Blog Post: Employers: Your "type of people" ARE on the internet!

All too often, recruiters and hiring managers project their own expectations onto the candidates we hire and we suffer from the Pygmalion effect as a result. That is, we expect certain behavior from certain "types of people" that "typically apply" to "this type of position." Why? Why limit ourselves (and the resulting talent pool) simply by projecting our expectations onto the job seeking public?

Truth be told, this mindset is sooooo 1990's. In the early days of Internet employment websites, it could probably be said that the most common job seeker online was white-collar, higher-income, or IT specific. The main reasons for this were the cost of computers and Internet service. But, even back then CNN reported that the fastest growing segment of Internet users were lower-income ones. Today, even laptop computers can cost as little as $500, and Internet service costs as little as $6.99!

Add to this the fact that just about every public library in the U.S. (definitely those here in Houston) has added free Internet access, and you have the perfect recipe for job seeker diversification. What do I mean by "job seeker diversification?" Glad you asked.

Today's Internet job seeker is not defined by any pigeon-hole classification. The online job seeker of today is as diverse as our great city and country! The U.S. is number 1 in terms of Internet usage in the World (total population) and #2 in terms of percentage of population using the net. 1 in 5 Americans subscribe to broadband Internet services (as of June 2007)- a fact that follows the popularity of video and online gaming.

With nearly 70% of the United States directly connected to the Internet, why would an employer feel like "their people" aren't on the net? Allow me to expand a little further.

Usually when I hear "my type of people are not on the Internet," one of two main subtexts emerges:

1. "The people I hire are not sophisticated enough / don't own computers." or
2. "The people I hire don't even speak English."

I'll speak to each of these separately. For any recruiter or hiring manager to pre-judge the level of "sophistication" of a job seeker based on the type of work/trade/skill/job they do is just silly. My father is a 61 year old pipe fitter / welder who uses the Internet daily for everything from shopping for coins for his collection to keeping in touch with family. My mother is a 57 year-old manufacturing worker who worked for Motorola for 30 years before taking early retirement. She then used the Internet to find her next job - bottling Gatorade for the Pepsi Bottling Group. (Oddly, her name is Shirley....And she works in a bottling plant...funny...) Neither of my parents fit the "Internet job seeker" stereotype that has somehow propagated its way through the collective minds of recruiting professionals.

Let me take it another step for you: Both of my brothers are truck drivers. One of them operates an online comic book store in his spare time. The other helps friends design websites. That's right: truck drivers.

My sister was a $7 an hour teacher's aide drawing food stamps and WIC. She could not afford a computer or Internet service, but she borrowed mine, my brothers', my parents', and her friends' connections all the time. In fact, she met her husband online - but that's another blog. :)

The point is, simply, don't label people just because you think something is true.

To those who throw point 2 at me I ask you this question: what if they could? What if you could hire people that spoke English and had at least basic computer skills? Wouldn't that benefit the long-term prospects of your business? I think it would for certain!

The bottom line is this: Regardless of what positions you hire for, if the average age of your potential employees is 35 or younger (and I'll bet it is), these people have essentially grown up around computers and pretty much have never known a world without the Internet.

Why would anyone eliminate such a huge portion of their potential applicant pool based on flawed  personal bias or stereotypes? I have no idea.

I'll leave you with this: If you think "your people" aren't on the Internet, I challenge you to open your mind and take a look at some of the jobs on Jobing.com, then reconsider who "your people" might be. We've got everything from carpet cleaning technicians and CNC machinists to hotel maintenance engineers and housekeepers for property management companies. And these are just a few quick examples I pulled up to include in this blog.

On balance, recruiting professionals do a fabulous job of shelving their personal bias.  There are those long-held beliefs, however, that sometimes seep into our subconscious and affect our conscious actions.  Thanks again for making Jobing.com the #1 local employment site in Houston - and a site that serves the ENTIRE Jobing Community.