The three keys to success on the crew

I had a really fun and interesting couple of days this week at the IBM Connect event in Orlando, a pretty large and diverse event that showcases many of the technologies and ideas from what is a large and diverse company.

Amongst all the showy elements, (an opening mini-concert by the band American Authors and a short comedy set from SNL's Seth Meyers), and the deep dive sessions that focused on collaborative, social, and talent management technologies, I thought the most fascinating part of the show was a short meeting with one of the IBM/Kenexa customers, who shared some elements of her company's recruiting challenges, and how they were responding to these challenges.

The company in question, AMC Theaters, is a large operator of movie theaters in the US, (possibly elsewhere, I am not sure if that came up at all in the conversation), and like most high location high volume retail/service companies has to recruit for many thousands of front-line and entry level positions each year. In the case of AMC, each year means about 17,000 or so new hires for these front-line or 'crew' positions. Efficiently hiring that many folks is not simple, and presents any organization a number of problems. But for AMC, applicant volume is not one of them - with an estimated 750,000 applications for these 17,000 positions coming in annually. For these jobs AMC does not really have to 'recruit', they have to 'select'.

So when AMC set about making changes to the process in order to improve efficiency, ease the burden on theater management, and improve hiring outcomes, there was and is certainly a pretty large 'technology' component. You can't process that many people/positions without a solid tech foundation. But you also don't really get any better at hiring simply by organizing it more effectively in an ATS, you have to actually get better at hiring. And AMC was able to do that, again supported certainly by technology, by breaking down to three elements what it takes to be successful in one of these 'crew' positions. If you possess these three keys, then you were far more likely to be successful on the crew, to stick around longer, and would help drive improvements on the key metrics that AMC tracks.

According to AMC the three keys are that you are friendly, dependable, and you have some ability to sell. They test/screen applicants for these elements up front, (again assisted by technology tools that have helped them develop and validate the tests), give theater managers insight into a given applicant's test results in order to help shape areas to focus on during interviews, and finally make interview and hiring decisions based at least partly on them.

What was interesting to me was their ability to distill all the myriad attributes that could potentially contribute (or detract) from job performance into these three identifiable and validated elements. If you can do that, then you don't really have to waste candidates, recruiters, or hiring managers time trying to discern other nuances of a candidate's background ('So, tell me why you don't have a position listed on your resume from April 2012 to January 2013?'), or trying to teach interviewers some kind of personality assessment parlor tricks.

I dig the approach that AMC has taken towards improving the process for hiring 17,000 front-line workers, many of which have little to no 'real' work experience to draw from. As they have found out, it is likely that the previous experience, or lack or it, doesn't really matter that much anyway. If someone is friendly, dependable, and can sell a little bit, well then they have a good shot at success on the crew. 

And I left the meeting wondering if applying the 'What are the three keys for success on this job?' would make all kinds of hiring/screening challenges easier.

I'm wondering how much time we spend in the hiring process trying to determine the presence or lack of qualities that ultimately, don't matter much at all.

Thanks to the folks at IBM for inviting me down to IBM Connect!

WEBINAR: Don't Fear the Future - 5 Tech Keys to Raise Your HR Game

Tomorrow January 29, 2014 at 2:00PM EST I will be giving a Webinar sponsored by the fine folks at Silkroad called:

Don't Fear the Future: 5 Tech Keys to Raise Your HR and Game in 2014 and Beyond

This is meant to be a lively and hopefully interesting look at some of the most cutting edge or innovative technology trends, (robotics, wearable technology, etc.), talk about where these technologies are heading, why they matter, and then talk a little about how understanding how these technologies can and will be used in the workplace can help you raise your HR game in 2014 and beyond.

Here are all the pertinent details, including the registration link for the FREE Webinar:

While most of us with busy and chaotic jobs in HR are busily trying to get 2013 closed up -- there were some remarkable developments in the consumer, business, and economic arenas that you might have missed. Amazon introduced us to the concept of package delivery via a fleet of drones. Google wants to put a self-driving car in your driveway. And Rethink Robotics wants to supply you with your new office-mate, an eight-foot tall, fully articulated, and happy industrial robot named Baxter. Meanwhile, the workforce is getting older, entire industries are worried about finding the talent they need, and EVERYONE is fighting over the same superstar technical workers.

But you are a progressive HR, recruiting, or talent management pro (that’s why you’re reading this), and you know that in order to help drive your organization boldly into the future you’ve got to stay ahead of the rest of the pack and be the lead dog so to speak. And not only being aware of what is happening in the world outside of the HR office but how these technology and environmental developments will help inform and shape your talent management strategies.

You already get that the key to winning in 2014 (and beyond) is probably not going to be found in creating a better PTO request approval workflow, but you might not yet have the time and the bandwidth to think more deeply and creatively about how to leverage these changes in your organization and for your career.

That’s why Silkroad created their latest webcast – Don't Fear the Future: 5 Tech Keys to Raise Your HR and Game in 2014 and Beyond. Join us for this webcast, and we’ll give you a quick look at what these trends will mean for our work and workplaces, and more importantly, share some creative ideas about how to apply them to your HR and talent practice (and make you look like some kind of clairvoyant in the process). So make plans now to get your 2014 started in the right way - by getting your creative juices flowing and thinking about how your organization can be ready to win the future!

January 29, 2014
2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
1:00 p.m. (Central)
12:00 p.m. (Mountain)
11:00 a.m. (Pacific)

Date or time doesn't fit your schedule? Go ahead and register anyway. We will be sure you receive an email with a link to the recorded webinar following the event.

