Business Improvements Projects Manager – Bay Point, CA

Looking for candidate with bachelor’s – prefer graduate degree, 10 years business experience, cross-functional projects, process improvement, stage gate reviews, financial experience – benefits/risk analysis, lean six sigma, in the chemical, auto, or aerospace industry. Bilingual skills in Spanish, French, or Mandarin a plus.

This role focuses on the coordination and management of strategic business improvement projects. Positioned as the interface between Operations and Marketing & Sales, the job holder will be responsible for ensuring that the business generates the expected value from the various projects.



Position Responsibilities:

Completion of projects on time and to plan.
Delivery of planned resource savings benefits to the business.
Deliver Value: Project Planning & Execution.
Business Leadership: Act as the interface between Operations/Supply Chain and Sales/Marketing and manage their competing priorities.
Teams & People: Without direct authority; lead/manage cross-functional teams to bring the various projects to successful conclusion.
Lead Business Improvement Projects such as Complexity Reduction, Products & Customers.
Coordinate Stage Gate reviews for technologies & segments.
Support Channel Strategy implementation.
Lead special ad-hoc projects such as customer/product profitability analysis.
Position Responsibilities:

10 years business experience, minimum 5 years in a relevant discipline (Supply Chain, Finance, Sales & Marketing or R&D)
Track record of delivering results and demonstrating results focus
Bi-lingual would be an advantage – Spanish, French or Mandarin
Graduate degree or post graduate degree desirable

Contact me at kimberly.hughes@rightthinginc.com to apply!
Will respond to qualified candidates on an as-needed basis.

Article share: Recruiters Rethink Online Playbook

A coworking brought this to my team's attention today - found on LinkedIn

Article Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704307404576080492613858846.html?mod=wsj_share_linkedin

By JOE LIGHT

As recruiters wade cautiously back into hiring mode, they're throwing out their old playbooks. Rather than sift through mounds of online applications, they are going out to hunt for candidates themselves.
Many plan to scale back their use of online job boards, which they say generate mostly unqualified leads, and hunt for candidates with a particular expertise on places like LinkedIn Corp.'s professional networking site before they post an opening. As the market gets more competitive again, they are hiring recruiters with expertise in headhunting and networking, rather than those with experience processing paperwork.
Inundated by online applicants, McLean, Va.-based government contractor Science Applications International Corp. plans to cut the number of job boards it uses in the coming fiscal year to six from 15 or so, says company vice president Kara Yarnot.
SAIC has asked its 125 U.S. recruiters to find candidates for analyst, engineering, and other jobs on professional social networks instead.
"It's almost a throwback to the old, dial-for-dollars method of recruiting," says Ms. Yarnot. "We need to reach candidates earlier, before they're being pursued by competitors."
About 24% of companies plan to decrease their usage of third-party employment websites and job boards this year, according to a December survey from the Corporate Executive Board Co., a business consulting firm. Meanwhile, nearly 80% of respondents said they plan to increase their use of job-board alternative methods this year, such as employee referrals and other websites like Facebook Inc. or LinkedIn.
Food services company Sodexo USA, owned by Paris-based Sodexo SA, slashed the number of jobs it posts to third-party job boards by more than half since the recession started, says vice president of talent acquisition Arie Ball. The number of applications to some executive openings at Sodexo rose more than 50% to 300 since the downturn started, Ms. Ball says, but the increase brought many unqualified candidates.
"Recruiters had to put in all this extra time to read applications but we didn't get benefit from it," she says. Now, the company is hiring different types of recruiters who specialize in headhunting, including finding candidates to poach from competitors, rather than those who are good at processing and filtering applications.
Companies are adapting their plans as they start hiring again after the downturn. Between November 2009 and November 2010, the total number of job openings rose 32%, according to the Labor Department.
Job seekers who were reluctant to leave their existing jobs—as well as unemployed workers sitting on the sidelines—have begun casting about for opportunities, too. Between December 2009 and December 2010, recruiters saw a 17% increase in applications per opening, according to the Corporate Executive Board.
The trend has in many ways been a boon for job boards, which say they haven't noticed any impact from some companies' pullback. But some of the largest sites acknowledge that the new environment means they must do more to keep customers happy.
In the coming months, Monster Worldwide Inc. plans to roll out technology that ranks candidates based on how well their applications fit requirements set by the recruiter, says chief global marketing officer Ted Gilvar. The product has been available to some customers since late last year.
Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. remains concerned that relying too much on job boards could be bad for business.
Melissa Mounce, the company's senior vice president of corporate talent acquisition, says the company became concerned that its slow response time to applications was hurting its retail bank's brand. "Someone who applies for a bank-teller position might also be a customer or potential customer, and we were letting those applications fall into a black hole," she says.
PNC has reduced its overall spending on general job boards, such as Monster and CareerBuilder, but still uses niche boards, like Dice.com for tech professionals, when the need arises. "We used to post everything, but in this environment, you have to think strategically," she says.
Additionally, the company is currently reorganizing its recruiting staff to better handle the tens of thousands of applications it receives in a given month. Instead of using senior recruiters to filter through the company's applicants, lower-level screeners process them first and only hand off the most-qualified. A separate set of recruiters actively searches for more experienced candidates who aren't likely to come in through a job board.

