We always hear about the stories of teachers moving to Las Vegas and becoming cocktail waitresses or strippers.  As much as we do not want to acknowledge this fact, it is true.  I know several teachers who still work in the casino and make more money ‘cock-tailing’ than they would teaching.  However, this is not the norm.

There are other stories like those recently published in the Las Vegas Sun about students who work on the Las Vegas Strip in order to pay for their education.  And the reality is, they graduate from college with less debt than the traditional college student and have ‘real life work experience’ to boot!!  Heck – my wife put herself through UNLV law school while ‘cock-tailing’ at Mandalay Bay.  Today, she has been practicing for 4+ years and doesn’t regret how she paid for law school. 

We need to accept that life in Las Vegas is different.  And we need to collaborate more as a community to leverage our differences.   

Las Vegas provides a great opportunity for a younger demographic to earn an exceptional living while putting themselves through school.  As human resource professionals, we need to accept that and reinforce the fact that they will not be able to cocktail, valet, tend bar (or dance) the rest of their lives, and that education is important.  When they are ready and able to make the transition, they will. 

We are less than two weeks away from the Las Vegas Recruiting Roadshow and the seats are filling up fast.  If you have not RSVP’d for this event, I would suggest doing so now to make sure you have a seat.  We have limited seating.  And the event is free to attend.  It is sure to sell out.

Here are the details again:

Wednesday, February 27, 2008
8:30 – 1:30 (Registration & Breakfast begin at 8:00)

Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa Casino
2300 Paseo Verde Parkway (map)

Register:      Online Registration

Agenda

Most of our grandparents worked for one employer their entire life.  Our parents – one, two or possibly three employers.  My generation (Gen X) – up to seven.  Gen Y is too young to know, but many have already had seven jobs before turing 25.

So what is destroying workplace loyalty?

This is a classic:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlczxXqez-Y]

We all know the best solution to a severe workforce shortage is to grow our own.  This starts in K-12 (kindergarten through 12th grade).  It is a slow branding process to get future generations interested in a particular profession.  Many times an employer attempts to accomplish this producing materials using their industry jargon and some fancy pictures.  The best marketers know how to reach (and communicate) with the younger generation.

This commercial was actually recognized by TBS as one of the funniest television ads. 

Recruiting Nevada ‘bridges’ the recruitment gap until we grow our own with recruiting solutions such as NVEngineeringJobs where engineering professionals search for engineering jobs in Nevada.

How many times each day I find my self cursing the quality, or lack, of customer service received.  A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer calls this a ‘clash of generational etiquette.’  The first paragraph starts with:

You’re standing at a checkout counter, ready to pay, and the twenty something behind the register is talking on her cell phone. So you wait, and wait, and wait, and when the clerk finally finishes her conversation, she offers not an apology, but a grimace that suggests you’ve interrupted.

This should be a ‘call to arms’ for all professional trainers in the human resource profession.  I just don’t think that Gen ‘Y’ understands etiquette yet.  And it is an employer’s responsibility to train new employees on the importance of the customer and instill within them the etiquette expected in a professional environment.

The article from the Philadelphia Inquirer can be found here.

There are some graphs that just speak for themselves and really make me wonder why we spend so much time debating why we are having talent shortages.  The graph below simply displays population (generations) over the past decades.  If you just follow the ‘waves’ you will see where talent crunches will occur.  It is that easy!

I’m sure I am not the first to say “I don’t get it” when it comes to social networking websites.  My time is scarce nowadays and if I have the opportunity to network, I prefer it to be in a casual environment with a glass of wine or a beer.

Today, the younger generations are networking online using sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Second Life.

Because Recruiting Nevada is in the business of staying ahead of the curve and constantly thinking outside of the box, of course all of these social mediums have been on our radar.  We have spent countless (and what I feel are wasted) hours trying to ‘get it.’  They may work for meeting people (primarily single people), but for recruiting purposes….. I am not so sure.

Last week we had a strategic meeting with our crew to, as I call it, ‘fish or cut bait’ with these outlets.  We evaluated the web pages established by other job boards as well as direct employers.  We talked about the pros and cons.  We engaged the feedback of our employees in the younger demographic.  We asked all sorts of questions and played out multiple scenarios.  We looked for any reason we could find to continue evaluating these mediums.  In the end, we made a decision.

