As soon as someone decided marketing could be inbound and automated, you had to know there was trouble brewing. Sure enough. The fictionalization of everything has now been extended to People Services (formerly Human Resources or HR).
Here’s how I know that’s true: “Candidate Personas: The What, Why, and How“. And from that mind-bending missive, I offer this excerpt:
A buyer persona is defined as “a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers” … So, how can this marketing strategy be applied to successfully recruit and hire talent into an organization?
At first, I wondered why on God’s green earth we’d want semi-fictional representations of our ideal employment candidates. Then I realized I was a prisoner of old habits — of pointless, longing reminiscing about the old days when dinosaurs like me roamed the earth, when we used to think the HR glass was half empty if a candidate was a semi-factual representation. But I quickly realized times have changed.
Once I did — and because I was determined to capitalize on every opportunity available to my semi-fictional self — I got with the program and created a persona, one that would show my semi-factual self in its most favorable light. After all, why let the truth stand in the way of a good story? I did embellish a few things but not too many. My persona hasn’t lost complete sight of its standards.
If you’re curious, you can download the documentation of my semi-fictional persona here. If you’re not, I’ll be sure to update my LinkedIn profile as soon as some company’s People Services System finds my semi-fictional self online and its talent-relationship-marketing software hires my persona. I just hope it gets paid well.
TRIGGER WARNING: The following analytical tip has nothing to do with Big Data, Little Data, the analysis of any such data, or the pseudo-scientists who might purport to conduct any such analysis on any such data. And while it’s at it, the following analytical tip has nothing to do with innovation or disruption.
FREE ANALYTICAL TIP: If you want to know if the authors of any missives on any subjects believe those subjects have any more credence, substance, or permanence than a fart in a hurricane, look for the term, bandwagon. To wit:
Here are some ways to start jumping on the candidate persona bandwagon.
I feel the same way about jumping on bandwagons as I do about buying the first iteration of anything. (See “Pinto, Ford“) To paraphrase Woody Allen, I don’t mind stuff blowing up. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
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Image by geralt, courtesy of pixabay.com.