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You are here: Home / Archives for Susan LaMotte

Fall 2015 Speaker Preview: Susan LaMotte

October 22, 2015 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Susan LaMotte

Do you ever wonder why you’ve been recruiting the same hires for your company and it never gets easier? Or why the strong hires you made a few years ago find their way out the door a few years later? Recruiting challenges are a part of our daily routine as talent acquisition and recruiting professionals. But we often attack them the same way: more advertising, more sourcing, more resources.  As the old saying goes: “if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.” 

When I was at Marriott I was passionate about figuring out how to better address age-old problems differently. And while we had a great deal of demographic data on our employees, we didn’t know much about who they were as people. My challenge then? How can you build an employer brand or market to potential hires when you don’t know anything about them? 

Research is a powerful tool. Consumer marketers use it all the time. Every single product you buy is targeted at you directly based on your personality and habits. Consumer marketers use focus groups, ethnography and behavioral analysis to determine how to best reach and influence their target customers. So why don’t we do this in recruiting?

Primarily because it seems different and hard. We’re so used to surveys and town halls. And if someone sells us a platform or web app that can automate it, we’ll buy it. But we can’t change the fact that behind every application, Glassdoor review and LinkedIn profile, there’s a person. A person who thinks, feels, acts and is influenced by so many more things than the last website he was on before he applied for a job.

As part of next month’s RecruitDC keynote, I’m going to show you how research can unlock the powerful influences that drive how your recruits think, feel and act when it comes to jobs. And rather than just talk about it, I want to show you how research really works in recruiting. That’s where you come in. 

As a member of the RecruitDC community, if you’ll take a few minutes to participate in our research, we can show you, live, at the conference, the actual impact of understanding the recruiting “consumer.”  And the bonus is, you’ll learn all about your RecruitDC peers at the same time. 

Maybe it’s time to stop doing what you’ve always done in recruiting.

Start here: https://exaqueo.typeform.com/to/EIkhAV

Susan LaMotte, SPHR got her first W-2 at age 14 and hasn’t been unemployed since. As the founder of exaqueo (ex-ACK-wee-o), she helps companies better compete for talent by building authentic employer brands and powerful talent attraction and retention programs. At exaqueo, Susan’s clients have included Carnival Cruise Lines, Luxottica North America, Four Seasons, MedSolutions, Social Tables and many more. 

Susan’s been doing HR, employer brand and talent acquisition work for almost 20 years. In-house, she’s worked with brands like The Ritz-Carlton, Marriott International, The Home Depot and Arthur Andersen. She’s also worked in university career services and served as a career coach.

Susan has an MBA (Vanderbilt University), an MA in Human Resource Development (The George Washington University) and a BA in PR & Communications (Virginia Tech). She co-founded the nation’s first MBA Human Capital Case Competition at Vanderbilt University where she was a Dean’s Scholar. She also serves on the Board of Advisers for Gloss and Glam.

She lives with her husband and daughter in Old Town, Alexandria and obsesses over football, yoga, wine, travel and getting a decent amount of sleep. You can find her at www.exaqueo.com or @SusanLaMotte.

Filed Under: recruitDC Conference, recruitDC Events Tagged With: culture, Research, Susan LaMotte

Brand Like A CMO – Employer Branding Training From exaqueo

May 8, 2015 by recruitdc 2 Comments

We’re always sharing opportunities for learning and development for the recruitDC community. Interested in amping up your Employer Branding efforts? exaqueo is hosting their “Brand Like A CMO” class on June 11th and 12th in Washington, DC.
If you’re a Talent Acquisition and/or Employer Brand leader, no doubt you often struggle with how to best position, partner and understand your CMO and his/her team. As Employer Brand leaders—we need our marketing colleagues as partners, whether it’s for help, support, or even access to relationships and tools. We’ll be better at our jobs too, if we understand brand the way marketers do.

