Companies want to hire great people!

Companies want to hire great people, but the process is getting harder. It's not because companies want to spend more time, effort, or energy in the process. We hear all the time about frustration in the market due to the many unemployed or recently laid-off job seekers. This is primarily in the U.S. and hasn't drastically affected Canada, but there is still a high volume of job seekers in the market, and it's easier than ever to apply for a job.

Over the years, companies have been forced to innovate in the fight for talent. The cost implications of making a bad hire—whether due to lost productivity, hard costs of wages, recruitment costs, or legal expenses—have pushed companies to refine their hiring processes, either through learned experiences or their own. This has resulted in new hoops for job seekers to jump through, new expectations in their job search, and frustration due to the lack of transparency on the company side regarding their process. For many organizations, they don't even have a defined process. However, it's not about companies purposefully making it harder on people; it’s learned behaviour.

My suggestion for companies: Start with a clear identification of what you need in a position through a detailed intake. This should be a deep dive not only into what is expected of the person in terms of their fit, background, and role, but also what they are expected to accomplish within six months, a year, and even up to two years. Once you have laser focus, create a compelling, candidate-oriented job posting to attract the best possible candidates available in the market.

Through your posting process, create hoops for candidates to jump through. If your job requires an exceptionally high level of attention to detail, maybe include something in the posting that asks candidates to reference a specific part of it to ensure they've read the entire posting. We often add screener questions to our job posts, such as asking how far the commute is to your office from the candidate's home or to list the core values noted on our website. Some job seekers might think this is unfair or too much work when they’re applying to hundreds of jobs. My two cents: You shouldn't be applying to hundreds of jobs. You’re better served by taking the time, effort, and energy to apply to the right jobs with the right approach, rather than applying to as many as possible.

Once you've set up your job posting, to truly compete against all your competition—both direct and indirect, as well as against the recruitment firms out there—you need to appoint someone to screen all the applications that come through. The mandate for my firm is 24 hours, with 48 hours at the absolute most, to screen a resume. Once we've screened, we contact candidates immediately and conduct a 5- to 15-minute pre-screen to determine whether we’ll proceed to an in-depth interview. This interview can range anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more, depending on the level of the role, and will include behavioural-based questions and technical analysis. We then follow this with reference checks if a candidate is currently unemployed or advise candidates that references may be due upon or subject to an offer. At that stage, we submit our candidates to our clients for their consideration.

Even though we've gone through this entire process, I can tell you that it is our client’s job, and our job, to interview with scrutiny. It's their job to assess whether or not we've done ours. It’s our job to ensure that we've not only found a candidate who fits but that we've asked all the questions to identify any reasons why they might not be a fit. It is not my job to convince my client to hire you, nor is it my job to avoid the things that might prevent you from being hireable. It is my job to ensure that if a client hires a candidate I present, it's for all the right reasons and that it ultimately leads to a long, fulfilling partnership on both sides. Anything else is a failure on my part, the candidate's, and the organization's by missing red flags that could derail the process.

It's the recruiting firm's and the company's job to interview with scrutiny, fully inform candidates of what to expect in a position, and ensure they’re a potential fit. And it’s your job as a job seeker to have a compelling resume, apply to positions where you actually fit, prepare for your interview, ask great questions, interview the organization, and ultimately come together. This only happens if the client runs the process as we suggest, and if you have a strong resume tailored to the job you’re applying for. You should meet the role’s expectations and make it easy for my company and theirs to consider you as a candidate. You should understand generally how an organization and business work, how profitability works, and how you tie into that through your role. Be open and transparent about any shortcomings, and ultimately, we collectively agree on alignment and assess fit.

Do companies need to further refine their processes, be transparent about them, and make it easy for candidates to understand what they’re signing up for? Absolutely.

Do job seekers have to own their part of the process, ensure their resume meets expectations, and avoid spamming hundreds of resumes? Absolutely.

Both sides need to do better. But understand that not everyone you’re competing against sees both sides, and if you understand how to best compete, you will absolutely separate yourself from the pack.

Happy hiring.