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Just In Time Hiring

Shally Steckerl Lead Researcher Microsoft Corporation

Hiring: Just In Time

A Solid Strategy Begins with a Clearly Defined Plan

As long as the talent acquisition function maintains strategic relationships with company leadership, hiring managers, and the candidate network, hiring just in time is possible.

Most organizations expect hiring to be turned Just in time hiring is a company-wide strategy infrastructure that fosters just in time projecton and off like a light switch as needed. During built around creating a scaleable pipeline that based hiring, and evaluate a strategy for rapid the need becomes urgent, which is usually too processes to ebb and flow, suitably matching such an environment. late, and as a response, additional recruiters demand. are hired immediately either on contract or as times of growth, requisitions are opened once allows the flow of talent into recruitment ad-hoc deployment of special hiring teams in

full-time employees. New recruiters with little most critical piece is the care and maintenance

Behind this seemingly intricate dance the Passive Candidates: A Myth

company experience and virtually no of a candidate network so that sufficient defined plan, and at the foundation of a plan is knowledge of corporate culture are then contacts within the prospective talent pool are unambiguous language which can easily be next wave of talent in short order. Even organizations time. To achieve the delicate balance between ception in the employment marketplace that expected to at once turn around and hire the kept warm and can be reached at the right communicated. There is a rampant misconenjoying solid retaining the interest of prospective talent yet needs to be disposed of before a just in time

Solid strategy begins with a clearly

partnerships with contingent staffing vendors not setting unrealistically high expectations, strategy can be conveyed, and that is the around time that it becomes practically recruitment professionals are connected to all There is no such thing as a passive candidate. impossible for vendors to take the time required levels of the company. As long as the talent

expect from them such quick ramp-up and turn- organizations must begin by ensuring that the damaging myth of the passive candidate. So-called passive talent is a fantasy used

in truly evaluating candidates to present the acquisition function maintains strategic to conjure up a kind of prospective employee highest quality available. Hiring top talent is the relationships with company leadership, hiring that has taken little or no initiative to find an with staying power. just in time is possible. single most critical aspect in attaining growth managers, and the candidate network, hiring opportunity. In short, the term passive Maintaining a high quality of hire while With appropriate forecasting of an employee who must be effectively recruited candidate is used to describe a potential

building and retaining a solid employment increased demand for talent, a recruitment before they would consider a particular brand enables organizations to respond organization can quickly scale up by engaging employment opportunity. If they are not in a sharply to fast-changing talent acquisition an already expectant pool of talent, instead of position to consider the opportunity at all, then recruiting on and off on demand like that. change. In this article we will examine an opportunity or at that time.

demands. It's simply not feasible to turn starting over from scratch each time needs they simply are not a candidate for that

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Hiring: Just In Time

Figure 1

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would be willing to attend interviews but may balk and lose interest if confronted with all the prospective employee entering the process required paperwork. In comparison, a directly into the applicant stage is frequently willing to jump through all the hoops and complete lengthy forms online even when they feel they have a slim chance of receiving a call back from a recruiter.

Suspect

Prospect

Candidate

Applicant

Suspect = A lead, name, and contact details of an individual for whom there is little background information but who is suspected to be a fit for the role and who may potentially be recruited and interested in considering an opportunity. Prospect = A lead who has been contacted, shows promise that they will prospectively be a fit for the role, and is interested in exploring the opportunity. Candidate = A prospect being considered by a hiring authority. Applicant = A candidate who has completed all the requisite employment application activities as defined by the company's standard practices, or who meets the EEOC's standard definition of an applicant.

process at any of the four points, or they may

Potential employees may enter this

traverse through all four, but they must be treated differently at each stage. The most passive of applicants could have begun as a

Suspects, Prospects, Candidates, and Applicants There are four distinct types of talent in

consider investing some time to participate in process themselves. Instead, they received an

paperwork. A prospect, however, is willing to suspect or lead where they did not initiate the

the marketplace. Aside from their suitability for the new role, these four types are stages separated only by the amount of time or energy they will invest in search of that new role. can occur in anyone at different

exploratory phone calls. The candidate, initial cold call from a recruiter, for example, investing much more time into the process, and upon being actively recruited, they became

These four types (see Figure 1) times in their career, and individuals frequently shift from recruitment process. one type to another during the Progressing from left to right

on the diagram above, the amount employees are willing to invest greatly increases from one stage to the next. A lead (suspect) would

of time and effort potential

quickly turn away from an opportunity if, before they are recruited, they are prematurely they would need to invest in interviews and completion of

presented with the amount of time

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Figure 2

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Figure 3

Hiring: Just In Time

a prospect because they felt this was a compelling opportunity and it was the right time to explore it. If it isn't the right fit or the right time, the lead would have never become a prospect.

employee would have then received additional attention from the recruiter in order to convert them from a prospect to a candidate, and of course the candidate would also invest plenty through the application process.

