With all the prospecting, sourcing, and job-posting you can do, when it comes down to it, you can't hire the right person until the right person is located.
How can you consistenly keep the good applicants around until you need them? The answer is more simple than you think. A job-seeker reminds us how.
Often, if you have hiring opportunities, and a good reputation in your community (physical and virtual), you will get quite a few talented people pinging you for current jobs or applying for openings listed on your boards.
Murphy's Law dictates that the percentage of applicants for any given position--say oranges--will go up dramatically the day after the position is filled.
"Gee," you think to yourself as you scan your inbox. "Where were all these oranges last month when I needed them? ...I already hired my orange. Right now, I need apples."
But, in our haste to find the apples, hiring managers often throw the baby out with the bathwater and lose access to all those incredible oranges... who you will, surely, hire for again sometime.
Job-seeker Bridget Sumser (apparently daughter of recruiting guru John Sumser) shared a simple and clear way to help attract and retain qualified people who want to work for you--are interested in working for you--but you may or may not be actually hiring that position right now.
Her clue? Respond.
I wish I could say my job search has been a piece of cake. Or even enjoyable. As a individual who holds the value of human communication highly, it is disheartening to send your resume, cover letter and references into the black whole of the internet. There isn't the satisfaction of handing a person your crisp resume. No eye contact. No thank you.
I can't even tell you what a difference it makes to get the quick, automatic response from the company recruiter saying they have received my information and resume and will get back to me. What a concept. Responding to the audience who is interested in working for you.
The opposite experience, no noise on the other end, is frustrating. And to be honest, its more than frustrating. Its rude. In a day and age when automated responses take five minutes to set up, it seems fairly unprofessional to not use them. An automated response is way better than nothing. And at least gives the appearance that you care about the people applying to you. [From ERN - Electronic Recruiting News - 9/29/06 See full-article]
I can't even tell you what a difference it makes to get the quick, automatic response from the company recruiter saying they have received my information and resume and will get back to me. What a concept. Responding to the audience who is interested in working for you.
The opposite experience, no noise on the other end, is frustrating. And to be honest, its more than frustrating. Its rude. In a day and age when automated responses take five minutes to set up, it seems fairly unprofessional to not use them. An automated response is way better than nothing. And at least gives the appearance that you care about the people applying to you. [From ERN - Electronic Recruiting News - 9/29/06 See full-article]
Once again, the golden rule (ahem, apparently now referred to as "The Ethic of Reciprocity") wins out--treat people how you'd like to be treated, and it will pay you dividends.
I sent out resumes to 29 recruiters earlier this year. And I got replies from about 3 or 4. I could not believe that people in the "people business" didn't even have the respect to reply back to me. Aside from the 5 min's that Bridget mentions, it takes 60 seconds to say "Thanks for your resume... right now we don't have anything that matches your skills but I will keep you in mind as we get new opportunities."
As a job seeker can get discouraged at the super-low rate of response, it seems that responding with a simple e-mail would give you (as a recruiter) the opportunity to win them over for life (and, if someone asks them if they know a good recruiter, who do you think they are going to mention?).
Sounds like an opp to engage them for the long run. Wonder I so many recruiters don't do it.
Posted by: Jason Alba | October 2, 2006 10:13 AM | Permalink to Comment