A Quick Message Before We Begin
The world of work has changed profoundly in the last two years. Take a look at my assessment of what it means at www.higheredjobs.com/blog. It’s the Author in Residence blog at HigherEdJobs.com.
Here’s how the site describes the blog: “Imagine a good, old-fashioned book club, combined with the academic staple of a scholar in residence. Now add the cutting-edge technology of a blog with regular blog postings and comments, and you’ve got HigherEdJobs’ newest feature, the Author in Residence! Unlike any book club you may have joined, this one is led by the author and is focused on helping YOU in your career.”
Please stop by and join our conversation.
Candidate Centric Recruiting
There has been a lot published over the years about optimizing the candidate experience. In virtually every case, the prescription has been a series of “fixes” to the practices used in our recruiting processes. We’ve tried, for example, to improve the interviewing habits of highly disagreeable managers and the unfriendly messages generated by our applicant tracking systems. Ask 100 job seekers to describe what it was like to apply for a job, however, and 99 will tell you it was the worst experience of their lives.
To put it bluntly, all of our efforts have been to no avail. Candidates still think we’re Laurent in business attire. So, what’s the problem?
The answer, I think, is that we’re addressing the wrong things. We spend all our time trying to fix what happens to candidates, and what they really want us to do is care about them. Sure, they look for the process to be efficient and the individuals with whom they interact to be courteous. But more than that, they would like to feel as if they matter. They want us to act as if they have worth, even if they don’t have the skills we need for our openings.
How do you convey such a sense?
First, remember that it’s not what you say; it’s how you (and the organization) act that counts. Candidates know we’re going to say they matter. They’ve heard it countless times before, from CEOs (who then cut their pay) and from supervisors (who then lay them off). To passive as well as active job seekers, those words are simply the PC-side of what we do. So, what do they do? They ignore the words, and watch our actions.
Second, you must add a new dimension to what you focus on in your candidate acquisition strategy. You have to move from paying exclusive attention to filling a req-your organization’s goal-to a binocular focus which accomplishes the organization’s goal by paying attention, as well, to the candidate’s goal-their career success. That’s why I call it candidate-centric recruiting.
Here are two examples of acting as if candidates really do matter. They both appeared in the Career area of corporate Web-sites, but sadly, as far as I can tell, they’re no longer in operation:
Admittedly, it’s unlikely that either of this features sourced candidates for a specific opening. Each has absolutely nothing to do with its respective employer, and ironically, everything to do with it. They do not describe its culture, benefits, brand or openings. They are, instead, an act of support that conveys the organization’s genuine commitment to the individual working person.
And that’s the essence of candidate centric recruiting. These two features created strongly positive and lasting impressions with those who came across them. They were so unusual that they undoubtedly differentiated the two organizations from their competitors in the talent market. And, they were so obviously meant to help individuals that they created a career-long propensity to pay attention to and consider the two organization’s employment opportunities.
Certainly, it’s important to get the practices and interactions of your recruiting process right. Candidates expect that. To optimize their experience in your process, however, give them what they don’t expect. Act as if they really do matter.
Thanks for reading,
Peter
Visit my blog at Weddles.com/WorkStrong
P.S. Perform a random act of kindness! Tell your friends and colleagues about WEDDLE’s Newsletter. They’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness, and so will we.
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These are tough times for everyone in the workplace.
It doesn’t matter whether you have 2 or 32 years of employment experience, today’s world of work is a risk-filled, even threatening place. And it is also the place where you spend one-third or more of your day.
So what should you do? Give yourself “career security”-security you can count on even in the toughest of times.
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Our Featured Employment Web Site
Site Spotlite … from the pages of WEDDLE’s 2009/10 Guide to Employment Sites on the Internet.
There are 50,000 job boards and career portals now in operation in North America and an equal number operating elsewhere around the world. The key to recruiting top talent online, therefore, is knowing where to find and how to select the best sites for each of your requirements. WEDDLE’s 2009/10 Guide profiles The Top 100 employment sites on the Web today and provides The Best & the Rest, a listing of over 10,000 such sites worldwide. It’s all of the information you need to determine which job boards will deliver the optimum yield for you. For example:
DiversityJobs.com
Post full time jobs: Yes
Post part time, contract or consulting jobs: Yes-All
Distribution of jobs: National-USA
Fee to post a job: $301-350/posting
Posting period: 60 days
Can posting be linked to your site: Yes
Resume database: No
Number of resumes: N/A
Source of resumes: N/A
Top occupations among visitors: Administration, Human Resources, Sales & Marketing, Healthcare
Other services for employers: Discussion forum for networking, Assessment instruments, Automated resume agent, Banner advertising, Status Reports: Banners & postings
Member, International Association of Employment Web Sites: Yes
Get a Free WORK STRONG Wristband
These are tough times for everyone in the workplace.
It doesn’t matter whether you have 2 or 32 years of employment experience, today’s world of work is a risk-filled, even threatening place. And it is also the place where you spend one-third or more of your day.
So what should you do? Give yourself “career security”-security you can count on even in the toughest of times.
And the best source of career security is Peter Weddle’s book, Work Strong: Your Personal Career Fitness System.
Click here to get a 34% discount on the book at Amazon.com!
Or, if you’d like A FREE WORK STRONG WRISTBAND, order the book directly from WEDDLE’s by calling 203.964.1888 or clicking here.
Don’t delay. Give yourself the power and promise of career security. Get Work Strong right away!