Articles - Recruiting and Candidate Dev

The experience an applicant has while submitting a resume to a prospective employer can have a significant implication on employer branding and how an organization is perceived by the general public and a qualified candidate pool.

  A September 2010 report by Equation Research titled “When Seconds Count”, one-third (32 percent) of consumers will abandon a website if the site does not respond within one to five seconds of landing on that page.

Most human resource departments need to understand that the same principles that apply to search engine optimization and online strategies need to apply to candidate applicant submittal and tracking (ATS = applicant tracking systems) and to the whole candidate interaction experience (including social media.) 

Applicant tracking systems (like Taleo, Jobvite, and Maxhire) have social networking sites integrated into candidate database files and allow for social media tracking and interaction. 

Most recruiting strategies involve linkbaiting (starting conversations or interacting via social networking discussions) or interaction within social networking channels and direct candidates to apply to a company website.

If an application submittal process is too long, the ATS will experience a significant number of “drops” or incomplete submittals.  Candidates who are currently unemployed may have the luxury of spending 20 minutes to complete a candidate profile, questionnaire, and attaching a resume along with a cover letter and submittal documentation and examples.  Employed individuals do not have that luxury; so many employers may be losing out on qualified candidates, especially if all job postings and social networking postings direct the candidate to the company career website (which is the key to the ATS.)

In the Economic Research Institute* July 2010 Salary Survey Report, the distribution of salary ranges is spreading, with the mean and the higher earners’ salaries moving slightly upward (highly skilled workers) and the lower pay levels decreasing dramatically. With a 16% unemployment rate, there should be available workforce to fill new job openings at lower rates.  Personnel will always evolve and people will retire. 

According to the ERI survey overview, “2011 will most likely be the year in which companies begin to review why certain jobs are paying what they do.  Seems the end of a recession is always the ‘best of times’ for compensation consultants” (ERI Survey Overview, October 2010),

With retiring baby boomers and normal turnover, organizations are going to need qualified candidates for skilled positions in 2011.  Highly skilled and currently employed prospects are not going to tolerate slow websites or cumbersome application processes.  The 16% of the unemployed could inundate your ATS with multiple submittals for many positions they might not even qualify for. 

Human resources will be reviewing compensation plans for current employees and re-evaluating positions.  Candidates who are currently underpaid will find themselves to be a hot commodity in the employment market.  Over-compensated workers are going to be “last year’s fashion” – finding themselves on the sales rack” (or should I say within the 16% unemployed segment of the population.)

Most human resources professionals have no idea what is involved in submitting a resume to a prospective employer.  Most who think they know have never actually submitted a resume to an open job requirement themselves.  Most have no idea what a prospective candidate experiences when submitting a resume.   The person who is most knowledgeable about this process is either the ATS manufacturer or a software engineer who made the applicant website and set up the resume database. 

Tracking a resume submittal against an open job requirement is often a joke (even in expensive ATS’s) – often giving candidates the sunken feeling that it is all just a waste of time – submitting your resume to “the big black hole” on the company’s website.

Tracking return-on-investment (ROI) on recruiting strategies is something that a lot of employers are taking a very serious look at (including social networking and social media strategies.)  The same techniques and tactics used in search engine optimization and marketing are starting to be imposed on recruiting and staffing strategies.  User experience and user interaction is also a hot topic for software engineers responsible for creating the next level of ATS and corporate career website. 

Semantic website strategies and semantic data will be significant part of tracking social networking strategies, linkbaiting, employer branding, and recruiting strategies.  Knowing what an applicant will experience when being introduced to your company and submitting a resume is just as important as knowing the highly skilled and qualified candidate you want to attack.

*Note: Economic Research Institute  is a research database software subscription company providing compensation, benefit, and human resource research for private and public organizations in the form of published reports and software database products Revenues for ERI are earned solely from these cost-of-living and salary survey software and publication sales. ERI does not provide fee-for-service consulting.

References:

Economic Research Institute (www.erieri.com ), ERI Survey Overview (2010, October), Volume 92, p. 1.

Phillips, M. (2010, November). Web Hosting Behind the Scenes. Website Magazine, page 28.  Viewed online via: http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/web-hosting-behind-the-scenes.aspx

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 Biography

Daniel Parrillo – President, Strategi LLC

http://www.linkedin/com/in/strategi

A Senior HR Practitioner, Staffing Manager and Employment Community Manager experienced in human resource strategy, technical staff recruiting and augmentation specifically focusing on software and webservices companies. Experienced with supporting corporate strategies, incorporating employer and product branding into productive recruiting strategies. Believe in order to attract technical talent, recruiting needs to involve both "farming" and "hunting" and a constant advocate of networking. Contribution to staffing websites and human resources organizations demonstrates commitment to morals and ethics in an industry often perceived as unprincipled and unscrupulous. Huge advocate of social networking and senior level knowledgeable of Web 2.0 techniques, passive candidate generation, vendor management, data management, acquisition and employment strategy.

Specialties

Technical Recruiting and Human Resource Services - specializing in staffing strategies and resource augmentation for start-up software and webservices companies in San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley

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