On the Competence of the Performer

A couple of fictional examples.

Example 1
The “First Ukrainian Excavation Company” (PUKK) was in need of a translator for English. The management of PUKK recognized the uniqueness of their company in the market, took pride in their deep knowledge of excavation work, and justifiably considered their company an undisputed leader, if not a monopolist, in the excavation industry. Consequently, when making a request to recruiters, the HR manager of PUKK insisted that the candidate profile must include at least two years of experience in the excavation industry. The HR manager believed that PUKK’s field of activity was unique and that the translator would need skills in working with excavation terminology. After a tender process, a well-known agency, Personnel Shop Independent Company (PSIK), was selected as the recruiter. The recruiter promptly began the search, which, without overcomplicating things, involved posting job ads on employment websites and carefully sorting through candidates. After all, if PSIK were to send every applicant for interviews with the employer, one might wonder what purpose PSIK would serve.
Based on the names of the companies, we can already guess how the search for the right translator ended. We will explore the reasons for this below, after first looking at the following example.

Example 2
A very wealthy man, while building a beautiful villa for himself, wanted it to be entirely made of glass. He envisioned walls, a ceiling, and a floor all made of glass. There should be no seams in the glass, the walls should be wavy, and the supporting columns, also made of glass, should have intricate cutouts. This man was not concerned about the cost, so when he placed an order for the design with a private architectural firm called KSB, he made it clear that he would pay for everything. He trusted the company because they were relatives of his closest acquaintances. By the way, the name of the company stood for “Kum, Svat, and Brat” (Godfather, Matchmaker, and Brother). Readers can choose the continuation of this story from the following list:

It was impossible to build at all, despite the expensive project documentation, which provided enough material for five candidate and two doctoral dissertations. Nevertheless, this did not help maintain the reputation of the KSB bureau in the market.
The villa was built, but it collapsed a week later.
The villa didn’t collapse, but the client was disappointed with life in it, feeling like he was in an aquarium.
The client was not disappointed and even lived in the villa for a whole year until it ended up in the path of a flock of migratory woodpeckers.

What exactly connects these two examples? First of all, as was easy to notice, the contractor was unable, unwilling, or did not consider it possible to challenge the client’s wishes. Secondly, it is very likely that the contractor was at the same level of competence as the client. In other words, the contractor was not competent in their professional field and therefore deemed the client’s demands acceptable.

In the case of recruiting, the recruiter blindly dismissed all candidates who were fluent in both Ukrainian and English. Candidates who grew up in bilingual families or spent their childhood in the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada were rejected, even though they lacked experience in the excavation industry. In response to candidates’ claims that, in their opinion, excavation terminology should not be the main criterion for selection, the recruiters confidently asserted, with the tone of professionals, that they knew better what the clients wanted and did not want to waste their time interviewing people who did not fit the search profile.

Moreover, no recruiter from the PSHIK company would have been able to assess a candidate’s level of English proficiency simply because no one knew the language well enough to administer a test or exam. The level of language knowledge was determined by a line in the resume stating “fluent” and by recommendations obtained over the phone. In other words, the situation was similar to the joke about how Rabinovich sang the Beatles. From this situation, an important conclusion can be drawn: it is impossible to assess a person’s level of competence if the tester has a lower level of competence!

In the case of the architectural firm, it seems that not only unprofessionalism played a role, but also greed, as people saw a good fee and lost their heads, and then their reputation.

We see that in these examples, both the performers and the clients were wrong. At the same time, we recognize the issue that the customer is always right, and arguing with a client is harmful both for one’s health and for one’s wallet. If a client has a whim, we still have to go along with it, even if we realize it’s just a whim. Of course not! After all, failing to execute a whim will harm your reputation first and foremost, not the client’s.

Is it possible to change a client’s mind, and how can a recruiter help?

First of all, here’s a very simple, very important, and very, very old piece of advice. I bet that no one will take it anyway 🙂
Secondly, I will show an example.

Dear recruiters, before you read this helpful advice, think about how often candidates who were ultimately hired for the advertised position fully matched the search profile. And isn’t it true that the higher the position being sought, the stricter the search criteria, and the fewer actual matches there were with the hired profile? Why is that? The answer can be found by drawing an analogy. Imagine you’ve renovated your dream apartment. The wall colors, door textures, type of flooring, handle designs, layout, chandeliers, and so on are all just as you envisioned. Now you need to buy furniture. You know that you want a corner cabinet of specific dimensions made of American walnut, with handles in a certain style, legs with a particular curve, glass with beautiful silver latticework, and hardware from a specific manufacturer. After a long search, you end up buying a rectangular sideboard because it at least matches the wood color and dimensions. The most important thing is that no one but you will appreciate your efforts in finding the furniture. After all, no one knew what you were truly dreaming of or what you placed in the corner of the dining room. All your guests will sincerely praise your choice, regardless of whether your dream cabinet is there or a solid 18th-century Italian sideboard. Every woman who has successfully married will confirm that magical princes on white horses are practically nonexistent, just as there are hardly any 100% perfect candidates, no matter how high the fee promised for finding that candidate.

