The Candidate Journey - from applicant to employee

Published in 2007, “Recruitment 2020” was the result of nine months of research that focused on developing possible futures - or scenarios - for recruitment, and to identify their implications for the industry and for public policy more broadly.

The paper in its entirety is widely available online and is an interesting read for those with direct recruitment responsibilities and even more so for those who run businesses of any substantial size.

Amongst the many findings, they identified the need to bring the recruitment process “into brand” and use the engagement of candidates as a window through which outsiders can see how you operate and make a decision on whether or not they wish to join such a team.

(From Recruitment 2020, pg 77)
Align the recruitment experience with client ethos

At a time when job seekers are showing an increasing interest not just in levels of pay but also in a much wider set of factors - including how it feels to work somewhere - the experience of being recruited matters.
Organisations with a relaxed, business-like or playful ethos (and brand) need to ensure that the process of recruitment itself reflects that ethos. When candidates go through recruitment processes they are also gathering information and making judgments about their potential employers - meaning that the process must reflect the organisation itself. This requires differentiated processes designed not just to identify the right competencies but also to create the right impression.

We do have clients in China that have already identified this and are working towards improving their performance in the “candidate journey,” not just to “prove” that they do what they say they do…value open communication, respect individuals, act with integrity etc, but also to begin the cultural induction of the candidate by exposing them to the organisational culture from the very first engagement. The result is a new employee who has a cultural awareness and affinity with the organisation on his very first day at work. On-boarding process, assimilation and retention can all be improved as a result and best of all, you will have created a brand advocate who will no doubt go tell his friends what a great place to work he has found.

And you thought you had recruitment challenges...

Top jobs go empty in deadly Chinese mining center
(Associated Press Writer Christopher Bodeen)

BEIJING – Position open: Mayor of Chinese coal mining city notorious for frequent fatal accidents and heavy pollution. Prospective candidates: None.

State media reports on Wednesday said the jobs of mayor and Communist Party boss in the northern city of Linfen have gone unfilled for more than six months because no one wants the potentially career-killing positions.

The former incumbents were fired after a mining accident last September that killed 270 people.

Replacements have yet to be found from within the local government and attempts to recruit candidates from outside the area have so far failed, the China Daily and other newspapers reported.

"The ideal candidates must be willing to risk their political career," it said. Job tenure will likely last only until the next accident, China Daily said.

Asked about the reports, an official at Linfen's government propaganda office said new leaders were expected "soon."

"It's not as serious as media reported," said the man, who refused to give his name as is common among Chinese bureaucrats.

Despite the axing of numerous officials, changes in political leadership at the local level have done little to curb the carnage in China's mining industry, the world's deadliest. Most accidents are blamed on corruption, poor regulation, and cutting corners on safety to feed the growing economy's insatiable demand for coal.