Indonesian companies looking to secure the best executives for important positions could be hampering their chances of achieving this with lengthy recruitment procedures, executive recruitment company Monroe Consulting Group Indonesia says.
Dhika Ciputra, head of Monroe Indonesia’s specialised Industrial Division, said clients had in the past required around two interviews before deciding on a hire, but the process could now involve as many as four interviews as well as needing approval at the Southeast Asia-regional level.
“In Indonesia, where the number of qualified professionals is still unable to match demand, good job candidates will always have another option,” Dhika said. “An overly long process will increase the risk of losing the candidates to competing offers. A lot of the time, companies forget that the interview is a two-way evaluation. Candidates are also evaluating whether they want to work for the company, not to mention the fact that they often have to use days off to attend the interviews.”
Dhika said regional involvement in the hiring process could also be a deterrent. “This long and tiring process might be evaluated by the candidate as the company’s inability to make a decision or a perception that the company is not well organized.”
He said there were a number of reasons why leading multinational and national companies operating in Indonesia were taking this cautious approach.
“One of the reasons behind this is the fact that salaries have been increasing rapidly in some sectors, increasing labour costs,” he said. “Unfortunately, in a number of cases, the high salaries have not always had a positive correlation with the results.”
Dhika said that while it was perfectly understandable that companies took precautions about making bad hires, it was important to reduce the number of job interviews. He suggested the following steps:
1. Ensure that interviews are conducted by people who need to. Most of the time, the most important people will be the direct manager and senior-level director
2. Understand what type of candidate is needed by listing the requirements based on the company’s needs and culture. Having the interviewers discuss this in a meeting ensures that everyone is on the same page
3. Prepare a recruitment timeline in order to make the recruitment process efficient and organized. Having long gaps between the interviews and offer stages will only jeopardize the process