Applying the Principles of Logistics in Recruiting

This week’s email is a bit long, but we believe it is valuable for a Recruiter and Workforce Planner.  Management guru Tom Peters once said, “Leaders win through logistics.  Vision, sure.  Strategy, yes.  But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right place at the right time.  In other words, you must win through superior logistics.“ Even in this age of Software eating the world, this is still true.  Of course, all powered by Software.  Our vision is Recruitment should evolve as a superior Logistics Machine.  After all, it is a function to make sure the right skills are available for the portfolio of work that needs to be executed 

The modern-day Grocery store is a pinnacle of logistics excellence, as many of you know.  For example, how does a Grocery store has a supply of seasonal fruit like Grapes year long?  In the US, grapes are sourced mostly from the California Central Valley.  When this season ends, the sourcing is switched to Peru.  Post Peru, the sourcing switched to Chile, Mexico, and then back to California

For a Recruiter, logistics and the principles of logistics can be immensely helpful.  Not only in sourcing but also in monitoring the progress.  To fully apply the logistics principles and excel at it, there are a few steps that can be followed:

Component 1:  Break the job role into skills and understand the skills in demand.  Let us say you are interested in hiring a Python developer.  The skill sets that make up this are as follows (not exhaustive but to give you an idea)

Python Framework:  Django, Flask, Pyramid

Object Relational Mapping

Object-oriented platform principles

APIs

SQL/Database Programming

Analytical Skills

Component 2:  Feeder Skills – The second step is to understand the leading skills that will be the foundation.  In this example, such skills are

Java

R

SQL

These skills can be an excellent foundation to become a Python developer even though you are not one (if someone is good at these skills and are passionate about learning, they can pick up these skills in about six months, for example)

Component 3: Where will these skills come from in the case of experienced hires?

Competitors

Startups

Post Doc Students and Research Labs

The first component is often done well, but companies spend limited time mapping Startups and Postdoc students in Academia

Component 4:  Where do people with these skills go from your competitors?  This is another helpful mapping that you can do as a recruiter.  A quick view will tell you that in this case, Cigna has taken talent from a big company like Amazon.  This essentially expands your target companies

Component 5:  Develop a Sentimental analysis for each of the competitors.  Through the analysis, you can see at what threshold you can reach out for that role.  It can be further customized at a location level

Component 6: Role Level Brand within a company:  Sometimes, certain companies may enjoy a bigger brand at a role level.  A company like Cigna will become ideal for building advanced models because of the vast amount of data they have access to.  They may not have that brand across all the roles.  Understanding this will help you develop a message for your company

Component 7:  VC Funds Ecosystem:  Setting the candidates for Entrepreneurship

It may be helpful to educate the candidates on how much VC capital is flowing into your industry so that experience in your company will set them up for entrepreneurship. 

Component 8:  The typical talent intelligence dashboard should then be translated into a  table like this.  Building an enterprise-wide skillset table like this will be a dream come true for the Recruiters

Next week, I will write more about the intersection of talent pool accessibility and compensation