Recruitment is a non-rational process

[Charles Van Heerden]

Science has overtaken recruitment, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as most people still rely heavily on interviews as the key process for appointing applicants into a vacant role.

However, the process is fundamentally flawed as it is NOT about appointing the best person. From start to finish the process is designed to eliminate the unsuitable applicants until finally, like Survivor, there is only one successful person, to take the ultimate prize.

Why would you not appoint the best person for the job?

Well, you may appoint someone that is overqualified for one. This person may only be challenged by the role for a brief period, before they start looking at their next role.

You could appoint an applicant that ticks all the boxes, making a lateral move from another company. Here it is important to understand their motivation and reason for moving. If it was to move to a different location fine, but not if it is moving to a smaller company, as the role may not be a real step-up in responsibility.

Already some of you may be concerned about more experienced candidates and how they may be considered for a role at the same level.

This is exactly where recruitment becomes a non-rational process. How will this person fit into the organization. How well is the alignment of values? Will this person fit in with their team? Recently I was talking to a recruiter and they were looking for a person with experience of working for a US multi-national. Perhaps they were looking for someone with experience of working across different countries and different cultures?

Our role as recruiters (internally or externally) is to keep the options open for wild card applicants. Some years ago I was recruiting for a CIO. Our requirements included having a degree. We reviewed the long list and included someone (very mature) who had a strong track record but without a degree as a wild card. He was the best candidate and was promoted a year later into a bigger role!

In summary, recruitment is both a bit of art and a bit of science. It is not about appointing the best person, but the RIGHT person!

[Keith D. Halperin]

The new field of Behavioral Recruiting (NOT Behavioral Interviewing) -the application of Behavioral Economics() to recruiting- is helping to demonstrate just what was said: that beneath the thin veneer of rationality, hiring decisions are largely based on a large number of hard-wired biases ( ) and prejudices which can not be eliminated, but can be openly acknowledged and considered. As the field develops, many commonly used hiring practices and standards are likely to be proven if not completely wrong, then at best only partially right.