Timing, timing, timing!

If real estate has "location, location, location" then recruitment should certainly coin "timing, timing, timing" for our industry!

Once, I had a candidate in final stages with a client on a Friday. I was buzzing about my weekend happy as a bee. Monday morning, I learn the hiring manager went to lunch over the weekend and bumped into someone that used to work for them at a different company, but they hadn't seen each other in 10 years. They got to talking about their current companies and decided the nearly-filled job was worth discussing with this person (who had also recently decided to consider new roles). After the hiring manager carefully considered some other recent staff transitions, he tweaked the parameters of the open job a little bit. Within 24 hours, they'd declined my candidate who was no longer completely qualified, and moved forward with an offer to the other person. HOW RANDOM IS THAT? A simple, chance meeting at lunch ON A WEEKEND changed the outcome of an entire search. TIMING, MUCH!?!?

I have often told outstanding candidates that sometimes they are the PERFECT candidate for a job, but timing gets in the way. If they are resume #104 and the recruiter closes the pool after reviewing 100, that company has never even seen their resume! And sadly for all, that company might hire a less qualified person as a result. The candidate shouldn't feel disheartened that maybe they weren't good enough for some reason, sometimes it really is just timing.

When was the job posted? How many internal candidates did they have before posting it to external candidates? Is this search extremely confidential or is it widely known that the job is available? How many candidates are currently in process and are they all at the same stage or varying stages of the interview process? What time of year is it? Holidays and vacations mean delays and these create missed opportunities in availability and interest from both a company and a candidate.

If I could offer any word of encouragement to a job-seeker, it would be to consider timing. Do what you can to eliminate delays. Be EXTREMELY quick to act on freshly posted positions - I mean apply that same day. If you hear a rumor about a job, learn who to contact in HR and contact them immediately! If you are getting declined for jobs or just never hearing back at all, remind yourself that timing was likely a huge factor in the decision. Beating yourself up over the jobs you didn't get won't leave you looking awesome for the next one.

Do you have any stories as a recruiter about how timing has impacted your searches? Or have you noticed as a job-seeker when timing was the reason for you getting (or not getting) a job?

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on November 17, 2010 at 9:17am: So I agree with you both, Time can hurt most deal. Sounds like you both know how to control your clientrs. My clients do not like to hire to the bench and wait for work too long. Cost too much. Nice post to you all...

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on November 17, 2010 at 9:18am: Time Kills Some Deals
Time Kills Some Deals
Time Kills Some Deals
Time Kills Some Deals
Time Kills Some Deals

Better!!!!!!

Comment by Jessica Nicholas on November 17, 2010 at 2:06pm: Thanks for the comments, Melanie and Paul!

CB - I've had clients who move too slow to catch the great talent too. Frustrating when it's avoidable! Thanks again for your comments.

Comment by Chuck Nauman on November 17, 2010 at 7:38pm: I just told a candidate today that the difference between getting the job you want and staying where you are depends on timing. It may take a little while for a great opportunity to present itself, but when it does, Be Ready to Strike!

Nice post.

Comment by C. B. Stalling!! on November 18, 2010 at 8:35am: Chuck I agree!!!!

Comment by Kevin Cure on November 19, 2010 at 10:41am: I rarely am a fan of beating a dead horse and it may appear that "Time Kills All Deals" is the said horse being beaten..... However, how many times can we count where our failure to successfully manage both sides on time led to deal that imploded. Let a weekend go by again or even worse a four day holiday and see what becomes of your "warm" candidate or "hot" job order. Unless we are always managing the next step with a true (or artificial) sense of urgency, we will again (and again) fall victim to this not so cliche, cliche.

As to timing, of course, timing is paramount. Especially when you consider that our success is based upon a pool of candidates that where not actively looking for a position before we initiated a conversation with them. Either we are as good at motivating someone to leave a good thing or timing fell into play (bad review, not-so-challenging project, passed over for promotion, etc etc). Mostly factors we didn't not know before opening up an intelligent conversation about their desires, wants, and needs and nicely inserting our position as the answer to all that don't like about their current career direction.

Just my two cents. Timing makes us money while time kills all deals!

Comment by Brittany Dean on November 22, 2010 at 9:02am: Love it. I do think timing is the magical element that just sometimes cannot be predicted, controlled, or measured.