The Career Tree Network Blog

I’m reading “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson.  It’s a book that explores how technology has enabled organizations to profitably cater to niche audiences.  My favorite example is Blockbuster Video vs. Netflix.  Blockbuster can only have a certain amount of movies on their shelves so they carry about 3,000 of the most popular movies at any given time.  Netflix is not limited by shelf space and carries 90,000 movies.  Customers of Netflix prefer the opportunity to rent vintage and niche movies that are not easily found elsewhere.  These movies are widely unpopular but yet still do have an audience.  In this case, the long tail refers to the many “unpopular” movies carried by Netflix that greatly contribute to their success.

Career Tree Network websites fall within the long tail of on-line recruitment.  Thanks to the Internet, we can design and build specialized websites targeted to very small audiences.  The Career Tree Network offers Wisconsin’s Health Care employers a niche tool to source a specific group of candidates.  Conversely, health care professionals can enjoy a solution tailored precisely to meet their needs. 

The concept of leveraging technology to profitably serve niche audiences is an important trend in today’s business climate.  It is exciting to be operating at the front line with a business model that would not have been feasible a few years ago. 

The world is complicated and there are many things in competition for your time, money and attention. For example, most grocery stores seem to carry about 30 different varieties of Peanut Butter!

Go to www.yahoo.com and then www.google.com. Which do you prefer? The search results are basically the same, so why is Google an almost guaranteed winner? You’ll notice that the Google homepage is much more streamlined. No advertisers. No suggestions of articles to read or videos to watch. There is only an empty box waiting for your commands.

It’s my theory that if “Simple” and “Complicated” went to battle…Simple would always win.

At Career Tree Network, we want to make it simple for candidates and employers to connect through our organization. The secret to our approach lies in our extreme focus. Rather than trying to be pretty good many people, we want to be an excellent resource for a very small group. Each of our websites only covers career opportunities for a single health care job title in Wisconsin. We don’t work with third party recruiters to avoid duplication of job postings. We don’t have distracting banner ads on any of our pages.

As we become Wisconsin’s marketplace for health care careers, I’m convinced that the concept of simplicity must play a large role in our strategy.

Have you ever chosen the wrong line at the supermarket check-out? Have you ever called a customer service line and had to wait to speak to an agent? Have you ever been to the DMV and “took a number”? Have you ever been late for a flight and were forced to stand idle in the security line?

Most people would agree that waiting sucks!

You don’t like to wait and neither do your candidates.

As an organization, your interview process must be focused on speed. Swiftly move candidates through your process and communicate frequently with them.

I challenge you to determine the average length in days of your current interview process and then to reduce it by 50%. What steps can be eliminated? Does the candidate really need to meet with everyone on your list? Why does it take your vendor three days for a background check? Do all offer letters need to go through the legal department?

A streamlined process will reduce your time-to-fill statistics and will also increase candidate engagement.

If you’re familiar with Milwaukee, you may have visited a local restaurant here called Real Chili. The establishment has been in business since 1931 and they’ve tried hard to change very little over their 78 years of business.

It’s no surprise that chili is the main menu item that people order. Sure they have a couple of non-chili offerings, like a hamburger or salad, but nearly everyone goes there for the chili. You don’t go to a Chinese restaurant for the chicken fingers, and you don’t go to Real Chili for a garden salad!

Let’s apply this concept to your organization. An Employee Value Proposition (EVP) relates to the value that an employee receives from an organization. In order to understand your EVP, think about how your employees would answer these questions:

1. What is the best thing about your organization?
2. Why did you submit your resume to work here?
3. What factors contributed to your decision to accept the job offer?
4. What do you most enjoy about working here?
5. What do you least enjoy about working here?

Just as Real Chili is a bad place for a vegetarian, your organization is probably a bad place for a certain group of people. On the flip side, based on your Employee Value Proposition (EVP), your organization is also a great place for a different group of people.

Let’s take an example. Suppose you are trying to hire a receptionist for your office. Your organization only has seven employees and as a result the advancement opportunities are slim. An ideal candidate would not be an individual who is looking to move up the corporate ladder, because your company does not have a ladder to climb. During the interview a candidate asks about opportunities for promotion and career pathing. How would you answer these questions?

Real Chili is not developing new menu items to attact vegans and this organization should not try to persuade a candidate that they can easily get promoted.

This example brings up two points that I’m trying to make:
1. Your organization can not be all things to all people. It has strengths and weaknesses that will attract or repel certain types of candidates.
2. If you know your strengths, you can then use those to your advantage when recruiting candidates.

A few weeks ago my wife and I went to Strawberry Festival in Cedarburg, WI. We went on the final day of the event and arrived at 4pm, the festival was closing at 6pm. With such a brief amount of time we quickly walked around to the various points of interest. It was a warm day and we were getting thirsty, so we walked in the nearest beer tent. As we approached the counter a random festival patron stopped us and said, “You really shouldn’t buy beer here.  There is a booth around the corner that is getting rid of their beer by selling it for $1.” He proceeded to enthusiastically give us directions to that other booth.

Sure enough, we walked over to the other booth and got two large beers for one dollar each! It was indeed an exciting find, especially when a beer that size would normally cost $7.

This random festival patron who shared the good deal with us did not benefit financially from our purchase. Why would he care if we saved money on our beer? Why should he go around telling people that cheaper beer is available at a certain booth? Why was he so excited to give us directions?

If you’re familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point”, this guy would fall in to the “Connector” category. Connectors are people who find enjoyment in sharing information with others. They like to help people and are willing to approach strangers to share an exciting piece of information. In the book he names Paul Revere as a prime example of a Connector.

From a recruitment perspective, your organization can benefit from the work of Connectors. These people are willing to share positive information and direct candidates to learn more about the great things happening at your organization.

Getting random people to help recruit candidates for an organization can be fairly simple. The secret is to purposely do something that prospective employees would find very interesting or unique. It could be offering an innovative benefit, having a fun dress code, incorporation of cutting edge technology, social or environmental responsibility programs, etc.

So here is a question for your next staff meeting….what can your organization do to excite Connectors and get people talking? There are many possibilities, just don’t offer $1 beer….that’s already been done.