Is Recruiting Becoming an Unhealthy Profession?

If you took a photograph of the recruiting Industry, it would look like most people you'd see on the streets every day!

Instead of making it better, technology has bloated the recruitment process. Its a process that now lumber around in HR departments all across corporate America—where the objective of hiring the best talent has been replaced by fast, cheap & easy tactics-with tools that are designed mostly for collecting resumes-administered by recruiters who do not know the fundamentals or have the passion for the work-for organizations that no longer care about their most important asset.

This is an alarming trend and the perfect example of what was predicted back in 1954. Well, it wasn't exactly about the recruiting Industry; it was about the food Industry-but the same thing has happened to the recruiting Industry!

An individual wrote a newspaper article which in today's standard-went viral. He was very upset that the quality in foods was declining because production objectives had shifted from taste to saving money. He said that "science has spoiled my supper" and predicted that this trend of eating low quality foods would eventually lead to an unhealthy American culture.

So, how does the food Industry relates to an unhealthy recruiting Industry?

Back in high school, one of our English class assignments was to read this particular story, formulate our thoughts and participate in a classroom discussion.

After what was written in 1954, discussed in high school and after 20 years of experience recruiting healthcare executives, I have the unique experience to connect our current healthcare crisis to the trend in the recruitment Industry.

Let’s first take a quick look at what was said about foods or you can read the original newspaper article here. The author stated that food is nutritious and very tasty when prepared with fresh and natural ingredients and by someone who knows what he/she is doing. The problems with preparing delicious meals however are higher costs; fresh and natural ingredients aren't cheap and have very limited shelf life. He also pointed out that because humans will accept a lesser taste if it was the only choice available, science played a role in extending the shelf life of the natural ingredients. The products were very appealing to the eye; they came in neat packages with beautiful pictures, but on the inside they lacked quality and taste. Why? Because, they were produced with artificial ingredients & flavors, chemicals and freezing methods for easy transportation & storage and to a greater extent-generate larger profits from a longer shelf life.

Why did people buy crappy tasting food that was loaded of harmful chemicals?

Because it was cheap, easy and fast- it didn't require the knowledge of a culinary genius and meals could be prepared by anyone, in little or no time. When food lacked quality in taste, you’d need to eat way more to satisfy your cravings, was his concern. "A slice of my mother-in-law’s apple pie will satiate you far better than a whole bakery pie" he explained.

So here we are, after decades of eating unhealthy foods, it has taken a toll on the health of many. As a result, our current healthcare system is in shambles and in desperate need of reform, just as he predicted in 1954.

The motivation that transformed the food Industry has also taken place within the recruitment Industry,

Recruiting is a $100 billion Industry with lots of unhappy campers. Over the past 15 years, it too has been transformed by technology to become more efficient, but cost-of-hire has not decreased and quality-of-hire has not increased. Why? Because most of the recruitment vendors are selling the same solutions-that doesn't deliver on quality hires-are bought for the wrong reasons-used by the wrong people-has frustrated job seekers and discouraged the best talents from engaging in the hiring process.

Also, recruitment strategies are far too often marketed as a one-size-fits-all solution. For example, if social media was successfully used by employers such as Apple or Pepsi; then just like magic social media would become the universal best practice recruitment solution for everyone. Vendors are well aware that no two job applicants are alike, no two companies are exactly the same or what works for a large company might not work for a small one or a nationally recognized brand is totally different from a no-name brand; yet they promote social media as the silver bullet solution. Think about it; what would be the competitive advantage to one employer if all employers were using the same vendor/tactics/tools to steal employees away from each other?

Another reason the Industry is bloated is because the products do not satisfy the need. The need is to recruit the best talent, but these products are marketed for hiring talent fast, cheap and easy. Very rarely good is the result when you add fast, easy & cheap to the equation. So why would HR decision makers continue to invest corporate dollars in such products?

