Recruiting the ‘Perfect Match’
You, like us, might remember the original ‘Perfect Match’ TV show now getting an updated rerun on Netflix. In the search for romance, an individual participant would ask a series of questions to three other hidden participants. Based solely on their voice and responses, the individual participant would then select their ‘perfect match’ romantic partner. What could possibly go wrong!?
How would you feel as a recruiter to know that your focus is the equivalent of being a contestant on ‘Perfect Match’, searching for a ‘romantic’ partner rather than identifying the most effective business hire? Of course, you would laugh at the thought and the attack on your professionalism. However, the evidence suggests otherwise.
Research into recruitment decision-making and the influence of bias has found that managers favour people with whom they can establish a social connection, irrespective of their productivity. A US professional services firm case study further identified recruiters hiring in a manner more closely resembling the choice of friends or romantic partners than how sociologists typically portray employers selecting new workers. The study found that potential job candidate skills were less important than a personal connection between recruiters and a candidate.
In our continual focus on the association between talent meaning and ageism, the thought of organisations allowing the recruitment process to operate as a defacto ‘dating activity’ is disturbing. Unlike sport or the arts for instance, in most business contexts it has not been determined how to categorically identify people with innate talent, thus making talent particularly difficult to quantify. Continuing our analysis of talent recruitment as a non-business focused activity, HR practitioners are not immune from criticism. Emphasising the sway of personal connection, research shows even when the company has a formal talent assessment policy in place, HR managers inevitably reflect their own understanding of the attributes they believe would make a valuable contribution to business objectives.
Such an approach to talent identification has been found to be not only of little strategic value, but also inadequate and reckless. The approach of recruitment as a ‘Perfect Match’ corporate equivalent is further compounded when talent evaluators see themselves as representative of the firm and its personality and therefore use themselves as a proxy to ascertain organisation fit. Research reveals to the extent the talent evaluator perceives a candidate fit with themselves, their perception then is that the candidate’s fit must then meet all organisation fit requirements.
How This Organisation Practice May be Harming Your Business
Does a recruitment process prioritising a social connection between recruiter and candidate challenge whether the ‘best’ candidate is being recruited to the company? To the extent HR recruitment teams are primarily young in age, the above research suggests that younger job candidates might find it easier to establish the critical ‘social connection’ with the recruiter and be prioritised for recruitment. To the extent a younger recruiter may see themselves as emblematic of the company culture, then a potential job candidate reminding the recruiter of themselves, makes the recruitment of older workers more problematic. The opportunity to access different knowledge, capabilities, expertise and experience becomes limited as recruiters’ preference criteria less relevant to business success. Company recruitment processes focused on issues of ‘social fit’ and individual interpretation of talent attributes open themselves up to accusations of bias and in today’s business world perpetuation of organisation-sanctioned ageism.
Do you know how much your existing recruitment practices may be penalising your business?
If the above questions have made you reflect on your workplace dynamics, please get in touch and let us help you take practical steps to transform your existing workplace into an inclusive age-neutral one that develops your competitive and performance capability.
Selected References
Ericsson, A., & Pool, R. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. London: The Bodley Head.
Hennekam, S., Peterson, J., Tahssain-Gay, L., & Dumazert, J.-P. (2019). Recruitment discrimination: how organizations use social power to circumvent laws and regulations. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. doi:10.1080/09585192.2019.1579251
Rivera, L. N. (2012). Hiring as cultural matching: The case of elite Professional Service Firms. American Sociological Review, 77(6), 999-1022.
Wiblen, S., Grant, D. S., & Dery, K. (2013). Questioning the value of a consistent approach to talent management: When one best way is not enough. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277720135
Zheltoukhova, K., & Baczor, L. (2016). Attitudes to employability and talent. Retrieved from https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/attitudes-to-employability-and-talent_2016_tcm18-14261.pdf
