When Good Candidates Go Bad

Ask any recruiter, the worse thing that can happen to them is having a good candidate take a position and then right before they start, decide to take a different offer from a different company. From an integrity standpoint, that is a horrible and dishonest thing that a candidate can do to the recruiter and to the original hiring company. It undermines your company client relationship and means that you are starting over with your search for the right candidate. Here are some tips to recruiters that have to experience this ugly side of our business:

1) As soon as you are aware of the bad news, make your client aware. Putting off the bad news will not make the problem go away. Your client will respect that you are on top of it and that you are partnering with them, whether in good times or in bad times.

2) “Grit your teeth” and find out the real reason that the former selected candidate is making the move to a different company or their current company and share that with your client. Was it anything about compensation, benefits or culture related to your client company? Was there anything different that you could have done as the recruiting professional? Use this important information to help construct your new search strategy.

3) Come up with that revised strategy to overcome any obstacles mentioned by the original selected candidate. If compensation is an issue, get that out in the open and come up with a partnering solution. The faster that your client feels that you have a plan and remedy in place, the better everyone will feel. “Get up and get back on the horse” is the best attitude that you can display to your client at this painful point.

4) Check if there is anyone in your original pipeline that is as good as the original candidate. Most likely you will have to start from scratch again. Dive in and start making this right for your client and build your new pipeline.

5) Make this your #1 priority. Your client has to know that you personally feel horrible about this and that you will do everything in your power to make it right. This truly is personal and not only business!

The reason this blog topic developed was that recently I had a selected candidate decide to stay with his currently company after accepting the offer from my client company. This seldom happens but it is pure pain for everyone involved. In this particular case I am happy to report that we were able to find a better candidate who accepted the position just three weeks later.

The last point is one of the most important points in making this painful process work well and not be repeated:

6) Explain to the very top candidates in your new pipeline that you will not allow anyone to hurt you client again. Explain the first situation fully so that the new candidate has an appreciation for what is expected from them from a job acceptance point of view. The new candidate who accepted the position made me feel at peace early on by saying to me, “I am a Southern Woman and my word is everything and when I give my word to accept a job, you can count on that.”

AMEN.

2017-07-15T02:06:10-05:00By sbalistreri|Uncategorized|

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