When it comes to hiring the right candidates for executive positions, the recruiters tend to consider various aspects including their qualification, expertise and skill set. Unfortunately, most recruiters tend to pay little attention to of the most important aspects for selecting the right candidates, namely their overall personality. The companies offering the services of executive search India understand the fact that matching the personality traits of prospective candidates with the overall company culture and job responsibilities is the key to ensuring the perfect hire. That is why they stress on making proper personality assessment an integral part of the hiring processes employed by the recruiters.
Is Personality Truly All Important In Executive Search? Even though personality plays an important role in deciding the suitability of prospective candidates for an executive position, recruiters need to avoid falling into the trap of focusing their search around this single aspect. While some personality traits such as confidence, leadership qualities and effective communication skills are desirable in almost all candidates, the candidates lacking the same might not necessarily prove to be a bad choice for the hiring organizations. It is essential for the recruiters to ensure that the personality traits of the prospective candidates correlate with specific aspects of company cultures. This is especially true in case of executives, who need to work closely with the other employees of the organization. However, making the personality of prospective candidates all important during the hiring process can create several problems for the recruiters. Not only will it increase the risk of company culture being moulded to match the personality of the executives, but will also make the organization less well-rounded. Challenges Of Evaluating The Personality Of Prospective Candidates It is a well known fact that assessing the true personality of an individual is not an easy task. However, when the individual in question is a candidate being interviewed for an executive position, personality assessment becomes even more complicated. This is not only because human personality is extremely inconsistent, but also because it individuals tend to present only the most suitable aspects of their personality when going through an interview or a hiring process. This tendency of hiding their true personality is especially prevalent in candidates being considered for job roles with extremely high stakes such as above average compensation benefits and tremendous growth opportunities. Finding The Right Solution Keeping the above facts in mind, it would not be wrong to deduce that while personality does play an important role in executive search, especially leadership hiring, it should not be the focal point of a recruitment strategy. The personality assessment should be made only to ascertain the ease with which candidates can adapt to the company culture. It can also be used to assess the ability of the candidates contribute positively towards enhancing the overall company culture. In fact, when choosing candidates for leadership roles, it is important to give preference to candidates with an extrovert personality as it will ensure their ability to communicate with their team members in a more effective and motivating manner. At the same time, the recruiters should not give preference to personality to other key constraints such as their skills, competence level and expertise. Doing so will result in a bad hire and will end up costing the recruiters in much more than wasted time and effort. After all, a candidate with a pleasing personality but lacking other essential traits necessary or fulfilling the responsibilities associated with the job position cannot be considered the right fit. Finding a balance between the right personality and desired aspects is the key to making the recruitment process truly worthwhile. This is true even in case of executives sought for positions that require them to interact extensively with public, media and other such entities.
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As the battle for acquiring the best candidates becomes fiercer, business organizations across the globe are considering new methods and strategies to attract, hire and manage top talent. In this context, the one key factor that most companies need to focus on is the type of company culture they are offering to prospective candidates. In fact, the leading executive search firms believe company culture to be one of the biggest motivating factors for attracting and retaining top talent. This is especially true in case of smaller and medium sized organizations that do not have the advantage of a strong employer brand or dedicated recruitment teams. Discussed below are the key factors that organizations need to focus on in order to build a positive and motivating company culture.
Creating A Sense Of Inclusion Most good professionals prefer to work for organizations where they enjoy a deep sense of belonging. That is why it is important for business organizations to work towards fostering an inclusive environment where the employees are valued and respected for their contribution towards organizational growth. Such a culture tends to encourage strong bonds of love and friendship between co-workers, which can prove critical in terms of retaining top performers and attracting new ones. The organizations need to understand that almost every high performing employee wants to be a part of a great team. In some cases, this aspect is given even greater prominence than the compensation being offered by the hiring organizations. Having A Shared Purpose And Its Proper Communication Purpose is what drives great teams and organizations that lack this vital element are least likely to achieve success. However just having a purpose is not enough as it needs to be shared with the workforce to get the desired results in terms of growth and profitability. Making every single employee aware of the organizational goals is the key driving force in the direction of achieving them efficiently. It not only provides a direction of work for the employees but also boosts their sense of inclusion and belonging. In this context the top level executives can play a critical role in communicating the strategy and road map of the shared objectives to the other members of the workforce. Integrating Talent Strategy With Business Strategy It is a common perception of business organizations that their talent strategy and business strategy do not have anything in common. This, according to the top executive search firms can prove to be a critical mistake in terms of developing a motivating company culture. Having a well defined recruitment strategy that integrates the business growth objective and strategies helps create a positive impact on prospective candidates. It reflects a strong value system of the organization as well as the fact that the compensation plans are effectively based on the business strategy and performance goals. This is actually the type of environment preferred by most talented professionals as it assures them of a performance based growth environment. Ensuring The Resilience Of Company Culture While it is easy to maintain a positive and motivating company culture when the business is booming, ensuring the same during bad times is extremely difficult. Companies that succeed in maintaining the same workplace ambience during both good and bad phases of the business find it easier to attract top talent. This can be ensured by keeping the workforce focused on the shared objectives of the company and constantly supporting and inspiring the employees especially during the bad times. The top executives need to make sincere efforts towards knowing their team members and communicating effectively with them on a professional as well as personal front. Making the team feel valued, especially when the business is not doing well is the key to enhancing its sense of loyalty. Every organization is unique and so are its skill needs. One of the key responsibilities of executive search firms is that of efficient leadership hiring to ensure the progress of the company on the path of success. Exploring the skill needs of the organization in general and individual departments in particular can help the search firms to find the candidates that perfectly match the job roles within the organization. With the conventional methods of recruitment being replaced by new age techniques, an increasing number of business organizations are becoming reliant on professional search companies for fulfilling their talent needs. In most cases the firms providing the services of executive search India are required to follow strategic management techniques to handle the diverse workforce needs of their clients. The primary objective of these firms is to help their clients find the right candidates that can help them fulfil their organizational goals. In order to fulfil this objective in the most satisfactory manner, it is essential for the search firms to gain an in-depth understanding about the following aspects of their client organization.
