Saturday, August 23, 2008

Recruitments- The story of perfect fit.


In present day scenario of growing economies, companies are always on the lookout for talented professionals to be part of their teams. At any given point, recruitment for positions across various levels in an organisation would be on in full swing. It may be impossible to fill all the positions immediately. Therefore, it’s an imperative need to identify the critical positions that require immediate attention and action. Organisations have seen an increased focus on the development and selection of key talent.

Recruitment is not just a process for filling vacant positions. Today recruitment and redundancy are factors of utmost importance to bring about organizational growth. Keeping in mind an Organisations short term & long term goals, a fully structured and regulated recruitment strategy should be formulated for successful hiring of talented professionals. An unregulated & unstructured recruitment strategy can be a catastrophe leading to a loss of bright & prospective candidates. To attract and increase inflow of quality candidates, few steps that can be followed:

Website: A window for the world to know what’s happening in the organization. A well structured and user friendly website can be of great help. The website should be checked regularly to view fresh applications. Candidates’ expectations from prospective employers are also rising. So, we should be more innovative in attracting talent. The website should also showcase the benefits of working in the organization.

Screening of profiles: Firstly a detailed Job Description should be published. This helps in narrowing down the candidate pool and makes the process easier. We should avoid overlooking the qualification of the candidate and reason for leaving his previous company. Sometimes the recruitment process slows down significantly as we end up interviewing people who should not be applying for the position in the first place. Proper screening of the resumes received viz a viz the detailed Job Description can help us ride over this issue and in turn save time and effort.

Interviewing and selecting prospective employees: The recruitment decision in most cases is based on the outcome of a face-to-face interview. For outstation candidates, video-conferencing or conference calls can also be used. During an interview, the most widely asked questions are:

* How would you best describe yourself?
* What is your major achievement— professional and personal?
* Why would you like to leave your current organisation?
* How do you see yourself five years down the line?
* What is your career objective in the years to come?

To accomplish successful recruitment, better compliance and retention, we should watch out for the softer elements while evaluating a candidate. We should check his preference areas, what does the candidate seek in an organisation – a good work profile, compensation or fast career growth? We should also take into consideration the candidate’s team management abilities, his response either positive or negative in terms of experience in his previous company and his flow of thoughts. The body language and eye contact of the candidate is also important.

Communication: A proper and candid feedback should be provided to candidates appearing for the interview. This helps build a very strong brand image. Even if the results are negative, a proper feedback will leave a positive and long lasting impression about the organisation in the candidate’s mind which can have multiplier effect in terms building strong brand equity.


Interview Dos and Don’ts for candidates:

Dos:

o Dress appropriately for the industry. Your personal grooming and cleanliness should be impeccable.
o Be sure to find out the exact time and location of the interview.
o Arrive early: 10-minutes prior to the scheduled time.
o Maintain good eye contact during the interview.
o Sit still during the interview. Avoid fidgeting and slouching.
o Request a clarification if you don’t understand a question.
o Be thorough in your response, while being concise.

Don’ts:

o Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility for your decisions and actions.
o Don’t make negative comments about previous employers or professors.
o Don’t falsify application material or answers to interview questions.
o Don’t chew gum during the conversation.
o If you smoke, ensure that the smell of smoke is neutralized with deodorant/mouth freshener.
o Don’t allow your cell phone to ring during the interview. Do not answer a phone call during the interview.
o Don’t treat the interview casually, as if you’re are shopping around and doing the interview for practice.
o Don’t display frustration or a negative attitude in an interview.

Dos and Don’ts for interviewers:

Dos:
* Put the candidate at ease.
* Offer a glass of water/tea/coffee.
* Explain the purpose of the interview.
* Help the candidate to speak as much about him/her on relevant subjects.
* Give the candidate a chance to ask questions.

Don’ts:

* Don’t make the person wait. Try your best to be on time.
* Don’t ask irrelevant personal questions like references to marital status, disability and religious beliefs.
* Do not answer phone calls during the interview.
* Spend at least a few minutes in going through the resume of the candidate before you begin the interview.

No comments: