Who’s The Boss? - 3 Years On
Posted by Mitch on 3rd March 2016
News Report, March 2019…
Three years after the BBC programme ‘Who’s The Boss?’ first unleashed the innovative new recruitment procedure of “collaborative hiring” onto the world, it now seems to have taken root as the de-facto way of making hiring decisions.
When asked what collaborative hiring was, Kevin Green, the ex CEO of the Recruitment & Employers Confederation (REC) replied “It’s the act of getting lots of people to choose a candidate based on whether they’d like to go down the pub with them, instead of just one person making that decision.”
He added; “Obviously, I didn’t think it would actually catch on. I thought it was just a bit of fun really.”
Things got a bit sticky for the REC, who’d acted as cheerleaders for the TV show before they realised that collaborative hiring added about 2 months onto hiring decisions and another few grand in costs with all the hidden cameras – all of which played havoc with recruitment agencies ability to get any sensible interview feedback. Not to mention the kicking it gave to their cash flow.
Then about half of them cancelled their REC membership in protest, which nearly put the REC out of business and forced them into some collaborative firing.
Andrew Whiting, the MD of a struggling chocolate manufacturer somewhere north of St Albans who appeared in the first series, claimed that their embracing of this team-centred recruiting methodology has had some positive outcomes.
He said “Getting other members of staff to make hiring decisions for me based purely on the cut of their jib has saved me a lot of time. And anyway, it gave them a diversion away from their real jobs, which if I’m honest, are really boring.”
James Watt, the MD at Brewdog and who also appeared in the 1st series, told us that some of his staff had gotten so good at collaborative hiring that he’d made one of them their Recruitment Manager. He added “Tracey in Dispatch had a really good hit rate when it came to choosing candidates so we promoted her. Which was handy really, because she was a shit Dispatcher.”
Today, nearly 50% of all UK companies now hire this way.
When asked why it was so popular, Collaborative Hiring Consultant; Harry Stoner said; “Companies like to be seen as innovative and cutting-edge. Plus anything that’s been on the telly has to be good, right?”
He declined to comment officially as to why most of these companies seem to be slowly going out of business. What he did actually say was; “They’d have gone out of business anyway. Obviously that last sentence is off the record.”
The BBC’s hit TV show Who’s The Boss? is now into its 7th series.
Comments
By Darren Ledger on Friday, 04 March 2016Great post Mitch. As always subtle to the point of being almost edible.
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