Find the Right Candidates Using a Respectful and Open Process – There’s a New Idea!

If you listen carefully, you - like me - will become very discouraged to hear more and more sad stories about what it’s like for individuals trying to engage with the current recruiting and hiring processes being implemented by organizations wishing to grow. What concerns me is that as organizations increase their staffing needs, the sourcing and recruitment processes they are implementing seem to lack a respectful interaction and this is bound to have a bigger detrimental effect than the organization has considered. In most cases, the job seeker contacts the organization and tries to follow up on the initial information submitted – only to hear nothing in response. Dead silence. No returned emails, no returned calls. Is this the message the organization intends to send about how it values its talent? Organizations need to get a handle on how they are reaching out and responding to candidates to ensure there is a match between HR practices and the values and corporate culture the organization wants to expose to the job seeking public.

I realize it takes time to talk about and integrate basic human courtesies into our hiring processes, but the flipside of not paying attention to this important element can be costly. Organizations need to remember that any time you are reaching out into the public, as you do with a sourcing and recruitment efforts, your reputation is either being shined or tarnished by the treatment job seekers experience. What grade would you give your process? What grade do you think job seekers are giving you about their perceptions of your culture? Organizations can’t just walk the talk of a ‘great place to work’ once someone starts a job – the walk starts with the first steps taken to announce sourcing and recruitment activities. So what basic human courtesies do we need to instill?

What’s expected of candidates?

When I’m wearing my Career Coach hat, I always point job seekers in the direction of saying ‘thank you’ over and over again. Not only is it a sign of respecting the time and attention of someone who has helped you along your transition journey, it’s just common courtesy. My list of “must thank you’s” includes:

• A thank you email and then follow up call (or voice mail message) is appropriate to your contact a day or so after you have submitted the required application, resume, and/or cover letter. This should include a thank you for the opportunity to introduce yourself and share your fit for the advertised position. Chances are you probably won’t get a response from the company, so a day or two later, call your contact to again say thank you for the opportunity and ask for them to call you back so you can discuss next steps and answer any questions about your background and experience. 
• A handwritten thank you note dropped off at the office or sent through snail mail – whichever you have time for - after each and every interview as well as after a significant networking meeting. The interview or meeting can either be face-to-face or over the phone – it doesn’t matter. Send a thank you note.
• A handwritten or email thank you note after every networking encounter. This is also a great time to share a copy of your resume and remind the person you are networking with which competencies and talents you want to highlight.
• A thank you letter within a week or two (depending on the timeline they laid out for selecting the successful candidate) of your handwritten thank you note. This thank you again refers to your gratitude for the interview meeting and restates your interest in the position. It’s always a good idea to reiterate several of the key strengths you’d bring to the position, as well as offer any additional information you can share to add to the interview experience.

In this economy with so many people looking for work, I’ve also seen some coaches such as Amy Lindgren suggest two more times for contacts and thank you’s. One, after about 10 days from your last call to confirm that you are still interested in the position, thanking the person for their consideration, and letting them know you may not be able to keep your schedule open for the next round of interviews because of other job activities that are picking up. Ask them to please contact you (provide your number) so you can discuss the upcoming interview process and schedule. Five days later, thank the person again for the consideration given to you so far and let them know you are still interested, but at this point you must move on to other employers, and so therefore you won’t be contacting them anymore. But don’t close the door all the way. Instead, invite them to contact you if they want to bring you in for another interview.

These last two ideas will require an extra dose of diligence and confidence, especially in light of the fact that you probably haven’t heard anything from the recruiter or hiring manager on your other contacts. Have perseverance. With as many people as are out there competing for a job, you have to make all the contacts you can while demonstrating your interest and willingness to take risks. Above all, you have to be honest and demonstrate respect.

Should we expect anything less from the other side of the table – from the employers?

What’s expected of HR?

