Things have changed so completely in the way candidates consume knowledge, feel about their jobs and how we will be staffing healthcare delivery facilities in the next few years, that it is definitely time to rethink the size of the recruiting staff, the mix of that staff and their role allocation.

Baby Boomers, the largest work group for 30 years until Generation Y recently eclipsed them, have always accepted long response times from recruiters, traditional ways of communicating and they believe in joining an organization if not for a lifetime, at the very least, for a long time. The Ys expect everything instantaneously, including their interest in, and a response about, a position and they consider most professional opportunities as viable only as long as it serves their needs. These needs are usually a lofty combination of continuously being challenged professionally and providing an adequate work/life balance.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are scrambling to develop an interface with Smart Phones so anyone who wants a quick response about an application can get it through a text. Healthcare delivery systems know they can only control the recruitment process if they respond quickly to candidates, but are there adequate hours for recruiters to be all things to all people?

As the world continues to morph into our ever-speeding lives and revolve around our Smart Phones and the internet, it is no longer feasible to think we can continue without revaluating processes and the staff that support those processes.

When looking at how you might change things consider:

1. How does the current process feel from the eyes of the candidate? Most current on-line systems have been set up to accommodate the needs of the recruiter and/or hiring managers. Routinely the application is too long, requires too much time and information and the system crashes regularly.
2. What can I simplify within the process that will reduce time? The idea is to get the candidate into the system with just enough data for initial screening and contact. Ask them to opt-in to text messages and you’ll increase interest, call-back responses and control. Develop an abbreviated application that is quick for the applicant and quick for the recruiter. Screen for the basics and develop an ensuing database that fills the pipeline. Then look at everything else involved with getting the candidate in the door. Do you have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the hiring manager? Can you always count on being able to book an appointment electronically and in real-time with the manager? What about the time it takes for physicals and drug screens? On-line and in real-time? Do you have a streamlined process for references and license verification? These administrative systems should be working in parallel with the interview process and not by a highly paid professional recruiter.
3. In light of today’s recruiting environment am I asking too much of recruiters who continue to work within a traditional process? Most “Best Practice” non-healthcare recruiting functions include a person who goes through the initial applications, responds personally and quickly (within the hour) and then sorts those candidates into workable groups for the recruiter. You cannot expect a recruiter to be recruiting, keep the hiring managers happy and cruising the in-box providing turnaround times of an hour or less, unless they have five heads and ten arms. And that doesn’t include Job Fairs, committee meetings and all the other odd jobs tossed the way of the recruiter. Provide administrative support—it’s so worth the money. If you are harnessing the internet appropriately, then you are producing candidates at a very low cost-per-application and that alone will justify paying for bodies to capitalize on the high-functioning, but much less expensive internet.
4. What about social applications such as Facebook? Over 750 hospitals and healthcare providers in the United States have a social presence connected in some way to their recruitment and retention functions. We aren’t there yet, and simply grappling with the social sites in terms of policies covering access to the sites at work is daunting. But the sites are growing and by the end of the year, facilities that have world class recruiting processes will have a strong social presence. Remember at the very least you need to post positive videos on YouTube. It doesn’t cost anything, doesn’t appear to be outdated as quickly as social sites and it helps control the message and brand among all the conversations.
5. How can we keep candidates interested and wanting to be selected for the position for which they have applied? Because Generation Y does not believe accepting a position means they will work forever for an organization, accepting that position doesn’t carry the same magnitude as it did for the Baby Boomers or even the Generation Xers. Which facility gets back to them and which one offers a position first is normally the one they accept. But if a candidate is communicated with and sold on the position, then much of that “whoever is first” can be eliminated. Communicate, communicate and sell, sell, sell. Make people feel special—even lucky to be chosen. Post a video about what the hiring process is and why they might want to work at your organization on the web site. One of the best examples is Google’s video about working for Google and what to expect in the hiring process.
6. What is the single most important element in recruiting today? Your web site. Thirteen billion Google searches were conducted last month for jobs alone. You need to come up in the first few listings on those searches and once you come up on the Google pages, you must link to a robust web site that provides almost unlimited information about the organization, the job specifically and what it is like to work at the facility. You need videos that reflect the mission and vision and ultimately the practice environment. Your web site needs to be fun, multi-functioning and easy to navigate.

