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RECRUITMENT RECRUITMENT
on board quickly, instead of rigorously assessing
their candidacy first.
“The idea would have crossed a lot of companies’
minds at some point in the last 12 months,” he says.
“Often, the business pressures are really intense
and by filling the gap, it provides a short-term
solution to a much larger problem.”
Lamprey says the issue summarises why an
effective talent acquisition function is so important
to a company’s success.
“Talent acquisition is a strategical function and it
is our responsibility to ensure that the business does
not find itself in this situation,” Lamprey elaborates.
“Through partnering with the business closely, we
offer the market insight, analytics and knowledge to
help support business decisions and fuel the company’s
growth seamlessly by identifying, attracting and
engaging with the top talent in the market.”
Nevertheless, Jeffrey Ng, Director, Michael Page
Finance, HR and Technology, says the
notion that companies are engaging in
rapid hiring instead of careful analysis
is dependent on the context of the
organisation and its business.
“If an urgent replacement is required,
a company will tend to hire relatively
quickly so as to ensure a proper
transition and handover,” he explains.
“For a new role, sometimes,
companies have the luxury of time for
candidate selection, especially when
there are sufficient resources to support
the business at present.”
“Seniority is also a factor; the more senior the
position, the longer the time taken for assessment.”
However, research shows that quality is considered
more important than a shorter recruitment time
frame. According to the Southeast Asia Recruiting Trends
2016 report by LinkedIn Talent Solutions, when asked
“What is the single most valuable metric that you use
to track your recruiting team’s performance today?”,
41% of the HR leaders surveyed nominated the “quality
of hire”. This usurped “time to fill” (39%) as the
most valuable key performance indicator.
Prone to recruiting errors
The Southeast Asia Recruiting Trends 2016 report also
cited that the biggest obstacles to attracting top
talent currently include finding candidates in high
demand talent pools (53%), compensation (48%),
and competition (45%).
Nevertheless, Lamprey stresses that recruitment
is not a “science”, and when there is a human
Adam Lamprey, Regional Recruitment Manager
- Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, Ericsson, recalls a unique experience
when it comes to the topic of bad hires.
Ericsson had been trying to fill a position for a
long time and Lamprey says his organisation had put
one potential candidate through a rigorous process.
During that process however, some red flags had
popped up.
Nevertheless, after Lamprey discussed the issues
internally, the team decided to progress further with
the candidate. It conducted reference checks, and
eventually moved to the offer stage.
However, he says at the point of signing the
contract, a situation occurred, that reincforced his
earlier concerns.
Lamprey immediately retracted Ericsson’s offer.
“It turns out after some further investigation
that the candidate had some behavioural challenges
that we could not detect during the
interviews,” he says.
“Certain indicators had suggested
there may be something worth
investigating; more of which came out
to be quite alarming.”
“We certainly dodged a bullet
in this case. That’s the short
version, but it certainly made for an
interesting few weeks.”
While Lamprey and Ericsson may
have escaped without great cost in that
situation, not every organisation is so
lucky. According to the Management Insights: How to
avoid common hiring mistakes report by Robert Half
UK, one in 10 new recruits is regarded as a “poor
hiring decision”.
Speed over accuracy?
Sohna Cham, Director of Talent Acquisition for
Mondelē z Asia Pacific, says that given the abundant
pressure to fill openings in a timely fashion, there
is definitely a risk to approaching recruitment
with a short-term focus and hence, not necessarily
recruiting someone with the right fit.
“A majority of organisations have clear financial
goals to meet and hence, there will always be
pressure to deliver against quantitative objectives,”
explains Cham.
“Whenever the short-term objectives win over what
makes sense in the mid and long-term, organisations
risk making decisions that they may pay for later on.”
Lamprey agrees that companies are increasingly
hiring with the thought of simply getting someone
Sham Majid
sham@hrmasia.com.sg
Eliminating
recruitment
boo-boos
Hiring errors can result in a wide range of repercussions, both in financial and
non-financial terms. HRM finds out how HR can stem the tide of recruitment disasters
The biggest
obstacles
to attracting top talent currently
include finding candidates
in high demand talent pools
(53%), compensation (48%),
and competition (45%)
Source: The Southeast Asia
Recruiting Trends 2016 report

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RECRUITMENT
element to anything, people are always
prone to human error.
“I have gone with my gut feeling before
and this has worked out better than I
could have ever hoped,” he says.
“I also have had very negative
experiences in hiring. We have limited
information and interaction with a
candidate to base our decisions on.”
Lamprey says research suggests three
interviews is the optimum number.
