As I write this, the long, hot summer of 2009 is drawing to a close. Labor Day- the holiday that has traditionally marked the opening of the fall hiring season is unlikely to signal a shift into high gear. The anemic economy and persistent unemployment grind on, though some bright patches do seem to be appearing on the horizon. Those of us who have been around for a while know that "this too shall pass"- but I've never been one for passively waiting.

Many years ago when CPGjobs was founded, we understood the value of relationships in the business of finding good people for clients. It lies in making the kinds of connections between people that are "win-win" for all parties, not just now, but for many years to come. It's about building and maintaining trust, truly listening, and sharing resources. Come to think of it, it's kind of like a good marriage.

Back then (when dinosaurs walked the Earth), there was no Internet and no social networking, hell- there were no cell phones! Connections were made through face-to-face networking; primarily after-hours get-togethers at which business cards and contacts were exchanged and shared- scribbled notes on the backs of cocktail napkins to be transferred to the Rolodex at some later time. Times certainly have changed.

The economic challenges and uncertainty we all now face have put me back in touch with the fact that I've never been one for standing still for external circumstances. I'm a huge proponent of "strategic adaptation," and the past 8 months have been no exception to the rule.

In this regard, I am reminded of a wonderful quote by Laura Schlesinger that goes something like this:

The people and circumstances around me do not make me
what I am, they reveal who I am.

Just before the current economic crisis hit "Category 5" last October, CPGjobs embarked upon a fundamental and important shift, impacting all areas of our business. I am referring, of course, to the shift from "job board" to "talent community."

There is a lot of talk about talent communities within the recruiting trades right now. Over the past year the initial Web 2.0 frenzy started to lose it's polish as HR professionals everywhere began to realize that recruiting through random (primarily personal) social networks and blogs is a hell of a lot of work not much better than sifting through hundreds of unqualified resumes. Here is where talent communities really shine.

"Imagine," says Kevin Wheeler in a recent article for ERE.net, "the difference between being a principal and a teacher. The principal has a list of student names, can see their achievements and grades, and can access all previous teachers' comments, but she still doesn't really know the student.

"The teacher, on the other hand, has all of that information and sees the social interaction and classroom participation of each student. He knows all the characters that make up any group of people; the funny ones, the thinkers, the socialites and the jocks. Who has a richer knowledge set? Who could make a better placement decision?"

It is sometimes hard for the corporate world to understand the concept of talent community. Oftentimes talent community is confused with a database that has been built using any number of impersonal methods, usually without any gatekeeper, through the combination of a recruiting website, job board listings and outbound email campaigns. But there are two fundamental problems that keep databases from being effective recruiting tools:

1. Databases get old fast. Without constant follow-up and maintenance, about half of the candidate information in a typical corporate recruiting database is stale or wholly inaccurate.

2. Databases are one-dimensional. I certainly have nothing against solid data, but resume databases provide you with a very limited view of candidates- usually confined to a pre-determined format- with no personal observations or experience and no reference information.

Talent communities are different. Academic research shows that communities offer a feeling of membership, the ability to influence decisions, the fulfillment of needs at some level, and a shared emotional connection to other members. Leveraging today's technology, it is possible to achieve levels of personalization that are as effective as those "days of old" face-to-face connections, resulting in an organic, growing (and valuable) community of talent.

3 Fundamental Characteristics of Talent Communities

Wheeler outlines the three most valuable characteristics of talent communities, which I paraphrase here:

1. Membership and Influence
A talent community is dynamic- ever growing and changing. Candidates become members of a talent community through any number of ways, but each requires them to learn more about the community itself and the organization behind it. They must make a conscious, educated choice as to whether or not to join based on their perceived "fit" within the community, in other words, they consciously self-select. As Kevin Wheeler puts it, talent communities serve as initial screeners. Talent communities also enjoy problem solving and can assist you in your search through referrals either within or outside the community. This further increases the community's connection.

2. Connection and Bonding
Candidates perceive talent communities as personal. To enhance this feeling of personal connection a good talent community manager will frequently communicate with candidates through one-to-one messaging, including requests to keep their personal information current, to participate in webinars and other learning opportunities, and to coordinate with other members in problem-solving.

3. Flexibility and Quality
Within talent communities, interaction breeds familiarity. Managers get to know members through interaction and referral. What is revealed within that interaction may make a candidate who is unsuitable for one position perfect for several others. Talent communities discourage "pigeonholing" and clear the way for uncovering higher quality candidates. In a candidate database, such information would be completely lost.

