HRx Radio – Executive Conversations: On Friday mornings, John Sumser interviews key executives from around the industry. The conversation covers what makes the executive tick and what makes their company great.

HRx Radio – Executive Conversations

Guest: Joey Price, Founder and CEO, Jumpstart:HR
Episode: 325
Air Date: May 3, 2019

Transcript

Important: Our transcripts at HRExaminer are AI-powered (and fairly accurate) but there are still instances where the robots get confused and make errors. Please expect some inaccuracies as you read through the text of this conversation. Thank you for your understanding.

Full Transcript with timecode

00:00:13:25 – 00:00:33:17
Good morning and welcome to HR Examiner’s Executive Conversations, I’m your host John Sumser and today we’re going to be talking with Joey Price, who’s the founder and CEO of Jump Start HR (among seventy five other things). And so we’re going to get into who he is and what he does. Hi Joey.

00:00:35:06 – 00:00:39:13
Hey John, it’s a pleasure. I just hung all my 75 hats at home.

00:00:39:16 – 00:00:43:07
So I’m excited to chat with you today about everything that’s going on.

00:00:43:27 – 00:00:49:27
So take a moment and give us a deep introduction, who are you, what do you do, what turns you on.

00:00:50:09 – 00:01:27:04
I am Joey Price founder of Jump Start HR, and at Jump Start we provide outsourcing and consulting services for small businesses and start ups the small businesses and start ups who want more than a handbook. But they really want those CHRO level eyes on their strategy and their business and I’ve had the company since 2011 so this would be our eighth year in business and we operate across the country with businesses all the way from California to D.C.

00:01:27:29 – 00:01:58:13
and that’s been fun. Offshoots of that have been my podcast. A podcast of business life and coffee where it’s a weekly conversation with entrepreneurs or about things that outsource care about and then also I was an adjunct professor for awhile at Stony Brook University between graduate level eight are as well as sitting on the H.R. advisory board for the food business.

00:01:59:04 – 00:02:33:24
So those are just a few hats that are relevant and my wife definitely turns me on. To give us that out there. But. As it relates to H.R. I really passionate about small businesses competing against larger ones for talent and helping them scale and grow and really really fascinated around the conversation. Artificial Intelligence in ADR how to do it the right way. If I write we I mean ethically what are some of the moral forces around it.

00:02:34:11 – 00:02:58:29
And I’ve just always been kind of like the guy so combining my love of human performance and technology and seeing how they can both play well together in the long run shows you just named to the HRC through Magazine’s Top 100 computers futurism H.R. Kurt.

00:03:00:06 – 00:03:05:12
It was no surprise. What’s happened as a result.

00:03:05:15 – 00:03:38:11
Well yeah that came out a few weeks ago and it caught me by surprise in some way. There is the Fry Well I did. You never know a thing right. You never know who is listening to your soapbox or reading your material or are really influenced by what you have to say. So that was very surprising and humbling. And as far as what it’s meant for the newspaper the big answer honestly is I don’t know.

00:03:38:11 – 00:04:31:14
I’ve been approached by a few conferences that have said hey congratulations on being nominated. Keep us in mind for a speaker. Panelists are all though be a boy knows round but really it’s kind of like the fire that more you first do conversations around the role that the demons have with technology specifically in the eight hour day and so that means having more of a focus writing more article getting more sleep having more valuable conversations and connecting with with leaders in the field like this but also just realizing that any award is not just something tiny to go on a wall or block the phrase but I really see it as a responsibility to carry the conversation further in a meaningful way.

00:04:31:14 – 00:04:53:24
So to be on the list is an honor. And as far as what’s in the future it would be you know more speaking engagements more collaboration with other thought leaders and influence. There’s an analyst and this really using my voice for that me that matter in a tie.

00:04:54:22 – 00:05:18:11
So. So you’re on the list. I wonder what is in there actually is. I’d be interested in what you’re thinking in future is and does and this so shaded with this but this is some sort of knowledge one of what you’ve been doing already so so. So what are the things you’ve been doing that that makes you end up like this.

