#445 Perspectives in Recruiting and Leadership: Why Many Organisations Fail at Their Own Viewpoint - article by Niels Brabandt
Perspectives in Recruiting and Leadership: Why Many Organisations Fail at Their Own Viewpoint
By Niels Brabandt – NB Networks
When applying for a job, most candidates hope that the organisation on the other side understands at least the basics: what applicants expect, what is standard in the industry, and what constitutes a fair offer. When that empathy is missing, the relationship fails before it starts.
The problem is not new—but it is deep. Across industries and countries, employers and candidates alike repeatedly show that they lack perspective. Each side believes it acts rationally. Each is convinced that the other is unreasonable. The result: a recruitment landscape in which competence, trust and culture erode simultaneously.
Employers and the Bankruptcy of Responsibility
A recent case illustrates the point. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued Delta Air Lines for allegedly refusing a job applicant due to a potential pregnancy—an obvious breach of anti-discrimination law. In another instance, the EEOC allowed a lawsuit against Workday to proceed because the company’s AI-based hiring system allegedly discriminated against applicants with specific personal characteristics.
In both cases, the issue was not technology or policy alone but leadership. Too many executives believe compliance can be automated or delegated. It cannot. When leaders abdicate responsibility—whether by relying on untested AI systems or by refusing to engage with applicants—their organisations expose themselves legally, ethically, and reputationally.
In Germany, a court recently ruled that using the term “digital natives” in a job advertisement constitutes age discrimination. The logic is simple: digital access did not exist for older generations at the same scale. Yet many companies still insist on writing their own job adverts without professional review—saving a few hundred euros at the risk of litigation and long-term reputational damage.
Even worse is the rise of ghosting. Some HR departments now openly admit they ignore rejected applicants to “avoid lawsuits”. In reality, this is not a legal strategy—it is an ethical failure and a declaration of cultural bankruptcy. Ghosting is the symptom of organisations that have forgotten what professionalism means.
Candidates Are Not Always Innocent Either
Yet the story is not one-sided. Candidates, too, are exploiting the system. Increasingly, applicants use artificial intelligence to complete online assessments or interviews, producing impressive but dishonest results. Employers later discover that the candidate’s actual skills do not match the performance during the interview.
There are also those who engage in what German labour courts have termed “AGG-hopping”—applying solely to provoke discrimination claims under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG). One such applicant recently lost his case after the court found he had applied for over 30 positions with no genuine interest in employment.
The message is clear: fairness must apply both ways. Misuse of legal protections undermines genuine equality efforts and erodes trust in the system.
Leadership Requires Perspective, Not Nostalgia
The underlying issue is one of leadership maturity. Many leaders still frame their decisions through outdated stories: “When I started my career, I earned almost nothing, lived at home and didn’t complain.” Such nostalgia is toxic. It ignores the structural changes in modern economies—rising living costs, evolving expectations, and a workforce motivated by meaning as much as money.
Effective leadership requires empathy, reflection, and adaptability. It demands an understanding that values and expectations evolve—and that managing today’s talent cannot rely on yesterday’s mindset.
As Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y already suggested decades ago: if you assume people are lazy and unmotivated, you will lead them as such—and they will prove you right. Leadership that starts with distrust inevitably ends in failure.
Changing Perspective as a Strategic Imperative
Changing perspective is not about being “soft”. It is about being effective. Modern leadership and recruitment require three essential steps:
Understand the other side. Learn what applicants, employees, and stakeholders expect.
Draw conclusions. Identify where your assumptions are wrong and what behaviours must change.
Implement professional development. Invest in training and awareness that foster fair, informed, and compliant decision-making.
Leadership development cannot be outsourced to a £49 online course. Real change requires structured training, continuous learning, and measurable accountability.
Conclusion: Culture Is the Competitive Advantage
Perspective is not a matter of personal style—it is a matter of survival. Organisations that fail to understand the world through others’ eyes will lose both talent and credibility. The market punishes arrogance, and the best candidates will always walk away from leaders who see only their own reflection.
When organisations embrace empathy, compliance, and awareness, they do more than recruit effectively—they build sustainable cultures. And as history repeatedly shows, sustainable leadership is not just the right thing to do. It is the only thing that works.
