Honesty is the Best Policy

It is a trap for young players to “sell” an aspirational role in a recruitment process. The role is what it is, the good, the bad and the ugly and should be matched as closely as possible with the candidate regarding the current state, not the aspirational state of what the role may be in 18 months time. You need to source someone who buys into the aspiration but knows the reality.

Take time in the recruitment and onboarding process to ensure that expectations are aligned and be honest with what the state of play is at that point in time. Values and principals are by definition aspirational, and candidates realise that it is a work in progress, but recruitment is the front line of culture transformation, and you cannot underestimate the impact of honesty in that process. An organisation will easily lose the trust of the candidate if reality is not clearly articulated.

A specific example that I recall was interviewing a candidate for a role and the manager was already in love with them from the resume, so they did a “big sell” on the role. I was concerned that the team was not mature enough in the creative space to offer the candidate what they wanted but the manager was adamant they were the right person for the job she brought them in. They were bored in 3 months and felt like she had been lied to through the process. A better outcome would have been to be honest and call on the candidate at a future date when the position of the business was more aligned to the candidate skills.

When I first started In Human Resources, I saw an illustration that after a lot of internet searching I have been able to find a version of, yes it was that long ago. I had a feeling it may have been a comic that my mother cut out of the paper, but I am sure it was a version of this fable, which articulates the extent recruiters will go to to get you on board! It still makes me laugh although it was aimed at the “head-hunter’s” when the economy was booming there is something in it for all of us!

On the spectrum between “Warts and all” and “Selling the dream” err on the lower side. That side is generally closer to the reality that the candidate will experience in the first 12 weeks.