Category: Interviews

Client Satisfaction!

“The customer’s perception is our reality.”

Client feedback is the soul of any business and we are glad that we did get an opportunity to receive some of that from one of our clients in the PR and Communication sector. Our partner, Clutch did catch up with Rose Kogi – HR Manager at Oxygene Marketing Communications Ltd and a Clutch analyst personally interviewed Rose over the phone. Below is an edited transcript

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the HR manager of Oxygène Marketing Communication. We operate in the PR and marketing space. Essentially, we’re an integrated agency that does end-to-end services. Besides the usual PR, we also do crisis management and advisement services to clients on whatever they may need, for example, financial help.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crystal Recruitment Ltd?

My company hired them for recruitment services. We recruit a lot in our business in direct client management areas. Crystal Recruitment helped us in our search for individuals to fill our head of mobile services and account director positions. We use Crystal Recruitment specifically for their direct headhunting approach.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we internally identify the needed position and ask ourselves if we can upscale someone within the organization. If we can’t, then we venture outside and have Crystal Recruitment search for candidates. When we approach them, we provide a description of the caliber of candidates we’d like to interview. We provide details about years of experience, preferred credentials, and so on.

After communicating our needs to them, they go to the market and find individuals who match the criteria. From there, they come back to us with five good candidates. That’s when we start the fast but thorough vetting process. Crystal Recruitment gives us the top three candidates. Then, we hold in-house interviews and select the best person.

For the head of mobile services position, we wanted to develop a mobile app and sell it in the market. We got an individual on board, and they came in and pushed the product into the market. The account director position was for very high-level work in PR. Crystal Recruitment helped us fill both of these positions.

What is the team composition?

I only work with Justine (Managing Director).

How did you come to work with Crystal Recruitment Ltd?

Justine and I belong to an HR network. She was referred to me by someone who worked with her before. This network contact was happy with Justine’s service so I asked to meet Justine in person. Before this engagement, I previously worked with Justine when she was at another firm.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement in March 2018, and it’s ongoing. Recruitment is always ongoing. As a company, we’re constantly growing and looking to venture into new business. We work with Crystal Recruitment on a needs-basis, dependent upon when positions open up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We have our own performance metrics within the organization that are based on targets. If the candidates meet our targets and can bring in new business as well as build on existing business, then we’re pleased. All our new hires should be able to sell the same high standard of service to our customers.

One thing that Crystal Recruitment does particularly well is that they approach our competition. They look at our competitors and see which individuals fill their positions and then select candidates from the market who emulate those characteristics.

How did Crystal Recruitment Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

Crystal Recruitment was able to recruit individuals for the two positions within the allotted time. By nature, recruitment occurs on an urgent timeline. Most of the time, managers needed someone to fill the position and do the work yesterday.

Crystal Recruitment started on the process immediately. Within a week they had identified three candidates and by the second week, we were looking to interview. In terms of meeting timelines, I can really vouch for their good work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their two most impressive attributes are efficiency and time. I’ve worked in recruitment myself, so I have a lot to compare them to. Recruitment is all about speed, it’s vital to get someone who fits the criteria and will be a good resource for the company. Crystal Recruitment possesses that efficiency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. In terms of communication, they were very open and receptive to feedback. For example, if they found someone who’s a good fit for skill but not culture, they’d go back to the drawing board and find someone who fits both. Crystal Recruitment handles feedback in a positive manner, so I’m content.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it and work with them. They’re a good recruitment firm and will meet your needs.

So there you have it, do give Crystal Recruitment a try and expect stellar services from us. We will work with you and for you and will not stop till you get the right people for your business. Do reach out today via our office line 0202101466 or email address and we will get back to you for further discussion.

Is Your New Hire Struggling?

Once upon a time, Jayne *, the human resources manager at company X met Phyllis*, a potential candidate. Phyllis* was the ideal candidate in person and on paper. She aced all the interviews. She was brimming with ideas and energy. She was the perfect culture fit. There was no doubt in Jayne’s mind that her search had ended.

