John Sullivan in his Workforce Management feature Flushing Out HR Snakes writes:

“The movie “Snakes on a Plane” depicts the terror of being trapped in a confined space with life-threatening pythons, rattlesnakes and the like. While some might see this movie as having no connection to human resources, I see it as the perfect metaphor for the typical HR department.“

Counter hssss from Jim Durbin over on his post And you thought Fast Company was Mean:

“Let me stand up and say something I’ve never said before - HR people are not snakes. Yes, there are some who have tendencies of a boa constrictor, squeezing the life and fun out of an organization, but that type of reptile is found in every department. If anything, I’d think it was Sales that is offended - clearly, all of the snakes live in that part of the corporate jungle.”

Inclined to agree with both…the truth is HR serves a number of masters - compliance, benefits, staffing, education/development, performance and on and on…easy to say too, too many to serve one well. And all are important. We of course are concerned with sourcing and hiring…maybe the most important.We know candidates want to know….more - immediately if possible. But how? We’re blogging on the what if’s…the concepts to solve big problems…in new ways.

So, what if…candidates could know - immediately how jobs stack up against their requirements, or even how they might stack up against other candidates going for the same job? What if candidates knew more about employers and what employers can see? What if we if we brought transparency to the front end of the recruitment process?

Will this happen? It is…and will more. Speed, quality - better experiences for candidates/working pros and a much higher degree of efficiency for recruiters/employers.

It just takes a little work…and let’s get HR out of the snake pit. It just ain’t fair, after all, they are people too.

Share This

News You Can Use: A Daily Round Up of Links for Recruiters, Job Seekers and Quiet Working Professionals

[Daily Post from itzbig] Pushing For the Know

Today, candidates can’t ask…can’t push for an answer. But what if they could? How would the staffing organizations and systems react if candidates began to demand to know. And if they aren’t told, what happens if they share their displeasure with others at blogs, and discussion groups. Are we as corporate recruiters concerned?

CollegeRecruiter.com: Entry Level Job Search by the Sith Lord at Temp Agency

Matching the right person to the right job is hard work. Tip o’ that hat to CollegeRecruiter for finding this great video that shows the travails of trying to place the Sith Lord from Star Wars.

Internet is Now the Primary Hiring Source for Employers

“Employers reported that they find the highest quality candidates and receive the highest return on their investment from their own corporate web sites and from employee referrals. Financially, while General Job Boards represent the highest recruitment spending category for corporations, capturing 27% of the recruiting advertising budget, employers in this study reported that such Boards generated only 15% of new hires in 2005.”

WirelessJobs.com: Job Seekers: Keep Walking

A constant problem for candidates — lack of feedback: “The interview road is oftentimes a difficult road to walk. Why? Interviews and interviewers are difficult to interpret. Just when you feel like you had the best interview of your life, your phone goes silent (’Didn’t they say they’d call back this week?’).”

Aberdeen: Job Boards and Employment Websites are the Top Sourcing Tools Used Today

“Companies rely on job boards and employment websites over other sourcing tools because they save money and time.” Save time and money? Really? That’s not what our Advisors have been telling us. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Share This

Guess what…candidates want to know….

What’s going on with my resume?

Is the position still opened?

What is your process?

When will I hear?

Why did I receive a rejection letter 2 weeks after I joined the company?

Today, candidates can’t ask…can’t push for an answer. But what if they could? How would the staffing organizations and systems react if candidates began to demand to know. And if they aren’t told, what happens if they share their displeasure with others at blogs, and discussion groups. Are we as corporate recruiters concerned?

First reaction - probably not. Complainers or those candidates demanding information are just frustrated candidates we don’t want anyway. Maybe…but negative perceptions can hurt our recruitment results. If enough chose not to engage with us, for whatever reason and hiring gets even harder - we care.

Here’s a typical story from a job candidate:

“I applied to a sr. analyst position about 2 months ago. I went through their typical online procedure (fill out a resume online, even though I just sent them their resume - you’d think that some of these companies would spend a little bit of money and buy some software to take your resume and dump it in their system - but no - you have to fill out their usually buggy forms).

I get an automated e-mail right away that says something like ‘Thanks for applying. Don’t contact us. We’ll contact you if we are interested.’ (Don’t you love how personal these e-mails are?)” (From Jibber Jobber)

Candidates who have taken the time and energy to show interest and are engaged will want to know. That’s it. Corporate on-line recruiting processes of the (near) future will cater to their need in this area, resulting in more quality candidate relationships…more quality hires faster. And those that don’t get it - will lose.

