The Inherent Problems in the Hiring Process
One of the biggest problem areas for our client companies is that they’re finding it difficult to hire people who can move that organization forward. There are mainly two basic reasons for this issue. First, there’s a massive shortage of people with the right past experience to do some of the jobs. And second, there’s a rapid evolution of the necessary skills. A business might need a completely new skillset from a new hire within just six to 12 months later that might not have even been invented at the point they were hired. To cope with such a changing environment the biggest thing that matters for a candidate is his learning attitude. To date, there is no degree invented to measure this learning attitude.
Companies are realizing that this is the inherent problem within the recruitment process itself. The traditional recruitment processes are built around CVs and the way of doing the interview is just to examine someone’s past history.
The Real Requirements
Most companies think that hiring people with degree-level experience solves all the problems. They use this requirement as a filter or because they always kept these requirements. For us, it’s more important to first meet with the client to evaluate exactly what are their needed skills. Secondly, whether people can develop those skills while on the job? In keeping these propositions how much experience and knowledge does a candidate need to bring with him for the job interview.
We have also seen that candidates also inflate the experience or degree necessary to do a certain job, on purpose. The above strategy will also mitigate such issues.
Also if an employee is doing well in your company it does not necessarily mean that another person from the same background will work equally well. That’s one of the points we try to convey to our clients when they specifically ask for candidates say from the same university and sometimes even from the same year of graduation.
We now want to point to another major concept in hiring which most organizations do not consider. It’s neuro-plasticity.
Brain plasticity
Neuroplasticity is a term that refers to the brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience. Learning and new experiences build and strengthen new neural pathways. The neural pathways which are used infrequently become weak and eventually die. This process is called synaptic pruning.
Neuroplasticity enables the brain to adapt and change, which helps promote:
- The creativity.
- The learning of new technologies and keeping up with evolving job requirements.
- The enhancement of cognitive capabilities.
- Cope up with the stress, including the stress associated with the pandemic.
Plasticity is ongoing throughout life and involves brain cells other than neurons, including glial and vascular cells. It can occur as a result of learning, experience, and memory formation, or as a result of damage to the brain.
While people used to believe that the brain became fixed after a certain age, newer research has revealed that the brain never stops changing in response to learning.
Here are two major factors which improve neuro-plasticity:
Long Deep Sleep
Research has shown that sleep plays an important role in dendritic growth in the brain. Dendrites are the growths at the end of neurons that help transmit information from one neuron to the next. By strengthening these connections, you may be able to encourage greater brain plasticity.
Sleep has been shown to have important effects on both physical and mental health. You can find ways to improve your sleep by practicing good sleep hygiene.
Exercise
Regular physical activity has been shown to have a number of brain benefits. Some research suggests that exercise might help prevent neuron losses in key areas of the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory and other functions.
For more information please visit this link: Experience and Neuroplasticity.
These are our two major points of concern while interviewing for creative jobs. We usually ask such candidates: How much does a candidate sleep? At what time he gets to sleep and at around what time he wakes up? Does he exercise? Any outdoor creative activities like cycling, hiking?
So these are some of the questions you may add to your interview questions arsenal.