Within a week, Phyllis* got the job and was posted to her new work station. The first few weeks were spent learning the ropes. The company had a mentorship programme in place so Phyllis was assigned to a mentor. Within the next few months, Jayne began to doubt her decision. Phyllis was struggling. Some department heads found it difficult to work with her.

The situation above is more common that most human resources managers and CEOs would care to admit. Based on our work with hundreds of organizations, we have identified the following common pitfalls and measures to avoid them:

Mistake #1: Inefficient testing of the candidate’s standard skills

Human resource professionals have for years been pondering over factors that predict whether a candidate’s past performance will be replicated in the new role. It has been proposed by some organizational psychologists that unstructured sequential questions would be the best predictor of future performance. The limitation of this is that one cannot glean sufficient information from a candidate based on these questions regardless of how they are structured.

As experts continue to ponder on the best way forward, it is important to determine whether the candidate has standard skills. The 4C’s summarize the crucial standard skills a candidate must have: communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. For instance, if you are looking for an administrative assistant, you need to determine whether the candidate has proper report writing skills, is organized and time conscious.

THE 4C’S THAT ARE CRUCIAL

Mistake #2: Failure to regularly review your interview questions

Research carried by Glassdoor indicates that the average interview duration has almost doubled since 2009. It may sound easy to interview a candidate but in reality, interviewing is one of the most technical aspects of hiring. Biases easily affect the process of getting a good hire. Most companies have a template in place but this template is rarely reviewed to eliminate questions that do not add value to the process. For most organizations, interviews are an opportunity to determine whether the candidate fits into the culture of the organization. In reality, most organizations have a poor understanding of what constitutes their culture and what sort of candidate would fit into it by extension. Have measures in place to review and improve your interview process.  

Mistake #3: Poor relationship building

It is possible that one of the reasons why Phyllis was struggling could be due to a poor relationship between her and her mentor. While most organizations have some form of mentor-ship program for new hires, few of these organizations work towards finding out whether these programs are working. Human beings naturally gravitate towards familiar faces. It is not always easy for one to build a relationship in the work place in spite of having common goals. This may be attributed to difference in personality types or learning styles. Organizations should frequently review their mentor-ship programs and improve them accordingly.

Mistake #4: Using performance improvement plan as a prelude to termination

Performance improvement plans (PIP) are an essential tool in determining what is not working. They should be developed in a way that clearly identifies the problem, outlines the steps that will be taken towards the improvement and timelines for improvement. Using examples, the plan should help the employee understand their deficiencies and why they need to work towards improvement. If a plan is structured properly, it may foster collaboration between an employee and their departmental head that will result in improvement of performance.

Mistake #5: Failure to pay attention to learning styles

People learn in different ways. Some people can watch someone perform a task once and have the confidence to perform the task by themselves after that. Some people need steps outlined for them so that they can refer to these steps later. Others prefer a video or a book. Your organization might not have the capacity to train all types of learners according to their learning styles but it can adjust accordingly to ensure that no one is left behind.  The organization can expose new hires to different types of learning material. Instructional material can be in the form of booklets, videos and infographics.

Image courtesy: Project-general.com

Mistake #6: Organizational culture that has never been challenged and changed

A few years ago, PwC in the USA noticed that most of its new hires were leaving the organization as soon as they got a chance to leave. This took the consulting firm by surprise because for years, the organization had employees who had accepted the long working hours.

As millenials increasingly became a part of the organization, the attrition rate soared. PwC also noticed that there was reluctance among younger college educated candidates to join the organization. The organization commissioned a study to determine why it was losing its top talent. The study revealed that the millenials were more willing to question assumptions about work that had long been held as truisms. In response to the crisis, the organization introduced flexible schedules and a wellness program.

