What Do Job Seekers Want, Anyway? Part I

Name? “Widgets, Inc. We’ve been making quality widgets since 1962.”

Rank? “We have 4 Account Manager Level III positions available.”

Serial Number? “We offer an exciting, challenging environment for self-motivated achievers. Excellent benefits. Click here to apply!”

To engage candidates properly on your career site, to stand out, think of each candidate as a customer and your company as the product. The better your product is presented, the more motivated your customer. Let’s look at an example from the consumer landscape: In 2003, J.D. Power placed the Land Rover near the bottom of their customer service index ranking. That didn’t adversely affect their sales though. Buyers wanted something more than just a reliable truck; they wanted the feeling they had when they drove a Land Rover. They wanted to drive off-road in exotic locales and experience the sense of adventure and freedom in Land Rover’s ads. The average Land Rover owner may never use it for more than driving to work, shopping and errands – but they bought it for the feeling of excitement.

“Recruiting is marketing” may sound simple, even trite, but very few put this in action on their Web sites. Career sites do not speak to job seekers to fire their imagination and desire. Most are bland Frankenstein monsters created from the pieces and parts of various company brochures stitched together with “Help Wanted” classifieds. That’s not a career site – it’s a corporate promo piece with job listings attached. A career site has one primary goal: it should tell candidates why they want to work for you instead of anyone else.

The key word is “want.” As in, “I need a watch, but I want a Rolex.” Want fuels sales. Want is why people buy sports cars when all they need is a compact car. However, human resources concerns are often focused on needs – internal needs: we need to fill this position; we need someone with these skills. Clearly a shift in mind-set is required to change the model…to speak more effectively to the job seeker and potential candidate. And this is especially crucial if you wish to engage job seekers in the emerging Web 2.0, social media environments where dialogue and participation are key.

In my follow up post I will look at the four key elements crucial to engaging and firing up your audience and addressing what they want.