Talent, that unique thing that one person does better than another, seeks the environment that will allow it to flourish. It is therefore the talent that recruits its company. When recruiting, let’s focus on dialogue, authenticity and balance rather than on interviews, screening and power struggles.
A Resource or a Person ?
In the age of networking platforms, why does recruitment remain a pain for most companies? For a seemingly simple problem: organizations need skills to achieve their ambitions. They create roles and look for the right profiles to fill them. This is where things get complicated. The manager is not faced with a resource, but with a person: will he or she fit into the company’s culture, will he or she wear the company’s costume, will he or she meet the expectations and will he or she adhere to the shared project?
The traditional company thinks about WHAT (the resource) and forgets WHO (the person). What are they really looking for? Are they buying a competent resource or do they want to engage a talent in the realization of a shared project, which will evolve with the company? Some candidates offer their skills, without the desire to commit to a project. Others wish to contribute to a collective project, to identify with a culture and values. Still others are looking for security and comfort while offering a guarantee of stability.
Beyond skills, it is the talent (that unique thing that the person does better than the others) that is sought.
Towards a Rebalancing of Power Relation
The obsolescence of skills is ultra-fast, the balance of power tends to be reversed. This talent is looking for the environment that will allow it to express itself best. It is therefore the talent that recruits its company. If many companies are aware of this, why is it that the recruitment process is still shaped to meet the company’s skill needs, while forgetting the talent and its needs? The approach remains centered on interviews and personality tests, which are one-way interrogations. The process remains hopelessly asymmetrical. When will the corporate personality test come along?
Beyond Seduction, Authenticity
To face the competition and the scarcity of resources, companies develop strategies of seduction. So is there enough room for authenticity in the midst of this game of seduction? By wanting to seduce, by being seduced, we risk forgetting dialogue and authenticity. The “ghost candidates” who are running away from the very first days are no longer rare: the project they discover when they walk through the company’s door is not the one they were sold. Or that they thought they were buying ….
What if we simply dropped the masks on both sides? Let’s set up a process where the words dialogue, authenticity and balance replace interviews, screening and power struggles. Let’s take the time to meet the respective projects. Let’s risk including the customers in this process, because they are the reason for the project. Let’s talk about culture, values and project. Let’s dare to meet the team, because hiring a team member means meeting a collective need, the result of a co-creation of the ecosystem, candidate included.
To be recruited by talents, companies need a more inspiring goal than growth. Less than 10% of employees say they are truly engaged in their work. Let’s stop recruiting resources, let’s hire engaged talents!
