This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 52

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Open Kitchen: Tactical Improvements For Candidate Experience

I don't usually write up the learnings from Brainfood Live and I really should, as the guests on the show are often the best in the industry at what they do. They often bring valuable revelations on common topics and it seems that I need to do a better job of documenting these so that I embed the learning for myself but also to increase accessibility of the ideas to others who perhaps did not watch or listen to the show. So this week's Open Kitchen is going to be a corrective of sorts - maybe something I need to do more regularly - a write up on last Friday's show - 'The Candidate Experience Report 2022'.

The full conversation was about the change in job seeker priorities from 2021 to 2022, but I am going to skip directly to the tactics you and your team can use to improve candidate experience today. Please do watch the full show here and make sure to connect with guests Christine Ng, Chuck Solomon and Kevin Grossman.

EDIT: Julia Popoviciu has also written up the show, follow her profile to get her awesome take!

1. Update the Maybe's

Recruiters operate bi-modally but think tri-modally. Our processes and tools are designed around the assumption of an immediate and definitive Yes / No decision when the reality is recruiters consider candidates as 'Definitely Yes', 'Definitely No' and then 'Maybe'.

The Definite Yes candidates are contacted straight away. The Definite No candidates are immediately (auto) rejected. But the Maybe's are usually left 'in queue' whilst we process the Definitely Yes candidates. Now because we cannot be sure how long this processing is going to take, we also don't know how long these Maybe candidates will be waiting in that queue. And so inadvertently drop a lot of candidates into the 'CV blackhole'.

What percentage of the overall applicant pool are Maybes? I would wager that they are the majority of the applicants for any job - as there are lot of candidates who are imperfect fits but feasible hires. Consequently, we have a large surface area for potentially bad Candidate Experience.

Solution: Make the trimodal mindset explicit and have a 3 track process for handling candidates which fall into each of these three buckets. For the Maybe candidates we need to have a template which updates them on status, making sure we are honest with them on the situation but taking care to present their case in a positive light. This is not just the 'application received and under review' message which every applicant should get anyway but a follow up to say that they have not been rejected in the first pass. For ATS providers? Build trimodal into the software, because I suspect a lot of us recruiters are modifying our behaviour based on the bimodal tooling we have to use.

2. Time Delay the Rejection Note

Turns out we can be overly quick in the rejection. It's not the most prominent complaint as we often have the opposite problem (see above) but we can easily imagine a situation when an overly prompt rejection message can be received as inconsiderate - and even inhumane.

I don't want to get into the debate here as to the validity of the claim whether there are or not CV / resume parsing software which can automatically reject candidates who fail to pass some sort of uncommunicated criteria. Suffice it to say, the perception exists, and an overly prompt rejection note is regularly taken as evidence of these 'bad machines at work'. Human beings do not like being judged by machines (tbf, we also don't like being judged by other human beings either, but that is idea for another post....) and so this feeling always equals bad candidate experience.

Solution: Set minimum time delay before any rejection note - say 24 hours after application receipt is the earliest that rejection note is delivered. This should be another thing which is hard coded into ATS's or at least configurable so that recruiters can set time delay email rejections to their specification. It is a simple thing to build but I suspect no ATS has it - take a look and let me know if I'm wrong on this! A global vendor agreement to introduce this feature would make substantive impact on CX across the board, don't you think?

3. Reciprocate the Candidate Commitment

You can't have a good relationship without reciprocity. If one side is giving more than the other, at some point the party which is getting the raw end of the deal is going to bail out of the relationship. The fact that candidate vs recruiter relationship is transactional should make it easier for us to understand what reciprocal action is required. As we discussed in the online community last month, not all candidates need concierge treatment, in every case. We just need to reciprocate the candidate commitment.

The above is not a recommendation it is just me thinking what I would do if.

I'm sure this will vary depending on context, capacity and tbh your attitude to candidate experience. However, the important idea is that there is an 'escalation ladder' of recruiter reaction based on candidate commitment. A universal standardised response that ignores the amount the candidate has committed will either be impractical (calling every candidate to reject, a massive misallocation of resource) or generate poor candidate experience (auto reject every candidate regardless of the commitment they have given).

We recruiters btw, are not at fault here. We simply have the competing incentive of always needing to optimise for efficiency, and so we subconsciously moderate our effort when rejecting candidates in order to maintain capacity for the next job or the next candidate or the next whatever. Until we change our KPI's, or dedicate specialist resource for candidate engagement, what is best for us will always be in contention with what is good for the candidates.

