It is a matter of regret that some companies do not have a well-crafted recruitment strategy for hiring their employees. Some companies use unscrupulous recruitment methods so that there smuggle their relatives and friends at the expense of the company.
Related: What is Talent Sourcing
Why some organisations end up recruiting incompetent employees?
There are a number of factors why some organisations end up being breeding grounds for ineffective and incompetent employees. Below is a brief explanation of some of these factors
1. Poorly Designed Recruitment Strategy Divorced from your Vision and Strategic Objectives
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It is important to note that your recruitment strategy should be tied to the vision and strategic objectives of your business. It is not surprising that such companies becoming a safe haven for incompetent employees. There are huge recruitment loses where the recruited candidate does not add any meaningful value to the organisation
2. Corruption
In most organisations the entire recruitment process is riddled by corruption from the outset to the end. The bosses in some organisations merely smuggle their children, relatives, and friends into their organisations without letting those people go through the same recruitment process as anyone else. This is despite the fact that such kind of people may not have the requisite qualifications and experience. Surely to expect such kind of people to turn the fortunes of the company around is pure madness.
3. Incompetent Heads of Departments.
It is quite unfortunate that incompetent heads of departments in some organisations intentionally deny the talented and competent people the chance to join their organisations. Such leaders are afraid of being negotiated out of existence. So they make sure that they make brilliant potential employees fail the interview intentionally.
4. Poorly Designed Shortlisting Criteria
Some shortlisting criteria flighted by some companies in their job adverts deny some competent employees the chance to be hired. This is because the factors used as the basis for shortlisting are irrelevant and these include among other things
5. Age and Appearance
In some cases, the organisation stresses age as the basis for shortlisting but empirical evidence suggests that age does not have any bearing on job performance whatsoever. It really baffles logic why some organisations stress appearance as the basis for shortlisting when it has no impact on job performance. In some instances, some organisations say we want someone young and energetic or old and mature. A person employed on such a basis tends to be nothing more than an excellent incompetent employee.
6. Education
Some organisations when advertising a job there say a Masters Degree is a prerequisite. However, an overwhelming body of evidence has indicated that education contributes about 2% towards on the job performance.
Below are some tentative strategies you can use to employ the top talent for your organisation who will turn out to be game-changers for your organisation.
Psychometric Tests should precede any other selection method when recruiting for any position. Psychometric tests measure an individual’s capacity to think and find solutions to problems. Psychometric Tests include among other tests:
Verbal Reasoning - the ability to comprehend, interpret and draw conclusions from oral or written language
Numerical Reasoning - ability to comprehend, interpret and draw conclusions from numerical information
Abstract Reasoning - the ability to reason logically with figures or designs. It is a non-verbal measure of reasoning ability.
Mechanical Reasoning - understanding of everyday physical laws such as force and leverage involved in the use of tools and equipment
Space Relations - the ability to understand and interpret spatial relationships between objects
Here are some of the reasons why psychometric tests should be used in recruitment.
- They are not subject to the first impression syndrome
- Psychometric tests have been scientifically proven to be the best predictors of on the job performance
- They give an insight into the candidate’s potential
1. Assessment Centres are yet another best recruitment method
Assessment Centres are a selection tool that comprises of different exercises designed to assess the full range of skills and personal attributes required for the job. The exercises include role play, in-basket exercises, leaderless group discussions and presentations to name but just a few.
2. Competency-Based Interviews
Competency-based interview questions should be derived from your competency framework. A competency framework describes the set of skills, cognitive abilities, knowledge and personality attributes for each particular role in an organisation. So your interview questions should be designed in such a way that there address the current and future competencies for a particular role. Unfortunately, some organisations design their interview framework in a haphazard manner and their scoring sheets do not speak to any competencies related to the job. As a result, there end up recruiting someone without the requisite competencies to execute their duties efficiently and effectively.
3. Structured Interviews
Structured Interviews are standardized interviews that follow a fixed format and the interviewees for a particular position are being asked the same questions. By so doing you are increasing the reliability of your interviews.
Against this background, it is imperative that you design your recruitment strategy in such a way that it is rooted in your organisational strategy.
Newturn Wikirefu is the Talent Acquisition Manager at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting firm.
Phone +263 4 481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966
Cell number +0784 597343
Email: newturn@ipcconsultants.com
Website: www.ipcconsultants.com