The job of hiring has never been an easy task.

Records show that officials over the years have been frustrated by results of their efforts because only few of the new hires performed up to their expectations. Using interviews and others check and tests do not ensure success of new hire. Today s economy has made the task of hiring more daunting as it has increased the demand for talented senior executives. With growing prevalence of teams, free agents, and networking, finding the right person to fill a job has become more complex. It is impossible to turn hiring into a science. The process is undermined by ten mistakes or hiring tape as these has been called in article. A systematic approach greatly improves the chances of hiring the right person but it requires time and discipline.

The Art of Hitting a Moving Target:

The two examples show the challenges of hiring in the new economy. First is about Franco Bernabe who was hired to run Telecom Italia and second is about a telecom company based in United States which was looking for a CEO for its new division. In the first case Bernabe has to step down because his company became the target of a hostile takeover and his expertise at leading cultural change did not work out because it was not enough. In second case newly hired CEO lasted for less than a year because he lacked two skills required for the job: negotiation and cross cultural sensitivity. In today s business environment, success depends on competencies that are intangible and rarely found on a person s resume, such as flexibility and cross cultural literacy. When economy moved at a breakneck pace, mistakes could be more easily absorbed but today, global competition, the capital markets, and the news media make a senior executive s performance a high profile affair which makes it hard to make an error let alone try to recover from one.

The ten hiring mistakes

There are ten common hiring traps that recruiters fall into. Successfully hiring a right executive can be accomplished if these pitfalls are avoided. The reactive approach : Companies make the mistake of hiring a person as a replacement who has similar qualities as the departing person but not the same weakness. Rather than benchmarking against the predecessor the recruiters should look at the job requirements and then hire the person. Unrealistic specifications : Often the recruiting team comes up with detailed job specifications and lengthy list of requirements that the new recruit should have. This cuts down the pool size from which to choose the candidate and often best candidates are left out because they fail to meet certain myopic requirements. Evaluating people in absolute terms : The selection team should evaluate the candidate s qualities in the context of the company and the job position being offered. Somebody may be very creative but it should be examined as to whether he will be able to use this skill in the job position which is being offered. Accepting people at face value : In a recruitment process the candidates want to show themselves in the best light. To do so they state only half truths about themselves. Thus the selection team should delve deeper and try to figure out the compete truth. Thus it may be useful to be cynical and sceptical.

Blind faith in references : Just as recruiters believe in the words of candidates they also believe in the references that they produce. The recruiters often accept these references as such because, first they don t have so much time to explore the accuracy of the references and second because there is no other way to know about the candidate past. Just like me bias : the most common judgement error that recruiters make is to hire people with backgrounds similar to their own. Thus the opportunity to hire someone with a different perspective and background is lost. Delegation gaffes : Though most top executives make the final decision of hiring themselves they delegate the remaining process to their subordinates who often don t have complete understanding of the job requirement and lack the same perspective as the top management. Unstructured interviews : Hiring the right person requires preparedness on the part of the interviewer. He should be ready with a set of questions on the competencies that are required for the job. Unstructured interview are more of chitchats which often result in rejecting highly suitable candidates who lack this ability. Ignoring emotional Intelligence : Most companies look for candidate s hard data like education, IQ, Job History and rarely look at the soft data like Emotional Intelligence. Many research found that unsuccessful managers mostly lacked in Emotional Intelligence competencies. Hence, it is advisable that the companies take emotional and social competencies into consideration while hiring. Political Pressures : People are likely to hire their friends or based on their superior s recommendations. This may happen in the anticipation that they get an ally with superiors at work place. During this process, they may hire weak people to improve their chance of going ahead in the organization. In the long run, this will have a devastating effect on the company s performance. Politics in hiring acts like a pool of quicksand that recruiters generally do. Getting Hiring Right Executives must know what the pitfalls are, and how to side-step them to avoid the ten hiring traps. A systematic process is required to follow for the same. Investing in the problem definition describes what a company should do before it even starts looking at the candidates. Doing the homework describes the practices that make the evaluation process more insightful and ultimately more reliable. Problem Definition phase: In problem definition phase, a series of carefully planned steps can put the key to hiring right within reach. y y y y Define the current and future requirements of the position Collect the list of competency requirements for the position by using an informal competency survey Minimum level of Job requirements like education and specific experience are to be stated in the Job description Define competencies in behavioural terms for imposing more clarity