Manager, Purchasing - Rocky Hill, CT

Looking for candidate with degree and 5 years corporate experience in purchasing, budgeting, supply chain management, supplier integration, vendor selection/negotiation, prefer industrial packaging or consumer packaged goods related industry.

Position Summary:

Responsible for the management, development and implementation of purchasing or fulfillment strategies for an assigned unit. Ensures purchasing strategy reflects diverse requirements of internal line/operation clients and geographic regions. Interprets, executes and recommends modifications to organization procurement policies and practices. Exerts influence in the development of overall objectives for the assigned unit.

Position Responsibilities:

Manages the sourcing of all goods and services while maintaining favorable commodity cost
Provides linkage between purchasing and the supplier community activities to deliver business initiatives
Responsible for ongoing process evaluation and improvement in the area of workflow in purchasing
Provides leadership for driving key Procurement initiatives.
Ensures purchasing strategy reflects diverse requirements of internal line/operation clients and geographic regions.
Manages the objectives for the assigned category.
Interprets, executes and recommends modifications to organization procurement policies and practices.
Packaging experience a plus
Minimum Requirements:

B.S., B.A., or M.B.A. degree in related field
Minimum 5 years experience working in a corporate environment
Demonstrated knowledge of market including suppliers, capacity, competitive environment, and cost drivers a plus
Thorough knowledge of good purchasing practices, contract law as it applies to the procurement process, and supply chain management a plus
Independently manage processes that include: Requests for Proposals, tenders, reporting and analysis
Demonstrated knowledge of general business processes including budgeting, costing, finance, and accounting and procurement's role in these processes Strong problem solving capability
Strong negotiation skills
Proven presentation skills PC Literate in Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and SAP
Henkel is an equal opportunity employer

Minority / Female / Disabled / Veteran

Will respond to qualified candidates on an as-needed basis

Market Application Engineer-Hand Held Devices - Rocky Hill, CT

Looking for preferably a local candidate with a technical BS, chemistry/process engineering experience combined with experience working with customers/clients/vendors in a sales/marketing perspective, preferably in an adhesives/polymer/plastics/glue related industry.

Job Responsibilities:

Researches, collects and reports information on the selection of adhesive products, specification of manufacturing processes / equipment, and troubleshooting / failure analysis.

Reviews and reports on the ability and capacity of company products and competing equipment.

Aids in the design and development of equipment, systems and redesign to existing equipment to fulfill the needs of customers.

Will work as a technical liaison with customers, sales, marketing, manufacturing and R&D.

Provide technical training and engineering support to close business, identify new product development opportunities, trouble shoot and provide equipment functionality and capability reports.

Identifies and follows through on innovations within assigned market.

Develops and fosters relationship with FAM/FSM team members in assigned area.

Becomes technical expert in areas of assigned markets.

Takes leadership role on programs supporting assigned market.

Creates industry leading technical content and generates and presents white papers to peers and at conferences

Travel required up to 30% depending on business needs



Requirements:

3+ years of demonstrated related experience in technical customers service, manufacturing and statistical analysis.

Customer support experience (providing product application training)

Demonstrated project management and laboratory skills

Strong customer relations and interpersonal skills.

Leadership and independent contributor

Sense of urgency, self starter – takes the initiative.

Communication skills, including presentations, training, technical writing.

Able to perform the responsibilities and duties of the position

Contact kimberly.hughes@rightthinginc.com to apply!
Will respond to qualified candidates on an as-needed basis.

Innovation Portfolio Manager - Irvine, CA

Looking for candidate with 5+ years Project Management experience, BS, MBA preferred. R&D environment, portfolio management, stage-gate model, product development, electronic materials technology experience preferred.

Position Overview:

The Innovation Portfolio Manager is responsible for developing and managing the Global Portfolio of Stage Gate projects for the Electronic Materials business. This activity includes Portfolio reporting and analysis and making recommendations to senior leadership on improving the mix of projects. Stage gate management and managing the flow of projects from concept to launch is also a critical activity. Consequently, there is a great deal of cross functional coordination and communication required of this position. Success in this position is measured in new product innovation.

