What a Candidate Wants, What a Candidate Needs, What Ever You Can Give Them Sets You Free

What do candidates want from recruiters? There are so many different opinions, so many different experiences, so many variables that inform what any given relationship might look like. And really, do candidates even want a relationship with a recruiter? And if they do, what are they trying to get out of it? The short answer is, I don't know, and lets be honest, neither do you (don't @ me). It really depends on the person. I think most candidates enter that first conversation with a recruiter feeling neutral, or even on leaning slightly negatively, and I think there are certainly those pleasant surprises that show candidates how valuable a good recruiter can be, but then again, there are also those seemingly overwhelming number of terrible experiences that leave more scars than Edward Scissor Hands. So, as I've thought about this I realized quickly I can't speak to what every candidate wants specifically, but what I can speak to is what every candidate generally wants, and while a Recruitment 1-0-1 post may seem elementary, its amazing how many recruiters today need to hear it.

Bad, Bad, Bad

To start with, lets talk about the bad, and lets be brutally honest: there are a lot of recruiters that are bad, bad, bad. For those of you reading this, and know deep down this is you, please go take a hard look at yourself in the mirror, do some soul searching or wanderlusting (whatever floats your boat or canoe) and get yo ish straight. There is just no reason for the types of experiences candidates receive today. Is it "hard" to keep in touch? Oh, you "forgot" to update your candidate on their interview process? You were "too busy" to let somebody know they didn't get an offer after their onsite? - Lets just stop the bull and call it like it is- you're just lazy.

Put yourself in a candidates shoes. Forget for a moment that you're an insider and you apparently get how it all works. Imagine that you just invested hours of your time and effort into an interview. You walk out of an onsite and feel good. Everybody was so nice. You maybe tripped up here and there, but you feel like overall you could really have a chance - heck, even the CXO stopped by to say hello. Maybe you'll hear back in a few days. Now you're obsessively checking your email every few hours. Days pass and you hear nothing, a week, now two, now never, and you are left wondering what happened. All of the sudden that spark, that hope, that moment of confidence is just gone.  Its no wonder candidates distrust most recruiters.

This is exactly what candidates do not want. This should seem obvious, but for some reason this seems to be more of the norm than the exception. This doesn't just happen at an onsite stage - thats just where its the biggest slap in the face - but it seriously starts happening from the moment somebody applies. It's a giant black hole and thats where the trouble begins.

The truth is, when you boil it down, all candidates want out of their experience with a recruiter is an answer. Thats it. They want an answer to their application, an answer to their email, an answer to their phone call, an answer on how their interview went, an answer if they got an offer or not, an answer to...well, you get the point. But thats it. Are we really so self-important that we think that is too much? Look, I'll be the first to say that sometimes candidates can be hella annoying, but if we remove ourselves from the equation, the reason they are sometimes so persistent is because they've learned they have to be. Thats the only way they will get an answer, and thats SAD!

So here is the 1-0-1 lesson for the day: Figure out how to give a candidate an answer. As we do this it will start to change the perception that recruiters are no more than the gate-keepers to the interview process. It will begin to change the opinion that the "HR call", as its so irritatingly called by some, is just a hurdle to overcome. An answer is all that it takes. Yes, no, or I don't know. Its amazing how far that will take you in your relationship with a candidate.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. See you next Thursday

Thanks for reading my post! Comments and topic ideas are always appreciated.