Communication and partnership are key. Do hiring managers think they can hand off a search with just a job description from Human Resources or worse, no description at all, and have good results. Do hiring managers think they can bake a cake without using the required ingredients and expect the end result will be a perfect cake? I think not.
At Best Headhunters, we find that when the client relies on us to get the job done, they respond to our resumes in a timely manner and give us the needed feedback whether good or bad so we can do an outstanding job for both the employer and the job seeker. We do want everyone involved in the hiring process to be happy. When everyone is happy, it is a “win-win” situation.
We have a rule around here and it is written in our fee agreement. “If communication stops, we stop our search”. Why, one may ask? The reason is that we feel the client is not serious about hiring a person. This has proven to be the case 9 times out of 10. If a client is not serious, we move on to the next search. We do not have the time to spend on a client that will not communicate with us as we get paid only after we make a hire. In most cases, we spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on each search and if we don’t make a placement with a company, then we lose that money.
The formula for success is that a hiring manager comes to us after they have exhausted their resources. When they come to us, it should be the “end game” in their search process. After agreeing to a fee arrangement, the headhunter / recruiter should get a detailed job description and all other details related to the position being searched. At this point, we dump all of our resources into performing the search for the right candidate. Many times, there will be questions that need to be answered by the hiring manager and that should happen in a timely manner. Responses on resumes should be dealt with efficiently so that interviews can be scheduled. After the interviewing process, if an offer is to be extended, this should be done in a timely manner as well.
Understand, candidates are usually scheduled for more than one interview with multiple companies, so a quick offer may stop the perfect candidate from going somewhere else or even worse, losing interest in your company because of excessive time before an official offer is presented. We’ve lost many great candidates due to hiring managers dragging their feet. Of course, there may be some back and forth negotiation at this point, but this is normal and things can usually be worked out. All of this is based on communication!