About the Author
Niels Brabandt is the Founder and Owner of NB Networks, based in Zurich and London. He is an international keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant focusing on leadership, recruiting, and sustainable organisational development. More information: www.NB-Networks.biz
Niels Brabandt
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Podcast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
When you apply for a job, you probably hope that the person sitting on the other side of the desk, the potentially future employer probably has thought at least a bit of what are your needs? What do you expect from the job? What is common in the industry?
A simple change of perspective. I received quite a number of emails during the last month where people in an ongoing manner tell me real world examples how wrong things have gone. And I background checked almost a hundred of these examples which were pretty easy to find where some of organisation simply, I have to say, really aren't up to the game. However, on the other hand we also have certain people who apply for jobs who don't do too well with their application and they are reasoning that. There's also reasoning why some employers might be reasonably frustrated. And that's exactly what we're going to talk about today. How can we change perspective that on the one hand, the potentially future employer knows what's important for people who apply, but also future potential employees know what is it the employer is looking for?
Because as we all know, this is not a one size. And that is why we'll talk about how to find the right perspective when you apply for a job or you have a job interview and you have to interview someone. I will tell you real world examples here from all over the world. Very important is this is all under the Fair Use Act I'm allowed to quote these articles. This is all just to prove that these cases are real and I didn't make them up. By the way, when you're now listening on Apple podcasts and Spotify, no worries, I'm going to quote everything that you don't need to see the pictures. However, if you want to see the real articles, just go on YouTube and watch this episode there and then you will see all the articles so you can look them up by yourself.
And of course you can do your own compilation of probably worst of the really worst of applications around the world or application processes. So when we talk about perspective, of course we all hope that employers really care. And of course sometimes you might have an interview and maybe you want the job, however the employer says no, you don't get the job. And let's face it, this happens. And of course most likely you will not get a positive answer because people probably will say I wanted this job. I think they didn't pick the right person. Usually you don't get a positive response when you don't give someone the job.
However, when you have certain rules and these rules exist all over the world, when you have Certain rules in place, for example, by law, then you have to take care that when you say no to give someone a job, you need to know that not every reason why you deny them is a valid, valid one. I give you a very simple aspect here, very simple case. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the EEOC sues Delta Airlines at the moment. And what happened here, and that is just a couple of weeks ago. Well, Delta Airlines allegedly, that's part of the lawsuit Delta Airlines issued for pregnancy discrimination, denying due to potential pregnancy or assumed pregnancy or whatever it is that's going to be cleared up and discussed during the lawsuit. So someone didn't get a job and they say due to pregnancy, which is of course illegal. Still you have people sitting in boardrooms who say, oh, I think we should hire women for these jobs and men for these jobs.
And you know, we are probably in an engineering world where you have either, for example, electricity or not, yes or no. So when we have non binary people that aren't even sure about their gender, we can't let them handle electricity. That's not possible, you know, because non binary, I don't know, don't trust them. And these are all illegal statements for a very good reason, by the way, because it's random, arbitrary, unscientific, straightforward, non scientific and also wildly incompetent to say anything near that. So when you say no to someone, and before you now think, is this going to be an episode of employer bashing? No worries, it's not. We're going to take a look at a couple of cases where employers didn't do too well.
But also look at a couple of cases where employees didn't do too well or potential employees. First, of course is you say you need to know the rules. And it's quite astonishing how many companies haven't done their homework. Including one company on LinkedIn stating last week, we are now ghosting anyone who doesn't get the job with us because as soon as I give them any answer, we get sued anyway. When you think that as soon as you give an answer, I know, of course in certain regions and countries in the world, as soon as you give people a reason, there's a higher risk of a lawsuit. However, you can always say, hey, you didn't get the job. We had lots of choices.
Others were simply more suitable than you, full stop. That is something you can always say and you're on the safe side with that. Very important is when you just ghost people, that is a declaration of moral, factual and competence related bankruptcy on all counts you failed as a leader, as an HR person, as an organisation. If you do ghost people for being unable or unwilling to give them an answer, a yes or no. So you either say yes and anyone else gets ghosting. Of course, on glassdoor.com, this company got torn apart publicly and right very well deserved. To do that, you need to give an answer.