As the internet, search and social applications drive more and better qualified candidates to the door, money spent on traditional candidate drivers can and should be moved to different places. We can no longer expect recruiters to do everything from pulling the resumes, to screening and hiring and then processing all of the paper work. It’s not a smart use of resources. They need to be highly functional and appropriately compensated. They also need administrative support because it is simply more time consuming to identify the best candidates in a sea of online applications. Processes must be streamlined and framed to accommodate the needs of the new generations. We cannot continue to do it the way it has always been done, but rather we need to look at every step and figure out how we can eliminate it or at least streamline it.

Think of your process as being owned by the internet, because it is. Then think about how you are going to harness the power of the internet and what that means to the size of your staff, the mix of that staff and the roles needed to support the new functions. Welcome to 2010.



This economy has given us one thing for which to be grateful—some of the lowest vacancy rates in the last 30 years. New RN graduates can’t find jobs because older, experienced RNs have stayed on the job long after they had planned to go PRN or retire. Other healthcare professionals have been afraid to change employers because just last month (October, 2009) 700 jobs were eliminated in acute care settings in the United States and the sense of uneasiness is palatable. Entry-level workers, who averaged tenure of 4-6 months before the recession began in December, 2007, now stay on the job an average of 16 months, in large part because there are no other jobs to be had.

Healthcare continues to be the only sector to gain jobs overall—29,000 in October—but the majority of the jobs are being created in long-term care, physician offices and urgent-care centers. Overall 559,000 new jobs have been created in healthcare since the recession began while over seven million have been eliminated in all other sectors.

But things are beginning to change. In October, healthcare was the only sector but not the only area, to claim job creation. The first harbinger of employment recovery is growth of temporary jobs and last month, for the first time, temporary jobs increased by 34,000. Even the most conservative economists agree that job creation will begin sometime in the first two quarters of 2010. Slow creation at first and then much greater movement within the next two quarters and healthcare should lead the way.

We will all be grateful for the economic change that will drive new jobs, but it will also mean that Human Resources will almost overnight go from being able to actually breathe and hire logically to facing frenetic hiring patterns. It won’t be one thing that will drive the chaos but several, including:

• A rush of resignations resulting because a spouse or partner secured a job and employees feeling they can look at other opportunities without the worry of being laid off or left with no job at all within a family.
• Additional movement will result when Baby Boomer employees feel they may  retire as planned or at least reduce hours or go PRN.
• Healthcare professionals look for new opportunities at much greater numbers during the last week of January, February and the first week of March than any other time of the year. After the holidays and with the kids back on a schedule, the female driven healthcare workforce, grab the time to make a career change. There is almost always a spike in resignations at this time, but with the economy turning that spike will be greater than average.
• Non-healthcare specific positions for which healthcare recruits, will continue to drive not hundreds of applications, but thousands due to the economy, and  the associated work will continue to be time consuming and challenging.

But, two of the biggest reasons for an increase in resignations will be the fact employees are outraged at how they have been treated during the economic downturn along with their expectations once the economy turns around. According to a study by Glassdoor.com, 57% expect “a raise, promotion or bonus” for having gone without pay increases, working longer hours and increasing their productivity. Nine out of ten employees questioned in the survey believe the worst is over and that the economy is on the upswing. Additionally the majority of those believe their organization could have done more to make them feel secure when times were the most difficult.

“My nurse manager knew how much I needed my job and it was like she enjoyed grinding me down” said an ICU RN from a Dallas hospital recently. “I always knew I was just a commodity to her and not really valued. As soon as I can get out from under her dictatorial management style, I am out. It was as though she enjoyed her new found power over everyone and she let us all know we needed to do what we were told period. I can’t wait to let her hear from HR that I resigned. I’m not even going to tell her.”

Managers continue to be the most important element in keeping employees content and productive. For the first time ever in 2008 the most important reason employees gave for staying or leaving a job was having a clear career path. Always before, the number one reason was having a good relationship with an immediate supervisor. But most healthcare facilities have clear career paths that range from internal transfers to tuition reimbursement. Nonetheless the only way employees can take advantage of those paths is to have a supervisor who allows a direct report to grow professionally even if it means losing a top performer from the department but not from the facility.

Communication and trust from the supervisor is also vital in limiting the resignations. All supervisors must be trained on how to provide those all important elements along with how to treat all employees with dignity regardless of the turmoil around them because of the economy.

