It's About the Experience

Already in Week 6 of the Great Recruiting Blogswap, we are honored to have Yvonne LaRose stop in for a few comments.  Thanks Yvonne!

Here it is, Week 6 of the Blog Swap. I find myself for at least two weeks in a row (possibly more, it's getting fuzzy) talking about things that are very closely related to the life of the organizational development and career coaching consultant. Thanks, Alise and Claudia for allowing me to talk about improving the candidate's experience in interviewing and hiring.

We've all been in those shoes, the job applicant shoes. There's the anticipation and anxiety about whether the resume is formatted properly, presents the right image and information, is compelling and inviting. It's emailed, mailed, and online submitted to what seems like thousands of potential employers. And then, the first killer aspects happens. The Wait.

Sometimes the wait is a mere day. Sometimes its several days to a week -- or so. Sometimes it takes months. And then there is the no response whatsoever. Chances are, the advertiser is being inundated with literally hundreds of resumes for the solitary position. No human can filter through, evaluate, and respond to each and every one. In one overheard recent conversation, a candidate for a firefighter position said 1800 people applied for a single position that was advertised in a nearby city. Because it was a government type of job, each application required acknowledgement.

Actually, this is a good practice. At a minimum, it tells the applicant that their cover letter, resume, and application were not lost or buried in application Hell. It notifies them that their efforts were not in vain. And there is a window that allows them to be notified as to whether they made the cut and there's just a little more time required to do a finer evaluation to determine whether they'll be called for an interview. There's no equivocation. It's definite. They are made to feel validated. Silence is not the norm.

These words do not emerge as mere theory. Over the past six months alone while coaching the writing interns on CollegeRecruiter.com's Candidate Insights blog, time and time again there is expression of disillusionment with the application, interviewing, and hiring process. And the expressions cover the gamut of employer types. The situation is the same, whether it be the temporary staffing agency, the cold-calling headhunter, the ad purporting to entice to a corporate site that is actually a recruiter, as well as the corporate hiring situation. They note that they respond and the job is not what was advertised. They follow up and never get a response. Their application gets lost in the online application process. Their paperwork gets lost in the office. They are treated as though they have psychological difficulties or some type of plague. Some note the rudeness at the office and determine that if potential employees are treated in such fashion, employees and customers must suffer even worse. Thus, they determine they will either stop being customers or not become one.

My job becomes keeping the spirits high and the attitude positive with the interns so that the quality does not slip in direct proportion with the level disappointment and dismay. My job also becomes encouraging them to see the assets they have and nudging them to present those qualifying talents in a new way, while discovering some they had taken for granted, so that they will rise like the creme they are, in their unique styles.

In our present economy and under our current hiring (and layoff) conditions, it is understandable that there are still enormous numbers of those who are motivated to find a realistic position vis-a-vis their background, training, and experience. Although they are motivated, they are far from unqualified. They are educated, trained in theory and practice and eager to apply their knowledge and skills in new and innovative ways. They yearn for the opportunity to make their imprint on the workforce landscape. But the experiences with fake job ads and overwhelmed (or else disorganized) hiring venues, makes them wonder if there are any.

So, how many applicants did you see today? How long did it take to test and interview them? What did you do as they left your desk? If you didn't put their paperwork into one of three stacks on your desk, perhaps you need to create those stacks and then dedicate three minutes per application at some point in the day. Those three stacks should be "We have no orders for your qualifications at this time," "We'll be calling you in 'x' days to set up an interview," or "we are sorry, but we cannot use your talent." Trust me. I wish I'd used this system when I was the screener for the executive search specialist. There were several times an applicant would call to demand whether their resume had been received, if nothing else. And I had to eat crow and tell them I simply had not had time to acknowledge receipt. A simple autoresponder, I admonished myself, could have done that much for me for each resume.

But the three stack system can work and not overwhelm. In fact, it could probably be whittled down to two stacks if you're open, cordial, and honest. On one occasion, a walk-in asked for a coaching session. I reviewed his resume and questioned him about his goals. The two did not match. The more I attempted to counsel him, the further from the main path he strayed. And I finally had to tell him, with a great amount of sincerity and concern, that it would not be possible for me to work with him. He reflected a few seconds and understood. He thanked me profusely and went on his way, satisfied that he had been heard, was validated, and that someone had made the effort to work with him. That saved me from having to write the awkward email. Stack number one was eliminated.

Stack number two can also be handled in short shrift, in some instances. There's a huge caveat with this one. Be certain you completely understand the position for which the person is applying and are in tune with the essentials they need to have, what equivalents there are, for the position. If they simply do not have them or else need just a little more and they're still in front of you, tell them as much so they walk away with a better sense of what they need to do to qualify.

With all of those candid one-minute conversations, all you need to do at the end of the day is file away paperwork in one of three filing drawers, after you've invited the third set of candidates in for an interview.

It doesn't take a lot to keep the pipeline flowing and growing. It doesn't take a lot to realize that what you do with today's applicant can spell what you'll be doing with yesterday's or tomorrow's customer and their referrals. Either way, the better the handling today, the higher the profits, both tangible and intangible, tomorrow.

~~~~~

About the Author:  Yvonne LaRose is a California Accredited Consultant whose office is in Beverly Hills, California. Her practice focuses on two general areas: Organizational Development and Career Coaching. Her column, Career and Executive Recruiting Advice was created in early 2000 and then moved to its own domain in mid-2002. She has written for CollegeRecruiter.com as a member of the Ask the Experts panel and a contributing author of articles since 2001, and began blogging for the site in late 2005. She became the site's career coach in January 2006 and has developed a long list of success stories from her interns in that short time. She also blogs from an extension of her site, The Desk.

See also Recruiting Blogswap Week 6. 

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