If you don't answer to applications, you are simply not up to the job. And please don't start all the excuses, oh, there's so much to do and I can't catch up with all of them. It's your job. It is simply your job. When you are unable to your job, please do something else. That is extremely important here. And of course some people now say, well, we can use AI, can't we?
And AI knows a lot of things and then AI can help. And of course AI is very helpful. And as you know, I think I got reasonable education AI from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University. I'm now doing an additional qualification from Microsoft which is now ongoing. So I think I'm reasonably educated with real world experience and the scientific qualifications on that matter. AI is good. However, the EEOC again now allowed that there's going to be a lawsuit against Workday because at the moment it is allegedly or it is assumed that certain parameters in the software might be of discriminatory nature.
So you need AI governance. You simply cannot buy a tool and say, now it's the tool's fault.
It's not my fault. Well, you decided to implement the tool. And besides that, when you now implemented the tool, did you deliver professional training? Is this documented professional coaching, mentoring, professional qualification on the matter, ongoing updates from all counts, from legal to compliance, anything? No bad luck from here. So you see, just throwing AI at something doesn't automatically solve it. And by the way, sometimes when you request certain aspects, you already start from the wrong foot there.
I give you a very simple example. It's a German example, by the way. A German company said, we're looking for digital natives. Digital natives. Just think of what do you have in mind right now? Digital natives? Which person appears in your brain, in front of your imaginary eye, in your inner dialogue?
What kind of person is now the one you're looking for? And when you now think, maybe it is.
Yeah, yeah, exactly, maybe it is. Because of course you can't say what. Of course the employer, when they ended up in court, said, they said, anyone can be digital native. No, they can't. When you were born, before a certain year, it wasn't even available anywhere because it was either unavailable at all, not even invented, or it was too expensive to be available to the broad public. To the broad general public. So. And this is a case where they were looking for digital natives and it is a case of age discrimination and you need to do your homework first.
When I hear I'm looking for digital natives that already immediately, even as a non professionally qualified, I'm not a lawyer, but even I think this can't be compliant because you're clearly looking for someone younger. You are very clearly setting somewhere, you're setting the date, age somewhere. Basically born around end of 70s, beginning of age at the very earliest, probably even later. And that of course is the definition of age discrimination now confirmed by court in the Federal Republic of Germany. However, we also have bad behaviour on the applicant side when we look at applicants sometimes. We now have the issue. You check for, let's say you do an online interview and you check for skills and then you wonder why are they so good in the interview and why are they so bad in rule application?
Yeah, and the reason is some people use tricks. They for example, use AI. You check for tech skills and they use AI. They give you answers which probably very well fit your question, but are not too great when they are in the room without their AI. So you see that's a massive issue. And of course you can't say, well, AI again. So now we just simply.
And that is an article which I found absolutely shocking that I see in the Wall Street Journal, which is a renowned magazine and there is a headline which said, due to AI, we now have to get back to on site interviews. Because that's just plain wrong. There are perfect systems in place which you simply put in place where people do exams or any kind of test procedure and you check for skills. And when you now say, well, all of these, all of these systems cost money, right? So we just make them come to our headquarters and then it's their problem and their cost. Well, it's actually not. Especially when you want to have people who are worth their salt and who are well qualified, they will say, you want me to come along? No problem.
So you pay for my travel, you pay for my time, you pay for my expenses. And when you say no, they just go somewhere else. Simply saying due to our inability or unwillingness to put proper systems in place, we now have to get back to on site interviews is probably the worst answer I heard in a very, very long time. So be sure that you stay up to date. However, I know that Some people simply have an unfair focus. Some people are looking for something where they can tell you. That felt a bit like discrimination to me, because I think that's a lawsuit, isn't it?
Oh, do we want to settle in the room right here? So people are looking with an unfair focus.
They don't want the job. They simply either do it because they have to hand it into some public office because there are unemployment benefits and they have to at least show that they try to get a job. They don't want the job. And of course, when they don't want the job, you don't want them to be employed with you. But it's a time waster on all sides, however, and now we get to a positive side of the Federal Republic of Germany. One person applied for a job which was only, and that is of course an amateur mistake. It was described as Bureau kaufrau ze kreteren, which is the female version of office assistant.
