One of the biggest concerns of organizations today is about attracting and recruiting top talent capable of enhancing business success. The biggest challenge they face in this context is that of identifying high-performers, who are also highly stable and self-motivated during the interview process. The experts from the top recruitment firms in India suggest the following interview tips that can help organizations to assess prospective candidates on the basis of the aforementioned parameters.
Seek Detailed Information About Past Performances It is quite common for candidates to boast about their achievements and performances in their previous organizations during the interview process. However, rather than taking this information just at face value, the hiring organizations should seek proper details about such achievements. Many times the achievements that the candidates so easily take complete credit for, are made possible by changes in business policies or even the contribution of peers and co-workers. This information proves critical for organizations in assessing the true competence and capabilities of the candidates. Organize A Practical Test To Assess Technical Capabilities Making the candidates take a practical or written test is the best way to test their technical know-how or else they might be interviewed by a senior executive with ample experience in the specific technical field. The retained executive search firms in India consider this to be the best way for hiring organizations to identify the candidates with the right experience, education level, and industry experience required for the specific job position. This strategy also helps in establishing the authenticity of the information provided by the candidates in their CV’s. Establishing The Presence Of Desired Behaviors The behavior and personality traits of candidates play an equally important role in ensuring that they ensure greater business benefits. However, learning about whether or not the candidates possess the desired behaviors and qualities is somewhat tricky as there is no direct tool or strategy to ensure the same. Hence the hiring organizations need to formulate specific interview questions that can help in bringing these behavior and personality traits to fore. Formulating questions based on real-life workplace situations and the manner in which the candidates will be handling them can prove extremely effective in this context. It will provide the hiring organizations with a better insight into the manner in which candidates approach various issues and their attitude towards solving problems. The top leadership consulting firms in India are of the opinion that using the interview tips discussed above help organizations in ensuring that they select the best candidates for taking their business on the path of consistent growth.
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Inclusive Hiring – Understanding The Concept And Its Significance For Organizational Success8/9/2019 Ensuring diversity in their workforce has become essential for organizations consistent growth and success. This has, in turn, led companies to focus on inclusive recruitment strategies for attracting and hiring the best talent from the broadest pool. This is essential for creating a more cohesive, collaborative and creative work environment critical for driving continuous growth. Most importantly, having an inclusive workforce helps organizations to establish their identity as a company that cares for and values diversity. Even though inclusive hiring should be practiced at all levels within an organization, its significance at senior executive positions is far greater. In fact, it has been observed that companies committed to ensuring diversity in leadership hiring tend to be more successful.
Inclusive Hiring – A Brief Overview A good work environment should reflect the reality of the society in terms of the diversity of people from different, races, religions, abilities and even sexual orientations. A workplace celebrating such diversity fosters innovation and creativity, which helps it to stand apart from its competitors. This can be ensured only through an effective inclusive recruitment strategy that provides a competitive advantage to organizations implementing the same. This is because it helps in bringing a greater variety of life experiences in the workforce. As a result, the organization ends up having multiple teams of professionals with different perspectives and problem-solving capabilities. Benefits Offered By Inclusive Hiring According to the experts from leading executive search firms, when implemented properly, inclusive hiring can offer a multitude of benefits to business organizations. The most important of these benefits are discussed in brief as follows. It Helps In Building A Strong Employer Brand Organizations following inclusive hiring practices in a stringent manner are known to be a preferred workplace choice for top talent. In addition, the employee retention rate of such organizations is also significantly higher than those that overlook the importance of workplace diversity. These factors combine to create a strong employer brand for the organization, which helps in drawing the best quality candidates to their doorsteps. It Enhances Employee Happiness And Performance Surveys have suggested that employees tend to feel happier working in a diverse environment. This is because they are able to meet and interact with people having different perspectives, opinions, and experiences. This provides them with an opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills and help others to do the same, which makes them feel happy and satisfied. Since happy and satisfied employees tend to be more productive, it helps in enhancing their overall performance and makes them more committed towards the achievement of organizational objectives. It Helps In Improving Innovation And Creativity Most top executive search firms are of the opinion that working in a diverse environment helps in enhancing innovation and creativity among employees. Companies nurturing inclusive environments promote employees to think out of the box and come up with innovative and creative solutions for various business problems. The employees do not feel ashamed or fear being judged for their unique thinking or way of working if it helps them to get the desired results. Most importantly, it helps in opening up new opportunities of growth for employees as well as organization. These days, more than 100 job applicants come in the job listings for a particular job position. Some of the applicants seem to be qualified, but, some may not have the skills required, but have used the right keywords to make their resume reach the executive search firms.
