it's ALL about the experience

Hilbert's Latest Post: A Worthy Read

I don't know if you follow Dan Hilbert's musings as I do.  This week, he's got an interesting piece entitled, "Is the Demise of HR Real or Fiction?"  I think it's well worth a read.

When you read this short piece, I encourage you to pay attention to Dan's assertion that "evidence-based initiatives backed by data are essential for [HR] security."  I concur and want to encourage Recruiting/HR leaders, as I have done in previous posts, to be bold, take a stance, and back up their business cases for change with data.  Too frequently, I encounter HR professionals who are afraid to confront the business with bad news or suggestions for change.  According to Hilbert, this behavior will be rewarded with a pink slip -- and I think he's right.  To survive in today's competitive and demanding marketplace, every single person in an organization must be contributing to the bottom-line results of the company, some how, some way.  As always, Dan, thanks for lending your thoughts on the current and future landscape of this thing we call HR.

About Alise Cortez:  My day job is VP of Sales & Marketing at Improved Experience where our online feedback portal products provide subscribing HR/Recruiting customers data to make a business case for change or improvement in these areas:  recruitment process effectiveness, employer brand, candidate experience, recruiter performance, early employee engagement, quality of hire, and retention.  What can I say? -- it's fun!

A Little Customer Love

Being in the business of feedback really is fun.  I had yet another great dialogue last Friday with one of our customers who subscribes to our Get Better Hires (candidate experience/recruitment process effectiveness) survey and reporting tool.  For those of you who don't know, in addition to being able to see the survey results real-time, we also prepare a monthly document summarizing the results and then discuss it with our customers via phone.  I love to connect with our customers, share their triumph in improved satisfaction scores, and talk with them about what their options might be to address areas of discontent among the job-seeking survey takers.

In the call last Friday, I was talking with one of our customers who's been using the Get Better Hires product for 18 months.  As the Director of Recruiting, she uses the results to measure and improve in an ongoing fashion such key areas as employer brand, experience with the recruiter, pay and benefits, and the way in which the job opportunities are described on the career website and in the interview process in order to attract the best talent.  She also uses the experience with recruiter score as part of the performance evaluation for each of her recruiting team members (her goal is a 4.0 out of a possible 5.0 score).  She is also closely monitoring the satisfaction scores for the Interview experience with the Hiring Manager, a part of the process she does not currently control but for which she has suspicions is not being handled as optimally as it could be (managers showing up late, taking cell phone calls, not really engaging candidates, etc.).

One of the things I like particularly about working with this customer is that she really listens to the feedback she gets from job seekers.  She scrutinizes the quantitative score and combs through all the open-text qualitative comments each and every month.  Her job seekers seem to appreciate that her company takes the time to conduct a candidate experience survey -- we see open-text comments that express pleasant surprise that this organization actually conducts the survey in the first place.  Other comments resonate with things like, "This company is known for its quality processes -- that even the HR department conducts surveys on the quality of their recruitment process is truly remarkable."  It's easy to see that this company has gotten the attention and respect of job seekers simply by inviting their feedback about navigating the hiring process with them.  When new people are hired into the organization, many of them tell the Onboarding HR person that they appreciated the survey process and that it indicated the company actually cared what employees thought (before they were even hired!).

While many companies understand the importance of, and are currently implementing candidate experience surveys, this company is taking the conversation one step further.  Not only have they opened a feedback channel with the job seekers by surveying their experience, they are now working to post a progress report on their career website.  So, the language being crafted will sound something like this, "As an organization providing healthcare services to our community, we  understand that our patient care is only as good as the quality of employees we hire.  Therefore, we continually survey our job seekers so we can measure and improve the recruitment process and candidate experience.  You talked and we have listened.  Here are some of the areas in which you've indicated dissatisfaction and what we are doing to address them:

1) Applicant Tracking System resume submittal:  you've indicated that the system is arduous to navigate, that it will "time you out" and make you start again, which is a waste of your time. Therefore, we have invested in more features in the system to enable a faster application process and ease in application for several jobs in one visit.

2) Recruiter declination communication:  you've told us that it's not helpful simply to be declined for a position and that we "are considering candidates who seem to better fit the requirements for the position."  So, now we have enabled a communication feature that allows the recruiter to specify why your application isn't as strong as perhaps other candidates are (e., not enough industry experience, not the required certification, etc.).  We now understand that this added reason helps you focus your job search.

