Meet Chris Hoyt, Associate Director of Talent Attraction at AT&T: “How Does He Do It?” Prt 2
March 31, 2009
PART 2
Chris Hoyt, Associate Director of Talent Attraction at AT&T – Dallas, TX
• RecruitingBlogs Personal Page
• Linkedin profile url
• Twitter link
• facebook link
• Chris Hoyt’s “Recruiter Guy” Blog
• Favorite Things: UFC, Music, Fitness, blogging, and French Bulldogs
• Email Chris
Chris: I’m the Associate Director of Talent Attraction at AT&T. I lead both strategic and interactive recruiting teams and sourcers and have responsibility for our Interactive Recruiting Strategies (SEO, SEM, Social, etc.) various Recruitment Marketing initiatives, our new award winning Career Portal (www.att.jobs), and Job Board strategies. My teams are responsible for the sourcing and attraction of any job seekers for non-contracted external hiring efforts.
“HOW DOES CHRIS DO IT?”
Six Degrees: How many applicants at your present employer do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals?
Chris: Employee referrals continue to be my favorite hiring source. We’ve seen our employee referrals account for nearly 90% of our hiring in some markets while on a national recruitment level see still impressive numbers of applicants within the 40% range. To be clear however – the real win with employee referrals for any company isn’t typically just the volume received. If you ask various companies that have successful employee referral programs or processes in place why they love the programs, I think you’ll get solid answers tied to reduced cost per hire and an awareness about the job or corporate culture that most referrals have BEFORE they even come in to apply.
Even during times when we weren’t offering any rewards to our employee body for submitting referrals we continued to see incredible numbers of referrals in locations we were hiring. When you love where you work and you believe in your company’s goals and vision I think you want to share that – and I think our continued success with our various referral channels proves just that.
Six Degrees: What is the source of your “LOWEST COST OF HIRES” – (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality) at your present employer?
Chris: Employee referrals are always an awesome source for any recruiting initiatives to compete with. I’d have to tell you though that outside of employee referrals any company would be hard pressed to prove to me that they aren’t showing an amazing amount of reduced cost per applicant through Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization efforts – if done well, of course. While we continue to see trends that show job seekers starting their job searches in search engines and social or professional networks it only makes sense to move initiatives in the right direction. Smart recruiting is like playing hockey in that your goal is to skate where the puck is going as opposed to it’s current location. Wayne Gretzky was the person that originally said that about hockey, by the way. As a hockey fan I just love to fit it in whenever I can.
Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of?
Chris: Our recruiters and sourcers are always on the lookout for new and innovative sourcing and recruitment strategies and tools. Various webinars are attended and as a rule each recruiter typically attends job board and applicant tracking software training courses as refreshers almost quarterly. I think that many of our teams take full advantage of blogs and newsletters from respected sources in our industry to try and stay on top of their game. Of course any chance to attend conferences with classes or sessions hosted by people like Susan Burns of Talent Synchronicity, Michael Marlatt for innovative recruiting trends, or Craig Silverman are always a bonus. It’s great when a recruiter comes back from a session or webinar that really carried a powerful lesson or message and see how they share it with their teams.
“AT&T ‘Day In The Life’ of a Corporate Call Center employee. Jobs video production by: www.maddash.net “
Six Degrees: What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities; do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit?
Chris: There’s a basic answer to this that might be what most would be looking for as a response… Just naming our Applicant Tracking System and any applications we use to aid in search, right? It’s no secret that by visiting the AT&T career portal you’ll see that we’ve quite a few of our jobs posted in Taleo. It’s also no mystery if you’re a reader of my blog or have followed me on Twitter for any amount of time that I’m a fan of AIRS Sourcepoint for some of our sourcing initiatives.
These are great… and yes, they’re software tools – but they’re really not where the true power strokes come from for some of our more impressive recruitment and sourcing. Want to know what the big hitters in our arsenal are? I’ll tell you – and you might be surprised.
The Yahoo! and Google search engines are powerful when we’re rolling up our sleeves and sourcing tough titles. Mobile marketing initiatives like the AT&T Talent Network and our mobile shortcodes are showing really impressive results across the board. But when it comes to asking me what tools we use that really make a difference and if they’re making a difference for recruiting regardless of where or who we’re searching for… I’d say it’s our use of our recruiter’s professional networks hands down. We know that relationships and trust are the power behind any good network and we leverage that knowledge daily.
Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career?
Chris: My first filing technology was Franklin… A huge Franklin organizer with a smaller one to accompany me when I was “mobile” recruiting. Of course back then “mobile” recruiting was recruiting on the road or simply from office to office. From that I advanced to using a word processor and email – and upon the discovery of how to use email folders online I’ve been in love with the “cloud” based file folders ever since.
