Top 100 v 1.56 Ann Bares

As she was finishing her undergraduate degree in Social Work, Ann Bares realized that she just didn’t want to do it. Degree in hand, she went shopping for work and found herself in an HR Department. In the first year or so, she concentrated on Recruiting and administrative tasks.

When a job in the Compensation department opened up, she chased it. It meant more responsibility and a promotion. Much to her surprise, working in the comp function fueled her twin passions: quantitative analysis and behavioral influence.

She never looked back. Ultimately, she picked up an MBA from Kellog and led the life of a big time comp consultant.

In the following 30 years, Bares has worked in every conceivable compensation environment. From consulting with the big dogs at places like Watson Wyatt, Bares likes to say that she’s worked with progressively smaller companies. Six years ago, she formed her own firm, Altura Consulting Group.

Most people run across Ann in her blogging role(s). If you look at the December version of the Top 25 Digital HR Influencers, you’ll find her at number 9. While that list only quantifies influence in the online world, it’s a measure of Ann’s success elsewhere.

For most people, compensation is a dry arena for faceless, gray, narrow practitioners. through her myriad online outlets, Ann is able to use the discipline to shed light on key organizational issues.

Ann Bares has spent time around the clan at Fistful of Talent. Her own blog, Compensation Force is a near daily look at Compensation issues through a variety of lenses. She also runs the Compensation Cafe. Her work is routinely recognized in polls like the Fistful of Talent FOT/HRCapitalist v. 6.0 Talent Management Blog Power Rankings.

While the issues are powerful within the profession, Ann has the ability to make them resonate for outsiders. Give Compensation Force and Compensation Cafe a try. You’ll find the engaging analysis of compensation issues flavoring your view of organizational dynamics.

As the HR profession continues its metamorphosis, folks like Ann Bares are leading the way. Her blogs, which were started as a lark, draw readership from all across the business landscape. The combination of great writing, subject matter depth, intelligent analysis and a sense of humor makes Ann an emerging powerhouse of influence. She’s learned to wield social media in a way that changes perception, builds her business and teaches.

Review: Cachinko

There are number of entrants in the automated job referral business. Long gone are the days of weeding through the resumes of bosses children needing jobs. The ’send us your friends’ resumes and win a Beamer programs disappeared in the early 00s.

Really, referral means something other than it used to. The current definition began to take shape with the launch of H3. Hans Geiskes, once president of Monster, and Lexis-Nexis before that, built a patented process to process referral payments and harness word of mouth advertising. (read about the referrals advertising market here, here and here). In the middle of the decade, there was an initial rush of products. Jobster, H3 and a half-dozen other somewhat forgettable players entered the market with Social Media 1.0 products.

Anymore, ‘referral’ really has something to do with the number of friends you have on Facebook or the number of followers you have on Twitter. Where referrals used to involve the friends you’d swear by, the now feature the vast array of people you sort-of-might-of-know. This idea, whose strongest proponent is Dr John Sullivan, assumes that you can build an enduring talent pipe ling stratified by discipline and rank and powered by acquaintance. It’s a long way from personally vouching for someone. But, it’s an interesting rethink of the fundaments of sourcing and selection.

As we watch, the core disciplines of HR and Recruiting are evolving while the nomenclature remains the same. Referrals are a perfect example. Contemporary referral systems are mostly complex, single thread, outreach campaigns designed to create candidate flow and (sometimes) identify key sourcing nodes.

There’s a strong undercurrent of pay-for- performance. In the best systems, referral bonus payments are used to optimize overall system performance.

That’s the where we got turned on about Cachinko.

Using a visual interface and a set of easy to understand business rules, Cachinko helps you manage (and distribute referral bonuses to) your ever expanding network of social media connections and other referral network members.

The company, built over the past four years by a team led by Career Builder’s former National Accounts Manager, is a self-funded startup. They are in the business of building “automated referral networks.” With a tight coupling to the company employment website and job aggregators, the service helps you manage a referral driven sourcing process as if it were a multi layered social network.

It’s worth running a small pilot program in your organization,. You move your contacts from outlook to the Cachinko workflow and then start building networks and track records. Cachinko helps you distribute the job and collect data on the paths through which referrals come to you. You pay bonuses using PayPal. Cachinko processes the payments and the tax paperwork.

In some ways, building this kind of referral network is an exercise in multi level marketing. Cachinko has enough experience in the market to be able to make interesting suggestions about the optimal distribution of referral bonuses. (Spending a percentage on leads tunas out to be a smart way to grow your overall network.)

This is another arena in which the performance data that the vendor is amassing is one of the compelling reasons to join the service. In most sourcing operations, measurement is a secondary consideration. This means that the deployment of budgets biased on hunches. With Cachinko, you can test and experiment until you find the optimal spend.

Cachinko looks pretty smart from here. The stong graphic interface, laced with pictures and illuminating the underlying business rules, is easier to navigate than the more standard screens of forms to fill out.

We like the product and think it has a meaningful chance of bringing new life to the referral business.

