SLOW OFFERS, FAST RECRUITING TAKES IT TOLL ON MOBILE COMPANIES
By MobileWirelessJobs / MobileContentJobs
September / October 2006

NEW YORK –  Mark Henderson sat alone in his office. He believed he just witnessed thousands of dollars walk right out the door and he felt there was little he could about it. He's the hiring manager in a platform development area of a major wireless entertainment company based in Los Angeles and he's frustrated right now.

     He spent months sourcing the right candidate to fill an immediate need in his department and low behold he found him. We'll call him Steve. He followed all the proper procedures with HR, conducted the proper background checks and was certain his company was ready to tender an offer. The problem was HR was too slow to give him the green light. When Mark placed that much anticipated follow-up call to Steve, he had long since accepted a similar position at a competitor company. A mere 10 days had elapsed since Mark first contacted Steve. Sound familiar?

      The truth is Employers have less than two weeks to make an offer to top talent in the mobile industry before that narrow hiring window closes. Snooze and you lose. Hiring managers have become victims of HR's penchant of controlling the hiring process and bogging it down with red tape and non-crucial evaluation. This has adversely affected the bottom line for many mobile companies, particularly smaller organizations that really shouldn't require that many approvals to bring new talent on board.

     "Its simply stunning to see the lack of urgency some staffing organizations have shown recently towards offering qualified candidates right now in the mobile industry," says Rob Salerno, President of Cinnamon Entertainment Group LLC and parent company of MobileWirelessJobs.com. "There's simply no upside to playing the wait and see approach once you've done all of your due diligence and you've sourced the right Candidate. The costs of reinventing the hiring cycle oftentimes completely outweighs the risk of making the offer. I strongly suggest that mobile employers create a short term performance based program for new hires and speed up the hiring process if they wish to remain competitive in today's labor market."

     Does this mean it's a candidates market? "No, not necessarily," added Salerno. "Its depends on the position and the candidate. That said, we are also seeing Employers pre-screen some Candidates for skills and competencies that aren't even necessary for the actual position they are seeking. This sends mixed signals to the candidate that these skills will somehow be required for the job when in fact, these skills are not essential to the role. If you are going to cause any delays in the offer process, pick and choose your battles carefully. Learn all that you can quickly but make tough decisions. It doesn't always pay to wage pre-screen war." In fact, qualified Candidates who fail to see that written offer will quickly divert their attention elsewhere if the Employer appears to be stalling for no good reason.

     Conversely, though, Candidates must do a much better job of creating succinct profiles so that Employers can close the gap on any loose ends that may cause them hesitation to make a job offer. "That is why you need to include in your resume the buzz words and action statements that you need to 'sell yourself.' This helps guarantee there is never a disconnect on what you do as opposed to what you can do," confirmed Marc Mencher, Founder and President of GameRecruiter.com. Employers spend an enormous amounts of time piecing together pertinent information about the Candidate that could easily be solved by having them deliver more detailed profiles. If you can do the job, you should provide Employers with the reasons why as well as solid numbers and anecdotal evidence to support your claim.

     "This is why we have Podcast Net Videos today in mobile recruiting," Salerno noted. "Our candidates are not simply rehashing resumes but taking the steps necessary to discuss career milestones, budgets, and number of direct reports, as well as problem-action-result stories along with personal performance reviews in order to prove their qualifications for the job they seek." These videos create a sort of "canned interview" for the Employers that will save both parties time and money during the hiring process. MobileWirelessJobs offers Candidates the opportunity to send in their Net Videos on a confidential basis so that it can be shared with potential Employers when a position arises that matches their background.

     The problem though still persists with mobile companies failing to act quickly on offering qualified candidates when the opportunity arises. In a recent survey conducted of 300 companies in the mobile wireless industry by MobileWirelessJobs, over 75% admitted that they had recently missed the boat on hiring qualified Candidates in the past quarter because there were too many internal snags in the decision making process. As the old adage goes, when you have too many cooks in the kitchen you can spoil the broth. As a result, an estimated $50 million of revenue was lost by these same companies during this period from projects that were delayed based solely on the lack of quality manpower.

     Employers should also reduce the Candidate evaluation by committee approach as much as possible in order to streamline the decision making process and keep the focus within those individuals immediately impacted by the hire. Nonetheless, Employers would be prudent to place immediate hires in a probationary period that offers them the chance to attain immediate but realistic milestones yet still protects their investment and defines expectations, performance evaluation and paths to success. 

     Meantime, Mark Henderson is about to spend another three months searching for the right candidate to fill this crucial role on his team. He was quick to mention that he has seen a minimal attrition rate difference between a "quick" offer and  what he termed a "diligence" offer from his experience. At his company, though, a "quick" offer has meant a little over two weeks and thus too slow. Still he sees the bigger picture. He cannot afford to sit back and become entangled in the cat and mouse game of getting approvals. He wishes his company would remove its own internal barriers and speed up the hiring process.

     The true loss in this case is the enormous opportunity cost of slow hiring cycles in the mobile industry. Do not underestimate the value of human assets when you have a chance to add immediate value to your organization. Its a tough lesson but one that many mobile companies have recently had to pay.

MobileContent Careers is the monthly eNewsletter of MobileWirelessJobs. Each issue contains one or more HR interviews or HR Stories in the mobile content and wireless industries. These article help our candidates learn more about the companies listed and hiring trends trends listed on MobileWirelessJobs beyond what can be found in a job posting. Our research has shown that employers who participate in our HR interview receive a much greater resume response for their time and effort.