By No rocket science here, Freud and other psychologists came up with personality theories that extolled the impact of personality traits on the person’s behavior. Unfortunately we rarely take individual differences into consideration when we deal with people in any facet of life. Nowhere is this more important than at the hiring office of large organizations. Unfortunately due to the trend of hiring novices as HR recruiters, candidates are not given careful analysis. For this organizations need seasoned employees preferably with a psychology degree. I do not know whether to feel amused or appalled when I see ads that ask for HR recruiters with one to two years of experience. A mistake at the very beginning!
Recruiters are the first interface of the organization with the talent pool. If these people are not trained well, good candidates might decide never to come back. Or worse still good confident candidates can be passed off as arrogant and never called back. If the candidate cannot make it at the time set for the interview the immediate reaction will be “well if they can’t make time for the interview, they do not think it is important enough. The first interactions are very crucial both ways. I have seen young recruiters acting like big bosses and being downright rude to candidates, no matter what the seniority level of the interviewee. Sometimes even omitting the mandatory greeting. “Please and Thank you” are alien to their vocabulary.
Remember that these youngsters themselves are in need of training in the culture of the organization and basic courtesies which unfortunately are in short supply. Youngsters need to be oriented in the culture and business of the organization for a couple of years before they front end the organization. They need to shadow master recruiters before they are put on the initial interview schedule. In the absence of this, many undesirable interactions take place- indirect sexual harassment of either a candidate or interviewer. I heard a young recruiter boast “I prolonged this girls interview because she was so cute” Or candidates complimenting interviewers thinking that will get them on their good side. I know a person who was called for a couple of interviews and was told at both that there was a mistake. One might dismiss these mistakes as insignificant, however, impressions about the organizations efficiency might be at stake. Good candidates will weigh the organization just as the organization gauges their prowess. So don’t make the blunder of putting a young employee on the job simply because seniors have no time or it is a boring job. I strongly recommend refreshing their psychological theory about how and why people behave as they do. First impressions can be lasting impressions.
The trend of outsourcing recruitment has caught on very quickly. I wonder if any organization has stopped to check the quality of their hires after a couple of years of outsourcing. The disconnect here is with the culture of the organization. HR contracting agencies rarely hire with an eye on the fit with culture. Senior executives who conduct final interviews might not have this element on their check list. So cultural fit slips between the cracks. This can be avoided by having a designated recruiting team that will interface constantly with the contractor to ensure that certain behavioral aspects are taken care of during the entire process. If you have the right people on the team, even Everest is a small hill.
Peopleconnect 