On The Go v2.06

Watching HR Careers for Clues (Links to Linkedin Profiles (in bold) Where Available)

• Bemis Company, Inc appointed Timothy Fliss as Vice President of Human Resources. Fliss is replacing Eugene H. Seashore, who will assume a new role as Bemis’ Senior Vice President until his planned retirement in 2011. Prior to joining Bemis Company, Fliss spent 19 years at Schneider National, Inc., where he was Executive Vice President of Human Resources. He also spent six years as an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers.
• Jeffrey J. Hurd was named AIG’s senior vice president, human resources and communications. He was most recently AIG’s chief administrative officer and previously worked as senior managing director, chief administrative officer and general counsel of AIG Investments, and deputy general counsel of AIG.
• Purdue University announced that Luis E. Lewin, chief human resource officer at Ohio University, has been selected as vice president for human resources. He was at Ohio U since 2008.

  From 1987 to 2008, Lewin served in a variety of capacities for the Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns about 10 major daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. The company also owns television stations and media content syndicator Tribune Media Services.

  From 2000 to 2008 as the company’s senior vice president of corporate human resources, Lewin oversaw a $30 million budget for human resources, property and corporate security. He successfully led the transformation of the human resources function into a more innovative and leading-edge contributor to the company’s strategic plan.Prior to being appointed senior vice president, he served in several human resource management positions at the company’s corporate level, as well as at the New York Daily News and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. He also served as publisher of Exito! a Chicago Spanish-language weekly newspaper.

  Lewin received his bachelor’s degree in 1972 from Wilmington (Ohio) College in psychology secondary education and Spanish and earned a master’s degree in 1974 in modern languages from Ohio University.

• Liz Claiborne Inc. announced that Lisa Piovano Machacek has been appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Ms. Piovano Machacek will report directly to William L. McComb, Chief Executive Officer, Liz Claiborne Inc. and is responsible for all Human Resources functions across the company.Commenting on the announcement, Mr. McComb said: “I am thrilled that Lisa will be leading Human Resources. Lisa is a long time Liz Claiborne Inc. associate with roots in product development and has a profound understanding of the fashion business. She also has deep connections with and respect from our associates and business leaders, and the essential functional expertise in building high performance cultures and teams and managing complex change. She will play an integral role in the next phase of our five-year turnaround.”

  Ms. Piovano Machacek joined Liz Claiborne Inc. in 1988 as an assistant in product development for the Liz Claiborne brand. In 1996, she was asked to join a three-year business transformation project ultimately responsible for the development and implementation of SEWN, a proprietary supply chain technology that impacted all aspects of the business. From that initiative, she transitioned into Human Resources in 1999 to serve as an HR Generalist for the Dana Buchman brand. Since then she has held a variety of Human Resources positions across the company, including most recently Vice President of Human Resources for Partnered Brands.

• Harris Stratex Networks, a provider of wireless solutions for fixed and mobile broadband networks, appointed Mimi Gigoux as senior vice president and chief human resources officer. In the role, Gigoux will be responsible for heading the company’s human resources organization.

  According to officials, Gigoux joins Harris Stratex Networks with over 25 years experience in human resources management, development and communications.Most recently, as the founder of Tribal Works Consulting, Gigoux provided consulting services to both private and public companies. Prior to her consulting role, Gigoux held senior positions at Redback Networks, Digital Fuel, NeoForma, and Mirapoint Technologies . As SVP and Chief of Staff for Redback Networks, Gigoux led organizational changes to address the company’s expansion and later led the integration of Redback into Ericsson.

  She started her career at Apple Computer working in a range of roles including customer relations, marketing, event planning and communications. “Mimi is a seasoned and well respected leader who brings a wealth of expertise in the key functional areas of human resources including leadership development, executive coaching, mergers and acquisitions integration, recruiting and compensation,” said Harald Braun, president and chief executive officer. Mimi’s many years of experience in understanding and managing complex human resources challenges coupled with her innovative leadership style will make her a tremendous addition to our executive team.”

February 5, 2010 HRExaminer v1.05

Here’s what’s on The weekly HRExaminer

The Future Matters
As our world rapidly changes due to social, economic, and natural forces the demands for new thinking will spur demand for new kinds of jobs. HR and Recruiting will have to adapt. What’s the key to thriving?

The next 100 years in HR & Recruiting
Will Mexico really become a superpower while Japan and the U.S. have another war (not the car kind)? Where will the world shift due to our aging population, the planet’s health, or the cost and scarcity of natural resources? Our Review looks right down the barrel of the future and asks you to think about HR & Recruiting in a centennial sort of way.

On the Go
In our On the Go career section you can’t move without bumping into a Vice President. Congrats to these HR Leaders for thriving during our ‘challenging’ economic environment!

In the Know
Is the real root of GenX disparagement the fact that they are Republicans? Huh? You’ve got to read more about this in our In the Know section. While you’re there check out the 8 elements of contagious ideas with Dan Zarrella, a guy who might just be the only true social media expert.

Top 100 Influencer
We round up this week’s HRExaminer by rounding up the Roos that got loose in the top paddock (yeah, google that). No wait, that’s a different story. The story we’re closing with is about John Hollon, this week’s Top 100 influencer. John trusts in deep experience and the ability of teams to grow individual ideas into great results all the while ignoring the flavor of the month. Which makes one wonder how he gained this knowledge and experience in the first place. Thank goodness someone gave him a chance to gain experience! Actually, mentoring and employee development are central to Hollon’s effectiveness and he lists his greatest accomplishments as helping others to develop and succeed.

Five Recruiting Scenarios 4: The Future Matters

Recruiting and HR will not evolve independently of global events and pressures. Geo-political issues, energy, global warming, rapid industrialization, demographics, immigration and the constant invention of new jobs and disciplines will always drive the day to day realities of Recruiting and HR.

