Don't Just Recruit Cool, BE Cool

Rita Keller brings up being "cool" if a firm is going to remain competitive. I agree and expand the point to emphasize it's a two-parter!

The first step is attracting great people. The second and more important part (and much more difficult one) is inspiring them to want to STAY so your firm has the talent AND attitude to continue to do great things for clients.

Rita's post, "Do you speak their language" talks about texting. Specifically, texting used in an accounting firm's recruiting ad. And, sure, it's a clever ad. I don't know the firm, but I hope they have the second part down-pat, too.

Just this month, I've been privvy (with great disapproval) to several firms' conversations about their policies on ipods, text messaging, and so forth. Basically, they say "don't" because "it interferes with productivity." 

Funny. How many of those staffers jammed to their favorite tunes through every homework assignment they've had while they earned their grades that qualified them to join the firm. (Take yourself back a few years...there was definitely a stereo, maybe even a favorite record or cassette, cranked up while I did MY studies. How about you?)

Maybe they're just trying to tune out the office chatter-box so they can get some work done! (Is there a no office chatter-box policy??)

And when I spoke in June at the AAM conference about blogs, a number of attendees said their firms' internet security won't let them access blogs from the office!

A number of firms also deny access to Linked In, Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites in order to "control timewasting." Blogs and social media tools facilitate some of the most effective marketing and networking going on these days. And firms are blocking them!!

This lockout occurs among roughly 25% of businesses, so it's not just accounting firms who are short-sighted. See David Meerman Scott for that figure on his excellent (and sad) post called "Facebook and YouTube blocked by paranoid corporations at their own peril."

A commenter on David's post says people take advantage and waste hours on the internet to which David wisely responds:

... it is a management issue, not a technology issue. If people mess around at work, it doesn't really matter if it is on Facebook, or chatting by the water cooler, or taking a three hour "shopping lunch". It's all the same - people not doing what they've been paid to do.

I would deal with the behavior. If required, fire the employee who is not working.

Amen.

At any rate, policies like these stink. Most contradict what firms are trying to claim they are: great places to work. These policies (attire, perfume, internet use, ipods...) are insulting because they treat every person on your team as the worst behaved child by making everyone "pay" for the sins of one or two who show poor judgment and ought to just receive a talking to, and maybe a boot, if the talk doesn't work.

I'm picking up Rita's post today because I want to reinforce, all the great "cool" recruiting in the world won't solve the talent crisis. The problem is people leaving once they came, they saw, and they experienced. A lot of firms DO have amazing and cool cultures. And those firms are not seeing the turnover like the ones who get uptight about ipods and blog-reading.

Treat all the people like grown-ups and if some don't choose to act like it, then deal with them individually! But stop punishing the masses or you won't have a mass...there are too many other places for them to go.

It's time to get with the program.

Comments

[David Meerman Scott]

Hi Michelle

Great post. Thanks for pointing to my stuff. I'm now telling people that if their company continues to block social media, then they should quit, because their company is likely to go bankrupt within a decade if they continue the silly practice.

Take care, David

[Ron Baker]

Michelle,
Great points. This is why our friend Mark Koziel coined the term Human Capital, Not Cattle. Firms speak of retention and recruiting, but who wants to be retained? That's why I prefer "inspired." I'm not sure that's the right word, but it's better than being penned in.

You're points about the social media tools being big in marketing is on point. They may be even more important for the management of a firm's Intellectual Capital, as our colleague Tom Hood, CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs, pointed out in his excellent blog post on Web 2.0 for CPAs:

http://www.cpasuccess.com/2008/07/web-20-tools-fo.html

This idea that text messaging, Youtube, etc., are "productivity" destroyers illustrates how bankrupt the theory of treating knowledge workers like factory workers really is.

In a factory, it may be right for leaders to say, "Stop talking and get back to work." But in a knowledge environment, it's far more accurate to say: "Get to work, start talking [I would add, collaborating, sharing, blogging, surfing for ideas, etc.].

[PurpleMike]

Michelle,
I agree totally with what you've added to the point. In fact, I think the ad being "celebrated" here tries a little too hard. Social media is real, and big, and here to stay. But on a level far bigger than can be captured by cute little text messaging references.

In my opinion, companies should concentrate on doing the inside part right, first. Then happy employees and word of mouth will be a much more effective recruiter than a "parents trying to sound hip" ad will ever be.

[Brenda Richter, CPA]

Great blog Michelle, as well as all the links.

Would you believe that there is a CPA firm in Santa Barbara that has blocked the following site from their team (although they like to use the word staff)?
www.sbwcpalg.com

I know why I'm out on my own, and not working for another firm.

[Shane Eloe]

I find it humorous that firms are having terrible issues with recruiting and retention on one end and treating their staff like children on the other end. Is there no common sense that tells us insulting people does not build a good team? This is frustrating, but I am glad you have brought more attention to the point.

Firms also need to get on the bandwagon with social networking as the future of generating leads for new clients may be in your LinkedIn contacts rather than in hours on the golf course.

[Melissa Waldon]

Michelle,

Great post! The concept of "professional networking" is as old as the cocktail party, but the leveraging of online technology for this purpose is still growing in popularity.

Originally launched as a means of social interaction between younger audiences, Web-based social networks have now achieved status as a great way to share more sophisticated content with others and stay connected to peers on the Internet.

For employers, they also offer a strategy for coping with the current economic pressures and ongoing talent shortages. These challenging times are forcing employers to be more creative in their recruitment efforts in order to find the best possible candidates for their organizations.

[Michelle Golden]

Wow, thanks for all the great comments on this post. You guys are spot on. I think PurpleMike is right that firms who do get the inside right get great "word of mouth." I think it is a serious leading indicator if a firm's employees DON'T encourage/refer others to join the firm (I think I'll post a little something on that).

And Shane sees the connection firm's are in denial of...that the way you run your firm determines they type of team that you have (or can keep). I find it baffling to try to understand why firms either don't see this or don't take it seriously enough to change?

Melissa makes a great point that on-line networking is both cost effective and efficient from a time standpoint compared to traditional marketing approaches such as a day on the golf course, hosting a seminar, or picking up a bar tab! Isn't it great to market in your jammies with a kiddo next to you? Wouldn't do THAT at a cocktail party!