Claudia's Wednesday Wisdom: The Case of the Disappearing Hiring Manager

Dear Claudia,

I am trying to learn how to make efficient client calls and meet their requirements. But you know what happens, the client (a prime vendor), gives me a requirement which has been on the market for a long time and is not filled yet. I try to get a consultant who is close to meeting the requirements, and submit them at a marginal rate. Till then the client will be communicating with me, but once I ask for the feedback, he just disappears!!!!

I just want to know some kind of solution for this. It’s a waste of time for both of us. I don't understand why they don't realize it. Sourcing is not that easy, like just giving the requirement. Finding the right consultant, negotiating and finally getting the consent from his employer, and then submitting to the client.....This is not an easy job. Can you advise me what to do?

Sirisha

Hi Sirisha,

I’d like to say that your clients have way too much time on their hands for game playing, but it sounds more like you’re not hitting the mark on your submittals – and your hiring managers don’t have the time or inclination to help you get it right. And if they are working with multiple recruiters to fill the role, it’s no wonder you’re getting the silent treatment. Busy hiring managers with difficult-to-fill openings don’t often make time to train third-party recruiters (even really nice ones).

But I suspect that the problem may be starting for you long before the submittal. It sounds like you're jumping into candidate sourcing without enough information to do a good job. It’s natural when starting out to think that you’ll learn the profile of the perfect candidate as you go along, and in the speed-recruiting business the tendency is exaggerated to submit, correct, and submit again. But nothing could be more painful for your hiring manager.

Calibrating a resume is fine, but as a rule of thumb if you need to test more than one resume with a hiring manager at the start of a search, it’s likely you don’t have the information you need to be sourcing effectively.

Go back to the basics to prepare for your next assignment. Do you have a series of questions to use for intake? There's good information to be found here and here on this topic, but here's a short list that can get you started:

- Why hasn’t the role been filled yet?
- Have you seen other candidates? Why haven’t you hired them?
- What is the business problem or opportunity that this person will address?
- What about this role will be irresistible to the perfect candidate?
-What do you expect this person to accomplish in the first 90 days?
- How will you measure their success?
- What tangible skills, competencies, or experiences do you expect to see on the resume?
- What kind of personality fits well with your team?
- Are there specific education or certification requirements?
- What are the compensation specifics?
- Is relocation or travel a necessary part of the job?
- When sourcing, are there any companies or industries I should target or avoid?
- Who will participate in the interviews?

Once you have this information, don’t stop there. Use the intake meeting to get commitments from the hiring manager about how you will work together (i.e., who is responsible for what, and when), agreements on response times for resume submittals and interview feedback, and the frequency of communication between you until the placement is made. Setting "service level agreements" ahead of time will save you headaches later.

I think you’ll find that a solid intake session will result in greater hiring manager interaction and respect; and if it doesn’t, you’re in a better position to find out why with confidence. Ultimately it's your choice to not work with a client who won’t work with you.

Best of luck, and happy recruiting!

**
In my day job, I’m the head of Products for Improved Experience, where we help employers use feedback to measure and manage engagement for competitive advantage in hiring and retention. Learn more about us here.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 28, 2008 at 12:03pm

I think calling someone (or asking if they are) a racisti is a ridiculous measure here. I for one am absolutely not racist.

Anyone who understands what is going on with the foreign tech worker topic knows it is complete B.S. I can't tell you how many of my customers have been lost over the last 4 or 5 years (without being replaced as easily as they were lost) to these "International" firms.

In my marketplace you see qualified American people being cast aside - not for outsourced/offshored replacement - but to have someone on H1B jump on their desk here in the USA.

My understanding was always that an H1b could ONLY be issued when a suitable U.S. worker was not available.

That rule has been thrown out the window. And THAT is something that makes me absolutely sick.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on August 28, 2008 at 12:22pm

"Of course, if you are a racist too I suspect you'll be just as eloquent in defending that position are you are the other items on which you emote."