Position Responsibilities:

Development and enhancement of the New Product Development Portfolio. Improve views and analysis to assist market and product development managers in identifying and selecting the correct strategic projects
Manage over all New Product Introduction reporting and provide direction for master data maintenance in SAP
Manage the effectiveness of gate meetings with recommendations for improvement and responsibility for implementation
Ensure alignment of portfolio with critical projects, annual plan, strategic plan, goals, and objectives
Create new business reporting tools and reports in order to better manage the Research & Development function
Assist in the annual development around the annual and strategic plans for R&D
Provide clear direction and expectations to indirect reports regarding responsibilities and performance standards for maintaining the SAP master data within the project portfolio
Minimum Requirements:

BS in Business or related degree, MBA preferred
Minimum of 5 years project management experience, preferably in R&D environments, prior portfolio management highly desired
Knowledge of electronic materials technology, engineering requirements, and the capability to plan and direct R&D project activities
Demonstrated leadership, team building, employee development, coaching, and motivational skills
Excellent verbal and written communication, presentation, and analytical skills
Effective presentation skills with experience at presenting to top management, customers, public groups and/or board of directors.
Excellent conflict resolution, negotiation, and problem solving skills
Henkel is an equal opportunity employer
Minority / Female / Disabled / Veteran

Contact me to apply!
Will respond to qualified candidates on an as-needed basis

Senior Chemist - local to Bay Point, CA

Looking for a candidate preferably with an advanced degree in Chemistry or chemical engineering, 3-5 years experience in composite product development, resin formulation, or adhesives, preferably aerospace industry experience, will consider recent graduates with related internships/co-op experience.

Position Overview:

The job of a composite senior scientist is to develop products, processes and related technologies in the support of composite product development. The Sr. scientist may manage programs/projects and direct the work, through a team approach, of less experienced chemists, engineers and/or lab technicians. This position also serves as an advisor to customers and provides supervision and technical support to manufacturing operations and sales personnel. This position requires the incumbent be experienced in epoxy formulating techniques, be familiar with adhesive/composites manufacture and characterization of performance. This individual must also be knowledgeable of the applications in the aerospace industry. The incumbent must effectively communicate technical information to a wide variety of groups both within and outside the company. Display a good understanding of composite components, composite processes and performance, and customer requirement. Resin formulation experience. Define priorities and project plans/timings within overall management direction. Give direction and coaching to technicians. Must be able to adjust to changes in workflow, prioritize as needed, and meet deadlines. Proactively seek out enhancements and improvements to laboratory practices. Demonstrate high level of energy and professionalism on the job. Provide accurate and timely communication and services. Must follow through and keep others informed. Display the ability to build strong working relationships with management, cross functional teams and contacts, and customers. Demonstrate effective communication skills with coworkers, management and customers. Must be able to maintain confidentiality as to company's areas of interest and technologies.

Position Responsibilities:

Develop new technologies, composite products, and processes through innovative thought and challenging technical knowledge and expertise.
Manage programs/projects, direct laboratory research in developing new technologies and products/processes.
Plan and organize laboratory projects, supervise laboratory personnel in the timely execution of projects, maintain organized records of the research, and report research results and status to management though verbal and/or written progress reports.
Internally, interface with chemists and engineers from other Henkel organizations to effectively address day-to-day development activity and problem solving.
Additionally, interface with marketing and sales management as necessary to define customer needs, expectations and make appropriate updates.
Interface with process engineering, manufacturing, and quality for scale-up and commercialization of new products.
Externally, frequent customer interaction to clarify product applications and performance requirements.
Make technical presentations to customers in order to promote Henkel technologies and products.
Travel to customer sites may be required.
Provide company representation at technical meetings and conferences.
Provide training to subordinates as necessary to properly perform day-to-day work.
Minimum Requirements:

2+ years experience with composites product development or applications.
Demonstrated technical proficiency in the field of composite product and process.
Understanding of practical basis of formulating and testing composites and independent theory development.
Capability to plan, manage projects, and direct
Excellent communication, analytical, and follow through skills.
Able to define own work plans and schedules.


Contact me at kimberly.hughes@rightthinginc.com to apply!

Aritcle Share: Why you must kick the sourcing habit

source: http://www.ere.net/2011/04/29/why-you-must-kick-the-sourcing-habit/

by Lou AdlerApr 29, 2011, 5:22 am ET

As many of you know — I announced it at the ERE Expo in San Diego — I’ve decided to bring recruiting back to recruiting. This is my new old mission. Somehow this has been lost in the past few years when overall candidate supply exceeded demand. Hiring top talent is not the same as finding top talent. While sourcing is a step in this journey, it is only a step, and one getting easier each passing day.

Consider this: at the current rate, by March 11, 2012, everyone will be connected by one degree of separation with everyone else either via LinkedIn or Facebook. (FYI: I define sourcing as the process of name generation only. If you pick up the phone and call a person who did not apply, and convince him or her to consider your position, you’re recruiting. If the person applied for a job and all you’re doing is qualifying the person, that’s screening, not recruiting.)

