Battling One of the Biggest Mistakes Clients Are Making Right Now

Ask a recruiter, and they might say that their clients are doing everything wrong.

That’s a blanket statement, to be sure, and more than likely one that’s false, but there seems to be one mistake that company officials keep making these days.

One of the biggest mistakes clients are making right now is this one:

Taking longer and longer with the interviewing and hiring process.

One of the reasons, of course, is that many hiring managers and company officials are searching for what they consider to be the “perfect candidate.”  They figure if they’re going to spend time and money hiring on a full-time basis in this economic climate, then the person they eventually hire better be the best of the best of the best.  While that logic can be understood, it’s still flawed in terms of its application to the reality of the marketplace.

What’s also flawed is the prevailing belief on the part of hiring authorities that candidates are going to wait around that long for an interviewing and hiring process.  The fact of the matter is that they’re simply not going to do so, and according to recruiting industry trainer Jon Bartos of The Global Performance Group this problem is a prevalent one for recruiters.

“There’s a big disconnect going on right now,” said Bartos.  “Candidates will not wait forever, and companies need to understand that.  They’re risking good players by doing this, and they’re starting to lose them.  It’s happening out there.”

According to Bartos, it’s the responsibility of the recruiter to help speed up the process.  If not, the default setting will more than likely be set to “molasses.”

“It’s up to the recruiter to educate the hiring manager,” said Bartos.  “It’s about setting expectations up front when you take the search assignment.  You have to ask the hiring manager if they’re aware of marketplace conditions and ask them what they envision in terms of a timeframe.”

Bartos indicated that if the hiring process takes more than four weeks, then the chances of losing A-level candidates increases.

“A good candidate will not go through a process over four weeks,” he said. “I estimate that if the process goes over four weeks, 50% of the candidates will drop off. They’re simply not engaged, and they don’t feel as if the company has genuine interest in them, so they’ll look at other opportunities.  And in many cases, they’ll take those opportunities, and the company loses out.”

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Jon Bartos, a guest writer for the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Blog, is a premier writer, speaker, and consultant on all aspects of personal performance, human capital, and the analytics behind them.  In 2010, Bartos founded Revenue Performance Management, LLC.  The RPM Dashboard System is a business intelligence tool used worldwide for metrics management for individual and team performance improvement.  In 2012, Bartos achieved national certification in Hypnotherapy, furthering his interest in learning the dynamics behind what motivates others to achieve higher levels of success.  Click here to visit Bartos’s website.