Reviewing This Week on Make HR Happen – What DO Job Seekers Really Want?

The theme this week is not addressed to job seekers, but this question should be asked of them at every occasion. Instead the target audience is recruiting managers, recruiters, sourcers, and hiring managers who need to ask themselves this question in order to focus on the best results. There are dozens of surveys that attempt to get at the heart of the matter and most of them are very revealing in one way or another. There are hundreds of articles and blog posts addressing this topic and for the most part they keep a valuable dialog going in spite of the copycats and those trying to sell something. The size of the company, the type of jobs that are open, and the economic climate all have bearing on the process, but one thing is always rule #1: If there is no listening happening there is no communication.

Another thing: If we ever stop talking about the candidate experience the world of work will be an much different place and it will be an unfortunate situation for us all.

Image credit: rtimages / 123RF Stock Photo

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July 15 - What Job Seekers Really Want – An In Depth Analysis – After talking about what makes recruiters successful, one point stands out above all the others: they must have a sixth sense about communicating with job seekers. This intuition does not come naturally. It can be acquired quickly, but it almost always gets sharper after dealing with many types of jobs and candidates. The first step is to listen. – more –

 

 

July 16 – What Job Seekers Really Want – The Meaning of Meaningful – In spite of the headline indicating a close look into a job seeker’s wants and needs, this could also be an article on employee retention. Another thing you won’t find in the recruiter’s job description is undue concern over the length of time a new hire stays with a company. Even if through some twisted logic the resignation of an employee could be blamed on the recruiter that found and cultivated that hire, most corporate hiring metrics are so shallow that it could never be proved. – more –

 

July 17 - What Job Seekers Really Want – Location, Location, Location – Proximity to the place of employment has always been a key decision factor in accepting an offer of employment. In simpler times this usually meant going to work in a relatively nearby company with a family-like environment. Even branch offices of large corporations were cozier because the lines of communication were too long to exercise long distance command and control. Does this sound like ancient history? – more –

 

July 18 - What Job Seekers Really Want – More and Better – An article in Forbes a few months ago reported the BLS statistics on people quitting their jobs. In what the author called an epidemic there are 2 million voluntary terminations in the US every month. More people quit their jobs in March of 2013 than were laid off. The turnover rate of 1.69% per month over the past decade is relatively constant, but the actual number of “quits” is continuing to grow in spite of high unemployment.   – more –