Recruitment Process - Unfair Aspects!

 There are so many aspects of the recruitment process that need to be reformed. Among others, I lately came across narratives and stories where a candidate who is well-known to the organization is being selected and guaranteed the job, which is absolutely fine. However, in order to demonstrate that the recruitment process is fair and in compliance, the job is advertised. Most of those applicants who invest hours and even days filling the application do not get acknowledged let alone short-listed. And a few who gets to the interview, just for the sake of “superficial” compliance gets rejected. The psychological impacts including demotivating the applicants and making them even more sceptical about their qualifications and their selves are unfortunately ignored in this process. The asymmetrical power balance in this process where full discretion lies within the employer has immense negative implications on applicants, unfortunately.

I recently came across a funny job advertisement. Though funny but true. The advert was, “Waitress Needed. Must be 18 years old with 20 years experience. Apply in Person Carnation Restaurant”. This advertisement, sadly, resembles the truth of the current job market and the high expectations of the employers. The mindset is to have somebody who can help achieve the organization’s goals. This parochial mindset does not see the wider picture that it is not just about the organization but the individual, community or society in general. In other words, working in a job is not just about achieving the organization’s goals but also building an individual, community and society. Too much focus on the organization’s goals leads to expecting a lot of relevant experience from the applicants. This takes away the focus from the existing gaps where there is very few or no platforms available to help recent graduates or people in transition with so much passion and transferrable skills. “People in transition” is a big topic that I will be writing a separate blog about it. I see myself and my endeavours falling in that category.