Solution: Develop an escalation ladder protocol for candidate rejection as base case. Long term, update the recruiter KPI's and elevate candidate experience as part of the recruiter performance. Ideal case? Maybe separate the role of candidate engagement to a dedicated function.

4. Personalise + Optimise

The cold hard fact is that improving candidate reject experience is not going to immediately help you fill the job you are focusing on. The value of improving CX percolates up at some later stage to improving Employer Brand, which will be great at the company level, but not much use to you right now. We can talk about what matters at the company level when recruiter performance is measured entirely by hiring at company scale.

Hence shaming recruiters to 'just do better' by candidates isn't going to work. So we have to be creative in finding ways to deliver great candidate experience at as low a resource cost as possible. Depersonalisation is at root one of the main reasons why candidate experience is bad - we saw this in the raw data Cronofy shared with me last week.

So if we can find a way to personalise rejection messaging, without committing open ended resource risk, then this would be a good thing.

Solution: Enter the video note. It's not perfect but I think it is less effort than personalised email and better than mass template email. Additionally, as it is recorded, you can control the amount of time spent and not risk the open ended resource commitment of a synchronous call / video call. And if you offer to make more time for the candidate to do a synchronised call later if the candidate wants, then I am pretty confident no complaints can be had.

5. Use SMS / IM

Email is the No1 communication channel we have with candidates. It is what they prefer and it is what we prefer. However, email - as electronic mail - has a ton of cultural legacy which means we have still have to conform to a letter writing structure which can be more inefficient than necessary. Also, there are all kinds of connotations in email etiquette, the contraventions of which can result in very poor experience.

Contrast this with how we communicate textually on mobile devices - whether it is via DM, IM or SMS. The device itself forces abbreviation, the use of hieroglyphs and rich media to generally send shorter, snappier messages than we would be able to do via email. In fact, as an experiment if you wrote your email like you do you IM's, see what reaction you receive from your candidates - it will probably be pretty bad!

Solution: Secure consent early for DM / IM / SMS communication with candidates you are taking through process. This might not be for every candidate in the pipeline and it might be you need to judge whether you are comfortable with being connected with candidates in this way, but if you are, being able to message mobile-to-mobile is personaliser for them and an optimser for you.

6. Differentiate CX According to Who Initiated Contact

I hope you've seen a consistent theme throughout the points made above. That is, we should not have a universal and standard candidate rejection protocol. This counter intuitive to what we think 'quality process' to be, but it matters where people are in process, how much they have committed in process and so on. It also matters how first contact was made, specifically whether they initiated or you initiated. Turns out that this switches the psychology of the relationship entirely.

The same person behaves differently if they are applied vs if they were approached. So we need to treat them differently, even though this chafes against conventional views that sameness is an essential feature of fairness. In plain terms, we almost have to go full concierge at all points of interface with a candidate we have sourced and approached. At no stage is automation or template messaging appropriate, this can only be used for candidates who have applied to us.

Solution: Switch off automation for sourced candidates and allocate extra time to handle each interaction personally for those folks.

So that's my write up.

Let me know what you think and whether I should continue to document what goes on in Brainfood Live in this way. Kind of shifts the Open Kitchen segment into write up mode, so it might mean a loss of transparency on what I am thinking / doing around the business of Brainfood. Could be we need another channel for this? Please don't say another fricking newsletter....

Anyways, lets get out of this kitchen, and onto the lounge 👇

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What's in the News?

Guide raise $8 million seed round to fix Candidate experience

Fantastic news last week to learn that our buddies Guide have raised seed funding to build out their innovative, candidate focused communication & collaboration platform. I had the pleasure of speaking with founder Troy Sultan in FF last week - if you want to know more about the vision behind this idea, you have to watch this. Read more on the raise at Guide's homepage here

Creatively raise $8 million to build out job platform for creatives

Some super star backers in this (Kevin Durant?), as celebs continue to pile into the startup investing game. Certainly a gap in the market for creative talent with skills which are difficult to quantify. This is probably the last of the Web2 marketplace plays, before Web3 starts making more sense to more people. Hollywood Reporter with the report here

Workwise raise €12million Series A Round

The barrier between job board, talent marketplace and recruitment agency have been blurring for years, and it was so smart to exploit the most profitable revenue model. Incredibly, this is Workwise first fundraise, having bootstrapped on own revenue until this point. So much going on in German HR tech. Read the report here

If you are a recruitment service provider or technology business and have any news to share, comment below, this is your application to get into next week's addition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it

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What's On Offer?

