FROM JULY 2015'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE

I was once asked what I looked for when supporting the recruitment of executives into a company. My answer was simple: my role is to try and work out the age of the child inside the executive.

I use many tools to hone my interview abilities, competencies, behaviours and even psychometric measurements… cut and diced and served up in a melting pot of ‘fit’ for the role.  

Many times I sat in interviews and listen to the answers, buzzword bingo playing in my mind. In the past I was like a shark circling, sensing and testing for that one slip, that one small tiny mistake…. Then STRIKE… Got you… FAIL. 

But this never proved that fruitful in terms of the quality of the executive that got hired.

As I grew in experience as a recruiter, I found I was not just listening to what was said, but more about what was not said or how it was said to the extent of the context, who it was said to and about. To me there seemed more in cadence and tone of their answers, the edge of petulance or the googling and whimpering of distress.

Then I found I would sit in the interview and watch; and in my head was one question: How old is their inner child?

As a grown-up myself, I know in my head there is a 16-year-old boy. This child is nurtured and tempered by external forces, experiences and emotional controls. Swaddled with a thick layer of ego, narcissism and a sense of personal brilliance.  But the core, the deep-down core, is a spotty teenager, who still worries about the first day of school, dreams of teeth falling out and turning up to school without my trousers. So for me, [psychologist] Carl Jung had a point.

To understand the impact there are many writings on this subject and many labels — the ‘divine child’ or the ‘wonder child’, names which resonate the protection and status we give the inner us. As a recruiter, I believe being able to see this child within the leader enables you to meet the ‘parent’ on the outside and frames the emotional outcome of the executives you want for your business. Cultural fit or emotional intelligence.

So when I interview senior people, I watch and I listen to gauge the age of their inner person… and this then tells me more about the leader than any question I could ask about their ability. I then frame questions and situations which will evoke signs to confirm my analysis.

The empathy, emotional intelligence or psychological contract you unearth will point to the type of leader the interviewee will be. Will this person lead with and iron rod, stifled by their own fear they will be found out? Will s/he be the leader who can generate a passion that drives their team over the trenches into the oncoming bullets of risk and competition?

To know the inner child is to understand the cultural link, the building block of their charismatic nature as a leader. And ultimately, this will dive the quality of your hire.  

GREGORY ALLEN