While sourcing is getting easier, recruiting these now-more-visible folks is getting harder. This will become even more challenging as the demand for top talent accelerates, and everyone makes a wholesale shift to contact the same passive candidates you’re contacting. In this case, good recruiting skills will make all the difference as to who attracts and hires the person.

Here are some interesting stats by way of a LinkedIn survey we conducted in late 2010, to validate this point. First, only 8% of the fully employed professional pool of candidates were actively looking and open to considering a lateral transfer. Another 10% were causally looking, but only interested in a better job than the one currently held. Everyone else needed a significant bump in compensation or a significant career move to even consider engaging in a conversation. Without a big employer brand, recruiters need to make the case that the jobs they’re representing offer something better. This is the first step in real recruiting.

As part of this “bring recruiting back to recruiting” mission, I put together this quick list of things modern-day recruiters need to be able to do to recruit top passive candidates. While they’re all important, which ones would you select as your top three?

Know the job
Know the industry and competition
Partner with the hiring manager
Market the job via voice and email
Network, network, network
Accurately screen and assess talent
Recruit and influence top prospects
Negotiate and close the offer
Don’t take no for an answer
Sell a career move, not a lateral transfer
Your top three might be different, but here’s mine.

Although the ability to partner with the hiring manager is essential, it’s second on my list, since in order to be a partner you need to know the job. That’s why knowing the job is first on my list. Third on my list is not taking “no” for an answer. To some degree these three in combination with all of the rest all represent a chicken-and-egg-type problem. (You can download a flyer with a more complete version of this Recruiter Circle of Excellence you see in the graphic, including a ranking scale, on the Recruiter’s Wall.)

Without knowing the job, there is no way either a hiring manager or a top candidate will respect your judgment or be swayed by whatever eloquence you manage to muster. Without knowing the job, persistence won’t help much, either. It will be like pushing on a rope. While there’s more to it than this, this is the reason I consider real job knowledge as No. 1.

Job knowledge is not simply knowing the list of skills and responsibilities listed on the job description. It’s understanding the actual work the person actually needs to do to be successful. For example, having a CPA, 5-10 years in corporate reporting including SOX, and strong international reporting experience is not knowing the job. Moving the company to the international financial reporting standards in two years, building a team of eight staff and professional accountants to assess and upgrade the current, cumbersome domestic SEC and SOX reporting process, and quickly developing a worldwide set of accounting policies, is knowing the real job.

Without this type of detailed job knowledge, you’ll get little respect from the hiring manager, and top people with other things to do will dismiss you out of hand. Of course, to obtain this critical information you need to get it directly from the hiring manager. One way to better understand the job is to ask these questions during the intake meeting:

What are the big things the person will need to accomplish in order to be considered a top performer?
Why would a top performer who is not looking, who is fully employed, and has multiple opportunities, want this specific position?
What are the biggest challenges the person will face on the job?
What are the big areas of leadership and/or strategy the person would need to successfully handle?
After you have these answers, then go through every critical skill on the job description and ask, “What does the person need to do with the skill as part of the actual job?” For example, for strong communications skills, you might get something like “make weekly presentations to the design review committee.”

If the manager asks why you need to have this information, tell him or her that this is the information passive candidates who aren’t looking need to know in order to decide if they just want to enter into a conversation. Then as a real zinger, ask the hiring manager if he or she would agree to see a person who could perform all of the work listed, but didn’t have exactly the same background listed on the job description. If the manager says “of course,” you now know the job. In parallel, you are moving toward partnership status.

If the manager says no, persist and ask the questions again, or read this article before you ask the questions again. The key: do not start looking for a candidate until the hiring manager says the real job as defined is correct, and also agrees to see all candidates who have done comparable work. Otherwise everything you do afterwards will be problematic.

With this “new age” job profile in hand, start contacting passive candidates and ask this question: “would you be open to talking about a possible career move, if it was significantly better than what you’re doing today?” They all will say yes. If not, persist and ask the question word-for-word again. When they say yes, you must then get these candidates to tell you about themselves first. Use this time to determine if the candidate is highly qualified and would see your job as a career move. If so, recruit the person. If the person is not perfect for your spot, network and get three names of some great people who are perfect. This is where persistence and all of the other skills listed in the Recruiter Circle of Excellence above will come into play. But if you don’t know the job, and aren’t a partner with your hiring-manager client, all of the persistence and skills listed won’t help much.

Article share: Referral Key - the new LinkedIn?

www.referralkey.com

Source of this article: http://www.rizzotees.com/blog/referral-key-clogging-the-arteries-of-my-inbox-with-spam

Referral Key – Clogging The Arteries Of My Inbox With Spam
Posted on May 20, 2011 by Chris Reimer

As a Social Media Strategist, I often feel a slight tug on my shirt sleeve whenever a new service debuts. When Quora came out (and when Scoble jumped in hard), I felt a need to check it out. I mean, I do this stuff for a living. I had better know what’s going on in the space. Diaspora? It’s the next Facebook! Joined!

