Category Archives: 9-to-5

Today I’m sharing an interview conducted by Pamela Moore, of Compass Human Resources, who wanted to learn more about my thoughts on the recruiting experience. Enjoy! 

Recruiting – A Positive Experience, Or Just An “Experience”?

When was the last time you sat down and really considered the candidates’ points of view during your recruiting process?  Are they treated with courtesy and respect?  Is their time valued?  Do the people that DON’T get the job still have a positive opinion of your company?

I asked my recruiting guru/goddess, Aimee Fahey, to give me her perspective on making recruiting a positive experience for everyone.  And how that can really benefit the organization.

PAM:  Define “recruiting experience” from your point of view.

AIMEE: As a recruiter, I take ownership of facilitating the process from start to finish, and therefore I feel it is my responsibility to ensure a positive recruiting experience.  As a recruiter, I am the face of my company, and work with all parties to ensure the right people go into the right jobs at the right time. To me, the recruiting experience assesses satisfaction from three perspectives – that of the candidates, the hiring teams, and yes, the recruiter.  If one or more are dissatisfied, the process needs to be examined.  Everyone needs to be on board and feel good about the hiring process.

PAM:  How can the recruiting experience negatively affect employee retention?

AIMEE: The hiring process is all about (or should be all about) giving both the candidate and the hiring team a realistic preview of not only the job, but the working relationship as well.  If you’re not focusing on the right areas in your questions, not providing good service, you’ve already started off on the wrong foot.  I’ve been in jobs myself where it’s been a complete 180 from how the position was represented in the interview because the hiring manager was too busy selling  – it’s a disservice to everyone.  In addition, employees who are part of hiring teams dealing with poor organization, lack of communication, and/or dysfunctional relationships?  Well, they stop wanting to refer good people – and they start looking elsewhere.  Why?  Because hiring has to be an organization’s first priority.  The people make the product who make the company – people always have to (genuinely) come first.

PAM: How can it positively affect retention?
AIMEE:  A former mentor of mine used to say, “our employees are our best recruiters”.  Give them a great experience and they’ll have a greater trust in you as the employer because you were honest with them upfront about the job, the culture and the team, and because from day one they were justifiably excited.  In addition, as you can imagine, happy employees refer more applicants (because they love it there), and “pay it forward” – giving an honest picture of the environment and the job, as you had for them.

PAM: What do you feel are the top 3 success factors in a positive recruiting experience?
AIMEE:
1. Communication – Great communication among all members of the hiring team – everyone’s got to be on the same page not only with what their roles are, but understanding themselves what the job is, what’s expected of them, and a shared belief in how their company takes care of candidates.
2. Customer Service – Great customer service to ALL applicants from start to finish (I say applicants to include those who do not make it to interview status), from giving them the information they need about the job, the team, and the company; to handling the logistics efficiently; to selling the company throughout the process; to making them feel not just welcome, but respected for their time investment.
3. Content – The interviews have to give a realistic portrayal of the job, ask questions that are not only relevant but help interviewers get a stronger picture of their potential to succeed, and involve the people they’ll be interacting with both on their team and in a cross-functional capacity.

PAM: How have you constructed your business to ensure that candidates have a positive experience, and how does that reflect on your clients?

AIMEE:  For me, I’ve been around long enough as a recruiter and human resources professional to know what does and doesn’t work in hiring the right people (rather than “filling requisitions”).  My reputation is based on the candidate experience, and facilitating the hiring process from start to finish.  When I first meet with a client, we discuss our philosophies around hiring, what we each believe the recruiting experience should look like, and – if that’s a fit – then talk about how I can make their lives easier and get them the people they need more effectively and efficiently by allowing me to guide the process and trusting my expertise and experience.  I rely on them as the subject matter experts on the jobs we’re hiring for and the culture they’ve created, and they rely on me for my expertise when it comes to matching the right people with the jobs, where I find them, and how I partner with their team.  I am always clear about expectations from the beginning when it comes to turnaround time, customer service, interviewing dynamics, and other aspects I think are important in hiring.

Thanks, Aimee!  As always, your perspective is fresh and timely.

So everyone, how does your recruiting experience stack up?

Today I’m in a sharing mood.  Yay for The Onion!

When I was sixteen years old and leaving my super awesome record store job to take a job downtown closer to my new life as a college student, never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted my employer would a) be my employer for the next 7 years, and b) form the foundation for how I work today.

I am a Nordstrom alumni.

