Recruiting in India

It is 7:00 AM and I am waiting for a candidate for a job interview. I have his resume lying in front of me with some areas underlined which I want to know more about. Also I have written down a dozen questions on a piece of paper. In other words, I am well prepared for the interview. Unfortunately the candidate does not show up at seven and at 7:20 I call my agent where he is. A while later they call me back to inform me that he is delayed by heavy evening traffic. That is not something one would expect in the evening I answer but my sarcasm is not heard. Anyway he would be at my office in 5 minutes. When the candidate arrives finally at 8:00 in my office he doesn’t find it necessary to apologize neither to explain the reason why the person who needs to hire him has waited for one hour outside office hours. Let’s start the interview…

I have learned from my mistakes and read resumes only when people really show up, let my recruiter confirm the appointment 30 minutes prior and try not to plan any interviews outside office hours. I estimate that more than 50% of the candidates won’t show up for an appointment, often without informing us. Rather curious is that  

It is 7:00 AM and I am waiting for a candidate for a job interview. I have his resume lying in front of me with some areas underlined which I want to know more about. Also I have written down a dozen questions on a piece of paper. In other words, I am well prepared for the interview. Unfortunately the candidate does not show up at seven and at 7:20 I call my agent where he is. A while later they call me back to inform me that he is delayed by heavy evening traffic. That is not something one would expect in the evening I answer but my sarcasm is not heard. Anyway he would be at my office in 5 minutes. When the candidate arrives finally at 8:00 in my office he doesn’t find it necessary to apologize neither to explain the reason why the person who needs to hire him has waited for one hour outside office hours. Let’s start the interview…

I have learned from my mistakes and read resumes only when people really show up, let my recruiter confirm the appointment 30 minutes prior and try not to plan any interviews outside office hours. I estimate that more than 50% of the candidates won’t show up for an appointment, often without informing us. Rather curious is that  

It is 7:00 AM and I am waiting for a candidate for a job interview. I have his resume lying in front of me with some areas underlined which I want to know more about. Also I have written down a dozen questions on a piece of paper. In other words, I am well prepared for the interview. Unfortunately the candidate does not show up at seven and at 7:20 I call my agent where he is. A while later they call me back to inform me that he is delayed by heavy evening traffic. That is not something one would expect in the evening I answer but my sarcasm is not heard. Anyway he would be at my office in 5 minutes. When the candidate arrives finally at 8:00 in my office he doesn’t find it necessary to apologize neither to explain the reason why the person who needs to hire him has waited for one hour outside office hours. Let’s start the interview…

I have learned from my mistakes and read resumes only when people really show up, let my recruiter confirm the appointment 30 minutes prior and try not to plan any interviews outside office hours. I estimate that more than 50% of the candidates won’t show up for an appointment, often without informing us. Rather curious is that  

It is 7:00 AM and I am waiting for a candidate for a job interview. I have his resume lying in front of me with some areas underlined which I want to know more about. Also I have written down a dozen questions on a piece of paper. In other words, I am well prepared for the interview. Unfortunately the candidate does not show up at seven and at 7:20 I call my agent where he is. A while later they call me back to inform me that he is delayed by heavy evening traffic. That is not something one would expect in the evening I answer but my sarcasm is not heard. Anyway he would be at my office in 5 minutes. When the candidate arrives finally at 8:00 in my office he doesn’t find it necessary to apologize neither to explain the reason why the person who needs to hire him has waited for one hour outside office hours. Let’s start the interview…

I have learned from my mistakes and read resumes only when people really show up, let my recruiter confirm the appointment 30 minutes prior and try not to plan any interviews outside office hours. I estimate that more than 50% of the candidates won’t show up for an appointment, often without informing us. Rather curious is that  some people call us a few days later to make another appointment. When we cautiously inquire about any natural disaster or horrible accident that hindered the candidate to cancel the first appointment usually the reason is more mundane like a delayed project or a wedding of a neighbour (which are hard to predict of course). One time a candidate gave as a reason the hospitalization of a relative but when I showed a sorrowful face he quickly assured me that it was nothing serious which caused me to show another face which he could not interpret so well.

