Lou Adler | SmartRecruiters Blog https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog You Are Who You Hire Thu, 24 Jan 2019 12:29:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-SR-Favicon-Giant-32x32.png Lou Adler | SmartRecruiters Blog https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog 32 32 Recruiting: Then and Now with Lou Adler https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/hire18-speaker-interview-lou-adler/ Mon, 26 Feb 2018 15:00:16 +0000 https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/?p=35442

Lou Adler won’t stop working until the war for great talent is won, and with 40 years of experience, his radical recruiting strategies continue to disrupt the industry. When you think Lou Adler, one phrase comes to mind, “performance-based hiring”. Since he started his career over 40 years ago (pre-internet and pre-job-boards), he’s been asking […]

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Lou Adler won’t stop working until the war for great talent is won, and with 40 years of experience, his radical recruiting strategies continue to disrupt the industry.

When you think Lou Adler, one phrase comes to mind, “performance-based hiring”. Since he started his career over 40 years ago (pre-internet and pre-job-boards), he’s been asking himself the same question, “what does the person who fills this job need to do?” – not “what skills do they need to have?” – This simple philosophy has been the foundation for everything that has come since, from authoring two Amazon bestsellers to founding his own company, The Adler group.

You can usually find this recruiting vet sharing his wealth of knowledge on his social media channels, or in person at conferences like SmartRecruiters’ own, Hiring Success 19 – Americas, February 26-27 in San Francisco.

In 1978,  Lou Adler was a fresh recruiter with a background in finance and engineering, just trying to find a new production manager for a hot wheel manufacturer.

It was the “Beach Boys era” as he describes it, and in the spirit of youthful defiance, this California native wanted to try recruiting a little differently.

Imagine, I walked into this hot wheel plant on my first recruiting job and told them to forget the job description, walk me through the plant, tell me everything that’s wrong, and I’ll find someone who can fix it.

It may seem like a counterintuitive way to recruit, but 600 or so job placements later, Lou still works this way. According to him, making lists of desired skills and experiences is not only arbitrary and inefficient, it’s counterproductive.

When you find someone who can do the work – which is what you really need anyways –  you open yourself up to the best and most diverse talent pool in the world.

And forty years later Lou’s hunch is proving true, axing the requirements list is a great way to improve diversity in your candidate pool. According to LinkedIn’s 2018 Global Recruiting Trends Report, the majority of women only apply when they meet 100 percent of listed skills, vs. men, who apply with just 60 percent.

Just ask Lever, a company that recently achieved a company-wide, 50/50 gender parity (a seemly impossible feat in Silicon Valley) partially through doing away with the ‘requirements’ sections of their job ads.

It makes you wonder which of Lou’s current theories we’ll be hailing as revolutionary in 2058.

Read on to find out how Lou got his start and how hiring has changed from then ‘til now.

So Lou, if you don’t ask about skills, how do you determine if someone can actually do the work?

Simply ask, ‘What single project or task would you consider the most significant accomplishment in your career so far?’

The candidate will usually take two or three minutes to answer, and then you, as the interviewer, can use the rest of the time to delve into the particulars of how they accomplished the project and what obstacles they faced.

Now you have everything you need to know to determine whether or not that candidate is suited to the position.

Who taught you the importance of hiring great people?

I’m dating myself here, but my first managerial job was in 1972. I was fresh from my MBA at UCLA working 12-hour days in Michigan of all places, and the reason I was there was Chuck Jacob, my then supervisor. This guy was seriously a genius. A Harvard whiz kid who, at age 29, was the number-two financial guy at a two-billion-dollar company.

So anyway, I have a big financial report to complete and present the next day when Chuck calls me up to help him with some interviews. I try to turn him down because ‘I have more important things to do’, but after a brief pause, Chuck blasted in my ear the phrase I will never forget: ‘There is nothing more important to your business success than hiring great people. Nothing!’

He continued by telling me to ‘get your ass over here’ and right after he hung up, that’s what I did. We interviewed 20 candidates that day, took eight out to dinner that night, and eventually hired three.

