A Tale as Oldas Time
Someone I know,recently had his heart crushed. He needed someone to enrich and improve a partof his life. For months he pursued her. She turned him down. He offered to giveher twice as much of the things she wanted.
She turned him down again. Hecouldn’t figure out why. She said it was because she was with someone, someoneshe was devoted to. She wanted to stay and make it work.
The person whosuffered this heartbreak was a client of WAVE’s, and when he came to us withhis tale of woe about being rejected by someone he was trying to recruit, wecouldn’t help but think how familiar it all sounded.
Needing a manager for anew business unit you had formed in your organisation... Reaching out to themand making an offer... Being rejected... Believing if you sweetened the dealthe candidate would capitulate...Offering a higher salary only to be rejectedagain... Being told by the candidate you so desperately wanted to employ, thatthey were happy with the company they were with... They wanted to help buildit..They were grateful for your interest but didn’t want to move...Beingheartbroken because the position in your company remains unfilled...Wonderingwhat you did wrong and if you will ever find the right person.
The story Ijust told, accurately describes my client’s unfortunate foray into recruitment. Yet, it is no accident that my first account of events is also a spot-ondescription of his experience. Sometimes the process of finding the rightpeople for your team can feel like the plot of a sad romance novel.
Ships Passingin the Night
Nigeria has ahuman capital problem. There is a serious disconnect between the skills ouryouth acquire in educational institutions and the skills our businesses requireto run efficiently. What this broken connection results in is a limited pool ofcapable talent. Finding the right people to increase your organisation’sproductivity and profits can be challenging.
At the end of the day, a jobseekerand a prospective employer are just two strangers trying to make a connection.Much in the same way you can meander in the dating world, failing time and timeagain to find the perfect match, you can stumble in the recruiting process,struggling year after year to find the right people and keep them on board.
HeartbreakHotel
Many, if notmost, Nigerian employers are familiar with disappointment. Some of themdiscover their perfect candidate only for their efforts to be thwarted by thecommitment, loyalty, integrity and initiative that attracted them to the saidcandidate in the first place.
Other employers swim through an ocean ofpotential without finding that one good fit, and wash up on shore fatigued andfilled with disillusionment. The majority make what they believe to be theright hire, only to discover that it was a mirage. Many employers can’tunderstand why their turnover is so high, despite all of the benefits theybelieve they provide to their employees.
They look attheir insufficient or inadequate staff and wonder:
Could thingshave worked out differently?
Where did we gowrong?
Is it them?
Is it us?
Is there anyhope at all?
Finding ‘theOne’
Both therecruitment process and the dating world require time and effort that canengender deep despair and real frustration. WAVE’s experiences in recruitment,both within our own organisation and with the businesses of our clients, hasgiven us insight into how to become a more effective recruiter and employer.
Afirm understanding of the principles and processes that govern making a goodhire, will improve your odds of success. An informed implementation of theseprinciples might even give you a chance at a match made in heaven.
About theSeries
The Dating 101Guide to Recruitment series is designedto help you streamline (or completely overhaul) your recruitment policies andprocesses. We’ll do a deep dive into the key decisions, tools, and actions thatevery employer needs to begin making great additions to their team.
We’ll cover 10main topics, each in its own instalment:
What’s thepoint of it all? Is all this even worth it?
2. The Soul-searching
What do we wantthis person for? Why are we even looking?
3. Setting the Standards
How can thisperson give us what we need? Will they be able to make us happy?
4. Self-reflection
Who are we?What do we stand for? What do we have to offer?
5. What Makes Us Special?
How are wedifferent? Why should we be the chosen ones?
6. Putting Ourselves Out There
How do we makethe people we want see our specialness?
7. Making a Match
How will we decide who we want? What if itisn’t meant to be?
8. Making It Work
How will welive together? How will we maintain peace and harmony?
9. Making It Stick
How do we keepthe music playing? How do we make it last?
10. Going the Distance
Shall we growold together? Were we made for each other?
Our hope isthat by tackling, from the perspective of dating, the ins and outs ofsuccessfully staffing your company/organisation, WAVE can simplify theseemingly complex process of securing the right candidate and building a greatteam.
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Misan Rewane isco-founder and CEO of WAVE, an organization focused on rewiring theeducation-to-employment system to create a level playing field for everyAfrican youth to access the skills and opportunity to become what they imagine.
Email us- Info@waveacademies.org
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