#381 Commitment during the application process

Commitment during the application process

Get people's interest, attract talent

Organisations are looking for talent.

Unfortunately, the application processes are often not helpful to achieve this goal. Although understaffing in the relevant department is frequently cited as a reason, this information is irrelevant. When competing for talent, you must face an open market that reacts quickly. If you are not able to do this, you will receive the rest of the labour market. For understandable reasons, you have no interest in this.

How can you organise the application process to get the best talent?

Mistakes

Typical mistakes are made repeatedly, now reflected in large numbers on websites such as Kununu and Glassdoor. Applications received are often not confirmed or confirmed (too) late. Prompt feedback is also frequently lacking. It is unacceptable to allow more than three days to pass. If contact is made, there is usually a lack of transparency regarding the further application process. There are also often delays, as certain activities are only carried out by a few or even just one person. Subsequently, communication during the application process is reactive and not proactive enough. As a result, talented individuals decide to join a different organisation. If irregularities such as cancellations, unfounded or incomprehensible delays or, in the worst case, pseudo-tendering of jobs that are then awarded internally through corruption occur, the damage to employer branding is unavoidable.

Improvements

Confirmation of receipt of an application must be made immediately and digitally. The first human contact must then take place within three days or less. Three days refers to applications received on Friday, which you respond to on Monday. Only briefly clarify critical general criteria during the first contact and, above all, make the further course of the application process transparent. It is unacceptable for applicants to only find out at short notice if there is another round, interview, or task to be completed. Transparency and the entire presentation of all rounds, interviews, participants and the objectives of those steps must be disclosed at the very beginning. The more you demand here, the more you have to offer. The conditions of your offers must reflect the realities of life in your region, while you must regard fair pay for anyone in your organisation and not just decide in favour of cheaper offers. When concluding an offer, it is also essential to act as if you are closing a sales deal. It is always possible that an applicant needs a little more time, is still waiting for an interview, or something similar happens. However, if you try to hire a person, you can expect commitment from the other side. A longer waiting period is rarely or never a good sign for you because you are being kept as the second or worse option. Reciprocity means taking care of applicants so that they offer you the same. Commitment must, therefore, be clearly shown and expected on both sides.

(More details on this in this week's podcast; see links below).

Implementation

Define the application process internally and in great detail. Deviations or delays are highly likely to lead to negative decisions against you by talented individuals, and negative reviews online are also highly likely.

Train everyone involved in the process professionally about application procedures and professional interviewing. I have experienced everything from pathological self-promotion on the part of managers and purely promotional interviews to interviews in which the applicant speaks less than ten per cent of the time. Most interviews could or must be better than they are now. Good to very good are a tiny minority of interviews. Reasons such as 'no time' or 'no budget' for professional training and coaching here are common excuses. If you limit the number of people involved in the process to the necessary minimum, you will never have a point at which only one person can fulfil an activity. Have these people professionally trained so that a binding, targeted, focused flow is created throughout the process, which will also positively impact the applicants' decisions.

Conclusion: excellent application processes result in outstanding talent for your organisation.

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More on this topic in this week's podcast: Apple Podcasts / Spotify
(See below for the podcast transcript)

Is excellent leadership important to you?

Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com

Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn

Website: www.NB-Networks.biz

Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.

Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, moderator.