It is also very difficult to manage the expectations of employees when things begin to look better and it takes careful communication to paint a realistic picture of the economy and what that actually means to the bottom line. In healthcare, the economy may improve, but it will be a long time before that improvement will mean “raises, promotions and bonuses”. It is best to start communicating that now before the expectations build developing an impossible to attain situation and instigating feelings on the part of the employees of being duped by management.

The fact that Generation Y is the largest group of employees, having eclipsed the Baby Boomers in 2008, will also play a vital role in the changing employment situation. Generation Ys don’t stay on the job the way Baby Boomers have and they also don’t have the desire to stay with an employer against all odds. Generation X, a much smaller, but vital employment group, will also resign as soon as they feel the opportunities and trust have evaporated for them personally.

All of this creates a potentially disastrous recruitment and retention situation for 2010 within healthcare. But organizations can limit their exposure for employee loss if they remember that regardless of generation or type of position and skill set there are things that are important to all employees. These include:

• Fairness—allowing employees to be involved, informed and respected on the job and within the organization’s culture.
• Stretch—having a steep learning curve with tools to do a great job.
• Community—having a sense of purpose and feeling able to contribute to something bigger than themselves.

There is no other working sector that can provide these three basic elements better than healthcare. Consequently healthcare will continue to create jobs at a higher rate and hopefully the individual facilities will be able to quickly develop a practice environment, driven by trained and compassionate supervisors and senior management, that will remember that employees are human and vulnerable and desiring to do a great job and stay with an employer who treats them well and provides them with the tools to feel good and safe.

2009 will soon be coming to a close and recruiters have had a very different year. Turnover has decreased, numbers of open positions are down and many new graduates are being turned away. This has given human resource professionals a few extra minutes to think about other things. Many have spent time getting their house in order because we know what is going to happen in the next few months. Whether it is three months or nine months—it is going to happen. The craziness will return and we had all better be ready.

This past year has continued to exhibit the fallout from the economic impact on the health care industry. The loss of jobs, layoffs, rise in uncompensated care, decreased margins and capital projects on hold have been steady around the country. According to AHA, 70% of hospitals have reported a decline in overall financial health and 90% have had to make cutbacks to address these issues. Health care job growth in 2009 is forecast to be only 24% of that documented for 2008, yet we know the statistics of what we have ahead of us in the continued need for health care professionals. In the next six years we will need over 20% increases in many of the hard-to-fill positions including nursing, pharmacy, PTs, OTs and home health aides, yet getting those positions filled will be challenges for the entire country as Boomers retire.

When we think of some of these statistics and wonder how in the world we are going to survive, it brings to mind the Items we should have been thinking of and working on during the past 12-18 months. We have seen many clients take the extra time to revamp their websites, especially the career pages. Making sure they are full of rich content, easy to navigate and supporting the overall corporate brand have all become necessary goals.

Spending the time making sure sites are “socially” enabled has certainly been a huge change in the past year, even for health care. Even though health care is normally quite conservative, we see clients using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with great success. They have accepted the concept of casting a wider net; yet also have accepted the need to make sure statistics are available for everything they do. ROI is the mantra and strategies can change in an instant when one has the data to drive those decisions.

Another area that clients have spent time on this past year is the onboarding process. Many have chosen to have most of the steps housed on the intranet and new hires are able to complete 90% of pre-hire work before they ever attend the first day of orientation. This has provided more meaningful orientations that are now based on current data, people and policies rather than hours of tactical assignments. These onboarding programs extend throughout the first year and have had a definite positive effect on first year turnover.

The hiring process is another area where human resource professionals have focused their attention during the past year. The realization that a quick, thorough process is necessary has been another focal point as the “race does go to the swift”. From new ATS systems, better background check protocols to candidate/recruiter/manager relationships—they have all been put under a microscope for a reality check. Some organizations have centralized while others have decentralized. But the important thing is that the processes have been studied, enhancements made and people are ready for the new wave of hiring in 2010.

Whatever you might have accomplished at your organization, I applaud you. It means you took the time to consider where you have been, where you were in 2009 and where you need to be in 2010. We have busy times ahead of us and the way we will source and hire the best candidates is to make sure that we have carved out all the pieces of the puzzle and that they now fit together perfectly.

