Today’s recruitment process is deeply flawed
What’s on today's recruitment menu? For starters: wasted time, damaged reputations and tears of frustration.
What’s on today's recruitment menu? For starters: wasted time, damaged reputations and tears of frustration.
Lies, damned lies and statistics: it's easy to reject the latest survey or research report if you don't like the message, particularly if the data isn't transparent or very robust. But when the same message is heard time and again from many sources, it's hard to ignore. The message is not a new one and, depressingly, it's not changing as fast as it should: today's recruitment process is deeply flawed for everyone involved - applicants, recruiters and the line managers needing the people. The impact is enormous and can be felt across brand reputation, productivity and profitability, budgets and bottom lines, not to mention the morale and energy of all the parties involved. What's going on? Why? What's to be done about it?
The ingredients for some disastrous dishes
Local or global recession, a larger and more educated talent pool than at any time in history chasing the same number or fewer jobs, the demise of the job-for-life culture, an increasingly mobile and global workforce, multiple routes to applying for a job… around the world, these ingredients, good and bad, can be combined in various ways to produce an unpalatable but familiar menu.
On the menu for today's jobseeker
- 6 seconds - How long the average recruiter will spend looking at an applicant's CV. How do even the most qualified applicants stand a chance?
- 1 in 20 - The chances of getting any further into the recruitment process for a graduate in the UK today. They can expect to apply for 25 jobs so that means perhaps one call to interview, two if they're lucky. No chance of paying off their loans anytime soon!
- 16% - The number of graduates in the UK who'll apply for over 100 jobs. And the more jobs they apply for, the slimmer will be their chances of success. But with options like these on the menu, can you blame them for their indiscriminate applications?
- 20% - The percentage of employers who will communicate with an unsuccessful applicant. More often than not, applications disappear into a black hole. Even if receipt of their application is acknowledged, that's the last a candidate can expect to hear from 75% of the Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For.
Tasty treats for the recruiter
- From 40 to 200 -The number of applications a UK recruiter can expect to receive for each graduate vacancy. Can these applications really be screened with accuracy and at what cost?
- 61% - The number of UK graduates who confess to lying on their CV to get work. Although arguably such creativity is wasted, if their CV only gets six seconds of eyeball contact….
- 18,524 (an extreme but nonetheless true number) - Applicants who applied for 11 security guard vacancies at El Prado Museum in Madrid earlier this year.
Delicacies for the hiring manager
- 90 seconds - How long it takes an interviewer to determine whether a candidate is a good fit. So what to do with the rest of the 45 minute interview you've scheduled?
- 25% - The percentage of LinkedIn influencers surveyed who confessed to faking an emergency to get out of a bad interview (admittedly, the statistic is a bit shaky as only 43 influencers were surveyed, but you get the picture)
- 1/3 - The proportion of candidates who simply didn't show up for interview with one of our clients (who is surely not alone in this experience). How much time was wasted contacting those candidates for interviews they didn't attend?
To continue with the culinary analogy, how do our diners feel after a meal like this? Perhaps our jobseekers may be tired and disappointed, even angry or resentful at the poor service they've received. Our recruiters are surely bloated by the sheer volumes they've just consumed. Or perhaps a large proportion is left untouched on their plates to be discarded with the kitchen waste? And many hiring managers will be frustrated that the promises of the elaborate menu failed to live up to their expectations, irritated at the wasted time which could have been spent so much more enjoyably at the restaurant down the road. Perhaps over there, they're serving up:
- Smarter social media strategies - Connecting employers with potential employees, harnessing peer networks to connect individual candidates with the most suitable vacancies
- Better careers advice, mentoring and training to prepare jobseekers better for their search
- Smarter screening systems that aren't fooled by judicious use of keywords
- Application processes or systems that handle candidates sensitively and effectively
- Screening tools that guarantee the interviewer a quality shortlist of high-potential candidates.
Have you got any other dishes you’d like to see on the menu?
