"...at some point,
after you've point and clicked your way to your "dream job"
you're going to come across a wall called "a live person."
As a frequenter of
job pages, I have inadvertently been signed up for many "career"
newsletters, most of which I didn't ask for and were I not
too lazy to type "REMOVE" in my subject heading, I'd simply
have myself taken off the mailing list. Having said that,
as I began thinking of what I'd like to write about, I had
to ask myself, "What haven't people seen? What will make people
want to actually read my article instead of simply trashing
it to keep from getting the dreaded "Your Mailbox is Full"
error message?" Again, calling on the success (as of today,
all 35 hits) of my webpage, and my own desire to get a point
across, I came up with the subject of my article, "What Job
Searchers Really Want." I know, I know, they want a JOB! Actually,
there's a lot more to it. There's a whole respect-factor that
is involved. One must remember when dealing with someone who
is looking for a new job (especially if they were laid off
of their previous one) is that you are dealing with fragile
ego's and frayed nerves. The slightest provocation could be
cause for serious retaliation in the form of hysterical sobbing
or high blood pressure.
If you have read my
online article (and you really should because it's not only
informative, but I find it darn entertaining as well) you
will know that I have a great deal of experience as a job
hunter. Being a product of the Internet and all things faster
than light, I have utilized online resources extensively over
the course of my 10-year career to find several positions.
There are pros and con's to online job hunting, much as there
is with anything else. However, there is one key ingredient
that no matter how far we come technologically will always
remain. The Human Factor. The fact that at some point, after
you've point and clicked your way to your "dream job" you're
going to come across a wall called "a live person." Usually
that live person is in the form of an overworked commission-paid
resource called a "Recruiter" (insert horror sound here).
Ah yes, the "Recruiter."
At what point in the scheme of things did the word "Recruiter"
take on the same pariah connotation as say "Funeral Home Director?"
Managers cringe and switchboard operators furtively scramble
to offload potential "Recruiters" to VRU's in an attempt at
preventing attrition. Of course there are two sides to every
story and being the compassionate minded conservative amateur
journalist that I am, can see both sides and can/will explore
them.
In an attempt to convey
a useful meaning, I thought we might explore a short day in
the life of both a Recruiter as well as a Job Hunter so that
we can give each a fair shake and make a judgement based on
our own conclusions rather than those of the author (of course,
I'm going to skew the article in favor of my side, so you
don't really get equality). Hey, if you want fair and balanced,
watch FOX NEWS.
The Recruiters Story
(Let's call him BOB)
After having slept
a little later than usual, Bob arrives at the office around
9:30 a.m. only to find that the boss isn't in yet which meant
he could probably have taken time to eat breakfast before
he left the house. Oh well, lessons learned. Bob sits down
at his cubicle and switches on his computer. While it hums
itself to duty, he notices the flashing "call waiting" button
on his phone indicating that he already has several voice
messages that the automatic operator has routed to his phone.
Cursing those early-rising job hunters, Bob heads off towards
the break room for some coffee. Of course no one cleaned the
coffee pot before they left last night, so by the time Bob
has cleaned, brewed, and poured himself a cup, his computer
is up and awaiting his login. Bob types in his password (B
_ R _ E _ N _ D _ A) and proceeds to bring up his email. "Oh
Great" he mutters as 345 emails each with the subject (Response
to Job xxxxx) and marked "URGENT" fill his "inbox."
Having been on the
job for a whole month already, Bob knows better than to try
to read each and every resume and attempt to match them up
with the job that they are responding to. "It would be some
much easier," he thinks to himself, "if these nuts wouldn't
respond to stuff they weren't qualified for." At what point
does a kindergarten teacher tired of the political b.s. decide
that they are qualified for a "Technical Trainer" position
at IBM? Or a new college grad with a BS think they are management
material for the latest IPO start-up. Having gotten some time
saving advice from the "senior" Recruiters (those having been
OTJ for at least 6 months), Bob knows that the best way to
thin down his email is to run a key word search on his inbox.
Bob's been given a list of keywords for the 10 jobs that he's
responsible for, so he loads them into his "Search" feature
of his email. The search knocks the list down to only 225
resumes. Bob then consults his "hot list" and begins reading
the email that have one of the "hot list" job numbers in the
subject heading. This knocks the list down to a paltry 75
candidates. Of course, things aren't always this hectic, but
Bob posted three new jobs yesterday and the response is always
the greatest the first day of a listing. "I swear," said Bob,
"you'd think these people are sitting at their computer 24x7
waiting on a new job to post."
Bob reasons that with
75 candidates, he can average about 8-15 calls an hour. Of
course, this is largely dependent on whether the person is
available for the call and how needy they are (meaning how
long they will want to talk). He probably won't get through
the list today, which means the rest will either get dropped
or rolled over into tomorrow, assuming he even has time then.
