When indecision becomes the scourge of recruitment
How many times have we heard that recruitment is broken? And what did we conclude? For several years now I’ve been working to reverse this rather unsophisticated excuse for indecision and a lack of judgement. Put simply leaders and managers seem to prefer to “sit on the fence” and see more CVs or people rather than decide to make an appointment.
For me, leadership means applying judgement and decision making to all kinds of situations and challenges. And that includes assembling the facts as well as the unknowns. So, you think we can’t assemble the unknowns? Well, isn’t that where judgement comes in? Understanding and considering the likely risks of a given situation in order to decide?
A trusted employee resigns, and the first big decision seems to be around trying to reverse (or not) that decision. Or is that too radical? Should we simply take it for granted that if the employee wanted to stay, they’d not have resigned? It’s probably a judgement call although not one many managers are prepared to consider. Easier to simply accept than go there?
Reading recent articles and listening to podcasts (or similar) about leadership there’s very little of note about a need for decisiveness or judgement. There’s much about “being present”, “being inspirational” and allowing colleagues to shine but how does that help the hundreds of candidate applications that are stuck in a recruitment process? And worse still, people who’ve been interviewed or expect to be interviewed?
I suppose that I could hang this on “being present” but it certainly doesn’t take inspiration to declare what’s needed (the JD and person specification), assess if it’s available (read CVs promptly), make the decision (apply judgement) and provide explanation (feedback).
The stories of unrequited love without sufficient explanation have continued to haunt recruitment this summer. Stories of preferred candidates being earmarked to continue in the recruitment process only to find they’re now up against additional CVs … not even the people who’ve written the CVs. Call me old-fashioned although I always thought a preferred candidate was the one you’d hope to hire!
Among all this indecision what chance does a recruiter have? They are the ones stuck between a rock and a hard place irrespective of whether they are in house or not. And they are the ones getting the bad reputation for waffle and ghosting. Taking my judgement and decision-making theme on board, I accept that it’s probably time for the recruiters to stand up and be counted, too. Surely, their best advice is to guide the process and ensure it doesn’t flounder while incompetent managers can’t make decisions?
And while we’re on the topic of recruitment decision-making (or lack of it) could someone please explain to me (in words I can understand) what is meant by a “diverse candidate”? I’ve heard from some people in my network that they’re apparent lack of success was all about the client’s need for a “diverse candidate” … really? Who’s kidding who here? Where’s the judgement and decision-making?
This piece may be controversial although I make no apology for calling out these practices and behaviours that reflect so badly on recruitment. And please if you are a manager, it’s time to weigh up the facts and the risks and have some fun making credible decisions. Go on, I dare you! If you’d like some help with recruitment decisions, then Let’s Chat.
