What you need to know to avoid recruitment mistakes

Never leave recruitment in the hands of just one person. Colleagues, advisors, and even clients can help you assess a candidate.

"Everything was going well at first. I thought I had found the perfect candidate. There was nothing to say about the resume. Even the recruitment interview went very well. During the first few months, he was involved, dynamic, motivated. Since then, he has accumulated underperformance, exceeded his authority, did not know how to manage his team correctly... When we saw that he was making decisions that created tensions, we ended up terminating the contract after the third warning," laments a manager, about a colleague he had just recruited. The same goes for this HR director who is experiencing an "frightening turnover." According to him, "if a manager leaves the company before completing three years, it's because we were wrong about him." More frequent than one might think, casting errors always hurt. Problems of adaptation, misjudgment, incompatibility with the position, incompetence... The causes of a failed recruitment are numerous. Indeed, you can strengthen your team as part of a reorganization, fill a vacant position, strengthen an existing team or simply carry out a large hiring operation when you have just created your company. Each time, there are details to consider, even if, fundamentally, the recruitment process does not change.
According to Ghita Filal, work psychologist and recruitment manager at Delta Management, "mistakes are often due to negligence or haste." This often happens to new companies that want to be immediately operational. So how do you avoid such surprises? First of all, it is important to identify and specify the real needs before recruiting. You also need to know how to proceed gradually according to a schedule based on the company's short, medium, and long-term evolution. There is no point in completing everything in record time if departures follow immediately afterwards. For already established companies, the worst can be avoided if managers pay a little more attention to their organization. "Often, internal mobility proves more advantageous, more rewarding for employees and, above all, less costly than external recruitment," explains Karim El Ibrahimi, CEO of RMS. Sometimes, and mainly in SMEs, casting errors are due to the fact that recruitment is managed by a single person. "It is necessary to work together and, above all, involve the heads of the departments in which the new employees will be assigned," continues the CEO of RMS. Because this approach is essential if all the qualities sought in a candidate are to be well understood. The results can be even better if you use a recruitment agency. This option is particularly recommended for start-up companies.

Acting while there is still time

In addition, many people (colleagues, clients) can participate in observing a new recruit. When you hire a new colleague, their follow-up and training can be entrusted to a mentor who can report their observations to the recruiter over time.
For example, for a sales position, personally accompanying new colleagues during their first appointments allows them to be introduced, but also to compensate for any shortcomings. After each visit, it is necessary to debrief. In the same way, it is interesting to listen to feedback from the field.
At a trade show or during a telephone contact, clients can give their impressions of their new contact person. On the other hand, "you shouldn't push the test too far to the point of wanting to trick the person. There is no point in putting them in a difficult situation that could freeze them or make them lose their naturalness," specifies Brahim Zriba, CEO of Progress Partner, a consulting firm specializing in new technologies.
If you shouldn't leave the new employee to their own devices, you shouldn't coddle them either. Tasks that are too easy or that involve little responsibility will not give them the opportunity to express their full potential. "I appreciate being given a more interesting new argument or an action idea to develop. This shows the interest's motivation and determination," says Karim El Ibrahimi. It's therefore time for a "proactive" employee, who doesn't just passively observe. Without disrupting the existing organization, the recruit must be able to use their experience to initiate positive changes. If, as a general rule, the first evaluation criterion is quantitative, it is nevertheless necessary to set realistic objectives according to the market situation and the person's skills. Gradually, the objectives will be harmonized with those of the team. In general, the company seeks to confirm the qualities/skills diagnosed during the interview, but no decision should be taken hastily. It is not because a start is difficult that a recruit is ready to be discarded. The candidate can be successful if you can manage them correctly. This is how, during weekly interviews, the superior should review the successes, difficulties encountered, reasons for any failures and the solutions proposed by the recruit to solve them. They will also be asked what they think of the position and how it could be improved. For her part, Emmanuelle Boleau, CEO of the real estate portal Selecktimmo, adds that "the exercise of recruitment must be approached with a great deal of humility." Business leaders, who are sometimes unaccustomed to such an exercise, may have difficulty observing the coherence of a candidate's speech, cross-checking information. For those who conduct an interview, Mr. Ibrahimi recommends the use of improvisation exercises, which are very revealing. "During interviews, I avoid closed-ended questions, such as answering yes or no. I mainly ask them to tell me about situations they have experienced, problems they have encountered before. There, the candidates show their true face and their behavior in real situations," he concludes.

Published January 25, 2011

Posted online January 27, 2011

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