So, here’s the promised useful advice: You shouldn’t just fulfill the client’s order; you need to provide them with what they truly need. Yes, it’s that simple, but there’s one very important nuance: the client doesn’t always know what they need. In fact, the client usually doesn’t know what they need. Moreover, even if the client thinks they know what they need, it’s within our power to shape the client’s needs from our professional perspective.

I don’t think it looks unseemly for a pastry chef to discourage a client from adding a bit of pepper to a custom wedding cake for some spice. It might seem unseemly to convince a client to replace almonds with walnuts because the almonds have just run out, but this is a normal occurrence in business. So, if you find it impossible or extremely inconvenient to fulfill a client’s order, and if you already have a suitable candidate in mind who closely matches the profile you’re looking for, try to put yourself in the shoes of a salesperson. Who is a salesperson? It’s someone who knows how to ask the right questions. For example:

Valentina is a recruiter.
Katerina is the head of the human resources department.
— So, Valentina, our company has developed a candidate profile for the position of Head of the IT Department. We understand the specifics of the non-alcoholic beverage industry, and it is important for us that the person has experience in this field.
— Thank you, Katerina. May I clarify some details?
— Yes, of course, that’s exactly why we met!
— What are the main tasks that the head of the IT department will be responsible for?
— It’s already written in the profile.
— Still, I would like to hear this from you, so:
— Well… it’s overall management of the department, organizing the department’s work, recruiting IT specialists, evaluating staff performance, motivation, discipline, ensuring compliance with the directives of the company’s Board regarding the IT department, managing work with contractors and external service providers, and so on.
— Excuse me, just a couple of clarifications. Is it expected that the manager will be in direct contact with internal clients?
— No, that’s what specialists and administrators are for.
— Will the manager be directly involved in working with databases and servers?
— Of course not!
— So, you said that the head of the IT department does not participate directly in production in any aspects, right?
— Of course!
— Thank you! One more question: There are only three companies in your city that produce non-alcoholic beverages, right?
— So what?
“Do you agree that in order to attract employees from other companies, we will need to offer them conditions that are more appealing to potential candidates from the outset?”
— Well, basically, yes.
— Katerina! You are a professional in human resources management. Can you tell me, in general, do salaries and benefits for people in the industry vary significantly?
— No, of course not! The cost structure of products in our sector doesn’t allow for much creativity in inventing payment conditions that differ from those established in the market. Moreover, if we found out that we were paying more than others, we would immediately correct that.
— It turns out we don’t have many options. Either we poach someone, putting ourselves at a disadvantage compared to our competitors by spending more than usual on human resources, or we invite a specialist from another city and, again, pay them relocation expenses, right?
— That’s right…
— At the same time, you correctly noted that the head of the IT department does not take an active part in production, which means that whether he works at such a company or not, his skills would remain the same.
— Oh, I have an idea! Let’s include the option to source candidates from other industries in the search profile!
— How clever! I wouldn’t have thought of that myself! Kateryna, it’s clear that you are a professional!
What happened? A classic professional sale took place, where the client said exactly what the recruiter wanted to hear. So, we’re talking about sales in recruiting and recalling what this blog is about :-).

