DDI’s Talent Management Intelligence

Should the Unemployed also be Unemployable?

By Scott Erker

I just heard a story on NPR ”Job Seekers Find Bias Against the Unemployed” discussing how much harder it is for those without jobs to find jobs. Considering that earlier this month, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there are still 14.8 million people unemployed—a 9.6% unemployment rate. So that discrimination is directed at 10% of the US population.

One job seeker says that while he knows it's not personal—“try telling that to some kid who asked every single girl to the prom in his high school and they all said no. After a while, being told that you're not desired or wanted that many times, it might start to sink in, but you try to block it out.”

How terrible it would be to lose your job, not be able to get work, and then to have the length of time that you’re unhappily unemployed be a knock against you. Especially considering that in the 12-18 months that have passed since companies experienced massive layoffs, the economy has barely recovered with open positions and ramped-up hiring, so individuals haven't been able to recover with a new job for more than a year in many cases.

Traditionally, time out of work has been a viable predictor of performance and turnover.But today, you have the significant confounding factor of the down economy.

The story pointed out that the chance of finding a highly qualified candidate in the ranks of the unemployed was very likely when you look at the volumes of people out of work and the rate that companies downsized.

So how do employers balance this out? It’s important to note long gaps in employment, but to really look closely at skill, ability and motivational fit to the target job as the best predictors of future job performance.

It would be better to look at what they’ve done in the time they’ve been unemployed—have they been developing themselves, exploring new opportunities, networking—or have they been resting on their laurels, hoping that something great would land in their lap.

Scott Erker is the Senior Vice President of Selection Solutions for DDI.

Meet the Pretenders

By Scott Erker, Ph.D.

Do you remember how to hire good people? That sounds like a ridiculous question, but for many organizations it has been quite some time since job openings were posted on a career site or job board. But as the potential for economic recovery becomes more likely, we must keep in mind that today’s hiring environment differs dramatically from yesterday’s.

I often hear about the challenges associated with managing candidate pools and a common theme has been that while the pool is large (this would typically be a good thing), it is the size of the pool that also makes it hard to find qualified candidates. To make matters worse, candidates—especially those who have been out of work for a while—have become much better at demonstrating to recruiters that they are a good fit for the job even though this might not be the case. I call them ‘the pretenders.’ Consider this:

• Many candidates have been on the market for an extended period of time and have had a lot of practice interviewing and meeting with recruiters. With practice, they are learning the ‘right things to say’ even though they may not truly have the skills or experiences they seem to have on the surface.
• Resumes have been polished and re-polished, making them look good on paper where skills and experiences can be exaggerated.
• Armed with a wealth of information, today’s candidate is better equipped to predict what you’re looking for and could possibly fool you into believing they’re EXACTLY what you’re looking for.

My point in raising this issue is not to cast job candidates in a bad light. They are doing the best that they can under difficult circumstances. The issue is in how staffing professionals can bring the highest quality people into the organization and avoid being misled by practiced and polished candidates. Some ideas:

1. Update your job requirements and competency models to reflect today’s role. Don’t use last year’s job profile and ask hiring managers to provide up-to-date job requirements so that you avoid sourcing candidates for the wrong job.
2. It’s not like riding a bike. Conducting effective interviews is a skill that degrades over time. Refresh hiring managers’ skills so they can ask the right questions; avoid stereotype biases; make a nervous job candidate feel at ease; and objectively score interview data.
3. Don’t rely on gut feel for hiring decisions. Upgrade your recruitment arsenal and collect and review data to provide an objective view of candidates’ capabilities and qualifications.

Companies that polish their selection systems can avoid falling into the trap of hiring someone they don’t really know—and who is pretending to be the best hiring choice.

Listen to Scott's Podcast Hiring Success: The Importance of Culture Fit.

Scott Erker, Ph.D., is the Senior Vice President of Selection Solutions for Development Dimensions International.

Where Did the Forest Go?

By Scott Erker, Ph.D.

At the risk of referencing the much overused analogy – don’t lose site of the forest for the trees – I think it can be used to describe a classic pattern that is emerging in staffing today.  For many organizations, the light is at the end of the tunnel. Job growth could be on the horizon. But there are many reasons to believe that the convergence of factors we typically see just before job growth will be compounded by the severity of the recent recession. Do you see this pattern emerging?

• Recruiting resources are lean due to staff cuts.
• Placement and management of contractors is taking a lot of time.
• Turnover of full-time associates is taking a slight upturn as the incumbent population grows restless and sees opportunity elsewhere.
• Some areas of the business are starting to create jobs and the demand for new hires is taking more and more time.
• Hiring managers are especially demanding as they’re nervous about hiring the wrong person (exacerbating to poor business unit performance).

I could go on. At times like this, we should remind ourselves of the foundational elements that lead to successful staffing systems – in good times and bad. While these items won’t help you in the short term they may help you to prioritize (or shape) your week-to-week activities which in turn leads to sanity and hopefully, longer–term improvement. Think about:

• Linking business goals and drivers to talent selection
• Utilizing diagnostic tools to gather accurate information
• Driving development and engagement on the first day in the new job

Read the entire solution in Scott’s post on RecruitingTrends.com.

Scott Erker, Ph.D., is the Senior Vice President of Selection Solutions for Development Dimensions International.

Down, But Not Out

By Scott Erker, Ph.D.

If the staffing function were a fighter in a boxing match, it has just taken a series of one-two punches and is leaning on the ropes. However, there are signs that staffing is coming back into the fight which I saw last week at the 2009 SHRM Staffing Management Conference. While attendance was down from last year’s record numbers, there was buzz about a few significant topics.

First, companies are buckling under the weight of too many candidates for too few jobs, causing manual staffing processes to break under candidate volume. Pressure to hire the right person is extremely high and fear that an eventual turnaround in the economy will drive massive turnover from employees that accepted a ‘placeholder job’ to pay the bills. This fuels interest in ways to find candidates who are invested in the culture of the organization–long term.

Second, legal issues got a lot of attention as the number of grievances filed with the EEOC and OFCCP has increased for two consecutive years and this is likely to continue as this recession drags on. Social media is another legal concern – the temptation to use easy access people searches (thank you Google) to gather information about job candidates is tremendous, yet they risk crossing legal boundaries protecting applicants from discrimination.

While staffing may be down, it’s certainly not out. How is your company hiring for critical functions and preparing for the turnaround?

Scott Erker is the senior vice president of Selection Solutions for Development Dimensions International (DDI).