George Anders, author of The Rare Find, provides an overview of the global talent market and shares ideas about how to hire more effectively.

1. Talent Strategies
For a Networked World
Lima, Peru: Seminarium HR Conference
Dec. 12, 2012
George Anders

3. Our Agenda Today
First Session
• What’s Going Wrong in Global Talent Markets?
• Can We Do Better? Lessons From ‘The Rare Find’
• How Should We Apply the Seven Key Values to Our
Industries?
Second Session
• How Can Social Networks Help Talent Hunting Right
Now?
• What Is Social Media’s Promise for the Future?

4. Work Is Rapidly Being Redefined
Production Transactions Interactions
2.7m jobs lost 0.7m jobs lost 4.8m new jobs
Source: McKinsey & Co.

5. Labor Markets Struggle to Adjust
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Japan
Brazil
Australia
U.S.
Argentina Jobless Rate
Germany
Peru
Skills Shortages
France
China
Spain
Sources: TradingEconomics.com, Manpower

6. Vital Jobs Are The Hardest to Fill
Critical High-Potential Top
Employees
Skills Performers
72% 60% 59%
Source: Towers/Watson Talent Survey 2012

7. In 2020, More High-Skill Shortages
MCKINSEY PREDICTS GLOBAL JOB GAP OF 40 MILLION
DELOITTE: 37% OF FIRMS CALL TALENT PLANS WEAK
U.S. Gaps: Information
Technology (IT); Health;
Top Management;
Welders; Data Scientists
Latin America:
Mining, Engineering, IT,
Health
China: College
graduates in all levels;
engineers

8. What Can We Learn From Enterprises
With Top Talent Strategies?

9. In the U.S. Army, an Elite 4%
Of Soldiers Serve in ‘Special Forces’

10. Battles aren’t fought like this any more

12. How do you
IdentIfy
a great soldier?

13. In the field, you must ImproVISE

14. Can You Improvise?

15. Mettle
“Being able
to deal
confidently
with the
unknown.”

16. Across a Vast Range of Disciplines,
Similar Virtues Dominate Hiring

17. Top Hires Are Guided by 7 Key Traits
Desire to
Learn
Efficiency Judgment
Resilience
Compati- Self-
bility Reliance
Curiosity/
Acumen

18. Lessons From an Energy Giant:
Which Factors Drive Future Success?
 Years of industry experience
 Education
 Management skills
 Communications skills
 Technical expertise
 Teamwork skills
 Adaptability to change or hardship
Source: Mercer, “Strategic management of human capital in the energy sector”

19. Surprise! The Actual Rankings
 Adaptability to change or hardship (220)
 Teamwork skills (215)
 Technical expertise (200)
 Communications skills (130)
 Management skills (125)
 Education (65)
 Years of industry experience (60)
Source: Mercer, “Strategic management of human capital in the energy sector”

20. Are Our Hiring Models Backwards?
Lou Adler

21. “Good-to-great
companies place
more weight on
character than on
specific skills or
experience.”
Jim Collins
Good to Great

22. New Psychology Studies Stress
The Importance of Resilience
“T h e
r o a d
t o
s u c c e s
s i s
l e a r n i
n g t o
d e a l
wi t h

23. The
Problem:
We’ve Been
Seduced
by
Precision

24. So How Can We Use
‘Soft’ Methods With Confidence?
Desire to
Learn
Efficiency Judgment
Resilience
Compati- Self-
bility Reliance
Curiosity
/
Acumen

25. 1. Win top management support
for truly getting to know candidates

26. 2. Build rigor
into your assessment system
• Detailed biographical-data reviews of
candidates’ careers
• Simulations
• Auditions or tryouts
• Situational judgment questions
• Personality tests (?)

27. 3. Become an Aggressive Listener
• Ask Open-Ended Questions (How and Why?)
They Take You Deeper Than What and Where
• Dare to Ask ‘The 3rd Question’
• If You Use Scenarios, Pick Ones That Reflect
Real Job Issues
F i t Ma n y S ma l l P i e c e s
I n t o a Fu l l Pa t t e r n

28. 4. Make Room for the Jagged Resume
• Rare Virtues
• Some Career
Ups and Downs
• Limited Direct
Experience
• Unconventional
Minor Habits

29. 5. Dare to Ask: ‘What Can Go Right?’
Athletes Actors Authors Singers

30. First Half Summary:
• In a Fast-Changing World,
New Strategies Can Help Us
Be Hiring Champions
• Hunt for 7 Character Traits
That Help Signal Winners
• You Can Assess ‘Soft Skills’
in Bold but Rigorous Ways

31. Three Questions for Break Time
• What Social Networks Do
You Use?
• Do Social Networks Help You
At All in Recruiting?
• What Worries You About
Social Media in Business?

