Candidate Connections…

Hey Ya’ll Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a splendid Monday and killer weekend.

I’m coming at you today with my two cents on candidate connections. This all stemmed from a conversation I had with a candidate yesterday. So here it goes….

A candidate was referred to me by another candidate I just recently help find their new position. We spent about 40 minutes on the phone and towards the end of our conversation we got to talking about the ebbs and flows of recruiting. We talked about the good, the bad, and the really ugly he has experienced when he is on the job market. He mentioned he feels like only 1 out of every 10 recruiters he talks to actually really gets to know him and actually uses that information to the benefit of the both of them.

This struck home for me. When people ask me why I am a recruiter, my response is because I love getting to know people. I live off of learning about others and being the puzzle master in matching them to the right opportunity.

When I talk to a candidate, and I talk to about 7–10 potential candidates a day, before I even tell them about the opportunity I am trying to recruit them for, I ask them the following questions:

• Who are they?
• What have they done?
• What are they looking for?
• What gets them excited about a new opportunity?
• What makes them walk away from a new opportunity?
• What are their goals?
• What are the 3 most important factors in accepting an offer?
• The logistics: salary, location, etc
• What can they tell me about their personal life and family, how will this affect the decisions they make?

It’s after digging deep into all of these areas that I then take the opportunity to tell them about the position I was reaching out to them about. And sometimes, I have to pivot and say “to be honest with you after learning this about you, the role I originally reached out to you about is not going to be a fit for you, I am happy to still tell you about it but let me first tell you why I don’t think you’ll be interested.”

And that right there, helps instill trust in the connection I just made with my candidate. Because this shows them I took the time to listen and I understood what they are looking for and what wouldn’t be a fit for them.

Now, I’m an agency recruiter so this process works really well for me because I often have multiple positions I can present to someone. But, even for those of you who are internal, take some time to learn about them to see if they will fit with your team’s culture and needs as the next hire. Is what they are looking for, what your team is looking for?

Our jobs as recruiters are to get to know the person on the other end of the phone. To be the face of the organization/client we work for. We set the tone to every interview process. We are the start to their journey with your company/client.