Competent and incompetent sellers
Some may argue that this situation is far-fetched and it’s absurd to hire an IT department head with experience in that industry. However, if you open any job search website, you’ll find similar job postings: “Sales manager needed with experience in seed sales” or “Business development manager needed with experience in heavy industry” or “Commercial director with experience in a brewery.” I’ve even come across an exaggerated version: “Paint sales manager, specializing in black and white paints.” Yet, everyone—recruiters and employers alike—insists that experience in the specific industry is absolutely essential. Hmmm. If experience in the industry is so crucial, it seems we’re talking about people whose other talents can be overlooked. We’re likely referring to lower-level employees who can easily be blamed for not meeting targets and who don’t really possess any significant skills. This is often how salespeople are viewed. It seems natural that the more specialized a person’s skill, the more valuable they are considered. But what about salespeople? What do they really know how to do? Strangely enough, this perception is partly the fault of the salespeople themselves. Many who enter sales are indeed people who lack other skills. They see their job as a way to avoid real work. The very idea of a sales career sends a cold sweat down the back of any office worker, including recruiters, as if it were a job selling flowers at a crosswalk or batteries in the subway. This situation prevents others, especially decision-makers, from taking true sales professionals seriously. After all, real professionals don’t see a difference in what they are selling: the product doesn’t matter, the market doesn’t matter. What matters are the skills to effectively manage the sales process, the ability to ask the right questions at the right time, the skills to build relationships, and the ability to understand, identify, and shape the buyer’s needs. However, who among those reading this post can confidently say they possess such skills? And who can confidently claim they can teach others these skills, organize the process, monitor it, evaluate the results, identify weaknesses, eliminate shortcomings, and so on? It turns out there isn’t much difference in the approach to hiring serious-level salespeople and hiring other high-class specialists: accountants, programmers, translators, and so on.
How to evaluate a candidate
At first, I touched on the impossibility of one person evaluating another when the evaluator’s level of competence is lower than that of the person being evaluated. If this blog is about sales, let’s take a great salesperson as an example instead of a translator specializing in Chinese. In sales, generally, no one really understands the nuances, including the company’s employer, with rare exceptions. Yet, everyone believes they are competent enough to conduct interviews. It’s well-known that each of us has an opinion on politics, football, and design. The same goes for sales. What do such interviews look like? Typically, a salesperson’s qualities are assessed based on answers to questions like, “What was your biggest deal?” or “What sales volume can you guarantee?” However, it is often overlooked that particularly large deals are often closed not due to the salesperson’s talent, but because of connections, and that sales volume depends more on sales support than on the salesperson’s abilities: no one would argue that beverage sales are driven by mass advertising, dairy products are extremely difficult to sell in shabby packaging, and in insurance, nothing can be done if the back office does not ensure timely payment of commissions and claims.
A similar, quite typical picture is present in the recruitment market. It is extremely difficult for a recruiter without a sufficient level of competence to assess the potential and abilities of a candidate for a senior management position. If we imagine that the order for finding a candidate for a senior management role also includes both of the previously described issues:

blindly following the employer’s requests and
the specifics of recruiting personnel in the sales sector,

Clearly, one of the most challenging positions to fill will be, for example, the Vice President of Sales. And not because it is genuinely difficult, but because an incompetent employer in recruitment will make impossible demands; a recruiter, failing to act like a professional seller of their services, will desperately and unsuccessfully try to meet these demands; the quality of the salesperson will be assessed based on the principle of “Rabbinovich sang well.” So, what should be done? To start, it might be a good idea to casually suggest this position to the employer 🙂 In reality, it’s enough to invite an external consultant with the required level of expertise to evaluate the candidate’s qualities. If you are selecting a Sales Director, ask them to assess any other salesperson whose professionalism and success you trust. You can offer a reward for their help or simply ask for a favor. Let them conduct the interview and evaluate the candidate. A fisherman knows another fisherman, you know. Such consultants can be gathered into a sort of portfolio: accounting, sales, IT, finance, project management. The interview itself can be organized in a way that doesn’t violate anyone’s interests, for example, by not adequately introducing the interviewees to each other. After all, recruiters often call managers at different levels with questions like, “We’re looking for someone; could you help us out…” hinting at poaching the very person whose advice they are seeking. So why not actually offer a professional something that might genuinely interest them—external consulting for extra income or for their personal growth? After all, you might not even need to pay them. It’s unlikely that a top manager needs the money or can be lured by a reward. Here, internal motivation is key. For instance, a recruiter has placed dozens of super professionals who would be happy to return the favor. And those recruitment companies that invite external consultants to evaluate candidates have an invaluable advantage in the market. Because then, a professional who understands the type of person the recruiter needs selects resumes from the database and/or conducts interviews.

Who is the leader?
What is the true level of a person applying for a leadership position? It’s quite simple – their level should be significantly above average. The fact that we often have incompetent individuals with limited knowledge and skills at the helm of companies, whose only merit is their relationship or close acquaintance with those who appointed them, does not mean that this is acceptable. Recruiters frequently suffer from the incompetence of these leaders, encountering typical mistakes in their approach to recruitment. A good recruiter will not despair; instead, they will “sell” their vision of the problem to the client. They won’t try to convince the client but will ask the right questions so that the client answers them in a way that aligns with the recruiter’s needs.

