When trusted employees are promoted into management, generally what is their first task? Replace themselves. How do they interview candidates for their replacement? Go to HR and ask for a list of acceptable questions to ask. If they are lucky, HR has a list of “approved questions.” Are the questions targeting the skills required to be successful in the position? Generally not, they are simply acceptable interview questions.
Many months ago, I was interviewing candidates for a recruiting position. The position had been open for months, and I felt like I was never going to find a candidate who had the unique experience I wanted. That was until I found the perfect resume.
It amazes me how many conferences, current technologies and new technologies are available for recruiting. I have been recruiting for over 15 years and it makes my head spin, and I can only image what an entry level person must think. In the past week alone here are some of the things that I have seen.
As I chat with companies regarding a potential recruitment contract, it has become apparent that many companies follow the same process as candidates. They post jobs on the Internet and pray they will receive the best replies from candidates. You see evidence of this on Yahoo Groups and occasionally in various LinkedIn groups when recruiters ask where they may post for different types of candidate.
It is interesting to listen when companies complain they have difficulty attracting candidates from out of state. With a little research, a consultant may easily determine why they are experiencing those problems.
Relocation of candidates requires an understanding of psychology, an understanding that recruitment is a sales process, and a recruitment process that does not interfere with those understandings.
It’s hard to hide unprepared, unqualified interviewers. They bring little value to the interview process and, as a result, stick out like a sore thumb. What can be done at your organization to ensure those on your selection teams conduct the best, most well informed interviews? Read on!
Attraction will increase, and potentially trump scouting and sourcing activities for certain resource teams as a reliable way to acquire quality. Because we are approaching less than three degrees of separation everywhere, the amount of potential resources a talent team can assess has skyrocketed.
The pressure for the recruitment industry has never been as tough and competitive as the present date (except of course during the great depression of the 1930s). The need to deliver your best candidates on time and all of the time, screened and scrutinized to fulfill the total profile required by the customer for the candidates, then to compete against (volume) other equally qualified candidates from various other agencies can often prove disheartening for all, especially when the candidate is continually competing against many over-qualified individuals per position.
Remember the 1960s? Well, there are two generations who don’t. If you were a candidate, there were three primary ways for you to find a job. If you were the personnel department, you ran a newspaper ad and waited for responses, looked at them, decided if they were a potential fit and either interviewed them or filed their resume in a file drawer.
We spend an enormous amount of time and money branding ourselves to potential candidates. Yet for a lot of companies there is a syndrome in place that drastically affects the candidate’s experience with the brand. And in a down economy, your candidate engagement strategies don’t necessarily have to change, they just need to be firing on all cylinders.