you’re hired
Applying for a job used to be so easy. You’d see an ad, send a CV, turn up for an interview, accept the offer and Bob’s your uncle. That was until the influence of reality TV started to make its presence felt in recruitment. Increasingly, candidates for all manner of positions have been asked to undergo ‘Simon Cowell-esque’ interviews or perform tasks that demonstrate they have the X-Factor. Excel, the London-based events organiser is running a graduate recruitment competition under the auspices of ‘the Eventis’, whilst many others are asking potential applicants to post youtube videos, poems and even songs to compete for positions, placements and internships.
Even relatively well known ‘blue-chip’ organisations are getting involved in downright wacky recruitment. In October, Standard Chartered launched a competition called ‘the World’s Coolest Intern’, in which entrants were audited and assessed according to how many linked to their blogs, their ‘twitter influence’ and number of facebook friends. A similar tack was taken by L’Oreal, which this year recruited via a business game called Reveal, where graduates were given avatars to tackle online tasks in a virtual L’Oreal world…no doubt because they were worth it. Boom, boom.
Personally, I could not be less impressed. Surely it’s the job of recruiters and hiring managers to objectively identify high quality and relevant individuals as opposed to elevating the status of performing puppies and vain wannabes. And, as we all know from these TV shows, the last man standing isn’t necessarily the best person for the job. By his own admission Matt Cardle’s ‘a bit of a bum’, I for one wouldn’t want SueBo as head of HR and you’d have to question Widdecombe’s ability to close a deal!