00:05:20:06 – 00:05:40:12
Well I think I got my start in the H.R. conversation years ago probably 2000 and 2009 in those original conversations on Twitter the eight dark get with with the Society for Human Resource Management being quoted in various articles

00:05:41:28 – 00:06:22:29
various publications and so there’s just been this snowball sort of momentum as far as the recent impact. Back in 2010. HENN Not only does it say 2012 my company did a research on the candidate experience and I did a webinar called on a part of what I worked here three feet to developing a Web site that attract top talent. And it was myself some people and some interns and we reached out to various professional and professional that asked hey what do you look for in a Web site. And

00:06:22:29 – 00:06:37:00
And at that time not a lot of people were having questions about the candidate because not a lot of employers thought that it was important. And so that work was published in terms and in a book in.

00:06:37:10 – 00:07:07:14
And from there it just kind of it was that that point. I I can’t have a say in this conversation and what I do say matter and when you’re a young when you’re a young black male in a car or simply a simple minority and so really to say OK well even at this level at twenty six point seven you know I can make a difference in the field. Let’s see how far I can run with it.

00:07:08:02 – 00:07:43:11
So it’s just been more of the same. You know covering conferences whether that’s through blogging video podcast having conversations with with technology leaders I had Adam Rogers come off the software on my podcast not too long ago and just continuing to show up when it mattered and having something important. So that’s probably. The Snowball momentum of how I got to this point.

00:07:43:17 – 00:07:49:07
And you know having somebody important deserves a big deal for sharing these

00:07:51:21 – 00:07:57:17
well really it’s around the conversation of A.I. and its role as human resources.

00:07:57:18 – 00:08:44:27
You know there’s a lot of conversation about making the recruitment process more efficient for the human resources professional but I think that we really need to take a look at okay what are we doing holistically and in the process. So job description. All right. If we’re going to take technology and math resonates with adopted Christine how valid is that topic in the first place. And then if we’re going to again use that same theory how reliable are resonate in the first place whether that was going through a resume a writer whether it’s a haphazardly put together where you may have a really strong candidate who just has a terrible resume.

00:08:45:14 – 00:09:07:20
How can we make technology to go beyond the surface so to speak and really connect with people who might be high potential or highly capable but either they haven’t represented themselves well on their resumé or the job description. Is it valid or 100 percent accurate of the beauty that they might define

00:09:09:14 – 00:09:10:25
that’s an interesting thing you know.

00:09:10:25 – 00:09:11:14
You know the

00:09:13:08 – 00:09:19:16
the general sense in the world is that recruiting fails 50 percent of the

00:09:21:09 – 00:09:34:29
you can find that the latest this Harvard Business Review goes it goes it just tells us. But but every every other idea is a mistake in the recruiting world.

00:09:35:14 – 00:09:47:06
And so. So I wonder if we don’t need to really rethink kind of recruiting work but then spending our time making it faster making these broken processes better.

00:09:47:08 – 00:09:49:18
Well I wonder if you’ve been thinking about that

00:09:51:16 – 00:10:23:26
I have actually and I’m in the process of writing a book basically about the employee experience through the lifecycle of an employee. And when we think about in a post mortem report of why did a new hire were not worked out. Sometimes it’s not the recruiting process but sometimes it’s that first 90 days and they experience they have with their manager and their aim. And so what can we do.

00:10:23:27 – 00:10:58:27
Do they represent the organization. Well we have a clear understanding of who the candidate is and what their values of organization and then see. How do you interpret that value throughout their lifecycle at the organization. And what sort of mile marker you’ve been having for the employee. Each step of the way. How do you assess that one through from a developmental phase to being ready to even have an influence in the organization whether that be a leadership title or not.

00:10:59:12 – 00:11:03:01
And so it is part recruitment

00:11:04:23 – 00:11:12:26
process that failed. But it’s also those introductory period of an employee that fail.

00:11:12:27 – 00:11:18:18
And so I think there is responsibility on both sides the employee and employer.

