Manage
HR
It
is the quality and the standard of the human resource recruited
that plays a key roll in differentiating between a successful
organisations and a "run of mill" organisation . In
this section, we will discuss the issues relating to this valuable
resource through a series of articles. And yes, we are
open to contributions from masters of this Art ... Are you one?
For
success in corporate matchmaking
Everyone
agrees that careful hiring is critical to the future success
of an organisation. But it's surprising that organisations probably
spend more time in selecting the right computer than in selecting
the right candidate. This could be because they have better
specifications for selecting the former.
Recruitment
is all about finding the 'best fit' between job requirements
on one hand, and the candidate on the other. However, seldom
does this happen because our criteria for selection are more
often than not, misguided.
It's
time we challenged the parameters upon which selections have
been based so far. The typical Indian is fascinated with pedigree
(whether in the matrimonial market or in the job market!) Recruiters
believe in 'buying a branded product from a reputed supermarket'.
Never
mind whether the brand can deliver in your context or not. The
current value of a person surfaces only after it's too late
to do anything. Then the fire and hire process goes on all over
again at great cost to the company.
Is there something the Indian recruiter is missing out on? How
is his American counterpart able to hire smart? We tend to focus
on an applicant's qualifications, past experience, past employer,
position held and so on. We make many wrong assumptions from
the data in his CV and end up reading either too much or too
little between the lines. Again, when it comes to the interview
(typically lasting 45minutes), we spend 80% of that time focusing
exclusively on the applicant's past history. No wonder that
we miss out on the most crucial aspect, i.e. what can the applicant
do for you today.
In a world driven by hard results, we, as recruiters need to
put our money into smarter recruitment strategies. We need to
question the validity of a selection process that makes decisions
based on criteria other than actual competence on the job. There
has to be a definite shift in the recruiter's mindset from using
pedigree based test criteria to using skill based test criteria.
There are certain things we need to do.
•
We
need to question the assumption that pedigree sells and delivers.
Good pedigree doesn't necessarily indicate competence.
•
We
need to recognise the difference between 'can do' and 'will
do'. We cannot predict what people will do in our specific environment,
even though they may have the ability to do it. We need to assess
both.
•
We
need to hire strictly on the basis of skills that are contextual
now.
•
We
need to develop competency models by identifying the key core
competencies required for success within our organisation and
for the specific position we're looking at. We then need to
hire people who possess these key competencies. L'Oreal Hair
Care, New York (among others), found that sales people hired
using a competency-based selection method consistently outperformed
those hired using traditional interviewing techniques.
•
Finally, we need to remember that we cannot hire the best unless
we know specifically what we're looking for and are able to
measure it accurately.
•
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