When running our search process for a client company, we often work closely with the hiring manager. We get a firsthand look at a hiring manager's fears over the worst possible scenarios. Luckily, we are here to manage those concerns throughout the recruitment process.
#1: Interview Scheduling
When the interview involves multiple interviewers, finding a common availability between all parties can be a major struggle. That struggle is magnified when someone has to reschedule last minute, or even worse, if someone doesn't show up. This ends up being a waste of a lot of people's time and leads to bad impressions.
At Tier One Executive Search we are constantly measuring a candidate's interest in the position and maintaining constant communication with them to mitigate risks such as "no show's". The same can be done for the interview panelists. Keeping continual communication ensures no surprises.
#2: The Turned Down Offer
A true horror story is when a candidate signs and accepts an offer letter and then a few days before their start date, changes their mind about the new opportunity. Many times, it is because they accepted a counter offer from their current employer. This is exceptionally frustrating to hiring managers, since much of their time has now been wasted.
The best way to prevent this fear from becoming a reality is to check in with the candidate regularly and really dig into whether this is a job they truly desire and if they are being realistic about their expectations. It is important to help the candidate visualize what their normal day-to-day life will be like at the new job. It is also important to warn candidates about counter-offers and why they are not worth it.
#3: The Wrong Impression
Sometimes the candidate you meet for an in-person interview does not match the person you read about on paper. This can be an annoyance, but it could be worse. We have all heard the tale of the candidate who was a rock star during the interview process and then, once hired as an employee, became a completely different person. Making the wrong hire is not only time consuming, but also very costly.
At Tier One Executive Search, we have specific interviewing methods that allow us to fully understand the candidate and the nature of their motivations. We ensure that "what you see is what you get" when hiring and that there are no surprises on day one.
#4: The Negative Reference
Sometimes the candidate just seems perfect and everything is lined up to make an offer. The only thing left to do is contact the candidate's references. You call their references and the feedback you receive is not great. Now you are faced with a choice of either ignoring the negative reference or passing up on a candidate that could potentially be great for your company.
This does not happen often. But because of the odd negative reference, we conduct reference calls early in the hiring process, after having a positive interview with a candidate. This can potentially save a lot of time. If the reference was not completely negative, but still on the weaker side, we will ask the candidate for an additional reference to get a better understanding.
#5: The Missed Opportunity
It can take a considerable amount of time to get to the final stage of making an offer. Unfortunately, some candidates are not able to wait around, especially if they are looking at multiple offers. We have seen incidences where companies missed an opportunity to hire a great candidate because the formal offer took so long to arrive. This brings the hiring process back to square one.
To avoid this tragedy, it is important to keep the hiring process moving forward and to avoid leaving candidates in the dark. A little bit of reassurance to the candidate that you are interested in them, and keeping them up to date on the process means they are less likely to start looking elsewhere.
Conclusion
Like any profession, recruitment can have its stresses. The "fears" we listed above are some of the worst case scenarios and don't actually happen that often. However, they do still sometimes occur and so it is best to be prepared and have a plan of action in place for those worst case scenarios - or get some help from an executive search firm like Tier One!