In this leadership class, exclusively for Talent Acquisition and Employer Brand leaders and practitioners, participants will become CMO students. You’ll take off your HR hat, and learn marketing like CMOs do including brand equity, brand positioning and brand personality. You’ll walk away knowing how marketing really works, with a clear foundation and understanding. And you’ll return back to work with a fresh perspective — that of a marketing leader.

Already confirmed as participants to attend are employer brand leaders from the Boston Consulting Group, CEB, Marriott and more.

JOIN YOUR PEERS AND REGISTER NOW!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: employment branding, exaqueo, marketing, Susan LaMotte

5 Things Recruiters Don't Normally Share With Job Seekers

November 10, 2014 by recruitdc 4 Comments

By Susan LaMotte
As a talent strategy consultant and career coach, I tell clients all the time: “I get the other side of the equation.” Companies like that I coach job seekers, and job seekers like that I consult with talent acquisition teams at companies. 

Having a foot in both worlds means I don’t forget what it’s like on both sides of the aisle. It’s like recruiting bipartisanship. But every once in awhile, I take sides. And job seekers, this is for you.

There are a million nuances to being a recruiter — like many jobs, to an outsider it may seem straightforward. But there are multiple stakeholders, laws and budgets vying for attention that make it really difficult sometimes. And the more you know and understand, the more effective you’ll be. Recruiters may not want you to know their secrets, but here are five tips to help you get both feet in the door and the attention of a recruiter. You’ll thank me now. They’ll thank me later.

1. An important part of a recruiter’s job is inside sales.

Like any job, recruiters are measured, evaluated and lauded (or not) based on how well they perform. But it’s often with strange (to you) metrics like time to fill, or percentage of job postings (called requisitions) that have closed. More rarely are they measured on quality of hire (i.e., how well you’re performing a year after you’re hired). This means recruiters are biased towards selling candidates to the hiring manager. Hard. They want that job to close fast. So make it easy on them to sell you.

Bottom line: Don’t assume they’ll figure out your skills are transferable. Apply for jobs where you’re clearly a fit and supplement any networking, cover letters and phone screens with clear examples they can turn around and use. One time a candidate had a unique technical skill so he called to explain it and tell me why it mattered in our business. I loved that.

2. Weird behavior makes recruiters nervous.

Being on the phone all day can make a recruiter crazy. That means in between interviews, sourcing calls and offer deliveries, they’re sharing tales of insanity — odd calls, strange answers to interview questions and tales of incredulity (such as: “Why did this guy apply to three different jobs? Does he not know I can see all of them?”) There’s nothing wrong with getting a recruiter’s attention, but if you cross a line, they’re just going to ignore you. It’s just like dating. Say “I love you” too soon, call too many times in a row or try too hard and you’re out.

Bottom line: Make an effort to get noticed but don’t border on pathetic. Follow up and check on your candidacy but don’t call every day or start sending LinkedIn invitations to the entire team. If it feels strange, don’t do it. Making the recruiter nervous is a reason for them to focus on someone else. I once had a candidate email me every day. Stalker — you’re out.

3. Sometimes it’s a crapshoot.

A recruiter typically has a collection of requisitions she is responsible for. In most companies, it’s usually an unmanageable number (at least to the recruiter). So in the morning, she may come in and open her ATS (applicant tracking system) and start looking at what resumes came in for what position (requisition) overnight. She’s human, so while scanning resumes, she might be distracted by her boss popping by, a tweet or a phone call. That means some resumes get the six-second glance, some get 30. There’s no guarantee of fairness — it’s absolutely impossible. And if she already has enough candidates interviewing, she might barely glance, if at all, at new resumes.

Bottom line: Sometimes it’s a crapshoot. You might feel like you’re a perfect fit for the job, but the timing of when you apply or simply how busy the recruiter is that day could determine your fate. That’s where networking comes in. Never apply for a job cold. Make a connection in the organization first that can check up on your candidacy with the recruiter. Depending on where she is in the process you might not get a fair shake, but at least you’ll be in the know. As a recruiter, I could ignore resumes in my ATS queue but I couldn’t ignore a colleague at my door asking about a referral.

