By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.
(720) 733-2022

Archives: 05-07-2007 – SixDegrees is on the road …

“Yes, and I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from. Oh, yeah. You tear your history down, man! “30 years old, let’s smash it to the floor and put a car park here!” I have seen it in stories. I saw something in a program on something in Miami, and they were saying, “We’ve redecorated this building to how it looked over 50 years ago!” And people were going, “No, surely not, no. No one was alive then!”

Well, we got tons of history lying about the place, big old castles, and they just get in the way. We’re driving– “Oh, another castle! Have to drive around it…” Disney came over and built Euro Disney, and they built the Disney castle there, and it was, “You better make it a bit bigger, they’ve actually got them here… And they’re not made of plastic!” We got tons of them, ‘cause you think we all live in castles, and we do all live in castles! We all got a castle each. We’re up to here with fricken castles! We just long for a bungalow or something.”
Eddie Izzard, “Dress To Kill”

On March 29th, I ventured south from Prague, passing familiar American corporations like Dell, Honeywell, Accenture, Intel and others along my trek. MY appetite took a detour at Kutna Hora. Kutna Hura is a UNESCO protected site, recognized for its unique landmarks, both of a once flourishing silver mining settlement and its Cemetery All Saints Chapel. It was here that 30,000 bodies were buried at the time of the great plague in 1318 and grew further during the Hussite Wars. A double towered Cemetery Chapel was built with an Ossuary located in the bottom floor. Bones from the abolished graves were first piled up around the chapel. In 1511 a half blind monk piled them into pyramids. A century later, bone decorations were rearranged. By the 18th century, the bones were bleached, disinfected, and, In all, the remains of 40,000 bodies were reassembled in Baroque Gothic style to form ornate sculptures to decorate the Sedlec Ossuary. The purpose of this macabre presentation? To remind visitors of our own mortality. The tourist guidebooks reinforces the issue, stating, “This fact is intended to lead to mutual harmonic coexistence and to respect life and to make people responsible to the divine.”

My harmony was unfortunately disassembled, however, by the tour guide’s single allowance for a restroom stop and constant injection of political overtones as a socialist on the losing side of history. How she managed to make politics relevant at the Ossuary and in the village town itself, took deft skill sets of which she could only master. On the lighter side, a well intentioned, sweet British woman kept interrupting the tour guide with inane observances which made me bury my face into my scarf to avoid embarassing her with my laughter. Her fellow Brits kept rolling her eyes as she repeatedly asked “But why were there religious wars, fighting over religion is wrong,” as if by stating as much could defy the history of the paths we took and tales of woe. Seeing all those bones made me yearn for a nice bowl of soup on that frigid day. I settled for duck.

On March 30th I traveled for four hours each way on a chilly morning to Cesky Krumlov, listed as a monument of world importance by UNESCO. It’s a magnificent example of Renaissance-Baroque architecture, picturesquely located on the Vltava River. The unique location contains more than 300 historical buildings and its atmosphere is striking with its deep cobblestone alley ways, buildings etched into the surrounding rock and aqueducts. Interestingly enough, given the Czech Republic’s history as one of the richest veins of silver, it was once the center of coin minting for Old Europe before war and over extended mining took its toll, but the vast wealth paid tribute to Prague’s former status as seat of the Holy Roman Empire and it was evident throughout the valley of impeccable craftsmanship in each of the building sites. The long walks up and down steep streets was made easier after befriending two American doctors, a brother and sister, in fact, who made for great conversation and enjoyed my quips about how the kind but repetitive tour guide would say “Renaissance” at each building. (It may not sound funny now, sure, but it you walked with us, you could appreciate the jest.)

Upon returning from the long journey from southern Bohemia to Prague, I invited the American doctors I befriended to join me for dinner for “something Czech and authentic.” The concierge recommended “Santa Klara’s. We took a taxi to the most astounding restaurant I have seen or experienced, complete with a thematic cave dwelling ambiance as we were fed several courses of duck, venison, wild boar, and sweet, aromatic wines. The restaurant alone could have justified the adventure to Bohemia. Once I returned to the hotel, I collapsed in bed, with a deeper appreciation of the rich history and role this central European country played in transcontinental European culture and commerce, and an even deeper appreciation for savory wild boar rolling on a skewer. Good times that day, good times.

The morning after, I walked through large crowds in a certain state of rabble. I walked into an international parade of sorts, children and young teens singing national anthems, holding national banners – with Czechs leading the way. The procession ran from the streets of the Old Jewish Quarter through Old Square, with those assembled celebrating their favorite teams for a major, local, soccer tournament. It’s worth a look, but alas let’s look at it next time …

Until then, let me close by saying, “They’ve redecorated these buildings to how they looked over 550 years ago!” And people were going, “No, surely not, no. No one was alive then!”

