America has officially entered a recession, and I wrote a 400 word post about hiring managers who feel that they can have the pick of the litter during economic downturns. These are managers who will purposely slow down the recruiting process in order to ensure that they’ve seen every possible candidate on the market.
- I raged against arrogance.
- I warned against hubris.
- I reminded employers to uphold their end of the employment agreement and argued for a good-faith recruiting process where candidates would be given a fair shake at a job that affords an employee a decent salary and an opportunity to grow as a human being.
You can’t change Human Resources when you enable a dysfunctional talent acquisition process.
You — as the HR pro — have to stop the madness. Cut these hiring managers off at the knees by deauthorizing requisitions and taking ownership of the talent pipeline in your organization. Other departments engage in turf wars regarding parking spaces, offices, and budgets. If you’re going to play with the big boys, fight for something valuable: ownership of the company’s future.
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That’s the whole post, in essence — but I deleted the first draft because the song I Want You To Want Me was in my head as I was typing. It’s Cheap Trick…
…and at Budokan, no less.
That’s not very punk rock. You deserve better.
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The upside? Now you’re getting a shorter post with just the highlights.
The downside? Now that song will be stuck in your head — but at least I found a cute video.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
OMG!! In my organization I have no less than three open position where hiring manangers are totally dragging their feet some for many of the points you touched on. They have this attitude that the high unemployment rate means their perfect candidate is sitting home and has nothing better to do than to wait for us to call – when in reality the stars still have jobs.
Maddening.
@Sandstorm The stars may have jobs, or they may be unemployed, but assuming that YOUR COMPANY has something to offer the candidate — and people are tripping over themselves to work for you organization in a down economy — is a stupid way to go about recruiting, IMHO. I’d rather be unemployed than work for 96% of the companies out there.
I am partial to “Letter to Cleo”’s version of I want You to Want Me…..
I saw cheap trick 3 times in college, the worlds best bar band gone arena rock. Their guitarest looked like Satch from the bowery boy movies (I actually have a guitar pick from a 1981 show). Their drummer Ben E.Carlos and his ridiculous cigars and dress shirt/tie were as punk as they come for 1979 (pre-punk actually)…anyway more importantly we fill jobs faster at work with things being bad (in part because if we don’t they might get pulled and our mgrs. desperately need the people ASAP)…your point is well taken hubris and self importance need to dissapear from recruiters personalities, especially in tough times…
Laurie – a CHEAP TRICK fan..way to go… thats actually punk!
P.S. the Letter to Cleo version was good, but doesn’t hold a candle to CHEAP TRICK LIVE!!!
Wow, is this a coincidence. It’s the 30th Anniversary of the concert in Budokan. Are you trying to get free stuff from Cheap Trick?
amen… and so close to home. i’d love to hear more of your ideas on “deauthorizing requisitions and taking ownership of the talent pipeline in your organization.” great topic.
@HR Underling I haven’t heard the LTC version because the song is an earworm for me. I hear two bars and I’m doomed.
@Mark I’m laughing because my parents loved Cheap Trick (or maybe it was just my dad). They were always on the radio in Chicago in the early 80s and they were Illinois heroes. If Cheap Trick could be rockstars, so could my Dad.
@Tracy I can’t believe I’m as old as Cheap Trick. That seems so wrong.
@Amanda I’ll write more about that but now I have to go back and sing I WANT YOU TO WANT ME over & over again until it gets outta my head.
http://vimeo.com/2336731
@Amanda I loved your tribute!
Actually, “I Want you to want me” was produced by the Bread in the very early 70’s. It is my wife and my song. We were married in ‘73 and just celebrated our 35th.