The Internet is causing more transparency in everything we do. Candidates expect the same and will push to know.

Itz an interesting exercise to figure out how.

Sounds like candidates need a basic bill of rights doesn’t it. Stay tuned.

Share This

News You Can Use: A Daily Round Up of Links for Recruiters, Job Seekers and Quiet Working Professionals

[Daily Post from itzbig] How to Restore Job Candidate Confidentiality

Candidates are “worried that their name’s going to get out there, and their current employer is going to find out they’re looking for a job. They might hear that a job board is “confidential,” but they still don’t trust it, and in many cases they’re right to avoid the situation altogether, because there are just too many risks involved for someone who already has a job that they can at least tolerate on a day-day-day basis.”

Gautam Ghosh: Bigfoot Recruiting: How to recruit candidates that do not exist!

Jim Stroud: “Bigfoot candidates are those candidates that some people believe exist, but most folks accept them as general myth.”

workforce.com: Flushing Out HR Snakes

Hssss, from John Sullivan: “The movie ‘Snakes on a Plane’ depicts the terror of being trapped in a confined space with life-threatening pythons, rattlesnakes and the like. While some might see this movie as having no connection to human resources, I see it as the perfect metaphor for the typical HR department.”

And You Thought Fast Company Was Mean

Counter hssss from Jim Durbin: “…HR people are not snakes. Yes, there are some who have tendencies of a boa constrictor, squeezing the life and fun out of an organization, but that type of reptile is found in every department. If anything, I’d think it was Sales that is offended - clearly, all of the snakes live in that part of the corporate jungle.”

Share This

We’ve blogged hard the past few weeks on the grand scale problems with the current on-line recruitment offerings including ID theft and fraud. These stories get splashed across TV screens when the 24-hour news networks want to strike a little fear in our hearts. But most people aren’t worried about that. They’re worried that their name’s going to get out there, and their current employer is going to find out they’re looking for a job. They might hear that a job board is “confidential,” but they still don’t trust it, and in many cases they’re right to avoid the situation altogether, because there are just too many risks involved for someone who already has a job that they can at least tolerate on a day-day-day basis.

“According to Job-Hunt.org, ‘Web job sites generate revenue by selling “employers” access to their resume databases. Access is usually sold to anyone who can pay the price, with minimal screening done to ensure that the purchasers actually have jobs to fill. So your complete work history, education and contact information are available to anyone who can pay the access fee–employers, recruiters, sales people, scammers, identity thieves, etc.’” (From Blog Forward )

Boom! You just opened yourself up to a world of hurt from the thieves and the bosses, and you thought your information was going to be confidential.

The reason most people don’t put their resumes on boards is because they are concerned about privacy…A recent comment to the blog confirms…

“I happen to be employed in a specialized field in a smallish town. Everyone in my field knows everyone else. So, even as a member of the unserved, I would never post my resume/profile online. Instead, I’ll continue to depend upon members of my most trusted personal network to learn about opportunities.

“This is precisely why ItzBig is so intriguing. Could it be that a ‘truly’ confidential option for the Unserved is on the horizon?”

It’s time to restore “confidentiality” to its true meaning. The key is putting the job candidate in control. Instead of relinquishing their resumes and personal data, job candidates will dictate how much or how little information they give. They will dictate who can view their information, when it can be viewed, or whether or not it can be viewed at all. To be effective, the process has to account for the comfort level of the candidate. If they don’t want to put themselves out there, they can’t be put out there. That’s it. End of story. When they’re ready to take the next step, they can take the next step, but they’re the ones who decide.

“Candidate control.” The term probably may scare some of the recruiters out there, but it’s the only way to ensure true confidentiality, and it’s the only way to serve much of the Unserved talent out there.

Share This

News You Can Use: A Daily Round Up of Links for Recruiters, Job Seekers and Quiet Working Professionals

[Daily Post from itzbig] The Job Candidate’s Lament: I Don’t Get No Respect…

“If our suggested solution starts with respect, where does respect start? How about some crazy idea like giving control of the process to the working professional? Who better to control one’s personal information than the candidate?

Forward Blog: Posting Your Resume While Protecting Your Privacy

“It is important that you consider some key security issues and how to protect yourself before using these Web sites for your job search.”

