First off, this isn't a post on the aging of the workforce. Instead, the "graying" of the workforce refers to the notion that the candidate pool in some industries is simply a revolving door of people that have worked for all the other competitors and are now revolving into a new job with a new company. This is the third or forth stop as they make their way through the industry in largely the same position. These individuals bring with them no new ideas and simply do what they do with a new set of business cards. Instead of being a colorful and vibrant place rich with innovation and new thinking, the workplace becomes a repackaged version of what all the other guys are doing and hence "gray."

This term was used in a recent interview with a financial services executive as he described one of the talent issues he was facing. As he described it, "we've had the same people coming in here with virtually no new ideas, no new blood." As a solution to this problem, he began to focus on college recruiting and recruiting top notch people from other industries. These programs became the means to infuse new blood and new thinking into workforce. He went on by saying, "I can teach people the job I hire them for, what I can't do is teach them to be innovative and think differently from all the other people here. Now, if only I could get the team at corporate to pay closer attention to success I am having with this approach."

This is the perfect example of a business leader "getting it." This financial services executive got deeply involved in the recruiting process and took ownership for the results. Remember, talent management isn't about HR, it's about the business and enabling the business to achieve results through talent.

Knowledge Infusion has several clients who are focused on improving their ability to attract and hire top talent within their organization. Typically the work begins with business process design, selection and implementation of technology to support the processes and ongoing deployment excellence. Through the discovery process, we often here the same struggles from hiring managers that the process takes too long, it's cumbersome and the quality of candidates are far less than par. These are the same struggles that we heard 10 years ago. With access to millions of candidates via online recruiting, employment branding, and sophisticated software applications that many organizations have invested in, one would think that corporate recruiting as made progress.

I came across this Lou Adler Article on ERE this evening and found it very applicable to the work that KI does in helping organizations with the evolution of their corporate recruiting functions. Lou Adler is a well respected professional in the recruiting space and I encourage you to take a closer look at his article. I have highlighted the six stumbling blocks and provided some commentary on how these hold true in the work that we are involved with.

The Six Key Stumbling Blocks:

1. Lack of end to end perspective: Corporate recruiting teams and hiring managers lack consistency in how they screen, interview and evaluate candidates. Often times the disconnect is a waste of time for all involved in the process.

2. Little hiring manager accountability: Managers are busy and would rather have zero involvement in the process, with the expectation that they will get the best talent to fill their open positions.

3. Technology is not effectively utilized: The technology has come along way and the vendors have done a very good job at staying ahead of the curve. The HR and recruiting communities are still lagging when it comes to understanding the best use of technology in the recruiting process.

4. Inadequate or inappropriate training: Recruiters are often times the first impression the candidate will have of your organization. How much time have you spent training that person on the organization, products, services, business operations? Can they talk intelligently about what the company has to offer, are they skilled in assessing job fit, competencies, personality and cultural fit.

5. A weak or non-existent workforce planning process: Is recruiting at the table with business leaders, finance and operations when the headcount planning process is underway? Typically recruiting gets a spreadsheet at the end of the year with a list of budgeted positions that will be filled in the upcoming year. In some organizations this is the workforce planning process. We see a tremendous need in the marketplace for assistance in developing strategic Workforce Planning processes.

6. Lack of effective leadership: Organizations who are making progress and creating the evolution for corporate recruiting have made significant investments in hiring top talent to lead and manage this very important function. It requires a champion of change and visionary to move the leaders within the business in a new direction.

Are these stumbling blocks true for your recruiting organization? Please share thoughts on how you have overcome these challenging's and evolved into a world class recruiting function!

An article in USA Today caught my eye last week as I was enjoying my morning coffee at the HR Technology Conference in Chicago. In the article, authors Margaret McGurk and Lori Kurtzman describe the active war for talent that is emerging in the civil engineering field. As a result of population expansion and the aging infrastructure of our nation's roads, bridges, buildings, etc., civil engineering firms are finding it increasingly harder to recruit qualified candidates. Couple this with a current workforce that will see high percentages of retiring workers in the next 5 to 7 years, and the problem only compounds itself.

To combat this problem, civil engineering firms are utilizing creative and innovative means to attract candidates, even going as far as beginning the recruiting process "by pouring time and money into selling the profession to schoolchildren, beginning in kindergarten." Firms are also offering college scholarships to students as a means to ensure a pipeline of talent when they graduate and enter the workforce.

This article only emphasizes how the current focus of recruiting efforts in many fields must change quickly in order to compete in a market short on supply and heavy on demand. Traditional recruiting methods won't cut it as companies face increased pressure as talent pools shrink. Survival in the war for talent will depend on building a talent pipeline using creative methods to reach, engage, and connect with candidates early in the game. Companies that fail to set themselves apart will come up short when it comes to fulfilling the critical talent needs of the organization.