Why the candidate most like you is NOT best !
When recruiting people to your team, you might ask the question; what does a great person in your sector ‘look’ like? What could they “look” like?
Such a question is risky! Sometimes, hiring managers’ may be attracted to applicants that are likable, keen, or very often are?most like them. The first two factors may be preferable, even highly desirable in people who have customer interaction, but they are not necessarily essential in all roles. “Being most like them” is quite definitely undesirable. Tom Peters once said ‘some companies hire people who look the same, sound the same, wear the same suit, went to the same college, did the same degree, and then wonder why they are not a hotbed of success and innovation!’
Many companies are very proud of what they see as their culture. A mistake particularly often made in start-up companies and even some large organizations is to confuse culture with uniformity, or conformity with the leadership team. Conformity to a common set of values or sense of direction and purpose is good, but making your hiring decisions based on whether someone went to the same university or school or likes the same sports team or common interest is not. Inexperienced leaders often make the mistake of thinking that culture is exclusive rather than inclusive. Employers sometimes excuse the rejection of some candidates by suggesting they are “not a cultural fit”, when in reality many of such candidates probably were a cultural fit, had the company at that time properly understood what the culture was. Analysis might discover that leaders within companies have differing ideas as to what their culture is!
Diversity in the workplace context refers to the way that people from different backgrounds and perspectives are able to participate together to achieve common goals.
By creating and offering an attractive workplace that is diverse forms creative and vibrant cultures. It provides management and peer groups with a greater understanding of the needs of employees, each other and customers. By bringing together the minds of a diverse group of people develops innovation and encourages creativity at a different level.?It is fair to say that a team from a diverse background is going to have a broader range of experiences to draw from and therefore seeking out methods and ways to attract this talent will without a doubt enhance your business and position you as a company to work for, work with and buy from.
According to research by The Work Foundation good diversity policies result in:
??????????improved performance
??????????improved employer image
??????????improved brand awareness
????? improved ability to respond and change through?creativity and innovation
??????????innovative approaches to products
??????????reflective diversity makes customers feel at home.
For a high performer, this type of organization, that encourages and values a diverse and inclusive culture is going to be very attractive to them.
It is therefore important as part of your employer branding that diversity is seen to be championed in order to attract high quality people to your organization.?
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For more information on hiring high performance talent check out the first two articles published in Nigel's News, and subscribe to be notified when the next one in the series is released.
Have a great day!
Authors: Nigel Job and Lorna Rutter
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3 年Nigel, thank you for your article. The practice of 'hiring someone like me' (was this called 'shadow hiring' in the past ?) still amuses me. I meet new team members at clients' organisations and I cannot believe how similar the new employee looks to the manager hiring them: exact clothing, age, background, ... even height ! Often I have to take a double take... have they hired their sister or brother ? is their subconscious mind secretly recruiting for an imaginary five-a-side football or 3-a-side basketball team? Hiring someone like you makes you comfortable, but as Nigel explains here, also makes your organisation weaker in the mid run.