Who Cares?

Just not a nice question huh?  Ask someone a question and when you get this response you just feel bad – like they are brushing you off.

Yet this is the response I get most often (verbally, physically) when I ask recruiters about the candidate experience – especially the candidates who apply but are not qualified or have clearly applied for the wrong job.

But my answer is always “you need to” and apparently The Gallup organization agrees with me.  A 2008 study in The Gallup Management Journal (surveying a targeted U.S. sample of 1,376 adults aged 18 and over who were seeking a job – The sample consisted of those who are currently unemployed and seeking a job as well as those who are currently employed full time or part time and have searched for employment in the past six months) found that if you don’t care and aren’t treating all candidates like customers, you may be significantly harming your recruiting efforts.

Gallup’s findings include;

• 70% of job seekers gave feedback detailing at least one frustrating aspect of the process.
• Job applicants were most likely to mention frustrations regarding the lack of communication prospective employers demonstrated.
• half of job applicants who mention specific frustrations say these aggravations give them pause when considering the possibility of working for these prospective employers.

So why should you care about THIS?

Gallup asked the 72% of job seekers who shared the most frustrating aspect of their job search a follow-up question to gauge the impact it had on their opinion of the organization. Half of these prospective employees said the frustrations they mentioned made them question whether they wanted to work for the company. Thus, the frustrations of applicants are making it more difficult for companies to hire the talent they need.

So in Recruiter terms:  At at time when you are “building pipelines” and “establishing talent networks” at the front door, you are causing a significantly greater number of people to doubt you as an employer out the back door!!

Applicants’ relationships with prospective employers don’t stop once the interview process is complete or after they receive a note indicating that the company has already filled the position. An organization’s poor treatment of its job applicants is akin to failed customer service, and it can have a negative impact on the likelihood of a prospective employee — hired or not — to recommend the company as a place to try to work.

So for all of you who consider applicants a nuisance (after all, you ARE the social networking King/Queen – you’ll find your own candidates thank you) and have the “Who Cares?” attitude toward candidates – STOP IT.   Here are three easy steps to fix this problem – no excuses.

Start by caring about prospective employees as much as you do about your customers and current associates.  Never in the application process should someone from the hiring company put down an applicant or make the job seeker feel in any way that the organization does not care about them, regardless of whether they are a good fit.

Value applicants’ questions and concerns. Some organizations would say that because of the sheer volume of applicants and the resources needed for the process, there is simply not enough time to answer the inquiries they receive from prospective employees. But what if those organizations treated their customers the same way?

Make specific process changes to your hiring practices to convey respect and care for potential employees. Applicants crave communication from potential employers about the status of their job search, and organizations could eliminate much of job seekers’ frustrations by increasing the amount of real-time feedback they receive about their applications.

I recently spoke at Qualigence’s First Annual Recruitment “How To” Conference in Chicago about #3.  Not only is it possible but it’s happening at your competition right now!

Who Cares?  You Should.