Trends in Human Resources: How the Recruitment Game is Played

When hiring at a senior level, the strategic goal is often to improve and further develop the management team. Placing new people in a company brings new insights, and challenges old systems and processes. With these fresh ideas comes a new energy that flows through the organization.

TEXT KATY BRANUM

Balance, an established mid and high-level management recruitment company, was launched six years ago and concentrates on giving advice to a wide variety of companies on topics such as organisational development and human capital, as well as recruitment. They shared their insights in finding the right fit with new hires and the role that technology plays in this process.

Finding the right job candidates for placement in Curaçao is not always a straightforward process, because even if the job title is familiar to the applicant, tasks and responsibilities can be quite different to what is found elsewhere in the world. It is important when promoting a vacancy that companies don’t just look at a job title without looking at the skill set that is required. Just promoting the job title can result in incorrect candidates, or perhaps result in a too narrow search net. Sometimes by reframing the job role, a wider net can be cast and with the right skill set communicated – the result can be a better quality of candidates applying.

Once you have a selection of potential candidates, Balance’s suggestion is that it is important for the applicant to prove past performance. They believe this is more important than what the applicant promises to achieve in their new role. They follow this philosophy because past achievements are better predictors to what applicants are capable of in the near future. Experience indicates that any applicant can read a textbook and propose fantastic plans about what they are going to do, but if they haven’t achieve these results in the past, then it raises doubts because it presents an element of risk.

Another important aspect to establishing a possible fit for candidates for a job position in Curaçao is to explore their personal history and motivations – especially if there is a need to relocate them. Balance explores this towards the end of the process, often with the last two or three candidates, as part of their final assessment. It is very important to get this right, many business people can attest to having experienced unsuccessful recruitments where six months into the role, the new hires decide that Curaçao is not for them and return to their home country. Therefore, engaging with applicants in interviews for high-level positions in Curaçao is essential, it is extremely unwise to put forward an applicant with whom you have not met or spoken. Any applicant can have an enchanting letter of introduction and accompany it with a qualified CV. However it is not until you personally speak with the candidate and get to know them that you will be able to form a complete picture of that person and understand if they should move forward in the placement process. To help with this stage of evaluation Balance will conduct an interview either by Skype or in person, as they want to make sure that that candidate fits into the profile of the client’s company, if they have any doubts on whatever grounds either they will not introduce them or Balance will discuss it with their client first. If the client indicates that they still want to speak to the applicant themselves then of course that is their decision.

As part of this process, Balance also believes that it is essential to clarify with the applicant what is expected from them. If they have an inaccurate view of the role, and what the expectations are, or if they have a completely different view of what is required, this is important to address, otherwise it will lead to disappointment. A special area to focus on with the applicant is often the leadership style within a client company. This is especially important in Curaçao as it often differs dramatically from other countries, including the Netherlands. Another element to consider is the political environment within the company, as this often has a huge influence on the company culture. This type of culture is something that is often unfamiliar to foreign candidates who can find themselves shocked or confused as to what is happening and can’t see how the business game is played here. Thus, it is important to have personal contact with the applicant to confirm if they have the right profile for success over here, based on the environment in which they will have to operate.

To find the right candidates Balance uses technology to promote the position in Curaçao and when appropriate, internationally, to ensure they attract the best applicants. They use digital tools like LinkedIn, and target specific groups such as people from Curaçao who are currently living abroad.

Every now and then expats are also found to fill key positions, and although this can sometimes be politically sensitive on Curaçao it often provides an optimum result. They are able to share their knowledge within the local company, helping to move it forward, and ultimately generating income for Curaçao, for example: running an airport or a hospital, where there are few qualified local candidates. So in order for the island to move forward, it is sometimes important to attract new international expertise as it brings fresh perspectives and ideas.

When attempting to recruit more than one person, such as a new team, Balance uses technology and their in-house assessment department to create profiles of the potential candidates, and then analyses the combinations of the various profiles to see which grouping provides a balanced team. Changing just one profile in a team can really impact the culture and creates new insight.

They also believe that all the job candidates are also clients and invest in helping the candidates, in areas such as career progression, next steps, and personnel development so that individuals are able to effectively work towards their career goals. They work with the individual to reflect on their qualities and also offer a reality check, helping them put themselves in the right perspective.

Balance also educates them about career alternatives, for example if they are speaking with a financial professional that grew up in the accountancy hierarchy within an accounting firm, often they tend to think their skill set is limited to that specific environment. However, there is actually a broad range of different tasks in other environments that they can perform with their skill set, where the roles match their ambitions and qualifications.

As a recruiting company it is important to focus not only on personnel, process, and structure development within client organisations, but also to assist with less tangible strategic changes such as, what kind of culture do you want in your organization? How do you motivate the right people in your company? How do you develop the people in your company? When do you have the right person in the right position?