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22/03/2011

Comments

Cristina Costa

that's so true. and in the end it become a tick box exercise to both applicants and employers. How do I model my application to meet the criteria I am going to be scored on...
So long creativity, personality, diversity, initiative... it becomes about complying ... that's a way of controlling people too!

Drnickpearce

i was reading something just the other day about how facebook received 250,000 job applicants in 2010 ( http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-received-250000-job-applications-in-2010-2011-03) and i'm sure when i was doing my masters in a management school we were told that accenture gets a million applications worldwide!

and you think you've got problems! :-p

Scott Leslie

Though perhaps what you are pointing to is the need for a different application process altogether - maybe in addition to simply having people submit resumes, ask them also to submit _fill in the blank_ that demonstrates how they fulfill some other quality that isn't reflected well on their resume or that is the quality that you are currently missing on your team. Just thinking out loud...

Martin

@Cristina - you are right, the whole fair selection thing, although well intentioned, becomes a game that people know how to play, and in some sense ends up advantaging those who know how to play it.
@Nick - have you seen The Social Network where Zuckerberg recruits coders in an all night binge? I thought that was still their recruitment policy.
@Scott - yes that would be great, but you can see what would happen - HR would argue that unless we make the criteria on which we're judging the [fill in the blank] explicit, then it isn't fair, so the [fill in the blank] becomes just another element to game. We try this to an extent in the actual interviews by getting people to give a presentation. I've wondered how much I'm allowed to take into account someone's online presence. For instance, if I haven't listed it as a criteria, could I appoint one person over another because person A had a great blog and person B didn't? Probably not.

Rebecca

I think there could definitely be a digital scholarship element to this - especially if you are looking for someone with expertise in this area. You could ask for candidates to provide a URL to some pre-existing online site or material which shows how they meet the person spec, and use this material to come up with interviewable candidates from your shortlist. Or specify that, when shortlisting, you're going to take into account candidates' most-viewed presentation on Slideshare. Or ask them to include blogs in their publications list.

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