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August 4, 2011

Eight Changes in the Apply Now Element of the Candidate Experience

Candidate ExpereinceThe Internet has changed the nature of the Apply Now candidate experience. Paste your resume here is a thing of the past for companies leading the wave of change in how candidates get considered for a job. Leading edge companies are creating an interactive online candidate experience. In this new format the candidate can learn more about the company and the job while the company can learn more useful information about the people applying for the job. This article will help you understand how to obtain the most value from the Careers page of companies deploying best practices for online employment applications.

1. The Resume is becoming less important.
Job seekers put a great deal of time and energy into writing resumes, often seeking assistance to create a good looking and great sounding document. However, research shows that about one third of resumes contain misrepresentations. Tell your career story truthfully, recruiters check the facts. Recruiters use word search technology to indentify resumes with specific skills and experiences. Technology puts resumes in “yes” and “no” piles based on the word search criteria. Unfortunately, people use different words to describe the same experience. And, resumes do not contain objective information that can fairly differentiate between candidates. As such, companies that are most concerned with advancing the best candidates are developing online questionnaires to quickly gather objective, fair, and consistent information about you. The resume is best used during the interview, to guide the conversation in a manner that uncovers the value your past experiences will offer in the new position. Given a choice of completing an online application questionnaire or pasting your resume, go for the online questionnaire.

2. You are a decision maker in the recruiting process.
Sometimes people get a few weeks into the new position and say, “I didn’t know this was part of the job.” or “This is not what I expected.” When people have that reaction, they have a tendency to begin looking for a new job quickly. In essence, they may quit before they even begin. To help reduce this reaction, leading edge companies are creating what is known as realistic job previews (RJP). This is not a job description. A RJP is a detailed and balanced overview of the job, describing both the exciting as well as the demanding aspects of the work. When you have more information about the position, you are better equipped to decide if the job is right for you. Look for buttons on the Careers page that say things like: Job Overview, Learn more about this job, Day in the Life, or other indications that more detailed information is available. A RJP often includes videos, or pictures of people on the job and audio files describing what people find rewarding and challenging about the work. Take time to carefully learn more about the job and make an informed decision about applying for the position.

3. Company culture impacts career satisfaction.
Each company has its own unique “feel”, it places value on certain behaviors and has a distinct management style. You may thrive in one culture and be stifled in another. Companies that want you to “fit-in” with their culture are providing an overview of their values, management style and performance expectations on their web page. Look for the sections on the web that are labeled: About Us, Who We Are, Working at ABC Co., Company Values. Be sure to look for information about career development, advancement, and what might be said about how they make working for their company a rewarding experience. Take time to learn about the company’s culture so you can decide if it offers the type of work environment you value.

4. Assessments add objectivity and fairness.
Almost 50% of companies use some form of pre-employment assessment to learn more about candidates. In most cases, this is a good thing. Assessment falls into several categories: 1. Work style or personality, 2. Reasoning or thinking ability and 3. Skills or Capabilities. Each of the three main types of assessments will be covered in more detail below. Because resumes are very subjective, and can vary so widely from people applying for the same position, assessment allows a more fair and consistent method for candidates to present themselves. There are well-developed standards for the use of assessments in employment practices and, for the most part, companies follow these recommendations, called: The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Methods. These guidelines come from the EEOC and state any testing, assessments, and even the questions used during the interview must be related to the demands of the job, and must treat all candidates fairly and consistently. In addition, the company has to show that the assessment does not discriminate against applicants. If you encounter what seems to be an assessment, it will typically begin with a thorough explanation of what you are being asked to complete. Take assessments seriously, they are your best opportunity to create a clear picture of your qualifications for the job.

5. Work style or personality is a strong predictor of job performance.
How you go about your work, or your preferred approach for handling the day-to-day demands of the job is often called your work style. Questionnaires have been used for decades to help people describe their preferred work style. In the last 10 to 15 years much has been learned about measuring people’s preferred approach to work. A work style questionnaire will typically present one or more statements and ask you to select the one that best describes you, or asks whether you agree or disagree with how it describes your preferred approach. The worst thing you can do when completing a work style questionnaire is to fake your responses or try to guess what the correct response should be. In work style there is no right answer. What is most important is to accurately and candidly describe yourself. Most companies will have conducted research on which work style characteristics relate to effectiveness and satisfaction in the job. If you have those traits, you may be more successful in the job than those people who have a different style. If you try to second-guess the answers, you may end up taking a job you won’t like, because it requires and demands a different work style than you naturally bring to a situation. This can cause stress and job burnout. When faced with completing a work style questionnaire – be yourself.

6. Each job has reasoning demands.
Solving problems, interpreting information, composing communications are just a few examples of how thinking ability is required on the job. Internet technology has made it easier for companies to present candidates with a sample of common thinking challenges faced in day-to-day work situations. In essence, companies that use this method can get a small sample of how you will respond to the thinking demands of the job and at the same time, you get a sense of the nature of the work. It can be quite helpful for you and the employer to see how effectively you are prepared to handle the thinking demands of the job. Reasoning tests may be presented with a fixed time for completion, such as 10 minutes. This levels the playing field a bit, in that on the job we do not have unlimited time, so the company gets to see which applicants get the most correct work done in the allotted time. If you find yourself at the beginning of a test of your reasoning capabilities, read the instructions carefully, take time to study the sample questions and then work as quickly as you can. If you have time left at the end, go back and see if you can complete any questions you skipped. Your score will most often be based on the total number of correct answers. When completing an assessment of your reasoning or thinking skills, work quickly, and accurately. Most are not pass-fail so don’t stress out if you miss some.