However, what does it mean to be a “high-level” person? It refers to someone who can do things that ordinary people cannot. High-level individuals are clearly a minority. These are people who can learn a programming language in a week and Spanish in three months. They are individuals who studied confidently at universities and extracted just enough knowledge to grasp industry specifics within the first few weeks of work. They are people who didn’t cheat on exams and wrote their own theses, remembering their titles and being able to describe what new contributions they made to their field in those theses. They are people who know how to get things done. They are people who can instinctively plan and achieve goals, not just as a result of SMART goal training and for a week after such training. They are individuals who generate new ideas and propose methods for their implementation. They are people who can motivate and organize others, regardless of the industry specifics; people who can make decisions and take responsibility for them, and so on. These are truly the people who deserve to be examples, to be leaders, to be organizers and the heart of a business. If you find such a person, believe that they can handle any job, even if they lack specific industry experience. Moreover, as we discussed in the example of the dialogue between Valentina and Ekaterina, a leader does not have to know all the industry nuances. Their role is organizational and supportive. Such a person listens and helps, rather than acting like a boss and giving incompetent orders. They trust the opinions of professionals, and their authority won’t diminish if they consult with their subordinates. Such a person wouldn’t even think of calling people subordinates; they would consider them a team.

What should recruiters do when they finally receive an order for a Vice President of Sales? The answer is simple – do everything possible to eliminate industry-specific requirements. How exactly to do this has already been discussed above. Focus on the core competencies and key responsibilities, which are essentially the same for leaders regardless of the industry. A chief accountant is a chief accountant everywhere, differing only in the scale of their work. A chief engineer is a chief engineer everywhere. A chief salesperson is a chief salesperson everywhere. A chief HR officer is a chief HR officer everywhere. A company leader is always a company leader, and even in this case, industry specifics are something that high-level professionals can master in a short time.

We already know how to assess a person’s level: you need to have someone of a similarly high level on hand as an external consultant. By the way, all candidate search services, whether it’s a website or a security service dossier, categorize top executives separately, implying that their industry specialization is irrelevant. Unfortunately, in our context, top executives are often considered to be branch managers or individuals who have no one reporting to them at all. However, we understand here that the top level refers to the governing body of the company, which is the entity that addresses and resolves all significant issues concerning the company’s existence.

Naturally, the management team should be interchangeable, and it will be if it consists of talented individuals. This may seem like a radical idea, but in theory, the Chief Operating Officer could manage the accounting department for a while, and the Chief Sales Officer could handle the back office. The effectiveness of this management will depend on how much time the person can dedicate to a task that is not their primary responsibility. If they have to fully engage in it for 100% of their working time, any lack of expertise will be quickly addressed. Daily practice is full of such examples. Every CEO signs accounting documents every day. This means that a CEO must understand the forms of financial reporting and the methods of their preparation in order to competently sign these documents. However, a CEO is not an accountant. If the CEO goes on vacation and the Chief Sales Officer takes over, the Chief Sales Officer will need the same level of competence in accounting matters. Conversely, if the Chief Sales Officer goes on vacation, the CEO will temporarily take charge of sales.

On the other hand, the CEO is a generalist, and it’s unlikely that anyone would think to question their perfect competence in everything they manage. That’s what the company’s board is for. This leads us to another important point: the higher the level of management, the less they need to be knowledgeable about specialized issues, including industry specifics. For example, if we are talking about a sales manager who needs to ensure the productive operation of 50 branches across the country, it seems absurd to impose additional requirements like “experience in selling laundry detergent” or “experience in selling televisions from Korean manufacturers.”

We will touch on industry experience as a selection factor a bit later, but for now, let’s hear what the recruiter has to say about all this. With a hint of despair in their voice, they might say: “But where can we find such talented individuals that we can truly evaluate?” This brings us to another important topic: the process of poaching people from other companies, which can be seen as a sales process.

Hiring is like selling.
When it comes to poaching talent, we set the following reasonable limitation: Compensation and other material incentives for people at this level are essentially the same and have been shaped by market mechanisms of supply and demand, meaning the market is stable rather than volatile. Moreover, an experienced human resources manager will confirm that money tends to demotivate rather than motivate when it comes to creative work, where solutions need to be invented rather than taken off the shelf. If you still believe that bonuses and incentives somehow improve the productivity of top management, then just point it out. Text for translation: here. and you will receive conclusive evidence to the contrary.

So, the problem is as follows: there is a prince-on-a-white-horse working for a competitor, and we need to lure him away for our client. Of course, we have already confirmed that this competitor is more successful in the area where we need to search for candidates: they have better processes in place, more organized sales, or their accounting operates smoothly and without delays.

What do we need to do? First of all, it’s important to establish a friendship with such a person in advance, for example, by occasionally involving them in interviewing other candidates. It’s also beneficial to engage closely with senior management to have the opportunity to seek their advice and recommendations. Don’t hesitate to spend money on coffee and try to be helpful to these individuals. For instance, occasionally provide them with tips on good candidates. It won’t cost you much. If the friendship hasn’t been established yet, you should work on building it. This process will take at least a month, and it’s important to inform the client about this in advance so they don’t lose patience.

