We have been looking at some of wisdom from the book Proverbs, specifically wisdom on the topic of Management with my Media Management class. The topic this week was Hiring. While acknowledging that employee selection is a more precarious task than ever, the book of proverbs cautions against a casual approach to measuring applicant qualifications and integrity.
Proverbs 26: 10 asserts:
“Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any passer-by.”
According to the author of the book, Management by Proverbs, Michael Zigarelli, the “archer’ Solomon referred to was not a leisurely hunter. Archers in Biblical days were highly skilled warriors trained to be accurate from childhood in pinpoint precision. The scripture is almost a contradiction in that it refers to someone being exceptionally bad at something that he/she should be doing exceptionally well.
Beyond this, this scripture speaks to the important subject of diligence in the recruitment process. There are certain things we can do to avoid hiring ‘a fool or any passer-by.’
1. The interview- What organization does not rely on the interview? It is a tool accorded more weight than any other, but is overreliance on the interview our main undoing? Examples abound of stellar performance at interviews that turn out to be a disappointment when the job begins. The opposite is also true as rejection of those who could have been exceptional workers does happen at the interview stage. Should we weigh up interviews more lightly than we do? Should we dig in a little deeper than what the candidate says or how they say it? Is it possible to gauge someone’s character during the interview?
2. Reference checking- When we put out the advertisement, like we recently did at TWR -Kenya, it is a standard to ask the applicants to included references, three of them seems to be the standard. References not only serve as valuable checks on the data given by the applicant, but they also provide information that is simply unavailable through any other means. The assumption that we will get all the information from the referees is another pitfall. Some referees will not give negative feedback in order to aid the candidate in securing the position, depending on their relationship. Today’s employer needs to be more creative in seeking out information from former employers, who may be weary of lawsuits.
3. Employment Tests- I remember doing one of these a while back and I found the experience enlightening. I am looking forward to commissioning one for the applicants for my position at TWR-Kenya. There has been incredible growth of testing instruments, so much so that employers would first need to scout for which one
works best for their organization. These tests go a long way to predicting things such as the applicant’s cognitive ability, job skills, leadership potential as well as forecast such things as emotional stability. Does the guy you are about to hire have a propensity to steal or is he uncompromisingly honest? The potential employers must of course be convinced that these tests and cognitive exams deliver on their claims of validity. Or do they?
4. Personal Qualities – In our discussions, we agreed that there must be a way of establishing a candidate’s character by closely interrogating their personal qualities as highlighted by Pringle and Starr in their Electronic Media Management book. These qualities include foresight (the ability to anticipate events and make appropriate preparations), wisdom (in choosing among alternatives courses of action), courage (in carrying out the selected action). Other personal qualities include flexibility (in adapting to change), honesty and integrity (in dealing with employees and people outside the organization), and responsiveness and responsibility (to station owners, employees, and advertisers). To this last list, we added the regulator.
The question still remains, is it possible to establish a person’s character and personal qualities through the interview, reference checking and employment tests or will we at the end of the day be like that archer who wounds at random, the one the book of proverbs compares to hiring a fool or any passer-by?