Is Email obstructing Your Recruiting Relationship?

Let’s start by saying email is a great and necessary tool in today’s business world. Yet it is disheartening when a potential match between a client and a candidate goes south because of lack of communication. Why is it people are using email for conversations that really should be done through talking? Cadence and body language are major components necessary for a clear message, so why are they being left out of the equation? Don’t get me wrong, I’m as much as an emailer and texter as the next modern day professional, but I know when to draw the line. Do you?

Here’s my general rule of thumb:
Email is great for keeping a process moving. I love the immediacy it affords for quick feedback, for a status check, for solidifying facts, and to schedule. I absolutely insist on email for a list of references, compensation requirements, and job descriptions.

BUT when it comes to negotiating, making a job offer, obtaining a reaction to a candidate’s resume or interview – that’s a phone call. You say, “Karen get with it! With today’s technology you don’t need to speak person-to-person.” And I say, “Stop kidding yourself. Professional courtesy never goes away.”

There are things I can intuit from inflections when people talk that can’t be discerned from reading an email, and it’s even worse with a text message. There is an immediacy, a way that people open up, and an ability to advise, negotiate, and coach that can’t be replicated via a screen. What happened to active listening?

When I see a client respond to a resume with a three-word email, four-letter words come to mind. When I hear of a client making a job offer through email (a job offer for God’s sake!), my BP goes through the roof. Listen to the headhuntress: onboarding begins during recruitment. You want the top talent that’s out there; well so does everyone else. You need to reinforce company branding in every contact.

Recruitment is just like courting someone; when a guy I’m dating only texts me and never picks up the phone to talk, I am probably going to hit the delete button in my address book soon. People get carried away with texting and emailing – are they using it as a way to hide? Would you want to date someone or work for a company that used a screen as their only means of communication? The pen can be mighty, but it will certainly never trump human interaction (That’s why political candidates spend so much time on the road!) Cadence, tone and verbal cues are a must in understanding a person and maintaining a relationship.

Our K. Russo Associates End of Year Client Survey showed that candidates respond to initial emails and voicemails from recruiters at equivalent rates. But there soon comes a point when you need to step beyond email and engage in the nitty gritty… that’s a phone call.

Be a part of our online survey and let me know how you are communicating.

Diving Into A Recruiting Marathon

It’s not always the amount of revenue that my company generates that qualifies as a worthwhile week. Sometimes it’s getting overwhelming confirmation that we are on the right track, and other weeks it’s avoiding a potential catastrophe. I must say that the last two weeks have been like Nitrox scuba diving to say the least.

Let’s start off with avoiding disaster. Last year I attended the HR Forum held on the beautiful cruise ship, The Norwegian Dawn. I was on the ship less than 30 minutes when I ran into ex-husband #2. There was no avoiding the X for the next 48 hours. Can you imagine? Spare yourself and don’t. God clearly has a sense a humor to put me on a cruise to nowhere with my X. At this year’s event, I was overcome with joy to see the X would not be making an appearance. I could buckle down to business and concentrate my HeadHuntress powers on making connections that would hopefully end up more successful than my marriage.

The HR Forum is like running a 2-day marathon. With my terrific associate Nikki Shapiro, I conducted eighteen 30-minute presentations to some of the top human resource officers in the country, plus had meetings over breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This year’s HR buzz words are global talent acquisition, talent management, and retention. After years in the human capital space I can safely state with confidence: it’s all about the people and getting the best fit at the onset.

The HR Forum was held the same week as the biannual meeting of the Pinnacle Society. I am honored to be a part of the Pinnacle’s very select group of successful industry recruiters. Our meetings are a time to connect and share best practices. For a couple of days I could give my voice a rest and take an extended journey into listening and learning. At the top of everyone’s list was the growing importance of research, the front-end of the recruiting process. We discussed using social networking tools to research and identify candidates, internet search strings as well as blogging, niche boards and so on. Let’s face it if the new wave of talent is growing up in the digital age, executive recruiters need to become experts with web 2.0 resourcing.

