Employers are looking to recruit people they like rather than the people with the best skills for the job, a Recruitment Confidence Index special
report has found.
The research into selection interviewing techniques among 1200 employers
found that more than one in five still use gut reaction as the basis for
their selection decisions.
It also found that more than one in three employers offer no formal training for selection
interviewers.
"It's called the 'I know one when I see one' approach to job interviewing,"
said Colin Mercer, director of assessment and development with human
resources consultancy Wickland Westcott, who sponsored the research.
"It leads to decisions based on personal bias or erroneous ideas about how
people will perform in a role. There are a few rare people who are good at
intuitive interviewing, but mostly it leads to expensive mistakes."
The Recruitment Confidence Index is a quarterly survey of UK directors' and
managers' expectations of changes in recruitment activity and business
conditions. It is produced by Cranfield School of Management and the Daily
Telegraph.
Each quarter the RCI analyses a recruitment issue in more detail. This
quarter's special has focused on selection interviewing for managers. The
RCI asked employers about their approach to interviewing, selection tools
they used, the length of time it took them to interview and recruit senior
staff and the training they gave interviewers.
Commenting on the findings Shaun Tyson, professor of Human Resources at
Cranfield School of Management said: "People tend to underestimate the
difficulty of undertaking a good selection interview and the need for
training or specialist input is often not appreciated.
"This is especially so for more senior staff who often believe these skills
are automatically given to them. They think of selection interviewing as a
low-level skill for which they don't need any training.
"But interviewing is just like playing tennis. Everyone needs some regular
coaching and plenty of practice."
Stephanie Richards, recruitment research manager at the Daily Telegraph
said: "The message seems clear: being liked by an interviewer and having a
face that fits could well be more important than your skills matching the
requirements of the job.
"It reinforces the idea that it's not what you know but who you know that
counts. It would be interesting to find out how these decisions are
affecting firms' productivity and efficiency."
Other findings include:
- More than half of employers believe their selection interviewing is of a
high quality. And only one in 20 rates it as poor.
- Nearly one in three employers still use unstructured interviews to select
or promote staff to senior jobs. But nearly two in three now use competency
based interviews to assess a candidate's ability.
- It takes an average of eight-and-a-half weeks to recruit senior managers
from placing an advertisement to taking a decision. The average senior
management interview takes two hours and 40 minutes.
- More than four in 10 still believe that technical knowledge is more
important than leadership skills when recruiting senior managers
- Getting on for half of employers say it has become harder to recruit to
senior jobs over the past five years.