4. They influence but rarely, if ever, decide…

A hiring decision usually comes from the hiring manager. It may even have to be approved by his boss. The recruiter doesn’t decide. She will contribute to the discussion and provide opinions on interactions with candidates. She’ll provide context like salary ranges or market analyses, but she won’t decide.

Bottom line: Don’t rely on the recruiter throughout the entire process. Figure out who else is important in the decision-making process and build relationships. Send follow-up emails that show you did your research and take them up on the offer to ask additional questions. Just don’t go overboard. Weird behavior makes hiring managers nervous too. (See #2).

5. …but they have a tremendous amount of insider information.

Recruiters know what the hiring managers are like, what matters most to them and what interview strategies succeed. So don’t ignore them. It’s really important to have the recruiter on your side. You want to make their job easier and set them up for success. In turn, the recruiter can share that valuable insider information if you just ask: “As I prepare for the interview later this week, any suggestions you have on what matters to the hiring manager are greatly appreciated — I really value your advice.” The worst they can say is no.

Bottom line: A strong relationship with the recruiter is part of the equation. Recognize that she’s busy and may have a million priorities (while the job you want is your only one right now). Respect her time and help her help you. In return, she may be able to help you prepare, understand and strengthen your candidacy over others who don’t even bother to ask or care. As a recruiter I often felt under-appreciated. Thanks from a candidate and recognition that I played an important role in the process went a long way.

Susan Strayer LaMotte is the founder of exaqueo. She helps startup and high-growth companies develop cultures, build employer brands, and create talent strategies to help scale and grow businesses. Follow her @SusanLaMotte.

Ed Note: This post was originally posted on Startup Collective and was republished with the author’s consent.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Candidate Experience, Hiring, Recruiters, recruiting, Susan LaMotte

Five Questions You Aren't Asking About Your People Data

September 4, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Susan LaMotte

Quick quiz–how many presentations have you given with percentages or pie charts? Business has always been a numbers game. Every proposal, every case, every request for funding–data drives decisions and we know it. And now we’ve gone big. Big data. 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: analytics, data, HR, recruiting, Susan LaMotte

10 Tips For A True Personal Brand

March 21, 2014 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Susan LaMotte and Pete Radloff
The internet. For all its beauty and brawn, it’s like candy to a kid.  There’s always room for more. Unless you’re managing a personal brand, meaning, you’re calling yourself an expert and purport to be the “industry’s leading…” or the “foremost expert on….” The field in which we work, human resources, has it’s share of experts—from recruiting to Gen Y to organizational design.  But for every expert, there’s an online personal brand and many of them are painfully obvious.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Career Path, Personal Branding, Pete Radloff, recruiting, Social Media, Susan LaMotte

Tech Shoppers Beware: Don't Buy Candidates From This Guy!

December 12, 2013 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Susan Strayer LaMotte
I often talk with HR vendors, staffing agencies and RPOs about how to sell into HR and I’m continually amazed by the tactics people use. I’m not a career salesperson, but I have spent quite a bit of time in the buyer’s seat, and now that I run a consulting firm, new business is constantly on my mind.  So I understand quarterly goals, year-end stress and pressure to make numbers. But I’ll never understand why people think the mass contact strategy will work.

Sales = relationships. But some recruiters still don’t get it.

Earlier this year, I got this InMail on LinkedIn:

Subject: quick question…. I am a Tech recruiter from [company redacted]. I am representing an especially gifted Lead Software Engineer with a Master’s, who recently moved here from the Silicon Valley. He currently works for innovative media titan [company redacted] and previously led teams while at [company redacted] and [company redacted], respectively. He is more than proficient in several languages, but specializes in custom mobile, web, and software application development as well as Amazon Web Service and API management. His high quality code has scaled and supported over 600K in Daily Active Users in the past but his objective in his next role moving forward is to introduce and evangelize the process of continuous technological integration. He will prove an immediate and tangible asset to any Tech environment. If you are looking to do any hiring these days, let me know and I can send you his resume right away. I promise I will not waste your time.

