With his big shirts and floppy hair, you know what you’re getting with Laurence. But do you?

No! He was in the news this week for smashing the Christmas dreams of thousands of children from all over the UK when his Magical Journey attraction (up to £22.50 a ticket) was criticised in the media for not delivering what was promised. According to reports from visitors, the whole thing had been oversold, and the doors opened before it was ready.

In a similar way, some candidate cvs can mislead. With their big shirts (job titles) and floppy hair (lists of achievements) it’s easy to believe that all your problems will be solved by taking that person on.

But effective recruitment is more than just matching a cv to a job description. You need to look beyond the shirt and hair and see what is underneath. In L-B’s case, what’s underneath is a nice chap who is good at designing interiors and listening to classical music, but who probably isn’t the best person to run a high-profile seasonal visitor attraction.

In your case what’s underneath the cv might be a candidate who stays with you for 3 months, but who sets your business back a year.

This is why you need to look beyond the cv, by using objective tools to measure the candidate’s suitability for your role in a more scientific way. For example: technical testing, Thomas PPA, and Motivational Maps assessments, all of which we use here at Blues Point.

Recruitment risk can’t be completely eliminated, but by using these tools we can certainly help to reduce it.

Don’t ask us to organise Christmas though.