What is Going on in the Real World of Hiring and HR - Part 1 [Podcast]

Episode #187 – Marc Interviews Gary O’Neal and David Hughen on Their Perspectives of What is Going on in the Real World of Hiring and HR

Description:

This is the first part of a Career Pivot community call that was held with Gary O’Neal and David Hughen.

When companies think of HR in Austin, they think of David Hughen. Cofounder of Austin HR, acquired by Asure Software, David has built his 25+ year career on helping organizations succeed by coaching their leaders and addressing their human resource needs.

David’s focus is on optimizing employee commitment, performance, and productivity by aligning them to the organization’s strategic business goals.

Gary O’Neal is the founder of HireFactors.com and is one of the most respected recruiters in central Texas. Gary has been on the podcast twice before:

Gary makes his money helping his clients hire great teams.

This episode is sponsored by Career Pivot. Check out the Career Pivot Community.

Now on to the podcast…

Overview

David sees this in 3 stages:

Companies scrambling on how they wanted to structure their company.
In May companies started planning for Return to Work (RTW).
Companies are realizing that they are in for the long term and rethinking their RTW plans.

Companies are moving from payroll reductions, to furloughs, to a reduction in their workforce.

Gary sees hiring has declined but people are still hiring. The transactions called hires are probably 70-80% of what it was.

The things you need to do has not changed. You still need to get to the front of the line.

Are You Operating Without a Playbook? You Ought to Be!

LinkedIn is your primary tool. Identify those individuals in your target companies who have problems that you know how to solve. Reach out to them and start having a conversation. Someone needs your help.

Job boards are a shortcut to find people who need your help.

Remote Work

Companies are realizing that remote work does work. Many senior leaders are coming around to accepting remote work.

They are rethinking their workflow. If the employees have to touch the product then they have to be in the office. David gives the example of Samsung which has a semiconductor fabrication plant where employees need to go into a clean room.

The trade-offs include:

Employees can solve problems when passing in the hallway which is missed when everyone is home
Extroverts who are going stir crazy
Parents trying to manage having their children at home

Companies still want new employees to eventually move to the home office. However, Gary said companies are now considering candidates that are remote who will eventually relocate.

Similarly, companies are looking at candidates in remote locations where it is cheaper to live.

Question is asked whether to pursue positions that are remote during the pandemic exists. The questioner has no plans to relocate. Both Gary and David agreed that it is worthwhile to have a conversation.

Next week you will get to listen to the 2nd half of the session.