“1 application via their career’s website, 1 telephone interview, 3 interviews, 1 presentation & I didn’t get the job. I asked for feedback to understand why better. They said yes, that was over 2 months ago and still nothing. It’s so frustrating you just hit a wall of silence.”
“Applying for multiple jobs for brands and companies I love is soulless, It’s so rare to actually speak to a person. Why is that so difficult?”
Heard this before? Can a candidate of mine say this about me, my team or company? Please ask yourself honestly. We have moved the dial so much on ATS, AI, EVP but why oh why are we still hearing experiences like these. Please don’t tell me candidates need to be less sensitive and more resilient, or these are hardly extreme, I’ve heard worse. Does it have to be worse? A lot of the work I do within my career mentoring at 4.e.g is supporting individuals through and after really bad experiences. But what does care even mean? The noun is described as the serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk. For me there are 3 things here; Consideration applied, doing it correctly & avoiding damage.
At the brilliant D & I event from the team at The Recruitment Events, Bill Boorman addressing our industry peers to take accountability and play our part, urging us to make it happen. For the hirer, we so much on our plate and for the candidate vote with your digital fingers, don’t apply there again, don’t work there and surely all these experiences build you resilience. In the face of growing demands on us all what can we all do?
This real life “a wall of silence” is so common and I want to pick apart what “care” actually means and see why “care” is really at the centre of what we do as career custodians.
Consideration applied – To consider is about thought and to apply is about action. This is key. If you ask the vast majority of talent professionals about candidates, they will say they want people to enjoy the recruitment experience whether they are motivated by metrics, money or making a placement. But just like any EVP or mission statement without action does it really matter. It’s applying our care through our behaviour in every interaction is how we demonstrate this. We should be harnessing the technology available to us to enhance and compliment not to replace our human connections. The vast diversity and progress made in recruiting software and atomisation theoretically should grant us the time and freedom to place humans once again at the heart of what we do.
Do it right – Show up and show off your best people behaviours and practices, setting you quite frankly apart from the mainstream based on the encounters above. These soft skills such a communication doesn’t readily feature on an SLA or objective or review in either a measured or anecdotal way. Have we forgotten there is a “who” at the receiving end of what we do and how we do it matters?
Will you and your teams be engaging those future fit uniquely human skills such as Emotional Intelligence, Creativity, Critical thinking, Growth Mindset & Mindfulness that will also prepare your TA teams for the future but at the same time show you Do Care. Somi Arian has written a compelling piece on this and in particular around Contextual Creativity here
And arguably the most important, by ensuring you both think and show you care your output of your recruiting work can endeavour to avoid any damage, whether it’s to your brand or to the very impactful experience your candidate’s live through. For many discovering and maintaining a fulfilling career is something we attach major value to, being the conduit to experiencing other great things in life such as purpose, enjoyment, financial security, learning, friends, wealth and many more. So how about this for an equation, thought + action = care
We would do well to think more like a UX Designer where user needs, value and accessibility all part an equal part.
Translate this to recruitment and a candidate would feel part of the conversation and have a sense of control, not words I hear often enough. With the appropriate automation that also embraces UX Design we can make headway to finding a partnership between Tech & the Human.
So, here is what I ask of us all (me included) for the timing being:
- Be considerate, this is a key skill in a recruiter’s dexterities as much as CRM knowledge
- Do it and do it well consistently. Let’s rebuild the recruiter’s reputation
- Remember both the person and the impact you have
I am intrigued to know of other people’s experiences recruiters and candidates alike. Have you experienced a caring approach? I would like to talk more about how we can tangibly make a difference in re-building human connectedness in recruitment.
