The Career Tree Network Blog

Every now and then I get a nice thank you email from a candidate who has found a position through a Career Tree Network website.  I always appreciate these emails and thought it would be nice to post a few of my favorite thank you emails…in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

I’m thankful that our websites have helped so many health care professionals across Wisconsin with their career development and I’m also thankful for your continued support of our mission:   

“I am excited to be a member of PTCareerTree.com. What a great idea and service to put all WI PT jobs in one place!”

“I wish that I had heard about this website earlier, this will make searching for career opportunities a whole lot easier.”

“Thanks for running a very focused and helpful website. I let my new employer know that is where I found his ad and I will share it will any of my colleagues looking for a new opportunity.”

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

Many years ago, the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, had more than its fair share of fires. Most of the buildings were made of wood, and the city literally burned down several times.

Then, in the year 1405, it got smart and created a position of a night watchman to keep an eye on the city and identify fires.

The watchman’s job was to climb the 153 stairs to the top of the cathedral tower and at each hour from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m., he would call out in four directions, C’est le guet; il a sonné l’heure (”This is the nightwatch; the hour has struck”).

Apparently the night watch was effective, because the tradition still continues today!

The buildings in the city are no longer made of wood, and technology has largely eliminated a fire risk. So why does the city still employ a night watchman?

There are probably a few reasons to keep the tradition in place, but I believe that the main reason can be summed up in one word: reassurance.

I’ve never met someone who didn’t enjoy a little reassurance. In this case, the people of Lausanne like the safe and comfortable feeling of knowing that someone is out there keeping an eye on their city.

From a recruitment context, candidates in your hiring process also want reassurance. They’d like frequent updates on the status of their application. They want to know that their resume hasn’t been lost in a black hole. They want to understand the next steps in your interview process. They want to know when they’re no longer being considered.

If you believe that reassurance is important, how can you use that knowledge to improve the candidate experience? What technology can you implement to provide candidates with self-service access to check the status of their application? How can you clearly set the expectation with candidates so that they understand the timetable and steps within your recruitment process? How can you improve your communication with candidates as they move through the stages of your process?

I encourage you to implement a “night watchman” strategy within your recruitment process to provide reassurance and to offer an added level of service to those candidates with an interest to join your team.

A few years ago, there was a great little wine bar in our neighborhood called “The Flying Hicca”. The establishment featured a spectacular variety of wines and also served food. It was a neat concept, but closed down in 2006. I don’t know why it closed, but I would venture to guess that it was due to a lack of sales. (Most widely profitable businesses don’t close.)

Then a few months later, a new wine bar opened up…in the exact same location. That establishment was called “Perpendicular” and unfortunately, it didn’t do so well either. Earlier this year, they also went out of business.

In my opinion, the problem stems from the fact that our neighborhood simply does not need a wine bar. It didn’t matter that the prices were reasonable or that the staff was always very friendly; there were just not enough people who wanted what was offered.

It’s now time for Business 101… If customers don’t have a need for a product or service…they will not buy it.

The owners of the wine bars were probably people who loved wine and always wanted to open a wine bar. I often hear entrepreneurs who say: “Wouldn’t it be neat to open a ___________?”. You can fill in the blank with “bar”, “restaurant”, “book shop”, “coffee shop”, “car wash”, etc.

Many people create a business venture because they just thought it would be a good idea. Ideally they should have done more pre-work before the launch of the business. The process would have started with asking members of the target audience about their needs and then building a business around those needs.

Instead, they were following the “if you build it, they will come” strategy. In truth, you can build anything you want, but people will only come if your product or service fills a need.

So, let’s tie this to recruiting for health care candidates in Wisconsin. In many ways, it’s your job, as a recruiter, to sell your organization to candidates. You need to understand what a candidate needs and then work to show that your organization can meet those needs.

Just like the owners of the wine bar who didn’t understand the needs of the neighborhood, many organizations fail to understand what candidates want. These organizations build recruitment campaigns, compensation structures, benefits packages, etc. and then hope that candidates will come forward and find it valuable.

How can an organization know what candidates need? The best way is to ask them. This can be best accomplished by a survey that would go out to current employees, current candidates, and former candidates (especially those who have turned down offers). The goal with the survey would be to figure out what candidates’ value and how your organization can better meet their needs.

The success of your recruitment efforts lies on your ability to meet candidate needs. Efforts should be made to ensure that what you’re offering to candidates and employees is valued and appreciated.

And please think twice before opening up a wine bar!

A few weeks ago I attended the Wisconsin SHRM Conference in Wisconsin Dells.  At least two of the speakers stressed the importance of leveraging current employees in the recruitment process.  This could involve a facility tour led by a potential co-worker, lunch, interview session, job shadow, etc.  Possibilities are endless…which leads to our INTERACTIVE question of the day… 

How do you involve current employees in your recruitment process? 

If you are reading this via email, click on the blue title, “Question of the Day.”.  This will take you to the blog website.  At the bottom of the page, you can “leave a comment”. 

If you are reading this on the blog website, click “comments” below to leave a response to the question. 

Thanks for making this an interactive experience!