Bingo Lou!

Reading ER Daily today, all I can say is "you go Lou!" Sourcing and recruiting passive candidates is different. It is not just lip service to saying we support passive candidates. And it is not allowing blind registrations at a career site (although most RMS systems don't even go that far!!). It is about creating a TOTALLY DIFFERENT experience for the candidate. From first touch through the offer, it is absolutely the case that any little glitch and they're gone. Remember by definition, they have a job already and they are probably happy!

This is a huge part of my thread about relationship. It is not just the digital or automated side of the relationship that makes the difference--it is the end-to-end experience that makes the difference. And while this post from Scobleizer isn't exactly relevant to recruiting it does make the point, it drives home the idea. Here is the key extract to take away:

That all said, if there's a product that comes out that's arguably better than the iPod in end-to-end experience you'll be first to know it. Why? I'll be the first to jump up and down and say it.

Hint: end-to-end experience doesn't mean it has a feature that the iPod doesn't have. Having the best end-to-end experience means that everything from the marketing; to the box; to opening it up; to loading media on it; to carrying it around and showing it to your friends; is an extraordinary experience. When we have it I'll tell you.

When I came to work at Hire.com in 1998, that is exactly one of the reasons I did. The senior executives knew they were dealing with a candidate that was happily employed elsewhere, and everything about the experience catered to that--I was in control of the process the process was not in control of me. That's not to say the company didn't get what they needed to verify whether I was a good fit and had the right skills, but the process accommodated the fact that I didn't need a job, I was interested only if it provided a more challenging and interesting place to work.

If only more companies would get this, more companies would hire better people!