Clients don't understand passive candidates.
Lou Adler raises an important issue:
"Candidates who are passive tend to be less prepared during the first interview and can appear uninterested. This can turn off managers."
Man-o-manoschevitz, is that true. I, myself, have struggled to identify people who would be good for a job and then worked hard to entice them into taking a peek at it. And, then, my client wants to rule the candidate out because she didn't seem desperate for the job and didn't do much research on the company.
He didn't realize that the candidate wants him to sell her because when I called she wasn't looking for a job! Instead, the client wants me to go out and find someone else who is equally qualified and happily employed yet more enthusiastic.
This is a critically important issue in today's competitive hiring environment - getting "hiring managers" (many of whom have no sales skills, for the most part) to understand that these particular types of candidates need a different approach than someone who appears on his doorstep, resume waving furiously in his up-stretched, imploring hand, genuflecting, begging for a job.
Companies that GET THIS, and understand how to handle (and move) this type of candidate through the system, will move far beyond companies who aren't listening.
“But what is the use of preaching the Gospel to men whose whole attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?” ~ William Booth
Posted by: Maureen Sharib | August 16, 2007 at 09:06 AM