Indeed they were alive, and what a culture they’ve managed to sustain, and even more important for the Czechs in that long history of woe and wonderment, … today a republic if they can keep it.

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By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.
(720) 733-2022

Connect Directly with Marcin Smolinski, at Google by inserting his email, linkedin@smolinski.org

One of my principle goals during my trip to Czech Republic was to gain insight on international sourcing from my counterparts in Central Europe. I had the good fortune of meeting my colleague Marcin Smolinski in person on Thursday night, March 29th in Prague this past year.

Marcin is a corporate recruitment leader for Google‘s Central and Eastern European operations, and oversees RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) architecture, implementation and management, contractor deployment in Central and Eastern Europe (SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, EAI, Siebel etc) and HR Change Management. Marcin is the accomplished blog author of EMEA Recruiter, which emphasizes IT Recruitment issues within EMEA, and a well versed, multi-lingual expert in linguistic and cultural affinities related to staffing strategies. He is fluent in Czech, English, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian. He has 8 years experience in IT recruitment, contract staffing, deployment, outsourcing, offshore SW development and RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) for IT industry and prominent International experience across EMEA: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Western Europe.

Marcin and I had the opportunity to meet twice during my research sojourn. We had insightful conversations on the talent ID possibilities in utilizing SMS text messages with geograohic precision and effectiveness to research facilities in specific areas within corporate and university campuses, the level of understanding and practice of sourcing within Europe as compared to the United States, and the complexities of multi-national labor regulations which effect direct sourcing practices.

Marcin and I shared much in common, such as our enjoyment of wild game cuisine and a hearty pilsner, but more specifically, Marcin is a Power networker on Linkedin and shares my passion for relationship-based, talent pools. He is one of the most prominent social networking recruiters in Europe with over 3,000 contacts.

I look forward to sharing additional insights based upon our discussions, and above all, I look forward to visiting Marcin and his colleagues throughout Central and Eastern Europe to continue our evangelism of Advanced Sourcing Techniques, based upon established, world renown JobMachine Inc. workforce development methodologies.

NOTE: Unfortunately since I last posted this fond recollection of my friend Marcin, he has taken ill. I wish him God’s speed in his recovery. He is without question the most advanced staffing professional in EMEA I had the pleasure of getting to know. He uses American tactics with a European sensibility when adapting cultural tactics. Great things will come and have followed my friend Marcin and I trust they will be surpassed in the months ahead. Keep my friend in your thoughts.

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By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.

I appreciate the response I have received in developing this series of International recruitment perspectives among peers. I have received inquires and readership from a broader global audience given the subject matter, be it places as diverse as Nigeria to Sierra Leone to Lebanon. In an effort to expand this passion of mine, I want to take this opportunity to invite international readers to contact me directly if you too wish to participate among our featured guests as part of this continuing series. Send me an email and let’s further discussion and share your wealth of knowledge with members of the world community of recruitment professionals. Contact me directly at ldavemendoza @ gmail.com

To Connect directly with Brian Janecek on LinkedIn, simply click here and insert his email: Brian.Janecek @ fei.com

Brian Janecek is a US national, born and raised in Oregon and a technical recruiter developing talent on behalf of corporate and highly-technical positions at FEI, a nanotechnology tool provider (SEM, TEM, S/TEM, FIB, DualBeam, etc.). Brian is on a 3 month project overseas to support FEI’s talent needs in Brno, Czech Republic. FEI covers Brian’s housing, air travel on behalf of his wife and two small children, and provides a company car. Given his unique opportunity, we agreed he had the perfect tale to tell given his origins. Today, as Part 2 of this first of a series, Brian was kind enough to share additional insight on his perspective as an American trained recruiter developing talent needs in the Czech Republic.

The conversation continued as follows:

How do Czech employment laws specific to direct sourcing & hiring effect the recruiting process and overall capabilities?

“In the Czech Republic it’s mandatory that employees give two months’ notice plus the remainder of the current month (so up to about three months notice). That means that filling immediate needs can be very difficult if you don’t want to just settle for a pool of currently unemployed candidates.

Czechs aren’t used to moving jobs very often so cold calling them and approaching unsolicited targets is very, very unusual and can often be uncomfortable for the candidate.

Fortunately, as far as I am aware, there are no laws pertaining to contacting candidates.”

What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities?

“FEI uses Sonic as its internal candidate tracking tool.”

What percentage of applicants are hired from your corporate website with the Czech Republic?

