DataDome Blog

So, who do you know?

More workers landed their current job through networking than by any other means.

According to a new Hudson survey a full 73% of managers say their company considers internal candidates to fill a job opening before looking at anyone else. Specifically, 40% of managers say that internal promotions are the best way to fill an opening, followed by employee referrals and personal recommendations (24% and 20%, respectively).

The more you make, the more this appears to be the case.

Managers and others earning earn more than $75,000 per year are significantly more likely than the average worker to have found their current job through a personal or professional contact – specifically, 33% more likely for managers, 39% for workers who earn $75,000-$100,000 per year, and 36% for workers who earn more than $100,000 per year (compared to 28% for all workers).

Professional and personal contacts still give the job seeker an “in.”

• More than half (54%) of the work force is job seeking – whether actively so, or more passively (i.e., they’d leave if a good opportunity presented itself).
• 28% of workers anticipate switching companies in the short-term.
• Only 14 percent of workers’ resumes are available online. Among those employees, 42% believe their company has no idea that their resume is posted (41% say their employer knows).
• One-quarter (25%) of workers have worked with a recruiter or headhunter at some point.

“Hiring and retaining top talent in today’s job market is a challenge, which is only going to intensify as the pool of highly skilled professionals continues shrinking. This is why it is imperative for employers to not just react as jobs open up, but develop a formal recruitment strategy that provides a healthy pipeline of talent.”

While the survey doesn’t ask why job board applications, resume submissions, and the like are considered last, other studies have confirmed that the “resu-mess” of paperwork makes it easy for talented candidates to get lost in the shuffle.

Successful recruiting strategies to select-in more of the right candidates are derailed by the sheer volume of applicants. Sifting through the resumes takes time. Few managers, human resource professionals and assistants have the time to screen the applications, call the candidates, fight the voice mail tag, complete phone interviews, and schedule face-to-face interviews.

While attempting to disqualify the unqualified or disinterested applicants, high-demand qualified candidates are often overlooked and turned off by slow response times, cumbersome hiring hurdles, or inexperienced, and sometimes inept, interviewers.

While networking is the most common method, there is an implicit question here just begging to be asked.

Are referrals and network connections inherently superior to other methods of recruitment?

Maybe. Maybe not.

• How well does your referrer know the person that they have referred, and in what context?
• Does a contact necessarily know that this person will thrive and be successful in this particular position, or only that they are generally competent in another position?
• Is the referrer the best judge of the strengths and weaknesses of the person they refer?
• Do you have any way of knowing whether the referral is genuine (or is it just a matter of “calling in a favor”?

Whatever your talent sourcing preferences, a more formalized set of strategies is clearly needed.

• Have you created an objective job description, including the behaviors, strengths, and competencies required for success in a particular position?
• Do you have methods in place to job-match the position to appropriate talent?
• Have your streamlined your procedures so that qualified candidates have a chance to be considered?
• Do you use valid, targeted assessments to identify the most promising talent, position by position?

It pays to hire right.

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DO UNTO OTHERS… how?

As a corporate behavioral specialist, Art Schoeck has some advice for managers and employees who want to improve relations: Forget the Golden Rule.

“The Golden Rule is totally wrong,” says Schoeck, founder and CEO of Data Dome, a clearinghouse for assessment tools. “You don’t treat people the way you want to be treated. You have to treat them the way they want to be treated.

Such straightforward advice has helped to make Schoeck an award-winning trainer and sought-after speaker for companies such as BellSouth, Hewlett-Packard, and Marriott International.

“We help companies analyze their positions, assess their people, and then apply their people the best way,” says Schoeck, a member of the One Ninety One Club in Atlanta.

In the past 15 years, Schoeck has spoken to nearly 18,000 executives and managers through his workshops, which touch on everything from preferred communications styles to helping companies increase productivity.

“The employee and company both have to have a win,” he says.

The top corporate mistake Schoeck says he sees is that managers “hire people like themselves.”

The former restaurateur also embodies the good advice he tends to offer others. As he puts it: “It’s not just what you’re good at. It’s what you like to do.”

Reproduced from Janet Mefferd, Do Unto Others, Private Clubs, March/April 2007 issue, page 88. Photography by Marc Climie.