Headhunters Should Consider To Maximize The Efficiency Of Leadership Hiring Many times the executive search firms come across candidates, who apply for multiple positions within the same organization. This is definitely a red flag as it indicates the in-confidence of the candidates and the fact that they themselves do not have a clear understanding of their skills and capabilities. It is also indicative of a sense of desperation among the candidates to grab any position with thin the organization, even if they are overqualified or over skilled for the job. Such candidates tend to prove unreliable and even inefficient.
One of the key concerns of almost every executive search firm is to minimize the risk of short listing the wrong candidates for their clients. Such wrong hiring decisions can prove costly for the search firm not in financial terms but can also ruin their goodwill amongst clients. As such, the top executive search firms India invest considerable time and effort in ensuring the suitability of the prospective candidates as per the specific needs of their job positions as detailed by their clients. In this context, these firms should look out for the below discussed traits that are considered to be the red flags in the hiring process. Executive Search Firm Should Look Out For To Avoid Making Wrong Hiring Decisions When it comes to planning the future of the business, most organizations tend to focus on the defining the goal and objectives to be attained within a specific tome period. In fact, only a handful of companies spare a thought about preparing the business to overcome the potential leadership challenges that they might face in the near future. Such oversight in leadership hiring and planning often puts organizations in a fix situation. Given below are some useful tips that can help business organizations to overcome the prospective leadership challenges for a more secure future.
Invest In A Succession Plan Most organizations invest a considerable time and money in hiring the best professionals for current leadership positions. However, they fail to pay much attention towards assessing the long term strategic leadership needs of the organization. Investing in a good succession plan helps in minimizing the talent gaps between the existing capabilities and the future needs of the organization. This in turn helps the organizations to develop potential candidates internally as well as tapping talent externally and avoiding any catastrophic leadership issues in the future. Provide The Right Exposure To Senior Managers The constantly changing business environment of the modern times has created a huge demand for professionals with a wide range of cultural exposure and international experience. Given that the trend is likely to continue into the foreseeable future, it is important for business organizations to ensure that their potential leadership candidates receive the right kind of exposure. The companies need to work in close co-ordination with their partners across the globe to help their senior managers develop these critical abilities across different regions and cultures. Establish A Digital Work Culture Despite the extensive digitization of businesses across the globe, many organizations in India have still not adapted this culture. However, such organizations can no longer afford to put off the implementation of a digital work culture within their companies. Any further delays in this respect can not only adversely affect their engagement with the customers but will also hinder the development of competent leaders for tomorrow having the right digital expertise. This can be ensured by educating the senior managers about the language and skills essential for such transformation. Even though implementing an enterprise-wide digital transformation is not something that can be accomplished overnight, the companies need to fast track the process. Creating such a work culture is also essential to build a diverse, multi-generational workforce that shares a common organizational vision. Create A Compelling Brand Image According to the leading executive search firms in India, business organizations looking to avoid any leadership challenges in the future need to work towards creating a compelling brand image. This can play a critical role in attracting the most successful and professional candidates for potential leadership roles. In addition, it will also motivate the existing members of the workforce and make them competitive enough to fill the talent gaps within the organization internally. Most importantly, by building a compelling brand image, business organizations can inspire greater efficiency and loyalty within its current workforce. This is because most professionals prefer to be associated with a great brand even at a moderate position. One of the biggest challenges faced by business organizations today is that of the attracting and retaining top talent. This is one of the major reasons that have lead companies to hire the services of executive search firms having the right expertise in the field. However, in order to get the best results in terms of a good recruitment, it is important for the business organizations to seek answers to the below given important questions before hiring such firms.
