Help us, Help you...
Like most recruiting firms, our goal is to help clients find great candidates and likewise, to help candidates find great positions. Our job is to make the life of a hiring manager easier, and that of a job seeker, simpler.
We are the initial face and voice of both parties; we are screeners and messengers. We are the matchmakers - we don't hire, but we find and coordinate. We don't fire, but we advise and help navigate. If done correctly, we save clients both time and money, and make the life of a job seeker effortless.
We are a convenient way for companies to find, attract and hire talent when they don't have the time, energy or ability to do so. Many call us “the necessary evil”. If we do our job right, they don't necessarily HATE paying for our services, and in fact, both sides are guaranteed to be happy
We are great at what we do! But we DO need a little help to make that happen. The “help” we need comes in the form of communication, feedback and honesty from both sides. Clients and candidates must indicate their true interest (or disinterest) in each other in order to make the entire process work.
The issue of respect has come into play of late as clients give us an urgent job to work, we do our research and send resumes, and then…silence. Candidates apply for jobs, we coordinate interviews and then they don't show up…without even a word?
Six weeks ago a client called me for help with a new Accounting Manager opening within her firm. I combed my database and network, sent over 6 qualified resumes, then got no response for 2 1/2 weeks. I reached out a few times and got “I’ll get back to you”, then more silence. A few weeks later, I posted a CFO position I was working on. It wasn’t even an hour before I got a phone call from the same person, inquiring about the job for herself. She had time to talk about a position for her but again, said "I’ll get back to you on those resumes". I am still waiting...
I’m not sure if clients realize this or not, but The Dubin Group thoroughly vets every candidate (as all agencies should, but rarely do) before we send them. We pride ourselves on always being responsive to both parties, addressing the typical “agency complaint” that job seekers are dropped into a black hole after applying for a job.
So now I have six candidates calling me about the position and the status thereof, and I have nothing to tell them. After grilling them about every aspect of their history before submitting their resume, and then having no answers for them, is it embarrassing? Yes! Even worse, the current market is so fast paced that three of the six already took other positions, so even if the client was interested, we’d have to start the search from scratch.
On the other side, candidates call about positions, show interest, say they want to interview - then don't show up?!? Some increase their salary requirements by 10-15% over what had been agreed to after meeting the client. One recently decided on her way to an interview that the location (which had not changed since we first spoke) was too far and proceeded to blow it off 15 minutes before it was scheduled. Again, embarrassing? Yes! Now my client is annoyed, as they entrusted us to do the proper advance vetting, which we did – but we still have egg on our face.
Unless a recruiter sends unsolicited resumes, every client should send some sort of feedback to the recruiter, whether they want to interview a candidate or not. Silence, or just a "no", doesn't help anyone in this process. The recruiter can't narrow the scope of their search and filter down to better help the client without some sort of direction.
Sending resumes is not as simple as pushing buttons. It takes many hours of sourcing candidates, matching positions to backgrounds and calling to confirm availability and interest BEFORE a resume is sent to any client. Recruiters work hard and long hours to make life easier for both clients and candidates; it's difficult enough - how about a little feedback and communication? Help us help you!!