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?
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I do not know if the analogy would fit but it reminds me of the elaborate process of match making in some of the communities in our country.
ReplyDeleteI do not know if that process helps.
But there is a great role to be played by a good management consultant for identifying best fit between the job profile/expectations and person profile. There is no point fixing people in wrong slots though there is a belief with adequate training and passage of adequate/sufficient time donkeys could become horses.
There is a great market for an expert but the commission vendors who collect people and job profiles and trade/exchange this information to make money have ensure that people are sufficiently confused about the value an expert can bring.
Harsh Kumar
I could agree more with the fascinating article. If people walk in then how can a biodata scan or due diligence be done. Probably one of your earlier blogs on chaltha hai would be appropriate.
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