We’re Currently In An Employer’s Market - it Sucks
We’re living in an employers market right now - and I hate it.
I recently joined my old pal Josh Levine over at Great Mondays for a podcast recording - and I had no idea which direction things would go.
I met Josh when I contributed to his book “Great Mondays” about Fika, the Swedish tradition to take a coffee break in the afternoon - and mid-morning if you can! A lovely moment to step away from the screens, chat about what you’re working on, and enjoy a bite to eat along with a coffee. I was working for the human-centered design agency Veryday (later acquired by McKinsey) and they were looking to help bridge the New York outpost to The Church - an old, renovated church that housed the main hub of employees in Stockholm. Fika was one of those traditions that crossed the ocean and helped us stay connected to our roots. And caffeine needs.
Before we hit record, Josh asked, “is there anything that you feel like not enough people are talking about?” Immediately I responded with, “UM YES. The dangers of an employer-driven market and how it’s going to have lasting ramifications.”
And we were off.
If you want to listen to the episode:
My strong stance? We’re in an employer’s market right now. With so many folks out of work, the mayhem of politics, the rise of AI… employers can be uber-selective, and they’re doing quite bit of short-term actions that’ll have long-term results.
If you’re interviewing right now, or hiring right now, this one’s for you!
What employers are getting wrong in hiring right now → and what to do instead!
Job Descriptions as Wish Lists
Have you seen a job description lately? The sheer amount of requirements is beyond absurd. Most employers would say that they don’t intend the final hire to meet every single thing - but, when you throw the entire kitchen sink at Indeed, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Not only does it indicate that you don’t have clarity on what the heck this person is supposed to be doing - you’re missing out on high-caliber talent that’s self-selecting out from your never-ending list. Harvard Business School article noted that men will apply to roles if they meet 60% of the requirements, but women look to meet 100%. Think about how many incredibly qualified candidates you never got to meet because you couldn’t slow down and write the job description thoughtfully!
If you’re interviewing → check for the “must-have” requirements - if you meet two thirds of them APPLY! Move through the world like a legacy hire.
If you’re hiring → revisit your job description and consider prioritizing what is actually a non-negotiable, versus a nice-to-have. Update accordingly.
Incorrect Leveling
Because folks are out of work, a lot of organizations are using it as an opportunity to get higher caliber talent, for lower-level roles and reduced pay. The downside? Everyone is pissed. Your new hire comes in feeling half-invested, under appreciated and already annoyed. Their path to promotion isn’t clear, and they’re already expecting the next jump in title. Their manager is left managing someone who’s more senior than them - and they know it.
If you’re interviewing → communicate your expectations around leveling, pay, etc, and think through what you truly are comfortable with. That way you won’t find yourself annoyed and frustrated before day one in the new gig.
If you’re hiring → reframe your next hire not as a “good deal,” but as an invested partner in the growth of your business - consider what you want things to look like for them 6 months from now. If you hire someone for a role that they’re too senior for, at a pay that’s beneath them - they’re a flight risk, and, they can tank the performance of their team - simply because they come in feeling undervalued.
Absurd Interview Processes
I recently coached someone who had been turned down from a role after 12 rounds - including a personality test. What? Who requires a personality test in the interview process? Also, who can possibly take a personality test and answer things honestly when their potential job is on the line? And don’t get me started on design exercises or report development. For a more senior role that has direct influence to the bottom line, or is going to have a strong input on the strategic vision of the company, it makes sense to have some additional rounds and possible side work.
If you’re interviewing → every time there’s another round or requirement, use that as an opportunity to check in with yourself and decide if you’d like to proceed. I had a client who was on the fence about a role and when they received a week-long unpaid project to prove their interest, it helped them slip over the fence to the “no thanks” side.
If you’re hiring → take time to review your interview processes and if they’re serving you. For a junior hire it’s rare that you need to have 7 rounds to make a decision - that’s a lot of wasted time for your team, and for your candidates. Same with any kind of challenge or report - would you pay them for that work? If that suddenly makes your nauseous, notice that. It’s fine to develop a challenge, but, consider ways to do that within the interview, or, reduce the number of candidates at that stage - and pay them for their work. Extra hot-take: any kind of design challenge or exercise should NOT be about your product, unless it’s paid and there’s clarity in your docs about who owns the IP. The number of folks I’ve worked with who did free work which was then used by the company that chose not to hire them is terrifying. At the end of the day, if you’re finding that 3-4 rounds for junior hires, and 5-7 rounds for senior hires aren’t enough - that’s a YOU problem. You either haven’t gotten super clear on what you want in the role (see #2!), or, you haven’t developed an interview process and hiring committee that serves your goals. Fix it, rather than hoping people will keep hanging on for months at a time.
Fake Interviews
This is absolutely insane. Not only are there so many scams out there to try to utilize interviews to either get personal information - or free work - but reputable, established fortune 500 organizations are interviewing people for roles that don’t exist - without telling them. I’ve seen this with people making it all the way to the “end” of the interview process to be told they passed - but there’s no opportunities at this time. That would be fine if the organization had told them that upfront! There’s a whole “matching” process that big companies do since they’re hiring so much they always need to have vetted candidates ready to go! That’s fine, if everyone knows. Or I’ve had folks go through endless iterations only to discover that they were being interviewed only to prove that an internal candidate was qualified. And, I’ve heard from folks who were interviewed because the company “couldn’t decide what they actually needed.” Don’t get me wrong, sometimes an interview process does shed light on incorrect leveling, or finding someone so good that you need to pivot the plan. But what a waste of time to set up interviews just to get intel on what you think you might want. Boo, gross.