7. Knowledge and skills can be transferable.
Computer and software skills, technical capabilities and occupational knowledge are valuable resources you can transfer with you from one job to another. As a best practice, more companies are asking candidates to complete a skills or knowledge test as part of the application process. If you can apply your education and training to the job better than another candidate, the company will need to spend less time and money training you. You can prepare for an online job knowledge or skills test by taking time to review technical manuals, certification training materials and the proper procedures for job-specific skills.

8. Test Drive the Job with Simulations.
The multi-media nature of the web now allows elements of the job to be recreated in engaging, interactive exercises. You may encounter videos or audio conversations that stop and ask what you would do next, or how you would respond. There may be data entry activities which evaluate your speed and accuracy on working with data, computer database activities which examine how well you can navigate and find answers, or even prioritization and delegation exercises. These types of simulations for pre-employment testing teach you something about the job demands and often portray elements of the company culture. Being asked to complete a simulation is an indication that the company takes hiring decisions very seriously. The effort to develop company-specific simulations ensures recruiters are able to identify and hire the most qualified candidates. People who perform well on the simulation are very likely to perform extremely well on the job. If you encounter a simulation, treat it like going to work for a day. Give it your best thinking and your most sincere effort.

Summary
The nature of applying for a job is evolving. Using Internet technology, companies and candidates can learn much more about the degree of job-fit that might exist. The more comprehensive the application process, the better the quality of the hiring decision for both employer and candidate. As more information is exchanged between the applicant and the company, both parties are better equipped to make a sound decision. This leads to greater job satisfaction, higher levels of productivity and a more competitive organization.

Online applications are a big win for everybody. When you encounter a comprehensive online application process, it is most often a sign that a company is working hard to: deliver and exceptional candidate experience,  increase the objectivity of the recruiting process, ensure all candidates are treated fairly, and improve the likelihood you will be successful when they offer you the job.

Best of success in your career pursuit!

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | August 4th, 2011
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July 26, 2011

Virtual Job Tryout Answer Key

Candidates can be resourceful.  In examining key word searches that drive traffic to our web site, we have discovered people may be looking for guidance on how to complete the Virtual Job Tryout.  It appears they want to be successful on their pre-employment test. To offer help to the curious web surfers, we have created a new page on our web: How to Take the Virtual Job Tryout .

Virtual Job Tryout Answer Key

We emphasize on this page that a candidate being offered the opportunity to complete a Virtual Job Tryout has encountered an employer very interested in their career success.

Our intent is to enhance the brand image of the company, continue to educate the candidate on the value of the Virtual Job Tryout, provide them a link to quotes from candidates that have completed a similar candidate experience, and offer suggestions on how to prepare for and complete the assessment.

Here are the tips we offer candidates.

Five Tips for Success

Here are a few points to consider in preparing to complete the Virtual Job Tryout.

  1. Be sure to work in a quiet location, free of distractions. Think about it as if you were going to work for an hour.
  2. No two people perform the same job the same way. The Virtual Job Tryout allows you to demonstrate how you would handle it
  3. On average, the Virtual Job Tryout takes about an hour to complete.
  4. Plan on completing the Virtual Job Tryout in one sitting (though you can start the Virtual Job Tryout, stop and start again where you left off).
  5. Arrange to take the Virtual Job Tryout when you are alert. You will find it demands your best thinking.

In addition, we remind the candidate they have a decision making role in their career pursuit.  What a better way to decide if the job is right for you than by taking it for a test drive.  Through virtual technology, candidates are able to learn about the demands of a job, experience the decision making, problem solving and interactions.

Due to the multi-method nature of the Virtual Job Tryout and the advanced scoring algorithm, it is quite difficult, maybe impossible, for an answer key to be created.  As it is work-sample based, and no two people perform the same way, two candidates can get similar results with different approaches.  That is a feature our clients really value.

With hundreds of incumbents already doing the job in their own unique way, our clients have evidence that success comes in many variations.  The Virtual Job Tryout is a unique pre-employment test that allows those differences to surface in manner that helps recruiters quickly identify the best-fit candidates, and hire a workforce that delivers superior results.

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | July 26th, 2011
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June 13, 2011

Carmen Hudson of Tweetajob on the Candidate Rejection Process

I caught up with Carmen Hudson of Tweetajob at the 2011 ERE Conference in San Diego.  She offers some clear advice on improving the candidate experience.  In particular, she  suggests we let the candidate know they have been rejected quickly and early. Click play to hear what Carmen has to say, then scroll down to read more.

Reject Early and Fast
Carmen suggests candidates should hear from you soon after they apply. Give a clear and courteous NO, or even a No for Now. She is not the first to suggest this.  John Sumser offered the same advice last year at ERE.

