A lot has changed about our recruiting practice at Johnson & Johnson since the onset of COVID-19. To help you understand what's new—and what isn't—we sat down with two of our talent acquisition leaders: Jamil Price, HR Leader for University Relations and Events, and Krystal Brindley, HR Leader for University Recruiting. Their answers to seven commonly asked questions should put your mind at ease as you navigate our new all-virtual recruiting process.
Is Flexible Remote Work Sticking Around?
That's a question we've been fielding a lot from our candidates, and it's an ongoing conversation at Johnson & Johnson. In the interim, Krystal's answer will reassure you.
“Given the tremendous success we’ve had with remote work so far," she said, "I believe there are going to be even more opportunities for remote and flexible work arrangements at Johnson & Johnson going forward. I think we're going to allow greater flexibility around working from home generally. All across the organization at this point, I think we’re really just trying to understand what a hybrid workforce model looks like for us.”
Of course, this is also a dynamic and evolving situation, so stay tuned. We’ll be sure to let you know if our plans for remote or on-site work change any time soon.
Has What We’re Looking For in Candidates Changed?
Not in the least, according to Jamil.
In fact, the key message he wanted to share with candidates was a broader one. “I want to make sure we’re extending grace to people,” Jamil said. “I mean, look, there have been multiple pandemics at this point. It’s not even just about COVID-19. There’s the pandemic of racial injustice, for example, which we’ve all been grappling with. These things can be hugely distracting and even somewhat overwhelming. We understand and recognize that.”
Jamil continued: “Every candidate has a unique story to tell, and part of my job is to make sure they not only have the opportunity to tell it, but that they’re listened to with grace and compassion when they do.”
How Are We Measuring Success?
Expanding on Jamil’s point, Krystal shared some of the ways that key metrics for our recruiting teams have shifted as well. The takeaway? It's less about aggregate stuff like net job applications and more about diversity, equity and inclusion today.
“We want to hear unique perspectives,” she said. “We want people to talk about their values. And on our end, that means showcasing the diverse backgrounds and unusual career trajectories of the amazing people on our team.”
She added, "You should absolutely look at Our Credo to get insights into what our values look like on our end. Those are the principles that guide everything we do.”
What Does "Recruiting" Look Like at This Point?
By now, “Zoom fatigue” is a documented phenomenon, and one that we’re deeply cognizant of at Johnson & Johnson—it's the last thing we want to bequeath to our candidates. As Krystal pointed out, “Students are struggling with the challenge of trying to be everywhere, at any given moment, right now, and honestly there are times when we’ve been feeling something similar on our end. So we get it, 100%.”
What are Jamil, Krystal and team doing about it?
For one thing, they’re adopting new recruiting formats, together with other measures to deliver as much value as possible to candidates.
“We’re hosting these skill-building workshops,” Krystal said, by way of example. “The most recent one was this really engaging event focused on personal branding and skill-building for students. It was short. It was to the point. And it ended with clear next steps in terms of what students should do. That's exactly the kind of thing we’re trying to offer candidates right now.”
How Are We Empowering Candidates in All-Digital Environments?
Jamil framed the question this way: “What are we doing to empower the success of everyone, given our new all-digital workflows, all-digital onboarding processes and more?”
Answering that, he said, is pushing us right now in two different directions. “Obviously, our focus is on the candidate experience. But it has to be about managers, too. What tools, training and platforms do they need in order to be ready for this? How can we make sure they’re equipped to give everyone the best experience possible?”
Nearly 1,000 successful internships and co-ops later, he's happy to report that we're close to an answer. Jamil grinned, “You know, at this point, we’ve solved for a lot of the challenges. I think we have a much better understanding of all the nuances—the small things with onboarding, technology and everything else."
What’s the Best Channel for Career Connections?
Great question—and one that both Jamil and Krystal were quick to answer. They said, in a nutshell, the career resources center at your university should remain the go-to resource for students. It's the best place for you to find information about upcoming recruiting events hosted by Johnson & Johnson.
But Jamil added one minor caveat: “Students should lean on their career resource centers, for sure, but if you’re really interested in a company, try to take a multichannel approach. What I mean is: Try to get involved. Deepen the conversation. Engage on LinkedIn, on Twitter, on careers sites or whatever channel makes the most sense to you. I’m sure you’ll find that there are opportunities to engage, and you’ll learn really valuable information about prospective employers in the process.”
(Quick sidebar: If you’re serious about pursuing a career in functional areas like data science or market access at Johnson & Johnson, feel free to contact one of our recruiters directly. You can find relevant recruiter contact information for those career paths here and here, respectively.)
Can We Make Job Searching Easier?
Finding a career right now really shouldn’t be so hard, according to Jamil. “I feel like sometimes finding a job amounts to a full-time job in itself," he said. "We certainly don’t want it to be that way, so we’re doing everything we can to try to simplify the process.”
In that vein, here are two key takeaways from Jamil and Krystal:
- You’ll always be able to search and apply for all of the open roles we’re hiring for at Johnson & Johnson through our careers site.
- You should sign up for our Global Talent Hub, too, if you want to stay in touch with our recruiters, learn more about life and culture at Johnson & Johnson—and even receive advance notifications about jobs that might interest you in the future.