Interviewing entry-level job applicants requires questions that emphasize their soft skills and capabilities in lieu of experience—here are five open-ended queries that every recruiter should keep in mind.

Recruiters who are interviewing entry-level candidates are tasked with evaluating the applicants’ motivation and potential, and this is particularly challenging when candidates lack any real professional experience. Asking about relevant school or internship experience can encourage them to think creatively about their accomplishments, but for more non-traditional candidates, here are five questions that should give recruiters a good feel for how the potential employee would perform .

1. What is your motivation for applying to this position?

While variations of this query often land on lists of interview questions not to ask, it’s important that candidates explain how their goals and qualifications are in line with those required of the position. Knowing why they chose to apply at your company will also give you insight into how much their values and principles align with those of your organization, and whether or not the candidates have potential for advancement within the company. Underwhelming responses can also be helpful in separating weak or unmotivated applicants from stronger ones.

2. How would you approach a superior with a suggestion, problem, or criticism?

The aim here is to grasp how candidates handle team dynamics. Even if they have not had many leadership opportunities, they should be able to convey an understanding of conflict resolution. Emphasizing these soft skills, rather than more technical skills, demonstrates candidates’ ability to perform their role on a team, tweak processes, or communicate with superiors.

3. How do you think your education/previous experience prepared you for this job?

This may seem like a trick question to candidates who don’t have much—or any—prior experience, but it offers them a chance to focus on experience working on a team, meeting deadlines, or communicating effectively. By asking the candidate to tell you what they see as their most valuable qualifications, you will get a great idea of how well they will fit to the role and with how much enthusiasm. The goal here is to see how candidates can problem solve to apply their relevant experience to the job requirements.

4. How do you see this role fitting in your career plan?

What entry-level candidates lack in experience, they should compensate for with motivation and future goals. This question should reveal why this experience matters to the applicant, how this particular role will help them achieve their ambitions, and the next steps in the career path.

5. What do you hope to gain from this role?

Entry-level job applicants will probably have much they want to learn, so pay close attention to what they say and compare it to the skills and experience listed on their resume. Much like the previous question, thoughtful responses should indicate what areas a candidate wants to improve, and how that will help them in the next stages of their career. You can then weigh this against your organization’s skills training programs and the metrics for success for that role to see if the time and resources spent training a particular candidate are worth the effort.

Sometimes Tinseltown, for all its fictitious kitch, can end up capturing the essential, existential truth behind the dreaded life event that is the job interview.

Job interviews make for good narrative tension, tapping our collective anxiety, our cloying self-doubt barely veneered by any semblance of professionalism. All too often the whole sordid enterprise results in some serious cringe-core for both interviewer and interviewee. As a counterpoint to advice on conducting effective interviews, the following serves as a textbook list of how not to act during an interview—regardless of what side of the table you’re sitting.

9. Monty Python

Ask any recruiter and chances are they have at least one horror story, but it’s less common we hear about recruiters fumbling through questions. Monty Python takes aim at this very scenario with their witty skit “Silly Job Interview”. In this bit from from the first season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, interviewer John Cleese takes detailed notes about candidate Graham Chapman’s responses and reactions to the interviewer’s absurd behavior. While it’s hard to imagine any candidate passing such an outrageous interview, Chapman manages to impress the interviewer with a well-timed retort—but will he get the job?

8. The Wedding Singer

Shifting careers can be daunting, and for Adam Sandler’s character Robbie—a washed-up wedding singer—most of his skills as an entertainer don’t translate into other industries, especially finance. That doesn’t stop Robbie from interviewing at his local bank, where his response when asked about his lack of relevant experience is amusingly on-point (even if it doesn’t impress the bank’s hiring manager).

7. Seinfeld

In “The Opposite”, the always impulsive and neurotic George Costanza decides to do the opposite of what his gut tells him in every situation. This behavior sends George on a winning streak, and eventually lands him a job interview with the New York Yankees. Determined to act against his better instincts, George unleashes a fury of honesty at the Yankee executives over his disappointment with the team’s management. Once again, George’s contrapuntal instincts pay off, and the Yankees offer him a job on the spot. While this strategy may have worked for George, most recruiters and hiring managers respond better to enthusiasm than insults.