The strongest tools I had in my toolkit when starting was a handshake, a business card, and the ability or willingness to listen to people in order to find out exactly what they were really looking for or where they might be a great fit elsewhere. When the internet really started to become part of my everyday recruiting activity it was Snap (will anyone remember that?) Webcrawler and Yahoo! although I’ll admit that while I knew these would be huge in our industry I wasn’t really sure how at first. Of course initially the content just wasn’t there to source from like it is today.
Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry, and/or at your place of work? If you started that process, outline the problem, your solutions, and the vision.
Chris:I’m not sure that I expect to individually change our industry at all. I feel like I’m more interested in helping truly engaged recruiters and sourcers to simply think bigger about what we do and the tools we use to get our jobs done. If I can think of a way that a tool like customizable search engines or simple newsreaders can be used to make recruiters more efficient or mobile or collaborative – and share that – I know that it will be expanded upon. There are so many really smart people doing what we do that if given a solid idea or direction we can hope they’ll run with it and as a result advance our industry. We see things advance from a good idea into a great practice for many.
I think the biggest challenge is encouraging recruiters to find their ‘voice’ and share those thoughts and steps forward. I get 3-4 emails for every comment found on my blogs. It’s fascinating to me how many great ideas or insightful items of feedback I receive that just don’t get pushed to me publicly but instead come in via direct email. Think of your favorite social network and how many members it has versus how many truly contribute to the open content found there. Imagine how much faster our passions would develop – how much more efficient we might be – if just 20% more of each network’s population chimed in and publicly contributed.
Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general?
Chris: The most frustrating thing I’ve ever run into within our industry is when a person or group of people has the unwillingness to think bigger. I want to be clear that I don’t fault anyone that truly doesn’t have it in them to try and think or operate outside of the box. What challenges me is when I meet a recruiter or manager that could do so much more or collaborate so much more effectively if they’d allow themselves to let go of that old “if it ain’t broke” mentality. If we all thought that way nothing would ever change or advance and I’d still be lugging around a giant binder to scribble down names of people I meet.
I’d probably venture to say that unwillingness to change or the lack of passion to drive change are probably the most common themes of strategic and/or tactical mishaps involving HR and Staffing organizations everywhere.
Six Degrees: Considering all of the frustrations you have experienced in your career as a recruiter, — what inspires you as you continue in your career?
Chris: When I run into people that are as passionate about our craft as I am. I’m inspired when I meet people that aren’t so hung up on finding new technology as much as taking advantage of existing technology in different ways. It’s not often that you run into an Amitai Givertz who can see what today’s tools mean for tomorrow’s recruiters – and facilitate that in a way that almost anyone can follow. Seeing someone like Jason Davis create a powerhouse social network as large as recruitingblogs.com because he saw a need and ran with it… These are the things that inspire me to keep thinking and moving forward. We need more of these guys – not just more of the great thinkers but the great do’ers.
Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug?
Chris: I suppose I’d plug the new AT&T Talent Network (http://att.jobs/talent.aspx) where people that sign up receive mobile and email updates about employment news and opportunities with AT&T as well as monthly prizes like Guitar Hero, a Flip Video Camera and mobile devices. VERY cool new program that’s in it’s second month.
I’d also love if people would stop in at my personal blog, RecruiterGuy.net, and take part in the conversations or just connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn. I love feedback on everything we do and never turn down the chance to connect with someone whenever possible.
Six Degrees: How Are You Going To Change The Recruitment Industry?
Chris: With the help of everyone else… and one idea at a time.
“Dennis Smith from www.wirelessjobs.com stops in on RecruiterGuy for a quick chat about RecruitingBlogs.com.”
Economics 101: Been There, Done That? Spending Into Bankruptcy
March 31, 2009
European MEP, Daniel Hannan became quite the sensation after video of his speech outlining the case against British PM Gordon Brown’s spending policies hit the US. He appeared this afternoon on Your World with Neil Cavuto to discuss how similar stimulus, command control policies have failed Britain and risks its insolvency. Is the domestic spending frenzy a long term boom or bust when its proven to have failed elsewhere?
Diversify Your Social Platform Presence
March 31, 2009
Dave Mendoza
Facebook Profile: http://profile.to/davemendoza
Facebook Group: http://groups.to/sixdegreesfromdave
Twitter: http://twitter.com/davemendoza
Join SixDegreesfromDave: http://tinyurl.com/sixdegreesfromdave
I have noticed that whereas 170 million have flocked to Facebook and millions to Twitter, our staffing community has not adopted as quickly in utilizing the search and relationship potential to a comfort level traditionally given to Linkedin.