Self interest! Humans make buying decisions based on emotions and are later supported by logic. In this case the buying emotions are personal gains through internal recognition that leads to faster career advancement. The logic is buying a recognized solution from a reputable vendor that will save a bundle; specifically dollars saved by hiring internally compared to the amount it would have cost if outside agencies were utilized.

At the end of the day, a dollar saved is a dollar earned; but the hidden cost of hiring marginal talent greatly out-weighs the savings and will ultimately deteriorate the health of that organization in the long run.

And one more thing: With more reliance on technology, most of the skilled human interactions have been replaced with automation, so the need for skilled recruiters has diminished. As a result, the engine now behind these recruitment tools are junior recruiters-managing heavy req. loads-with very little time for the warm and fuzzy interactions (which is of very little interest to them) that job applicants demand. So basically recruiting today consists of robot-like recruiters-using robotic type tools-to process a bunch of faceless robots-to select & hire one robot.

We are included in the group that is adversely affected from the shift in food production from quality & taste to costs & profits. That’s because our choices are limited; we must buy whatever the food manufactures are selling. The end result is the bloating of a healthcare system and the poor health of the people who rely on the system.

The shift from quality hires to fast, easy and cheap recruitment strategies has caused the bloating of the recruiting Industry by building employers with not the strongest, fittest and the brightest employees, but with the most active job seekers who may not be the best. And with billions of dollars spent to fight this war for talent, it is unfortunate that what is considered an organizations’ most important asset is treated like a commodity-brokered at the cheapest cost.

Fast, easy & cheap is not just about food or recruiting-it has become our expectation and the culture that we live.

“If this is so, the process may well begin, like most human behavior, in the home—in those homes where a good meal has been replaced by something-to-eat-in-a-hurry. By something not very good to eat, prepared by a mother without very much to do, for a family that doesn’t feel it amounts to much anyhow” Philip Wylie, 1954

Ouch..

Comment by Sandra McCartt on May 18, 2012 at 4:23pm: @Peter So very well said and if that doesn't cover it, nothing ever will. You know i adore you too. Smart, sharp nononsense people make the world go around. I can't help it, i call a spade an effing shovel. There is no point beating this to death further. Bill and everybody else who is muttering around with their chins in their sock tops either will or won't but one thing i know for sure. Posting over and over about how bad things are, coming up with reasons why nothing works,blaming and only feeling good when some other beat up person agrees with you only reinforces the path to destruction.

@Steve was that not a beast? All i know is that a few months after the dust settled, i had never placed a molecular lab manager or a pathologist or a PhD scientist or a specialized IT type in my life but they put their pants on just exactly the same way a Petroleum engineer does or a third tier oil and gas tax attorney. You said the magic words. Recruiting is recruiting. the skill is recruiting , internal, external or sitting on a mushroom. When i didn't know what somebody did i got a job order and asked them to tell me if they fit it and if not why not. It didnt' take long to be able to understand the difference between DNA and RNA what a reagent was etc. etc.

It's been a long time since anybody referred to me as a girl. Most of the time it's "who is that tough old broad? ' Thanks for making my day. You are pretty much a "salty old fart" yourself. I am delighted to find somebody who has been around longer than i have. I thought they were all dead. :) My take is that if anybody doesn't have staying power in any business they won't. Companies have diversified, changed directions, worked smart, lean and mean in every industry. Some are starting to come out of the fog stronger, tougher and better than they were before this crash or previous crashes. I don't see recruiting any differently than any other business. If you have only been selling green widgets and nobody wants green widgets then go find some blue ones or start selling wookies instead of widgets.

I have to go make myself relevant just like i have done everyday for the last 35 years and my relevance only lasts from one placement to the next so being relevant is a daily state of mind in my own mind and in the mind of everybody on the planet who gets up every day and makes themselves relevant, today.

