Ponderous, man, really ponderous

My quick question and thought for the day is how are you handling all of your extra applicants? I keep reading about and seeing on the news how the dismal state of our economy has created many more applicants per job than in recent history. Normally this is an ideal situation for an employer. It's nice to be wanted. However, are you contacting all of these applicants? Are you at least acknowledging their efforts?

From the job seeker side, I hear that there is a long delay from the time an application is submitted to when they hear back from the employer. Now this isn't across the board and I want to praise employers who contact everyone and quickly, for that matter. That's great! But for the ones that don't get to their job candidates right away, what ends up happening, is that by the time they hear from what may have been their employer of choice, they have already made a commitment to another company. The savvy and respectful job seekers will stick with their commitment, which is the right thing to do for them, and certainly a great thing for the employer counting on their arrival. But perhaps, had you have contacted them sooner, they may be working for you this summer. So, did you miss out on a great candidate because it took too long to get back to them?

I don't want this to be a scolding post. I totally understand being busy and inundated with job applicants, and not feeling like you have the time to contact them all. I get it. But, if I was the applicant and I spent the time applying, and I had been out of work for an extended period of time, I would want to hear something, anything. I would even take a system generated "Hi" to at least know my application was successfully submitted. But nothing, no acknowledgment, that's tough to bear.

National unemployment reached 8.1% in February and I'm sure the March number will be even less savory. People are struggling. HR / Recruiting professionals are trying to help. Check out Job Angels if you haven't already done so. Now is the time to be kind to one's neighbor and lend a hand where you can. I'm not saying hire everyone. I realize that this economy is also very much touching the travel and tourism industry and the number of employees needed is down, but something human resource managers and hiring managers can do is treat their applicants with respect. And to me, respect means at least doing the applicant the honor of thanking them for applying.

Someday, I don't honestly know when, this market will recover and when it does, it will be harder to find candidates again. We've all been there before. We've desperately sought a good candidate to fill our open job. How you treat the plethora of applicants you have now, will most certainly affect how many of them will return to you when the market gets tight once again. Treat them well, and they'll come back. Treat them poorly, and they'll not only not come back, they'll tell all of their friends to not apply either.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Your Employees Are Talking About You

It's true. For good or ill, they talk about you all of the time. And you know what? As much as you might like to believe that all of it is good, you would be wrong a good portion of the time. You may also believe that your marketing message will keep you in their good graces, but it won't. Actions speak louder than words.

If you haven't noticed, people seem to share their opinions with whomever will listen and the Internet along with the 24-hour news cycle keeps all of us informed about everything. Strong voices may sway a fine person from working for you or being a guest at your property. Quiet voices do also get their share of attention. In our experience, savvy job seekers will weigh all of the words before they decide for themselves. But what about the ones that just see one bad review and decide to never check you out? What about those that have a negative experience that stays with them for years that they just can't shake? Is it worth losing a potential employee or guest because you did not think about how you treat / treated your employees or applicants? I hope that the answer to that last question is no.

We at Cool Works pay attention to what these job seekers and employees have to say and we do so for several reasons.

1. We cannot be everywhere so we listen to what is being said about previous, current or future clients. We want to make sure that the employers we highlight pass muster. As best as we can, we do a gut check to make sure that the employers we feature not only fit our niche of jobs in great places (tm), but also pass the "niece test." Would we send a loved one to work at this place?
2. We've been at this a while - 13 years - and we have (almost) heard it all. We generally can tell the difference between one person's bad experience and everyone's bad experience. Four out of five of us at Cool Works started our careers in seasonal jobs and our lives are the richer for those experiences. We believe that seasonal and summer jobs change lives and we want everyone to have a good experience.
3. Lastly, and perhaps the most important, is that our reputation is directly tied to those employers who advertise on our website. If you treat an employee well, we feel great about working with you. If you treat an employee or job seeker poorly, it reflects negatively on us. We're very sensitive about that and very protective of our tribe. The bottom line is that if an employer no longer passes the "niece" test, we'll pull them from our site. We don't like to do it and it's generally messy, but for us, it's not worth sending someone to a place that will only dash their dreams. Please pass our test.

Just so you don't think that it isn't all negative, we so often hear glowing reviews of our employers and awesome stories about how their summer job changed their lives, or that they've made friends that they'll have forever, or that the folks that they worked for were amazing. We LOVE to hear those stories. They truly make our days and keep us motivated to serve our job seekers and help you as our employers find great people. Keep 'em coming.

So how can you get the glowing review by your employees and job seekers?

• For starters, treat them well.
• Respond quickly.
• Respect their time and effort.
• Remember the Golden Rule.
• Pay them fairly for work done.
• Give them a safe place to work and make sure to return them safely to their loved ones at the end of the day.
• Listen to them.
• Heed their suggestions.
• Provide secure and safe housing.
• Give them an opportunity to speak to you before they share their experience with all of their "friends" on the Internet.
• Be a GREAT employer!

By treating your people well, you'll have fans galore. You may even have future guests to your resort or ranch or camp or whatever. You never know who someone is or who they know until you spend a little time getting to know them. Be worthy of their good words, because like I said, your employees are talking about you.

How Can I Attract Candidates?

