While it’s hard to argue that it’s not important to source top talent, all that sleuthing and scouting doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t place the candidate.

1. To Know Me is to Close Me
Five things you must
know about any candidate
you want to place

2. To Know Me is to Close Me
Five things you must know about any candidate
you want to place
By Jenifer Lambert
It’s often said that the number one job of any recruiter is to source high-quality
candidates sufficient to meet business demands. While it’s hard to argue that it’s
not important to source top talent, all that sleuthing and talent scouting doesn’t
mean a thing if you can’t land the candidate you want. In an informal survey,
hiring managers named the recruiter’s inability to onboard the candidate the
hiring manager wanted as one of their top five frustrations in working
with recruiters.
Sourcing and identifying a candidate and then failing to get them to come on
board is akin to putting a juicy steak in front of a hungry dog and then tossing
Failing to onboard it in the trash. Your “hot candidate” has only whetted the hiring manager’s
a hiring manager’s appetite and then left her unfulfilled. It’s disappointing, a waste of time and
ideal candidate is completely unnecessary.
like putting a juicy
steak in front of
hungry dog and then “It’s really important for hiring managers to understand that
tossing it in the trash. there’s competition in the market for good candidates, says
Kim Knoll, IT recruiter with Executive Resources in Des Moines.
“We’re getting back to a candidate-driven market in some skill
sets and the best candidates always have choices. If I think there Kim Knoll
may be challenges closing a candidate, I let the hiring manager
know early.”
Most recruiters put more care into assessing the candidate’s qualifications
than they do in evaluating the candidate’s seriousness and willingness to make
a change. The result is rejected offers and unnecessary disappointment.
“I make sure the candidate truly prefers the position my client is offering
throughout the process,” says Kim Downey, President of Downey & Associates,
a national search firm specializing in IT and executive talent. “It is better to find
a new A-player that is 100% committed to making a change versus having an
offer declined.”
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3. Five things you must know about
any candidate
1. Money aside
The weakest motivation for changing jobs is money. Worse, if it is your
candidate’s primary pain with their current job, it’s the easiest problem
for his current boss to solve. When that top software developer goes to give
his resignation and tells his boss the only reason he’s leaving is an increase in pay,
don’t be surprised when the counteroffer submarines the “lucrative” offer you
just extended.
The key question to ask any candidate is “why make a job change now?”
Weak recruiters are too afraid to ask this question. Top recruiters know the
answer to this question will tell you everything you need to know to close a
candidate. Most candidates will start by telling you their motivation to change
The key question to
ask any candidate is is money because it’s the easiest and most politically correct answer. It’s nicer
“why make a job to say, “I’d like to make more money” than “my boss is a micro-managing idiot.”
change now?” Your job is to keep drilling until the real reason is surfaced. Get past the “I’d like
to make more money” response by saying something like, “Of course everyone
wants to make more money. What else do you hope to accomplish by making
a change?”
2. Cost of change
So now that we’ve just argued that money is the weakest reason for making
a job change, the reality is that no candidate wants to lose money in the process
of making a change. That seems fairly obvious, but too often we focus so much
attention on convincing the candidate of what they have to gain by switching
teams that we don’t help them honestly assess what they stand to lose.
For example, successful salespeople will always have commissions pending.
Stock options have vesting schedules. Bonuses get paid at specific intervals.
The best candidates will be walking away from something by making a change.
“A lack of insight into a candidate’s current comp program can
burn you big time,” explains Boris Epstein, Managing Partner of
BINC, a tech recruiting company based in Silicon Valley. “It doesn’t
matter how much the candidate wants the job. If they’re tied
down with some major golden handcuffs, you’re not going Boris Epstein
to get them to move. I bring this up early and make the candidate
calculate what a move will cost him before we move forward.”
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4. Find out early in the process and address that concern head on. If
the candidate is sufficiently motivated, he may be willing to walk
away from that bonus. If not, perhaps a start date can be delayed
until the bonus is paid or a signing bonus could make up the
difference. The key is to find this out early so both the employer
and the candidate can proceed with eyes wide open. This also goes a long way
toward building trust with the applicant. Your willingness to bring up what could
be perceived as “bad news” shows that you’re looking out for everyone’s best
interests and not just looking to put together a deal.
3. The “cabinet of concern”
Just like the President of the United States has a cabinet of advisors, your
candidate has people in her life who are sure to have opinions about her
potential job change. As a recruiter, you need to know who these people are and
what their concerns might be. Unless your candidate is single with no family or
Unless the candidate
has no family or friends, friends, someone will be affected.
someone will be affected
by a job change. Of course, there are liability concerns about asking questions related to a
candidate’s marital status or family situation. A simple question will open the
door: “Who have you told that you’re considering making a job change?” If
the answer is “no one,” you should be very concerned about this candidate’s
seriousness. It’s illogical for someone who is contemplating something as
significant as a job change to not tell anyone. She is either stonewalling you
or is not serious. Most often when you ask that question, the response will be
something like, “Of course I’ve talked about this with my spouse.” Once the
candidate has volunteered that information, you can ask how the spouse is
feeling about the possibility of a change and what concerns he might have.
4. Beware the boss
There’s a saying that people don’t quit companies, they quit their bosses. The
relationship with the boss is one of the most significant factors in an employee’s
satisfaction with her job so it’s important to know early if breaking up with the
boss will be hard to do.
People don’t quit
companies. They quit When reviewing the candidate’s work history, ask her who she reports to
their bosses. currently. “And how’s your relationship with him?” If the relationship is bad or
neutral (which is politically correct for bad), consider this one more check in the
motivation for leaving column. On the other hand, if she loves her boss, you
could have potential closing problems. Address this head on by asking if she’s
truly prepared to walk into this person’s office and give notice. Her response will
be telling. Don’t move forward unless you are convinced that her desire to make
a change is greater than her relationship with her boss.
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5. “It’s so important to know what’s going on interpersonally with the employee
and their current boss,” says Jason Radach, President of Vital Source, a Seattle-
based software and IT recruiting firm. “If the candidate has a good relationship
with their boss, I ask if her boss knows she’s looking. If she hasn’t told the boss,
I take that as a bad sign and then drill deeper to see how she thinks the boss will
react when she resigns. I want her to try that on emotionally before we get to the
end of the process.”
5. Legal landmines
This seems so obvious, but it’s so often missed. Be sure you are crystal clear on
any legal obligations that the candidate has to her current employer. Does she
have a non-compete? Has she signed a non-disclosure agreement or any other
Beware of non-
competes, non-disclosure restrictive covenant? If the answer is yes, you should request a copy of the
agreements and agreement before you proceed. Have your legal counsel review the document or,
restrictive covenants. if you’re a third-party recruiter, share a copy of the agreement with your client so
they can make an informed decision about proceeding with this candidate.
Depending on the jurisdiction and the details of the agreement, it still may be
possible to hire this candidate, but it could affect the way the offer is structured
or the candidate may need to request a release from the agreement before an
offer can be made.
Regardless of what position you’re recruiting for, one of the essential
qualifications of any job is a candidate’s ability and willingness to make a job
change. Get beyond questions about technical competence and make sure you
are assessing the candidate’s seriousness. This will prevent you from suffering
serious disappointment when you extend the offer.
Jenifer Lambert is a VP with Terra Staffing Group, a Pinnacle Society
recognized Executive Recruiter, and President of Elevate Performance
Systems, LLC, a consulting and training firm that helps third-party
recruiters grow their business. www.ElevatePerformanceSystems.com
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