Is this how the new recruit treating your company?

I find the waiting area of an airport terminal fascinating. The diversity of passengers is a treat to watch. A cursory glance shows a gamut of activities by which the passengers engage themselves. Be it catching a quick meal at the food court , reading , talking to an irate customer , or simply playing candy crush in their smart phones ; they all have a common gesture. Frequently their eyes dart to the departure board to see whether boarding has been announced.

Waiting for my flight at a busy terminal one Friday evening, a question came to my mind?

Do the talent we recruit treat our companies like airport waiting areas?

I reflected on the recruitments I had made in the past for my team in the companies I had worked for before becoming an entrepreneur. While there were excellent recruitments , I burned my fingers on a few. And this was not about talent but talent which could not be put to use. Why? Because the talent recruited with such fanfare decided to switch jobs in less than 2 years for no apparent reason.

Is there some way we could have foreseen this?

There can be 2 warning signals in the resume itself :

1.Has the candidate jumped companies every 2 years or less?

2.Has the candidate got even a single a promotion in the same company? (or all the promotions have come from changing companies? )

The above points are obvious yet this kind of recruitment is more common than we think. I cannot cite figures but scroll down on some of the profiles on linked in itself and you will see for yourself.

Just like us in the waiting area, these candidates join our company with the exit date planned. In the short time he /she is with us there are very few tangible contributions made despite the high visibility. The first 6 months go in settling in and the last 6 months in scouting and negotiating for a better job. The remaining time in between sometimes can be measured in months.

Thus with little or no contribution the employee exits your waiting area to catch a flight to another destination. Another waiting area where he is upgraded to a better lounge and facilities. He is happy but only for a short time. He is planning his exit and is confident of his future because he knows that there are enough recruiters like us out there.

The intent of the candidate gets reflected in the resume and yet we make this mistake. Is it our ignorance in identifying these candidates or is it that we choose to ignore? Maybe there is a deadline for recruitment which makes us desperate ? Or maybe it is our ego that makes us feel that we will be able to retain this person by offering a lucrative pay or assignment or our exceptional organisation culture? Maybe something else?

And as the result shows ; We are proved wrong

My purpose for writing this is to sensitise potential recruiters from being ‘used’ by these rolling stones. Your comments are most welcome.