As a Human Resources and Organization Development consultant, I advise my clients to incorporate some type of response system – either email, postcard, call, or snail mail letter – into their sourcing, recruiting, and hiring processes to accomplish the following:

• Keep the communications open and transparent regarding the candidates’ status in your system. There’s nothing more frustrating than applying for a job and feeling that your resume landed at the bottom of a big black hole. Yes, employers have an advantage at the moment, but that doesn’t make it right to take advantage of others. Not acknowledging and appreciating interest in your company could turn out to be a turn off to the exact talent you are trying to attract.
• Have processes in place to ensure external contractors utilized to assist with sourcing and recruiting activities understand the organizations’ values you want them to demonstrate as they engage job seekers as an extension of your HR department. If their performance is rewarded only for filling the pipeline without a metric for the quality of the experience the candidates have while processing through the pipeline, your company most likely is sacrificing its reputation and culture for volume.
• Make sure your staffs responsible for sourcing (both internal and external) are honest when identifying if the need is for a current opening or for possible future needs. It’s much healthier, and a lot less stressful, for both the candidates and the organization to be honest with what’s going on. If there is no immediate opening, a candidate can respond and then periodically follow up on the need, rather than be frustrated and frantic about reaching the recruiter thinking the position is being filled without consideration of the candidate’s competencies.

In the current climate, I don’t hear too many good things being said about recruiters and HR folks responsible for the hiring process. I know they are inundated with the volume of resumes they are receiving. But perhaps instead of justifying their lack of communication with job candidates by being overwhelmed with responses, they should look for ways to incorporate more narrow filters to help manage the volume, and utilize technologies now available to aid with automatic responses and updates.

So what’s next?

Organizations can’t rely on old recruitment practices to manage today’s responses to internet and social media advertised openings. We’re seeing the results: frustrated job seekers who feel they have to cater to the recruiter in order to get the opportunity while resenting the treatment and hoping for the day something better comes along.

As the economy rebounds, there will more than likely be all kinds of employment activities taking place; sourcing, recruiting, restructurings, and downsizings to name a few. Organizations should ensure that their practices in each of these activities set a tone for honest, fair, and transparent communications. Corporate culture is an important component to achieving strategic goals. Ensure that the values your leaders espouse as important to the firm are demonstrated and confirmed at each step of the employment relationship.

Deborah Hildebrand, a freelance writer for the LA Examiner, recently wrote an article calling for the need to continue reminding the public about the importance of demonstrating respect for others everyday. I agree with her. We shouldn’t put the focus on civility and respect only when painfully reminded of our everyday lack of it. In her writings she referenced back to a 2007 article she wrote, Seven Steps to Building a Company Culture that Embraces RESPECT, which has some very thoughtful ideas for creating and sustaining a respectful culture.

Human Resource Managers as well as individuals working in the profession should be the first to demonstrate the importance of performance that reflects and motivates others to be respectful. It may take a little more time to return a call, or send an email with feedback to a candidate, but the kindness of those acts won’t be lost on the relationship an organization develops with a potential new employee.

Are you a job seeker, a recruiter, or someone working in the sourcing arena? I’d be curious to hear what your experiences have been. Do your practices allow open, transparent, and respectful engagements? Is this type of process doable? Or should the job seeker just take their chances and see if they’ll ever hear back from the employer? Just think about the impact an organization could have by being one of the few who does take the time to communicate. I look forward to hearing from you.

Q&A

Dear Debbie,
I’ve been practicing interview questions I see on-line and in books. But should I be doing more in order to ace the process?
Jose R.

Check out Dear Job Seeker... to see my response to Jose's question.

Your Career Development Journey

I recently heard a career coach give the advice that your resume is your number one tool for finding a job. I cringed. I take a different view on job search and career development. For me, it’s a journey. Before you leave on a trip you usually do some planning, collect the right maps and directions, pack the appropriate items, and prepare to adjust to the “potholes” and detours you may encounter along the way. Navigating the best way to reach your destination takes a variety of actions, and may involve visiting with others who have traveled to, and toured your destination, in order to gather information and knowledge that will help you arrive safely, and prepared for taking advantage of the best sites and local flair. Career development is very similar to this metaphor.

Regardless of whether you are employed and looking to move up, or unemployed looking to do something part-time, full-time or entrepreneurial, following these same type of “travel” preparations will save you time and energy.

And there’s no doubt about it - getting your resume updated in order to share past experiences with potential employers is an important part of the job search journey (the first thing any potential employer or networking connection will ask, “Do you have an updated resume?”). However, when you step back to take the time to plan your “trip to the next job”, the resume is not the first thing to focus on. Trust me on this. From personal, as well as coaching experiences with hundreds of clients going through some type of career transition, I’ve confirmed the following steps will provide you with a more productive, organized and successful journey.

