As the economy emerges from the shadows of the so-called “Great Recession,” a great number of us — employed and unemployed, alike — have allowed ourselves to exhale and our focus to shift from the dire uncertainties of the last five years, to the promising signs that dot the road ahead.
In an ironic twist, however, the collective breathing-out of stress is followed by a collective breathing-in of those no-longer-dormant anxieties linked to the process of job-seeking — especially now in our increasingly digitized, globalized and high-velocity economy.
According to a recent report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment nationwide has fallen to a five-year low of 6.1%, with the U.S. economy absorbing roughly 290,000 new employees in the month of June 2014 alone. The upward trend in hiring is particularly sharp in the fields of professional and business services, which have witnessed a 25% rise in employment during the same period.
This is all comforting news, to be sure — but that’s just part of the story. For just as prospective employers must now compete for new talent, prospective employees must now compete for new jobs. And standing at the threshold of this business battlefield are the ranks of talent recruiters — those men and women tasked with identifying, recruiting and vetting qualified applicants.
Who are these gatekeepers, what exactly do they seek, and how might candidates distinguish themselves from the pack? If you’ve ever contemplated any these questions, you’re not alone. That’s precisely why creative.reconstruction sat down with Abby Kohut, a seasoned staffing professional, author of “Absolutely Abby’s 101 Job-Search Secrets” — and career consultant with roughly 25 years of experience — to better understand the art, science and intangibles of employee recruitment.
CREATIVE.RECONSTRUCTION: For starters, how would you define “talent recruitment,” and in what ways might it differ from the functions performed by headhunters?
ABBY KOHUT: Talent recruitment is a strategic approach to identifying, attracting and onboarding top talent to efficiently and effectively meet dynamic business needs. Headhunters, by slight contrast, provide a supplemental service — augmenting the work of in-house corporate recruiters who may be having difficulty in filling particular positions. When both parties work together, the end result is frequently top-notch candidates are placed into top-notch companies.
What are some of the standard metrics that recruiters use to evaluate a candidate’s suitability for a given opportunity — both pre- and post-interview?
In my experience, the key recruiting metrics for larger and more formal employers tend to be more related to factors like allotted recruitment time-frames, the costs associated with filling particular positions, the general characteristics of the applicant pool of applicants, etc., and aren’t necessarily related to qualifications of the individual candidates, per se.
At what point in the evaluation process can you confidently determine whether a candidate might be a good fit for a specific role or organization? Is that generally a factor of your intuition, the actions of the candidate — or both?
It’s usually intuition, and it usually happens within the first few minutes of meeting a candidate. That being said, however, a good recruiter will not be biased by their intuition, and will continue the interview to determine if it was in fact correct. After the interview, a candidate’s actions also come into play. If they follow up too aggressively, or not enough, a recruiter and hiring manager may make determinations about fit from their actions. For example, if a candidate uses emoticons and “LOL”s in their follow-up emails, a hiring manager might deem that person too casual for the company culture.
What are some strategies or tactics that a candidate can use to enhance her appeal — and effectively differentiate herself from others under consideration — in the eyes of recruiters?
Differentiating yourself is about being able to demonstrate capabilities and skills by providing concrete past examples or stories. But in order to get to that phase, you have to find a way in the door. These days, the candidates who have the strongest networks are recommended to hiring managers and essentially bypass many of the earlier steps. Building your network via LinkedIn is absolutely critical to your success in this job market. At the same time, forwarding your résumé to a hiring manager by (e)mail, or just dropping it off at company headquarters, can also differentiate you from the competition.
In evaluating candidates, how much of a premium do you place on an applicant’s ability to “fit in” at a given organization? To the extent possible, should applicants themselves be mindful of that concern and self-select accordingly?
My recommendation to job seekers is to apply to jobs where they match or possess at least 70% of skills articulated in the given job description. Everything beyond that is culture fit, personality, chemistry and sometimes even personal interests. A recruiter is always responsible for evaluating culture fit. You should certainly do intense research on the company and the interviewers to be sure that you are making the right choice for yourself. Being miserable in a job because of a poor fit can be worse than having no job at all. It can affect your health, your happiness and your work history should the employment terminate prematurely.