6. Step Brothers

Actors John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell perfectly embody the antics of two middle-aged manboys who never grew up in Step Brothers. As such, they see nothing wrong with wearing full tuxedos to their first (team) interview. Their attempts are doomed from the start, and if their inappropriate attire weren’t enough to make interviewers a bit suspicious, the second they open their mouths things fall apart. Quickly.

5. The Internship

Brain-puzzling interview questions are a hallmark of tech juggernauts like Google (though many report that this questioning has since fallen out of practice), and in The Internship Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn must answer a classic brain-teaser. Their response is a tangential rant that leaves both of the interviewers puzzled with disbelief. By and large, answering common interview questions with succinct and relevant responses that showcase your critical thinking and understanding will do much more to impress interviewers than imaginative ramblings.

4. The Company Men

Ben Affleck’s character, struggles to reenter the workforce after losing his six-figure salary job and begins interviewing at new companies. He shows little compassion for the overworked recruiter when she informs him that he isn’t being interviewed for the VP of Sales position he applied for but a more junior role. Unable to contain himself after this disappointing realization, he lobs a stinging insult right onto the recruiter’s desk that effectively ends the interview and burns all bridges with the company.

3. The Devil Wears Prada

Hollywood often depicts the fashion industry as cutthroat, where image and attitude reign supreme, and for Andy (Anne Hathaway), her first encounter with Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) in The Devil Wears Prada is a candidate’s worst nightmare come true. Streep verbally dismantles Hathaway’s character for not having the requisite passion or haute-couture attire, and dismisses her without more than a glance at her resume. Feeling insulted, Alex snaps back with an equally sharp remark that eventually wins over Streep, proving that while she lacks experience, she has comparable skills that make her a candidate worth considering.

2. The Big Bang Theory

Fans of The Big Bang Theory admire Penny for being the plucky waitress who frequently delivers well-timed comedic jabs. Unfortunately, Penny’s experience in the service industry didn’t teach her the finer points of professionalism during an interview, which soon gets her into hot water with the hiring manager at a pharmaceutical sales company. Luckily for her, both Penny and the interviewer bond over their shared fear of their mutual acquaintance, Bernadette, and her bullish attitude. Saving face, even during an interview gone wrong, demonstrates a level of professionalism most recruiters and hiring managers will recognize and appreciate.

1. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Mac (Rob McElhenney) and Charlie (Charlie Day) of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia are a rather dim duo, with their bloated egos and lack of formal education making them less-than-ideal candidates for most entry-level jobs. Undeterred, Mac and Charlie use their negotiation skills to convince the interviewer to split the position (and the salary) between them. Unwittingly, Mac and Charlie seal the deal by negotiating their salary down even further to minimum wage, earning them both a job offer at a fraction of the cost to the company. As a candidate, the art of the salary negotiation can be daunting, but it certainly doesn’t have to be—and you shouldn’t sell yourself short.

After paying their debts to society, thousands of Americans with criminal records struggle to land a job, in large part due to recruiter bias.

Shelley Winner’s dad first got her drunk when she was 11. At 13, she started smoking pot. By 34 she was using and trafficking methamphetamine, heroin, and prescription pills. After a short-lived stint smuggling drugs across state lines, she was arrested, and received a four-year sentence at FCI Dublin, a low-security prison for female inmates, 98 miles from her hometown of Carmichael, California. With her father having been in and out of jail for most of her life to that point, Shelley joined 70 percent of children with incarcerated parents who follow them into the prison system.

“What if…” asks Shelley, now 40, “…you were known for only one thing, and it was the worst thing you’ve ever done?”

The United States represents roughly 4.4 percent of the world’s population, but holds approximately 22 percent of the world’s prisoners, and has one of the highest incarceration rates per-capita worldwide, with 693 inmates for every 100,000 people. After becoming one of the 600,000 released from American prisons each year, Shelley experienced reluctance to hire ex-prisoners firsthand, at a multinational tech firm. A job offer was rescinded once the company discovered she had served time.

“That was a very hard moment,” says Shelley. “It would have made a lot of people just give up. But I didn’t.”

Arizona State University polled 50 employers about hypothetical job applicants, including men and women with criminal records, and found that 57 percent of men with a prison record would have been considered for a job interview, but only 30 percent of women with the same prison record would have received a call.

