Jennifer, answering her own blog question on Hodes QTrack goes on to say, “In my opinion, I think they need to shift their mindset and get more serious about hiring candidates that have transferable skills.”

In this case she is very much preaching to the choir.  Riverside County Human Resources has formally had this mantra for at least the last dozen years, where HR recruiters are challenged to read resumes to identify transferable skills.

Jenifer advises that in a best case scenario, recruiters would identify and hire people with the exact skill set, experience or work history required.  I think everyone in the recruiting profession knows that an exact match is the exception, rather than the rule.  The more pragmatic approach we use at Riverside County is to look at the knowledge, skills or abilities needed to perform the essential duties of the job, and then see if a candidate has acquired that knowledge/ability in some way other than the typical route for this type of position.

In some cases we are looking for evidence of a behavioral competency.  For example if a position required the employee to be a very organized and detail minded individual, we would look for work history, whether or not it was in the same technical field, which required the candidate to demonstrate those competencies. The reason, of course, that we go through any sort of candidate screening process is to improve our chances of hiring an employee that will be successful in the position.

What does all of this mean to you, in your hunt for a job in the Desert?  Why, it means that when you put your resume into the County’s Job Match system, you are available for any position that needs your transferable skills; maybe even a job you wouldn’t have, otherwise, sought out. 

It also means that when we have a supervisor’s job to fill, we don’t just look at resumes of current supervisors.  Between you and me, we both know that all supervisors are not created equal.  What we also look for are the qualities needed for supervision:  ability to work and lead others in teams and similar work settings, responsibility for project management were the candidate was in-charge of seeing the work product brought to completion, etc. 

The last piece of Jenifer’s advice for employers, that I wanted to share with you, was to look at potential and aptitude rather than just the right key words on a resume.  As a potential job seeker that is actually an excellent piece of advise for you.  Rather than just trying to load up your resume with key words try offering more of the substance of your experience or training; what your duties were in a particular role; project successes and project messes, and what you learned. 

To wrap this up, let me just say that I knew Riverside County Human Resources was ahead of the recruiting competition, just not by 10-12 years.  What we at the County take for granted is just catching on in the rest of the recruiting world.