Paying it Forward
It is good to see that in this tough economy, people have not lost their ability to sympathize with those who are conducting a job search. Great post by Kelly Dingee on Fistful of Talent on this subject.
That said, I am amazed at how many recruiting departments are OK with continuing to let candidates sit in the “black hole” of recruitment. This “black hole” is created by not communicating with candidates outside of the original “we got your application” email that is sent by the ATS. I estimate that anywhere from 50% - 85% of the candidates that apply each year to Corporate America hear NOTHING after this acknowledgment!
Now back to “paying it forward”. Recruiters don’t want to deliver the “no thank you” message for fear that they will be inundated with calls from candidates asking “why not?”. These are long held beliefs that seem to be driving business process decisions even though it is unfounded. I know of several F100 companies who communicate with ALL candidates after the initial aknowledgement and close the loop with 100% of the applicants - WITHOUT this imaginary call volume. They simply give the candidate information that they are longing to have AND are offering them help in continuing their job search.
Pay it forward is as simple as choosing to communicate with your candidates and giving them information about their application. Really, it is very simple.
Problem or Opportunity?
In an article from Monday by Dr. Sullivan titled;
Managing Recruiting During an Economic Downturn: The Top 10 Action Steps to Take
he also mentions “10 Recruiting Problems You Might Face During Tough Economic Times”. Problem #4 is of high interest to me.
An increased volume of traffic. Normally, all great recruiters focus on the employed candidate (the so-called passive candidates). However, layoffs and high unemployment may mean that some high-quality people are now available among the ranks of the unemployed. Unfortunately, if you actively recruit during tough times, the volume of mediocre but enthusiastic unemployed people who will apply for your jobs will also increase dramatically.
So I’m a glass half full guy and see this as an opportunity and not a problem. Increased flow of applicants during times of higher unemployment is one of the greatest opportunities a company has to cement its employment brand as positive. How you treat the “mediocre but enthusiastic” (really judgemental and subjective and NOT my words) applicant today dictates your success when the unemployment rate dives and we are back fighting for talent.
Here’s the logic. When you have 5 openings in marketing (as opposed to 55 during high growth boom days) it is very easy to classify really good candidates as “mediocre and enthusiastic” because it’s a sellers market and you and your hiring manager can be as picky as possible for these few hires. But when the market comes back and it is once again a buyer’s market (we all know it will happen) how you treated these candidates will come back to bite you. Remember, we are still in the age of Facebook, myspace, the vault etc. so if you fail to make a positive impression on the hoardes of people who need you today, you will find yourself wanting when you need them. And you will.
Here’s the action plan (so simple it’s crazy that it isn’t being done by most companies):
- Disposition everyone. No, not only in the ATS to cover your EEO butt but actually communicate with everyone who has applied to your company through the automated email process available in everyone’s ATS. Most companies don’t understand that not communicating with someone who has applied is NEVER an acceptable business rule.
- Talk to anyone who meets minimum qualifications. Really, you don’t have time? 5 openings in Marketing? What are you doing if you aren’t talking to candidates? Find the candidates who meet your needs today or who MAY meet your needs in future growth times and treat them like diamonds, not dirt.
- Give people reasons. Again, most ATS vendors allow you to add a reason; doesn’t meet minimum qualifications, wrong location, salary too high etc.. but recruiting departments turn off this functionality because they don’t want to “upset” a candidate (meaning they don’t want to have to defend their decision in the event a rejected candidate calls)
- Don’t trust me, trust your candidates. Again, you have time (I know you do) so hold an impromptu candidate focus group and find out what your candidates (selected and not selected) want from you. You’ll find they simply want communication and not to fall into the black hole that corporate recruiting departments create to protect themselves.
The true measure of your employment brand is how you treat the people you CAN’T hire, not how you treat the people you desperately need.
Doomsday Predictions
It’s mid October and I just read my first “here’s who will fail and who will succeed” prediction article by Joel Cheesman. I expect we’ll see them from Wheeler, Sullivan etc. coming soon just like we always see the “HOT new companies” predictions each year.
How many are really right? In my experience, not many.
Joel mentions the demise of Itzbig as being the indicator that many, not only companies (jobster) but classes of companies (eHarmonies), will fail in the current economy. But two things bother me about his predictions;
- In the loser list, he mentions that recruiting budgets are being slashed yet #1 on his winners list is LInkedin, the most expensive corporate recruiting solution (paid solution - it’s still free to use it the headhunter way) on the market. I heard that they are getting over $200K a year from Microsoft for the pleasure of using their solution so if budgets are getting cut, how does this one win?
