Recommendations, what is it? Let us understand in order.collection Policy recommendations practiced in Russia quite recently, this trend came to us from the markets of Europe and America, which in these matters now occupies a leading position, this is due to the creation of specialized consulting companies that collect and reference check on candidates.
According Andexclusive: «recommendation (from Postnet. гесоммеndatio) — written or oral favorable reviews». Many other dictionaries gives almost a literal interpretation of this concept.
Recommendations to candidates who are in the process of job search, they can be classified into two types: written letters and spoken is received during a telephone or personal conversation with the referee.
most Often, the written recommendation of the employee writes himself, the chief of them just signs, less often, recommendations are read by the head, and in rare cases, written by the referees. Then the question arises, is there any meaning in them, as in the case of employment, each applicant is trying to present yourself in the best light and sometimes ascribes several unusual characteristics, either explicitly multiplies the actual state of Affairs.
In my opinion, the truth in such letters of recommendation will be only half. And collect their applicants only if required by the formal rules and procedures of the company.
Now let’s talk about the recommendations that are collected during the conversation. The collection of recommendations will need to prepare in advance, make a list of the planned issues, it is desirable that the questions were open and allowed to answer them arguing, it is necessary to evaluate the position of the applicant, to understand who you plan to collect recommendations. If this line specialist, it will be enough to collect the recommendation of the immediate supervisor with the latest jobs and colleagues, also no harm will be recommendations from customers, if any. If we collect recommendations on candidates with managerial function, the terms of references will be wider, to the immediate supervisor and colleagues, you need to add recommendations from subordinate and adjacent business units of the company, and sometimes from themselves business owners.
Analyze the different patterns and techniques for collection of recommendations, you can select the following questions that you can ask the referrer to obtain objective feedback:
Very often the referees say about their companies ‘ employees are very General phrases, evaluating monosyllabic sentences — he’s a good fellow, conflict, smart, friendly staff. So always Popasnaya that stands behind these words? Specify incoming information, ask more questions.
Always remember, asking about the positive qualities and professional success, do not miss the questions about those qualities and skills that are possible for the development and the failures that have been in the practice of the employee.
Can repeat the same question at the beginning and end of the conversation, in order twice to hear the answer.
When collecting recommendations try to observe the legislative base of the Russian Federation, it is better to start collecting recommendations after obtaining the consent of the person to whom these recommendations will be collected, you can ask him a few contact persons and of them to choose whom to call, or, after receiving permission to determine the references.
Collecting recommendations need to be prepared for the fact that they can be biased, overly subjective or intentionally deceitful. It happens that the candidate prepares in advance of references and asks to give him a positive recommendation with wishful thinking. In practice, also encountered cases where former leaders deliberately gave a negative recommendation or even false information, not to enable the candidate to develop further outside the current company, sometimes they were headed by a trivial rivalry, sometimes a feeling of frustration that good people leave the company.
Approaching the issue of collection of recommendations will certainly need to rely on a professional level references, let it be «managerial elite», do not be afraid to go to this level, because you can often get an objective recommendation, this level allows you to talk about competence, responsibility and high level of expertise.
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the recommendation to collect, of course, necessary, but they should not be a priority when hiring, you must sensibly and objectively evaluate all information received from the referees to focus on their own feelings and perceptions of the candidate, their professional competence, as each particular person may not be suitable for the needs and corporate culture of one company, but at the same time become the perfect employee for your company.
Hoodoba Ekaterina
Head office, Moscow
Recruitment company AVICONN