“What do you mean there is only one person on the shortlist?” Bob exclaimed as I discussed with him the recruitment process for the Environmental Engineer. Despite the tight labor market and war for talent, managers still expect and demand to see between three and five applicants on the shortlist.

One of the flaws in recruitment is that most managers tend to recruit on the basis of finding the best person for the role. Taking this flawed approach to the next level, they will interview their shortlist, to then compare these applicants through some sort of scoring process, to add some rationality and validation for their appointment decision.

But what if you are selecting the best person out of a bad bunch?

Good recruitment always starts by having a really good understanding of what the role is. Most recruiters would get a briefing by the recruiting manager, hopefully with an updated position description.

Role clarity is a subject all on it’s own, which I will expand on in a next blog. More than once I have been called in by a recruiter, after a frustrated stop-start process, as they find a moving target in trying to define the role.

Having a well-written role competency profile is critical - not a flowery or generic description of tasks that make it impossible to understand what the top two or three outcomes are for the next six to twelve months.

Armed with a clearly defined role competency profile, the real comparison is to take our one shortlisted environmental engineer and to determine if they are a good fit with the role requirements.

Sure, it is always possible to stack the shortlist with two other applicants, making sure the manager feels comfortable in their misguided recruitment decision. But how fair is it to waste the time of other applicants and the manager in spending hours on what is clearly a non-value added activity?

By developing a trusted advisor status with the recruiting manager, which started with a clear understanding of the real role requirements, there is no need to fall into the trap of a shortlist of five applicants. Talking through the list of interviewed or screened applicants will provide the recruiting manager with an appreciation of the process and context of the shortlisted applicant.

A shortlist is not a list of the top three or five applicants.

It is also not a checklist of the recruiting manager’s requirements: qualifications, experience, previous roles, industry experience or other general criteria.

Many managers have an incomplete understanding of the critical success factors for a role, particularly a new role. A high number of recruitment failures are in greenfield roles! Next time you have a recruitment failure, start by critically reviewing the position description.

In conclusion, it is quite possible to have a shortlist of one as you are comparing this person against the role competency profile, which is your baseline. And yes, Bob did appoint the environmental engineer and he is still working at the company.