Rookie Mistake

So, I made a rookie mistake this week. I have a candidate that I have become friendly with and we talk and goof around through e-mail a lot. I set up an interview for him this past week and after it was over he e-mailed me and told me the interview was lame and the interviewer wasn't exactly a rocket scientist. My candidate is a high-level risk modeler and analyst and this company is smaller and I guess still immature as young capital companies go. Anyhow, after I received his feedback I relayed his information to the account manager who then went and told the HR contact. Big, stupid, rookie mistake.

Most good recruiters know that you don't give candidate feedback until you've gotten feedback from the client. In my case, I should have shut my mouth and waited to see if the client was interested and then tried to talk my candidate about the positive aspects of the job and see if he would bite on proceeding. Now I am stuck with a really pissed-off candidate who is saying the initial feedback was given as one friend confiding in another and he's actually really interested in the job and furious because the client was ready to fly him out for a second interview but withdrew the second interview that was extended because he just read the e-mail about how uninterested my candidate said he was! AHHHHHHHHH!

Lessons learned: 1) friends and candidates stay separate and 2) don't give feedback too soon!

Currently trying to grovel my way into getting this second interview on again. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

Next Post >

Comment by Maureen Sharib on February 13, 2009 at 3:05pm: Apologize to everyone all around as forthrightly as you have explained your dilemma here. Don't ruin your apology witrh ANY excuse except that you're a rookie. Take full responsibility. Ask for forgiveness. Begin again. It would be hard to say no to.

Comment by Gino Conti on February 13, 2009 at 4:19pm: I agree with Maureen, honesty and a sincere apology is going to be the best policy here.

Don't beat around the bush or try to talk your way out of it. Obviously this has the potential to result in an awkward meeting between the candidate and initial interviewer if round two can be arranged, though. Even if the second interview cannot be booked, there is still a positive to take out of this. A lesson has been learned, and trust me, this one will stick.

I think any recruiter will tell you the best lessons he or she learned came out of the biggest screw-ups they made. I know that is true for me. Hearing a story about a mishap versus going through one yourself is hardly a comparison worth making.

I wouldn't sweat this for too long, though. You have to make the apology and do a bit of relationship mending, but the world will still turn, and you will be better at what you do in the long run. Thanks for being willing to share, and good luck. Please post to let us know how this works out for you!

Comment by See_Jane_Recruit on February 16, 2009 at 1:16pm: Thanks for the advice, folks. I apologized thoroughly and found out that I have a very melodramatic candidate. He accused me of ruining his life, threatened to call the company himself and said if he didn't get the interview this weekend to just forget about it because he can't interview this week or next weekend. E-mailed me about 20 times, called me twice--all on Friday. I understand his frustration but I think he's being extremely short-sighted. Funny how he went from telling me how lame the job and company was to saying it was ruining his life because he wasn't going to get this second interview with the company he told me he didn't like. I still feel a little guilty but after his crazy shennanigans--I am ready to move on from him and this fiasco.