Top talent may come from any part of this spectrum, but the largest population of untapped high quality talent can be found where at least a moderate amount of effort is

contacts as resources, keeping them in their

Smart recruiters treat many of those

of their own time in calls, interviews, and Alternately, a prospective employee may

required on the part of the recruiting organization. There's a middle area awash with ambiguity, where candidates take varying degrees of initiative depending on their employer, but it is precisely because of that ambiguity that this middle area is where the activities can be found.

network so they can produce referrals or be

re-approached once their situation changes or the timing is right. After some preliminary phone conversations either now or in the future, they may become a candidate, attend interviews, and potentially complete the resource-intensive approach, since the lead

apply directly, without being approached initially by a recruiter, and proceed in the that is through an online process or via walkin applications, they're taking full initiative manner standard to that company. Whether

perception of the opportunity, or prospective

requisite application process. This is the most must have been identified by an expert

themselves, thus entering immediately into the

largest return on investment of recruitment

Applicant stage. This is what would typically candidate then is really no more than an and actively recruited for the right opportunity at the right time; an active candidate is simply regardless if it is the right fit or at the right time. be called an active candidate. A passive

The Talent Pool: Deciding Where to Invest

researcher, referred or somehow obtained by a knowledgeable recruiter who followed up with several time-consuming attempts to contact, one of which lead to an initial recruitment conversation. The

applicant who had to be approached directly

between the size of the talent pool and the amount of effort it takes to recruit talent, organizations should define their talent landscape and identify the critical points

Because there is no linear relationship

future

one who eagerly applies for opportunities

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where recruitment should focus. In Figure 2,

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Hiring: Just In Time

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imagine a straight line from the bottom left investment realized from varying degrees of those types of candidates, particularly diversity corner to the top right corner. That line would recruitment activity. represent the fictitious perfect talent

landscape where the size of the talent pool represents an increase in the amount of time, demand for similar talent. available to an organization increases propor- effort, or money required to recruit talent. The money put into recruitment.

Moving from left to right along the X axis and competitors who recently increased At the far right of the X axis, candidates

candidates; geographic or relocation issues;

tionately with the amount of time, effort, and increased cost is due to the diminishing are almost completely unwilling to initially amount of initiative prospective candidates will participate in typical applicant activities like

represented by a curve. Different segments of organization intent on hiring that kind of talent intents and purposes, uninterested in exploring the working population would be represented will need to invest more in identifying, opportunities. These candidates are the most by curves that demonstrate what portion of the contacting, and recruiting. The diminishing difficult, expensive and time-consuming to talent pool can be reached with certain initiative in turn can be due to many environ- engage, yet frequently they are of the highest amounts of time, effort, or funds invested. mental factors. Some of the strongest ones quality. Such a curve therefore portrays the return on include the difficulty of locating and contacting The pool of available candidates grows

In actuality, talent landscapes are take when shopping for jobs, making it so the completing forms. In fact, they are, for all

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vertically along the Y axis, with the largest talent pool at the top. Some talent pools are represented in the A and B example curves, graph without ever reaching the top. much smaller than others, a fact that is which terminate on the right-most end of the Varying segments of the working mind, here are a few example curves and an explanation of what they represent:

Hiring: Just In Time

eventually applicants. This is the costliest talent pool to expand, but one where the talent pool continues to increase quickly with added continues to increase, it is worth investing additional resources and time. This curve also

recruiting highly specialized technical talent in

Curve A: This is a typical profile for

investment. As long as the potential talent pool

industries like Information Technology, Software, Hardware, Biomedical, and Pharmaceutical. Professionals like engineers, represented with this curve. researchers, and scientists are well The size of the talent pool which can be

population will have different curves, depending on experience level, education, location, and job function. Macroeconomic in changing the shape of these ROI curves. As

shows demonstrates a smaller maximum talent pool population than the others, though not as small as that of Curve B.

