Please join me in welcoming David Lee Roth as your new recruiting leader

From ERE Net | Mar 14, 2010

When we think of business improvement icons, David Lee Roth the
former front man for Van Halen, does not snap to mind.  In the recent
March issue of Fast Company,
the Heath brothers are
masterful in finding a way to connect David Lee Roth to process
improvement.  The article entitled Business
Advice From Van Halen explores several ways to proactively identify
business problems. 

I am a card carrying member of Gen X and remember concerts the likes
of Van Halen to be marvels of lights and pyrotechnics.  I can only
imagine how embarrassing it would have been if something were to go
wrong.  What if during a high flying kick during the song "Jump", the
lights and sound were not in perfect sync?  What if the complex and
overwhelming electronics caused an electrical surge and parts of the
light show were to malfunction or even worse shut down?  The fans would
have asked for their money back and Sammy Hagar would never have joined
the band!

Van Halen had a very complex set of concert requirements and it
wanted to understand quickly if the venue had read through the finer
details of the contract.  Enter the M&Ms...according to Roth, Van
Halen added a clause in their contract that a bowl of M&Ms be back
stage with all of the brown ones removed.  Upon arriving, Roth would
look for the bowl of M&Ms and check for brown ones.  If they were
still there, it would signal that the staff had not read the contract
and he would demand everyone do a double check.  This was a simple way
to check the operation before something went wrong.  Which made me
wonder...could the same approach (minus the M&Ms) be applied to
spotting defects in the recruiting process? 

On my recent plane ride to San Diego, I read this article and was
struck by how much this applies to the strategic staffing process, or
any process for that matter.  I know there are many of you who do not
subscribe to the idea that hiring people is a science and people are not
widgets.  I definitely believe recruiting is an art, which is why I
love it so much; but it is also a science.  And in the case of the most
brilliant artists they are also scientists.  They are constantly
innovating by conducting small scientific experiments of design and
applying them to their work. 

I don't think it requires a leap in logic to see the connection to
the Fast Company article.  In recruiting, many of our performance
measurements are assessed during or after the recruiting process is
over; such as applicant to hire ratios, time to fill, retention, and
satisfaction scores.  What types of early warning signals are in your
recruiting processes which impact the candidate experience?  Could it be
the virtual 200 person waiting line when they apply for a job?  Could
it be the 1 in 10 odds of getting an interview with your company, or the
fact that referrals from top performers do not smoothly flow to the
right hiring manager?  Finding and measuring these signals early in your
process is essential.  Many organizations only measure the applicant
and new hire experience and completely disregard the candidate
experience.  To a fortune 500 company which may receive up to one
million candidates, a breakdown in the process can cause the business's
brand (as well as your own) to be tarnished.  Candidates who are
applying for your jobs should be viewed as potential customers and you
need to understand their experience before they ever move into the
applicant/hire phases of your process.  

Take a lesson from David Lee Roth and find a way to identify
downstream process breakdowns early before they create a bad candidate
(customer) experience.  But please ensure you do so in your own style,
unless of course your style is spandex and leg warmers.