Selectio n Recruitment in SLI

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Life is the name of uncertainty and risk. We are quite sure about our present and past but God knows what our future will be. Therefore people living in the society have to device some way to reduce this uncertainty and risk.

People suffer not only mentally but also financially. Financial crises are so bad that they can lead somebody easily towards social evils. So one method to avoid all these complications is to help people financially. The Origin of the word insurance is “assurance” both words have the same meaning.

“Insurance is an agreement by contract to pay money to someone if something especially a misfortune, such as illness, death or an accident or a mishap happens to him.”

“It is a contract in which a person agrees to pay some cost for the compensation of any misfortune occurring in future.”

There are two terms frequently used in insurance, which are the “INSURER” (an insurance company, which enter into contract with the policyholder to compensate in case of any mishap to him, and the “INSURED” (who seeks the insurance coverage on the payment of premium).

The story of origin of life insurance is very inspiring. The idea of guarding against risk is almost as old as mankind. We know that Joseph recommended storing grain during seven years in Egypt against the impending seven lean years. Centuries ago in England , little groups banded together in to guilds and societies. Members of those guilds and societies by paying small sums were assured that a certain measure of relief would be give to their families if the breadwinner were taken away. In 1705, Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assistance Office was founded and it became England’s Fist successful Life Insurance Company.

The principal event that the Life Insurance Company insures against is death. Upon the death of a policyholder a life company agrees to make either a lump-sum payment or a series of payments to the beneficiary of the policy. Life Insurance protection is not, the only financial is product sold by these companies; a major portion of the business of life companies is the area of providing retirement benefits.

Property and casualty insurance companies insure against wide variety of occurrences. The under noted perils can be covered under the property casualty insurance:

“There are three types of companies: Those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; those who wonder what has happened”.

At the time of independence in 1947, Pakistan had 77 Insurance Companies out of which 7 were local and 70 were foreign resident companies. There was neither reinsurance nor a public sector at that time. This situation remains till 1952. In 1952, the Government of Pakistan established Pakistan Insurance Corporation as a reinsurance company and asked all the insurance companies to cede 10% of all their business to Pakistan Insurance Corporation. For these reasons, in addition to other factor, 40 of these foreign companies wound up their business and left Pakistan. In 1993, there were 57 insurance companies in the private sector and three in the public sector.

In 1972, all life insurance business was nationalized and a corporation under the name of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) was formed which consisted of 35 companies. Eastern Federal Union (EFU) was the largest among these companies. Since the SLIC is the only Life Insurance Company in Pakistan. But no under the liberalization program of the government many insurance companies have been given licenses to start life insurance business. These are:

Up till now there are 10 foreign resident insurance companies, 47 local (national) insurance companies and 3 public sector insurance concerns.

Insurance industry in Pakistan is dominated by a small number of players. Then top three insurance companies of the country control more 50% of the total Premium paid. The biggest market in Pakistan is of “ accident insurance” which accounts for 37% of the total insurance business. The second most popular category is fire insurance, which claims another 37%. The remaining 26% business is accounted for by marine business. Adamjee Insurance is the outright winner in each of the three categories. The second largest insurance company in each of the sectors is EFU.

The Government of Pakistan has recently allowed life insurance business. Premium for life insurance business, which is collected by the SLIC, exceeds all other categories put together by at least 10%. The government decision to allow life insurance in the private sector will increase the market size for this type of insurance due to growing awareness levels.

“To ensure satisfaction of our valued policy holders in processing new business providing after sales services and optimizing returns on life fund through quality culture and to maintain our position at the leading life insurer in Pakistan”

“Each organization is like an individual possessing its own behavior under certain circumstances, its own culture and its own values”.

Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Ch. is the incharge of HRD. This department imparts training to the needy appointed staff. It teachers them all the rules and regulations, procedures, practices regarding the insurance job. It also gives them different dimensions regarding the acquisition of new policies. Human resource Development Department (HRDD) plays a vital role in the success and prosperity of any organization. State Life Insurance Corporation has full-fledged HRDD with one training hall in Multan Zone. The training to SR, SO, SM, AM (Field workers) and office employees is given. The training is given for three weeks in a month through out the year. For the development and enhancement of marketing skills of the field & office employees, different courses are offered in the department. This department has one manager and one assistant manager with brilliant qualification and marketing skill. They perform their job as regular trainers. Despite some trainers are hired outside the Organization. The hired trainers are compensated @ Rs. 500 per day during the training period.

