Today I tried to write another post inside the “Après Interview” series, but I;m just not feeling it. I think I need to talk a little bit about the work Zoë and I have been conjuring up the last few weeks. You know … all that top secret stuff that has kept us away from blogging?
Just a warning: This entry may sound a bit disjointed and vague. Zoë and I wrote a 17 page, 10 pt font, single spaced paper about our proposed strategy, and I have little energy left to rehash it. Plus, I don;t think you want to see all that information. I just want to give you all the general outline … and maybe you can even provide some additional feedback about what you think.
Like I said before, the core of our proposed strategy is not revolutionary or rocket-science, but we feel it;s forward thinking for a large corporation. When envisioning a truly premier, high performing recruiting organization, this is what we see.
We proposed the creation of a so-called Recruiting Evangelist role. (I;ve blogged about this a bit inside the past). This person (well, people: Zoë and me J) would be focused on implementing and executing long-term and consistent hiring strategies for all core technical roles at Microsoft. While we;d still be “recruiters” by trade, we;d be extra like program managers or even marketing managers. The work we;d do would be less transactional and reactive than a typical recruiter, and our sights would be focused on affecting long-term change.
What would this look like? Well, for 1, Heather Hamilton is already in a similar role for the Marketing function at Microsoft … but hiring technical people at this company is a whole other ball game. (I;m not saying it;s harder …it;s just numerous.)
Zoë and I suggested a four pronged strategy:
Community Development: This component would includes everything from larger initiatives such as blogging, conference attendance,
Microsoft Office Home And Business 2010, speaking engagements,
Office Professional 2010 32 Bit, informational road shows, etc, to 1:1 cultivation efforts such as staying in contact with someone who isn;t nevertheless interested in Microsoft or helping candidates craft their resumes to make their applicable experience a great deal more attractive to a recruiter or hiring group. It would also include finding the “best of the best” regardless of expertise. We talk a lot about making yourself a great deal more searchable on the internet or in a resume database – but what about those super smart people who aren;t self-promoting? Who is finding them?
Programs: We defined programs as strategic initiatives without a defined end. Programs would include looking at a particular job function and creating a uniform hiring strategy for that function or building lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with partner organizations internal and external to the company.
Projects: These are our significantly more tactical, short-term initiatives: contacting our past declines,
Office Home And Business 2010 32bit, running employee referral campaigns, etc.
Center of Excellence: We want to be the hub for all things technical recruiting at Microsoft. We want to eliminate candidates or information from falling through the cracks, thereby avoiding duplication of effort and enhancing the candidate and hiring manager experience.
In our proposal, we also included supporting evidence for our recommendation and provided goals and metrics for our strategy. Along with numerous statistics and anecdotal data, I wrote four case studies for how this Recruiting Evangelist might affect hiring the “best of the best.” If there is interest, I;ll publish those case studies here. It might get our point across better.
We should also thank some great supporters who helped us devise this strategy. They allowed us to come to their offices and interview them about everything from their individual goals to their biggest barriers for success. I can imagine having the Moon Gals spouting questions at you for an hour can be quite intimidating (or so we like to think) J
Anyway, thanks to Mark Cliggett, Ed Hickey (sorry – couldn;t find a blog so I linked to a chat he ##################),
Office Pro 2010 clavegen, Chris Sells, Alan Griver (aka YAG), and the always enjoyable Robert Scoble. I feel like I;m accepting an Academy Award!
I;d also like to thank all our readers. I posted two entries asking you to tell us additional about what a great recruiting experience means to you, and we received lots of useful feedback. (Oooh,
Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2010 cl��, I;m a sneaky 1! J) Thank you and keep it coming!
So what happened? Well, we presented our proposal to the powers-that-be last week, and while we do believe our organization supports this kind of work, I don;t think they are ready to fully embrace the superb intelligence of the Moon Gals. J But who is? J
In the coming weeks, you;ll see some implementation of our strategy, but we doubt it will be as full-on, grand and truly magnificent as we would have liked.
But stick with us. As Scoble told us yesterday, “Changing the world is difficult. That's why it isn't done all that often. Keep it up. Come at it a different way.”
We will. I wouldn;t worry about us. J
gretchen
P.S. I;m posting this without running it by Zoë first. Hope she doesn;t freak out! J
Office Professional 2010 32 Bit blog if-the-moon-g
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