As an Executive Search consultant, there is nothing more frustrating than the following scenario; you have done a really good job finding, screening and selecting some great candidates for a specific position. When presenting the candidates to the client, the response is very positive and you feel confident that this process is going to be a home run. Well, think again…

Many are the problems that can delay a recruitment process when the ball is in the client’s court; some examples are long delays between interviews, too many meetings, too many people involved in the recruitment process and the inability to close a candidate within a reasonable time period.. What can you do as a recruitment professional when frustration levels are at an all time high and you are going to fall short on the finish line?

Staying passive is not the answer

Not to react in such a situation is a guaranteed recipe for failure. The best way to approach the problem is to take action and pick up communication with all parties involved.

1) Keep close and regular contact with the candidate in order to keep him or her warm so that the interest level towards the client’s organization and the position doesn’t drop.

2) Call up your client and have an open dialogue focusing on:

i) the added value that the final candidate will bring to the organization,

ii) that the final candidate’s profile is very rare on the market and very sought after,

iii) and, finally underline the importance of timing and the image you convey to high profile candidates in the market.

Fixing the problem proactively

Whatever the result may be of the process, you have identified a problem with your client’s internal recruitment process. If you are good at your job as an Executive Search consultant, your role is not to be a ”candidate provider” but to be a recruitment partner focusing on helping your clients with insight, tips and the latest updates from the market. Your clients are giving you information about their business, their competition, market trends and so on. Do you share the same information with them?

If you have a good business relationship with your client and you know that you can help them optimize their internal processes, do not hesitate to offer them your help to analyze the current way of working, identifying the bottlenecks and presenting a way to fix them so that the next time you work together things will go smoothly and you will achieve the win-win situation that builds a long term cooperation.