3) Onboarding orientation: you've indicated that the orientation we provide you is very useful, but that since it's only offered bi-weekly the information you receive would have been so much better utilized had you had it Day One on the new job (and not perhaps a week or two in, depending on how your start date coincided with the planned Orientation). So, we have added two additional orientation sessions per month and now only start new hires on a date that coincides with the Orientation presentation.

If you are looking for an organization where your voice will be heard and is valued, look no further.  We look forward to working with you!"

I'm proud to be working with a customer who takes her job as a Recruiting leader so seriously, not just for her own employer, but for the rest of our industry to observe best practices.  It's really great to be able to enable these conversations between our customers and their job seekers -- but really, it's what our customers DO with the data that makes them remarkable leaders. 

About Alise Cortez:  My day job is VP of Sales & Marketing at Improved Experience where our online feedback portal products provide subscribing HR/Recruiting customers data to make a business case for change or improvement in these areas:  recruitment process effectiveness, employer brand, candidate experience, recruiter performance, early employee engagement, quality of hire, and retention.  What can I say? -- it's fun!

Candidate Experience, 2010

This post was jointly published today on the Strategic Talent Acquisition Blog at Human Capital Institute.

Who doesn’t feel sorry for job seekers these days?  From the candidate’s perspective, it’s grim out there: longer periods of unemployment, more competition for fewer jobs, less human contact from employers, and scrambling for part time jobs (if they can be found) to make ends meet. Unemployment numbers indicate that the average length of a job search in the US today is about 7 months, which is 6 weeks longer than it took someone to find work the last time the jobless rate was this high in 1982.

 

But it’s not your job search, right?  You’re not only employed in this economy, you work for an employer with the luxury of talent supply in its favor at the moment.  Besides, hiring is frozen at your company and worse yet, you’re picking up the slack for everyone in your department who was let go in the last RIF.  So if we’re going to cry about experience, why not focus on the poor employee struggling to meet performance objectives in this same hostile economic environment?

 

Funny thing about experience - we all have it, and we all like to talk about it (especially the ugly bits). So why do we wax on and on about it in business?  Customer experience influences profitability, so the link is pretty clear there.  But candidates?  Why all the fuss about being nice to these folks, especially when there are so many of them and we can’t hire them any time soon anyway?

 

Candidate experience is a deceptive topic, because we think we’re talking about one thing when we’re really talking about something else entirely.  Candidate experience isn’t about being nice; it’s about the ripple effect of perception that influences a company’s ability to hire just-in-time. It’s also a silent indicator of employee experience, which influences a company’s ability to keep the talent it needs voluntarily, over time.  These elements all have the power to positively or negatively affect revenue, expenses, and customer good will.

 

So what will 2010 bring in terms of candidate experience?  I suppose that depends on whether your company takes a short or long term view of it.  Because eventually the supply-demand pendulum will swing from employers back to candidates once again, and if you’re not concerned about it today you’ll be scrambling to catch up with your competition at a much higher price tomorrow.

 

Claudia Faust is the CEO and Head of Products for Improved Experience.

Simple Elegance: Best Recruiting and Business Practices, Courtesy of Godin and Jarvis

What would Google Do?,Elegant Organization,

It seems most competitive organizations now agree that providing a pleasing hiring experience to job seekers is in their best interests of finding the best talent and ultimately retaining it.  Further, many companies have also come to realize that job seekers can be current customers, or at least potential ones, and therefore a precious relationship already exists and should be protected during the course of job-seeking courtship.  Yes, of course, there is the occasional recalcitrant business or HR leader who somehow believes that with today's 10 percent  unemployment that employers have the edge and can afford to be less than courteous to job seekers who need them more than vice versa.  But let's face it -- those people aren't with the competitive, "best places to work" organizations.  And they probably don't have the proverbial "seat at the executive table," either.

What is perhaps less understood or widely accepted is that candidates talk about their experience -- good or bad -- of trying to find a job.  And today they do so in a very public, viral way that can negatively impact the employment brand as well as bottom-line sales for any company.  Take a look, for instance, at the site called GlassDoor - they provide an open format of exchange between job seekers and employers, allowing candidates to vent about the worst interview story EVER all the way to the best onboarding experience that defies even the most creative of imaginations.  Even without such a destination, candidates and job seekers post their tales of job-seeker woe on their blogs and social networking sites for all the world to see.  Ahem, even if you don't care to hire the person who made the not-so-nice comments about you as an employer, you just may be interested in one or two of their several-hundred-fold peer community who now have seen a poor review about you.  So, what's an employer to do?

