Economy Fails, But that Doesn't Mean it's Time to Be a Vulture.

I have been feeling like a bit of a vulture – I'll admit it. As soon as I heard about the fall of AIG, Bear Sterns, Freddie, Fannie and the others, my initial thoughts were not of concern. I simply saw opportunity. I imagined massive layoffs (read new talent on the market) and if not that, employees of those organizations likely, and understandably, would be freaked out and ready to jump ship… perhaps over to mine. It was like music to my ears, as I began thinking about what openings my firm has and how I could capitalize on all of this.

Not the warmest response, I know. But here in DC, I've got Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in my backyard.  And friends of mine who work at both came to me almost immediately post-takeover to talk job search tactics… so how could my mind not go there? I also started seeing a greater number of resumes from current F & F peeps applying directly to my firm. Then there were the referrals from friends of clients or friends of my friends at F & F who are reaching out to their networks to try to see what opportunities were out there for them. And I’m pretty sure that recruiting and HR pros elsewhere are hearing and seeing the same from would-be candidates at WaMu, AIG, Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

The possible exodus at each of those organizations isn't something completely foreign – we saw the same at other giants like MCI and Enron during their tumbles, albeit under different circumstances. It make me think back though to an HR pro who used to be with MCI who once told me about the retention challenges they faced when the ship was sinking. And as I began thinking about the current crisis in those terms, I couldn’t help but to feel for the HR pros at all of those organizations. I mean, talk about retention challenges! What’s more, recruiting efforts at those companies have to be completely dysfunctional right now. Imagine you have an opening one day, a hiring freeze the next, you’re owned by a new company tomorrow or the government is swooping in to now regulate your organization… Selling that environment to a candidate? Good luck.

The challenges of being an HR pro under those circumstances, and managing against all of that, are simply immense. No one is immune however, so even some of our fellow HR and recruiting pros at those organizations, or perhaps those who do business with them, are or will be affected too… So this vulture mentality, I have begun to recognize, probably isn’t the most appropriate response because that would only make me the equivalent of an ambulance chaser, right?

As I’ve had time to digest some of this crisis, I’ve realized that relationships and community, and doing everything in that vein, is probably the best response. For those who reach out to me, I’m happy to help. I will be as understanding as I can be of the fright they have had working for an organization that’s collapsed or is so-near collapse they’ve had to be rescued. But I’m not going to go in like a vulture and try to steal their talent. Instead, I’ll focus on using my relationships and leveraging our community to help in whatever ways I can. Dr. John Sullivan may disagree and say start raiding Wall Street... but me? I'm going a different route.

And I'm proud to say that one of FOT’s very own, William Uranga, is doing exactly this. Check out his effort to create a repository of recruiting and HR pros who are affected by this crisis and are on the market. This is exactly how we should be responding.

Editor's Note - Jessica Lee is an Employment Manager for APCO Worldwide, a global PR firm in D.C. Like most upscale HR pros, she spends half of her time on recruiting, the other half on ER, Training and OD.  When she's not hammering a candidate to determine Motivational Fit, she's thinking about the future of HR, and wondering how she can avoid using the job boards to fill the next spot in her organization...

Comments

[Kelly Dingee]

I'm with you on most of this. Living in DC metro we see this - with the economy and with the politics. Having lived here for dare I say it - nearly 20 years - this area sees change constantly - historically you could see a real fluctuation in real estate as the White House changed over every 4 to 8 years as people with each administration move in and out. Now we also watch as businesses rise and fall. Remember the greatness of all things AOL?

This is a time when being a Gen Xer pays :) I remember the telecom rise and fall at the beginning of this decade...and "we" did contact companies that were failing, with the very honest intentions of helping with their outplacement efforts. Did we get bonus people who didn't get laid off but decided to go for more security? That's the nature of the beast. But our goal was to get people before they posted on the company's outplacement service and were up for everyone to see.

These days? Well I'll talk to anyone who needs guidance - and give them by 10 minute strategy on where to get started. But if HR people are looking for someone who has tons of jobs? Try Ruthie Powell of The Ruthie List http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/theruthielist/- she knows where they are and includes them on her list ALL the time, when times are good and when they are horrible. It's a great place to network. And I've yet to see her play favorites - seems genuinely impartial and open to helping others - like we all should strive to.

Best,
Kelly

[William]

On the positive (example) side of things, I remember when Cisco had their first couple rounds of layoffs during the dot.com bust days. Recruiting as a function was switched to help the departing employees with find new jobs. It was widely referenced, spoke very well of Cisco and was the right things to do.

[Jessica Lee]

kelly... thanks for your perspective. AOL is a great example of someone in the DC area we've seen fall (and still is...). everyone says that what we're going through now is something so new, so different... but the reality is every time there's some kind of crisis, we say the same thing. it is different, but i dunno if it's necessarily new. thanks for the referral to Ruthie's List ... i wasn't aware of it so i'm sure there are other folks too who will benefit from learning about it.

william... how did they let you into this ever-so-snarky FOT crew? ha. thanks for always being so positive though. it's refreshing. :)