“We need to get rid of these stigmas,” says Shelley, “and give people a fair, second chance to get their lives back in order.”

Contrary to popular perception, not hiring ex-offenders is bad for business. Approximately one in three American adults have criminal records – that’s 70 million people – and excluding them from the workforce reduces Gross National Product between $78 and $87 billion annually. This is on par with the cost of the proposed merger between Time Warner and AT&T, two of the largest telecommunications companies in the world.

Employers can also reap substantial tax credits for hiring ex-offenders, as well as earn fidelity bonds that cover the first six months of employment for “hard to place” candidates. But even with such incentives, nearly 75 percent of formerly incarcerated people are still unemployed a year after their release. With few prospects to cover basic expenses, many ex-offenders return to illicit activities. Unable to make ends meet, 89 percent of ex-offenders are unemployed at the time of their re-arrest. The odds of Shelley starting a legitimate career while staying out of prison were slim, but she was determined to reform after discovering, two weeks after her arrest, that she was going to have a baby.

A judge removed Shelley from jail and placed her in a halfway house, allowing to carry her pregnancy to term before serving her time. There, Shelley enrolled in the faith-based recovery program, Adult & Teen Challenge USA, which, after successful completion, knocked a year off her original four-year sentence.

“It was the most pivotal moment of my life,” she says. “There was no way I was going to be a drug-addicted mom who was in and out of prison. I couldn’t put my child through what I went through.”

Two months after giving birth to a son, Shelley stepped into FCI Dublin, where she found another chance to transform her street hustle into a force for personal change. She gained entrepreneurial and leadership training through Defy Ventures, a nonprofit organization that works with prisons and correctional facilities in cities across the country, offering currently and formerly incarcerated “Entrepreneurs-in-Training” entry into the business world. For Shelley, “it was an amazing, life-changing program.”

The Defy Ventures program at FCI Dublin falls under the jurisdiction of Veronica Ensign, Bay Area executive director. “We focus on this one piece of the system so we can make a greater impact,” says Ensign. “And if we break these cycles we will have forever changed the system.”

Ensign worked with directly with Shelley while she served her sentence and the two speak together at conferences, both to share Shelley’s story, and bring attention to ex-offenders with similar backgrounds who haven’t been as successful reintegrating.

“The odds have been stacked against them before their incarceration,” Ensign says, “and then we make it even harder once they get out.”

Shelley worked with Defy Ventures’ coaching team for 18 months while in prison, culminating in a “Shark Tank”-style investor meeting with CEOs and venture capitalists, where she pitched her strategy for a computer-repair business.
Shelley lived up to her name and won the competition.

The next step was to find a mentor who could help her navigate the tech industry on the outside. Enter DeeDee Towery, CEO at ProActive Business Solutions and one of the Bay Area’s most influential female business figures. She acted as a guide during Shelley’s 10-month stint in a halfway home, spent seeking career opportunities in tech, a field that long held the interest of the self-described “computer geek.” Shelley then enrolled in Code Tenderloin, an intensive program of job readiness, interview techniques, and coding. It was Code Tenderloin that brought Shelley to a major tech company’s Mountain View office, where after a day of introductions, she was encouraged to apply for an open position.

“Code Tenderloin had me doing so many mock interviews,” she says. “I hated it at the time, but, when I went in for the real interview, I nailed it, and was hired right there on the spot.”

And that’s when Shelley’s conviction history raised concerns and her offer was rescinded. This setback crushed her morale, but she remained determined. “If there’s one thing Defy Ventures taught me,” she says, “it was to not give up when faced with fear, to keep pushing forward, and to silence self-limiting thoughts. It’s ok to be afraid, but instead of it being crippling, you embrace it.”

A 2017 survey sponsored by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners found that 86 percent of US employers surveyed conducted background screening checks after the job interview, but 97 percent conducted criminal background screening on candidates regardless of their status in the interview process. With easy access to online databases, employers feel justified in this, but Ensign argues that “most people running background checks are doing them illegally, and not in a comprehensive way.”

Accessing candidate information via social media or other online portals can lead to murky legal waters, where discrimination can affect hiring decisions. Nearly 30 states currently uphold fair chance hiring policies, some of which require private sector and government employers to “ban the box” indicating a candidate’s previous felony or misdemeanor convictions, as well as delay candidate background checks until later in the hiring process.

