Responding To Rejected Job Candidates

The Highlander is a group of popular movies and a television series from the 1980’s through the 1990’s. Throughout the franchise there was one phrase that was consistent in its history: “There Can Be Only One”. The same is true in the hiring of personnel. Despite several good qualified candidates only one applicant can be chosen for each opening. In some cases other applicants that are refused the position may inquire as to why there were not selected.

How hiring personnel in organizations respond to these inquiries depends on their needs. Some hiring personnel may not realistically have the time to respond to all queries. Others may have an active policy of responding to them. How responses are made need to be considered to stay in compliance with hiring regulations and to maintain good public relations.

Explain The Process

In the job interview process, communicate to applicants what the hiring process entails. Qualifications for the position should be reinforced so that applicants will know what the organization is looking for. They should be given an overview of how the job search will be conducted and a general timeframe. This will give applicants an idea of what the process will be.

How To Inform Of Rejection

Organizations should decide the best way to inform applicants they were not being considered. Notification by letter or email is appropriate. How the responses are worded should be simple and general such as a more qualified candidate was chosen. Specific information for a candidate should not be detailed to avoid possible legal action.

Future Applicants And Customers

Responding professionally to applicants that were not selected can be good policy. This could encourage applicants who are highly qualifies to re-apply to a company. It can also reflect on the professionalism of the organization. In these days of instant communication and social media, customer relations are important to maintain. A company that treats rejected candidates with dignity displays its quality.

Are You Familiar With QR Codes?

QR Codes are the latest thing in recruiting technology and, according to ERE.net, there are many benefits for HR professionals. While not everyone agrees that QR codes will have that much utility, HR professionals should be aware of what they are and how they are used just in case you come across a resume that has one. 

What are QR Codes?

QR Codes are small barcodes on employee resumes or business cards that HR professionals and recruiters can scan by using their SmartPhones. When you scan a WR code on an applications resume, you are taken to targeted online links. Ideally, these links will contain something that gives you more useful information about the candidate. They might take you to a profile on LinkedIn, a Facebook page created to highlight relevant information about an applicant and his career, or a video that the applicant has made introducing himself to you. The applicant can really link the QR code to anything of his choosing and you’ll be taken directly there.

Are QR Codes Useful?

QR Codes can be useful for HR professionals because they allow quick access to employee information. However, the utility depends upon the quality of the information that the candidate has linked you to. If the candidate doesn’t provide relevant and useful links that actually add value in learning about his fitness for a position, then the QR Code is just more useless information.

QR Codes will also be most useful once an HR professional is already interested in a candidate. When you are reviewing resumes, typically you aren’t going to click on the QR code on every single resume you receive, as this could take a significant amount of time. Therefore, the original resume data that people include should still contain the meat of their details, since that’s what will convince you to click on the QR Code. Since the resume still has to contain the essential information, this too raises questions about how useful QR Codes will be. 

Finally, remember that there are other ways to access the same employee information. Googling the name of the employee, for example, can lead you to any online information you hope to find. And, unlike with QR Codes, the traditional Google method will allow you to find out information the employee doesn’t specifically want you to know, which can be more useful to getting to know a potential employee than looking at a sales pitch he has created. 

Video Interviewing: The Next Big Thing?

The recent issue of Inc. Magazine featured a start up company called Take The Interview. The idea is to use a video platfom to make the recruiting process easier and more efficient. Human Resources and and recruiters can screen candidates through video prior to an in person interview. The idea is to help alleviate companies flooded with applications. Employers ask multiple applicants a short list of questions and receive a video response. The idea is to help streamline the screening process.

First Impressions

 

Most recruiters and hiring authorities kow the average time to look at a resume in the hiring process is a few seconds. The same theory hold true with interviewing. It takes a few moments in a job interview to know if someone is a good fit for a position. This is part of the idea for take the interview. Reviewers of video responses can measure the candidates answers and how they present themselves as part of their decision making.

Competition

 

One reviewer of this company brought up the point that there is potentioal for other services to do this activity. Job boards like Monster and Careerbuilder could make this a feature on their sites. People could even start making videos of themesleves on platforms like Youtube where an unbelievable amount of videos are loaded up everyday. Other features of this service may be developed including mobile applications and databases of respondents.

Cathching On

 

How successful this service becomes will depend on if there is a need. There may be some die hard employment interviewers who like to rely on the personal aspect of the interviewing process and may not rely on this service. The fact is however that video sharing programs on the internet have exploded. New technologies are changing the way the recruitment process is done. These are tools that organizations need to consider if it is something they can use.  

 

 

Long-Term Unemployed in Today’s Workforce

With more than 14 million jobless Americans, there is an ever growing amount of candidates who have been unemployed for 6 months and more, making it even more difficult to rejoin the workforce.  

From the New York Times: Legal experts say that the practice probably does not violate discrimination laws because unemployment is not a protected status, like age or race.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently held a hearing, though, on whether discriminating against the jobless might be illegal because it disproportionately hurts older people and blacks.

Some states, such as New Jersey, are already passing laws to prevent employers from posting job ads that bar unemployed candidates from even applying.  

However, even in job candidates aren’t being initially disqualified because of their unemployment status, they are being disqualified due to credit or other background checks required by the company.  

“I worry that unemployment may eventually come down, not because older workers who have been unemployed for a year or two find jobs,” Professor Shimer, a labor economist at the University of Chicago, said, “but because older workers finally give up and drop out of the labor force.”  

Read the New York Times article

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96% of Employers Would Hire for Attitude, and Not Job Skills

From Telegraph News, a recent UK poll of more than 1,000 business owners revealed that a vast majority is more interested in a candidate with “the right attitude,” and not the perfect skill set.  

