Employer Dialogues online: Welcome to the Conversation - or Babble - Society

Translated from Jannis Tsalikis' blog entry: Arbeitgeberdialoge im Web: Willkommen in der Konversations- oder Laber-Gesellschaft?

Communication today means Conversation. Those in HR avoiding such will encounter problems in Personnel Recruiting. Especially, because these and the coming new generations demand an instant feedback on their questions and applications. These rather new demands on employers ask for a radical rethinking. Human Resourcer and and Recruiter will have to be approachable and, also, answer! They are the face and voice of the company in terms of Staffing and Staffing-to-be. The (now) classic way via E-Mail or via XING, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter - Answers are expected. Companies will have to adjust to these wishes and necessarily provide the addressable representatives for its career page. This is not easy, since there are many colleagues in the personnel department who are not coming into question for this very matter. BUT, it could look as nice as Otto Group has displayed and actually does it, as you find below.

It says "We are glad to be there for you!". These tendencies is clear, and, reversible. Some companies are one step ahead. Those offer the option of a Chat right on their career site. With the example, Telekom (gloabally better known as T-mobile), we can see how this works. Homepage of the career site, bottom right corner, it says: "Chat with Telekom Career!"

With one "click!" a Chat-Window opens. Yet, the dialogue followed is rather disappointing. You will not get any insider-information from the HR Department, but a navigation help to the career site at best. A dialogue kind of looks like this: 

Jannis: Hello, Mr Welter,
Stefan: Godd Day Jannis
Stefan: What can I do for you?
Jannis: I wanted to know, if I can apply simply with a PDF or if it is always via Data-Mask only... and 
Jannis: if you have any vacant positions in the HR field  for a Professional as me. 
Jannis: (I work and live in Berlin)
Stefan: under the following Link you can find all vacant position at Deutsche Telekom. 

Uh, really?! I sure didn't know this. Does that kind of dialogue even make any sense? 

Maybe, it is because these kind of chats are handled by bigger Dialogue-Centres. But I am sure this will change and develope to a better and especially helpful level.
JT