If you have a mass-disposition feature in your ATS, use it. The results of our Job Seeker Expectation Survey clearly show candidates want some form of an answer. If you are going to accept applicants, rejecting applicants is part of the game. I wrote earlier about recruiting being 99% rejection.

Don’t Let Them Hang
So much has been written in other venues about SPEED as a competitive resource in recruiting. IF you believe in SPEED to hire as a competitive advantage, what role does SPEED to rejection play in your toolbox? Candidates have a life too, and they want to make informed decisions. An uncertain application status creates hope or open-minded opportunity thinking for many job seekers. There well may be a “I am qualified” or “still in the running” mind-set with applicants who have not been rejected. I don’t think it is fair to leave that question unanswered to the candidate if it has been answered internally. If you have made the decision, share your decision.

Protect Your Brand
Black Hole may not be a a term of endearment your brand police would like to hear about your recruiting function. How you reject candidates is an opportunity to enhance your brand. Particularly now. So many companies seem to be challenged to respond to candidates. You can set your company apart by conveying appreciation and acknowledging interest on the part of the candidate. You can build brand-positive community relations with well crafted messages to candidates you are rejecting.

Joe Girard’s Law of 250 when applied to recruiting shows the potential geometric progression of the positive or negative message you send rejected candidates.  Think about it, you neglect or send a poorly worded rejection to 1,000 candidates, each of whom knows about 250 people.  That is a 250,000 impression extension.  One of the highest applicant flow rates I have heard about is 75,000 per week.  The Law of 250 creates an sphere of influence just shy of 19 million.  What are you doing to protect your brand?

You can read more about the candidate experience and candidate expectations here.

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | June 13th, 2011
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May 26, 2011

Music Video Meets Realistic Job Preview

Amerigroup, a leading provider of Medicaid insurance wanted to extend a compelling invitation to become part of the real solutions they provide.  They had already developed a collection of videos that demonstrate the nature of their work and profiled the clients they serve.  Commissioning The Verve Pipe to write, record, and film a song that pulls together the Amerigroup service brand created a realistic job preview with an emotional appeal that is palpable.  The best part is that this message works just as well for current associates as it does of candidates.  So Rise Up and click Play to step into a very unique candidate experience.

Here are three reasons this form of communication works well in an employment brand message.

Compelling Story

The lyrics invite the candidate to step into and step up to the demands of the service role Amerigroup delivers to the community.

Balanced Images

The examples of the workplace and the variety of clients served are candid and frank.  This is not a gloss-over message.  These are real people, with real issues, getting real solutions.  No bait and switch or one-sided message.

Multi-media

In this “experience economy”, candidates expect more from the web, more interaction, more truthful information, more interaction.  Candidates walk away with a sense of the contemporary spirit of the organization.

Kudos to Amerigroup for the vision to combine music video and realistic job preview.

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | May 26th, 2011
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May 10, 2011

Are You Measuring Your Candidate Experience?

I have been writing about the candidate experience.  As such, I thought it might be good to go back to the first look we took at how companies evaluate or think about the candidate experience.

We conducted a survey of attendees at the Taleo World 2008 User Conference in Boston, MA. The purpose of the survey was to assess the degree to which organizations are evaluating the candidate experience and measuring the economic impact of staffing process waste or early turnover. Given the expanding focus on the Candidate Experience, it seemed fitting to share the results again.

As a sponsor and exhibitor of the conference, we asked recruiting professionals who visited our booth to complete a five-question survey. Three multiple-choice questions explored candidate experience issues and two questions examined 120-day turnover.

Observations and Assertions

The data suggests that the vast majority of companies (86%) do not ask candidates for feedback about their on-line employ-ment experience. In spite of a lack of candidate feedback, a surprisingly large group, (29%) believe their candidate experience is so positive that it creates referrals and viral marketing. The survey did not explore referral rate issues, so we are left to contemplate why this belief is held.

The survey asked if a multi-media realistic job preview (RJP) was part of their on-line candidate experience. An RJP presents a balanced look at the job, describing both the rewarding and satisfying, as well as the challenging and demanding elements of the job. Ninety-four percent (94%) of respondents said no. This is further evidence of significant room for improving the interactive and informative nature of the candidate experience. Web 2.0 re-cruiting implies a more engaging user experience. Web 2.0 recruiting might include job-specific video, streaming audio, and animated images which engage and educate the candidate.

The 120-day separation rate is one measure of hiring decision effectiveness. A total of 57% of respondents stated that their company tracks and reports this data. This is contrasted with 72% of respondents stating they do not know the cost of on- boarding a new employee into a high-turnover position. Respondents who did offer an on-boarding cost dollar figure, created a range from a difficult to imagine low of $300 to a high-end figure of $29,000 in addition to the often quoted estimate of 1.5 times salary.

As a firm, we are quite interested in the economics of early turnover. We believe that more attention should be given to this staffing process outcome. Reporting turnover as a percentage obscures the economic impact of hiring decisions which result in early separations and further blurs lines of responsibility and ownership of this result. Multiplying the cost of on-boarding times the number of 120-day separations calculates the total dollars lost from this form of staffing waste (Series on Staffing Waste).

