And so to... a candidate experience

Life is full of interesting experiences right?  Highs and Lows?  Good things and bad things?  Awesome things and things that, well, frankly suck!,  and, as we age, albeit reluctantly, we learn to accept that one will usually follow the other, but in the final analysis we hope to find the overall experience has been more of the good, the high, and the awesome than the alternatives.

However, currently it seems my choices are taking me to more of the low places than the high. Hmmm, perhaps hindsight is a wonderful thing, indeed, it actually is, and the premise that we learn from our experiences isn't always true, more often than not I fear that we are move pavlovs dogs than we might like to think - or at least that 'eccentric' me likes to think.

The candidate experience, the classic example of human beings repeating the same thing over and over, and yet oddly, and I am entirely very guilty of this myself, expecting a different outcome.  Job Boards, bang bang bang, off goes that Cv and the standard (or perhaps customised just to make the recruitment consultants job that much easier) cover letter.... and back comes either silence, or the now ubiquitous 'thank you but other candidates more closely met our requirements' email.

As companies, and as recruiter agencies, something much be done.  The experience isn't pleasant for anyone, candidates grow disillusioned, and the recruiters manning (personing) the incoming tide of applications just grows weary.

I've been pondering an idea, an idea that takes the all too common dating site and slightly tweaks it, I mean, dating, thats never really fun, you never really know if it will work out until well after you're sharing a fridge, a wardrobe, and get to the point where you can use the toilet while the other person is in the shower.... soooooo

Job Boards, and linkedIn profiles, why don't we try something new.....here's where my brainwave comes in.... instead of the status quo.... lets create profiles that we then have former bosses, former friends, current bosses and current friends review, you know, pick your skills and abilities then ask others to secretly rank you on a scale (i know, its all abit yuk I hear you say).... but, if you then take that, and ask it to search out job thats match the rankings you have got, does that not imply or suggest it is likely it will match you with jobs you can do, that are more likely to be the right fit.  Of course, the flip side of the coin in, the job needs to be 'ranked' as well, thats where the manager comes in, the former holder of the position, the peer group and perhaps even the client group.....

So, what do you think, it is just one of my 'eccentric' random ideas, that I might well patent because who knows maybe it makes sense, maybe it would make the candidate experience a better one, it may well mean recruitment people can really actually tell if the person is a match rather than assuming from a self written and all too often underplayed resume.... so, would that create a better experience for all?