Indeed, a face-to-face interview is what that is always preferred, but a phone interview can also lay a base for some valuable selection for the final hiring. Thus, it is often seen that recruiters make use of the phone interview for screening the potential candidates. The phone interviews help in focusing attention on only those candidates who are worthy of the time and the efforts involved in the hiring process. We bring to you some of the strategies incorporated by the top executive search firms for making the most of the phone interview: Duration Of The Interview At the time of conducting the phone interview, the recruiters need to determine about the qualification of the candidates, their personalities, their driving factors and at the same time also find out whether the things mentioned in the resume are correct or not. The duration of the interview to a greater extent depends upon the expertise and experience, the candidate possesses. It can last for even 30 minutes, however, as per standard, a phone interview should at least stretch for 15 minutes. Script The phone interviews generally cannot be on the fly. The recruitment firms prepare key questions before starting the phone interview and the questions are kept consistent for all the applicants. However, the type of questions varies in accordance with the job position because the questions asked during the leadership hiring process cannot be the same as are asked during mass recruitment. However, the interviewer prefers not asking the stock questions, the answers for which can be easily researched and a prepared answer can be given by the candidate. Comfort Level The firms in the recruitment industry believe that if you can comfort out the candidate, you can dig in to get better and honest answers. Therefore, the conversation starters in the form of asking information about college, school or even general life are used instead of starting grilling the applicant from the beginning. Succinct About Job Needs The phone interview needs to be done for nearly 100 of candidates, thus wasting more time on one candidate can cost heavily to the recruiter. Hence, to save on the time, the applicant is made aware about the job requirements at the beginning in a direct and succinct manner and if found suitable, the interview continues, otherwise it stops there and then. Document The Interview The interview of the selected candidates is clearly documented by the executive recruiters in order to see if the answer still lines up, when such candidates are called in for a face-to-face interview. Since, there is no face to face contact during the phone interview, the candidates cannot be judged on the basis of the visual clues and the entire pressure lies on asking the right questions and listen to the candidate’s answer with all the concentration in order to decide whether to further pursue the candidate or not. With the above tips the result of the phone interview can surely be maximized. It is not uncommon for people to use the term leadership hiring quite commonly for recruitment drives aimed at finding the right candidates for almost any management role. However, most such recruiters fail to understand the fact that the term is indicative of hiring activities focused specifically on recruiting middle management professionals. In some cases, the term may be used while recruiting top management professionals as well but it is never used while hiring for junior management positions. In fact, executive search consultants are of the opinion that leadership hiring is significantly different from any other type of recruitment.
Understanding The Term Leadership Hiring When it comes to defining leadership hiring, the business community, in general, describes it as a process of hiring professionals, who can be considered responsible enough to take care of the people under their charge. However, the perspective of such professionals may vary from one organization to another. While some organizations may consider seniority to be a key trait for leadership hiring others may give greater preference to their skills and expertise. It is essential for recruitment professionals to understand the unique perspectives of their individual clients with respect to leadership hiring to provide them with the best candidates. Factors That Affect Successful Leadership Hiring There is no best process or strategy to ensure maximum success in leadership hiring. This is mainly due to the fact that different agencies operating in this niche use different strategies to identify, engage, assess and hire the best leadership talent for their clients. However, there are several factors that can affect the success of a leadership hiring process, and the most important of these are listed below.
Being aware of these key factors can help people responsible for leadership recruitment to hire the best people to ensure maximum client satisfaction. Leadership Hiring Best Practices To Be Followed Having gained a comprehensive understanding of what matters the most while hiring for leadership positions is simply not enough. The top executive search firms also need to follow the below listed best practices for leadership hiring.
Efficient leaders play an important role in building strong teams and ensuring the consistent growth and success of an organization. However, finding the right executive leaders from external talent pools can often prove to be a time consuming process. This has led the business organizations to look at alternate methods for finding the most efficient candidates through alternate methods. One such method is that of developing leadership talent within the organization itself. In fact, an increasing number of business organizations are becoming aware of the various benefits of using this method. The below discussed five guidelines can help organizations to turn their competent managers in to great efficient leaders.
