Personalising job
recruitment
for both clients and candidates
- creating a quality experience
a thinkpiece from pjb
Associates
The
web has revolutionised the way that job-seeking candidates can have access
to vacancies and the way companies – the clients of recruitment agencies can
display their employment needs. But, has the process of selecting candidates
actually become any easier and more efficient? Are job-seekers effectively
using their time find a job that meets their aspirations?
For
both questions the answer is most likely to be - No. Think of the current
scenario - a company or a recruitment agency posts a job online Thursday
afternoon but by Monday morning it may have received perhaps three or four
hundred applications if not more. Online submission of applications has
encouraged job-seekers to become more speculative and perhaps focus on
quantity rather than quality. It’s easy to submit a CV online although it
does require some effort to modify it to the needs of the specific job
specification. However, when a candidate does send off their CV it will join
the same pile of modified and unmodified CVs. This results in the company or
recruitment agency spending less and less time looking at each job
application as they go through the sifting process to try to identify
suitable candidates. And, of course, the candidate rarely receives any
feedback if they were unsuccessful.
Mass access
Increasingly, people
will be turning to the web as the prime means of accessing information about
jobs and the TV will also become another important means of accessing
information through broadband TV that will create a personalised
information-on-demand environment. Personalised job information is already
starting to be pushed out to mobile devices via SMS. With a few key presses
from a mobile phone it will be possible to send a CV that is already stored
online remotely. In fact, several versions could be stored remotely enabling
the candidate to select the one that is most appropriate for the job
application.
OK,
companies do have ways of reducing speculative job applications. They may
insist on filling in a paper-based application form or an online application
form. It’s difficult to assess the impact of such a process on the quality
of applications. However, it’s certainly a frustrating exercise for
candidates and perhaps does not encourage them to think that they are
applying for a job in a 21st century company.
Discrimination
In many countries
there are strict laws and procedures that job recruiters need to follow when
selecting candidates. For example, in the UK,
job-seekers are protected from being treated differently because of their
sex or marital status during all parts of the recruitment
process under the Sex Discrimination Act. Similarly, under the Race
Relations Act people must not be discriminated against at any
point when applying for a job because of their race, nationality or ethnic
origins.
Quality Experience
So how can the whole
process of job match-making be turned into a quality experience for both the
candidate and the client as well as have procedures in place that ensure the
job selection process is objective and compliant with current and possible
future legislation?
Certainly, some software tools are already available that help to recruiters
manage the whole process of dealing with a job application. However, few
appear to exist to improve and enhance the process for job-seekers – that
really create a quality experience for them. Is this important for companies
and recruitment agencies? The answer should be - Yes. Job flexibility will
increasingly become the norm – creating a continuing flow of job movements.
Companies that can really show they care as much for their potential
employees as well as their existing employees are more likely to attract the
better candidates.
How can this be done?
Create a situation
that allows potential candidates to easily self-select whether they might be
suitable for the job on offer and provide them with on-going automated help
and advice - to a point where they either opt-out of the application process
because they have been able to identify their skill deficiencies or they
continue to apply. This can be done by better utilising the many hours
already spent devising the job specification and articulating it into a
series of questions that will enable the candidate to better understand
essential criteria for the job and indicate whether they have such skills
and competences. It also adds more structure and objectivity to the
selection process and is also likely to change the behavioural habits of
candidates as they will know that there is a legal record of all their
answers.
Simple
to use, flexible software tools already exist to enable this process to be
done quickly without any programming expertise and easily adding sets of
questions that might have previously been prepared for another job. They can
be accessed online or through a telephone call by the candidates. In
addition, these tools also enable an audit trial to be created not only for
the candidate, but also for the company – who will then be able to show that
they have been compliant with discrimination laws – at least in this part of
the selection process.
Anonymously aggregating the results for one type of job could also provide
useful data for training companies helping them to better understand
training needs. Unsuitable candidates could opt-in to receive further
information of training opportunities. If it is proving to be difficult to
get suitable candidates, the job criteria could be modified and “rejected”
candidates who were OK up to a specific point could be invited to re-apply
again – thus filtering can be modified at any stage of the process.
Critically, exceptional people can be rapidly identified and be fast-tracked
through the selection process before they might be “lost” to another
company.
Gaining a competitive advantage
Overall, by using
these software tools, the process of applying for a job and selecting
suitable candidates becomes a more engaging and interactive experience. It
not only helps to save time on the selection process for the company but
also enables candidates to better self-select which jobs they should apply
for, as well as getting automated feedback of their strengths and weaknesses
for a specific job – something they rarely get when they actually apply for
a job – never mind part way through the process.
As
well as the potential cost saving benefits for companies and recruitment
agencies it will also give them a competitive advantage over their rivals –
as they will be able to select appropriate staff more efficiently and
effectively and from potentially higher quality candidates who will be
attracted to this interactive process.
This paper - a thinkpiece - has been produced by Peter
J. Bates, Senior Partner of pjb Associates. The aim of this thinkpiece
is to stimulate discussion and thinking around these emerging issues.
If you think that pjb Associates can further help your
company or organisation better understand these issues and the software
tools available please contact
us.
You may freely distribute this thinkpiece so long as you acknowledge its
source. It can also be found at
http://www.pjb.co.uk/thinkpiece5.htm . Further thinkpieces will be
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http://www.pjb.co.uk/thinkpieces.htm
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Contact Senior Partner - Peter Bates for a
discussion by email pjb@pjb.co.uk or
telephone +44 1353 667973
