Can you afford a “lacklustre“ recruiting process?

So, you’ve updated your company website – tick; you’ve hired a professional copywriter and he spruiked up your dull ‘ABOUT US’ story line – tick; and you’re now happily placing new job ads because you urgently need enthusiastic and motivated employees with a strong sense of duty – tick.

You’re ready for the quality candidates to start flowing in… Yeah….

You expect your job seekers to reply with passionate, heartfelt, honest and more importantly fully personalised cover letters and CVs that match your criteria to the tee. You are spot on to expect all of that, because after all, you are a good business and people want to work for you. You get the drift, right?

If that’s the case, then hell yeah, let me spend the next 2 or 3 hours on my application to you. Because you are worth it!  I want to work for you because you have a good reputation and I know that you treat customers and people and future employees with the respect they deserve. I also know that you know – and understand – how brand and perception are linked to each other.  I also like and respect that you are not going to take chances because of flawed HR or recruiting processes and lacklustre company culture. We both know that it is not worth taking chances.

The world of communication has changed and in the age of Social Media such as Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook , YouTube and all the other viral message platforms, expectations for fair treatment are high on the list of messaging and marketing. These expectations rule today’s world and how you manage them is communicated instantly with the flick of a ‘Send’, ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ button.

But if you are dull and lack brilliance, engagement and radiance and if good culture, values, respect and caring for people and the world around us are low on your engagement list, then just proceed with ‘the old way’ of processing your candidate communication process.

If you don’t think it is worth it to invest some time in training and a new communication process, or maybe even a new software, then just do what you always do.  Does all this sound to random for you so far? Ok , let me give you some help and tell you about a very real life situation which involves the executives and the HR team at one the most iconic and largest  Australian Volunteer Organisation.

The guys at this iconic organisation for example, placed big job ads for some key roles with a 30 day review processing period, – I received insider feedback via the blog about the things that followed. They than postponed the reviews without informing valuable candidates (most of whom are active volunteers) and then they decided to just park the whole matter for yet another 10 days,without any word to hundreds of applicants who are awaiting a reply.  This organisation has over 150 000 members who pay between $ 25,00 to $ 200,00 annually for the privilege to be a part of this community service. Over 40 000 of these volunteers are active each weekend at over 370 different locations across Australia and about +/- 100 of them applied for the advertised positions because they felt that they are the right person for the job.

All of the above progressed without any form of feedback or communication to these applicants!  It is more important for the executive team at this community service , which by the way is a fully funded by its members , the community and key sponsors, to just travel away , for another 6 days – to enjoy an event in QLD,  instead of attending to valuable members and candidates via an easy to organise communication process.

This organisation receives 8 digit funding each year from members and sponsors , not to mention the endless hours of volunteer service where health and life are at risk providing rescue service, training and help. What do you think when you read this type of example, does this sound familiar to you?

I would not be surprised if this organisation loses some very valuable long servicing volunteers or what’s even worse, if some of these volunteers start to communicate. You see the thing with volunteers is, that it’s really hard to fire dedicated people.

Well guys, think about it. Do you want to do things right or follow the example of this iconic Australian Volunteer Organisation?

Hunt wisely!

Uli