Go the extra mile for your candidates!

Why is it that the most recruiters focus most of their attention on the need of their clients and give little time to the desires of the candidate? I know that the majority are taught how to take a detailed job order which will enable them to match a candidate’s skills to a vacancy and the better recruiters are competent in understanding the potential career opportunity available. Then, in my opinion, many recruiters lose the plot…. they go out of their way to sell the job vacancy to potential candidates with little interest in what the individual is seeking.

What I mean by that is that we should be looking at candidates from their perspective. Recruiters need to get inside the heads of the candidates and match client opportunities to candidate aspirations and stop telling them that they should be interested in what you are ‘selling’. We should stop taking the attitude that we are doing people a favour merely by introducing a potential interview opportunity that could enhance their career!

I like being told by candidates that the CNA Executive Search approach is a breath of fresh air compared to their usual experience of recruiters. It surprises me after 20 years in the industry that the candidate’s experience still needs to be improved. How would you like to be treated by a recruiter? I bet you would want them to understand what motivates you, what your aspirations are and where you see your career going before they even think about introducing a potential job opportunity to you.

I would go further. Recruiters should be asking individuals about their work environment and experiences at work, what they like and what they dislike, the style of management they prefer or deliver, what they feel are their best achievements, the things they are most proud of, size and style of company they aspire to work in next. I could go on but I hope Ive made my point. Stop paying lip service to your candidate and start building a deeper understanding. You will find they will become exclusive to you, will work more closely with you and you will make more placements!

Gavin Chase
General Manager
CNA Executive Search

+44 7838 206602
gc@cnainternational.co.uk
www.cnainternational.co.uk

Comment by Slouch on August 7, 2009 at 12:23am: Hey Gavin, I think I disagree with most of what you wrote.

when you say: "We should stop taking the attitude that we are doing people a favour merely by introducing a potential interview opportunity that could enhance their career!"

I say, you are doing the candidate a favor by introducing them to what hopefully is a better opportunity. It's a big favor you are doing them.

Also, I have never heard of an exclusive candidate, what is that?

Comment by Mat von Kroeker on August 7, 2009 at 11:24am: I agree with what you've said-- if your working with candidates with very specialized skillsets, the "purple squirrels", as it were. But I cannot develop "relationships" with every one of my past, current, or potential candidates-- that's just not reasonable.

Comment by Susan Robinson on August 7, 2009 at 11:30am: I agree. I have found that when my recruiters develop deep relationships with candidates, not only do we end up with loyal candidates who refer other talented candidates, but they become our external sales force. Even if we aren't successful in placing that candidate, they share our company name with there new employer and we have immediate access to a new client.

Comment by Joe De Ville on August 7, 2009 at 2:24pm: OK, I agree and I disagree. There are different kinds of services being lumped under one name: "recruiting". At one end is high-volume sourcing of candidates. This type of service it seems, is more in demand by employers, though they often say otherwise. At the other end of the spectrum is low-volume / high-relationship style of service, which is usually more appealing to candidates. Most recuiters operate closer to one end of the spectrum or the other, but no one is really at the polar extremes. I think the more you can afford to build relationships with candidates, the better, because they can help you with referrals, market info, etc.; plus some of them will become clients. How much time and effort you can invest in these outcomes depends on how much your business model depends on volume of referrals vs. highly-targeted (aka niche) searches
Just my $.02