Corporate Eye

...compare, compete, excel

Careers

The (In)Famous Candidate Experience


500px-Labyrinth.svg

HR provocateur Gerry Crispin asked some good questions recently in The Candidate Experience: Is it just Smoke and Mirrors? The point of his post:  seems like people (on both sides of the process) would take the quality of the candidate experience more seriously if it were really important.  There followed an interesting exchange of opinions from commenters!

Summing up for the majority was recruiter Jerry Albright who puts it this way:  “Know what experience a candidate wants? To be hired. The rest is over-hyped.”

The main argument put forth by the minority:  Badly treated candidates will have a bad opinion of the company.  The majority response:  So what?

Looking over the discussion, I notice that it’s all pretty much about filling positions.  And several people point out that a badly treated candidate who doesn’t get the first job they apply for with Company X will very likely apply for another job at Company X if they think they might get it.  Which is probably true.

Someone notes that a good candidate experience will make for a better employee attitude on the part of the person who does get hired, which also is probably true—but how long will that difference last, and how much of an investment would it be worth?

Another person brings up the golden rule and common courtesy, but there’s not much support for that view either.

A different perspective can be found in Overcomplicating the Candidate Experience, an article posted on the Human Capital Institute blog by talent technology guru Peter DeVries.  His contention:  “Too often, companies create career websites that overcomplicate the candidate experience, making it difficult for candidates to complete one of the most critical activities on a company’s career website: applying for a job.”  DeVries points out several problems . . .

  1. Too many companies still bury the Careers link three or four clicks away from their corporate home page.
  2. Too many companies use unbranded third-party ATCs for the job search and application processes—which means the candidate effectively leaves the corporate site as soon as they start trying to find a job.
  3. Too many companies rarely update the information on their Careers site because the process is too cumbersome.
  4. Poorly designed applications discourage candidates—and don’t even gather good information.

DeVries has some good advice for dealing with these issues.  In fact the advice is so good that it’s worth another post.  So coming up soon, some alliterative alphabet magic:  from the potent potential of APIs for ATSs, to the powerful productivity of the CMS.


(Thanks to metoc for the hand-drawn maze.)

More Skydiving: Adventures in Employer Branding with the U.S. Army


Skydiver 2

There’s anybody-can-do-it skydiving . . . and then there’s “Army Strong” skydiving.  Just take a look at  the illustration on the right for an example of that second category!

Here’s the photo caption:

At a zero angle of attack, better known as a “No Lift Dive,” Sgt. 1st Class Cheryl Stearns, from the U.S. Army Parachute Team Golden Knights, holds her position to build enough air speed to execute the “style set” in a competitive amount of time.

Even for someone (like me) who definitely plans not to jump out of a plane for recreational purposes, this description sounds pretty thrilling.  And it paints a vivid picture of the challenges and achievements offered by an Army career.

A recent post on Top Rank’s Online Marketing blog describes how the Golden Knights are making skilled use of social media.  The GK media gurus invited Top Rank CEO Lee Odden, along with a few other “digerati types,” to make a jump with the Golden Knights—and his account of the experience is great reading, both for armchair adventurers and for HR marketers.

In addition to this clever outreach strategy, the GK organization hits all the social media marks, with its own blog, YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitterstream, and Flickr gallery.  There’s also a Golden Knights section on ArmyStrongStories, where “Soldiers, Cadets and Veterans of every rank, background and MOS are invited to share their unfiltered perspective on daily life in the military.”  The varied materials work together across all these channels to create a strong impression of challenge and reward—exactly the message the Army wants to convey.  And the emphasis on video really strengthens the effect.

All in all, the Golden Knights offer a great example of how to dramatize and distribute a career story.

Still haven’t had enough skydiving thrills?  Visit www.skydive-tv.com for videos of the 2010 USPA competition.  And last—here’s a less-thrilling but totally on-topic blog post from skydiving HR pro Trevor Nagle, SPHR:  Leadership and Skydiving: Lessons in Informed Risk-Taking.


(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army.  Caption by Cpl. Sean Capogreco.)

