Would You Want to Be in Their Shoes?
A job search is often a difficult process. There are peaks and valleys where there are times when there is a fight for talent because of a lack of viable candidates for positions. Additionally, there are other times such as in the current job market, where there is an abundance of candidates for each position.
Over the last several years, hiring processes have become more “automated” than they were in the past. I am old enough to remember when job openings were advertised in the newspaper. The job applicant was either given an address where to mail their resume, (by US mail), or perhaps a telephone number for an initial screening. The range of applicants that might apply for a particular job role usually went as far as the distribution of the newspaper. And, unless that newspaper had a world-wide circulation, (think New York Times), most likely the audience that would apply would be local to where the job resided. And, for a long time that meant doing the job in person, and ensuring you lived in the location where the job was located.
Automation was supposed to make things easier for hiring companies. Candidates would apply through online computer systems. Resumes, cover letters, applications would all be captured and stored by computer technology. However, it opened problem number one. The individuals applying for roles could do so from any point in the world. The number of applicants grew exponentially.
No problem, said those pointing the hiring companies to automated processes. We will have technology “screen” the applications and resumes coming into us. The computer will pick out the most promising candidates. Your talent acquisition/recruiting people will call in the best candidates, and you will have the individuals you need to fill your job role quicker than you had under the previous system. Again, it has not quite worked out that way.
I remember a conversation/presentation I heard from a recruiter who also helped candidates develop their resume about a year ago. It left quite an impression on me. First, automation while making things “quicker,” (as was expected), led to company management figuring they would need less people to do the actual work that was done before in the company, (whether that be the talent acquisition piece or the actual jobs themselves that support the business). Talent acquisition/recruiters, while given resumes identified as “the top candidates” by the computer, still wanted to review them personally, as they learned that the computer while “competent” was not infallible. Additionally, in working with hiring areas, they found that planning to fill openings was more haphazard than in the past. Hiring areas in companies developed what can best be described as a “hurry up and wait” mentality to the whole process.
The “hurry up” portion came after initial approval was given to fill an open position or make the case that a new role was needed. Talent acquisition was asked to get as many candidates to line up and come in for interviews as possible. It was expected talent acquisition would screen in the “best of the best,” and pass them onto the areas needing the candidate to be hired. As that hire was to likely have a role that touched on multiple departments, it meant a candidate could expect to go through anywhere from 2 to 5 rounds, (and sometimes more) of additional interviews. The hiring area would be conducting these interviews in “the spare time they had” in getting their regular work responsibilities done.
I bring this all up because over the course of the last several months I have seen a lot of postings (especially in job sites like LinkedIn and Indeed), of hiring authorities in companies having little to no professionalism. Individuals speak of being “ghosted,” in that there is no response to their application. In other cases, the individual might receive a 1st round interview and hear nothing further. And, still others, go through multiple rounds of interviews, know they are one of the final candidates for the role, and then there are long pauses before a hiring decision is made. In the posts, the companies or departments that have connected with the job searcher are seen as “unprofessional,” “uncaring” and ones which some of those in job search feel that there should be government laws to deal with such treatment.
I do admit, I empathize with the job searchers, but I also feel there needs to be “empathy,” for those in the hiring process inside the organizations to which individuals are applying. Those individuals are doing the best they can. They are working within the parameters of the system that has been set up for them. And, also when the individuals in the hiring process inside companies are in search themselves, they are not immune to such treatment.
So, what is the answer to all this insanity? Realize job search is a Research project that is time consuming, and will likely take you months and not days. Look to continue to see what traction you can make by networking into companies through those who are contacts that know you and can speak about you as “raving fans,” to those individuals that have job openings in the company. Continue to search out as many possibilities as you can while in search, EVEN when you feel you and are sure you are about to land at the company that has courted you for the last couple of weeks. And, above all remember. that there are two sides to every story, and that those that are in the hiring process are doing the best they can with the tools and processes they have been given.
