Data Leaders, are you Hiring Human Beings, or Human Doings?

I saw a great speech the other day which made me think, how do we view ourselves? Am I an Internal Recruiter in a Data Recruitment Agency? OR am I a thoughtful, positive, hardworking individual? Technically I’m both, but my work experience and skill sets do not define who I am and how I work.

Which in turn, got me thinking, what mindset do you have when your hiring into your business? Whether you work within your company’s talent team or are the direct hiring manager? This applies to all businesses in all industries.

I’ll admit over the years I’ve been the kind of recruiter who looks for those buzzwords in a CV, their skills, experience, and qualification always being the priority. I’ve even heard from businesses that won’t hire people from certain universities, which blew my mind!

Are you more bothered about the candidate’s doings (experience) or who they are and how they work as beings (qualities of a person)?

Let’s be honest, I think the majority of us when it comes to hiring data people, view candidates as human doings, there can be an over-emphasis on technical skills and specific qualifications, often neglecting the importance of other attributes such as adaptability, creativity, emotional intelligence, and potential for growth. This narrow focus may hinder the recruitment of candidates who possess valuable transferable skills or the ability to learn and adapt quickly.

In turn, by doing this we are dehumanising people, reducing them to human doings, seeing a person as their skills, experience and qualifications. Viewing candidates as human doings can perpetuate existing biases and limit diversity in the workplace. By not considering a broader range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, recruiters may miss out on the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce.

So that said, what can we do to change this and adopt a more holistic approach to our recruitment and hiring processes both internally and externally, let’s look at how we can consider candidates as human beings, not human doings:

• Job Descriptions that aren’t all skillsets and qualifications include information about the company culture, values, and desired qualities that would be beneficial to the role and business.
• When interviewing, don’t just concentrate on technical competencies, have a chat about their outlook on things. Questions that delve into a candidate’s problem-solving abilities, communication skills, teamwork, adaptability, and other relevant soft skills. Sounds cliché but, how would they describe themselves around their friends and in a work environment and why?
• Diverse interview panels, let’s make sure we have a number of different backgrounds and perspectives in the interview to provide a range of different feedback, opinions and views.
• There’s a lot we can do but I think the key here is making sure we as the decision-makers really take the time and give our candidates the respect they deserve to get to know them as human beings. In turn, we’re more likely to make sure we’re hiring the right people into their ‘perfect’ roles and business environments, which will ultimately result in a better outcome for you as the hiring manager/business and for candidates alike.

Next time you think about hiring data people in your business, or any recruitment at all, think about the human being, not the human doing.

Emily is a talented and dedicated internal talent lead here at Orbition. With a passion for identifying top talent, she has become a valuable asset to both to us internally, but also to our clients and candidates in the industry.

Emily is an expert in building strong relationships with potential talent solution experts and partners. She has a proven track record of successfully hiring top performers for a range of positions. Read more.