The persons with whom you made an appointment are already the cream of the crop. The resumes that we receive are very eclectic, in both content and form. Sometimes we receive resumes which completely not match our requirements, even from recruitment agencies from which you expect some filtering. But if this happens at all the applied criteria are probably ‘can use a computer’ or ‘works at an office’. The format in which candidates present themselves can also very a lot from the minimal (like half a page for a senior project manager including a full picture and double line spacing. “ ehm, how old are you?”) to pretty exhaustive, let’s say near biography size. In the latter case there can be as much as 12 pages containing topics ranging from substantial descriptions of each and every project that the candidate has worked on for the last 4 years to physical features like body weight and birthmarks. Maybe this candidate has an identical twin who goes to all his interviews to get the job that he has applied for.

But against all odds every now and then we have a candidate showing up for an interview. One of the most important things that we look for is communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal. It is never a good sign when I need to repeat my question ‘how are you?’ three times or when somebody after shaking your hands, forgets to release it. Anyway when you show up on time and can properly introduce yourself you’ll find yourself pretty far in our recruitment procedure. Then we ask a few questions to see if he/she is really good. Also here a lot of candidates will be dismissed; some people talk a lot, some people don’t talk at all. In the former case you need to quickly stop every attempt by the candidate to elaborate on the most trivial issues (otherwise you forget which question you asked) in the latter you need to ask ‘can you explain why?’ after every yes/no answer to get anything useful.

Anyways, those who persist will succeed and more often than not we do find the right match for our openings. We will only open the champagne though when our new hire really shows up at the office and sits behind his desk. With the number of contracts that were never signed we can cover a pretty big wall. Once there was a girl who after having a very nice interview and an impressive c.v. we offered a contract which she accepted. When she came down to the office for the formalities she asked me if she could take this home for a last review and return it the day after. I didn’t see any harm in that and she thanked me politely and left the office after which I never heard anything from her. According to our recruitment agent the girl got suspicious because the contract was not printed on letterhead but that seemed strange to me since I explained her that we were waiting for our printer. It was only later that I discovered what was probably the real reason: many employees try to get a raise by showing their employer an offer from another company. I don’t know how many times this happens in Holland but in Kerala it is quite common so we try to get the contract signed in the office itself and not provide people with bargaining chips.

Recruitment in India is not an easy job and basically you need three things to get good people: patience, a good recruiter and patience. Luckily we are being supported by a lady from Sweden, Emilie, the main reason why I didn’t yet pull out all my hairs. She handles a lot of headaches for me and when I am listening to a conversation in the room next to me (“No, I mean how many years experience do you have? No thats not what I mean… How much…. Can you…. Hello? Hello?”) I sometimes need to suppress a smile because I recognize the situation. Those who persist will succeed.

some people call us a few days later to make another appointment. When we cautiously inquire about any natural disaster or horrible accident that hindered the candidate to cancel the first appointment usually the reason is more mundane like a delayed project or a wedding of a neighbour (which are hard to predict of course). One time a candidate gave as a reason the hospitalization of a relative but when I showed a sorrowful face he quickly assured me that it was nothing serious which caused me to show another face which he could not interpret so well.

The persons with whom you made an appointment are already the cream of the crop. The resumes that we receive are very eclectic, in both content and form. Sometimes we receive resumes which completely not match our requirements, even from recruitment agencies from which you expect some filtering. But if this happens at all the applied criteria are probably ‘can use a computer’ or ‘works at an office’. The format in which candidates present themselves can also very a lot from the minimal (like half a page for a senior project manager including a full picture and double line spacing. “ ehm, how old are you?”) to pretty exhaustive, let’s say near biography size. In the latter case there can be as much as 12 pages containing topics ranging from substantial descriptions of each and every project that the candidate has worked on for the last 4 years to physical features like body weight and birthmarks. Maybe this candidate has an identical twin who goes to all his interviews to get the job that he has applied for.

