Respect can never be underestimated as it is a value many of us hold dear; respect for our information, privacy, views, time, and so on. Yet one area that I increasingly hear about is a dearth of respect in and around both recruitment and redundancy.
Respect as defined by Wikipedia: Respect is esteem for, or a sense of the worth or excellence of, a person, a personal quality, ability, or a manifestation of a personal quality or ability. In certain ways, respect manifests itself as a kind of ethic or principle, such as in the commonly taught concept of “[having] respect for others” or the ethic of reciprocity.
When it comes to recruitment, the lack of respect shown by some falls on both the shoulders of the recruiter and the job seeker.
Recruitment, Respect & Job Seekers
From the job seekers side, it starts with an advertiser posting a job ad, with those that apply assuming that the ad is current and ‘real’. Wasting people’s time with vague job ads where the advertiser may be simply fishing, looking to reverse market candidates into businesses, looking to build up the number of resumes in their databases, or maybe going through the advertising process as a part of protocol (even though someone has already been marked for the job) , shows a distinct lack of respect for the job seeker’s time.
Then move onto the application process. Moreso these days, applicants have to spend 30 – 60 minutes uploading and reformatting their data to suit each prospective advertiser’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) in the hope that their resume will be parsed and the right key words matched, enabling them the luxury of speaking with a person should it make it through. It seems more like a production line with tight quality control rather than a process for hiring people.
Job seekers often spend large amounts of time sending their applications into the ether. For most job seekers, a simple email notifying them that their application has not been successful would be welcomed. Or even better, a return phone call or email should they make contact with a specific query. After all it is their career! As a sign of respect one would think it is the least a recruiter could do. Particularly given all this great technology available that one would hope is there to save them time ‘processing’ so that they can focus on meeting with and building relationships with applicants.
Time is precious to us all, yet when it comes to the recruitment process it seems that we all waste an inordinate amount of time applying for jobs that are not actually ‘real’, interviewing with people who have no idea of what the job involves, being told after the interview we don’t have the right experience (which was highlighted at the outset in our resumes), or being added to the client shortlist to make up the numbers (as most clients need to see a number of applicants before they make a hiring decision).
Research shows that people don’t mind going through a lengthy and rigorous recruitment process in the event that that the job is real and that the process is outlined at the outset. Managing peoples’ expectations is also a sign of respect. Due to ad hoc recruitment processes and general inefficiencies, many recruitment processes are haphazard, sometimes political and frequently archaic.
Unfortunately, to get the job as a job seeker you often have little choice other than to waste a lot of your time going through a lot of unnecessary frustration and degradation before you land the job. Recruitment and respect are two words that I have not frequently heard in the same sentence. That is not to say that things cannot change and that there are not organizations out there with professional and recruitment processes that incorporate respect.
Recruitment, Respect & Advertisers
From an advertiser’s point of view, they too find that their time is wasted. It can start with a client (internal or external) who does not really know what they are looking for and as such may provide a poor job brief. The recruiter is then flying blind, which can lead to those vague job ads you frequently read; where if you changed the job title it could be any job that we would all be adequately qualified to do. The client may be hard to access and unrealistic in their demands. As a result a recruiter can find that they need to make many attempts at advertising to source the right person. Hence as a job seeker you are wasting a lot of your time due to un-prepared clients going to the market to hire.
Recruiters also receive a lot of applications from people who have clearly not bothered to read the ad or address any of the criteria outlined. A simple “what is required check against what you have” can go a long way. If you don’t meet the majority of the criteria the job ad is seeking, save your time and the recruiter’s time and don’t apply. Many recruiters when they advertise receive large volumes of unsuitable applications. This does not occur as much at the executive and professional levels yet it does still happen. Applicants need to use their common sense and make a judgment call – “Is it worth my time to apply for this job ad?”, “What are the odds that I will progress to an interview stage given my experiences?”