According to my peers, changes to LinkedIn will increasingly limit its functionality for sourcing purposes, albeit the Cybersleuthing methodology will remain the key. Take a look at this discussion string and see if you’re not alarmed by what you see: http://tinyurl.com/cfafr7
According to our friend, Maureen Sharib, Recent LinkedIn Developments are as follows:
Made the “bulk accept” feature nearly impossible to find
Made it impossible to see your group member emails
Made it impossible to export your group members for communication other than once/weekly
Someone said (at that link) that LI is getting set to change the ability to see 100 profiles down to 60 as of 4/23
I am not confirming, but rather making the case that as a staffing community and early adopters, this is a wake up call to start diversifying the platforms in which our group thrives and in which we directly connect and develop relationships with one another.
Don’t fall behind. In this economy, being an early adopter is crucial if we are to successfully evolve in this economic transition. For those of you who have already joined Facebook, I strongly recommend you double check if you have edited your profile with a robust representation of your personality and professional strengths. Many colleagues remain hidden in search results due to minimalist profiles that lack their present employer or job title or areas of expertise, etc. It’s not simply about having an account – it is about making the most of each social network you join. As suggested with Linkedin, we cannot depend on anyone network for professional or personal networking. We cannot allow social media to grow without us or a role for us to target new talent – moreover, we need to be an integral part of their long-term strategies.
Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, RBC – Are You Updated?
Even if you can confirm you are on Linkedin or Facebook, or Twitter or RecruitingBlogs.com (RBC) – do yourself a favor and check your profiles to ensure they are up-to-date. Ensure above all you have added as many personal and professional email addresses on each of these to be found. Check your settings, and check that your profiles are complete and interesting. If you worry about job stability or uyou have since been laid off – I can attest that many of you are being lost with emails that bounce for exactly this reason – an outdated email or committing to one that risks disconnecting you.
Today and throughout this week – do yourself and our group a favor and look over the checklist of social media to ensure your current, relevant and searchable:
Do you have a Facebook account? If so, is it current, do you have more than one email address listed? Is your profile complete with interesting aspects of your likes and dislikes and specialties?
Do You have a Linkedin account? Do your account settings provide for multiple email addresses in case you get laid off? Have you confirmed each email to ensure they are saved? Is your employer and job title up-to-date? Click Account Settings on top right corner, then click Email Addresses under Personal Information within the Settings page. It will list “Your primary email address is currently: XXXX. Click to add. In fact Linkedin encourages you to add more email addresses, “Add an email address: Adding an email address is useful if you expect to be invited to connect at more than one address. We recommend that you add both a personal and work email address.” * Then Click “send Confirmation Message” and confirm the email once you receive a message in your email inbox.
OUR CHECKLIST – Don’t Fall Behind
Now that the basics are behind us, how current are you with belonging to “Six Degrees from Dave”, the group on each of these social networks?
1) Are we directly connected on Facebook? Click to double check we are “Friends” – http://profile.to/davemendoza
2) Do you have “Six Degrees from Dave” as a listed group you belong to on Facebook? Click to double check you belong -
http://groups.to/sixdegreesfromdave
3) Do you have a Twitter account and do you follow me? Click – twitter.com/davemendoza
4) Do you belong to our new Official Membership Feed? Everyone needs to click to ensure they have updated info for our group. We can now identify by locality, region, job title, employer if you complete the form. Click: tinyurl.com/sixdegreesfromdave
5) Do you have an account on RecruitingBlogs.ning.com? If so, double check you joined our subgroup location CLICK – recruitingblogs.ning.com/group/sixdegree
6) Have you bookmarked our home site to get daily updates on our industry, interviews and top ten listings to network? Bookmark Add ‘this site’ it today and register to receive updates.
Each step goes a long way to staying interconnected with a life raft in this economic climate. We are here for you and each other. Be found, find others. It’s why “Six Degrees from Dave” has never been more relevant.
I’m with you in your concerns. You are never alone in our group.
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HR should listen before acting
March 31, 2009
In the latest edition of the Flawless Consulting book, Peter Block has a chapter on the “Shadow Side of Consulting”.
Block’s thinking is as much true for external consultants as internal ones (“staff functions that yearn to be consultants”)
In the chapter Block asks “Who are we to arrogate to ourselves the right to intervene?” which is what operations functions always ask of internal support functions like HR.
Hence this comment by Alicia Arenas on my post at HRM Today reminds us that before we intervene we must seek to understand:
Thoughts on Careers and Predictive Analytics
March 31, 2009
Prasad blogs about how being a fast track career growth can result in a lack of learning essential to growth and development. Could this be the reason why the Peter Principle takes place?
I moved to a global/corporate role in the Learning and Organization Effectiveness (L&OE) domain without spending time in a role that involves handling complete operational responsibility for the L&OE) function/team at the business unit/country level. At this point, I don’t really know what exactly have I missed because of this sublimation. While I have tried to find this out by speaking to people who have handled such jobs, I do feel that there could be significant gaps in my understanding!
