You don't know jack!

This is something a recruiter would never want to hear.  Whether it be from a candidate or a client, it would be an indictment of our profession.  On several recent occasions I have had candidates tell me after an interview that the client asked what we (as the recruiter) had shared with the candidate about the organization.  Thankfully we know our clients well and every single time it has actually benefited us in interview process to have that question come up.  In one instance a candidate even flat out admitted that he wouldn't have agreed to the interview if it weren't for what we shared with them about the organization and the opportunity.  But what if we hadn't known much about the organization either because we hadn't done our homework or the client simply didn't feel like sharing much information before the interview with us?

I read the following stat in an article authored by CareerBuilder -- When asked to assess the recruiters who contacted them, one-in-five job seekers (21 percent) reported that the recruiter was not enthusiastic about his/her company being an employer of choice. Seventeen percent didn’t believe the recruiter was knowledgeable and 15 percent didn’t think the recruiter was professional.

This is obviously in reference to an in-house and not external or third party recruiter.  But still it is an astonishing fact if you really think about it.  What is the old saying -- you will only tell one person about a good experience, but you will tell 8-9 people about a bad experience.  I have oftentimes had to educate candidates especially that have previously had bad experiences with recruiters that not all of us are bad medicine.

Two lessons can be drawn from this.  First of all, it is a great reminder for executive search firms like Capstone to really know their clients well.  For us to be able to properly prepare a candidate for an interview, it benefits everyone for us to know the little details.  We try to stress this with our clients all the time.  Whether you have extraordinary benefits, fun activities for the summer, flexible schedules for working from home, ESOPs, career progression, etc., that is valuable knowledge for us to have.  We are working with one new client that has a page on their website devoted to "50 fun things we do in the summer".  How cool is it for a prospective employee to know that they might play in company kickball in their first week of employment? 

Secondly it is a reminder for employers everywhere to remember that they are representing their organization in every single interview.  Even if it is a candidate you are never going to hire, that individual can have an impact on future hires.  They have friends, colleagues, family, and much more that they talk with about bad experiences with employers.  Whether it be zero response on a resume submission, a mishandling of an interview or follow up, or an inappropriate Dear John letter, that can send a ripple effect that you'll never completely see the end of.  I spoke with a candidate just this week that thought an interview was going along quite well with senior management when out of the blue she received a letter from HR stating that they were not interested.  She was shocked and disappointed and called one of the executives she had met with.  The individual was not even aware HR had sent the letter and felt obligated to apologize. 

I will be the first to admit I am not perfect and will eat some humble pie in conclusion.  There have been times that candidates have had to call me after interviews to tell me something about a client that I didn't already know.  It is impossible for us to know all of our clients a mile deep and a mile wide, but it is certainly our goal to know as much as we can.  That serves to benefit the client, the candidate, and ourselves in the process.

If you are a hiring manager, do you strive to provide as much information as possible to prospective candidates?  Do you show consistency in what you share?  Do you have some level of engagement and excitement that will leave a good impression on the candidate?

If not, I hope you will take my advice to heart to avoid ever hearing back from a candidate that "you don't know jack!"