Hiring is not my job


Like most Indians I studied engineering and then decided what I wanted to do. Not a big surprise that I am doing a people oriented role that focuses heavily on hiring the right talent. This is a favorite topic among all leaders and business managers in most organizations today. If only I had the right person to do this role, our business would improve, profits would double and so on. Often, the onus is on a recruiter(I am using this as a general term) to find you that stellar person who will solve all your problems. What ensues is a painful process with multiple follow-ups , rejections, delays and finally zeroing in on someone in a hurry because precious time was wasted in the process. Blame game ensues and finally someone is identified for the role and just to realize he/she quits in 8 months or thereabouts. Where did this go wrong? How will you fix this? The answer is no rocket science. From my experience, here’s a quick checklist that is almost a basic requirement if you don’t want to hire the wrong person for the job. It’s simple but not easy.

Role Profile
Simple and states what you want. You can’t write, then record a voice message. Leave the soft skills/culture/integrity out of this equation and assume it’s a given. Please articulate this well. Usually what a recruiter gets is “ A technically sound & smart individual, team player, good communication skills and about 5-6 years of experience”. Isn’t half the target audience just this?  If it makes it easier do a Must have/ Good to have list and ensure the recruiter checks all the must have’s before you interview. It is ok to share examples /profiles you have come across as reference if it will get the job done faster. This does sound too basic but unless you take the time to call this out, that elusive person will never be found. Don’t complicate and waste time writing elaborate role profiles. Keep it simple.

Interview Scheduling/ Experience: Be prepared
As exaggerated as it sounds, the professional way in handling an interview is almost a game changer. I have seen this work, when you take the time out in a week to spend the time for this interview(s). Ideally talking to more than three candidates at a stretch on a given day (there are exceptions to this rule) proves to be tiresome and biases will set in. It really helps when you go prepared by glancing through the CV and having few questions in your mind. Please take notes and write it while you interview. As time goes on, am sure we all tend to forget what we liked/did not like in a discussion. This is again not easy when you have a packed day. Don’t do an interview when you can’t focus and have too many things on your plate. If you take the interview, make it count. Time is precious after all for both you and the candidate getting interviewed.

Feedback
Again while you review CV’s or give post interview feedback, please never say” Rejected” or “ Good to hire. Will be a fit”. As much as it conveys what your decision is, it does not help in fine tuning the search. You don’t want to write, tell the recruiter the observations. Be innovative about it or send a picture of the CV with your comments but generic feedback is no feedback. While most organizations require excessive documentation of feedback, what is filled is inversely proportional to what is required.

Network
Most often, the best person for the role is someone who comes in through employee referral. Have you asked your team to refer? Have you spoken to your immediate networks on getting in resumes for you? Just ask around and mostly you will find someone who fits the bill. This may not be the case always and there are many times certain skills that are hard to find, but the answer is very much within your network. Expand the reach and am sure you will find the person. Incentivize  and be smart about it and you will see the benefits.

Hiring is not my job
This is such a common statement that most recruiters hear. Directly maybe, but unless you invest in this process, you will not find the right person and that means you may not grow or move on to additional responsibilities. Be smart about it and use this opportunity to break out from your monotonous job and learn from the outside. Market insights you can gather from an interview will be quite enlightening and definitely an eye opener.




Image result for dilbert interview cartoon

Picture Courtesy: dilbert.com


I am sure you read this and went “ Very easy and I know this all”. Yes of course you do, but do you follow it? Some of the best hires I have personally managed is when there was  a 4 out of 5 at least on the checklist above.  Trust me , it was not easy and took a lot of discipline to get there. Give it a try and let me know.

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