With the tightening of the job market, employers have more choices than ever to find new talent or the rare gem missing from their workforce. Yet, many managers or business leaders are “paralyzed” by the idea of taking action. This is the observation of Emilie Charbonneau, HR advisor at Impact M10.
Since the labor shortage has eased, Emilie Charbonneau has noticed something among her entrepreneurial clientele:
“I see many managers and leaders who feel guilty about having made recruitment mistakes during the labor shortage. In a market where you had to take candidates when they came along, this added a lot of pressure to hiring. They recruited quickly and didn’t really know what they wanted.”
A study published last July by Robert Half supports the same conclusion. According to this survey, 3 out of 10 managers acknowledge having made a bad hire in the last two years. Following this, 94% of interviewed employers also note that the recruitment process is much longer today than it was two years ago.
“I notice that leaders and managers who recruit have less confidence in themselves,” continues the HR advisor. “It’s unconscious, but they’re more hesitant. They postpone the decision, they doubt, they question themselves.”
Taking a Step Back
Fundamentally, Emilie Charbonneau reminds us that managers have unconscious biases that weigh on hiring decisions.
“Internally, managers tend to appoint the person who is most loyal to them, who won’t cause them additional problems, or who resembles them. Externally, they’ll tend to look for an experienced manager whom they won’t have to train or support in integrating into their position… Except that with this type of profile sometimes comes a rigidity and a ready-made method that doesn’t necessarily apply to the team that’s already there and will only give their future leader one chance to make a good impression,” she states.
To get out of this impasse, Emilie Charbonneau suggests that those responsible for recruitment make the process more objective.
“My advice is to surround yourself with an objective person who can help clarify the need, ask the right questions, and gain perspective to help the leader or manager properly assess the desired profile. During the interview process, this person can observe the exchanges and then offer a different perspective, by challenging the right elements and discussing what each person retained, understood, and observed.”
This “objective” point of view can be found in someone who already works in the organization (in another department, for example) and who is able to take an independent viewpoint on the matter.
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