In Herman Melville’s short story, Bartleby, the Scriviner: A Story of Wall Street , a lawyer hires one Bartleby as copyist. Bartleby pores over the documents and copies them tirelessly, never minding if it’s day or night, which seems to justify the hiring decision, taken without a formal interview and reference check. Bartleby keeps aloof, but is dedicated to his work. And then, out of the blue, he refuses work, always saying, politely, “I prefer not to.”
A parade of “prefer-not-tos” follow. It culminates in the ultimate refusal. Bartleby prefers not to take food.
Professionals engaged in the study of human behaviour have analysed Bartleby, and read meanings into the copyist’s strange behaviours. There have been philosophical, economic and sociological interpretations; yet, 162 years after Melville created him, Bartleby remains an enigma.
However, beyond the ambiguities, there is one certainty about Bartleby. The man is a gloriously bad hire. In the story, no background check is run on Bartleby. When he is hired, the scrivener’s past employment is a mystery. It stays that way, until months after his death.
In this day and age, there is a raft of processes to check such recruiting accidents. Or, so we think. Experts with their ear down to the Indian corporate ground however believe recruiting accidents continue to happen, because the processes are often not followed diligently.
The missing factor Naresh Purushotham, management consultant, says, “Candidates have to be assessed for KSA – Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes. Most of the time, they are assessed only for knowledge and skills. There is no probing for right attitudes, for two reasons. One, the interviewer does not have the skills to draw out answers that could reveal the interviewee’s workplace attitude. Two, there is a prevalent belief that it is extremely difficult – even impossible – to assess a person’s attitude in an interview. Pointed questions – such as ‘What is the biggest challenge you have faced in dealing with a team member?’ or ‘What is the single biggest contribution you have made to your team?’ – can reveal a lot.”
Make use of tech tools Social media give clues to attitudes and Naresh says agencies that specialise in assimilating information about potential candidates and presenting reports to companies are on the rise. Naresh says engagement on Linkedin is viewed with interest by companies recruiting at the middle and senior-level.
Zero in on the best Effective recruitment is partly the ability to quickly wade through a sea of applicants and zero in on a clutch of possible candidates.
“In many companies abroad and a few here, shortlisted candidates are asked to videograph their responses to certain questions and send the videos. This exercise can help whittle down the list to the best of the applicants. This way, recruiters find more time to give the best candidates in a face-to-face format,” says Jyothi Sabarish, director of an overseas recruitment organisation.
In Naresh’s view, interviewing is often the only weapon found in the armoury of the hiring team and he believes psychometric testing tools and ‘development centre’ should be added to it.
“No psychometric test is error-free. However, each of them can reveal enough about the candidate. There are agencies that provide ‘development centre’ which assesses the candidate on competencies.”
Only a few hypothetical questions Hypothetical questions may appear smart, but undue reliance on them can be dangerous, especially when the interviewee can think on his feet and can present charming ‘stories’ off the cuff.
Naresh believes hypothetical questions shouldn’t constitute more than 25 per cent of all questions asked.
“The majority of the questions should pertain to the candidate’s past track record. The answers to them are verifiable -- for example, ‘What is the size of the last team that you led?’”
A new reference By treating reference checks as a formality, companies often pass up a valuable provision for understanding a candidate.
Says Naresh, “The interviewer should ask for a reference that is not mentioned in the CV. He can ask the candidate, ‘Give me a reference from a job that you had three years ago.’ Contact this reference. If he gives a clean chit to the candidate, just ask him, ‘Will you hire this candidate again?’ If there is a pause or a smile, you have something to explore.”
