It has been a long year for both employers and the candidates, isn’t it? The pages have turned, they have been torn off, the books have become old, but the same title keeps following us no matter which bookstore we visit. Our philosophies of hiring candidates have taken a beating, we have had to look out of the window, face the harsh sun. The paradoxes and double paradoxes have only added to the confusion: on one side we have high unemployment rate, and many organizations are not able to find people they need on the other side. It seems that the job boards are filled with job postings underlined as “for contract”, “temp- basis”, yet, only a fraction of organizations are hiring temp workers, and most of them still rely on the traditional methods. What about work from home? We are facing calamitous changes in climates (not trying to be dramatic here), not many companies seem to be trying the “work from home” concept seriously, well, at least we seem to be giving it a try.
So, what are the lessons we can learn from such a checkered year? Are we ready to accept our mistakes, ready to get out of the shells? Or are we going to do what we have been doing, only hoping that in the New Year, the economy will smoothen out, and we will have more options to toy with? Let us get few facts straight, and let’s think if time has indeed arrived for implementing them:
What we learnt—NO. 1
Let us now move away from the job descriptions and the job boards. We really have to believe that we are not “bookish” when we call for relationship building. Referrals have historically proved to be the best form of employment, and we must try to maintain “good books” of the employers (you kidding me?). Staffing firms have to realize this too, after your guys are the actual people who interact with people, yes, “they are the ones who actually know it”.
Go out, and start getting candidates from Linked In, and Twitter. If we are generating too many responses for a job posting–then let it go, we are doing something wrong. Learn from the big players, see what they are doing, do not re-invent the wheel, and see what you can pick up from the existing ideas.
…to be continued
[...] Few days ago I mentioned the need to be bolder in our strategy to attract talent. The direct result of being stuck in a rut, following the same old way of hiring has to give away to new innovative and modern methods of recruiting. If we cannot learn, we will learn that we will perish in the market. [...]
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