While Shelley made it all the way to the job offer stage, she easily could have been rejected at the outset, as California did not implement its Fair Chance Act until January 2018. Before then, California’s estimated seven million residents with conviction histories were systematically excluded from countless job opportunities because of this box.

Ensign emphasizes the importance of background checks that would eliminate certain people from the candidate pool — banks don’t want to hire embezzlers, trucking companies don’t want to hire drunk drivers, etc — but recruiters should “conduct their background checks in a way that considers the person holistically,” she says. “It’s important to do the empathy-building on the front-end of the application process.”

Even with crisp talking points and polished interview skills, no amount of charisma could erase the mark on Shelley’s record. But she decided to plead her case with the hiring manager over email. “I know you’re leery about hiring me,” she wrote. “But I assure you, you’re not going to regret it because I am gonna bust my ass.”

Shelley’s tenacity paid off, and the hiring manager reconsidered. Besides the financial mistake of excluding candidates with conviction histories, they are often branded “untrustworthy”, or “unreliable,” even though it’s been proved that individuals with conviction records maintain a much longer tenure, and are less likely to quit their jobs voluntarily than other workers, likely due to scarcity of opportunities. As for a “lack of social and professional skills”, Ensign stands by Defy Ventures candidates who complete the training program and leverage their skills for success.

“Competition is good,” she says, “and we know that our candidates can compete with others. If hiring managers are going to consider the millions of Americans with conviction histories as part of their TA strategy, they need to do some empathy-building work with their leadership and employees.”

Technology may be the current focus within the HR industry, but the human touch remains its essence. Shelley’s goal in telling her story is more than simply tugging at heartstrings, it’s about the need to give the ex-incarcerated a chance to prove themselves.

“Having empathy in the hiring process brings things down to a human level,” says Shelley. “We all need to look at each other as people instead of data.”

If you attended university in the United Kingdom, you’ve almost certainly heard of Brightsparks. In fact it’s highly plausible you could be one of the 14,000 students they have worked with every year since starting in 2003.

Headquartered in London, Brightsparks specializes in placing UK students into both temporary employment during their studies, and entry-level graduate positions afterwards. As their Senior Talent Manager Jake Wibberly reveals, Brightsparks wants to approach their work differently from other temporary employment agencies, building long-term relationships with their candidates:

“This is quite a unique niche. We get to know students very well as we screen them, assess them, and gather feedback after placing them into roles with our clients, so we can gather deep insights into their personalities and skills.”

Appealing To Generation Z

This approach is not without major challenges, especially when working with students who may have little or no job experience. Traditional CVs and application processes are of little value, and with Brightsparks dealing with such a large number of applicants, they need standardized processes to ensure efficient and fair placements.

Then there’s finding the students in the first place. Generation Z has a disdain for the older, lengthier application processes of previous decades. University is a busy time with essays to finish, societies to join and — let’s face it — copious amounts of partying to fit in. With this in mind, Brightsparks needed a quick and easy process that would appeal to students AND give their hiring managers the data they required.

Building Long-Term Relationships With Candidates

In 2016, Brightsparks discovered that SmartRecruiters offered the solutions to all of these concerns, and more. Let’s see how:

• SmartRecruiters’ easy-to-configure dashboard allowed Brightsparks to develop standardized tests for candidates. Not only did this provide them with all the data they needed, it also helped reduce bias and increase diversity.
• Candidate profiles provides the ability to track students throughout their entire relationship with Brightsparks, allowing long-term monitoring of their data and experience. This means a profile created for a temporary job can be updated and later used for finding a graduate position.
• SmartRecruiters’ flexible API allows it to seamlessly post to multiple social media platforms, a critical advantage when attempting to source younger candidates. Additionally, the ease of click-and-go applications further appeals to time-pressed students.
• The data reports and metrics at the core of SmartRecruiters’ platform allows Brightsparks to quickly assess a large number of candidates and effectively analyze their sourcing channels, saving them money and giving them an edge over their competitors.

Leave aside the fact that the story is most likely apocryphal . The reason it is so frequently mentioned in game theory is because it demonstrates what is known as a commitment device, what Freakonomics authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt have described as “a means with which to lock yourself into a course of action that you might not otherwise choose but that produces a desired result.”