We returned to the office at 10 pm and Chuck and I began the financial report that took until three in the morning to finish. It was handwritten, and kind of a mess, though to our credit, the information was all there.

When we explained to the board why we had forgone the formatting, they agreed, ‘there is nothing more important to your business success than hiring great people. Nothing!’

What’s the hardest part about being a recruiter today?

These days there are too many people in the churn. Technology makes it really easy to change jobs, so now a job is a commodity rather than serious business decision.

To change jobs, used to be a real hassle, a person would have to spend half a day with me at my office filling out paperwork and answering questions. So believe me, no one would bother with it unless they were really serious.

What is the role of technology in hiring?

Technology directs you quickly to the right people. Thirty years ago it took weeks to do the sourcing I now do in a couple of hours. It’s great to save that time and money but I would consider all these tools enablers, not solutions. At a certain point, you have to get people on the phone or in person. Otherwise, you are wasting your time.

What’s one mistake you made at the beginning of your recruiting career?

I wanted to challenge myself so I started taking assignments I knew nothing about. However, I came to find that just as a salesman has to know his product, so a recruiter must know his industry. If not, then you’re misleading people. You have to consider that recruiting is a big responsibility, bigger than most recruiters even realize. People spend most of their life at work so you need to try and make sure it’s a good fit.

The post Recruiting: Then and Now with Lou Adler first appeared on SmartRecruiters Blog.]]> 13 HR Thought Leaders You Need to Follow on Twitter Now https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/13-hr-thought-leaders-you-need-to-follow-on-twitter-now/ Tue, 16 Jan 2018 15:00:20 +0000 https://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/?p=35004

If your new year energy has been dulled by a couple weeks back at work it’s time to find some inspiration. Here are 13 HR thought leaders that will spur you to action on your work resolutions with strategies, advice, information, and gifs… a whole lot of gifs. According to a Pew Research Center survey, sixty-two […]

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If your new year energy has been dulled by a couple weeks back at work it’s time to find some inspiration. Here are 13 HR thought leaders that will spur you to action on your work resolutions with strategies, advice, information, and gifs… a whole lot of gifs.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, sixty-two percent of adults in the U.S. now get their news from social media, so if you’re reading this article that number probably includes you. Twitter gets 59% of that traffic and here’s why: with Twitter, you have to keep it snappy and you’re way less likely to run into baby photos and the banal family updates with which Facebook has become synonymous (sorry Mark). 

So we thought we would help with the mid-January slump with 13 top picks for HR Twitters belonging to thought leaders from all levels of the industry. They’ve all got plenty of things to say about tech, strategy, diversity, pain points, and everything else TA to keep you inspired well into 2018.

#1 – Maisha Cannon: The One to Watch

Sourcing Leader for Procore Technologies, Maisha Cannon doesn’t just look for ways for recruiting to be faster, she looks for ways to make it better. That’s why her Twitter is such an interesting combination of strategies on how tech, data, and process reflection can bolster hiring managers and make recruiting more human. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a few cheeky gifs to illustrate the exasperations everyone in the industry feels at some point.

#SRtweetpick

#2 William Tincup: The Straight Shooter

Writer, speaker, RecruitingDaily President, and Texas native, William Tincup is all about the ‘dater’. As in ‘you can try anything but you better have the dater to back it up’. His Twitter is a great mix of interesting news shares and humorous takes on the pain points of HR. For some live and in person sass/insight from William register for Hire18, here! Happing March 12-14 in San Francisco.

#SRtweetpick

#3 Lisa Wang: The Motivator

Take a big breath now if you’re going to read the following list aloud because Lisa Wang is more accomplished at 29 than most of us will ever be: founder/CEO of SheWorx, Forbes 30 Under 30, USA Hall of Fame Gymnast, Forbes columnist, host of her own podcast #Enoughness, motivational speaker, and Yale Alumna. Lisa’s Twitter is a great resource for information on women in tech, the future of AI, and management strategies all broken up with a light sprinkle of motivational messages. To catch her in person March 12-14 in San Francisco register for Hire18 here!

