Randi Frank HR Consulting

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Executive Search Tip 1: What is the difference between an Executive Search and Recruitment?

I would say this is one of the most frequently asked questions about Executive Searches. The major difference is the amount of time and effort put into the project. An executive search requires understanding the needs of the agency for the specific position and from there, the time it takes to reach out to potential candidates. During a usual recruitment the agency will advertise and wait for the candidates to apply, with an executive search, efforts are made to find potential candidates that may not otherwise be looking for a position.

An executive search begins with a meeting of all the stakeholders to understand the position and the true needs of the agency to find the right type of candidates. Then networking is done to get the word out about the position to those who may know great candidates or those who can spread the word to the right type of candidates. It is a much more aggressive approach to finding the right candidate, not hoping they will find you.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Orientation & Onboarding Tip 1: Prepare for your new employee’s arrival.

Onboarding a new employee begins well before the employee’s first day on the job. Manage expectations with regular communication with the new hire prior to the start date. It will ensure that both parties understand the conditions of employment and will make everyone more comfortable on the first day and moving forward.

Here are four tasks to complete prior to the new employee’s start date:

  • Confirm your new employee’s acceptance of the position.
  • Make sure you know what paperwork is required and with whom the new employee will meet to complete it (e.g., Human Resources, payroll coordinator, benefits assistant).
  • Stay in regular communication with your new employees via email or phone during the period between the acceptance and the start date; make sure they understand the conditions of employment and anything they need to do before their new job starts.
  • Provide critical first-day information (e.g., when to arrive, where to park, where to report, what to wear, what documents to bring to complete, what the schedule will be).

This is the first of eight tips that will appear weekly on this blog. 

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Interviewing with Randi Frank

Once you have candidates for your position what type of interview process should you use? Randi Frank of Randi Frank Consulting LLC speaks about various options related to interview processes including the steps to take once you find your best candidate.

If you have any questions feel free to contact Ms. Frank at [email protected] or review her website for samples of Executive Searches conducted. Randi Frank Consulting can help you with full recruitment services, executive searches, interviews or just portions of the process.

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Executive Search Tip 2: Why are most Executive Searches conducted by outside firms/consultants?

The main reason most Executive Searches are conducted by outside resources is TIME. Often there is not enough time or staff within the existing agency to provide the thoroughness of meeting with stakeholders and making all the contacts to reach out to potential candidates. In addition, many times the position is difficult to fill which requires more time than staff has available, especially if they tried and did not get enough candidates.

The outside agency provides a professional unbiased opinion about the qualifications of the candidates. This helps when there are inside candidates along with outside ones so all are evaluated with the same professional standards. An outside agency also has access to a greater pool of qualified candidates.

An Executive Search Firm has conducted many of these types of recruitments and can assist the agency with outlining the true needs of the position and the appropriate places to find the right candidates.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Orientation & Onboarding Tip 2: Make sure your new employee has a proper orientation.

The orientation process should be designed to make the new employee comfortable and capable in their new position. In addition to ensuring that training and tools are available for them to be successful in their new position, it’s important for the new hire to feel comfortable with his co-workers and supervisors and with the agency culture.

Here are six things to consider including during the orientation process.

  • Give the new employee basic information about the agency (e.g., history and mission, programs and services, working environment, and recreational and community engagement activities).
    • Provide new employees with the information needed for them to learn the job. Giving new employees proper training can increase the morale of new workers and reduce turnover.
  • It’s okay to use different forms of overview orientation tailored to the different needs of employees, based on their position (administrative vs. engineering, for example). Hold group job-specific orientation sessions if you have more than one person starting in a similar position at the same time.
  • Be there when your new employee is introduced to his or her department head (if that did not happen during the interview process). If possible, designate a “buddy” to help him or her get acquainted with the organization.
  • Along with making the new employee feel comfortable, make sure that current employees are comfortable with the new worker. Before his or her arrival, inform current employees that there will be a new employee, and tell them what department the newcomer will be in and what his or her job will include.
  • Hold a small gathering to introduce new employees or take them out for lunch to make them feel welcome.

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Job Descriptions Tip 1

1. An accurate job description clarifies the expectations of a job, and whether a candidate’s qualifications meet the requirements of the position.

A job description should outline skills, knowledge, abilities and experience needed by a potential employee so applicants can determine whether there is a match between the job’s requirements and their own expertise. For example, if a minimum of three years’ experience is specified, people with less than three years of work experience need not apply. The key components of good job descriptions are job title, statement of purpose and objective, reporting structure, duties and responsibilities. In other words: essential function, qualification, working condition and disclaimer.

Typical disclaimers are:

• The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to the position.

• This job description does not constitute an employment agreement between the employer and employee. It is used as a guide for personnel actions and is subject to change by the employer as the needs of the employer and requirements of the job change.

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Executive Search Tip 3: How do you find the right firm to assist with an Executive Search

Unlike a Google search, an Executive Search begins with a Request for Proposal (RFP) Most communities/agencies develop a RFP and invite firms to submit a proposal to conduct the executive search. The RFP will describe the agency and some information about the positions and the steps required to complete the executive search. Once proposals are submitted the top proposals with the most reasonable costs are interviewed.

