Christine Nichlos is founder and CEO of People Science, a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) business. Founded in 1997, People Science partners with corporations and becomes their full-cycle recruiting department either for a segment of employment or a company's entire effort. Lucent Technology, as People Science’s first client, heard the recommendations about how they should go about trying to attract appropriate employees, how they needed to be concerned of how the potential employees viewed the company and then change how they managed according to the employees themselves. They quickly decided they were not equipped to carry it through. Lucent requested that People Science take over the process, which People Science was not prepared to do. Their job was to serve as coaches. Nichlos’ answer was no. But Lucent came back again – and again. After the third request Nichlos agreed to take over recruitment for Lucent. Using sophisticated methods to attract qualified professionals, then match them with the company and a job, People Science has proven their worth over and over again.

In 2006, People Science discovered there was a list of the top 15 RPO businesses in the country. According to the criteria listed, leaders at People Science realized their company fell within the ranks of the top 15. However, at that point, People Science had never heard of the term "RPO." Although People Science had been doing the work for eight years, they had never really marketed their services. Their business had grown brom the beginning strictly by word of mouth.

Our conversation follows:

w2wlink.com: Tell us about some of the sophisticated management practices you employ at People Science.

NICHLOS: One of the most critical management practices is often overlooked: effectively managing people. Our people are our best resources. Without them we don’t exist. That's true of every company.

w2wlink.com: What do you do differently than most companies in managing people.

NICHLOS: Well, we manage according to the individual. I think a current problem for many companies is teaching middle management people, who are usually of the Baby Boomer generation, to effectively work with people of the X and Y generations.

w2wlink.com: What do you see as the problem?

NICHLOS: Baby Boomers and Gen X or Yers have different values in life. Boomers are motivated by work, by a paycheck. Gen X and Yers are interested in their lives as a whole, of which work is just a small part and not necessarily the most important part.

w2wlink.com: How does that create conflict?

NICHLOS: Baby Boomers think that everyone should have the same, nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic that they have. They look at the number of breaks or personal time spent on the computer and make judgments.

w2wlink.com: How do you work through the conflict then?

NICHLOS: I remind the managers that what is important is whether or not the work is getting done and done well. The “how” is less significant.

w2wlink.com: Can you share an example?

NICHLOS: I have a group of Gen X and Yers who work together as a team. After being together for a while, they started taking their breaks together, leaving only one person to answer phones. Someone brought it up to me, so I decided to check it out. What I learned was that before doing this, the team had done a study of peak and troughs regarding phone calls. They found that there were virtually no phone calls during this period, so it was safe for them to take their breaks together. And, on the up side, it really contributed to their happiness on the job. Camaraderie consistently ranks high on the list of “must haves” in a job for people of this age group.

w2wlink.com: What other advice can you give for bridging the generation gap?

NICHLOS: Realize that people of the Gen X and Gen Y generations have been nurtured a lot more than previous generations and they expect to be treated well. Also, recognized that yours is not the only game in town. For most of these people, there are plenty of jobs. You hurt their feelings, you risk losing them. Managers must realize that each person is different and manage them accordingly. Don’t have expectations of the way it’s going to be done, just that it’s going to be done and done well.

Check out People Science at www. people-science.com.