RECRUITING: A WORK OF HUMAN GOLDSMITHERY

 

By Guillermo Ceballos Serra

Filling a vacancy with the right person is one of the greatest satisfactions of this talent management profession. Satisfaction is, without a doubt, directly proportional to the difficulty generated by the finding. Finding a talent in a hyperdynamic world, where whoever is available today stops being so the next day, where what a company requires today is different next week, where roles are a mix of what was clearly defined before and today they look chaotic in liquid structures, they justly deserve a celebration.

Recruiting is finding the best available candidate for a current or upcoming vacancy position, at a time and cost appropriate for the nature of the search. It can be filled with internal or external candidates and the latter overseen by the Recruitment department or an expert consultant’s firm.

Finding the right candidate requires the attributes of the scout and is essentially an art, particularly when it comes to key, strategic positions, regardless of the hierarchy in the organizational “old pyramid”.

Being a good recruiter requires, undoubtedly, the conditions of a goldsmith. Goldsmith is someone who performs artistic work with precious metals or their alloys. What material could be more precious than talent in all areas and in organizations?

Goldsmith work begins with the recognition of the talent carats that applicants have, the mass of talent and its purity, that is, being able to determine how much there is truth and how much there is marketing in the candidate.

But where it really becomes art, it is not so much when finding it, a work that, although complex, more typical of the miner, in this case a data miner, whatever the exploration method, but when visualizing the setting of the gem in the part of the body where to be exhibited, the cultural adjustment to the organization and the specific requirements of the position. It is about presenting unique pieces, impossible to be reproduced in series.

Here the artist condition of the goldsmith appears, when he enlightens the horizon of the candidate exhibiting what is difficult for him to see. The world of possibilities that opens before the candidate both for him and for the organization, how to go through the process and how the subsequent incorporation will allow him to expand his talent, take it to a new dimension and enhance his career.

Recruitment requires the goldsmith to work on a second adjustment, that of the beneficiary of the talent, facilitating the fit, eventually the questioning of the original idea or the proposal of an alternative vision on how to incorporate the talent, suggestions on the structure, functions or processes of the company operation in order to achieve the most fruitful compatibility for the parties.

Just as a quality jewel is appreciated by the market, the same happens with talent. Talent is sensitive, it goes where it is appreciated. There is always someone willing to seduce you. You do not need to see a dozen people who are suitable for the position, there simply may not be. However, this person we kept waiting may receive invitations from people who do not need to see ten applicants to know that the first interviewee was valuable. We may not find it again ...

You must accompany the applicant throughout the journey, be close, contain heartaches, manage anxieties, especially those who are in job transition, maintain expectations without over-promising while there are no certainties, but within a positive perspective, remove doubts, give feedback continuously and keep an eye on him/her, as is done with any valuable object.

This accompaniment does not end with the entry, it goes further, continues to ensure the exact fit in the organization, helping to eliminate initial doubts and insecurities, ensuring the commitments assumed and the conversations held. It is advisable to maintain regular contacts, during the first stages and then space them out until contacting them on anniversaries. Sometimes some of them later become clients and others even become friends for the rest of our lives.

The role of the recruiter continues to evolve, today it is not only a personal brand of the recruiter, it is an advisor to the applicant's personal brand, it contributes to the generation of the employer brand, is the main partner of candidate's experience, an advisor on remuneration and development in the succession plans.

Technology helps a lot, no doubt, but honestly ... Would you buy a jewel designed by 3D printing or would you prefer a creation chiseled and set by an artist?