Right recruitment pays in the long run,

I, MGP, do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance
to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity
of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties as a Minister for the State
of Goa and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and
the law without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.
Swears in The Chief Minister of a small state in the western coast of Indian Peninsula in March
2012. A peaceful state which has seen political upheaval (12 Chief Minister in 10 years of
coalition Govt) finally has a ruling party that wins with a majority.
People of the state are joyous. They have voted and they have voted well. With this majority
comes expectations. Expectations that the voice of the common man would be heard. Not only
heard but acted upon. Justice will prevail. Such is the faith of the people in their Chief Minister.

A chief minister is the elected head of government of a state entity. As the chief spokesman of
the State Government, The Chief Minister is the custodian and the executor of the government
policies. And as such it is an important function of the Chief Minister to maintain contact with
the people.

He has to keep a watchful eye on the public opinion at the time of formulating government
policy and performing his functions.

The Constitution virtually gives a preeminence to the leadership of the Chief Minister by placing
him at the head of the Council of Ministers. Thus the responsibility for maintaining unity and
integrity among the members of the Council of Ministers lies mainly with him.

The policies and workings of the different ministries are monitored and co-ordinate by him. He
summons and presides over the meetings of the Council of Ministers.

He discusses the problems and issues of the State and tries to form public opinion in support of
his party or alliance through his communication on the radio, the T.V., public meetings etc.

The set up :
Each Chief Minister chooses his own personal staff. Depending on what his priorities are and
what he wants to project to the electorate. The Chief Minister had handpicked SBR from the
hospitality industry A correspondence cell was created spearheaded by SBR.. Among her other
responsibilities, she was given the task to create a team that would look after the daily
correspondence.
Accordingly, based on the volume of correspondence received in the office, it was identified that
a team of 2 would be required to support this function. The daily correspondence was estimated
at 2.75 to 3 kgs a day (snail mail). 125 130 emails a day. 60 65 phone calls. These were the
average numbers. The Correspondence tends to be very erratic base d on any social issue that
might erupt.
Recruitment Process
Key jobs in a Chief Ministers Officer are seldom advertised or got thru headhunters.
Traditionally, feelers are sent out way in advance and scouting starts even before the election
process begins.
Candidates are chosen based on their flexibility and integrity. Flexibility as there are no rules that
politics follow. No time tested standard operating procedures. No individual performance
appraisal systems and monitory incentives linked to a job well performed.
The team members typically should be just, empathetic, thinking on their feet and hence what
works best are the out of the box solutions.

The Chief Minister MGP sought his entire personal staff from the corporate world as he believed
that Govt employees will not be able to give him that speed what the corporate employee could
bring about.
The Chief Minister thus chosen by the common man of Goa is a peoples person and hence
topmost priority was to know peoples pulse. What ails them? What makes them happy? What
changes do they want in the social fabric? What would empower the women more? What would
the children want? What opportunities are the youth looking for so that there is no brain drain?
The only way this information can be achieved is thru direct corresponding with the people. A
communication (Daak or Tappal in Govt Lingo) was to be set up urgently with the best suited
people possible. What skills do you look for people handling correspondence was a huge
challenge!!
Over a period of a month, 17 candidates were shortlisted from various works in life. Their work
efficiencies and integrity were well established, the idea was not to get job specific people, but to
mould them in the belief that good needs to happen, and happen fast.
Candidates were shortlisted based on their ability to analyse genuine from fake, empathetic
(immense patience to hear peoples grievances) quick thinkers, capable of out of the box
solutions, well articulate with hugely networking abilities. Peoples person and firmly rooted to
the ground and realities.
Further 2 were finalized purely based on their adaptability skills. Adaptibility emerged again as a
key requirement as handling correspondence mean dealing with Sir Ratan Tata for setting base of
his Airlines in Goa; on the other hand a housewife from Canacona whose children had to travel
over 3 kms walking to the Govt Primary School. Both require the Chief Ministers urgent
attention.
The quantum of word averaged 2 to 2.5 kilos of snail mail. 125 emails a day and the evil of
social media. Erratic. Team of 2 was ideal to deal with each email / snail mail / sms / phone call /
missed call / tweet / facebook comment to be responded to and directed to the right deptt.
Action taken to be communicated back to the complainant to close the loop.
Critical cases were to be escalated to their immediate supervisor SBR, who was responsible for
the hiring and the productivity of the team. What SBR could not handle was escalated to the
Chief Miniser himself.

