Is your recruitment process slick, or does it lose you great candidates or even damage your brand?

As an employer here is what to do.

1. Write captivating and motivating advertisements about what you want
2. Respond to applications in a timely manner
3. Have an objective set of criteria from which to shortlist
4. Keep the interview process down to a maximum of 4 weeks
5. Ask relevant questions during the interview
6. Give feedback during the application process
7. Make sure to not ask biased questions or make assumptions based on gender, age, nationality etc
8. Prepare for the interview
9. Offer a salary that is on par or higher than advertised
10. Understand what is important to the applicant

Career Arc surveyed 1200 people, if you are involved in recruitment, here are some results you need to be aware of:

• Nearly 60% of candidates have had a poor candidate experience.
• 72% of those candidates have shared their bad experience online or with someone directly.
• 60% of employers have read at least one piece of online negative feedback about their applicant process.
• Candidates who are NOT informed of the status or decision of their application are 3.5x less likely to re-apply to that company that declined them.

One of our clients just lost a candidate after three interviews; the reason – it took too long and the candidate knew there was one other hurdle still to jump, in the meantime another company interviewed the person twice, made an offer and got a contract out and signed all in 10 days. The irony is that the candidate preferred the other role, but it was taking too long and there was no guarantee of success!!

Another hard to find engineering candidate, had two interviews with a client over a protracted period of time. It was mutual appreciation – for the role and the candidates skills. Despite the process dragging out longer than it should, the candidate was still very keen until the hiring organisation offered him $10k less than he was currently on. Needless to say, they lost the candidate. The candidate was so disappointed. Not only has the organisation lost a good candidate, they also damaged their brand.

Maybe it’s time you did an audit of your recruitment processes or had a fresh pair of eyes provide you with a diagnostic and recommendation on ways to improve your attraction & recruitment process. If you need any help, contact us, we have a terrific diagnostic process.

It frustrates those of us who genuinely believe in diversity and inclusion, that hiring managers still think like this. Many know not to say this out loud, but they still only hire the ’30 year old man’ despite being presented with a diversity of candidates. 

For anyone who thinks about a type when they are recruiting, I challenge you to break outside of this thinking and hire someone based on their skills and attitude, not their sex, age or culture.  As the world becomes faster paced, more global, diversity of thinking is vital to enable our organisations to grow and become agile. Diversity of thinking doesn’t come from more of the same!

Sometimes hiring the person that challenges us for what ever reason is exactly the right thing to do – sometimes we need to lean into what we fear for us to develop & learn. If that means hiring someone with pink hair, is gay, is Muslim, is female, is disabled – whatever that is, be open to see the person – we are all different even if we look similar, underneath we all bleed red, so see what’s inside not what’s outside.

Next time you think you want to hire a 30 year old man – please take into account all of the above.

For recruitment advice, 

To be a good sales person you therefore need to embrace technology and use it to your advantage. Further, you need to constantly seek to learn and be curious, ask good questions and be an active listener.  Having the ability to listen, genuinely being interested in having your client’s/ customers best interests at heart, understanding their problems or opportunities and being realistic about your ability to add value, is key. 

“People don’t buy products they buy solutions to their problems” 

It important to remember that you will never understand your client’s business half as well as they do, so failing to ask intelligent questions will leave you behind your competition.
 
Just as everyone is different, such as; extraverts, introverts, detailed people, those who are facts and figures focused, big picture people, those with auditory preferences (like to hear things), visual preferences (like to imagine solutions) or kinesthetic preferences (feels things, relies on gut feel), sales people can also be successful in many different guises.  At Selection Partners, for example, we personality test everyone who works for us, and within our merry band of consultants I think we have every personality box ticked.
 
If personality isn’t what makes someone good at sales, what does then? When I googled, there literally thousands of articles (743,000 in fact) detailing the traits or attributes of good sales people.
 
Many of the traits or attributes apply to many roles not just sales such as;

• Empathy
• Problems solving
• Self-awareness
• Optimism
• Imitative
• Resourceful
• Personable
• Honesty
• Coachable
• Resilience
 
Whilst all of the above are important, for me what I see as the most important traits which make a good sales person is; showing up and doing what you need to do to be successful every day. Focusing on the activities that make you successful even when you don’t feel like it.  Being tenacious, being diligent and showing up at work being passionate about the job. Treating every conversation like your life depends on it, for me is what makes someone good at sales.
 