Mr. Ashraf Butti is the incharge of P&GS. The office & general matters are dealt in P&GS Department. This department has the sole responsibility and authority of the disciplinary action of the employees. Selection, recruitment, termination of the employees is the main functions of the P&GS Department.

The appointment of officers is done by Principal office (PO) Karachi or Regional Office. Selection Committee constituted by Zonal Head conducts test and interview.

Service provided by the SLIC are intangible and therefore are not acquired at the counter by the people, who need it, so it must be sold them through persuasive method. Field force of SLIC plays an effective role in selling of intangible products (Insurance Plants). In order to maintain the record of the field force agency department was established. The main function of this department includes recruitment, promotion, and termination of the field force, allied and medical facility for field force. This department is also responsible for issuance and renewal of licenses to the field force.

The Sales Representative (SR) is appointed by SO/SM. The requirement and conditions for the appointment of SR is as follows:

Application for the issuance of license is necessary and it is renewed after each 3 years.

An application Form, along with license fee Rs.50, attested photocopies of documents and Nomination Form is submitted to the agency department. A code number is allotted at the submission of application to SR and he can start working as agent of the SLIC of Pakistan.

SR is promoted, upon fulfillment of certain terms and conditions and on achievement of business targets, to SO. Similarly SO is promoted to SM and SM to AM.

Both sources are used for recruitment. But all process is done according to the standards set by Govt. of Pakistan. Therefore circular is issued to all departments and place advertisement in the newspapers. It might be the point of view of management to use inside source but advertisement is necessary. Now the trend of professionalism is prevailing in the corporation. Therefore after 1995 professional people like MBA, ACMA, CA, computer professionals and doctors are recruited.

No such policy in the organization. If they come upto criteria, they should be recruited.

There is no discrimination, always follow the rule of equal employment opportunity, and all applicants are treated equally. But there is some quota for disable people.

State Life Insurance Corporation always follow the privacy of employee record and people’s access is always denied.

It depends upon nature of job i.e. for underwriting job, the requirement standards are in that applicant must be “MBBS” doctors and well aware of medical procedures.

Basically for top management level post, it is centralized procedure (i.e. at principal office competent authority, executive director gives approval and than they start procedure). For other jobs, recruitment decision depend upon the nature of vacancy e.g.

1. For field oriented job sales officers and sales mangers are employer of agent i.e. sales representative.

2. For office lower level job, head office can transfer and delegate power to region and zone.

For field business, there is always requirement of personnel. Because if we increase our sales force, our business will increase. Therefore, if there is more business, more administrative professionals are needed to handle it i.e. strength of office depends upon number of policies which are active e.g. for 100,000 policies record, standard zone strength of employees should be 200.

Person, to whom you are calling for created job, whether he meets the criteria (i.e. appropriate according to criteria), also check background (screen him at the spot and evaluate educational record and personality at the time of recruitment).

Ultimately check the marketing aptitude and other qualities for selection e.g. for I. S. R. (Insurance Sales Representative) established criteria for urban is (F. A.) and sub-urban is (Matriculation).

Maximum people are invited for the fulfillment of requirement, evaluation through in depth interview, explore whether person is in need, to raise salary packages, extrovert or introvert (multidimensional personality).

State Life Insurance Corporation have different selection procedures for field and office job. But general format is as:

2. Categorization (i.e. divided into H. R. Department, Computer Department, Marketing Department).

5. Collection of internal H. R. Data Base and meantime placing advertisement in newspapers.

7. Interview standards depends upon standard set by panel and match need with its assessment.

The comprised panel depends upon discretion of competent authority. Person having experience usually get edge in selection procedure. Therefore reasonable experience is demanded.

Tests are used only for some particular jobs i.e. those jobs which require technical skills. Therefore the purpose of test is to check skills.

State Life Insurance Corporation has preset standards for every vacancy as far as work rules, salary taxes, benefits are concerned. But in special cases (i.e. in case of competent personnel), there are all negotiated e.g. Prof. Mr. Shaukat Malik join this organization from multinational organization negotiated with him all these matters.

