Thursday, August 25, 2011

Walk-in?

A recent ad caught my attention as I scanned the Job Openings pages of newspapers to see which way the employment market was swerving that day. It was a medium-sized classified ad and called for people- editors. Nothing strange so far except that it stated clearly that these were senior positions. And then it invited walk-ins in working hours on the mentioned day. I re-read it because I saw a gross mismatch. They wanted senior people and all they wanted to invest was an open day when anyone without a prior appointment could walk in.

Visualise the scenario. A person aspiring to be in the senior rungs of a company would come to them without a confirmed meeting. Then they would meet him or her without knowing any prior information or discussion. And they expect to put together a cohesive, effective team this way that would deliver the goods? And who with the right amount of desire for growth would come to such an interview?

This may be an extreme case but it leads us to a pertinent area of learning: How much do prospective employers put into the hiring process? Is it a set exercise of calling the usual search and placement agencies? Is there a clear definition of the requirement and is the communication between the hiring department and HR clear and unambiguous? My HR friends say that the process is quite often set. The usual agencies are called up. Many rue that the job profile and the profile of the person to be hired is often hazy. This gets even hazier if there is a re-vamp of roles or a new role is being created. Oftentimes, not enough time is spent on fleshing out the position. If the pre-hiring process is not sound and studied enough it leads to the same dangerous status of mismatched team workers and the hullabaloo that follows.

Your thoughts?