I have long admired Greta Garbo and not just because we share the same first name. Garbo was a tremendously popular silent film star when “The Jazz Singer” was released as the first “talking film” in 1927. Garbo put off making the transition as long as she could, not because she didn’t have the voice, but because she wanted to be sure it was the right thing and that she was adequately prepared. History also tells us that she wasn’t sure she could make the leap, but bottom line, she didn’t have a choice.

The individuals who recruit and retain healthcare providers are facing a similar situation. We are rapidly going from a paper-based environment to a completely digital one and the impact will be no less dramatic than the move from silent films. While it will certainly affect the recruiters, it will also impact support staff, hiring managers and those involved with the budget.

Just as movie house musicians found themselves out of a job, because music was supplied on screen, there will be a shake up in the amount and type of staff required for recruiting in the digital world. Budget allocations will change because recruiting digitally is much less expensive than finding candidates through print. Today it costs about $750 for every print application as opposed to $32.50 for one coming through the internet. And since it costs a healthcare system money every day a position stays open, it is easy to see how the “right now” aspect of finding quality candidates through the web, is also fiscally responsible.

So while more people with the ability to manipulate the web will be needed to handle the increased number of applications, and the speed needed to appropriately recruit tech-savvy employees, the budget for finding those skilled workers will decrease allowing the resources to move to more staff with different skills. Nonetheless, it will be a dramatic shift for many current recruiters. Some will be able to make the transition and others, like the long forgotten stars with unfortunate voices, will be left behind.

It is the responsibility of today’s Human Resource (HR) leaders to begin the difficult process of making the transition that will have very human consequences. For Baby Boomers it will be especially challenging because people 48 years of age and older will always be technology immigrants in a world that has changed dramatically. It won’t be anyone’s “fault”, but with the ongoing examination of healthcare reform and the ensuing financial ramifications, it will not be possible, or fiscally responsible to hang on to “how we’ve always done it”. Baby Boomers and everyone else will need to develop the skills to work all aspects of the internet.

Since 63% of all dollars in healthcare delivery are touched by salary, wage and benefits, recruitment and retention will not be a line item that can escape scrutiny. Recruit 20 additional Registered Nurses (RNs) and retain them for one year and you drive, on national average, $1.5 million to the bottom line.

Here is what healthcare delivery systems are doing to make the transition:

• Web sites are being redesigned to communicate effectively with best-fit candidates and this includes more than stagnant words. Videos are being posted everywhere from a facility’s website to YouTube, the second most popular search engine (Google is first) which speaks quickly and effectively, sells the facility and the practice environment. Communication is being pushed out from the website.
• Videos are included on the hospital’s web site that explains the recruitment process clearly. This keeps candidates informed about the time and process and minimizes calls to the HR Department seeking information about an application. Candidates will forgive just about any amount of time if they simply are informed.
• Mini-applications are replacing the too-long and time consuming essentially paper-applications currently being used. This reduces time for both the applicant and the recruiter. Candidates don’t drop off as quickly as with the more involved applications and recruiters can go through and sort them more easily.
• To cut down on the overwhelming number of applications received when the barriers are lifted, online and job specific screening tools are being employed. They must work with the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and be job description specific.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is employed so that when a candidate types/Googles, say, PT jobs in Texas, the facility is within the first ten listed in the organic search. Also appearing at the very top, or along the side, are the paid sections and when combined with SEO, these increase application response significantly.
• Barriers are being removed so the ATS does not lock out the search engines from finding jobs. No one can assure you of always being in the top lines for searches, but if you know how to open your postings to search engine “spiders” and to eliminate the ATS blocks, you raise your chances of being found by job seekers dramatically.
• Young, technology natives who are savvy sourcers are being added to the staff and charged with the responsibility of making sure every single application is viewed quickly and responded to appropriately. They do the screening, after the web-based online screening and they send only the most qualified candidates on to the recruiters.
• The same whip smart tech-savvy employees maintain a database of names and individuals who have shown interest in employment at an institution. This allows them to keep individuals interested through social sites such as the hospital’s Facebook page (yes, you need that too). This better utilizes the $32.50 spent getting them to apply and it allows for individuals who, perhaps lacking the experience the first time, find it at someone else’s expense and then come back once they are fully prepared.
• Social media is being fully embraced. Some facilities are hiring “Social Ambassadors” who are able to manage what is being said on the internet—everything from Facebook to LinkedIn and Twitter and then they also work the internet to seek perfect people for difficult-to-fill positions. This brings a new set of challenges because managing candidates who say “I’m interested if the position is right” is very different from the candidate who says “Choose me please.”
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are being developed for hiring managers that require on-the-spot response to a hot candidate who may have been harvested off a social site or is simply a “hot candidate.”
• Recruiters, Sourcers, Social Ambassadors or anyone involved in the recruitment process knows it’s all about time and getting back quickly. Twenty-four hours is now a long turnaround for candidates who are applying online. The Sourcers should be first responders, but they also need to remember they are selling and not pushing paper.