Hold on to that thought for a moment, while I introduce another.   You may have noticed in other posts that I like to read -- a good combination of business, HR/Recruiting related, and works celebrating exceptional human lives.  Well, my latest two reads have been Seth Godin's Tribes and Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do?  Godin stresses the need for leaders to offer something compelling enough to warrant a crowd to willingly -- and even, enthusiastically -- follow. The idea is not far from the concept of encouraging people to opt in to marketing messages as he details in his Permission Marketing book .  Jarvis celebrates the success of Face Book and Google and notes that their secret to success is not in creating or "owning" a community of followers, but rather attracting this group by providing it with an "elegant organization" solution.  That is, these companies are successful because they help already existing communities do something they are doing today, but just make doing so even easier.  In this case, connecting with friends and colleagues in the case of the former, and searching for information in the case of the latter.   

So, picking up where we left off in the previous paragraph, what can employers do with all this conversation among job seekers? The short answer is "plenty."  The longer, more thoughtful one is, "join the conversation AND make the exchange even easier."  I would add, entice job seeking candidates to not only dialog with you about their experience of trying to gain employment, but make them your avid, following fans by having something worth listening to in return.  As we at Improved Experience are an online feedback portal directing anonymous feedback from job seekers to the specific employers with whom they're attempting to gain employment, I realize in reading these two books that we act as "elegant organizers" between employers and job seekers.  That is, we facilitate something that is already taking place -- albeit it in a much more direct fashion.  My question for you is, how much more effective would your Recruiting efforts be if you were facilitating conversations about your employment brand, job opportunities, and recruitment process effectiveness that were already taking place elsewhere? And then, what if you joined the conversation by indicating you were listening, that you heard what was said, and then perhaps posted a progress report on your career website or Public Relations channels.  What a concept -- "you talked, we listened."  Seems the world would be a more civilized place, and the companies that opted in to this ideal would be more efficient, effective, and competitive.  Just a little food for thought, courtesy of our brilliant author friends Godin and Jarvis.

This is Alise Cortez signing out for another week.  In the meantime, consider the notion of transparent communications with your job seekers.  But more importantly, think how employing a more strategic, "tribe-attracting" philosophy could serve your organization while allowing you to make an important professional contribution.  As I've said many times before, the HR/Recruiting industry needs your passion, your innovation, and your quest for improvement.  Don't let us down.

About Alise Cortez:  My day job is VP of Sales & Marketing at Improved Experience where our online feedback portal products provide subscribing HR/Recruiting customers data to make a business case for change or improvement in these areas:  recruitment process effectiveness, employer brand, candidate experience, recruiter performance, early employee engagement, quality of hire, and retention.  What can I say? -- it's fun!

What Can A Sales Tale Teach Us, Anyway?

I had the opportunity a couple weeks ago to lunch with Kevin Francis of Elevated Resources during his scheduled visit through Dallas to see sales prospects and currently existing customers.  Kevin's firm provides contingent workforce management solutions and we each thought there was value in meeting so we may refer business to each other.  Of course, I always enjoy meeting new people, but I must say Kevin left an impression on me -- which is why I thought I might share with you a sales tale he told me.

The lunch conversation began simply enough, with each of us describing a bit more of the services our respective companies provide to HR/Recruiting executives.  We then went on to talk more about how we could help each, other and then when the food arrived, settled into a pleasant dialogue about our lives and past work experiences.  I am endlessly curious about a person's life story anyway, so will always revel in these kinds of exchanges.

Kevin went on to describe a bit about growing up in California and some fun experiences he recalled.  Somehow, that naturally led him to share a story he fondly remembered about a raffle ticket sales contest when he was in elementary school.  And this is where I hope you're paying attention because I really think there's something in here for all of us in the industry -- and certainly beyond. 

Kevin explained that he'd learned at school that the top prize for selling the most raffle tickets in the school fund raiser was a trip to Disney Land.  "Oh, boy!  Something I've always wanted," Kevin thought.  He went home and told his parents all about the contest and proclaimed he was going to be the winner.  Now, his parents thought about this and took him quite seriously.  This would have been about 30 years ago, so back then, kids could actually wander the neighborhood streets by themselves.  Kevin's father, who had an intimate knowledge of streets and nearby neighborhoods, created a "target market plan" so Kevin could go out in the early evening hours during the week for the shorter routes and then spend both full days of the weekend for the longer routes.  Kevin's Mom encouraged her young son by feeding him a stout breakfast each morning and sending him on his way with a cheerful, "Go get 'em, Kevin!"  Kevin said, "I missed all kinds of fun baseball games with my friends during this time, but I was determined to do my best and win this contest."