But here’s the thing. You just did.

I’m not a recruiter. I don’t have any open tech positions. So the 30 seconds it took to read your InMail was a waste of my time.  And I certainly wouldn’t connect with you or recommend you to anyone (and I know many recruiters in the space) given your approach.

Now, I’m from Philadelphia. And I’m Italian. That means I’m brutally honest. I could have hit delete, but instead, I sent back the following response:

I appreciate you reaching out but mass messages don’t work. Here’s why: my company wouldn’t be hiring someone like this or any tech professionals quite frankly. You do yourself and the profession a disservice by recruiting this way.

And his response?

I disagree but thank you for your feedback Susan.

I’d love to know why he disagrees but I’m not wasting any more of my time. Whether you’re a recruiter, marketer, job seeker or you’re selling tech software, this approach is flat out wrong. 

As a candidate, I don’t want to be mass marketed. Do you?  

And as a recruiter, I don’t want my tech talent to come from a Costco-style approach. I want a boutique store that takes the time to cater to the right kind of shoppers–not one that’s selling Chico’s to 15-year old boys.

I did some research on the recruiter and the company. This recruiter is only a few years out of college and normally I wouldn’t fault someone who is still learning. But his terse response shows me he’s not looking to learn. And the firm he works for clearly isn’t coaching him. That firm has been around since 1999. So that means some people are buying (and teaching) what he’s selling.  If you’re shopping for tech talent, buyer beware.

Don’t buy what this guy, and many others like him are selling.

I won’t throw him or his firm under the bus here, but I will tell anyone who contacts me individually not to work with this firm. Ever.

The recruiter that doesn’t take the time to build meaningful and targeted relationships isn’t going to look out for you. It’s a sandwich board or apartment leasing sign-flipping strategy. And do you want to fill your skilled jobs this way?  I sure hope not.

Susan Strayer LaMotte is the founder of exaqueo. She helps startup and high-growth companies develop cultures, build employer brands, and create talent strategies to help scale and grow businesses. Follow her @SusanLaMotte.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: agency, inMails, LinkedIn, Recruiters, recruiting, Susan LaMotte

Stop Asking Me What's Next

November 6, 2013 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

This article was originally published on Forbes, with permission from the author. 
By Susan Strayer LaMotte

It started as early as eighth grade. Field hockey tryouts came and went, and we gathered around the team lists like crazed Madonna fans (the Bieber of my day). I was a decent athlete, and I made the A team. The season passed, and everyone wanted to know whether I was going to try to make the high school team.

Ninth grade found me playing softball. At under five feet, I was the smallest girl on the team, but also the fastest. That meant a sometimes-bump to varsity as backup for second base and the designated pinch runner. Everyone asked, “Will you make varsity next year? I did. Then it was, “Will you start at varsity next year?” I was cut. I’d been good enough to play varsity my freshman and sophomore years, but too many bigger, stronger girls rose through the ranks.

It was embarrassing — not even because I didn’t make it, but because everyone kept asking what the next milestone was. I was out of milestones. We’re so achievement-oriented, we can’t handle defeat (let alone appreciate the moment we’re in). I’ve learned that it hasn’t gotten better as I’ve gotten older, either.

Everyone wants to know where you’re headed next.

Fast-forward to college. I was constantly asked about my post-graduation plans. Same with graduate school. And my personal life? That was even worse. My husband and I dated for seven years before we got married. It made people crazy that we dated for so long. I know, because many told me so.

But what made me crazy was the constant questioning about our engagement timeline. And that was just the beginning. Now that we are married, people want to know when we’re having children. (For my friends already blessed with children, it’s: “When are you having another?”)

