Sourcing Insights: No More ‘Apply or Goodbye'

From ERE Net by Marvin Smith Sep 3, 2009, 5:12 am ET

"Apply
or Goodbye" is a great metaphor for a transactional recruiting process.
Sadly, "apply or goodbye" seems to be the end result with most
recruiting processes. Everything seems to be about a
transaction-filling the open requisition. If a prospect is qualified
and interested, then they are moved through the process. If they are
not qualified, then at best, they receive a letter of rejection. If a
prospect is not ready to apply to do a job, we usually do not know
about them. We have de facto told them "goodbye." And given the
prospect-to-candidate falloff rate (research projects application
non-completion rates as high as 70-80%), a great number of prospects
get lost because of the transactional nature of recruiting technology.

In a moment of frustration (or epiphany) I quipped that candidates
were seeking relationships and our recruiting technology offers them
the equivalent of a one-night stand (or more accurately a chance to
complete an application). Looking past the potential off-color nature
of the comment, the truth is there is a gap between what people in this
world of Web 2.0 desire and what a typical recruiting operation allows.
That gap is the williness on the part of recruiting to have a
conversation with you unless you are part of the chosen few that meets
with requirements of a specific job.

Jeff Jarvis writes in his book-What Would Google Do?-about the first law he learned on the Internet:

"Give the people control and they will use it. Don't and you will lose us."

Think: It Is Not About Us!

Giving up control is scary,
but the alternative is downright frightening. If you would like to see
that picture, just read Jarvis's famous blog post about "Dell
Hell."(Use keywords "dell hell" in Bing.) It is the story of Jarvis in
a moment of frustration with Dell that caused a groundswell of public
opinion and caused Dell an amazing amount of pain (i.e. lost sales, bad
PR, etc). Dell eventually got the message, but at what cost? To say
that this event has caused a sea change is an understatement.

Think Distributed, Not Destination

Jeff Jarvis (What Would Google Do) suggests that companies (like
Google) that act as a distribution system have been more successful in
the Web 2.0 world than organizations (like Yahoo) that have focused on
building portals and destination points. When you build a destination
site, it is as if you are taking the prospect where you want them to
go, as opposed to using the site as a method that they can go where
they want to go. The Microsoft Talent Engagement Model (see graphic
below) is more of a marketing distribution system for our jobs and
jobs-related content than to a single talent community site. In fact,
as you dig into the model, you will notice that activities and
information flow in a myriad of directions as opposed to a single web
site.

Not Creating New Communities!

We joined existing communities (LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook)
and used their platforms to engage the appropriate segments of their
membership. Not only do these social networking sites have a large
number of active participants, the very audience we are trying to reach
contained in their ranks. Forrester's Technographics research indicates
that a Groundswell
has occurred and the majority of adults in our society (especially the
best educated, highest-paid professions as well as the new entrants to
the job market) have joined social networking sites. It is very
apparent that our target audience is online and in these existing
communities or social networking sites.

We are creating community, but not necessarily creating new
communities (if that makes sense). Perhaps a way to good way to think
about it is that we are organizing a community in way that can make the
community function better to better meet the interests of our target
audience. For active job seekers, we can provide a higher quality
experience and help them navigate Microsoft. For the more passive
individuals, we can provide the "inside scoop" on technologies; what it
is like to work at Microsoft; and engage current employees in
conversation.

An Alternative to Goodbye!

At Microsoft, we are pipelining talent in communities as an
alternative to saying goodbye. These communities are located on social
networking sites (LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook) as well as our
vendor's (Jobs2Web) platform. We use communities to

1. Offer an alternative to prospects who are not ready to apply


2. Offer an alternative to prospects who are screened out


3. Offer an alternative to prospects who do not complete the application process.

The Microsoft Talent Engagement Model (see graphic) illustrates that
there is a lot going on in our approach to pipeline and creating
community.

The pie chart in the upper-left hand corner is a reminder that the
talent supply is comprised of active, casual, passive, and non-job
seeking talent. And it points out the active job seeker is only about
14% of our potential audience. That leaves approximately 86% of the
potential audience-causal, passive, or non-job seekers that could be
part of the talent engagement equation.

The center of the funnel illustrates that we feed our SEO results; our SEM
activities; our TalentStream (A CRM-based pipelines/community engaging
approach that maps a target audience's behaviors, attitudes, and
interests to our outreach) campaigns; and the prospects generated from
live and virtual events. Previously, I argued that SEO Is Not Enough:
that tactic alone does not reach a large percentage of the potential
talent supply. So we add TalentStream campaigns, events, and other
outreach strategies to reach deeper into the potential talent supply
toward where the more passive prospects are. We use a variety of
approaches that are based on an understanding of our target audience's
behaviors, attitudes, and common interests.

The left-hand side of the Microsoft Talent Engagement Model depicts
how we use a number of different opportunities to distribute
information to active, as well as some casual and active prospects. In
this way, we allow the prospect to decide how they want to engage or
hear from us. For example, the passive job seeker might want to
subscribe to a job agent that will alert them when a certain type of
opportunity becomes available. The casual job seeker might have been
referred by an employee to a specific job and we want to move them
forward in our process. The prospect that is not looking might show up
at a virtual event that has a Microsoft leader discussing an important
new technology.

Not ready to apply? Not the right fit? Came in second? Regardless of
the reason, the right-hand side of the Microsoft Talent Engagement
Model graphic illustrates the ability to offer the prospects the
opportunity to remain engaged. If they join a community, we will
listen, answer questions, and converse with prospects. If they are
"non-applicants" at the present time, we offer a variety of ways a
prospect can decide how to receive information. For the person who is
screened out of an interview process, we can offer them the opportunity
to stay engaged while they wait for a better job fit. For the candidate
who came in second in an interview panel, we can actively assist them
in considering other opportunities within Microsoft. And for the person
who has left Microsoft for other opportunities, we can keep in touch.
In many instances Microsoft Alumni wish to return after a short length
of time in their new venture.

This behavior of not allowing for conversations with prospects is
going to catch up with the recruiting profession-and it is not going to
be pretty for some of us. But we still have a chance to get in front of
this. Apply or Goodbye is no longer the only option.

The THX commercial tickles our ears in the movie theater, loudly
proclaiming the "Audience Is Listening." The lesson of the Web 2.0 is
the "Audience Desires a Conversation" and recruiters had best join in
the dialogue.

One purpose of this article is a preview of a presentation for the Fall 2009 ERE event,
where our talent community pilot will be discussed in the broader
context of Web 2.0 Beyond the Social Recruiting Hype: Microsoft's
Approach to Building Talent Pipelines and Communities. While the
presentation will be much broader than a discussion of "apply or
goodbye"-one of our core beliefs is that Web 2.0 demands that we have
conversations with prospective employees at all phases of the job
search cycle. Failure to do so will result in our recruiting the best
talent for Microsoft, and that significantly impacts our business.