I recently completed a hiring process for a role at Mediabistro. Out of the more than 200 candidates who applied, I ended up interviewing 12 of them in person. And at the end of every interview, I promised the candidate that, one way or another, they would hear back from us when we had made a decision. By making that specific commitment to each of them, I was anticipating that future moment when, with my hiring decision made, I would have to sit down and perform the unpleasant task of calling a bunch of highly qualified candidates to tell them they didn’t get the job (To those who had not been invited to interview, we turned down those candidates over email).

And that’s where I found myself last week, not particularly looking forward to the prospect of making those calls, but knowing I had put my own reputation, and that of my company, on the line — I had told the candidates that, since Mediabistro encourages all of its job-board customers to follow up with candidates, we make a point of practicing what we preach.

So I made the phone calls to turn down the candidates. I’ll admit, there were a couple of times where I was relieved that it went to voicemail, but I dutifully broke the news to every one of them, repeating a few key phrases but making sure I came across as one human being talking to another (I’ll never forget the time earlier in my career when I got a form rejection email from a large company and then, the next day, a voicemail from the person who had interviewed me repeating word-for-word the text of the email).

My task completed, I felt satisfied for following through on my promise. But it was when the candidates started emailing and calling me back, simply to thank me for getting back to them, that I truly appreciated having done the right thing. At the same time, it’s a sad commentary on the state of the job market that candidates should feel so grateful to get this information, rather than simply viewing it as a common courtesy.

At Mediabistro, which provides a wide range of career resources for media professionals, we’ve never viewed our job board as merely a transactional endeavor. Rather, we want to cultivate a highly engaged community of media folks, who can rely us on to connect them not only with job opportunities but also with the skills, information, and people  they need to succeed in their careers. We want candidates who apply for jobs to feel like they’re becoming a part of that community, rather than just throwing their resume into a black hole. That’s why we respond to all candidates, and why, if you’re concerned about maintaining your brand, you will, too.

Greg Horowitz runs Mediabistro job board and also oversee product development for the website. Post Jobs directly to Mediabistro from SmartRecruiters free candidate management platform.

For more advice, read “The Art and Science of Candidate Rejection.” Use Friendly or Formal Email Templates for Personalized or Mass Rejection Emails within our Entirely Platform. 

I’m talking about following up with those potential customers who have given you the ultimate compliment by applying for a job with your company.

So many companies post job opportunities, encourage candidates to apply, then call a “communication blackout” after applications have been submitted. When you go dark – and don’t tell someone you’ve hired someone else or decide not to hire for a position at all – you may turn a potentially vocal supporter of your brand into an angry bird.

How angry?

My company, StartWire, recently completed a survey of 2,000+ job seekers, asking how a company’s application process affected their view of the brand. This is what we heard:

• 77% said they think less of companies that don’t respond to job applicants,

• 72% would be deterred from recommending or speaking positively online of your company

• 58% said they’d even think twice about buying your products or services if they don’t ever hear from you after they submit their application.

There’s a cloud of frustration brewing over the heads of job seekers who hear nothing but crickets from the companies they’ve applied to. Recruiters are busy, and have a lot of good reasons for why they’re not able to follow up on every application. However, the truth is that applicants are (usually) not involved in recruiting or human resources. They don’t know about the countless other applications you’ve seen for the same position. What they do know is that they put time and effort into their application with you. They’re engaged in a stressful job search, and want to know if they’re making progress and where.

You may even want to tell potential candidates that they can expect to hear back from you – even as you advertise your job openings: 96% of our survey respondents said they are more likely to apply if they know you’ll follow-up.

So get out there and share your process with your applicants – thank candidates for applying, keep them updated and let them know when they’ll hear back on their status in the applicant pool. It’s a simple process, but one which can pay off in spades with a higher accept rate when you extend an offer – and happier customers even if you don’t decide to hire!

Chris Forman is the CEO and Co-Founder of StartWire, a job search organizer that provides job seekers with automatic updates on job application status. The former CEO of AIRS and Chief Development Officer of the Right Thing, Chris likes to talk about business, recruiting and technology and has done so at over 300 conferences and web events.