Two-thirds of employers said they if had to reduce their workforce they would fire someone with a perfect skills set over someone with deficient skills but sporting the right attitude.  

The employers ranked the top six “essential” attitude qualities as “commitment, honesty, trustworthiness, adaptability, accountability, and loyalty.” This was even more so true for small business employers.  

James Reed, chairman of recruitment giant Reed and co-author of ‘Put Your Mindset to Work’, which explores the research, said: “It is even more vital for a small business to choose someone with the right mindset when recruiting new talent than for a giant corporation. A single individual will have so much more impact on their prospects.  

“Employers told us that someone with a winning mindset was, on average, seven times more valuable than a normal employee.”  

Read the full Telegraph News article

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Mutually Beneficial Relationships with College Career Centers

The difficult job market has clearly played a role in new college grads having little luck with employment. In a survey, about 70% communicated that they wish they had done more (e.g., internships, cooperative learning, job shadowing, networking, etc) to prepare themselves for the workforce.  

As recruiting is starting to rise gradually across companies, HR has tapped into internship programs as a powerful resource for finding new talent.

Experts agree that the feeling is mutual for colleges, who are trying to seek out more of these opportunities, which can help more college grads better prepare for their careers before they get their degrees.  

“They [colleges] are focused mostly on getting employers onto campus and providing students with basic interviewing skills,” says Adecco Senior Vice President for Talent Management Kathy Kane, who oversaw the survey.  

“It’s essentially a matchmaking service. I would rather see a more in-depth partnership between colleges and employers. And for HR leaders, forging tighter bonds with colleges may also help ease their concerns about managing wayward Gen Yers.”

Read the Human Resource Executive article

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Discriminating against the Unemployed?

Several companies won’t even consider unemployed job candidates when they’re recruiting new talent. Last year in Atlanta, Sony Ericsson was in the media spotlight for such discriminatory practices, because their job listings specifically stated: “No unemployed candidates will be considered at all.”  

 

However, they’re not alone. While it is illegal to discriminate due to age, gender, or disability, it is still not breaking the law to turn away unemployed individuals for work. This discrimination against the unemployed could not come at a worse time. The Recession left at least 4 million people unemployed for a year or more.  

 

Pros

Employers have good reason to rule out the unemployed, because it can be assumed that hiring an out-of-work individual means investing in a significant amount of training so he/she can succeed in the role.

 

The longer an individual is out of the workforce, the harder it would probably be to acclimate to the job, deal with everyday stress and interpersonal conflicts, and his/her skills would likely be out of date.  

 

Cons

On the flip side, advocates for the unemployed argue that there is no basis for negative inference for people who are out of work. Many lost their jobs due to no fault of their own. Companies have had to downsize, lay out departments, go out of business, and so on.  

 

According to TIME Magazine, New Jersey recently became the first state to adopt a law making it illegal to post job listings that make current employment a condition of applying or being hired. Now, several other states are considering similar laws.  

Read the Time Magazine article

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Different Generations, Different Perspective on Recognition in the Workplace

According to the Human Resource Executive, there is a major generational gap when it comes to recognition and rewards for hard work. A new study reveals that Generation Y employees are much less likely to believe that working harder or taking on new responsibilities will be rewarded by an employer.  

In a survey of more than 4,000 employees across 13 different countries, the results teach us a few important things about different generations of workers today.  

• Those who believe that hard work will always be recognized and rewarded – 38% of workers aged 56 to 60 and only 19% of workers aged 18 to 25
• Gen Y workers (18 to 25) believe that they will be rewarded for the results of their hard work  

“They see recognition as reciprocity,” says Jennifer Rosenzweig research director of The Forum, which is affiliated with Northwestern University. “In their minds, this means, ‘If I work extra hard my employer will reward me by keeping me employed and not laying me off.’ The older workers also believe that their employers have an expectation of loyalty and part of that exchange is recognition of the employee by the employer.”  

However, on that same token, the younger workforce, expects more immediate rewards and is more inclined to move when they don’t get what they want.  

Read the Human Resource Executive Magazine article

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Demand Grows, But Hourly Pay Drops for Interns This Year

Employers are putting pressure on their internship programs to support their operations this year. From the National Association of Colleges and Employers, businesses are expecting to increase internship hiring by at least 7%.  

However, while the demand for interns is rapidly rising, the competitive wages they can offer interns is getting lower. The average hourly rate, right now is $16.68 per hour, which has greatly dropped since last year. Instead, companies are opting to pay interns with perks like free lunches, travel stipends, and school credit.  

Considering your own internship program, do you know if you meet the federal criteria?  

HR, and especially small business owners, should keep in mind that the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division has rules to prevent you from taking advantage of unpaid interns, when you can’t afford to hire new full-time employees.  

• The internship should model training that would be given in an educational environment
• The internship experience is designed for the benefit of the intern, not the company
• The intern does not displace regular workers, but works under supervision
• It is communicated clearly in advance if/when the intern will not receive wages  

Read the Wall Street Journal article

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The Benefits of Hiring Former Interns

Over the past 4 or 5 years, employers have focused more on their intern pool for filling entry-level positions in the organization. In a national 2011 study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), nearly 40% of this year’s entry-level jobs will be filled by former interns.  

For example, at the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, 45% of the 4,600 college students that were hired in 2010 for full-time positions were former interns.  

 In doing internal research, their company discovered that former interns performed better than non-interns, and they see this as an important recruiting strategy for the next few years. In their pursuit of hiring interns, they began revamping their efforts to find and recruit students as early as their freshman year of college.  

“Companies are essentially trying to take graduates out of the job market before there’s competition for them,” said Edwin Koc, research director for NACE.  

More than 266 employers participated in the study, showing a marked interest in hiring fresh grads who already have hands-on experience and familiarity with their companies.  

Read the Wall Street Journal article

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