I don’t like to bash on y’all publicly. I’d much prefer to do it behind your back. But today? I’m frustrated and confused.
So, imagine this. I’m looking at a batch of resumes the other week for some VP/SVP level slots I’m recruiting for. And I begin to notice something very strange… lots of out-of-towner addresses… and then for all of the out-of-towners, their cover letters all seemed to reference seeing my job posted on The Ladders. And I was stumped because I didn’t post anything on there… but folks were seeing the opening through their job board?
Then just last week, I started receiving all sorts of emails from
candidates saying they saw my job – actually five different jobs, at least – on Doostang. The site is vaguely familiar to me, but I don’t hold an account with them. I’ve never posted a job there.
And because I’m sometimes a little slow… it took me doing a little digging to finally put the dots together. These sites are posting jobs from my company on their job boards… and after digesting that little bitty, I started wondering if I really love this.
First, it’s nice to get the word out about positions I’m recruiting for – without any effort. You want to aggregate jobs on your site and spread the word with your community and audience? Cool. I like how Indeed aggregates jobs, for example. And there are some blogs who cater to a very specific DC/politico crowd and re-post some of my company’s positions. I get good returns from them. Fab. But does the adage hold true of all PR being good PR in the case of job postings? I’m not quite sure.
Maybe I’m a control freak – but I feel the need to have a little bit of an issue not having control over our brand and message. You’re going to re-post one of my jobs? I’m going to pray that you use language from our site verbatim. And I’m going to hope you link them to our Facebook page and Twitter feed. So there’s that. But there’s also the fact that I care about our image as an employer, and truthfully, there are some sites I don’t want to be affiliated with at all. And I worry about the taint. Have one of our jobs re-posted on The Ladders? Thanks for the exposure… but I don’t like that job seekers have to PAY to apply to jobs through your site. I liken it to being no different from the Barbizon modeling agencies of the world. The talent shouldn’t have to pay to play. And I’d hate for a job seeker to think that we buy into that business model by our jobs being posted on their site.
With Doostang, I also was pretttttty surprised to find emails and resumes coming directly into my email inbox. Sure, my email address is plastered all over the web. I’m totally open to candidates contacting me directly. Just Google “APCO” and “Jessica Lee” and you can find me. But I need applicants to ultimately flow through my website. So while I thank you for pulling my jobs into your site for your community, could you have at least asked me first if I wanted resumes to flow directly to me? Come on!
And with any of these sites, what’s going to happen when you’ve re-posted a job of mine and it’s no longer available? What if we’ve closed the req and the position is filled? I then have applicants reaching out to me saying they found my job on such and such site and are really interested in applying – and then I have to let them down. The position has been filled. Sorry, Charlie!
It’s a tricky situation. I love the extra exposure. I like that you’re getting the word out about my positions to a broader audience… but there’s gotta be a better way to work together, for the sake of job seekers at least.
Jessica Lee is a VP of TA at Marriott International where she leads a team that enables the company to think big, broad and boldly about all things talent acquisition and in effect, keeps them relevant and ahead of the curve in how they attract and acquire top talent. Don’t be fooled by that fancy pants title and description though, she’s still an everyday HR gal in the trenches at the core. SPHR certified, a decade and a half into trench HR life… she can whip up a corrective action plan or source for your purple squirrel in a heartbeat.