There seems to be no end to the “Talent Community” discussion these days; but, as you scroll through page after page of articles in Google search results, one thing is noticeably absent:  Where are the articles about why they’re good for the job seeker?  You know, the TALENT in the Talent Community??  Little has been written to explain what the benefits are to being an active participant in these forums/networks and how to get the most out them.

What is a “Talent Community” anyway?

Talent Communities are a re-branded form of the online social communities that have been around for years.  Online social communities can cover just about any topic: sports, gaming, products, etc.  Most job seekers are already members of at least one. As Talent Community Strategists design their own communities for their companies, remember that the content should serve the talent.  People frequent those communities because they share a common interest on the topics covered and it gives them a chance to learn from each other and demonstrate knowledge.

Leveraging Participation and a Chance to Shine

During the planning phase, Community Managers spend a lot of time ruminating on how to get members to participate.  This largely revolves on adding content that generates conversations.  The best communities provide an opportunities to rally around a common goal for improvement by providing a project, educational opportunities (webinars, chats, etc).  Here’s some of the questions they ask themselves and plan around:

• What kind of content will provide the most value, be relevant to purpose, and generate conversation?

• What kinds of conversations will your members expect ?

• How do you get internal stakeholders (employees) to interact with external stakeholders (candidates)?

You can best leverage your participation as an ‘external stakeholder’ member through asking those same questions for yourself.  Start discussions and add content that fit with the community’s ongoing theme and purpose.  Chances are, you are in the community as the result of an invite; so the community wants you to participate.  Ask thoughtful questions of current employee members and interact with the content they and other members provide.  Sharing news articles, policy/law changes, and new technologies that affect your role or the business is a great way to differentiate yourself and leverage your participation into that of a valued, respected member of the community.

I Just Want a Job

Here’s the downside of the talent community platform:  it’s not an “instant solution” for either side.  Just as Talent Community Managers/Recruiters are told not to expect their community to be a viable source for gauging talent for a minimum of 90 days; so is it for the job seeker.  When you join the community, you are new – like a stranger at a party.  Even if you met someone who invited you – such as interviewing and then being invited after – at best you’re an acquaintance.  It takes time to build trust and maintain the consistent visibility necessary for people to recruit you because of your participation in a talent community. Keep your engagement levels thoughtful, strong, and consistent; network with the others in the community (inside or out) and over time, you’ll see a payoff.

Again, the rules for inquiring about a job are very similar to that of advertising one. If all you ever do in a community is consistently repeat “I Want a Job” or “Hire ME!” then you’re likely to be tuned out.  A good rule of thumb is to put in 100 pieces of content (responses, new questions, etc) and then use a 1:15 ratio:  for every 15 interactions you have, you can either let people know you’re looking or ask specifically about a job opening.

Talent Communities are extremely exciting for the HR / Recruiting space right now and so if you haven’t already been invited into one, be patient:  it’s coming.  Since a lot of your interaction as a job seeker will depend on how the Community Manager set it up; it can be tricky to give hard and fast rules of engagement.  But regular interaction, thoughtful content, and helping others by participating in their discussions will go a long way to building a positive name for yourself in any community you’re in – and shows just another talent:  good networking.

Crystal Miller creates great Talent Marketing and Social Recruitment Programs at M3 Talent Consulting in Dallas. As an advocate for proactive social media in recruiting, she works as the Co-Host of #TalentNet weekly Radio Chat on Twitter/Focus w/ Talent Net Live. Crystal believes, “Candidate first.” 

I don’t share his definition, by the way, but I do think his definition is how those of us involved in any form of recruitment, staffing, hiring, or talent acquisition, should think about what we do.

There are plenty of people thinking about the opportunity side of the equation; that’s where the money is. But far too few of us really stop to consider the poor schmuck who is looking for a job. I am talking about the new college grad who has to start repaying loans in 6 months, and the single mom who needs someone to watch her kids while she goes to a networking event, and the 58 year old guy who was laid off after 20 years because he was too naive to read the signals that he needed to upgrade his skills, and the highly educated administrative assistant (premed at Stanford) who, although highly engaged with and committed to the company’s business, neglected to negotiate a fair salary and demand appreciation for her value to the firm.

There is a shortage of people who have the requisite skills for many positions open in this country. In this article, I will look specifically at jobs in IT, because I know it well. I believe the same issues occur in areas such as healthcare, skilled manufacturing, and services.

