Generally
speaking, the purpose of my blog is to provide advice for job seekers to assist
them in gaining a better result from their efforts. There is a sad trend taking
place right under our very eyes. Hiring practices are increasingly discounting
that which defines us as people and employees. While hiring processes are
evolving and processes becoming more technical in nature, interaction and
communication among the parties involved is devolving.
It
is ironic that most companies go to great pains to emphasize and trumpet their
mission statements that claim their purpose, their mission is to produce things,
or provide services meant to help people, improve lives or make the world a
better place or whatever high-minded and lofty set of values they claim to
stand (or hide) behind. Yet hiring practices that are becoming more and more
disconnected from human interaction send a very different message.
Just
this morning I spoke with an accomplished professional who shared with me his
frustration about the lack of any interaction with a company that was
considering him for a director-level marketing position, as though they wanted
to minimize their interaction with him as much as possible. His assumptions are
not without merit and I never enjoy telling people about what I recognize as
the increasing shift to intentionally remove the individual as much as possible from the process of hiring. They
won’t tell you that’s their goal, and they may not even personally recognize
it, but shifting to more and more digital means of filing and adapting software
to the process to save time and money cannot have any other effect. Software
tools are handy and helpful but there is not now and never will be a
replacement for human interaction. Advocates of these trends claim they are
refining and standardizing processes for a more consistent result.
Ironically,
I communicate with hiring managers who complain they are seeing hordes of
people that more resemble a generic sampling. I contend the reason for this
lies in the screening processes that result in most applicants never being
actually considered, as a result of the increasing lack of human interaction, leaving
out many otherwise good potential employees. Worse yet, believe it or not, I
occasionally hear human resource personnel lament about their disdain for
having to deal with individuals who seek employment, as though their inquiries
are unwelcome distractions. Fortunately, this latter group is a minority but
that mindset of sidestepping the individual is emblematic of an unfortunate
trend.
So
where does this leave you, the reader, who feels the same as I do about hiring
processes that dehumanize and discount you from the very moment you seek to
apply? Changing times require changing methods and the job market is evolving;
evolve with it. My book describes methods of pursuing and finding
opportunities, with subsequent suggestions as to how to establish direct
contact with hiring managers; in essence I suggest how people can flip the
process around, thus setting themselves apart right from the start. Anything I
suggest is a result of the same best
practices I have been effectively utilizing and adapting for over 20 years.
Sadly, a blog format does not allow for more detailed explanation.
I
know the job market has tightened, but if you have a good background and have
performed well in your job and find yourself getting nowhere in your efforts;
do what I do. When I am confronted with companies that don’t recognize the
value of what I can deliver in services, when they are fixated on the
irrelevant, reluctant to do what will bring them the benefit they seek-- when I
find myself talking to the wall, I walk away and find companies that will value
what I have to offer and, believe me, they are out there. However, you must be
prepared to invest more effort to find them; point-and-click solutions are not
always enough. Often in life you get what you give. When times are tough you’ve
got to innovate.
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