I’ve mentioned it before, but I love movies and the way that regardless of what is going on in our economy, lives, politics, world, etc a good movie can totally take you out of it and introduce you into a world unknown for a period of time.  I also love the lessons that we can learn from watching them – on life, risk taking, love, friendship, forgiveness and of course recruiting & branding.

20 Years ago – An Oscar was THE goal.  It was credibility, notoriety, fame, fortune and the physical manifestation of success.  Today its is the same thing with a interesting way to select movies that half the US population never will see.

20 Years Ago – The MTV Movie Awards didn’t exist.  But in the last 19 years it has evolved into being the one place where movies that people actually watch over and over and over – regardless of their technical and acting quality can be recognized for simply being awesome.

The Oscar is like the HR’s answer to the “Best Places to Work List”

The MTV Movie award is where your friends love to work.

(Now, select the alternate ending of the blog that best meets your needs)

I’m A Company:

Having a “best places to work” icon on your career site is great and a huge feat and something every company should be extremely proud of.  But don’t expect it to sell its self any more.  People aren’t looking at that as the end all be all of great places to actually work.  Its an icon, like an Oscar, but we all know that where people fill the seats and spend the money isn’t always on the oscar contenders.   Make sure that you are selling your company for what makes it unique an some of the features that aren’t always considered on those lists.

MTV Movie awards does the basics (best female lead, best movie…blah blah) but what makes them stand out and unique is they do other categories like best kiss or best WTF moment.  And the other categories aren’t wasted on things like costume and make up design because, well, people EXPECT that to be there in movies now.  You only playing up your branding around your excellent benefits or other things that everyone else on that list can offer is actually putting you at the disadvantage.  Job Seekers are EXPECTING that – especially from a Oscar Worthy organization.

I’m A JobSeeker:

So, you are out there searching for a job.  You are like an actor that is reading over 2 scripts determining if your next best career move is the oscar worthy epic where you will have a bit part or if it is the potential summer break out hit where you will have a bit part.

Don’t feel pressure to “want” to work at the companies on the “best places to work” or where your friends love to work.  Its ok to work for the quirky off the wall place that everyone just loves to work at but doesn’t win any awards.  As you look for your next role – take a look at those lists, but also take a look at other places that you hear about, read about on social media or online or just randomly see a opening at.   Decide for yourself based on conversations with current employees, the feel you get when you walk in for your interview, the way you are treated throughout the process to make your decision and where the “best place to work for you”.

In the real world people are cautious about what and how they say things.  There is something about looking someone in the eye or hearing their voice on the phone that changes the mental decision making process between what you want to say to someone and what you actually do say.  It is in that situation that your brains decision making process kicks into overdrive and helps you make good decisions not to upset, hurt, offend, etc.

In my real world life, I get faced with a tough decision (or lets face it, an easy one) and I carefully analyze it, weigh the risks, potential outcomes of each possible option, the impact it will have on all of the parties involved and make a educated decision based on those factors.  What wins is the path that seems the most logical.  I rarely make a decision based on emotional drivers.

In social media however, most people just put it out there (me included!!!).  I don’t always think through what I do or say or the larger, longer term impact that it can have.  From a decision making factor it is like taking a few shots of tequila then exposing me to 2000+ people to say exactly what I think.  We forget that much like when we say things in our real life, we can’t really take it back.  In fact its worse in social media because the electronic record is there forever.

The complete opposite tends to hold true for most organizations that are tightly controlling their “branding” – There is so much time spend doing the analyzing of what you should/shouldn’t put out there that they often come across so vanilla that a potential employee doesn’t really know them at all.  Your corporate facebook fan page, twitter accounts, corporate blog, etc  are all an extension of your organization and what you put out there about your organization – both good and bad – needs to be analyzed just like you were saying or presenting it to someone face to face.

When you are sitting in an interview with someone or talking to people at a BBQ – what do you say then (positive) about your company?  When they are frustrated or get a call from a headhunter – what makes employees stay with you?  Its typically not what is on your traditional branding material and on the information you feed out online.

I’m not suggesting you dive overboard and go to the extreme that a lot of us do as individuals – putting things out there that you probably shouldn’t have.  But, I am encouraging brands to move in that direction and be more human.  Be more real.  Be more vulnerable. Show the quirks and the not so positive part while highlighting the rest.