After a few weeks of this sales campaign, the day had arrived for the contest results to be tallied and the winners announced.  Kevin and his parents sat anxiously in the front row of the auditorium and waited for the announcer to get started.  There was much fan-fare about what the monies would do for the school and all the hard work of the committees and contestants involved.  The announcer explained that the contest would recognize the top three sales people, with the highest selling one going to a trip to Diiisssss-ney Laaaannnnnnd!  The crowd applauded with considerable zeal.  Kevin sat gripping the sides of his chair, waiting. 

The announcer began, "And so without further ado, let's begin.  In third place, with 62 ticket sales, we have David Thompson(1).  What a great job!  Let's give David a hand!"  A jubilant young man came forth to collect his third place prize placard, and the crowd acknowledged him with a nice round of applause.  "And in second place," the announcer continued, "with 85 tickets sold, let's put our hands together for Sally Youngblood(2)!"  Sally bolted out of her seat and ran to the stage, a grin spanning the width of her entire face, collected her placard and returned to her seat.  "And finally, the winner of the raffle ticket contest, with 842 tickets sold, is Kevin Francis!"  Even the crowd seemed stunned at the disparity between the first and prize tickets sold and the second.  Finally, after what seemed like a few seconds, everyone burst into raucous clapping -- and several people rose to their feet.  Kevin, thrilled that he'd won the contest and was going to Disney Land, strode up to collect his prize and take his bow. 

When the ceremony was over and Kevin's family was in the car heading for home, Kevin quietly asked  from the backseat, "Dad, why in the world did you map SO many streets for me?!"  The car erupted into laughter which went on for a good bit.  When his father had sufficiently recovered himself, he merely said, "Son, you told me you wanted to win.  I had no idea what it took to win the contest, but you asked me to help by mapping out a sales territory for you, which I did.  Really, the rest was completely your doing.  You could have worked less each day and not finished the territory.  But you didn't."

When I recomposed myself from giggling at Kevin's tale, I said, "Well, that whole thing should have been a sign -- after all, you've been in Sales ever since!  You just got your start selling raffle tickets at a very young age!"  As we sat nimbling on the remainining bits of our lunch -- Kevin, the Baked Salmon and me, the Chinese Chicken Salad, I laughed to myself and thought, "Yep, sales people always know how to tell a good and memorable story.  Maybe that's why people buy from them?"  And yes, Kevin does know how to tell a good story.  But now that he's been back home two weeks and I've thought more about it, I think there's something in his tale that we can all learn from:

1)  What could we do if we really set our minds to a goal, and THEN doggedly worked to pursue it?  I mean, think about it.  Kevin really wanted the top prize.  He desperately wanted it.  And the simple act of really wanting something is a good start if we're going to accomplish anything worthwhile in life.  So, I challenge you to come up with one really important goal for yourself -- ideally related to your work in the HR/Recruiting space so we can collectively help move it forward.

2) How much more successful would we each be if we found someone to guide our efforts, just as Kevin's Dad mapped our his sales territory?  We are often too afraid to ask people to help us when in fact doing so can make all the difference in the world.  Think how much more dynamic the world of HR/Recruiting would be if more of us drafted a mentor, or simply someone who inspired us on a regular basis.  Find that someone.

3)  How much more effective would you be as a leader or a catalyst for change be if you could tell a story about your success?  How would that evangelizing message help ignite passion in others?  All of us can tell stories -- and we don't have to be in Sales to be good at it.  I'm willing to bet you have more good fodder for a compelling story like Kevin's than perhaps you think.  So, tell the story.

This is Alise Cortez signing out for another week.  In the meantime, consider Kevin's story, enjoy it, and tell it to others.  But more importantly, think how the moral of his story can teach you to be your best at work.  As I've said many times before, our industry needs your passion, your innovation, your quest for improvement.  Don't let us down.

Footnotes 1 and 2:  I added pseudonyms to this story -- Kevin's version didn't actually supply names -- bu tte account seemed to flow so much better with them.

About Alise Cortez:  My day job is VP of Sales & Marketing at Improved Experience where our online feedback portal products provide subscribing HR/Recruiting customers data to make a business case for change or improvement in these areas:  recruitment process effectiveness, employer brand, candidate experience, recruiter performance, early employee engagement, quality of hire, and retention.  What can I say? -- it's fun!