There seems to be (what to me is a disturbing) trend in recruitment from some hospitality operations out there. Now, I have written several articles about how salaries are NOT going down, in fact they are going up. How good people are very aware of their worth and value and are not willing to take a step back or pay cut to go back to work and are in fact willing to wait it out for the right opportunity. How if you do get a great person at a “low ball” price, they are a “rental” and will be gone as soon as the market improves (which will leave you searching for the same talent level for the same “low, low price” in a tighter market – NOT GONNA HAPPEN). But lots of you do not want to hear it. In fact some of you have taken this economic down time to “tighten up” your recruitment process and actually make it harder for people to get a job with you! I don’t get it.

I do get that you want the best people you can find and there might be a few more of them out there right now. What I don’t get is that with presumably more people applying for your positions, learning about your company and wanting to work for you, they are made to jump through hoops, participate in more interviews (often the amount of interviews are not inline with the responsibility of the position) and made to take online tests, candidates are being eliminated from the process with greater frequency and garnering a greater “dislike” for the companies rejecting them.

Let me try to explain. So, if you make your candidates take and online test prior to interviewing them and they do not meet your standards you are telling them they are not good enough – you FAILED. How do you think that candidate feels about their experience with your company? After several high pressure interviews and lots of time invested a candidate is told – sorry you didn’t measure up. How do they feel about your company now?

What happens in 12 months when you have more positions to fill and there are fewer people looking (law of supply and demand here people). What if there are very few candidates out there looking and YOU ARE COMPETING WITH ANOTHER COMPANY FOR TALENT and that talent was told YOU FAILED our test or YOU WEREN’T GOOD ENOUGH the last time you applied by YOUR company.

What I am trying to say is that (as I have mentioned many, many times before) NOW is temporary and you WILL NEED some of the people you are turning away today in the future. Do not tailor your recruitment strategies to a temporary situation (which would be the economy). It is a mistake! Keep your recruitment policies efficient, informative and most of all respectful for the applicant because (and this is not a prediction but the truth) you WILL NEED some of these people in the very near future.