So here was relief #2 – both events confirmed that my team and I are working in the right space and it spurred us to keep on trying new approaches and actively plan these initiatives into our day. Staying focused with all these new communication venues can be consuming, but there are no shortcuts to success! At the end of an incredibly intensive week, it was a huge relief, comfort and bonus to get validation from my peers not once, but twice. On top of not running into the X, I’d call that a successful dive without “the bends.”

Want to share your thoughts about social networking for talent recruitment? Please feel free to post your comments.

My employee is bald!

Denis Fahey, Associate Director of Candidate & Client Development exceeded his fundraising goal by over $600.00! Last Friday he raised $1,115.00 for childhood cancer research and everybody in the office shaved his head in true St. Baldrick's fashion. Thank you everyone for your support and donations! Check out the slide show on the Diary of a Headhuntress homepage to see some select photos from the event.

My employee is going bald!

Who says the season of giving is over? I say that all year long there are opportunities for us to do something selfless for one another. Have you ever heard of a foundation by the name of St. Baldrick’s? For those who haven’t, it is the “world’s largest volunteer driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research.” Denis Fahey, Associate Director of Candidate & Client Development at K. Russo Associates, has decided to “bare it all” to raise money for the cause. Don’t get excited -- the only thing he will be exposing is his hairless head after he shaves it Friday the 14th of March in our office. Click here to see Denis and help him meet his goal. To know the story of how this event began and see its founders, click here. Check back soon to see the pictures from the event!

Burnt Out?

In my travels for both business and pleasure, I have often heard that Americans work too much.

The perception is that we are all about the money, work and ultimately success. Are we striving to become the most unhealthy burnout nation in the world?

As an ass-kicking business woman I will admit that I have put in a lot of hours over the years to get to this place in my career, but a few years ago I learned how to “turn it off.” You know, stop and smell the roses, because I was heading for a major burnout.

I believe we as Americans are soon to be a toasted society. Why is it that we feel compelled to do everything to extremes? We are the originators of super-sized meals, the X-Games and now 24/7 employees.

Perhaps people don’t know how to leave work in the office. We have become addicts of instant and constant communication, making it tough to compartmentalize the hours. I’m guilty of that, but I am trying to reform. It is a tough habit to break; I crave my “CrackBerry” and Bluetooth. I can’t go anywhere without them! Our escape is dictated by the battery recharger and dead zones, rather than what gives us true satisfaction.

There are companies that recognize that a burned-out employee is less productive, more prone to illness, and on the verge of dropping out…and taking their valuable and increasingly scarce labor talent with them. One of the biggest issues in human resources is RETENTION. So how are some trying to shift the burnout tide? Here’s three examples that range from major policy changes to holistic services:

• Companies are instituting polices against business emails during weekends and holidays, unless absolutely urgent. Corporate culture has turned from admiring the weekend work warrior to respecting and protecting time away from the office.
  
• I loved, loved, loved a front-page article in The New York Times Style section a few weeks ago about law firms that are rethinking the viability of an 80-hour work week now that attorneys are leaving the profession in droves. One firm took the courageous step of making a request that no court dates be set during the Christmas school break so its lawyers could spend time during the holidays with their families.
  
• A super-charged Wall Street boutique alleviates the tremendous pressure its traders feel by having an in-office masseuse. The traders are expected to avail themselves of the perk; a type of shut-off valve during the week when body and soul get to relax and unwind.

If you have heard of other ways that companies are dealing with burnout, send them here. krusso@krussoassociates.com and I’ll post them.

So, are you burning dinner while multitasking emails and business calls (me), are you working on spreadsheets on your commute home, is it time to establish some boundaries? 9-5 is on life support and so are you!

Are you ready for a new job? Analysis: Lying about a sick day

Here is a link to the article that coincides with the video. Just posted today! Click below to read.
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/dec2007/ca20071213_372903_page_2.htm

Are you ready for a new job?

Recently I had the opportunity to share some of my thoughts on the ethics of job hunting. Who knew there was any such thing? Kidding! Click below to check out my interview with BusinessWeek Online. Comments and questions are always welcome.