Last week, I wrote about Why You Can’t Find Workers and How You Can Fix This. I received a bunch of emails in response to this piece. One about a candidate’s experience is especially worth sharing. I’m doing so with Doug’s permission and encouragement.
Roberta,
I am sure your assertions about fear are correct. However, I have been looking for a job for 2 months (I am not afraid of an office), and here is what I see from corporate recruiters that are preventing them from hiring qualified people.
- Simple unprofessional behavior. I interviewed for a Director level role for product strategy at a major, highly acclaimed manufacturer in Denver on 2/23/21. Seven weeks later, and numerous attempts to talk to HR or the hiring manager and ZERO response. I never even received a canned email saying, “thanks for the interview.” This is but one example.
- I interviewed with another local manufacturer and was runner-up. I spent 10 hours interviewing plus 4 more in prep. “Great experience, cultural fit… (translate to too expensive and too old),” I asked both the hiring VP and the CEO for recommendations/referrals to other firms in the area and received no reply at all. That is completely rude and unprofessional.
- I interviewed with another firm for over 8 hours for a top product role. I (and my recruiter) are told that I am by far the top candidate, and they were ready to extend an offer, now they “are going a different direction” with no explanation.
These are not incompetent people (maybe company #2), but they treat people who WANT to work for them like sh*t. I love to work, and I am good at what I do, but by the time a company strings-along candidates like this, is it any wonder turnover is so high, or productivity is so low?
I’ve been in the corporate world for 32 years, so I know there are many complexities, too many. If employers cannot hire sufficiently qualified people, it is simply their own fault.
Respectfully,
Doug
Some of you may be thinking that this sounds like sour grapes.
I can assure you it’s not.
Over the years, I’ve received dozens, if not hundreds, of emails from job seekers that tell a similar story.
Back in the early days (pre-internet), if you mistreated a candidate, the only thing you had to worry about was the possibility that they’d share their experience at a cocktail party. Well, with Covid-19 and all, there isn’t much in-person gathering going on. However, this doesn’t mean these sorts of conversations have been sidelined.
Thanks to websites such as Glassdoor, (a site where people rate their companies and candidates’ dish about their experience) they’ve been amplified, where people can share their experiences of what it’s like to interview and work for a particular company.
How you treat job candidates throughout the hiring process can come back to bite you—big time!
Consider this. The people you’re treated poorly may be a customer or could one day be a buyer of your services. Once people catch wind of this, likely, your applicant pool will get smaller.
The way you treat candidates (and employees) matters—a lot!
Candidate Assessing a Company on Glassdoor
Take what’s happening on Glassdoor.
Would you be keen to apply for a position where people are warning others to stay away? My guess is probably not.
And to make matters worse (or better if you’re company is highly thought of), Glassdoor has a new feature where candidates can compare one organization to another.
Just for kicks, I put in my former employer, Weingarten Realty, Inc (WRI), and compared this with Boston Properties.
Boy, I’m sure glad I’m no longer in the business of having to search for talent for WRI, as Boston Properties takes the cake, hands down!
This comparison includes ratings on how employees feel about each organization’s culture & values, senior management, career opportunities, CEO Approval, and the percentage of people who would recommend the company to a friend.
Yikes!
Are you curious as to how your company fares in comparison to the competition? You don’t have to wonder anymore. Try this new feature and see where you stand.
With that in mind, here’s a three-pronged approach to providing a stellar candidate experience.
First, to fix a problem, you must recognize you have a problem. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
- Are other people in my industry fully staffed, or am I the only one that seems to be struggling?
- Has our applicant flow dropped lately, and if so, do I know why?
- Have I seen a noticeable difference in the number of candidates turning down our offers? If the answer is yes, do I know why this is so?
- Are my people trained in the art of employee selection?
Next, ask someone you know (hey, you can ask me) to apply for a job with your company. Have them describe the experience to you—both the good and the bad. Ask them:
- On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being high), how easy was it to apply for a job with us? If their response was less than a 10, ask them what you need to do to make it a 10.
- How quickly did someone (or did someone) get back to them?
- If they landed an interview, did they receive notification about whether they would be moving forward in the interview process?
- If they followed up by phone, did anyone return their call?
- After interviewing, where they still keen on working for your company?
Lastly, take action. If you’ve gone through this exercise, then there are probably some areas where you can make some small changes that will make a big difference. Choose to fix the one or two things that will have the most significant impact on the employee experience. When you’re done, choose a few more.
If you decide to do the comparison, write to me at Roberta@matusonconsulting.com and tell me how you fared. Happy to hop on a quick call and offer up some advice.
