The folks over at Zappos have never been known to do things by the book. Their profound and innovative
In a cheeky blog post this morning, Mike Bailen, Senior HR Manager at Zappos, explained some of the reasoning behind the move:
It’s not you; it’s me. From newspaper ads, Monster, CareerBuilder, Craigslist and Indeed, you’re all a company has ever really needed. You’ve been there through thick and thin and you’ve kept my recruiting team very, VERY busy. Unfortunately, I need something more. You’ve given us thousands of impersonal, transactional and cold introductions. Studies show that recruiters spend 5-7 seconds on a resume. That’s hardly an introduction. It’s barely even a handshake!
Clearly, part of the goal of Zappos Insiders is to do away with the impersonal recruitment conversations which talent detest and seasoned recruiters abhor. In fact, by creating a low-pressure, low-expectation environment, Zappos are on the path to creating long-term relationships with talent, learning their skills, likes, dislikes, and rather than fitting a role to a person, aim to fit a person to a role. Most organizations only source talent when they have open reqs, which perpetuates the short-term nature of recruiting conversations. To combat this, Zappos Insiders will simultaneously foster a community and hiring pool, where talent can learn about real Zappos employees, and where recruiters can turn first when openings do come along. Later in his blog post, Bailen explains a bit more about the goals and content for the network:
Insiders have unique access to content, updates, tweetchats, online hangouts and back-and-forth discussions with recruiters and hiring teams. Insiders will also be the first people we’ll consider when there are new openings. Becoming an Insider is that first step in a long-term relationship. It’s not a short-sighted affair which is what we’ve been having.
While tools such as job boards make forming a pool of candidates easier for the recruiter, it can often result in disengaged candidates, and create more work for as one must then dredge through applications. Zappos' move is especially exciting because it aims to create a two-way hiring street, bringing life back to recruitment and making the hiring process informative, engaging, and, in a word, human.
What do you think of Zappos move to ditch job boards? Have you found success with job boards, or are you as disenchanted with them as Zappos? Leave a comment or tweet @EnteloRob!