Super Stars need not apply: How HR systems are culling the very people that companies need the most.
| posted by Morgan BatesAnyone who has looked for a job in the last four years has
probably noticed something very odd was going on. With only a few exceptions
almost every single company has the same format in order to apply for a job.
This same format of course leads to the same flaws emerging and the same people
being excluded.
The current format is both tedious and doesn’t generate any
new information about a candidate or if they would be a good fit for the
company. One of the most egregious examples of this is the most recent wave of
off-the-shelf personality testing that is far from its intended use. Not only
are these tools poorly created and ill-suited to their task but very few HR
departments have anyone on staff that is qualified to do a deep level
psychological examinations of the answers.
Much of these systems will eliminate a candidate long before
anyone inside the company even has a chance to look at their background. More
importantly the computer is making decisions that may not have any relevance to
the position that is being applied for. The truly dynamic are not going to fall
easily into one clean category with yes/no questions like “Are you addicted to
positive thinking?”
You will hear managers at all levels of a company lamenting
that they can not find good people anymore. Many will state that this is a
function of a changing culture or some quip about what the new generation is or
is not. What we can say is that the current HR systems fail to deliver to
internal or external customers.
While it is not hard to imagine how these systems came to be
in corporate America under the guise of saving time and money they have failed
the largest test of bringing in the best people possible. The moment you out-source
the hiring process to a computer you have given up on the future of your
company.
