The Career Tree Network Blog

- - I wrote this article for ERE.net. It was originally published on their website earlier today. - -

Here are two scenarios to ponder:

1. You walk in to a car dealership that doesn’t have any salespeople on staff. No one is available to answer your questions. No one will describe the features and benefits of the cars. The only person there is a 17 year old kid working at a cash register. Test driving is prohibited. If you want the car, you simply buy it…like a pack of gum.

2. You are interested to buy a certain house and there is no real estate agent or home owner available. You are told that the process involves first making an offer without the opportunity to see the interior or take a tour. After you make an offer, then you can enter the home.

The reason why these scenarios seem funny is because when making a big decision, information gathering is critical. In these situations people need information, reassurance and probably even some hand holding to feel comfortable.

And, for big decisions, it’s helpful to gather information from another human being (i.e.: car salesperson or real estate agent, etc). We want that personal connection to help guide us and answer our questions.

For most people, finding a new job is another big life decision.

If the human connection is so important, then why do many companies take the cash register approach regarding their talent acquisition strategy?

These companies:
- require that candidates to submit their resume on-line as the first point of contact.
- offer no personal contact for a potential candidate to ask questions.
- will not allow for a site visit until a candidate is already at a final interview stage.
- never respond to candidates emails or phone calls.
- do not list a contact person on job postings.

All of this builds to our questions of the day:

1. How can a candidate be genuinely interested in an open position without having an opportunity to fully research your organization?

2. How can you possibly attract top talent if you don’t offer a real person to serve as a recruitment contact?

Don’t treat your recruitment process like that car dealership with a cash register. Rather, incorporate your recruitment staff in the front end of your process to fill your funnel with enthusiastic candidates.

A couple is on a first date at a fancy restaurant. After dinner the guy gets down on one knee and proposes. The girl says no, gets up to go to the bathroom and never returns.

The guy is left alone at the table, wondering what went wrong…

The date started out well. He picked her up on time, told her about his strengths, and outlined his plans for the future. He described what he could offer and shared all the benefits that being his wife would provide.

This example is a little outlandish…and while I’ve never heard of this happening in real life, I would argue that something similar is happening within your organization’s hiring process.

Think about the job description that you have posted right now on a Career Tree Network website. You describe the position, share the benefits and expect that candidates are going to come rushing forward to profess their “love” for your organization by sending in their resume.

In my opinion, the job description is really just the first step. It opens the door for a relationship to begin….the key is to use the job posting so that it encourages candidates to learn more about your company and the open positions. Rather than asking for candidates to submit a resume, perhaps you can develop some alternate ways that a candidate can build a relationship with your organization. This could include following you on Twitter, becoming a fan of your organization on Facebook, adding their email address to your monthly recruitment newsletter, etc.

Just as most girls will decline the first date proposal…most candidates will not want to read a job description and immediately submit their resume. There must be other avenues so that you have a method to nurture those relationships.