Bearing Fruit Consulting

HR - Serving Two Masters?

You can't serve two masters!  It is a concept as old as the time of Jesus.  In fact, Jesus actually spoke those very words. 

Human Resources constantly finds itself in the awkward position of trying to do just that.  With all the furor over Why We Hate HR and related stories seeming to die down in mainstream media I am sure HR is wondering if the storm has passed.  On the surface that may be true but what lies beneath is more troubling than a FastCompany article. 

The blogosphere, social media, social networks and other alternative forms of transparent communication are continuing the outing in a less grand but more damaging conversation about HR.  Sadly, HR does not understand these modes of communiction much less utilize them effectively so they aren't even aware of this ground swell of anti-HR sentiment that lurks around them.

Today, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen (staff writer for TIME Magazine) asks In times of trouble, is HR your friend?  Her blog Work In Progress is a great read.  More importantly her keen observation about HR is a telling sign that HR is not trusted by one of the masters they purport to serve. 

I Love My Recruiter - The Recruiter Loyalty Factor

Just a couple days ago Penelope Trunk mentioned what I have long called the Recruiter Loyalty Factor in her recent post.  Of course she did not call it The Recruiter Loyalty Factor but in essence she describes it in her post.

The Recruiter Loyalty Factor is an interesting and some times controversial concept.  Anyone who has ever worked for me or been a participant in one of our recruiter training programs knows that I have always led and taught that the number one reason a talented person chooses to work with a specific recruiter is trust.  With it a recruiter can't fail.  Without it, game over - you lose!

Another common tenant of my recruiting leadership and training programs is that great recruiters establish, form and develop meaningful, transparent and trusting relationships with talent (not just candidates) and that talent often form fierce alliances and loyalty to their recruiter; not the company they choose to work for.  This is true whether it is in third party or corporate recruiting. 

While I was the Director of Recruiting at FirstMerit Bank in Ohio I would hear at least once a week, from candidates and team members, that they took the position because of the recruiter (we called them Talent Acquisition Consultants) and the relationship they built with them.  We would often secure some incredible talent because of the relationships we built and the trust we established.  The recruiting team became the beacon to which great talent was drawn.  In a talented candidates mind the fact that recruiting was so relational, so able to be trusted, so skilled at what they were doing was indicative of the overall health of the organization and they wanted to be a part of it.

Friday Frenzy - Quick Hits Across The Blogosphere

If any of our readers (all 5 of them - it's good to have family) took note, we posted a Monday Morning Quick Hits once before in which we just provided some links to some things of interest.  Monday Quick Hits might come back but today I am replacing it with Friday Frenzy.  Why?  Because I saw many things that peaked my interest today and rather then turn them all into extended posts I thought I would just share them, link them and perhaps comment on them in depth later. 

Without further ado, here is the first edition of Friday Frenzy:

• The Employee Factor provides a summary of the Ten Rules of Engagement.  Beyond employee engagement I think there are huge lessons here for prospect, candidate and client engagement as well.
• Wow!  The Chad, brings the thunder on TMP and their new Work With Me Facebook referral gadget.  Basically, he calls it all show and no go.  In case you were curious, we agree 100% with the Chad on this one.
• Michael McKinney over on Leader Blog quotes Charles Handy on Managing Paradox.
• Jim Durbin is launching Social Media Headhunter next week.
• This is a bit old, January 2nd to be precise, but I think it is a an awesome tool.  Shally Steckerl gives up a list of blogging resources with What Everyone Ought To Know About Blogging. 
• From The Daily Recruiter is an offering about not accepting counteroffers.  While the advice here is solid, I didn't find anything particularly new or innovative.  I think it is a good refresher.  That said, great recruiters employ a technique (one that we teach in our recruiter training programs) that ensures a counter offer isn't even made.  If a counter offer isn't made then there is no chance your candidate will have something to consider.  No offer, no change of heart.  Look for a training tip post on how to prevent counter offers from even occurring. 

Ben Gotkin Gives Career Value Proposition For RSM McGladrey

Ben Gotkin is a good friend and great recruiting mind.  Though Ben and I don't speak with one another as often we should, I really respect him and trust what he has to say.  About a week ago, Ben clearly defined the value proposition of choosing RSM McGladrey over the "Big 4" accounting firms in an interview with Todd Raphael of ERE.   

So why choose RSM McGladrey for your next career move?  First, Ben made it personal by sharing that the reasons he was about to list were some of the many reasons he joined the company.  Personalization and sharing the story about "how you got there" helps talent to identify with you and and begin to picture themselves at your company.  Here is a quick list of some other key differentiators that Ben brought out:

• RSM is the number one accounting tax and business consulting firm for middle market companies.  This allows their team members to get more engaged with their clients and see the impact occur within the organization.  Not to mention they get to interact more frequently with the leadership rather than get jammed in a closet of cube at a larger organization.
• Their niche allows their professionals more variety in their work.
• Because RSM serves a middle market clientele their team members very often do not have the travel requirements of the Big 4 firms.
• RSM has a strong focus on work life balance.  Now, so many companies pay lip service to work life balance.  RSM is backing it up and getting recognized for their work life balance.  They were on Working Mothers Best 100 Companies To Work For list in 2007.  You really need to click on that link to read some awesome details of why they are so strong in this area.  Financial Week highlighted RSM's work in offering flex work and flex work spaces in an article back in October of 2007.  Work life balance is a reality at RSM.

I have no connection to RSM other than Ben.  They are not a client, I am not trying to get a job there (though with these differentiators and value proposition perhaps I should consider it) and I am not trying to become a consultant to RSM.  I wanted to share this because I like Ben and I think that what RSM is doing deserves some more attention.

If you are interested in learning about career opportunities with RSM McGladrey then go here now!