This phenomenon isn’t limited to our personal lives. The constant milestone madness is everywhere. A good friend of mine is on the partner track at a well-known consulting firm. People can’t stop asking if she’s up for partner this year. For my fellow entrepreneurs, the what-next question is constant too. Everyone wants to know your growth plan, your exit plan, your plan to go public.

Are you as exhausted as I am?

I get it. When people ask these questions (personal or business-related) they’re trying to be nice, interested in your work, or are genuinely curious (if they want to promote you or invest in your company).

But we’ve created a world where no one is happy where they are. No one stops to ask how you’re doing in the moment or what interesting work you’re accomplishing. And the repercussions of this what-next syndrome? We’ve forgotten how to mine the moment for what it is: a chance to appreciate the good and learn from the bad.

Study after study show that Millennials want to be promoted quickly. They expect raises and conversations about what’s next on a regular basis. And they’re not to blame for that attitude. We are (their managers, leaders, GenX-ers and Baby Boomers who have come before them). Instead of focusing on the best lesson an employee learned this year in performance reviews, we have conversations primarily focused on getting to the next level. Instead of asking someone what cool thing they’re working on right now, we ask them what job they want next.

Enough is enough.

I tried something new yesterday. I told a client about this future-focused perspective I was having so we actually stopped and talked about the great things we were each working on now. We were supposed to be planning future work but by the time we got around to that topic, we only had a few minutes left in our call. And it didn’t matter. I was able to learn what mattered most to my client at the moment instead of just ticking off deadlines and planning ahead.

When my husband and I first moved in together, we lived in a 750 square foot apartment over a subway station. We were constantly tripping over each other, and I regularly asked him when we would move to a bigger space. He stopped me and said: “Someday down the road when we’re married with kids, we’ll look back on this place as the best place we ever lived together.” And he’s right. I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have. I was too busy living in the future.

To read the rest of this post, click here

Susan Strayer LaMotte is the founder of exaqueo. She helps startup and high-growth companies develop cultures, build employer brands, and create talent strategies to help scale and grow businesses. Follow her @SusanLaMotte.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Career, Career Path, Susan LaMotte

5 Reasons Recruiting Is Like Dating

October 21, 2013 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

Ed. Note: This post was republished with permission from Susan LaMotte, and the orignal posting can be found here
By Susan LaMotte

There’s a great scene in Sex and the City where Charlotte proclaims she’s exhausted with dating. Constantly trying to find “the one” is tiring. And while there’s no real limit on the time we can take to find the right spouse or partner, if you’re a recruiter, you don’t have the luxury of taking your time. The proverbial clock is always ticking. It’s a constant game of matchmaking and starting over again.

Sometimes a good metaphor can be the best training. So when founders, new CEOs or leaders in growing companies toil over hiring, I encourage them to think about it like dating. It makes it easier to understand the struggle, the exhaustion and the hilarity of it all.

Here are five ways recruiting is like dating and the accompanying lessons you can learn.

1. Good looks only get you so far

When you’re across a room or a bar, you need a reason to approach. And attraction is often it. But once the target opens his/her mouth, it could be all over.  Or, maybe the good looks carry for a few months before you realize you can’t stand to be in the same company as him/her. Sometimes it takes a little time to figure it out. But when you do, you know it, and you wonder why it took you so long.

Lesson: A great resume doesn’t mean anything without a conversation. Credentials may get your attention but they won’t (and shouldn’t) keep it.

2. A little feedback goes a long way

Ah, the relationship that ends for no reason. Or at least you have no idea what the reason was. A few great dates, flirty conversations and then bam. Suddenly, you get a thanks but no thanks text, email or post-it note with no other explanation. Hours upon of hours of Sunday brunches and girls’ nights are spent discussing the “why” factor.  Most of us aren’t interested in begging for a relationship life jacket, we just want to know why.

