Category Archives: Job Seeker Advice

Top Recruiter Lies

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So, last week, I wrote a little HR blog post called – ‘Top Candidate Lies‘ and it got a rather large reaction.  LinkedIn’s What’s Hot picked it up from TLNT (ERE’s HR website which re-blogs some of my work) – and in a little over 8 hours, over 75,000 people read the post, and over 500 comments (at TLNT’s site)!  Cool for me, right!?  Well, let’s just say there were a ‘few’ folks who didn’t agree with my post – so I took a bit of beating – as did the Recruiting Profession in general.

Basically, from the Top Candidate Lies post, there three camps:

1. Recruiters – where about 99% agreed with the lies, and found it funny

2. Job Seekers – who honestly had one of these things happen to them, now understood that some recruiters might see these as lies, and wanted help in how they should address (I got over 50 person emails like this – which was cool and made for a busy weekend)

3. The Haters – these folks assumed all ‘candidates’ were out of work people, and they weren’t lying or had to lie to get a job.  There’s really no logic in addressing these folks, like: many candidates lie and are actually employed, candidates lie because they just don’t want to tell the recruiter the truth (more on this later) or candidates lie because most candidates lie! The Haters also pointed out that Recruiters Lie!  For which I say – “yes, yes they do!”

I love The Haters passion, though, so I wanted to go down that road of the Top Recruiter Lies – Here you go Haters!

– Send Us Your Resume, Even Though We Don’t Have a Job Lie – this was pointed out by a few people – I would say this is a ‘semi-lie’  (how do you like that haters!).  While the recruiter might not have the opening currently, they’re asking for a resume because they frequently have those openings and they never know when one is coming. The recruiter, though, is wrong by not telling you this up front, so you know what to expect.

– The Hiring Manager Hasn’t Gotten Back To Me Lie – This is a lie and not a lie – potentially!  For Corporate Recruiters this is a lie or lazy – you pick.  If you’re a corporate recruiter and tell the candidate that the hiring manager hasn’t gotten back to you – get your butt up from your desk and walk over to the hiring managers desk.  If they’re in a different location and won’t get back to you – you have an influence problem you need to work on.  Agency-wise it’s the one frustrating things recruiters have to deal with – Hiring Managers will get to ‘us’ when they feel like it, and usually after they’ve exhausted every other opportunity internally to fill the position.

– The Never Call Back the Candidate Lie – this really isn’t a lie – but The Haters pointed this out happens all the time!  For the sake of Recruiters everywhere – if you do this – please quit this profession – we (all Recruiters) Hate you as well.  You give all of us a bad name.  It takes 10 seconds to call back a candidate you spoke to a job about, and tell them “Sorry, you were not chosen – stay in touch, don’t call me again, etc.”  10 seconds!  Haters – bad Recruiters don’t call you back because they have major conflict avoidance and don’t like telling people negative stuff like – “You’re not good enough, we found someone better” or just a simple Lie “we filled it internally”.

– The You Didn’t Score High Enough On The Assessment Lie – The company you’re trying to get into might actually have cut-off scores they’ve established – the lie comes into play when a hiring manager presents someone they’ve worked with previously and that person scores the same as you – but still gets the job.  If they really like you – the assessment won’t stop them from hiring you.

– The We’ve Decided To Go Another Direction Lie – This comes along with the ‘We really liked you, but” Lie.  This is Recruiter training 101 – to not get yourself into trouble when telling a candidate they didn’t get the job – give them a reason that legally can never come back and bite you in the butt.  “We really, really, really liked but have decided to not fill the position.”  Two weeks later a job posting comes out that seems very similar but with a title change and a few description changes.  They didn’t like you.

The biggest reason Recruiters lie?  They have major conflict avoidance and are not willing to tell you the truth, which is usually there is something wrong with you – based on what they are looking for and don’t want to hurt your feelings.  Unfortunately, many candidates would actually be helped by a little Recruiter honesty – but recruiters are afraid of candidates who get told the truth – and then get charges from the EEOC, other state or federal agencies, or just get flat out sued.  Candidates have a hard time with feedback like – “you’re really creepy”, “you’re annoying” or “your personality is grating”.  So, the lies come – because Recruiters have found Lies are easier than the truth.

