Change Management, Leadership, Talent Acquisition Problems
Just to get this out of the way, this is not a religious post, but rather a business operations post.
In our extremely demanding business culture we live in today, it sometimes feels like we never have enough time to do anything we need to do. We’re too busy with tactical day-to-day tasks that we can’t step back and strategically assess our operations.
When we can’t look at the operations strategically, we can’t look at the tools & technologies that drive our processes, which dictate certain challenges, which ultimately keep us from achieving certain positive business outcomes or producing negative business outcomes.
If you get this opportunity to strategically assess your business, YOU TAKE IT!!!
Missing that opportunity will result in a never-ending cycle of reliving the same problems over and over, because eventually that opportunity will pass, and you’ll be right back to the busy hustle of just trying to get through the day. You definitely won’t be implementing any real change in process, tools, or technologies at that point.
One department that has this opportunity right now is talent acquisition. Many companies have hiring freezes in place or hiring has significantly slowed. This is not only the best time to be looking at how you should be improving your operations, but also the best time to implement new processes and technologies.
Noah didn’t build the Ark after it rained. He didn’t build the Ark while it was raining. He built the Ark BEFORE it rained.
To all the talent acquisition leaders out there where they’re hiring needs have slowed down, it’s time to build your Ark!!
ATS, Change Management, Hiring Manager Engagement, Talent Acquisition Problems
Imagine this:
You walk into a Best Buy to buy a brand new flat screen TV with all the newest technology. You want Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/ Youtube and 50 other apps included, app store access, music streaming, 4k Ultra HD, and your smartphone is the remote.
Strangely, you don’t see any of these newer TVs, instead you see a wall full of 1970s tube TVs like the graphic for this post that come fully equipped with radio dials and “rabbit ears.” Totally confused, you ask a Best Buy employee where all the newer TVs are and they tell you that the industry has decided to stop manufacturing those newer flat screen models and are now going back to the 1970s models.
What would you be thinking?
Now wonder what an applicant thinks when they have to submit their résumé for your review, and they know that is the ONE determining factor that will either get them an interview or not. Now wonder what your hiring manager thinks when they have to review those 5 résumés you sent over email.
A LOT has changed in all aspects of society over the past 50 years…all except the process for evaluating job applicants. If you’re still cranking out those job descriptions, checking out those résumés, and even working with this “state-of-the-art” new technology called an Applicant Tracking System…then your process is very likely outdated…like 25 – 50 years outdated. If you think this process is a good one, well then there may be a high likelihood you are also perfectly content with your tube TV with rabbit ears at home!
Change Management
This is one of my favorite quotes.
Too many times in business, people want massive results with minimal effort or a willingness to try something different.
Resisting change is hardwired in our brains because we perceive change as risk. Thousands of years ago that thinking probably served us well, but we’re not facing the same threats anymore.
One of the areas I consistently hear people wanting to solve problems is talent acquisition. Almost universally I hear talent acquisition practitioners lamenting about the fact that they never have enough time. And I understand why. Tons of manual & tedious tasks, manually reviewing résumés, back and forth with hiring managers and applicants, and the list goes on and on.
For all the talent acquisition professionals out there….if you want meaningful time savings then you have to come at that problem with a different level of consciousness. For example, don’t try to figure out how to review résumés faster (“same level of consciousness”), instead just stop reviewing résumés all together!!!
