To help answer these questions, I have co-founded two discrete round tables.

The first is the Talent Think Tank, where HRDs and Directors of Talent talk aligning talent strategy with the Board’s objectives, workforce planning, succession planning, leadership development, performance management, employee engagement, compensation & benefits, and other issues of talent management. HRDs of large employers have hosted a number of what are now called TTTs, the most recent being hosted by the Financial Times’ Global HRD on Talent and the CEO.

The second is the Direct Resourcing Think Tank, popularly known now as the DRTT, which started in December 2008, and now is the UK’s foremost talking shop for Directors of Resourcing and senior HR stakeholders. About 25 round tables are hosted every year by Directors of Resourcing of large employers, discussing topics from the strategies of social media recruiting, through employer branding to managing an inhouse resourcing team.

If you would like to participate in either think tank or simply to know which topics are upcoming in the next few months, please contact me on charles.payne2@btinternet.com or 07530 416 943

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Minty-Fresh™.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 9 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 23 posts. There was 1 picture uploaded, taking a total of 22kb.

The busiest day of the year was March 24th with 23 views. The most popular post that day was What does it cost to recruit and onboard a new employee?.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were linkedin.com, google.com, eurohr.com, ehrf.org, and recruiter.co.uk.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for how much does it cost to recruit someone, cost to recruit, cost to recruit an employee, how much does it cost to recruit, and cost to recruit employees.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

What does it cost to recruit and onboard a new employee? January 2010

International Talent Acquisition, Europe, and Recruitment Law April 2010

Direct Resourcing Think Tank, new dates for 2010 November 2009

Brand from the Inside October 2009

DRTT Q3 2010 dates to put into your Calendar June 2010

Effective Succession Planning. Ensuring Leadership Continuity and Building Talent from Within, William Rothwell, 2001

Succession Planning and Management

Businesses have always needed some form of succession planning. After all, no one lives forever, or heads a company or a division forever. Now more than ever, succession planning is a must. Because rapid turnover has become a way of life in corporate circles — from the top down through every level of employment — businesses that don’t plan strategies for meeting their future talent needs will face disruption when key employees retire or leave.

Every business needs to create, revitalise or even re-evaluate its succession planning and management (SP&M) program. A proven, step-by-step approach can ensure that you:

• Identify competencies and clarify values for planning and managing succession.

• Plan for and quickly fill crucial vacancies at all levels.

• Develop and retain top talent.

• Build and preserve your organization’s intellectual capital.

• Assess current needs and future resources.

• Use online and other technological tools to organize and implement SP&M programs.

• Anticipate — not just react to — changes in the increasingly variable business environment.

Succession planning and management is vital for four basic reasons:

1. The continued survival of the organization depends on having the right employees in the right positions at the right times.

2. As a result of economic restructuring in organizations, fewer people are available to advance to the top ranks from among current employees.

3. Succession planning and management encourages organizational diversity.

4. Succession forms the basis for communicating career paths, establishing development and training plans and creating a better human resources planning system.

Organizations create SP&M programs to provide increased opportunities for employees with high potential, to identify replacement needs, to target necessary training and to increase the pool of promotable employees.

 Creating Your Program

Creating a systematic SP&M program is a multi-step, on-going process. Even when you have a plan in place, you should continually re-assess it as your company’s needs change.

In creating or evaluating a succession program, your company should:

• Assess current problems and practices.

• Link SP&M activities to existing organizational and human resource strategies.

• Determine organizational requirements.

• Create a mission statement.

• Benchmark SP&M practices in other organizations.

• Write policies and procedures.

• Obtain and build management’s commitment to systematic SP&M.

• Set program priorities and clarify program rules.

• Address the legal framework.

• Identify target groups.

• Establish strategies for rolling out the program.

• Prepare and disseminate the program’s action plan.

• Conduct SP&M meetings and training.

• Conduct on-going counseling with managers about succession planning in their areas.

 The Developmental Gap

For your succession planning and management program to succeed, you need a method for replacing key employees who leave. Promotion from within is always an option, but it must be accompanied by planning. To prepare people for promotion, you have to do more than identify present and future requirements and evaluate performance. You must also identify and close the developmental gap between what possible successors do now and what they must be able to do to be ready to be promoted. Use internal development — planned training, education, development and other means — to close the gap so you can be confident that chosen successors are ready.

Your organization should take these steps regarding succession and the development gap:

• Test your organization’s bench strength — it’s ability to fill vacancies from within.

