What to consider when recruiting
Oct 17, 2009
HIRING new staff is one of the most important jobs of a manager. Hiring the right person for the right job at the right time, is key in all organisations. From my experience, a wrong hire can be a very costly mistake, which may take your organisation behi
By Alice Chekwoti
HIRING new staff is one of the most important jobs of a manager. Hiring the right person for the right job at the right time, is key in all organisations.
From my experience, a wrong hire can be a very costly mistake, which may take your organisation behind by millions of shillings and cause loss of valued customers. Furthermore, a wrong hire can destroy teamwork and reduce morale from your other staff members and may force some good personnel to leave.
Generally, hiring managers concentrate so much on qualifications and experience, which are definitely important, but the factors below should be considered to decrease chances of making recruitment mistakes.
Passion for the job.
Because of the problem of unemployment, most people are just looking for jobs, regardless of whether they are interested in the job or not. People are just looking for whatever is currently selling and that is what they go for. For instance, at one organisation I worked for, everyone was studying for ACCA regardless of whether they wanted to be accountants or not. This was because there seemed to be so many job adverts calling for someone with ACCA qualifications.
When the examination time approaches, almost everyone is on study leave. The majority of these people had non-accounting degrees. They also never envisioned a career in accountancy and had no desire to be accountants.
They were driven by the need to find a job as and when they needed it. After career counselling a number of them, it was quite revealing to find that less than a tenth of these individuals genuinely wanted to be accountants.
Thus, as a hiring manager, you must establish whether the candidate has a passion for the job they have applied for, or if they are just jumping onto the bandwagon.
This decision is key to ensure that you are successful at placing the right person for the job. Lack of passion will start to show immediately after assuming the job.
Honesty and integrity.
Every organisation cherishes these two values. Why is that so? It is because they form the core of who a person or even an organisation really is.
Most successful organisations are built upon these two values and it is their wish to hire people that have the same values.
In business, if one is crafty, shallow, undependable and untrustworthy, they will not go far. Business grows mostly on repeat business and the moment you are untruthful to customers you can rest assured they will not come back. Thus, when hiring ensure that the person you are interviewing is honest and trustworthy. Be very tactful in the way you ask your questions so that you are able to test the honesty of an individual.
How the person fits in the organisation.
When you hire an individual you are hiring for the whole organisation. An organisation is somewhat like a family. There are some loosely inter-twined relationships and unscripted team dynamics that if unreasonably upset may cause serious ripple effects.
Put simply, some people do not fit in some organisations or teams. For example, a supervisor with a strong character will fit better with a meek or mellow subordinate. If you mix a strong character boss with a strong character subordinate there is likely to be explosive clashes among them.
The personalities of your candidates versus the other team members need to be considered carefully. Consider also how an elderly individual will fit among a team of young and highly dynamic team members, especially if they going to be at the same level.
The writer is a human resource expert based in Arusha, Tanzania
HIRING new staff is one of the most important jobs of a manager. Hiring the right person for the right job at the right time, is key in all organisations.
From my experience, a wrong hire can be a very costly mistake, which may take your organisation behind by millions of shillings and cause loss of valued customers. Furthermore, a wrong hire can destroy teamwork and reduce morale from your other staff members and may force some good personnel to leave.
Generally, hiring managers concentrate so much on qualifications and experience, which are definitely important, but the factors below should be considered to decrease chances of making recruitment mistakes.
Passion for the job.
Because of the problem of unemployment, most people are just looking for jobs, regardless of whether they are interested in the job or not. People are just looking for whatever is currently selling and that is what they go for. For instance, at one organisation I worked for, everyone was studying for ACCA regardless of whether they wanted to be accountants or not. This was because there seemed to be so many job adverts calling for someone with ACCA qualifications.
When the examination time approaches, almost everyone is on study leave. The majority of these people had non-accounting degrees. They also never envisioned a career in accountancy and had no desire to be accountants.
They were driven by the need to find a job as and when they needed it. After career counselling a number of them, it was quite revealing to find that less than a tenth of these individuals genuinely wanted to be accountants.
Thus, as a hiring manager, you must establish whether the candidate has a passion for the job they have applied for, or if they are just jumping onto the bandwagon.
This decision is key to ensure that you are successful at placing the right person for the job. Lack of passion will start to show immediately after assuming the job.
Honesty and integrity.
Every organisation cherishes these two values. Why is that so? It is because they form the core of who a person or even an organisation really is.
Most successful organisations are built upon these two values and it is their wish to hire people that have the same values.
In business, if one is crafty, shallow, undependable and untrustworthy, they will not go far. Business grows mostly on repeat business and the moment you are untruthful to customers you can rest assured they will not come back. Thus, when hiring ensure that the person you are interviewing is honest and trustworthy. Be very tactful in the way you ask your questions so that you are able to test the honesty of an individual.
How the person fits in the organisation.
When you hire an individual you are hiring for the whole organisation. An organisation is somewhat like a family. There are some loosely inter-twined relationships and unscripted team dynamics that if unreasonably upset may cause serious ripple effects.
Put simply, some people do not fit in some organisations or teams. For example, a supervisor with a strong character will fit better with a meek or mellow subordinate. If you mix a strong character boss with a strong character subordinate there is likely to be explosive clashes among them.
The personalities of your candidates versus the other team members need to be considered carefully. Consider also how an elderly individual will fit among a team of young and highly dynamic team members, especially if they going to be at the same level.
The writer is a human resource expert based in Arusha, Tanzania