29.06.2015
‘CSR Magazine’ on value-based recruitment
In its latest issue, ‘CSR Magazín’ examines issues relating to value-based recruitment. Under the heading ‘Placing Greater Emphasis on Values’, the in-depth article discusses the growing importance of such recruitment processes, as well as the difficulties involved in implementing them.
Alongside representatives from companies and associations, project manager Sören Bachmann, one of the authors of the study ‘Ethical Leadership Assessment – The Future of Value-Oriented Recruitment’, published in collaboration with the Dr. Jürgen Meyer Stiftung, has his say. He highlights the limitations of recruitment based on ethical criteria and emphasises that a firmly established corporate culture is a necessary condition for its success.
The article also discusses the benefits of integrity tests – which are particularly widespread in the USA – but are considered controversial in Germany and are rarely used here. Human resources managers and recruitment consultants surveyed by the Hamburger Stiftung für Wirtschaftsethik in connection with the study on Ethical Leadership Assessment had, in particular, expressed doubts about the validity of the tool for selection decisions. ‘CSR Magazin’ explores alternatives. Alongside the integration of ethical criteria into recruitment interviews, programmes such as ‘employees recruit employees’ are cited as one option. According to this approach, employees are well placed to assess which individuals from their circle of acquaintances would be a good fit for the corporate culture. Decisions influenced by subjective factors – such as personal liking – are cited as a key risk of values-based recruitment.
In December 2014, the Hamburger Stiftung für Wirtschaftsethik and the Dr. Jürgen Meyer Stiftung published their study ‘Ethical Leadership Assessment – The Future of Value-Oriented Personnel Selection’. The document is available to download free of charge here.