Corporate Provocateur March 5, 2010, 4:10PM EST

Ten Recruiting Practices to Nuke

Could your organization be driving away its next tier of management via an outdated and hostile recruiting system? Chances are, it is

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Downturn notwithstanding, employers are screaming for talented people. Yet you have only to review any large employer's recruiting process (and those of many smaller shops) to see a mind-numbing list of requirements, protocols, and hoops for job-seekers to jump through. Think that the smartest and most marketable candidates will take their brains and abilities elsewhere? Of course they will. They'll turn to consulting or find homes at nimble startups. Check out our list of the 10 most obnoxious, profit-killing recruiting practices.

1. The Black Hole

It's great to accept résumés via a Careers page on your site, but only if you intend to have someone review them and respond. Recruiting systems that force applicants to spend hours in front of a screen, only to hit the SUBMIT button and hear nothing again (ever) should come with posted warnings: "Caution: Check Your Self-Esteem Before Entering." Ignoring the talent pool is the world's worst way to win in the marketplace. What to do instead: Eighty-six your Black Hole system and force your managers to cultivate talent all the time, before a job opening arises.

2. Just Like the Government, Only More Bureaucratic

Application forms that require job-seekers to dig into old files, pull up college transcripts, or call their relatives ("Hey Mom, do you remember my supervisor's name from Pizza Hut (YUM) in '86?") irritate candidates and do nothing to help your cause. It's just these kinds of idiotic recruiting systems that trash employer brands from coast to coast. What to do instead: Rather than forcing applicants to cough up the titles, dates (including months!), supervisor names, and pay levels for every job they've ever held, ask them to upload a résumé to your site.

3. Say! Let's Get Someone Who Speaks Ancient Greek, Tap-Dances, and Has a Taxicab License

Six Sigma and lean processes are ubiquitous across organizations. Every management decision and process alteration is evaluated for efficiency. So how come hiring managers are allowed to throw umpteen random position requirements into a job requisition, without someone asking, "What's the business case for that requirement?" Each additional "bullet" costs a company money in the recruiting process—and often in salary as well. If we don't have a rock-solid justification for every certification, degree, year of work experience, and other job-req Must Have or Nice to Have, it shouldn't be included in the final spec. What to do instead: Stop dreaming up requirements for the Bionic Man or Woman we're hoping to hire (if, in fact, such a person is alive on Earth). Build your requisitions to look like the real-life résumés of the most successful people already in the job.

4. Mission Impossible: Get Through Our Company's Careers Site

If you sincerely wanted to attract talent to your company, you wouldn't greet job-seekers with a screen that requires them to supply a Social Security number, approval for a credit check, and all their references before you've even met them. If you really believed your employees were your greatest asset, you wouldn't force people to take online honesty and personality tests before even deciding whether you liked their résumés. These front-loaded recruiting systems scream, "We are the ones who get to choose; you, on the other hand, are dog meat." Some employers don't really value talent in the hiring process; they value compliance. Could your organization be one of them? What to do instead: Ditch the insulting front end of your recruiting system and get the information you need only when you really need it.