April 26, 2024

Richardson Column in The Free Lance-Star

UMW College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson

UMW College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson

College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson’s column in The Free Lance-Star asks managers to consider their organization’s application process. Read APPLY TO YOUR ORGANIZATION.

MANY MANAGERS complain they cannot recruit good people. Perhaps the good people don’t want to work for your organization and don’t apply, and it might not be for the reason you think.

Have you considered lately how hard it is to apply for a position in your workplace? I’m talking about the application process.

The majority of organizations today ask candidates to apply via a website. The applicant is required to upload their résumé, which is a reasonable request. But then they’re asked to essentially replicate the résumé in boxes, including information such as why they left the employer and their ending salary. If you’re a person of a certain age who has held at least 3–5 jobs, it can take several hours to populate the document with information that is most likely on your résumé. Why?

Several years ago, I was on a conference call with human resources directors from a variety of organizations and we discussed this very issue. Read more.

Also read Richardson’s other recent columns, WE LEARN FROM FAILURE, NEVER LET ‘EVERYONE’ DRIVE YOUR DECISION and THE POWER OF ENCOURAGEMENT.