Recruitment needs to be refined during COVID-19

Social distancing practices means super fund and other wealth managers’ hiring processes need to be transformed in order to be more successful, according to Super Recruiters. 

Cathy Doyle, Super Recruiters chair, said now was a good time for HR departments to refine their recruiting practices as they engaged more employees who would work, unsupervised, from home. 

“For example, it has been proven that traditional resumes and job interviews alone are poor predictors of actual job performance, as interviewees give rehearsed answers and interviewers pick candidates they like rather than those whom have a proven track record of delivering results,” Doyle said. 

“Research by LinkedIn found that traditionally the majority of candidates hired are selected on ‘gut feel’, despite the fact this is successful in only one in seven hires. 

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“These are low odds for success and investment owners and managers would not invest in a stock or other asset with those odds. Yet this remains how most financial services HR departments hire. 

“Almost two-thirds of HR teams also admit their traditional interviews failed at assessing candidates’ soft skills, according to the LinkedIn research.” 

Doyle said LinkedIn noted over three-quarters of candidates found their next role through a contact. 

“In-house HR, which is rightly increasingly undertaking their own recruiting, needs to recognise this fact and harness it,” Doyle said. 

“This means that upon receiving a role brief, HR departments should search for candidates that are would be most suited to the role, all the while remembering the importance of evaluating the soft skills of resilience and compassion. 

“Wealth management organisations, now more than ever, need the best in the industry and those in the industry know who they area, those who can deliver results. 

“The only way to assess that is through referrals as to potential candidates’ ability, what we call their previous proven performance.” 

Doyle said wealth management firms should start this referral process before advertising and seeking resumes. 

“This is not the ‘old’ pay your own employees for referring a successful candidate, but a much more dedicated process of determining who are the best candidates in the industry for that role and enticing them,” Doyle said. 

“After all, there will only be limited budget for recruiting and you want to make every new hire as best as you can in today’s COVID world. 

“And don’t expect technology alone to be the solution. Amazon spent millions on trying to develop online and artificial intelligence for recruiting. It recently disbanded that project. It still requires the human touch.”