Assumptions are the mother of all…

Assumptions can take you to dangerous places. We all make assumptions and presumptions; it’s hard not to. Try it.

In our day-to-day lives it’s important to avoid presuming and assuming too much, in the world of recruitment it’s arguably even more important as you’re not only affecting your life, but the lives of candidates.

The key rule here is NEVER ASSUME YOU KNOW THEM BETTER THAN THEY KNOW THEMSELVES. Guess what, you don’t.  

You will never know the candidate as well as they know themselves. No matter how experienced or high-performing you are, the candidate will always trump you in this department. If you accept this, you’re on your way to being a better recruiter.

The 3 areas that are most regularly assumed about candidates (I assume…) -

Location

The assumption that a candidate in Scotland might not be interested in a role in London is potentially a safe one, but the assumption a candidate who is clearly very comfortable working in London would not travel to a particular part of London is ridiculous. People relocate all the time, just because you might not consider it, doesn’t mean others wouldn’t.

Salary

Every candidate will have a hard and a soft minimum. You need to truly understand the difference between the two. The difference can often be as much as 10% if not more. One of the main reasons someone would look at a role at their hard minimum leads me nicely into my next point.

Industry

Candidates don’t always care about the industry they work in, sometimes they do. Don’t assume they’ll be interested in a role because it pays the right amount and is in the right location. Some of us want to be excited by where they work; some of us want to be proud.

I’ve made assumptions during this post, I’ve assumed you’d read it, and you’d read it this far, hell I’ve assumed you can read!

I’ve assumed you’ll care, not everyone does.