One of the great things about online job sites is the ease and ability to view and apply for large numbers of jobs. However, more does not necessarily translate to better or success. Therefore, in order to increase the likelihood of being interviewed and hired, it is not a case of applying for many jobs but rather being select about what you apply for and spending the time to prepare a terrific, relevant and tailored resume. This will increase your strike rate more than pumping out job applications. It will also free up the recruiter’s time and hopefully translate into more time for them to offer you a professional and personalized service.
Employers, Redundancy & Respect
Perhaps one of the most important times for showing respect is when employers are making their staff redundant. Unfortunately, due to the unpleasant nature of the task, the redundancy process is often managed far from professionally with departing staff being shown little respect and as such leaving the organizations with various emotions bubbling inside them – from anger to frustration, loss of dignity and so on. These emotions do little to help the employee and even less for the organization’s employer brand. Granted, a retrenched person will go through a series of emotions such as highlighted in the change loop at the loss of employment, no matter how good or bad the process is managed. What does matter however is that the person leaves with a sense of dignity, feeling that the process has been managed with some respect to their needs and emotions on the organization’s behalf.
Consider the example of MySpace, seen as a good employer by global standards. When times were good it was an organization overflowing with bright, hardworking, committed and innovate employees. It offered a great employer brand and culture. Hmm well not any more! In a recent TechCrunch article “Adding Insult To Injury: MySpace Botches Layoffs” shows even those organizations that supposedly had a ‘good reputation’ when good times go bad fail to offer respect to departing and current staff. MySpace, who recently laid of over 30% of its workforce in a less than professional fashion, also managed to bungle the final pays of its retrenched staff whose payouts were delayed. “In a press release announcing the layoffs, CEO Owen Van Natta called the company “bloated”, displaying a surprising lack of respect towards the terminated workers.”
According to the article “MySpace has been holding a number of meetings for staff who are still at the company, during which they’ve referred to the recently terminated employees as “fat”. Unfortunately, some of these “fatty” employees have been present at these very meetings — the company has kept a number of terminated employees onboard through the duration of their contract.” This can only do wonders for staff morale and their reputation. One does begin to question in the disposable culture that we live, have we crossed a point where people are considered just another disposable item?! You would hope that organizations show current and departing staff a little more respect.
There are some terrific resources and services available to assist organizations in managing the redundancy process in a dignified manner. Good outplacement providers as a part of their service will offer to manage this part of the process for the client.
Six Figures recently wrote a post for employers ‘You & Outplacement – What You Need to Know’ that offers tips and advice for a professional redundancy process. We also offer a free guide on ‘How to Select the Right Outplacement Provider’ for your organization.
I have heard and experienced myself those horror stories of human redundancies. No doubt you have your own and we welcome you to share these.
I have also heard of the occasional positive management of the redundancy process by an organization and would welcome to hear more about these to assist and educate employers who may be about to embark on the process.
For our clients and members who have the terrific Six Figures pens, you like us may have been disappointed when you found that the ink ran out and your favorite pen was no longer! We have discovered that these great pens come with refills and have recently received a shipment of refills.
A well written and concise resume is essential to engage the reader. Because of the quantity of the resumes employers receive, technology is increasingly playing a greater role in the recruitment process, with larger recruitment agencies and HR departments using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to undertake the initial screening and culling of job applications.
We have all had mixed experiences when it comes to dealing with recruitment agencies and search firms; from the exceptionally helpful to the time wasters.
Before delving into the topic of ‘who should have business cards’, it is important to take a brief look at the history of the business card. They began as ‘Visiting Cards’ in the French court in the 17th century and eventually evolved in the 19th century in the USA to become the business card of today. See ‘
s are tough for business owners and that recruitment is something that organizations need to get right in order to stay competitive and grow. Recruitment is a challenging responsibility and one that is time-consuming and costly, particularly if you engage the services of a recruitment agency, search firm or make a bad hiring decision!
John Zappe on ERE wrote a great article titled 
Who can attend?