Personal character is very vital. It contains positive attitude, certified character and good looking appearance because these are not only important for individuals but also examples for other team members. There is no restriction for citizenship but person having Pakistani citizenship will be preferred.

These are part of standard selection procedure. Therefore joining report accompany medical fitness report.

Medical fitness is necessary because it may be possibility that person might have developed swear case like cancer and organization have to bear expenses of hospitalization. Medical fitness report is submitted by appointed doctors.

Selection committee sends its proposal to the top management and approvement is made by competent authority i.e. executive director or chairman.

Reference checks are concerned with the credibility, character, work performance prior employment and academic records.

New employees are allowed to join union and can also participate in union activities.

Present system is imposed system by the Govt. But to update system for the case of selection, office authorities must be deregulated. For the selection of marketing personnel, Human Resource Department should be involved and for office jobs new techniques must be followed.

Both general and life insurance business was conducted in Sub-Continent. Later, on partition Pakistan had its share of insurance business. In 1972 Life insurance business in the country was nationalized and merged into corporation “State Life”. Recently in 1994 local and foreign companies were allowed to conduct life insurance business independently. As a result a few local and multinational companies have strated business in Pakistan, Commercial Union is one of them.

The origin of Commercial Union(CU) can be traced back to 300 years .The merger of CU with General Accident and Norwich Union resulted in the formation of CGNU Group-the largest insurance group in the UK. The group operates in over 60 countries around the globe with 70000 employees and assets amounting to 191 billion pounds. It has a number of growing operations in Asia,notbly HongKong,Singapore,Malaysia and Turkey . Representative offices have been established in China ,Vietnam, and India. Pakistan has enjoyed CU’s presence in general insurance for the last fifty years.

Commercial Union Life Assurance Company (Pakistan)Ltd is a member of CGNU Group. It was established in June 1995 with the aspiration to provide modern life insurance services to the people of Pakistan

The Essence of which lies in customer satisfaction ,to be attained by means of the principles of Best Advice.

To this effect the company has introduced a range of products to cater for the diverse needs of the clients . Company ‘s plans are flexible and meet specific needs of our our customers to fit their unique circumstances. These products are generally based on the modern unit linking system , which offers transparency and convenience to the policyholders.

CU is the first insurance company in Pakistan to obtain ISO 9002 accredition,yet another manifestation of the commitment to achieve customer satisfaction by offering quality services.

During the first four years of operation it has created more than thousand opportunities, for individuals spreading its distribution network to Bahawalpur, Chichawatni, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Jhelum, Karachi, Kotli (AK), Lahore, Larkana, Multan, Mirpure(AK), Okara, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Sahiwal, Sialkot and Sukkur.

The core of their business is the customer-supplier relationship. They aim to get this right the first time around, every time.

Both sources are used for recruitment for this purpose organization used set at international level. For the recruitment from inside the organization informal search is conducted and evaluation of skill, seniority and experience is considered. From the outside recruitment unsolicited applicants are considered, school and colleges are contacted, advertisements are placed in newspapers and employee referrals are used.

If the employee wants to rejoin the organization on the basis of his previous performance record, he is given preferential treatment.

In most cases they follow EEO but due to different culture they prevail in Pakistan. They give preference to males. Therefore there is no quota for females, disable and minorities.

Commercial Union follows the privacy of employee record strictly and people’s access is always denied.

Selection standards are according to designation e.g. for sales associates at least candidate should be graduate.

For the jobs of marketing people, senior branch manager makes final recruitment decision and for the administrative job, final approval is from competent authority.

In Commercial Union for personal requirements are always target base i.e. first they set their target and then according to these targets, they decide to recruit people for marketing as well as administration purpose.

Commercial Union has different selection procedures or the field and office job. But generally follow the below format.

There is no concept of using test method, they totally rely on evaluation made through tests.

Commercial Union has formed standard for benefits and services by conducting market research. Benefits are given to assistant branch manger and upper level management because they are permanent employees.

According to their perception, their whole business depends upon the personal character of their employees. Therefore positive personal character is very important. As it is multidimensional organization, therefore, there is no restriction for citizenship.

There is no hard and fast requirement as far as health of candidate is concerned but he should be physically fit. It is admitted in the form which is given to him after his second interview.

