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THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION IN RECRUITING
A look at how desktop recruiting is changing the way we do business.
REHIRING FORMER EMPLOYEES
Companies are rethinking their policies regarding rehires.
INTERNET RECRUITING
It's as easy as YAHOO.
CENTRALIZED VS. DECENTRALIZED RECRUITING
Which way will work best for your organization?.
TODAYS APPLICANT
It's a new ballgame and today's applicant owns the ball.
In response to the competitive demands of the marketplace, the recruiting function
is finally receiving significant attention with both its hardware and software systems.
The successful recruiter of these times is a desktop recruiter.
Recruiters today are armed with fast and powerful workstations, laptops, modems,
internet access, and scanners to give them the necessary speed and efficiency
to compete for scarce resources. No longer are recruiters suffering with hand
me down 286s or 386s. Pentium PCs with high speed modems are the tools of
the top recruiters.
To process the applicant flow from a myriad of traditional and internet based sources, a
variety of new information management systems have become available with price tags
that are reflective of the widening marketplace for such products. The virtual lock
Resumix and Restrac have had on the market for many years has been broken with new,
more affordable and less complex systems. There are stand alone systems for under $500
and some network systems for less than $5000. Enterprise systems for large, multi
location corporations are still pricey, but again, there are more vendors.
Most companies have, by now, created their web sites with detailed job opportunities
and established links to popular career sites. A few leading edge organizations are
beginning to use the web-based technology to screen and qualify applicants. On-line
applications, tests and pre-screening tools are rapidly entering the fray to further
enhance the ability of the recruiter to quickly identify and process appropriately
qualified candidates.
Another new web tool on the horizon is the resume robot. Soon to be out of beta
testing, these products will allow recruiters to establish their search criteria
for multiple requirements, then turn the robot loose to scour thousands of web
sites overnight and return hundreds or thousands of resumes to their desktop the
next day. Using improved search engines, the recruiter will be able to quickly
sift through to find the few worthy of immediate consideration and referral to
hiring managers.
Some of the newer, productivity enhancing tools and services that are offered
by Washington DC area vendors are CareerBuilder and Alexus. CareerBuilder.com
provides both a job posting mechanism and a work flow management system. Alexus
provides a very affordable outsourcing option that includes scanning and database
management as well as superior database search capabilities and tracking.
Alexus also offers a Networker option which allows companies to selectively
exchange resumes of consenting applicants at a very low cost.
Rest assured, six months from now, there will be many more, new and exciting tools
available.
In an increasingly tight labor market, companies are beginning to rethink their
policies regarding the reemployment of former employees.
Many of the traditional arguments which excluded former employees from rehire are
being seen in a new light. The concern that an employee who left once before may be
likely to do it again may still be valid. However, if there are immediate tasks to be
done and the former employee is both qualified and available, doesn't immediate
production create more revenue than standing firm on a principle?
Of course, there are many who ascribe to the theory that the only way to get ahead
financially in a company is to leave and come back. In our current labor market, there
is more truth to that than we care to admit. However, it's a seller's market, and,
like it or not, it's the way the game is played.
The key to enticing a good, former employee back is to have a trusted former boss or
coworker make a contact and issue a personal invitation. This invitation should be
flattering and sincere, pointing out how much the company valued their contributions
of the past. This will help heal any egos bruised in the previous separation.
Many people will want to return, particularly if they left looking for greener
pastures but only found another patch of weeds. At least they will know what to
expect.
It's as easy as: YAHOO!
With the public stampede toward the internet as the new place to meet and do business,
is it any wonder that it is rapidly becoming the place to both find jobs and find
people for jobs?
This month's internet recruiting tip is how to use Yahoo.com to find resumes with
specific skills.
Through Netscape or Internet Explorer, enter the URL for Yahoo,
http://search.yahoo.com/search/options and you'll reach the search input screen.
Click in the box on the left of the word Search and enter your search criteria.
We recently input this search:(703 or 301 or 202) and title:resume and C++ and secret.
And we found 3,307,366 hits! A high percentage of these are resumes of people with the
desired skills who live and work in the DC/MD/VA area.
Just by clicking through each of the links, we found hundreds of viable job seekers
to whom we could direct a well-constructed email to inquire about their interest in
specific opportunities with our firm / client, and direct them to our web site for
additional information about the company and the opportunities.
In Yahoo search strings, you may want to refine your search to limit the number
of hits and find only those who closely match your specific requirements.
By putting a plus sign in front of each word, you can avoid a lot of the near
misses that will otherwise occur.
For example you might try: (+703 or +Virginia) and +cne and +resume
and find approximately 400 hits. You will see all of the words which you designated
with the plus sign highlighted in each of the returned documents. Just click
on the documents you want to see and start dialing!
Good Luck and Good Recruiting!
Companies have been wrestling with this issue for decades. many organizations have
swung like a pendulum, trying one approach, then the other, all in hopes of getting
better results.
It may not be the structure that is so important, but rather how the structure
is managed. Consider these three keys to effective employment management:
First of all, you must be able to manage your clients. You must truly know their
specific needs and create realistic expectations on their behalf. You must never
assume that the client knows what to do to successfully land their desired candidate.
Nor should you assume that they have the proper sense of urgency it takes to compete
for the talent they seek. You will need to be there to coach them throughout the
process. Is that possible in a centralized environment?
Next, you must manage your applicant pool. Yes, it is important to have a centralized
database from which recruiters can economically access and track their applicants, even
from remote locations. But the real key is being able to keep each candidate interested
and well-informed, selling them throughout the process, and following up on a timely basis.
And finally, you must manage the process itself. Your customers, which include
client managers, applicants, sources and vendors, preferred to have a single
point of contact with whom they can deal. Dividing the process between several
players confuses the customer and increases the opportunity for dropping the
ball.
In the end, your organizational structure should reflect the consideration of all
these factors. Efficiency should not be measured on the basis of cost alone. If that
were the case, centralized recruiting would definitely be the way to go.
As you evaluate the optimum organizational structure for your company, consider
customer satisfaction and process efficiency (time to fill) along with the average
cost per hire to ensure that your choice will provide the greatest return to your
employer.
The high tech job seeker in today's labor market is a pretty savvy interviewee and
negotiator. As a result of a barrage of headhunter calls, the average experienced
techno-pro has a good idea of his or her market value and the number of available
opportunities.
A number of our readers have commented that many, but not necessarily all, candidates
have become quite demanding. They know what they want (but not necessarily what they
need) and they know they can probably get someone to offer it to them.
As a result, much of these high demand workers are very mobile. It is not uncommon
for them to leave a position in less than a year's time.
There are numerous examples to warn of a general expectation that may exist among
these workers. That is, they are usually impatient with long, drawn out employment
processes that require multiple visits before a decision can be made. Anything exceeding
three days seems to be too long for the most-wanted of these workers. After all,
interviewing takes time away from the current job, and there are just so many excuses
one can make to cover for these absences.
A few candidates have been brazen in their contacts with potential employers. One
well worn story is told of an applicant who wrote to an employer of interest and stated
his salary requirements, benefits needs, flex time expectations and commute distance
limitations. He then advised the employer not to call unless all his demands could be
met. As bold as it sounds, in this market, there are probably several employers who would
be glad to have him.
Thanks to our readers who shared their thoughts on this issue.