HRD Mariam Kahermanova raised an interesting topic on LinkedIn. According to her, instead of searching for the best specialists, the recruiting process increasingly resembles a theater.
HRD Mariam Kahermanova raised an interesting topic on LinkedIn. According to her, instead of searching for the best specialists, the recruiting process increasingly resembles a theater.
«The main thing is how the candidate presents himself at the interview, not what he can give to the company. Well, there is only one thing left for the candidates: to focus on passing the quest «Like the recruiter», — the specialist notes.
Sometimes it seems to Mariam that the ultimate goal is not to choose the right person for the role, but to choose the person who will be liked the most during the interview. «It’s not necessarily the best specialists who win, but those who know how to play the game of ``ideal candidate'' — with self-presentation, tests of communication skills, and psychological skills. The more pleasant the impression at the interview, the higher the chances, even if there is no deep expertise behind this facade,» she says.
As a result, according to the specialist, the most valuable professionals — those who know their business, but do not rush to become champions of self-presentation — remain out of the game. «Maybe it’s time to stop judging people on their ability to make a first impression and focus on what they can really do?», asks HRD.
Mariam’s post gained a lot of resonance in LinkedIn — the people of Haiti left more than 250 comments and more than 1000 reactions under it. Here are the most interesting opinions and arguments. Many Ukrainians say that, indeed, the task of pleasing the recruiter is almost the main one at the stage of the first interview. However, there are alternative points of view.
Liana Chadova, Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, disagrees with Mariam. «For the most part, the goal is to assess communication skills and the match for the team, where exactly the candidate is being considered. And in general, if you want to be competitive in the labor market, you need to be able to present yourself and sell yourself. I don’t know where people get the idea that they should want to be hired simply because they are there and have written a CV — often of very poor quality,» she said.
«I understand your pain. But if you look at it from the other side, imagine you are talking to a recruiter and they don’t tell you about the company, the vacancy and the team, or they tell you, but not in a good way. Would you like to go further? Probably not. Likewise, when we are candidates, we only have one shot at making a first impression. But I want to add that for me personally, the atmosphere at the interview is important, if the interviewer is human, I will be myself. If it is from the point of questioning/questionnaire, I will close. Because it really doesn’t matter who you are, it’s important that you give a good social desirable answer. Professional recruiters meet, of course, but not as much as expected. I can remember on the fingers of one hand recruiters and hiring managers with whom it was really nice to communicate, even if we did not go further,» said HR Generalist Lana Zotke about her experience.
«I also have a positive experience of communicating with recruiters. But this, unfortunately, is a small percentage that fluctuates somewhere within the limits of statistical error. And this, unfortunately, is a universal story. I think people should talk about it and talk everywhere. For managers to monitor the hiring process more closely. So that adequate and professional recruiters put in place and educate their poor colleagues. Because now we have a sad sadness. People with experience and a high professional level either spend months knocking on thresholds, or, if they are lucky enough to get a job, end up in a group of talkers. Because the recruiters selected to show the management those who speak well, regardless of whether they work well,» wrote Senior Game Artist / Concept Artist Kateryna Vyshniakova.
HR Assistant/Recruiter Tetyana Kryzhanovska says: «I have a problem with non-tech vacancies, because there are very rarely candidates who can present themselves coolly and „sell“. In almost two months, there were only a few people who were bright, and we listened to the online interview and even laughed to tears, because some phrases was apt and appropriate. But all the same, in all cases, we dug deep — about experience and skills.»
«After watching and re-reading a lot of recommendations on how to get and pass an interview, the idea of the quest „Like the recruiter“ came up more than once,» admits Data Analyst Valentyna Lychko.
«In order to „check what they can really do“ you need to give a good and interesting test or assessment. Not all employers are ready to bother with this,» HRD Kostya Tkachenko is convinced.
Roman Onyschenko, Agile Leader, for his part believes that evaluating impartially is a skill that must be worked with. «I don’t know if she is in the training and training program for recruiters. And in general, this is a normal human pattern — to get an emotion and further strengthen it, looking for confirmation why the candidate was liked or vice versa, and ignoring all information that will not meet the goal,» he is sure.
