5 Secrets of Talent

#1 Organisations = #1 Recruiters
The New York Yankees, the Bolshoi Ballet, or an Olympic Gold Medal winning Rowing Eight have world class coaches, facilities and culture. But, so do many of their competitors. So this is not what sets them apart. They know that to be the undisputed number 1, they must have the best talent to start with. So they do anything and everything to make it happen. To them, getting the best talent is a business process, an organizational priority, a mantra, an ethos, an obsession. Because, in these organizations, anything other than number 1 will not do.
They don’t just want their share of success – they want everyone else’s share as well. They want to win every time, every year.
So, the BIG idea is this:
The best organizations in the world get that way because they are also the best recruiters.
simple. They do lots of other things well – but recruitment is where it starts for them. This is where they get a head start, which they never surrender back to their competitors.
5 Secrets of Talent
The best organizations in the world get that way because they are also the best recruiters.
You can do it too
Here are 5 Secrets of Talent that the world’s best recruiting organisations don’t want you to know about. (notice I don’t say THE 5 secrets, because this list is not exhaustive)
They’re common sense, but they take commitment. And to give that commitment, the organization, must believe in its bones that being the best recruiter in their field is THE key to the success of the enterprise. Senior executives from the CEO down have to hardwire it into the DNA of the company. Because, that’s what the best already do.Some of the companies I mention are clients I have worked with, others I have observed from afar.
Anything I say about them is personal opinion based on my own observations.

5 Secrets of Talent: Secret #1 A business goal has a recruitment goal
A business goal has a recruitment goal Colliers International is a global property giant. Their business is a service business. Highly qualified professionals earn large fees for advising clients on buying, selling, leasing and managing commercial, industrial and retail property.
The business goal for Colliers International in 2007 was revenue growth.
How could they achieve this?
They could increase their revenue per agent.
Or they could increase the number of agents working for them.
Or, best of all, they could increase both.
The CEO at Colliers International is a modern guy. He really “gets” it.
He had presided over five years of exceptional revenue growth, despite negligible headcount growth, by investing heavily in the skills and resources available to his people. However, there came a recognition that productivity per employee was already extremely high, and so the next big jump in growth had to come from headcount growth in the high-margin advisory and agency businesses.
In a tight candidate market characterized by aggressive poaching and spiralling salaries, hiring in sufficient volumes to not just maintain team sizes, but actually add 30 or 40 agents to each team in each city became a key business goal.
Recruit more. Recruit faster. Recruit better. The business goal fed the recruitment goal.

The best understand the connection between the business goal and the recruitment strategy. They make sure that recruitment is not an isolated, disconnected, or misunderstood activity within their organization. It’s not an afterthought. Challenge your leadership to make this first, essential step in bringing recruitment into the engine room of your organization as an integrated business activity.
It’s secret Number 1 for the world’s most talented organisations.
“They make sure that recruitment is not an isolated, disconnected, or misunderstood activity within their organization.”


Secret #2 Measure twice. Cut once.
A trampoline arrived at our front door the other day, contained in 3 rather large boxes. Its daylight saving at the moment so when I came home, all three of my kids were camped on the front porch eagerly awaiting my arrival so I could put it together for them. Being a male, I emptied out all of the pieces on the ground, gave the pieces a good look and put them all together in my mind, glanced over at the instruction booklet, and left it there unopened on the box. It would be dark soon and the kids wanted to have a jump on it tonight. I didn’t want to disappoint them so I just got stuck into it. After a good 45 minutes of work, following my nose and making good time, the trampoline was taking shape. Actually it was pretty much done. I just had to add on the poles around the edge that suspended the net that stopped the kids falling off. A horrible sinking feeling came over me - I had put the legs on upside-down and the slots that the poles fitted in were facing the ground. I sat down with my head in my hands in utter frustration. The legs were the very first thing I had put together, which meant I had to disassemble the entire trampoline and start again!
START AGAIN!#?!
My wife shook her head and the kids trudged off up-stairs into bed deflated. Despite my best intentions, I’d charged in head first to what looked like a pretty simple assembly assuming I’d be able to work it out as I went. I felt the pressure to get it done quickly for my kids so they could jump on it before dark. I’d wasted my time, but worse was the trampoline was back in pieces and the kids had to wait until the weekend before I could be home to do it properly.

In the corporate world, the pressure to get things done quickly comes from line managers, frustrated at how recruitment is taking up all of their time, costing them a fortune, and getting questionable results. So the temptation is often there to install an e-recruitment system, hire some recruiters, and get started ... you’ll work it out as you go along. While my wife is unlikely to divorce me for putting the trampoline together back to front, your CEO will be less forgiving if you waste a whole lot of time, money and effort on a solution to recruitment that doesn’t address the strategic priorities of the business. Know your numbers and spend the time to diagnose your business and your recruitment properly before you start.
Do not guess, or the whole premise on which you begin to revitalize your recruitment strategy could be wrong.

Ø How many hires have you made annually in the last 3 years?
Ø How many were replacements?
Ø How many were growth hires?
Ø How many roles remained unfilled?
Ø Why were they unfilled?
Ø Does this year’s workforce plan say you’re going to grow?
Ø How many roles will be created through attrition?
Ø What type of roles will they be?
Ø Where are they situated?
Ø What are the salaries?
Ø How have you sourced your hires in the past?
Ø What has recruitment cost you in hard dollars?
Ø What sort of skills and experience will your recruiters need?
Ø How will you manage them?
Ø What recruitment system will best support the type of recruitment that you’re likely to spend most of your time on?
Ø Where will you find your candidates and how will they come to you?
Carpenters have an age-old rule:
Measure twice.Cut once.
It’s no different in recruitment.
to be conti...