A key driver of the evolution of Recruiting and HR is the amount of growth in the economy and in a specific business. Recruiting for new roles is significantly different than recruiting to replace. The more clearly a role is understood and documented, the more the market behaves in competitive fashion. Once the new role is completely commoditized, it’s easy to talk about job descriptions, resume analysis and community development. As long as the role represents growth and innovation, it is hard to characterize and recruiting involves more intuition.

Status also makes a difference. Methods and processes used for recruiting and HR vary on two dimensions: level of compensation and the degree to which the job involves intellect. When compensation is low and involves brute force, the issues revolve around safety and reliability. When the questions involve enormous fees and lots of conceptualization (and notably, few real safety issues) the game is very, very different.

The following brief scenarios will give you some idea of the way that Talent Acquisition and Management could evolve given a shifting landscape:

• A: Oil Prices Move to $200/barrel A Year From NowGlobalization, food prices and the way we all get to work all share one common underpinning. Each relies on the continued availability of cheap energy. At $200/barrel, the economics of the later 20th Century change dramatically. In the first years of the transition, things that once were disposable (electronics, for example) become extremely expensive. The ability to ‘leverage ‘ wages in other parts of the world depends on the ability to transport finished goods at inexpensive rates.Spiraling ever higher, energy prices bring changes to local economies. Television repair men become vogue. The maintenance of now expensive luxury objects becomes the fastest growing vocation.The automotive industry collapses (even further) displacing millions in the supply chain. Food prices skyrocket.As work returns to the mother ship from outsourced destinations, a huge imbalance between available and needed skills develops. Recruiting grows in size and complexity as companies rush to train workers to do tasks that once were completed in other countries. Interestingly, the need for immigrant labor grows treendously as does the requirement for training of those guest workers. This is a future in which ‘competency management’ is in the ascendant, where recruiters can translate a resume into the necessary competencies and make a decision. Education, credentialling and structure become essential elements of an employee portfolio.(If you’re intersted in learning more about this possibility, Read “Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and The End of Globalization and watch this video)
• B: The Downturn Is Followed By Sustained GrowthThere are plenty of good reasons to believe that conventional wisdom (the recession marks a permanent lowering of expectations) is off base. Global econmic growth has persisted over a very long time period.
  The United States has a tendency to take a dour look at its prospects. The Geopolitical reality is otherwise.

  In a world of continued growth, population issues take the front seat. All of the Western industrialized countries will be competing for the hearts and minds of immigrants. While the United States has an advantage, other players are already beginning to compete and will be better at it. Government subsidies for guest workers will be common.

  Recruiting, in this scenario, is focused on the complex process of finding the right people to work in and lead new endeavors. Skills and predispositions are the central facets of Recruiting in this future. Workers agressively exploit their leverage in relationships with multiple employers.

  In the future with enduring economic growth, Global warming is mitigated by the slowing rise of population while the energy shortage is solved by a range of innovations including the wireless broadcast of energy.

  (If you want to know more about this scenario, read The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century and watch this video Part 1 and Part 2)

• C: More of The Same: Growth Slows to a Permanent CrawlThis is the Eeyore scenario.As happened in Japan, investment moves away from aging population centers and towards youthful countries. In essence, the flow of capital moves towards the southern hemisphere. The North is left to deal with aging and the associated health problems. Auto aftermarkets shift from a technological focus to seat padding and comfort. Attempts to build economic momentum seem sabotaged by a series of natural and unnatural disasters.Housing sits vacant even as prices fall through the floor. With no growth and no means to attract immigration, the housing stock is 30% too large. As tax revenues continue to fall, the stress between regions results in a crumbling of large national identity in favor of small regions.Young professionals learn to hang on to a job which is the only meaningful asset. The corporate attrition problems goes from “too much” to “not enough”. Recruiting becomes exclusively about filling empty slots while corporate mobility and development are in the ascendant.(If you want to learn more about this scenario, read the paper and watch the network news)

In the next four articles, we’re going to concentrate on the evolution of Recruiting and it’s impact on the market segments we identified last week.

What should be clear from this short example is that the future of Recruiting and HR are extremely dependent on the way that the world evolves.

• Five Scenarios: I Introduction
• Five Scenarios: II The Trends
• Five Scenarios : III The Marketplace

In The Know V 1.05: Links to make you think

• How to create great work environments
  Great environments encourage people to make mistakes and learn from them.
  Here are the four arenas that matter:
  1. The person in power defines the culture through their behavior
  2. Everyone must understand the different kinds of mistakes
  3. The person in power has to care about employees long term
  4. Everyone has to properly set expectations
• How To Destroy a Lifetime of Trust as an HR Pro in a Single Day…
  Kris Dunn, the prolific fellow who is singlehandedly redefining smart HT, tells a story about the time he got the phone call. A lesser member of the HR team used her knowledge of salary data to create leverage for a raise. AND, she wanted to be paid on par with engineers and operations folks. According to Kris (and most everyone else), HR isn’t on par with those functions. The lesson he draws from the story is about trust and confidentiality. I wonder if there isn’t a story here about why HR doesn’t merit equal status in the organization and what to do about it.
• Get Real About Generation X Stereotypes
  Is the real root of GenX disparagement the fact that they are Republicans?  An interesting look at the differences between four generations on social and political issues.
• The People Who Actually Use The Technology
  Steve Boese is one of the great voices to emerge in the rise of HR Social Media. In this piece, he patiently explains that all of the people who are dissing the iPad are like art critics: Good on opinions, less interesting in practice. The iPad, in Steve’s view, is destined for the masses, not the elite.
• The 8 Elements of Contagious Ideas
  Dan Zarella is the only real social media expert. That’s because he measures EVERYTHING. This article specifies the eight things you need to manage to create ideas that spread (like you hope your next initiative will) Social media is becoming a laboratory for the communications skills that make or break careers.

