Comments on: It’s Time for a Candidate’s Bill of Rights

By: Is it Time for a Candidate Bill of Rights? | The Savvy Intern by YouTern

Is it Time for a Candidate Bill of Rights? | The Savvy Intern by YouTern — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:44:36 +0000

[...] Bill of Rights? Posted on August 1, 2011 by Mark Babbitt Fairly recently, influentials such as ERE and Monster were working to build momentum regarding the creation of a “Bill of Rights” for job [...]

By: 090223 Beefy Links | HR Examiner with John Sumser

090223 Beefy Links | HR Examiner with John Sumser — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:41:33 +0000

[...] The more money that gets spent on hiring, the fewer people who can be hired. The Candidate’s “Bill of Rights” (CBOR) offers a model in which being nice is better than hiring one more person. By suggesting that [...]

By: Candidate Experience and Common Sense | MonsterThinking

Candidate Experience and Common Sense | MonsterThinking — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:11:19 +0000

[...] like the hot topic at RecruitFest 2010 had to do with the need for a Candidate Bill of Rights. I found this a little surprising because I thought RecruitFest was a conference for HR and [...]

By: Come Recommended | Blog | Employers: Do You Have a Candidate Bill of Rights? A Recruiter's Manifesto?

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:02:39 +0000

[...] post by Kevin Wheeler on ERE.net in 2009 outlined the following aspects to be included in a candidate bill of [...]

By: Bryce Johnson

Bryce Johnson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:24:01 +0000

Matt Cooper,

Accolo may have a Bill of Rights, but they do not follow their own guidelines. Case in point. I have an associate who has applied for a position 4 weeks ago, emailed 3-4 times since then, hoping to keep interest in him, and has yet to receive any reply what-so-ever. I expect you/Accolo are busy, but if you are going to say Accolo will treat candidates in a timely manner with respect and courtesy, then follow through. Having a Bill of Rights is nice, acting on it is tremendous good will.

Regards,
Bryce Johnson

By: Recruitment NovoBlog » Blog Archive » With Fewer Reqs, What’s a Recruiter to Do?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:11:05 +0000

[...] makes it difficult to get through the front door. They make it easy, and inviting. Make your application process inviting rather than [...]

By: This is what I’m talking about! « The Other Side of the Desk

This is what I’m talking about! « The Other Side of the Desk — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:08:19 +0000

[...] Tagged compasssion, recruiters, Unemployment http://www.ere.net/2009/02/19/its-time-for-a-candidates-bill-of-rights/ [...]

By: Gina PetrelloPray

Gina PetrelloPray — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:56:18 +0000

Have some compasion for those people who are out looking for a job and at least call them or email them back if you can even help them. I think they are just looking for people to be honest with them if you can help or not. If your in a vertical industry this is a great time to be building your database with good candidates I have seen people in the job market who would of never left their position before, who were good and at the top of the sales force, but now are forced to!

By: Robert Stein

Robert Stein — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:14:11 +0000

@Paul: My point is that if you need a piece of paper to guide you on ethics and behavior, then you’ve already failed the integrity test. As for candidate perspective of the list, I take the same approach: Every candidate has a different standard and expectation. Every recruiter should attempt to meet those standards. How can you do this? Easy, communicate, and make sure no candidates expects something you can’t deliver.

I see your frustration about preferred status, etc., but once the client company figures out that their representative in the talent market place is hurting their brand, they’ll lose the status…

I think it’s important someone establish a single resource for all candidates to provide feedback regarding their recruiter experience, like the one a the top of this page: http://www.recruitingentrepreneur.com/ Check it out.

Some recruiters have this, but there needs to be a single, unbiased one, disconnected from any search firm to ensure it is untainted.

By: Paul Jacobs

Paul Jacobs — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:19:38 +0000

@Robert Stein – a big part of me agrees with your free market perspective, but there is a problem across the whole recruitment industry where many candidates are receiving crap service – they shouldn’t have to endure being treated poorly. Standards, including ethics, need to improve and be maintained across the industry. I think many recruiters don’t feel candidate care is important – and in a commodity-driven, sales-oriented market there could be a fair case for this. Minimum standards around candidate care should at least be a goal, like standards & ethics are in many other industries. Some recruitment agencies, who provide awful candidate care, still get awarded as preferred suppliers by employers and the cycle continues.

If an employer or recruitment agency wants to exceed the minimum standards then by all means let the free market run its course. True a manifesto in itself is nothing, but at least it outlines some standards to follow and benchmark against.

It is about time that the recruitment industry globally lifts the standards, is viewed more positively, and evolves.

By: Robert Stein

Robert Stein — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:42:43 +0000

A waste of ink…To each his own, and let those businesses who don’t satisfy candidates and clients fade away. Any bill of rights (regardless of its intentions) actually sets a “minimum” standard when in fact, all of our practices should be free to compete, raising and setting new standards for each other.

