Recruiting
good people is difficult. It's not much better than chance. Indeed the
correlation between successful interview and job performance is 0.3. Those of
you who understand coefficients of correlation will admit at least it's positive
but we have a long way to go to ensure that every hire is going to a successful
employee.
So here's
the thing. Most people don't use the obvious route. I estimate that if you
apply to a job advertisement there is a 10% chance of being successful provided
you meet the specification. Most people who apply don't meet the specification
and are therefore wasting their time. I
estimate an application via a jobs board has a 5% chance and a cold call or
unsolicited email less than a 2% chance.
How about
we look at this problem from the perspective of the recruiter. I have a role to
fill. My first step would be to appoint someone who has already worked for me.
Failing that why not ask someone I trust for a recommendation.
The
proactive job search takes this principle of getting a recommendation and
approaching the point of purchase (the person with the power to hire you),
using a recommendation from a mutual contact.
Imagine a spreadsheet. On the left hand side are target organisations.
Those with the propensity to hire people with your skill set and from your
perspective, those organisations who have the culture and characteristics you
know you do well in. Secondly, using LinkedIn and Google, you identify the
point of purchase. Lastly, you try to find out as much as you can about them,
where they have worked previously, their interests, etc. Turning to the right
hand side of your spreadsheet, you list your network. Remember - your network
has 4 sources. These are people you have worked with, former clients, suppliers
and professional peers. You will need a network of at least 250 people. The
trick is to make a connection between someone who knows you and the point of
purchase. It may be necessary to make several connections before reaching the
end point of the point of purchase.
The key
is to use recommendations in your network to build contacts in your target
organisations. There will not always be opportunities. However, each
introduction allows you to build a network. This approach works best when you approach
networking from the perspective of adding value to those in your network. If you have a healthy balance sheet of people
who owe you a favour, introductions are easy to achieve. This approach to job
seeking allows you to target organisations and get introductions via a mutual
contact. Clearly there is no guarantee
you will get a job, but working on the premise that we like to hire people we
can trust, or hire people whose recommendations we trust, it is a better
approach than applying to advertisements.
Think
about it.
