Talent Attraction Olympics Today
The Olympics capture the world’s attention every four years, but there is another competition happening every single day – and most companies don’t even realize they’re competing. Welcome to the Talent Attraction Olympics, where businesses are judged daily on how well they attract, engage, and hire top talent. Some organizations are winning gold medals. Others are proudly holding onto a participation ribbon and wondering why their competitors keep winning.
Photo – Bill as a Bobsled/Skeleton Official at Utah Olympic Park for 12 years.
So… how is your organization performing against the competition?
Are you earning gold medals – or settling for a participation ribbon?
As the Leading Talent Attraction Consultant, I’ve worked with organizations ranging from global multinationals to fast-growing small businesses. Shockingly, most of them share one thing in common:
Their recruiting practices are still stuck in the 1950s.
Recruiting… Then and Now (Not Much Has Changed)
Picture recruiting in the 1950s.
A department needs a new hire. They notify the Personnel Department. An ad is placed in the local newspaper. Then everyone waits – hoping the perfect candidate will apply.
But here’s the problem: the perfect candidate was usually happy where they were and wasn’t scanning the Help Wanted section.
Weeks – or months – later, a handful of “best available” (not best possible) candidates emerged. Poorly written résumés – or simple applications – were sent to the hiring manager. Desperate to fill the seat, the manager selected the best of the worst.
Fast-forward to 1981, when I began my career as a fee-based recruiter. Guess what?
The process hadn’t changed.
Personnel Departments – now renamed Human Resources – continued placing ads and hoping the right person would apply. Their primary metric of success wasn’t who they hired… it was how many résumés came in.
Proof That Quantity ≠ Quality
In 1988, one of my clients hired five IT professionals I personally sourced, interviewed, and carefully matched to the role. Each hire was successful.
In January 1989, I received a letter from their HR department informing me I was no longer allowed to submit candidates.
Why?
Because I didn’t send enough unqualified résumés.
They confirmed exactly what I’d suspected all along:
They weren’t measuring quality of hire.
They were measuring volume of résumés – and calling that success.
Welcome to the Digital File Drawer
Today’s companies may not have file cabinets overflowing with applications, but they do have applicant tracking systems (ATS). Success… right?
Now résumés are screened by keyword-matching algorithms. In many organizations, candidates must score 88% or higher on keyword alignment just to receive a human glance.
Here’s the irony:
Most job descriptions are poorly written, outdated, or inaccurate – so the system filters out strong candidates before a human ever sees them.
Sound familiar?
An online job posting is simply a newspaper ad with better distribution. The success metric hasn’t changed: number of applications received – not who gets hired and succeeds.
The Participation Medal Problem
Meanwhile, HR leaders complain they “can’t find candidates who fit the culture.”
When I ask, “What questions do you ask during reference checks?”
I often get a horrified look.
“We could get sued!”
News flash: A company can get sued for anything.
Are you going to shut down your business because of that possibility?
If reference checks are one of the best predictors of performance and cultural fit – and they are – then train your managers how to conduct them properly. A reference check is simply a different kind of interview.
Organizations that avoid this work earn the participation medal.
Go for the Gold in Talent Attraction 🥇
Today’s Talent Attraction Olympics are not won by luck, job boards, or “hoping the right person applies.” They are won by organizations that understand recruiting has changed — and act accordingly. Companies that modernize their Talent Attraction strategy consistently outperform those clinging to outdated practices. The choice is simple: evolve your approach and compete for gold or keep doing what you’ve always done and wonder why the podium is always out of reach.
EXPECT SUCCESS!
If this article sounds uncomfortably familiar – and you’re ready to move from participation medals to gold – let’s talk.
Schedule a time that works for you here:
👉 www.recruiterguy.com/talent-attraction-speaker/#calendar
Talent Attraction Works – and the process is different.
EXPECT SUCCESS!
Follow me for an ongoing series of Talent Attraction insights designed to help your organization compete – and win the GOLD Medal – every day.
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Bill Humbert’s Bio
With over 40 years of expertise as a Professional Talent Attraction Consultant and 26+ years as an Expert Career Coach, Bill Humbert is uniquely positioned to speak, author, and consult on Talent Attraction, Career Search, and Goal Setting.
Having presented to audiences on three continents (Europe, Africa, and North America), Bill’s career began in 1981 as a fee-based recruiter in Washington, D.C. In 1990, he founded his consulting business, shifting to a flat monthly fee model and successfully serving companies across diverse industries, including telecom, construction, financial services, manufacturing, management consulting, and renewable energy.
Notably, Bill recruited the Chief Operating Officer for a restaurant chain, with her tenure starting on March 1, 2023.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill demonstrated thought leadership by authoring 104 consecutive weeks of #TalentAttractionTuesday and #JobSearchFriday blogs, which are available on RecruiterGuy.com. He has a rich Article Bank with 400+ Articles.
As a career coach, he has guided hundreds of professionals toward successful career transitions over the past 26 years. He is also the author of three career search books, including the highly acclaimed EXPECT SUCCESS! The Science of the Over 50 Career Search, which received a 5-Star Review on readersfavorite.com/book-review/expect-success
