Meetup-mashup: the new hiring.

I agree; hiring is broken. Hiring has been broken for a long time. I have tried working around it, in various past-lives. You’re right — it’s because there has emerged the need for the right people; period — not a peg-in-hole match to a job description based on a CV with no color commentary and cheesy old-school cover letter.

With the focus on People, hiring should take it to the people. What about a hiring company (or jointly with others) holding mini-hiring “salons”, like Meetups? The hiring company can “advertise” itself (because they are really the ones in need of the right fit, right; the people hold the power), with links, and commentary, on a Meetup page. Then set up multiple Meetups, where interested persons can attend and mingle with personnel from the company; hiring is not the sole domain of HR anymore (hasn’t been for a long time, in my experience).

Look at it as a pre-interview. If there’s a mutual fit, a hiring manager and an interested party can take it to the next step — to the office, or what have you. It’s the initial f2f meet that is missing from current interview scenarios, and it’s that very meet that tells the story. We need to get people in front of opportunities, literally, sooner.