• Create your organization’s internal promotion policy.

• Prepare development plans for individual candidates.

• Develop successors internally.

• Assess alternatives as necessary.

 Alternatives to Internal Development

Sometimes, no successor is needed because a position can be left vacant. This alternative is only viable if the organization can answer yes to one of these questions:

• Is the key position no longer necessary?

• Can it be rendered unnecessary by finding new ways to achieve comparable results?

• Can the duties be redistributed to a team in the same part of the organization?

• Can the work be outsourced?

• Can the duties be reallocated to other parts of the organization?

• Can the key position be rendered unnecessary by using flexible staffing?

• Can a combination of these approaches obviate the need for a replacement?

Evaluating SP&M Programs

After you implement a SP&M program, you must monitor it to determine how well it functions and what changes may be needed. To evaluate the program on four levels — overall reaction, program progress, effective placements and organizational results — ask these questions:

• How well does succession planning match individual career plans?

• How satisfied are the internal customers with the succession planning programs?

• How well are individuals progressing through their development in preparation for future promotion?

• How well does the succession planning program work based on its objectives?

• Can some vacated positions be left vacant?

• How quickly can internal replacements perform in their new positions at the level required by the organization?

• What percentage of key vacancies can the organization now fill successfully?

• How quickly can the organization fill these vacancies?

• What percentage of vacancies can the organization fill internally?

• What organizational successes and failures can be attributed solely to succession planning?

• How is succession planning contributing to organizational results?

You can conduct the evaluation of your succession planning and management package anecdotally, periodically or programmatically.

Anecdotal evaluation examines the operation of the SP&M program on a case-by-case basis. As vacancies occur, the appropriate manager should document how they are filled.The organization’s SP&M committee can then review and discuss reports on each case. This method provides a solid foundation for troubleshooting and can provide a basis for handling similar concerns in the future. Anecdotal evaluation draws attention to particularly good and bad practices, providing a catalyst for change.

Periodic evaluation examines the components of your SP&M plan at different times, focusing attention on the program’s operations at present or in the recent past. Unlike the more global anecdotal evaluation, this method focuses only on isolated program components. For example, evaluation may focus on mission, program objectives, policy, philosophy, methods of determining work requirements for specific positions, employee performance appraisals, evaluation of employee potential and individual training and development. Periodic evaluation can be conducted during regular SP&M meetings, SP&M committee meetings or special evaluation committee meetings. Periodic evaluation can provide occasional formal monitoring of the program. This builds involvement while creating an opportunity to focus attention on operational problems. However, the main disadvantage of periodic evaluation is that it makes SP&M improvement an incremental rather than a continuous effort. This has the potential of letting problems fester for too long before they are addressed.

Programmatic evaluation examines SP&M comprehensively, measuring it against its stated mission and objectives. An appointed committee or a consultant usually carries out this in-depth program review. Committee members generally include the CEO, the SP&M program coordinator, representatives of pivotal management areas and members of the corporate board of directors.

 The Future of Succession Planning and Management

Changing external environmental conditions affect all organizations and play a role in succession planning. In the future, succession planning and management will:

• Prompt efforts to create flexible strategies to address future talent needs.

• Lead to retention policies and procedures that identify high-potential talent earlier,

retain that talent and preserve the involvement of older high-potential employees.

• Be influenced increasingly by real-time technological innovations.

• Become an issue in government agencies, academic institutions and nonprofits.

• Lead to increasing organizational openness about possible successors.

• Increasingly become intertwined with career development issues.

• Be heavily influenced by concerns about the balance between work and family, and by spiritual issues.

• Become a management issue to companies around the world.

Succession issues are front and centre in the United States, since the number of people expected to join the workforce between the traditional entry-level ages of 25 and 34 will decrease 8.8% by 2006. At the same time, the age category between 55 and 64 is expected to increase by 54% as more people reach traditional retirement ages. This trend is reflected in global population predictions. Because of these demographics, succession issues will emerge as a major challenge in many countries by 2025, leading organizations of every size to devote unprecedented attention to these issues, particularly the employment of older workers.

*Only Senior HR & Resourcing Heads of large enterprises public & private participate in the DRTT.

 *The hosts are the Senior HR & Resourcing Heads of large enterprises like Lloyds Banking Group, Experian, BP, Proctor & Gamble …..

*DRTT is about the strategy of resourcing, as you have teams who do while you direct.