00:11:18:22 – 00:11:27:13
But you know you know I got to call bullshit. If you hire people who can’t make it through the first 90

00:11:29:21 – 00:11:47:08
and recruiting approves somebody who can’t make it to the first. There’s something wrong with the process. Right you’re not hiring the right people. They get through the show the first 90 days is terrible and the managers bad and all of those things. If you’re high if if

00:11:47:28 – 00:11:50:15
Somebody who can’t make it through that you haven’t done the job and

00:11:53:24 – 00:11:54:18
I

00:11:56:24 – 00:12:00:27
I think there’s a short answer and there’s a long answer to that.

00:12:02:09 – 00:12:36:12
If by no means do I have all the answers and I’m sure someone listening to our power station get it right. Circles around anything that I have to say. But there are various reasons why people get that through their very you know motivation for a person to math who they are in order to get into a role. You know I’ve been in situation where someone wanted a job just so that they could relocate to a third area.

00:12:36:18 – 00:13:01:08
And then once they got that job they really did want to deal with their you know the person they were going to marry. So there’s a there are a lot of human element to the recruiting process that technology is not a myth out. And so the the short answer is there’s a lot to it. The long answer was probably breaking down. He’d be a failure. Yeah.

00:13:01:12 – 00:13:22:09
Yeah but you can’t you can’t. You can’t say that because some people associate those. Recruiting fields 50 percent of the time. You know I’m sure I’m sure that there are bad a low. Base who are clever enough to bypass everything but the job of the recruiters

00:13:24:23 – 00:13:26:16
right. And so the jobs are just.

00:13:27:05 – 00:13:27:22
Right.

00:13:27:22 – 00:13:30:22
The job of the recruiter is to find people who will be good and move down

00:13:33:06 – 00:14:08:04
that is truth. So here’s here’s something that I learned about doctors that apply to every every day. You can assume that the person doing the dog is highly qualified capable of doing that. That’s why doctors call all the practice by law. The same with the recruiter. You may have a person that’s not skilled at doing a job or they may not know the best way to do the job.

00:14:08:07 – 00:14:21:07
And so if there is an assumption that there is a perfect scenario perfect router and then they fail or the scenario fails it could be process. But it also could be that the recruiter himself

00:14:23:16 – 00:14:27:15
doctors and lawyers have malpractice insurance and we’re talking about about

00:14:27:22 – 00:14:43:08
This rate of 50 percent yeah. Right. And so and so. So it would be nice I I don’t mean to do to grind you and put you on the spot here but it would be nice to have a look. How do you make recruiting.

00:14:43:28 – 00:14:55:26
Right. Yeah right. Instead of. Recruiting a screwed up so it’s somebody else’s problem. Yeah that’s where recruiters say and that’s why the rate is going to be

00:14:57:24 – 00:15:07:14
. Because the question here isn’t. About the other people. Is how how do we tolerate a 50 percent failure rate in recruiting

00:15:09:23 – 00:15:47:11
right. Do we want to apply our the beginning of a conversation as do we walk through. A advance. Book deal to make that process faster and cheaper. And I think the answer is the answer is we want to be real careful about what we do because we don’t know how to inhibit the failure rate and we don’t know what a good recruiting process looks like. When you press but what what I’m getting in this conversation is where I get what I thought with both recruiters which is yeah there’s a 50 percent failure rate but it’s not my fault

00:15:49:13 – 00:15:49:14
.

00:15:49:21 – 00:16:25:03
Oh no you don’t. But you being the opposite of that. I like I mentioned doctors to me the doctor is doing they’re doing that you can rely on a doctor to know the best care but one individual doctor would be the same as either hiring a recruiting firm or hiring an internal recruiter and assuming that they know how to execute their test. So we should be addressing the process the people in and defining what does that look like.