REC are offering 20% off BOTH Recruitment Mastery Academy and REC Management Academy courses

The most important asset to any recruitment business is its people. In an increasingly competitive market – now is the time to develop talent and retain top quality recruitment consultants and managers.  

Our all-new suite of REC Academy training courses, delivered by expert trainers, are designed to help recruitment leaders to nurture talent and deliver success. Sign up to our Academy courses to gain specialist training for your team support with professional development and delivering success. 

There’s 20% discount for REC members and a sliding scale discount for members that enrol more than 1 learner from your organisation on the course.

• REC Recruitment Mastery Academy- 1st March and 1st April
• REC Management Academy - 20th April

Sign-ups are being managed by our sales team directly or can be made through the website. rec.uk.com/recacademies

If you are a recruitment service provider or recruitment technology vendor have any exclusive offer for the community, comment below with your offer in order to be included in next week's edition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it.

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What's Going On?

Founders Focus - Ep20 - Ryan McCabe, CEO of Odro, Weds 16 March, 1pm GMT

One of the things I really treasure is to watch great people have great success. I know he will not say he is anywhere near the finish line but Ryan McCabe has put Odro on the map - very few agencies don't know this product now. He's on, Founder's Focus this week, as we get up and personal with one of the most personable founders in recruitment tech. Register here for the chat.

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep147 - Best Time To Post Job Ads (According to Data), Friday 18th Mar, 2pm

Appcast generally produce some of the most valuable data that can really improve the bottom line results for recruiters. When should you post a job ad? We're with Jelmer Koppelmans, Co-founder, (Roadtrip), Jelmer Zuidema, Co-founder (Roadtrip), Robin Stander, VP of Sales (Appcast) & Modiara Kamps, Head of Employer Branding, (Boston Consulting Group) to review the best practice of job postings. Register here

Remote Connect 2022, 5-6 April, 7.00 - 10.00 UTC

Adam Grant or Arianna Huffington? How about both, in this amazing looking event set up by our buddies Remote.com. I'm going to confess right away and say I'm going to tune in purely for the star power. You probably won't find an event by a HR tech vendor with a line quite like this. Register here

Talent Palooza, Thurs 7 April, The Hoi Polloi, Melbourne, Australia

Honoured to be invited to keynote this inaugural Talentpalooza in Melbourne next month. Theme of the event is Peace, Love & Talent - how TA / HR can respond to a world which radically shaking off the systems that have held it together for the past 30 years. Can't tell you have I all the answers, but I might end up talking about how to have conversations at scale. Register here folks (and if you want a discount code, comment below and I DM you it - there are 13 left)

New Perspectives - Unbiased Day 2022, Thurs 28 April, 8.15 - 11.30

So more or less immediately after returning from Down Under, I am going to teleport myself virtually to Sweden, where we're going to be talking about the new DE&I challenges of the remote first era. There will probably be stuff on the peace and love here too. Register here

If you have an event, webinar or podcast going on next week and want it featured on next week's newsletter, comment below with the link and event details. Don't forget to @ mention me so that I see it

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Who's Hiring?

Recruiter (Contract), JLL Technologies, Remote USA

Head of People & Culture (m/f/d), Alasco, Munich, Germany

Talent Acquisition Sourcer - Technology, JLL Technologies, Remote USA

Recruiter, JLL Technologies, Dallas, TX, USA

Senior Executive Recruiter, JLL Technologies, Remote USA

GTM TA Manager (Remote UK, EMEA or South Africa), Join Talent, Remote Global

GTM Talent Partner (Remote UK, EMEA, South Africa), Join Talent, Remote Global

GTM Talent Search Partner (Remote UK, EMEA, South Africa), Join Talent, Remote Global

Tech TA Manager (Remote UK, EMEA or South Africa), Join Talent, Remote Global

Tech Talent Partner (Remote UK/EMEA/South Africa), Join Talent, Remote Global

Tech Talent Search Partner (Remote UK/EMEA/South Africa), Join Talent, Remote Global

Senior Recruitment Partner - Uswitch & Money.co.uk, RVU, London, UK

Network & Engagement Manager, Join Talent, Remote EU / UK

US Internal Talent Acquisition Partner, Join Talent, Remote Global

Head of Talent Acquisition, HomeToGo, Berlin, Germany

Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, HomeToGo, Berlin, Germany

Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, Lenus eHealth, New York City, NY/NJ, USA