“In the Czech Republic the number is almost zero. This is an area that we are working to develop and is one of the reasons for me being sent over here.”

WHERE are the “BEST QUALITY of HIRES” within each of your countries you are accountable for?

“Referrals from employees are typically the best quality hires.”

Where are the “MOST HIRES” collected from? (In terms of Quantity #)

“The majority of our hires come from agencies. Agencies have a strong hold in the Czech Republic and are often the first means of job-searching help that seekers use.”

What is the source of your “CHEAPEST HIRES” – (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires)

“Employee referrals…we do pay a referral bonus, but the quality and lack of time investment make these cheap”

Is Czech culture a factor in the response rate of email campaigns sending requesting a resume versus calling the candidate directly at their work? Are Czechs amicable to sending their resume, or are they shy/cautious or even suspicious depending on the method you use to contact them?

“Culture is a Major factor. Calling candidates at work is viewed with a lot of suspicion and can be counter-productive if not invited to call them there. Email is the easiest ice-breaker and can open the door for a call. The Czechs seem to be very voicemail averse so leaving messages often isn’t possible. Once the wall of suspicion is broken down they are eager to send resumes, but very weary before that. This is why most of them would not dream of posting their resume to an online job board. They are always very interested to know where I got their contact info and all the details pertaining to that.”

What methods/resources (Including, but not limited to: newspaper advertisements, Company website, online search engine ads, job Fairs/Open House events, Blogs, online forums, technical websites, social networking sites, etc – OR SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGY TOOLS – provide the FASTEST amount of time in producing hires?

“We’ve tried newspaper advertisements, online ads and job postings to the “major” job boards, open houses, postings on public transportation and internal referral programs; all with varying levels of success. The fastest hires typically come from online job board postings and agencies. We’re still early in our newspaper/public transportation campaigns so the results of those are not yet fully known.”
What are the BEST JOB BOARDS, benefiting your hiring needs you recruit for, and specific to the Czech Republic?
“Jobs.cz tends to be the best in the Czech Republic. Monster is very expensive here and has not caught on with the people so we avoid the high fees there.”

Which local newspapers, job boards and industry-specific portals Would you recommend as an employer in the Czech Republic?

“Mladá Fronta both nationwide and regionally is strong on the newspaper side and Metro (a free local paper) is a very cost-effective option for Brno.”

Can you recommend third party recruitment search firms which have proven to be effective in the Czech Republic?

“Our main agency partners are: May Consulting, Perspectiva, Mita Thor, Sigmar and ManMark.”

NOTE: I strongly encourage our readers to contact and thank Brian directly for his detailed and insightful information, and above all, for participating in the international Staffing Perspectives Series. Please take the opportunity today to Connect directly with Brian Janecek on LinkedIn, simply click here and insert his email: Brian.Janecek@fei.com

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By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.

June 2007 Reprise

Connect directly with Brian Janecek on LinkedIn, insert his email: bjanecek@netflix.com

The war for talent has exposed an ever decreasing technical engineering base within North America, as universities produce fewer engineers than demanded by attrition to sustain today’s technology revolution. Recruitment has gone global in harnessing the potential of a highly educated and motivated class of intelligentsia within Central Europe, India and throughout Asia. The disconnect between an ambitious workforce development strategy and actual metrics is in the manner and means by which we understand the following key issues that confront us as staffing professionals:

Today we initiate a series of discussions to engage global perspectives among fellow colleagues in the staffing industry from each corner of the Earth, in the spirit of fostering best practices and understanding. It is my intention to engage and solicit a global conversation and ultimately, and most importantly – to develop a menu of perspectives which identifies fundamental patterns among recruiters, newspapers and other mediums, and the role of demographics. My lofty goal is to research the manner in which we recruit, develop social networking relationships to foster talent pools, and how we engage job boards, etc. by country, region and continent. Today I take one small step forward to initiate a series of inquiries in the hopes that together we can learn from each other.

I thank each of my colleagues in advance for their willingness to confront the questions posed. Your contributions will assist in identifying patterns we can sort together as part of an ongoing discussion. I invite the staffing organizations of Corporate America and Multi-National companies to share in the dialogue.

Brian Janecek is a US national, born and raised in Oregon and a technical recruiter developing talent on behalf of corporate and highly-technical positions at FEI, a nanotechnology tool provider (SEM, TEM, S/TEM, FIB, DualBeam, etc.). FEI’s corporate headquarters is located in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA, Brian has been charged however with a three-month assignment on behalf of FEI’s Brno, Czech Republic office. In addition, FEI maintains an office in Holland that covers Western European countries.