Just as we cannot imagine being limited to films with no sound, in the next few years, we will look back on the current recruitment processes as being just as archaic. Things are moving that fast and if you are touching recruitment and retention you can’t wait any longer. Filling out applications that reflect paper ones developed in the 1960s, waiting on average two weeks to hear back from a recruiter (or not hearing at all), selecting from only those individuals who come to your website and say “Choose me. I want your job” will most certainly be things of the past.

Generation Y, or individuals who are aged 31 or younger, are the candidates you want and they only know “Googling” for information. If you aren’t where they see you and you don’t sell them through your website and you don’t do it quickly, you will not be able to manage the recruitment process effectively and fiscally responsible. Remember Greta Garbo and take the leap, you really don’t have a choice.

While much of the news in 2008 centered on the sagging economy and the election of Barack Obama, there were a number of other recruitment developments playing out that received little national attention. These trends heavily impacted the way physicians are being recruited in 2009. In fact, 2008 is now being called a “tipping point” year that has had the greatest impact on recruitment and retention in the last 30 years.

One of the most significant changes in the workforce was that in 2008, Generation Y eclipsed the Baby Boomers as the largest work group in the United States. Currently, there are approximately 78.1 million Ys, aged 31 or younger in the workforce and only about 76.2 million Baby Boomers, aged 45 to 64 years. The Boomers are retiring at the rate of about seven every minute. And, their near workaholic attitudes have made them incredibility productive and difficult to replace. Generation Y doesn’t view the workplace with the same attitude—in fact, they believe in putting in a decent day’s work, but they draw a line much quicker than their Boomer counterparts, embracing the concept of work-life balance.

But the number of hours clocked each day is not the biggest impact realized from the changing of the guard. The technology savvy Ys have brought a sea change in how recruiters attract, recruit and retain MDs and their Mid-Level counterparts -- Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners.

Emerging media such as Linked-In and Facebook are no longer something for socializing. There are currently 106,000 physicians listed on the I Am Doctor Facebook application and 379,251 registered MDs on the professional-social site, Linked-In. With a swift “in-mail”, physician recruiters can reach those individuals on Linked-In and quickly communicate open positions and the “hooks” associated with those opportunities. The Ys look to their counterparts for professional opportunities; people they trust and many come from their Facebook application. Recruiters today must know how to manipulate the incredible reach and strength of these social sites if they are going to reach viable candidates at all levels.

The i-Phone was introduced earlier than 2008 but it was in 2008 that it was fully adopted. Earlier versions of the cell phone were not easily used by the Baby Boomers and they used them primarily for calls. Today the i-Phone, with its logical and easy to use approach, attracts grandfathers (and older MDs) to the i-Phone and other “smart phones” in record numbers. Today, texting is not reserved for the “kids” with fast thumbs but for every generation from the Boomers to Generations X and Y.

According to the National Law Enforcement Association, it takes an average of 26 hours to report lost or stolen credit cards but only 66 minutes to report a lost or stolen cell phone. Ninety-one percent of Americans have their cell phone at arms' reach at any given time. So with that kind of dependency comes an opportunity for physician recruiters to successfully text and e-mail opportunities.

It has long been recognized that the traditional paper and ink publications were in serious trouble, but it came as somewhat of a surprise in 2008 when so many newspapers and niche publications either completely closed their doors, went to all-on-line operations, limited home delivery or filed for bankruptcy. These were not small companies, but giants in the industry such as The Los Angeles Times, The Detroit Free Press and The Chicago Tribune. Publications are attempting to hold onto one of their most profitable sections—recruitment advertising—but best practice has long-ago limited their use and it has become apparent that the Internet is the dominant factor for physician and professional recruitment.

