It is ridiculous for employers to whine about "talent shortages" when their own recruiting processes are the real problem. It only takes a moment of reflection to realize that there's no such thing as a "talent shortage."
Employers who write reasonable job ads and pay the market rate have no problem filling their open positions.
The only employers who complain about "talent shortages" are the ones so out of touch with reality that they think it's somebody else's problem when they define a job that no living person can perform.
To compound the problem, these employers will assign such a low salary to the job that anyone who's qualified will drop out of the interview pipeline.
Of course they complain about imaginary talent shortages. They have to give their managers some excuse when they're asked "Why are all these positions still open?"
I recruited thousands of people for two growing companies and I did not hesitate to help my department managers trim their job ads of nice-to-have-but-not-essential and sometimes even fanciful requirements.
When you write a job ad that appeals to the smart humans you're trying to attract and when you're willing to pay what the market demands, you will never have trouble recruiting.
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Here are 10 of the most loathsome and unprofessional recruiting practices widely followed by large and small employers today. How many of these talent-repelling practices have you run into?
1. The practice of writing job ads without a salary range so that job applicants can waste their time and energy applying to jobs that pay much less than they'd be willing to accept. Tacky employers leave the salary range out of their job ads in case a qualified applicant shows up who is unaware of the market and willing to work for less than the going rate. (That's shameful.)
2. The practice of writing job ads that include long lists of Essential Requirements the "selected candidate" will possess — but not a word about why a smart person might be interested in the job.
3. The practice of requiring job-seekers to fill out endless fields in a 1980's-vintage Applicant Tracking System and then wait weeks or months to hear anything back (if they ever do).
4. The practice of requiring applicants to submit their references along with their resume.
5. The practice of using keyword-searching algorithms to screen resumes instead of human eyes and human judgment.
6. The practice of commanding job applicants to fill out online tests and personality assessments before they've even spoken with a human being in your company.
7. The practice of telling job-seekers they must use a defined technique to answer your interview questions ("Tell us the situation you encountered, how you solved it and why — and be succinct!") If you don't trust your interviewers to conduct a human conversation rather than an oral exam, then you shouldn't be hiring people in the first place.
8. The practice of making job applicants wait weeks after an interview before they hear a word of feedback or next steps from you.
9. The practice of demanding a job-seeker's past and present salary details. If you cannot assess a candidate's value without knowing what another company paid them, you are not qualified to be anywhere near your company's recruiting function.
10. The practice of making a low ball salary offer in case a candidate is so desperate for work that they feel they must accept it.
The worst way to save money is by ripping off the same employees you rely on to run your business. If you don't value talent, why should your customers spend their money with you?
The worst way to hire great people is to force them to climb over higher and higher piles of broken glass in order to get a job with your company.
Everyone has competitors. Talent-repelling recruiting practices like the ten listed above are a great way to grow your competitors' businesses — and shrink your own!