Clarifying The Difference Between Managing And Leading According to the top professionals offering leadership consulting services, most managers are unaware of the difference between managing teams and leading them. Educating their top performing managers about the difference between the two is the basic requirement for turning them into efficient leaders. The managers need to understand that while management is about deliverables, production schedules and budgets, leadership is more about people and their needs and expectations. Teach The Significance Of Constructive Feedback Constructive feedback is an extremely important tool that can be used by business leaders to motivate their teams and improve their efficiency. In addition, it helps establish a strong relationship based on mutual understanding and trust between the leaders and their followers. Constructive feedback also helps in improving the level of openness between the leaders and the followers. This in turn ensures better sharing of ideas and opinions between the two which is essential for the success of a leader. Provide A Reminder About The Tenets Of Leadership The business organizations should make sure that they remind the top managers about the various tenets of leadership from time to time. They need to make the prospective leadership candidates well aware about aspects such as articulating values, need to establish trust, adapt an inspiring approach ad develop the courage to make tough decisions. While these aspects might not necessarily form a part of the working of managers, they are integral to the successful performance of every efficient leader. The organizations might also choose to invest in training programs designed to teach the managers in these aspects. Make Leadership A Part Of Their Professional Objectives One of the most effective ways to turn good managers into great leaders is by making leadership an integral part of their professional goals. This essentially means that the business organizations should work towards ensuring that that every aspect of the professional growth of the prospective leadership candidates should focus on improving their leadership performance. These aspects might include the professional evaluation, compensation and even the development goals of these candidates. Be Sure To Lead By Example No one can teach the nuances of efficient leadership to competent managers better than great leaders themselves. That is why HR strategy consultants stress on the importance of using the most efficient leaders within an organization to teach prospective candidates by example. It is important for the organizations to understand that the actions of great leaders prove more influential than almost anything they might say or preach. One of the key responsibilities of executive search firm is to ensure that they help their clients choose the most suitable candidates for various job positions. However, this is often not as easy as it seems and many times the recruiters end up making bad hires that prove costly for their clients in more than one ways. Most experts suggest that the best solution for this problem is to invest professionals capable of performing the executive search India in a more intelligent and effective manner. Using smarter and unique recruitment strategies helps the search firm to gain a serious competitive advantage in terms of great talent acquisition. Some key tips that can be utilized by the search firms in this respect are discussed in brief as follows.
Pursue Only The Best Candidates It is essential for the search firms to devise a method for identifying only the best candidates for specific job positions. Not being aware of the best candidates available in a specific niche minimizes the chances of the recruiters for making a great hire. The first step in this direction is to filter data that can help the recruiters distinguish top performers from average ones. The recruiters need to do some thorough research to get hold of this data that can prove vital in ensuring great hires. Perform Pre-Reference Checks For Candidates Pre-referencing the candidate is an essential step in the process of short- listing top talent. Performing pre-reference checks should not be confused with verifying the formal references offered by the candidate. Rather it involves performing discreet checks on the candidates through back channels to establish whether or not they really are top performers. Verifying the competence of the candidates from at least three independent and discreet sources is advisable for selecting the best candidates. Keep Out An Eye For True Grit In order to build a team of the most competent professionals, it is important for the search firms to keep an eye for candidates that have an intrinsic sense of motivation and a true grit. They should focus on finding candidates with an extremely deep sense of persistence and determination, which makes it possible for them to handle even the most difficult tasks. The recruiters should analyze the achievements of the prospective candidates thoroughly to get a clear idea of their level of grit. Never Set Too Much Score By High IQ’s And GPA’s It has been proved umpteen numbers of times that high IQ levels or even high GPA’s of candidates do not make them quantifiable as successful hires. This is especially true in case of leadership hiring, where the recruiters need to focus on skills and traits essential for motivating a team. When it comes to efficient management of the workforce and building strong teams, high marks and impressive degrees cannot prove to be of much help to the prospective candidates. For such situations, it is the inherent behaviour and attitude of the candidates that the recruiters need to focus on. Conducting Interviews In A Mindful Way Interviewing the candidates is one of the most effective ways of establishing their suitability and competence for a specific job post. However, in order to recruit top talent, it is essential for the executive search firms to conduct truly mindful interviews. This essentially means that the interviewers should not only ask the right questions but should also have the ability to truly listen to what the candidates are saying. This will help them to learn about the values, ambitions and goals of the candidates and how these align with the roles and responsibilities they are being considered for. It is also important for the recruiters to ask follow up questions and look for any discrepancies with respect to the earlier responses of candidates. 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. The use of traditional methods of recruitment, no longer seem relevant in terms of providing the desired results in the modern times. This has naturally led the leading recruitment firms in India to seek newer and better methods of recruitment to fulfil the hiring demands of their clients. In this context, social media has come to play a vital role in helping the recruiters to overcome the shortcomings of the age old methods of attracting and hiring the right candidates. However, in order to exploit the complete benefits of using social media for efficient recruitment, it is important to first learn how these platforms have influenced the recruitment process. Discussed below are the 6 most important ways in which social media has been influencing and even changing the game of recruitment.