32. Part 2:
How Social Media
Changes the Game

33. What We Will Cover
• Making Weak Ties Pay Off
• Sizing Up Actual Work Online
• Overcoming Talent Shortages

34. A Front-Row View of Social Media and
Its Impact on Job Markets

35. Talent Sourcing: 1970 and Today
Social Networks
Your Web Site
Internet Job Boards
Referrals
Agencies & Recruiters
Print Ads
Paper Applications
1970 1997 2006 2009 2012
Sources: Rees & Shultz (U of Chicago); BoozAllen; CareerXRoads

36. Online Job Ads Bring A Deluge
Of Candidates -- Mostly Ill-Qualified
219 1
Source: Jobs2Web Inc.

37. We Don’t Want 1,000 More Names;
We Want Entry Into New Talent Pools

38. Referrals Keep Working in Any Era
Social Networks
Your Web Site
Internet Job Boards
Referrals
Agencies & Recruiters
Print Ads
Paper Applications
1970 1997 2006 2009 2012
Sources: Rees & Shultz (U of Chicago); BoozAllen; CareerXRoads

39. 1. We Want Digital-Era Referrals
Deep Reference Checks
Sense of Cultural Fit
Understanding of What
The Job Is All About
Desire to Get It Right
And All Online, Too!

40. Who Provides the Best Job Leads?
Look to “the Strength of Weak Ties”
Stanford Prof.
Mark Granovetter

41. Can Social Media Harness Our Weak Ties?
Let’s Find Out!

42. My 1st Order Contacts
Aren’t Useful (Yet) in Peru
--------- ----->

43. But Indirect Contacts Are 1,200 Strong!

44. With Entry Into Peru’s Top Industries,
Companies and Universities

45. It No Longer Takes 6 Connections
For Two Strangers to Be in Contact
Longer 6 Links Apart

46. The Stock Market’s Verdict:
Social Networks Surpass Online Job Boards
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

47. Networks’ New Role in Hiring
Is Part of a Much Wider Trend
2012
1970

48. 2. How Else Can Social Media Help?
We Can Start at the Pipeline’s Right End

49. Suppose We Want to Hire …
 A Computer Programmer
 A Mechanical Engineer
 A Graphic Designer

50. Where Are All the Programmers?
• 2.7 million users
• 4 million questions
• 22,000 teams

51. “Github is my
resume.”
David Doubrovkine
Lead software
engineer
Art.sy, New York City

52. How Facebook Finds Top Coders
70,000 puzzle Top 1% earn an 118 solvers win jobs
solutions/year interview

53. Where Are the Mechanical Engineers?
• 2.7 million users

54. Where Are All the Graphic Designers?

55. How Public Portfolios Pay Off
For Employers For Talent
• You Can Look Anywhere for • You Can Live Anywhere and
Talent at the Right Price Attract Global Clients
• You Can Identify Stars Who • Your Work Markets Itself;
Aren’t Hunting for Jobs You Lose Less Time Hunting
• You Can See Relevant Work • You’re More Likely to Match
Right Away; It’s Efficient Jobs in Synch With You
• It’s Easy, at Last, to Notice • Your Credibility Builds Fast;
‘Talent That Whispers’ Less Time Paying Dues

56. 3. Talent Shortages: What Can We Do?
• Long Hunts; Long Vacancies
• Bidding Wars; Salaries Soar
• Standards Get Compromised

57. What If Social Media
and Job-Related Games Let Us . . .
• Excite Newcomers About Our Field
• Attract a Huge Pool of Candidates
• Screen Efficiently for the Very Best
• Open a Dialogue With Near-Miss Applicants
• Show the Labor Market a Road Map to
Success, So Strivers Could Try Again, Soon

58. Stripe’s Story: Online ‘Capture the Flag’
Tests 20,000 People at Computer Security

59. Stripe’s Payoff: 978 Security Experts
-- And a Useful List of Future Prospects

60. Game-Based Recruiting Catches On
In Traditional Industries, Too

61. Takeaway messages
• Use Social Media to Win Online Referrals
• Harness the Strength of Weak Ties
• Expect to See the ‘Public Portfolio’ Become
Common in More and More Fields
• Consider Contests, Games and Auditions to
Help You Overcome Talent Shortages
• The Internet Isn’t Everything; We Will
Always Need Face-to-Face Contact

62. Follow Ups? Of Course!
Twitter: @GeorgeAnders
Facebook: TheRareFind
Slides will be on
SlideShare
Email:
George.Anders@gmail.com