00:16:25:15 – 00:16:45:25
And I don’t think that we’ve we’ve done deep enough to determine what does that look like for a recruiter what sort of guarantees do we need to have in recruiting. And then of course there are other external factors at play. For example if you have if you have a

00:16:47:13 – 00:17:15:27
medical take on smoking suspect plant and the doctor has done their job or not. There are still the external factors of you know is that person going to walk into a smoky bar and get figured have that person remove the stressors in their life. And if not will that be a trigger. So if there’s two sides to the point that both need to be addressed I don’t I don’t think that it’s one or the other

00:17:18:13 – 00:17:28:09
Yeah it’s very difficult to solve problems when you focus on the fact that there are two sides of the coin to be able to solve problems when you wish to.

00:17:28:27 – 00:17:31:28
Anyhow you’re interested in the ethical

00:17:34:06 – 00:17:38:09
aspects of A.I. at a really interesting question. What.

00:17:38:11 – 00:17:40:02
Tell me something about what you’re thinking there

00:17:42:00 – 00:17:57:15
. So the big conversation both internal for a start and then A.I. as it applies to other functions is can the artificial intelligence replace up

00:17:59:01 – 00:18:05:03
top that humans do. And I think it’s a fascinating conversation because we’re

00:18:05:16 – 00:18:12:17
We’re spending for a reality where artificial intelligence is going to gain the make up a workforce.

00:18:12:24 – 00:18:44:25
And we’re seeing that McDonnell where they’re bringing in PR to replace the ten dollar an hour worker. We’re seeing other we’re overseeing city. Move for higher minimum wages and we’re seeing how business respond and technology has a very unique role in that conversation because. Business generally attempt to solve problem in a way that’s most beneficial to the business.

00:18:45:11 – 00:19:11:27
But we also need to have conversations of what it’s beneficial for. Business and is that and can that be the thing that’s beneficial for employees in the community. So so there that’s kind of one of the questions. How. How good did we make a I. How reliant do we be on technology and what is the human expense of that

00:19:14:02 – 00:19:14:15
cell.

00:19:14:16 – 00:19:28:26
So love it. Let me give you the scenario. A machine takes a stack of 300 resumes and gives you a short list of 10.

00:19:29:12 – 00:19:33:15
Do you take the machine at face value or you go out of the process

00:19:35:13 – 00:19:36:21
and how often do you do that.

00:19:40:02 – 00:19:43:21
No I would probably have a system of

00:19:45:01 – 00:20:04:17
Taking the technology seven times out of ten and then comparing three times out of ten just to see how aligned and how successful that technology is. So sort of a trust but. Verify.

00:20:04:27 – 00:20:10:12
Sort of process to make sure that we’re getting the outcome that we’re desiring.

00:20:11:15 – 00:20:27:06
So I like that idea. That’s it. That’s actually a very straightforward way to approach the problem. I wonder. Right. Generally the machine is going to replace the people who know how to do the detailed resume review. And so

00:20:28:21 – 00:20:29:05
does this.

00:20:29:05 – 00:20:36:03
Does this mean that that you buy the technology so they can do the job but you have people who does the job first place

00:20:40:08 – 00:20:49:20
this is where technology augments that because I wouldn’t use technology to eliminate a recruiting function of a business.

00:20:51:10 – 00:21:03:04
And I also feel like you’re going to need someone who understands the objective of the objectives that the technology is supposed to produce.

00:21:03:09 – 00:21:08:18
How this week the technology how to test the technology again benchmark

00:21:10:11 – 00:21:50:14
so realistically that may mean that your lower level in this scenario your lower level source there is going to no longer be a part of the team but you’re still going to need to have senior level recruiter who can say who can interpret the data and test the data who can make sure that they’re doing that seven out of 10 and the three out of 10 that I mentioned. So you’re you’re going to need specialists who know the field as well as to understand the technology and whether that’s one person whether that’s multiple people in the department.

00:21:50:29 – 00:22:18:26
I think it’s going to require the practitioners to step their game up a bit because now it’s you know you’re competing with technology for the outcome but the value that you have as a professional is their ability to interpret the outcome and here that with the senior leaders in your organization of whether or not it was successful why successful and those with the conversation got it.