1. Self-Discovery – I see lots of individuals try to avoid this step. Their reasoning – Who knows me better than me? I don’t need to explore – heck, I just need a job! However, when they avoid this critical starting point, they usually find their journey is not as targeted, their interviews are not as crisp, and they appear like they are shooting from the hip at anything that moves….. trying to find any job that will pay the rent. This usually plays out as a big red flag for managers interviewing candidates who have scooted around this initial step of career planning.
At another time I’ll write more about self-discovery, but for now just consider this:

• When’s the last time you took any time to really think about and get feedback on your strengths and areas needing improvement? You probably also haven’t thought much about what kind of work makes you happy and doesn’t even feel like work.

• When’s the last time you gave serious thought to how the workplace is changing and what new skills or experiences you might need to be “best” qualified for a job, especially in this new workplace/economic environment?

• When’s the last time you used an assessment tool such as Myers-Briggs or the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) to help you open your mind to your work style and communication preferences and how you relate with others?

Are you getting the idea? Without taking the proper amount of time to get to know yourself and how you fit an organization in this new economy, your journey will be helter-skeltor because your branding will be inconsistent. And just a word about timing – the amount of time you may need for this step may vary depending on what personal work you’ve done in the past, how open you are to change, where you are working with a coach, lots of things. Just make sure it’s enough time to allow you to ask and answer those questions that will be most meaningful to your development.

2. Appraise the market and clarify your career goals and objectives. We’ve lost a lot of jobs over the past few years. As the economy comes back and jobs are once again created, be aware that the job requirements may not be the same as what they had been. As you do your research be on the look out for new skills, knowledge and abilities you may be required to have. Using your network to help you gather this data is an excellent idea, as well as utilizing all the information available on the internet.

3. Create a powerful resume and communications plan. Be consistent in the branding of your communication pieces. Consider your resume a work in progress. Get opinions on your resume from others. Really showcase what you have to offer and how you will solve problems, save money and improve efficiencies for the new organization. Sometimes that hard to do in no more than two pages. You may have to ask someone for help, or use on-line resources to assist you. Check out my resume worksheet as a template to help you.

4. Networking – build your skills and talents to reach out to everyone you know, and then everyone they know to learn of requirements and opportunities in those areas you are interested in. While working within an organization, network with co-workers in your department, but also across departments. Take every avenue to be visible. With the number of people currently looking for a job, many organizations will use the “informal” channel to look for qualified candidates. It’s more likely to be “who you know” that leads you to an opening, not a formal ad or internet posting. To help you organize your networking an approach like this might be helpful – click here.

5. Interviewing – remember it’s a conversation. Be prepared to answer their questions as well as ask your own about the things that are important to you – but don’t talk money and benefits until they are ready to offer you the job! And never be the one to bring the topic up. Practice sample questions out loud. If you don’t practice your presentation, they’ll know it the minute you open your mouth. This is also a point where you want to make sure your emotions are under control. You don’t want to sound desperate, or angry, or not sure of yourself. If you have recently lost a job, wait to interview until you have your emotions under control.

6. Efficient use of your resources – your time and energies are very important to you. Use all the job search avenues available to you, but don’t spend more time in any lane than the expected payback. Since 80% or more of the jobs being found today are through networking, spend 80%+ of your time in networking activities. Be careful with the amount of time you spend answering ads on the internet. Remember – not everything you read on the internet is “real”. Be careful about what personal information you share and post when you are not sure who may be viewing it, i.e., birth date, address, etc.

7. Continued Learning – I can’t say enough about investing in your education. Look at your co-workers. If your boss had to choose who to keep on the team, would you have more to offer than your colleagues? If you are up against one other qualified candidate for the job would your education and experiences be relevant enough to tip the decision in your favor? Certifications, additional course work, another degree, an unpaid internship, volunteering for an assignment…. there are lots of ways to take charge of your education and your future. Don’t wait until you need it – be aware of what your profession is requiring right now and start acquiring it.

Career development is definitely an individual responsibility. We do see progressive organizations offering guidance and help with career pathing. However, the ultimate decision about how you manage your career is up to you. Be proactive and invest in yourself. It’s a journey that keeps evolving from one destination to another. Be prepared. No one has a crystal ball to look into the future. Keep your bags packed, and always be aware of your options for exciting excursions!

What’s your experience been? Do you see the journey metaphor with these 7 these steps helpful, or would you make some modifications? I’m curious to hear from you.