People Lie. You know that, don't you?

Just going through some of my earlier material and thought you might enjoy this one from a few year ago. So my apologies to the 4 people who have already seen this..........

Changing jobs is tough on people. They’re usually not comfortable with it – no matter how caring, transparent and helpful you are. Quite often the very people who say they’re interested decide during the process it is easier to lie to you than face their fears.

Sure – the thought of a new desk, brand new company and a clean start are appealing. We all enjoy being wanted. It’s human nature. But once we begin moving from theory (talking about a change) and into reality (you have an interview this Thursday) people begin second guessing things……and they will make up all sorts of excuses to slow things down. They don’t want to tell you what is really on their minds – they’d rather make up a convenient/plausible story as to why they need to “do it later”…….

Why do I bring this up? Simple. I will not ever reschedule an interview once it’s on the books. Period. And I’ll tell you why. After tracking every bit of activity on my recruiting desk one thing became clear – I never placed anyone that had their interview rescheduled. While I have no scientific evidence as to why this is the case I do have some ideas.

When an interview is on the books – and my candidate calls to reschedule I tell them in no uncertain terms: Nope. Either you find a way to make it happen or I’ll tell the client you’re not interested.

I then go on to explain to them exactly why. I let them know the chances of a rescheduled interview turning into a hire are very near zero. If they truly are interested then they need to make the appointment.

Do this. You’ll be surprised at what you find. Once you confirm your position as the professional in the situation – you can have the REAL discussion. This is when the true concerns are brought to the table. It’s a delicate conversation – but one that must occur.

Note: Once I realized this simple fact (roughly 5 or 6 years ago) I stopped rescheduling interviews. Could I have overlooked a placement or two? Possibly, but that’s the risk I decided to take.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on September 12, 2011 at 3:10pm: I just checked the stats. Interestingly i can only find one reschedule by a candidate in the past year, she did get the job. However i have discovered that my employers are rescheduling more often than my candidates. The results on interviews rescheduled by employers are totally dismal.

Looks like it depends on who does the rescheduling. Most of my candidates are doing whatever it takes to get there but employers seem to be pretty cavalier about rescheduling. Any thoughts on what to do when employers want to reschedule.

It looks like to me that it happens when employers are trying to get 3 to 5 people lined up to interview one candidate on one given day. Seems that the interviewers confirm then take the attitude that "it's an interview and i had something more important come up."

Thoughts?

Comment by lisa rokusek on September 12, 2011 at 5:26pm: Indeed, employer bad behavior is kicking my ass far more than that from candidates lately.

Sadly, I have no answers other than to qualify qualify qualify my business, but in truth, even tried and true clients are acting crazy. It is as if they feel like they can put their worst foot forward, and it won't matter. But that is just not the case in markets where good talent is hard to come by.

I want to spank people. :-)

Comment by Valentino Martinez on September 12, 2011 at 7:08pm: @Sandra & Lisa,

Agree with your experiences with employers who tend to reschedule, or even cancel, interviews more often than candidates we schedule do.

It’s even worse when some employers don’t cancel an interview, but do last minute interviewer substitutions. Many of these interviews go downhill when the substitute interviewer goes in unprepared and does more harm than good in failing to impress the candidate about the job and company.

@Lisa,

Even if someone on the employer’s side deserves a spanking—don’t go there because you may discover some who actually like a good spanking.

@Jerry,

Ego may have nothing to do with a decision to de-select a candidate; but then again it may. Rigidity, however, presumes too much and because it is ironclad there are no exceptions. That level of rigidity can hurt one in the end.

Exceptional candidates are pursued and wooed for a reason. If they cannot be accommodated for something as basic as getting a job interview re-scheduled for good reason--they will be lost to the recruiter and to the employer. Now some may say, “They lied. Good riddance”, but in the end who really loses, particularly if the candidate is outstanding in their discipline and available at that moment in time? The candidate? No! Exceptional candidates end-up in places where excellent employees are always welcomed. Does the potential employer lose? Yes, especially if they had no vote in dismissing such a candidate. In such cases the recruiter who made the decision may be challenged if it’s discovered that an outstanding candidate, possibly even a candidate known to management, was dismissed or turned-off by a recruiter. I've seen that play out and it’s not pretty.

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on September 15, 2011 at 11:12am: Do not reschedule bottom line

Comment by Valentino Martinez on September 15, 2011 at 11:17am: @CB...or delay, or tamper with bottom line.

Comment by Jerry Albright on September 15, 2011 at 11:23am: Here's a good example.

A few weeks ago we had a contractor scheduled for a phone call. A phone call! Not a big "You need to go there for the whole day and meet tons of people" type deal. A simple phone call.

The night before I get an email: "Sorry, but forgot about something on my schedule. Looks like we'll have to move this to some time next week. Let me know what works. Thanks." < or something very similar to this so it's not an exact quote.

My immediate reply was "Well - they really are planning to finish their initial screening this week. I'm afraid if we try to reschedule you'll miss the boat on this one."

His reply: "That's OK."

My reply: "Good luck. Call me when if you ever need me. Take care."

Could I have called my client right away and said "Sorry, but can we move John's call to next week? He's got something he needs to take care of. He's quite interested and I hope we can keep him on the books. He's great and I'm sure he'll be a super fit!"

I sure could have. But guess what would have happened? We would be looking at some other excuse next week I guarantee it. With 100% certainty I can assure you "John" didn't have anything come up. Or perhaps he did - an offer maybe? Or a counter offer? Who knows. More importantly - who cares? Not me.

My success comes from reading between the lines. Candidate wants to reschedule? Nope. Sorry. Unless you can send me a link to the obit for the relative that just passed away.....then maybe.....

#OldSchool #HardCore

Comment by Valentino Martinez on September 15, 2011 at 12:50pm: @Jerry, your tombstone will read: #OldSchool #HardCore.

My tombstone will read: #OldCorpse #HardSchool...

Your decision style works for you. Without beating a dead horse--does it work every time for your clients and your candidates?

Comment by Jerry Albright on September 15, 2011 at 12:56pm: I doubt any of this stuff works every time/all the time. So I've just got to go with what I feel works "most" of the time - each time something like this comes up. Though I'm always open to calling an audible on the field......

Comment by Valentino Martinez on September 15, 2011 at 1:03pm: Calling an Audible. That works for me too.

Comment by lisa rokusek on September 15, 2011 at 1:22pm: The way people communicate matters almost as much as what they are saying to me in these and other situations. I am far more apt to give the benefit of the doubt if a person picks up the phone.

Emailed excuses do not elicit my understanding side.

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