Communicating back to the writer to close the loop was essential. Feeling of being heard (not
necessarily problems sorted) was a reality.
Before the offer letters could be issued, a phone call changed it all. The call came from none
other than the Chief Minister. MW was recommended to be taken in into this group.
Though an excellent candidate with a good skill set, she was a complete misfit in the current set
up. An art graduate; creative; temperamental. Physical appearance : hair streaked in bright
colours with eye brows piereced - scaring the Canacona farmer away - when agriculture needs a
big boost.

MWs integrity was beyond doubt. Had worked with big IT names in Bangalore over 10 years
and now was looking to relocate back home. A keen follower of processes to the core.
The job MW specialized in and the job at hand were exactly opposite each other. A Goan,
migrated to Bangalore and worked there for a substantial part of her career. With roots in Goa but
is away from Goa and all things Goan.
Workwise, MW worked with techies who follow system, where as being part of the Chief
Ministers office, no process, situation or work is standardized. As the work hours in Chief
Ministers office is erratic, having a young kid of 2 3 years could be a deterrent. Of course, no
doubt that family comes first but you cant let the office of the Chief Minister come to a stand
still.
A discussion was held with the Chief Minister and explained that a suitable position does exist
elsewhere, directly under the Chief Minister as Chairman Entertainment Society of Goa which
fits the candidates skill sets perfectly. If such a decision is taken, job justice would be at two
levels Chief Ministers correspondence cell and Entertainment Society of Goa.
The phone call had to be honoured. And the phone call changed it all.
SBR at a crossroad, She strongly advocated that skill sets need not match the job at hand.
Integrity and attitude matters. Then why is she hesitating in employing MW?

Do the employees lose their ability to work in an independent work environment devoid of SoPs
if they have followed strong SoPs in their previous work places?
Would corporate candidates fit in Govt setups?
What is your motivation to accept the job when you know it is temporary (for 5 yrs) and your
incentives are not based on your performance?
Was word of mouth good enough to first shorlist and then recruit? If yes, then why is MW seems
like a misfit.
What should she do? Well that question was just rehtorial. MW had to be employed. The phone
call spelt it out.
MW joined work. Not sensitive to the sanctity of the solemn office, dressing sense was much to
be desired. The other staff of the department was not amused. The training / hand holding started
Not that MW had bad manners but what is acceptable norm in an IT firm employing over 3000
techies is not what you do at the Chief Ministers office.
New Challenges / Can anything be done
Challenges faced were numerous. Among many, the worst was the chip on the shoulder. Work
can be taught. Attitude can not be taught or changed. There was too much of effort made to fit
the person in. Constant counseling, constant hand holding. SBR was spending way too much
time and efforts on her, that SBRs output was suffering.
A change in mindset, that was extremely important - that computers do not solve your problems
listening to people does, was being defied time and again.
SBRs management style was train - delegate and effective supervision. Delegate and give them
enough freedom to handle matters in their own individual styles as long as the results are positive
and measurable.
This constant hand holding and counseling was consuming a lot of SBRs time. She was not able
to delegate the job completely and hence her own planning and speed was getting hampered. It
was time that SBR brought this to her bosss notice and work out the way ahead. Time that a way
out had to be designed. Would mentoring coaching be given time? Or should she look at group

instead of one incompetent / misfit individual? Or is this practice pushing towards the need for
integration and wider structure at work place.
Grappling with sleepless nights at times SBR wonders. What could she have done to avoid this?
What can be done now? Is there a way out?