Since When is “WORK” a Four-letter Word?
Forget the economy, the mortgage crisis and the downfall of Bear Stearns. The biggest problem facing business today appears to be finding people – be they Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y or Net Gen – who are good at their jobs and then retaining them.
Articulate SVP Sharon Tolpin and I recently attended a breakfast forum by the Cornell Entrepreneur Network. There were bright people there from various walks of life, from brand-name companies like Yahoo!, Goldman Sachs and Ogilvy and Mather, to law firms, commercial realtors and technology and social-networking startups.
All had one question in common: How can I find, hire and retain good people?
Why is this so hard?
For me personally, this question also stems from recent experiences in trying to find qualified job candidates. Articulate has a terrific reputation among tech and B2B firms, our clients love us, and we have had single-digit voluntary turnover for the past two years. So it must be a pretty good place to work. But, in posting for resumes on Media Bistro, LinkedIn, Craig’s List, PR News, Bulldog Reporter and Hot Jobs, I cannot even begin to describe the overall poor quality of respondents.
Not only were there typos in the MAJORITY of resumes and/or cover letters (when there were cover letters), but the MAJORITY of the applicants failed to meet even the most basic criteria in the job description. We scheduled a scant few for a brief qualifying telephone interview and asked them to send, in advance, electronic copies of their clips and to be prepared to offer some ideas about what they could do for one of our current clients. Doesn’t seem too demanding.
About one-third of the candidates cancelled when they realized we actually wanted them to prepare for the call, and another third just failed to show up for the scheduled call.
In chatting with a few of the Cornell event attendees, our recent experience seems like the norm.
Why is this so hard?
If you think you have what it takes to rise above the riff-raff and be seriously considered for a job, send me an e-mail at lgrimmer@articulatepr.com. I want to hear from you.
By Laura Grimmer