00:22:19:00 – 00:22:40:21
Got it. Well that’s that’s an interesting model. So. So that sounds like you bring in this one tool and it shift to resumé and lower level saucers might be displaced but everybody in the recruiting process his job will change as a result of this of the introduction of this technology. How

00:22:40:21 – 00:23:13:21
How do you suppose we figure out what what changes while we would start with the business objective and say what are we trying to accomplish. We’re trying to accomplish a 20 percent failure rate in recruitment with a cost not to the X amount of dollars and then you work yourself backwards thing and say well here’s how we need to set up the technology. Here are the benchmarks that we’re going to have for each aspect of the process.

00:23:14:16 – 00:23:22:04
So on and so forth so begin with the end in mind and then reverse engineer process they get to that goal.

00:23:22:04 – 00:23:24:08
So do you need to do that before you buy the

00:23:26:04 – 00:23:26:23
I.

00:23:27:02 – 00:23:40:20
I think you said you could do that before you buy the technology because you need to know what your what your goal is in the first place. You know I it if I’m on a health journey and my goal is to

00:23:42:11 – 00:23:45:08
add more muscle. You know. But I walk into

00:23:46:27 – 00:24:20:18
a treadmill dealer and and they convinced me that this is going to help me. Get healthier. You know I could wait by the time the sales process. But you should know and be able to defend your objective and then have a conversation with the various providers in the marketplace. So that their conversation could either enhance your understanding of your objective or

00:24:21:10 – 00:24:33:05
Let you know for sure that this product isn’t the one for me. And here’s what I think you need to know that before you before you you reach out to the vendor you use that video to this great.

00:24:33:08 – 00:24:41:28
That’s great. So what is a big question Have you figured out. Well

00:24:42:14 – 00:25:04:22
As far as my business goes. How do we help small businesses understand our technology. How do we help them take it. I think small businesses can be not educated about their selection. And so helping in the vendor selection process there are various tools and technologies

00:25:06:08 – 00:25:49:13
working with providers of our technology and helping them create solutions that small business problem. And then specifically in the realm of a I’m at war with recruiting but also the performance management aspect of it. You and I were at a table together for a software provider. And the question came up about raising questions about how do you how do you ensure that a method is accurate based on a person on a dialect there Adrian there were two way

00:25:51:06 – 00:26:18:08
because those things matter in the grand scheme of technology as well. And that could be the difference between relying on technology and getting the right part behind what I was communicating or being fully off base and the outcomes that result from there. So those are some things that are that are on my on my radar right now I just am interested to be a part of those conversations.

00:26:18:15 – 00:26:34:09
So this has been a great conversation. Thanks for him gave some decent pushback in the middle and there was a little fun. I wanted to take a moment and reintroduce you so remind people what your company does and help them out of your home

00:26:35:26 – 00:26:36:07
dear.

00:26:36:09 – 00:27:16:10
Well Don first of all thank you for having me on. So going to honor but my name is Billy Price and I’m the founder of jumpstart ACR. I will work with small businesses and startup to provide H.R. solutions so that that thing as well as administrative component. I’ve got a weekly podcast of business life and coffee and consume that wherever you get your podcast. And also I’m one of those eight hour influencers that you hear about these days. So that means working with brands to help tell their story pick their product apart and see how it’s helpful.

00:27:16:23 – 00:27:30:10
And so I’d love to connect with anyone on LinkedIn as well. You can find me LinkedIn flash in flash so easy right. And that be a good launching point for reaching out to me again. John thanks for having me on the show.

00:27:31:18 – 00:27:40:03
Thanks Joey it’s been a great conversation and thank you for taking the time to do this. You’ve been listening to HR Examiner’s Executive Conversations.

00:27:40:06 – 00:27:58:24
We have been talking with Joey Pryce CEO and founder of Jumpstart HR and one of the fast-rising players in the HR and HR Tech tech circuit. Watch him over time as he goes like a meteor. Thanks very much for listening and we will see you back here same time next week.

00:27:58:24 – 00:28:05:17
We will be talking with Cecile Alper-Leroux, from Ultimate Software live from Singapore.

00:28:05:20 – 00:28:07:27
Bye bye now.