My Work

Alan LaRotonda
Talent Acquisition Professional

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My Work

I am a dedicated virtual sourcer and recruiter passionate about the talent economy and finding the best possible matches for client companies most difficult openings.

Recruiting from the Middle of Nowhere

‘For Companies That Are Going Somewhere’

By: Alan LaRotonda

September 17^th 2008

The evolution of the internet, teleworker technology, and the current shift in workforce demographics offer employment possibilities we once only dreamt about during our daily commutes. For a growing number of companies and their employees, working remotely is the new virtual reality.

I am one of a growing number of people who work virtually. A couple of years ago, I moved from Warwick, New York, to Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Warwick was a great place to live – a nice town about sixty-five miles northwest of NYC, but the cost of living was becoming absurd. We chose Columbia County because we drove through it often on trips to visit my parents in Ohio. As it turns out, we chose well; Columbia County was recently ranked #1 as the Best Place for Rural Living in the Northeast United States, and #5 overall in the nation[1]. Beauty aside, the only real disadvantage of living here is a lack of major employers. Otherwise, we are just over three hours away from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington, DC. Close enough for weekend trips, but far enough to make a daily commute impractical.

I experienced no major calamities or disasters when I first started working remotely . I knew my work and how to go about it. The biggest problem was the nagging barrier of isolation; My new manager was happy with my abilities and results, but I needed to overcome a lack of personal interaction. I was productive, but always felt I had to prove I was doing just a little bit more. That mild worry was short lived…until my satellite internet service provider began experiencing connectivity issues during its acquisition. How embarrassing to have my manager in Chicago waiting on the phone for what seems like an eternity before your screens are in synch when discussing a salient point about my additional workload. This problem was remedied soon afterwards when we moved into our new home, complete with high speed cable. If you are interested in working virtually, watch for upcoming Recruiting from the Middle of Nowhere articles.

A Virtual Workplace is a Viable Alternative

In 1997, there were approximately 8 million people involved in some form of virtual work, according to the International Association of Virtual Organizations. The Gartner Group, a technology research firm, predicts that, in 2008, approximately 41 million employees around the world will spend at least one day a week working virtually. Nearly 100 million will work from home at least one day each month. The largest proportion of these employees will be U.S. workers[2].

Forward-thinking companies use virtual employees of several types, with the two current prominent types coined co-located and totally virtual. Virtual employees do all their work from a home office, or somewhere other than a cube at their place of employment (even at Starbucks, for example.) Co-located employees have both a work location at their place of employment and one or more virtual location(s.)

The upside of a virtual office is that it offers the ability to focus on tasks without continual interruptions from phone calls, meetings, training classes, lunches, visitors, and other commotion associated with a typical office environment. Indeed, a number of co-located employees indicated to me that working from their home office at the beginning of a new project helps them with focus, structure, and planning momentum during the project’s initial phase. Distractions can be monumental in an office environment at times; even closing the office door, if you still have one, or draping a “Do Not Disturb” sign across the cubicle entrance doesn’t always work, and sequestering yourself in a conference room may be at odds with your company’s culture.

For me, the downside of working virtually centers around the lack of visibility and social interaction. You do not have the opportunity to participate first-hand in meetings, events, product launches, holiday celebrations, and other typical day-to-day interactions, which can put you at a real disadvantage. There are other times however, when the office mood is not so endearing, and you can only imagine how lucky you are to have not been there. Some mention the challenges of focusing on work at home; however, a virtual worker is totally in control of handling that set of distractions, even moreso than at an office where you are simply one of the employees. The key to addressing that obstacle is to set your work location apart from other home activities and to organize your time, setting aside work time and honoring your own work schedule.

Corporate experience and politics also need to be weighed when considering a virtual or co-located role. After all, when you are in-house and lead a recruitment function, having lunch with the head of finance is relatively easy, for example. Bonding, thought sharing, and visibility is easy when working in-house; not so easy if you work from 300 miles away. From that standpoint, working in-house almost always give you a distinct political advantage.