Lesson: You don’t need to write candidates a long rejection letter, but at least share a snippet of clarity around why they weren’t selected. No one ever wants to swim in an unknown ocean of self-doubt. A quick plunge is easier to recover from and then you can adjust your search strategy next time.

3. You can’t ever have it all…

I’m a well known neat freak. I obsess over the Container Store and am known to often exclaim “everything has its place!” when referring to my home. My husband on the other hand…not so much. But six months into the relationship I decided that didn’t matter.  All of the amazing things about him outweighed his inability to have his help his clothes find their way into dresser drawers. It’s not that we don’t find ways to um, manage this drawback, but there are so many other awesome things about him. (And yes, I know. He can hate my neatness too).

Lesson: a long laundry list of must haves in a job description means it might take a long time to find the one. Consider what you’re willing to give up to fill the role sooner rather than later.

4. …but, being specific is always better

Sure you can’t have everything, but having some clarity about what you must have is key, right? If you’re asked “what’s your type?” and your answer is vague, those blind dates are going to have a low success rate. Sure, your roommate can find you a 5’6″ blonde who likes sports. But how does she react in public at the game when the ref makes a bad call? You’ll yell “that’s my girl” or slunk down so no one sees you.

Lesson: Fit is everything. Be clear on the criteria that are non-negotiable and actually influence performance. Do you need someone in your newsroom who can handle pressure. Absolutely. Is it crucial they also have a ten years of experience in the industry? Maybe not.

5. The honeymoon period eventually ends

Ah, the blissful six months when your new infatuation can’t do anything wrong. And then she has a meltdown or you find out about the ex-girlfriend he might still have feelings for or he looks at other guys in a way you had never noticed before. Perfection fades and reality sets in. And how you handle reality is the real test of long-lasting bliss.

Lesson: Everyone is on their best behavior in the beginning–from interview to week one on the job. So ask about a candidate’s worst qualities, how he handled failure or what he thinks of the worst parts of the job he’s applying for. Get the reality on the table up front.

Whether you’re on the market or blissfully settled down, it’s all about information, communication and being clear. You don’t need a self-help book, just a real, honest assessment of what you want and need. And then say it.

We’re the ones that have to save ourselves.

Susan LaMotte is a member of the recruitDC Board of Directors, and the founder of exaqueo. exaqueo is a workforce consultancy that helps startups and high-growth companies build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact exaqueo to learn more about how we can help you build a workforce that’s aligned with your company culture and develop an employer brand that will allow your business to scale the right way.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Feedback, Hiring, recruiting, Susan LaMotte

Fall 2013 RecruitDC Tickets Now Available!

September 30, 2013 by recruitdc 2 Comments

The recruitDC fall event is coming on November 14, 2013! Join us for a morning of information sharing, networking and learning with your DC area recruiting colleagues. We’ll be descending on the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD for our venue.
Visit the Eventbrite site to grab your tickets so you don’t miss out!

As always, a tremendous THANK YOU to all of our sponsors: Indeed, WANTED Analytics, Cleared Jobs.net and Brazen Careerist!

7:30am to 8:30am Registration and Networking

8:30am to 8:40am Welcome Remarks

8:40am to 9:45am – Keynote Presentation – Big Data is Interesting, but Little Data is Critical! Tom Becker, VP Recruiting, Manpower

The role and function of the talent acquisition leader is in significant transformation. CEOs and senior leaders are increasingly looking for the talent acquisition function to be more data driven and to better articulate their ROI. There seems to be a new set of skills which talent acquisition leaders much have to be successful. These skills are change management, process management and most important data management. This session will address how “little data” has big significance in how companies can transform data into insights to drive performance. Next generation companies are using talent data to predict hiring demand and focus their talent acquisition functions on key positions which constrain the organization. They are also using performance management technology to build sophisticated models to optimize their teams and to deliver real-time data to their key stakeholders!

