What really counts in recruitment

That things still often go wrong in recruitment and selection? It seems an understatement. The candidate who looked so good on paper very often turns out to be disappointing in practice. Estimates vary, but about 50 to 60 percent of all hires can be considered a bad hire: someone the organization would not hire again if given the chance. And there you are with your careful selection process at the beginning….

It is a persistent problem, and also one that has been known for years. But the key question, of course, is: what can be done about it? Search even wider? Select even more strictly? Or just think: better luck next time, and resign yourself to fate? A frustrating thought. That is why we at Velde decide to look for some underlying causes of the countless mismatches. And one of the things we found most often: not meeting the other person’s expectations. Both on the part of the client and the employee.

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How to avoid that? The bottom line is that you actually want to sit down with that client before the job posting is created. You want to stay away from the standard vacancy text. Often the client already has a vacancy ready to go, along with a list of tasks and requirements. But you have to have the courage to ignore that. The important thing is to start the conversation first: where does the client want to go? What is the why? If you know why you do what you do, you can reason further. What kind of people belong to this in the long run?

So it’s not about tasks and requirements, but what we at Velde call the assignment. The first step is to map out where the client wants to go. Then you think about the roles that go with that ambition. And then the question: how are you going to trigger the right candidates for that ambition in the right way to join the process towards that dot on the horizon?

And that has implications for recruitment and selection as well, Peter van Geel wants to say. ‘They now attract very different candidates, with a very different motivation. We now have a course with people with a much higher level of education and affinity with corporate social responsibility. They want to contribute to a more sustainable society. That really comes in very differently.

Another great example; Cyclon, manufacturer of maintenance products for the (sports) bike. That may not seem very exciting. But what does Cyclon solve in this world? They ensure that cycling in the Netherlands goes through the world without creaking chains. Nothing more irritating for a sports cyclist than thinking you have to pedal harder because your chain is not turning properly. That’s why for Cyclon we are looking for people who understand that, who understand that cyclists want to work with a smooth chain. We don’t want people who sell oil, we want to make sure that people understand: I’m doing something really cool here. Then it won’t be: I have a job at Cyclon. No, then it becomes: I get the chance to make cyclists happy. That’s quite a difference.