*What price would you put on being able to meet your peers from the companies above and understand how they are tackling the big issues?  The DRTT membership is completely free of charge because the hosts pay for the coffee & croissants, so look at the Calendar of Think Tanks below and either call me on 07979 751 562 or email me at charles.fiddespayne@stepstonesolutions.com to let me know which you want to participate in … 

Assessing the business impact of the Resourcing Department is key for the careers of heads of resourcing – and indeed their immediate bosses – so what MI would their CxOs and Senior Management want to see?

A Newman Group survey threw up the most-used MI

http://www.slideshare.net/beeshields/talent-acquisition-2008-survey-and-analysis-of-the-changing-recruiting-landscape-presentation

Top came open vacancies, then time to fill, volume of hires, cost per hire, internal placement, offer to accept, interview to offer, decline to offer, and lastly diversity.

The Newman Group clients have missed the point. DRTT members, being taxed to influence CxOs and Senior Management, all agree that a different metric – Quality of Hire – is the key criterion of judging their own performance and giving shareholder value.

However, QoH is a bit of a Holy Grail, because these same businesspeople say it involves measuring the performance of new hires, ensuring that all the skills & competencies that drive performance are present in new hires, that new hires are a good cultural fit, that retention ratios are good. Some have even linked Quality of Hire to succession planning, on the grounds that a quality hiring process will predict when business-critical roles will become vacant and will already have created a pipeline of replacements. All legitimate arguments, and all making QoH more fiendish to measure, less tangible even, though somehow more holistic. Never mind the width, feel the quality, they say.

This is not a counsel of despair, because what you measure you can improve, and if you continuously improve, you improve your  Quality of Hire, you make a bigger  impact on your business, and get the attention of your CxOs and Senior Management.

(A word of advice: if you tell your CEO that your Cost per Hire is just your advertising, recruitment agency, and recruiter salary costs, then you might get some of her unwanted attention!)

*The hosts are the Senior HR & Resourcing Heads of large enterprises like RBS, Experian, Towers Watson and Axa.

*DRTT is about the strategy of resourcing, as you have teams who do while you direct.

*What price would you put on being able to meet your peers from the companies above and understand how they are tackling the big issues?  The DRTT membership is completely free of charge because the hosts pay for the coffee & croissants, so look at the Calendar of Think Tanks below and either call me on 07979751562 or email me at c.fpayne@mrted.com to let me know which you want to participate in … 

  23rd June, 9am – 12.30pm Coller Capital
 33 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0TT Sourcing and Selection
Hosted by Karina Barnes, Head of Resourcing, Coller Capital
This Direct Resourcing Think Tank will look at direct sourcing and selection techniques now being utilised in niche markets where directly approaching talent has traditionally been looked upon negatively .  Areas under discussion will range from comparing the use of different direct sourcing tools such as Linked In, through to how much emphasis should be placed in personality profiling and at what point in the process should it be used.  24^th June, 9am – 12.30pm  Royal Bank of Scotland
135 Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 3UR Maximising value from Resourcing Suppliers Hosted by Susan Bor, Director, Group Resourcing, Royal Bank of Scotland.Suppliers can provide considerable expertise across a numbers of Resourcing areas – permanent recruitment, contingent labour, recruitment assessment, recruitment marketing, retained search.  What’s your point of view on where suppliers can add most value, what types of initiatives should be considered and which suppliers have made a difference to your business?   30^th June, 9am – 12.30pm Penspen
3 Water Lane
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 1TJ Where have all the Engineers gone?
Hosted by Richard Irving, International Head of Recruitment & Manpower, Penspen
This Direct Resourcing Think Tank will look at the skills gap many engineering reliant organisations are currently experiencing.  From shorter term solutions to bridge this skills gap through to longer term strategies to revitalise the sector this promises to be a thought provoking discussion. 22nd July, 9am – 12.30pm AXA
5 Old Broad Street
London
EC2N 1AD Creating a World Class Recruitment Service
Hosted by Samantha Rich, Head of Group Attraction & Talent, AXA
What turns run-of-the-mill recruiting into a world class recruitment service? This Direct Resourcing Think Tank offers members the opportunity to candidly debate, discuss and hopefully define what a credible and effective recruitment service looks like for candidates, hiring managers and in-house resourcing teams. 4^th August, 9am – 12.30pm Tower Watson21 Tothill StreetLondon