That's a little harsh, wouldn't you say? To come at me like that? Assume a position; take a stance; say something . . . say anything. But keep your anti-black speeches and videos that frame me as pushing intolerance to yourself. What's next? A video of Hitler? Come on - give me a break. By insulting my intelligence, you're insulting your own. Is the best response you have is to deflect assuming any position whatsoever . . . and then post a video like this? Again, come on. I have confidence you're smarter than this game here.

My stance is against the business practices of mass H1-B importing, not against any group of people. At the end of the day, you know that. So getting back to the point, what's your opinion? I stated mine - what's yours? Surely as editor, you want ratings . . . so here's your chance to assume a position.

Amitai Givertz said:

Just to be clear, I am not stating a position on the H1-B visa issue or the broader issues of labor supply and demand, worker migration, global workforce management, or anything other than my concern for your racial stereotyping. Of course, if you are a racist too I suspect you'll be just as eloquent in defending that position are you are the other items on which you emote.

As a place where we get to thread random thoughts together to better understand the world we live in let me suggest you take a look at a the famous Rivers of Blood speech given by Enoch Powell, a U.K. political figure and polemic from the 60's.

If nothing else it will put this kind of conversation in its historical perspective and may even resonate with someone else in the same way it does with me...In short, Josh, this conversation is not a new one, nor has the language of "banana boats" and "slave ships," and what-have-you changed much either...

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Permalink Reply by Amitai Givertz on August 28, 2008 at 1:23pm

@ Josh:

>> Of course, if you are a racist too I suspect you'll be just as eloquent in defending that position are you are the other items on which you emote.

In the spirit of debating the issue the word "if" is for the purposes of conjecture not assertion. I don't think you're a racist. Was it a harsh thing to say? I guess that depends on what you read and how you read it. I don't think it was disproportinately harsh given your original and subsequent comments.

>> Your anti-black speeches and videos that frame me as pushing intolerance to yourself

We need to distinguish between issues. The first is the H1-B immigrant worker thing and the other is the stereotyping of people with that age-old "their taking jobs from my friends and family" nonsense.

Watch the video and research the history. Enoch Powell's predictions of how the U.K. demographic would emerge as a multicultral one was correct. The bone of contention then lay in whether that is a good thing or not. To my point, his arguments for curtailing immigration -- whether you agree or not -- were lost in his failing to persuade people to his point of view. Rather he chose, like you, to stereotype immigrant workers and play to people's "fears" about losing their jobs and being overrun by a "banana boat" worker. He went for polarizing views not building consensus.

Enoch Powell reminds me of the adage: "There's little point in being a visonary if you choose to stick your head up your you-know-what."

>> My stance is against the business practices of mass H1-B importing, not against any group of people.

I'm sure. I think we can agree then that your choice of allusion was a poor one and we can drop it.

>> So getting back to the point, what's your opinion? I stated mine - what's yours?

I don't have an opinion on H1-B's per se but I have an opinion about how people should be treated with respect, as people. I think its a shame that companies exploit workers for economic advantage and pervert the system to disadvantage community-based workers to save a buck or two. But you know what, so did Charles Dickens.

I do think it sucks that the mattrees I sleep on was made in a prison-industry factory. I do resent my garments being stitched by children in a boiler room in Vietnam. I weep for the disadvantaged youth I see being produced by our schools and for the impoverished workers who have to work three jobs to keep their families off the street.

If the underlying sentiment of your commnets is the injustice of at all perhaps we more in agreement than not.

@ Jerry

Hopefully the above addresses the first of your concerns.

>> My understanding was always that an H1b could ONLY be issued when a suitable U.S. worker was not available.

That rule has been thrown out the window. And THAT is something that makes me absolutely sick.

Who could disagree with you that corruption is a bad thing?

How do you answer a cynic you might accuse you of being more concerned for your own economic loss than the well being of the cheap labor that is being exploited to replace you?