The internet — electronic advertising of openings and electronic submission of résumés, not to mention social networks, blogs, and instant messaging — has transformed the hiring process for both prospective employees and employers. As a result, there is immense variety in how companies and organizations utilize these tools for their staffing needs!
I thought it might be helpful to outline for our applicants what to expect when you become an active Frank’s candidate.
We will ask you to send your résumé to us electronically (resume@franksemployment.com).
This enables us to store it in our database, where it is searchable for all of our staffing consultants. It also simplifies the process of forwarding your resume to a client, once we have an opening for which you’re an excellent candidate.
We prefer to receive it as a Word document, but we can work with almost any format.
You will receive an immediate electronic confirmation the first time you email your résumé.
This will signal for you that your email has successfully reached the résumé Inbox here. I hope that you’ll review that confirmation email because it gives some good detail about what’s ahead.
Your résumé will be hand-processed by a real person.
This takes a little more time than having the computer do this alone, but we think it’s worth the time. Hand-processing helps to ensure that the information we have is complete, especially in terms of how to contact you. If something is missing (for example, if your email reaches us but your attached résumé doesn’t), we will let you know.
Next, your résumé will be reviewed in detail by one of our staffing consultants.
Again, this takes a little more time than just letting a computer scan it for keywords, as many agencies do. However, we believe that you’re worth that extra time for a real person here to be actively keeping you in mind as new searches occur.
Occasionally, we send a follow-up email if we feel that your background, skills, and expertise are likely to be among those that our client base could request.
This email asks for a little more detail about your general job preferences: the minimum salary you’re willing to consider for a permanent position; your preferred one-way commute in terms of minutes; how best to contact you during the business day; and so forth.
If you don’t receive such an email, you may still be a very strong candidate! We’re just taking this extra step with those local applicants for whom we’re most likely to have good options.
If you expressed interest in an advertised opening, then the consultant in charge of that search will review your résumé with respect to that opportunity.
Please take seriously the job requirements as we’ve advertised them. We try to provide the basic outlines of our clients’ priorities and we really must work within those.
That said, there’s always more detail to a search and that client’s expectations than what we’re able to succinctly put into an ad. That’s why the consultant personally reviews your résumé for that specific opening.
Whenever possible, we try to send you an update with respect to an advertised opening that interested you and where you stand in being considered for it.
This usually comes to you by email. Sometimes we’ll give you a call, especially if we have any questions about whether you might qualify. If we have any doubts, we’ll ask!
Please give us a day or two! If you haven’t had an update and you’ve checked your email (and your spam filter), you’re certainly welcome to request an update by calling us or emailing us.
We really try to answer every email and return every phonecall from local candidates.
We care about you and about the success of your search. So we make every effort to respond when a local candidate takes the initiative to be in contact.
Of course, it’s helpful if you’ll keep in mind that lots of other people are also seeking that personal attention! And that includes employers who want to hire people!! So we’ll appreciate your patience.
Please also keep in mind that we’re human beings, which means that occasionally we miss an email or misplace a phone reminder. If you’ve given us a business day or two since you tried to be in touch and still haven’t heard back, just take the initiative and try again.
Once we receive your résumé, we’re actively keeping you in mind as new searches occur.
If we notice a new opening on our desks that could be a strong next career step for you, we’ll take the initiative to contact you about it.
We also refer you to our website and ask you to keep an eye on it. If something we’re advertising there seems to be a very strong fit and you haven’t heard from us about it, just take the initiative and let us know. You’re our “second set of eyes,” helping to make sure that we don’t miss an opportunity for which you might have been an ideal candidate.
It’s also helpful for us to hear from you every three to four weeks while you’re actively looking for new employment. You may be confident that we’re keeping you in mind in the meantime. I have a great memory for names and backgrounds for about a month. And then, some of those details take a back seat to more recent ones. So contact from you about once a month is perfect. It keeps you active in our database, as well as fresh in my internal computer!
Speaking of our website, we advertise the best of our active searches and the postings are up-to-date.
I refresh the postings, exporting from our internal database to the external website, at least twice every business day. So, if we’re advertising it, then it’s still available.
We’re aware that there are staffing agencies and other businesses who advertise bogus positions, just to fill their “pool” for possible future needs. We don’t play that game! We advertise actual, active searches. We provide a quick summary of some of the most pertinent details about the position itself, as well as some of the most critical priorities our client has identified. If there’s any “wiggle” room on those requirements, we will make note of it in the public posting or ad.
We usually schedule in-person interviews at the point when we have a specific opening for which you’re an excellent candidate.
This enables us to discuss your general employment interests, but also your actual qualifications for a specific opening. We sometimes need to have you complete testing after the interview, depending upon the demonstrated skills needed for a given position.
Once we start pursuing a specific opening for you, we make every effort to keep you informed about what’s happening with that hiring employer.
Our role is a liaison role at this point in the process. Communication is key!