Ok, Haters – your turn – which Recruiter Lies did I forget?  Hit me, not literally, in the comments…

So, you think ‘your’ job sucks…

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You probably saw this bouncing around the social channels last week because it talked about ‘Brazilian Waxing’ and ‘Getting Fired’ (and if you come to this blog you either are in HR/Recruiting, or you’re my wife or Mom) – two things that when put together grab the attention of HR pros!  Here’s the background story from Huffington Post:

 

“A Western Pennsylvania woman has sued the Pittsburgh waxing salon that employed her, claiming she was fired after refusing a Brazilian wax treatment as part of her training.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court last week, Jennifer Finley, 35, says a corporate trainer from her waxing chain, the European Wax Center, told her and her colleagues in October that they would have to perform the bikini wax treatment on one another. After declining, Finley says she was immediately terminated.”

This is where we all get to snicker and play the HR Game of “What Would You Do!?”

Here’s what I would have done:

I would have fired her.

What!?

She was hired to give Brazilian Waxes, of which, she wasn’t trained to do and as part of her training she had to learn how to give a Brazilian Wax. Did I mention she accepted a job to give Brazilian Waxes?  So, I’m know expert in the training of Brazilian Waxes, but I have had to do training, so my guess is the best way to train is to do it on non-customers.  You see ‘paying’ customers tend not to want the trainees when it comes to stuff like haircuts, spray tanning, eyebrows, plastic surgery, root canals, Brazilian Waxes, etc.   They’re paying for a ‘trained’ professional.  When the server comes to the table when you’re at Applebees and she has a ‘trainee’ with her – you’re alright with that – I mean will Mandy really screw up my Strawberry Lemonade?!  Probably not.  When Jennifer comes at me with bowl of hot wax and has on the ‘trainee’ name tag – we’ve got problems!

The main problem was the fact this women had to perform her training wax on a coworker.  Uncomfortable, right?  But you took a job to do Brazilian Waxes – did you really think you were going to make it out of training without seeing some…well you get the picture!  The last I checked people in America still have a choice of which job they take.  While certain people might have more limited choices than others – you still have choices.  I struggle to have sympathy for individuals who choose a profession, then complain that they don’t want to ‘do’ the job.  You chose a job that removes the hair off – again – this is a family show, you know where this is going!

I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t want to be a Brazilian Wax technician/or what ever that title might be.  But I am 100% certain that if I chose to be in the Brazilian Wax field of study that at some point before they let me around the Happy Meals (don’t let your mind go south – this was a line from Chris Rock about working at McDonalds!)  – I need some practice – some training – some live interaction of what you’ll be asking me to do.

What would you have done?

*******Updated 7-8-13 at 11:00am EST****************

Ok, apparently I’m twisting this a bit – the lady in question didn’t want to have a coworker perform a waxing on her.  So, not quite apples-to-apples.  Some will say – ‘I can be a tattoo artist and not want to get a tattoo’ or like Greg mentions in the comments – ‘brain surgeons don’t perform surgeries on each other’ – both correct statements – but both are not really the same thing, as in both other examples there are proper training and techniques you can do without having to do this on coworkers.  Not quite sure how you would ‘train’ on waxing without getting some wax on yourself…nor do I really want to know!

The question still remains – how would you have handled this?

 

Coming out of the Unemployment Closet

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I have an acquaintance who was out of work for an entire year.  Not surprising with all the stories we’ve heard throughout the recession.  The surprising thing was that over that entire year, and him knowing exactly what I did, he never once reached out for help.  In fact, I didn’t even know he was out of work and looking for a job.  Not only did I not know, but our friend group did not know as well.  He hid it from us.  He hid the fact he had lost his job for an entire year!  I found out when he got his new position and finally came clean what he had been going through for an entire year!

It hit me that he is not alone.  What he did and felt is very common.  He was embarrassed about losing his job, and not having a job, so he kept it a secret.  Got up everyday like he was going to work and went somewhere to do his job search.  It pains me to know so many people in our culture are embarrassed about not having a job.   That so many of us judge people based on whether they have a job or can get a job.  This concept of ‘being embarrassed for not having a job’ actually hurts the job seeker tremendously!

