One of the most frustrating things a job seeker faces is not knowing anything.
We go from knowing everything (in our past jobs) to being totally in the dark.
We go from the popular kid to the teenager wishing someone would ask him/her out.
We go from being a contributing team player to the kid pleading “PUT ME IN, COACH!”
All the while, we don’t know why we aren’t asked on the date, or put into the game. We do what we think we should do, but we are left with rejection and no insight into why we are getting rejected.
This is especially confusing when we are ideal for the jobs we apply to, and then we hear “we went with someone else.”
Almost as frustrating is applying somewhere and hearing crickets for days and weeks. Are they even considering me? I haven’t gotten called in yet for an interview… does that mean they are slowly evaluating and still collecting resumes, or does it mean they are in round one of interviews and I didn’t make that list (but maybe none of them will work out, so I still have a chance…!).
AH, the frustration!!!
Enter a company that hears this, and has made steps towards fixing it. Reading this article is like a shot in the arm: Johnson & Johnson’s new hiring platform promises not to leave job applicants in the dark
I don’t know how well this will work, but just that they acknowledged the problem, and our pain, is awesome. THANK YOU J&J!
Some parts I love:
“Since the tracking system updates in real time, applicants can see where their application is at any given moment, plus get a feel for how long it takes to move between points.”
“Job seekers can also follow Johnson & Johnson’s new Twitter handle for the platform, @JNJShine, for information and to direct message recruiters with questions related to their job applications.”
“We never rush into hiring decisions, but what we’re able to do is be much more transparent with job seekers in terms of what they can expect,” Gehring told Ladders.”
“Shine provides job recommendations for other positions at the company to those who don’t make the cut, according to Gehring.”
“Gehring said that when they approached job seekers about how Johnson & Johnson could improve, transparency was their top concern.”
At the end of that article says Sjoerd Gehring (pictured to the right, Global VP of Talent Acquisition & Employee Experience), the person interviewed from J&J, said they modelled this not after hiring industry best practices, rather after consumer best practices that we are seeing from Amazon (tracking packages in real time) and Netflix (recommending relevant content). SUPER IDEA! Cross polination at it’s finest.
I really, really, hope this works, and catches on to other companies. At the very least the conversation is moving forward in a good way!