Transcript - Episode 011 - The Right Bait and the Employer G-Spot

Episode 011
The Right Bait and the Employer G-Spot

Candidate attraction has basically turned into a defensive formation, and candidate applications have taken on a defensive formation as well. Lots of virtual tackling is happening. But…. who has the ball? And how can anyone possibly score? And yes, I'm likely to mix analogies of football and fishing in this podcast. So, you know… I played volleyball, ran track, was in drama, and was a cheerleader for basketball… But none of those analogies work very well here. 

Hi, I'm Daava Mills, The Rebellious Recruiter. I don't know about you, but I see inspiration and recruiting analogies everywhere I look. Today I going to break down an especially awful ad that came through my Facebook feed recently. Then I am going to cross reference it to current recruiting practices. Which means, today, we're pulling back out the fishing analogy of chum and bait. 

Grab your coffee, have a seat, and let's chat. 

Intro music...

Like I said, I see recruiter analogies everywhere. This week the Amazon algorithm threw something odd my way. It wasn't the usual choices of fashion, shoes or kitchen gadgets. It was a couch, with a three-sided privacy panel. Naturally, I clicked on it.

It opened to the Amazon page, with photos showing three different angles, but all with the privacy panels up. So, I clicked on the video, which was a bunch of pictures of other products flashing by quickly. 

I read the description, which still didn't explain the privacy panels, how the privacy panels get there or get removed. Or the environment it was to be used in. 

So, I scrolled down to the questions and answers. The manufacturer didn't directly answer the questions. Instead wanted people to go to a YouTube page.

I scrolled to the reviews, none of which were serious. They were written by a carriage horse from Central Park, who had the nervous habit of kicking distracting things at home, so a couch with blinders was handy. They were written by a person talking about avoiding HR and being able to sexually harass people at work in peace, a casting couch director had their take on it, you name it. Funny stuff, but nothing real.

I eventually got around to their website, where I had to type in the name of the couch. And eventually I found a video on how the panels went up. But still no description of what this couch was created for. No client testimonials, or philosophical conversation of why it was created.

There was a very expensive couch, with a cool USB charging port, moveable privacy panels… Fake reviews. Bad videos. And they thought it would be a good idea to push this out to Facebook. Yep… feels like most job ads these days. Randomly applying bologna with a shot gun to see what sticks. That's not an effective approach.

Let's put this in candidate terms. First, we're revisiting the fishing analogy glossary.

Chum - Networking and employment page
Bait - Job Ad
Line - The interview
Rod - The structure to your interview
Reel - The continued steps in the process
Farm - List of qualified people
Fish food - Ongoing communication
Hatchery - Your training ground

This company effectively chummed the water… but it lost the point, and aggravated and confused a bunch of people, and now has a list of fake reviews on Amazon. And the bait was rejected. 

Perspective. I once saw an opening for a job as a Director of HR for a growing start-up here in Portland. I went to their website, couldn't figure out what they did. Which is often the case, as websites are written for clients who are looking for specific things. But when you are looking for candidates, you need to describe your business differently. Most companies don't do that. This site was no exception, I went to their jobs page and it only said something along the lines of "Work for the best company in Portland." With a video and a list of jobs below it. I clicked on the video… saw a bunch of fast-moving pictures, but no description of what the company did. 

Then when clicking on the job… It was a blasé job description, coupled with a demand for a cover letter asking what a person can add to their environment. Ummmm…. Still have no clue what they do. They posted the job for months.

So, let's break this down. A weird couch shows up on my feed, I smell something interesting that needs investigation, the water is effectively chummed. I never found the bait, as it was an assumption on the part of company that I would just buy. They didn't respond to funny reviews and allowed that to become the focus of what might be an innovative product. Now complete strangers are running the show on this.

