Remote Job Postings Require More Skills

Do managers expect more when they advertise for remote jobs? Do remote job postings list more required skills and capabilities? Yes! In a new study, Shinan Wang and her co-authors studied more than 50 million job postings in Europe. Their analysis suggests that the remote work postings featured 25% more skill requirements than the non-remote job listings.

Why do managers want more skilled employees when advertising for remote work positions? The authors offer several reasons. For instance, remote positions attract a much larger number of candidates. Thus, firms need tougher screening criteria. Moreover, managers may find it more difficult to train remote employees. Thus, they need employees who can hit the ground running much more quickly.

In addition, I wonder if managers worry about the productivity of these remote employees. Applying tougher screening criteria may be one strategy for trying to insure that they have self-motivated and self-disciplined workers who will be highly productive in a remote work environment.

The authors offer a word of caution for young employees looking for work. Co-author Letian Zhang explains, “This may hurt the entry-level workers who need training. Those are the workers who might be left out because organizations, after becoming remote, may have a stronger preference for more-experienced workers.” Put another way, younger employees may be able to increase their odds of landing a job if they apply for non-remote work opportunities. Beyond that, I would argue that younger workers should be focusing on non-remote work because it offers better opportunities to receive on-the-job training, learn from mentors, build relationships, and extend their professional networks.

Zappos Eliminates Job Postings: Is This a Good Idea?

Several days ago, online retailer Zappos announced that it was eliminating job postings.  According to the Washington Post,

"It has started a program called Zappos Insider, which it says is “like a special membership” for people who want to learn more about the company and its distinctive culture. Participants will get to chat with Zappos Ambassadors and are promised “top consideration” for job openings. It’s an approach that sounds like it favors prospective employees who are most deeply engaged with the brand. The people likely to take the time to enroll as Zappos Insiders are not the ones who are robo-sending résumés for every opening they see on Monster.com."

Naturally, Zappos received a ton of positive press about this bold and unique move.  Zappos has become a favorite of those who are looking for companies that are taking innovative approaches to organization, culture, and leadership.   I've visited Zappos myself, and I love many of the things that they do.  On this one, though, I have to admit that I am a bit puzzled.  I'm glad that I'm not alone.  Suzanne Lucas has written a good column for Inc. about Zappos' new initiative.   Lucas writes:

Now, I totally agree that online résumé systems are recruiting black holes, but that's not because of job postings. It is because most recruiters stink. Yep. They don't know much about the jobs they are recruiting for, and so they are just playing a matching game. This is why I'll tell candidates to skip over the recruiters, if at all possible, and get to the hiring manager personally. Networking works better than submitting a résumé online. No doubt... Zapar (Zappos' social recruiting leader) says that job postings are conversation killers. I'd say the opposite is true. If a person wants a new job, having a job description is immensely helpful as a conversation starter.

Lucas makes a good point.  Job postings don't seem like the essence of the recruiting problem.  The process has many flaws, but taking away valuable information that may exist in a well-crafted job posting seems counterproductive.   Are some job postings too vague or otherwise flawed?  Certainly.  However, most do convey some information about the type of opportunities available at the company.  Lucas questions the time and resources that will be necessary to operate Zappos Insider as well.   Karen Bleier of the Washington Post does the same.  Both wonder how Zappos will handle the volume of activity that may arise here.  

I would note several additional concerns.  Hiring for cultural fit is wonderful.  However, does Zappos' initiative increase the likelihood that insiders will hire others who are quite similar to them in many ways?  Are certain people simply not going to engage with the firm on this platform, and therefore, will Zappos be missing out on some great talent?   Will the best people be presented other opportunities during the time required to cultivate a relationship on Zappos Insider, and perhaps not be willing to wait for an offer from Zappos that may never materialize? 

 

Looking for Jobs in All the Wrong Places?

Inc. magazine reports today on a new study by iCIMS, an employment software company.  They examined roughly 60,000 employment opportunities listed on various social media platforms.   Their results offered a few interesting surprises.  

Where do most candidates expect to find jobs on social media?  LinkedIn, of course.  Approximately 2/3 of job seekers expect to find job postings on LinkedIn.   Indeed, LinkedIn accounts for nearly a quarter of all employment opportunities listed on social media platforms.   In contrast, only 1% of job seekers look to Twitter to find job opportunities.  However, 51% of employment opportunities posted on social media platforms in this study can be found on Twitter!  

One key caveat:  This study examined job postings, but of course, a job search involves much more than finding a listed employment opportunity.   Companies may indeed post lots of employment opportunities on Twitter, but is that a primary recruiting tool for them?  How does it actually stack up against LinkedIn?  We would have to know much more about the entire recruiting process.  For instance, LinkedIn activity related to employment involves much more than job postings.  Much of the action pertains to networking and searching, often in cases where a job is not even posted.  Many firms use LinkedIn to search for attractive candidates, before they even list a job opportunity publicly.  Similarly, many candidates search for opportunities via LinkedIn without an actual position posted.  They are networking, seeking introductions, learning about companies, etc.    

The lesson for those seeking jobs:  A great employment search involves multiple avenues of investigation and exploration.  Don't restrict yourself to one mechanism or tool. 

Getting the Dream Job: Focus on Actions, not Adjectives

Fast Company has an article this week about the "language of hiring."   In this piece, Donna Svei, a professional resume and LinkedIn profile writer, offers some sound advice for job seekers.  My favorite piece of advice is: "Show, Don't Tell."   Here's an excerpt:

Make your middle school English teacher proud. Svei says adjectives and adverbs should be swapped out with anecdotal examples such as how you used Excel to build a model that went on to bring in XY and Z for your department.  To cater to an ATS (applicant tracking system) and a human hiring manager looking for a good collaborator, she suggests adding details such as a role you played on a team that resulted in the development of a product or process. “If they never talk about ‘we’ they probably won’t progress,” through the search process Svei says.

I see many students make this mistake.  They cite their grade point averages, area of concentration, skills, and the like... but they don't offer enough concrete examples of projects that they have done.  Employers want to hear about the work that you have done.  Of course, students will not have much work experience (perhaps only an internship).  What can they do in that circumstance?  In my view, they should turn to the applied learning projects that they have done for courses.  Talk about the project you did for a local company as part of your market research class, or the consulting project you did for a factory in your region for an operations management class.  Those projects, often conducted as part of a team, represent concrete examples of how you can accomplish a challenging task, meet a tight deadline, work as a member of a team, and interact with professionals in your field.  Actions, not adjectives, should be the point of emphasis.  I would argue that the same mentality should flow through to the interview.  Don't tell the interviewer about your courses and grades. Tell them about the projects you completed in specific courses, in which you had to leave campus, enter the real world, and actually accomplish something for a client organization.