The job description read five years of management with an engineering degree in a specific industry with several years of experience in ASIC chip design. The hiring manager agreed he would interview quickly. He loudly proclaimed his opening must take priority over all others.
Quickly I found several outstanding candidates, pre-screened them and sent the resumes with the documentation about each to the hiring manager. No response. I sent him a couple of emails, left a few voice mails. No response. I finally ran into him in the hall. “Oh, by the way, Ruth, I’ve found someone for that job opening. Here’s his resume.” No comment about the candidates I’d submitted to him. Much to my surprise when I looked at the resume he handed me, no management experience existed. And the candidate’s recent experience showed six months working for a retail store, after acquiring his engineering degree.
Naturally, I was elated (and puzzled) to hear he’d found such a good match. Wow! How could I have missed that he actually wanted a new grad with no experience? We had to re-write the job description and re-post the job to give others with this background a chance to apply, but this was the person hired.
I never knew the whole story behind the scenes but what a waste of company time and money! Of course I queried the hiring manager to see why he felt this inexperienced individual met the needs but the answer somehow didn’t clear my conscious about the merit of this hire. Communication and feedback would have enhanced the time and effort in this particular situation. But time and money should not be wasted
If you are a seasoned recruiter, you’ve seen this happen time and time again. The story is a compilation of incidents, rather than a specific situation. Contrast this with the candidate who had a phone screen on Wednesday, interviewed on Thursday and had an offer on Friday. Background and reference checks were completed so the individual could start in a little over a week. When we met to write the requirements, one of the team knew an individual whose job recently ended and could vouch for his relevant work experience. Efficient hiring creates a better bottom line. The latter group prepared in advance to find a quality hire in a timely and cost effective manner. Recruiters love referrals if they adhere to the requirements.
Preparing for an open position is the most important aspect of the hiring process. We’ll be exploring many aspects of the hiring process in the near future, especially concerning “loading” your preparation for success. If you have time, I suggest you read Lou Adler’s recent postings, as he shows clearly how easy hiring managers can think they are hiring top talent, but may be way off course.
If you have openings, please contact me to see if we might want to work together to find you top talent. You don’t want to waste your money on hiring.