Home»Hiring Managers…… Listen to Your Recruiters.

Hiring Managers…… Listen to Your Recruiters.

| June 14, 2017 1:46 pm

If a recruiter is “worth one’s salt” hiring managers should listen to them when we send a candidate that may not be a perfect fit on paper. After all, recruiters listen to the hiring manager’s needs, understand the work environment and talk to candidates all day long. We may know a good candidate when we talk to one.

I can’t tell you how many times I have talked to a great candidate that would shine in almost any environment but because the candidate may be missing “something” the hiring manager will not give them the time of day. This is very frustrating for a recruiter and, at the end of the day, will hurt the relationship between the hiring manager and the recruiter. If a recruiter feels a candidate is worth a quick call then how hard is it to accommodate that request? If you don’t have time for a quick call as a hiring manager, your need is not that important and becomes less important in the list of requirements the recruiter is working on. Your position just went to the bottom of our requirement list.

Hiring Managers, you think your time is limited? Try having to deal with 10 to 20 positions open that are “needles in the haystack” (recruiter term), which need to be hired yesterday with a hiring manager that has unrealistic expectations. Oh and, by the way, the salary is under the market average so that Sr. candidate has to turn into a mid-level to Sr. candidate.

This is why a recruiter may try to sell a great candidate into a position that doesn’t 100% match the requirement. A great candidate is hard to find and when you find one they can most likely pick up on the things they are missing. A great candidate is trainable and can “walk and talk” (another recruiting term from my IT days). Question, wouldn’t you want a candidate that can grow and learn quickly and is most likely less expensive or a candidate that looks good on paper but may not work great with your team or environment and is most likely overpriced? It just makes sense that a great candidate that doesn’t have 100% of the requirement is worth a quick call. If the candidate is not what we say they are, feel free to throw it back at us and let us know why; communication and feedback is how recruiters learn and continue to refine our searches.

So, next time a recruiter writes a detailed summary of a candidate’s experience and why he or she would be a great addition to your team, please take some time to at least have a quick conversation with the candidate. After all, it is hard to be a great fit off a piece of paper.

John Motley is the Director of Professional Services of NSS RPO, a consulting firm that provides on-site and virtual recruiting professionals. Contact NSS RPO to learn about how we can help your organization meet and exceed it’s hiring goals.