#5 Cardinal Truths To Keep In Mind Before Hiring David K. William's article in the Forbes Magazine pegs the cost of one bad hire at anywhere between $25 and $50,000.
By Baishali Mukherjee •
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Today, hiring the right person for your company is one of the most crucial and difficult tasks to perform. Entrepreneurs cannot afford to lose money and time for a wrong recruit and face consequences.
David K. William's article in the Forbes Magazine pegs the cost of one bad hire at anywhere between $25 and $50,000.
The total expenditure on hunting probable recruits, interviewing and appointing them and later training them to acquire required skills is always high. Appointing new employees are considered as an investment and employers always expect good financial returns from them. To achieve this ultimate goal, it is important to take time and pick the right person — someone who is not just technically capable for a job, but fits in the overall structure of the company.
Rituparna Chakraborty, Cofounder and Executive Vice-President (EVP), TeamLease Services Ltd, has 17 years of experience in hiring. She handles recruitment and staff management of her company. She is also spearheading India's first PPP Apprenticeship Programme — National Employability through Apprenticeship Programme (NETAP) — a TeamLease Services Ltd initiative.
Chakraborty shares with the Entrepreneur India some key rules to follow for hiring the right employee for your business.
Explain The Cognitive And Non-Cognitive Criteria In Detail
"While describing the job criteria, we tend to spend a lot of time emphasizing the required qualifications and other measurable aspects. We need to look for cognitive aspects like thinking, reasoning, ability to pay attention to little details in a candidate. These cognitive aspects combine with non-cognitive elements like motivation, integrity, interpersonal interaction, teamwork spirit, curiosity to learn new things to groom an individual for a particular role. So recruiters should look for all these qualities in an individual," clarified Chakraborty.
Hiring Managers Should Not Have An Upper Hand
"Media exposure of your brand does not make any impression on a prospective candidate. The first impression is created when a candidate meets you. So, it's absolutely critical to show up for these interviews well prepared," advised the industry veteran.
"You should articulate the company's purpose with conviction and exhibit clarity of thought to arouse a candidate's interest towards the job you are offering. Most hiring managers do the mistake of believing that they inherently have an upper hand and job seekers should feel obliged to join them."
Assess Value Match Above All
The CEO said often employers get so excited by a candidate's credentials on paper that they undermine the importance of assessing the match between an individual's value system and the company's. "It's a cardinal error. An 80:20 rule is therefore advised. 80 per cent of the assessment should revolve around the candidate's value match and the rest lies on the other," she warned.
In Relocation Cases, Check Family Relocation
"I have come across very few instances where a candidate relocated from one city to another without his/her family and stayed put for long. Such dysfunctional arrangements harm a candidate's long-term motivation to remain committed to his/her job. It's important to assess this in advance before progressing into any serious discussion over a candidate's selection," she pointed out.
Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover
Resumes are inadequate to speak about a candidate's potential. "Today you can hire professionals who will help you make your resume perfect and glitzy with all the right keywords. It's important to research a candidate independently. Internet and social media fortunately help us provide an unbiased and unfiltered view of a candidate's likes, dislikes, social views, interests, choices and hence the pre-hiring process should necessarily involve spending time in these methodologies and not mere glancing through resumes," Chakraborty said.
Rituparna Chakraborty has represented the Employers of India in the last held ILO Convention on Private Employment Agencies in Geneva in her capacity as Employer Representative from India. She is the first Indian to be featured in Global Power 100 & International 50 in Staffing Industry for 2015 and 2016 consecutively.
