I’ve been traveling virtually all of March. (You can probably tell, eh?) I’m leaving Albuquerque today and spoke with some folks from Chili’s, the restaurant chain.They’re opening a new restaurant in this area, and are hiring over 100 people. I asked about turnover and they said that yes, they do have a fair amount of turnover and therefore they do continuous recruiting.
Continuous recruiting is the ongoing job analysis, sourcing, interviewing and eventual hiring of people. What’s key is to continue to update the job analysis, to keep looking for people in a variety of places, and to update your interviewing questions and auditions.
I don’t know of too many technical organizations that are doing continuous recruiting right now. But some organizations are in constant growth mode, and those of you who work in those places know that though you may be spending a ton of time on recruiting, hiring great people is worth it. Continuous recruiting can help you keep the pipeline full of great people.
I just read Lee Copeland’s review on Stickyminds. If you don’t read Stickyminds regularly, consider it. I’m a regular columnist for Stickyminds and have written columns about hiring in the last couple of years.
If you read this blog via a newsreader instead of a browser, you may not notice I’ve been slowly making changes. I have finally figured out how to have Blogger automatically generate the archive links in reverse chronological order on the left (when you look at the page in a browser). Unfortunately, I must have done something wrong or triggered a defect, because the this month’s link wasn’t working the last I checked. I was planning to deal with that over the weekend.
I have a bunch of blogroll work, and possibly more template work, so I’ll be working down the list slowly over the next few weeks.
Larry Summers has been ousted as the President of Harvard. (I’m based in the Boston/Cambridge area, so you can imagine the news coverage here.) If you look at the facts, it’s clear to me, he was canned because he didn’t fit the culture of the institution. (See the USA Today editorial and the Time article.)I did not attend Harvard. I have no affiliation with Harvard, so it’s possible I can’t see all of the cultural issues from the outside. But here’s what stands out for me:
It’s not acceptable for the President of Harvard to question generally accepted ideas. (His questions re women’s genetic capability to perform hard science. I would have loved to hear the debate on that!)
It’s not acceptable to provoke change at Harvard. Instead, change needs to come about slowly. Summers was trying to provoke change.
It’s not acceptable to discuss what should be measured and rewarded. His idea that faculty should teach and focus on real-world problems is an example.
I would have loved to see the academics sink their teeth into these questions, perform real research and debate the answers. Harvard missed the boat–the faculty could have used the publicity of the debates to further define their brand and make Harvard an even more valuable institution.
But here’s what I saw: a bunch of overpaid underworked faculty who are more interested in protecting their positions than in helping undergraduates or graduate students learn. Daughter #1 didn’t consider Harvard. I hope Daughter #2 doesn’t either. I don’t want to subsidize a bunch of close-minded ivory-tower academics who aren’t willing to ask hard questions, research and discuss the results. That’s not an academic institution. An institution yes, academic, no.
Harvard wouldn’t hire me either to take Summers’ place I wouldn’t fit the culture (and I don’t have PhD). But it’s clear that their next pick for President needs to fit enough of the culture so that he or she has the influence and negotiation skills to do whatever needs to be done. Summers may or may not have those skills–but given the culture he was unable to use them effectively.Cultural fit is critically important for any knowledge worker. I don’t know enough about other kinds of roles, but I suspect it’s equally important for other jobs. Make sure that when you hire, you consider how a person fits into your culture–even if you want to change it.
I wouldn’t fit the culture (and I don’t have PhD). But it’s clear that their next pick for President needs to fit enough of the culture so that he or she has the influence and negotiation skills to do whatever needs to be done. Summers may or may not have those skills–but given the culture he was unable to use them effectively.Cultural fit is critically important for any knowledge worker. I don’t know enough about other kinds of roles, but I suspect it’s equally important for other jobs. Make sure that when you hire, you consider how a person fits into your culture–even if you want to change it.