Recruiting Animal

Make The Candidate Experience Educational

Says Kevin Wheeler

Some time ago I went to a lecture at a nice hotel featuring the author of The Wealthy Banker. This was a popular book about personal financial management and the attendance was huge.

After his talk, which was very interesting and entertaining, the financial management company sponsoring the event answered questions about their services and tried to turn the members of the audience into customers.

It wasn't a hard sell environment and it was an enjoyable evening. Afterward, Anthony J Meaney, Sylvia Pollack and I went out for nachos at a pub and talked about the event. None of us were potential buyers and I can't recall the name of the host firm but the occasion has stuck in my mind.

Kevin Wheeler believes that companies should recruit in the same way.

How To Reject Candidates

Just say: No, I can't tell you why you're no good.

Simon Meth tells us how you reject a candidate.

Send rejection emails to candidates who have not had a face-to-face inteview with you or the client. Call those who have had a face-to-face.

Thank them for their time and interest. Then say: "We are not planning to move forward with you at this time."

When she asks why, say: "I'm sorry, I'm not able to provide you with any details.

If someone asks for a reason a second time, repeat your inability to give details. "Company policy, you know, old chap."

After that, 99.9% of them give up. Those who don't are insane.

Don't Waste Time Notifying Rejects

Says spunky recruiter.

Lesh works a lot of assignments and recruits a lot of people. Only one recruit per assignment gets the job. That leaves a lot of unhired recruits. Too many to call back with the results.

Lesh has been criticized for negligence but as long as his boss is happy, he don't care.

e-Bay-style Career Sites A Must

SAYS PETER GOLD, TAILOR.

According to Peter Gold, the next generation career site should give job-hunters the ability to:

1. Ask the corporate recruiter a question online
2. See other people's questions and remarks about the job
3. Read the company, recruiter and employee blogs.
4. See the employees' jobster profiles
5. See the company's (or the recruiter's) hiring history.
6. See videos of the workplace via links from YouTube

Animal Wisdom:
These are great ideas but too idealistic. Open forums reveal the truth -- but the unvarnished truth is what companies want to hide. All we read about these days are attempts to suppress company bloggers and shut out candidates who reveal too much on their personal sites. So, it could be a long time before any company except, perhaps, Microsoft gives employees the right to say what they want online without repercussions.

Jason Warner: How To Sell Top Candidates

Why does Cuppa J have to torture me? I have a hard time understanding sentences like this:

I suggest that employment marketing to a segment of top candidates (those with multiple options for employment) differs from general consumer marketing in that candidate marketing impressions are multiplicative in nature, as opposed to additive as is most consumer marketing.

Me like short sentence wif no jargon. This sounds like chemistry. But then he comes up with a zinger:

First we have to bear in mind that the primary
motivating factor of humans is fear of loss.

Cool! But how does that apply to recruiting? Well, top candidates are terrified of making a career mistake. And the only way to counter this fear is to "wow" them with a series of positive experiences.

For instance: an interesting job description, good location, good comp and benefits, good corporate rep (including positive noises on the blogs) and, very important, a positive candidate experience during the interview. They have to clearly outweigh the negatives. That's obvious, isn't it. But we don't always pay attention.

Note to General Motors: Cuppa J doesn't buy American cars.

Improved Candidate Experience

THE HUNGER GROWS.

About 5% of top firms let applicants know when a job is filled. Common decency should demand, however, that even in a large search, a mass-mailing to all applicants should be the rule. And the top three finalists should get personalized feedback; they could be your top candidates in another search so you want to keep them happy.

A candidate performance review that helps rejects learn what they did right and wrong is essential for internal candidates because they are inclined to leave if they don't see a future with the firm and a rejected promotion is often taken to be the indication of a dead end.

And, indeed, any head-hunter would surely profit by sending a thank you email to everyone she has spoken to in the course of a search, letting them know that the job has been filled. It takes time away from money making projects but it strengthens your network and it's great advertisting too.

Reference: Yves Lermusi, ERE

Cuppa J Jason Warner is Back

And he wants you to kiss candidates.

No tongue but I saw the word blow in there:

So many companies spend millions of dollars on branding/technology/recruiting infrastructure... and then proceed to blow it with an impersonal or otherwise inauthentic human connection during the interview step.

And, he had a run-in with some trouble-makers in Florida.

I had a really nice dinner and drinks sponsored by Jobster at a fun little Italian restaurant, where I got to spend time with Shannon and Julian of Exceler8ion , Ami from Recruitomatic, and my friend Jason Davis and I have to say that was the highlight for me.

Did you notice that only Jason is his friend? Hey, I guess he means old friend 'cause he thinks Shannon is pretty nice. (Expect a comment from Jules. I got one. But, then again, I did call her "my darling" or something like that). PS: Warner finally got an RSS feed.

Triage Sucks Says Faust

"This idea sucks. Wouldn't it be better to focus on giving a great experience to every candidate while moving them through a process that efficiently meets both of your needs?

"Then you don't have to worry about who you've dissed along the way." -- It's All About The Experience

Great! Only your needs and their's don't always fit. Right?

PS: All forms of the he words "efficient" and "effective" are overused, unnecessary and, therefore, forbidden.

Triage Candidate Relationships

Tailor your business system to deliver the best experience to those customers with the highest potential future value.

John Sviolka

Triage means: Ranking people in terms of attention required. It's used in emergency rooms and at disaster sites to decide where limited medical resources must be applied first.

Cuppa-J Jason Warner

The Master of Candidate Experience

Cuppa-J Jason Warner is the director of North American recruiting for Starbucks.

Under his regime:
1. job interviews include coffee-tasting sessions
2. a candidate bill of rights bans automated response emails, assures the candidate of a quick reply and encourages recruiters to send gift cards to applicants

Oh, The Humanity

You can't treat people shabbily, especially in a world where there are far more open jobs than there is available talent to fill them.

We strive to put the humanity back into the recruiting experience.

It leads to referrals

You're not going to refer someone you know and like unless you're certain they're going to be treated well.

But if you exceed everyone's expectations, you create an incredible advantage in the talent market."

Starbucks Numbers

Starbucks current has 11,000 stores. 120,000 employees worldwide. plans to open 1800 stores this year. opened 1700 last year. long-term goal 30,000 stores world-wide. 15,000 in the US. Currently adding 200 people a day.

Source: Billy Taylor in the NYT. Hat Tip: The Recruiting Edge