SW1H 9LL Effective Integration and Expansion
Hosted by Rachel Bowman, Recruiting Director EMEA & Asia Pacific, Tower WatsonFrom the challenges involved in expanding your remit to delivering across new territories and business units, right through to integrating resourcing functions during a merger, this Direct Resourcing Think Tank will explore the key strategic issues its leaders face.       1^st September, 9am – 12.30pm Experian QAS Ltd 
George West House
2-3 Clapham Common North Side
London
SW4 0QL “The War for Talent”Hosted by Francesca Haines, Recruitment Manager, Experian QAS

This Direct Resourcing Think Tank offers members the chance to discuss the challenges involved in positioning your business and forming social perception. It is also an opportunity to openly share best practice methods and discuss the merits and disadvantages of using social media as an attraction technique. 8^th September, 9am – 12.30pm  Eversheds
1 Wood Street
London
EC2V 7WS ATS Selection, Integration and Bespoke Development
Hosted by Nicky Bizzell, Head of Resourcing, Eversheds
As an integral part of internal resourcing, using the best ATS is vital and can determine how effectively your resourcing function operates. This Direct Resourcing Think Tank will allow members to share experiences of selecting and implementing tracking systems and the value it brought to their company. It will also offer members looking to embark on this process the opportunity to have candid conversations with their market peers rather than having to navigate the process themselves. Tuesday, 14 September, 9am – 12.30pm Time & Life Building 1 Bruton Street London W1J 6TL Creating an effective talent management programmeHosted by Charlotte Kao, Recruitment Manager, SEI Investments

The ‘war for talent’ is on and more and more employers are establishing talent programmes; but what does that mean?? What does and effective talent management programme look and feel like when it’s in operation, should it be lead from L&D, HR or Recruitment and what are the pitfalls to avoid 15^th September, 9am – 12.30pm  Alvarez & Marsal 
 1 Finsbury Circus
London
EC2M 7EB “Things I wish I knew when I started recruiting…” 
Hosted by Joanna Martin,  European Recruitment Manager,  Alvarez & MarsalMoving away from the Direct Resourcing Think Tank’s normal agenda, this event offers members the opportunity to have a more general discussion surrounding the highs and lows of recruitment. What lessons have you had to learn the hard way or through trial and error? What works and what doesn’t? This event is a great opportunity to share knowledge and swap information. 22^nd September, 9am – 12.30pm  GSM
5 New Street Square
New Fetter Lane
London
EC4A 3BF Internal Executive SearchHosted by John Kelly,  Head of Global Resourcing Operations, GSM

Executive Search continues to be a hot topic of conversation at Direct Resourcing Think Tank events. This event will be focused around the economics and key requirements of in-house exec search. We will also look at the problems surrounding branding, confidentiality and sensitivity at that level and also what the future holds for mid level and premium exec search. 29^th September, 9am – 12.30pm  CH2M Hill
 Avon House
Kensington Village
Avonmore Road
West Kensington
London
W14 8TS Global Contingent Outsourcing Deal: Myth or Reality?Hosted by David Mason,  International Talent Acquisition Director, CH2M Hill

This Direct Resourcing Think Tank will allow members to discuss the pitfalls surrounding the idea of Global Outsourcing. You will get the opportunity to debate the merits and also the complications involved with differing cultures, time zones, infrastructures and coverage, with the aim to ultimately answer the question “Can a global RPO company ever really work effectively?”  
]]> http://recruitadvisory.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/drtt-q3-2010-dates-to-put-into-your-calendar/feed/ 0 recruitadvisory http://recruitadvisory.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/international-talent-acquisition-europe-and-recruitment-law/ http://recruitadvisory.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/international-talent-acquisition-europe-and-recruitment-law/#comments Wed, 14 Apr 2010 20:42:51 +0000 recruitadvisory http://recruitadvisory.wordpress.com/?p=159 ]]> It’s said that the EU makes 70% of new English law nowadays, so employment law around Europe must be the same, right? Data protection & privacy legislation, as examples, have been brought in from Brussels, so what we do here in the UK must be okay in Germany, France and elsewhere in Europe, surely? I’ve just completed some work for a global Financial Services market leader who has upgraded its talent acquisition system to MrTedTalentLink, and the findings are fascinating. They can have a massive impact on your bottom line. And your career.

Their remit to me was to look at variations around their European offices in discrimination, graduates, interviewing, background checking, rejection of candidates, data protection, and unionisation, to help improve compliance in their talent acquisition process. The issue of temp/contractor/interim talent acquisition was not part of the current remit, and so was ignored, but will be in the future, so if you want information on this, please let me know.