Top 100 Influencers v1.55 John Hollon

When John Hollon gets on the phone, you get hit with a huge wave of enthusiasm and insight. With 32 years of journalism under his belt, Hollon is a principled and opinionated influencer. As the editor of Workforce Magazine for the past six years, Hollon shapes and encourages the HR Industry.

Of course, professional journalists tend to have very interesting online profiles. Here’s how he describes himself on LinkedIn:

I am a highly successful and experienced leader and manager, in that order. I am also a highly accomplished writer and editor, with deep experience online and in print.

I’m also a workforce management expert, mainly because of my deep management experience, and, because I have seen so much management done so badly, to so many, for so long. That’s the theme of my award winning Workforce Management column, The Last Word, and, my award-winning workforce.com blog, The Business of Management.

My approach is thoughtful, experienced-based and pragmatic. You won’t see me embrace the latest flavor-of-the-month management practices espoused by so many current bloggers and writers who are full of provocative opinions but terribly light on evidence or experience to back them up. My expertise comes from years of successes I celebrated, failures I learned from, and simple hard work.

My deep expertise flows from a lifetime of experience managing people in groups from large to small. Want my philosophy? It’s this — I believe in the power of people working together to make something greater than they could ever build on their own. And, I believe in the power of smart and focused management to help lead them in the quest to do it.

Hollon’s reach is pretty impressive. Workforce Magazine (the print edition) has 52,000 subscribers. The email and web properties reach about 400,000 readers. With a predictable flow of 100,000 web visitors per month (excluding email), Workforce is easily the second most trafficked site in the industry.

He’s one of the primary arbiters of the idea flow in the HR Industry.

In our conversation, it became apparent that Hollon is much more than a professional journalist. As an active participant in the evolution from print to web, he has a host of hard won insights into the cultural transition both within and without the HR profession. His primary concern, from a business perspective, is trying to figure out how to educate a generation of consumers used to ‘free’ media that it’s not really free at all.

At the same time, he is strongly concerned about the ‘loss of the watchdog function’ once performed by broadcast media. He’s watching the evolution of non-profit (journalism subsidized by philanthropy) experiments. He frets that without this critical function, transparency s a pipe dream.

I was introduced to John by Kris Dunn who freely credits Hollon for his rise from obscurity. When I ask Hollon about his favorite accomplishments, he quickly says “being able to shine the light on lesser known talent”. It’s something he does regularly.

The state of Blogging in HR would be vastly different if Hollon wasn’t constantly experimenting with new media. Fistful of Talent, the amazing group blog founded by Dunn and edited by Jessica Lee gained its momentum from Hollon’s support and sponsorship. With the Workforce Magazine promotional engine driving publicity, its no surprise that FOT is a traffic powerhouse.

Somewhat surprisingly, Hollon seems most proud of his work as an Adjunct Professor of Communications at Cal State Fullerton. He teaches the art of opinion writing and is ecstatic about what he learns from his students. In spite of an enormous pile of awards and a huge volume of self confidence, John Hollon is happy to continue to introduce new people and new ideas to the HR Marketplace.

The Next 100 Years in HR & Recruiting?

Reviews: The Future

The research for the Five Scenarios project is sponsored by Pinstripe Talent. (We could still use an additional sponsor, please check in with me). As a part of the project, I’ve been digging into lots of ideas about the coming years.

Right now, there are a number of interesting books that lay out a range of stories about how our future will unfold. I’ve plowed through about a dozen of them as a foundation for the Five Scenarios Series. So far, the most interesting come from very diverse grounding, politics and vision.

Jeff Rubin is a Canadian economist who predicted soaring oil prices back in 2000. His book, Why Your World Is About to Get A Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization describes a near term future in which a barrel of oil goes for $200. In his view, soaring energy costs dismantle the global economy and send us back to local, simpler circumstances.

“We must reengineer our lives to adapt to a world of increasing energy scarcity. And that means learning to live using less energy. While much could go wrong in that transition, don’t be surprised if we find more than a few silver linings. And don’t be surprised if the newer smaller world that emerges isn’t a whole lot more livable and enjoyable than the one we are about to leave behind”

Rubin, echoing the slow food, local movement, idealizes our rustic past and sees little choice but to adapt to the harsh reality that the last centuries have been subsidized by cheap energy. He imagines a future with more repair persons and fewer foreign goods. Expensive food and hitch hiking dot the landscape of our coming years.

Stewart Brand, who co-founded the Global Business Network (where scenario planning was perfected) with the Shell team that forecast the last oil price disruption, sees a happier (somewhat warmer) future in Whole Earth Discipline: An Eco Pragmatist Manifesto. Brand, who is sort of the god father of all hippiedom, sees a future of mini-nukes, urban innovations, climate management and genetic engineering of the food supply. It’s somewhat odd that the former advocate of Rubin’s view is now suggesting a back to the city future.