Take a look at AESC.org and see their “standards” for candidate and client bill of rights. Nice eye-candy, but in the end it really doesn’t do any good. I say we guide ourselves by our own definition of honesty, compassion, integrity and ethical behavior. If my competition has a different perspective of what those definitions are, then good luck.

By: A Candidate Bill of Rights - Would You Care? « Over The Seas

A Candidate Bill of Rights - Would You Care? « Over The Seas — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:21:25 +0000

[...] Last week I wrote a column for ERE describing a possible Bill of Rights for Candidates. In it I made a case for corporations [...]

By: Martin Snyder

Martin Snyder — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:06:41 +0000

Interesting piece on perils of regulating that which should not be regulated….

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-right-to-earn-a-living-under-attack/

By: Relax…you are in good hands! « The Straight Story on Recruiting

Relax…you are in good hands! « The Straight Story on Recruiting — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:30:34 +0000

[...] What prompted this post was an interesting post from ERE.net. [...]

By: | RPO Consulting

| RPO Consulting — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:23:17 +0000

[...] Wheeler from Global Learning Resources, Inc.has a post over at ERE.net calling for a candidate Bill of Rights to be developed. Two money quotes from the article: So [...]

By: D Franklin

D Franklin — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:14:25 +0000

I was intrigued by Matt’s posting and impressed with the website complete with the Candidate Bill of Rights. I promptly referred a Sales Exec candidate I know who is looking in the KC area to this site. (hopefully they live the words)
At the end of the day A Bill of Rights document is simply a bunch of words. The organizations ability to execute and behave as such is what sets the company apart. Same can be said with the slick marketing, mission statements, etc. If the culture does not support; why bother or mislead. All professions (Including recruiting) have those that follow what we would consider common sense, and those who are an embarrassment to the profession.

By: 090223 Beefy Links | johnsumser.com: Recruiting News and Views

090223 Beefy Links | johnsumser.com: Recruiting News and Views — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:50:30 +0000

[...] The more money that gets spent on hiring, the fewer people who can be hired. The Candidate’s "Bill of Rights" (CBOR) offers a model in which being nice is better than hiring one more person. By suggesting that [...]

By: Martin Snyder

Martin Snyder — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:17:04 +0000

Óutside enforcement in any sphere is a real cost and leads to distortions and unintended consequences- its use should be carefully considered and attempted only when stakes are high.

By the way, what more are most hiring entities willing to say to rejected candidates beyond the fact of rejection?

Not too much I imagine……

By: Paul Jacobs

Paul Jacobs — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:55:17 +0000

@Matt Cooper – It’s good to see the Accolo Candidate Bill of Rights – and it’s great that these are clearly placed on the website. It does set an expectation (and also serves as a marketing tool). I would be interested to know how each of the statements is achieved / measured.

Though some employers and recruiters / RPO providers treat candidate care seriously, others, even if they have all the technology tools in place and talk the right talk, fail. I would suggest a recruiter’s remuneration and/or service level agreement include measurable candidate care KPIs. Ideally there should be a culture, supported by strong leadership, of wanting to provide service to candidates, but sometimes you have to enforce things to get behavior change. The question for me is whether this should be enforced at the industry level or the business level?

To help a candidate in their decision making, maybe there could be a criteria-based and real-time candidate care reporting dashboard which either sits on a recruiter’s website and/or on a dedicated website which consolidates data across many recruiters.

A consideration is that some unsuccessful candidates, despite the best efforts from the recruiter to provide sound service, will blame everything and everybody under the sun for the outcome. This negatively skews the measurement.

Out of interest, does anybody use “mystery shopping” (actors) to assess candidate care?

By: Matt Cooper

Matt Cooper — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:14:33 +0000

The idea of somehow regulating the recruiting industry to make people mind their manners (as my boy Martin Snyder mentions above) seems a little off. That being said, it’s not happening without any structure, so I guess there’s a case to be made for something stronger than blog posts. Before environment regulation, dumping chemicals into rivers and poisoning your neighbors downstream was just common practice — now it’s abhorrent as well as illegal.

It’s Accolo’s view that candidates will vote with their feet — you treat them poorly, they won’t come back. You treat them with respect, they’ll come back and bring their friends. Unfortunately, this kind of employment market leads some recruiters to believe that respect isn’t required. I personally don’t think that a statement on the careers page that says “Sorry – due to the volume of applicants, only those that are a fit will be dignified with a response” is enough.

As an RPO, it’s part of our responsibility to our clients to protect their employment brand. Respect is obviously the right thing to do, but it’s also good business — every applicant is a potential investor, customer, partner, etc. We’ve generated over 25,000 referrals because we ensure that every candidate gets a response, even if it’s not the one they want. If ‘doing the right thing’ isn’t enough, maybe tangible business results will be.

We’ve had a Candidate Bill of Rights since 2003. Here’s the link:

http://www.accolo.com/the_career_network/bill_of_rights