Having close contact with such a person or being recommended for a conversation, you need to find out what exactly our prince dislikes about the company he is currently working for. For this, you will need either a heartfelt conversation with him, insider information, or simple press releases or business news, such as a change in one of the company’s board members or other internal movements you have learned about. Surely, everyone has something that has become tiresome, something that scares them, something they lack confidence in, something they cannot control, or where they do not see their own growth. At times, perhaps once a quarter, they may feel a strong urge to “turn around and leave.” Your task is to catch him at such a moment. Become a confidant for these individuals; know everything about them. Provide them with the service of listening to their problems. By understanding a person’s issues, you can, through probing and guiding questions, lead them to the realization that it might be time to change something in their life.
Nikolai is a prince.
Valentina is a recruiter.

Nikolai, by the way, what do you think of Kateryna’s work?
Oh, it’s better not to ask…
Yes, I’ve also heard about the problems in her department.
Really? It seems this disgrace has already become known to those around us. Well, what can you do – sometimes you don’t have the option to choose who you work with.
Have you tried talking about this with the General?
It’s pointless. She is either his godmother or his brother’s godmother—I didn’t get into the details.
It’s an unenviable position, Nikolai. How do you think Katya’s inefficiency affects your work?
It certainly has an impact. We are all internal clients of each other, and if Katerina were just a bit more proactive and effective in managing her team, I would have delivered better results as well.
So, working in the same team as Katerina is harming your productivity?
Yes..
And, ultimately, does your reputation as a successful manager suffer due to your forced inefficiency?
You are right.
If I remember correctly, you were hired through recruiters?
Yes..
Nikolai, looking at the situation with Katerina, it seems that business qualities in your company are less important than family connections. What do you think will happen to you if someone close to the CEO is found for your position?
Well, since he hasn’t been found yet, that’s why we decided to involve recruiters. Although you’re right – they’ll get rid of me.
Does this give you confidence in tomorrow?
No, of course not.
It turns out that you are always at risk of ending up on the street, especially with a less-than-stellar resume, since you haven’t been effective enough. How long do you plan to search for a job, and do you have a backup plan?
Well, we haven’t discussed the parachute yet…
How do you see a way out of the current situation?
I won’t be able to actively look for a job, as rumors will start circulating in the market, and for someone at my level, that won’t lead to anything good…
You know, Nikolai, I think I can help you. We know each other well, and if I come across something worthwhile for you, I’ll arrange a meeting right away. Does that sound good?
Valentina! You are truly my savior! Of course, I am at your service!

Naturally, Valentina already had something in mind, but before suggesting it, she would continue the conversation with Nikolai to kindly find out about his dream job. Why? So that, by carefully remembering or even jotting down Nikolai’s wishes, she could present him, at their next meeting, with an existing vacancy as if it were his dream job.

At the same time, Valentina, after reading the first part of this article, will be able to sell Nikolai to the employer, even if he doesn’t quite fit the search profile. Especially if Nikolai was a sales director at a leasing company, while the employer needs a sales director for electronics. As I will show in the next post, industry experience can even be a disadvantage. Once again, we are talking about a person who manages salespeople, not just a salesperson with a fancy title.

What happened in the conversation between Valentina and Nikolai? Valentina acted like a professional salesperson, taking a small hint and expanding it into a larger issue, guiding Nikolai toward the solution she wanted while positioning herself as a facilitator of Nikolai’s needs rather than a beggar. This approach in recruiting is valid not only for executive search but for all recruitment in general.

For example, let’s consider a dialogue between a skilled recruiter and a candidate for a sales agent position. There is no salary offered. The commission is substantial, but it needs to be earned; there are growth prospects, but they are quite vague, and the recruiter expects that the candidate won’t last even six months. An inexperienced recruiter might falter in this situation or try to rattle off the advantages—both real and imagined—without asking the candidate what they are actually looking for, briefly describe the job characteristics, and then wait for the candidate’s agreement. The likelihood of success in this scenario is close to zero. A skilled recruiter would say that not all is lost and would begin:

Valentina is a recruiter.
Konstantin is a loser.