factors and demographics also play a big role a result, some job functions will fall on a

reached increases only after a significant investment showing that in these industries or job functions it's imperative to initiate

of the highly skilled professional fields like

Curve B: This curve can represent many

different place on the graph differently at different times, so care must be taken to regularly re-evaluate the talent landscape and adjust strategies as appropriate. With that in

medicine and law, but additionally it represents other job functions where career changes also happen less frequently, as is the

communications with suspects in order to

expand the talent pool and recruit them into becoming prospects, candidates, and

case with upper management and leadership

positions. In this example, an initial spike in

Figure 4

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Hiring: Just In Time

the size of the talent pool occurs with little candidates are looking, they know exactly

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investment, because when these types of where to go. However, following along the curve, it quickly becomes apparent that large increases in time and effort lead to small represents industries with a very limited talent initiative to seek out opportunities unless they larger talent pool quickly becomes very costly

increases in the size of the talent pool. This pool where most candidates seldom take the are contacted by a recruiter. Tapping into a in this curve. The best return on investment for this example would be at about the point accelerates as quickly as it originally did. where the size of the talent pool no longer

collar talent landscapes like manufacturing, light industrial, construction,

Curve C: This curve depicts many blueretail,

2/3 page advert 4.25 x 8.33 inches

transportation, food and hospitality, and even moderate initial investment, like that of

some small business or office jobs. A classified advertising for example, dramatically increases the talent pool. A little more investment, like superior advertising, or a increase the talent pool available. In this example, it's appropriate to invest as much as talent pool. marketing and PR campaign, will quickly

the curve allows to obtain the largest possible

different subset of the blue-collar professions,

Curve D: This curve exemplifies a

including more of the skilled or technical job CAD operators, mechanics, etc. These fields

functions like nurses, medical technicians, require a mid to high-level of investment but established, the talent pool quickly broadens

once reputations and relationships are well

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through referrals and word of mouth. The best return on investment here is right after the end of the curve, as it moves up. This is the point when word of mouth picks up momentum and allows for quicker increases in the size of the effort invested. talent pool with fewer increases in time or

Hiring: Just In Time

small to moderate investment of time and normally don't apply for jobs will apply directly and complete the application process. is a useful metaphor when dealing with near infinite amounts of applicants, it is absolutely useless for a just in time model where there

effort opens the flood gates, and people who

is a limited talent pool. There's simply no way that the funnel can be filled from the top each time a new requisition is opened. Even if that the available candidates will have been

can be prohibitively expensive, and it simply doesn't scale. Organizations wishing to be able to scale recruitment up and down as needed

Obtaining access to the largest talent pools

were possible, after a few attempts, most of through the funnel once before and will be to go through it time after time.

Curve E: One of the examples that this curve can represent is college

Regardless of the kind of degree, organizations hiring large amounts of graduates and with a small to moderate and fairly consistent post-graduates right out of college find that

recruiting.

based on just in time hiring requirements should not blindly drive to maximize their talent role in an organization should should use a pipeline like in this model. Only multi-incumbent pool at any cost for every single role. Not every

unsympathetic to organizations who ask them In just in time hiring, there is something

similar to a funnel. The difference is that the just in time funnel operates more like a be brought into the process, or come in on their own, at different stages of the recruitment life cycle, but candidates can just as easily back into the process again at a later date. renewable hopper. It's one where people can

[The funnel] is absolutely useless for a just in time model where there is a limited talent pool.
investment, they can forge relationships with select educational institutions and be able to graduating class. Small increases in time, effort, or funds invested will quickly broaden recruit many top students from each

be moved around, put on hold, and brought The hopper represented in Figure 3 is a

roles (many people keep getting hired for the job) will be filled regularly using this pipeline. Recruitment efforts focusing on the most productive parts of these curves where cost and size of talent pool are balanced, and organizations which do this for their most critical roles, will be successful in implementing just in time hiring.

pipeline of candidates which is constantly filled

with suspects. As new suspects are identified, they are evaluated to see if they show potential and if they do, contact is initiated. If they are interested, then a new candidate is

the talent pool. However, recruiters must to the cream of the crop graduates from the top schools. Another example fitting this curve profile

invest much more time, effort, and funds to get

fed into the application process. If they are not interested, then additional suspects may be solicited from that one, or the suspect is

is when a large, highly branded employer of choice recruits mid-level professionals for its corporate headquarters. When a city's most

