In 2017, the cleaning company Clinitex was in search of a new director for one of its branches. Following the publication of the job advertisement, the HR manager (Responsible for "Making People Happy") received over 80 applications.
How to manage this influx of candidates and recruit the right person?
Firstly, she embarked on an initial sorting process to eliminate around thirty resumes whose profiles differed too much from what the company expected for this managerial position. In the second stage of the process, two pairs of recruiters were formed. The first consisted of Thierry Pick, the company's founder, and Edouard Pick, his son and the current CEO of the group. The second pair included the HR manager and an operational manager.
Each pair met with 25 candidates, without reviewing their resumes beforehand. For half an hour, the two recruiters and the candidate discussed their passions, interests, family... with no questions related to work, and the topic of work was even forbidden! On their part, the recruiters presented the company's vision to the candidates. The idea was to ensure that the candidate's profile was compatible with Clinitex's values and culture, but also to try to envision 5/10/15 years of shared life!
"When you're looking to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first one, the other two will kill you." - Warren Buffett
After conducting their 25 interviews, each pair selected two "favorites," who were then invited for a second round, this time facing all four recruiters.
Before this new stage, the recruiters looked at the candidates' resumes for the first time to learn about their backgrounds and experiences. This second interview thus proceeded in a more traditional manner with questions related to the proposed position.
The final step involved the two pairs discussing and selecting from the four finalists the person who would fill the position, after being "Googled" by the recruiters.
The recruiters acknowledged that if they had reviewed the resumes before the first round of interviews, it might not have been the same person who was chosen.
Very satisfied with this method, the team decided to generalize this recruitment approach, dubbed "Feel dating," for all "support" positions within the company. For Clinitex, gone are the days of recruitment based solely on resume screening!
