Angeles which is about as far away as Shanghai from Beijing.

The people in the call centre talk to the person in their car and take the order. The information is passed back to the person actually making the order in the McDonalds store, and when the customer drives around to the payment station the food is ready. They don't even know they were talking to someone who is thousands of kilometres away.

The logic of doing it this way is that the call centre people do a better job of getting the customer order. They do it to a script and this ensures all the right questions are asked, and any issue resolved quickly. They use software to create workflow that links processes together and reduces administration.

In the end the call centre people do a better job of order taking because they are chosen specifically chosen for this kind of work, they run it as a process, and it's all they do. (The follow up to this is to be found in a later edition of the New York Times. According the later NYT story, the call centre solution now covers the whole of the US right across to Honolulu in Hawaii.)

So what about China and our souped-up, catch-'em-quick-before-they-change-jobs hiring process?

Just think about McDonalds, or any fast food restaurant for that matter, looking for new staff in some city in China. The people they need normally come from the vicinity of the store, otherwise they will have a long commute.

But people in this industry don't do long commutes. Not for long anyway, and not when there are so many food 'n retail jobs available in China. So McDonalds gets who it gets in the vicinity of each store.

The call centre on the other hand looks for a specialised type of person. Someone that is suited to doing this work. When they hire they test candidates for skills and interview against behavioural issues that are associated with success in the job. Then they give the person the tools to do the job.

They substitute technology for proximity so they can cover any location.

Call centers locate in big cities because there is a readily accessible base of people to choose from. And they simplify the process by scripting it so that the accessible base of people is as big as possible.

Over time the call center company hones its skills by measuring everything they do. This goes down to a very low level of detail such as the time between the button being pressed and the delivery of the final order. Or the number of orders that have mistakes. And so on.

At present this is all being done from a central call centre but there is no reason that it could not be done from the person's home. Even on a part time basis. So it's not much of a stretch to imagine McDonalds orders in the US being taken in India, or China.

And it's also not difficult to imagine companies in China outsourcing their whole hiring process to that same call centre, or a company like it. Background checks and confirmation of educational achievements in China are already done this way.

Why not the whole hiring process?

-- Article by Talent in China and courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on June 2, 2007 at 10:52 PM | Leave a Comment (0)