#SRtweetpick

#4 Kathryn Minshew: The Culture Cultivator

Founder , author of  of Work, Forbes 30-under-30, and INC 15 women to watch in tech – if Kathryn Minshew isn’t in the office she’s probably checking off another country off of her bucket list with 60 down so far. Her Twitter focuses on enriching company culture and making your office a place top-candidates want to be.

#SRtweetpick

#5 Lou Adler: The Veteran

The original headhunter, Lou Adler is the CEO and founder of the Adler Group, which has trained over 40,000 recruiters and hiring managers. His books, The Essential Guide for Hiring and Getting Hired and Hire With Your Head have been on Amazon’s bestseller list and he’s been around, well… forever. He knows his stuff. His Twitter is full of tips for hiring smarter with data backed articles on evaluating and improving your recruiting methods. Lou will be joining us for Hire18 in San Francisco March 12-14, register here!

#SRtweetpick

#6 Gemma Jamieson: The Wonderkins

HR Coordinator at Wattsnexthr, Gemma Jamieson tackles contemporary HR issues like mental health, diversity, and media distraction at work. She’s a newbie to the business but her thoughtfully curated Twitter, that’s both sleek and informative, as well as her 30k followers, say she’s got a future here.

#SRtweetpick

#7  Angela Bortolussi: The Techsplainer

Angela Bortolussi is the Partner & Recruiting Manager at Recruiting Social specializing in engineering, product and data roles. That means she’s right at the intersection of tech and HR and can see how one will be affected by the other. Follow her Twitter to learn about the latest tech concepts that everyone’s talking about but no one seems to understand. Blockchain? She’s got you. Cryptoassets? That too.

#SRtweetpick

#8 Soumyasanto Sen: The Sentinal

Management consultant and blogger, Soumyasanto Sen is always on the lookout for the next tech breakthrough that will change the way we work. As a founder and partner of the brand new management consulting startup, People Conscious, he has to stay up to date on the latest in HRIT and you get to benefit. His Twitter is a journal of what matters now in information systems so take advantage.

#SRtweetpick

#9  Jannis Tsalikis: The Sass Master

You would expect any employee of Vice to equipped with quips, and their HR Director for Germany, Jannis Tsalikis, is no exception. He’s an expert on employer branding and his Twitter perfectly toes the line between humorous personal angst and HR best practice. Just a heads up, it’s all in Deutsch but the gifs alone are worth the translation.

#SRtweetpick

#10 Josh Bersin: The Architect

HR analyst and founder of the research and advisory firm Bersin by Deloitte, Josh Bersin focuses on bolstering companies through strengthening their workforce. His Twitter explores management, leadership, and HR tech strategies to help employers attract and retain the best people, as well as exploring the wider political trends that affect the job market. He sees the moving pieces that contribute to the design of employment trends today. To hear more from Josh in person join us March 12-14 in San Francisco for Hire18, register here!

#SRtweetpick


#11 Kasia Borowicz: Voice of the People

Social recruiting and sourcing trainer, Kasia Borowicz is all about getting your systems aligned but she knows how hard it can be when the small things get in the way –especially tech that’s supposed to help you be faster! Her Twitter makes light of all the common pain points recruiters experience, so if you need some reassurance that you aren’t the only one who gets locked out of LinkedIn, turn to Kasia.

#SRtweetpick

#12 Anna Ott: The Scout

Anna Ott spends her days trying out new HR systems with startups at the Deutsche Telekom incubator Hub:raum. She wants to recruit faster, with less fuss, so don’t talk CVs with Anna, she’s already left those relics behind. Her Twitter is a great news source for the latest systems innovations so follow to be on the avant-garde.

#SRtweetpick

 

#13 David Green: The Big Picture Guy

David Green is the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions for IBM Watson Talent as well as a writer, speaker, conference chair and consultant. Somewhere in there, he manages to get out a couple hundred characters a day on Twitter to let us know whats happening in recruiting from his global perspective. If you want to understand the larger trends in the world economy and the implications tech has on our work future, this is the twitter for you.

#SRtweetpick

The post 13 HR Thought Leaders You Need to Follow on Twitter Now first appeared on SmartRecruiters Blog.]]>