Someone wrote: “I know you want to put the candidate in the control of their career, but make sure you tell candidates how to be a responsible driver.” It’s a great point. Just because you control your career doesn’t mean that you can make everyone else bend to your will. It doesn’t matter how good you are: you still need a recruiter and a hiring manager to be on your side.
Anyone who has worked as a recruiter knows the horror stories. You find the perfect candidate. They have an amazing portfolio of work, outstanding references and are great during the interview. It’s a slam dunk. All that’s left is negotiating the offer.
And then disaster strikes. Maybe someone said something during an interview like: “You are our top candidate” or “I can’t imagine the hiring manager not putting you at the top of her list.” Somehow, someway, the candidate becomes overly confident that the job is locked in. They move from guiding the process to believing they can control it. The perfect candidate is now the perfect nightmare.
Usually it starts with the candidate making scheduling demands. Next comes the dismissive emails, the constant reminders about other offers, the number of recommendations on LinkedIn and all the other options they are considering. The next thing you know the recruiter is making it their life mission to figure out how to get this “perfect” candidate on the reject list
We all know that it is far more common for a recruiter to be rude to a candidate than the other way around. That bad behavior usually happens because the recruiter is overly confident that they are controlling the recruiting process and can afford to make the candidate dance to their tune.
That’s inexcusable and something that every recruiting leader needs to fix as fast as possible. But this blog has been about how to make you brand talent. You need to be in control of your career, not waiting around for overworked recruiters, overfilled job boards and distracted hiring managers to help you find the job of your dreams.
But once you get that desperate call, once you nail that interview and feel on top of the world, don’t make the same mistake as a bad recruiter. No matter how good you are you can’t afford to be uncivil, demanding, petulant or overbearing. Remember, recruiters and hiring managers are people too, with egos and expectations. They expect to be treated well, just as you do. If you want the job you want them on your side.