Staffing Process Improvement

A core step in any process improvement initiative is the collection of data. The mere act of collecting data begins to change the process, according to W. Edwards Deming. Determining which data to collect, by its nature establishes a sense of significance and a focus. One source of data for staffing process improvement is the candidate’s reaction to your on-line experience. If you want to create a better candidate experience, begin by finding out how candidates view your current experience.

Candidate Experience Factors

Candidates are decision makers too. Your application process should provide candidates with the information they need to make a sound career decision. Questions you might consider asking include:

  • Did you experience any problems with our on-line process? (Ease of use)
  • Are you in a better position to decide if this job is right for you? (Educational)
  • Based upon this experience will you refer others to opportunities here? (Exceptional)
  • Please provide any comments on your application experience. (Evaluative)

Data can be used to zero in on improvement opportunities, create testimonials within the careers page and support sourcing efforts. Examples of candidate responses may look like this.

Open-Ended Responses

“I think the virtual job tryout is great! I really like that (Company) gives you an example of what you are expected to do before you even step foot into their offices. It is a very good factor in deciding if this is the right job for you!”

“I really enjoyed this way of getting to know the job. It allowed me to see what it will be like to work for your company. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Staffing Economics

Staffing is a business process. As such, the process has inputs or candidates and candidate data. It has value-add procedures such as candidate evaluation, decision-making, and on-boarding. In addition, the output of the staffing process can be measured in terms of separations (voluntary and involuntary), and perform-ance variation of those who remain on the job.

Separations that occur in 120 days or fewer can be labeled as False Starts and can be measured as a form of staffing process waste. For purposes of discussion, one might compare hiring decisions that result in early separations (<120 days) to the manufacturing of defective products. The raw goods are lost and new goods must be put back into the process, causing rework. Staffing waste triggers rework in the form of replacement hires which doubles the cost of talent. Staffing rework is repeating the process elements of sourcing, evaluating, decision making and on-boarding for the False Starts.

Many of our clients have documented the cost of on-boarding. We define this as the investment in time to proficiency. How long and how much does it cost to create a competent performer? The timeline ranges from a few weeks to two years. The methodologies used to arrive at these dollar figures range from an informed esti-mate to the identification and linking of general ledger accounting codes in conjunction with a black belt Six Sigma project. Organizational belief in and acceptance of the figure is an important factor in each of these examples. Calculations and projections based upon these figures become the agreed upon basis for projecting and calculating return on invest from staffing process improvement.

Cost of On-Boarding

Investment to Proficiency


When you know the real costs of on-boarding, it is easy to develop return on investment projections. As an example, reducing 120-day turnover of tellers by 10 people would save $100,000 in on-boarding costs from replacement hires (10 X $10,000 = $100,000).  See our interactive Staffing Waste ROI Calculator.

Opportunity

The candidate experience can make a difference in your recruiting process. However, if you don’t ask, there is no data to use for process improvement.

The results of this survey speak more to the great opportunity before us than to the kudos that can be taken for best in class staffing practices. There is room for improvement. Wiser approaches to the business process known as staffing can be adopted.

  • Start small. Identify one job as the focus for process improvement.
  • Explore the ability of your applicant tracking system (ATS) to conduct candidate surveys. Decide what information would be valuable and develop a survey process.
  • Collaborate with the CFO to isolate general ledger codes that can be tied to the cost of on-boarding. Examine the possibilities to create new cost reporting for jobs with high 120-day separation rates.
  • Partner with your Quality, Process Improvement or Six Sigma teams to examine staffing as a process. Document inputs, value-add methods and outputs or yields. Begin to track, document and report current state and changes over time.

Notes

The results of the survey are a small glimpse into the practices of a recruiting niche: Taleo customers and prospects (Sample size is 35 of about 500+ attendees, or approximately 7%). Given the size of the entire recruiting universe, this data is not presented as a statistically significant look at recruiting practices. However, we do believe the responses are representative of common practices in corporate recruiting today, and the results are similar to other surveys we have conducted with larger sample sizes. (Shaker Consulting Group and The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); Quality of Hire, N = 585, 2004; Objective Candidate Evaluation Methods, N = 282, 2005; The Turnover Misnomer, N = 645, 2006). Contact us at info@shakercg.com for copies of these additional survey reports.

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | May 10th, 2011
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May 5, 2011

Candidate Experience – Make It Engaging and Interactive, Part 6 of 6

This is part of a series connected to the Candidate Experience Monograph

We asked job seekers to clarify their outlook for an interactive application experience two ways.  In general, we wanted to know if there was a strong preference for engaging activities and if there was an expectation for interactive activities over text only experiences.  The large number of neutral responses to a preference for interactive experience might indicate that candidates do not have enough exposure to job applications with this feature to have a strong opinion one way or another.   However, the majority of job seekers have expectations that they will find a more engaging candidate experience than just reading about the job.

Click Here to Play

Most careers pages have not kept pace with delivering the type of robust interaction that can be found so easily just about anywhere else online.  Why?

Maybe you have noticed the web has become a fascinating place, combining qualities of a playground, a maze, an entertainment center and a shopping mall,  just to name a few.  Contrast that diversity of experiences with your job application.  How ya feeling about that?

