Frankenstein Recruiting, Jimmy Savile and Lobotomies…
There were a lot of contenders for this No Added Sugar Recruiter Newsletter song. In the end, it was a toss-up between 4 Non-Blondes and the Stones Roses, Fools Gold.
On the basis that Equality is rightly so, a big thing at the moment I went for the epic and visceral What’s Up.
So, turn your speakers up and tune in, because you’re probably not going to like some of what is to come.
And so I wake in the morning and I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
“What’s going on?”
Frankenstein Recruitment Innovations
We all love technology. That doesn’t mean we have to love all technology. If there is a global collective Stop Button, someone needs to press it so we can all pause for a moment and take a deep look inside our souls ask ourselves what we’re actually doing.
Earlier this week I came across what I can only describe as a horror show. Well to be honest it’s more of a Portaloo, 3 days into Glastonbury that hasn’t been cleaned kind of horror show.
It’s called an Interview Pod.
“A faster, smarter and better candidate experience…” is how they’re branding this.
Along with “Never waste your time sitting through a bad interview, ever again…”
It’s so easy to use. As a Talent Acquisition Manager (more on that later), all you have to do is, basically, nothing. Just sit back, relax and allow your automated, AI-driven applicant screening solution to sift and select the candidates you don’t want to interview.
An automated response will be sent out to them inviting them to rock up in their best interview attire (so they can make a great impression) to their nearest Interview Pod, probably on some disused land, perhaps in a subway or inconspicuously located in public bathrooms nestled between the other toilet cubicles.
As the company says, why waste that valuable office space with interview rooms.
It gets worse, much worse.
Once inside, your candidate can relax, happy in the knowledge that all their identity is safe as they log in with a fingerprint, retinal scanner and/or micro facial recognition software. Then the fun begins.
The candidate begins an automated interview with your friendly interview bot representative. So good, so far, what’s not to like? Apart from the searing heat in a soundproof booth, not to mention the stench from the last copiously sweating garlic-eating occupant. Whilst they’re sitting there enjoying the chat with the bot, in the background some really fun stuff kicks in.
- Heart Rate Monitoring
- Eye Tracking
- Facial Movement Evaluation
- Speech Intelligence Analysis
- Gamification testing emotional and fluid intelligence
- If you’re a candidate and you’re accepting this bullshit, you don’t deserve a job!
If you’re a hiring company engaging in this kind of innovation, you should deservedly be rushing towards liquidation.
If you’re a Talent Acquisition Manager who thinks this is the way forward, you should be on the next rocket to Mars because you’re a moron.
This is not how it’s supposed to be. There is no candidate engagement or experience enhancement in this, it’s an abuse of everything we’re supposed to be doing. There is no EVP to be seen here. It’s just plain and simply invasive, monstrous and something to be utterly ashamed of.
At i-intro® we incorporate technology, but it’s designed to enhance and improve everyone’s experience. It helps candidates make the right decisions and provides them with deep insight into a role. It gives thems them a voice, an ability to influence above and beyond their recruiter. It enables hiring companies to make smarter, more accurate hiring decisions. It’s high touch (highly human) blended with hi-tech. The Interview Pod, however, is an abuse of power and we, all of us need to start pushing this stuff into the nearest quarry along with the innovators behind it.
Fees Glorious Fees – We’re all desperate to reduce them…
Rarely do I engage or agree with conspiracy theorists. But, I am beginning to wonder if this pandemic has actually resulted in many of you recruiters and recruitment business owners being lobotomized or re-engineered in some way.
You’re all mega busy, the market is on fire, you’re swamped with vacancies and don’t have time to think… There’s the operative point, you’re too busy to think. It’s a problem, a big one.
Everyone is telling me that they’re being squeezed on fees. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation is even telling me this. As the UK has opened up, breathed a sigh of relief and started hiring again, they’ve all started to wiggle and push back on fees.
If you’re a contingent recruitment firm, and most of you are, many of you have complied with this request. Why? You’ve got jobs to placement ratios of 1-3/1-4/1-5 perhaps and you’re agreeing to cut your fees. Stop it, just stop it.
Fewer jobs, higher quality, more control and higher fees, is the mantra you should have at the moment. Mr & Mrs Client, we’ve struggled through the pandemic just like you, stop embarrassing yourself, put the begging bowl and the 2 legged dog away, get off your knees and increase my fees should be the call.
At the moment what I’m seeing from organisations is a hybrid between Hannibal Lecter and Jimmy Savile.
They’re all looking at the recruitment industry, salaciously licking their lips and trying to work out how they can skin you, eat you and sodomise you at the same time.
Meanwhile, a lot of recruiters and recruitment businesses are oiling themselves up, dropping their trousers and offering their clients a steak knife.
This needs to stop because it never rolls back. Never in the history of recruitment has there been a wholesale reduction in fees that have later recovered to pre-crisis norms. It didn’t happen after 2000 and the dot-com bubble burst, or after any financial crisis or depression.
Now, more than ever you need to stand your ground. The industry has never needed a strong public representation more than it does now. You’ve teched up, become leaner, smarter and offer better services than ever before, you’ve adopted video, invested in CRM systems that comply with your clients ATS systems and similar, it’s time the whole industry stood up and said enough is enough.
Stop being subservient and start being professional and consultative. It’s time we were overhauled, licensed and regulated as they did in the 90s with the Financial Services industry. What we as an industry have to become is something significantly better than anything an organisation can become or create itself.
In the same way, as they have a legal department and an accountancy team, they still have a legal firm and a professional accountancy firm engaged on retainers for the heavy lifting, hard work and important stuff. As a recruiter, that I surely what we all want to become, isn’t it?
Now that, I’m sure will put the proverbial Schroedinger’s Cat Among the Pigeons.
Fear of Change – Fear of Failing to Deliver Retainers
It’s like listening to a beautiful dawn chorus. My heart sings and my eyes light up every time I see or hear of another recruiter selling their very first retained assignment. Truly, it’s magical. Everywhere I look it’s happening and it’s a big thing that many more recruiters need to embrace.
Retained recruitment is the way forward. The benefits and the value to everyone involved in the hiring process are immense. Especially the candidates. Candidates want to work with recruiters who have control, influence and valuable insight into their clients and understanding of the roles they represent. Candidates desperately need recruiters who are and act like professional consultants. They also want to know that they’re not just a CV, and knowing their recruiter is retained demonstrates that.
However, I’m hearing some recruiters say they’re afraid of pitching for retained in case they blow it and blow their client relationship at the same time.
Some are saying they’re afraid of winning retained work in case they can’t deliver it and ultimately damage the client relationship.
Most of the recruitment business owners I speak with have pre-conditioned themselves that their clients won’t pay higher fees and won’t pay retainers.
If you want to understand the solutions, the answers and the tools and methodologies to solve all of the above, let me know. But one key takeaway here is, don’t even think about selling retainers if you’re going to then provide a contingent service. That’s criminal, it’s deception and it will come back and bite you hard.
Darren Ledger