Wireless Integration Career Consultants

The following is considered to be the most important items to look for in a candidate during the recruiting processes:

We are finding ourselves in an extremely skill short market within the Telecoms and IT sectors and this is not only a local threat but also an international threat. The difference with SA as oppose to other countries is that companies have to abide by BEE policies and therefor the chances of recruiting rare skills from abroad doesn’t often occur, especially not within the larger corporates where BEE policies have taken huge priority.

A Candidate should meet most if not all of the criteria below in order to have his/her cv sent to the client and the tough job starts with the recruiter who has to ensure that there is a 100% fit or who has to ensure a close as possible fit to the ideal 100% fit scenario.

1. Cultural fit:
Questions that you may ask as a recruiter is the following: How well do you know your client as a Recruiter? Do you know/understand the environment that you are recruiting for? Do you know the hiring manager? Do you know the hiring managers preferences? Do you understand your clients’ needs and the reason for hiring?

2. Personality fit:
This works hand in hand with the Culture fit point and depends on the position that is being hired for i.e. a sales person should have strong interpersonal skills and be able to communicate openly and enthusiastically whilst a technical person may have a more toned down personality as this type of candidate does not often have customer-facing exposure. There are many more examples and the recruiter is required to use his/her initiative.

3. Prior employers:
What does the candidates track record look like? Does the candidate have a stable track record? The recruiter needs to ascertain the candidates reasons for leaving his previous company as well as the validity of the reason for wanting to leave his current employment. Should the candidate come across as being a job-hopper even if the candidate possesses over the rare technical skill/s, the candidate simply cannot be considered for the vacant position. The reason for not being able to consider the candidate for the potential vacant position is that the candidate will most likely not stay in the current vacant role for long either. The company may spend a fortune in up-skilling the candidate and by the time the candidate is ready to start performing he/she will resign which leaves the company in the same situation as before, if not a worse situation. More time has now lapsed and a lot of productivity has been wasted. The recruiter & hiring company has to start the entire recruitment process from scratch. This is a highly frustrating and costly exercise for all the parties involved and something that needs be avoided.

4. Professionalism:
The way in which the candidate handles himself/herself within the recruiter-candidate interview situation says a lot about the individual. Usually the candidate will portray the same level of professionalism to the recruiter as the candidate will within a client-candidate interview situation. Some important factors include but is not limited to a)Arriving on time b)Appropraite Dresscode c)Personal conduct d) Being prepared for the interview etc. Can you put the candidate in front of your client with confidence and will the candidate represent your agency in a positive manner? The candidate should go well-prepared and therefor it is important for the recruiter to ensure that the candidate is appropriately briefed; not just on the vacant position and what the requirements for the role are but also on how to conduct himself/herself in an interview situation as well as what to wear for the occasion.

6. Ability to execute at position:
To what extend does the candidate meet the job spec criteria? In a skill short market a company/client should also be a bit more open minded and apply the rule of give-and-take. Although recruiters should at all times meet the criteria as specified on the vacant job requirements, the recruiter should also ascertain from the Hiring Manager/HR Partner what the  most important aspects of the job is and what the least important aspects of the job is. By knowing the Client and by getting the correct information up-front the recruiter will be able to assess where there could possibly be some lenience w.r.t the strict requirements .

7. Articulation
Does the candidate speak clearly and communicate easily? How does the candidate articulate himself/herself ; in other words is the candidate able to communicate well?

8. Education:
Does the candidate meet the job spec requirements or at least have a min of 80% of the relevant experience required with the correct qualification? Recruiters have to do educational background checks with a Valididation Institute. Candidates often put qualifications on cv’s even if the specific Course/Qualification had not yet been completed. This ends up being extremely misleading and again could lead to a situation where all parties involved lose out on valuable time that could rather have been spent on interviewing the candidates who infact fit the profile and requirements of the vacant position.

9. Prior titles:
Its is important to verify Job Titles for example a Candidate may be in a Sales Consulting position currently but may have been in a Sales Management position for most of his career thus ask the question:” May I ask why you have taken a step down”? Sabbaticals should also be questioned. a CV should reflect a progressive career path.

10. Motivation:
What is the candidates’ motivation to leave his current employment? Why would the candidate consider the vacancy in other words what about the position does the candidate see as a possible motivation to make the career move? What makes this specific role attractive to the candidate and is this enough of a reason to submit the candidates’ cv for this vacancy? How pure is the candidate’s reasons for wanting to consider the potential Company as his/her new Employer? Reference checks with previous employers is Vital!!

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