In doing so, you’ll gain the people that appreciate your company for who it is and want to work their regardless.

Just like the people who stay friends with me even when I do (and say) really stupid things.

It is the first business day of 2010 (pronounced twenty-ten FYI).  There are still no flying cars or teleportation devices.  I still have to type this blog out and can’t just think it.  No cancer shot has been discovered so the likelihood of I Am Legend actually happening next year is unlikely.  However, we are still in a recession that I thought we were buying ourselves out of last year and there is still historically high unemployment rates.  One thing that has also stuck around into the new year is the A&E TV show Hoarders and over the last week I caught up on the new season of Hoarders.

Hoarders was as gross and disturbing as it normally is. If you don’t watch it – they basically go in and clean up homes of people that hoard – most of them are old, crazy, cat ladies.  It follows their families that have ignored or enabled it for so long that the hoarder has lost their children, pets or their sense of reality.  On one of the episodes I watched a they were cleaning out a woman’s house who seemed to have 2, 3, 4, or even 10 of the exact same thing laying around and they found a cat.  A dead cat.  Then another.  2 dead cats.  In her house.  She didn’t know she ever had a cat.  As I was watching that, I couldn’t help but think about what state of chaos you have to be in to not realize you have someone else’s dead cats in your living room.

But in reality, it’s what most companies (and recruiters) do every day with their applicant tracking system.  For the most part, candidates are just dead cats in the living room of corporate software.

Many hoarders problems aren’t necessarily that they keep so much stuff – its that they don’t know what they have so they spend crazy amounts of money to acquire more of the exact same.  Then they fail to organize and keep track of it properly so they can actually use it effectively.  In the same light, Recruiting problems are not caused by the number of resumes they get it –  they are caused by software issues and  poor process decisions that they typically use.

1.  Software Issues – Many (even well known) Applicant Tracking Systems don’t have solid search functionality.  The ones that do, often make it cumbersome and not easy to work with. There aren’t easy ways to track/tag, manage and interact with candidates that aren’t attached to a particular requisition.  It isn’t a new issue, its been beat to a pulp in many a blog postings already in 2009 and it is something that a few of the vendors are in the process of correcting.

2.  Process Issues – This could (and IMO does) tie closely into #1 – but most companies don’t make searching their own database a priority.  When they need a candidate – the first instinct is to post the position and see what comes in.  The first step should be to stop, take a look around them and see what they already have.  That candiate in the database may still be alive and kicking and wanting to come work for you, but not actively searching for opportunities.

The high unemployment rates are creating an overwhelming volume of  candidates coming into ATS’s.  Candidates are coming in, sometimes totally unnoticed, and are hiding under the couch like that cat did. Sitting, Waiting, Hoping to be found. Unfortunately, time consuming search functions and poor results stop many of us from from even looking.  Like the hoarders, the recruiters are preoccupied with other priorities and companies software is so packed full of all of these resumes and people that don’t work for them right now, but may in the future (Common quote on the show Hoarders, BTW) that the one they may really want – may not ever be found.  And the candidate disappears under the mess of other, less qualified candidates because they were lost in the database.

So, as we move forward to our flying cars and teleportation that I was sure would be here by now, lets at least stop treating resumes like the dead cat under the couch we forgot about.

I had an interesting conversation with someone following ERE about the lack of innovation in our industry in terms of Candidate Experience.  He suggested that if a vendor really cared – they would have someone on staff solely focused on making the technology easier for candidates.  After just 1 solid rebuttel’s, he stopped the conversation.  Cold.  Seriously people – you should know by know that I enjoy a good Debate – I learn, you learn, we all win.  Anyway…It got me thinking about the conference and the space and asking the question if we really do care about candidate experience.

If you look at the agenda for the ERE Expo and any other conference that I am scheduled to attend this fall – the answer is no.   There are no sessions on candidate experience or applicant retention strategies or quite honestly even on talent pooling (yes, super old term – but I still believe in it!).  Candidate Experience was brought up in a few sessions – but other than Adidas & Walmart  - no one really seemed to have a company strategy built around it.   It is nice to talk about.  It is nice to think about.  It makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside – but we don’t really seem to care if we are doing it or not.  Well, not really.  You see, it is one of those hidden things in our industry that is championed and talked about by large companies (that may or may not actually do it) and agreed upon and validated by smaller companies (that rarely actually do it).  Another way I know we don’t really care  - no one really tweeted about it beyond Fogarty’s custom built interview rooms with the ugly table.