9:45am to 10:15am Break

Breakout Sessions

10:15am to 11:15am
Call me, maybe: Mobile recruiting is here… now what?
There’s a lot of hype when it comes to mobile recruiting – but at many companies, it’s still a relatively new concept. You may feel pressure to begin scrambling to put the right tools in place but where should you start? And what are the watchout’s and gotcha’s? Through this panel, local recruiting leaders from Marriott International, GEICO, Amtrak and MITRE will share their insights on developing a mobile strategy and implementation tips… because they have actually lived through it.

Key takeaways will include:
– Key trends driving the need to develop a mobile recruiting strategy
– Mobile recruiting vendor landscape and considerations
– Implementation insights and advice

Moderator: Jessica Lee – Director, Digital Talent Strategy – Marriott International – Panelists: Kerry Noone, Employer Brand Manager, Amtrak; Shannon Smedstad HR Social Media & Employment Brand Leader, GEICO; Gary Cluff, Corporate Recruiting Manager, MITRE

OR

10:15am to 11:15am
Exerting Influence: How to Build Interest, Trust and Confidence in New Candidates, Ideas and Tactics
Recruiters and recruiting leaders are constantly working to build trust–with candidates, vendors and their own leaders. This trust is necessary to make the case for joining the organization, adopting innovations in the organization or convincing a hiring manager that a unique candidate is the best fit. During this panel, four leading recruiting professionals will talk about their successes in building trust to exert influence in the organization. They’ll share both internal and external examples of how to make the right case and what data, direction and emotion is needed to get that win. We often talk about the skills recruiters need to be successful but overlook the behaviors. If you want to take your recruiting organization forward and innovate with new candidates, ideas and tactics, you don’t want to miss this session.

Moderator: Susan LaMotte, Founder & Principal Consultant, exaqueo – Panelists: Bill Blackford, Recruiting Manager, Merlin International; MIke Bruni, Talent Acquisition Manager, SAIC/Leidos, National Security Sector; Luke Daniel Mann, Technical Recruiter, Northrop Grumman Information Systems; Lars Schmidt, NPR, Senior Director, Talent Acquisition & Innovation.

11:15am to 11:30am Break

11:30am to 12:30pm
Closing Session: Fast and Furious: 60 Social Media Tips in 60 Minutes!
In this lightening round session, local social media superstars share their quick tips on making social media more effective for recruiting, building brand and connecting. This is a great way to end the morning with 60 tips to walk out the door with to make difference in how you connect with your community.

Moderator: Kathleen Smith, ClearedJobs.Net; Panelists: Adelia Curtis, Living Social; Holly Biena, Capital One; Kerry Noone, Amtrak, Francesca Hawk, AIS and a few more rock stars for spotlight tips!
And more….Would you like to participate? Submit your social media tip during registration and maybe your tip will be picked!

Filed Under: recruitDC Events, Uncategorized Tagged With: Conference, DC, Jessica Lee, Kathleen Smith, Kerry Noone, Lars Schmidt, Mobile Recruiting, networking, recruitDC, Recruiters, recruiting, Social Media, Susan LaMotte, Tom Becker

4 Ways To Find Better Startup Talent

July 30, 2013 by recruitdc Leave a Comment

By Susan Strayer LaMotte
Now Hiring

It’s a pivotal moment, really. The point when you finally hit the magic budget number and you can add to your startup team. But chances are you have no idea how to hire. No offense, but it’s true.

Sure, you’ve worked in companies before and added to your team. You’ve interviewed before. How hard can it be? Talent is one of the biggest challenges in startups — and most of us know how much it matters but we don’t make any effort to learn how to hire for a startup.

Hiring can be one of the most important — and oft overlooked parts — of any startup or high-growth business. It seems easy: write a job description, post it and wait for the masses to apply. Interviews are just conversations and offers are easy. Who wouldn’t want to work for you? But, there’s so much more to it, and as a leader, it’s your duty to know the major aspects of your business — especially before you’re able to hire all of the experts in sales, marketing, finance, product development, engineering, etc. You may still be doing some of that on your own.

