Identifying Talent for your Organization — Remember, You are the Best Judge!
We receive a number of resumes filled with a multitude of skills and experiences from applicants applying for a specific role — technical or non-technical. During this testing time of the pandemic, we are witnessing so many lay-offs in many organizations and a only handful of companies are actually on the hiring spree to fill up strategic roles. There is a dire need to think umpteen times before finalizing and making a decision.
Decision-making is crucial at every stage of the employee life-cycle. For the HR team of a company, the decision-making ability starts right from the time a talent is identified till his/her exit from the organization. Let me narrate the experiences that I have encountered while identifying the right talent while hiring across different verticals. (This is clearly from the perspective of talent acquisition.)
Scenario: It is quite common in the IT Industry to come across situations where the hiring has to be sudden and the process time needs to be less. My simple suggestion “Please do not stress and follow certain simple steps to counter and come out successful.”
1. Fruitful Discussions — Have a meeting with the stakeholder to understand the job specifications and primary and secondary skills to look for in a candidate. Be curios and buy a day or two to get a list of questions ready to get assured of getting everything cleared before you start the job to identify the best talent.
2. Research — Spend some time to get the data. Data speaks and it works well when you connect with your stake holder. They will feel positive and be glad that you did the homework. It will be a bible to serve the purpose and can help to weed out any room for doubt or clarifications.
3. Job Description — Since we know the requisites of the job, there is no harm in designing the job description and making it a part of the discussion for the requirement clarifications. This will help you to benchmark as to what are the ‘must haves’ in an ideal candidate.
4. Timeline — Though the stakeholder will have a turnaround time (TAT), being part of the Talent Acquisition team you can also suggest some modifications in the timeline, provided it is in sync with the objectives of the customer.
5. Push for Connects — The initiative should come from your end for a connect in the form of weekly catch ups to see in which stage the hiring is happening or to address the bottlenecks and get things moving. This meeting should provide the base for the next recurring meetings. Get a sign-off from the stakeholder to move forward on specific areas and ensure that all points are discussed and clarified. Leave no room for doubts.
6. Dashboards — Sending daily reports on the updates of the activities done will enlighten the stakeholder on the efforts delivered. Along with the daily report, also share a snapshot that will give the stakeholder a view of what is happening, to meet the project deadlines.
7. Checklist — It is always wise to have a checklist to identify the right talent. The stakeholder is the best judge here. Ensure to grab the key parameters to check the ideal candidates and this can be shared with the profile post screening to the stakeholder. They will be rest assured that the hiring is on track and moving in the right direction.
Scenario: IT recruiters come across of a wide variety of talent. As a Talent Acquisition specialist, you will have to make decisions as we are the gatekeepers, before any talent enters the organization and reaches the panel of judges. Remember the decision here is vital as that will give you a feeling of confidence that you made the right choice.
8. Know the Job Specification –Validate the candidate in the light of the requirements he/she must have and any secondary skills that is an add-on. The first five minutes will determine if the candidate spoken to is a potential one or not. Capture vital details and gaps. Substantiate with reasons and ensure to make the right decision provided it satisfies the logic part for us.
9. Follow the Checklist Bible — Validate the candidates in light with parameters enlisted. You will be happy for identifying the talent with the right attitude.
10. The ‘Saying NO’ Factor! — It is quite common to get profiles that have zero correlation to the job description in hand. Be firm but polite to deal with those candidates. Remember we are all human beings and a job need is crucial so let’s be compassionate. A ‘would get back to you in future’ message would keep the candidates happy. This will definitely boost the brand of the company.
11. Choosing Resumes- You will have a list of profiles to pick from. Handle with care. Know the pros and cons of each resume. Have your perceptions and have a logical reason to hold or to process a candidate. Make the decision with your own judgement. Ascertain credibility with data points. Trust the gut feeling and make a wise call.
12. Know the Situation — Trust your instincts. Make the best choice on the basis of the data available. Make the best decision with an incomplete data. This is the acid test for a leader.
13. Root out Biases — Being in the talent space, my inbox gets loaded with referrals from across teams. Please ensure to follow the guidelines and let our efforts be directed on things we can share without biases.
14. Check the Result of your Decision — Test the consequences of your decisions in the real scenario. You will know what the pros and cons are.
15. Support from Colleagues — Sound and healthy suggestions/advices might come from your colleagues. Create a group chat to get some views. You will have multiple perspectives that will help you to improve/change/modify your decision.
These simple steps help and enable you to make better decisions. Just not-“Focus on making the best decision in the available time.”
By,
Raghesh Krishnan, Asst.HR Manager, RapidValue