The CPGjobs Talent Network

When we began our transition over a year ago, the expression "talent community" was virtually unknown. Yet, what started as something of a strategic experiment has blossomed into a fundamental, core piece of our business, which can be understood as a three-legged stool:

Leg One: The CPG Talent Community

The CPGjobs Talent Community consists of two related streams: CPGpeople on LinkedIn and the CPGjobs Candidate Pool.

CPGpeople is our community of approximately 9,000 CPG professionals located in LinkedIn Groups. All new members are personally screened and allowed access by CPGjobs and no recruitment professionals are allowed entrance. Within CPGpeople, members actively and openly pass information amongst themselves, sharing solutions, discussing industry-related issues and passing along job-related information. Because CPGjobs continuously participates in and monitors CPGpeople, this group is a fertile place for us to market our clients' employment brands and available positions. (Members of CPGpeople love helping us solve our recruiting challenges!) As participants in this group, our monitors have intimate familiarity with a great many high performance industry professionals- a familiarity that we have successfully called upon on numerous occasions on behalf of our clients.

The CPGjobs Candidate Pool is our database, which houses the professional background detail (and yes, resumes) of 45,000 experienced CPG candidates. Our candidate pool is diverse, highly educated and hails from all U.S. and many international locations. Hundreds of Pool candidates have been with CPGjobs through several career transitions. Over the years we have come to know them and their capabilities in great detail.

Candidates in the CPGjobs Talent Community receive personal communications from CPGjobs regularly, primarily through electronic means, but sometimes personally via the telephone. We actively cross-market between our two candidate streams and position clients' employment brands to this community through advertising, feature articles and email communications.

Leg Two: People Search Permission-Based Sourcing

Clients frequently ask me about data-mining the CPGjobs Candidate Pool. This is where CPGjobs differs from much of our competition.

As a talent network that handles the personal information of many skilled passive and active CPG-experienced people, CPGjobs is and will remain, candidate-centric. This means that it is the candidate and the candidate alone that has the ability to decide whether or not to share their personal information with our clients. Candidates make this decision within their Personal Profile when they check off the names of our clients with which they are interested in having contact. CPGjobs does not offer open data mining of our Candidate Pool.

The tool that allows clients to access their own Candidate Pool (candidates that have selected them as preferred contacts) is called People Search.

If you have been a client with CPGjobs for any length of time, it is very likely that you have hundreds- perhaps thousands of candidates who have selected your company as a preferred contact. However, if you do not have a People Search account, you do not have access to these self-selected candidates.

Historically, People Search functionality has been restricted to basic data mining operations like data sorting, e-mail forwarding and resume retrieval. However, at the end of the 4th quarter, CPGjobs will be introducing advanced data mining, in-mail messaging, resume parsing and other helpful features that will position People Search as a "must-have" tool for any recruiter in CPG. Current People Search enabled clients will enjoy special savings on these advanced features when they are introduced.

Leg Three: The CPGjoblist Job Board

Much maligned as "20th Century recruiting" the job board is still an effective means of attracting candidates, building your employment brand and populating your candidate pool. Make no mistake, if you are ONLY utilizing a job board to fill positions or mine for valuable passive candidates you are probably missing the boat. But a job board like CPGjoblist, which is focused on talent in your specific industry, is a terrific component of your recruitment mix. Job board listings through CPGjoblist (and our growing list of partners) can attract CPG-experienced candidates like bees to a flower and serve to make that initial introduction into the Talent Community.

What It Means To You

Think of CPGjobs as that teacher from Kevin Wheeler's analogy mentioned previously. An important part of our job as your agent is to get close to members in our talent community and to harness the power of that community on your behalf. Our ability to do this well depends upon the quality of our relationship with you, the openness of our communication, and our thorough understanding of your needs.

Our transition from "just another job board" affords clients a whole new level of service as your needs evolve. This is one of the reasons we've resisted "standard pricing" packages. Every business is different and we will remain committed to crafting customized service levels that meet your needs not ours.

The Way Forward

It can be difficult for organizations large or small to respond to the rapid changes in recruiting conditions. Large capital investments are required to overhaul aging ATS and website technologies. Staff commitment is necessary to maintain candidate databases and monitor social networks. IT and other resources must be harnessed to build out and maintain talent communities.

CPGjobs is dedicated to sharing our rich talent community resources with you, and to being prepared with the best and most flexible products, tools and recruitment methodologies. As we move into the final quarter of 2009, I re-extend an invitation of partnership to help you make the most of your recruitment budget.

Have a terrific September and as always, I welcome your comments and suggestions!
Michael Carrillo,President of CPGjobs

Michael Carillo, President and Founder
CPGjobs