Konstantin, before we discuss the job we would like to offer you, I would like to know a bit about you, if that’s alright?
Yes, please!
Konstantin, could you please tell me what kind of job you are looking for?
I am interested in an office job with a clear schedule and a reasonable salary.
You are right, Konstantin. This is a good job. You mentioned that you are interested in the rate. Could you clarify what rate you have in mind?
This is, first and foremost, stability and confidence in the future!
Maybe. Tell me, Konstantin, why did you leave your previous job?
I didn’t leave; we were let go. They made us sign a resignation letter “voluntarily” and sent us on our way. You know how it is—there’s a crisis going on right now.
You’re right, the crisis has left many people without jobs. Did you have a position there?
Yes..
And did it help you with your stability when you were suddenly fired like that?
Well, not really.
Thank you, I have one more question. Do you know what car your former boss drives?
Yes, in a Camry. Black, like that.
What do you think, does someone pay him a salary?
In what sense?
So, does your former boss get a rate from someone?
No, of course not, he’s a businessman!
Oh, what do you think? You say there’s a crisis, but has your boss stopped driving the Camry?
Why should he stop? He drives the same way he always has!
So, it turns out that your boss has stability, but you don’t?
It turns out, yes…
And no one is paying him a salary. Don’t you think that your boss bought your stability from you by paying you a salary?
Hmm, that’s clever…
Moreover, I will tell you that most of the people around you who consistently and reliably provide for themselves and their families never relied on a salary. This includes the tiler who laid the tiles in your bathroom, the taxi driver, the lawyer, the plumber, the furniture maker, and even the cigarette seller from whom you buy your cigarettes. However, thank you for your response; I have another question for you:
Let’s go.
Let’s say you have an important task, for example, you’re going to your best friend’s wedding and you need to buy a wedding gift. Will you go shopping yourself or ask someone else to do it?
Of course, I’ll go by myself!
Did I understand correctly, Konstantin, that in matters important to you, you tend to rely on yourself?
That’s right!
Thank you, if I may ask one more question: Do you think your friends, your true friends, would want you to earn more?
Of course!
Did your former boss have a strong desire to give you a raise?
Ha, of course not!
It turns out that in an important matter for you, ensuring your stability, you relied not on yourself or your friends, but on a person who can hardly be called a friend and who paid you so little, just enough to get by?
It turns out that way.
You must have had some overtime, did you often stay late in the evenings?
It used to happen…
Did they pay you extra for that?
Yeah, right…
So, you would like to have a job where the more you work, the more you earn?
Yes!
And a job where you provide stability for yourself?
Yes!
Thank you, Konstantin. The job I’m offering you is exactly that. A stable position with confidence in the future, with fair pay that depends on how much you work. Of course, if you don’t do anything, you won’t get paid. That’s only fair, right?
Yes, of course!
You, Konstantin, mentioned the workday. Did I understand correctly that you are very concerned about a work schedule that suits you?
That’s right!
Would you like to choose your own working hours?
Well…, that’s already in the realm of fantasy!
Not at all. I will tell you about your work schedule later; I still want to clarify some things about office work.
Let’s go!
The job we would like to offer you is an office position. We have a lot of office work involving filling out order forms, processing the orders themselves, checking payments, and supporting existing clients. Does this suit you?
Yes!
Of course, you will need to visit clients and also conduct your own client searches, which we will teach you. Personal growth is important to you, right?
Yes!

The client is ready! We witnessed a classic sales scenario: a person expressed a wish, the recruiter clarified what the person actually needed, translated that into the candidate’s own needs, and offered a solution to their problems. Several persuasion techniques are intentionally demonstrated in this dialogue. In practice, one or two arguments are usually enough. In this dialogue, Konstantin plays the role of a puppet and responds to the recruiter’s questions in a clear and predictable manner. However, this was an example of working with a low-level candidate. The dialogue with a high-level candidate included more open-ended questions, and the candidate was carefully listened to by the recruiter.

Client portfolio or your own teamТекст для перевода: ..
Employers often express a desire for a salesperson who already has a client portfolio or for a top manager who comes with their own team. What do employers really want? In fact, they are looking for a reliable solution to their problems. If we ask them directly why they need a manager with a portfolio, they will respond that it will significantly boost our sales and give us confidence that we made the right choice. However, if employers need reliability and assurance, then what they really need is anything but a person with a portfolio or a team.

A “portfolio” person will go wherever they can get paid more at the first opportunity, and it will be difficult to keep their clients. After all, the previous employer couldn’t retain them, right? Moreover, this “portfolio” type will take with them everything they’ve managed to develop with their current employer and, if possible, will also take the client base. One more point: a “portfolio” salesperson is a utopia. In practice, successful transitions of good salespeople to another company, where a significant portion of their client portfolio is transferred, are quite rare. Why is that? Because the salesperson sells not only themselves but also the company and its advantages over competitors, and clients firmly believe in their choice. If the salesperson only sold themselves, they would simply stop working for anyone and start their own brokerage firm. Why would they carry portfolios from one employer to another and lose some clients in the process if they could make clients their own for good by selling both their professionalism and market knowledge—showing clients where they would be better served next year or with their next purchase? If we do have examples of people migrating from employer to employer with their client portfolios, it’s unclear who is hiring whom and who depends on whom. In such cases, it’s likely that the salesperson sees the employer as the resource they need, such as an office.