The information following is a summary only, and if you are concerned for your own company, discuss it at DRTT, consult a solicitor, and do NOT depend on what I have said here! MrTed Limited is certainly not liable for any comments in this paper. This piece, therefore, is just to stimulate discussion ….

Discrimination

Writing job advertisements was the first thing we learnt when we all started out in recruitment, and I’m sure a lot of us have made our reputations on our ability to write compelling copy that has attracted top talent. But did you know that in Belgium, an employer can be held liable for a recruitment agency’s discriminatory copy? This is the case in Germany too.  In Belgium and France, because the language forces every noun to be either masculine or feminine, it also means that copy needs to be altered to either include both (eg “employé(e)”): extra creativity is needed in writing job advertisements in French! And they must be written using French words to protect the linguistic heritage. I got the feeling that in their Spanish office, my client was less worried about discriminatory language: one of them said that they encourage their women to wear a dress or skirt when visiting clients “because that’s what our clients would want”.

Graduates

This is the area where there is little difference in law, practice or nuance. All countries are officially concerned not to be discriminatory against older people, women or ethnic minorities (as they have less access to Universities), but in France there is no case law to back this up. Only in the UK is there a case, and that was concerning giving equal consideration to graduates from outside the EEA and the use of the Right To Work Killer Question http://www.linkedin.com/answers/hiring-human-resources/staffing-recruiting/HRH_SFF/575605-3170207?browseIdx=0&sik=1268752657692&goback=%2Eamq

Many employers seem to ring-fence graduate talent acquisition (separate section on the career site, specialist magazines, visits to some universities but not others, graduate open days, and so on) and nobody has been prosecuted for discrimination. What, after all, has a graduate in International Politics got to offer that any other human being has not?! I can’t help but feel that that the whole idea of graduate recruitment – as against apprentice recruitment which is made available for all – could be akin to an old wartime bomb that has lain dormant for years and could indeed lie dormant forever, but could also blow up any time, especially now in the crush for jobs ….

Interviewing

In France, you must invite alumni of less than a year and existing staff to apply before you can go external. The Dutch have a recruitment code that needs to be ticked off in interview. Spain has no legal criteria for the selection of applicants for interview!

Background Checking

You cannot check a Belgian’s background without their consent; if a Belgian candidate doesn’t give details of a former employer, you cannot check it, which means that if you find out about a previous job from information not supplied by the candidate, you cannot use it in your selection criteria. You may only check criminal and medical histories if those aspects are relevant to the job. French employers give employees that are leaving a work certificate specifying the role and the dates, and prospective employers can ask to see these certificates. If detail on the CV is later found to be inaccurate, you cannot fire the employee unless the detail is pertinent to doing the job. Bankers must provide copies of their police records. Transport people must submit to drug tests. Prospective German employers can check with previous employers, and can make a positive medical certificate a precondition of employment. Only government departments can see a full criminal record, the private sector only a shortened version. All background data on an employee must be deleted once they leave, and on unsuccessful candidates immediately once the recruitment process is over, and may only be kept in case the employer needs to protect themselves against a discrimination claim. It is forbidden to check criminal records in Italy, unless a clean criminal record is warranted for the job. Dutch employers can require a candidate to show a Good Conduct certificate from the Ministry of Justice. Lying about past criminal convictions is not a justification for firing someone. No Spanish employer can make checks without the consent of the candidate, except for the banks. British companies can ask for medical records where consent is given, and criminal records as pre-conditions to offering a job even if they are irrelevant to the job. A candidate does not need to disclose spent convictions. CV details can be verified without consent of the candidate. Lying on a CV is grounds for summary dismissal, even if irrelevant to the job.

Rejection of Candidates

The issue of discrimination looms large in all EU countries, but each has a different twist on how much liability the employer has, and different timeframes after which a claim for rejection on discriminatory grounds can be lodged. Germany is the most interesting, in that rejected candidates can have their documents returned and get expenses for attending interviews. In Italy, the courts can force an employer to take someone on, though this has only actually happened in the public sector; companies are compelled to pay compensation.

Data Protection

You cannot collect or store information on Belgian candidates without their consent. This information must be deleted once the candidate is no longer a target for recruitment. French employers can store information for two years. Dutch employers should return or delete data within four weeks of the end of the recruitment process. Data on German candidates should be deleted as soon as they are not being considered for employment, though it should be noted that this sits in contradiction with the employer’s right to protect itself against claims of discrimination by which they would need to store data for so long as they could be claimed against. In the UK, data can be stored for up to 12 months, but only a few employers actually abide by this rule, and I don’t know of any employer that has been successfully prosecuted for holding data for longer. We all know of recruitment agencies who store data forever!

