Decoding the “Talent” in the Talent Acquisition.

As a part of preparation for my aspiration towards long running, I thought buying a Heart rate sensor device will help me understand my aerobic and anerobic threshold levels and hence, help me train better. So when I thought about a fitness tracker which will have a heart rate sensor – Fitbit came to my mind, almost synonymous with the term 'fitness tracker' and hence I placed my purchase decision without much research. (Somehow their marketing team has been successful in being a top of the mind recall, as I place this statement based on a quick survey that I did. 72% of people whom I asked, recalled Fitbit over Garmin for being synonymous with fitness tracker. So, I was not alone).

When I received the device and upon using it for a month I somehow realized that one of the primary functions of the device – to count the steps was not working properly. It was not under counting – but over counting, It was shocking, because I was earlier using a mi fitness band which had a heart rate sensor (but it always said – “Could not detect heart beat”, well – I do have a heart), but the steps counting was accurate. My underlying assumption based on this experience was that any basic fitness tracker will count steps properly and only a “good quality” product will give near accurate heart rate sensing. I decided to call up the customer care, and apparently they did not have a localized service center here and I only had the option to ‘write’ to their support system.

Initial Experience:

They had all Pre-defined FAQs and I only had to ‘click’ on the ones which existed already (also made me wonder if they had foreseen such a problem). After about one week of ‘registering’ my complaint I received a mail and my learning started from there.

We had about 46 emails exchanged over a time period of 42 days and I was receiving emails from multiple people instead of one single person. Few were rude, and few were ‘listening’ to me and finally to take a replacement I had to take the route of twitter to make public tweets to their CEO, and Voila!! Someone finally ‘heard’ me and I received an email from the highest authority who handles their customer service (at least that is what they claimed). She offered me a replacement and also gave a free accessory which was worth $69.95.

I ponder and wonder:

Over this entire drama I am now happily using a new device which seems to be working fine till now, I wonder if Fitbit is wrong? 

I had a bad service experience and then when things got escalated – another person took control and solved for it and also changed my experience from bad to ‘wow’,which makes me question the fundamental and also cement a belief very strongly that a company will always want to think about maximizing the values delivered to a customer or else they cannot survive, and at the same time it is the ‘people’ who make up the organization, how so ever a company can be great in their policies, it is the people who deliver the product/ service to the end user who makes all the difference.

Going back to my story, I will not and must not say that Fitbit gave me a bad experience. It was one/two employees who gave me a bad experience. 

How can we solve for this?

I have once read an article, written by my friend, boss & and very good human – Sameer Nagpal, who spoke about Decoding Acquisition in Talent Acquisition. 

As a part of my job, I end up speaking to hiring managers in several companies and this is something I try to solve for them. Often Hiring managers ask me about what assessments we do/ we have and ask me for the pricing. Usually junior folks will use this language of ‘price’. Seniors usually use the language of ‘value’. However, from what I have observed and learnt over the last two years, ‘talent’ is not just about aptitude/ technical/ sales skills.

Let me quickly take the example of running again, because that is something I can explain with in a simpler language. Let’s say someone wants to ‘assess’ if I can run a half marathon; much like how a hiring manager will want to ‘assess’ if someone will be the right job fit.

I have observed few folks telling me – “ah, you look thin/ athletic, so you can run; he looks damn fat, look at his belly, I am sure he will faint”. This is the initial bias created with perception, which makes me question the belief that can a person who is having belly fat cannot run? Or is it guaranteed that If I am thin I will run?”  This is synonymous with HR managers saying, “Ah, the kid is from IIT, they will do well/ from tier 3 institute? I am sorry you are not in my consideration set”.

Now, while the above is judging even before beginning – there are a lot of judgment errors that  happen after the initial sourcing is done.

To assess if I will be able to run 21.1 kms, someone needs to assess If I have the enthusiasm to participate, energy levels to cover the first half of the marathon, physical fitness to cover the 50-75% of the marathon route, mental toughness to shut off the physical pain after I have completed 75% of the race, and other factors about learning about the terrain and conditions and subsequently preparing for it. If they check my mental toughness to understand if I can cover first half of the race or if they check my energy levels for the last lap of the race then it is skewed.

What does this mean for Folks in Talent Acquisition?

Similarly, in talent acquisition – I have understood performance is a direct function of person and environment.  While Environment includes the work culture, social norms, etc, the predictable traits in a person include knowledge, skills, personality and ability. To be able to understand if a candidate will be a good job fit as a fresher – one needs to be ‘assessed on skills’ relevant for the job role.

If the candidature is for 2-4 years experience role, the skill based assessments takes a back seat while it becomes mandatory to understand the knowledge gained through experience. 

A person who has spent more than 6 years in professional career – needs to be assessed on the personality traits to understand a good organization fit, because they can be highly skilled, and have great experience to back it up, but if inherently they do not have the key behavioral indicators which will have a direct linkage between performance matrix and organizational mission and vision, then it is a dreadful mistake to make a wrong hiring decision at that level vs. making it at the entry level (going back to the Fitbit story – they have made a wrong hiring decision at some junior level, which did not prove costly and they have somehow made a right choice at the top – which otherwise would have proven costly). 

So, do not look for 'personality skills'/ where does the candidate come from when hiring for a fresher and do not look for skills when hiring for a candidate with 3+ years of experience. Certain things are important at certain areas.