With my new chapter off to an awesome start as a recruiting consultant, helping early stage startups create good hiring processes and managing their key recruitments from start to finish, I’ve already had a couple of experiences on the business development side of my job that remind me of who I am, who I want to be, and who I don’t want to be. How I serve my clients and candidates (both = customers) is why I’m successful.

When it comes to recruiting, as I told someone recently, I am successful because of a few key things some of my peers (both persons and companies) don’t focus on (rather, they’ll list fancy charts as to their fancy processes or talk about Boolean strings and crap like that).  But here’s the deal.  It’s about relationships.  It’s about how you take care of them.  It’s about respecting them through your own actions.  It’s about being transparent about who you are and why you’re there in the first place.

I genuinely love what I do.
My goal is not to sell, sell, sell.  My goal is not to put “butts in seats”. My goal is not to process and move on.  It is to find great matches.  It is to exceed expectations in the entire process, from how I interact with candidates, to how aligned we are in the employer/candidate relationship, to how quickly I get them through the process, to how I bring them in the door on their first day.

I have never not responded to an incoming application.  Period.
Whether I have 400 or fourteen applications, everyone gets a response.  If I have a question, I will at a very minimum email you (heads up – only about half, at most, bother to reply BACK to me.  If I don’t get a response, I’m not going to chase you down though, it’s a mutual thang.).  If I know I’m not going to interview them, I reply right then – I don’t wait til the job is filled.  That’s just goofy.  Big companies have software that allow recruiters to quickly mass-decline with email template letters – there is NEVER an excuse for the letters that say “we’ll only contact you if we want to interview you.”  And I’ve actually giggled when I get them 3 months after the job application – I mean, really?  C’mon folks.

You’ll hear from me within 48 hours either way.
I want to fill this job.  My hiring manager wanted to fill it yesterday.  If I see a resume I like (or think has potential), I’ll be in contact within a day or two of your application.  Not only is it important to myself and the client, but my reputation is one where no one has to feel like they’ve fallen into a black hole once they apply.  (With this, candidates keep in touch with me as well – it’s a great resource for my own recruiting network, and even if I don’t have a place for them with one of my clients, I still believe in referring them to places they might enjoy.  Its just good karma.)

As the recruiter, I take ownership of facilitating the hiring process.  
While there is a hiring manager and a team of interviewers, I’m the face of the hiring process.  If a manager behaves badly, or doesn’t show up for the interview, or can’t seem to make a hiring decision?  *I* am the one who has to apologize to the candidate in a way that also protects the interests of the company.  I’m the one who has to make up excuses when others think it’s okay to wait days and weeks to respond.  When I’m owning the process, we meet, we agree on turnaround times, and I take care of everyone – from manager to candidate and everyone in between.  Communication is clear and service expectations are high – that is how you keep good candidates in the running.   A recent client of mine was a fantastic partner in the hiring process – everyone was stoked to be a part of it, and understood early on that yes, this will be time consuming, but the higher quality and commitment that is shown from the start, the faster they’ll get the help they need.  (We filled 3 engineering jobs in 4 weeks – awesome).

I’ve learned that when philosophies differ on service, candidates suffer and jobs go unfilled.
One prospective client, in our negotiations, wanted me to duplicate a process that didn’t allow me to do this, and wanted to continue to use their current processes that had caused their pain points in the first place.  Money isn’t enough – because my professional reputation is at stake every time I work with a client.  If I know they’re not on board with my business model, I don’t move forward, because I know the process will suffer and therefore candidates won’t get the treatment they deserve – and in the end, my business will be affected as I’ll have spent far longer on a recruitment than what was necessary had I been allowed to be that facilitator.  (I declined their offer)

I show gratitude to my hiring team, and make sure I’m available to them as needed.
Ensuring they are comfortable before going into interviews – knowing what to ask, knowing how they should be treated, knowing how to deal with challenging scenarios or those painful quiet moments – it’s key.  If my interviewers aren’t comfortable, how can I expect them to positively represent the company and job to the candidate?  I also value getting their perspective on the job to ensure it’s the same as the hiring manager’s, so everyone communicates similarly to candidates. I was recently talking to a prospective client who, after talking to their HR, Executive, and Hiring Managers, quickly saw the gig was viewed in three very different ways – a clear sign of trouble to me.  (I declined their offer).

So again, EVERYTHING is customer service – from writing an easily understood job posting to how quickly you facilitate the logistics to the screening and interviewing process (including how you treat them when they are in the building) to how you treat the offer process.  

