John Sumser posted a link to that article discussing candidate control. Which got me thinking back to my agency days as a senior recruiter and some of the common mistakes I'd see over and over with newer recruiters. Candidate control was always brought up when a sure thing placement would fall apart at the last minute. But it wasn't really candidate control that was to blame, because I don't think you can or should seek to 'control' a candidate, because that would imply that you would be pushing them to do something that may not be in their best interests, but is in yours. I think we underestimate people if we think that is a best practice or even possible.

But, what I did see as the issue was a breakdown in communication. I saw a lot of newbie recruiters who were just afraid to rock the boat and ask the candidate a question that might result in an answer they didn't want to hear. I referred to this as the 'cross your fingers and hope they'll take the offer' approach. This generally meant the newbie recruiter would have an initial conversation about current and desired salary and role. Then they'd present an opportunity or two and interviews would happen. They might get some brief feedback after the interview and would often lead the candidate, saying things like, 'so it sounds like it went well, great! I'll let you know as soon as we hear back'. Then they'd run to the client manager and say, "he/she wants it, what do you think, will we get an offer?' The feedback would come from the client that it was positive and an offer would be forthcoming.

Then a week would go by and finally an offer is ready to be delivered, and suddenly the candidate is no longer 'closed'. Turns out he/she just got a raise and is now looking for more money than what the client had been told he/she was closed at. Oh, and there's this other thing that is really interesting too and that offer is likely going to be higher.

And so on and the deal doesn't happen.

Sadly, it could so easily have been avoided if the newbie recruiter had asked the most basic question, "do you want the job? and at what salary will you accept?' But that's a scary question, what if the candidate says no? Rather than take the chance, they hope they'll get lucky and the offer will dazzle them.

They could have avoided this scenario about 80-90% of the time if they asked more questions of the candidate, what they liked about the job and what their concerns were if any.

But the most important question and the one that newer recruiters tend to miss, is one that needs to be asked every time you talk to the candidate even if its the next day, 'so, what has changed since we last spoke? Have you had any other interviews or heard about anything interesting?'

So many times when I ask this I'm always amazed by how quickly things do change. In a 24 hour period a candidate could receive a job offer, get a raise or unexpected promotion, have a spouse lose or get a new job, or have another recruiter set them up on an an interview....so many things that can affect how they view the opportunities that you have them pending on. If you have this information in real time, you can share it with your colleague and client...and so many times I've seen how good communication between all parties can keep the process humming smoothly along. If your client knows about a concern the candidate has, they may be able to address it, clarify and alleviate it so it is no longer an obstacle. That's huge. There's nothing worse than a 'surprise' at the last minute that could kill a deal. You can avoid this by frequent communication with all parties, and the more you touch base with your candidate the stronger your relationship tends to be.

Another key benefit of always checking to see if there's anything new with your candidate is you'll also get great client leads this way. They'll tell you where they went, who they met with, and what they thought. Then once they've told you they're not interested or are out of consideration for that job, you can then call and try to get the order. That's always been a very effective client development practice for me.

What do you think? Have you ever lost or saved a deal because of communication w/the candidate?