Pareto Law - what a load of toss
I've now spoken to four people who have attended Pareto Law recruitment days. They sound like a mixture of meaningless Big Brother tasks, energetic shouting matches a la The Apprentice, and all botched together with the theatrical antics of a 1960s religious cult.
The recruitment agency staff at the place were aged about 12, while the companies wanting staff had representatives aged about 9. It appeared that those candidates who were most hysterical and shouted everyone else down were selected by the company. I know this seems strange, as they are supposed to recruit sales staff for blue chip companies. Logic and good practice tells you that they need sales staff who can sell and show customer empathy and not just arrogant loudmouths. If I were recruiting sales staff I would not select those with the biggest egos, who are pathologically unable to listen to anyone else. These people fracture sales teams and alienate customers. Forcing candidates to compete in impromptu singing and dancing acts is not a proven method of selecting the best salesmen, as far as I know. I reckon if the CEOs of these big companies knew just what the criteria was for selecting their sales staff, they'd be out with their axes cutting off heads in human resources departments all over the country.
However, human resources staff at these big UK companies, being aged about nine, and still wearing nappies, are so unsure of their own selection abilities that they have to go to firms like Pareto Law who package up their selection process like a sort of semi-religious mumbo-jumbo science. This is emphasized by them deliberately depriving candidates of food or drink during the whole show, with the exception of one glass of water. One candidate told me he expected them to ask him to eat insects or something similar, like a survivor game show. How modern and trendy.
Ah, yes, the clever name, Pareto Law.
In 1906, Vilfredo Pareto, observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.
Hey, man, that sounds catchy and clever. Let's call our recruiting company "Pareto Law" and tenuously link land ownership in early 20th century Italy with a crackpot idea about us being able to select the best sales candidates. Let's also throw in some TV reality show scenarios. Cool.
What a load of toss.
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