9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

To test the hypothesis for the second time, I decided to interview five people who work in two companies in South Florida that I feel may not have the need for effective talent acquisition programs – an air conditioning company and a call center outsourcing company. Both companies have continual advertising that they are hiring for all positions.

Who:

I interviewed two HR leaders and one Area Manager for the air conditioning company and two supervisors for the call center company. Each interviewee communicated that they are always looking to hire, but the goal of their hiring was not due to a lack of people talent. The very nature of their businesses are built upon hiring candidates that will be able to follow repeatable processes such as repairing an air conditioner step by step in accordance with company and state standards or following a call script for each customer calling into the call center, not on the talent of the candidates they are hiring.

What:

Their hiring needs differ from other companies who are focused on increasing the talent. These companies are interviewing for and hiring candidates they feel will be comfortable working in the same environment performing the same tasks over and over for long periods of time. Due to this, they will actually hire more candidates than necessary, knowing that after the standard 90-day probationary period that they will have some new hires quit after realizing they don’t enjoy the work or they will have to fire some of the new hires who were not able to demonstrate they can perform the repeatable tasks at a satisfactory level.

Why:

The cause of their hiring is different than hypothesis part one because it is not a talent-based need. It is a volume-based need focused on one skill – following directions. They are typically not hiring college degreed candidates, so there is not as much competition among other competitors for who they are hiring.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who: Tech companies or companies with “sexy” products	Who: Companies that are either skills-trade based or customer service outsourcing
What the Need Is: Better talent acquisition programs in order to attract and hire better people talent than their competitors	What the Need Is Not: It is not talent; The need is to cast a wide net in order to hire people who will follow processes
Why the Need Exists: For the companies, the better people talent they hire, the greater the likelihood is that they will develop better products which will help increase revenue.	Alternative Explanations: These companies are providing services to other companies and customers that aren’t about continually improving the work, it is about consistency and having the same expected results every time.