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We take a scientific approach to recruitment and leadership assessment. It is about choosing the right horses for the courses.

By Ralf Biele, Partner
Region: East Germany

Sector focus: Public Sector

GUT FEELINGS CAN SOMETIMES BE RIGHT—THE KEYWORD BEING ‘SOMETIMES’. IN A SMALL-SCALE SITUATION, GOING BY YOUR GUT MIGHT BE A RISK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH. BUT NOT WHEN TOO MUCH IS AT STAKE, SUCH AS HIRING FOR A KEY POSITION IN YOUR ORGANISATION.
THE COMPANY WAS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO RESONATED WITH ITS CORE VALUES AND BELIEFS. THE CHOICE WAS BETWEEN TWO CANDIDATES. AS A CONSULTANT, I DID MY HOMEWORK. I MET THE FOUR BOARD MEMBERS OF THE SAVINGS BANK, ONE ON ONE. I GATHERED ALL THE RELEVANT DATA TO ASSESS THE TWO CANDIDATES ACCORDINGLY.
COLLECTING ALL THIS DATA WAS IMPORTANT TO FIND THE RIGHT FIT FOR THE ORGANISATION. MY DETAILED ASSESSMENTS BASED ON MERCURI URVAL SCIENTIFIC LEADERSHIP SELECTION METHODS POINTED TO CANDIDATE A BEING THE RIGHT FIT FOR THE JOB.
HOWEVER, I WAS UNABLE TO CONVINCE THE BOARD OF THE CHOICE. THE FOUR BOARD MEMBERS UNANIMOUSLY WENT WITH CANDIDATE B. CANDIDATE B APPEARED MORE SELF-CONFIDENT DURING THE INTERVIEW, AND THAT RESONATED WITH THE BOARD
THE EFFECT OF THE DECISION COULD NOT BE MEASURED IMMEDIATELY. IT HAPPENED ONLY A COUPLE OF YEARS LATER THAT THE ENTERPRISE REALISED ITS FOLLY.
THEY HAD TO FIRE THE GUY. IN THE LONG RUN CANDIDATE B WAS NOT THE RIGHT FIT FOR THE ORGANISATION. THE BOARD MEMBERS WENT WITH HOW THEY FELT. AND, AS IT TURNS OUT, GOING BY HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT A CERTAIN CANDIDATE MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST WAY FORWARD.

Hiring, training, and retaining human resources is a capital-intensive and time-intensive endeavour. At Mercuri Urval, we take a scientific approach to recruitment and leadership assessment. It is about choosing the right horses for the courses. As for the client, the savings bank, they retained my services for another key position they had to fill in the organisation. It is a testament to Mercuri Urval’s assessment methods and years of experience in talent advisory and executive search.

Dr. Ralf Biele, Partner & Director (Team Leader)
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