While some of us in the recruitment fraternity did not enjoy the roles we did, and stayed put only for the lack on alternatives, and so much for the good money coming in for disproportionately less efforts, for many of us, this was a profession were every encounter was a learning experience.
And this was one great experience in understanding how important soft skills can be for a prospective candidate, be it even in the senior level.
The position was that of a Regional Manager for the enterprise business of a large and well known technology company, reporting to the Head of sales of the company. A close friend of mine handled the position for a large recruitment company; as for good recruitment professionals, he did enjoy a fantastic relationship with most of the clients he worked with, both with the HR/recruitment managers, and the senior line managers to whom various positions reported to.
Sanath was the candidate and he had travelled all the way from Pune to Chennai for this discussion. Sanath reached the office of the client in
At 11.30, a good half hour after the scheduled time, Sanath called my friend, and said that he was made to wait for half an hour, and could not get through to the Head Sales, Anand.
The friend swung into action and immediately reached Anand, the Head Sales on his handphone. “Sir, just to share that Sanal is waiting at your front office since half hour, and your people have not informed you about that!”. The good friend was not remotely prepared for the aftermath.
“Sorry John, In all probability Sanal will be a reject for this role, and I would not want to meet him now”. A shell-shocked John, gasping for breadth, says “Sirrr… but why…? He has flown in all the way from Pune??”.
"John, as you know, the products we deal with are complex technology products/solutions, which require super sales skills at all levels. This candidate Sanal, has not been able to sell himself hard even to my receptionist, and pushed her into getting to me quickly. Added to that, he has also wasted a full 30 minutes, just not doing anything about the situation. I don’t think he will fit my bill for a Regional Manager position. Why don’t you just tell him to go back?"
A shell-shocked John finally requested Anand to please meet Sanal cursorily for a couple of minutes; and thanks to the track record, and the relationship enjoyed, Anand agreed.
This was such a completely different perspective on how decisive a couple of simple-looking real life situations could be.
Then on John even made it a point to educate candidates on these aspects and how important it is to announce having “arrived at the venue” of the interview” was!
A hard lesson on what soft skills could mean to all the stakeholders – candidate, client and the recruitment consultant!
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