Why it’s important?
Hiring the right people who are aligned with our values and long term business goals has been key to unlocking the potential of Gandhar. While the emphasis nowadays is on a whole array of new technologies, processes and equipment, it is the people in the organisation who drive these and ultimately determine your success. As the organisation grows it becomes more critical to focus on the hiring process and bring in professionals with similar values and work ethics. The consequences for letting your talent management standards drop is serious, not the least of which are the financial implications of making a bad hiring decision that according to reports can be as high as three times the cost-to-company because of various training, on boarding, off boarding and re-hiring expenses.
Where do organisations go wrong?
It is obvious that hiring the wrong candidate is not intentionally on the agenda of any recruiter but companies often end up offering the job to such candidates. It is worthwhile to take a step back and understand why this is happening. Companies that outsource the recruitment function often face this conundrum. External recruiters don’t know the dynamics and personalities within your organisation and most likely can’t read your mind on the type of person you would consider the ideal hire. It takes time to bring them to your wave length. An internal recruiter may take more time and even money to fill the position but can attract many potential candidates till you find the right candidate enabling you to make the decision correctly at the first shot instead of on repeated attempts. Patience is a difficult principle to live by especially when there’s an urgent need but my advice would be to wait till the perfect match finds you!
How can you bring on the best people for your company?
By not applying the unconscious bias. This is a common habit seen in most recruiters who go with the tried and tested ‘same type of people’ because it’s worked in the past and involves fewer risks for the recruiter. However, in today’s workplace, diversity and inclusion add to the richness of culture, experience, and capability of the organisation and it is vital for businesses looking to grow comprehensively and authentically to not go for a cookie cutter approach in recruiting.
Mapping talent to source the right people. Talent mapping is a technique that helps you build a sourcing strategy and goes a step beyond simply identifying and profiling potential candidates to understanding the internal and external competitive landscape. This exercise would include getting insights on:
- Who your competitors are
- What their employees look like
- Where do they hire from
By partaking in talent mapping, a company can build a very specific persona of the ideal candidate to fulfil the requirements of the role. This is not an easy task, as you need to continuously monitor, check, and validate what is most important.
Casting your net wide. Get a wide and varied selection of candidates to choose from. Look for a mix of candidates and talk to as many as possible within the time permitted. It’s not just the skills and experience but the personality of the candidate that will determine how successful they will be in your environment.
Finding a strong culture fit. Employees who are a good culture fit tend to experience greater job satisfaction and bring more to the table. A highly qualified candidate who does not feel connected to the values of your organisation or naturally fits in will not be serving themselves or the organisation well.
Organising an impactful induction programme. Lastly, even though you want your new employees to hit the ground running, you can’t assume that they will know what you expect of them. Help new hires feel welcome and help them integrate into the workplace with the right induction programme. Ongoing communication and feedback sessions should be extended in a structured manner for as long as it takes the new joiner to get up to speed on all the requirements of the role.
These are some pointers that have helped us at Gandhar. Needless to say with regards to our ace recruits, luck, timing, and destiny have equally been in silent connivance with us.