Note: We have gotten some feedback on this. To clarify, there is nothing wrong with an ethics of action based on treating others as you would yourself prefer to be treated.

However, in terms of behavioral styles and communications, the way that you prefer to be treated may not bear much resemblance to the way someone with a different style would prefer to be treated.

For example, a low S has a quick pace. If they communicate with a high S at the pace they prefer, a high S will feel rushed – causing stress. When you understand what the positions in the four quadrants really mean, you can adapt your behavior to treat others more as they themselves prefer to be treated rather than projecting your own behavioral preferences.

We have found that it is not unusual for people to make value judgments based on behavioral style differences. For this reason, too, the distinction is valuable.

There is an implicit ethic in specifically adapting your style in order to better communicate with someone else: It can be a way of paying attention to – and honoring – their differences from you.

Ultimately, though, an understanding of behavioral styles equips you with a neutral language for understanding behavioral differences among us. Whether you use that insight for good or ill is another question (and that is when the original version of “The Golden Rule” applies once again!).

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The effects of cuts in the permanent workforce are starting to show.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Continent and Alternative Employment Arrangements has documented that in 2005 more than 10 million workers – about 7.4 of the employed – were independent contractors (an increase from 6.4 in 2001). An increasing number of workers are doing on-call work (2.5 million workers), working for temp agencies (more than 800,000), or working part-time (11% of men in wage and salary jobs and 25%).

In the fourth quarter of 2006, there were 1,444 mass layoff events that resulted in the separation of 255,886 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Both the total number of layoff events and the number of separations were higher than during the October-December 2005 time period.

Some talented people who are laid off start their own businesses, and some of them find new jobs right away.

However, the modest job gains in some industries may mask that many workers who lose their jobs through downsizing or reorganization layoffs may be more likely to have to settle for temporary positions, positions that do not pay as well, or other stop-gap work.

A manager who loses a full-time position, and is forced to take an hourly part-time position to pay the bills doesn’t show up in the unemployment figures. Unemployment figures count heads, not hours. Someone who is willing to work 40 hours a week, but is only offered 20, is still counted as “employed” rather than something like “half-employed.”

Semi-permanent, part-time, outsourcing, and temporary jobs have left as much as 25% of the workforce without traditional benefits such as health care, pensions, or even unemployment insurance eligibility.

Remember too that numerous studies show that the population of skilled workers in America is shrinking.

A Pew Research Center poll last fall found that

…most Americans are well aware that the social contract associated with work in America is going through a period of profound change – with the industrial-era model of secure jobs with good wages and benefits that predominated until roughly a generation ago giving way to a more cost-conscious and globally-competitive workplace marked by stagnant real wages, cutbacks to health benefits and retirement plans, and growing threats of having jobs outsourced abroad. When asked whether each of eight different aspects of work life have gotten better, worse or remained the same for the typical American worker over the past 20 or 30 years, a majority or plurality of respondents in the Pew survey answered worse to all eight questions.

Qualified, talented leaders and workers will factor into their career decisions the history of how a company treats its most valuable resource – its people.

There are better ways to cut costs. Call us.

Prediction from Dr. Heidi: Organizations who show by their actions that they value their people will be more likely to attract and retain the talented leaders and workers that they will need in order to be competitive.

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Will you attract and retain talent as the skilled workforce shortage approaches? Seventy percent of U.S. intellectual capital is planning a career move – do you know why? Who will stay with you through rough times?

The New York Times article Inside the Minds of Your Employees (Kelley Holland, Jan, 28) points out that in a tight market the communication breakdown between talented workers and employers can have consequences beyond a breakdown of morale.

Some 86 percent of the 262 employers in a study by Watson Wyatt, the consulting firm, said they believed that their organization was treating employees well, and more than half expected to do a better job of treating employees well in the future. But only 55 percent of the 1,100 employees in the study believed they were well treated, and just 24 percent thought they would be treated better in the future.

Employers also appeared to have little sense of why high-performing employees might leave the organization: not one employer said health care benefits would play a role, but 22 percent of the top performers themselves said that those benefits would be important.

Communication is the keystone of employee satisfaction. How can you discover what’s working and also find out the bad news you need to know – ask! Third party, anonymous surveys protect employees.

Anonymous surveys can mend the communication breakdown. For example, a bottom-line question would be to ask “if you would leave this position or company for any reason, what would it be?” Include not only multi-choice, but also some open-ended questions.