“So, based on the three times you meet
a person in an interview environment,
along with the CV and references, you
need to make a call on the person’s
ability to deliver in the role and to fit into
the company,” he explains.
“Technical roles are easier to
determine earlier on, but understanding
a person’s cultural fit is much harder.
There are so many factors in the talent
acquisition process and some of it comes
down to the investment in the function.”
“Can a company afford to conduct
third-party background screenings for
every candidate to check their criminal and
financial backgrounds? It’s not likely.”
Lamprey says a company can have
more than one interviewer at a time, but
should still have three separate interview
discussions.
He says any more than that and the
candidate can become disengaged.
“As a business, it is important that
all employees are engaged with the
recruitment process and understand
the value and how it affects both them
individually as well as the organisation,”
explains Lamprey.
“You will get more referrals, engaging
interviews and improved feedback to
build on; thus, lowering the risk of
making any mistakes and improving the
quality of hires.”
“Getting the business buy-in is the key.”
Cham says firms will often commit
plenty of mistakes during a typical hiring
process, starting with being unclear of
what is required for the role and how to
assess candidates.
In addition, she says some
organisations may not spend sufficient
time in realistically sharing what the
Common recruitment blunders
According to Jeffrey Ng, Director, Michael Page Finance, HR and Technology, the most common
recruitment blunders organisations make are:
Cultural misfit
During the hiring process, companies may place more emphasis on a potential candidate’s technical
skill sets and knowledge, rather than on their personality or motivations, only to find out later that the
candidate does not gel well with the team or buy into the culture.
Hiring the perfect candidate
While this may seem like an ideal scenario, hiring a candidate who is perfect for the job may limit their
potential for growth. After a short period of time, the candidate may lose motivation to stay on as they may
have reached a plateau in terms of exposure and development. Companies should search for candidates
with a 70-80% competency fit for the role, and providing room for challenge, learning and development.
Remuneration
Undercutting a candidate who is desperate for a role often backfires. While companies may view this
as a cost-saving measure, the risk of losing the employee is high when a better offer comes along,
especially when non-financial benefits are not in place to retain the talent.
an impact on the individual’s capability to
perform as per the requirements.
“On the other hand, if expectations
from the candidate’s side aren’t met, it
can also cause frustration and demotivate
the individual,” she explains.
“In the worst case scenario, it can end
in attrition which ultimately comes at a
much higher price for the organisation
than taking the necessary time and
rigour for a consistent and sensible
assessment process.”
Hence, Cham stresses that an
organisation needs to ensure that it has
the right balance of quantitative and
qualitative performance indicators.
For example, she says that while cost
of hires and the time taken to hire are
important measures, a company also
has to consider mid and long-term
measurements around the quality of hires.
“Furthermore, make both HR and
business leaders accountable for the
hiring process and for achieving both
quantitative and qualitative objectives,”
adds Cham.
As a senior head of talent acquisition,
Cham explains that her recruitment
process starts with a very clear briefing
between the recruiter and the line leader
to identify what it will take to be successful
prospective employee can expect from
the organisation and the position.
“This could be referring to the company
culture, but also, to the role itself,”
Cham explains.
“Another mistake would be to rush
through the process and not take
sufficient time in assessing whether the
candidate has the right fit.”
Ensuring the right cultural fit does
play a crucial part in the recruitment
framework.
According to a recent survey by
OfficeTeam entitled Corporate Culture:
Companies Often Misjudge Employee Fit,
over six in 10 (64%) HR managers polled
in the US confessed they had misjudged
a candidate’s fit with their firm’s work
environment.
Moreover, two-thirds (66%) of the
survey’s respondents also revealed their
company had lost an employee because
they were not appropriate for the work
environment.
The HR ramifications
Cham says if an organisation has made a
mistake in the recruitment process and
has consequently hired someone who
does not have the right fit for the role and
organisation, that company will likely see

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in the role and in the organisation.
“This does require the need to coach
managers to verbalise what exactly their
needs are,” she says.
“You then need to define the most
sensible assessment approach, and
ensure that everyone involved has the
necessary capability to assess and drive
consistency throughout the process.”
“At the end, facilitate a debrief with
everyone who was involved in the
assessment process so that you get a
comprehensive overview and can make an
educated decision.”
From Lamprey’s perspective, whether
it’s a compromise on technical ability or
cultural fit, HR professionals know that
the impact of wrong hires is “huge.”
“Technical gaps must be bridged and
that means an investment of time and
money with some reallocation of resources
to develop the new hire,” he explains.
“This would have been discussed
before giving the green light; however,
it is not ideal and again, it is just patch
work in the overall hiring process.”