Podcast Transcript

Niels Brabandt

We got a job open here . It would be great if you apply . Maybe you heard this phrase before and you applied and you, of course, hope that in very very soon, in a very near time frame, they will contact you and you will have a chat and suddenly you hear nothing . Or at least you hear nothing for quite a long while . And this seems to be an omnipresent issue we have right now which we see absolutely anywhere from public service to free enterprise across any industry . I do not only see it in my circle of friends but also with countless emails that arrived in my inbox where people say, could you please address this topic ? So today, we're going to talk about commitment in the application process . A couple of things are going wrong there . Let's face it, everyone wants talent, and there's a talent shortage . There's a workforce shortage . However, when you look on, for example, Kununu, which is the European version of Glassdoor or glassdoor.com directly, there are many complaints about application processes . Some of them very polite, some of them more straightforward . However, what I've seen only in the last month was shocking . And it was shocking how little commitment organizations who not only say that they are keen to gain talent to their workforce, but also organizations which are known for complaining about that there's not enough applicants or that there are not applicants around and they have a talent shortage . It's quite shocking what I saw on the recent weeks months . The reason for that, by the way, are usually the same . People say we don't have enough staff, which poorly is, guess why ? Right ? When when you behave that way, you're understaffed . And often they say that applicants are very difficult . The demands are very high . So how do you deal with that ? That is the question . We today have to look into what are the typical errors, how to deal with these errors, and then how to do it better, and of course how to implement what we want to do better . So first let's go through the typical mistakes . The number one is when someone applies that there is no confirmation . So people have to chase you basically on the phone via email without knowing who to contact . They are just chasing, chasing, chasing because you are unable to send the confirmation . It goes without saying and the application needs to get an automated response . But that's not the only mistake because that's pretty easy to to fix here . The next problem is you need to react in a timely manner when you want to get the best talent . And a timely manner means 3 day or less . And just just to give you context here, 3 days or less means when someone applies on a Friday, you get back to them by Monday . When someone applies on a Tuesday morning, you better go or get back to them by Tuesday or at the latest the next day Wednesday . Even if it's only short, hey, we just got this . I just saw it . We're interested, and we get back to you by next week . People need to see that you are interested . However, when you say that you're interested, that's just not enough . Getting the next mistake, often there is no clarity about the application process . I saw multiple cases where people said, okay . I applied, then we had a chat, then we had the official interview, and then they said, at the end of this interview, they said, yeah . Well, great . You now pass into the official round, which is an additional 3 rounds, 2 on-site in 2 different locations, 1 online . And they, of course, said, if I had known that before, I had dropped out in round number 1 because if you want me to spend that much time in recruiting phases, you need to pay me for that . So you need to make clear what the whole recruiting process is about . The non transparency or the non clarity where people sometimes don't even know who's going to talk to you next, what the next step is shocking . And that comes straight to the next mistake . You are often relying on too on too few people . Very often we heard, oh, we can't do this interview because colleague x y z is either sick, or on vacation, or not here or on business travel . You can't rely on just one person, except when you're a very, very small organization . Then anyone knows this can happen . When you are a large organization, there will be someone else who's able to do a qualified interview . However, while you have way too few people dealing with the organization of interviews, you have way too many people talking during these interviews . I get the impression especially in the English speaking world, anyone wants to be part of recruiting suddenly . And then you do your personal kind of thing . You have your personal trick and bonus question . You feel very important . You just want to be part of the important people including and that was one of the worst things I've seen so far happen in Germany, by way, when you think everything's efficient here . No . It's not . So one of my friends applied with a job, and then they said, oh, to get to know you better, we are now going to play a round of taboo . If you don't know the taboo board Game, the Taboo Board Game is you get a card on the card base, a term, a a certain word mentioned . And then you have to describe the word, others have to guess it, but you cannot use the most common words . So for example, when you should describe skyscraper, you can't say concrete or the word high . And they wanted him to play that . And, of course, he said that is that is not how you recruit people . And then they got very upset from the HR side . Say, oh, no . You have to comply with that . Anyone loves it . Anyone loves it . Anyone love which is completely made up . No one loves that . So when you use pseudoscientific methods you failed on basic 101 level . You need to be able to stick to scientific methods when it comes to recruiting, and it's quite shocking that I have to mention that . When you have your special trick question, which no one is allowed to fail, or you have the coffee test, do they give the coffee first to you, or do they take the first coffee by themselves ? That's all pseudoscience . It tells you nothing, absolutely nothing about the applicant . So be sure that when you have people in your recruiting process, they need to be properly qualified for that on a scientific level in this case . Another mistake is you have reactive or no communication, including one of my friends who applied Buckle Up for a position in a union . And you should expect that unions are able to handle applications properly because they can't be understaffed . Right ? And they need to know how to do it because that's what they