Before leaving on vacation, recruiter and trainer Sandrine Théard took a swipe at a corporate world that struggles to offer a candidate experience worthy of the name, in the midst of a labor shortage.
The rant came to my email inbox, through Sandrine Théard’s Human Sources newsletter. In a post entitled “Why I’m hurting my recruiter”, she says she feels angry and disappointed since she witnessed some poor candidate experiences in the last month.
Having offered to accompany someone on their job search, she helped them fill out application forms on websites, attended job fairs, looked at job postings.
I thought I could help her, facilitate her search. In the end, she is the one who helps me… to realize that a lot of things haven’t changed. I am disappointed to see companies crying shortage when they are still doing everything to discourage candidates from applying.”
After experiencing this “reality check,” the recruiter had one piece of advice for leaders who are struggling to recruit staff:
Apply at home, to multiple positions. And see if you like yourself as a potential employer. That may already solve a lot of problems.”
By experiencing it for themselves, leaders may discover the same annoyances as Sandrine Théard. The recruiter has seen:
- Career pages that offer an application form that is a minimum of two pages long and up to six pages long. In a process that requires registering, creating a password and logging in each time. “If the site crashes,” she recounts, “you have to start over, you have to re-login.”
- Recruiters who tout the “human side” of the employer they represent, but don’t take the time to respond to a candidate who comes forward on LinkedIn or via email.
- Application processes that keep getting longer and longer, where tests, interviews and requests for documents are increasing.
- Post-hire, non-existent on-boarding days, where new employees are sent out into the heat of the moment with no training or welcome.
She has been disillusioned ever since.
I would like to say that these are isolated cases,” says Sandrine Théard. I must have been living in a land of carefree dreams to imagine that we were a little more advanced in our ways of doing things. The famous “H to H”, we “advocate the human factor”, we promote “diversity”, we are “open to atypical profiles”… Sometimes, I really feel like I’m reading bullshit”, she concludes brutally.
Here is some food for thought. During the summer period, some sectors slow down. The companies concerned can take advantage of this lull to review and rethink their candidate experience. The point of debate? Apply yourself in your own company. Have a good job search!
