Recruitment, can't believe how hard it is!

[Sunnydawn]

I read and hear so much about people wanting flexible working, and how so many people are stuck in dead end jobs, or on zero hours contracts.

But, I am involved in recruitment for two jobs right now, one a professional job in a lovely environment, as a part time job share. The other, a part time, flexible, admin job, again in a lovely office, with training and a good career if you want it.

And no decent applicants! No applicants for the first. Loads who have applied for the latter, but ecan't even attempt the basics forvan interview or trial (ie. turning up in time, dressing half smart, answer a phone).

Frankly, I despair. What are people doing? Where are they working/wanting to work?

These are different places, by the way, so it's not the particular environment.

You're an employer pisssssedoff. Therefore you are a bastard

No, it's not like that at all. If your fabulous role isn't getting any applicants, it's your problem. No one else is going to give a fuck are they?

It was a real job, do you think HR had nothing better to do all day ? These were people who could potentially do the job on offer but were missing a few pieces of paper as per the job description advertised. They choose to apply anyway I don't go knocking on people's front door. They were invited in for interview because they had potential. These are professional, grad level roles.

But rather than take this information on board and action it, they choose not to. It's hardly my loss it is ?

Anyone who puts "competitive salary" in an advert deserves everything they get imho

Indeed.

I'm still calling bullshit that whisper recruits brand spawning new grads into £100k positions routinely. Not even 'oil and gas', 'finance' 'law'.

Relativly easy to get up to £100k after a few years, but not as a new undergrad.

It contractors and programmers and good designers can easily command £100k + very quickly but not as their first job out of uni unless they have been working throughout.

Whinging about it with a lot of other potentially incompetent local recruiters isn't going to help in practical terms.

Brand spawning? I hope not. Brand spanking new is what I was trying to say!

The truth is it's tricky. I'm a single mum so in theory I might like a part time role but the numbers don't add up usually. Full time I'm only £100 a week better off but I do it for the adult interaction. Part time I'm paying to go to work.

Oil and Gas hasn't paid £100,000 for the last 4 years unfortunately 😩

You wasted their time. They thought they had a chance at a real job. How shitty. Forgive me for my utter lack of sympathy with your recruitment woes.

venusinscorpio - I gave them advice, feedback. If you think that's a waste of time then you clearly know everything there is to know about everything and we all bow down to your greatness your highness

When recruiters treat people like that, why all this surprise when candidates don't bother to accept the role or turn up on the first day?

We manage to hire and keep staff on the salaries we pay so I don't believe that's the issue in our case. It's not the best paid industry in the world but paying more would mean charging more which would send our clients elsewhere. It's not a decision that's made in a vacuum.

For us the issue isn't the quality of the staff we eventually hire so much as the pain of finding them. If I had to guess I'd reckon at 70% of applications being utter nonsense - totally irrelevant, no experience or explanation of interest, hugely inappropriate backgrounds, no qualifications, criminal records, and so on.

There's only a couple of recruiters in our industry around here and unfortunately we've had rubbish experiences with both - including promising candidates hours and salaries that weren't available. That was particularly unpleasant as the recruiter still wanted us to pay their fee because they claimed they had found us someone suitable.

Of course it's a waste of time if you actually need to put food on the table. You should be honest that you can't give them a job without the quals.

Pissed would you ever have employed them without the paper - ie if they'd been really good at interview would you have taken them anyway, or would the lack be a total barrier?

venusinscorpio - they know what we are looking for if for whatever reason, ticking the job centres boxes, whatever they decide to apply then are selected for interview and again reminded that they will need x y and z to comply, you'd think after that process they'd just go and get the pieces of paper wouldn't you ? Or would they rather just moan about their time being wasted when THEY applied in the first place. My time has been wasted actually but for some people I was happy to help. But don't worry I won't make that mistake again in a hurry.

Then it's clearly a singular issue in your industry. What you are offering is putting people off because it doesn't work for them.That's not their issue as much as it is yours. If you can't get new staff for whatever reason, your business may not be sustainable in the long run. You can't make people want to work for you. You will have to look again at what you're offering, or accept that it's going to be a long and difficult process.

StatisticallyChallenged - no we can't and anyone who's actually done any research into the role would know that, it would be like trying to apply for a surgeons role without being a doctor - don't laugh - that's happened, people obviously think they'll have a go and pick it up on the job !

Of course it's a waste of time if you actually need to put food on the table. You should be honest that you can't give them a job without the quals

I think it's worth a chance - sometimes people can impress on interview and you decide you don't mind they haven't got [x] because they are amazing at [y].

Pisssssedofff I'm doing a lot of distressed O&G work atm!

How do they "get the pieces of paper"?

But pisssed says it is not something you can do without certain qualifications. So it is a waste of everyone's time to interview people who don't have them.

venusinscorpio - if you wanted to work in the industry you should know that, it's no secret, information on how etc is widely available and if you're in any doubt you get told again by me at interview!

As I say in other countries people have taken the information on board, been grateful for the interview practice, gathered more information about the industry from me and come back 12 months later and secured roles. It's a shocking attitude that I've only seen in this country that people without a job know yours better than you do.

So if it's well known, it's quite likely then that people who don't have them aren't all that interested in working in your industry and are probably doing it because they were forced to by the DWP, so interviewing them is a total waste of everyone's time.

I share your pain. We have had trouble getting people to complete an application form. Apparently it's just soooooo time consuming. We have invested in an online version in the hope that if candidates can complete it via their phone or tablet they may make the effort. I have been in HR/recruitment for over twenty years and never experienced this level of laziness in terms of the candidate putting some effort in past the point of just offering up a CV. It's hard work.

Sorry that British jobseekers haven't tugged their forelocks quite enough for you.