In the world of recruiting is a dynamic place. There is no one-size-fits-all formula, there is no manual, and there are no shortcuts. It can be very difficult to recruit talent in todays market, especially with no guarantee that people will be sticking around in their positions in the first place.
Much of how companies recruit is a repeatable process, making it easy to train a new recruiter to fill the position, and making it easier to quantify the results of the various talent funnels recruiters use. It is such a repeatable process in fact that it has lost a lot of its effectiveness, and the talent of tomorrow has been demanding a new form of recruitment for some time now.
In this article we'll talk about the stagnation of the recruiting process, the inefficiencies of standard recruiting processes, and how the use of job shadowing will fit into the future of talent acquisition.
Why are the recruiting methods of today failing?
Today, recruiters have to relay on a very limited number of channels to inform people of their open positions, accurately convey the what the jobs are like, and accurately convey what it is like to work at the company they are recruiting for.
When it comes to outreach we're roughly limited to Linkedin messaging, career fairs, online job boards, and referrals. That's it. You could maybe buy a billboard or an ad in the newspaper if you're feeling retro, but only if you've got some excess of budget, which is more rare than someone getting a job from a billboard ad.
Of the fore mentioned approaches to attracting talent, the one that garners the most attention and often budget are online job boards. This method can certainly get a volume of applicants but the only way to see if these applicants can do the job is to then go through an interview process, where job tasks are only lightly discussed. In addition the only way for these individuals to understand the tasks of the job are through verbal explanations, typically from a person that doesn't work that job.
These individuals are only getting a short text description and an interview process to get an understanding for what the job is truly like. And the same can be said for the pretty much any of the other recruiting methods; they all ultimately lead into a short job description and an interview process.
The only common recruiting method that differs is an internship. This gives individuals a better idea of what it would be like to work at a given company and allows for companies to get a good look at the individuals that could potentially turn into hires down the road! However, if an individual finds that it is not a good fit just a couple of days in then the company and the individual are essentially wasting a lot of their time, and for the company they're wasting a lot of their money.
Companies typically spend $8,000-$15,000 hiring, onboarding, and training just a single intern and often are not hiring just one. For a typical Series A funded startup of 100-500 employees we might be looking at a cost of over $100,000 in total for an internship program. That's not to mention the time cost involved in creating and administering it!
In Summary:
Companies are essentially only relying on job descriptions and an interview process to let people know what their jobs are like. Individuals often are going into these jobs not knowing what they're actually like because of the lack of adequate insight into the job. The most immersive recruiting technique is an internship, but these tend to be very costly to an organization and may be a large time and money cost if there is not a good mutual fit.
How does job shadowing fit into recruiting?
Today job shadowing is a vastly under utilized resource for recruiters! However, when we think job shadowing we often don't associate it with recruiting. People often associate it with a form of community involvement, but it is actually a very efficient form of exposure to talent.
Job shadowing can be conducted in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. Job shadowing can be a multi-day experience spanning over serval weeks, which is often the case in medical or dental professions, or simple half-day experiences, which is more common in other industries.
At Enspire we recommend our host companies to host job shadowing opportunities in an "event" style. This is where many people come into the workplace (either in-person or virtually) all at once. This is the most efficient form of job shadowing because the company only has to allot a few hours out of a single workday to expose many people to the jobs the company offers. As compared with an internship where recruiters have to spend hours vetting through candidates, interviewing, then training them once they get the jobs. Why have numerous interviews with many candidates if instead a company can see many people all at once and show them the small nuances that makes their company great to work for!
In hosting job shadowing events employees also get to see who they would potentially be working with, giving them a say into who they think would fit best in their team. Traditionally it is up to the talent acquisition team and the hiring manager, not the candidate's potential peers.
Recruiting through job shadowing is a mutually beneficial experience! By offering job shadowing opportunities a company can not only expose themselves to more talent but can also give back to the community at the same time! For every person a company doesn't hire through job shadowing they are giving them a look into a new career option, and giving them something to put on their resume to get their foot in the door into an industry they want to work in. This also turns out to be greatly beneficial for diversity, equity, and inclusion as people that may have not had the industry connections can more easily get that exposure and create those industry connections. Because of the lower time and money commitment involved with hosting job shadowing opportunities, companies can give more opportunities to more individuals, giving more people a chance at finding their best career fit!
The best way for people to find job shadowing opportunities is through enspirejobshadowing.com. Enspire is a network of job shadowing opportunities that helps connect individuals and companies together through job shadowing! We are an online hub for all companies in all industries that want to open their doors to show people what their careers are truly like!
If you're interested in learning more about finding a job shadowing opportunity or hosting job shadowing opportunities please feel free to check us out at enspirejobshadowing.com!