Common Mistakes Recruiters Make

By Mel Rappleyea,SPHR

I stopped at a diner in Jersey and sat at the counter. Placed my company ID on the counter and as I fidgeted to get my glasses I hear “You work at ABZ Company?” said the woman next to me. I nodded and said “you know them?”, She replies “ I’ve applied for several jobs there, I just get a computer generated no thank you response”. So, we chatted for a while. Her knowledge of the job and industry were amazing. She gives me a flash drive of her resume so I pop it into my laptop. Two years here, three years there, lots of movement. So, she says “I know what you are going to ask. My husband is with the Army Corp of Engineers, we move about every two to four years” Washington DC, Texas, Korea, Germany, Alaska you name it we have lived there, but the advantage that gives me as an analyst is that I have worked in multiple software systems and in multiple states and countries. I pick things up quicker than the normal person, because I have to". I set her up for an interview the next day. After we hired her and she quickly became one of the company’s best employees, I went back and asked my Recruiter why wasn’t she brought in? The Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) kicked her out. Too many jobs. Recruiters today are not using their skills to read a resume, they are using the ATS as a huge crutch and missing out on great talent. So, let’s begin with just a few of the mistakes Recruiters make.

Letting the ATS make the decision:

The advent of the internet age brought Recruiters a new challenge. Instead of having resumes and CV mailed or faxed they now received email with resume/CV copies but a few problems. One, emails with attachments brought numerous types of virus, trojans and other malware. The other is the recruiter had to make up their own system of coordinating, sorting and organizing the resumes. Enter the Applicant Tracking System(ATS) Taleo, Applicant Stack, Brass Ring, Icims , People Click and many others. Some are like a Morton’s of Chicago, Everything Ala Carte. Want reports? Oh that’s an extra module. Want to auto sort or incorporate into on boarding a, another module. As Recruiters attended various software development meetings and implementation training they lost something. The skill of being a Recruiter. The ability to source candidates rather than place ads and let the ATS pick the top 10 % of candidates. However, the ATS is only as good as the person setting the parameters of the search. The ATS is very valuable but should never be the sole tool to source talent.

Misreading Gaps:

Gaps in employment should always be addressed in the phone screen ,before a face to face interview occurs. However, I have noticed a disturbing trend in Recruiters completely ignoring resumes with gaps.

I once interviewed a man from India that had a six-month gap in his resume. His father had become ill and he tended to his Father’s estate and last days. He was hired as a Tech Manager and is now President of a Tech Company. The original Recruiter that had his resume passed on him. Citing a work gap that was too long. Gaps are not always a bad thing. Investigate NEVER assume.

Misleading titles:

I have a friend who’s newly college graduated son is a Vice President in a financial institute. Along with about 3000 other Vice Presidents.

In Europe what we call a VP of HR is usually a Director of HR. Business Partner, Head of Talent and so on with the euphemisms of a company’s particular slant on what to call a Generalist or Recruiter. Making it darn difficult to use SIC codes to do compensation studies. I once was with a company that had 3500 employees and 3400 different Job titles (I got it down to 300). I had a friend who was making $170 K as a VP and the headhunter passed on him for a job because the job was a Director position. My Friend said “But the Director job pays $200 k? “..Headhunter still passed, hooked on the title issue. What the person actually did, their responsibilities are the vital . What they call themselves is immaterial .

Industry paradigm:

“ But you don’t understand the Plastic injecting astro turf industry?” ..I understand that in many industries, operationally it is good if the person comes from a similar industry but shared services positions such as HR, Finance, Marketing can be interchanged across industries. It’s often a good thing as new fresh idea are brought forth. Here is an example. I lived in Orlando, theme park and hospitality capital of the world . I do some consulting for one them and they asked me “Why can’t we get any fresh ideas on staffing?”. My response is that you guys hire from other parks and they do the same. The same with the hotels. So, a candidate bounces from Hotel to Hotel or theme park to theme park bringing the same ideas the last 10 people brought. Stuck in the same industry without seeing a more diverse hiring model. I have been in Retail, Medical, Energy, Logistics and Manufacturing.The job descriptions,certifications and work flow varies but can be easily learned. The biggest differences in HR are having Multi State or International experience. The industry is not the challenge, The state and country laws are the challenge and they are the same for all industries.

Follow up:

One rule I always had for Recruiters I trained is, ALWAYS, get back to a candidate that has come in for an interview. They have burned a PTO day or rescheduled their day to interview. Reciprocate by being a professional and contacting them ..BY PHONE. To tell them a direction, be it negative or positive. Today’s rejection candidate maybe next year’s star talent and EVERYONE is a potential customer and "Ambassador of Goodwill" for the company. Hearing someone say “You know, I didn’t get the job and I was disappointed but they were very professional and didn’t leave me hanging. I appreciate that” goes a long way to keeping your talent department in a pro-active positive staffing stance. Hard to recruit if your organization gets a reputation of poor follow up and unprofessional rudeness. Glass Door, Vault and other sites are littered with horror stories on the staffing process . People investigate companies don't ruin your company's great reputation with poor recruitment etiquette. Be professional it pays off.

Poor note taking:

Recruiters talk to hundreds of people. It’s easy for the candidates to blur. The best Recruiters keep copious notes. It is truly embarrassing to call a candidate back and have them “Jog” your memory.

Failing in love with the resume format and not content:

Engineers usually have very long nontraditional resumes. As do Doctors, Geo Techs, Technology professionals and Marketing people.

Recruiters tend to like traditional chronological resumes that are easy to read. However, I once took a ten-page Engineer resume to the VP of Engineering and she loved it. Recruiters shouldn’t put everyone in the same box. Some of the best talent have the worst formatted resumes. The ATS picks up on key words so it doesn’t matter but any recruiter worth their salt is in lock step with the hiring manager on what to look for and will actually read the resume.