This Is a Post about Skydiving

Skydiver 1

Actually, it’s a post about the idea of skydiving—and why the word “skydiving” grabs attention so effectively.  I’m thinking about this topic because the following subject line appeared in one of my inboxes:

What skydiving can teach you about attracting clients

I was intrigued!  Maybe (I thought) something about conquering fear would create a new level of self-confidence.  And that would be attractive to potential clients.  Or the exhilaration of the experience would enhance charisma, and that would be attractive to potential clients.

Either of those things might possibly happen, but as it turned out, the email wasn’t actually about lessons from skydiving as applied to client attraction.  The point of the email was:  by relying on expert guidance from the instructor and on the rigorous safety system provided for the event, the author was able to do something (i.e., jump out of an airplane) she couldn’t have done alone.  The email was really an invitation to purchase expert guidance and learn a system for attracting clients.

However!  This is not a post about deceptive or disappointing emails.  I get dozens of emails daily, all from sources (including the skydiver) that I’ve opted into; many of the emails are mildly deceptive/disappointing, but I keep their sources in the mix in case they bring something interesting to my attention.  Most of each day’s mail I don’t even open because I’m pretty sure the content won’t be interesting or informative.  I opened this one because it had a persuasive gimmick:  a “hook” that grabbed my attention.

One way to create a hook is to suggest an unexpected relationship—for example, skydiving + clients.  Another way is to reference one of the topics that appeal to our reptile brains—something about security, sex, power, et cetera.  And now that I notice, the word “attracting” in the skydiving email is actually one of the things that makes the subject line work so well.  (“What skydiving can teach you about getting clients” just isn’t as effective.)

A third component of the irresistible subject line is a buzzword of some kind.  Which brings us back to the allure of skydiving, and why it catches attention.  At a very basic level,  skydiving seems like something that takes courage, but it’s also something that anyone could do if they decided to.  We even hear about centenarians who celebrate by taking a dive–so in some ways it seems like the ultimate rite of passage.  Plus there’s the romance of floating through clouds and the lure of the adrenalin rush . . .

Believe it or not—we’re just halfway through this topic.  So come back for Skydiving Part 2:  Adventures in Employer Branding with the U.S. Army.

 

(Thanks to joebaz for the great skydiver shot!)

July Wrap-up


Beautiful Rose

Summer slowed down the posting for Careers in July, so this month the Wrap-up offers a few items that didn’t make it online.

A Note about Certifications

There’s a long-standing debate about whether certifications have real, practical importance.  Does professional certification increase someone’s worth in the marketplace—or is it mainly a source of revenue for the certification provider?  (Check out this lively international discussion for multiple perspectives on IT certification.)

From the individual’s perspective, there are some good reasons to consider certification:

  • Preparing for exams provides the chance to review information, assess strengths and weaknesses, and maybe even learn something new.
  • Passing exams and obtaining a certification can be a confidence booster.  Success feels good!
  • On the other side of the coin, failing an exam could be a needed wake-up call for folks who have been overestimating their skill level.

Although having a certification won’t magically double your market value or ensure a promotion—those initials after your name actually may add a little heft to business cards and resumes.

So for those who can afford the time/effort/money, and don’t expect a miracle, certification can make sense.  Unfortunately—no certifications available yet for Brilliant Online Corporate Careers Communication.  But until the BOCCC comes along, there’s the PHR (Professional in Human Relations) and the SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Relations) from the HR Certification Institute.  Visit their blog for a further view into the details.

Revisiting Disability

Recently, the USA marked an anniversary:  twenty years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  For some reflections on the accomplishments since then—along with the gaps that still exist—listen to an NPR conversation:  20 Years After ADA, Accessibility Remains ‘An Evolutionary Process’.  There’s a transcript too.

And for a global perspective, check out the website provided by the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission.  Three good reasons to visit:

  • A colorful and creative design
  • A summary of the Equality Act 2010, as well as a full-text PDF
  • A guide to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD), as well as full-text versions

An Interesting Survey . . .

I’ve just browsed through a new survey being conducted by Aberdeen’s Human Capital Management practice.  I did not answer the questions, since I’m not in their target demographic—but I did get some ideas by reading the questions, so there will be a post in the future.  Meanwhile, see for yourself.  The survey is online for another week or so, and the results will be out in October.


(Many thanks to elbfoto for the “beautiful rose.”)


