Featured Article: Revamping for a Recovery

We've all had several months to get used to doing business in a recession. Many of us have lived through this before, and know how this will end; a number of the companies that aren't killed off by the recession will be finished off by the recovery because they didn't use the downturn to retrench and prepare.

According to a Harvard study of publicly traded companies coming out of the last three recessions, 41% ceased to exist in their former public state (they went bankrupt, liquidated, went private, or were acquired); 48% hobbled through in varying states of vulnerability; and only 11% emerged intact (some even stronger) with growth rates of 25% or more in the subsequent three years following the recession. Only the most proactive, visionary companies ever "win" the recovery after a major recession.

Today, we are seeing organizations stuck in a cost-cutting mode. They are focusing on weathering the storm so they can make it to the promised land of "2010 and beyond." In the meantime they are unknowingly dealing the final blows to their atrophying operations. They are thinking short-term; letting their time to fill new positions lag, and only addressing immediate problems. These companies are putting off the longer-term, large-scale strategic initiatives for some hopeful time of future prosperity.

A Critical Time for Strategic Talent Acquisition
This "crisotunity" (to borrow from the Simpsons' interpretation of the Chinese symbol for crisis and opportunity) is a critical time for strategic initiatives. Companies need to review their talent acquisition function, get aligned with their internal customers, top grade their talent (re-recruit your keepers and replace your "C" players with an A-team), reinforce their pipeline (think of it as a "virtual bench" for critical skills the organization will need in the next several years), realign business priorities, and rebuild their brands.

No matter what else your company does or doesn't do to make it to the recovery, it will not be ready without exceptional talent. Talent is the critical ingredient to superior financial performance. A Fortune 500 company can realize a $70m-160m bottom line increase, with a 10 point increase in its Talent Quotient. And because we are in a buyer's market, you can secure great talent today that will help you get out of this mess. Or you can wait until the recovery (if you make it) when everyone is vying for the same great people; the talent land-grab after the last recession drove "agency fees" to a level of $17.3 billion in revenue.

What to Do Now
So what can you do right now to retrench and ramp up for the recovery? Following are five items that should be on the top of your to-do list.

1. Enhance your brand
Today, there are 5 generations in the workforce. If you aren't using Web 2.0 to promote your business, unique employee relations, culture, etc. you are missing at least one-third of them. Start by finding out what the public knows about you. Social media also offers companies the opportunity to monitor online chatter. This creates an instant cyber focus group, where you can hear what your prospects, customers, employees and candidates are saying about you, uncensored. Armed with this insight you can update your advertising and marketing initiatives, and launch a social media makeover. You can use social media to:

• Help manage your company's reputation and build brand awareness;
• Get closer to your customers and learn about their needs by having a two-way conversation;
• Respond, discuss, and debate issues related to your company's best interests;
• Learn insights not previously available from pools of customers, candidates and industry sources;
• Improve employee engagement and retention; and
• Develop relationships with passive candidates and candidate sources.

For a step-by-step social media "how to" review the June issue of Talent Insight on "Recruiting Strategically in a Socially Networked World."