Many times, we in the recruitment business presume that the candidates who we consider for a position speaks his heart when we elicit details telephonically. Not the least do we realize that we don’t even see his face in the whole process and so, there is no way to gauge what runs in his or her mind, as we we safely assume that he will fit the bill – he may be in Hyderabad, and we would want him to relocate to Ambala – he will yes for a "great career prospect, the right role and right money!"; he will live with his family happily in Delhi, and we would want him to come to Trivandrum – he will say yes, as he is a "brazen careerist", at-least that is what he will make us believe on the phone.
In our urge to prove to the client that we have headhunted or found the best guy for the job, we go ahead and tell the client, that the candidate is pretty eager to relocate. With the kind of internal pressures for the position fill, the recruiter at the client's place also throws caution to the winds along with us, and immediately go ahead with the process.
The candidate will take the telephonic and later take the subsequent rounds, if any on telephone or video conferencing, until the final HR round, post which an offer will be rolled out, after he shares his compensation details.
After all this, the client who made the offer, through the HR spoc will inform us that the offer is rolled out, and the candidate has indeed agreed to join in a weeks time.
That’s celebration time for us, and we do celebrate all gaga about another good job done. But that is short lived.
We now call the candidate… and the typical thing to happen is.. there will be no response. Until the offer goes to his mailbox, he is available 24x7, on call, or mail or chat; on the receipt of the offer the tables turn – the candidate is always with his boss, unable to send even a text or take a call…. That is a sign for trouble for us, and moreso for the corporate, in this case our client.
The client calls us and asks us the joining date, pushing the ball decisively in our court – “you guys need to buck up, we set up the interviews, and closed the offer, and you cant even follow up for the joining date? He has not sent the acceptance mail?” and we suddenly wake us from our celebration and slumber.
After many calls and a few days, in all probability the candidate shoots of a text to the recruiters hand phone “Current company matched the offer” or “Spouse unwell, so cant relocate”…. The reasons can at time be so weird like “Showed the offer to my astrologer, he suggested no change now" or "he suggested that I should not join the company with name starting in alphabet X".....
Having seen enough of this, we just get into a different mode to the client. We call him and say – Chief, I have sent you a couple of profiles for the position which you offered to the
The moral of many instances like this is : Understand the candidate has his own priorities and make sure you be ready for the worst, and the candidate is not to blame. Be ready with more than one good candidate for the same position – easier said than done, and finally, never keep the client blind to what happens on the candidate front – any nasty surprises to the client has a cascading effect, putting him in bad light internally. That screws up relationships forever.
Rather, just state the facts, admit you lack of situational understanding, and be willing to help further if sought for…..
And to the question of how much candidates ought to be trusted, trust them as much as you have clear information… don’t make assumptions on the way the candidates communicate to you, just on phone calls.....
No comments:
Post a Comment