Jobweb: Don’t Get Personal: Protecting Your Privacy During an Internet Job Search

“You posted your resume on a job board web site and hoped the ideal employer would read it and offer you that one-in-a-million position. Now, it’s weeks later you haven’t heard a word. Worse yet, suddenly, it seems your credit cards are maxed out, and it has been months since you charged anything.”

cheezhead: broadcasting jobs becoming easier, cheaper; targeting right candidates more difficult, pricey

“The result is a cheapening of massive sites like Monster and CareerBuilder, while at the same time, an increased value in niche communities and blogs.”

Red Herring: Startup Jobs: Cash, not Perks

“It’s official. The bust is over and hiring in Silicon Valley is up. But if things are looking good in the land of startups, they’re looking very, very good for the executives running them.”

EXCELER8ion: Job Search 2.0 - There’s Something Happening Here

“…what the blog boards are doing for Job Search 2.0 is flipping the current ‘job search’ model. The ’search’ doesn’t happen on sites dedicated to finding jobs. The audience is no longer the community of job seekers that millions of marketing dollars are spent on to bring them to a ‘Monstrous’ conglomeration of available jobs in any and all areas and industries.”

37signals: Jobs Boards: A shotgun or a rifle?

“The problem with huge job boards like Monster or the aggregation that Arrington envisions: There are too many ads. It’s a shotgun approach. If you want to hire just anyone, that will work. But if you want to hire the right person then you’ll need to do something different to reach that person. You need to hang out where they hang out. You need to like what they like. You need to aim accurately. Throw away the shutgun and strap on the rifle.”

Share This

Over the past few weeks we have learned about the problems with on-line recruiting and we’ve blogged about them here:

• It’s the Design, Stupid

• Feeding the Monster

• Redefining the Online Job Search

• So Many Resumes, So Little Time

• Job Candidates are People, Too. Some Graciousness Please!

• Identity Theft and Your Job Search

• Job Board (In)Effectiveness

• “Tear Down this Wall”: How Advertising Obstructs the Hiring Process

We felt we were close but wanted to verify and confirm. Thanks to our survey participants and the great feedback from our growing Advisory Council…we have learned that there are plenty of problems. So many, in fact, it is a bit overwhelming.

So now we turn to the fun side, solutions.

Over the next few weeks we will blog on our ideas and will ask for yours. Heck, we may even ask for a guest blogger or three - sign up here if you’d like.

One thing we do know is that solving the problem begins with paying the utmost respect to the candidate (or as we like to call you, us, and really everyone - the working professional). You older guys will remember Rodney “I don’t get no respect” Dangerfield. Rodney may have been the first online recruiting user.

For some of us, respect is another way of showing graciousness in the recruiting process…something that has been sorely missing from the recruitment process. At least that’s what tens of thousands have told us over the last month. “‘Gracious recruiting’ is the principle that everyone who shows a level of interest in your company should be treated with courtesy.” For more, check out Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business.

If our suggested solution starts with respect, where does respect start? How about some crazy idea like giving control of the process to the working professional? Who better to control one’s personal information than the candidate? Who should decide what information will be provided and to whom? Real control may mean I not only make these decisions, but I can vary my responses as the situation dictates. Like maybe all job opportunities are not the same, nor do they require the same degree of security and disclosure. Maybe my degree of interest even varies from great opportunity to non-opportunity to poor-opportunity. Control is a really big thing, and getting even bigger. The technology to deliver working professional user control is here today. Let’s use it.

This just scratches the surface as a starting point…

We are very interested in your feedback and ideas. What solutions do you believe are necessary to add value?

Today’s working professional is saying, “I am a precious, strategic and highly valued asset that deserves to be catered to…anyone want to argue this point?” It’s past time we provided solutions and processes that pay a little respect.

Thanks, Rodney

Share This

News You Can Use: A Daily Round Up of Links for Recruiters, Job Seekers and Quiet Working Professionals

[Daily Post from itzbig] The itzbig Blog It’s the Design, Stupid

“There are so many design flaws on job boards these days it’s a wonder that anyone finds work at all. Some boards instantly put your resume in the public domain, exposing you to retribution from your current employer, while other sites do absolutely nothing to protect you from identity thieves let alone your boss.

Houston Chronicle: For those searching for employment, the Internet can be a way to go beyond the résumé and showcase talents and skills

Breaking news from the Houston Chronicle: “Many are wielding the Web as a job-hunting tool.” Many are also having their identities stolen and and it would have been nice of the Chronicle to warn its readers of this widespread danger.

Gannet News Service: Resumes Open Door to ID Theft

“Galler, CEO of JobKite.com, has heard plenty of horror stories about unsuspecting job hunters who have their personal information lifted from various job sites online, including university Web sites containing old resumes that provide enough personal information to make an identity thief’s day.”

