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The strength of the web is that it creates an environment in which these tactics can be practiced and perfected.

We're often asked a series of questions that boil down to: "What is the best way to use the web for Recruiting?" Unfortunately, the answer is usually something like: "It depends."

The variables that effect the elements of an Online Recruiting Strategy (see Monday's Outline) include regional issues, competition, labor shortages in specific disciplines, the relative strength or weakness of other entities with candidate relationships, the relative experience levels required and so on. Really, developing an online strategy implies that you have a strategy in place for your existing operations.

Take a look at this item on e-Bay (the auction house). An entire engineering team started to auction itself off in its entirety for $3,140,000.00! While the auction was terminated amidst much bluster, is this the beginning of a trend? In projectized environments (like Silicon Valley) the concept is only slightly hard to believe.

- John Sumser, © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.

Rodney Dangerfield

In our little company, we have the faint glimmers of an HR function. The work consists of the paperwork that our CFO no longer likes to do...payroll, reporting, W2s, W4s, 1099s. As we grow, the function will increasingly be performed by a single person. It's important, we think, to remember that this is the genesis of all HR functions. The most important thing is getting payroll accomplished seamlessly. Administrative excellence and the teamwork required to accomplish that end is at the core of effective HR functions. The very same suppliers who look down their noses at typical HR excellence scream bloody murder when the accounts payable department is slow to pay their checks.

It's not an easy time to be in HR.

Decades of (somewhat silly) emphasis on the Management Fad of The Month (T-Groups, Organizational Development, Quality Circles, TQM, Learning Organizations, Leadership Training, Reengineering, Intranets, Automated Benefit tools) dictated by the CEO have left HR professionals dizzy from conflicting direction. While you hardly ever hear stories about consistently bad payroll runs or badly managed employment files, disrespect is routinely slung in the direction of the HR Department. CEOs, in fits of frustration, have outsourced much of the HR "strategic input" function to external consulting entities.

Now, on top of all of that, the HR folks are being asked to get good at aggressive recruiting. They are being asked to sift and sort between tens of thousands of competing online recruiting vendors who have all decided that their markets are "national". It should be no surprise that the results are chaotic and unpredictable. The same folks who dismiss the capabilities of HR in one breath expect entrepreneurial behavior in the next. It's a recipe for anything but success.

In most organizational functions, a mix of steady, predictable excellent output is at the core of long term success. Precisely what you don't want in some core functions is a rapid pace of innovation and entrepreneurial zest. Really, how frequently do you really want to redesign the contents of the employment folder, the color of the pay checks, the details of the benefits plan or the information on a pay stub? In spite of the heavily broadcast wisdom of management pundits, do you really want innovation across the board in all aspects of the operation? Do we really imagine that all functions have to be value adding? We think not.

At the root of the industry's problem with their HR customers is, we think, an unwillingness to design products with the customer in mind. It may be complicated by the inappropriateness of assuming that the HR customer is ever going to be able to adopt "the shark-like behavior of the marketing department". What customers really need is a stream of dependable results, not access to an incoherent pile of data.

While we may agree with the sentiment that suggests that Recruiting in the 21st Century may not be best executed by HR, we think that positioning products and services as if this were true is a tragic error. In the marketplace, at this juncture, the check-writing customer works in HR. The companies who gain real market advantage will be those who understand the real needs of these customers for results and supply them.

- John Sumser, © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.

Community Development

- John Sumser, © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.

Industry Standard

- John Sumser, © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.

Components of Strategy

Here's our current outline. If we've missed a piece, please let us know.

• Objectives Of The Strategy
  • Cycle Time Reductions
  • Cost Growth Containment
  • Candidate Acquisition Costs
  • Technical Budget and Schedule
  • Workforce Competence Norms
  • Candidate Percolation
  • Resume Database Freshness
  • Single Interfaces
    • Posting
    • Resume Review
    • Candidate Tracking
    • Status and Reporting
    • Training
• Business Model
• Website Development and Integration
• Website Content Acquisition
• Posting Process
• Targeted Candidate Acquisition / Research (Direct Marketing)
• Sourcing Process
• Media Research, Planning and Execution
• Traffic Development
• Training
• Applicant Tracking
• Intranet
• Extranet (Vendor Integration)
• Hardware / Network Design
• Bandwidth Requirements
• Software / Platform
• Integration
• Maintenance and Improvements

- John Sumser, © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.

What's Up?

Along the road to publishing this edition of the print newsletter, we've undergone some changes here at IBN.

After two solid years of bouncing around the North American continent delivering classroom seminars, a couple of simple things dawned on us. First of all, it became increasingly clear that many job boards were going to be delivering free seminars as a part of their marketing strategy. It's a natural and important evolution. Internet Recruiting tools currently require a heavy dose of education before customers can effectively use them. Secondly, it became clear to us that classrooms are not effective in delivering the sorts of advanced techniques that we've pioneered.

As a result, we've split our training product line into two separate components. For the past couple of months, you've probably noticed the piece at the bottom of this page offering our onsite individualized training. By focusing on the specific needs of a specific company, we've been able to leave our customers glowing, effective and ready to move full tilt into the online recruiting game. We're convinced that this customized approach is a necessary part of building a solid online recruiting team. With a dozen, of these engagements under our belts, we can assure you that our customers end up extremely satisfied.

In the print newsletter, we're announcing the second part of our training initiative. Seminar In A Box, our CD based training program, will begin shipping on June 1, 1999. The idea is simple. Rather than taking a full day out of the workplace to digest relatively foreign ideas, we're building a day long training program that can be constantly reviewed by all of the people in an office. The courseware is built around our day long Advanced Searching and Sourcing Techniques seminar and includes video, text, testing and a completion certificate.

We are convinced that solid Electronic Recruiting can only happen in a work environment that shares a base level of competence. With a CD based training program, the workforce can be trained during slack hours. Because the material is reusable and repeatable, it's now possible to create a solid foundation of expertise within a company. We're proud of the fact that we're the first (as usual) to use the technology to reduce costs, increase benefits and further expand the capabilities of our customers.

We're offering the course at $295 for prepublication orders (through June 1, 1999). After that point, the package will sell for $395. Given the fact that similar seminars, held in hotel classrooms away from the workplace, retail for $995 per person (and more), we're sure that you'll agree that the offering is a bargain.

You can learn more about Seminar in a Box and get a copy of the order form by downloading the print newsletter. It's a great way to bring your entire office up the learning curve.

- John Sumser, © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.