The Funnel and the Hopper

simply put on hold, kept warm, and brought back in at a later time. Suspect and prospect data is kept separate from applicant tracking more like sales leads, and not tied to a specific

metaphors to describe how organizations filter

One of the most commonly used

reputable employer takes some initiative to

applicants is the funnel. With a wide mouth at the top that allows volumes of people into the selection of candidates shrinks as they move falls out of the narrow end of the candidate screening process, the idea is that the down the funnel until the very best candidate funnel and becomes an employee. While this

data, so that these individuals can be treated requisition until both the timing and the pipeline begins to build upon itself, making

recruit for job functions like Corporate

Finance, Accounting, Marketing, HR, PR, Legal, Sales, or any other corporate headquarters kind of role, professionals in the

opportunity are a fit. Once established, this maintenance easier, and realizing economies most important.

city take note and the word spreads fast. A

of scale. At this point, scalability becomes

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Hiring: Just In Time

Scalability by Specialization

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prospect into a resource from which they can who presents them to the business units' hiring

ization. Suspect identification or lead to make a note to revisit the prospect at a later them into the hiring process, making them

At the center of scalability lies special- obtain additional leads. They can also choose managers or recruiters which, in turn moves

generation is conducted by highly specialized, day when situations have changed and there applicants, thus completing the just in time experienced recruiters who have become may be a fit. If a candidate is interested and recruiting process. Some candidates may researchers. Their passion is for the hunt, the willing to go through the interview process, they come back directly into the candidate stage identification of primary and secondary are then presented to the hiring authority and because they are the runner-up from a information that leads to pockets of talent the traditional evaluation process begins. At previous interview round, or they received an previously unidentified. Researchers' single this point they are no longer an applicant. They offer in the past but declined it and are now their contact details, information which is then authority. fed into a Contact Relationship Management

focus is to identify potential talent and obtain are in the hands of either HR or the hiring willing to consider opportunities again. Because of this specialization, if hiring applying directly through the company's

Applicants may also get into the process by

application and assigned to another highly needs grow beyond the output capabilities of standard process, but in this case they would specialized recruiter--a cold caller or closer. the researchers and callers, then additional typically go straight to the business-aligned These recruiters take the suspects or resources can be brought in. Due to the recruiters (recruiters who report into a business

leads generated by researchers and evaluate sensitive nature of sourcing research and unit) or even to the hiring managers, skirting them for specific roles, and then initiate contact competitive analysis, the ideal situation is one the suspect to prospect dynamics of this generating interest. Akin to salespeople, these the callers are either vendors or contracted guide in the construction of an ad-hoc, fully recruiters are passionate about selling the labor. This allows for the flexibility of being able deployable, highly specialized just in time opportunity to prospects and engaging their to bring on board enough callers to scale up recruiting team. interest. Callers may also work with other recruitment efforts while the researchers simply sources of prospects like employee referrals increase their output. Since the pipeline, or the requesting candidates be sourced from a callers have to do is turn up the heat and revisit with those who are a fit. Callers specialize in where researchers are full-time employees and model. Figure 4 shows a sample roadmap to

and special projects, like a hiring manager hopper, should be constantly filled, all the specific product group of a competitor. When the contacts which have been kept warm, callers identify new prospects or suspects, they along with working new leads the researchers share that new information with researchers, generate. One researcher should be able to Shally Steckerl

who in turn may identify additional leads for the keep from one to three callers busy. In models

callers and find updated contact information. where the amount of labor needed to identify information or competitive intelligence while on case with Curve B in the diagram previously

Lead Researcher

Frequently callers will obtain pieces of talent is initially much higher, as would be the the phone with prospects that complement the discussed, the ratio could be one researcher penetrate deeper into untapped sources of volume of leads is a bit less labor intensive, the talent. In the event that during the phone conver- per researcher.

Microsoft Corporation Shally Steckerl is an authority in Internet search and recruitment intelligence. Shally Steckerl has

work researchers are doing and enable them to per caller. Other models where obtaining a high ratio could scale up to as many as five callers Leads who go through the process from

consulted with Google, Coca-Cola, based in Atlanta. Email

Cisco Systems, and Motorola. He is shally@jobmachine.net

sation there is no interest from either the

prospect or the caller, or the prospect is simply suspect to prospect are phone-screened by the not a fit, callers then attempt to make the callers, and then sent to an account manager

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