You may be aware that traditional recruitment methodologies such as one-on-one interviews, while still relevant, are not the only means to determine a prospective hire. Recruiters these days, are looking for the ‘X’ factor. You may understand the need of the hour, especially as a distance education student where people of all ages are working towards building their careers as well.

Recruiters go beyond a mere skill fit and look at career patterns, family backgrounds, hobbies, and workplace cultural fits. To many, it is an overstep, but to a Human Resource personnel, it is a step towards becoming Sherlock Holmes and finding the guy with the ‘X’ factor!

“”Excellent!” I cried. “Elementary,” said he.

There is a lot for HR professionals to learn from the world’s most famous detective (sorry Hercule Poirot). Sherlock, in his latest avatar as a TV show and movie protagonist, has mastered the art of analysing humans (we’re assuming HR is not required to hire robots as seen in various tech companies). For him, it may just be the obvious thing to look for in a candidate, for us it would be rather extraordinary!

“You know my methods, Watson.”

Let’s look at the BBC-produced Sherlock. Sherlock is unlikeable, yet a brilliant reader of minds, judging people on their skills (or lack thereof). While it doesn’t take him more than a few seconds to make his assessments, recruiters may do well to take a bit longer than that.

Take, for example, any interview that Sherlock conducts – He doesn’t give the other person too much time to make his or her case, an elevator pitch as it were, which is a buzzword in startup circles. Be prepared the next time you go for an interview and the HR asks you for an elevator pitch.

It’s not all peaches, though. We strongly advise HR professionals against employing Sherlock’s other mannerisms such as his coercion techniques, sociopathic attitude and lack of sympathy.

Moving on to Robert Downey Jr’s rendition of Sherlock Holmes, in two films so far. The main takeaway would be Holmes’ predictive qualities. Now we’re not saying HR professionals should get into punching matches with prospective hires, but rather put them in real-time situations and see how they react. Analysis drawn from this could be used to predict the person’s reaction to situations that may arise on the job.

“Is it poison, Nanny?”

Now we don’t recommend wearing a collared-up overcoat or a Deerstalker when interviewing candidates unless you’re hiring for a cosplay event. Hints to Sherlock mannerisms need to be covert, else the candidate may just get up and walk out, rightfully so.

Human Resources is slowly morphing into an investigative art form. Who better to learn from, than the best, right? If you think you can hire as well as Sherlock Holmes, then you can hire yourself a Watson as well. Now, wouldn’t that be something?