What the HR department looks for in the hiring process

An insider perspective

By Niels Jansen

‘The best hire I ever made’?

‘I interviewed someone who was dyslexic and it turned out to be the best hire I ever made’ or ‘The candidate I interviewed did not have an education and was the most hard-working colleague I ever had’ are few of the examples on LinkedIn of quotes by other HR peers that cause quite some question marks on my side.

Why is it so important to stress these ‘factors’ and actually post an article about it? I say ‘factors’ as I find it pretty difficult to categorize them otherwise. I strongly feel that the trend on LinkedIn to emphasize these factors has more to do with personal gain of the author, than truly highlighting the importance of valuing diversity or overlooking handicaps. 

Highlighting these specific traits or so-called shortcomings as headliners for an article puts these in the box of a ‘flaw’. Basically you are saying ‘look at me, I’m such a good manager that I overlook people’s flaws and see past it, and I even received a reward for it!’ However, do we have to look at these personal characteristics or factors as flaws? Why should it be considered a flaw?

Yes, I also believe that all of these hires could be potential superheroes for a company. And yes, I can also imagine it might be harder for someone who for example is dyslexic, to find a job. And yes again; I definitely hope that we can decrease the gap for everyone that is experiencing one in finding a job for whatever reason that might be.

However, instead, the authors can also be sincere about their hiring process as I would love to read more about the actual process and how people make these great hires. 

Unfortunately, all we can read about is what a great job the author did in hiring someone with a so-called handicap. The more I think about it, the more old-fashioned I find it. Wouldn’t it be great to learn from each other how to shape the hiring process in its most sincere way? What made you hire someone, which questions did you ask and how did you manage to not be biased?

These HR articles are an interesting trend as the anti-discrimination policy (at least in the Netherlands) becomes more and more important. The Dutch government starts to form legislation about the hiring process and anti-discrimination to make sure that companies do not shut people out of finding a job, and more importantly, what to do about it. So the topic definitely seems to be on everyone’s agenda.

After all, what is most important is that the recruitment process is as anti-biased as possible. That is definitely a difficult job, however, it would be a good start to stop highlighting people’s flaws and start looking at their potential.

At IMA we like to look at what someone can bring to the company, what is your ‘extra’? Rather than meeting all expectations of a job description you can make a difference because of the person you are. Our colleagues are a warm group of people with totally different backgrounds and characteristics. It’s a true virtue to work in such a mixed and inspiring environment. That is not a note to myself, but something we did together as a company.