Unhappily Ever After?

Ademure, veiled bride-to be, is "interviewed" by her prospective

husband and in-laws. Even as she replies to the barrage of questions in

pre-rehearsed monosyllables, the alliance is struck.

Days after the wedding, her demure manner is thrown to the winds as is the

veil. The tigress lurking beneath has a dramatically different personality from

what it appeared to be in the artificially "arranged" single encounter

that led to this life-long partnership.

Thankfully, instances of such single encounter weddings are diminishing, at

least in urban India. Apart from prickly issues like women’s liberation, urban

Indians have realized the unreliable nature of these single-meeting alliances in

highly artificial settings.

Even as love makes India go round, the classic Indian concept of "seeing

the bride" has metamorphosed to two-way candid interaction spanning at

least a couple of meetings. But when it comes to employer-employee partnerships

on the professional front, these artificial settings need to change too.

Selecting a new member for one’s team ought to be given more importance than a

one-sided single-meeting interaction. So, does the good old face-to-face

interview practice need to be changed?

Due to geographical constraints, the initial screening could happen over the

telephone, or through video-conferencing facilities.

The face-to-face interview can be relegated to a final stage before an offer

is made to the interviewee. Yet, there is no substitute for a face-to-face

meeting. An employer has to see and talk to the person he wants to hire. Yes

there are limits to what one can find out in a 30 minute meeting and the

interview needs to be supplemented by other processes. So, how can interviewing

techniques be fine-tuned in order to avoid hiring mistakes?

"Face-to-face interviews should be well planned and structured in order

to capture the total personality of the candidate.

Recent research (by Harvard) also validates this, where a face-to-face

interview contributes 14% in the selection process.

Other options available are behavioral/stress/competence-based interviews,

assessment tools like personality, ability, interest tests, simulations,

role-plays," says ML Taneja of HCL Infosystems, explaining that these

supplementary selection tools result in a better person-organization fit.

"The medium of all interviews, be it face-to-face or via electronic

means, needs to be augmented with robust selection methodologies, trained

interviewers and psychometric tests. We conduct in-house interviewer

certification programs to bring in standards and consistency," points out

Laxman K Badiga, chief executive, Talent Transformation and External Relations,

Wipro Technologies. Wipro has implemented competency- based interviews. This

ensures that each candidate’s competencies are matched to the job profile.

Wipro also conducts a two-day training workshop for all interviewers on the

nuances of interviewing skills and competency based selection. Besides, at least

two rounds of interviews and two background checks have been mandatory.

Joseph John, head (strategic resourcing) at Wipro Infotech believes that no

single evaluation technique is enough. "Companies following People

Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) practices do specific assessment against

defined competencies for a given role," says John.

Says Monica Mudgal, senior manager, People Development at Techspan,

"Each employee in the consulting function (the software developers) need to

have a very high CFQ (customer-facing quotient). CFQ is a scale to check a

candidate’s communication skills, grasp over the language, grammar and

presentation skills." Apart from technical tests, psychometric and language

proficiency tests are increasingly being used.

Psychometric tests are helpful in identifying the attitude and behavioral

traits of the jobseeker and the fit with the job profile.

For example, one cannot have a "bad- tempered" person for a

customer- care job, no matter how good the person’s qualifications are. The

tests are useful in bringing out these aspects of the jobseeker profile. In

order to check if the candidate fits into the organizations’ culture,

companies encourage the prospective employee to interact with any three existing

employees of the company. It is not good enough to recruit the right person.

From a retention point of view, it is important that the person mixes well with

the rest of the employees in the company. For example, a person who has worked

for a long time in a professionally run multinational company may find it very

difficult to work in family-run business where the work culture could be very

different.

Who are you looking for?



