A Compilation of the Most Innovative Recruiting Strategies Used by Leading Firms.

1. A COMPILATION OF THE
MOST INNOVATIVE
RECRUITING
STRATEGIES USED BY
LEADING FIRMS
ERE.net Webinar
August 26, 2015
© Dr John Sullivan
49www.drjohnsullivan.com

2. 2
Introduction

3. Few put much effort into a strategy
What is the name of your recruiting strategy?
Most don’t have a written strategic rec. plan (90%)
Most can’t name their own recruiting strategy
Most don’t communicate the strategy outside of
recruiting (To hiring managers and executives)
Most don’t change resource allocations based on
their strategy
Few measure whether the strategy is working or
whether another one is superior (improvement in the # of qualified
applications, on-the-job performance of new hires and hiring manager satisfaction)
Few shift the strategy with the economy

4. 4
Elements of a strategy
The 6 elements of a recruiting strategy?
1.Definition – a strategy is a long-term high-level
master theme or plan that focuses recruiting
resources and actions under a single unifying
purpose, goal or approach
2.It has strategic goals – measurable goals remind
everyone what they’re supposed to focus on
3.It is longer-termed – rather than changing
frequently, it stays the same unless there is a major
change in the recruiting environment
4.It includes action plans – a plan, goals and a
focus will have little impact if it is not
accompanied with action plans for execution

5. 5
Definition
What is a strategy?
5. A competitive advantage – in order to win, it
must differ from the strategies used by your talent
competitors. You should select a strategy that
best counters your talent competition’s strategy
6. It is broader than a recruiting tool – the theme
and focus of your strategy tells you which
recruiting tools, sources or approaches to select
Recruiting strategy – target active jobseekers
Recruiting tool – attend a job fair

6. Consequences
The consequences of no or a weak rec. strategy
You are less likely to reach your recruiting
goals… if your approach doesn’t “match” what
the current marketplace for talent requires
You can go in the wrong direction with no focus
You will waste a large amount of recruiting $’s
Recruiters will be frustrated without direction
When there is a shift in the economy… or the
power of the recruiting relationship, you are
likely to be caught unprepared

7. 7
What are the available recruiting strategies?

8. There are 36 major recruiting strategies
19. A recruiting culture
20. “Best source” strategy
21. “Magnet hire” strategy
22. Data-driven decision making
23. Best benefits/best pay
24. Remote work/flexible scheduling
25. Emphasizing “the work” strategy
26. Rely primarily on the product brand
27. 100% employment branding strategy
28. Low wage, country specific hiring
29. Flexible/contingent workforce
30. Hire for this and the next job
31. Technology substitutes
32. Prioritization of jobs based on impact
33. Acqui-hiring
34. Integrated Talent management
35. Hire to hurt/Hire to learn
36. Poaching/Guerilla recruiting 8
1. Butts/ Bums in chairs
2. Entry-level skills/ hire at the bottom
3. Hire those that can do two jobs
4. Hire the best and brightest
5. Hire for skills over experience
6. Hire for attitude, train for skills
7. College hires
8. 100% active “they find us” strategy
9. 100% “passive” “we find you”
10.Hire the entire team (lift outs)
11.Purple squirrel/recruiting innovators
12.Best time/Counter cycle hiring
13.Pre-need/talent pipeline
14.Social media recruiting
15.Personalized recruiting
16.All media approach
17.Talent communities
18.Find “their work” online (contests)

9. 9
I’ll now go through each of the recruiting
strategies…
and I’ll provide details on the most innovative
ones

10. 10
36 possible recruiting strategies…
listed in 7 descriptive categories
Category #1 of the recruiting strategies
The skills that you target
1. Butts in chairs
2. Entry-level skills/ hire at the bottom
3. Hire those that can do more than one job
4. Hire the best and brightest
5. Hire for skills over experience
6. Hire for attitude, train for skills

11. 11
Highlighting an innovative strategy
Hire for attitude, train for skills strategy
Goal/purpose – when exceptional service is critical,
you can’t easily change attitude. So hire those with a
great service attitude and then train them on
specific job skills
Key features:
• Deemphasize experience, skills & education
• Detailed assessment of a candidate’s attitude
• Extended onboarding to double check attitude
• Invest heavily in new hire training
Firms that have utilized it – Southwest Air, Zappos

12. 12
Category #2 of the recruiting strategies
The type of candidate that you target
1. 100% active “they find us” strategy
2. 100% “passive” “we find you” strategy
3. Hire the entire team (lift outs)
4. Purple squirrel / recruiting innovators
5. College hires (regular or remote)

13. 13
Highlighting an innovative strategy
Remote college hiring strategy
Goal / purpose – because top talent don’t always go
to “top universities”, recruit at “every university”.
By utilizing remote sourcing and assessment tools
and only invite the best to your headquarters.
Key features:
• Find them using the Internet, contests & referrals
• Utilize telephone and video interviews to assess
• Sell them during a headquarters visit
Firms that have used it – Nestlé Purina

14. 14
Category #3 of the recruiting strategies
When to recruit
1. Best time / Counter cycle hiring
2. Pre-need / talent pipeline

15. 15
Highlighting an innovative strategy
Pre-need / talent pipeline strategy
Goal / purpose – rather than JIT hiring for high-
volume jobs, build a talent pool or pipeline.
Continuously source and assess for minimum
qualifications and then pull from that pipeline when
a job opening occurs.
Key features:
• Keep in contact with “almost hired” candidates
• Continuously source, assess interest & qualifications
• Utilize the talent pool when an opening occurs
Firms that have used it – UBS bank, Red 5 Studios,
and most consulting firms and executive search firms