John Sullivan suggested our careers web sites are boring our candidates.  Go and apply for one of your jobs and rate the experience from dreary (1) to dynamic (10).  A little bit of interaction can take your candidate experience up a notch.  And 37.6% of candidates want it.  53.4 % of candidates are Neutral about it.  But only 9% are sure they don’t want it.  My recommendation would be to satisfy the preference in the group that want it and convert the majority who are on the fence, but could be fans.

Candidates Prefer Engaging Experiences

Inspect What They Expect

When 46.9% of your candidates expect to find engaging activities in your online job application, what should you do?  Deliver.

Candidates Expect Interactive Experiences

Similar to the response pattern on a preference for engaging activities, a large group, 32.5% of job seekers, state a neutral position on their expectations for interaction.  My position remains the same: candidates have a poor frame of reference.  I do submit though that time spent on other web sites is highly correlated to the degree of interaction found on the page.  This might be reinforced by the small number who disagree and have little or no expectation to find interactive tasks and activities when applying.

Candidate Reactions to Interaction

We ask every candidate completing the Virtual Job Tryout for feedback about their experience.  Some candidates continue to sell themselves, yet others share a comparative view of how this form of application is different.  Here are a few poignant examples.

“Not your ‘typical’ online job application. I actually really enjoyed the process and I feel as though I have a better understanding of the job and its requirements and that [Company] will have a better understanding of me as an individual and not just what is on my resume. “

“This was the most interactive experience I have ever had while applying for a job!  I enjoyed how this puts the applicant in real life situations and tests how well you can meet the challenges.  The team of people who designed this program are very creative and intuitive to the needs of [Company] as an employer.

“I am very impressed with how well this was set up.  It’s the first ‘pre-screening’ application I’ve encountered that really challenged the way I think. It’s creative, easy to use, and works exceptionally well at describing the job role.  Thank you for the perspective. “

“The Virtual Job Tryout is exactly what potential employees need to do, so that they can see what they may be faced with. I never knew until doing the tryout, that there was so much that a Representative has to accomplish during a phone call. “

In 2006 about 6% of companies stated they were using simulations in their candidate evaluation process.  In 2010 that had risen to 12%.  That trend can be expected to continue.  So, watch it, or become part of it.  Take some decisive action to improve the interactive nature of your candidate experience.

Part One,  Part Two,  Part Three, Part Four, Part Five

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | May 5th, 2011
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April 11, 2011

Candidate Experience – How Candidates Want to Learn About Job Content, Part 5 of 6

This is part of a series connected to the Candidate Experience Monograph

We asked job seekers to rate the relative value of various forms of interaction for learning about the job. Specifically we wanted to have candidates direct us to formats for communicating job requirements that aligned with their learning preferences. Job seekers are decision makers in the process too. Creating a candidate experience that helps applicants learn about the job and prepare them to make a well informed career decision can differentiate your company in a positive way from other companies where the candidate may be applying.

The Top Three

How Candidates Want to Learn About Jobs

Job Seekers want to read about your jobs, listen to people talk about them and try their hand at some of the job tasks.  The first two are obvious and certainly more traditional methods of communicating with applicants.  And it is safe to say every company provides some level of written information about their jobs.  Being able listen to people talk about the job is becoming more prevalent on career pages, sometimes at a high level about working at the company and in some cases very detailed information is provided about a specific job.  This can take the form of Realistic Job Preview (RJP).  Attempting parts of the job in a simulation came in as the third highest valued method for learning about the job.  Simulations are an emerging format for both educating and evaluating candidates.  Based on the 2009 annual assessment practices survey by Rocket Hire, only about 12% of companies are providing this level of an engaging and interactive candidate experience.  This is up from the 5% level of use indicated in the Use of Objective Candidate Evaluation Methods survey I conducted with SHRM in 2006. (write me for a copy)  The respondents suggest more companies may want to consider simulations in their candidate experience.

Write to Me
Candidates place the highest value on the written word. Communicating with text can be efficient and highly descriptive. However, as the highest rated format for conveying job information it places importance on the quality and clarity of the message. Soliciting job seeker feedback on your written messages may help refine how well you convey the opportunity, address common questions and create an emotional connection to the job.

I took time to read a few job postings prior to a meeting with a firm that invited me in to discuss their candidate experience. After scrolling down to the third screen of rather dry and boiler-plate job information, I was struck by the sentence: “We hope you find this job opportunity exciting.” I had to scan back to see what I had missed. While I was not remotely qualified or interested in the job, the writer had done little to leverage the written word to create interest, capture my imagination, or cause me to think critically if the job was a fit for me.

Go to your competitors and read their job postings. As you read consider how they use the written word to paint a picture of their jobs, position their opportunities, and pay particular attention to how you felt after reading. Writing well can create a compelling call to action. For some it may be to Apply Now. For others it may be Keep Looking. Either way, you win.

Talk to Me
Technology has made it easy to speak to candidates. One-way messages to educate and guide a candidate’s thinking about your company and your jobs can enhance the candidate experience your web delivers. Ease of deployment has opened the door for multi-media resources such as streaming audio with still images or high definition video are relatively easy to deploy on career pages now. It is important to invest the time and talent to craft messages that offer a balanced and candid overview. Candidates have the ability to discern between marketing hype and meaningful content.

