Every smart employer should try to get the best possible employees. This does not, however, mean that employers should chase only perfect employees, because they do not exist. That is what Ira Wolfe, founder of Success Performance Solutions company, focused on testing job applicants, pointed out in an interesting article on ERE.net
"The best any manager could hope for is the candidate who has many of the essential skills and experiences, lots of potential, a willingness to learn and develop continuously, and is engaged with and by the culture," says Wolfe. Many companies are however still looking for the perfect candidates. This practise which Wolfe calls the "Perfect Fit Syndrome" leads to nothing but the inability to fill vacancies. Top management of companies often make the mistake of blaming recruiters and job applicants as incapable.
If a company runs out of e.g. raw materials necessary for manufacturing, the plant manager would act immediately and create a strategy to solve the problem. Only if the manager cannot solve it will the senior manager take the responsibility. But in regards to recruitment, senior management often does not accept its responsibility and blames recruiters of being incapable of finding qualified candidates. What should be the responsibility of top managers? Senior managers should hold recruiters accountable for finding and retaining talent, the best but not always perfect. Ira Wolfe emphasizes three principles.
1. If your current strategy to recruit and retain talent is not working, it is the task of your managers to suggest new solutions and to communicate with senior management. Managers need to know from their superiors that this is expected of them.
2. Top management should require managers to identify high-potential candidates and provide opportunities to develop their potential. In any case, they should not support managers in rejecting "almost perfect" job applicants.
3. Managers should stop pointing their fingers at the inability of HR to attract talent and the poor quality job applicants. Yes, it is true that in some sectors it is really hard to find good employees. The harder it is, the greater the necessity to look for ways to attract and retain them - do not surrender to the "Perfect Fit Syndrome".
What do you think about "perfect employees"?
-kk-