The need to create an emotional bond in the recruitment process is becoming a crucial factor in the success of filling vacancies.
Both the organisation and the candidate need to feel that ‘bond’ to move on from the initial stages of the recruitment process.
What one ‘feels’ about a candidate and what the candidate ‘feels’ about the organisation is becoming more important than what they have done or ‘do’. This is particularly important to realise that people are being hired much more, not because of what they have done, but what they can do, or have the capability to do.
Future potential is being seen as much more important than past experience.
Recently there has also been a realisation that ‘storytelling’ aids the creation of this ‘emotional bond’ both ways; hearing stories about the organisation by the candidate as well as hearing about ‘crucible’ moments in a candidate’s life. These stories carry a lot of weight in helping what people feel is the right ‘fit’. How people and organisations talk about what is important to them and what is meaningful.
In both cases the emotional bond has to evolve by recognising what is at its core – its purpose – and working on innovating from it.
This emphasis on ‘purpose’ has had the effect within organisations to increase the attention on corporate culture as an ‘asset’ that can’t be ignored.
Fundamental to corporate culture are its values. It is these values that act as the glue between customers and employees and create the emotional bond.
The values are important not only in the creation of a meaningful connection between an organisation and a customer or employee today, but it also gives the brand greater longevity. If we look at Anita Roddick’s Body shop created in 1976 with the purpose of ‘living in a better world’ by 2004 it had almost 2000 shops worldwide whilst mixing business with a devotion to social causes.
It has been a painfully slow process for the world of business to realise how profitable working sympathetically and sustainably can be, and similarly within recruitment, the processes still have not changed to meet the new world demands where a CV is becoming redundant.
We maintain, at Future Resume, that the CV does not give the information to help create this initial bond, or show what a candidate is capable of in terms of the future.
We have simply created a vehicle that shows the importance of identifying a person’s values and talents along with their aspirations and their ‘stories’, giving much more clarity to a hiring manager about who the candidate is, and can be.