A word of warning for companies investing in recruitment management systems. I've seen too many firms struggle with a solution they have chosen, simply because they didn't really know what they wanted. The difficulty is in documenting the requirements which are often sophisticated, and writing it in such a way that vendor responses are properly evaluated and investigated. Many companies in the region are investing in ATS technologies for the first time, and so don't understand the many pitfalls.
A common mistake is to focus in one area and not understand the breadth of these solutions. An example would be to focus on functionality simply to make it easier for the jobseeker to apply, but to ignore Line Manager access to that data. That often leads to loads of CV's, but hiring managers being inundated with emails that haven't been vetted.
Often IT run a tender as they're buying software after all, but they don't understand recruitment at all. Of course everyone thinks if they've been to an interview then they understand recruitment, so they don't consult the business and the Recruiters when
writing the RFP. Recruiters (or Users) are brought in then to see the products on show, but often the scope of the solutions are very limited.
The opposite is more common, where Recruiters write a requirement, but of course the typical technical understanding of a recruiter is limited. Sure we all understand how to post a job ad online, and we may know about blogs and search engines, but data security, back-ups, storage, SLA’s, uptime, bandwidth, servers, systems integration??, the list goes on.
The risk potential is enormous, and I see many companies making mistakes in this area. You have to start of course by putting together a team, who will commit to the requirements gathering/tender/evaluation/selection/implementation process for a whole year, because often it takes that long. You have to ensure the team reflects the needs of all sides of the business, and that there is an agreed recruitment strategy or a vision of what recruitment should look like in 2-3 years.
It’s a tricky area, but the more effort you put into, the more chance there is of getting a solution that is fit for your firm. Good luck with those RFP’s!!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
One of Africa's Great Firms to Work For & Cyber Squatters
Hiring Solutions launched www.careersatceltel.com this week in a project which aims to make Celtel the best Internet recruiter in Africa. The first phase of the project seems to have launched well and rolls out now across fourteen countries and in various languages so definitely a benchmark careers portal in the making.
One shame was that the company planned on using celtelcareers.com, but looked it up and left it to a department to register. Two weeks went by and it was mysteriously snapped up by a cyber squatter.
This scam happens a lot. Basically when you're searching for career portal names for your company make sure you do your research discretely and if you have to check the availability of a name/URL on www.register.com or www.thename.co.uk then if you see a name you need then make sure you buy it immediately.
One shame was that the company planned on using celtelcareers.com, but looked it up and left it to a department to register. Two weeks went by and it was mysteriously snapped up by a cyber squatter.
This scam happens a lot. Basically when you're searching for career portal names for your company make sure you do your research discretely and if you have to check the availability of a name/URL on www.register.com or www.thename.co.uk then if you see a name you need then make sure you buy it immediately.
Recruitment Firms riding a wave..
..and fees seem to be getting fatter.
The feedback I'm getting from agencies and clients is that recruitment firms are raking in the deals at the minute, with ever increasing fees being earnt. This is normal in a growing market, but I do find it strange that so few major employers have realised they can employ internal head-hunters.
Sure firms are looking to technology to take on some of that role, but time and again they fail to let recruiters conduct true research assignments, they get too quickly drawn into admin tasks or 'special projects' and before you know it they too have to contract an agency to do their recruitment job for them.
The feedback I'm getting from agencies and clients is that recruitment firms are raking in the deals at the minute, with ever increasing fees being earnt. This is normal in a growing market, but I do find it strange that so few major employers have realised they can employ internal head-hunters.
Sure firms are looking to technology to take on some of that role, but time and again they fail to let recruiters conduct true research assignments, they get too quickly drawn into admin tasks or 'special projects' and before you know it they too have to contract an agency to do their recruitment job for them.
Oil & Gas Recruitment Innovation
The conference I presented at last week in Kuwait was poorly attended to be honest, however the quality of people there was quite good. A broad range of subjects were covered which is good for generalists attending to increase their knowledge, but no so for specialists who have specific problems to fix. One of the most interesting presentations was from the Oil & Gas sector.