Bob pulls up the first candidate and quickly scans their qualifications
and makes sure that the keywords he's looking for are there;
project management, BS, sales.
Everything looks good
so Bob dials the first number. A male voice answers the phone
and Bob introduces himself and the fact that he's calling
on behalf of the resume the person submitted. Never fails,
Bob notes the slight rise in their voice as the excitement
mounts. "Can you tell me a little about your experience?"
Bob asks. There is a slight bewildered pause as the candidate
begins to explain his background. Bob asks a couple of pointed
questions that he needs in order to fill in the requirement
sheet before he can send the candidate's resume to the employer.
The candidate asks a couple of questions about the job, location,
etc&ldots; Bob asks what the candidate's salary requirements
are, knowing that this is a question that no one wants to
answer. The candidate gives him a range, but as usual says
that he is "Open" to negotiate. Bob thanks the candidate and
assures him that he will be in touch.
Once off the phone,
Bob completes his form and places the candidate's information
sheet in his basket. This basket will soon contain the cream
of the crop of the candidates who have applied. This does
not mean that they will have their resume forwarded, this
is simply the initial screening. After Bob has 10-20 potentially
qualified candidates, he will screen out the most qualified
and only then will he forward 3-5 to the employer.
Well, Bob's been at
it for a few hours now and he decides it's time for lunch.
He takes off for an hour or so. When Bob returns, he has on
his vmail a call from one of the employers who has a job posting
on his "hot job" list. He quickly calls the HR manager at
"Acme" and is told that the requirements have changed&ldots;drastically.
Bob nods quietly and thanks the HR manager for the notice.
So much for all of the work he did this morning. Bob now has
to re-review his list of candidates and begin the screening
anew. Unfortunately the candidates he originally decided on
keeping for the time being, no longer fit the employers profile.
He tosses the resumes in the garbage. He doesn't have time
to call the candidates, and he really doesn't want to give
them bad news, so he does nothing. Sighing to himself, Bob
begins fresh.
Whew! That was pretty
bad wasn't it? For you job hunters out there, do you now see
some of the junk Recruiters go through? Granted, there are
many, many, improvements that could be made, but much of it
is inherent in today's economy. When you have upwards of 50,000
people in one city looking for a job and only a few hundred
(maybe a thousand) Recruiters and/or actively seeking HR managers,
the job can get unwieldy. So let's try to cut them some slack
(hee hee hee! ) So let's see what we learned about Bob. What
could Bob do differently that would both help him, as well
as those he works with?
To begin with, how
about being better organized? Most recruiting firms use professional
databases and the same email everyone else in corporate America
uses, so this shouldn't be an issue. Knowing which candidates
are up for which job is critical to follow up success.
Review the candidates
resume and be somewhat familiar with what they do before you
call them. Remember that they have probably answered the same
questions you're going to ask, at least a dozen times. It's
not too much to ask that the Recruiter have at least read
their resume before you call.
This next point, is
the mantra of Corporate Trainers and Sales(people) the world
over; Understand your target audience. How can you possibly
represent a candidate if you don't understand the skills you
are presenting? Can't you see it; the Recruiter is talking
to the HR Manager and he says, "Well, I've got this candidate
here and he has a couple of the keywords you've listed on
your job requirement." "Well, does he have any Transport experience,"
the HR Manager asks. "Um, I'm not sure, he didn't say anything
about it," replies the Recruiter. You laugh, but this scenario
is all too real. Now, had the Recruiter understood the industry
and related jargon, he would have known that since I have
DACCS (Digital Access Cross-Connect System) experience, that
I definitely have Transport experience. See where I'm going
with this?
The last point I'd
like to zero in on from the Bob story is this; understand
that your candidates are eagerly awaiting a call from you.
If they are nixed from consideration or if the position changes
and it knocks them out of contention, let the candidate know.
Not only will it keep them from dragging out the expectation
and hope indefinitely, but it will also cut down on the number
of phone calls you receive from candidates asking about status.
Unfortunately readers,
that's all the room I have for this article. On my next installment,
I'll be wailing on the Job Hunter. Let's not just blame the
Recruiter. Sure there are things that they could do differently,
but the same holds true for the Job Hunter as well.
Look for the next
article called: "The Job Hunters Story" coming soon.
Christopher Souther
Chris Souther may
be contacted at http://AtlantaCopywriting.webalias.com
csouther@mindspring.com.
Click
here to view more of their articles.
Christopher Souther is a Copywriter and Freelance Writer in
Atlanta, Ga. On the side he has published articles on a variety
of topics including, Children's Education and today's Job
Market. He is currently revising his free Online Guide to
Job-Hunting for publishing as well as working on another Non-Fiction
book dealing with Adoption.