To infinite recruitment and beyond.

Sir Clive Woodward has this week in The Sunday Times  given a 10 point blueprint for the overhaul of English rugby. But I think it can amended to be used for senior business managers for their talent management and motivation. So here are my (slightly amended versions) of his 10 point management blueprint:

1. Wear the tracksuit
Don't manage from the office, get down and dirty with the staff.

2. Extremism is good
Look after the good people, but don't be afraid to be a bold leader. The senior manager is that for a reason - they make the decisions and they should be extreme.

3. Money matters
Don't compromise for the sake of money. Don't let people prevent you from putting things in place that you feel essential to succeed.

Do you like a drink and a chat about sport (particularly golf and football)? Then you just may be the ideal applicants for this job advertised last week. Michael Hammond advertised for a drinking companion at £7 per hour (plus expenses) for his father!!  So you get paid to drink and talk - can't be bad can it??
So why is Michael going to this extreme? They have recently moved house and they left behind his father's normal drinking partner. So rather than depriving his 88 year old father of the thing he enjoys the most, they are seeking a new drinking partner for Jack!
So if you are interested - he lives in Hampshire and you can email them to apply.

The only surprise is that only 4 people have applied so far!!!

Some of you may have seen the yellow graphic in the sidebar to the left, some of you may even have linked through to the site as well. Jobinablog.com is a forward thinking website aimed at SME companies who fail to use their own website to recruit staff (shame on you!). Of course they are happy to moan about the fact that they can't recruit staff, but they never do anything about it. So last year I combined the idea of this opportunity, with the power of the blog to create Jobinablog - I call it a career site with a difference. So for an easy explanation I have produced a video presentation explaining how it works in a very easy way!! Here goes:

By the way, how do you like the Kyte interface - I like it and it's a bit different!

You use Facebook, Bebo or MySpace don't you? Well the chances are you will have done at sometime, as it seems everyone apart from the Queen and the Prime Minister have registered!! Well it may make you smile to know that you will fall into one of these social network categories(allegedly!!) - so which one are you?

Alpha Socialisers: Use sites in intense short bursts to flirt, meet new people. Male. Under 25

Attention Seekers: Most likely to post photo albums and customise profiles. Mostly female, under 35, mothers.

Followers: Want to keep up with their peers. Male and female, all ages.

Faithfuls: Use the sites to rekindle old friendships. All users.

Functionals: Using sites for particular purpose. Mostly male, 20+, all classes.

Concerned about safety: People concerned about security, and putting details online. Mainly parents.

Technically inexperienced: Lack confidence in the internet and computers. Infrequent users.

Intellectual rejectors: People who simply see them as a waste of time!

So which one am I? I would have to go for describing myself as a Functional (as I am sure most recruiters would!)

Maybe the age thing is appearing again, as it seems that the Generation Y cast of Channel 4's popular TV programme Skins, have been told to hit the road and find a new job (much to the upset of my daughter!). The reason? simply that they are too old for the show. The producers have embarked on this risky move (after having built up a large and loyal following) of removing the whole cast and starting recruiting a new cast again from scratch. It is meant to mimic life changes - where you leave college after two years. But TV isn't real life - you only have to look at Harry Potter to see that you can stay at the same school age for 8 years!!!

The usually conservative banking industry is starting to wake up to the fact that Web 2.0 is changing the way their employees and customers interact with each other. It is two Canadian Banks that have taken the lead - Scotiabank and Royal Bank of Canada.

Scotiabank is using technology from Microsoft to introduce an internal Web 2.0 social networking platform aimed at encouraging information sharing and collaboration among its staff. This platform enables employees to share, store, organise, search and manage information using blogs and wikis. As part of the programme, the bank is creating online user profiles for staff members. Commenting on the move, Robert Fournier, SVP, enterprise architecture and methodology, Scotiabank, says: "By leveraging the knowledge and experience of the Scotiabank team with a business focused social networking platform we are enabling staff to better serve customers by sharing best practices and identifying experts and skill sets regardless of geographic and organizational boundaries."

Royal Bank of Canada has  launched a financial advice blog written by students that can be accessed via its fan page on social networking site Facebook. They have selected six full time post-secondary students at Canadian universities to write daily blogs on money management, which along with videos, are available through the bank's Web site as well as the "RBC Bankbook" page on Facebook.

I wonder how many other banks will be taking the same innovative steps, and moving with the times. Living in the UK, with our ultra conservative banking community I fear that these 'innovations' will take many years to filter through!!

about Photo - Image Nothing like a bit of self promotion, as well as advertising a good local business publication. Business Matters is a well thought out and highly credible monthly business paper for the business community in the south east (UK). They are now online starting with this months issue. Check out page 9!

about Photo - Image

As a writer for them each month on recruitment related subjects, it would be wrong of me not to give it some airtime, wouldn't it?

Headhunting / executive search / passive candidate attraction have all been around for ages, and there doesn't seem to be much innovation in the sector. So while reading an article by Kevin Nale, one of his points intrigued me. He advocates creating a short professional introduction video, personalised to the target candidate you are trying to 'hook'. In other words, a simple personal request for a coffee or lunch meeting to discuss the opportunity face to face.

I think the idea is good, and certainly inventive as some of these candidates are elusive to say the least! As Kevin says, 'if your pipeline is diminishing, just remember it is not you, it's how you are presenting the great opportunity'. My only problem with this is the logistics of this idea, the numbers needed, and how you deliver this video file so that the target candidate watches it.

One thing for sure though, is that they will really appreciate the time you have taken to record a video specially for them, won't they?

Do you know anyone who has tried this method?

Just looking throught the Stepstone Total Talent Report 2008, and there seems to be some very strange stats used that don't seem to make sense - it's Talent Management gone mad!! The answers shown to this question go against everything that the recruitment marketplace is telling companies what they need to do to recruit people!! They pose the question, "Which steps has your organisation undertaken in the past to overcome recruitment difficulties, and which would it consider undertaking in the future?"

The answer responses are in the relevant colours    Have undertaken in past | Would undertake in future

Provide additional training so that positions can be filled by internal candidates 46% | 36%   Down 10%

Improve benefits package  47% | 33% Down 14%

Offer higher starting salaries 54% | 24% Down 30%

about Photo - Image about Photo - Image  A question I have for companies so worried about talent management, is whether they do really think ahead and consider the impact of recruiting the right leaders for their company?

Many good candidates are attracted by the calibre of the leaders (Managers and alike) in a business - they see them as a quality benchmark, charismatic people, people they would would enjoy working for and people they would follow. In simple terms these leaders are people talent magnets. They have skills, aptitude, charisma, gravitas and above all, great leadership skills. Managers like these are great at attracting like minded individuals to companies, and are usually the reason why really successful teams are built. So bearing this in mind, do companies actively try to recruit these types of people? Do they target future leaders when recruiting? Can they even identify future leaders and the benefits they could bring to the business?

I am not sure that many companies are even looking that far ahead when recruiting, but they should. People talent magnets will help solve some of the future recruiting problems - recruit them and talent will follow them into your company.