But against all odds every now and then we have a candidate showing up for an interview. One of the most important things that we look for is communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal. It is never a good sign when I need to repeat my question ‘how are you?’ three times or when somebody after shaking your hands, forgets to release it. Anyway when you show up on time and can properly introduce yourself you’ll find yourself pretty far in our recruitment procedure. Then we ask a few questions to see if he/she is really good. Also here a lot of candidates will be dismissed; some people talk a lot, some people don’t talk at all. In the former case you need to quickly stop every attempt by the candidate to elaborate on the most trivial issues (otherwise you forget which question you asked) in the latter you need to ask ‘can you explain why?’ after every yes/no answer to get anything useful.

Anyways, those who persist will succeed and more often than not we do find the right match for our openings. We will only open the champagne though when our new hire really shows up at the office and sits behind his desk. With the number of contracts that were never signed we can cover a pretty big wall. Once there was a girl who after having a very nice interview and an impressive c.v. we offered a contract which she accepted. When she came down to the office for the formalities she asked me if she could take this home for a last review and return it the day after. I didn’t see any harm in that and she thanked me politely and left the office after which I never heard anything from her. According to our recruitment agent the girl got suspicious because the contract was not printed on letterhead but that seemed strange to me since I explained her that we were waiting for our printer. It was only later that I discovered what was probably the real reason: many employees try to get a raise by showing their employer an offer from another company. I don’t know how many times this happens in Holland but in Kerala it is quite common so we try to get the contract signed in the office itself and not provide people with bargaining chips.

Recruitment in India is not an easy job and basically you need three things to get good people: patience, a good recruiter and patience. Luckily we are being supported by a lady from Sweden, Emilie, the main reason why I didn’t yet pull out all my hairs. She handles a lot of headaches for me and when I am listening to a conversation in the room next to me (“No, I mean how many years experience do you have? No thats not what I mean… How much…. Can you…. Hello? Hello?”) I sometimes need to suppress a smile because I recognize the situation. Those who persist will succeed.

some people call us a few days later to make another appointment. When we cautiously inquire about any natural disaster or horrible accident that hindered the candidate to cancel the first appointment usually the reason is more mundane like a delayed project or a wedding of a neighbour (which are hard to predict of course). One time a candidate gave as a reason the hospitalization of a relative but when I showed a sorrowful face he quickly assured me that it was nothing serious which caused me to show another face which he could not interpret so well.

The persons with whom you made an appointment are already the cream of the crop. The resumes that we receive are very eclectic, in both content and form. Sometimes we receive resumes which completely not match our requirements, even from recruitment agencies from which you expect some filtering. But if this happens at all the applied criteria are probably ‘can use a computer’ or ‘works at an office’. The format in which candidates present themselves can also very a lot from the minimal (like half a page for a senior project manager including a full picture and double line spacing. “ ehm, how old are you?”) to pretty exhaustive, let’s say near biography size. In the latter case there can be as much as 12 pages containing topics ranging from substantial descriptions of each and every project that the candidate has worked on for the last 4 years to physical features like body weight and birthmarks. Maybe this candidate has an identical twin who goes to all his interviews to get the job that he has applied for.

But against all odds every now and then we have a candidate showing up for an interview. One of the most important things that we look for is communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal. It is never a good sign when I need to repeat my question ‘how are you?’ three times or when somebody after shaking your hands, forgets to release it. Anyway when you show up on time and can properly introduce yourself you’ll find yourself pretty far in our recruitment procedure. Then we ask a few questions to see if he/she is really good. Also here a lot of candidates will be dismissed; some people talk a lot, some people don’t talk at all. In the former case you need to quickly stop every attempt by the candidate to elaborate on the most trivial issues (otherwise you forget which question you asked) in the latter you need to ask ‘can you explain why?’ after every yes/no answer to get anything useful.