are all about . So he applied, got a got a confirmation same day, electronically, which which was ultimate . Haven't heard back anything . Not a phone call, not an email, chased them . Phone calls and emails, nothing was answered ever . And a couple of months later, about a month and a half in this case, he just started to call other people including friends who he knew who worked in this union . And then suddenly one of his friends said, well, they gave the job away internally . So giving the job away internally while other people applied is not even is not even what unions should do because you are, at least you claim to be, against this kind of, and I wanna be straightforward here, corruption . That's how to call it . So it is quite shocking what we see on the application market . Many organizations have nothing to complain . They design their fate by themselves . So how to do it better ? To be straightforward . So number 1, as soon as someone applies, they get an automatic reply that the application arrived . Very important here, when you say this is technically challenging for you, you're offering less technical abilities than a free email inbox from GMX . So you must be able to do that if you like it or not . If you say you can't talk to your IT, you need to comply with this . 2nd, you need to be in first human contact within 3 days or less as I said before, and this needs to happen telephon via the telephone and via email . Call them, give them a personal touch, check a couple of things you need to talk about before . So for example, when you want to do an interview online, you have to ask them, are you sure you are able to use Zoom properly ? Because not every position is tech prone or tech affiliated, so sometimes you have to check . People are able to do that . So do something via the phone and then confirm everything via email as well . That gives people a personal touch . There's scientific evidence that the more people feel you take care of them, they take care of you . However, when you confirm everything you talked about via email, be sure that you also show in this email how will the rest of the application process will be . What are the steps ? How many rounds ? What are the processes ? Who are the people participating ? What are the re what are the demands you have here ? They need to know what's coming up because anyone has the right to say, a, I drop out . I'm not doing this . B, I only do this for pay, which becomes rather common by the way now . Or C, say, well this is okay for me, or have some sort of criticism, or probably want to change something . It is very important that you need to be fully transparent from moment number 1 . From there, the next step is only have relevant people participating in the recruiting process . It became a sport that anyone who might be only remotely related to that person wants to have their own round of interview . And just to be very straightforward here again, the more rounds you ask them to do, the more you have to offer . When you when I see that one of my friends in London had to apply for a PA job, personal assistant, and it was 8 rounds of interview for a job for less than £40,000 a year . And, of course, he accepted the way better German offer, which by the way, only had 2 rounds and paid 50% more . What does this tell you ? So very important is only half people in the recruiting process have a proper role there, and also, and that is extremely important here . When these people are relevant they know what to do, and they know what they need to talk about regarding the job . No pseudoscience, no coffee trick, no magic question, no board game, or what else people come up with . Very important also is when you make an offer here and that's very important when after all these rounds of interviews you make an offer, accept the realities of where you have the job placed . I'll give you an example, when you have jobs available in let's say Berlin in Germany or London in the UK or New York City in the US from which I am just back, the salaries have to be high . Very simple . And when you say, oh, back in the days, I worked for x y z . I and by the way, I can fully, emotionally understand that because I entered the job market after Germany's reunification where the unemployment rate was nearly 10% . And believe me, I had to work student jobs for payment that were beyond belief on the lowest lowest end . So sometimes had 2, 3, 4 jobs . I am quite happy that today's generations don't have to do that . When you make a lowball offer, don't be surprised to get a lowball response . So you need to reflect on the realities in the area you have the job position . When you say, hey . If you remote work, live wherever you want, that's a different story . However, when you have someone applying from New York City, and you want someone with a probably global mindset, cosmopolitan background, proper qualifications from renowned universities, you have to pay accordingly if you like it or not . So very important here is your offer needs to reflect on the realities that we have right now . Please don't come up with the back in the days we had XYZ . By the way, when you say you get a lower salary in the beginning but you get more later, the usual answer will be okay then I start later . That answer, by the way, is perfectly fine . When people work for you, that payment must be able with with that payment, you you must be able to live a proper life . Otherwise, there is no motivation to do your job . Last but not least, you have to close the deal, and that's a sales skill . We had an we we had a topic about that before . When it comes to closing the deal, you need sales skills . Because sometimes people will tell you, hey, I still have 2 other interviews lined up . Sometimes they will tell you, hey . I need a bit more time to think . Or they tell you, hey . Just another week, and then I get back to you . However, there is a certain point where you need to speak up against that . So for example, when people say, again, yeah . Just another 3 days . I I might have something else lined up, then it's perfectly fine to say, hey . Look . We are interested in working with you, and we made you a very great offer, and you confirm that the offer is great . We really want to work with you, but please tell me by tomorrow if it's a yes or a no . Because sales skills also means that you and let let's face it, by the way . When people delay the decision that doesn't speak in your favor, they are looking for something else . They're obviously not committed . When they give you proper reason, fair enough . However, when they don't, it is perfectly fine to say, hey