Inspired by the review of my notes from a webinar about job boards I attended earlier this year hosted by Peter Weddle, a recruiter, HR consultant and business CEO turned author and commentator, I want to share with you his simple formula for a successful job posting. Just last month, I was reminded of his inspiring ways and analytical mind when I saw him speak at the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Orlando. His session was titled "The Carrot in Recruiting Success," of which he joked that the carrot is the "vegetable of good vision." He was the opening speaker and he hammered home the point that each of us is responsible for our own careers, that we should be the hero of our own stories and not let anyone stand in our way. It was a great talk and a wonderful way to get the conference started, but I digress. Back to job postings.... As always, the name of the game for most people is WIIFM, or "What's in it for me?" They want to know the following things before they'll work for you.

1. What will they get to learn?
2. What will they get to do?
3. Who will they get to meet?
4. Who will they get to work with?

It is critical to SELL them on why they should work for you. Also, please note that they are not likely to read your entire job posting. Instead, they will scan it, so make it brief and interesting with highlights and bullets. Peter also mentioned a simple formula for the job posting, S-ABC-S, which stands for:

• Summary
• Advantages
• Benefits
• Capabilities
• Signoff

I felt great affirmation listening to him speak because this is what I tell my clients all the time. You've got to sell your location first and then follow with the job details and instruct them on how they should apply. Luckily all of the clients on Coolworks.com are in pretty incredible locations, with an amazing amount of recreation and fun things for the employee to do while not working, so why would you leave this out of your job posting? It is a competitive advantage. Use it!

So here is how I envision the S-ABC-S formula in action.

Summary

This paragraph should be all about who you are, what you do and where you are.

Example: Coolworks.com is a job website that helps employers post their seasonal jobs in great places across the U.S. and the world. The company is based at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park so on your days off a hike or a friendly encounter with some wildlife is just a few steps from your door.

Advantages

• Advantage #1 - Example: We are the biggest and best at what we do.
• Advantage #2 - Example: We are a small, intimate resort where being a member of our staff feels more like family.
• Advantage #3 - What is your competitive advantage?

Benefits

• You'll get ... a bonus, health benefits, free housing, etc.
• You'll get ... experience doing a new job, customer service skills, etc.
• You'll get ... new skills, opportunities for promotions, etc.

Capabilities

• You need X years of experience.
• You need Y years of education.
• You need management skills or name your job requirement.

Signoff

The signoff should include the following.

• How to Apply
• Your Website
• Refer Your Friends Invitation. For example, if this isn't the job for you, please tell your friends that might be interested and qualified.
• A Thank You

I hope that this is useful. Like I've said before, our job at Cool Works is to help you meet your staffing needs by driving traffic to your job postings and recruiting websites. It is our hope that when we get them there, your message will inspire them to want to work for you.

If you would like to learn more about Peter Weddle, check out his website or pick up his latest book Recognizing Richard Rabbit: A Fable About Being True To Yourself.

Are You Courteous?

"There is nothing that costs so little and goes so far as courtesy."

I keep a quote book and this quote above is a keeper. My reason for sharing it now is simple. Now is the time when people really start to look for summer jobs. These people have high hopes of getting their dream jobs, meeting new friends, seeing new places, you name it, they're dreaming it. Nothing can dash job seekers' hope so much as "crickets." I'm talking about putting out the effort to learn about an employer, completing the application, submitting references, jumping through endless hoops and then hear NOTHING! Even an automated response is better than nothing, but what happened to common courtesy in this exchange. Has the web made us so ambivalent that we don't care anymore? I hope not.

I hearken back to one of my first posts after I joined Cool Works last spring - "Applicants are people too." Behind every completed form and electronic signature is a person; a living, breathing person. Are they not as worthy of time as you?

It is simple.

• Acknowledge the effort.
• Thank them for applying.
• Try to make it work. If it does, GREAT! If it doesn't, be nice about it.
• Be courteous.

Because really, isn't that what you would expect if you were the applicant?

Charles DeGaulle vs Your Employment Page

Just last week I returned from an 11-day trip to Europe which included 2 mind-numbing visits to the Charles DeGaulle Airport, where my husband and I felt like spinning tops. Now to be fair to CDG they are in the midst of some big renovation projects, but WOW was it ever confusing. We did successfully make it to Munich for Oktoberfest and got a few "prosts" in before we ventured back through CDG on the way home, but, boy did we ever feel exhausted and worn out by the travel experience.

Now think about your recruiting process and particularly your website. Do you do this to your prospective job applicants? Do they feel worn out and drained by simply attempting to find the employment section on your website? What about the application itself? How many unnecessary hoops must they jump through to apply?

In the web recruiting world there are two main things to remember. 1) Clicks are sacred. 2) Applicants should be even more sacred.

You want the best candidates? Who doesn't? To help get them, ponder this list when you design or renovate your recruiting process.

• Make it only one-click to your employment section.
• Get an on-line application.
• Acknowledge new applications quickly - say thanks for applying!
• Communicate constantly.
• Anticipate questions.
• Use the Golden Rule - treat your applicants as you would like to be treated.

Don't wear out your applicants' patience when they are simply trying to learn more about your organization. Frankly, if they have made it to your website, you should treat them like a honored guest. Because honestly, if it was you, and you didn't feel welcome, wouldn't you go find another place to be?