But, Brand has a nearly magical ability to sense the shifting winds of pop culture and therefore the future we are experiencing. For Brand, the leveling of population growth (something this audience has understood for decades) is the trump card in the global warming debate. He trusts the human desire to have a better life as the engine of innovation for the coming century.

While Whole Earth Discipline is really a guide for long term thinking, Brand dots his vision of the future with an amazing array of anecdotes from the scientists who are shaping that future.Of the three works, Whole Earth is the one that respects it’s reader’s ability to think.

If Brand represents the fringe middle, Rubin has the left covered. George Friedman’s book comes complete with Lou Dobbs’ quotes. Tackling the pure geopolitical view, Friedman dissects history like he was slicing cheese. A smooth and compelling narrative have you swallowing his non-annotated analysis like it was fruit juice.

To Friedman, we are at the very beginning of the American Era. Pooh poohing America’s tendency to see a dismal future, he disassembles the current china bashing with a geographical analysis (China is incapable of deploying an adequate Navy). Like Brand, although more assertively, he sees the population slowdown as the cure for warming.

The book rips through a future that includes another war between Japan and the US, Mexico as a prominent superpower, the importance of encouraging immigration and Turkey as the upcoming leader of the Islamic States. Poland will become the center of Eastern Europe.

The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, Friedman’s book ignores stated political views and conventional wisdom to paint a picture of a world driven by long historical trend. Essentially, he says that what matters are historic variables generated by geography.

Taken together, the three books provide an interesting a blanched set of opinions on the issues that matter over the next 100 years.

Now, ask yourself, when was the last time anyone in HR or Recruiting talked about the next 100 years.

On the Go v2.05

Watching Executive moves for career clues (Linked In profiles if available)

• Holy Rosary Credit Union promoted Chris Patrowicz to Vice President of Human Resources.Starting her career with HRCU in May 2001, Chris joined the Credit Union as the Director of Human Resources. In this position she managed the daily operations and functions of Human Resources. In 2004, Chris was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Human Resources.Chris is a graduate of Babson College in Financial Studies and Northeastern University where she is “certified” in Human Resources and Employment Law.
• Armed with a degree in Industrial Relations from Rutgers’ University, Sharon R Daley spent 27 years across several divisions of GE, and has seen and digested management styles first-hand of the iconic Jack Welch and others . The Vice President-HR of GE Energyalso once famously passed up a promotion to spend time with her kids in an organisation where stepping off the track was akin to the kiss of death.
• American International Group promoted Jeff Hurd, who had been chief administrative officer, to head of human resources. It also hired Michael R. Cowan from Merrill Lynch to fill the chief administrative role.
• Choice Hotels International promoted Anne Hendrick to vice president of human resources and administration for the worldwide lodging company. Hendrick will report to Patrick Cimerola, senior vice president of human resources and administration. Hendrick, who has served as Choice’s director of human resources since 2003, will be responsible for all domestic human resources operations, talent acquisition and management, administrative services and policy administration for the company. Prior to joining Choice in 2003 in her previous role, Hendrick held a variety of positions during her 21-year career. Her previous positions included 9 years with HCR Manor Care and 7 years with Marriott.
• Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit named Karen Sanford director of human resources and organizational development. Sanford oversees human resources and employee and organizational development. She was human resources manager for Ford Motor Credit.
• A provider of technology for the travel and tourism industry has recruited an experienced human resources professional from Citigroup. Sabine Hansen Peck was the banking group’s former Head of Human Resources, Europe, Middle East & Africa for the Global Consumer Group. Peck has over 17 years experience managing large HR functions and multi-cultural teams. Peck has been appointed as Vice President, Human Resources for Amadeus and will be responsible for group HR worldwide. Amadeus have a global workforce of over 8,900 employees. Luis Marato, Deputy CEO, Amadeus, believes that the appointment of Peck clearly demonstrates that the firm’s ability to: “attract the best professional talents”.
• International Consolidated Companies appointed Daniel W. Swinehart, CPA, to the position of Vice President Acquisitions and Integration. “Daniel’s expertise is critical to identifying beneficial acquisition opportunities for INCC that will allow us to grow our offerings and capabilities,” stated Antonio F. Uccello, III, President and CEO. Swinehart is a Certified Public Accountant with experience in International Financial Reporting, Mergers & Acquisitions and Strategic Planning. Prior to joining INCC he served as Vice President of Finance and Human Resources for Pendo Systems, Inc., where he drove finance, human resources and corporate administration for domestic and international operations. From 2003 to 2008 he was Chief Administration Officer for Upstream (which in 2003 acquired Rosenbluth International, where he worked as Director of Finance and Controller since 1999) managing all global corporate finance, human resources and administrative functions.
• Trinket, the San Leandro provider of payroll, benefits and human resources outsourcing services to small businesses appointed Carlos Galarce chief operating officer. Recently, he was a managing partner at Santiago Partners.

January 29, 2010 HRExaminer v1.04

What’s on HRExaminer this week

You could win an Apple iPad just by contributing to HRExaminer’s Blank Slate Challenge. By now you’ve likely heard that Apple unveiled their highly anticipated iPad Wednesday. While word is still out on whether the iPad will be another game-changer like the iPhone, there’s no doubt that HR teams everywhere could use some game-changers of their own.

