People matter…It’s simple. They always have and they always will. They are the one and only thing that continue to drive organizations towards further progress generation after generation. Technology evolves, methods and processes adapt, new ideas emerge, but people will always remain intent on engagement, connection and communication with each other. The second we cease to connect with each other is the second we cease to be human; to be the people that organizations need to power forward with new innovations that change the world. The real question is not if people matter, but if it is a simple, well-known fact, why are so many organizations missing the boat?
The future of recruiting is relational. It has to be. There is no other way. While we may be a generation built on technology, we as humans of nature, still crave the same relationships as past generations. We still seek to connect with a brand, an idea, a concept, a movement, a person. It is evidenced everyday by the way we are constantly plugged into everything from Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter to Tumblr. We are constantly looking for inspiration, ideas and people to connect with. So much of todays recruiting has elapsed to pure technology, so much that some companies have zero interaction with a candidate until the offer stage. They aim for technology to take over and talk to as few people as possible, and not until the last minute when due diligence tells them they must start the relationship with the future employee. Unfortunately, whether organizations realize this or not, this doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for the candidate who feels a negative experience with the brand, and it doesn’t work for the company who ultimately will get an employee who gives back as much effort and creativity to the organization as he/she received during the recruitment process.
They key to recruiting from this day forward is finding the perfect blend of technology and human interaction. Technology is for speed and convenience, not a reason to avoid connection and engagement. You as an employer, as an organization and a recruiting department must truly believe that every candidate deserves to hear from you. I read that even people in space, literal “space,” as in where you float in the stars, eat freeze-dried apples and play with buttons that set off alarms at NASA, get connected with in order to cast their vote. If the U.S. government can find a way to connect with someone who voluntarily rocketed themselves out of the this actual atmosphere on highly flammable and combustible tin, possibly to never return again, why can’t we as organizations take the time to reach out to the potential future employees of our organization, who are coming to us and knocking down our doors to engage with us and our brand and to bring us ideas that just might revolutionize our business? Don’t they deserve the same level effort and value from you that they have extended out? They do. No questions asked, every candidate deserves to hear from you early on and throughout the process, and here is why…
Today candidates are broken down into two main parts when being assessed for their fit for a role, or let’s get real – their fit into a more-or-less cookie cutter job description. Part One: Do they have the qualifications and skill set for the role? Can they execute the responsibilities effectively based on the description of the day-to-day activities of the role? Part Two: Do they have the personality for the role? Do they mesh with the culture? Do they have the moxy to lead and to challenge those around them and power your company forward? What motivates them and do they buy in whole-heartedly to the culture and vision of the organization?
If half of the equation in finding the best and right person for the role is based on areas that can only be discovered by engaging the candidate and building a relationship, then why do most recruiters and companies continue to ignore half of the equation, and arguably the more important half of the equation? Imagine if the great Albert Einstein left out the “M” of E = MC2? What if he left out the “mass,” the critical driving point towards energy! Inconceivable you say? Well wake up! That’s what most organizations are doing today with their talent, and those that aren’t completely missing the engagement boat are often still engaging too late in the game. How can an organization effectively assess the M: the “mass,” the meat of the candidate, if the “relationship” starts upon a job becoming open and built within the 2-4 weeks until it is filled? Like Rome wasn’t built in a day, relationships are not built in the 2-4 week time period that a position is open. People are fortunately (well, sometimes unfortunately!) complex; they cannot be understood or effectively engaged with in a short period of time. Therefore my dear Watson, we conclude that engagement and connection must start prior to them even applying for a role, and even prior to a role becoming open.
We cannot continue to expect to onboard the right employees for our organizations when we only focus on half the equation and more often than not, ignore the portion that determines their long-term success and contribution to the organization.
People work harder and tirelessly for teams and organizations with which they believe in the culture, the mission, the values, etc. They are the ones who feel the responsibility to work ethically when no one is looking, to go above and beyond outside of 8-5 and the ones who will be courageous enough to bring ideas to the table that can revolutionize the way you do business and they way you evolve as an organization…After all, how can the most “un-blog like,” creatively challenged person on the planet wake up one foggy morning and start doing just that - blogging? Because she woke up, yet again, inspired by her connection to her companies brand. She woke up fully bought into the mission and vision of her company, the CEO, the engineering team, the atmosphere, and the concept as a whole. She dropped her emailing and calls (shh don’t tell the boss!) to send a message about what it looks like to be an employee that is engaged and is working to push the vision forward. While this employee’s contribute is small, nay insignificant in the grand scheme of it all, the point I wish to make with all this self involved hot air, is that hopefully through engagement, your next employee will be the next to not necessarily pick up a pen and blog, but to design the next self parking car (hell yes!), think of the next strategy to get us all in the cloud (holla!), or maybe something just a little more simple like…post its (who doesn’t use those!). Hopefully they will be the next employee that was engaged enough to take you from average to good, or better yet - from great to epic. After all, don’t we all just want to be a part of something epic?
For those of you already on my boat, let’s rock n’ roll! I look forward to engaging with you and seeing the endless possibilities of your connected organization. For those of you with your recruitment strategy almost there, hurry up, the party isn’t going to wait for you. And for those of you who already gave up personal interaction and fell off the dock altogether - well all I can say is: God speed in those chilly, lonesome and creatively barren waters!
Cheers!
-For more information on a solution to effectively engage your candidates, please visit getTalent.com and/or reach out to me personally at l.frei@gettalent.com.