It is one of the multinational organization, where there is no concept of union. Because employees are satisfied. It they faced any sort of problem, they communicate it to top management through senior branch manager.

In Pakistan insurance sector’s main problem is not the selection of employees but their retention. It is time to change the people’s perception about this field. So they consider is not as time passing and part time job.

In the early 30s of the 20th century, under the inspiration of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, there began to appear signs of economic renaissance of the Muslims of India. Shipping, Airline, Banking and Insurance companies made their debut.

In 1932, Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, a far sighted man, established Eastern Federal Union Insurance Company (EFU) with financial assistance from the Aga Khan III and the Nawab of Bhopal. Mr. Abdur Rehman Siddiqui became the founder chairman. The company was originally registered at Calcutta and operated in India (undivided) and Burma.

In 1947, on the birth of Pakistan, EFU found a new home in a new country. In Pakistan, EFU rapidly established itself as a progressive and innovative insurer. It gave the emerging insurance industry the leadership, the manpower and the drive needed to grow in a situation where at one time, three-fourths of insurance was held by foreign companies.

By 1961, EFU had become the flag bearer of Pakistan's insurance industry on the world stage, and the largest life company in Afro-Asian countries (excluding Japan) under the leadership of Mr. Roshen Ali Bhimjee. It remained so until 1972 when Life Assurance business in Pakistan was nationalized. Thereafter EFU operated solely as a General Insurance Company, and was subsequently renamed EFU General Insurance Limited. Now EFU General is the second largest non-life insurance company in the country and the mother company of other insurance organizations of EFU Insurance Group.

In June 1990 the Government of Pakistan decided to allow Life Assurance business in private sector also. On 18 November 1992, EFU Life was granted a license to carry on life assurance business. It started operations immediately with Group Life products and in March 1994 launched its Individual Life products. EFU entered the field of life assurance with the focus on the changing needs of the population. The company is committed to provide its policyholders with solutions to the problems of today's complex and rapidly changing financial environment by introducing innovative, and modern products.

In March 2000, Allianz Aktiengesellschaft (Allianz AG), a global leader in the insurance industry with an active presence in 70 markets across 5 continents and EFU Group signed a joint venture to form a new company for providing health insurance cover to the people of Pakistan. Allianz EFU Health Insurance Limited, approved by the Government of Pakistan, is the first specialized health insurance provider in the country and aims to play a pivotal role in developing the health insurance market in Pakistan.

Traditionally the EFU name has become synonymous with progressiveness and prompt claim settlement and now the EFU being the largest insurance group provides a full range of general, life and health insurance services.

EFU Group is one of the few Pakistani organizations run totally by professional management. Another unique feature of EFU is a voluntary review mechanism by professionals of international repute. EFU has taken Mr. Wolfram W. Karnowski, who retired at a very senior level from Munich Re, on its Board of Directors. It has appointed Mr. Michael J de H. Bell, a very eminent UK based actuary (retired from Wyatt Watsons and chairman of a UK based life company). EFU has the services of Mr. S.C. (Hamid) Subjally, who retired from a very senior position from Assicurazioni Generali, Dubai, UAE. The independent reviews by these professionals enable the group companies to keep abreast of international changes in the industry as well as ensure that management adopts the best international practices.

Another pillar of EFU's strength is a very close and long term (over 50 years) relationship with its main reinsurer, ‘Munich Re’, the largest reinsurance company in the world and the strong support of Allianz Aktiengesellschaft (Allianz AG), a global leader in the insurance industry.

Both sources used for recruitment. But basic standard is skills. For the purpose of inside source, they go for skill inventory and relative of employee. Therefore priority is given to seniority and skills. For the outside recruitment, unsolicited opportunities, advertising and employee referrals are tools.

They give preference to former employee because they have know how about him. But for rejoining, first of all he has to make clear the previous claims, etc.

They follow the equal employment opportunity in recruitment and they have no concept of quota for special groups like women and disables.

For both types of job i.e. marketing and administrative job, recruitment decision is taken by vice president.

E. F. U. Insurance Limited is growing organization, therefore, ,due to developments and expansion of business day by day their need for employees is increasing. Therefore requirement of employee is forecasted according to target.

Preliminary test is conducted so as to check the candidate’s attitude and aptitude. If both are positive, they take interview only.

