Breaking the Mould - Changing Mindsets

We’re all adapting to change, let's make sure we adapt the right way

Personalities. It makes up who we are. So really speaking, how do WE play into the recruitment process?

The recruitment roadmap has many twists and turns and can be a lengthy, drawn-out process. Hiring is always coupled with a plethora of questions and what-if's that are usually only answered in hindsight.

Let’s start by laying out the process. Majority of large corporations and even SMEs follow a standard hiring pipeline;

Step 1: Human resources professionals, along with the hiring managers conduct a thorough job analysis to identify what responsibilities are required.

Step 2: They then rely on HR’s knowledge of the market rate and consult with the finance department on what can the company offer to attract such talent.

Step 3: Ads are sent out anywhere possible, and the applicants starts to flock in.

Step 4: Then we get to the fun part, next is the matter of sifting through the candidates. (1) Skill evaluations, maybe (2) psychometric tests, followed by (3) long interviews to learn more about them as people are all part of the process, and then finally, the (4) reference and background checks.

The current situation:

The HR pipeline is so mature and set, that without a valid reason to disrupt the status quo, they're hard to change. Most recruiters have become so accustomed to the pipeline that they could do it in their sleep.

Our Surveys find that, while some try to optimise, leaders in Human Resources are actually easily able to change the system, very few actually do, as the current stability has led to habits being cemented, making it hard to shake the resolve and change the intention behind hiring.

Hiring numbers instead of viewing new hires as investments for the future has become a default baseline.

Jason Furman, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, USA had a lot to say about the current issues in the job market:

“We have job openings at record levels. If you look at April, it appears that there were about 1.1 unemployed workers for every job opening ... So, the hope over the next coming months as the economy continues to reopen, as the vaccines succeed and work their magic, [is] that we’re going to see a big increase in labor supply and we’ll see a big increase in labor demand and those will be well matched. That’s the Goldilocks scenario. ...”

Tldr;

with both supply and demand issues in the work force, that puts organizations in a dilemma. Hire for the short term and pay higher salaries or higher for the long term and pay slightly lower wages?

So what now?

Everyone here knows we’re changing to meet the ‘new-normal’ it's all we hear everywhere we go. BUT, I say, while we’re changing, let's make sure we do it with the right end goal in mind. Beyond adapting to the situation shoved in front of us.

Let’s let in the more qualitative criteria as we break this norm. Changing mindsets can only happen if we move beyond the quantitative grades, and years of experience.

Granted each individual company has planned goals to achieve from each hire so there will never be a 'one-size-fits-all' solution. Recruiting based on numbers alone will always play a part. For a company to progress faster however, these hires must be coupled with personnel who have strong personalities.