In my area, middle TN, specialized IT jobs are open for months. Employers wrestle with relocation and work visa challenges while those doing the work of IT wonder if they will be able to take a vacation. Those who lack skills try to find a way to get them, but the educational institutions teach dated and irrelevant skills. What is wrong with this picture?

In the meantime, “staffing” firms, internal recruiters, and agencies chase the same resumes on job boards and LinkedIn. They post positions everywhere they can think of. They make calls to people in their databases and ask for candidate referrals. Local candidates play musical cubicle and nothing really changes.

Many, if not most, would say that this is just a result of simple supply and demand. But, if there are plenty of people of average intelligence (the majority of us) who are willing and able to work, we should be able to acquire enough skills to do this work. When nearly everyone who is near a public library can access the internet, it should be easy to find out where we can go to learn something new that will help us get paid a reasonable wage.

Companies have contributed to this shortage. When some realized they could find cheap help desk talent in India and decided to outsource in droves, this dried up one avenue of apprenticeships or ways that people could learn on the job. It also discouraged people from pursuing these jobs because of concerns that once they did acquire the skills, they would be laid off anyway.

Now, one of my clients has international help desk support in the US, Europe and backup support in India. It’s a model that works well and the help desk is the primary entry point for people with minimal technical experience (a year or so) to get into a global company, build skills, and move into more demanding roles. This is great, but more entry points are needed. This scenario is what every IT manager I know goes through each time a key person leaves.

What are companies doing to address this problem?

They are forming talent communities to try and connect talent with their culture. I am not sure this is working as well as intended, but it is an interesting development.

There have always been college internships and entry level positions for recent grads.

But, what about people who aren’t in college? Many are able to do these jobs, with a little training.

What are staffing firms doing to address this problem? Could they partner with community colleges and/or training companies to train and test potential workers, then place them in entry level positions to gain some work experience?

All parties would have to give a little. Employees would need to accept lower wages than those with experience. Staffing companies would need to accept lower margins. Companies would need to invest in training people who aren’t actual employees, but, they could cherry pick the best and the brightest with minimal risks.

I’ve had discussions with local thought leaders who proclaim that the colleges in our area aren’t doing enough to provide relevant education. But, education is not the same as training. Someone pursuing a computer science degree is on a bit of a different path than someone who wants to learn how to maintain a computer network. I think the gap is in training opportunities. Companies aren’t training workers the way they used to.

When it comes to the build or buy decision, they’d rather buy. It’s perceived to be faster. But, as long as there is a huge gap between the demand for skills and the supply, the buy decision will work best for those with vast resources. The rest of us need to be resourceful and innovative as we find ways to equip people to become the talent we need to compete.

Those of us who comprise the “industry” need to propose and promote practical and workable solutions. One thing that will help is the educate job seekers on what they can do to be more competitive. No one is helpless; we are just woefully naïve and unaware of what our options might be. Since I am on my high horse here, I will put a stake in the ground and offer a series of three free one-hour Career Catalyst Audio Conferences to help job seekers. I would love to actually have a practical panel of experts. Who would like to partner with me on this?

I think most people are aware of the Pareto’s Principle, commonly referred to as the 80/20 rule. To greatly simplify it, 80% of results comes from 20% of effort.  When I ran a sales team, we used it to prioritize our efforts because 80% of our sales came from 20% of our products. When I ran a recruitment agency, 80% of our fees came from 20% of our recruiters. The idea is to dramatically improve productivity by focusing on the 20%, rather than waste resources on the 80%.

As a sales manager, I was able to dramatically impact my sales staff’s production when I forced them to whittle down their lead list from thousands to 50. Talk about resistance! It was like trying to take a beef bone from my dog! But, when the sales people were able to focus on what mattered, their sales numbers started ramping up. They were energized by their productivity. They were working smart, not hard.

Why do we use Pareto’s Principle?

The biggest reason is to make sure the cost of the sale doesn’t outweigh profit margins.

In recruiting, especially internally, there is a high cost to source talent. Most staffing metrics look at the grosser costs, such as salaries, job board posts, agency fees, etc. It is just as critical to look at opportunity costs.

