Greetings from Nashville!

Resources of the Week

1. Nearly 600 jobs on the job board here!

2. Great tip from Kelli Hrivnak on making key achievements pop on your resume!

3. Wanted to share this REMOTE Social Media role - this is a referral link through my partnership with Pedul which is a platform focused on helping talent from underrepresented backgrounds find opportunities through social marketing, and I am compensated for sharing their roles on my platforms!

4. I got the email below from Heather Bell (shared with permission) and she’s said you’re welcome to message her to see the changes she made! I’m sharing as a reminder that your resume should be your “highlights reel” vs an exhaustive list of everything you’ve done. It’s a marketing tool! This is the video referenced (and it was sponsored by Teal!)
   
   Hi Bonnie,

   I have been following you for the past few weeks while I have been working through my teacher transition. I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the video you posted today that encouraged me to use Teal.

   I had someone write my resume based on my first draft (and it looked and sounded nothing like it...lesson learned). I then had a complimentary feedback session with someone else who gave me great feedback and I edited A LOT. I applied for so many jobs but then I saw your video today and thought...why not?

   I doubted Teal because of how much it pared down my existing resume which scared me. But I paid for a week of Premium so I could really see its value, sent a custom resume and cover letter out today to a "just posted" job listing posted TODAY...and have an interview request!

   THANK YOU!!!

   Big, big fan!

   Heather

Greetings from Nashville!

I’m excited to be in Nashville this week for RecFest! I’ll be on a panel talking about humanizing the recruiting process and creating a stronger candidate experience.

Earlier this week, I talked about a similar topic on a panel with Ashby (an ATS platform). I highlighted some of what we do at Zapier to create a great candidate experience (which based on candidate surveys, is among the strongest Ashby has ever seen!)

But they also rolled out their new AI-assisted application review. And I wanted to share more about this feature and my thoughts on it!

My first reaction: Heck no!

When this role was shared initially, I was not at all interested in learning more, and gave them feedback that this is exactly the thing applicants are afraid of. It’s making the ATS bots reality. No way!

But then I simmered down and decided to learn more.

And here’s what I learned:

1. The feature does NOT reject candidates. It simply reviews the full application and resume against the job description and priorities the recruiter previously set, and provides a summary to the recruiter so they recruiter can more quickly review the application.

2. This feature is not simply keyword matching. Since generative AI is able to “understand” both the job description and the content of the application, it can more intelligently make recommendations.

3. Their system is not set up to make decisions. A recruiter still has to review each application and make a decision, and they also provide feedback on the AI overview which allows the model to improve.

So am I using it?

Not yet! I have not tested this out at all. My employer uses Ashby but we also have a really rigorous process for getting approved to use any AI tools, and also believe in disclosure of the use of these tools so if we start using this, candidates will know when they apply.

But I am certainly curious to see how this feature works for those who are using it, and more open to it today than I was a month ago!

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

Ultimately, this isn’t acceptable, and I’m sorry you’re experiencing this! I’ve been in this situation a few times and it sucks. I’ll share all the possibilities and then a few ideas, while noting that it’s ultimately unacceptable.

Here’s a list of what leads to ghosting mid-interview:

• The team is genuinely interested, but there’s some hold-up in the process - maybe they are no longer sure if they have approval to hire, maybe an internal candidate has popped up and they want to get them caught up.

• The team has extended an offer and are just waiting to see how that pans out before communicating.

• The recruiter is out on vacation or some extended leave, or was even terminated, and they don’t have a backup plan in place.

• The recruiter is really disorganized, not checking their email, and such.

• The recruiter has a hard time with difficult conversations and does not want to deliver a rejection or negative news.

Regardless, this is really unprofessional and unacceptable, and avoidable.

So personally, what I’ve done in these cases:

1. On two occasions, I’ve contacted friends/former colleagues who worked at the company to check in on where things stood. In one case, the recruiter followed up and set up the next interview right away (after ghosting me for nearly a month). In the other, my friend was able to give me context for why they were delaying the process since the recruiter refused to communicate.
   Also for what it’s worth, in both cases, I eventually moved forward in the process and made it to the final stage so this outreach did not negatively impact me.
   If you have a contact at the company who could check on things for you, contact them and let them know what happened.

2. At least twice that I can remember, I have contacted the hiring manager or another senior person at the organization directly to let them know what was going, and that I just wanted them to know as regardless of the outcome for me, this isn’t a very good candidate experience for others, and could be reflecting poorly on the company.
   In one case, I had been told I’d be moving to references, and then was ghosted for 2 weeks before reaching out. The hiring manager apologized profusely, and the recruiter contacted me that same day to let me know at the last minute they’d decided to hire someone else.
   In the other case, they actually followed up, apologized, and said they would be interested in continuing the conversation after all, and again, the recruiter followed up shortly after and apologized.
   If you can identify someone who is involved in the hiring process or a more senior person within the talent acquisition team, contact them to share this as feedback on the your experience.

As a recruiting leader myself, I have received a number of messages on LinkedIn when people do not hear from my employer and always make sure to follow up with my team as well - I definitely encourage folks to run these issues up the flagpole, and I have never seen it negatively impact someone’s candidacy!

And in case it’s helpful, here are some of those messages that I sent (edited slightly to remove identifying info):

Hi TALENT LEADER,

I just wanted to share that I never heard back from RECRUITER re: the outcome of the interview process. She let me know she was reaching out to references on the Thursday of the interviews and then that she'd do it Friday.

She had also told me I would hear from her on Friday. I checked in with her Friday afternoon and never heard back. Obviously I am clear on the outcome of the process given that I haven't heard anything in nearly 2 weeks, but I know you all want to maintain a great candidate experience, so I thought I'd share the feedback.

Thanks!

Bonnie

Hey!
I'm hesitant to share this feedback, but felt like you should know for when you select search partners in the future. I had a disappointing experience with SEARCH FIRM and a friend of mine shared today that he had a similar experience! RECRUITER from FIRM reached out re: VP of Talent. I responded and never heard back. I then looked into it and ended up applying. She then followed up and scheduled a phone interview. At that time, she shared that you were looking for more technical HR experience so I might not be the best fit but she liked me and would share my resume with HM and get back to me in a week. I then never heard back.
I found out that my friend had the same experience except that he actually had another call and was given a tentative interview date to hold and then never heard back with more info. On my end, this definitely reflects more on FIRM, but as the person who selects search firms, I will personally never use them for my organization based on this experience!, but other candidates might take it as a reflection on ORGANIZATION.

Anyway, definitely not a huge deal on my end, but wanted you guys to be aware!

Bonnie

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