So when I started receiving (lots of) emails in my inbox from people asking me to join Referral Key, I thought it was the next big service that I was going to have to try. Turns out, it’s not a new service. I found a Hubspot case study and accompanying video from February 2009, where Hubspot (a company I love) talks about how they helped ReferralKey.com increase their site traffic and leads. I suppose it feels new to me because this is the first I’ve heard of it, and I’ve received over 100 invitations to join in the past few days. That sort of groundswell usually accompanies a hot new product.

The first time I got an email with the subject line “Are you taking on new clients?” Holy crap, I was excited! You bet I’m taking clients! (what a hook). Ten seconds later, I felt the shame of spam, deflated, and just a little pissed. After receiving 100 of these emails? No one likes spam.

Here is what the typical email looks like:

Subject: Are you taking on new clients?

Body:
If you’re taking on new clients, I’d like to include you in my private referral network to send you business leads through Referral Key. Please accept my invitation below. Thanks!



Best,
Person’s Name
Name of Their Company
City, State

The message itself is almost identical every time. Subject line, body, signature…. all the same. This deluge of messages has been nothing short of annoying.

Now, in almost every public speaking appearance I make, I get on my soapbox for at least a minute or two and tell the audience that they need to be nice. The rules of online are not that much different than offline. Mom taught us that there are things we think that we don’t say. You always have to be nice. When curating content online, it is vitally important to remember this.

So it is with a bit of trepidation that I report to you that I responded to 30 of these emails. I did so for research purposes. To each person, I asked only the following:

May I ask why you are sending this to me?

Maybe this wasn’t nice. My intention was not to make the sender feel bad for having spammed me, or to sound like or be a dick. I wanted to see how many people would respond, and I wanted to read those responses. I wanted to learn something about social media and personal branding.

Out of 30 emails I sent, I received seven responses. Maybe I would have received more had I phrased my question differently. This isn’t a scientific poll. Here is a sampling of the responses:

“When I signed up for referralkey via an invitation, the site went through my LinkedIn contacts, of which you are one of my first degree connections, and sent the invitation asking you to join. If you don’t want to participate, please feel free to ignore the request.”

“This is a new website, just starting up, where individuals and business can support each other in referrals and I thought 1st, it is a good idea and 2nd that you might like , at least, to be aware of it. If you are not interested, then no problem. Didn’t mean to offend you or cause you any undo concerns. Thanks for your response.”

“I didn’t. Somebody hacked my account.”

“Hi! Sorry, I thought it was a great service and wanted to extend the invitation to my linkedIN followers. It allows people to get in touch and has quite an amazing business model. Hope it helps you!”

“I thought you might like it. It’s free. Maybe it’s for you….maybe it’s not. Never hurts to look.”

“This is a new social media site that works with LinkedIn. I received a few invites this morning from my LinkedIn contacts so I did the same. I am still learning this new site but so far this morning I have found two great contacts that I will most likely be doing business with directly from this site. If you are interested in connecting with me there, please feel free to accept my invite. In no way did I mean to make you feel like you were getting spammed.”

“Sorry for the intrusion. Seems there was an error when they imported EVERYONE on my LinkedIn network, and included you in it. My sincere apologies…as this usually happens with a huge list…”

So these are 1st degree LinkedIn connections asking me to join a new service. We have some people calling the email to me an error. We have some people blaming it on a hack. Some are saying they were just trying to be helpful. A few people really took the time to try and explain Referral Key to me.

The problem? Referral Key has no idea how bad this this avalanche of emails is making them look (click on the picture at the top of this blog post! That’s my email inbox). These messages, all identical, all with that hook of a subject line, are not good for their business. For better or worse, I now consider them to be a less-than-reputable company. But even worse, you, the Referral Key user, have no idea what joining a service like this is going to make you look like. In this case, it made these people look like the Spammy McSpammer MLM Sham Wow guy. I’ll bet most of these people aren’t actually like that, and the service is probably on the up and up, but that’s the impression they are leaving. Perhaps it’s Referral Key’s fault, as their system is the one generating these cookie cutter emails in mass volume.

However, as a businessperson with a personal brand, you need to be aware of your every move and do your best to calculate benefits and risks before joining the next social media platform du jour. Do not join a service unless you have a plan and a goal in mind for your participation and time spent. Do not join a Twitter automation service that sends annoying tweets from your account like “The following users unfollowed me today: @User1, @User2, @User3. Try it at LoserTwitterService.com.” Don’t invite people to your mafia family on Facebook. Stop clicking on random links that people DM or Facebook message you – they are often virus traps and you’re spreading spam. And stop joining services that blast out marketing messages Uzi-style as ReferralKey.com does. The bad taste you are leaving in people’s mouths is not worth it.