YouTube is a treasure trove of highly effective and really poor examples of how to use media to talk to your candidates. Search: Realistic Job Preview. Watch a few from a candidate’s point of view. Ask yourself – How realistic?, What seemed to be missing? How was the balance regarding demands, challenges, rewards, satisfiers, learning curve issues, and so on.

Let Me Try It
Candidates are beginning to expect more than words and videos. They want a more dynamic exchange from the employment process. With the stratospheric applicant to hire ratios, human interaction has been eliminated for all but a few of the most qualified applicants. Job simulations can deliver a job-specific candidate education and evaluation experience as challenging as the job and as unique as your brand.

Simulated job tasks can deliver a highly engaging, interactive candidate experience. Candidates can take the job for a virtual test drive. They learn a great deal about the job. You get a work sample. When properly developed with validation analysis, the work sample may be able to predict critical elements of on-the-job performance.

Candidate testimonials about simulations suggest they feel better equipped to decide if the job is right for them. Recruiters are better able to compare candidates and indentify those individual better qualified to perform the job. It’s a double win.

While the adoption rate for simulations is still low, the technology for developing and deploying simulations is well developed.   To learn about companies that have deployed a simulation, visit our web site to read about the Virtual Job Tryout.

Blog Away
Reading what is on the mind of potential co-workers and hiring managers is of moderate interest to candidates. This may be due the content being less about the job in question and more about the company or projects in general. Still, blogs are a form of communication that can have strong messages about career possibilities.

Cartoons are for Kids
Animations and cartoons were rated the lowest by candidates as a valued format for learning about the job. Candidates take their career search seriously. A medium associated with games and kids may not convey the level of professionalism a job seeker expects in their candidate experience. The message here may be to leave the animations to the gamers and Saturday morning television programming.

Part One,  Part Two,  Part Three,  Part Four, Part Six

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | April 11th, 2011
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April 1, 2011

Candidate Experience – Negative Impact of Technical Issues, Part 4 of 6

This is part four of a series connected to the Candidate Experience Monograph

We asked job seekers about the impact of career page technical difficulties. Specifically we wanted to know about the propensity to leave the application process, how much effort and time might be invested in resolving an issue and if the occurrence of technical difficulties created a negative brand impression.

Likelihood to Exit

Candidates want an easy to use experience.  And the data suggest there is limited tolerance for poorly functioning features.  They want simple and effective resume uploads, and links that work and are easy to understand.  59% of candidates are very likely or somewhat likely to exit before completing an application process if the encounter a page or process with frustrating or challenging functionality.

Technical Issues Trigger Exit Behaviors

Let’s look at it from a learning and administrative burden perspective.  There are some major applicant tracking system (ATS) that have broad market presence.  However, the candidate must register, create a profile, answer screening questions and perhaps complete some form of pre-employment test for every company where they apply.  The candidate bears the burden of completing repetitive tasks, providing redundant information time and time again.  After doing that a few times, it is easy to see why the effort-to-value balance can tip toward quick exit behavior.  And a candidate’s experience with a significant lack of acknowledgment may contribute to a degree of non-committal behaviors.

It is important that every recruiter apply for the jobs they are filling, and do it from their home computer or a public PC.  Only by sitting in the candidate’s seat can one fully appreciate what the candidate has been asked to complete.  It is from this point of view that you will be in a position to assess the ease of your process.

Time and Effort

Stop and think for a moment about your own web navigation behaviors.  How quickly do you bounce from one page to another, give up on a slow load, glace at a page and click away?  Candidates are no different on the career page. Twenty percent of candidates will exit in less than a minute from a frustrating or troublesome web encounter.

Most Candidate Attempt to Solve Technical Issues

In a way, this rapid judgment is a measure of commitment to apply, degree of interest in a career with your company, and impatience with yet high expectations for a flawless process.  It begs the questions – Were they serious candidates?  Is it better they self selected out?

One to three minutes of effort can seem like a life time on a web page.  However, 45% of candidates are willing to invest that amount of time to resolve a barrier to completing their job application.  Over 30% of candidates are willing to invest even more.  So it would seem the vast majority of candidates are willing to put time and effort into finding the way forward in their career pursuit.

Self-help, FAQs, on-line support may be the best way to help candidates work through the issue as only about 15% of candidates prefer calling technical support for assistance.  So it seems there is self-sufficiency in the ranks of candidates.   They want to be able to figure it out themselves.  Therefore, having resources on your career page to support do-it-yourself trouble-shooting is important.

Brand Impact

Candidate’s associate your technology with your brand.  Over 50% of respondents stated that encountering technical problems may cause them to look elsewhere.  More importantly is that they stated they are Very Likely or Somewhat Likely to reduce their perception of your organization.  A poor functioning career page creates a brand negative reaction.

Technical Issue Create Brand-Negative Impressions

The brand-negative impact of a poor web experience became so evident in a comment left by a candidate for one of our clients.  At the conclusion of each Virtual Job Tryout candidates are presented a number of multiple-choice and open-ended questions about their experience.  This comment reaffirms that candidates who apply at your organization are most likely applying at your competitor and they make observations about the differences.