You can register here and I hope to see you tomorrow!

LIVE Tonight - #HRHappyHour Show on Collaboration and Coaching

HR Happy Hour 175 - Improving Communication, Collaboration, and Coaching

LIVE - THURSDAY January 9, 2014 - 8:00PM EST

Call in on 646-378-1086

Tweet your questions and comments - use the Twitter hashtag #HRHappyHour

This week in the first LIVE show of 2014 hosts Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane are excited to bring Sean Conrad, Senior Product Analyst & Sales Trainer at Halogen Software back to the show this week.  Sean and Halogen are both big supporters of the HR Happy Hour and we feel equally strong about what Halogen Software has added to the industry over the years.  This week, we plan to talk about ways that organizations can improve their communication, collaboration and coaching techniques.
 
Halogen recently launched two new modules to address these needs.  Their new 1:1 Exchange meeting module and the Halogen Myers-Briggs module introduce innovative approaches to workforce improvements.  Listen in as we talk about the modules as well as other ways organizations can approach these challenges.

You can listen to the show LIVE at 8:00PM EST tonight on the show page here, or using the widget player below:

Online Business Radio at Blog Talk Radio with Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane on BlogTalkRadio

Sean is a interesting and fun guy and it should be a great show - make your plans to join us LIVE on Thursday or catch the replay anytime from the show page or using iTunes or on Stitcher Radio on Android devices.

Hope you can join us tonight!

PODCAST: HR Happy Hour 174 - Oracle HCM World Preview - Modern HR

HR Happy Hour 174 - Oracle HCM World Preview: Modern HR

Recorded Thursday December 19, 2013

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane sat down with Gretchen Alarcon, Vice President of Oracle HCM Strategy for Oracle, for an interesting and fun conversation about some of the most important challenges facing the modern HR leader and the organization as we head into 2014, as well as how advances in HCM technologies are helping organizations to meet those challenges, and to offer some ideas about what some of the most intriguing HR and workplace technologies will have in store for us in the future.

Additionally, Gretchen gave us a preview of the upcoming and inaugural Oracle HCM World event to be held February 4-6, 2014 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. At Oracle HCM World, there will be over 100 sessions featuring HR leaders, industry experts, and recognized thought leaders sharing their insights and experiences - all designed to help attendees improve emplopyee enagement, to provide new strategies for talent attraction, development, and retention, and to support professional networking and knowledge sharing.

You can listent to the show on the show page here, or using the widget player below. Addtionally for you smartphone addicts, you can get the show on Apple's iTunes or for Android devices, using an app called Stitcher Radio. In both cases just search for "HR Happy Hour" to download the show and to subscribe to the podcast.

More Business Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane on BlogTalkRadio

 

It was a fun and enlightening conversation with Gretchen, and many thanks to her and the Oracle HCM team for joining us this week.

Note: This is the final show of 2013 - thanks as always for listening and Happy Holidays and we will see you in 2014! 

The most interesting companies in HR Tech #1 - Glassdoor

Note: It's time for a new, semi-occasional series here at the blog, especially since 'Job Titles of the Future' seems to have hit a bit of a dry patch. This time I am going to stay a little closer to a topic I am at least slightly more familiar with, the landscape of HR Technology solution providers. With 'The most interesting companies' series, I aim to highlight some of the cool and well, interesting things that HR tech companies are doing, particularly in areas that you may not be familiar with. As with every semi-occasional series on the blog, it will last as long as I find it interesting to write. And one more thing, none of the posts in this series are sponsored and I am not being compensated in any way for featuring any specific company.

Onward...

For the first 'most interesting' company, I submit Glassdoor.

Sure, you know Glassdoor as the home of the most extensive and thorough data source for company reviews submitted by employees, and a go-to source for job seekers to learn more about potential employers. And of course you know about Glassdoor's well-regarded and widely publicized lists and rankings, the best known being their Top 50 Places to Work list that was released earlier this week.

But what you may not know is that beyond their position as the de-facto home on the internet for a significant portion of what constitutes most organizations 'employer brand', Glassdoor has steadily been building additional tools and capabilities for employers to participate in proactive employer brand management, candidate engagement, accompanied by recruiting insights and analytics that are making Glassdoor an increasingly important and influential HR tech provider.

And Glassdoor provides many of these advanced company analytics for free, and so far over 16,000 companies have created free employer accounts to take advantage of the data and the insights. (See images on the right for example).Click to enlarge

Traffic to Glassdoor.com is ridiculously large, and the unique, valuable, and not reproducible asset of the millions of candidate and employee data points that form the backbone of the site make for an incredibly powerful, and yes, interesting combination, and at some level, makes Glassdoor one of the few (maybe the only) threats to 500-lb recruiting solutions provider LinkedIn.

Bottom line, 'normal' people go to LinkedIn every once in a while, when want to start looking for a job and think they had better polish up their profile. But they go to Glassdoor once they actually are immersed in the process, researching companies, prepping for interviews, trying to assess if the salary offers they received are fair. That is a huge distinction and one that Glassdoor is leveraging more and more each year.

Recently, Glassdoor announced a $50M funding round and according to the press release the funding will "use the capital to expand its team, accelerate international expansion, and further invest in products for job seekers and employers on mobile and desktop."

Click to enlarge

Glassdoor is already an extremely well known and well positioned player in the recruiting and talent management space and with additional funding, new products, an increasing global footprint, and the insane amounts of data and insight that can be mined from its data on over 300,000 companies it stands to become one of the most interesting (yes, I used that word again), HR tech companies to watch in 2014.

Have a great weekend everyone!