Recent encounters with job seekers and companies struggling to hire top talent allow me to write the following about what’s happening to job/career seekers in the marketplace.
From the candidate side, I’ve witnessed strong candidates who are excellent at what they do, good work ethic, have plenty of experience, a track record of success, aren’t job hoppers, and are all age appropriate for the positions they have been interviewing.
And all candidates have been working feverishly to find new employment
So, what’s the problem you say? Here goes.
They have all suffered from the following 4 challenges:
- No contact at all from the hiring party after they submitted resumes
- Struggling to stand out in a sea of resumes
- Interviews that were a waste of time because the person doing the interview wasn’t familiar with the position, wasn’t skilled at interviewing or they were misled as to what the actual job description was.
- Lack of communication after interviewing as to the ‘next steps’ or knowing if they were ‘still in the running.’
Few companies spend enough time preparing their hiring managers to do exactly what they need them to do well … Hire top talent. They also fail to realize that in today’s competitive marketplace top candidates have plenty of options and are qualifying the company from across the table. That interview is their first impression of the company and it’s culture (Often your best recruiting tool.)
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of complaints from the hiring parties as well about poor candidates not being qualified, prepared or even eager to work.
To avoid misunderstandings or poor communication (first impression) on both sides we recommend the following 4 tips to improve your hiring process:
- A well-written job description that focuses on the behaviors and attitudes necessary to complete the job. Not a sales pitch on benefits, or blue sky’ing the position or company.
- A defined hiring process by the company to quickly qualify and disqualify candidates and move them from step to step efficiently. The candidate/ job market is similar to the housing market people and jobs come and go daily. Therefore it’s critical to keep everyone in the loop as to what happens next.
- Use a candidate interview scorecard to avoid buying the candidate emotionally, truly be able to ‘rate’ the candidates and from being overwhelmed by the process (or lack of qualified candidates.)
- A recruiting plan to convert the prospect to the candidate without experiencing ‘Buyers remorse’ by either party.
Take these 4 steps to make your future employee’s first impression of you and your company one that separates you from everyone else.
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Principal at Gerry Weinberg & Associates, Inc.