Virtual Workers Make $ense for Recruitment

Companies can profit from using virtual recruiters in several ways. First, hiring ramp-up time can be greatly reduced by using virtual recruiters. Second, a virtual sourcer or recruiter can have the same impact as an agency, but at significantly lower cost per hire. In addition, the virtual sourcer acts as a direct representative of the company, producing the collateral effect of positive company branding and development of a future candidate pipeline. A virtual sourcer can develop a relationship with potential candidates for future contact in a way that doesn’t always occur when sourcing through an agency.

When companies hire, they must rapidly develop and implement a ramp-up strategy. Having a pool of high quality virtual recruiters is a great way to offset one of the obstacles that companies face: how to identify, qualify, interview, offer, close, and onboard employees in a quick and efficient manner.

· An at-the-ready pool of professional sourcing or recruitment professionals can alleviate unnecessary delays of days or weeks when starting the hiring process, and, consequently, the onboarding of prospective employees. Since hiring managers often expect almost immediate results once they have an approved requisition (perhaps unreasonable expectations if the recruiter(s) involved have not managed that aspect properly),,the pressure for the recruiter(s) to produce is on. Most companies have time-to-fill metrics or at least a mental expectation of delivery, based on the level of the position and the relative difficulty of the search.

Virtual Recruiter Startup Checklist

· Email setup

· Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and/or job board access

· Access to other recruitment tools (InfoGist, Broadlook, etc.)

· Background Investigation

· Process & Protocol overview with supervisor

The ability of a seasoned virtual sourcer or recruiter to begin producing results rapidly helps not only to maximize the timeline associated with the search, but also to reinforce the hiring manager’s expectations that the recruiting effort is moving swiftly to meet his or her needs. Simply put, after the position has been approved, getting a virtual sourcer of recruiter started can be as simple as following the company’s protocol for onboarding a contractor; usually a security check, email setup, ATS and/or job board access, access to any other ancillary tools such as InfoGist or Broadlook, and a process and protocol overview with your supervisor. This is minimal when compared to the search-for-hire approach for a new recruiter, especially if it involves relocation. Even without the ATS, job board, or other tool access, a seasoned search professional can begin to produce tangible and effective results almost immediately.

Virtual recruiters can also add to the effectiveness of an inhouse recruiting staff and can save companies large sums in placement fees.

Closing the ATS Black Hole

“I’ve applied at this company several times, and you are the first person that has ever responded back to me.”

My first virtual sourcing experience validated a suspicion that I had held for some time: large companies often have immense databases brimming with talent, many of whom had never been adequately qualified against position(s) they had initially applied for, let alone other possible roles. I could retire a bit sooner if I had a dollar for every time a candidate told me “I’ve applied at this company several times, and you are the first person who has ever responded back to me.”

· On the other hand, the time constraints of a typical recruiter’s day seldom leave the time necessary to adequately scour the ATS for the great candidates that are waiting to be discovered there. You would be surprised at how frequently this happens, and sadly, how often many of these positions go out to search for a sizeable fee due to a recruiter’s lack of time or inability to properly leverage an ATS search.

· Paying a sourcer to scrub your database before authorizing an external search is worth every penny. In addition, it frees up the recruiter’s time to spend on customer service, building candidate rapport, and closing outstanding offers, where their time is best leveraged.

· For the amount of a typical placement fee paid to a search firm for a $200K position, you could hire a dedicated virtual sourcer or recruiter for several months. By doing so you will provide not only continuity for assigned areas, but also a consistent message coupled with in-house credibility for the duration of the assignment. This alone provides a level of familiarity and branding that most hiring managers and candidates find appealing. Contrast that to candidates being approached by vendors, sometimes for the same positions, and the approach becomes apparent.

Forward Thinking Companies Take the Lead; Others Take Notice

So now you can see benefits to augment your recruiting staff with virtual recruiters…what does virtual staff offer on a larger scale? A growing number of forward-thinking companies are embracing virtual employees for a host of positions, not only for temporary needs, but on a full time basis. Many have either implemented remote based employment programs, or are piloting plans to do so. Seminars and webinars are touting programs about remote employee management, including the latest teletechnologies and metrics. Given that virtual employees are as productive as their on-site peers, and that a bi-costal career dilemma faced by a dual career family can now be mitigated by technology, now may be the time for your company to explore virtually all your options (pun intended!.) Not only consider adding recruiters from the middle of nowhere, but also consider having recruiters search out candidates to fill your other positions from anywhere—even the middle of nowhere.