FEI Corporation is a leading supplier of Tools for Nanotechâ„¢ enabling research, development and manufacture of products at the Nanoscale. Our range of industry-leading focused ion and electron beam hardware and software products are delivered to three primary Nanotechnology markets: NanoElectronics, NanoResearch and NanoBiology. With R&D centers in North America and Europe, and sales and service operations in more the 40 countries around the world, FEI is bringing the Nanoscale within the grasp of leading researchers and manufacturers and helping to turn some of the biggest ideas of the this century into reality.

Brian’s talent pool is primarily associated with the development, design and manufacturing of electron microscopes (SEMs and TEMs). Brian partners with Staffing, HR Business Partners and Hiring Managers to ascertain the specifics of a search, develop sourcing strategies, and then execute those strategies to identify and deliver top-notch talent to the business group.

He initially began his staffing career as an HR Generalist in 2002 and eventually gravitated to a career in recruitment over the last five years. Brian’s competitiveness is the source of his inspiration as a recruiter. He loves a challenge and the field of electron microscopy, in particular, makes recruiting a particularly satisfying adventure.

As a recruiter for FEI, Brian depends upon direct sourcing from competitor companies as a key resource for developing talent. FEI is a small player (about 230 employees) within its niche competing against major global companies in a relatively small market that’s currently experiencing a major labor shortage in the technical fields. Brian deems going after the competition’s workforce as an essential component of their staffing strategy.

Brian faces technological and strategic challenges in his quest for talent within Central Europe, He describes sourcing talent in Brno, Czech Republic as a “time warp.”

“We recently posted a full-page ad in a regional newspaper with a number of positions listed and are launching a campaign where we put up ads on public transportation in order to get our postings in front of passive candidates. I’ve considered wearing a sandwich board and standing for a few hours in front of our biggest competitor, but I’m not quite to that point…yet.”

Brian’s keen networking efforts opened doors for him at FEI corporation and his Czech language abilities inspired his current duties overseas. Over the next three months while working on in Czech Republic, FEI will cover his overseas expenses for housing, meals (to an extent), flights for his wife and two small children, and a company car. He was kind enough to share his perspectives as an American national working as a contract recruiter in Central Europe.

Which job boards, online forums, blogs, etc., within the region are considered valuable assets in your search for talent?

“Like most companies in the region, we rely heavily on local job boards for resumes. The large global boards (Monster, Dice, etc.) haven’t caught on here at all so sites like Jobs.cz are much more useful. I hesitate to call the sites useful for mining resumes as a lot of attitudes held-over from the days of Communism continue to prevail and most people would never dream of putting a resume with any personal information on a job board that anyone who pays the fees can see. Therefore, a majority of the resumes that do get posted (and there aren’t many) are from new college graduates who lack experience. There are many smaller boards that make a good effort but never really catch on (same as within the US) so those have been of minimal value. Posting our jobs on these sites has been fairly successful and we do get some good candidates from those, but I have to temper my expectations as I’m dealing with a much smaller region and talent pool than I’m used to in the US. Brno is about two hours from Prague and getting candidates to consider leaving the big city for something smaller is nearly impossible without overpaying by a great deal. In fact, getting candidates from farther away than about 30 miles to consider work here is challenging.

LinkedIn has been a good source of networking contacts and I have mined some good candidates off the site.

How are US and European recruitment culture different? How are they similar?”

“The biggest difference I see in recruiting in the US and in Central/Eastern Europe is that active recruiting is essential for success in the States and it is almost non-existent here. Agencies play a much bigger role in this region and most are content to post jobs on various sites and wait for candidates to come to them. In fact, many candidates that I mine are quite surprised to be getting an unsolicited call from a recruiter as it isn’t a part of the culture here. The Internet is being used as a job-hunting tool, but is still in its infancy as a sourcing tool for recruiters. Many of the recruiters that I’ve met with are much more tactical and less strategic than is my experience in the US, meaning that they are much more administrative than the average US recruiter. There is also a major problem here of the top-level talent leaving the country for higher wages in Western Europe and the US so holding on to employees once they’ve come on board is a challenge.

Another major hurdle here for recruiters is that people aren’t accustomed to switching jobs as often as Americans are. They tend to stay in the same job for a long time and, for the most part, aren’t interested in knowing what else is out there…they are very risk-averse in that area. This is changing with the younger generations, but is still the norm.

Companies here tend to focus more on college hires as most people coming out of school in a technical field have master’s degrees. The thought is that they can mold them to fit the company much easier if they haven’t been influenced by the culture and habits of other companies.

