Hiring Principle.
What are the several attributes that one seeks in an associate with whom one intends to share work responsibilities.
What are the traits which forthrightly tell us, that an individual is a perfect match?
The CV yields information primarily related to one’s scholastic achievements, all the branches of knowledge studied, and enables us to have an overview of the general approach that one has towards life.
So is CV the most important parameter to understand a person or are we still missing on something more critical?
More often than not we encounter questions such as “Tell me something which is not written in your CV?”
One would wonder that what exactly an interviewer is pointing to while asking this. Right?
It’s a tricky one. Instead of directly asking the interviewee to share some of his life changing experiences, the interviewer takes a different approach. While asking something like this the interviewer expects you to tell him about your extraordinary accomplishments.
Now, you must want to reflect upon the purpose that this serves. In taking such a route an interviewer gets a hang of your basic personality type, emotional sustainability, attitude and your approach towards dealing with what life offers you.
I feel that for the success of an organization, apart from having an impeccable trade and domain expertise, smart intellect and a hard-working attitude is a prerequisite.
Furthermore, presence of emotional intelligence is what plays a vital role in determining whether a person should be given an opportunity to work or not. This is the most important factor in the complete resource analysis. The extent to which a person is aware of his emotions and has the ability to cope with them tells us a lot about him and his world view. Primary human emotions are Fear, Anger, Arousal, Hope, Joy, Sorrow, Trust, Anticipation, Disgust and Surprise.
And for every person the degree to which they experience these emotions varies, depending on their belief system which is developed by the kind of exposure they get and the experiences they have in this life. This belief system is subjected to change based on the rational/ logical Aptitude and openness towards learning which arises out of their experiences.
How foresighted a person is about his own life is another parameter on which a person should be judged. Also, it should be carefully observed whether an individual attributes his success or failure to external elements or personal dispositions. The ones who attribute their success/failure to elements outside themselves are believed to have an external locus of control. Meaning, that such people believe that their lives are controlled by sources outside them (such as luck, destiny) and develop a pessimistic approach towards life. While, people who attribute it to personal dispositions believe that they themselves control the outcomes of their lives, are mostly intrinsically motivated to work and highly positive towards life.
An optimistic mindset is a potential ground for high creativity. While, a sadist or a pessimist who is charged up with negative emotions can also be highly creative but his creations would mostly have negative implications.
Self esteem is another very important parameter that will help you to assess an individual’s worth. Simply put, self-esteem refers to an individual’s judgement about his value or worth. Whether high or low, the self-esteem of people working in an organization plays a vital role in shaping the culture of the place.
Companies hire myriad of individuals with distinct qualities to have a healthy representation of the population. This not only enables them to have diversity but allows each member to grow collectively and learn from one another.
I believe an employer has a moral duty to pick up the right resources, groom them in a manner that they are able to function effectively and productively at each level.
But unfortunately we neither hire in this manner nor do we train them to the best of our abilities. This happens because of what social psychologists refer to as cognitive dissonance. Doing so puts us in a social dilemma or in a state of conflict. Training somebody or helping an individual to unleash his best potential poses a threat to our position. The conflict between whether to assist or not, puts one in a very unpleasant situation. The trainer’s (here, employer) fear at the most basic level is that, that a smart, well trained and groomed resource may demand more remuneration and would possess higher confidence and exhibit lesser dependence on the system. This would enable him to be at a position where so he can easily leave the organization creating a void at that place. Hence, it's in the best interests of the organization to not put any extra efforts in training the individual. As he is not guided to build the right attitude, he can't really live up to his full potential.
To dissolve this state of dissonance most coaches/trainers end up imparting half the knowledge to their fellows. This entire thing ultimately leads to an increased disconnect between the employer and the employee.
Today's world is a fast moving one. Everybody wishes to be quick and wants to get off with their work by either hook or crook. In India an employee is mostly treated as a needy person who has no right to share his ideas or creativity. He is plainly supposed to follow instructions in the same manner as they are directed. Research suggests that Most Indian companies exhibit a passive aggressive behaviour towards its employees. They indirectly resist to the demands of employees, avoid direct confrontation and set the rules for engagement. For instance, have you ever pondered on why every company announces 5-6 percent yearly bonus way before the year ends? They do it just to pin down the hopes and expectations of employees prematurely and to prevent the employee from taking any bold decisions; like joining another company or starting off something of their own. If you keenly observe, you would realise that it is a one way street altogether. It’s analogous to walking on a road with no end. No matter how beautiful the street is, after some time it will get monotonous and boring. Even a trip to say, Goa starts to get boring and exhaustive after the third day.
Job satisfaction, respect in job, work load, work place environment, believe in leaders and a sense of ownership are some other standards which determine the productivity of an employee. Moreover in such a work arrangement I believe that the employer and employee, duo share some set of responsibilities towards each other.
Employers should bring about a change in their thought process and act as transformational leaders rather than transactional ones. They should help each employee to gain their fullest potentials and become much capable individuals. The four key characteristics of transformational leadership are- idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. While the responsibility of an employee would include giving 100% commitment to the organization’s mission and to its complete fulfilment till the time he is a part of it. Each member’s role or contribution should be recognised and well appreciated through feed backs by his seniors. This helps in developing a feeling in the employees that their contribution is highly valued by the organization. This further leads to a bolstered self-esteem of the individual which leads to having a greater sense of belongingness. And once one’s need for belongingness is met adequately, one moves up in the ladder and works towards better productivity yielding profitable outcomes.
Everybody has an innate urge to explore. Few suppress these urges and others let it out. There’s a need to redefine our approach. Employees need to be pushed, not mechanically but creatively. And with that an organization opens up the channels for its true growth.