Recruitment and Organisational Success
Having recently been through the promotion process and then recruited a member of staff I have seen both sides of the recruitment process. It was not painless in either case and I have learned to value the merits of a disciplined approach. Working in a small office each member of staff plays a critical role not only to the success of our operation but to maintaining the balance of the team. I am very fortunate in having a team who have all been in the team for many years - this is against the trend and a testament to a strong emphasis on team working. So my internal promtion and the new member to the team both had a critical impact on the whole team.
Having good staff are what makes a good organisation. A strong team demonstrates drive, energy and a will to succeed, often in difficult conditions. And in so doing a without such a team one cannot have a strong, healthy vibrant operation. Irrespective of labour market conditions (viz. high or low labour supply) it is likely to be difficult to fill a vacancy. Finding the right kind of staff can be "hit and miss" and not always a clear outcome until the person is well and truly installed in the role. But this can have a large - and potentially negative - impact on the operations. So the "hit and miss" element of recruitment needs to be minimised. In my promotion I was put through a Dutch system of recruitment. Middle and senior managers in the Netherlands are typically sent to an assessment centre for a full day and tested with various psychometric tools and roles plays plus in my case an interview with a psychologist. My assessment told me traits about myself that I was not wholly clear about and therefore very useful.
Overall, I cannot see how so much important information can be gained from a typical job interview nor some of the more elementary tests used in the UK.
On the issue of recruiting to my team I have little in the way of flexibility. Whilst I agree that the recruitment process is more than filling a vacancy - it is part of the marketing of our office to all members of the public (be they clients, customers or suppliers) it is a small team and internal business politics play a large role in whether or not I have an extra team member and what that person does. Having an extra sales person to strengthen this part of the operation may be part of my strategy but Head Office will always take a wider view. But the point about marketing is important as in a recent case where a applicant was unsuccessful in gaining employment with my team ended up with a supplier.
So to ensure that an applicant gains a realistic view of the operation and culture they would be required to be a part of, I involve all my team in the recruitment process. This ensures consensus and that I am not imposing an outsider on them.
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