If we talk about a top manager with a team, the situation is even worse. What do you think the reputation of such a manager is at their previous job? And how will the employer feel when this manager, along with their team, moves to a competitor? Moreover, such “teams” often have a somewhat unprofessional trait – nepotism. People often follow their leader because they feel insignificant and fear being fired if their protector leaves. How insecure must a top manager be to fear parting with their team? Why shouldn’t they have the strength and skills to hire professionals again? Is it really because last time they didn’t hire but brought in “their own,” and now there are simply no “own” left? And doesn’t it seem to you that such a manager with a team would be intimidated by the prospect of leading a new group? A true leader never drags anyone along. They respect people and give them the best choices. Once they have settled into a new job, they can talk to their former subordinates, again in terms of their interests and needs, rather than their own desires.

Counting on relatives and close ones.
Employers often believe that hiring close relatives protects them from dishonest behavior among employees. In reality, it’s quite the opposite. If there’s a need to rely on honesty, it means that the company’s processes are structured in a way that encourages dishonesty, corruption, and backstabbing. In such cases, familial ties become a significant obstacle. It’s harder to fire such an employee, and they are aware of this. Additionally, it’s difficult to motivate them; they either don’t take their manager seriously or feel that it’s inappropriate to voice complaints to their own people.

In a company where a statistically significant number of employees are hired through connections, a situation arises where the manager becomes unpleasantly dependent on subordinates, gets involved in internal intrigues and conflicts, starts working inefficiently, and ultimately fails to deliver results. If you want the tiles in your bathroom to be laid evenly, and if even one tile is laid crookedly, you want it to be replaced without any arguments, then under no circumstances should you hire relatives for such work. You won’t be able to manage the tiler if your relationship goes beyond a verbal contract for laying tiles in the bathroom. Let’s recall the example of the KSB company mentioned at the beginning.

This conclusion provides a very serious tool for the recruiter in discussions with the employer about offering recruitment services. If the employer says, for example, that they trust people they know personally more, the recruiter can ask why it is so important for them to trust their staff. The employer might respond that the main concern is the reliability of the business. At that point, the recruiter can explain that business reliability is achieved in a different way and offer qualified staffing services, first asking how the employer would quantify the financial damage caused by having the wrong person in a position—someone who is difficult to fire rather than someone who can actually contribute. The employer’s own assessment can then serve as the basis for the pricing section of the recruitment services proposal.
A candidate with industry experience
This is the most common and serious misconception among employers. This belief has particularly deep roots in the selection of the most responsible personnel – key salespeople and top executives. Of course, if one assumes that industry-specific knowledge is an endless reservoir of necessary information for the job, rather than something that can be grasped by any talented manager in a couple of months, we won’t succeed. As mentioned earlier, the more limited a person is, the larger the role industry-specific knowledge plays in their worldview. However, we understand that a leader is by no means a limited person. By clinging to industry-specific knowledge, employers seek absolute confidence in their choice of the right candidate.

The employer believes that he is capable of assessing a candidate’s work experience at their previous job and making the right conclusion. However, a question arises: if the candidate is so successful and has the necessary work experience, there must have been a time when they did not have that experience. How did they end up in the position from which they are being poached? For example, how did the director of a shopping and entertainment center become one? Who appointed them, and why? It turns out that proper appointments rely not so much on work experience as on an assessment of a person’s talent (let’s set aside nepotism for now). If the employer is intoxicated by the confidence that industry experience will spare him the difficulties of choice, he simply won’t investigate what this person is like in action, whether they are talented, or how high their level is. How often do you hear the oxymoron? типа. “She is a good specialist because she has been working in this position for 8 years.” However, we already know that if we want to gain confidence in a candidate’s qualities, we need to arrange an interview with a professional of the same level, as mentioned earlier, rather than relying on industry experience or questions like “What sales volume can you deliver?” Very often, and every recruiter will confirm this, when an employer cannot find a candidate that fits their established search profile, they start to abandon some of the characteristics they previously considered essential, and industry experience often becomes the first casualty.

What else is wrong with industry-specific work experience? There’s a saying, “a full glass.” This refers to a person who can no longer be taught anything new. Such individuals won’t be open to new ideas; instead, they will try to apply their existing experience. Whether that experience is good or bad is unknown. What we do know is that the person is outside the corporate culture of our employer and inside the corporate culture of a competitor. If that competitor holds a weaker market position than our employer, then the person with experience will only be a hindrance. If the competitor has a stronger position, then by hiring this specialist, the employer can only expect to achieve the same performance levels, but not to win in the competitive struggle.