Here are some real-life answers our clients discovered:

• 71% of employees would take a comparable job elsewhere.
• “Upper Management is too lenient with employees.”
• “Employees feel used.”
• “My manager often makes me feel inadequate.”
• “The attitude is ‘It’s not my job.’”

With information about what really matters to your employees, you can gain a competitive edge on loyalty and engagement. Add survey trending for accountability on whether your solutions are working.

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Data Dome founder Art Schoeck was interviewed by the Atlanta Business Chronicle on the proper, ethical use of assessments in the workplace.

Know the rules of getting personal – Personality assessments can be useful if used correctly
Atlanta Business Chronicle – February 2, 2007
by Janet Jones Kendall

Personality assessments can be used to help employers determine the right person for the job and build effective teams, but employers need to be aware of the rules and the risks of using them.

Art Schoeck, founder and CEO of Data Dome Inc., said personality assessments show how a person prefers to accomplish tasks, and how they most likely will function in the future.

“Most job descriptions in companies are technical in nature,” he said. “They call for the employers to analyze the intellectualism of their employee or potential employee. How fast can they type? Can they create a spreadsheet in Excel? Are they certified as a CPA? But it’s important to remember that 30 million people got in a job in United States last year by lying on their resumes. If you do your homework, you can find out how smart they really are by assessing their nature, their personality.”

Schoeck’s company has provided personality assessments for more than 800 Atlanta-area businesses since opening in 1998.

One client is Atlanta-based Arby’s Restaurant Group, which operates more than 1,000 fast-food restaurants in the United States.

Arby’s Senior Vice President Melissa Strait said the company started using Data Dome’s service more than 10 years ago to help employees work together better. She said the company gives personality assessments to restaurant managers nationwide and all senior-level management.

“Primarily, what we see is a better understanding of the differences between people,” Strait said, “When you understand their approach better, you understand each other and have fewer personality conflicts. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The assessments show us where there are areas for growth and help us develop people to their full potential.

Strait said the company uses the assessments as a team-building tool, not as criteria for promotion or for hiring.

Following each assessment, which is given in a group setting and takes about 10 minutes, the company holds a six-hour training class on what the assessment means and how to use it.

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Clarification: Our DISC assessments are validated and compliant with all applicable laws. The DISC assessment is not a “test” – there is no right or wrong answer. Every style has strengths and challenges in different environments.

Unlike “personality” assessments such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the behavioral style assessments we recommend are not diagnostic. Behavioral style assessments are not medical assessments. They do not identify personality disorders or other personality problems.

One of the great benefits of the DISC tool is the development of a neutral language for describing similarities and differences between people – regardless of gender, IQ, race, nationality, etc.

The advanced DISC assessments identify observable behavioral style characteristics, and include in-depth narrative reports (with behavioral and work environment preferences, communication tips, value to the organization, management guidance, and so on). It’s a win-win tool, of equal benefit to the employees and organizational goals.

D – Dominance – Problems
How the person responds to problems and challenges.
I – Influence – Persuasion
How the person influences others to his or her point of view.
S – Steadiness – Pace
How the person responds to the pace of the environment.
C – Compliance – Procedures
How the person responds to rules and procedures set by others.

Our effective and ethical applications of the advanced DISC assessments have been proven to reduce turnover, increase productivity, build working teams, encourage effective communication, reduce conflict, promote mutual understanding, and develop an environment for self-motivation.

Some of the Many Applications of DISC Behavioral Style Analysis

• Effective Communication Skills
• Leadership Development
• Creating Behavioral Team Synergy
• Workplace Productivity and Optimal Performance
• Engagement and Commitment
• Making the Hardest Sales
• How to Salvage Your Hiring Mistakes
• Turning Arguments to Agreements
• Managing and Inspiring Change
• Objectively Identify Optimal Position Behaviors
• Career Planning
• Keeping Talent, Lowering Labor Cost
• Getting to the Root of Workplace Anxiety
• Identifying Style-Based Time Wasters
• Preventing and Treating Burnout
• Effective Right-sizing

Qualified executives and managers may receive a complimentary 22+ page DISC behavioral style profile and a consultation on current needs and goals. Call us at 404-814-0739.

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