There's a big difference between the hiring process used by most HR departments vs the process that hiring managers use.
And it makes a big difference which process you use when you apply for jobs.
The HR hiring process is what's taught by outplacement firms, most career coaches/authors, and other free resources.
Does this look like the process you're trying to use in your job search?
- HR posts job internally and publishes ads to job boards. Employers expect 5-10 qualified candidates competing for each interview spot (That's 50-100 qualified candidates competing for 10 spots, plus all the unqualified ones).
- HR screens applicants through an ATS to get to a short list of about 50 candidates who have correctly guessed the most criteria, based on exact word/phrase matches. Many qualified candidates remain buried in the Applicant Tracking System, so many qualified candidate resumes aren't seen by humans.
- HR visually screens resumes, cutting the list even more. HR makes initial screening calls. Some large companies have 5 different screening levels, including skills and psychological testing.
- HR submits about 15 candidates to the hiring manager (1-2% of resumes received).
- Hiring manager reviews and decides which candidates to interview.
- HR requests that hiring managers interview additional candidates for compliance interviews (to inflate stats of candidates over 40, unemployed, and minority candidates interviewed), keeping government regulators happy. HR may also schedule comparison interviews, to satisfy company requirements of interviewing candidates to compare to the hiring manager's picks.
- Additional interview rounds, and winning candidate selection.
- Finalize any reference and background checks.
- Salary offer and acceptance.
There's a lot of steps to the HR process and it's pretty complicated, right?
The hiring manager process is straightforward in comparison. 80% of new hires are hired using this process:
- Just prior to the job being posted, or when the hiring manager learns that an employee is leaving, they think: "Who do I want on my team?" and "Who do I already know and trust?".
- Most hiring managers have 2-3 people they already know pop to "the front of their mind".
- HR process steps 1-6 above occur.
- Hiring manager nearly always picks one of the 2-3 candidates that they already knew and trusted. According to CareerBuilder, the hiring manager already knew 80% of new hires before the job was posted.
- Finalize any reference and background checks.
- Salary offer and acceptance.
- Other finalists who applied or networked after posting are almost always backup candidates.
For the 20% of new hires that the hiring manager didn't already know before the job was posted (even internally), these additional steps are added to the Hiring Manager hiring process:
- For the 20% of new hires that the hiring manager didn't already know before the job was posted (even internally)?- Backup candidates selected only if all of the hiring manager's top 2-3 candidates turn down the position.
- If the hiring manager isn't able to get any of the top 2-3 candidates and doesn't find someone they like among the backups, they ask HR to find more candidates or go to a 3rd party recruiter.
Why do you continue to apply for jobs using the HR process, when the hiring manager process chooses different candidates 80% of the time?
If you're like most job seekers, you're not using the hiring manager process because no one taught you. You'd use it if you knew how. Why not let me show you?
I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, job search acceleration, unemployment, "bouncy" recent career path, job search turnaround, seeking raise/promotion, industry in decline/consolidation, long term gaps, family leave, or other of the most challenging job search issues.
