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What Myths Does Your Company Believe in Recruiting and Talent Management

My first training in how to interview and select people to hire was a five day course by a well-known organization. My company was known for its management development so it was a shock the first day to learn that what I really needed to do to hire effectively: learn all I could about the applicant’s father, his work history and education, and the relationship with his son before I asked one question about the son who had applied to work with us. The best-selling book we used and its author were venerated. The instructors were quite shocked that I did not buy into this well-regarded, long accepted interviewing and assessment process. And, no, this was not in 1918.

Ask yourself:

• What recruiting and hiring methods does your company employ that need to be reviewed for current validity?
• When was the last time you did a complete review of the process and tactics?
• Do you list your jobs across many sites in an effort to enhance your AAP and show outreach without recently evaluating how effective each is?
• Or you use every current technology to find, contact, assess, and manage candidates yet have not fully prepared your hiring managers and recruiters for the real human interaction needed to attract and retain employees?
• How do your compensation and benefits practices fit into your hiring process? Is there interaction between those programs and recruiting? Are your practices tied to current market data?

CareerBuilder and Silk Road did a survey on the recruitment process. These results caught my attention.

82% of applicants expect companies to provide a timeline for hiring and keep them updated throughout the employment process.

Yet, everyday applicants are discussing with others and online – How

• their resumes go into a black hole
• the application process was cumbersome and repetitive
• they interviewed, often multiple times, and never heard back
• a hiring manager promised a job offer, then both the recruiter and hiring manager stopped contact and could not be reached.

68% of candidates think that the hiring process reflects how a company treats staff.

Yet, many companies have inward focused processes rather than those that support stated company values. Too many have not trained their hiring managers in how to hire effectively. In the cleared space there are also those who expect their recruiters to work both regular business days plus all the nights and weekends it takes to connect with people who cannot use personal phones, email, or social media at work.

Who Works for Your Company?

One of the most effective methods of finding the right applicants is employee referrals. You do have to be careful not to lose diversity – of thought and background as well as in legal terms – with your referral program. But you did train your hiring managers on those aspects, didn’t you? It is in their performance appraisals and bonuses, right? You are seeking employee referrals actively at every step in their employment with you, yes?

We currently have five generations in the workplace.

• Some of the ‘Silents’ are still working in their 70s – are you taking advantage of this resource?
• Boomers (generally accepted as those born 1946 -1964) intend to work into their 70s and an increasing number are. Have you hired anyone in their 40s-50s -60s recently? These people attend a number of Cleared Job Fairs and often lament how few employers even give them a chance. Some are more interested in a technical position than staying in management. Most offer in-demand current skills.
• Gen Xers (1965 – 1980) offer a wide range of skills and expertise yet are finding some employers uninterested as they hit their late 30s.
• Meanwhile, Millennials (1981 – 1997) are still being characterized as ‘kids’ by too many hiring managers who expect them to be demanding or so tech-enamored as to be unable to talk. Or are discounted because their early work experience is less standard than the manager expects – without considering how many of these graduated during the Great Recession.
• While “Gen Z’ (1998 – 2017) are most likely to be your interns or in entry level less-skilled work, they are watching the workplace carefully and evaluating employers ruthlessly on culture, stability, and work-life balance issues.

Many of the stereotypes of ‘generations in the workplace’ are not with the actual applicant or employee. They are driven by stage of life. Issues often result from obsolete hiring manager expectations. We rule people out based on age at almost every stage even when we cloak it in terms like: over-qualified, too expensive, set in his ways, likely to be demanding too soon, job-hopper, and so on.

Hiring managers have some unrealistic expectations when setting out requirements too. I still see job ads that require more years experience than a technology has existed. Or entry level positions that call for several years experience. Many veterans believe that most companies’ veteran hiring programs’ are a PR exercise only – often because they or close friends have had bad experiences with such a program.

Look at the labor force and your needs. Can you really afford to judge people based on ‘their generation’ or obsolete assumptions or using covers for discrimination? Does your system do this – whether by design or not? Do your hiring managers? Surely you have seen the problems with AI in several hiring systems. Do you hide behind the fact that you are a government contractor and blame every issue on government requirements?

We have, in the government contracting world, some excellent talent acquisition people who have built effective programs. We have some C-level executives who understand how critical successful recruiting and hiring and on-boarding practices are to company success. Do they work in your company?

Patra Frame is ClearedJobs.Net’s HR Management Consultant. She is an experienced human resources executive and founder of Strategies for Human Resources. Patra is an Air Force veteran and charter member of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. Follow Patra on Twitter @2Patra.