The Rice Alliance held a panel discussion last night on the subject of: “Why the Best Time to Launch Your Business is During an Economic Downturn”. While not on the panel, a big portion of the discussion was around the presentation that Sequoia Capital gave to their 100 portfolio companies 2 weeks ago. Among the high points:
-Don’t trust models and spreadsheets, all assumptions prior to today are wrong.
-Pound your competitors’ shortcomings. They are hurting and they’ll be quiet.
-Adapt Quickly.
-It’s always darkest before it’s pitch black.
Checking out websites like ERE will make you think the sky is falling. The simple truth is that a lot of so-called recruiters made a lot of money in the past few years by overcharging and under-delivering. Now they’re scared to death because, in this kind of economic climate, companies are demanding accountability around the hires that they’re making. They expect a higher ROI from the people that they add or replace. And they should!
Here’s what’s most interesting: searching for A-Players, in an economy like this, is actually easier! No, they’re not getting laid off and no, they’re not putting their resume up onCareerBuilder, but they are listening. Interested in knowing why? Here’s an example of a conversation that is happening in companies all over America:
Jim: Where are all the HR people?
Joe: They’re in their offices with the doors closed.
Jim: The economy is real bad. They must be planning a downsizing.
Joe: Uh-oh, you’re right. I’ve heard that a lot of companies in this area are cutting jobs. As soon as things pick up I’m going start looking. Better to do it to them before they do it to me!
Jim: You got that right. Hey Bill, did you hear that there’s going to be a RIF soon?
What we’re hearing from our clients today is that (a) they’re more scared of the cost of a mis-hire today than they were even 3 months ago (b) retention of their existing A-Players is their top focus and (c) when they recruit to add head count, they must get the right people in the right seats to justify the additional payroll expense.
What is your company doing to retain your best talent and refine your needs?
Bonus Question: if someone just applied for a job at your company after being laid off in the last 30 days (the first round of cuts for most companies), what are they chances they were an A-Player?
