As Much Art as Science
Written by Dave Seddon on
The recruitment business is broken. A bold statement I know, but traditional ways of finding a job aren’t working, for either candidates or employers. Despite it being easier than ever to apply for a job, most people describe it as a frustrating experience typified by an overreliance on screening bots, applications going unanswered, and mismatched roles being offered. “Recruiters don’t really understand me” is a phrase I hear all too often.
I believe we’re placing an overreliance on two things – technology and interviews – because we’ve become too used to measuring things by ticking boxes. Recruitment is essentially a human process and must be automated with care. I think we’ve applied technology to the wrong parts of the process and have ended up exacerbating the problem by creating an impersonal experience for all involved. Similarly, interviews are an artificial environment that serves us badly. In the same way exams test how well you can memorise and regurgitate information more than how well you understand what you’ve been taught, so interviews test how well you perform at interviews, rather than how well you’ll do the job.
Let me give you an example. A while ago, I put forward a candidate who had a bad interview. Having got to know them and the client really well, I knew they were a great fit for the job so I persuaded the employer to speak with them again in a more informal setting – to have them in for an afternoon and meet the team they’d be part of. It turned out everyone really liked each other and a failed interviewee became a highly valued addition to the employer’s company. Because I’d taken the time to intimately understand both parties, I felt confident to ask the client to step outside their traditional process and create an environment in which the candidate could shine.
Successful recruitment is the mutual fulfilment of two sets of needs. Employers want to hire someone who can do the job and is a good cultural fit. They want to mitigate the risks inherent in those two things. Candidates want a fulfilling role that allows them to realise their potential and earn a decent salary working for an organisation that fits their values and motivators. They want to know “Will I like it?”, a question that encompasses life/work balance as well as the job itself. Balancing both sides of that equation is as much an art as a science. You have to be able to “see” both employer and candidate and then correctly (sometimes intuitively) evaluate whether they’ll be a good match. You need empathy and experience to ask the right questions and get a detailed understanding of both sides, then you need the analytical skills to make an informed choice, selecting candidates who not only match the employer’s needs but also will be fulfilled enough to stay for the long term.
In the previous blogs in this series, I’ve talked about the importance of knowing who you are and what you want. That’s as true of employers as it is of candidates and is why, for me, fully understanding the client brief is the critical part of the process. Unless you get that right, you’re building on sand. When I say “fully understand” I don’t mean just reading the brief, I mean challenging it until you understand the intention and desire behind every line. Question and listen until you know exactly what your client wants – which isn’t always what’s in the brief. I ask about job content and desired experience. I make sure I understand the relative priorities and weightings so I know what’s a nice to have and what’s an absolute necessity. If the client asks for seven years’ experience, I ask why and how is that different from, say, five years’ experience? I ask about geography, company culture, and working practices. I make sure I clearly understand what someone means when they use a particular term, and I never, ever make assumptions. All the time I’m trying to answer the question “What kind of person would best fit in here?”
This isn’t a “once and done” conversation, it’s an iterative process; an investment in time which will pay huge dividends for both employer and candidates later.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to read the subtext, not just what’s on the page – equally true for both client and candidates. The best analogy I can think of is buying a house. You can ask an estate agent for a four-bedroom detached house with a big garden, and they’ll give you long list of properties which match those criteria – but only one will feel right to you, even though all of them meet the brief. Working with a good recruitment consultant should be like having an estate agent who’s taken the time to understand you well enough to look at that long list of houses and make the same choice you’d make.
I believe a good recruitment consultant should act as an advocate for both employer and candidate, providing a blend of coach, guide, and intermediary. Once I’ve found candidates who meet the employer’s requirements (based on experience, temperament, personality, cultural fit, likes and dislikes and aspirations), I’ll manage them through the entire process. That Includes preparing them for the interview and monitoring them through early stages of their new role. It also means keeping them informed throughout the process – even when nothing appears to be happening. Occasionally, it means having the courage of my convictions and persuading the employer to trust me enough to try something different, as described in my earlier example.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m convinced technology can make recruitment more efficient and effective but we need to apply it sensitively, fully appreciating the benefits and risks of each instance of automation.. An impersonal process creates distance which increases the risk of bad hiring decisions for both client and candidate. Recruitment is about people and to do it successfully I believe you’ve got to focus on the people more than on the process. Just ticking boxes won’t deliver the outcome your clients deserve.
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