The “battle with the recruitment agency”
I never understood those people who told me that Sunday morning is the most productive weekend time for them. First of all, why be productive on the weekend? Secondly, there are better things to do on a Sunday morning, like sleeping in or going for a workout. However, today, a repairman came to my place at 8 AM, and by 9 AM, I realized that this is relatively early for any activities people might have on a Sunday.
Unexpectedly, a case that occurred this week, which I call the “battle with the recruitment agency,” came to mind. The background is as follows: we needed a DevOps specialist and hired an agency. The hiring manager and I rejected three candidates. My comment everywhere was: no cultural fit. At this point, the agency’s co-founder asked me to explain the basis of my rejections, considering that our company does not have a written set of values or culture. I immediately realized this would be an uneven battle because I am not a recruiter, we genuinely don’t have defined values, and I haven’t been working with the company’s culture for a decade.
Nevertheless, I explained my approach so that I have an idea of the company’s culture and the general vibe of the candidate’s team. By modeling situations/cases, I try to understand if there will be a match with the team. But you might say this approach is very subjective, and you would be right. Therefore, I attended the first interviews with the hiring manager to minimize biased perceptions and get a “second opinion.”
However, the agency was not satisfied with this answer, so I attempted to describe the collective image of an employee based on our culture: Authentic, involved, and innovative individual. The ideal candidate is genuine, transparent about their limitations, and proactive in seeking solutions. They should view challenges as opportunities. Flexibility and creativity in problem-solving are essential, as well as a willingness to explore unconventional paths. They should be comfortable challenging the status quo and creating new standards.
This approach was met with more understanding, but the agency argued that while our founders and team leaders might fit this description, a DevOps position is an executor role and does not necessarily require qualities like authenticity and creativity. At this point, I became passionate and started explaining that while a DevOps specialist might not need creativity in a nutshell, tolerance for such colleagues and a similar mindset are crucial. I am not very creative, but I enjoy working with such people.
At this stage, our debate calmed down, and I realized that this was the first case where I argued about the culture I am trying to understand and crystallize in the current company. The culture was well-known in my previous companies, and all employees knew it.
The question I come back to now, as I write this post, is whether I fit the description of the culture that I gave to the recruiter. I am not entirely sure, especially remembering a recent conversation with a great guy from Miro, with whom I shared a working case, and he said that in terms of culture in my company, I am swimming against the current, and eventually, I will run out of strength. “Let’s see how long I last,” I replied at that moment.