Talent Acquisition Partner, Lenus eHealth, New York City, NY/NJ, USA

Technology Sales Recruiter, JLL Technologies, Remote USA

Recruitment Manager, JLL Technologies, Remote USA

Senior Recruiter, JLL Technologies, Montreal, Canada

Talent Acquisition Manager, Candyspace, London, UK

Manager - Recruiting Operations, McKinsey & Co, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Talent Acquisition Partner (m/f/d), Oda, Berlin, Germany

Tech Recruiter, trivago, Düsseldorf, Germany

Tech Recruiter, InstaFreight, Berlin, Germany

Onsite Recruitment Coordinator, Cielo Talent, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Senior Recruiter, Cielo Talent, London, UK

Startup Talent Sourcer, KANDIDATE, Remote Global

CSR Officer, Horton International, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Technical Recruiter, Dawn Aerospace, Delft, Netherlands

Talent Acquisition Coordinator, Cielo Talent, Budapest, Hungary

Onboarding Specialist (Russian speaker), Cielo Talent, Manchester, UK

Technical Recruiter, Cielo Talent, Manila, Philippines

Partner - Life Sciences, SE Asia, Horton International, Remote Global

Principal Consultant - Logistics, SE Asia, Horton International, Remote Global

If you want to get your job featured, post jobs on the Brainfood Jobs Job Board here

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Who's Moving?

Colin Minto has joined HSBC as Global Early Careers Talent Attraction Lead. With employers everywhere looking to hire for potential, there probably isn't a more interesting specialism within TA than early careers. Huge challenge, and great hire by HSBC.

Vicky Hall joins wagamama as Head of People Operations after a decade long stint at Nando's in various TA / HR leadership roles. I know so little about the people ops of food retailers - must be one of the seriously challenging roles in people ops. One for a Brainfood Live if you're up for it Vicky.

Chris Cherry joins Eightfold.ai as Partner Leader - EMEA, after heading up BD at Enboarder for 4 years, and previously with LinkedIn in various Partner manager roles. All of the players who are building the core software for the enterprise of tomorrow, I'm not sure if there is one more impressive than Eightfold.ai - they have a chance to win it all. Great move.

Elisa Schön joins fotograf as Head of People & Culture, after spending time in people ops with the likes of Caterwings, Checkout.com and Urban Mobility International. I think fotograf have posted jobs on Brainfood Jobs before, though I don't think we can claim credit for this hire! Congrats Elisa and good luck.

Holly Peterson joins Meta as International Recruitment Manager - Core Software Engineering, after spending time with the likes of Amazon, YOOX Net-A-Porter and Genius Sports. Some people really do have a better CV than I will ever have 🤣

Finally, congratulations to all the folks moving on up, starting with Karsten Krautsch, promoted to the top job as Director Talent Acquisition at SIXT, ditto Amy Davies who steps up People Director at Superdrug, whilst Anna Pullen goes up to Head of TA at Global Processing Services, Najoua Chahboune to Lead Tech Recruiter at Datadog, Ella Cullen who moves up and across to Employer Brand lead at Immutable and Lulu Barton who goes up to Senior HR Business Partner at Twilio - congratulations everybody! Damn I wish I had a career....

If you have made a senior exec appointment to your business, and feel the wider community needs to know about it, comment below with the details and see it featured in next weeks issue. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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What Are You Doing?

The legend that is Bill Boorman is launching a 'flash Tru' event to raise funds for Andrew Stetsenko's (you know him as a founder of GlossaryTech and Relocate.me) humanitarian fund which provides warm clothing for Ukrainian refugees displaced by Putin invasion of Ukraine. Call out for track leaders and attendees - and mainly donations to a great cause managed by one of our own who is on the ground managing this support. Three things you need to do

1. Buy a ticket - all proceeds less Eventbrite fees, go to Andrew Stetsenko Fund
2. Volunteer as a track leader if you have any conversation you wish to talk about. This could be centred on current events or focused on convention industry topics
3. Share the link to the event with the #truKyiv

Register here folks - ps - this is happening tomorrow!

If you are doing something new, comment below with what it is and share a link to where you want people to go. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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End Notes

I think this is going to be my last week of meeting up with folks in London. Long haul trip to Australia happening next month and I suspect I will need to maximise the chances of being corona free before I fly out. So anyways, been nice seeing a few of you this month, and this week!

Have a great week everyone

Hung

Hung Lee is the curator of Recruiting Brainfood, and now This Week In Recruiting. Subscribe to both if you are into recruiting or HR or just interested in world of work.