16. Create a “most wanted list” pipeline
Red 5 Studios identified “100 dream prospects”
ID your “gamechangers” at the start of the year
Then develop an individual profile on each target
using social media and personal blogs
Red 5 airmailed each one a free iPod
The message on each was personalized to the
prospect… complete with artistic packaging and a
recorded message from their CEO
90 of 100 recipients responded (3)
16

17. 17
Category #4 of the recruiting strategies
A focus on a favored recruiting approach
1. A focus on social media
2. Personalized recruiting
3. All media approach
4. Talent and applicant communities
5. Find “their work” online
6. A recruiting culture

18. 18
Highlighting an innovative strategy
Find “their work” online strategy
Goal / purpose – don’t rely on resumes and profiles,
seek actual work examples/ideas. Get a sourcing
advantage because many top people don’t post
resumes and their work may be a better predictor.
Key features:
• As part of the referral program and their daily
activities, encourage employees to find great work
• Hold Internet contests to find hidden talent
• Search blogs and social media (GitHub, Pinterest)
Firms that have used it – Most tech firms, Asana

19. 19
Highlighting an innovative strategy
A recruiting culture strategy (#1 most effective)
Goal / purpose – rather than relying on recruiters,
make every employee a Talent Scout.
Key features:
• Set the expectation for over 50% of hires from
employee referrals
• Measure and reward referrals
• Provide a toolkit to help employees find referrals
Firms that have used it – Google and Eaton

20. In a recruiting culture, everyone is a “talent hawk”

21. 21
Category #5 of the recruiting strategies
A focus on producing the best recruiting results
1. “Best source” strategy
2. “Magnet hire” strategy
3. Data-driven decision making

22. 22
Highlighting an innovative strategy
Data-driven decision making strategy
Goal / purpose – rather than relying tradition and
that instinct, use a data-driven approach to
determine the best message channels, sources,
interview approaches and recruiters.
Key features:
• Metrics ID the factors that predict on-the-job success
• Metrics can ID what is not working
• Metrics can influence managers to act correctly
Firms that have used it – Google and Tesla

23. 23
Learn from Google
Laszlo Bock VP at Google

24. Source: entelo.com using 1 million resumes
Waiting period
What causes these recent hire “turnover spikes”
The intuitive approach would merely guess…
But the data-driven approach would know precisely why
When recent hires quit
Years at the firm

25. 25
Shift to data-driven decisions
I
Source: Entelo 2015
Poaching seems even… until you add December
During what month should you start your sales
recruiting efforts?
When do salespeople accept a new job?

26. 26
Category #6 of the recruiting strategies
Emphasize the firm’s primary attraction feature
1. Best benefits / best pay
2. Remote work / flexible scheduling
3. Rely primarily on the product brand
4. 100% employment branding strategy
5. Emphasizing “the work” strategy

27. 27
Highlighting an innovative strategy
Emphasizing “the work” strategy
Goal / purpose – top performers and innovators are
more concerned about “the work” that they’ll be
doing, than working conditions. So focus recruiting
messaging on “the work” that they will be doing.
Key features:
• Show them that others are already doing “the best
work of their life”
• Reveal the significant impact that they will have
Firms that have used it – Apple and Facebook

28. 28
Category #7 of the recruiting strategies
A focus on business impacts
1. Low wage, country specific hiring
2. Hire for this & the next job / growth hiring strategy
3. Technology substitutes
4. Acqui-hiring
5. Integrated Talent management
6. Hire to hurt / Hire to learn
7. Poaching / Guerilla recruiting
8. Agility / flexible / contingent workforce
9. Prioritization of jobs based on impact

29. 29
Highlighting an innovative strategy
Prioritizing jobs based on business impact strategy
Goal / purpose – because all jobs when filled with a
quality hire don’t have the same impact, identify
the jobs with the highest business impact and focus
your recruiting on them.
Key features:
• Identify mission-critical jobs
• Work with the CFO to identify high-impact jobs
• Poach high-impact talent from your competitors
Firms that have used it – Google, Uber and Agilent

30. The highest impact hires
30
1. Sales manager (target the top at each of your primary competitors)
2. Sales professionals (target the top at each of your primary competitors)
3. Product development manager (target the most innovative firms)
4. Product innovator and "idea person" at any competitor
5. The GM of your competitor’s most profitable business unit
6. Customer service managers from firms with high customer service ratings
7. Market research managers at competitor’s that excel at market research
8. Brand managers at firms that have recently built or improved their brand
9. Director of advertising at competitors that excel at advertising
10.Supply chain manager from the most efficient competitors
11.Logistics managers, especially the best from transportation companies
12.Chief technologist at industry leading firms
13.Leading social media expert in your industry
14.Top safety/maintenance managers (especially in heavy
manufacturing/chemical)
15.Partner relationship manager from firms that excel at building strategic
relationships

31. 31
The benchmark firms to learn from

32. 32
Firms with the most innovative recruiting strategies
• Google
• US Army
• Sodexo
• CACI
• Intuit
• E&Y
• Zappos
• DaVita
• Marriott
• Facebook
• Apple
• Uber
• Startups

33. Do we have time for more questions?
33
Did I make you think?
JohnS@sfsu.edu or www.drjohnsullivan.com