Marketing/Product Design over Recruitment?

Organizations may prioritize marketing or product design over employee recruitment because of the more immediate and visible outcomes. Some industries work in highly competitive markets and need to quickly differentiate themselves from their competitors. Ultimately, having the product to sell and the creative means to market it, is what is going to drive sales and increase revenue. On the other hand, when considering start ups or smaller companies, there is likely less resources available. Less money to “play” with means a stricter budget, and more focus spent on hot to bring money in quickly.

Recruitment and employee selection are often considered to be more long term investments, not necessarily yielding financial returns very quickly. Some companies, as mentioned above, may have to choose between investing in a marketing strategy, or product development, over strategic hiring practices due to their current financial standings.

Strengths and Weaknesses

One possible strength associated with not prioritizing recruitment and selection and instead focusing on aspects such as marketing or product development include being able to respond to immediate business needs. Those smaller or startup businesses referenced earlier may be much more focused on bringing in revenue to ensure they can keep operations running. Having a product line and an effective marketing strategy is a crucial step to bringing in customers and making sales.

The weakness to this decision, however, comes with potential long term consequences. By not paying necessary attention to recruiting and selecting the right employee, companies may face higher turnover thus leading to higher expenditures down the line. Having a workforce that lacks the right skills, or doesn’t blend culturally, can lead to reduced employee morale and productivity.

Experiences

The last job I applied for was for my current position as a corporate trainer, about 2.5 years ago. I was already working for the company, so the application process was fairly straight forward. The managers of the two training teams already knew me and had heard through the grapevine that I was interested in taking on a role as a trainer, so they had both reached out to me before the position was even posted to chat. The application process itself was very easy – we have an internal job posting site, so I uploaded my resume and applied to the role. Because the managers already knew me, it felt as though they already knew they wanted me to join the team, so the process was very quick. I interviewed with the Talent Acquisition partner and then had a few days to prepare for the panel interview to be had with the Training team leadership members.

This interview was different from anything I had experienced before. The panel I was interviewing with consisted of a Senior Trainer (who I had trained under in the past), the 4 department managers (including my prospective manager), and the director of the department. The interview consisted of three sections: common job-related questions, situational questions, and the final part (being the new experience) was needing to deliver a 20-minute presentation discussing adult learning principles. I had to create this presentation myself, performing necessary research to ensure I was discussing all the principles, as well as incorporating facilitation techniques to engage my audience as “learners.”

Impressions

This interview process definitely set high expectations for the department. It felt structured and really captured a wide array of skills in the 1 hour discussion. Being able to chat with the director and the different managers all at one time was a great way of getting to know the different functions within the Training team and left me feeling excited and hopeful about landing the position.