If you are contracted to hunt a young but vastly talented computer programmer for a small tech firm that is into the business of writing software for emerging microfinance businesses, your search will obviously defy some of the traditional practices common in normal hiring.
The people you will expect to take up the job may not come to the interview wearing suit or white/blue long-sleeved shirts.
Some of the interviewees who will line up in front of your office may be so weirdly dressed that unless you ‘go slow’, you might end up turning down the ones that will write wonderful programmes for your company.
A proper candidate definition ahead of the interaction is very necessary if the errors associated with confusing outlook for talents is to be avoided.
The computer programme r you must seek must be great at writing codes, which are the foundation for software creation.
Turning signs into a language that the computer understands and follows, being proficient at C++ or Java are but common qualities that everyone with a degree in Computer engineering can boast of.
If the average degree holder knows three programming languages, you can consider a candidate as talented if he or she holds three extra programming languages, have a history of software development (even if it be on amateur, noncommercial basis), can prove that he or she pays attention to details (a quality that is always in bed with programme writers), and, finally, demonstrate that he or she has a vast knowledge of Python, Ruby and PhP.
Those whose knowledge stock as computer programmers is just as rich as the other 1,500 graduates with whom they were poured onto the labour market the year before, such are often not the attributes of the talented! The ones that use a little, toy-like portable play station as they wait their turn to talk to you are often the ones whose thrill of the vocation is so voracious and almost addictive that they are going to find writing great programmes fun and a desirable adventure.
In recent times, most of the smart phones on the market have memories large enough to carry games of all sophistication that are either uploaded on the chip of the devise or that the user can reach once there is Internet connection.
Some of these ‘whiz kids’ may come in busy on their phones, trying to break a previous record of scores of the same game they have started playing. They may not have the decency or presence of mind to respect conventions requiring them to greet and socialise briefly with other colleagues or you the job givers.
Some of the weirdly talented ICT girls may not walk in carrying an acceptable styled hair-do: they are often deviants on the personal grooming level and may carry long strands of either ‘kinky’ or natural dreadlock hair, wear a pair of jeans even on an occasion as important as job screening.
In the same way, if you were hunting talents for a new radio channel whose target audience is the youth, you would have to brace yourself up for possible shocks. Walking into the interview room and expecting the candidates to come in clad in the traditional attire typical of a conventional interview is missing the point by a large margin.
The youth with the talents most appropriate for the job may walk in wearing oversized pairs of jeans that are falling from their waist. These canvaswearing candidates may come in clad either in oversized Tshirts or a shirts that may pass for a 12-year kid. With their walksman in their backpacks and headphones stuck to their ears, they may be mastering the lyrics of some new releases that are making the headlines in the global entertainment industry.
And when you feel ready to start the real interview, bear with their rather awkward vocabulary and language mannerisms. A lot of these job seekers would want to answer your questions in the language that passes for the youth but quite unacceptable for your office. Remember that the hunt is not for the person to replace you; so you are not the model! expect some amount of street english — slang — and be ready to ask them to explain when you do not get it. Trying to focus on the qualities of the ideal candidate forestalls the bias associated with this kind of exercise.
When you have been commissioned as an agent to hire for industries whose characteristics and anners defy conventional norms, you have to go the extra mile to understand the dynamics of these new and emerging businesses. Sticking to the traditional standards will get you picking the best but the least talented for the job at stake.
For instance, if you feel offended by the candidate who walks into your office dressed up like someone on his way to the party of a friend who has just turned 18, you could be turning out the leader of the next generation of disk jockeys who will be readying himself to shake up the industry.
In the same manner, the talented programmes writer with the gift and flair to meet and even exceed the technical expectations of the client companies may not be wearing a suit.
Discounting job prospects upon first sight is a real hindrance most HRs suffer from. As much as it may be in everyone’s DNA to meet people and without any justifiable cause not be able to like them, HRs must strive to rise above such human flaws and unfortunate predispositions. It is by doing so that we can all create a world of truly equal opportunities for all.
When the best programmes writer is a ‘kinky-growing’, vegetarian young woman, a barefooted Rastafarian, a person with enormous physical disabilities or a dumb, the hR must give him or her the opportunity if he or she deserves it.
Doing this will involve approaching every candidate with an independent, unbiased mind and keeping this healthy mind-set up to the end of the exercise. — GB