Salary and benefit packages are fixed. Therefore there is no negotiation on salary.

In selection, role of personal character is very importantly considered in E. F. U. Insurance Limited. They do rate candidate’s character according to three categories.

Health requirements are also critically important. Therefore physical fitness is also considered as integral part of selection procedure.

To have proper selection procedure as set by multinational organizations and according to the standards of ICI.

“A man having vast experience in both multinational and national organizations. He has also worked in insurance sector at key, decision making post.”

Ans. Insurance companies in Pakistan are using both sources. When the advertisement is placed in the newspapers, at the same time curricular is issued within organization. It is an opportunity of getting promotion for employees who are fulfilling the criteria of that vacancy.

Ans. Yes, these organizations go for equal employment opportunities. But due to different culture that prevail in Pakistan they gift little bit preference to males. There is quota for disable persons in State Life.

Q.3 Do insurance organizations have single or differentiated selection procedure?

Ans. Insurance organization have different selection procedure, that are followed according to the nature of job. i.e. they have different selection procedure for marketing job and for administrative job.

Ans. These organizations have standard format but in rare cases they negotiate and give extra incentive.

Ans. For the selection of higher level management jobs, top management i.e. competent authority decides but for lower level management job concerning line manger have authority to make recommendations.

Ans. Although the positive role of union is very vital, yet such type unions are not existing in our society. Unions are working in multinational organizations through out world but in our culture the concept of union is as hagemonal power, using its force against management. Union is still playing active role in State Life, but in private organizations just like E.F.U. there is restriction on union.

Thinking about a long-term relationship is very different from thinking about trick questions and body language in an interview. So here are strategies for getting information about a candidate before the interview formally begins:

Give an Assignment Before the Interview. Ask the candidate to visit one of your stores, plants, campuses, or offices or your Web page before the interview. Then ask for the candidate's observations.

If a potential employee has already visited a location before an interview and can offer some insights about the restaurant's food and service, location, design, and cleanliness, I'd say that particular candidate has spoken volumes before the interview. Furthermore, some retail-store owners have told me that if a candidate has never visited their establishment with or without such an assignment, it's a definite nix on hiring.

One 27-year-old candidate wrote a four-page report, which included an evaluation of the concessions, the bar and restaurant, the catering, the management team, the course quality, and the pro shop, before his initial interview. Furthermore, the candidate's specific suggestions were practical. Teams that work well together are more accurate and insightful about potential employees than individuals are. When a team of people went over the candidate's résumé, they thought that his global experiences and Japanese proficiency were impressive. Good question. Then his résumé suggested that he'd directed product launches and developed international seminars at a Japanese company. One member thought the candidate's résumé defined him as a risk taker, a positive. But another reader saw it as a negative and thought the candidate was too unfocused for a 27-year-old. The discussion was quick and was more complete than if a single reader had reviewed the candidate's credentials.

Teams can also waste time and pass over good candidates if those in the group feel "we must have consensus" or if a dominant member monopolizes the discussion.

1). Interviews test how well someone interviews. 3). Interviews in which you induce stress seldom work. Putting a candidate on the defensive will demonstrate only his or her style of defensive behavior. You've asked the questions; now the candidate must respond. Performance depends upon the candidate, not selling yourself and the organization.

"I frequently fall in love before the candidate sits down," a friend confessed to me. "Then I start selling before the candidate starts talking." Asking all your questions at once, and following up later in the interview, allows you to settle back and watch a candidate's behavior as well as listen to his or her words. Once I met a rather odd candidate, who arrived late to our interview. My biggest surprise walking a candidate to his car was when I discovered the candidate's wife sitting inside the automobile, waiting for him. Why didn't the candidate suggest a soft drink from my kitchen? Postinterview Strategies

Half the battle remains after the candidate leaves your office. If you stop observing behavior after you've completed the interview, it's like hooking a fish but neglecting to reel it in. If one picture is worth a thousand words, then one trip is worth a hundred interviews.

Later, between planes in Salt Lake City, the founder watched the candidate deal with a crisis by phone.

The candidate suggested they walk and carry the bags the several hundred yards to their hotel. On time. Problem solver. Put Potential Problems on the Table. If you're still interested in the candidate, always have a final interview in which you talk about potential problems. It's never a question of if problems will arise on a new job; it's one of what those problems will be. If you've not discovered any, you're missing something in the candidate's background.