Anyways, those who persist will succeed and more often than not we do find the right match for our openings. We will only open the champagne though when our new hire really shows up at the office and sits behind his desk. With the number of contracts that were never signed we can cover a pretty big wall. Once there was a girl who after having a very nice interview and an impressive c.v. we offered a contract which she accepted. When she came down to the office for the formalities she asked me if she could take this home for a last review and return it the day after. I didn’t see any harm in that and she thanked me politely and left the office after which I never heard anything from her. According to our recruitment agent the girl got suspicious because the contract was not printed on letterhead but that seemed strange to me since I explained her that we were waiting for our printer. It was only later that I discovered what was probably the real reason: many employees try to get a raise by showing their employer an offer from another company. I don’t know how many times this happens in Holland but in Kerala it is quite common so we try to get the contract signed in the office itself and not provide people with bargaining chips.

Recruitment in India is not an easy job and basically you need three things to get good people: patience, a good recruiter and patience. Luckily we are being supported by a lady from Sweden, Emilie, the main reason why I didn’t yet pull out all my hairs. She handles a lot of headaches for me and when I am listening to a conversation in the room next to me (“No, I mean how many years experience do you have? No thats not what I mean… How much…. Can you…. Hello? Hello?”) I sometimes need to suppress a smile because I recognize the situation. Those who persist will succeed.

some people call us a few days later to make another appointment. When we cautiously inquire about any natural disaster or horrible accident that hindered the candidate to cancel the first appointment usually the reason is more mundane like a delayed project or a wedding of a neighbour (which are hard to predict of course). One time a candidate gave as a reason the hospitalization of a relative but when I showed a sorrowful face he quickly assured me that it was nothing serious which caused me to show another face which he could not interpret so well.

The persons with whom you made an appointment are already the cream of the crop. The resumes that we receive are very eclectic, in both content and form. Sometimes we receive resumes which completely not match our requirements, even from recruitment agencies from which you expect some filtering. But if this happens at all the applied criteria are probably ‘can use a computer’ or ‘works at an office’. The format in which candidates present themselves can also very a lot from the minimal (like half a page for a senior project manager including a full picture and double line spacing. “ ehm, how old are you?”) to pretty exhaustive, let’s say near biography size. In the latter case there can be as much as 12 pages containing topics ranging from substantial descriptions of each and every project that the candidate has worked on for the last 4 years to physical features like body weight and birthmarks. Maybe this candidate has an identical twin who goes to all his interviews to get the job that he has applied for.

But against all odds every now and then we have a candidate showing up for an interview. One of the most important things that we look for is communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal. It is never a good sign when I need to repeat my question ‘how are you?’ three times or when somebody after shaking your hands, forgets to release it. Anyway when you show up on time and can properly introduce yourself you’ll find yourself pretty far in our recruitment procedure. Then we ask a few questions to see if he/she is really good. Also here a lot of candidates will be dismissed; some people talk a lot, some people don’t talk at all. In the former case you need to quickly stop every attempt by the candidate to elaborate on the most trivial issues (otherwise you forget which question you asked) in the latter you need to ask ‘can you explain why?’ after every yes/no answer to get anything useful.

Anyways, those who persist will succeed and more often than not we do find the right match for our openings. We will only open the champagne though when our new hire really shows up at the office and sits behind his desk. With the number of contracts that were never signed we can cover a pretty big wall. Once there was a girl who after having a very nice interview and an impressive c.v. we offered a contract which she accepted. When she came down to the office for the formalities she asked me if she could take this home for a last review and return it the day after. I didn’t see any harm in that and she thanked me politely and left the office after which I never heard anything from her. According to our recruitment agent the girl got suspicious because the contract was not printed on letterhead but that seemed strange to me since I explained her that we were waiting for our printer. It was only later that I discovered what was probably the real reason: many employees try to get a raise by showing their employer an offer from another company. I don’t know how many times this happens in Holland but in Kerala it is quite common so we try to get the contract signed in the office itself and not provide people with bargaining chips.

Recruitment in India is not an easy job and basically you need three things to get good people: patience, a good recruiter and patience. Luckily we are being supported by a lady from Sweden, Emilie, the main reason why I didn’t yet pull out all my hairs. She handles a lot of headaches for me and when I am listening to a conversation in the room next to me (“No, I mean how many years experience do you have? No thats not what I mean… How much…. Can you…. Hello? Hello?”) I sometimes need to suppress a smile because I recognize the situation. Those who persist will succeed.