One of the most fun and stressful parts of being a recruiter is when a candidate you feel very strongly would be a good fit for a position meets the client for the very first time. One of my candidates had a big interview last week and I thought to myself “When was the last time I had this same feeling”? Then all of a sudden it hit me… it was when I returned to my hometown and brought my first serious girlfriend from college to meet my parents.

Looking back in time I thought it was very important before introducing my girlfriend to my parents that I made sure I had all of the following bases covered:

* I would need to communicate to both parties on what the others strengths were going into the meeting. That way I could prep my parents on some standout points about my girlfriend (full academic scholarship & volunteered with special needs children) and I could let my girlfriend know what a great family I came from as well (parents married for 28 years, an amazingly fun sister).

* Almost as important as informing both parties of the good aspects of each other I felt that it would be best to try to give a little advice as some topics to avoid for a first meeting. (politics, religion, why the Chicago Bears haven’t won the Super Bowl in over twenty years)

* Finally I needed to make sure that my girlfriend understood that this was a very big step and while she was understandably a little nervous I needed to know that this was something she wanted to do.

Almost 7 years later I realized that much in the way I tried to prepare my girlfriend for the meeting with my parents I apply that same strategy to my favorite candidates with my top clients:

* Similar to the way I told my parents and girlfriend positive things about each other I also inform my candidates and clients know what stands out about the other and why I feel it would be beneficial for them to spend time getting to know each other.

* Conversational pitfalls can be a sand trap and people can be sinking before they ever realized they were in trouble. Much like I warned my girlfriend about bringing up the Chicago Bears murky track record I also try to prepare candidates with some touchy subjects best to avoid during the initial interview.

* The majority of people are very open to hearing about opportunities in life whether they are romantic, career, or social but many are very hesitant about making a change. Before I introduce a candidate to a client I always make sure to the best of my ability that if an offer is extended my candidate will more then likely accept because the last thing I want do is waste the hiring managers time.

Well as luck would have it my girlfriend did very well in her interview with my parents and within two years she had decided to accept a internal position within our family as the role of my wife. My candidate also received an offer from the client he was interviewing with and has accepted to become one of their software developers.

Every time I send one of my top candidates to a client… it’s eerily similar to having my candidate meet my parents.