we need to get the deal closed . It's a yes or no by tomorrow . Reciprocity is the key . As soon as people see that you take care of them and you show interest, they most likely will take care of you as well . How to implement all of that in your organization ? So step number 1 is you sit down and you define the process of your application from the very start to the very end . And just to give you a time frame, the time frame should be 28 days or less . I just give you an idea of what I just came back from in New York City . In New York City you have an app which is called job today . Job today is an app where you can say I need a job in New York City and maybe you want to be hired quite reasonably quickly . And many of these jobs go away same week . People apply and the whole process in large corporations from first contact to contact signature is done within 7 days or less . So please tell me what your excuse is that you need 3 months . And of course, many will say, oh, we're understaffed . Do you think this doesn't happen in New York City ? Whether where the war for talent is at peak point worst situation in history . So you have 28 days maximum . Great when you are quicker, not very good when you're short . And by the way, you get very positive feedback as soon as people see that you're quicker . When you see on the Internet some people said, hey, I had a first round interview . I'm a developer, and the guy I talked to was my was the leader of the department I should possibly work for . He said, are you free right now ? We had an interview on the spot, and he made me an offer, and I agreed . Same day, close the deal . That's exactly what we're looking for . Don't make it too complicated, and please don't make it unnecessarily complicated just just to justify your position or to make yourself more important than you actually are . So very clear process definition from start to finish, 28 days or less . That's the beginning of the implementation . Followed by that, every single person that is part of the process is professionally trained for interviewing . Every single one . If you're not, expect the catastrophe . I've seen everything from the people of the company talking 90% and the applicant talking 10%, pathological self display, big egos, anything . And that is not helpful for your organization . By the way, when you go on canoenoonglassdoor.com, you will see how it ends . You get a bad reputation on the market . It is very important that you, with absolutely no exception, train every single person that is part of a recruiting process . When they're not professionally trained and you need professional trainers and coaches for that, don't tell me the $49 online class makes the cut, it doesn't . When you don't train professionally, the catastrophe will happen . And the easier catastrophe is a bad review online . The worst catastrophe is a lawsuit that may happen, especially on international terrain when you are in the English speaking world . Loss, you are around the corner when you do the slightest mistake . So be aware that you train people professionally . Last but not least, check your whole process for any kind of single point of failure . There can never be any moment where you say, when that person or this piece of material or that thing isn't available, everything falls apart . When I still see that people say, oh, we can only do the next round when the colleague's back from vacation . It's in 2 weeks' time . You shouldn't complain about talent shortage . That is just pathetic . When you have a problem by the way, you expect that from your employees as well . If someone would say, oh, my client has x y z problem . The first thing you answer as a leader is don't bring me problems . Bring me solutions . So here, the same applies . You please bring the solution . Design the process in a way that your people are able to deliver on the promise because, and that is a fact, no one is waiting for you . Taking all this together, how can we guarantee or how can we at least ensure and get be reasonably sure that we get the best talent ? Taking it all together, excellent application processes have excellent talent as a result . And I wish you all the best accomplishing that . And when you now say, whoop, that was more than expected . Yeah . Feel free to discuss that with me . Feel free to contact me about that . Nb@nbhyphennetworks.com is my email address . I put by the way, you can discuss anything . If you just wanna have a discussions, contact me via email . This episode is a result of a discussion we had via email before and emails that reach out to me . If you wanna have something very specific, training, speaking, or coaching, feel free to reach out to me as well . Nbnbhyphennetworks.com is my email address . In the show notes of this podcast, I will put my email address, my LinkedIn, you can connect with me on there as well, of course . And also my website, which is nbhyphennetworks.biz . And thank you very much, by the way, for reaching out about this . We now, on the website, also have transcripts from all the podcasts that we have . So thank you very much for the idea . We implemented that quite quickly after we got the idea . Thank you for reaching out about this . 2nd aspect which I recommend, register for the leadership letter because we have live sessions as well . When you go to expert.nbhyphennetworks.com, then you will see that you can sign up with your email . You only receive one email every Wednesday . It's a 100% content ad free guarantee and that email is where you also find when the next live session is, plus the link to access it . You You don't need to register anything else . Just register your email address at expert.nbhyphenetworks.com . Besides the live sessions and where you can access them, you also find access to all the podcasts we have, all the publications in writing . I have absolutely anything and all of that without any pay awards or limitations . I'm looking forward to seeing you online . By the way, the, live sessions are available in the English and German language, so feel free to, bring international colleagues with you as well . However, the the most important aspect is the third one . Apply, apply, apply what you heard in this podcast because only when you apply what you heard, you will see the positive effect, and the positive aspect, and the positive results that you obviously want to see in your organization . I wish you all the best doing so . If you need any kind of help, feel free to contact me . I'm available 247 . And at the end of this podcast, there's only one thing left for me to say . Thank you very much for your time .