An email I just received has left me staggered and it has prompted this blog post.
We are recruiting at Fuzion at the moment and our normal process is we list the role on the website and then we run an advert through the jobs advertising function on LinkedIn.
Despite a very careful job description and a request to attach a cover letter (a simple test of how interested the person is) you then are faced with a deluge of applicants, 95% of which are totally and utterly irrelevant.
Of course you will then also get a deluge of recruiters contacting you promising “perfect fit” candidates.
The screening of these applicants and emails takes quite a while and it is always made easier if applicants follow the instructions and write an intelligent cover letter.
Once I narrow down the applicants to a “possible” list I then test each candidate with an email asking them a few simple questions. Invariably these will include a general question such as “what interests you most about the role with Fuzion” and then something specific about them, maybe about some aspect of their CV that I need some clarification about.
I do this to get some extra information but also to test the person including their ability to communicate and to see if they are intelligent, to see if they are nice and how much they really want the role.
Sometimes I never even receive a reply , which shows that many people are just pressing buttons on LinkedIn and weren’t very serious about their application in the first place.
Depending on the responses I then decide who I should do a first “light” online screening interview and after that a deeper interview with other members of the team.
We don’t always get it right but for the most part the process has served us well and we have a really great team.
So, back to today and that email…
I received a response to one of my emails from an applicant who had a very interesting CV –
Based on my past experience, organisations or recruiters generally go through these questions on a 30 minute screening call. Is there a specific reason Fuzion does it on an email?
I am available between 14:00 hrs and 16:00 hrs tomorrow and on Tuesday if you’d like to chat through the questions and proceed with my application.
Wow I thought, so I replied:
Hi X,
This is the most time efficient screening process for us.
Many thanks,
Greg
And while writing this blog I received a reply from this eager job hunting applicant:
Thanks for clarifying. However, this isn’t a time efficient process for me. Thanks for considering my application but I’d like to withdraw.
All the best.
Thanks,
Hmmm, I think there is a small touch of an attitude with this woman and she has done me and Fuzion a huge favour by showing me clearly who she really was.
My response:
Hi X,
You have just shown me how good my screening process is by demonstrating how much you were interested in the role.
Greg
Maybe we are approaching “full employment” and this attitude is probably a unfortunate by-product of this environment whereby some applicants think they are god’s gift to the employer world – they are not!
This is one of these another of those “you’ll never believe me when I tell you what happened today!” stories!
Greg
Greg Canty is a partner at Fuzion a Brand Communications agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland
Greg Canty Fuzion Blog 