Even the best of organizations are often not clear about what the job

demands. The specifications keep changing resulting in confusion and hiring

misfits. It makes sense to devise an appropriate process that the candidate must

go through before an offer is made. Louis Joseph, chief human resources officer

at Kshema suggests that one should ensure that various people within the

organization are a part of the interview panel. "At Kshema, we have at

least four to five rounds comprising interviews with HR, the prospective guide,

head of department, operations and HR head. It is unlikely that all of them are

wrong," says Joseph.

T Shivaram of Digital points out that we often recruit a person for the

current job instead of evaluating how the job will change with organizational

needs and the person’s capability to grow.

"I once had the experience of hiring a person who had the knowledge but

not the depth to manage and grow within the job.

Here a more in-depth or a competency based interview would help,"

reflects Shivaram.

An eye for detail



Srihari Udupa, director (HR) at Oracle India, elaborates on the different

qualities companies look for, on the basis of position and levels. "At the

lower levels, one looks for depth or the technical capabilities and potential.

At the middle level, managerial skills and at senior levels, one looks for

strategic thinking, leadership skills, and ability to envision and motivate

people to convert vision to a reality," says Udupa adding that a

culture and values fit is required across levels. Mukund Menon, general

manager, HR, Satyam Computer suggests that apart from regular hiring techniques,

assessment centers and written tests on skills and technology be used for junior

level employees. "Middle level professionals could go through psychometric

tests and personality interviews while the recruitment process for senior levels

could include an approach paper presentation as well as psychometric

tests," he says.

Of late, most companies have tried defining role-based competencies and

focusing on assessing the competencies in different ways during in the

recruitment process.

So, during the interview process, when you start talking to candidates about

the recent work done, what are you actually looking for? Candidates who get

excited about their work and their achievements, who take pride in their work

and performance and who take failure in their stride, are the ones you want.

"Look for indicators, which show that though the candidate did not quite

like the type of work, he always looked for reasons to feel satisfied and

celebrated his achievements.

This leads to self- motivation and success. He has the capability to succeed

in adverse conditions. This is the candidate you want, " says Ashutosh

Mashruwalla, head (HR and administration) at Selectica India. Mashruwala has

specs for "avoidable" candidates too.

"Check whether the candidate assumed a leadership role in the team.

Statements like "Well, there was nothing I could do to change the

situation" or "We wanted to do A but boss said B and we had to

follow", are not the candidates that you want," he says. Mashruwala

suggests that during the interview, the interviewer should check for a strong

belief of the candidate or a statement, which is absolutely correct and

"contradict it".

Go on arguing and play the devil’s advocate for a while. Look for the

reaction. If the candidate gives in immediately, there is no way you want him.

"You need employees who will pursue their beliefs without getting offended.

It is possible that a candidate believes that you have the upper hand in an

interview and gives up. But the passionate ones will always work their way

around it," reasons Mashruwala.

At Wipro, only certified interviewers do selection interviews. "We

conduct interviewer certification programs for selected managers periodically so

that managers are equipped to participate in the selection process,’’says

Joseph John, head, Strategic Resourcing, Wipro Infotech.

Reference checks



However, the most skilful of interviewers could fail to take the right

decision if there is a lackadaisical approach to reference checks. "The

reference check is an oft underestimated hiring tool. Companies need to pay more

attention to it. In fact for senior positions, several reference checks need to

be carried out, some of them even before the interview, points out Sanjeev

Bhikchandani, CEO, naukri.com.

"Independent reference checks are crucial. Avoid depending on the

references provided by the candidate as the candidate," says Arun Tadanki,

country manager, Monster.com India.

Mukund Menon, general manager, HR, Satyam Computer points out that most of

the bad hiring happens not on the skills front but inconsistency in the role,

attitude or performance. "There could be a disparity in what is mentioned

in the resume and reality. Interacting with the previous employer could

eliminate these issues," states Menon.

But when you apply these multiple methods of assessment, you may just end up

with a confused message–the candidate seems good on some counts but fails on

other crucial parameters.

As Mashruwala of Selectica says, "While arriving at a decision, think

that your organization has plenty of great candidates.

