Categories - Recruiting

Rusty Rueff was a central part of the team that built Electronic Arts from a small company into a global giant. He was the first HR executive there to report directly to the CEO. The agile, studio-centric operation had managed to dodge the standard trappings of big organizations during its extended entrepreneurial phase.

Like most great HR leaders, Rueff's career is not exactly focused on the profession. Although he rose rapidly through the HR ranks at Pepsi (one of the HR academy companies), his passions are sales, marketing and entertainment. Rueff managed to integrate these things into a fast-paced career from management trainee to high-tech startup CEO and philanthropist in just under 25 years.

His father was a radio personality. The dinner table conversation was always about "what's hot and what's not." Rueff describes media analysis as the 'family sport.'

Quarterback Matt Schaub earned MVP honors and led the AFC to victory in Miami during Sunday's high-scoring Pro Bowl, which featured more than 80 of the NFL's all-star players. That was the precursor to Sunday's matchup of the league's best two teams, the Colts and Saints, which feature plenty of all stars of their own.

I have always enjoyed watching All-Star games and seeing the best of the best skilled talent go head to head. Outside of professional sports, what other industry showcases their top performers to the world?

If an All-Star game was held for nursing professionals, could you imagine how this would impact your recruiting efforts? How much of your media budget would you allocate to reach this audience?

Elaine Orler is the founder of the new consulting firm TalentFunction. She led the talent acquisition management practice at the HCM consulting firm Knowledge Infusion. Fifteen years of trench level experience, first as a recruiter then as a systems analyst, give her a bottoms up view of Human Capital Management.

She is the preeminent expert on the topic of harnessing enterprise recruiting systems to generate competitive advantage.

What keeps Orler focused, pushing both organizations and vendors to advance is the desire to “create a reality that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.” She is creating that reality with some of the largest and most recognized brand names across the globe. For the truly great players in HR technology, success begins with a significant chunk of dues paying.

There are a group of people who influence the industry because of the things they make possible. Generally, these folks are really bright technologists or academics who think they have found ways to get the job of recruiting or some branch of HR done better. In general, they look at the assembled masses of the current industry with something that borders on contempt. Their contribution is a little direct and a lot about opening minds.

The role of academics and well-heeled technologists seems to be to disrupt. These riot instigators persist with uncomfortable questions like 'why isn't your profession adding to the bottom line' or 'tell me the ROI of your recruiting operation.' Rotten tomatoes, disruptive technologies and really innovative ways of doing things seem like trouble to old experienced hands. These folks like being that sort of trouble.

Todd Raphael is the Editor in Chief at ERE Media, home to ERE and it's various expos and events. I had an opportunity to catch up with him recently.

JS: Tell me about your background:

TR: I grew up in Ohio and had an interest in going into politics. In college, I worked for the Democratic Senator John Glenn and the Republican Governor George Voinovich, the county board of elections, a D.C. lobbying group, local, state, and national campaigns, and elsewhere. My last summer, an Ohio pundit named Herb Asher told me I should move it Minnesota after college, get a job for a few years, and then run for office, since it's easy there. Now, I think that's funny, since Jesse Ventura and Al Franken have since been elected from Minnesota.

Most of the readers of this blog will have little reason to know about Bill Vick. Serial entrepreneur, Web pioneer and recruiting legend, Bill occupies a space that is often out of sight for HR professionals. His career spans the Marine Corps, the Fuller Brush Co, founding a chain of computer stores, co-founder of Recruiting's Pinnacle Society, founder of the Recruiter's Online Network and Trainer of the Recruiting masses, Vick has made a solid impact on his profession.

These days, Vick is in the midst of two major projects, XtremeRecruiting.tv, where he provides short video interviews with key voices in HR and Recruiting, and EmploymentDigest.net, where he consolidates decades worth of career wisdom. His story is worth hearing.

Bill grew up with what seemed like conflicting ideals. On the one hand, he was a wrestler who dreamed of being a Marine. On the other, he was a 'nerd before his time', as he likes to say. Smarter than most and bored by school, the young Mr. Vick educated himself instead of following the traditional path. Preferring to read and work with gadgets, Bill educated himself.

As the senior vice president of global talent acquisition at Avanade, Rob McIntosh is in a position to innovate. The company, which is a Microsoft - Accenture joint venture, has 10,000 employees engaged in various forms of enterprise software solutions using Microsoft products. It's financially viable and in the process of separating its brand from the parents.

Recognized throughout the industry as one of the people who shapes the agenda, Rob is known as a great mentor and teacher. When I asked him to explain the depth of his influence, he said, “I used to tell my teams, 'let's do this so well that they'll write white papers about us. As I have personally developed as a leader, statements like this have become less important as a driver to grow and motivate people for me. I now focus more on helping each individual develop their own business competencies to support the current organization, and help them understand how they can personally impact and influence change versus just the broader team. In the end, personal and team development is what solves business problems and is vastly more important than just being recognized in some white paper as a motivator.

I had an opportunity to speak with Gerry Crispin as we were preparing for a panel on the ways that companies hire people. Gerry, one of the cofounders of CareerXRoads, has just published the annual Source of Hire (SOH) Study. Gerry is a former newspaper executive who has built a significant presence in the workforce consulting business. His studies and seminars influence thinking on metrics, employment branding and personnel utilization.

Sumser:
The SOH study and the newspaper article both describe the question from the employer's point of view. Is it possible that the reality for a job hunter is vastly different?

My sense is that there's a heads - tails dichotomy in the perception of how employment is acquired. Job hunters believe one thing to be true while employers have an opposing (maybe complementary) point of view.

The latest Weddle's survey suggests that job hunters believe that a job board is the best way to find a job. I know the Weddle's data is somewhat self-serving, but, my question is "can both things be true?"

About 2½ years ago, I was in my senior year of college worrying about whether I’d have a job before I graduated. As I look back on that time, I can’t help but wonder how 2009 graduates are coping with the current economy. The stress I felt my senior year is probably nothing compared to what current grads are feeling. When I graduated, there were job opportunities practically everywhere, for everyone. Now, the job market is grim, very grim.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), less than 20 percent of 2009 graduates who applied for a job actually have one in hand, compared to over half a graduates back in 2007. What’s even more discouraging, NACE reports that employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer new grads this year than last year.

With my own student loans to pay off, I can’t imagine facing such a bleak outlook. And while I feel for the unfortunate unemployed graduates of 2009, I’m also concerned about the organizations who aren’t hiring them.

New graduates bring with them a desire to learn and excel. They have energy and fresh ideas, and are anxious to apply their newly acquired knowledge. What I wonder now is how this dip in hiring will affect organizations. Companies will certainly feel the heat loss that comes with fewer new graduates contributing to the workforce.

Do we speak the language of our customers and associates? I was reminded of the importance of this after watching a 2005 movie about the oil business starring George Clooney, Syriana.  There’s a poignant scene where one character notes that the Chinese were the only foreign associates who bothered to learn the language of their Middle Eastern business partners.

What about us? In the HR and payroll arena, do we speak the language of our associates, customers and employees?