Africa will boast of the largest population of young, working employees in the next decade. Using yesterday’s work approaches with today’s Gen Z employees will not work. Organizations need to be agile and adaptable in order to retain top talent particularly millennials and Gen Z who will make up a significant portion of the workforce in the next decade.

Do you have a vacancy that you need to fill? We are available to walk with you the talent search journey just as we have done with our clients. Crystal Recruitment puts clients and candidates at the heart of their operations and nothing is more rewarding than hearing that new hires have performed and they are not struggling to settle in.

Exit Interviews; Necessity or formality?

When John*, a highly talented manager took over the technical team at an assembly plant, he had eighteen members in his team. By the end of the third quarter, eight of his team members had left the team. No one could understand why the turnover in the team was so high. It took the intervention of a junior member of the human resources team to find out why the turnover was so high. After interviewing some of the former members of the technical team, it became apparent that John was the reason why most of the members of the technical team had left the organization. Most of the ex-employees described him as highly driven but difficult to work with. They described him as arrogant, impatient, prone to anger outbursts and a poor communicator. Most of them stated that they loved working for the organization but they found it impossible to continue working with John.

Like John’s organization, most organizations do not conduct exit interviews. Others conduct the interviews but they do not analyze the data. This could be as a result of the lack of appropriate skills and tools to enable them to analyze data. In this era where evidence-based approaches to talent management are the key to winning the war on talent, this could be detrimental to the organization. In some instances, organizations have data gathered from exit interviews but are hesitant to implement the findings. This is could be as a result of failing to align the overall objectives of the organization with the talent strategy. As a result of this, evidence gathered through observing the trends in the organization’s talent is disregarded and the organization continues to suffer from high turnover and lack of motivation among the employees.

Any organization seeking to constantly improve its talent strategy needs to conduct exit interviews.

An exit interview can be conducted via phone, an emailed questionnaire or one on one conversation. A one-on-one conversation gives a personal touch giving the panel an opportunity to gather more information through nonverbal communication cues. However, if the organization lacks a culture of transparency, it could be difficult to gain useful information during exit interviews in spite of the mode of data collection that is employed. The timing of the exit interview needs to be carefully considered. It is difficult to get employees to give honest answers in the last few weeks of their notice period. This is because most employees would like to make a good impression and get a good reference. If possible, it would be better to carry out the exit interview at the start of the notice period before the employee gets disengaged. Some organizations that have reaped the benefits of exit interviews conduct the interviews before the employee leaves the organization and a few months after the employee has left the organization in order to compare the perspectives.

In order to benefit from the data obtained from exit interviews, the organization should treat the information with the utmost confidentiality. One of the best ways to ensure confidentiality is to use an external human resource consultant to carry the exit interview. In order to fully reap the benefits of such a partnership, the organization should identify a Recruitment Firm that understands its talent needs and wants to help the organization to improve the talent strategy. The organization should be willing to learn from the insights gathered and work with the firm towards ensuring that the findings are incorporated into the talent strategy.

An exit interview is an opportunity to gain insights into the leadership styles within the organization and their overall effect on talent in the organization. It is often said that while some leaders are born, others are made. In the case cited above, the organization would have identified John’s weaknesses and strengths as a leader and helped him grow in his areas of weakness. Future training initiatives for leaders in the organization should include lessons on effective communication. Leaders in the organization can develop mentorship programmes for their employees where learning is emphasized and mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth. The shame-based learning culture in the case cited above can be corrected by ensuring that team leaders provide inspiration and motivation for their team members. In the future, the organization can also ensure that all team leaders undergo personality assessments.

Organizations can use exit interviews as a strategy to identify areas where they need to employ innovation. As the business environment becomes competitive, an organization can only thrive by being proactive in their approach. Some of the best ideas on how organizations can grow in terms of their products, their services and their talent can be obtained through the analysis of the data gained from exit interviews.

Would you like us to help you conduct exit interviews? Talk to Crystal Recruitment today and let us help you improve your talent strategy.