This brings us to the problem of ‘unknown unknowns’ -a key side effect of sublimation – which can create problems for both the individual and for the organization. Usually, ‘unknown unknowns’ are more dangerous than ‘known unknowns’. Based on our discussion above, it can be seen that the ’sublimated individuals’ can create serious risks for the organization.
Another post is by Abhijit Bhaduri who interviews a Predictive Analytics expert on how PA can help HR be more effective and touches on other issues like employee data privacy as well. Personally I think Analytics can be a huge help for an informed HR manager, however the statistics must not become the only thing to rely on but used along with both an understanding of the business and Organizational Behavior principles. In a fast changing business scenario I daresay that relying heavily on Analytics is not going to be helpful. Here’s an example of how PA can help in case of attrition, according to the expert.
Just knowing that 10% of the employees leave does not make that data actionable. You need to know which 10% of the employees leave and why do they leave? For starters, it may help to classify people into different groups, where each group is defined by a specific set of characteristics with respect to attrition – Predictive Analytics can do this segmentation for you, using the data and knowledge already residing in your organization. It can tell you which group has the greatest probability of leaving, which group has the next highest probability, etc. A process of predictive Root Cause Analysis can then identify, quantify, and rank the primary drivers responsible for attrition among each ‘at risk’ group. That’s much more actionable than a blanket statement such as 10% of employees will leave every year. You can similarly use PA to predict top performers, aggressive behavior in the workplace, etc.
The Facebook page
March 31, 2009
Facebook has jazzed up their pages features.
So now you can check out the Gautam Ghosh page . You can get the blog posts from this blog as well as the other blog by visiting the page and becoming a fan.
Updates get posted on to your main news-feed, apparently.
If you want to connect personally, here’s my profile on Facebook.
Bob Sutton on across the board cuts
March 31, 2009
It’s been a long time since I linked to a Bob Sutton post… but here’s one where he posts against the practice of forced layoff of the bottom 10% performers.
As organizations look for easy means of laying off employees we’ll see a lot more excuses like “we normally fire the bottom x% people” so that they don’t have to provide separation payouts.
That is just plain wrong.
Anyway, back to the reasons that the Prof says it is bad:
1. Performance evaluations in most organizations are done badly enough that the way the bottom 10% are selected is flawed, and indeed, most people in flawed systems know that — and see them as unfair.
2. An across the board cut punishes the most efficient units most, the least efficient units least.
3. An across the board cut assumes that the best way to weather the bad times — and then recover quickly when the good times return — is to have an organization that is a perfect imitation of the one that you had before, but is just 10% smaller. This last one is especially troubling, as strategic adjustments are almost always needed to weather and recover from tough times.
Refine Your Small Talk Job Search Skills
March 31, 2009
We’ve all found ourselves in that situation where someone we don’t know asks us what we do for a living. Depending on your mental energy level at the time, you may offer a job title-only response or you might go into a little more detail about what it is that you actually do for a [...]
Legalize Drugs to Create New Jobs, Eliminate Violence
March 31, 2009
How many more times do we have to listen to the same rhetoric about the failure of the War on Drugs before someone finally puts forth the only viable solution to this societal nightmare? Does anyone in Washington – or anywhere else for that matter – believe that throwing more money, resources and manpower at [...]
the new business personals
March 31, 2009
When you network with people, do you often ask yourself, what can I do for this person, or what can this person do for me? MeetingWave (previously TravelersTable.com) is a new site that breaks down those communication barriers by arranging face-to-face meetings with people you choose in the places you will be. Their focus is fairly direct: to help you find new business, job opportunities, clients, or social contacts.
Members can post public invites in a location of their choosing to network over lunch, drinks, golfing, or any other social activity (in a business sense, of course). You are encouraged to describe the types of people you wish to meet. Interested parties may accept your invitation, but only you have the power to approve their attendance, so you maintain full control over who you meet.
Here’s an example of an invite from a job seeker looking to network:
You can also set up private invites in which invitations are sent to only a few selected members.
If you want to invite friends and colleagues, MeetingWave allows you to import your Gmail, Yahoo, or LinkedIn contacts. The site has a mobile version and an application on Facebook and Bebo.
John Boyd, MeetingWave’s founder, says that MeetingWave can be an especially valuable tool for recruiters. “Not only is it free to post a meeting invite to meet potential candidates, but our tool enables you to post invites to meet at specific times and locations with people that meet your search criteria and also control who you meet and whether the meeting occurs. MeetingWave is powerful in that you can develop personal relationships with job seekers. We are seeing invites posted for professional networking meetings to find candidates for open positions.”