Correlate with the job ad. Something interesting shows up, OR the person is looking, so they respond to the bait. But instead of getting candidates who are interested in who the company is, they get every candidate who is looking for something similar. Then the website lacks information, so the employer gets overwhelmed with generic applications and resumes. Then the employer starts the purple squirrel hunt. The few that get through into an interview, are frustrated, so they let it out on Glassdoor or Indeed reviews as a warning to other candidates. 

Then we have a doubled up defensive mode. Candidates will apply for 10's and sometimes 100's of jobs a day. The employer gets frustrated, so they put in requirements of what needs to be addressed on the cover letter, because no one really knows how to write a resume these days, coupled with the advice the candidate gets that they need to tailor their resume to each position. Which the candidate doesn't have time for, because they are blasting their resume out there, because no one is responding, so they amp up their process. The employer adds more requirements, because they are frustrated, and they start creating rules for the cover letter, add a ton of questions to the online application, most of which aren't relevant, and basically hold applicants accountable to relating information that is relevant to the work environment, when there is nothing the candidate can realistically understand from the ad or the website. Round and round it goes.

This effectively creates a game with two sides of defense. Know what a game of football looks like with only two defensive teams???? I don't know either, but there's no way to score. And there would be no point in watching.

How do we fix this?

First, your job ad. Did you phone it in and just post the job description? Job descriptions are great for worker's comp, great for holding under performers accountable, but they are not great attraction tools. Identify the top 5 things the person will be doing. Now, detail-oriented business owners and managers, usually think this is impossible. For some engineering positions, it probably is. But for most types of positions, it's not. 

List the top 5 things they will be doing. If they are solving problems, then list what are the problems they will solve now. When those problems are solved, what are the goals of the department. How many people, and what types of people will they be working with? Who will be reporting to them? Who does this person report to? What systems are in place that are being used? What's the expectations for the communication and work schedule? And most importantly, at a 6th to 8th grade level, what does your company actually do? Believe me when I tell you, that the conversation of what your company does, takes on a different tone and different vocabulary when recruiting. 

Build out your ad, use both narrative and bullet points. Keep it to one page. Talk to the person on the other end. Your ideal person isn't buried in the requirement of 5 years. They've worked for 2 years in a leadership capacity and have managed 3-5 people during that time. They might have taken 3 years to get to that spot, or 10 years. But you need that two in leadership. 

List out the problems you need solved. Let’s face it, if your business was perfect, you wouldn't need them. Don't hide behind the perfect employer with shiny happy people charade. Tell them! 

Here's another hint, describe what they might have done in military terms as a caveat, with our transitioning military, they take notice of these things. 

When you have the application process, first… is the online application really that important? Like, all the screening questions. I'll give you a hint, if you have a lot of screening questions, most are pointless and worthless. Asking people what they've done, the number of people they've managed, those are fair game, but only two or three of those questions, remember, you need to value their time too. Asking people about where they would go on vacation if they dropped everything now? No, it's a waste of time, and candidates are now trying to figure you out. Stick to the facts. And I've never hired someone, or even pushed them through the process based on where they want to vacation. 

Now, look at your website. Do you clearly describe, I mean clearly describe what you do as a company? Do you want to find out? Talk to a sixth grader until they can repeat back what you do in a way they understand. Sounds silly, right? I once heard a statement that you should only invest in what you can draw with a crayon. I know that is simplistic, but seriously, if you can break your business down to that level, everyone applying will be able to dial in on wanting to work with you, or not work with you.

If your website doesn't have a section that specifically talks to potential employees, the life blood of supporting your clients, you will need to address that in the future. 

What we're doing is lessening the burden on you to read tons of resumes that are obvious bad fits. You don't want people who can spin-doctor their way to the top. I'm sure you'd rather get 20-30 solid resumes, and most of those be obvious why the person applied. When you give information, people will screen themselves out. This will change during a recession, but doing a lot of these principles now, will lessen that issue on you during times of financial unrest.

Like I've said in episode zero, no one has time for an overhaul today. But you do have time to change up your job ad.

