Employment in the headlines

Here is the digest from this week of employment in the headlines.  Hang on.

• Employers cut 533,000 jobs in Nov., most since 1974
• More than 10.3 million Americans were unemployed in November, the most in 25 years.
• Bush told reporters: “Our economy is in a recession. This is in large part because of severe problems in our housing, credit and financial markets, which have resulted in significant job losses.”

Who do you think is on the front lines of this dilemma in our economy?  Corporate Recruiting departments for one.

Layoffs are always a tough time for Recruiting departments; with fewer openings and more applicants, the tension between job seekers and Recruiters escalates.  It’s like calling the cable company customer service person for the 5th time in a month – you may want to rip his/her head off even though you know it’s not his/her fault your cable is out again!

This tension is caused by the conflict of job seeker needs and Corporate Recruiter bandwidth:

• Job seekers feel more desperate in times of massive layoffs etc.  It takes longer to find new employment and everyone’s senses are heightened in an environment of significant competition.  During this time, job seekers NEED more attention.
• Job seekers may not “trust” that Corporate Recruiters are actually concerned about their ability to find employment and therefore doing all they can to help.  Job seekers NEED reassurance.
• Recruiters are innundated with a significant increase in applicants for each job, reducing the time and effort they can give to each applicant.  Recruiters BANDWIDTH is minimized.
• Layoffs in Recruiting Departments mean that at this crucial time in “candidate experience”, many recruiters are carrying larger requisition loads than in go-go hiring times.  Recruiters BANDWIDTH is stretched paper thin.

So what can a corporation do to ease the fears and concerns of their job seekers and provide Recruiters with a way to meet the needs of the candidates (customers).

OVER COMMUNICATE

Many ATS systems are set up to send a “Thank you” when someone applies.  Many Recruiting Departments feel this is enough effort and FAIL to communicate when a requisition is closed or put on hold or filled.  The “BLACK HOLE” of recruitment gets bigger in difficult times because rather than face the tension mentioned above, companies hide from it.  The effect is that the tension INCREASES instead of subsides.

Most ATS systems have the ability to automate communication when a requisition is closed (if yours doesn’t, then send this post to your ATS vendor and ask them to help you solve the problem) and ALL ATS systems have the ability to custom craft an email for this “end of the line” communication.  Fix the black hole by crafting an honest, caring email and make sure everyone gets it:

Thank you for your patience while we executed our hirng process for the Accountant 2 position you applied for.  Unfortunately this position has recently been closed.  You’re application will remain active in our system for the next 12 months and we will certainly call you should a similar posiiton come open.  In the meantime, we wish you the best of luck in your job search.  We realize these are unique times and while we wish we could hire everyone who applies, we simply can not.

Or even better yet – put an offer in your email to help them find work!

Thank you for your interest in a position with <company>.
We realize that you recently applied for the Accountant 2 position.  Unfortunately that position is no longer vacant.  We encourage you to check our website to see if there are other positions that match your background.

If you don’t see a role with us that is of current interest we would still like to assist you in finding a new position by introducing you to other great companies who may be able to give you the position you seek, right now.

<Company> is a Member of AllianceQ – a partnership of leading companies collaborating to increase our ability to find the world’s top talent.

It’s an easy, free and confidential service.  Simply share your background and what you desire in a new job.  In addition to being considered by <Company>, you are automatically and anonymously considered for thousands of other opportunities with leading employers every day.

To join AllianceQ or for more information, visit: http://www.AllianceQ.com/company

Again, thank you for considering <Company> in your job search and we look forward to considering you for future opportunities.

This communication is guaranteed to reduce tension and provide the job seekers hope and a continuation of their job search.

All they really want.