What are among the most common errors of judgment, communication, or self-presentation that you encounter among job candidates during the vetting process? What are the three most critical things for any applicant to get right during the process?
I could literally write a book about this — and did!
Résumés often include formatting, grammatical, and spelling errors. Cover letters are fairly generic and are addressed to “Dear Sir or Madam,” or to “Dear John Doe,” instead of to “Dear John,” or “Dear Mr. Doe.” During interviews, candidates frequently have difficulty answering basic interview questions because they may be insufficiently prepared, or are getting incorrect advice.
The three most critical things for any job candidate to get right are:
- A positive attitude;
- An ability to accurately describe your strengths and value; and
- An ability to network with peers and professionals in your field.
Overzealousness or underzealousness — which do you tend to encounter more frequently, and which is the more problematic tendency for a job seeker?
In truth, they are both problematic, and they both seem to be happening quite a bit these days — albeit for different reasons.
Some job seekers have no idea how to sell themselves. They don’t want to come across as bragging so they omit details about their strengths and positive attributes. If job seekers speak with confidence and competence, it doesn’t come across as bragging.
Overzealousness is frequently a response to the challenges of the job market. Job seekers are feeling somewhat desperate, and as a result they call recruiters incessantly to find out the status of their application. Companies want to hire people that have a strong desire to work for them, but desire is very different than desperation. It’s best that a job seeker have multiple employee prospects at any given time so that they don’t focus on any single opportunity so intensely that it works to his or her detriment.
Have you noticed meaningful differences in the job-seeking approaches or expectations of candidates from Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials? If no, what may have “standardized” the mentalities? If yes, what are among the more significant differences, what might be the sources of the differences, and in what ways have employers sought to adapt?
The proliferation and popularity of social media and smart phones have created a huge generation gap between Gen X & the others. Recruiters are using social media to recruit and many Gen X’ers are uncomfortable sharing their personal information with the world in the manner — and to the extent — that members of later generations do. For example, some companies only recruit via Twitter, meaning well-developed Twitter profile becomes a prerequisite for employment. Social media, smart phones and texting are here to stay, so if you want to compete in the contemporary job market, becoming comfortable with these new tools and platforms is essential.
Do you find there to be any biases — age, gender, ethnic — that persist, or have emerged, among employers or job-seekers in specific sectors, or the employment landscape at large? If no, what might be responsible for the reforms? If yes, what can job-seekers do to minimize these bias effects?
There have always been biases, but they seem to be more pronounced these days. Many of the unemployed people are fortysomething or older, and they are interested in taking a lower-level position for a variety of reasons. Employers believe that “overqualified” employees are likely to leave the company when the market improves, which is not necessarily going to happen. If overqualified candidates demonstrate a faster learning curve, a genuine interest in the company and the job, and a more substantial ROI, in my opinion employers need to give them genuine consideration.
There are also biases towards the long-term unemployed. These are people whose departments were completely eliminated, who worked for companies that were acquired or were simply poorly funded. Their being laid-off had nothing to with their performance, and they come equipped with references to prove that. Some of these people were fortunate enough to receive a severance package and decided to enjoy life for a while and live off their severance. Employers need to seriously consider the reasons why someone is unemployed. Is it due to their lack of job-performance skills, or is it due to their lack of job-search skills?
Are they any parting words of advice or wisdom that you would offer to prospective job seekers and employers?
Job-seeking skills are not innate; they can be taught and they can be learned. Everyone has a chance to land a desirable position if they learn to play the game effectively. At the same time, employers need to open their minds up to hiring long-term unemployed people who may have been laid off due to no fault of their own. More often than not, those candidates still have a wealth of knowledge and skills to contribute.
An edited version of this article was originally published on Learnvest.com and Forbes.com in January 2015.
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