What Is The Depth Of Their Access? A good search firm is defined by its ability of generating interest and engaging successful professionals enjoying a satisfied career within their specific niches. In order to ensure the same, the firms should first possess the competence and the resources to access such professionals. It is this specific ability which helps in defining the depth of access of the search firms. Can They Be Trusted To Maintain Confidentiality? Confidentiality is one the key traits desired by hiring organizations in their executive search partners. However, simply relying on the claims made by the search firms about maintaining the confidentiality is not advisable. Rather the hiring organizations should use other sources to verify that the search firms they choose can be trusted to maintain the highest level of confidentiality about both internal and external recruitments. What Kind Of Expertise Do They Possess? It is important for the hiring organizations to understand that the recruitment expertise they seek might differ in accordance with the varying job positions. As such it is important for them to choose the search firms that offer such a diverse range of expertise. They should seek detailed information about the expertise of their search partners before hiring their services. How Do They Access The Candidates? The hiring organizations should also seek information about the methods used by the top executive search firms of their choice about accessing the prospective candidates. This is essential to make sure that the search firms choose the candidates with the right attitude and skills as per the demands of the job position. Firms lacking this key skill are more likely to commit recruitment mistakes that can prove much costly for the business organizations. Do They Have The Foresight To Minimize The Risk Of Wrong Hire? No matter how competent and experienced a search firm may be, the risk of making a wrong hiring decision for the client is constantly present. However, what differentiates a successful firm from an average one is its ability to have the foresight of minimizing this risk. For this the search firms follow tested hiring practices that help them to assess the suitability of the candidates for a specific job role. Are They Objective Enough? It is important for a good search firm to be objective in its search for the right candidates. For this, they need to make sincere efforts towards understanding the work culture and value system of the business organizations. They also need to be aware of the key qualities that the clients are seeking in the prospective candidates. The top search firms work towards helping their clients in identifying the new possibilities and uncovering the likely challenges. Reasons That Make Finding Diverse Talent Quite Challenging For Business Organizations In India11/27/2018 Most business organizations tend to be unaware of the fact that their leaders might nurture a hiring bias, which they themselves might be unconscious of. This bias leads them to give preference to candidates they are likely to feel more comfortable working with. This bias limits them from not only recruiting diversely talented professionals but also retaining such people within the existing workforce. Moreover, such leaders are not in the favour of adapting diversity as an integral part of the business strategy. This, according to the international executive search firms in India, can have a deep negative impact on the ability of an organization to acquire diverse talent. It is a common belief that diversity within an organization is just about including a greater number of women in the workforce. Rather, diversity is more about the changing mindset, the overall behaviour of employees with their colleagues, internal and external clients and the suppliers. However, finding such diverse talent is often quite challenging for even the most renowned companies offering the services of executive search India.
Reasons That Make Finding Diverse Talent Quite Challenging For Business Organizations In India In this context, the individuals, who are assigned the task of conducting the interview, share a major responsibility. According to the experts of executive search India, a successful interview is one that fosters a meaningful and productive conversation between the interviewer and the candidates. In order to conduct such an interview, the recruiters need to keep the following important factors in mind. It is important for the interviewers to be absolutely sure about what they expect from prospective candidates especially during leadership hiring. In addition, they should also have a clear idea about the amount of leverage they can provide the candidates and in which aspects. The best way to handle these factors is by having a proper checklist and score card handy during the interview process.
Features For Recruiters To Remember While Interviewing Candidates For Executive Positions Another popular trend that has emerged in the employment landscape within India is that of integrating technology into the recruitment process. From use of mobile recruitment technologies to conducting online interviews and even complete automation of the e candidate short listing process, technology has had a deep impact on the process of finding and hiring the most suitable candidates. Not only has this helped in simplifying the whole process but it has also helped in reducing the overall recruitment time, thus helping the businesses save valuable efforts and money.+
Getting Familiar With The Emerging Recruitment Trends In India It is highly advisable for the business organizations to avoid working with search firms that use only the information provided in the candidate resumes to assess their suitability for a job post. A professional search firm uses both quantitative and qualitative assessment methodologies along with extensive reference checks to establish the suitability of the candidates. In addition they closely monitor the attitude, body language and overall behaviour of the candidates during the preliminary interviews to further verify the information they have already accumulated.
Five Key Questions To Ask While Hiring Executive Search Firms In India |
AuthorCornerstone India is a leading player in CXO Search, Board Search for Independent Directors and Leadership Advisory services. Archives
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