God, it ain’t easy to find a job!
Like death and taxes, inevitably every person on this earth that has reached the age of employment is bound to find a job (even Paris Hilton and the likes). So, what a person does is to take the train to Jobsearchvill…
Nowadays, it is more about who you know and how you search. We are becoming more and more digital, and indeed we resort to LinkedIn, Twitter, online job boards and yes, headhunters’ websites. It is a time and effort consuming process that will result in more days and more sweat at the end if not taken seriously.
And since I am in the process of finding that exciting position that I would be able to make a difference by employing everything I have learned so far and all that experience I have amassed on two continents (a bit pompous, but true) and create things new and worthy in the digital arena. Man, this sentence is way to long, please discard it!
Headhunters Examples
There are different channels, but for this post’s purpose, I wanted to share with you the experience of this week with headhunters…
– Tuesday, June 8, 2010 – got a call from Leisha Hawkins@Esanda Recruitment. A lovely upbeat lady with great communication skills and a knack for poker (she blogs about it). She has found my profile on Monster.com and wanted to see my current status, what I am looking for and basically what makes me tick-tack. All in 10 minutes. She promised to come back with something substantial, but I had fun talking to her, and the pleasure was all mine even if she doesn’t.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 – A former SEO professor of mine at IE and a passionate digital geek, Rodrigo Miranda, suggested that I follow on Twitter @currofile for openings across Europe mainly in Spain. The person behind these performed pro-bono tweets (yes, she does not get paid for that) is Marina Zaliznyak. So I emailed her my resume, and she tweeted back “I owe you an email. 😉 sorry it will take me a few days, backlog. but really thanks for reaching out.” Small, but yet splendid touch. She obviously takes things seriously. Me, too. As Borat says “I like”.
– Thursday, June 10, 2010 – I talked to Jonathan Hall@CranberryPanda on Skype after being introduced by Blaise Grimes-Viort (a wonderful social-media-mad-dog chap I met on Twitter @blaisegv). We talked digital with Jonathan “has & wants”, mostly. But then we also connected on the will-to-live front with him explaining what an “ultra-run” is (something he is obviously earnest about) and me telling him about my Everest base-camp trekking plans. Again, even if nothing happens, time well spend, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to talk to the genuinely nice Jonathan.
– Thursday, June 19, 2010 – Got a reply on a position I have applied for via Sports Recruitment International… After the cordial address (Just a “Dear [blank]” – they must have forgotten to input my name) and expressed gratitude for my interest (These guys are very polite) I am told that I don’t meet the requirements. I can dig that and appreciate the honesty and straightforwardness. But then the following sentences confused me big time. They stated that they have placed me in their database, but would be grateful if I could spend the time to fill in a registration form. So which one is it, am I registered or I will be, only if I send the filled out form? Unfortunately, this is not the end of it. I opened the word file and guess what? 80% of the information they ask for is already described in my resume. Some of the other 20% can be clearly seen in my LinkedIn profile, and the rest is arguably relevant to a recruitment company, but rather to an actual employer. If I have to choose between spending half an hour filling up their form or work on one of my freelance projects, guess what the appropriate choice will be?
And now, let’s come to the point! The digital arena is not a paper-pushing overstaffed multinational where everyone is busy keeping their asses employed by developing more politics and procedures and actually doing their job. Today, it is about a time-saving, broad understanding and relationship management approach done by a quick conversation, not by essay/report writing and repetitive input of one’s name, to make sure that he/she can write it properly. It is about user experience. The headhunters’ customer is the company that is seeking talent and the talent he/herself. And your SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) should be as user-friendly as possible. AMBIGUITY, REPETITIVENESS AND WASTE OF TIME ARE A “NO GO” IN THE DIGITAL REALITY. And if you happen to read this post, please do ponder for 60 seconds on who’s paying your next trip to the fridge!
So, in summary… Leisha, Rodrigo, Marina, Blaise and Jonathan, my hat is off, and the thumbs are up! Sports Recruitment International, I’ll catch you on the rebound.
UPDATE: June 11, 2010 -1400 hrs CET
My point of contact at Sports Recruitment International wrote to me an email apologizing for omitting my name. Apology accepted. Honest mistakes do happen.
She also wrote that the registration form aims to understand how the candidate reached the said experiences and qualifications. True! I have also hired people. But I firmly believe that these questionnaires have to be user-friendly and not repetitive and time-wasting. I recommend optimizing it and keeping only the questions on the greatest achievements and tackling internal organizational conflicts. All IMHO!
Copyright © 2010 Borislav Kiprin. All Rights Reserved.