With the ascendancy of the Internet, knowing how to get high placement in searches has become vital. When eager, fresh MD candidates—who normally look for their professional starting point in the last half of their second year and all of their third—90% of them start with a Google search. Google has an incredible dominance in searches and there is no reason to doubt that will change. An effective Search Optimization Program is all-important. There are ways of assuring physician opportunities will "pop to the top" when searches are initiated and successful recruiters employ all their secrets to make that happen.

But, even if you have the search component down cold, your website continues to be the most important element of physician recruitment. Web 1.0 was all about pushing out information but Web 2.0 has taken us to having conversations. Candidates expect videos and an interactive format that will allow them to express interest with a response in hours -- not days.

It was in 2008 that women matched men in medical schools causing a turnaround in expected benefits and how a position was sold. No longer will standard benefits land a good physician but because Baby Boomers have been eclipsed and in a hiring world where women match men -- an attractive work-life balance has changed the necessary offering. Shorter hours, more part time (20% worked part time in 2006 as opposed to 13% in 2005, the last year it was recorded) and flexible benefits are required.

The year 2008 changed things dramatically but things have not slowed down in 2009. Physician recruitment will continue to morph quickly in the next few years considering the rapid changes in technology, consumer habits and the growing reality of a national healthcare plan with an emphasis on prevention.

The life of an HR professional has drastically changed through the years. Some of us remember the days of 5” x 7” index cards, which finally moved to databases in the late 80’s. We personally interviewed every applicant prior to hiring manager referral, did hospital tours and still managed to hire hundreds of hard-to-fills.

Today the life of a recruiter is surrounded with great technology.  Almost every HR department has an applicant tracking system and they have been deluged with multiple sourcing options that include the aggregators (Indeed and Simply Hired), LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, “friends” and groups. The opportunities are endless and the digital support astounding but it often means that, for many recruiters, this is the only way they interact with an applicant. Many times I have heard recruiters say, “I never really talk with the applicant.”

Thinking of this newer scenario through the applicant’s eyes, what does that mean? They are told to go online to apply, often to very generic job postings. Although some websites do have phone numbers listed and appear to welcome calls, others do not. The applicant is unable to find a contact name, phone number, or any type of next steps. Once they hit “submit” they have to sit back and wait-and wait-and wait. If there are phone numbers available and calls are made, they may get through to a recruiter and get questions answered but often they get no return calls or can’t even get through to the appropriate person in order to leave a message.

In thinking about communicating with our applicants, we need to have the sourcing infrastructure set up to bring those candidates to the website. Navigation needs to be clear and applying for the job succinct. Once this occurs, many organizations fall off the radar screen from an applicant’s point of view.  Remember the Golden Rule that our parents taught us?  Treat others as you want to be treated.

What this means to you, as an HR professional, is to make sure that your organization has policies set up so that expectations, timelines and accountabilities are clear to all stakeholders. Decide what you want those to be, document the information and then educate the employees involved. And the final step, hold the employees accountable for those actions.

Making sure that the interviewing and hiring process is timely is crucial and the recruiter should be in control of that process. This means flexibility, honesty, knowing about the job you are recruiting for and returning all phone calls in a timely manner. Those that have the best success place the right applicant in the right position, they don’t just fill jobs.

There was a study done by Dr. Bea Kalisch a few years ago but the results of that study still ring true today. The study took place in 122 hospitals in 10 geographic cities and 30 market areas. RNs went to organizations to apply for jobs although the concepts and outcomes are generic and relate to all job titles. The term recruiter was used as anyone that had a touch point with the applicant. 

The results indicated that behaviors were very important to an applicant choosing a job and they called these behaviors valence factors. Those factors were:
*Friendly
*Personable
*Approachable
*Smiled
*Direct eye contact
*Attentive
*Listened
*Customized approach
*Flexible
*Helpful
*Facilitative
*Informed
*Prepared
*Honest

The organizations that were most successful in hiring the applicants were those that had at least 8 positive valence factors. These factors proved to be more important than the features of the job or the conditions of the work. Only if organizations had an equal number of valence factors did other issues come into the decision.

This study supports the importance of traditional communication.  Although all of our bells and whistles are great and still need to be at the forefront of the hiring process, the applicant’s final decision will be based on other factors.  People Recruit People!