We have not one, but two amazing Top 100 Inluencers this week – John Murabito and Dave Shadovitz. John’s career is about stretching for the higher rung while using metrics, team focus and acquired wisdom to drive change and results. Dave Shadovitz is a career journalist who has run the show at Human Resources Executive Magazine since its birth in 1986. 23 years later, David remains passionate about keeping his audience engaged and informed.

We’ll chart industry job moves in this week’s On the Go column while tuning in to In the Know to see how Tom Coates of the popular PlasticBag.org blog responds to Clay Shirky’s A Rant About Women.

We wrap it all up in our ongoing series about Five Scenarios for the Future of Recruiting with Five Scenarios 3: The Marketplace.

- enjoy

John Sumser

Five Scenarios 3: The Marketplace

This article is the third in a series of pieces designed for a conversation at ERE’s Spring Expo.

When change comes to Recruiting, it comes in a variety of forms. In the search for the candidate who will deliver the best value for the money, companies are continuously innovating and seeking competitive advantage in the employment marketplace. Trends, fads and idiosyncratic procedures are commonplace.

Again, change comes in a variety of forms:

• New Technologies (like job boards or Applicant Tracking Systems) can shift the relationship balance between employer and employee
• New Techniques (like behavioral interviewing and internet sourcing) can change the selection process
• New Ways of Doing Business (like outsourcing) can change the volume and complexity of recruiting relationships
• Shifting Economics can change the demand equations making some skills more valuable than others
• Demographics can alter communications goals and processes
• New Information Management Ideas (like open source, wikis or public resume databases) change the competitive intelligence aspects of the game.
• Technology Disruption can eradicate an industry creating a surplus of potential employees who don’t quite fit
• Fads and Voodoo (handwriting analysis is a popular assessment tool in some places) shape some companies perspective

There is a darwinian process for figuring out which technologies work and which fail. The team that fields the best technology, marketing and sales combination gets to fight the next battle. Market dominance is rarely evidence of product quality alone. It’s usually a blend of of a pretty good product, super marketing and relentless sales that distinguishes the winners.

As we start to look at the ways in which Recruiting might change, it’s important to have a shared perspective of the market. The following map is one way of looking at all of the possible recruiting entities in the Domestic American Economy. It’s a grid representing all of the establishments in the United States that hire people. There are about 7.5 Million of them. (The number is somewhat smaller due to the downturn so I’ve used percentages)

The Vertical Axis is marked at the 80%, and 95% points. 80% of all companies have fewer than 100 Employees, 15% have between 100 and 500 employees and 5% have more than 500 employees. If you squinted, you could see the 1,800 companies with more than 5,000 employees. Each of these groups handles recruiting in relatively different ways.

The sub 100 crowd rarely uses formal systems to recruit. For many, it’s not really very likely that there’s an HR System much beyond payroll and benefits. Word of mouth and local referrals dominate the hiring process. This is one of the arenas in which Craigslist is very strong.

The sub 500 group is where formal systems start to matter. The Recruiters are as likely to be an HR Generalist as they are to be a competent professional recruiter. Much of the mom and pop contingent search business operates in this sector.

Above 500 employees begins to be enterprisey. As companies get larger, procurement processes become more formal, HR gains authority and credibility and IT infrastructure begins to be a serious investment. The squint level (5,000 and above) companies are a rarified environment.


The horizontal axis is marked at 60% and 90%.

60% of all companies (more or less) use reactive street level HR structures that are designed to solve crises. Almost perfectly administrative, these operations are the holdouts from the era of the personnel department. HR is for payroll, absolute minimum regulatory compliance, time keeping, benefits administration and old fashioned hiring methods. The bottom left hand corner of the matrix is darkened for two reasons. First of all, this is where most job creation happens. Second, recruiting, as it is described in any sort of professional literature basically doesn’t happen here. Hiring is done by word of mouth, local bulletin board advertising, Craigslist (maybe), and asking around (the low level referral system).

30% of all companies have SHRM members. HR and Recruiting work hard to be proactive and strategic. This is the world where the HR person aspires to a seat at the table. In the sub 100 companies, recruiting is done by the executive team and HR means a good work environment and great benefits. For the smallest HR operations in this category, SHRM is the HR training department. Above 100, the HR department is earnest and hard working with a new found tendency to focus on measuring and improving their processes.

The final 10% on the horizontal axis are the places where the Human Capital function is transformative. The recruiting and other HR functions deliver business results and impact. They expect to be involved in executive decision making and wonder what the all that fuss about the table is about. They do their work in the golf cart. In this segment, analytics is catching on and people are starting to wrestle with data driven, evidence based systems. Below 100 employees, much of the HR function is outsourced and key hires are handled, with a good chunk of analysis by the executives. Between 100 and 500 employees, the systems formalize and, again, resources are expended to make sure that the best systems and tools are used. Above 500 employees in this sector, things get really interesting. When Human Capital is seen and used as a business weapon, remarkable things happen.

The employment marketplace is vast. Over seven million firms employ 120 Million people (the rest of the workforce works for the government). The black square represents the 24 Million people in about 4 Million companies who don’t use Recruiting per se. The rest of the market is the ‘formal’ recruiting market.

So, how’s the picture? Do you think this is an accurate picture? Is there another way to portray the market?

I find the picture useful as a way of explaining how some things work. Economic pressure bears down on the top of the matrix. One way of thinking about the economy is that the thin strata of big companies are where money flows from into the smaller establishments in the food chain.