The presenter talked about the shortage of students entering engineering disciplines at Universities. Compounded with the fact that the baby-boomers are due to retire in the coming 5 years; means that petroleum engineers and the like simply do not exist in the requisite numbers. This is clearly a massive worldwide problem for recruiters, so when you have to attract people to offshore fields and to less desirable countries you really have to be attractive. In the past salary has done the trick, but now employer branding and the recruitment process are critical also.
O&G recruiters are having to consider offering virtual status, so that new hires don't even have to leave their home countries and families, and allowing retirees to work 2-3 days a week. These workforce dynamics are new in the Middle East and it will be intriguing to see how many such appointments are actually made. This is a double-edged example of the crunch being caused by the Knowledge Economy. As the mature experienced heads are leaving the workforce, the new blood are choosing Law, Technology & Business degrees at Universities.
The War for Talent in this sector is entering a stage similar to that present in the Healthcare industry where we commonly see hospitals short of nurses.
The presenter talked about the shortage of students entering engineering disciplines at Universities. Compounded with the fact that the baby-boomers are due to retire in the coming 5 years; means that petroleum engineers and the like simply do not exist in the requisite numbers. This is clearly a massive worldwide problem for recruiters, so when you have to attract people to offshore fields and to less desirable countries you really have to be attractive. In the past salary has done the trick, but now employer branding and the recruitment process are critical also.
O&G recruiters are having to consider offering virtual status, so that new hires don't even have to leave their home countries and families, and allowing retirees to work 2-3 days a week. These workforce dynamics are new in the Middle East and it will be intriguing to see how many such appointments are actually made. This is a double-edged example of the crunch being caused by the Knowledge Economy. As the mature experienced heads are leaving the workforce, the new blood are choosing Law, Technology & Business degrees at Universities.
The War for Talent in this sector is entering a stage similar to that present in the Healthcare industry where we commonly see hospitals short of nurses.
Jobsite Launch Party & CareerBuilder $500M stock deal
www.exec-appointments.com held their launch party in the Metropolitan Hotel Dubai at the end of April which was good fun.
Good luck to Gamal Abdulla and the team as they grow that business. The site adds another badly needed Vertical jobsite to the Middle East and I hope the trend continues. There are a few Horizontal Regional sites now but specialists are surely needed.
Slightly related is the news I spotted on another blog yesterday about a deal between Microsoft and CareerBuilder. You can see the post here http://jimstroud.com/2007/05/10/microsoft-buys-a-stake-in-careerbuilder/
The headline is that Microsoft buys nearly $0.5bn of stock in CareerBuilder. As it happens it appears the deal is more an advertising swap where CareerBuilder have signed a deal to be the provider exclusively to MSN and other MS sites until 2013, and instead of paying $413 for the privilege, they'll give Microsoft a load of stock.
It's also a minority interest, so quite cleverly it values the company very highly even though no sale or exchange of cash has occured. In terms of cashflow, CareerBuilder have bought an endless amount of advertising but not parted with cash. Sweet deal! I wonder if this is going to set a precedent for how online portal and related recuitment software companies will grow in the next few years?
Good luck to Gamal Abdulla and the team as they grow that business. The site adds another badly needed Vertical jobsite to the Middle East and I hope the trend continues. There are a few Horizontal Regional sites now but specialists are surely needed.
Slightly related is the news I spotted on another blog yesterday about a deal between Microsoft and CareerBuilder. You can see the post here http://jimstroud.com/2007/05/10/microsoft-buys-a-stake-in-careerbuilder/
The headline is that Microsoft buys nearly $0.5bn of stock in CareerBuilder. As it happens it appears the deal is more an advertising swap where CareerBuilder have signed a deal to be the provider exclusively to MSN and other MS sites until 2013, and instead of paying $413 for the privilege, they'll give Microsoft a load of stock.
It's also a minority interest, so quite cleverly it values the company very highly even though no sale or exchange of cash has occured. In terms of cashflow, CareerBuilder have bought an endless amount of advertising but not parted with cash. Sweet deal! I wonder if this is going to set a precedent for how online portal and related recuitment software companies will grow in the next few years?
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