Talent – where have all the good people gone?
The most pressing challenge for any organization that wishes to remain competitive is access to the right talent with skills and experiences critical to achieving aggressive goals. The cost of a poor hiring decision can be significant—sometimes even exceeding the compensation for the role. This is part of why companies have become increasingly cautious (and bureaucratic and byzantine) in their hiring decisions. I speak with hundreds of people who sit on both sides of the hiring desk in my work. What I can say without hesitation is that there is an enormous disconnect between candidate and hiring company expectations. One of the most frequent complaints from candidates is that the hiring process is broken. Simultaneously, the most frequent complaint of hiring managers is the “skills gap”—a fundamental mismatch between the skills that employers rely upon in their employees and the skills that job seekers possess.
We all know that there are 3 perspectives on this—the candidate’s, the hiring manager’s, and reality. However, this is a case where the candidate’s view is closer to reality than that of the employer. If you’re a hiring manager and you’re wondering why you can’t find any good candidates for the role you’re trying to fill, consider these:
You make the application process difficult and Kafkaesque. This is one of the top complaints candidates have. Your company may use a clunky applicant tracking software (ATS) that requires job seekers to upload a résumé, which is then inaccurately parsed into the application, requiring it to be completed manually. Maybe you require candidates to create an account to apply. Or, perhaps graduation dates are mandatory fields. (And from what I’ve heard, many of your applications still require a physical mailing address…why?) All of these make it difficult for potential employees to interact with you. It’s annoying (actually more than annoying). It needs to be easier.
You hire for “cultural fit.” Cultural fit is important. But far too often, this translates into managers who hire people who are the same as they are. Cultural fit does not mean that everyone has similar backgrounds and experiences. It is more about inherent values. Most companies do cultural fit hiring poorly.
Your expectations are unrealistic. You want someone with a Ph.D. in Renaissance history and aerospace engineering, who speaks English, Mandarin, German, who can split an atom while explaining how derivatives function. This. Is. Not. Happening.
You don’t do salary research. You do compensation backward, beginning with what’s in your budget and looking for people who fit that. A smarter strategy would be to conduct a salary benchmark survey and ensure you are offering competitive wages.
You conduct multiple rounds of interviews. No, you’re not going to make a decision based on one single interview. However, requiring candidates to endure 6-8 rounds of interviews is absurd. Further, the “parlor tricks,” including lengthy presentations and the “jobs that pose as projects,” tell the candidate that you do not make decisions with confidence. After all of that, an offer is not extended, and a form email is sent. Ridiculous. This damages your employer brand. And you wonder why nobody wants to work for your company?
Your managers don’t know how to conduct interviews. Most interviewers are pretty bad at interviewing. They ask irrelevant questions, talk about themselves the entire time, or use scripted canned questions. Train your people to interview better. When someone graduated college is irrelevant. I recently had one client tell me that the interviewer hadn’t heard of her college. SO WHAT? Look it up. There are thousands of schools in the US. Just because you haven’t heard of one of them is NOT A THING.
Many of these things may be beyond your control, as they are larger, systemic issues. But, if you wish to attract and retain top talent, the onus is on you to improve those issues that are within your purview rather than complaining about the quality of candidates. If most of the candidates you’re seeing lack the skills and qualifications you deem essential the problem is your expectations or your hiring process. Your company is, after all, the common denominator.