how employers shoot themselves in the foot
Hiring Revolution is is dead on about slow-poke clients taking for-freaking-EVER to make a decision about a candidate. I don’t know why my clients think they can get away with this and still get the best talent. A year ago, there were plenty of high-quality tech professionals positively falling off trees and you could take your time to interview several before making a choice. Now, the person you want to hire likely already has a job, and if they’re actively seeking a new one, they’re likely to entertain multiple offers before making a decision.
Take, for example, the case of one of our clients. They’re a prestigious communications firm, and when they say “Jump,” we don’t say “How high?” We just start jumping and asking if it’s high enough, because we can so totally jump higher if needed. We like working with this client, because for the most part their expectations are reasonable and our talent like working there. Understand, in addition to being one of our most important clients, they’re also one of our favorite clients.
The Interactive practice of this agency came to us late last year with a job order for a senior developer with a rare (for DC) and unusual mix of skills. It has now been nearly a year since this job order has been open.
Yes, the skillset is rare, but being good at what we do, Stephanie and I found them the person they wanted to hire. Not once, but TWICE. And yet, they STILL have not made an offer. Why twice, you ask?
Because their process to extend a direct hire offer involves not just the interview with the immediate hiring manager, but a second round of interviews with HR and multiple managers from the studio the candidate will work in. As you might imagine, finding a 2-3 hour stretch in which four executives will all have half an hour free in an ad agency is a major feat. HR didn’t make it a priority to schedule this second round of interviews with either candidate, and as a result, more than a month would go by between the first interview and the second round (if it happened at all), and that was a month in which we would ask for answers for the candidate from the client, and none would be forthcoming.
Experienced recruiters already know the end of this story. Senior developers of this caliber do not stay on the job market for long, and in both cases, they took other jobs when they got tired of waiting around. As a result, the team lead who initially requested the search is still limping along without this developer (through no fault of his own- he’s actually quite responsive and was as helpless as we were to move the process forward), the company has lost out on two brilliant candidates, two candidates have lost valuable time waiting for word on this opportunity, and Stephanie and I have lost two excellent candidates, countless hours, and the fee we would have charged for the successful placement, despite having done the job requested of us TWICE.
I’m certainly a fan of a thorough and deliberative interview process- when the job market is such that you may only have one candidate to make a decision on, you want to be absolutely certain that it’s the right fit, and that you aren’t just taking the first thing being offered to you. At the same time, however, employers must still make it a top priority to conduct the interview process in an efficient fashion. Candidates are people who need to work- they may not be able to wait, and even if they can, they may not WANT to wait around for an offer from an employer who doesn’t demonstrate respect for their time.
Take heed, employers. It’s a war for talent, and he who hesitates loses the best candidates.
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You’ll find entry level jobs at CollegeRecruiter.com.