Some Firms

Having listed some of the problems that we face with job seekers, and applicants in on our last Blog, and the rebuttals and the defenses that we had received from some of the candidates, today we wish to share with our clients, candidates, and readers some of the problems that we face and do endure with few of our client firms and/or associations.

1- Slow and Stringent Feedbacks:

Upon receiving a request from one of our valued client, the assignment is passed on to one or more of our consultants, depending on the number of positions to be filled. The consultants normally take the assignment very seriously, do their search and select three or four CVs whose profiles closely match the job description specified by the client. The CVs are emailed with dispatch to the HR Manager of the client firm or whoever is designated by the request…, a week passes with no reply…two weeks pass   and no reply…in the meantime our diligent consultants follow up the client with a barrage of emails, to no avail. Then we decide to further invest in our valued client, over and above the time our consultants had spent searching and contacting the candidates, our consultants call long distance to talk to the concerned party at the other end. Getting through to party concerned is usually a chore by itself and a call that might take two minutes, ends up taking 10 minutes to finally be informed that the executive concerned is out of the office…period. A message is usually left, but to no avail…..and what should have been a simple one week’s assignment, ends up being a three months job.

Fortunately, a good part of our clients are efficient with a well trained HR staff that makes up for the trying few

2- Blurred Job Descriptions

Since most of the firms in the Middle East are basically family owned, with different legal structures, their organization structures invariably take a Trinity form, namely the Father, the Son, and the old accountant who was inherited with the old safe from the grandfather’s days. In the absence of a clear organization structure, it is not possible to have clear descriptions, and this is what our blessed consultants have to deal with in some cases. As you can imagine in such a case the job description changes with every email that we receive from the client, and what starts being a request for a senior accountant position in the first request ends up being a senior Financial Manager ten emails later

3- The Decision Making Dilemma

The lack of feedback from some of the clients regarding a selected candidate of our side, is caused by the ambiguous decision making process in that firm. This is mainly due to the very vague and “baggy” job descriptions at those firms.

4- The Absence of a Defined Evaluation Criteria

The lack of definite criteria by which to assess a candidate is a serious problem that some of our clients face and consequently reflects on our efficiency of placing a candidate. While one executive from the HR department reports that a candidate is suitable for a certain position, the other interviewer who heads the department concerned reports that the candidate is lacking professionally, while the CEO finds the candidate pleasant, but unable to side with either parties. A “Hung Jury” is the result, and the client in this case asks to see more candidates.

5- The Lack of an Hr Department

Some of our valued clients have grown over time in business volume and in head count, and even in the number of staff at the Personnel Department, but had not realized the need for an HR Department. They may have changed the label of their glorified Personnel Department but definitely not the content.

The above are samples of the problems that we face with some of our clients, and invariably, we do volunteer some suggestions and consultations on how to remedy them. However, a good part of our clients fall under “pleasure to serve “category.

Sabbah Al Hajj, PhD. GM and Chairman of MPlus Recruiters