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What if we treated candidates like customers? Reaching Zero Openings.
After being on the job market for a few weeks and helping dozens of others work through their searches, I can confidently say that the hiring process is broken. Candidates are frustrated by the lack of responsiveness, and I know that companies must be frustrated by the overwhelming number of applications they’re receiving. I routinely see over 200 applications submitted for one job. And yet, many recruiters say they can’t find qualified candidates.
What’s the problem?
Unfortunately, the bar is extremely high to be qualified, too high for most people. It appears that hiring managers are looking to replace the person they had instead of critically thinking about what they need in the role or what they can train. I often see job descriptions with over 50 bullet points of required qualifications. Ironically, these are usually the ones that include something in the footer that says “We are interested in hiring a diverse group of people and we understand that women are less likely to apply if they don’t meet all the qualifications, so please apply”. I am skeptical that they loosened their applicant tracking systems to allow those potentially unqualified applications.