Here are some other things you can address in the future, and we'll be addressing them here as well, in more detail:

Employment recruiting narratives
Branding photos
Company descriptors
Getting through using the learning types of visual, auditory, kinesthetic and emotional
FAQ pages

In the interim, here is what you need to do on every job ad, and every interview. Explain the process of hiring into your company. 

I read a lot of complaints on LinkedIn. Candidates spend a lot of time to please the employer, but then nothing happens. They put a lot of emotions into the employer, to be ghosted, rejected, or not told the results of the personality analysis because someone thought sharing that information with them was a breach of ethics. These are made up rules that are ridiculous, and just builds animosity for your brand as an employer. 

In the job ad, or in a confirmation email, or during a phone screen, lay out the process. "Okay Mx. Candidate, we generally have a 5-step process here. Today is the first one, the phone call, this is where we establish if you have the basic skills needed to perform the job, and if you understand the desired cultural traits that make our company unique. The next step is an online evaluation. While most companies choose not to share the results, we know you are spending valuable time talking to us, so we will share the results with you. Pending those results, we'll take your answers and then do a face-to-face interview with a couple of the hiring managers. This evaluation is used to better understand how you process information, and some of the questions will be around your ability to adjust to fit past environments. There is no wrong answer on the evaluation. From there, we'll schedule an onsite tour, and do references. Those are the five steps. Do you have questions about that, or do you need clarity?"

See what I did there? That evaluation let's pretend it's a key part of your hiring process. You sell it, and you share it. Personality tests are all the rage right now. Hiding that information is silly. I once spent 90 minutes on an evaluation that the company said I tested really well on, was very close to their ideal, then said they would only share it with me if I was hired. They ghosted me soon thereafter. I spent 90 minutes on that. They couldn't give me a sanitized PDF of my results. That's not cool. Candidates hate this, and because of it, it actually wards off other candidates from applying if you have that as part of the process, because like that Amazon review cluster I spoke about? The same things happens on Glassdoor, Kununu, Great Places - the candidates start controlling your conversation to complete strangers, they determine your branding to complete strangers, and now you are in damage control. So, sell it to them. Don't hide it. Give them the results. Sell your process. 

Build your emotional capital. What is emotional Capital? “Emotional Capital is the corner stone of any employment relationship. Make the investment, and the ROI is employee loyalty, expertise, and a commitment to make the company great."

You see, candidates are often running in the deficit of emotions, because looking for work is grueling, and to be treated like a commodity when they aren't even being paid? Nah, let's not do that. Put your cards on the table, don't make what you are looking for a mystery. Why? Because most people haven't mastered a resume, much less a cover letter. Most employers have different expectations they want to see in a resume or cover letter. Then they either dictate how specific they need the cover letter to be or expect that a candidate can read between the lines and magically hit your employment g-spot so you will call them.

Better yet, many employers insist that applicants follow the rules of applying to a "T," then get all pissy that they don't think out of the box very well after they are hired. What did you expect? Rule followers don't generally bypass rules. Rule breakers like to tell you how to improve or skip steps that seem unreasonable or duplicate or non-value added. These are some of the traits you need to identify and learn to recognize. Starting with how you write the job ad. It's okay for some positions to have different interview processes. It really is.

Let's stop with the unwritten rules, shall we? 

Take a couple minutes to really digest what you need. Write the ad, don't just post the job description. Give them the process, the ideal timeline of the process. Don't hold them accountable to unwritten rules. Identify your unwritten rules and communicate them. Communication is key. It's always the key. And it starts with you.

As always, I’ll be bringing you new information weekly. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this. Feel free to comment, rate, and review what you hear. Share this podcast with other leaders that may be building “out of this world teams.” You can email me with your thoughts or questions. I may use your subject matter in upcoming shows. 

It’s great to meet you and thank you for listening. I know you only have so many hours in the week, and I am grateful to spend this time with you. Until then, make it a great day! See you on the flip side.