Employees must give at least two months’ notice to leave so the time between the signing of the offer letter and when they actually start is usually about two to three months. Along those lines, it’s also extremely difficult to fire anyone so making the right hiring decision is that much more important because you’re going to be stuck with the person for a long time.

Fighting to find, lure away and hold on to talent is the same wherever you go; the circumstances are just different.”

Where is Europe ahead of the USA in certain recruitment tactics?

“This is a very subjective question as saying who is ahead or what methods are better. I’m very biased because I learned to recruit in the US and the transition over here has been like learning a completely new job. Agencies here are relatively cheap and they seem to elicit a greater level of comfort with candidates so that is one area that I think is definitely more advanced. In the US there is a bit of a stigma associated with going to an employment agency to look for help in a job search, but here it’s often the seeker’s first choice.”

What networking groups are available and influential within Europe as a whole and within your country in particular?

“I can only speak to my region and most of the networking groups that I’ve come across are those of expatriates … it just isn’t part of the culture here to create or join such groups.“

What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of?

“I’ve not come across any yet so much of the training I’ve done has been through setting up meetings with our various staffing partners (agencies) and trying to draw out any information that I can from them that would be helpful for sourcing within this market.”

What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career?

“I recruited a top-level candidate in the US who was being courted by a number of companies who all made him offers. We wanted him badly but didn’t have the money to throw at him that some of our competitors did so I had to pitch other benefits to working with us. I talked to him almost daily for two weeks and, despite being outbid for his services, I was able to close the deal with him. I learned more about recruiting from that single experience than from any other. Recruiting isn’t just about finding good candidates and offering them the most money; it’s the ability to find people’s hot buttons and push on those to convince them that your company is the one that they want to work for.”

NOTE: Stay Tuned For Part 2 of My Interview with Brian Janecek, FEI Corporation in Brno, Czech Republic. I encourage our readers to take the opportunity today to Connect directly with Brian Janecek on LinkedIn, simply click here and insert his email: Brian.Janecek @ fei.com

Next Up …. Doran Parsons, Staffing Manager at Dell Corporation in Bratislava, Slovakia!

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By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuh, JobMachine & Staffing Consultant, LinkedIn Corporation.

PART 2

When I stopped at Heathrow, I refreshed my memory at how disorienting the experience could be. The signs failed to direct customers to the proper entry point for their next departure, – many passengers were asking questions. I managed to walk straight into the wrong wing. We were not informed that the United Kingdom has a one carry-on rule as opposed to two, and we all had to fumble to stuff two bags into one. I was surprised by how rude the attendants were at the airport. One woman rolled her eyes as an ederly woman asked questions and walked away muttering “How obvious could that be…” within two steps of her. I had to restrain myself from taking her to task. I sat for three hours and managed to hear the BBC’s blatantly biased anti-American reporting as I awaited my flight. I was hungry but I wasn’t in the mood to pay $2 USD for every pound sterling.

Once I arrived, by around the following day, I was pleased to find that the Renaissance Hotel, Prague, matched or exceeded my expectations beyond any prior European hotel I had visited before. The Czechs were exceedingly pleasant, far removed from the travel guide warnings about excessive need for tipping, – they resisted often, and followed up at each instance of any request to ensure their service met to my approval. The hotel restaurants were exquisite in traditional Czech delicacies and likewise above par in customer service. My only complaint, and an obstacle I faced throughout the remainder of my stay was the excessively high daily internet connection. 1mg of broadband was equal to $30 USD a day. I likewise saw a sign listing minute by minute charges at the business center to use their computers, but I managed to avoid the charge. The internet issue complicated my hopes to use my beloved skype to communicate with family as regularly as I would have preferred and acquiring a phone card was a task.

Showered, shaven and rested I walked through the lobby and out the doors into Prague nightlife through the Old Town (Stare Mesto) along the right bank of Vltava around Old Town Square to the 12th century Karluv Most, aka Charles Bridge, one of the most impressive sights, from a cultural and landmark perspective. It combines in unique fashion, its original Gothic influence with 30 ornate Baroque sculptures added over a period of 250 years throughout its length leading to the gateway up the steep roads and steps to Prague Castle, the world’s largest.

Looking back from the bridge I could see the dome of St. Nocolas appearing between the two towers at the Western end of the bridge. Slightly curved, it spans the Vltava by means of 17 pillars, strengthened on both sides and forming 16 arches.

(** See Charles Bridge, WebCamera, click here.)

That evening and in the seven days following, I never lost an opportunity to breathe in the certain serenity in watching the varied forms of artists lining the bridge, cartoonists, photographers, musicians, and acrobats.

The following webvideos I took attempt to capture the sights and sounds of Karluv Most, Charles Bridge.

More to Follow …
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