Recruitment Process

This article on recruitment is prodded by a post by fellow linkedin member at this URL

What he has said about recruitment firms is true and required to be done by Recruiters. He said that just as a Recruiter asks a candidate for his or her CV, a candidate should also ask for the ” CV” of the recruiter or the recruiting firm. How else the candidate will know how good the firm is in whose hands he or she is placing her CV to find a good career?

I add to this observation. And my experience is not from linkedin but generally.

The recruitment agencies seem to all follow a similar style or recruitment process. The primary filters they apply most times than not on the applications they receive or the searches they do, actually filter out potential good employees, you know why?

Because the primary filtration itself is handled by inexperienced employees of those recruiters. 🙂

These inexperienced people – hardly understand the business they are recruiting for and/or are hardly able to match the skills set required to find the best match.

An example will better explain what I mean than words alone.

Mr Khattar ex MD of Maruti Suzuki India was setting up an Automobile parts firm and needed a supply chain expert to set up the IT platform and also head the logistics of that firm. I forget the details of this company and I do not know what happened to the firm and whether it reached production or exists today or flourishing or not..

The basic rule of any recruitment process is to search candidates with similar industry experience. While apparently this saves time in learning and brings someone with already existing domain knowledge I do not think it applies to all situations.

After all what is knowledge? Knowledge is something which we gather our whole lives but it becomes effective only when we are able to apply it.

When we get MBA degrees we gather theoretical knowledge. When we land in Hindustan Lever and sell CPG [Consumer Packaged Goods] we get domain knowledge in the same. But the better among these SCM experts will be always able to apply their SCM theoretical knowledge further built upon CPG domain knowledge in any other domain, if he has really understood the Fundamentals.

So when the recruiter puts a primary filter for Mr Khattar’s company that the prospective customer would have to be from an Automobile background they actually cut off an excellent candidate, say from Hindustan Lever.

The recruiter’s inexperienced handlers did not realise that anybody who understands the elements of SCM viz. Markets, Demand Patterns, Distribution Channels, Production, Distribution etc and have a capacity to study and understand any new domain can handle that advertised job.

What else is experience?

It is the ability of a person to harness his knowledge to give results in new domains. If we cannot apply and re-apply our knowledge in different domains then we lack ? Getting domain specific knowledge hardly takes a few days or a week’s time if the fundamentals are strong. Yes if you get an automobile person this week can be saved but what if you are losing a better person in that process”?

Is the recruitment firm serving its client well then? I do not think so.

Also read “Lateral Thinking”