From a real estate and facilities perspective, management can factor in capital savings for offices, cubicles, desks, chairs, computers, phones, and related ancillary expenses. This amounts to significant cost savings for companies that re-task viable in-house roles to virtual ones, and is causing companies to rethink their space and overhead requirements as they enter the age of the talent economy.

In addition, from a facilities vantage point, right-sizing corporate campuses in balance with a virtual workforce provides a significant cost advantage.

‘There are two ways to think about real estate, according to John Vivadelli, president and CEO of AgilQuest: abundance and scarcity. “The mindset of abundance says that the organization should provide enough assets for any possible peak-usage load.” This mentality has gotten many organizations into trouble because it leads them to procure too much real estate—real estate that cannot be sustained through market peaks and valleys.’

“Organizations with the mindset of scarcity treat every asset as expensive and valuable,” says Vivadelli. “The organization bases cost accounting on actual use rather than predetermined allocations and constantly evaluates and decides the best mix of people, facility and technology assets required to produce the best ROI.[3]”

The array of technologies available to companies and teleworkers is now at the point where virtual meetings are commonplace for participants on a global scale, with little attention paid to the virtual aspect. Indeed, companies like AT&T, Nortel, Amgen, and Sun are leading the way with these technologies.

Sun CIO Bill Vass reports that its virtual employees use Sun Ray, a diskless ultra-thin client computer that runs off an employee’s corporate badge.

“Sun Rays are diskless, operating-system-less laptop-like devices that can be used with any type of monitor, keyboard or mouse. When a user inserts his corporate ID badge into the Sun Ray, the device communicates to Sun Ray servers at headquarters. Those servers manage all the data and applications, including VoIP soft phones, and simply deliver the GUI to the remote user. The badge contains a small Java chip that handles authentication and encryption.” The result is a mobile workforce that is far more secure, and easier to support and administer than traditional laptop-wielders. The Sun Rays cost just $200 apiece and require the same amount of technical support as a typical TV, meaning zero, Vass says.”

The PLUS Side of Virtual

Viewpoint 1: Overhead Savings

Real Estate Savings

Furnishing, Equipment and Supplies Savings

Utility & Ancilllary Services Savings

Lower Administrative Costs

"We save $15 million a year in administrative costs alone," Vass says, adding that the Sun Rays, which use only 11 watts of power, also save the company $2.8 million in power costs. The company garners another $6.5 million a year by not having to refresh its desktops. "Plus, it's a tremendous leap in security," he says. Remote workers can't become infected with worms or viruses and pass them onto the corporate network, because the Sun Rays have no operating system to infiltrate, he says.

As many as 17,000 of Sun's 33,000 employees work virtually in some capacity, and because any employee can work on any Sun Ray, cubicles at headquarters and other sites are virtual, as well, divvied up on a first-come, first-served basis. "It's a lot like parking - if you get in early, you get your favorite space. If not, you get what's left," Vass says. (Even Sun President Jonathan Schwartz has no permanent office space.)

The PLUS Side of Virtual

Viewpoint 2: The Personal Side

Larger Candidate Pool

No Moving Costs

While Employees Often Work More Hours, They Save On Fuel Costs And
Commute Time

The setup lets Sun designate 1.5 people per office, a move that saves $68.9 million a year in real estate costs, Vass says.In fact, Sun’s data also shows that teleworkers on average work 3 hours more per day and give back 60% of their commute time to Sun.[4]

Nortel’s CIO Albert Hitchcock concurs: "On average, 40% of our offices are unoccupied, largely because of this telework technology and the flexibility we're giving our employees," Hitchcock says. So he says Nortel plans to revamp offices so that they revolve around shared spaces and conference rooms, with private cubicles assigned in a hoteling fashion.

