Parameters To Judge A Candidate In Interview

Respected Seniors,

Hope you all are doing great !!

I want to share my experience with you and need to have some information from your side.

I recruited two people in my company one for Business development executive and other for technical role

We are a startup firm with 13 people at present. We waited 20 days for them to join and they joined as well, but after coming one day they didn't came back to the office.

I got to know that there is some loopholes from my side that need to be corrected, Screening process need to be tough.

So, Please let me know that what are the crucial parameters that need to be emphasised during recruiting. As today people tend to grab counter offers.

What are the parameters that you seniors judge the candidates (for junior level, non technical and technical role ).Please enlighten me with your experience.

Looking forward to great discussion because it will help many..

Hi Priya Verma,

It is true, candidates have lot more options today and tend to follow it without much of commitment (of course, exceptions are there)

It is good, you already acknowledged some rigorous steps need to be taken at your end. I would suggest you to -

1. Involve the HODs (Head Technical, Marketing, Production etc.) in the interview process. So different views on the candidates to judge his motivation to work, his personality traits and so on....

2. Develop an Interview Assessment form to record all the observations and details of the candidates noted during Interview. Give him points on the parameters like his Education, Work experience (for specific functions he will be assigned after joining), Personality traits (his impression, communication, leadership ability, presenting himself, ambition, his motivating factors - money, profile, comfort, hard-work etc.)

3. On practical side, revisit your compensation criteria, infrastructure that is being offered to the new joiners.

Hope it will help you.

Let us wait for valuable comments from other experienced professionals and seniors.

Dear Priya,

This is in addition to what Vaishali has said.

If both the candidates join on the specified date, but do not turn up for their duties next day onward then there are few different things.

One is about willingness of the candidates to join non-branded company. Were they willing to join or the job was pushed to them. Second is about work environment. What type of work environment your company has?

Please note that you are running a start up and that is your problem but candidates may not be at the start up of their career.

I feel that both the candidates must have some other job at hand and they have given priority to other job.

In future, while hiring, check candidate's willingness to be a big fish in small pond. For you they may be small fry but they could be considering themselves as sharks or whales!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Really helpful topic...thanks to Priya , Vaishalee and Dinesh.

Dear priya,

sudden abandonment of employment surely effect the working operations. for that you may implement the induction policy the aims of this policy is to make the newly joinee comfortable and help them to learn their duties as wel

l as take them through company vision & mission also let them know their social and financial securities provided by company.

legally an employee may leave the job anytime by follow the exit terms as defined in his service agreement. No employer can force them to provide their employment.

However since both your new joinee is abscond issue them warning letter to resume their duties immediately if they remain silent or abacond you can even initiate the legal action against both of them on breach of service agreement?

Thanks & Regards

V SHAKYA

HR & Labour, Corporate Laws Advisor

Thank you for contributing to discussion
Being an HR my responsibility is to give the company the best skills but sometimes we need to look for the attitude (what I learnt from this incident ), I agree with your point Induction process making them comfortable, this was missing on my part. I will surely implement it.

We had a similar question to this just recently. My reply to that post is relevant here also.

If new employees are leaving your organisation within the first 10 days, you have a serious problem on your hands.

You need to find out what that problem is, and fix it, double quick.

The first thing that needs fixing is your recruitment process. I have posted many, many times on this subject. It is not rocket science, but if you are going to get the right employees, you need a robust recruitment and selection process that is properly documented, and that all staff with responsibility for recruitment are trained to use. Search for my previous posts on this. In my view from reading CiteHR, too many Indian companies have a very ad hoc way of recruiting staff, and it backfires on them spectacularly.

The second thing to look at is your organisation, and why people don't want to work there, eg, pay, management, other staff members, lack of training, lack of future opportunities, etc etc. You have the handicap of being a start-up, and the possibility exists that you will not be there for the long haul. People need certainty, hence the reason to try for jobs with brand-name companies as Dinesh has pointed out.

Thirdly, when people are interviewed, you need to ensure they are not being told lies about what it is going to be like to work for your organisation. Many of us have gone to job interviews and been told how wonderful it is going to be, but the reality is sadly different.

Humans being what they are will always be perverse. You've got to learn to deal with those few people that will upset the apple cart. Problems such as this can be mitigated to a great extent with proper procedures and policy, but you will never ever eliminate it entirely. However in my defence, I will say that in several organisations I worked, my 6 step recruitment policy that I implemented almost never failed us. We gained the right employees, looked after them, and they stayed working for us for many many years.

The interview process should make sure the candidates are more genuine and will stay in the company for long term. Also, from the candidate's point of view the company should fulfill basic to the most need requirements for them to stay for a longer term.

Hi Priya,
As per my opinion, in future while hiring check candidate's willingness to join your organization. In addition, the candidate’s point of view about your company. This will for sure help you find the reliable candidate.
Thanks!

Dear Priya Verma,

This is a universal problem. As an organization which is new (start up companies) the candidates who apply are very desperate to take a job. But will also want to have some advantage joining a startup.

The general expectations of youngsters today is,

1. A good salary - decent by industrial standards

2. A good work environment - that enables growth and provides a future

3. An organization that provides facilities - such as transport, canteen, stay etc.,

Above all this the projection of the existing employees who are happy and have enjoyed stability in employment with superior technology being used at work which can become a competitive edge for them for seeking a better employment.

When all the above is ensured, you can make the candidates who join you stay with you too.

Note: Look for people who send negative signals to the new recruits and keep them away.

Good luck.