Several years ago I evaluated an executive who was a finalist candidate for a local company. Second, how long would the candidate's future mentor at the new company, the chief operating officer, remain in his post? I asked the candidate to discuss the matters with her husband and with the chief operating officer. Willing to take the 80/20 odds, the candidate assumed the COO would keep her posted if she accepted the job. Unpredictable because the candidate discussed her husband's sense of self-esteem in a disarmingly candid way. Do I work? Does he work? The candidate was later hired by the company.

According to Time, reference checking by employers increased as much as 10-fold after Cooke was exposed.

When you're looking for demonstrations of a candidate in action, one of the most obvious places to turn is to the candidate's previous track record. Increasingly difficult to find in today's litigious climate, references also provide insight into a candidate's behavior.

If you've had a good interview and the candidate feels relatively comfortable, you may expect a variety of surprises after you've indicated that the interview is almost over, and not just around the job description and compensation but about more personal issues. I've never fired anyone." We continued the interview without missing a beat.

Do something unpredictable after the interview, like walking the candidate to his or her car. Most people feel that checking references is about as appetizing as eating fish eyes. If you're persistent, you'll eventually hit pay dirt. Persistence means digging deeper--asking the candidate's references for other references, for example. Ask the References to Call You Back. If it's voice mail, leave a simple message. You say: "Jane Jones is a candidate for (the position) in our company. Please call me back if the candidate was outstanding."

If the candidate is outstanding, I guarantee that people will respond quickly and want to help. Although his potential employer knew nothing about Japan, she asked the candidate, "What will I hear from your references?" Then the interviewer asked the candidate for his side of the story.

In Japan the young man had discovered that his boss was lying about the company's finances, sales results, and advertising expenditures. These problems aside, "individuality does not exist in Japan," said the candidate. The candidate reported that the company was about to face some severe financial discrepancies and serious losses. The president advised the young man that he should also remain loyal. Devastated, the young man made preparations to leave Japan. "What did I learn from the experience?" asked the candidate. After hearing the candidate's story, the interviewer called references in Tokyo. The vice-president of sales confirmed the young man's story. The Japanese vice-president for finance, who had been with his company for 33 years, also confirmed the young man's story. There's a story about a man in a rowboat that illustrates the point. Even if we don't have much time. Is it worth the time to find great players?

Restructurings and downsizings have dumped large amounts of people from all skill levels into the labor pool. According to Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., U.S. companies announced cuts totaling nearly 450,000 people just within the first nine months of 1998.

An increased labor pool provides recruiters with more for less.
Having all of these people out of work, it should be easy for recruiting companies to find quality workers. Greenberg suggests that companies are able to "make better selections among available talent and hire the people at lesser costs." "Companies are getting higher-qualified people for the same amount of money as a less-qualified person because these applicants are underpricing themselves just to get the jobs," says Vernon. "The quality of the people applying for a much lesser position was just absolutely amazing."

For Stanley C. Dahlin, staffing and employee-relations manager for Spokane, Washington-based Olivetti North America, the willingness of people to take less money has made recruitment easier. "We get people here who might have been high-powered people out East or in California. We get a lot of shocked people."

With the dropping of interest rates came increased business for these companies, and an increased need for experienced workers—people to process loans, underwrite loans, fund loans, and put together loan packages. "While industries such as aerospace are laying off people, the mortgage banking industry is thriving so much that it can't find enough qualified people," says Vernon. "People who are out on the streets that have been out of work for so long are willing to learn the jobs, but the mortgage people won't hire them because they don't even have time to train them. Even to people who have financial backgrounds I have to say, 'Sorry, you don't have experience for the exact position for which these people are looking.'"

Both Paley and Bresky say that finding people for technical-allied health positions, such as physical therapists and occupational therapists, is similarly difficult. There are only a limited number of people qualified for these fields of work. Bresky uses sign-on bonuses to attract these workers to her hospital. "There's no need."

Olivetti, which is a branch of an automation company serving the banking industry, employs primarily software engineers, networking engineers, internal-information-systems support people and other such technical specialists. "How to attract those people to our organization is something with which we're currently struggling."

