42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
The scenario: A company’s cash flow is pinched, but the stack of bills to lenders and creditors is piling up fast.
The tactic: Steal a page from the Chapter 11 handbook: Follow the “absolute priority rule” and pay off debts in order of importance.
In a recession, sluggish demand and slower-paying customers can put a serious squeeze on cash flow, making it tough to keep paying the most important bills. One of the most important tactics finance managers need to follow in a serious market slump, says Sheila Smith, financial advisory services principal and national leader of restructuring at Deloitte, is to plot out the timing of major expenses, such as renewals of credit lines, bond-debt servicing fees, and balloon payments on debt. Look at which ones are due in the next three, six, or nine months, Smith says, and then stockpile reserves to fund them. In the normal course of business, this might be easy to do without deciding which of those is or isn’t critical to business. But in a deep financial crisis, prioritizing can help companies save and prepare.
If a company can’t pay all its suppliers or partners on time, or if it has multiple suppliers across several categories (three office-supply accounts, two travel agencies, etc.), then managers need to create a hierarchy that dictates which accounts get cash first, second, third, and so on. By never paying priority vendors late and exercising more liberty with second-tier partners, the company can assure that its most important business functions are under control and preserve short-term cash flow.
Prioritizing debt is a trick that healthy companies can learn from bankrupt ones. In a bankruptcy, a company follows the so-called “absolute priority rule,” in which the company pays off debts in a clearly delineated hierarchy. Outside of bankruptcy the hierarchy is not predetermined, but companies can still use a priority-setting process to establish a smart strategy for who, what, where, and when they’re spending money, Smith says. For example, an aviation company definitely needs to pay a cockpit-door manufacturer on time. But the same firm may have hundreds of light bulb vendors to choose from, so paying one late has few consequences other than changing vendor.
Smith gives another example: A company that works with three overnight mail vendors might want to choose one as the “critical” or most important vendor who always gets paid on time, then designate the other two vendors as “B” and “C” priorities who can get paid later in the billing cycle.
Caution: Prioritizing vendors, suppliers, and debtors can lead to less negotiating power if these parties wise up to their ranking. Lower-priority vendors may decide not to work as cooperatively down the line. On the flip side, companies can try using prioritization as a launch point for negotiation with priority partners — i.e., “We’ll ship 70 percent of our overnight volume with your company if you shed 15 percent of the fee.”
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
42 Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals
by Kim Girard
The scenario: With nearly every industry announcing layoffs and closings, high-caliber talent is up for grabs.
The tactic: Employ savvy recruiting tactics to poach A players from competitors.
Most Fortune 1000 companies keep a running list of top senior-level talent in their industry — people they would most like to hire if opportunity came knocking. Surprise: In many industries laboring through recession and cutbacks, now’s the time. With jobs in shorter supply and salaries flatlined, companies in a position to add headcount can lock in great talent. What are the keys to recessionary poaching? Here are four tactics that experts consider crucial.
Time your tactics. Getting the timing right and going aggressive at the first sign of trouble can be critical factors in making timely hires. When aircraft makers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft announced in November that hundreds of employees would be laid off at their Wichita, Kansas, plants, Florida-based rival Piper Aircraft saw a prime opportunity to scoop up talent. Piper quickly organized a job fair, but not in Florida. The company brought recruiters to the Wichita Airport Hilton in hopes of attracting both employed and laid-off workers from Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft to its Vero Beach, Fla. operation.
Forget headhunters — use the Web. Companies looking to pick up talent also need to think strategically about using the Web to recruit. Build an online relationship with coveted employees before calling or interviewing, says John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University and CEO of HR firm Dr. John Sullivan & Associates. Many A-list employees aren’t actively looking to switch jobs. Hiring them requires a sustained effort to market the company online as the place, like Google and Facebook, where the best and brightest work. “A top performer will always want to learn,” says Sullivan.
Turn employees into recruiters. An easy way to boost a company’s Web reputation is to turn key employees into Web-savvy evangelists who blog, post in forums, and generally make the company look smart. At shoe and apparel retailer Zappos, more than 400 employees, including recruiters, now use Twitter to broadcast up-to-the minute updates on their days — ultimately hoping to convince talent at stuffier companies that life at Zappos is better. Recruiters at Sodexo, a growing $7.3 billion food services and facilities management company, use Facebook, YouTube videos (“A day in the life of a Sodexo employee”), LinkedIn, and blogging to help potential recruits get to know the company.
Don’t cave to the impulse to bargain-shop. That’s not to suggest any of this is easy or quick. It’s tempting to try to pay less for talent, especially when out-of-work employees have the disadvantage in negotiations. But hiring the candidate who agrees to the smallest salary could backfire when the economy bounces back and that employee starts to look for a better opportunity elsewhere. If financing is a problem, forgo upfront signing bonuses. Instead, offer restricted stock grants and promise more for the future, based on performance.