Never lower your standards, no matter how hard it is to find great

candidates." It is much better to reject a good candidate than hire a bad

candidate. The classic journalistic rule could apply here too–When in doubt,

leave out…

Manjiri Kalghatgi

Defining the Job Role

The candidate should have...

* 3 years’ sales experience



* Proven track record


* Graduation, preferably MBA

Employers typically have a hazy job description prior to the interview

process. Fine-tuning the requirement cuts down the possibility of recruitment

mistakes. For a cleaner fit, the description above will not work. It’s all

about detail, as in the longer job role definition (above, right)

The candidate should have...

* Between three and five years of experience in sales



* Of which, at least two years must have been in selling to companies
(corporate selling and not FMCG/retail selling)



* Must have sold products which require short selling cycles (the mindset
of these people is to be hungry for immediate closure)



* Must have worked in City X (knowledge of the local territory)


* Ideally, the candidate should be from the computer hardware or office
automation industry

The Employer’s Guide to Smart Hiring

n Prioritize the top three skills you want and focus on

spotting these, instead of "also desired" qualities n Reference checks should go beyond verifying service period

and compensation n Supplement formal interviews with psychometric testing,

informal interaction as well as simulation/ role-playing exercises n Insist on more than one face to face interview, especially

for management positions n Write down the questions to be asked before the interview n Do not select under pressure n Do not select the best in worst lot or compromise

on selection standards n Avoid listening to other opinions about candidates before

your interaction, but do not ignore test findings n Look out for jargon that a candidate may try to throw and

question whether it is natural or an attempt to camouflage inability n Do not let the charm of a smooth talker influence your

decision. First check if the skills match the job description n Note, how many times the candidate uses "I" or

"we". Beware of repeated statements like; "I made it

happen", "I was the only contributor and others were liabilities’ n Do not depend solely on a technical interview or answers to

theoretical questions without checking and cross-verifying experience as

stated in the candidate’s resume n Never recruit a person just because he/she is like yourself

or has similar qualifications n Never make an offer across the table, but meet the

candidate at least one more time n Just because someone is from a premiere institute does not

qualify them to be hired n Never forget to ask candidate if they have anything to ask.

Candidates who are keen to join you blindly, without knowing enough about

the company, job content, environment etc are not the ones you want n Avoid illegal and discriminating questions

Once upon a time on appointment terrain…

Experts reel off some cases of real-time hiring mistakes...

"A senior executive on the interview panel of a company once came

across a candidate who he had earlier interviewed for a radically different job

role. He initiated a probe and found that the candidate had been tweaking his

resume to suit a variety of job descriptions. Impressed by his communication

skills, interviewers would recruit him, only to find that he had little

knowledge about the job in question. In this case, additional selection

tools like psychometric or knowledge tests could have helped avoid this hiring

mistake"



ML Taneja, HR chief, HCL Insys

---

"A leading software company was recruiting sales people for its

software division in the US. Posting top sales people from the Indian division

in the US was a disaster as none of them understood the cultural factors

involved in selling to US customers. Recruiting Americans for the same positions

did not work either as they had trouble adjusting with the rest of the Indian

employees. In the third attempt, they recruited NRIs (non-resident Indians) who

fit well with the company’s culture and had knowledge of the US market

conditions and culture and were able to sell successfully. This learning

resulted in a significant business loss to the company"



Arun Tadanki country manager, monster.com

---

"A candidate who appeared to be amiable during an interview was

found to be quarrelsome, aggressive and manic in his day-to-day interactions. He

was asked to leave the organization within two months of joining. This could

have been avoided by using emotional profiling as an interview tool and a

background check"



Louis Joseph, Kshema

---

"In two similar cases concerning two different companies, senior

managers were asked to leave due to integrity issues that resulted in delays,

disruption and the consequent loss of business. It was found that both managers

had been sacked by companies in the past. These organizations found no mention

in their resumes"



Sanjeev Bhikchandani, CEO, naukri.com

---