“You guys need to talk with COMPETITOR, their process is broken, this was pretty cool.”

Brand management and those focused on delivering the customer experience speak of the Net Promoter Score (NPS).  This is the response to the question: “Will you refer others, based upon your experience?  Over 90% of candidates completing a Virtual Job Tryout state they will refer others.  That feedback is evidence the pre-employment testing experience left a brand-positive impression with the candidate.

Consider asking your candidates, ALL of your candidates, about their experience applying for a job with your company.  In 2008 I conducted a small candidate experience survey at Taleo World. At that time, less than 15% of companies stated they asked candidates for feedback on their job application process.  Based upon the number of brand impressions made through the careers page, it only makes sense to get some feedback.  And it makes a lot of sense to make sure your career page delivers a brand positive candidate experience.  When you deliver a meaningful candidate experience, they will  tell you.  Your candidate testimonials will provide insight on how well you are meeting some of their expectations.

Part One,  Part Two,  Part Three, Part Five, Part Six

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | April 1st, 2011
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March 28, 2011

Alchemy and Algorithms – Recruiting by Ego or Evidence

Alchemy attempts to take common materials and transform them into something rare and valuable. I don’t think anyone has succeeded in this endeavor to date.

Algorithms Can Be Derived from HR Analytics

Unlike alchemy, algorithms can turn raw goods into gold.   The raw goods can be candidate evaluation data and the gold is on-the-job performance.  However, many recruiters have not invested in the data collection and analysis required to create an algorithm.  As such, they make decisions based upon anecdote and conjecture.

Stock traders want to predict future prices and values of individual companies and broader indices.  Recruiters want to predict future behaviors and on-the-job results of candidates. Algorithms are used by the best-in-class of both of these disciplines. And the results they achieve are documented by superior outcomes.

The reason both of these professions use algorithms is to identify meaningful relationships among complex data sets.

Variables that drive company performance and market fluctuations are complex. And, there is likely no doubt in your mind that variables which drive people’s performance are complex, very complex. In fact you might assert people are unpredictable. If that was really the case the workplace would be chaos. And that is just not true. There are some predictable elements.

Algorithms are special equations, expressly for the purpose of teasing out insights and conclusions from complexity.

When used well, the outcome of algorithms increases the probability of making a correct decision more often than not. An algorithm based upon pre-employment testing brings a sophisticated level of HR Analytics that can dramatically improve your quality of hire.

Algorithms were used to determine the premium for your auto insurance, your credit score, the offer you received for a vacation package, and the books recommended for you in on-line shopping. In each case two or more large data sets were analyzed to determine the nature and significance of relationship that exist between and among the variables.

Big Bucks for Equations.

In a current algorithm competition $3 million is being offered for the equation that takes large data sets of health care and lifestyle information and calculates the likelihood of an individual being hospitalized sometime in the future. The underlying assumptions are two-fold. You could be charged a higher insurance premium based upon your probable path to the hospital, or you could be given a specific preventative intervention to reduce or eliminate the necessity of being admitted for medical care.

Why a competition?  The analysis and mental energy required to derive the equation is significant. Asking one individual to undertake the work may take a long time. A competition can attract the intellectually curious and competitively driven statisticians. Having a solution sooner than later is valuable.

How much would your organization pay for an algorithm that predicted your customer’s behavior?  Or possibly a more accurate question is how much has your organization already paid in an effort to better understand and predict your customer’s behavior. Go ask your chief marketing officer.

Ego or Evidence?

Best-in-class recruiting professionals use algorithms.  (We can introduce you to some of them.) Each hiring decision is supported with evidence.  But, just like the challenge in the competition, developing algorithms require thoughtful effort.  When I describe the process of developing a recruiting algorithm, I get two reactions.  One says,”That seems like a lot of work.” The other states. “That seems like it can add significant value to our process.”

Algorithms are derived from analyzing large data sets. Three data sets are required for transforming recruiting raw goods into job performance gold:

  1. Candidate Evaluation data – pre-employment assessment
  2. Behavior/Competency Evaluation data – supervisor ratings
  3. Productivity Evaluation data – objective metrics of on-the-job performance

Recruiting professionals working at the leading edge of candidate evaluation capture 200 to 300 data points from candidate evaluation. The data encompasses work history, work style and work samples.

Similarly, job performance, as defined by 100 to 200 data points from ratings and metrics for each individual provides a robust description of the complexity inherent in any job and the company culture in which it occurs.

When a recruiting professional embarks on capturing this level of data on their staffing process and its outcome as job performance they have the raw goods for the algorithm that predicts the future and answers the essential question – which candidates are more likely to be successful on the job.  Working with this type of information delviers a very powerful recruiter experience, adding both efficiency and effectiveness.

Differentiated Workforce

And, that ability to differentiate among candidates is competitive advantage. Michael Porter the strategy guru at Harvard states competitive advantage comes from business processes which are difficult to replicate.  In their book The Differentiated Workforce, authors Beatty, Becker and Huselid assert competitive differentiation comes from efforts that align jobs with strategic capabilities. (see page 10).

Using an off-the-shelf assessment, and generalized validity is defined as a ‘Me Too” strategy, one that is easy to replicate.  An algorithm which predicts candidate performance in your organization is impossible to replicate. Call us to explore what it might take to transform your candidate experience into competitive advantage and a strategic business driver.

