GROUP - 4

ARTICLE SUMMARY:

HIRING WITHOUT FIRING

The article Hiring Without Firing is written by Claudio Fernandez Araoz. It mainly deals with the importance and process of hiring. Also the different mistakes that people generally commit while performing the task. It also gives a blueprint for a perfect hiring which will ultimately result in a guaranteed success. A summary of the article is as follows: HIRING: Since ages, hiring the right person into an organization has never been easy. People tried various ways and even tried to make a science of the process. But still success remains elusive. In the current generation given the huge scope of a business has only increased the demand for talented senior executives. With the growing prevalence of teams, free agents, and networking, finding the right person to fill a job has become more complex. Hence it is impossible to turn hiring into a science. THE ART OF HIRING: Hiring is an art. The art can be mastered only by following a systematic approach. This greatly improves the chances of hiring the right person. But this approach requires a lot of time and discipline. As we all know hiring can be decided a success or failure based only on the underlying result or change achieved. But those results are dependent on competencies that are intangible and rarely found on a persons resume. So the emphasis should be on the persons ability to learn on the job. In these terms, work experience can be meaningless. HIRING TRAPS: Hiring is an executives most important and most difficult responsibilities. There are some ten common mistakes can get in the way. These mistakes undermine the process of hiring because of which they are called the Hiring Traps. None of the traps are result of ill intentions. They reflect many aspects of human nature and the pressing need for expedient solutions. The general hiring traps are THE REACTIVE APPROACH: In general companies take a reactive approach i.e. they seek someone with same good qualities of the previous jobholder but without the obvious defects. The problem with that is it focuses on the familiar personality and effective competencies of the predecessor rather than on the jobs requirements going forward. UNREALISTIC SPECIFICATIONS: The job descriptions are usually filled with contradictions which are never easily realizable. It results is a very small universe of candidates. Also it may leave out the best candidate who might have the essential mix of competencies needed for success.

Anoop Dev Kendraj Kumar Parthiban J Prithuraj Singh Satyanand Yukti Arora

GROUP - 4

HIRING WITHOUT FIRING

EVALUATING PEOPLE IN ABSOLUTE TERMS: In business, praise and criticism are commonly doled out in absolute terms. The answers to absolute questions are opinions rendered in vacuum and should be understood as such. But the problem is, they are taken as a fact. ACCEPTING PEOPLE AT FACE VALUE: Candidates are always taken at face value. But the truth is people often adjust truth to fit the question. The fact is that hiring process isnt very conducive to complete candor. BELIEVING REFERENCES: People in general accept candidates with references. When selecting a potential employee, executives often think nothing of taking the word of a perfect stranger. THE JUST LIKE ME BIAS: The full gamut of judgment errors comes into play in the hiring process. Examples are Stereotyping, Halo Effect etc. DELEGATION GAFFES: There are some common delegation gaffes like allowing first round interview to be conducted by staffer, letting their direct reports or HR to create the job description etc. UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS: Research studies have proved that structured interviews are the most reliable for predicting performance. An unstructured interview does not have the right questions designed to reveal the candidates competencies which may result in rejecting a highly qualified candidate. IGNORING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Companies rarely look at a candidates soft data- emotional intelligence. It is a critical predictor of professional success. It is twice as important as excellence as 90% success can be attributed to the 5 components of EI self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. POLITICAL PRESSURES: This is the most pervasive and daunting of all. These kinds of appointments affects not only on the companys performance but also on its morale. In accurate its not just a trap its more like a pool of quicksand.

Anoop Dev Kendraj Kumar Parthiban J Prithuraj Singh Satyanand Yukti Arora

GROUP - 4
GETTING HIRING RIGHT:

HIRING WITHOUT FIRING

This involves a systematic process with 2 major parts: investing in the problem definition and doing the homework. PROBLEM DEFINITION: It describes the work that a company should do before it even starts looking for a candidate. The search team should begin with requirements, as it will be driven by the companys strategy Also a generic assessment of the situation will also help in defining the problem But the most important thing is a comprehensive understanding of the job opening From this the search team should come up with a list of priorities, to find the critical incidents In this phase, a list of competencies for the job should be emerging. Every job description should include the EI competencies which are critical to getting the work done The final and quite tedious phase is achieving consensus with all those involved in the hiring decision

DOING THE HOMEWORK: The next phase is generating and evaluating candidates and finally recruiting the right person. In this phase, another important thing to be decided is that whether the company needs outside hiring or not There are different candidates for generating candidates like: High-leverage sourcing and Boundaryless Mindset Successful searches throw-off convention at the candidate-generating stage. Also the creativity of hiring that has turned out should be considered From the list of available candidates the team should go to the evaluation phase in which they should focus on conducting structured interviews Also the structured interviews should be conducted by more than one person. A three stage evaluation practically guarantees a good decision The next part is checking references after which there should be some reference conversations Hence from these, it can be clearly seen that Hiring requires a Systematic approach. Along with that it needs discipline and a lot of courage!!! Courage would have meant difficult conversations and even confrontation, but perhaps both stories would have had happier endings.

Anoop Dev Kendraj Kumar Parthiban J Prithuraj Singh Satyanand Yukti Arora

GROUP - 4
CRITICAL REVIEW:

HIRING WITHOUT FIRING

The article revolves around the need, the things to be taken and the steps in the art and science of Hiring. The importance of hiring the right person in the present scenario is being given the right emphasis in order to make the reader realize. But the author missed to talk more on the scenario of a failure in the process of Hiring. Is firing the only alternative? Not necessarily though as there are various other trainings that can be given in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the person being hired. The author rightly warns about the common mistakes committed during the act. This is really helpful as it acts as a guideline and dos and donts for the process. Also he clearly explains the intangible aspects of competencies and how the nature of the human being influence and affect them. He also insists on the need for emotional competencies and soft-data. These are the real skills and competencies that will help in real-life situations. After talking about the possible mistakes, the writer also provides a road map that needs to be followed in the process of Hiring without Firing. He talks about the problem that needs to be defined and doing the correct homework. It then elucidates the risks that get reduced because of the process implementation. Also there was much emphasis on the parameters of interview like the number of people in the selection team, number of interviews and the possibility of hiring error. The author also throws some light on the most important part which is whether to go for outside hiring help or not. When the requirements are high level technical, then external agency is not needed. On the contrary the situations in which they are useful are search for very high level of positions like Diversification, New Market Entry and also Joint-Ventures. In total, the article talks about the importance of Successful Hiring and others effects on it. Hiring is an art which could be successful only with a very high degree of discipline and courage.

Anoop Dev Kendraj Kumar Parthiban J Prithuraj Singh Satyanand Yukti Arora