Posted on 09/07/2021 5:15:38 AM PDT by Twotone
Automated resume-scanning software that is inflexibly configured and overlooks potentially suitable workers is a major factor contributing to a “broken” hiring system in the United States, according to a new report from Harvard Business School (HBR).
The HBR report (pdf), released Sept. 4, provides insight into America’s labor market dynamics, including the widely reported mismatch between the more than 10 million job openings—a record high—and the more than 8.4 million unemployed actively looking for work.
Business owners have been complaining about not being able to find enough workers and having to raise pay to attract new hires. At the same time, swaths of willing and available workers remain “not visible” to recruiters, who have become increasingly reliant on automated software that is inflexibly configured and filters out large numbers of viable candidates, according to the report.
“Companies are increasingly desperate for workers. As they continue to struggle to find people with the skills they need, their competitiveness and growth prospects are put at risk,” the report’s authors wrote.
“At the same time, an enormous and growing group of people are unemployed or underemployed, eager to get a job or increase their working hours. However, they remain effectively ‘hidden’ from most businesses that would benefit from hiring them by the very processes those companies use to find talent.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
When I was a sales manager our BEST employees were referrals from existing employees.
I am sure that still happens in the workplace.
Anecdotally, I was working for a health care system. They were looking for a manager of their billing call center. I had experience running a group of call centers for a large bank (about 1,000 employees.) I had also run billing systems for a cable TV company providing bills to about a million customers a month. I figured I was modestly qualified.
I hit “enter” on my application in the Workday system. Literally before I turned around, I got a rejection email. When I contacted the HR director, they indicated that my experience was not good enough. I explained that on their way home, look at every house you pass. 6 out of 10 of those homes got a bill from my staff...every month....for fifteen years.
It came down to the fact that I did not have an MBA. The person they hired had an unrelated Masters, no call center experience. They were also a woman of color.
The last time I called them about a bill, I was on hold for 45 minutes.
HR Departments are not concerned with quality; they are concerned with quotas.
I have spent some time talking to young recruiters and explaining the jargon. "No, business development is not the same as business analysis. You should probably look for additional keywords like 'sales' and 'account manager' and such as that."
Any organization that depends on HR to screen applicants is foolish. When I was still working, before retirement, I had to instruct some HR departments to send all applicants and resumes to my department for evaluation. In general, few HR departments have a staff qualified to evaluate candidates for highly technical positions. Before that HR was screening out viable applicants, and sending duds that lacked basic qualifications or experience.
Like I said in post #26:
HR is not in the business of hiring good people. HR is in the business of presenting a hiring process which protects the company from discrimination lawsuits, which these days is far more costly to the company than hiring a few turkeys, or failing to hire people who could have been stars.
Exactly. I spent most of my working days in high-tech positions. HR folks have not a clue about what the job requirements/qualifications mean basically because they never did those jobs, and if they did they were very poor in doing so.
What's that axiom about teachers? Those that can't do, teach. The corollary is: Those that can't teach, human resource.
Far be it from me to defend HR, but...
The people in HR are not stupid.
They do exactly what the boss wants.
The boss has, can, and will chew them out for wasting his/her precious time on any candidate who doesn't exactly match the job description.
It doesn't take many azz chewings to get that message across!
“Desperate for workers”
BS
Desperate for slaves who can be tested for substances, fired at will, and paid so little they will never have a chance to own their own home or have a pension.
there is exactly zero shortage of people who will work jobs with security, respect, and decent pay.
Any place that is complaining that they can’t get workers *IS* the problem, and good riddance.
B*** S***. I uses to work on e-recruiting systems. They are extremely flexible. Maybe paying people more money to stay home than they can make working just possibly has something to do with it.
I doubt they directly pay $300 a week.
Why work when a potential employer pays you (through taxes and inflation) to not work?
OTOH, the taxpayer largess evaporates this week.
Don't be surprised if you can get your car washed next week.
Professional headhunters that focus on one narrow industry are a great way to work around the system.
They call the hiring executive directly, and will have a track record of placing successful candidates with that company.
The good ones will be brutally honest with candidates about whether they are good fits for specific positions—no sense wasting everyone’s time.
When I retired from the military a few years back, I wrote up a nice resume in blank font.
Then I inserted a footer with white font and typed key words over and over and uploaded it to the website for the company where I wanted to work.
The electronic system would “see” the white font on white background, but it wouldn’t print.
Got a call the next week and landed a job.
That is great! Very resourceful, FRiend!
My husband had a problem because a HUMAN was reviewing resumes for positions they didn’t understand & rejecting his application because they didn’t know the technical lingo.
Human or machine, this is a problem related to having top get past the HR gate at most companies. HR people and organizations are the worst. They are usually too busy playing interview "gotcha" games.
I've direct people that I wanted to hire to our HR division, only to have them cut from the hire list.
HR people are basically worthless and have always been worthless.
I hurt some feelings a few weeks ago when I posted the same.
Too bad. It is true, and it has been throughout my 45 year work life.
Well, in their defense, stick-figure naked women picures (in crayon) isn't exactly a resume.
>THEN SHOW UP AT THE DOOR, OR CALL.
Don’t be silly. Unless we’re talking fast food, resumes come in electronically or not at all. Showing up in person will get you removed, and calling will get you in a hold queue and eventually to a HR voice that will tell you to apply online (and if you’re persistent in that way that used to impress, will get you flagged as trouble).
This automated FUBAR is the whole point of the article...
Unfortunate, but all too often the case.
Sometimes the truth hurts. There is an entire sub-culture of non-achievers in America.
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