Decision-making in hiring: personal criteria prioritized by Malagasy recruiters

Abstract

The recruitment process is made up of several important phases and is an essential activity for all companies, as it consists of attracting the ideal candidate for a position to be filled. Therefore, the recruitment process must be planned as objectively as possible in order to limit errors in the final decision. Indeed, the selection of the best profile must be based on objective criteria previously defined by the recruiters when the need was expressed. However, although a job description recalls these criteria and they vary according to the characteristics of the post, other personal criteria relating to those preferred may emerge at the time of the meeting with the candidate. This is what we have tried to clarify throughout our work. In general, even if the list is long and the selection criteria based on objectivity prioritized by the decision-makers vary as the variables are modified, the personal criteria most sought after by recruiters in Malagasy companies concern firstly the professionalism shown by the candidate, then his/her competitiveness and thirdly his/her sense of leadership. This hierarchy is based on a series of matrix encoding queries carried out on the Nvivo software. In order to explain this hierarchy observed in practice, the article is based on a comparative study of the literature on the subject and the results of the analysis of the speeches collected from twenty recruitment professionals. In interpreting the results, it emerges that recruiters prefer employees who are immediately operational, capable of fostering team spirit, collaboration and cooperation thanks to their sense of competitiveness. And finally, decision-makers are looking for a colleague with a sense of leadership capable of better motivating his or her colleagues to achieve their objectives.

Keywords: Decision-making, qualitative analysis, hiring, personal criteria, objective criteria

JEL Classification: M12

Paper type: Empirical research