Peter Weddle is one of the true “gurus” in the recruitment industry. In addition to his hugely popular newsletter, WEDDLE’s , he is the author of over two dozen books and has been a columnist for both the Wall Street Journal and CNN.com.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about how many feel that HR is losing the battle of delivering a positive candidate experience. When I read in Peter’s newsletter his thoughts on candidate-centered recruiting just a few days later…well, that was too much of a coincidence for me, so I contacted Peter to learn more. Mr. Weddle was kind enough to give us some time and share his thoughts.

Tony Rosato: Okay, Peter: So here we are in 2010. Over the last 10 years there have been huge technological advances in recruiting, including a whole slate of automated CRM tools, ATS’s, social networking and so many other ways to engage and interact with candidates–not to mention a much more methodical approach to recruiting strategies, best practices, processes and efficiency. And yet, many say the candidate experience is as bad as it’s ever been. In your opinion, what’s the real problem?

Peter Weddle: The real problem is what’s between the ears of today’s senior corporate executives. Most of them are still living in the 1950’s when there was a surplus of skilled (for the times) workers. And the recession has only exacerbated that view. CEOs and CFOs watch the evening news each night, hear about all those people in transition and assume they can “do more with less” in recruiting. It’s like fishing in a barrel, right?

Well, I’ve got news for them. We haven’t entered an era of surplus talent—it’s harder than ever to find skilled (for today’s times) and motivated workers. And you can’t recruit top talent with technology. The solution isn’t automated recruiting; it’s technology-assisted recruiting. The key to success in that paradigm is a well trained and dedicated recruiter. There’s more than enough of them to go around, but companies aren’t hiring (or retaining) them.

TR: What would you recommend to a Recruiting Department as the first step to improving the candidate experience?

PW: Invite the CEO to secret shop the recruiting process. Set up your own version of that new TV show Undercover Boss. And when he or she comes back sputtering about how bad the process is, remind them that there’s no free lunch. In other words, the first step in improving the candidate experience is to get buy-in and commitment to do so at the top of the corporate heap.

TR: You wrote in your article that for a positive candidate experience to take place, there really needs to be a shift in philosophy from just filling a job req to an organizational commitment to the individual working person. A recruiter reading this might say, “That all sounds great, but I have a Director of Recruiting and seven hiring managers on my back all day, and all they care about are the 12 open job reqs.” How can an overloaded recruiting department deliver on quality hires while ensuring a better candidate experience?

PW: See answers 1 and 2 above. You cannot recruit more talent with less recruiting resources. It defies the laws of human nature. If you want to hire talent, you have to use the talent of the recruiting team, and that means giving them the time and support they need to do their best work.

TR: When you can read articles and blogs by job seekers you can really feel the frustration they have with the automated parts of the recruiting process, particularly Applicant Tracking Systems. They’ll tell you they spend 15-20 minutes creating an account, filling in all the fields, attaching their resume…then they hit “submit,” and their resume seems to travel into a black hole. Ironically, on the recruiter’s side we often hear that their ATS is
unwieldy, can’t nail down the source of hire and doesn’t really deliver on reports. Is this another part of the negative candidate experience and how can we fix it?

PW: Frankly, I don’t get it. Companies spend hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars on their ATS and then let the vendor off the hook. Not only are the vast majority of these systems abusive to candidates, they’re abusive to recruiters, as well. In addition, they’re costing employers a fortune by giving them inaccurate data on the source of candidates (causing them to misspend both their recruitment advertising dollars and the time of their recruiters). These vendors need recruiting departments a lot more than those departments need any one vendor. If an organization’s ATS doesn’t measure up, give the vendor one chance and one chance only to fix it,
and then if they don’t, outplace them.

TR: On a more general note, what are your predictions on the job market for 2010?

PW: I think this job market will be unlike any other in the history of the country. After the 1991 and 2001 recessions, we had “jobless” recoveries. After this Great Recession, we will have the first ever “less jobs” recovery. The economy will expand, but companies will continue to shed employees. (Announced layoffs for 2010 already exceed 200,000 workers.) These aren’t your grandmother’s layoffs, however. They are permanent reductions in structure. And that reality will cramp the job market for the next five years or more.

TR: Finally, what area(s) of focus do you believe are the most critical for recruiters looking to build their skills and maximize their value and contribution to an organization?

PW: I spend a lot of time on this topic in my book, Work Strong: Your Personal Career Fitness System. Basically, I think recruiters (and all professionals, for that matter) have to focus on two areas: maintaining their core expertise and developing ancillary skills. The latter enable a person to expand the range of situations in which they can contribute value to the organization. What are some of the most important? Fluency in a second
language (think Spanish or Chinese), competency in the latest technology and leadership.

TR: Thank you Peter!