The critical aspects of choosing the right firm include…

  • The Interview – make sure the firm has
    • experience with similar agencies
    • experience with similar positions
    • a past success rate
  • The Offer – be sure to compare apples to apples
    • how will they help you to further define the position/person you’re looking for?
    • how will they find the best candidates?

As mentioned in the first post in this series, a successful executive search begins with a meeting of all the stakeholders to understand the position and candidate in addition to how much access the firm has to finding the right person. Many times it comes down to the chemistry of the firm and the agency key players. Be sure to check references of the firms just as reference checks are done on candidates.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Executive Search Tip 4: First Steps to the Executive Search

In the first blog post of this series, we briefly touched on this topic but I would like to go into more detail at this point. The first step of an Executive Search is to gather information from all the appropriate stakeholders about the agency and the position. This is done by obtaining budget/finance information, population served, services provided and current staffing of the agency.

To learn more about the agency’s needs, meetings are set up with the key stakeholders such as management staff, working staff, customers/public/clients, associated organizations that work with the agency. For example if we are conducting a Town Manager Search we will speak with all the department heads, union or employee representatives, boards and commissions, appointing authority (Town Council), business groups in the community, colleges in the community, etc. We will also gather information about the community from sources such as the budget, economic development pieces, chamber of commerce sales information, web sites, charters and organizational charts.

This process can be used for any position. Once the information is gathered a color profile is put together with pictures and information about the agency and position which include:

  • Job Description
  • Organizational Chart
  • Staffing and Budget Information
  • Highlights and History of Agency
  • Characteristics of the Ideal Candidate
  • Qualifications and Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Candidate

See samples of profiles developed by Randi Frank Consulting, LLC

Questions? Contact me today!

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Recruit & Retain Talent (Employees)

This powerpoint presentation was provided during a meeting of the Ohio River Valley WIFS (Women in Financial Services). Most of the discussion was about retaining talent since most organizations are concerned about losing their great employees. But before you can retain good talent you must recruit the best people. 

There are a number of slides on what you need to think about when recruiting employees such as developing a profile to make your organization standout by stressing your vision and mission. Also today’s employees don’t just want a good salary (which you need) but benefits and flexibility. Once you have the right people on the bus as they say you need to retain them.  To do that you need to have an excellent onboarding and orientation process. Then you need to conduct Stay Interviews to make sure the employees are still happy with their position and if they have a desire for more opportunities.

See all the slides of the powerpoint presentation to learn more.  You will also see that the powerpoint presentation lists a number of links to more details on all these issues in Randi Frank Consulting Blog Posting in this website https://randifrank.com/blog/  We also provided some names of two coaches that can help you with training your leaders, developing missions and changing the culture of your organizations which will also help in retaining your great talent.

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Orientation & Onboarding Tip 3: Provide new employees with written policies.

 New jobs are stressful. New people, new responsibilities, new rules, new culture – it’s a lot for a new employee to comprehend and remember. A clearly written agency policy handbook is an essential reference tool for all employees, but especially for new employees.

Your employee handbook should:

  • Make the agency’s culture, values, mission and strategies clear by providing the new employee with a guidebook/handbook and annual reports that give a nice overview of organization.
  • Discuss policies, procedures and other administrative matters, and review safety plans. Include workplace violence policy, sexual harassment prevention policy, workers’ compensation program, affirmative action program, leave policies and the like.

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Job Descriptions Tip 2

2. Job descriptions can be the foundation for creating job advertisements.

Once you have a job description, you can create the job advertisement using the statement of purpose and qualifications as the main body of the advertisement.

For example, this advertisement was created by borrowing the statement of purpose and the qualifications from the job description for a Senior Administrative Assistant.

“The Senior Administrative Assistant performs complex and diverse duties in support of a work area or group of individuals. This position provides advanced administrative support for multiple programs and projects, and may also function as a high-level individual contributor or coordinator of multiple projects.

QUALIFICATIONS:

– High School diploma or GED

– Minimum of 5 years’ secretarial, office, or related experience

– Bachelor degree preferred

– Functional knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access required”

source: http://hrweb.mit.edu/compensation/job-descriptions/generic-job-descriptions

 

 

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Executive Search Tip 5: What is included in the recruitment efforts?

Defining what’s included in the recruitment effort is critical when determining which firm/consultant to choose. To start, decisions need to be made about where to advertise and how much. We recommend that advertisement be focused on the professional associations related to the position. For example you want to advertise a Human Resource Manager (HR) position with the 3 major HR professional associations – Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM); International Personnel Management Association (IPMA-HR); National Public Employers Labor Relations Association (NPELRA).

Once the advertisement is in place then the outreach efforts start by contacting professionals in the field. This can be done via phone and by email take a look at the site here. Reaching out to professionals who work in similar organizations with similar types of issues/budgets is a good place to start. In addition, we contact professionals who are officers of various professional associations since they will know who is looking for a new position or who may fit for your specific opportunity. For example, we had a Town Manager position for a location with a large college as its main economic driver. We contacted other Managers who worked in similar communities with large or even small colleges that were key stakeholders in the community.

For more details about our recruitment efforts, Contact Us and we can answer any questions you may have.

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