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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