It’s not alchemy, it’s algorithms. And they really do turn raw goods into gold. Employees who perform at gold star levels.

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | March 28th, 2011
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March 22, 2011

Candidate Experience – Communication Preferences, Part 3 of 6

This is Part Three of a series connected to the Candidate Experience Monograph

We asked job seekers about their preference for how they wanted to communicate with recruiters and hiring managers during the application process.  We wanted to see if there were strong preference one way or another, and in fact there are.

Candidates have preferences for communication modes

In order of preference:

  1. Telephone
  2. Email
  3. Paper mail
  4. Texting
  5. Chat

You Know My Name, Look Up My Number

Job search is a personal endeavor through a largely impersonal maze or obstacle course.  Candidates want to make a connection on a personal level with another human being.   At the end of the day, each candidate knows the hiring decision will ultimately be made by another human being. As such, candidates have the highest preference for talking with recruiters on the phone.   A very common retort from unsuccessful candidates is the classic:“if only I could speak with someone, I could sell myself.”  The telephone was the communication vehicle of choice for 88% of respondents

Everybody uses the phone somewhere in their recruiting process.  However, the personal connection of a phone call is reserved for the most highly qualified candidates.  And with the applicant-to-hire ratios common to high volume sourcing, this means that 50% to 98% of candidates will never hear the ring, never experience the type of interaction they prefer the most.  It creates a clear and pronounced expectation gap that will not be closed.  Even making the ‘No thanks’ call to the unsuccessful is impractical, given the number in the rejection pool.

Digital Hand Shake

There is hope.  Email was rated at an almost identical level of preference with the telephone at 87.4% and 88% respectively.  And the number of respondent who are neutral (10%) or do not prefer email (1.6%) are also fundamentally the same as with telephone.  The simple answer here is that an email can fill the communication gap and, if done well, deliver a candidate experience that meets certain expectations for communication.

The similarity here raises my curiosity.  The relative value of each medium is on par.  My assumption is that candidates may sense that a reasonable degree of thoughtfulness might go into each form of exchange – a dialogue or a digital handshake via email.

For candidates receiving an invitation to continue in the process, it is easy to see how an email will have a similar impact as a phone call.  The ‘you are wanted’ message will ring true and provide the needed details for the next step.

In spite of mail-merge mass messaging, that powerful phrase – “you’ve got mail” must meet a certain need and override (at least initially) any negative perceptions of getting rejection spam.  As was detailed in Part II, candidates want to know where they stand.  Email can be expedient and personal to a degree, in conveying the message and closing an expectation gap.

TXT? Not!

Given the heavy balance of twenty-somethings in the survey, it is somewhat surprising to see the strong negative attitude (52.9%) toward the use of texting as a form of communication in the job search process.  Without any qualitative data behind these responses, a few assumptions come to mind.  The foremost being jobs are far too important a topic to be left to abbreviations and truncated phrases.

While not completely discounted, 22.7% of respondents would find texting acceptable.  I only have one personal trend line as a point of reference here.  My college-age son’s use of texting peaked during junior year at about 2,500 per month.  I understand this was a pretty typical volume in 2010, but the 75% fall-off in his use of this form of communication caught my attention.  Certainly not a vehicle going the way of the telegraph, but maybe a shift in the how and why it is being used now. (Excuse me while I tweet this post.)

This also points to the viability of text based job posting such as TweetaJob.  It may make it easy to distribute – the push into a community.  But does it get the attention?

Chat me Up? Not so much.

Chat service has immediacy and it comes with some sense of intimacy.  After all, someone is reading and responding, often pretty quickly.  Job seekers might feel the personal connection with the individual at the keyboard on the other side.  However, having done job observations in contact centers, I know an individual agent may be carrying on six or more conversations at once. It’s easy to see that candidates might feel the person on the other end of the chat box has little or nothing to do with evaluating job-fit or making a hiring decision.  That may be why44.2% of candidates prefer not to use chat for the recruiting process and only 16.9% indicate a preference for this mode.

Give a Letter to the Postman

How can you go wrong with a letter to the candidate?  Think of the reaction you would get from candidates.  Sending snail mail almost seems arcane, but how classy.  And 50% of job seekers still rate this form of communication as highly preferred.  The most consistent use of snail mail in today’s staffing process might be the offer letter.  Again, this form of communication only touches the small percent of candidates who make it to the finish line.

However, with a combined 85% of candidates prefering or being open/neutral about hard copy, there may be a place for physical components in your candidate communications.

Final Thoughts

The good news is that job seekers are OK with email.  Email is extremely efficient and low cost.  Automated methods make it easy to use this tool to communicate with your candidates.  All your candidates, the successful and the yet to be.

When considering the need for process information described in Part II, and the preferred method of communication described here, you should be able to add value to your candidate experience and achieve a measurable degree of staffing process improvement.

In the next part of this series, we will explore candidate reactions and behaviors to technology problems with your on-line application.  Patience may not be their virtue.

Part One,   Part Two,  Part Four, Part Five,  Part Six

Posted by: Joseph P. Murphy | March 22nd, 2011
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