Technology adoption is a different story. It comes into our market from the right. The companies with Transformative HR are almost always early technology adopters. The next 30% follow the best practices of the innovators. The remaining 60% buy technology when there is a rational dollars and sense argument.

Make sense?

I hope you’re enjoying this build up to the ERE conference. Pinstripetalent has been kind enough to sponsor the work and research that makes the project possible.

Win an Apple iPad on HRExaminer's Blank Slate Challenge

The news is in – Apple just released their amazing new product – the Apple iPad.

Technology evangelists and business experts are already heralding the iPad as a game-changing product. Here at HRExaminer that got us thinking about all that had to happen to bring the iPad to market.

We thought about the people who contributed to the user interface, the hardware development, the marketing and manufacturers, even the deals with the content partners. It took a whole company of people, in turn supported by many suppliers and partners. Amazing when you think of it.

It didn’t take long before we had moved on to thinking about the strategy and talent required to pull it all off.

We have a lot of ideas about what we think HR should be. Our internal customers have a list of their own…

Perhaps what is needed is some totally fresh thinking. So we’re launching a challenge – a contest of ideas.

Imagine an HR led strategy that could produce results in your organization like the iPhone and iPad have for Apple. How would you change the way you recruit, hire, develop and retain your employees so they could reach their full potential while keeping them engaged? (The proposal that you give them all iPhones and let them play with themselves has already been suggested.)

How would you change your company go-to-market strategy in areas like product, sales and marketing? Step in their shoes for a while and then come back to your expertise – people. Would you re-design one of your own internal HR functions like Recruiting to drive your game-changer?  What is it going to to take to produce a game-changer? Who is it going to take to produce a game changer?

Here’s your mission:

Submit a 200-1,000 word essay describing a game-changing HR led strategy that you could announce by February 28 in your company and begin implementation by the end of Q1 2010 – around the time the Apple iPad is set to ship.

See this as a way to re-challenge your own assumptions for 2010 and that of your organization – even what HR ‘does’. Assume that your CEO loves the idea, the CFO is cutting the check, and that you will get everything you need to make your plan happen. Tell us how HR will transform your company into a better place to work and work better.

Judging

Judging will be subjective and arbitrary, but will be conducted by experienced industry executives and consultants who know what they are talking about most of the time (aka the HRExaminer advisory board) We’ll choose the top three submissions we receive by February 28, 2010 by 11PM PST. The panel will consider the following areas in selecting their winners:

1. Originality
2. Communication of idea or strategy
3. Potential to redefine HR’s role & impact in the company

Prizes

• First Place: Apple iPad. (We’ll have a team camped out in line to get it on the first day they’re available*)
• Second Place: Apple iPod nano 8GB
• Third Place: Apple iTunes $75 Gift Card

All accepted entries will be published on HRExaminer.com. Contestants agree to allow HRExaminer to publish and re-use this content on its associated website/s, email, events, marketing and publications.

Deadline

Sunday February 28, 2010 11PM EST (GMT -5)

How to Submit your Entry

Please send an email titled “Blank Slate Challenge” containing the information noted below to blankslate@hrexaminer.com
along with your essay. Your essay can be included in the email text OR as an attachment in either Word, RTF, PDF, PowerPoint, etc.)

Your Email Must Include:

• Your Name
• Company Name
• Your Email address
• Your Phone Number
• Company Website Address
• Essay (in text or attachment)

If you have any other questions just send them to the email address blankslate@hrexaminer.com.

Thanks and good luck!

*If we aren’t able to purchase your iPad the day of release due to demand we’ll ship one to you as soon as they become available.

Tom Coates of PlasticBag.org writes on Shirky

In The Know v 1.04 Links to help you rethink

• Should We Encourage Self Promotion and Lies
  This is Tom Coates eloquent response to Clay Shirky (a hyper influential professor at Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU) who recently wrote a piece called
  A Rant About Women. He argued that not enough women have what it takes to behave like arrogant self-aggrandizing jerks. This trait, Shirky says, is the essence of great project management and powerful careers. Here’s Shirky’s conclusion:
  “What I do know is this: it would be good if more women see interesting opportunities that they might not be qualified for, opportunities which they might in fact screw up if they try to take them on, and then try to take them on. It would be good if more women got in the habit of raising their hands and saying “I can do that. Sign me up. My work is awesome,” no matter how many people that behavior upsets.“
• The Future of HR According to a non-HR Guy
  Short and sweet, Dr. Dewett sez “There are 3 types of folks in most HR groups: compliance people (did everyone complete the training yet?), administration people (they, for example, are kind enough to ensure we are all paid correctly), and, finally, people people (who work on improving individual and group performance, organizational development, talent management, leadership training, etc.). The compliance people are all about CYA. The administration people are about facilitating the status quo. The people people are addicted to shaking things up and creating various types of positive change. My idea in a nutshell: get the compliance and administration people the hell away from the people people immediately. The people people will only start to cause massive improvement when they are operationally removed from the stigmatized “personnel” past.”
• Talent Attraction Expert Joe Cortright
  The Talent question is much larger than an HR or Recruiting Department. Regional dynamics, urban planning, economic development, reproductive tendency and employment branding are all a part of a large stew. This piece, critical of Cortright’s approach to solving the Talent problem in Akron, is a part of an amazing blog about the talent problems of Middle America…Burgh Diaspora.
• Twitter Reconsidered
  Scott Berkun is fast becoming a central commentator on work, projects, public speaking and social media. He’s one of the new high profile next-gen business writers at O’Reilly media. In this piece, he shifts his view of twitter from the widely held ‘what a waste of time’ to a more thoughtful ‘hmm, people are using it, there must be something there.’ Worth your time if Twitter still doesn’t make sense to you.
• If Your Kids are Awake, They’re Probably Online
  NYT article on a new study of kids media habits. Online is the new literacy.