Unionisation

Workers Councils in Germany must be shown the papers of all applicants who can be hired only with the consent of the Council. The end-to-end recruitment process must be approved by Dutch unions, which includes any changes.

*Only Senior HR & Resourcing Heads of large enterprises public & private participate in the DRTT.

*The hosts are the Senior HR & Resourcing Heads of large enterprises like Barclays, Tesco, PWC and Axa.

*DRTT is about the strategy of resourcing, as you have teams who do while you direct.

*What price would you put on being able to meet your peers from the companies above and understand how they are tackling the big issues?  The DRTT membership is completely free of charge, so look at the Calendar of Think Tanks below and either call me on 07979 751 562 or email me at c.fpayne@mrted.com to let me know which you want to participate in … 

What will the effect of the Agency Workers Directive be on the UK?

This question has come from alot of readers! The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 will be implemented on 1 October 2011, so there is a little time to prepare. But not alot.  The AWR covers temps. Temps are typified as low-pay labour who don’t have sufficient skills to command a permanent job, hence the EU bringing in legislation to protect these more vulnerable workers.

I have surveyed a number of large employers around the EU and asked them what they believe the implications are, and what they have done and are doing to address the risks. I asked them how they will manage temps, managed service contractors, and the self-employed? And once the temp status of 12 weeks is up, what parts of the permanent employee’s pay package are these ex-temps eligible and not eligible to?

A number of large employers have said their options are to employ agency workers for less than 12 weeks, use managed service firms rather than employment agencies, contract the self-employed, or hire them direct. Using agency workers for less than 12 weeks is not going to be practical for most businesses, and rotating subsidiary employers, assignments, job titles and the like has been emphatically outlawed. Alot of people claiming to be self-employed have already been disabused by the Tax Office for years now, and employers risk fines for complicity. Most employment agencies will have to change in order to define their managed service clearly enough to differentiate themselves from being mere temp agencies; they could then legitimately tender for an exclusive relationship, so alot of employment agencies are going to be squeezed out of business.

Most employers surveyed have told me that they will hire either through a Managed Service Provider or their inhouse team, and accentuate the components of permanent employees’ Compensation & Benefits that are not covered by the AWR. A few have admitted that their Procurement or Finance departments have grown their own empires by taking over these units of production, at the expense of HR & Resourcing departments either not thought to have sufficient expertise, or not willing to put the work in.

The big questions, therefore, will be how employers efficiently administer the end-to-end process from requisition, attraction, selection, pooling, timesheeting, and pay & bill, and how they create reliable and flexible management reports on this end-to-end process. How much will the extra time taken in administration cost by not automating? What risks are there from not having a clear audit trail, and from not having reporting that can prove compliance?

Job description: detailed or general?

This question comes from a number of readers. One highlighted the differences between a job description (or JD) and a job advertisement, another that JDs are out of date almost as soon as they’re written, and yet another suggested we go to the best employee for a JD.

Given that employees are in their jobs for an average of one and a half to two years (CEOs are in place for just 26 months, from one stat I saw recently), sharp employers are writing JDs with the achievements to be attained by this notional end of tenure and with a view to succession planning. Indeed, companies like Coca-Cola, HP and Kimberly Clark now have many roles as contracts with just such fixed-terms. They are also including more cross-functional skills and experience because that’s what it means to work in a team. The style of this JD needs to be detailed because, whether the role be contract, fixed term, or permanent, it is being used to frame the performance review. Using it as thus helped simplify immensely my job of assessing the performance of my team when a line manager.

It’s because of the understanding that organizations are teams that the person specification is important too along with the JD, not just for hiring but also for analysing a job (JD + PS) within the context of workforce planning.

By contrast, the JD designed for recruiting needs to be short and punchy. When a recruitment agent, I looked at employers’ websites to see which ones had merely copy & pasted a witheringly long JD onto their careers site, one because it would fail to sell the job to potential applicants, two because the hiring line manager would all-too often have a different and more up-to-date view of what and who she was looking for in her head, and three because if I could get the permission of the hiring line manager to speak to the best employee I had both a person specification to find similar profiles and someone I could headhunt in the future.

There is great technology available now that profiles the best employees and then finds similar people out in the market, and the management reporting shows that employers using it hire better people who stay for longer. I wish I’d had it when I was a hiring line manager and then a recruitment agent!