Especially when there is an attractive woman involved.

This year I worked on the classic recruitment campaign where the male business owner made one of the biggest recruitment mistakes that can be made. It cost him a lot of time and money. It was all because he didn’t follow some basic recruitment rules and in short his ego, ignorance and his appendage took over.

Personally I don’t sell people into positions they must prove they are competent, committed and compatible for the role before I take them to an interview. Additionally they must also prove to me that they fully understand the role they have applied for. They must also show me they have reflected sufficiently enough to really understand the role entails and how their personal career goals fit with the business goals.

Now you might say “Don’t most people know what they are applying for?”

No they don’t, they pepper the market place with their resumes on the whim that the position might be suitable. Most people apply for a position based on the advertisement not on any additional information they have requested from the company about the role.

“People seldom do what they believe in.

They do what is convenient then repent”.

Bob Dylan

 Songwriter

The classic story 

The position that was being recruited for was a sales manager role. One of the resumes received was from a lady who had been an international model for eight years and had been a successful sales manager promoting various alcoholic brands.

In the first two steps of my selection process I get applicants to fill out a selection criteria to prove to me they are committed to the role and that they have started to reflect about the job they have applied for. The second step is that I have the applicant undertake an on line suitability assessment, and then and only then if they meet the requirements I pick up the phone and talk to them.

In this role one of the main duties was analysing online marketing processes and so the sales person was going to have to be conversant, comfortable and committed to this type of activity. Previously the candidate had been promoting alcohol brands and modeling. Analysing online marketing procedures is a million miles away from strutting the cat walk or walking into a liquor outlet to increase the purchasing of an alcoholic beverage.

So I asked the candidate about their interest in the internet and the process that they would use to analysis an online sales procedure. The purpose of this was to ensure that they really understood the position they had applied for. They didn’t need to be conversant with the technicalities of the online sales process, but just be committed to this type of sales and have the analytical skills to improve a basic online sales process.

After this type of conversation I ask the candidate to reflect if this is really the role that they are looking for. Several days later this candidate admitted that this wasn’t really the role that she was looking for and pulled out of the running for the position.

On hearing that this candidate had pulled out of the running for this position the business owner who had seen the applicant’s photo and resume picked up the phone and asked the candidate to have coffee with him to talk over the role. The candidate had coffee with the business owner and I received a scathing letter for from the entrepreneur for “putting off a good candidate”.

Remember: “What the eye admires the heart desires”.

The business owner sold the job to the candidate over a cup of coffee and invited her to a formal interview. At the formal interview I brought another candidate who had been the number one sales person for yellow pages on line advertising in Australia.

Guess what? This business owner awarded the position to the candidate who he had taken to coffee, and I let a really successful on line sales person go to find another job.

Then guess what happened next? 

The candidate who was chosen for the role went on holiday for three weeks and on her return she decided the role wasn’t really suitable for her.

The result was that the business owner had lost a brilliant highly competent, committed, compatible, and suitable candidate, the number one sales person for yellow pages on line advertising in Australia.

“The average man’s judgment is so poor he runs a risk every time he uses it”. 

Edgar Watson Howe

He had interfered with a well defined process that has been designed to ensure that the candidate fully reflects about the position they are applying for.

The business owner also lost valuable time and money spent on the campaign. I resolved never to work with entrepreneurs who do not fully understand the need to follow a selection process. Especially a selection process that has a history of finding companies “Business builders” and really talented and committed employees who are in it for the long haul.

Very important lessons:

Lesson One: Do not base your opinions of a candidate purely on their photo (Looks) and their resume.

Lesson Two: Ensure candidates thoroughly reflect on the role they are applying for.

Lesson Three: Do not sell a position to a candidate until you have seen all the other applicants and investigated all the data that has been collected on them.

Lesson Four: Don’t interfere with a professional process it is like waking from a knee operation to correct the surgeon.

 

“Man will occasionally stumble over the truth,

 but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it, and carry on.”

Winston Churchill

Committed to hiring the right person the first time round and recovering all the costs of the campaign!

David Osborne

www.profitablepersonnel.com