Director, Executive Benefits Advanced Sls Spt - Madison, WI (relocation available)

Looking for candidate with Law Degree (J.D.), and one or more professional designations: CLU, ChFC, REBC, CFP, CPA, CFA. 8-10 years advanced sales in leading insurance, deferred compensation plans, 457’s, split dollar plans, COLI/BOLI,advanced underwriting, etc.


To lead and direct the Executive Benefits Program by developing and delivering marketing, sales, and technical support to credit union and credit union system CEO s, Senior Management, and Boards of Directors through the Executive Benefits Specialists by the development of advanced planning systems, marketing, case design and joint work, training programs, compliance monitoring, and support on all aspects of Executive Benefits with the goal to help achieve overall Corporate Services Enterprise objectives.


Job Responsibilities:


Advanced Planning - Assist in the development and effective implementation of advanced planning systems, proposal systems, products, and services for uniform delivery of supplementary Executive Benefits to credit unions, credit union system organizations, and related entities. In addition to monitor and document Executive Benefits Specialists proposal and plan design activities for compliance with NCUA, IRS, SEC and Insurance Industry regulations. To monitor the appropriate use of funding products. To consult with the Executive Benefits Specialists on advanced cases of Executive Benefits sales and plan development activities with the intent of assisting in acquisition of premium revenue. Provide expert advice and technical guidance for plan administration. Provide advanced sales support, advanced planning, joint work, case design, for a state of the art Executive Benefits Program. Work with attorneys, CPA s and other professional advisers on case design to ensure proper understanding of unique credit union system considerations. Work directly with high profile credit union system executives on their sensitive personal benefits programs as needed.


Marketing - To oversee and coordinate the technical content of communications and promotional materials supporting Executive Benefits marketing programs including marketing pieces, white papers, and web site content. To design and deliver presentations at conferences and credit union industry association meetings on executive benefits topics. Validate technical content for presentations other Speakers Bureau Members use when presenting executive benefits topics. To write articles or secure third party writers for Executive Benefits topics to place in credit union industry publications.


Act as the Executive Benefits liaison with association marketing to assist in the negotiation and management of the endorsement relationship with the Credit Union Executives Society, and other association relationships with Corporate Credit Unions, Leagues, CUNA, LICU, etc.


Monitor Product usage and performance as it relates to use by the Executive Benefits businesses. Provide business/sales input into new product development and perform due diligence reviews. Engage with external third parties to establish and implement relationships for institutional products used by the Executive Benefits program for appropriate funding solutions.


Training and Certification Programs - Design and provide technical content for training and certification programs for Specialists and other Executive Benefits team members.


Monitor tax laws and changes - monitor legal, NCUA, and tax regulations and amend Executive Benefits Activities as necessary to comply with regulations. Provide business subject matter expertise to our corporate legal and finance areas to champion expanded sales opportunities for the Executive Benefits program. This may involve use of new or existing products for funding sources or plan design concepts meeting the NCUA and IRS guidelines.


Position will have staff management accountability for 3-5 employees.


Job Requirements:

8-10 years’ work experience working in Advanced Sales at CUNA Mutual or other industry leading companies in insurance.

Demonstration of effective communication skills, leadership, and influence skills, and group facilitation skills.

Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of premium calculation & collection, underwriting, claims processes, distributions, communications, marketing, field activities (including training, league activities, legislation, government relations, and lending processes.

Proven ability to analyze abstract environmental trends, market feedback, and competitive intelligence to select and initiate high-return product development or brokered product procurement efforts.

Demonstration of effective conceptual skills, especially in marketing products and sales management concepts.

Demonstration of effective presentation skills.

Law Degree (J.D.) is required.

One or more professional designations including by not limited to CLU, ChFC, REBC, CFP, CPA, CFA.


(Relocation Benefit available)

Contact me @ kimberly.hughes@rightthinginc.com to apply.
Will respond to qualified candidates on an as-needed basis.

Technical Director - Bay Point, CA (relocation available)

Looking for candidate with hands-on technical management experience related to structural adhesives/materials in the aerospace or automotive industry. Prefer advanced degree in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering/Polymers and 5-10 years experience.

This position is responsible for directing research and development of proprietary technologies and products suitable for the aerospace market. Products need to be developed in a manner that will permit the timely introduction and offer customers values in aerospace applications.