He emphasises that “success breeds
success”. Existing employees at Ericsson
are encouraged by seeing the best people
in the market joining their firm and
elevating both theirs’ and the company’s
status and performance, he says.
Lamprey says market insight and data
are therefore key parts of his role.
“We are constantly seeking to
understand our market better through
labour insights and through staying close
to the market through team collaboration
and the sharing of information and best
practices,” he elaborates.
“With this knowledge, we are well-
positioned to make better-informed
decisions about the candidates we are
hiring.”
“We can benchmark them against
both the external market as well as our
internal employees.”
Lamprey says his team also conducts
a lot of market mapping and talent
pooling so it knows the market size, the
availability of the desired skills, and the
price that those skills cost to acquire.
“By using this data as well as
qualitative experiences, we feel we have
enough information to make well-
educated decisions,” he adds.
Ng also cites that a wrong hire has a
negative effect on the operational and
commercial aspects of a business.
“If a sales person decides to leave,
revenue is impacted directly,” he says.
“High turnover and churn can also
result in low employee morale, which
affects the reputation of the company
externally. This will portray a negative
impression in the market and the
company may face difficulty in its
recruitment process.”
Tightening the framework
According to Cham, Mondelē z recently
made a bold decision to invest in its
talent acquisition function. It hopes to
strengthen its recruitment processes
and provide the company with the right
resources and tools to ensure a consistent
and qualitatively-high experience – both
externally and internally.
“We have started to expand our
capabilities in attracting and assessing
talent for our current and future needs by
creating a comprehensive suite of selection
capability training offerings for the talent
acquisition function,” she explains.
In addition, Cham discloses that their
Mondelē z way of recruitment will help
the organisation to further drive one of
its two main business goals: creating a
great place to work.
She says this is very similar to what
the organisation has observed with
consumer trends.
“We are putting more emphasis on
social media to both paint a picture to
candidates of how it would be like to
work for us, and for us to also leverage
these sourcing channels to find relevant
talent for our short and long-term
needs,” adds Cham.
Likewise, Lamprey says Ericsson
has implemented a new global talent
acquisition framework and strategy,
ensuring consistent processes
throughout the business.
“The team is now adding significant
value through working closely with
the business leaders and through true
business partnering to support the
business,” he explains.
“The outcome of this is that we have
increased visibility and are involved in
business decisions much earlier, thus
having more time to plan and prepare
our recruitment strategy.”
Acquisition tips
Ng says staff turnover has always been
high in the Southeast Asia region,
with companies focusing more on
replacement rather than on new hires.
“Avoiding recruitment blunders will
definitely help cut the time and expenses
that goes into the recruitment process,”
he stresses. “Companies should strive
to take a more long-term view in talent
management and retention development.”
Ng says while salary is one of the key
motivating factors, companies should
also focus on non-financial benefits to
attract talent.
“According to the 2015 Michael
Page Singapore Employee Intentions
report, employees rank additional
career development as the third most
important factor that would keep them
in their current position – behind
financial rewards and having a strong
manager,” explains Ng.
In addition, he points to a key finding
from Michael Page’s 2016 Southeast Asia
Salary & Employment Outlook that revealed
that when it comes to retaining talent,
the top three motivators are salary (55%),
career progression (49%), and global
career opportunities (25%).
“Non-financial motivators, including
a strong work culture, recognition
and benefits, and learning and
development are (also) a big draw card
for employees,” he says.
Cham stresses that organisations
should be clear as to what they are looking
for and what they have to offer in return.
“Be consistent throughout the
assessment process and balance
quantitative and qualitative measurements
– ultimately it will save you time and
cost in the long run if you make the right
hiring decisions,” she states.
Contact: Azrielle Looi Hui Yi | Tel: (65) 6423 4631 | Email: info@hrmasia.com.sg
Featured speakers:
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McCann Health
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Essilor International
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Northern Trust
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Fermin Diez, CCP, SPHR
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panies and public sector organisations at th
He has also managed the P&L in several g
businesses.
As an HR leader, he has been Regional He
in Asia Pacific and in Latin America. Curren
National Council for Social Service
Fermin is an Adjunct Professor at both SMU and NTU. He co-authore
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min has also previously taught Business Policy and Strategic Planning
WorldatWork course for more than 10 years in the US, Puerto Rico, A
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well as the 2004 Global HR Conference in Rio de Janeiro and the 200
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Fermin obtained his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pen
uate degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Specialties: Compensation (particularly incentives and executive com
ent management and development, career planning, organisation des
tions from an HR perspective, building teams, global HR, education a
tices. He is certified as a CCP and as an SPHR.
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