CASE STUDY

The adverse impact of recruiting an unsuitable individual can have a disastrous negative effect.

Captain Sara was sat in her chair on the Bridge of a 75m yacht, head in her hands and dreading what was coming next. She had asked Steve to come and see her to inform him that he was being let go with immediate effect. This was after hiring him as the Yacht’s Chief Officer only a few months earlier.

Sara was gutted at the situation, feeling stressed and under pressure. She knew her busy workload was just about to get a whole lot more challenging, as she would be a key officer down, and she would have to start the entire Chief Officer recruitment process again. To make matters worse, the ‘Boss’ was angry at the disruption caused and the cost of the mis-recruitment. Sara was a highly experienced and professional Captain, who was well respected for her excellent judge of character, so how did it come to this……..?

Steve’s Curriculum Vitae read brilliantly, he was experienced, well qualified, and he had some very credible Referees. He had also interviewed exceptionally well, developing good rapport with Sara, and her gut feeling was that he would be a perfect addition to the team onboard.

Within a few weeks Steve was starting to make his mark onboard, but not in the way Sara had envisaged. She picked up that Steve was causing some upset and disruption with the crew, and his leadership style was domineering to the point of being a bully. Sara had also realised that he was very inflexible, an over-perfectionist, and that he did not engage with people that well.

Sara had tactfully spoken to Steve several times, but he had dismissed her feedback and accused the crew of being disrespectful. Then, to Sara’s professional embarrassment, she had been taken aside by the Boss and told he had concluded Steve did not fit with the culture onboard his Yacht!

Whilst always willing to give people a chance, and also realising that the situation reflected badly on her, Sara knew the game was up. Sadly Steve had to go and Sara had to accept and take responsibility for recruiting a Square Peg for a Round Hole!

Common Recruiting Mistakes

Had Sara used a BZ’s Flagship Psychometric Assessment, her biases would not have been part of her misjudged recruitment decision. Sara is not alone in forming early judgements during an interview or when reading a CV; we believe that these are common mistakes made across the superyacht industry every day:

Over dependence on CVs
Candidates CV suggests they are they perfect fit for the position. This is not always the reality once onboard the yacht. It is widely recognised that other hidden factors, like personality traits, attitude to work, and communication skills are just as important in predicting how suited someone is for the role and the culture onboard.

Going on ‘gut instinct’
Experienced leaders/recruiters frequently feel confident in their ability to get a ‘feel’ for whether a person will be a good fit for the role and culture onboard. However, it has been shown that this belief, or bias, is often overstated and that superior recruiting is achieved by utilising an objective and measurable psychometric assessment.

Unjustified emphasis on References
While applicants may have listed excellent experience and qualifications, you'll likely want to check the truth of the details they've provided. One way to do this is to ask for references. However, don't place too much weight on references, good or bad. Someone’s apparent great performance in their previous role does not necessary mean they have the personality attributes that mean they will shine onboard your yacht. Likewise, a negative reference from a previous yacht does not automatically mean that they won't thrive on your team.

Unconscious Bias
Recruitment relies on your decision-making abilities, which means that you must avoid unconscious bias. You may unwittingly discriminate against certain candidates in favour of people who share your background, social class, ethnicity, age, or gender. Psychometrics provide an objective assessment and so mitigates against the impact of unconscious bias.

Unconscious Bias

Too much credence placed on interviews
Most interviews do not achieve the desired effect and often add very little detail. It is common for the interviewers to spend most of their time trying to verify the information on the CV and they will also be trying to confirm the impression (bias) they formed of applicants in the first 10 seconds of speaking to them.

Rushing the Recruitment
Introducing a psychometric assessment into the hiring process means it is obviously not as rapid as not conducting it. However, BZ can turn around psychometric assessments very quickly if the candidate takes the assessment promptly. Afterall, think about the cost in time and money in hiring and training someone, only to find that they're not up to the job.

Don’t leave something so important to chance.

Use BZ Flagship, Mainmast or Headmark Psychometric Packages to reduce RISK and to select the right candidate!

BZ Maritime Leadership | Psychometrics Case Study