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Joseph b. Fuller
Fuller, the lead author of the research on which the article was written, is an academic advisor and executive advisor, co-founder of the Monitor Group, now known as Monitor Deloitte. He is a Lecturer in Management at Harvard Business School, has published research on dividend policy, U.S. income inequality and skills gap
This phenomenon has earned the nickname the Great Resignation: Nearly 20 million Americans left their jobs in 2021, and the trend is spreading to Western Europe, Asia and beyond. And yet, even when employers struggle to fill vacancies, millions of talented candidates struggle just to be taken into account. Why does this gap exist, and how can companies bridge it?
A study by Harvard Business School and global consulting firm Accenture finds a major reason for the gap: the almost everywhere use of automated recruitment platforms, which systematically filter out large numbers of job seekers who may be suitable for the job. Candidates with unconventional backgrounds, such as those dining with family members, new immigrants and immigrants, released prisoners and people with physical or mental disabilities are especially “hidden” from potential employers. The study’s authors estimate that there are more than 27 million “hidden” workers in the U.S. alone. “These are people who want to work,” says Prof. Joseph B. Fuller of Harvard, and co-author of the study. Remain completely out of the job market.
Researchers came to these conclusions after surveying 8,720 “hidden” workers and 2,275 executives in the U.S., UK and Germany in 2020. The advent of online recruitment in the 1990s assured employers access to a wider range of candidates than traditional recruitment methods offered. But the result was an unmanageable flood.At the beginning of the second decade of the millennium, each job yielded an average of 120 candidates, and the numbers continued to rise over time.Employers turned to tracking and recruiting candidates to help screen, usually using filters designed to capture those watches most fully. The job.and indeed they sifted: by 2020, employers typically interviewed four to six candidates for each position, out of an average pool of 250.
Apply for 25 jobs without response
Each of the candidates nominated could be a highly productive employee, the researchers argue, even in senior positions. An algorithm may eliminate candidates without an academic degree, with a criminal record or employment gap, or those who lack just one of several very specific skills, but “none of these are a particularly good standard for measuring talent, work ethic and efficiency,” says Manjari Raman, partner For writing the study. The hidden employees she and her colleagues surveyed have applied for an average of 25 jobs each in the past five years, usually without a single response to their application. “Is it any wonder they end up giving up?” She asks.
According to Fuller, recruiting from previously untapped talent databases is a big task but within reach. “Companies are regularly making extraordinary efforts to renew their commercial supply chains, in response to changes in market conditions,” the researchers note. “But few have expanded the basic principles of supply chain management – from collecting data on supplier quality control to addressing ongoing issues, to recruiting talent.”
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The potential rewards of this action are evident. Surveys have shown that companies that deliberately look for hidden employees are 36% less likely than others to experience a shortage of talent and skills. Moreover, those same employees outperform their peers in six key criteria: attitude and work ethic, productivity, quality of work, involvement, presence and innovation. Because they are so eager to work, they are less likely to resign, so turnover-related costs may go down. And because many of them are women or from population groups with under-representation, employing these workers can bring a company closer to its goals of inclusion, diversity and equality.
Change job settings
Many large companies have begun to think broadly about how and who they recruit. IBM has eliminated academic degree requirements for many positions, and JPMorgan Chase no longer asks if candidates have a criminal record. CVS Health recruits people on the autistic continuum as store shelves. The fast-food chain Hot Chicken Takeover employs people in its kitchens to recover from addictions, and automakers Volkswagen, Daimler and Porsche have recruited refugees to work on their production lines.
The research team offers some recommendations to employers:
■ Change the metrics. Companies need to eliminate short-term metrics for successful employment, such as cost and time to fill vacancies, in favor of long-term metrics, such as how long it takes new employees to get into pace, how long they stay and promotion rates. This is harder than it sounds, Fuller says, because many companies have eliminated recruitment and operations departments and are not used to sharing performance management data and other issues.
■ Analyze data and rewrite job descriptions. Employers need to perform a cross-sectional data analysis to determine what are the characteristics necessary for long-term success in each position. They should rewrite job descriptions accordingly, and especially remove unnecessary skills that can be learned while working. In all cases, job listings should be as inclusive as possible. That is, the publication of deterrent jargon, exaggerated superlatives such as “world-class” and “expert” (which have been proven to deter women and minorities) and gender-biased language that appeals to men (no more ads looking for “rock stars” or “ninjas”).
■ Focus on getting to know the new role. Employers of covert workers should be prepared for slightly higher absorption costs, as the accepted approach that “one measure is right for everyone” is often not right for those workers who have their own needs, benefits and experience gaps.
“The methods that help pave the way for hidden workers are not unusually expensive,” the researchers conclude. “These are reasonable methods that help attract any employee.” By improving practices, they argue, companies will be able to attract all types of talent quickly and wisely.
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