Just imagine sitting there in an office and some of your leaders say, yeah, we're looking for an assistant. Right? Then that can only be women, right? Because I'm male. So assistants are female. Right? That's how the world works. Just. Just put the female version only in the job ad.
We're not looking for men here. No, it's female only because, you know, assistance. Right? You know that. Absolutely shocking. However, still locker room talk, which is of course nothing else than straightforward discrimination, is still around and quite omnipresent, especially when people think no one else is watching. However, in this case, the person went to court and lost.
So someone applied for that job as a male person and then they lost in court. The question is why? Because the court found out this person applied for more than 30 jobs all across industry and functional positions all over the board, only looking for a lawsuit to get a compensation out of companies. And the court says no, absolutely not. Legal tribute online. You see it here when you watch me on YouTube right now. So there's not a single penny in there.
So there's some, some justice for people who don't behave too well. The main issue right now is when we talk about perspectives, how do we implement this in our everyday work? And the first aspect of implementation is always, you need to change your perspective to the other side. And think of when I hire position X, Y, Z today, what is common on the market? Do the research. What is common in today's time? Do the research.
What are the expectations towards us as an employer? Because what you expect, you probably already know. And please stop telling people the tales from the past when people say, I remember when, when I did my vocational training, right, I got 50 bucks a month, I lived at home, didn't need my own flat. So why do you think you need to afford rent? I didn't have mobile phones. Why do you think you need to get paid that we got way less money and also, by the way, we had way less rights. We weren't even allowed to talk or to criticise.
Just follow the I say you obey system, right? You're here in vocational training, so it's not your time to speak up, so shut up for the first couple of years and let me talk.
And you obey. When you do anything like that, don't be surprised that people say, not you, not here, not right now, thank you very much, see you again. Probably next life, preferably life afterwards or never ever again. So very important is step number one is always perspective and change. When you are stuck in the situation that you say every single person doesn't want to work anymore, you are judging people before they walk through the door. Also you become a person that simply hates people. When you don't want to perform any kind of misanthropic failure performance as a leader, feel free to do so, but please don't do it in your organisation.
Do it at home with preferably no one else than just you and your brain. So perspective and change means you need to be able to understand the motivation of the other side. Yes, young people today have other expectations. Also because the job market significantly changes now, it's changing back a bit. So you see, this is an ongoing matter. Sometimes it's better for the employer, sometimes better for the employee, and somewhere in between the discussion and hopefully the agreement happens. But you need to change your perspective. Anything else.
If you don't do that, when you say, I have one system in place which I deliver for the next 15 years or 20 or 30 or 40 years, and this system always works, is always right, because I'm here for such so many years, then you are simply an unsuitable leader. You became one. Unfortunately, after you change perspective, you always have to draw conclusions from that. What kind of behaviour are you going to change right now? And that simply means you have to look at the situation and say, okay, what is that I'm actually going to change? Is it about salary? Is it about my attitude?
Is it about the questions I ask or what kind of content I ask for, or what kind of expectations I have towards their education or their skills? This needs to be put into action, only changing perspective and then Coming to the conclusion.
No, I'm right there. Wrong. It's never anything that gets you anywhere. Conclusion means action and one of the actions always is professional training and awareness. When you want to train your people professionally, do it professionally. And I can't stress this often enough, the $49 online class is not going to make the cut here. Professional training and awareness leads to better recruiting for both sides and for better results on both sides as well.
So be sure that as soon as you have the proper training and awareness in place, anyone gets it, because otherwise only you have it and that's not too helpful. If you however, do everything we talked about, change perspective, draw your conclusion, put them in place, and suddenly and suddenly you see the change on the other side's behaviour as well, then you will have a lot of a better recruiting experience and also better results. And I wish you all the best putting that in place in your organisation. And when you now say Think I have a couple of points I'd like to talk about, feel free to send me an email or contact me. So first, of course when you watch me on YouTube, feel free to leave a like here and subscribe to the channel. Comment here. I'm looking forward to discussing all this.
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Thank you very much for your time.