Phenomenal Facebook


Julia fractal

I am (at last) getting into Facebook.  For some reason, Twitter made sense to me immediately, while Facebook has remained largely a mystery.  But after a few weeks of floundering around, I’m starting to understand a little better.

Biggest help:  Oddly enough, a talk by David Kirkpatrick on BookTV.  Kirkpatrick (formerly senior technology editor at Fortune magazine) is the author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World, which came out just a few weeks ago in the US, and will soon arrive in a UK edition.

Needless to say, The Facebook Effect has its own Facebook page, where you can read an excerpt, watch an interview, and (of course) “like” the book.  More than 5,000 likers so far, and the book is well-ranked on Amazon niche lists for E-Commerce (#3) and Company Profiles (#7).  In addition to an in-depth retelling of the well-known dorm-to-dominance story of Facebook’s creation/evolution, Kirkpatrick provides thoughtful analysis that applies not only to Facebook, but to the whole social media landscape.

The second biggest help in my Facebook education was stumbling over what I now think of as the “friend tripwire.”  As an individual, you can plunk along for quite a while just adding friends occasionally for some seemingly good reason.  Then–you add one well-connected activist, and you find yourself with a generous pile of recommendations and requests.  (If you open the door at this point, you need to understand about lists . . . )

So all of a sudden, I began to think of Facebook as something like a fractal generator—i.e., a self-similar replicating system that creates intricate patterns.  From a slightly different perspective, it’s like a complex system organizing itself in response to initial conditions (“me”) and various attractors (“friends”).

If that works for you, happy to be of service!  But if not it doesn’t matter, because probably everyone finds their own point of entry for Facebook, and no one really needs to think of it beyond the practical applications anyway.  Which brings us to the real point:  Facebook for recruiting.

In 2008, there was a lot of hype around “Facebook for recruiting,” and companies like Jobing and Appirio introduced apps and services to build out that potential.  So far, however, these approaches have not seen spectacular success in performance or adoption . . .

So how is Facebook being used effectively to find talent?  That turns out to be a longer story, so stay tuned for two more installments:  Corporate Recruiting via Facebook (with a useful case study) and Recruiters on Facebook (with some interesting examples).


(And yes, that’s a lovely Julia set, shared by Eequor.)

Summer Fun


Battledore_-_Youthful_Sports

Summer isn’t really less fraught than the rest of the year, but we keep on thinking there’s more time to play during the warmer months . . .

In the spirit of the season, here are a few ideas that have (or at least could have) something to do with careers/recruiting/work/job, with a little fun in the bargain:

  1. Catch up on your reading. If you haven’t already followed last year’s Summer Reading suggestions—why not now?  And add to the list Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist:  The New Rules for Success, a quirky look at what works—and what matters—in today’s employment environment.  Some chapter titles to give you the flavor:  First-Time Managers Do Not Need to Suck; Sex Discrimination Is Everywhere, So Don’t Try To Run; and Getting a Promotion Is So Last Century.
  2. Start your own blog. Seriously.  TypePad is super-friendly, offers dozens of great designs, and gives you a 30-day free trial or even a free microblog.  WordPress also has a free version.  Don’t think about it in terms of an audience–blogging is a great way to talk to yourself!—but if you want to do something more in the professional line, you can start your own blog on ere.net with almost no effort.  (Extra motivation: ere.net bloggers can compete during July to win an iPad.)
  3. Get some business cards. No, not those dull ones you already have a box of.  Some really great ones from MOO.  MOO offers a wonderful array of designs, or you can upload your own images—and every card in your order can have a different design if you want to go nuts.  These cards really do grab attention, so they are worth the small investment.  Use them to invent an extra/alternative version of yourself, start that freelance thing you’ve been thinking about, or add some snap to your professional image.
  4. Organize your life. That’s a big one—but hope springs eternal, so if you’ve already run the gamut of time management methods with no luck, the Pomodoro Technique may be just what you’re looking for.  All you need is one of those kitchen timers that looks like a tomato, plus a free ebook from the Pomodoro website. You’ll either love it or hate it, but you’ll get some fun from the try-out.  And some people say this method worked for them when nothing else did.  (Pomodoro is Italian for “tomato,” by the way.)

Enjoy!  And if you guessed that today’s illustration is from the 1804 edition of Youthful Sports, give yourself ten points.