Garbage in, garbage out. I learned this term when I was at university years ago attending Computer Science module classes.
Poor quality input will produce faulty output. It’s a great expression which can be applied to other spaces, like recruiting. Here are four examples of job searching garbage in/out from different perspectives.
To those hiring:
1/ A job description included ‘looking for a seasoned Product Manager’, what the heck does that mean? We’re not cooking a recipe here! You really shouldn’t be complaining when you get applicants with barely any experience and skills.
2/ ‘We encourage everyone to apply’. And then you reject someone because they need a work visa and the company cannot sponsor them because you weren’t upfront with that information.
To those applying:
3/ A CV that is 4 pages long with more text than whitespace. Why do that to yourself and others?! Are you trying to get rejected on purpose so you can brag to your friends that you applied to 300 jobs but only got 2 replies?
4/ Not reading instructions. ‘Email us your CV with a covering letter with why you want to join us.’ and then the candidate just emails in their CV with no other details.
We don’t need to do anything fancy. Just make the conscious effort of changing our behaviour. Putting more thought in at the start will save a lot of disappointment and wasted time for both parties resulting in better outcome for all involved; better matching and less stress. Win-Win!