Moreover, it is very common for employees to move up in their careers. A junior specialist at Company A may take on the role of a senior specialist at Company B. In this case, everyone at Company B is satisfied, but no one questions why this talented specialist was not promoted at their previous job, where they were better known and their abilities could have been more accurately assessed. Are we sure that we have recruited a truly high-quality specialist and that the employer paid a fair price for them? In such cases, it definitely makes sense to consider specialists of the same level from other industries, especially when it comes to senior management positions.

In breeding livestock, there is an unpleasant phenomenon known as inbreeding. This occurs when close relatives are bred together, leading to the degeneration of the breed. Purebred animals suffer from a whole range of immune and hereditary diseases. The same will happen in the labor market. Each industry market is quite narrow. By hiring the same types of people from competing companies, we only worsen our own “breed.” A good employer will always look for opportunities to refresh the talent pool. A new employee, while gaining new opportunities for themselves, also brings fresh ideas, new approaches, and new methods and techniques to the stagnant industry environment.

One unpleasant phenomenon that shouldn’t be overlooked is corporate espionage. A high-level manager will gladly attend a recruitment interview with competitors to… obtain insider information through carefully crafted questions. It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn everything about sales volumes, key advantages, development prospects, sales network structure, and the problems the employer hopes to solve by hiring such a specialist, and so on. Meanwhile, the employer will think they are recruiting an outstanding candidate.

A disturbing phenomenon that hinders work is the over-competence of a manager. A manager who can do everything better than their subordinates, simply because they have “been around the block” in that narrow field, will devote a significant portion of their efforts to perfecting the work of their team, not trusting them with anything and doing everything themselves. This means we completely abandon the hope for effective management and replace it with an inefficient “one-man band.” In contrast, a person who comes to lead from a different industry and possesses inner strength will collaborate comfortably with their team, seeking their input and advice, thereby creating a favorable creative atmosphere within the team. By not imposing their over-competence, they will allow their team members to grow. After all, the primary function of a manager, by definition, is management, and it is not necessary for them to know any narrow professional specifics, whether it be the peculiarities of the market in which a sales director will operate or the required certifications for producing bearings in the workshop managed by their supervisor.

What should a leader be like? A leader must constantly grow in order to lead others, to provide growth and potential for growth to others. How can a person grow if they are moving horizontally, changing nothing in their life from one company to another, staying within their industry?

Despite all the aforementioned drawbacks, employers persistently demand industry experience from candidates, even when that industry is represented in the country by a single enterprise. As I mentioned earlier, it is particularly absurd and, at the same time, especially common to require industry experience from top executives and chief salespeople. However, armed with the knowledge of what employers truly want when they ask for industry experience, one can sell them the idea of looking for candidates from other industries, which can significantly ease the process.

If, for example, we value business connections rather than experience in selling industrial fans, we should be more inclined to hire someone who has sales experience in any field other than industrial fans. For instance, someone with experience in selling industrial heating systems. The connections that the candidate has in the fan industry would only hinder their ability to sell fans, as they have already sold or attempted to sell to all those people. They wouldn’t even be able to get proper recommendations, since they have always claimed that fans A are better than others. So, how could they ask for a recommendation for a future client for fans from company B? Meanwhile, they have a fairly promising and warm sales base for something other than fans.

We already know that employers do not want to make mistakes when choosing key people and consider work experience as a guarantee against such mistakes. In this regard, it is the recruiters who should provide these guarantees, and the employer does not need any other assurances as long as they trust the recruiters. An employer should trust recruiters simply because they are not, in any way, highly competent specialists in the field of human resource management. To “sell” the idea of moving away from industry experience, it can be helpful to ask the employer, or rather their representative, whether the company’s leader has always worked in that industry. Typically, the answer is no. If the answer is “yes,” there is always a follow-up question about whether they have always been a director. After that, a second question should be posed, leading us to the “sale,” which would be: “Do you think Ivan Ivanovich is an effective manager?” It is unlikely that the answer will be negative.

And that’s why a recruiter who asks the client to fill out a job application with a search profile is doing it wrong. Instead, the recruiter should create the profile themselves after interviewing several employees from the company, asking questions about the specifics of the job, the responsibilities, and the level of management, rather than just the candidate’s preferences. Based on the answers received, a search profile should be developed, where the requirements for the candidate are outlined not by an incompetent employer, but by a knowledgeable recruiter, based on the responses to the questions. With this approach, industry specifics for top management will be completely excluded, as they simply won’t fall within the top manager’s area of expertise. The recruiter also has the right to generalize the answers; for example, if the interviewee states that the specialist’s responsibilities will include ensuring agreements with mobile phone retailers, the recruiter can clarify and record the response as “ensuring agreements with sales points.”

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