The Death Of Job Postings And The Birth Of The Working Interview

How would technology match the right talent to the right jobs in the future

“What’s a job posting?” Ten years from now, this will be a real question and we can begin making this a reality by embracing the future of the emerging workforce. 

Everywhere you look, there are attempts to change or improve how people find jobs and how companies find employees. From the founding of LinkedIn in 2003, which leveraged the social network concept and applied it to professionals, to Fivver and UpWork which focus on outsourcing freelance work around the world, emerging technologies are everywhere. 
 

In order to best prepare for the future, it is sometimes helpful to understand the past. What is a job posting? It is a piece of written information that should tell you about the company hiring, the job and its related duties, the compensation package in exchange for being in the job, and the general qualifications of the ideal candidate with some attempt to screen out those who do not qualify. Why screen out? To streamline the information flow of too many non-qualified applicants and to make it easier on someone “scrolling through” masses of resumes and cover letters. 

What did a job posting look like 100 years ago?  As described above; but it was typically posted on a bulletin board at a company’s address or located as a classified advertisement in a local print newspaper. 

What does a job posting look like in 2022? Nearly the same as in 1922. Today’s job posting includes mainly words to loosely describe a job, an underwhelming list of reasons “why” an applicant would want to work for a company, and qualifications that are likely too difficult to properly define. 

Today’s job posting may also contain pictures, company videos, links to websites, benefits packages and perhaps even a very well-written diversity and inclusion policy. However, few job postings contain enough real information about an organization, its people and culture,  what it is like to work there, or even an accurate description of the job itself. 

Now, I must side note that many attempts have been made over the years to improve job postings. From the first online classified ads with Craigslist, came the ability to apply to jobs by category, and to make your application anonymous. Then came several job posting sites, namely Monster, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter, to name a few. Each of these sites has its own technology enhancements and tools, such as featured jobs, job alerts, or resume searches. Alas, the bulk of the job postings on these sites still contain only words – words, words, and more words with little or no structure to the information itself.

As a recruitment professional, this is the best-case scenario: the compounded mismatch of information leads to a need for recruitment specialists, screening expertise and advanced background checking in order to properly create a shortlist of qualified candidates, a recruitment agency. 

Even for us, the sheer volume of unqualified or mismatched applications for our own job postings leads to countless hours spent trying to find the right humans for just one opening. To me, the whole undertaking screams a need for improvement, but what will it take? The answer, more advanced technology. 

The rise of the gig-economy, both pre- and post-pandemic, has given equal rise to many tech-based solutions for job matching, which you may not have noticed. Your Uber driver was matched to a job as your driver using an app. Your DoorDash delivery person was dispatched to a gig when you ordered your vegan kale salad. Your cleaning company may have supplemented part or all of their staff using a gig-hiring application, which are often used for jobs with limited or few specific skill requirements. Technology is coming and it is speeding up. 

Now, technology does have some headwinds. The first question is: do you trust an app to find you a job? Is there some sort of algorithm designed to steal your identity? Should you input your credit card if you want to hire someone through an app? 

Well, although old habits die hard, the river is flowing in the right direction. I pay for my Uber driver before she picks me up. I have put my credit card information into countless online shopping sites.  I am on my phone for over two hours a day (thanks to Apple’s screen time feature, I know this for a fact) so yes, I am ready for a change, are you?

Here’s what is coming – companies no longer have the upper hand when it comes to hiring. Each time a new hire is brought on, not only is the company trying out the individual, equally, the individual is giving the new employer a test run. Welcome to the working interview, the first of the best new innovative approaches to talent acquisition made easier by modern technology. 

Consider it similar to dating before you get married. You book an individual through an application to come to your workplace. You pay them for their time. They come and show you how they work, and you show them what it is like to work for you. If it is a good fit, “great, you are hired.” If it is not a good fit, “good luck with your next date... I mean working interview.” 

With the job posting approach to recruitment, the working interview is rare. You might find yourself executing several rounds of interviews with the same pool or different applicants. While you are busy spending time wrangling hiring managers, conducting background checks and making decisions, you could lose anywhere between 50-100% of your initial applicants. Good luck trying to convince an applicant to work for two hours after they have gone through your interview process. However, a working interview is paid; and it is understood by both parties that it is simply a way to try each other out (much like dating); best of all, it is working. 

Thanks to technology applications, the working interview is possible. You go into the app, select the qualifications you require, choose the candidates that match, and book the working interviews. The payments and bookings are handled through the app, and all you need to do is choose (and they choose you as well). In the end, you get to see someone work rather than guess at their work ethic. 

At the same time, you have the advantage of showcasing your operation, introducing your team and gauging whether or not the applicant really wants to be there. Job postings were great when they were the only option, but they still lead to mismatches, hiring bias, and endless interviews. It is time to plan for their death and host a celebration of life as we embrace the working interview and leverage the future of hiring technologies as they emerge. 

Author Bio

Jeffrey David Harris is the Founder & CEO of Impact Recruitment. Jeff is also the Founder & CEO of AmbiMi, a skills-based job matching platform. Jeff is primarily focused on upward mobility for the masses and aims to achieve his goals through a combination of leadership development, thought-provoking, disruptive measures, technological advancement, and investment in decentralized economies. Visit https://impactrecruitment.ca/  Follow Jeffrey David Harris