As a talent acquisition process improvement consultant, I have seen recruiting teams spend too much time pouring over LinkedIn profiles that might fit a position and route them to hiring managers without ever making contact. One major company tasks their sourcing team to do this, without even having an opening. It’s called “profile harvesting.” Harvesting (for those of us who garden or farm) means tilling the ground, fertilizing, sowing seeds, and ongoing care BEFORE we reap the rewards. This practice is really no different than going through a bunch of business cards gathered at a conference. Unless you connect with the person behind the profile, the activity is a waste of time. I’ve seen fillable jobs stay vacant for months. Leela might respond that the wise recruiter should pay for a job post on LinkedIn. And, I agree. But, the person who responds to a job post is NOT a passive candidate. They might not be shopping their resume, but they have more than a passing interest in making a change, or they wouldn’t even notice the posting.

I think smart companies will focus on finding the 20% of the talent that can make a difference to their organizations. They will invest in their visibility as an employer (a marketing activity) so that appropriate talent will think of them first when they feel dissatisfied at work. They will focus their recruiters on activities that help convert mild interest into passion for a new challenge. The really smart ones will leverage their internal networks by having an employee friendly referral program, one that makes it easy for employees to refer talent, get prompt feedback and a meaningful financial reward.

Focusing on 80% of a disinterested labor pool is a waste of resources. It slows down the hiring process. I have seen fillable positions (help desk, systems administrators, software developers) stay open for many months. I’ve had qualified people (who were eventually hired) tell me that they had submitted their resumes six months earlier and received no response other than the “We got your resume. Don’t call us. We’ll call you when we get around to it.”  (It may be worded differently, but the message is the same.)

The right people in the right job will give a company a real edge in the market. It’s called “competitive advantage.” But, often the pursuit of “talent,” distracts managers from finding good people who can deliver, because they are looking for the “perfect” candidate. Good people “on the market” get snapped up while corporate recruiters look for the perfect passive candidate.

It is our job as recruiters to know the available talent in our markets and industries and advise on the most effective talent acquisition strategy for our companies. It is our job to make sure we focus on activities that will provide the greatest return on our time. We need to talk to real candidates, not waste time harvesting profiles. We need to get out and mix with our employees and let them know how they can get that referral fee. That’s where I spend 80% of my time. But I know when to make the call to the person who isn’t looking and sell them on making a move. That’s the 20% I want to be sure pays off.

Pat Sharp, The Talent Architect blends strategy, technology tools, and assessment tools with marketing magic to create unique talent solutions. Past and current clients include: Motorola, Deloitte, TiVo, and Cloudscaling. Visit The Talent Architect or drop her a line at pat@thetalentarchitect.com. 

Editor’s Note: To source the best talent from all channels, Join the Free Social Recruiting Revolution.

Applying for work is putting yourself out there. For better or worse, when someone puts herself out there, he or she deserves feedback. Unfortunately in the hiring process, applicants are too often left alone in the cold wondering, “Did they even receive my information? I would understand if they chose someone else, but did they even take the time to consider me?”

At SmartRecruiters, we are hiring. Unfortunately, we must turn down many candidates. Many talented people just aren’t the right fit for a particular job. However, every applicant you reject will serve as ambassador to your brand and a potential hire for a future position. Every applicant should be treated with respect. Every applicant should be replied to. Here is the default reject candidate email in the SmartRecruiters Platform, written by CEO Jerome Ternynck, and sent out yesterday by Jerome to a real candidate:

Dear [Real Candidate],

Thank you for your interest in the position of [job_title]. Unfortunately we are unable to offer you a role at this time. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for now. Please stay in touch with us on @SmartRecruiters or www.facebook.com/smartrecruiters as we are consistently hiring.

I wish you the best of luck in your job search.

Best regards,

Jerome Ternynck

This Real Candidate had this to say today:

Thank you for your reply Jerome,

I am now more impressed with your organization because you took the time to reply. This is my motto and practice when I work with talents. I always reply to resumes as I know how frustrating it can be in this current economic climate. I always believe that when I communicate with them, I hopefully have made them feel that I did take the time to review their efforts. And you made me feel you did.

Again, thank you for your response and please keep me in mind as I continue to track SmartRecruiters’ success and hope to be a part of that and your team sometime, even on a consulting, remote, temporary or part-time basis.

 

Best,
Real Candidate