In his debut book, No Right Answers, Sunil Ranjhan addresses the grey areas of human resource management. Because human interactions are, by their very nature, unpredictable and don’t follow any pattern, Ranjhan stresses on “reflection” to find the right solution to each specific situation. Hence, the principle that there are no right answers or standard processes that will hold true for all situations. Yet No Right Answers gives lucid and workable insights that can guide managers in their professional journeys.

An alumnus of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Ranjhan currently leads the human resources (HR) functions of a Japanese automobile company. Prior to this he worked with Wipro Information Technology Ltd and the Thapar group.

In a chapter titled “Black or Grey: Deciding Between Experience and Youth”, Ranjhan throws light on the particularly grey area of deciding between youth or experience. With six points, he shows that qualitative measures can make recruitment simpler. Edited excerpt:

Black or Grey - Deciding Between Experience and Youth

Many organizations seem obsessed with having a “fresh pair of legs” in their leadership teams. There is a common belief that younger people bring with them higher levels of energy, vigour, risk-taking ability and the latest management thinking; whereas those with experience beyond a certain number of years, are classified as conservative, slow and cautious. Are these generalizations correct? Do we have data to support these beliefs? What weightage needs to be given to experience? When do we need to discount grey hair in favour of black?

No Right Answers: By Sunil Ranjhan, Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd, 300 pages, Rs 200.

But why should there be such a debate at all? Don’t organizations have institutionalized, scientific, job-evaluation processes for determining the relative worth of each position, and detailed job descriptions to define the core competencies and demographic profile of the incumbent for a given position? Don’t these job descriptions, besides defining the knowledge and skill requirements, also detail the experience-range that would be ideally required to deliver a standard level of performance or output?

While these job descriptions and specifications are very useful in ensuring a better fit between the role and the incumbent in the majority of cases, they also have inherent limitations. All such systems assume that a standard time frame, defined in years, is required for honing competencies to the level required for effective performance in a given role. These time frames, while generally accurate for a standard performer, fail to fit those who are high performers or fall at the lower end of the performance continuum.

Secondly, these organizational systems assume that a person acquires the job competencies required for a given role by spending a defined time frame performing the same or related jobs, while discounting unrelated experiences. For example, a person who may have volunteered for a couple of years in the Congo, working with civilians affected by the civil war there, could have also acquired competencies that may be useful for certain roles in organizations as well. However, such experiences are often summarily discounted as not related to or useful for roles in organizations and the corporate world.

Therefore, while defining experience in terms of years may be an accepted practice (and rightly so), managers in people-functions also need to evaluate experience beyond a simple numerical value and see it more in terms of a complex qualitative and quantitative equation with a clear consideration for the outcomes desired for a role. During my career, I have utilized job descriptions extensively as a general guideline for sourcing candidates or making promotion decisions. I have also developed certain “experience analysers” for taking decisions where factors like experience and age seem to play a crucial part, and share them here.

• Length of service or breadth of experience

One of the factors that I have found useful in either discounting or considering experience, is the quality and variety of the experience the person brings. We can define the range of experience with the help of three parameters: Breadth (variety of specializations and situational contexts); Depth (level of specialization); and Height (period defined in terms of the number of years, volume of work, etc.), in addition to behavioural competencies.

While Breadth brings flexibility, adaptability and receptiveness to one’s personality, the dimensions of Depth and Height add expert knowledge, application, speed, etc., to our skill-sets.

• Positional congruence of experience

In certain roles that have a high degree of routine and repetitive activity, experience beyond a limited number of years doesn’t result in additional expertise or competencies to perform that role.

• Formal versus informal experience

The formula: Check the appraisal grades of candidates.

How does one treat experience gained from doing full-time volunteer work, let’s say, with AIDS patients in Thailand? How should the two-year experience gained from serving customers part-time at McDonald’s be treated? In my view, rather than trying to measure such experience in quantitative terms, it is more useful to evaluate the same in qualitative terms. People who have made the effort to take on such assignments, for whatever reasons, show their inclination towards independence, hard work, keenness to learn and above all, their lack of fear at being different from others.

• Diversity of experience brings balance

All forms of diversity, be it gender, cultural, regional, etc., add value to any work group. Groups with greater diversity usually demonstrate greater degrees of creativity, adaptability, flexibility and self-discipline over a longer time-frame.

• Youthfulness is not a function of age

The spirit of youthfulness, characterized by flexibility, speed and desire to learn, grow and excel, is not inversely correlated to age and experience as is normally perceived in many organizations. Numerous people, despite their advanced age, exhibit youthfulness while many youngsters display the emotional and perceptual rigidness usually associated with old age.

• The trophies on the mantelpiece determine the value of experience

The real worth of experience can be rightly determined by the recognition received during his or her career to date. Recognition can be in the form of appraisal-grades, promotions, additional responsibilities, special projects, international assignments, special bonuses and rewards. While choosing between two potential candidates with similar experience, asking them to detail their performance-grades during the past five to seven years can be much more revealing and informative than hours of detailed interviews.

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