Heads-up: If recruitment was an art, empathy would make you a wonderful artist.
The eternal corporate razzmatazz has punitively affected the very crux of the recruiting phenomenon. The race towards hunting the right talent has conveniently sacrificed the foundational ethos which once stood firm.
Compassion is perpetual until one fails to embrace its existence. Speaking of which, even while recruiting potential employees, empathy is an innocuous yet imperative value to have. For instance, when you choose to:
- Consider the work-oriented skills over an interviewee’s fluency.
- Overlook a candidate’s career gaps for all the right reasons.
- Make an exception for someone less experienced with excellent learning skills.
The only thing that matters while recruiting is the value human resources bring to the table for an organization. Take it positively, and you’ll realize – statistics are just numbers when the right person is given a life-changing opportunity beneficial to the company too. So, no, it’s not about being charitable, but only about doing what’s right.
As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 78% of the unemployed workforce, which had undergone temporary layoff in July 2020, couldn’t work during the pandemic. Empathy could have saved the myriads of such people who were destitute of sufficient resources and influence.
Still, looking for the reasons and benefits of having empathy in recruitment? Here’s everything you’d like to know:
The Importance of Empathy in Recruitment
Empathy not only benefits the candidates but acts as a win-win situation for both them and the organization. Ultimately, you’re only leveraging an open mindset to comfort the aspirants and bring out the best in them. This comfort can be in various forms, such as entertaining someone’s reasons to be late for the interview or constructively comprehending individual perspectives.
Let’s see how these illustrations, involving empathy, can give you a clear glimpse of its essence, impact, and advantages:
Enabling the Right Work Approach
Just imagine granting a job to a skilled applicant who had ‘imperfection’ written all over their candidature.
Now think of recruiting someone deserving and yet too helpless to afford a laptop for a virtual interview. Finally, suppose that your organization provides all the necessary means to make it happen.
What is the similarity in the couple of scenarios you just read?
An empathetic favor that will be duly returned with loyalty and joy.
Let’s cut to the chase – employees who feel obliged will leave no stone unturned in working diligently and efficiently. In fact, their engagement and satisfaction at the workplace would reach unimaginable peaks.
Showing empathy while recruiting them was your way of having the right work approach. As a result, you can expect them to reciprocate the same with all due intent and dedication.
Prioritizing Talent over Everything Else
A formally dressed applicant walks in for an interview. You spot the exact talent your company is looking for. Also, they tick all your quintessential checkboxes – attire, attitude, and attentiveness. But:
- His attire smells of an old attic.
- His attitude comes with signs of anxiety.
- His attentiveness fails to cover up for his stuttering words that depict a lack of confidence.
The only difference between rejecting and accepting this candidate would be your ability to let empathy overpower irrelevant societal norms. In the end, with a bit of help and support, this candidate can stand strong and do wonders for your organization in the long run.
If you could amalgamate all the empathetic values and philosophies in recruitment, you’d find yourself practicing these:
- Helping the ones who can help you grow.
- Resonating with the candidates’ circumstances.
- Understanding what went wrong while focusing on what’s right.
The Cost of Empathetic Reasoning in Recruitment
You’ll have to pay a hefty cost for showing empathy towards applicants. Empathetic reasoning means fairly interpreting an interviewee’s statements and professional status without letting prejudice seep in. Recruiting any of them not just based on meritorious attributes but also a sense of kindness can make you:
Witness the rapid growth of your organization because of a passionate workforce.
Experience a more productive work environment without employee satisfaction being compromised.
See your team members work harder to achieve organizational goals and not the mere rewards or daily targets
This is the cost of being considerate and thoughtful to the ones who seek, from the one who has, the power to give. The corporate world already recognizes this as ‘benefits’ – a terminology that can persuade any human to be benevolent towards others.
Being the Bigger Person – Humans Recruiting Humans
There can never be a conclusion when it comes to discussing empathy in recruiting. Most assuredly, there’s a moral of the story which recommends a judicious use of empathy. One must practice it wherever it’s due. For starters, being polite, humble, and of course, the bigger person is undoubtedly the way to go for humans recruiting humans.