Although Sanchez also relies primarily on ads and word of mouth to fill positions, she uses professional search firms as well to help her recruit the workers who haven't been cut from their companies during downsizing.

Rick Jansing, vice president of human resources for Northern Illinois Financial, located in Wauconda, Illinois, struggles through the same situation as Sanchez. "Even with the layoffs and the downsizings, the quality people aren't being let go, although the companies are saying that they aren't discriminating based on quality," says Jansing.

"As companies become more experienced at downsizing, they're targeting staff cuts more carefully," says Greenberg.

Next, she searches for people who might be overqualified. The eight to ten people who fit best with the company, she brings in for interviews.

Sanchez doesn't use any personality or honesty tests during the recruitment process. Engineering recruits must answer technical questions posed by a company engineer. These tests help the human resources staff verify qualifications to assist in the selection process.

The cost of people is going up, and therefore the cost of making a hiring decision is going up."

With companies making selective cuts during downsizing, your No. 1 candidate still may be employed elsewhere. "Getting people out of other organizations is a lot more difficult today," says Jansing. "People just aren't willing to expose themselves to the potential of a layoff. Vernon works with client companies to create packages that will attract the people they want—be it flexible work hours, higher salaries or particular benefits. People have been that scared when they make a move."

Goldberg says that generally what these people are looking for is career opportunities and challenges. "If you're able to clearly define your business direction and your business strategy, and articulate the mission, it's far easier to recruit people," says Schermitzler. Unlike Wang, however, Olivetti had difficulties recruiting people during this time. Downsizings affect hiring costs.

With companies interviewing from among the masses that come to them, as well as seeking out prominent workers from other companies for their exempt positions, the cost of hiring for exempt positions has substantially risen. That means hundreds of thousands of additional people in the labor pool, piles of resumes to sort through, and companies of all types with which to compete for held-on-to talent.

Learn what worked for some winners of the Employment Management Association's Creative Excellence Awards.

As more employees look to strike a balance between work and home, the newspaper ad campaign for Booz-Allen & Hamilton speaks to that desire for balance. Booz-Allen declined to discuss the campaign's cost.

Mentor Graphics is unusual in its ability to quantify the results of a recruitment advertising campaign. The 1999 campaign's success persuaded the company to give Hansen a $300,000-plus advertising budget for 2000--the first time the HR department has had a budget item specifically for recruitment advertising.

PeopleSoft's winning campaign, dubbed "People Profiles," was designed to attract passive job seekers. The campaign, which first ran in Fortune magazine, set out to promote PeopleSoft employees as renaissance-type people with the skills and know-how to move the company forward. "The people profiles were actually the client's idea," Spry recalls. Besides choosing employees for their unusual accomplishments outside work, the campaign focused on "people who we thought readers would be drawn to, people that readers would want to work with," Spry says.

Ingham is now working on a new recruitment advertising campaign for 2000, one he believes will be "far more effective" than the "Profiles" campaign. Today, recruitment ads sell the company's image, promote its benefits and often bear more resemblance to ads for products than ads for jobs. To get attention, employers are:

Employers are using advertising to bill themselves as desirable employers because of the benefits, programs and flexible schedules they offer employees. "The trend today is to help talented people balance work and life," says Bob Duffy, senior vice president for strategy at recruitment advertising firm TMP Worldwide in Vienna, Va. "Most companies don't want single-minded drones working 6 a.m. to midnight. * Promoting corporate image and "branding" the company. The idea is to impress on people that the company is what recruitment advertising specialists call an "employer of choice."

The Booz-Allen & Hamilton campaign showing paper clips lined up with a diaper pin signals family-friendliness, but the ad's text also is straightforward about working hard for the employer. The ad tells how the employer gives back to employees by offering work schedules and benefits that are flexible, so people can balance work and life activities.

* Collaborating with the marketing department. When the marketing department gets involved in recruitment advertising, the message often moves from employer branding to a consumer-oriented approach. Marketing's experience with advertising--something HR may lack--also helps. At Mentor Graphics in Wilsonville, Ore., staffing director Karen Hansen says the software company's vice president of marketing set the stage for a successful ad campaign because of her sense of design and years of experience.

Meena is the awards consultant for the Employment Management Association's Creative Excellence Awards.