Maybe I am old school.\u00a0 Maybe I care about candidate experience more than most.\u00a0 I believe with all of my heart though, what comes around goes around.\u00a0 Period.<\/p>\n
Over the past six months I have seen the unthinkable happen.\u00a0 I have seen candidates be treated like cattle.\u00a0 So, let me give you some specific examples and I’ll let you make up your mind.\u00a0 Is this acceptable?\u00a0 I have learned as a contingent and retained recruiter there are some businesses I will not do business with ever again.\u00a0 No matter how large the potential payday is for me, I will not ruin my reputation and work for assholes.<\/p>\n
One day I had a candidate fly in from out of town to meet the CEO, VP Sales and VP HR.\u00a0 The company refused to have the candidate stay overnight although the company has more money than most organizations.\u00a0 The candidate requested a nights sleep to feel rested for the interview.\u00a0 The company refused.<\/p>\n
The candidate got up for a red-eye and flew from the East Coast to the West Coast for an interview.\u00a0 The company even made the candidate book their own travel arrangements.\u00a0 Upon arrival, the candidate was slated for 4 hours of interviewing.\u00a0 After 30 minutes, they kicked the candidate out of the office.\u00a0 Literally.\u00a0 He was standing in the parking lot with his suit on and sweating profusely.\u00a0 I was called and asked to pick up the candidate IMMEDIATELY.\u00a0\u00a0 The CEO had requested the interviews to be cancelled.\u00a0 No one had any explanation.<\/p>\n
Now, this individual was a seasoned sales person.\u00a0 He is someone who has run sales teams and has made over 300k, and was consistently over quota.\u00a0 He knew everyone in the industry. He had phenomenal references.<\/p>\n
Let me ask you this.\u00a0 What in the hell were they thinking?\u00a0 Of course I called the contacts at the company and they were conveniently unavailable until the next day. \u00a0 Upon asking what went so horribly wrong THE FOLLOWING DAY<\/strong> to cut the interviews short and pick him up immediately, they replied “he talked too much”.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Are you going to risk ruining your reputation as a company because your “gut” said he wasn’t the right fit. This individual, mind you, had already gone through 3 rounds of interviews that went extremely well!!\u00a0 Why fly someone in for a 30 minute interview?<\/p>\n What should have happened?<\/p>\n I’ll tell you.\u00a0 They should have gone through with the 4 hour interview and left him feeling fantastic about the company.\u00a0 About 3 years ago I interviewed with a very large company in Seattle.\u00a0 I knew within the first 10 minutes it wasn’t the right fit, but I left feeling positive about the company and I would recommend to colleagues.<\/p>\n Why?\u00a0 Why do this if you know it is not the right fit?<\/p>\n You do this because it is the right thing to do<\/i><\/strong> and people do talk!<\/i><\/strong>!!!\u00a0 Needless to say, this person put up a horrible Glassdoor review the next day.\u00a0 I would have done the same!<\/p>\n I had a similar situation with a different organization that was with another seasoned salesperson.\u00a0 This person had gone through 3 months of interviewing with different key executives throughout the company.\u00a0 He had outstanding sales records and overachieved his quota consistently.\u00a0 He was recognized as an expert in his niche field.\u00a0 This company too made the candidate book their own travel arrangements.<\/p>\n This person was in town for almost 2 full days and the company refused to do anymore than the bare bottom minimum for interviewing.\u00a0 The candidate wanted to get to know the manager, the culture of the company, the plans for future hiring.\u00a0 The company wanted nothing of the sort.\u00a0 He asked to go have dinner with the manager to get to know them better.\u00a0 The manager refused.<\/p>\n What did I do?\u00a0 I took this candidate out to dinner.\u00a0 I gave him the best damn experience I could imagine because it was the right<\/i><\/strong> thing to do!\u00a0 He took time out of his schedule and flew into town and I wanted to take care of him because that is what a good candidate experience looks like.<\/p>\n Candidates in today’s economy want to be “wooed”.\u00a0 They want to make sure they are making a change for all of the right reasons.\u00a0 They want to feel important.\u00a0 I get that.\u00a0 I’m not talking to junior level people.\u00a0 I am talking to executives and senior sales people.\u00a0 Successful sales people.\u00a0 Winners!\u00a0 Winners want to work for winning teams.\u00a0 Do you think that a winner will want to go work for a loosing team with a bunch of jackasses?\u00a0 Hell no!<\/p>\n Here is what happened.\u00a0 This person went through the interview process and they politely escorted him out the door.\u00a0 Thank God!!\u00a0 But, the 1 Senior level executive who didn’t speak to him gave him a mere 30 minutes and was THE REASON why he wasn’t hired.\u00a0 Do you know that this executive didn’t even have a copy of the resume?\u00a0 What an jerk!\u00a0 How dysfunctional does the company look?<\/p>\n I’ve had it.\u00a0 It is exhausting.\u00a0 Help be a solution to the problem and not a part of the problem.\u00a0 If this is part of your company’s culture, it needs to be changed and changed quickly.<\/p>\n Do the right thing.\u00a0 Treat the candidate right!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"@willrecruits\"](\"http:\/\/bullseyerecruiting.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/@willrecruits.png\")
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