We are sure that getting an executive position at Siralan's empire is no walk in the park, but we find it difficult to believe that any interview process would be quite so harsh in the real world. Making Nick and Margaret seem positively benign, Siralan cried havoc and let slip the dogs of war: a Bulldog, a She-Wolf, a Silver Fox and a Rottweiler. And attack they did, reducing all but Kate to stammering puddles of jelly, or sweating buffoons.
We are unsure that the exhibited techniques would genuinely work in the real world. There are harsh interviews, of course, and then there's good telly, and we are fairly sure which of the two things here the producers were aiming for. Certainly were we to be subjected to the insults flying at the candidates in the interviews, we would think twice about joining the company, regardless of the position.
Selection for recruitment is one of our core areas of expertise. We were disturbed to see how much gut feel and intuition there was in the discussions in the boardroom. The attack dogs are all highly successful businesspeople in their own right, and have no doubt recruited hundreds of people over the years – yet at the end of the day, they had more hunches than the annual Notre Dame bellringers' convention.
How much better for them to have a more objective viewpoint of the candidates.
Put it this way: even for an entry-level position, you are looking at an investment of around £20,000 per annum; for managers and senior managers, multiples of this. For a similar investment in a business service or a piece of equipment, executives would expect an extreme amount of due diligence. And yet OPP research reveals that 4 out of 10 managers rely on nothing but face-to-face chats and gut feeling, despite the large amounts of money that is tied up in the decision.
The "robotic" Kate is a case in point. Claude the Bulldog said, accurately, that she is an "excellent candidate" – implying that excellence in candidacy is a learnt skill. How is it that someone who does everything right is criticised for that very ability? "Maybe she hasn't got a personality", said the Silver Fox, illogically. Clearly the interviewers are floundering here: their gut instinct does not reveal the true Kate. This is a perfect illustration of why psychometrics in recruitment is tremendously valuable. The 16PF is the ideal tool to reveal the underlying traits of a candidate. It would show if she is "contrived or controlled", or whether she is genuinely as perfect as her teeth (her stated gender bias aside).
The other candidates appeared easier to read: while their personalities may have been overlooked, due diligence was certainly performed regarding their CVs, and one by one their "spin" was revealed. Yasmina's embarrassing gaffes regarding the difference between net and gross profit and the public nature of her company accounts certainly gave the Bulldog misgivings; Lorraine's "mistake" regarding her length of employment made the She-Wolf prick up her ears, and her near-supernatural explanations of her intuitive nature (the MBTI 'N' preference); James's overreliance on telecoms jargon did not go down well (though we would have expected the Bulldog to know what an SLA is...) and his sweaty brow sent him off with his tail between his legs.
With Debra, again, we see how the hunch-based interview technique proved ineffective. Was Debra using her not-inconsiderable self-promotional skills to pull the wool over the She-Wolf's eyes about how much she had developed, or was she telling the truth? They couldn't tell. How valuable, then, was the 360-degree feedback solicited from her former colleagues: and how tragic for Debra that "telling colleagues to F-off" is not one of the prerequisites for an apprenticeship with Siralan.
Finally there's a definition problem: where is it writ what the mystical role of Apprentice shall comprise? It's not helpful to be recruiting as if it was a dark art, rather than a question of defining a target and trying to hit it with as many bullets as possible. We always advise our clients to pin down exactly what they want the ideal person in that role to do, to know and to be capable of – then to ask questions and to deploy psychometric instruments designed to measure candidates against this model. Precision – rather than persecution - is everything.
Despite all this, we feel very strongly that the right two candidates were retained. Will Yasmina's error-prone entrepreneurial spirit be enough to counteract Kate's unflappability? It's a dog-eat-dog world at the Apprentice, and only Sunday will tell.
OPP
At least we know who the muppet of the week isn't: James told us plainly, "Siralan is no muppet" – sadly, James's flustered bluster, proudly bringing ignorance to the table, awarded him that coveted spot.
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