'I am not qualified for the job, but I know someone who you know'

We are habituated to focus on the skills and competencies of the candidates that we are going to hire. But when we are putting candidates in our recruitment loop and asking them some relevant queries to assess, we often find someone coming out with saying these:

"Sir, please give me the job, my mother is sick."

"Sir, just hire me, evaluate my performance for 2 months, then give me the salary."

"Sir, my uncle name is…"

I have been working in the HR industry for more than five years and have faced many odd candidates who want to crack the recruitment system with their emotional blackmail, political power, lobbying management and so on.

Illustration: Rahman Azad.

Perhaps, they think, they are not qualified. By doing this, they already declare themselves ineffectual. Maybe it happens due to the earlier numbers of rejections that destroyed their confidence level. Otherwise, they would not need to engage so many influential persons to back them.

Once I got a call from an influential political person to hire the requested person as early as possible. I was worried the consequence of the refusal would not be so amicable. However, I did refuse and consequences did not reach my court (as of yet).

I inspected the CV of the candidates that he/she advocated for. The CV and portfolio looked extremely competitive, but when the candidate faced the interview session with us, s/he relied on their political connections instead of their skills and competencies.

The other day, a guy attended one interview session with us. He was in the roof of his house due to the bad internet connection. Suddenly he got extremely emotional sharing the information of his father's death. I told him, we were expecting someone having utmost professionalism, strong interpersonal and negotiation skills. He replied those mentioned points were very easy for him to acquire if he got hired. Thus, he agreed, he did not have those mentioned skills as of then and started begging for the job. Later, he kept sending tons of text to the personnel of the HR team.

I wish I could see; all the candidates out there fought with their resources. To recruit a person is never an easy game. Sometimes HR professionals feel that there are not enough good candidates in the job market. But the rumour says, there are no jobs in the market.

To be in the job, you have to be you. Be yourself!

Tanvir Mahmudul Hasan is Manager- HR & Admin, Ajinomoto Bangladesh Limited. He can be reached at [email protected]