We cut bait. 

We just “don’t get it” and I am not certain that there is any type of play here for recruiters.  If you had a small army of interns that did nothing but build ‘friends’ lists all day long it may be justifiable.  Because without friends – people do not visit your website.  And considering the likelihood of that person looking for a job at that moment, I believe this strategy leads to wasted effort that could be allocated somewhere better. 

In our business it is all about the cost to acquire a new jobseeker.  In retail it is customer acquisition costs. We have a maximum amount we are willing to spend on a new jobseeker and that amount varies based on the demographics of the professional we are recruiting.  If we can not meet that number – we cut bait.  We move on to fish another hole. 

I believe our efforts are better spent focusing on search engine marketing, optimization and other strategies we use to get jobseekers to consider Nevada as a great place to live, work and play. 

Whenever I find a great recruiting gimmick, I like to share it.  For the demographics (game developers) this company wanted to reach, their recruitment strategy was absolutely brilliant.

Take a peek at this link and then return to the post:

http://www.red5studios.com/about/goldenticket

Was it costly?  I imagine the cost to assemble each one of these packages with the personalized iPod was close to $300.  When they calculated the “per exposure” cost, I am sure it appeared expensive.  But after they clearly defined and identified their target audience, then calculated the long term branding effect - it became more realistic. 

The Problem:
A good gaming developer probably costs $30-40K per head, if using a headhunter.  

The Solution:
If Red 5 mailed out 150-200 of these suckers and had just a 1% response rate they would match the cost-per-hire expected by using a search firm.  Most direct mailing campaigns yield a 2-3% response rate which would lower their cost-per-hire 50% compared to a search firm.

The most important element of this entire campaign is they left a very lasting impression (brand) in the minds of 100% of their target audience.

If Red 5 used a contingency firm, this would not happen.  At best, a recruiter would talk to 100 gaming developers about their opportunity, never mentioning Red 5’s name, culture or ‘brand.’  A recruiter would then provide a short list of 4-6 candidates, who would be the only candidates to be exposed to Red 5’s  identity and employment brand.

The Result: 
This campaign put Red 5 Studio’s employment brand in front of the exact audience they wanted to reach.  They not only got a 2-3% response, but are claiming nearly a 100% response rate.  That is huge!!  Imagine a company lowering the industry standard cost-per-hire from $40K to just a few hundred bucks. 

Kudos to the guys at Red 5 Studios.  A little ‘out of the box’ recruitment strategy (and as they proclaim – good beer) will go a long way. 

Self-promotion:  Recruiting Nevada’s candidate matching system takes a similar approach.  We put our client’s employment brand in front of 100% of the candidates using our system who have 2x opted in that they want to relocate to Nevada.  Most clients report a cost-per-hire a small fraction of what they pay a search firm, while knowing they are effectively branding their company for future recruiting efforts. 

Hold on – I think I saw him at yesterday’s Job Fair!

Happy Friday!!!!!……..7 days til St. Pat’s Day

I had the great opportunity yesterday to present at the Boyd Gaming human resource directors meeting.  I delivered my “War for Talent – Don’t Cannibalize, Collaborate” presentation that I have delivered to most of the other industries in Nevada.  There were nearly 25 HRDs from all Boyd and Coast properties. 

At first I was skeptical and not sure gaming would “get it.”  In the past, they have not.  Without a doubt, Boyd Gaming “gets it.”  They understood the challenges of an aging and weakening labor pool, diversification of job classifications within gaming, the need to discover hidden talent pools, and most surprising, the importance of reaching Generation Y (very few employers have acknowledged this challenge).

Boyd understands the recruiting challenges they will face when they bring Echelon Place on line in 2010.  They will need to recruit nearly 10,000 new employees on the ‘tail’ of the fourth boom where over 110,000 gaming employees will be needed in total.   Challenging?  Yes.  But with proper strategic planning, like Boyd Gaming was doing yesterday, they will surely succeed.

Boyd acknowledges the power of partnering with the local community with programs such as the “Trailing Spouse Program,” which benefit education and healthcare.  Why?  Because this is an absolutely huge labor pool that can be tapped.  Boyd Gaming realizes the need to partner with local educators to “grow their own” for critical areas of need. 

So needless to say…. Boyd Gaming just “gets it.”