Recruitments are up again… let’s do this right!

The good days are back: my colleagues in Europe tell me since a few months recruitments have been again rising. You see it by the number of ads, or when companies explain their 2014 strategies.
With this trend back, I witness, once more, bad recruitment practices and wrong candidates attitudes. Those who read me are candidates or employers. Here is my message to you: please do not do this…

A few true cases, observed live in January 2014, thanks to my activities within Accetis Poland and France. I am not choosing sides, as in the first months of a good recruitment year, both companies and individuals behave bad…

Mr A was interviewed by a Junior Consultant over the phone. Before asking him to come to our office for an interview, Mr A was proposed to first have a discussion over the phone with the Senior in charge of the project. It went well, so A was invited to our office. A postponed a first time and then did not bother to call when he did not show up the second time. After 3 days A finally answered our calls and explained, unapologetically: “2 phone interviews should be enough for you, now I want to directly be introduced to your client”.
WRONG. A can think -rightly so- that this process is too long. But what did he achieved? He will not be sent to our client despite having attended 2 validation calls (total: 45 minutes) and his attitude has ‘burnt’ him for us.

The company Z has been looking for one of its Managers, on its own, then through 3 success fee recruitment consultancies, then through direct search. Z is 4 months behind schedule already… Accetis proposed 4 candidates, all head-hunted (therefore not looking for a job) who could be interested in the opportunity. Z holds interview meetings 4 weeks after having received the candidates files. Some take a day off and travel hours to go to the meeting. They are finally interviewed in a hotel… The feedback comes after 15 days: all but one candidate are rejected. The ‘survivor’ will be interviewed in 2 weeks and the consultant is asked to search for more candidates.
WRONG. If you do not try to be attractive, if you do not play transparency and if you are long to provide feedbacks and answers, you will not convince the best candidates to join you. You may not convince anyone.

The group Y wants to hire several R&D engineers at different levels of the organization. Their recruitment process is thorough: additionally to the selection passed with us, they do 3 rounds of interviews and a personality questionnaire. Having known both the candidates current remuneration and their expectations, since they received our files at the beginning, they still consider that proposing the same salary or 2% more constitutes a decent offer.
WRONG. Salaries are also how you attract candidates. Proposing less than what they will get with the next yearly assessment amounts to completely denying the risks individuals are taking when they resign to join another company.

B is a senior executive who has just been made redundant. In January he finally accepts the deal proposed by his company. He meets the 3 outplacement companies his future ex-employer has proposed him. Afterwards he goes back to his HRD and asks to be given directly the money budgeted for his outplacement as he will not do any such program. “I heard the market is better again. All these consultants have told me I would be the main actor of their program… I better take the money then… same work, but more months covered…”
VERY PROBABLY WRONG. The markets being better everywhere does not imply full employment. Companies are very careful who they recruit, especially with high salaries. B, how could you be sure being ‘covered’ 2 more months will be enough if you don’t use the support of the consultants regarding networking and how to handle yourself efficiently at interviews?

It is hard to behave properly while recruiting or when a candidate, because periods of ‘intense’ practice of recruitment are few and far between; let’s not constantly remake the same mistakes….