Top 100 v1.54 John Murabito

John Murabito credits his success to the fact that he got big jobs fast, ahead of his capacity. Development was a matter of people showing confidence in him when he was 22. Early identification as a leader coupled with great development programs helped him turn his raw talent into a finished product.

“I was out of the nest really early,” he says, “Leaving home in Chicago to chart my course forced me to become independent. That’s where maturity comes from. I worked in a number of different industries and developed a broad foundation rather than a limited view that comes from working in one company.”

These themes pepper Murabito’s narrative. “Risk builds confidence; Independence is the foundation of maturity; Breadth yields competence; search for risky opportunity; Take personal responsibility.” The simple slogan-like messaging seems essential to his trajectory.

Currently, Murabito is the Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Services at CIGNA. He’s been there for nearly seven years.

Prior to joining CIGNA, Murabito served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Services at Monsanto. His background includes more than 30 years of extensive related experience with the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo, Symbion, Inc., and The Trane Company.

This fall, he was named Human Resources Executive of the Year by Human Resources Executive magazine. The article describing his award details the work of a visionary HR Leader. Murabito integrated, streamlined, measured and made accountable the sprawling disconnected HR function he found at CIGNA. He moved, in fact, to be a part of the turnaround

The essential skills of great Human Resources Executive leadership are:

- Communication that Stays on Target and On Message
- Evidence Based Decision Making (driven by Workforce Analytics)
- Effective Outsourcing
- Program Management
- Contracts Administration
- Solid Leadership Development

Murabito excels in each area. Like Rusty Rueff and Brian (Skip) Schipper, Murabito is a graduate of the Pepsi HR Leadership development ‘laboratory’. In it’s time, the Pepsi system produced an enormous number of powerfully influential Human Resources Executives. The keys were:
- Bigger jobs than the leadership candidates merited based on age and experience (trust and confidence) and
- Job Rotation in rapid succession through different functions

The Pepsi approach taught these aspiring leaders how to rapidly adapt, find problems worth solving and feel good about moving on.

Murabito is exercising a kind of influence that only an Human Resources Executive can deliver. As a champion of data driven decisions and analytics, Murabito is one of the people who is actively changing the way HR is executed. To be influential in this sort of operational way requires that you:
- actually do the work and accomplish something and
- find ways to bring visibility to the arena.

At the bottom line, Murabito is a team player. For every compliment I volleyed his way, he returned some form of “you can only do that with a team.”

Top 100 v1.54 John Murabito

John Murabito credits his success to the fact that he got big jobs fast, ahead of his capacity. Development was a matter of people showing confidence in him when he was 22. Early identification as a leader coupled with great development programs helped him turn his raw talent into a finished product.

“I was out of the nest really early,” he says, “Leaving home in Chicago to chart my course forced me to become independent. That’s where maturity comes from. I worked in a number of different industries and developed a broad foundation rather than a limited view that comes from working in one company.”

These themes pepper Murabito’s narrative. “Risk builds confidence; Independence is the foundation of maturity; Breadth yields competence; search for risky opportunity; Take personal responsibility.” The simple slogan-like messaging seems essential to his trajectory.

Currently, Murabito is the Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Services at CIGNA. He’s been there for nearly seven years.

Prior to joining CIGNA, Murabito served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Services at Monsanto. His background includes more than 30 years of extensive related experience with the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo, Symbion, Inc., and The Trane Company.

This fall, he was named Human Resources Executive of the Year by Human Resources Executive magazine. The article describing his award details the work of a visionary HR Leader. Murabito integrated, streamlined, measured and made accountable the sprawling disconnected HR function he found at CIGNA. He moved, in fact, to be a part of the turnaround

The essential skills of great Human Resources Executive leadership are:

- Communication that Stays on Target and On Message
- Evidence Based Decision Making (driven by Workforce Analytics)
- Effective Outsourcing
- Program Management
- Contracts Administration
- Solid Leadership Development

Murabito excels in each area. Like Rusty Rueff and Brian (Skip) Schipper, Murabito is a graduate of the Pepsi HR Leadership development ‘laboratory’. In it’s time, the Pepsi system produced an enormous number of powerfully influential Human Resources Executives. The keys were:
- Bigger jobs than the leadership candidates merited based on age and experience (trust and confidence) and
- Job Rotation in rapid succession through different functions

The Pepsi approach taught these aspiring leaders how to rapidly adapt, find problems worth solving and feel good about moving on.

Murabito is exercising a kind of influence that only an Human Resources Executive can deliver. As a champion of data driven decisions and analytics, Murabito is one of the people who is actively changing the way HR is executed. To be influential in this sort of operational way requires that you:
- actually do the work and accomplish something and
- find ways to bring visibility to the arena.

At the bottom line, Murabito is a team player. For every compliment I volleyed his way, he returned some form of “you can only do that with a team.”