When a job seeker is hiding the fact they are out of work to friends, peers, acquaintances, etc.  They are limiting themselves to all kinds of opportunities that might be out there for their network to recommend them for.  I think back on the past year and think to myself  – how many positions did I hear about over the past 12 months that this person would have been perfect for!  I cringe at how many.  At the stress he put himself and his family through because he was too embarrassed to say “Tim, I lost my job, just wanted to let you know in case you hear of anything.”  It seems so simple – yet so many people don’t have the courage to even say it because of how culturally we treat the unemployed!

I don’t know if this will help – but I want every job seeker to know – I’ve got your back.  You can tell me.  Don’t be embarrassed.  There is a better way to handle this.

What is that way?

Tell everyone!  Put a freaking sign in your front yard! On your car!  When you go jogging in the morning put it on your t-shirt! We’re going to own this! We’re going to make you come out of the Unemployment closet! We need to let everyone know you’re on the market, you’re ready to work and you’ve got passion to do great things for organizations.  You don’t have time to be embarrassed. To care about what others might think of you because you lost your job.  Your career is waiting!  We need to show the world you are not someone who is going to back down! I don’t want one more person that I know to go through this, ever.

Please come out of the closet for me.  It’s alright – I’ll support you!

 

 

#1 Thing Job Seekers Do Wrong

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I was asked recently by a job seeker: “How do I zero in positions that I’m qualified for and, those that I will be challenged by?” (shout out to Michael Kubica, MBA for the question)  After going back and forth with Mike I think the question is really: “How do I get a job that will use my skills and that I will actually find interesting?”   Most people don’t really want to be ‘challenged’ – they use the word ‘challenged’ or ‘challenging’, but when push comes to shove what most people want is a job where they feel like their contributions are valuable to the organization and their using the skills they are best at.  People want to feel successful – not challenged.  Many times when you’re challenged, you fail – most people don’t like to fail – and will quit.  But job seekers know that hiring managers and HR folks to hear the “challenge” word!

It boils down to what are failed job seekers doing wrong?

The #1 thing that job seekers are doing wrong is only looking for jobs, of jobs that are posted!

I hear it constantly. “I’ve been applying to jobs constantly”, “I’m on the job boards, Indeed, directly to company pages, etc. There isn’t a job posted that I haven’t applied to – there’s nothing left I can do…”  The reality is, HR and Talent Pros know this, most jobs that you want never really get posted.  Here’s how a vast majority of jobs get filled today:

Step 1: Need for a position is Identified in an organization. This might be for a new position being created, a person who resigned, termination, etc. – but now we know we need a body.

Step 2:  The hiring manager, or person who knows of the need first, has one thought – “who do I know, right now, that would fit this position?”

Step 3: If there is an answer to the question in Step 2 – that person is contacted.

(Realize – never in the first 3 steps was there any mention of “Oh, we better post that position quickly!” This all happens before any of that talk)

Step 4:  If there is a viable candidate to fill the need of the organization – that position is filled with that need – the position is never posted.

I say ‘it’s never posted’, but we all know that’s not true – it gets ‘posted’ but it really doesn’t get posted.  It only gets posted to close the loop on the recruiting process – but the resource to fill the need has already been identified – so you applying to that posting is an exercise futility. So many of the positions that get filled in our organizations, are filled like this. Who do you know?  I know someone. Bam! Filled. Job seeker – you’ve got know shot at these ‘prime’ positions.  That’s something behind the curtain that HR/Talent Pros don’t want you to know.

So, what can Job Seekers do to combat this?

Simple.  Network.  Connect with people in your expertise in the companies you want to work. With the people at companies in the area you want to work.  As a job seeker you want to put yourself into the minds of those individuals who when they find out they’re going to have a need – your name comes up in that conversation.  Keep posting – but spend at least double the time you do posting – networking and meeting those who will be in those conversations.  You’ll open yourself up to an entire other bucket of potential openings!