That Job Guy Dot Com

Right out of the gate I’d like to say thank you to HR departments across the country.  You take a lot of flack from all angles and are generally looked at as a “necessary evil”.  You are charged with managing benefits, dealing with employee retention, listening to ridiculous (and not so ridiculous) employee complaints, keeping up with the ever-moving regulatory targets, you get to play “grim reaper” during downsizing.  You have to train the staff, manage employee relations, work with team building and organizational development, and on and on and on.  You guys (and gals) have a lot on your plate.  Oh, you also have to find people.  Talent acquisition.

One of our recruiters has a Masters Degree in Human Resources Management and I asked her how much emphasis was on talent acquisition in her program.  The answer didn’t shock me – virtually no time is spent on sourcing talent.  I’ve asked several people with HR degrees the same question and the answer is usually the same.  Very little to no time is spent in HR course curriculum on finding top talent.  The reason job seekers look at HR as a “roadblock” is because they have so many tasks that dealing with the influx of resumes often is not a priority.  Hiring managers are frustrated with HR because often (not always, but often) the HR person isn’t a trained screener.  They look for the right buzzwords and pass along unqualified people.  It happens every single day.  Its one of the reasons contingency & retained search firms exist – because they ARE trained to identify top talent.

If you’re a job seeker you’ve probably been counseled to do what you can to bypass HR and get direct to the decision makers.  And that is good advice. If you can sell the hiring manager you’ll get the job.  But you will have to deal with HR at some point.  The hiring manager may already have your resume, but HR wants you to fill out an application.  That’s SOP.  Don’t be annoyed.  When you get the job there’s going to be policies and procedures in place that you think are silly, but they are in place for a reason.  Believe me, potential employees are being judged at every step.  A poorly filled out application does not serve your purposes.   They’re going to have hoops to jump through and if you want the job you need to jump through them.

Job seekers – remember that the HR department is staffed by people, and for the most part people care and want to do a good job so don’t be too hard on them.

With that being said, no post about HR would be complete without voicing my opinions on how HR people can set themselves apart from the stereotype.  (Like it or not, there is almost a universal negative stereotype of HR).  My area of expertise is talent acquisition and that’s where my suggestions will focus.  Here’s some things I think HR can do to improve their reputation with both job seekers and hiring managers.

1. Know what the hiring manager needs.  Don’t just look for buzzwords on the resume and pass it along, or worse yet, pass along EVERY resume you receive.  I know there is a lot of talk about “partnering” with your internal staff, but based on what I see out of HR departments in the form of job specifications there’s not a lot of that going on in the market.  Yes, the hiring manager can be as much (or more) to blame for that, but it is HR’s responsibility to find the best talent for an open position and that requires regular communication.
2. Write a job spec that speaks to the actual job.  Don’t just list the necessary skills, describe the tasks & responsibilities of the job.  Tell job seekers what they would be doing in addition to the skills they’ll need to successfully perform the job.  The  more information you can provide a job seeker the higher quality of information you’ll receive back in the form of cover letters and resumes.
3. Ditch the generic job post information.  “Must have excellent communication skills”  is in nearly every job post I’ve seen.  Are you going to hire someone that can’t communicate?  I didn’t think so.  If you want to attract the top talent you need to stand out from the other job postings.  Be creative.  Check out Lou Adler – that guy knows how to recruit talent.
4. Understand you are the “face” of your company to potential employees.  If you want to attract top talent you need to be responsive.  Return calls & emails, even if someone isn’t qualified.  It goes a long ways in building your employment brand and guess what – that person who doesn’t fit the job may know someone who does.  Referrals are a great source for quality candidates.
5. When someone applies to your company they want to hear back from you.  They’ve taken time to read your job specification & navigate your online application process.  Don’t just send a generic “thanks for applying, your resume is under review and we will be in touch if we feel you are a candidate worth considering” email.  In a small company the HR person should be able to personally respond to every application, and they should.  I understand in a big enterprise that’s not possible, however, you can have a well-authored email back to the person thanking them for their application and offering something that will help them.  Links to career services sites.  Links to professional & trade organizations in your industry.  Invitations to tour your facility (if those are offered).  Even though it’s an automated response, you can put their first name in the reply and make it sound more personal than the usual “thanks but no thanks” brush-off.
6. For goodness sake, when someone comes in to interview FOLLOW UP WITH THEM.  Even if you’ve decided to hire someone else you can’t leave people hanging.  Go back and read #4 for the reason this is important.
7. This is probably the most important bit of advice I can offer HR people in terms of talent acquisition.  Everyone has been unemployed at one point or another.  Understand the emotions, stress, and uncertainty of that situation.  Put yourself in the shoes of a job seeker and treat them like you’d want to be treated if the roles were reversed.  Your next professional relationship could be the most important one of your life.  Its a two-way street.

Putting the human back in Human Resources means everyone understands things from the other person’s point of view.  It means that we treat each other like we would want to be treated.  We don’t think of HR as a roadblock or of candidates & employees as a nuisance. We’re all in this together.