'The Interview Day'

Hi there! So this week, I was seriously falling short of ideas that could inspire me enough to write a blog-post. As always, I was thinking of topics which were assertive and informative, but my experiences at work in the last 6 days led me to sharing them with you, and, it's neither assertive, nor informative, it's just feelings, raw and upfront, and its definitely NOT about my experiences of giving an interview, as the topic reads, hence keep reading :)

So, let me start-off by telling you'll little about this internship that I'm currently doing. It's with the HR Department of a renowned firm and I'm extremely sure that I'am going to tag these two months, as the most fruitful and empowering months, most importantly because I'm learning new things every single day, all thanks to my Colleagues, Boss and Super Boss <3 

First, 2 weeks, I focused on Employer Branding and learning the firm's systems in place, and, this week onwards, I will start learning all about the recruitment process, right from sourcing to on-boarding. Last two days have been all about sourcing candidates from various portals, and my super-boss was endearing enough to let me conduct the telephonic and first round of interviews for the probable candidates that I had chosen for the profile. Well, being just an 'intern' I was not expecting that I would be given such a role, because there were efficient recruitment experts already in our team. Since my Super Boss was so considerate about me, I was willing to grab every opportunity that was shooted at me! While the first rounds were handled by me, there were other candidates lined up for their further round of interviews with the Head HR and the Line Managers, as the drill is. 

Yesterday was one such day, where I accompanied my Super Boss (Head HR) for the interview. He interviewed this 40-odd year old gentleman for 20 minutes and I was just observing the entire scenario and drawing assumptions about the candidate based on my knowledge and learning how the code-of-conduct of an interview should be for such an experienced person. Now, what happened after the interview, has got me shaken, and that is precisely why I wrote this piece!

*The candidate was a 40-odd year old man with a family, who was obviously dependent on him. The salary that he was drawing was way way way too less than what MBA's from Tier I Indian institute's draw from their first placement.*

I was emotional and empathetic towards the candidate while I gave my response as a 'Yes' to select him when my Super Boss asked me for my feedback. He directly declined saying, "Even though the line manager has asked me to finalize him and he fits into our profile for an Area Manager, we will not go forward with it. Now you as an HR need to explain why I have taken this decision" I fumbled, tried to think of valid answers, but I couldn't think of any that was as straight as an arrow to convince him. Eventually, he ended up telling me the reason that I didn't even consider as a parameter. Guess what, his AGE! My firm had set criteria for age as well. Many of you might not really get me, but I was shaken. I was looking at the candidate with an emotional head-space and I felt horrible! I thought being an HR means being cold-hearted when it comes to recruitment and I had second thoughts about HR as my career because Recruitment, as they say is the bread-and-butter of this field, it's totally unavoidable. I don't think many of you would understand what I'm really trying to say here, but, this is what I have been thinking, more because of the current salary that, that person draws w.r.t. his age.

If you're reading this, I'd consider that you are well aware of your goals and aspirations as well as the salary that you should be deserving basis the skills that you have. I guess we should all be grateful of the fact that we are being educated enough! Thank you for your time for giving this a read, this is why this post is titled, "The Interview Day" because of the experience I had yesterday sitting on the other side of the table!

Love, Gratitude and Positivity.

-Binal R. Chitroda
(#TheHRConnect)