Being a good sales person has less to do with ability, and more to do with choice.  Someone with two years of sales experience for example, can significantly outperform someone with ten years’ experience, if they do what needs to be done more often and consistently. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”.
 
If you choose to spend your time doing the ‘right things’ then you will be a good, if not a great sales person. It’s really simple, and I watch it unfold every day at work.

My first year classes were full of passionate, altruistic people looking to establish a career protecting the oceans wildlife. We all wanted to save the whales and the turtles!

As our university careers progressed, the commercial realities of our chosen career paths started to sink in. There is no (or very, very little) income to be made in protecting wildlife. Period.
The majority of qualified marine biologists do not work in their profession. The ones that do are in aquaculture (the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for human consumption), or R&D – whether this be searching for a cure for cancer or the new ‘Viagra’. This is not what they set out to do. Alas, with time, ideals fade and economic necessity takes over.

I work in Recruitment and Search because I am truly passionate about, and love this industry. It’s a positive industry; but constantly battling a barrage of negative publicity. Let me explain.

Recruitment is positive! In essence, we assist companies drive forward by helping them find select talent to take them to the next level. Alternatively we are also helping individuals take the next step in their career; usually with higher salary and more fulfilling challenges than their previous role. Win-win!

So why the bad publicity?

Again, sometimes economic necessity takes over, right? Well, it shouldn’t! Economic or other stresses and pressure should not jeopardise the standards of the service we provide to our clients and candidates. These are simple staples of our industry:

• Speak the truth, and offer transparency around your process.
• Keep open lines of communication. People need to be informed and kept up to date.
• Maintain your empathy. Filling a role is not just a statistic and a commission. These are people with goals, ambitions, families and mortgages. If they are unsuccessful, they don’t need your pity, but they do expect and should receive your professionalism.
• Build quality relationships with your clients and your candidates. These people will truly value your relationship, your knowledge and professional courtesy. Given the opportunity, these people will want to help you also.

The recruitment industry changes dramatically between quiet and busy times but we, as recruiters, should not. There is no excuse for sending unsolicited CV’s to companies. The candidates don’t want that, and neither do the clients. This is without a doubt the fastest way to burn reputations for all parties – especially yours! This however, does not mean you can’t float. Floating a good quality candidate to a client when you have relationships on both sides, and permission to do so is a completely different scenario.

So what has Marine Biology taught me about recruitment?

Always stay true to your core beliefs and values, and don’t sell out for sight of making a quick gain. No matter how many of those around you do.

Late last year I was lucky to be a guest at a Board Meeting of the Asia Pacific Logistics Federation (APLF) in Sydney.  What stood out for me was the cooperation between a dozen countries and their thirst for learning.  It was interesting that as the media was reporting about tensions between China and Japan,  I observed the current Chair who was from China, hand over to Japan (as per there constitution), only for Japans representative to reply that China was doing such a good job, that they should Chair the Federation for another term.

This got me thinking, politics and the media sometimes sets the tone for a country, but below that, at operational level, we just get on with it and get things done.  This is especially true across the broader supply chain.  As a recruiter I talk to many people; over the last five years it is fair to say that the supply chain industry has done more with less people.  As human beings we cope.  But, here is the kicker, we keep looking back, waiting for that moment when we get back to the way things were 5 years ago.  Pardon the pun, but that ship has sailed!

We are living in exponential times.  As a human race we have never seen change at this rate, from personal technology to industrial relations and global trade.  We are doing the same things we did five years ago faster and more efficiently but with less people.  Yet, unemployment has remained virtually unchanged during this time in our region.  And, our shopping malls are still full. 

Where does it end?  That I am not sure about, but here are some changes that are happening right now.  Having more than one job, having two or three part time jobs instead of just one while maintaining a successful career;  working over 7 days and a 24 hour cycle.  Why do we need to be in an office between 9am and 5pm, if our customers or suppliers work in a different time zone?  We are also starting to think about utilising our road and rail assets; working nights instead of days, or a mix of both.

What do you think?  Let us know your thoughts.   

 Danny Busija

au.linkedin.com/in/dannybusijaexecutiverecruiter