Gnashing teeth
You may have noticed I write from time to time about candidate resentment, and how it may be an opportunity for our recruitment industry to do better.
Here are a couple of examples, if you’ve missed them:
You may also have noted I harp on about recruitment being a business built from reciprocity - the experiences of employers and agencies beget the experiences of candidates and vice versa.
It goes to follow that if these statements above are true there is a related concept we can explore: employer resentment.
If candidate resentment is the notion that the negative experiences of a candidate inform their behaviour and views.
Then employer resentment is the notion that negative experiences of candidates, inform the behaviour and views of the employer.
Both are forms of bias we can take action over.
How often do you engage with a candidate, knowing nothing about them, thinking:
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this person’s a bit job hoppy
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this person’s been there too long
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too old, too young, too something
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overqualified
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and so on and so forth
Yet these assumptions don’t necessarily relate to the candidate at hand, these are informed by your experiences of other candidates.
That job hoppy person you took a chance on, who hopped jobs again in short measure.
That person who lives 31 miles from the office, who took a job closer to home.
That person who took a paycut, only to cut ties for a higher pay.
When you’ve had your fingers burnt, the perception of risk will only increase.
How often do you have a step in recruitment, informed by previous experiences?
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a generic reference, because you can’t say what you mean
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not advertising salary, because of the questions it raises among your existing people
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thinking adverts don’t work because you never get suitable applications
Or general perceptions of what’s going on in our recruitment sphere:
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ghosting
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lack of commitment
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no shows
Whenever we have a negative assumption that’s informed by previous experiences it’s a sign of employer resentment.
And that’s something we can challenge in ourselves.
Get to the root of why these things happen individually or systemically.
Sometimes it’s as simple as asking a question, rather than making an assumption.
Or it might establish a trend we can take action over, rather than thinking it’s just how things are.
You may find my article on 5 Whys a helpful way to tackle employer resentment - I use ghosting as an example.
Of course not all things are fixable, and much is out of our control.
But if something we feel leads to an opportunity to make effective change - that’s worth tackling head-on.
Thanks for reading.
Regards,
Greg