Comment by Steve N Odell on May 18, 2012 at 4:29pm: @ Sandra -"salty old fart" I am. Thank you. But I think we both look pretty good for all those years of ups and downs. :)

Comment by bill josephson on May 18, 2012 at 8:07pm: Appreciate all the perspective offering comments. That's the benefit to the blog discussion group. Hearing what other people are experiencing is a great 'raw' reality check perspective enhancer since, like some others, I'm in my own recruiting world shaped by my prism experience.

Regardless of how you responded, thanks for responding. I appreciate it.

Comment by Amber on May 18, 2012 at 9:19pm: @Bill J - I'm in my own recruiting world shaped by my prism experience.
Aren't we all! And I do know some of what you've expressed, I dealt with those feelings often in my last few years in the mortgage industry. I came into recruiting in 2009, working at my husband's agency. Geez, talk about lots of tough adjustments! And almost every recruiter I came into contact with told me what a bad time it was to come into recruiting. But, I learned lots about recruiting, running a business and am so happy I stuck with it. Our agency always focused on primarily engineering (mainly civil), but I just went and found whatever I could get to work on. I needed to find my own clients and job orders to work on so that I could survive having to work with my spouse and turn it into "our" business. Take a little time each day to try something new, find things you still enjoy about recruiting, or think what else you might find more rewarding.

Comment by bill josephson on May 18, 2012 at 9:41pm: @Amber--thanks for your post. Best time to get into recruiting is in tough times as you gain opportunity access to people who otherwise perhaps you wouldn't, plus there's an appreciation you gain starting off under an adverse jobs climate understanding what it really takes to succeed. I commend you, and your husband.

"Take a little time each day to try something new"....apropos. Because of my intensive cold calling, which I actually enjoy reminding me of back in the wild old single days in an establishment taking the risk asking out any girl found attractive impervious to rejection, it's exciting. So I do a ton of them via phone daily into a client's direct competitors. But it works only when the client has a fillable job released to you to work on, and actually hires someone.

I'll make the adjustment and become more marketing intensive trying to uncover better jobs to work on, voraciously attacking. Just need better causes to work on.

Appreciate your words.

Comment by Ken Forrester on May 21, 2012 at 8:15am: Thanks all for participating in this discussion. It is my belief that the benefits of quality-of-hire is far more important than cost-per-hire.

Comment by Raphael Fang on May 22, 2012 at 1:29pm: @ ken

There are so many companies that don't take hiring seriously. They just don't realise the importance of hiring people who are qualified. They always think the print ads can help them find the people that they need.

I tried to tell that to my prospecst on a daily basis, specially, the ones that are looking for sales people. They always look at the bottom line first without thinking about how our services can enhance their top line results. Instead of having someone like us working on getting someone to make them money, they rather wait.

Comment by Ken Forrester on May 22, 2012 at 1:52pm: @ Raphael,

That’s what happens when an Industry is lead by its largest vendors-profit becomes the motivation. But as Sandra McCartt pointed out; this type of employer mindset also creates opportunities for the savvy TPRs.

To get more placements through the door while others are still knocking on door requires a different mind-set and a unique value proposition.

Bottom line-recruiters have to be proactive and become more business development focused instead of reactive-waiting for a job to become open. Value has to be sold.

Comment by bill josephson on May 22, 2012 at 2:00pm: @Ken, agreed.

Pro-active pre-emptive marketing/business development approach targeting decision makers seems the most common sensical one on the basis of what I see. I maintain there's an increasing 'go it alone' corporate internal recruiting mentality for cost saving/cutting purposes that, it appears, some others deny.

Comment by Ken Forrester on May 22, 2012 at 2:14pm: Also Bill, most recruiters are not trained in sales, which is a requirement to generate placements. The most used sales tactic is to see who is advertising to fill a position-then bum-rush that employer asking to fill it for them. A more sensible approach would be to develop relationships or pro-actively keep your brand on their radar screen. What will happen is that candidates will find you-now you have someone of value that might help in starting a dialog on that marketing call.

Comment