What if you had to recruit for the boss from hell? You know, the type who yells, screams, bullies, leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Or, on the other end of the scale, the boss who is totally handsoff and provides no direction or feedback and leaves you to figure out things on your own. in short the type of boss you would never work for.

You don’t want to put your great recruits in harm’s way, but as a recruiter you must recruit for managers of all flavours. So what do you do? Here are two approaches:

1) Find the right fit. For example, when interviewing the candidate, you may say that the manager in that department is a pro and a perfectionist, and so she can be demanding. Let the candidate know that you are looking for someone who can step up to the challenge. If the candidate accepts, you’ve done your job and have been honest.

2) Help the boss become a better boss: If yet another staff member comes in to your office complaining about this boss, then it’s time to provide feedback. Sometimes the boss isn’t even aware that she is a bad boss. You can make the boss aware of her approach to employees and how her actions impact employees’ performance.

Of course, some bosses already know that they are bad, but they believe their behaviour is perfectly okay and may even revel in their badness. One recruiter said that the boss from hell called her up one day to ask, that he knows that she doesn’t approve of him yelling and screaming at staff, but under what circumstances is it actually okay to yell and scream at them? In the long run, this boss never did change and he was eventually removed as manager.

How do you recruit for the bad boss in your organization? Do you believe that it’s a matter of finding the right candidate fit, or of making the boss become more self-aware?

Do share your own approach with us.