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Making Right Hiring Decisions

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Making Right Hiring Decision! In one of the interviews I was invited as one of the panelist member recently and as always it was one of the most interesting and deeply introspecting experience. There were 3 final round Senior level candidates and all the three were from Tier 1 campus background and with well experienced background. This role is highly a crucial one as it was to play a mediator between two big organizations where the transition was planned from one to another.

This transition shall determine the next year success of both the organizations and the need to make it a right decision the first time is indeed a mandate. While one organization believed in a highly flexible and diverse backdrop, the other one strongly emphasized on robust and well oiled processes that were treated like a holy cow and had to be rigorously followed without any breach. All the candidates were talented and were debated as it was very complicated to decide the finalist.

A full proof decision making is not a choice but a compulsion. A synopsis of each of the candidate’s role expectation is listed below : –

Candidate 1 : The candidate was super intelligent and wanted time to be at his disposal. In other words, he was keen to understand his work timings, the number of hours he is expected to clock in, if so, etc in addition to working flexible hours, etc. A super proven work track record was supporting his every work deliverable and the projects that he was part of and the manner in which they must have been executed. He did not want to be micro managed but was confident of assuring the work deliverable within the stipulated time. All throughout he had been employed by organizations outside India and in case of offer, this one shall be his first job in India.

Candidate 2 : Believed in committed work schedules and hard working in nature. Though he was not keen in work timings, the distance everyday he would commute to work was beyond imagination. With brilliant academic track record right from schooling, the candidate was exceptional in communication and was quite spontaneous with sparking intelligence. He appeared to be a good team manager with a flair to working with people. With extensive traveling experience across globe the candidate also came at a reasonable CTC compared to other two. The experience was closest match to the hiring organization. The expectation from this candidate was to operate from only one of the organization i.e. the organization where the transition was to occur and not to the transitioning one as the distance he travelled was lesser. He expected autonomy and free hand to operate.

Candidate 3 : Best candidate wrt to academics, great experience and international exposure although not of too relevant experience. A true “go-getter” with a desire to excel. He was the youngest of all. With his pleasant smile and communication, he came up with some of the most innovative and practical solutions to the questions raised during the conversation. He came across as a self starter and required no motivation to excel or to execute. He was one of the candidates who could speak and understand 18 languages (Two of them were very crucial to the transition planned. Note the other two candidates were unaware of these languages). There was tremendous confidence amongst the panelists on this candidate, the only pull back being “relevant experience” which he believed does not exist in the countries he lived and so be it here as well!

In a situation like this, what decision should be taken who is the right candidate ? What is right and what should be taken as key trait that rules over the other candidate for final shortlisting ? Should the role be split so that we may relook at the role so that the chances of success become easier ? Or will it complicate it? Well these are cases where there needs deep thinking and getting into details and taking the consensus of multiple panelists and strategic partners and requires several rounds of iteration. I am curious to understand how a robotic industry will find the answer when it comes to building hiring solutions in cases like this! This is where the super brain will play a significant role – retaining its individuality at the same time helping robotics find the closest solutions.

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