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The Hiring Process Needs to Change
In this day and age, it shouldn’t be this difficult
I’m going to get straight to the point. The general process around hiring people — at least for corporate or so-called “knowledge” work — sucks, for lack of a better word. There have been some improvements since I entered the corporate workforce back in the early 1990s — but in many ways, and with many employers, it’s devolved into a soulless machine of applicants on conveyor belts and revolving doors.
Over the past several months, I’ve been coaching my recent college graduate kids on applying and interviewing for jobs — hoping to impart a few nuggets of ‘wisdom’ and helping them avoid the many mistakes I’ve made in 30 years of corporate life in America. Along the way, I’ve learned that today’s job search process is unnecessarily frustrating, long, and deflating.
If you’re a recruiter or hiring manager, and care at all about the people you’re looking to bring into your organization — take a long, self-reflective look at the hiring processes you’ve created (or have been subjected to) and see if any of the following applies.
Entry-Level Jobs
If you’re hiring for an entry-level job and you’re requiring 2–5 years or more of experience — it’s not an entry-level job. My kids laugh incredulously at so-called ‘entry-level’ job listings requiring years of experience — and yet the compensation is commensurate with people who are just getting out of college with little or no experience.
Entry-level means “the lowest level in an employment hierarchy”. If that’s the case, then how can someone who’s just entering the workforce already have years of experience? And if you’re expecting years of experience, then it’s not an entry-level position and shouldn’t be labeled as such. Employ more accurate labels for these such as ‘junior-level’ or ‘associate-level’.
Mislabeling jobs requiring experience as entry-level can be discouraging for people who are attempting to enter the workforce for the first time and dissuades them from applying. It also makes it difficult for job seekers to find real entry-level jobs.
