More Cluetrain Wisdom

In my Monday post I mentioned that I had dragged out my old copy of Cluetrain over the weekend and had reviewed the 95 theses. I also mentioned that I was amazed at how many of these theses apply to the talent "market" as well. Monday I pointed out theses 1 through 5--markets are conversations not monologues.

Today I want to point out another Cluetrain thesis that is more true now than when it was written:

12. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.

This is also very true of talent markets. I was visiting with one of our customers earlier this week and they talked about how the top candidates they were bringing in were so well prepared, that in many cases they were intimidating hiring managers with how much they knew about the company, its financial condition, its products strategies, and its warts. They were able to ask hard questions about topics that in many cases the interviewing team and the hiring manager had no knowledge whatsoever.

This is the age of information accessibility. With Google, Spoke, LinkedIn, Eliyon, and so many other ways to find not only information, but people who have information, any candidate interested in whether they are really finding a great place to work can easily obtain it. Good talenteers will also try to stay ahead of this curve and provide answers to the candidates, straightforward truthful answers so the candidate will get a feeling for the real company and how it responds to hard questions.

Participate in the conversation. When you've done a great job of finding the top talent through creative sourcing, don't lose them because of a bad recruiting experience. Talenteering is selling--be ready, and have the whole team ready to handle objections.

Comments

[Wendy]

I had this happen to me last year. I was interviewing and one man came right out and said, "You intimate me." I didn't get the job.