Position Responsibilities:



Direct the overall efforts of PD adhesive development. Oversees new adhesive development projects, establishes and implements a strategy and budget consistent with defined ASA plan, organizes and directs projects and resources to meet planned objectives, establishes staffing requirements and personnel distribution. Plays a major role in directing laboratory development projects to support the aerospace industry. Provide technical support services to customers as required. Advance the state of the art in structural adhesive to address the changing dynamics of the aerospace market. Assure all laboratory work is carried out in a safe, responsible manner and that technologies/products and processes comply with all deferral and state regulatory agencies. Act as a technical resource for long term business unit planning. Oversees and manages intellectual property activities and provide guidance and recommendations on patents, trademarks and proprietary agreements. Interface with a variety of customers and senior managers located internally and externally. Assure all new products meet international chemical health and safety requirements.



Minimum Requirements:

Effective leadership, team building, employee development, coaching, and motivational skills.
Excellent verbal and written communication, presentation, and analytical skills.
Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies or members of the business community.
Ability to effectively present information to top management, public groups and/or board of directors.
Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions.

Contact me @ kimberly.hughes@rightthinginc.com for full details and application information!
Will respond to qualified candidates on an as needed basis.

Article share: Why You Shouldn’t Waste Your Time Recruiting Passive Candidates

Hmm...

by Lou Adler on May 30, 2011, 8:15 AM
Every executive and hiring manager worth his or her salt will tell you hiring top talent is the most important thing they need to do. Unfortunately when it comes to putting their money on the table, most often all you’ll see is pocket change.

Somewhere in the bowels of the company’s mission statement is some form of the platitude “hiring top talent is a major company objective.” But in the field where the battle is played out, a different picture emerges.

Hiring top talent, especially those who aren’t looking for a job, is not about posting a boring job description on some site, getting people to apply, and then conducting a series of behavioral interviews. It’s about finding and convincing these top people that your position offers the best career move among competing opportunities. While many recruiters and individual hiring managers can pull this off one assignment at a time, only those companies with a compelling employer brand have mastered the art at scale.

“You can’t hire top passive candidates who aren’t looking”
Another positive U.S. Department of Labor hiring report with 244,000 new jobs created in April 2011 brings seven months of significant job gains. A few more months like this and there will be a real need for companies to accelerate their passive-candidate recruiting.

LinkedIn’s historic IPO roller coaster of a run provides credence to the interest in tools available to help make this shift. LinkedIn can be an invaluable tool in the right hands. In the wrong ones, however, it’s just an expensive company directory. Worse, once everyone has the same directory it will be even less valuable without a companywide ability to recruit and hire passive candidates.

Except in isolated instances, I’m going to contend that based on how companies now recruit passive candidates, most of their efforts will be wasted. In large part, this is attributed to the lack of alignment with strategy and tactics. Simply put, you can’t hire top passive candidates who aren’t looking, using processes designed to hire active candidates who are looking.

Rather than get into all of the nitty-gritty details of this, the following are some of the bigger issues you need to consider to make sure your company is ready and able to hire passive candidates in any sizeable quantity.

8 questions to answer if you recruit passive candidates
If you can’t answer unequivocally yes to the following questions, don’t waste your time recruiting passive candidates. Instead, spend it figuring how to get ready.