You know people who take pride in giving great service – from that person at the grocery store checkout to the lady who helps you with directions in the street to the people you interact with professionally.  Take inspiration from them – it will come back to you tenfold in the end.

With that, I am sharing an excerpt of Nordstrom customer service philosophies. Now I know not ALL employees there are stellar, but just walk into a Macy’s and you’ll see how their lack of sales staff affects your experience.  I am grateful for my time with Nordstrom and the “OF COURSE” we take care of the customer  - it’s integral, it’s the right thing to do.

Customer Service 101 
* Be humble

* Everything begins with the customer!

* Do what’s right for the customer – and you have done what’s right for the organization.

*Managers create, maintain, and support the corporate service culture.  In essence?  Stop blaming your employees for problems if you’re a jackass yourself.

* Value Your Employees Heroics – give your people a standard to aspire to and to surpass. Reward outstanding acts of customer service (internal & external).

* Make customers feel comfortable by paying attention to every detail of the experience – bricks and mortar or virtual.  “Walk with a sense of urgency,” they taught me.  I love that. It’s about respecting everyone involved.

* Make your public voice or face a pleasant one. I‘m always amazed at how people answer the phone at front desks – how about starting the greeting with “hello” or “good morning” rather than just calling out the company name?

* Create an atmosphere of helpfulness.  Don’t be lazy.  Get off your arse and do it yourself, and offer to help others.  I still see “it’s not my job” quoted regularly by people who should know better.

* Create an atmosphere of professionalism. Snarkiness is not cute.  It’s not customer centric.  You can have fun without looking like amateurs.

* Educate your customer to make sound choices.  Make sure this is the actual job they want – guide them, counsel them, empower them.  Give them options.

* Inverted Pyramid - Customers at the top; next are those who directly serve customers

* Trust the people you hire, trust their judgment and give them freedom to make decisions.  Push decision-making responsibility and authority down to the lowest level possible, and encourage employees every step of the way.

Give clients more than they expect.  “Above and beyond the call of duty,” they would encourage.

Leave clients something to remember you by.  I still keep in touch with customers from 20 years ago – they helped me become who I am today.

Take responsibility.  Learn from your mistakes – because you WILL make them. Then forgive yourself.

Work with diversity, not against it.  It will make you better – trust me.

Behavior is what customers remember.  Period.

OK y’all, this article was so awesome that instead of writing something super fab myself (I promise, next week…) I am sharing my favorite excerpts from the recent ERE article, 6 Things Hiring Managers Don’t Get About Recruiting.

It’s so true, and honestly, everyone on a hiring team should be reading this – not just those who make the final call.

How we hire people says a lot about our company culture in general – so hiring teams, think about how you are representing during this whole thing (or, as I mentioned in a post last month, put yourself in their shoes), and applicants, take note of the process as you determine if this is where you want to be (remember your intuition!) .

With that, here are some of the stellar points made in the article…

• There’s no silver bullet
  Some hiring managers will consider only the most perfect candidate. The candidate must have the correct degree, must live within a commutable distance, must have the right niche of skills, must have international experience, must be willing to work for “x” amount of dollars, must love ping pong, and must be able to juggle three cats while riding up a ramp backwards on a unicycle…Your dream engineering candidate…believe it or not might not live within 20 miles from your headquarters. Train and be flexible on relocation if you want your silver bullet. Additionally, if the candidate doesn’t have the degree you want but beaucoup experience in the field then defer to the experience and take advantage of their real-world skills.
• Don’t procrastinate
  Hiring managers are hot to fill their open positions, yet they may take four days to review the resumes passed their way, another week to schedule the interview, and another two weeks after meeting with the candidate to decide if they want to bring the candidate in for another interview. What hiring managers don’t realize is that the superstar candidate is also entertaining offers from other companies and their procrastination might lose them their top draft pick.
• Why the candidate should work for you
  Hiring managers often approach recruiting as though they are speaking to a candidate with seven children in college all of whom need braces and brain surgery. In other words they think most candidates certainly want, if not need, to work for them and thus approach the candidate with a “what can you do for me” attitude rather than “here’s-why-you-should-want-to-work-for-us” attitude… Tell the candidate why they should want to work for your company, and most importantly why they should want to work for you. Don’t assume your job is the Holy Grail for which candidates have long been searching.
• “And the sign says ‘long haired freaky people need not apply”
  “If you don’t walk like me or talk like me then odds are you won’t be successful in this organization.”  This often-misguided attitude delays the hiring process and the hiring manager’s odds of finding that superstar candidate. The engineer who designed the Mars Rover landing wears two earrings.