So, since there weren’t a lot of session – I will give you the Sarah White break down on Candidate Experience that will work for any size company.  How do I know it will work for any size company?  My mind is always thinking in terms of scalability

1.  Don’t have bad job postings.  A job description and a job posting are not the same thing.  One is HR.  One is Marketing.  That means one is boring and one is fun.  (Ok, maybe that was too far…)  I think it was Shally who said to explain what it is like you were talking to his Nana.  Give your value add – what makes you better than everyone else.

2.  Make it easy to apply. The higher level the candidate the easier the application process should be.  If you have people that have resume’s applying for your positions use a solution like HRM (yes, I am partial) that allows for a direct email submission – nothing to fill out, no log in to create – just send in the resume and make the software work.  If you use another solution – make it easy for them to submit – less than 3 mins MAX.  (Pharma companies please listen – your apps are WAAAYYY to long – good people won’t do it.)

3.  Make it easy to get information.  Connect with them on twitter, facebook, blogs (if you can do it right), linkedin, etc.  Do a newsletter for candidates you haven’t hired that sit in your database.  Create a website that has RELEVANT information on it – things they really care about – not a bullet point list about your company benefits.  Let them feel comfortable with you.

4. Follow up.  This is really simple if you have a good ATS.  Pretty simple if you have an OK ATS.  Regardless, it needs to be done.  Especially if you are in a consumer sales organization where every candidate is a potential buyer.  Believe it or not, a candidate would much rather hear a “sorry, you aren’t a fit” than nothing at all.  For many people, the fear of the unknown is far worse than their fear of reality.  So – send an email (automatic message) that keeps them updated on where they are or are not at in the process.

Ok, so it isn’t rocket science.  But if it is so simple  - why isn’t our industry norm?  Other than we don’t really care.

3 more ERE post’s this week before I shift my love to #Recruitfest09! Cause I gotta feeling…

It’s true.  I am Sarah White, P.I.M.P, C.I.R, A.I.R.S, B.A and every other thing that ever came along that I can tag onto the end of my name.  Over the last few weeks there have been some lengthy discussions amongst my tweeple (those are my people on twitter) about the value of certifications in our industry.  I have also gotten calls from people asking me to discuss new certifications they are coming up with.  Apparently, now that I have a blog, some people think that others care what I say.  (I know the truth – you are really just looking for typo’s or a link to the poker event at ERE)

IMHO – They are kinda a waste of money and a brilliant marketing plan designed by companies who had training programs set up. I am a HUGE fan of training, but don’t really see the value of the letters on the business card.  Don’t get me wrong – I bought into the value of certifications when I was younger and well, they never really mattered at any point in my career.  Never even been asked about them. But people seem to like having letters at the end of their name so I did what any logical person would do….

I decided to make my own certification – PIMP (Professional in Managing Placements)

If you would like a P.I.M.P. certification here are the qualifications:

1.  You must have made 10 placements in your whole life that you didn’t royally screw up (totally ok if you just kinda screwed up)

2.  You have to refer (on occasion) to HR words like “Full Life Cycle” to make others comfortable, even though you secretly are thinking of slapping them upside the head for making you talk like that

3.  You should manage placements as a transactionary process – time is money

4.  You should refer to your self at some point in time (either out loud or in your head) as a guru, expert, master or the like.  *Note: Superstar is already taken my be, so you can not have that.

5. You should always focus on the end result – the placement – not the how, who or why of the matter.

If you can admit agree to these things and sign up in the comments section you will now be able to add the letters P.I.M.P after your name when you go out to meet with new clients or candidates.  It may spark up conversations that the other ones don’t.  (A little different ring than PHR).  If you become a P.I.M.P you will also be eligible for a cool pimp cup for you gin and juice.

This doesn’t appeal to you?  I didn’t think so… I decided not to be a PIMP myself – check out part 2 of this blog tomorrow on How to be a Killer Madame.  I was much more successful as a madame than a P.I.M.P  and you can be too!