Q. Hi, our company is at a critical stage of growth where it needs good managers. More importantly, we need good managers who last. What advice do you have to offer to those involved in the screening and hiring process? – Augustus M. C.
A. Hi Augustus, your question is indeed a very good one. Bayt.com has been catering to the online recruitment of managerial and senior executive professionals since the jobsite's inception in 2000 and more than 69% of Bayt.com's community of over 8.5 million professionals today is comprised of mid-career, management and senior executive talent.
Before I go ahead listing the best practices that we recommend, let me start off with a reassuring statistic from our recent poll. Six in 10 professionals feel that turnover among senior executives is lower than that among junior executives, as per our recent ‘Hiring Management in the MENA’ poll (August 2012), so it would be safe to say that on an average, most senior executives in this region are more likely to remain stable.
However, for those companies who have had to face the situation of a C-suit executive departing from the team (or being asked to leave if they are no longer a good fit for the company) the repercussions are enormous. These include lost employee morale, loss and duplication of expenses on re-hiring, side-tracking of departmental growth objective and more. All of these hurt the productivity of the company. Here are three things that should be implemented while hiring senior executives:
1. Good due diligence: Whether your company has its own recruitment team or you work with head-hunters or executive recruiters, don’t assume that they have done a thorough research of the candidate. According to Bayt.com’s ‘Hiring Management in the MENA’ poll (August 2012), about 16% professionals feel that senior candidates are rarely or never researched online before being hired. A simple online search can reveal a lot about the candidate. Is the candidate fastidious about his/her online profile? Are there any news item associated with the candidate that appears online? If the candidate maintains social pages, are their personal views in harmony with your company’s values? Try to get in touch with people the candidate would have worked with previously.
The more information you have the better you would be at uncovering patterns that may have previously gone unnoticed. After all, senior executives can either help sustain a healthy corporate culture or lower morale.
2. Go beyond the typical interview: Go beyond a typical interview and have elements that include ‘assessment’ mechanisms. These assessments could be asking to present in on a particular project, devising a sales/marketing plan, role playing, etc. Such a comprehensive interview will help you assess the candidate on their ability to think on their feet and their analytical and problem solving skills.
Our InstantMatch tool is designed to give you and other employers access to the best technology available when it comes to selecting the ideal candidate from such a large pool of choice. You can benefit from the winning combination of unprecedented levels of choice with powerful search and screening technology to find the most relevant and attractive CVs in the easiest and most effective and expedient manner.
3. Source internally: Bayt.com’s ‘Hiring Management in the MENA’ showed that 42.2% of professionals say that top talent is usually promoted from within the company. The obvious benefit of this would be that an internally promoted hire is a product of the company’s work culture and has internalized the organizations mission and vision. This newly appointed manager can now lead his team by example and motivate them.