Money talks. Are the funds and resources available to match the level of importance assigned to hiring top talent? If you don’t have enough money in the budget to spend on higher salaries, more recruiters, and better resources, you’ll come up short more times than not.
Hold hiring managers accountable for quality of hire and timeliness. Are the hiring managers at your company held fully accountable for the timeliness and quality of their hiring decisions? This means the topic is part of every staff meeting and part of their performance reviews. If hiring managers are not held responsible for their hiring efforts, and do not consider it a priority, don’t waste your time recruiting passive candidates. You’ll just be disappointed at all of the good passive talent you didn’t hire.
Make sure hiring managers are able to recruit and hire top talent. Are your hiring managers able to both accurately interview and recruit top talent? Not only must hiring managers be held responsible for hiring top talent, they also must be able to do it properly. Recruiting passive candidates — especially the goods ones who are in high demand –requires managers who understand how to position their jobs as career moves and then demonstrate that they have mentored their best people into better jobs. Without this ability and validation, hiring top passive candidates will depend on the company’s reputation and/or the hiring manager’s manager.
Make sure everyone on the hiring team knows what they’re looking for before you start looking. Before the sourcing process begins, do you get everyone to agree to the real job needs and performance objectives? (Here’s an article on how to do this.) If not, how can you possibly accurately assess competency? Worse, top passive candidates always ask recruiters to tell them about the job before they decide to even seriously engage with a company. If the people they then interview with don’t describe something similar, they’ll disengage very quickly.
Offer career moves, not lateral transfers. Are you still posting traditional job descriptions highlighting skills and experiences where passive candidates can see them? If so, stop, at least if you want to hire passive candidates. (Here’s how and why.) The best passive candidates are not looking for lateral transfers. LinkedIn is filled with great people who are looking for career moves, so if you want to attract them you must advertise career moves. As part of these career-oriented messages, describe the employee value proposition, what the person will learn, do, and could become if successful, and how their skills will be used on the job.
Conduct a professional, two-way interview and assessment process. Do you still conduct 30-minute interviews; are any managers unprepared; do you ask silly or inappropriate questions; and do managers still expect candidates to be overly eager? These all run counter to the requirements for hiring passive candidates. The best passive candidates expect the interview process to be professional, well-organized, and those involved, knowledgeable and fully-prepared. They prefer tough questions that dig into performance, team skills, and job-related critical thinking ability. They’ll quickly disengage if managers ask meaningless questions, don’t understand the job, get mixed signals about real job needs, are left waiting, or a rushed through a series of wasted interviews where they’re judged on presentation skills and cleverness rather than their accomplishments. They expect, in turn, to be able to ask tough questions about available resources and upside opportunities, if successful.
Don’t sell, recruit. Do your hiring managers really understand how to attract, assess, and recruit star candidates who have multiple opportunities? Hyperbole and platitudes work when selling snake oil to the naïve, but not to top performers who aren’t looking. In this case hiring managers have to describe real job needs, conduct an in-depth performance-based assessment, and clearly demonstrate that their opening offers stretch, growth, and upside opportunity. Recruiting passive candidates requires them to see your opening as the best among competing career moves. In the process, money will take a back seat and they’ll begin to sell you.
Provide recruiters the time and training to recruit. Can your recruiters recruit and, if so, do they have the time to do it right? Both are prerequisites to hiring more passive candidates. LinkedIn is a great resource, but without skilled recruiters who can attract, screen, recruit, and close top talent based on career opportunities, not compensation increases, it’s nothing more than a job board for the professional market. Don’t bother hiring top-notch recruiters or send them through passive candidate recruiter training either, if they’re not given the time needed to spend contacting and networking with passive candidates.
Finding 100 million passive candidates on LinkedIn is not the same as hiring them. To hire them in any quantity you need committed and capable hiring managers and recruiters who are trusted partners with their hiring manager clients and have the skills and time to recruit.

All of this must be on top of a hiring process that’s designed to meet the needs of top people who aren’t looking. If you don’t have these core pillars driving your hiring efforts, don’t waste your time recruiting passive candidates.

Lou Adler is the president of The Adler Group, a training and consulting firm helping companies find and hire top talent using Performance-based Hiring. He is also a noted recruiting industry expert, national speaker, and columnist for a number of major recruiting Internet sites including SHRM and ERE.net. Contact him at at lou@adlerconcepts.com.

www.tlnt.com/2011/05/30/why-you-shouldnt-waste-your-time-recruiting-passive-candidates/

Field Applications Specialist - Westlake, Ohio (relocation assistance available)

Looking for a candidate with 10+ years experience in sealants/adhesives or doors, windows, insulation, roofing, framing installation, experience writing specs or manuals, ability to analyze and provide a product recommendation in the residential construction industry.

Summary of Position:
This position is responsible for representing the Consumer and Professional Adhesive business on various building and specification code councils, and insuring that Henkel has a voice in the design and implementation of standards and specifications. In addition the position is responsible for developing product and installation recommendations (Systems) for various residential building applications with a broad based knowledge of Building Science in residential construction. The position will report directly to VP Business Development AC, and work closely with AC Marketing Category Managers, Sales Managers, Alliance Partners and Technical Teams.

Job Responsibilities:
• Applications – Develop recommendations on what Henkel products should be used with various applications. If additional testing for fit-for-use/compatibility are needed, will coordinate with technical teams. Also, identify with Marketing Team, unmet needs and new System Applications in support of contractors/end-users, utilizing broad-based Building Science knowledge in the residential construction industry.
• Code Council – Active participation and membership in necessary residential building code councils including but not limited to: Fenestration Manufacturer’s Association (FMA),International Code Council (ICC), Construction Specification Institute (CSI), Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC)
• Architectural Specifications – Development of architectural training modules, and oversee Continuing Education programs with Ron Blank & Associates, AIA, CSI, etc. on applicable Henkel products. Lead efforts to present Henkel products in Architect friendly manner.
• Manufacturer Alliances – Work with Marketing Managers and Market Development to develop Alliance Partners with other building product manufacturers. Goal is to have other manufacturers recommend/specify Henkel products/systems as part of their installation instructions. Also, provide adhesive and sealant expertise with specification writing abilities.

Minimum Requirements:
• BS Marketing or equivalent work experience.
• 10 years technical application experience in adhesives or sealants
• Strong computer skills: Excel, Power Point
• Strong Technical writing skills
• Demonstrated understanding of residential building and remodeling practices
• Demonstrated capability in managing multiple projects.

Contact me at kimberly.hughes@rightthinginc.com to apply!
Will responded to qualified candidates on an as-needed basis.