A Second Chance Can Clear That Doubt (#275)

When have you completely misjudged someone upon first meeting them and later discovered that they were much better or much worse than you originally thought?

Hello amazing #ladiesofhives, trust you are doing great. Happy new week and a Happy Valentine’s Day in advance. I welcome you to my blog.

Recruitment is one of the strategic ways of assessing individuals' skills, core competencies, and capabilities. This is done to match those attributes to the vacant role. However, often, there are lots of dynamics, power plays, and pitfalls to weed out the weakest candidates.

Those with great sportsmanship and strength who keep their eyes keenly on the ball, pay attention to details, and quickly adjust to observations make it.
In one of the recruitment activities I supervised, I invited three candidates for a graphic designer role in my firm. The invitation sent to them had the time included among other details. However, on that day, two candidates arrived within the timeline, while the last candidate arrived an hour late.

While we were about to commence the assessment session at about 9 am (West African Time), I noticed that one of them hadn’t arrived. I quickly reached out to the individual, and he confirmed that they missed their way and were trying to locate the office via Google Maps.

I quickly informed my colleagues and pleaded that we extend the timing to accommodate him, but they refused, insisting we commence. I played along, and we commenced. The first and second candidates were called in and assessed. Before we were done, the third candidate's arrival was announced, but the panel refused to give him a chance.

As they were still insisting, I requested that the last candidate be ushered in. This young man wore a ruffled shirt but came more than prepared. While they were still murmuring and complaining about his dressing and how unkept he looked. I introduced the panel and commenced the interview.
As the young man was responding with a live demo on his Apple laptop, they were amazed; even the one who was relaxing in the chair adjusted, sat up, and took charge of the assessment.

This candidate overwhelmed us with his presentations, and while I was still contemplating the next step because of their initial attitude, they unanimously recommended and requested we roll out his onboarding process.

This candidate has added value to our organisation from that day. I didn’t allow mediocrity and shallow thinking to blind me to my common sense, fairness, and equity approach. I refused to label him bad but allowed him to prove himself beyond that first negative impression.

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