George, a blogger and marketing professional who works for a national network of local employment web sites, thinks ERE is an amazing resource. But he thinks he has an idea how to make it a little better.

Seth Godin's fame has spread well outside the marketing field, and many recruiters have been quick to recognize that many of his ideas are directly applicable to their calling. I loved a recent rant Seth delivered at Gelcon, on "things that are broken."

It got me thinking ... recruiting and hiring are two processes that are dripping with things that are "broken." Ask any job seeker about the bizarre, illogical, frustrating experiences they have encountered, every step of the way. It's one reason professional recruiters exist: many companies are hopelessly broken when it comes to hiring. Some even recognize and accept that fact and completely outsource their hiring. That doesn't always solve all the problems; the transition from dealing with a recruiter to actually interfacing with an employer can be a jarring experience for a candidate. Not that third-party recruiters and the experiences that many job seekers have with them are perfect.

Of course, this all spells opportunity.

As Seth points out in his rant, the most common reason things are broken is the ubiquitous "not my job" syndrome. Which, I think, points to the biggest challenge (and therefore, a great competitive differentiator) for recruiters, especially as the talent pool dries up. Recruiters who can minimize what's broken for candidates -- those who can smooth over the rough edges -- will have a huge competitive advantage. The overall context of Seth's rant (plus Gelcon and the underlying sponsor, Good Experience) is user experience. That's what we're really talking about here. Enhancing a job candidate's user experience.

The implications of this user experience go well beyond whether or not any specific candidate has good experience and cooperates with your efforts to recruit him or her.

A recruiter that can create a positive user experience for job seekers will have no trouble "making friends and influencing job seekers." An employer that can do this will dramatically enhance their employer brand. And as I've argued before, this is one of those areas where a failure to do so creates adverse selection -- the best job seekers can (and will) choose to avoid broken recruiting practices. Fail to remove obstacles and you will specifically scare off the best candidates.

ERE (and the "best of breed" recruiters it attracts) are uniquely poised to address this challenge. When I talk to job seekers (constantly) they freely volunteer what they think is broken about hiring and recruiting. It's a perspective that is currently completely missing from most recruiting and HR resources. And as Seth points out, is always and incontrovertably the end users (in this case, your end user or customer is candidates) who decide what's broken. (Thinking that you know what your customers think and/or what's best for them and don't have to ask is always bad, bad, bad marketing!)

That's why I'd love to see ERE lead the charge in effectively bringing job seeker's perspectives to the table.