Cross Divisional Interview a Experience

Last month I went for an interview where I had a very good experience about corporate illiteracy blindness prevailing in system where cross department interview is being executed to select a candidate. I went to an organization/bank which is opening up the segment of wealth management and looking for a someone to head the department. I went for the same position and my first 3 rounds of interview which went with the Head of the Retail Department, all Indian Branch Head and the Department Head of the concerned department to whom I will be reporting. The interview was quite good and interactive and more focused just like reorganization about the present work process and the operation process and qualification of mine. They interview was good and went very positively. But the real foolish approach of the system was cross department interview. This cross department interview is that where some departmental person would be taking interview of you to judge your capability and suitability to the desired post.

Well I explain it in details, it’s a interview where a legal fellow of the legal department would take interview of finance guy and would judge him through his level of knowledge whether that fellow is capable or not. How can cross departmental fellow could access the INS & outs of another department and that too for an position of higher level. Cross divisional interview are just like that I am having diabetes and you are asking me how many spoon of sugars you consume in your tea. And finally you are telling me that I am having Diabetes.

Management fellows how have created this system or process has thousand justifications to give behind developing this system. But tell me how one fellow from another department can could access the ability of the candidate for the desired post. In my case the fellow did not have the CV of mine of whom he is taking the interview. The funniest part was that when he did not get any proper questions to ask he immediately asked his new joinee to interview me. Moreover in the full session I could find out that both the cross divisional ones were more interested to understand the business process of my organization from where I belong. This is what happens when you create something with different purpose in your mind and the outcome is far stranger than the word fiction itself. Cross divisional interview are just like that I am having diabetes and you are asking me how many spoon of sugars you consume in your tea. And finally you are telling me that I am having Diabetes.

 Why companies are more focused to complicate their process and also complicate the process of selection of candidates for the jobs. Why can’t they keep the door open and make the process simple. Why cant they accept that the whole industry from every sector is learning process and this learning process leads to growth of an organsation. Today we all know that HUL generated one of the biggest brands of tope level executives across the globe. When the same people joined the organization they were only sales reps. Now over the last 10 to 15 years they are in the top executive brackets either of HUL or of some other company but belongs to the same industry. Why does the companies don’t built the culture where outsiders would bet their life to join the organization. Why cross divisional interviews are required when the departmental heads have already made a clear understanding of the purpose of the candidate being selected.   Arguments would come up that cross divisional interviews are being done to filter the right candidate for the right position. Great if that the logic then what the ability of the concerned department heads. In other words the organization itself is saying that our departmental heads are nuts so cross divisional ones are the best person.

These cross divisional interviews clearly indicates that the organization itself has wrong culture and the process of selection of candidate is wrong. It reveals that the departmental heads of the concerned department have no power and at the same time you are asking the candidate to become Jack of all trades and you don’t want a specialist of and the particular field. I keep this topic open so that I can learn more from readers about the various reasoning’s they have on the same so that I enrich my learning further.