Tampa Bay’s 10: Posting resumes online can be risky, if job seekers don’t do their homework

Tampa police detective Fred Naranjo says resume posters need to safeguard their contact information: “Personal information. Phone numbers. Full names. Date of births. That’s all subject to being stolen at any time, and then information can be retrieved.”

Jobster Blog: 5 Things I Keep Hearing

“2. Nine out of every 10 candidates we get from the general job boards are unqualified for the positions they apply for. since our recruiters spend about 1 minute evaluating each resume, we’re wasting up to 9 out of every 10 minutes out of our days.”

Share This

It’s no secret that job candidates are struggling to find employment through online job boards and recruiting sites. If it was a secret, we feel like folks on both sides have done a pretty good job of talking about it over the past few weeks. As Hank discovered yesterday, some sites like Monster are simply too concerned with advertising and getting you to click on link after link. However, it’s not just advertising that’s killing online employment searches, and it’s not just Monster that’s falling short for job candidates:

“In fact we are convinced that about 90-95% of the tens of thousands of job boards accessible in the online marketplace are so poorly designed, managed and unsafe from a privacy standpoint that they constitute a serious career management hazard to anyone seeking new opportunities. Perhaps they are even a liability to one’s livelihood and identity.” (From CareerXroads)

It’s a bold statement, but it’s true. There are so many design flaws on job boards these days it’s a wonder that anyone finds work at all. Some boards instantly put your resume in the public domain, exposing you to retribution from your current employer, while other sites do absolutely nothing to protect you from identity thieves let alone your boss. It’s also believed that a number of sites (of all sizes, mind you) are simply phishing sites. Yep, they just want your information. They don’t have any jobs available at all. Of course, you can’t really tell the difference half of the time, since the legitimate sites don’t have any jobs worth your time and they never bother to contact you anyway.

Advertise - phish - and some thought the boards were all about opportunity results…wrong!

Job candidates are wasting time, growing frustrated, and desperately looking for an alternative, and so are recruiters. The design flaws and lack of a personal touch is enough to keep a passive candidate planted in his current job for a long, long time, and it’s enough to drive unemployed candidates crazy. In Thirteen Things I Hate About Looking for Work/Being Unemployed one such candidate touches on his growing frustration/rage. Here are some highlights from the list:

“1. Would it kill somebody to acknowledge that my resume and samples were received?
6. Seeing a job reposted that I was wholly qualified for…what was wrong with me?
7. All putting a resume on monster.com does is bring out people looking for insurance salespeople and work-at-home scams.”

The job boards aren’t designed to really work for anyone but the creator of the job board. Until there’s a better way for candidates to search for jobs and for recruiters to search for candidates online a few people (not The Unserved) are going to keep going to Monster and the seemingly countless other sites out there.

And companies will continue to pay for lackluster results…it’s past time to ask why.

Share This

News You Can Use: A Daily Round Up of Links for Recruiters, Job Seekers and Quiet Working Professionals

[Daily Post from itzbig] The itzbig Blog: Feeding the Monster

After creating a profile on Monster, “I let a few hours go by, and then I checked my email. 132 messages. Awesome. 120 from agencies - I’ll get to you as fast as I can….and I’m sure at least one or two of those are from companies.”

workforce.com: Restive Workforce Less Satisfied But Not Yet Ready Change Jobs

“It comes down to going to work every day and how you get treated,” Scully says. “It’s important whether you feel valued and/or loyal to the company.” If not, she says, all it takes is one especially bad day, or unwarranted poor treatment from a boss, for the employee to quickly decide to move on.” If the boss is behaving like an ogre, do you have a Plan B ready?

Jackson Sun: Job hunters, recruiters are coming to town

Call centers are moving ‘to the talent’ and using aggressive recruiting tactics to determine where to locate next…could be coming to a locale near you.

Thirteen Things I Hate About Looking for Work/Being Unemployed

“1. Would it kill somebody to acknowledge that my resume and samples were received?”

A Rational Being: Does Monster.com Suck?

“I now refer to the job sites as resume and job application black holes. I think the analogy is a good one. In space, the black hole sucks up everything in its path, crushing objects like shoes on potato chips. In cyber-space, Monster and the others suck up resumes and job applications. Once swallowed, they are never heard from again.”

icWales - The evolving world of recruitment

“Companies now place their vacancies on their own websites as well as on industry-specific job boards. This exposes candidates to more and more potential opportunities often resulting in poor response levels in both quality and quantity terms. It gets harder to attract the very best.”

Share This