If you’re interviewing → do not give personal info to unconfirmed sources. Don’t pay for tests that they request you to take. Ask for clarity around the hiring process - the number of rounds, the expected outcomes, who the role reports to. If the organization or recruiter isn’t clear, it doesn’t mean you have to opt out, but, it might help you think about your own timelines and needs!
If you’re hiring → be up front about your interview process and possible outcomes. If you’re interviewing for vetted candidates - you should be prepared to share stats on how many of those vetted candidates are eventually offered a position - and how long it takes to go from vetted to role offered. If you don’t have that information - you should be worried.
Ghosting
I met someone who had gone through 5 rounds, delivered a 45-minute presentation to the hiring panel and then… nothing. It had been 3 months of constant preparation, interviews, requests for availability “asap” and then… silence. They followed up and it took the company 4 weeks to deliver an auto-reject. An auto-reject after the candidate had spent 15+ hours preparing, interviewing, responding. I am actually shaking with rage. RAGE! Ghosting after an application? Sure, it’s hard to stay on top of thousands of subpar applicants who didn’t read the job description. An auto-reject after a recruiter screen? Yeah, that stings, but, it’s also reasonable - the recruiter is already overwhelmed trying to get a selected pool to the hiring manager! But, ghosting after second, third, fourth round interviews is nuts. There should at least be a 3-line email that indicates you appreciate their time. It’s not cool to ghost in dating, and it’s not cool in hiring.
If you’re interviewing → got ghosted? Feel free to follow up 3 times - you may never get a response, but if you do hear back, you may be able to keep the door open and the relationship warm for a future opportunity! If you never hear back, it’s okay, get some ice cream, keep going.
If you’re hiring → you need a plan in place on what’s expected for a candidate experience. If you decide that you won’t respond to applications, you can actually include that language in the auto-responder, your recruiter’s email signatures, etc. Language like, “due to the number of applications we receive, you will only receive a response from us if you’ve been selected to move forward in the process. You’re still welcome to apply to other open roles and we wish you luck on your search.” If you met with a candidate, they require some sort of response - you don’t have to tell them everything - I get out litigious the US can be, but, a simple, “we decided to move forward with other candidates, please feel free to apply in the future for any relevant open roles. Thank you for your time” (That’s not so hard, is it?)
Skipping Recruiters
There are plenty of crappy recruiters. That’s because it’s a notoriously difficult gig - they’re usually under fire to fill a position yesterday that hasn’t even been defined clearly. But most employers right now are reducing recruiters, talent team, and external recruiters because they are already receiving floods of applications. What happens next? Your hiring manager and their team is now stepping away from their actual work to field crappy applications that a seasoned recruiter could handle in seconds. The talent pool is all inbound from under qualified candidates, rather than including a strategic outbound push. Because there’s so many applicants, employers say, what do we even need recruitment for?! You need them, and you need great ones!
If you’re interviewing → remember that recruiters work for the organization, not you. Build, develop, and nurture your relationship with recruiters - both in-house and external. Just because you talked to them once and they couldn’t make it work, that doesn’t mean circumstances haven’t changed 3, 6, or even years down the line. Recruiters won’t remember to reach out to you, so you have to keep bouncing back into their inbox.
If you’re hiring → consider the cost efficiency of talented recruiters both internally and externally that can help draft job descriptions, screen candidates, communicate with them, liase with hiring managers, and strategically plan for what you want your next hire to be - and what you want the org to look like in the coming months and years.
Onboarding as an Afterthought
For the folks that finally get the role, most organizations aren’t thinking about their experience. Here’s the thing. That candidate likely went through hundreds if not thousands of hours of effort to make it to this spot. They’re exhausted, beaten up, and probably a tiny bit angry (especially if they’re being underpaid.) But most organizations say welcome, go get it! Good luck! And most organizations can’t be bothered. They already fired their talent team because “AI” could handle it. These folks need SUPPORT, not the deep end.
If you’re interviewing → make your own onboarding plan. Put together your list of questions - both for your role and for the org, and the people you want to meet with. Put together questions you want to ask for those people. Share your plan with your manager and ask for any of their feedback and ideas. You don’t need to wait for them, you can formulate a plan that will help you get smart, up to speed, and excited!
If you’re hiring → have a ramp-up onboarding process and expectation. The managers can develop this if they’re also informed that the first 60 days are wildly important to attrition and happiness for their team - that doesn’t mean send swag along, though, swag is fun. It means take time to kick-off properly with each new team member: how they want to grow, what the expectations are, where they might run into hurdles, who they should speak with and bond with, how they like to managed, etc.
What would you add? What has been ticking you off lately?
As you can see - I’ve been there every step of the way with the folks I coach as they navigate tricky job markets - want support on your journey? Reach out!