"When they get together, teleworkers are looking to collaborate in shared spaces. So why have all these empty cubicles? We're working closely with our real estate organization to further consolidate space," he says.

Nortel also plans to continue using wireless technologies to achieve its virtual goals. Already a big Wi-Fi proponent, Nortel has installed more than 1,000 wireless LAN access points within its corporate buildings so employees can work anywhere on a Nortel site without losing network connectivity. Now it's investing in WiMAX 802.16 and Code Division Multiple Access Release A , both of which are designed to provide broadband-level wireless access.4

"In the very near future, we'll have a constantly connected broadband world, and clearly, we want to take advantage of that from an overall employee mobility and productivity standpoint," Hitchcock says.

Leave a Smaller Footprint:

‘As Your Company Goes Somewhere…Use Staff from Virtually Anywhere’

“The most promising way to save the planet is high-speed broadband network.”

Virtual work produces a three-pronged green benefit. Given the surge in fuel prices and a long term forecast for more to come, virtual work arrangements can give considerable relief to employee’s monthly fuel bills. Virtual work not only saves money for the employee, but a critical mass of remote workers can cut corporate energy consumption significantly as well. Recent articles suggest that companies as well as governmental agencies consider letting employees either work virtually or flex their hours to help mitigate rush hour congestion, which conserves fuel. In fact, respected transport consultant John Cox says “forget about beefing up public transport because the most promising way to save the planet is a high-speed broadband network.” In an article published in The Australian, Cox said “telecommunications offers the best prospects for reducing urban congestion and cutting family fuel costs[5].” One needn’t go to Australia for facts on the subject however; just Google ‘telecommute AND fuel costs’ and you will pull up tens of thousands of articles on the subject in less than a second. Reach your own conclusions from the material you find.

“Telecommunications offers the best prospects for reducing urban congestion and cutting family fuel costs.”

The Rationale for Virtual Work: Dollars and ‘Sense’

Put simply, most organizations now have the ability to harness extraordinary talent in an ordinarily way. Just give them the opportunity to work virtually. No cube, office, or related overhead. If your candidate can’t sell their house due to a troubled local market, you can still employ his/her talent. You company can hire the best candidate for your must-fill position without a spouse leaving their career, without pulling kids out of school, and without paying for a move across the country. You leave gas in the tank, the bottom line larger, workers happier, and the environment a little cleaner.

About the Author

Alan LaRotonda is a Talent Acquisition Professional who has worked since 1993 recruiting talent in the Semiconductor, pharmaceutical, biotech, energy and medical device recruitment arenas. He has worked at major technology firms such as Intel, Motorola, Dell, AMD, and Samsung. Mr. LaRotonda has also worked with biopharma and healthcare companies Wyeth, Regeneron and Baxter. He was involved in the implementation of an RPO at Regeneron. Alan is a charter member on the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Metro Employment Management Association ( www.njmetroema.org ), and was the 2006 Chapter President for that organization. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management from Saint Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Mr. LaRotonda has been working virtually as a recruitment consultant/sourcer since 2006. He now resides with his family in northeast Pennsylvania where he specializes in innovative sourcing and recruitment strategies for technology, pharmaceutical, wireless, biotech, energy, and medical device industries.

Sources:

[1] Progressive Farmer Magazine. Best Places to Live in Rural America. March 2008. Jamie Cole. http://www.progressivefarmer.com/farmer/bestplaces/top10.html

[2] Facilities.net. February 2005. Steve Hargis and Mia Jacobsen.

http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=2562

[3]FacilitiesNet / Building Operations Management. February 2005. Steve Hargis and Mia Jacobsen. http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=2562

[4] Network World. April 25, 2005. Joanne Cummings Masters of the virtual world - Financially strapped NW200 vendors find cost-cutting nirvana with large-scale telework deployments. http://www.networkworld.com/nw200/2005/042505virtualvendors.html

[5] FacilitiesNet / Building Operations Management. February 2005. Steve Hargis and Mia Jacobsen. http://www.facilitiesnet.com/bom/article.asp?id=2562