y Include emotional intelligence competencies critical to work in the Job description y Achieving consensus with all those involved in the hiring process Claudio Fernandez-Araoz, in this section argues that it is not merely enough to identify a job s requirement by focusing upward or downward i.e. The potential candidate s responsibilities to his/ her superiors and commitment to his/ her direct reports. The writer has justified this claim by suggesting that a lateral point of view (which takes into consideration, a job s requirements from the point of view of the potential candidate s colleagues) brings to the surface the competencies and personal traits valued by most co-workers, in other words potential for better team-work. He reinforces his idea by citing the case of a European bank, which hired an American CEO. The purpose for which this individual was hired failed miserably because of his tendency to deal cursorily with his co-workers. To end this argument, Fernandez acknowledges the impossibility of finding every quality that the recruiter desires in an individual, however (as he says) No list of competencies would be complete without an acknowledgement of the personal and interpersonal factors required for success . The Homework So, how does one start looking for potential candidates? By advertising in the mass media? By making your offer visible to as many as possible? Fernandez says that the origin must be people who know potential candidates. He seems to suggest that the recruiter is better able to convey his/ her requirements to industry veterans, academicians (those who know viable candidates) and therefore is able to sort out the best fit for a given job description. The author also suggests that one should adopt a boundary less mind-set in order to arrive at this best fit person, because he/ she might as well be a former employee who was fired by the company. Another option was to hire those people who were about to leave the company they were working anyway. This cited positive response from different firms. And once the list of candidates is ready, the evaluation begins through structured interviews. Each structured interview requires detailed planning and asking the candidate relevant questions. Also multiple interviewers for one interview or multiple independent interviews are always preferred. After the interviews comes the checking reference stage which requires the same meticulous planning as the interview. A candidate is always on his or her best during interview. It is how the candidate performs when not his best to be found from the references. Often the candidates back out of recruitment process in the later stage. This is mainly because of selling them the job poorly to them. Also the risk taking factor of the candidate needs to be studied and understood perfectly. It never hurts if we do multiple interviews and meetings just to select the right candidate rather than selecting the wrong candidate with just one interview. The article emphasises that hiring well requires a systematic approach, discipline and courage. It emphasises the role of defining the problem and sticking to list of competencies. It states hiring well to be the most important organisational strategy.

CRITICAL REVIEW OF ARTICLE: HIRING WITHOUT FIRING AUTHOR: CLAUDIO FERNANDEZ-ARAOZ The article discusses about the correct process to be followed before hiring employees. It is an attempt to simplify one of the most crucial responsibilities of an executive-to hire correct people for the correct job. The article finds its relevance in today s times as it addresses how it is even more difficult to attract and retain correct people due to variability of jobs and organisations. The ten traps identified in the article shows the experience of the author, along with an eye for detail. Also the suggestions provided in the article to avoid those traps are quite practical and implementable. The apt examples accompanying each suggestion and point made by the author increases the usability of the article. Also, the author emphasises in tested techniques like using structured interviews for better results. He emphasises on neglected areas like communicating with references mentioned. He suggests taking opinions of people who know the candidate from some interaction before as it is easy to showcase yourself a near ideal person in the limited duration of an interview. The list of competencies approach gives more fairness to the whole system The article is a very good read for current and future HR Managers. Also, it finds relevance for MBA students who would take an executive position in organisations. For students, it is an article which has lots of future value but less of current usage. One shortcoming of the article is that it does not suggest the candidates applying what an interviewer would see in them, as the title of the article promises. The tone of the article is very much preaching and thus gives the feel of a textbook chapter than an article! Also, the long prose makes it difficult to read at times, though the word selection is simple. Also, it sometimes reiterates the same point so becomes little redundant. But the reiteration also might serve as a means to highlight significant points, so it s open to perception. It is a difficult read for a person without prior HR knowledge as it uses some terms of that domain. But it s an easy and interesting read for MBA students, executives and HR personnel. The flow of the article is well maintained using relevant examples wherever possible, making it a smooth read. At the end, it is an article which provides meaningful recommendations for hiring the correct talent so as to retain them, as a person would like his job only if he is fit for it. All in all, it s a nice attempt to decipher the art of hiring.