- Joel mentions;
And when employers batten down the hatches of recruiting dollars, they stay with tried and true methods instead of straying outside of their comfort zones.
To me, this is criminal if true. What’s tried and true is old and false. Pulling your head into the shell, putting it into the sand and hoping that the economy comes back before the C-suite realizes that the recruiting department is still costing the company too much money is why Joel also quotes an industry leader as saying “Our industry is f***ed!
If Corporate Recruiting departments stop striving to be great in difficult times, if they completely reverse the momentum they’ve created in the last few years, if they stop reviewing new technologies and techniques that can help solve once and for all the problems that plague them - then I agree,
“Our industry is f***ed!”
Frustrated Job Seekers
Completing the concept that a fragmented internet recruiting world is ruining online recruiting, here is an article that touches on the job seeker frustration. In it, Jennifer Hamm mentions some of the frustrations:
Wanted: Recruiters
I’ve just returned from OnRec in Chicago and am wondering;
Are there Recruiters out there?
It seems that advertising has taken over and today the Internet is being used to solicit candidates rather than find them. (apologies to Shally and Dave) If you want to argue with me, then tell me why are job boards so prolific and why are they all run by ex-advertising guys?
When I started in recruiting in 1992, I had a desk, a yellow pages and a phone. I know, it sounds like the old “hike up a hill in bare-feet” routine of the middle aged man but seriously, recruiting is about finding talent not waiting for it to come to you. The Internet should have helped this but the ADMEN got ahold of it and today it is a fragmented mess of confusion for recruiters and job seekers. Thanks Madison Ave!
The Politics of Recruiting
William Uranga NAILED IT today in his post on Fistful of Talent comparing the selection of Biden and Palin to similarities in the recruiting process. Way to go William!
For me, the net takeaway is that hiring the RESUME is the safe, conservative and least effective way to hire anyone, VP of IT or VP of the United States. (Imagine putting Sarah Palin’s resume in front of a typical hiring manager, “not enough industry experience, not enough years of expereience” blah, blah, blah)
If you want to shake up Washington DC or simply shake up the marketing department, hire the most talented, driven and potentially game changing individual you can find. Use your insticts, your advisors and an eye to the future. All it takes is courage, vision and leadership. Any hiring managers out there fit this profile?
De-Fragment for Increased Efficiency
If this was posted on CNET or TECHCRUNCH, you might think it was about your computer. But this is a recruiting blog and this comment is about the world of online recruiting. In the years since the dot-com crash, the online recruiting world has become so fragmented it is now working against recruiting departments and job seekers.
Let me explain. Read more
Dating and Recruiting
I just read a great article on the ERE by Amy Kimmes.
The only addition I have is that when you break up, do it gracefully.
Recruiting Application:
Take the time to treat the candidate who has interviewed with your company with the dignity and respect they showed you.
give them feedback
give them hope
give them a link to AllianceQ!
Are Recruiters solely responsible for the ‘Black Hole’?
Here is an interesting article by Dana Knight that references two issues near and dear to my heart; a candidate’s right to know where they stand with regards to an application and the ‘black hole’ that exists in the job search process. Have a quick read:
I’m in search of a humongous black hole filled with millions of job applications and resumes. It has to be somewhere, because every other day I hear from someone who sent out a resume to a company and it “disappeared into some black hole.” Never heard of again.
It seems employers are forgetting their manners, being provocatively rude and outright snubbing potential candidates. Now I have no hard stats to prove this. But lots of you have been writing in to say, “What’s up with this?”
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news4502.html
Hartford Business, 7 February 2008
I believe all candidates deserve timely communication when they apply for a job. After all, didn’t the Company advertise the job? Would we purposely drive traffic to our company and then treat people so poorly they write to journalists to complain?
I realize this IS an issue and many companies are actively working on it. However, before you start blaming 100% of the ‘black hole’ issue on Corporate Recruiting departments, did you know that up to 40% of emails never get delivered to their recipients? So maybe, just maybe, some of these “you didn’t get the job” emails end up in spam boxes or junk mail boxes and then the company is blamed for it? If you want to guarantee that your messages are being delivered and your candidates are actually being communicated with check out this company; http://www.mailprimer.com/home/
About the Author
I'm Phil Haynes, director of AllianceQ, seasoned recruiting professional and passionate advocate for change in recruitment.
More about me
About this blog
The purpose of this blog is to stimulate a dialogue that challenges long-held beliefs in Corporate Recruiting.
I, along with guests, will be discussing change and evolution in recruiting; two imperatives if the function is going to survive the coming "race to talent." Through inspection, dissection and robust dialog, it is our intent to explore and debate the evolution of recruitment in Corporate America.