And recruiting? Well, sure, you can farm it out to an agency. But if talent is one of the most important ingredients to your growth, don’t you want to own the process (and save money)?

Here’s how to hire for a startup:

Know the Legal Basics
It’s really important to know what laws apply to you before hiring. There are federal and state laws (depending on where your company is based), laws that apply to companies based on size and those that apply to companies with federal contracts.

You also can’t discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Some states also laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. A basic legal immersion for you and your leadership team can help to minimize risk.

Understand Your Finances
Can you afford that next hire or hires? You don’t know until you really run the numbers.

You need to have a good sense of fair market value for compensation (see the “Know the Numbers” section in this post I wrote for The Daily Muse), and then add 20%. You’re not paying them more, but an employee typically costs about 20% more than their salary once you factor in additional costs, such as benefits, taxes and insurance.

Budget first before jumping to post that job description.

Be Clear About Roles
Speaking of job descriptions, you may be eager to share how cool your startup is, and how much fun the team has together. That’s all good, but what really matters is the jobs themselves.

Candidates want to know what they’ll be doing and what a typical day might look like. You don’t have to describe every specific task but even if the role has some ambiguity, spell out major responsibilities so expectations are clear. The best job descriptions include responsibilities, behaviors (how the successful candidate might behave or handle certain situations), what the company culture is like (strengths and weaknesses), and future prospects for both the position and the company.

It may be tempting to get cheeky or creative, but don’t do it at the expense of the job itself. Otherwise you’ll be wading through hundreds of resumes attracted to the cheeky instead of the work — many of whom won’t be qualified.

Create a Defined Hiring Process
What are the steps in your hiring process? It’s important to be clear, define each step and the desired outcome. If you’re doing phone screens, what are you hoping to learn in order to determine who moves forward?

Don’t let interviewers ask whatever they want either. Have a set of questions that clearly gets at the job itself — both skills (Do candidates have the level of programming proficiency they claim?) and behaviors (When a crisis happens the day before a major launch, how would they handle it?).

It’s important to ensure that you never ask any questions that address: arrest records, garnishment records, marital status, child-care provisions, pregnancy or plans for future childbearing, physical or mental disabilities, age, nationality, race or ancestry.

And ask similar questions of all candidates so you can compare them fairly.

Create Clear Rules for Selection
I once had a startup leader tell me she hires with her gut. Don’t do that, ever. It’s risky, unfair and leads to bad-fit decisions.

Instead, have a defined set of criteria to determine who moves forward in the hiring process and why. Compare candidates to that set of criteria rather than to each other. Who’s the better fit?

And if you’re doing background or reference checks as part of the hiring process, make sure you get permission from the candidates to do so.

Ask for Help, But Don’t Pass Off Responsibility
You’ve got an accountant to do your taxes, programmers to make sure your product launches successfully and a sales manager to drive revenue. Why are you trying to create a recruiting strategy alone?

It’s not to say you can’t recruit yourself — you CAN. But get some guidance and advice to create a hiring process that works for your business and your market.

On the flip side, don’t just hand off the process to an outside agency. This is YOUR company. You have to have a vested interest in the process and a long-term stake in the game. Agencies can be expensive, and it’s hard for them to really get to know your business.

Want more help and guidance on this topic or a list of laws to consider? Contact us and we’re happy to help.

Susan Strayer LaMotte is the founder of exaqueo and a member of the Board of Directors for recruitDC. exaqueo is a human resources consultancy that helps startups and high-growth companies build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you build a workforce that’s aligned with your company culture and develop an employer brand that will allow your business to grow in the right way. Find Susan on Twitter at @SusanLaMotte

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: consulting, Hiring, Legal, recruiting, startup, Susan LaMotte

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