It Has Helped Modify The Communication Model Social media channels have completely revolutionized the methods of both personal and professional communication. This has in turn helped the recruiters by opening up new avenues of finding prospective candidates besides providing them with a fresh perspective on attracting them towards the client organization. This new method of communication has also uplifted the methods of finding relevant content, enhancing social outreach and using the right measuring tools for finding better candidates. It Has Created A Technological Shift With the rapid advances in technology, the recruitment experts are under extreme pressure to make their hiring processes mobile focused. This trend has further been promoted by the fact that the means of using and viewing technology are becoming increasingly smaller in size and portable. The social media channels make it easier for the recruiters to exploit the benefits of this technological shift. In this context, they need to work towards creating mobile- centric recruitment ads that have a rich visual appeal. It Has Enabled Quick Connection With New Prospects In the modern times, social media has emerged as one of the easiest and most effective ways of connecting with prospective candidates in various fields. The ease of connectivity on social media makes finding the right talent relatively effortless and hassle free. In addition, the recruiters can use the social media channels for establishing strong and personal relationships with prospective candidates, which in turn can help expand their talent pool. The wide variety of audience available on the different social media channels has also helped in improving the overall quality and quantity of prospective candidates. It Has Helped Create A Platform For Learning One of the biggest influences that social media has had on the recruitment process is that it had provided both recruiters and candidates with a platform for interaction and learning. Both the recruiters and candidates can use these platforms to interact with one another, express their opnions about various recruitment issues and even discuss prospective job opportunities. This enables the candidates to become a part of the hiring process more quickly while making the whole process quite effortless for the recruiters. It Helps Identify Recruitment Problems And Provides Solution As mentioned before, social media make it possible for the candidates to express their opinion about various recruitment issues. This helps the recruiters to identify the key recruitment problems and also find the most effective solutions to these problems through comprehensive discussions with the candidates. In fact the providers of leadership consulting services have confirmed using social media to analyze the potential threats and challenges. It Helps Overcome The Limitations Of Geographical Boundary Another major influence of the use of social media has been to help the recruitment teams to overcome the restrictions imposed by geographical boundaries. In fact these sites can be used to reach out to potential candidates located even in the remotest corners of the world in a more personal and discreet manner. It is a well known fact that most business organizations today need to partner with a good recruitment firm to fulfil their talent needs. However, not many people are aware of the fact that the responsibilities of these firms are not just restricted to helping their clients find the right candidates for various job posts. In fact most of the leading recruitment firms in India shoulder various other responsibilities for their clients. The nature and type of these responsibilities depends on the contract of services that has been established between the two parties involved. Discussed below are some of the key responsibilities that the recruitment firms ought to shoulder for each of their clients.
Play The Role Of A Strategic Partner The recruitment firms should work in close coordination with their clients to establish the best hiring strategies that are in accordance with the changing needs of the organization. In addition, these firms need to offer reliable advice and requisite support to the clients in terms of updating these strategies for ensuring better growth and profitability of the business. The recruitment firms should offer their clients the strategic support for ensuring the expected business achievements. Offer Training Support For New Recruits Most modern business organizations have well designed training programs in place for their new employees. However, in some cases, the new joinees might have special training needs in which case they might seek the help and support of their recruitment partners. The recruitment firms can make use of their extensive networks to provide the necessary help and support to their clients in such times of need. Provide Help And Guidance About Employee Development Employee development is an ongoing process that the business organizations need to invest in to ensure their consistent growth. In fact, the professionals offering leadership consulting services are of the opinion that investing in employee development can help organizations to overcome the challenge of finding the right leadership professionals. It is the responsibility of the recruitment firms to provide the necessary guidance and support to their clients about ensuring proper employee development. These firms can help the client organizations to identify the employees with the promise of great potential and prepare them for handling more responsible positions in the future. Help Resolve Employer- Employee Conflicts Conflicts are a common occurrence within a workplace environment and a professional recruitment firm fulfils it responsibility of resolving such issues between the employers and the employees. The best recruitment firms offer the necessary means to mediate between the parties involved and also provide a feasible solution to the problem. These professionals should possess the knack to hear out the issues without being judgemental and should keep the best interests of both their clients and their employees in mind. They should make every effort to provide a lasting solution to the problem without impacting the overall work environment negatively. 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 |
AuthorCornerstone India is a leading player in CXO Search, Board Search for Independent Directors and Leadership Advisory services. Archives
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