The Perfect Candidate
“Liam, are you a recruiter?”
No.
“What the hell do you know about recruitment, Liam?”
“You’ve never been a recruiter!”
“You have no right to write about recruitment!”
And you’d be right.
In fact, beyond this point, you’d be better off jumping on Reddit and looking at memes.
Memes, not your thing?
Would you rather read a made-up job description template instead?
The Job Description
The job description reads a little something like this.
“We are looking for a highly motivated, multi-skilled candidate with five years of experience working in [insert industry 1, 2 and 3] possessing skills in [insert three different roles] on a full-time basis.
[Insert great culture, ping pong table, and fastest-growing business here]
We offer a competitive salary for the right candidate!”
They list several vital skills at the bottom.
“We would like you to have experience in:
- Development
- Design
- Marketing
- Client management
- Customer relationship management
- Ping pong (haha hilarious & original)
Also, it would be great if you have experience using the following tools:
- insert
- tools
- here
- your brain (haha we should do comedy)
We look forward to hearing from you.”
All seems great, now comes the push to source candidates, like one big game of hiding and seek.
The Candidate
The candidate stumbles upon (I still miss that website) the job description and feels that they are a good fit for the role.
The candidate applies, gets hired, everyone is happy — the end.
You wish!
The client responds to the recruiter, clarifies some points, attaches their CV to a carrier pigeon, and sends it over to the recruiter.
The recruiter is a happy, perfect candidate, on paper anyway and it’s time to pop on the internet to spend that rewarding commission.
The candidate invests time into the recruitment process.
The recruiter invests time into the recruitment process.
The business invests time into the recruitment process.
Except everyone is wasting their time because the business has been a little too ambitious in their requirements because ‘they only hire the best’.
What’s the problem?
The Problem
The problem stems from the job description.
The business wants the very best candidate, for the very best price, sort of like when you buy a ‘used like new’ car but instead of a car, it’s a person with feelings.
Do you remember that job description at the start?
“Are you joking, it’s two small scrolls above, Liam.”
The business thinks they want a candidate with skills in multiple disciplines.
They want a graphic designer who can code and develop a website’s frontend using React with one hand while playing ping pong with the other hand.
It’s true, many graphic designers can throw some code together, but that’s not the point.
If you want a graphic designer, hire a graphic designer.
If you want a frontend developer, hire a frontend developer.
If you want a ping pong player, hire a ping pong player.
Many businesses want a multi-skilled candidate, on a one skill salary.
The only thing competitive about the salary is your employees competing to see who can survive the whole month on such a tight budget.
“Liam, we are a people-focused business, and we would never do such things!!”
Same business:
“Can we add budgeting to our job requirements?”
The business wants the perfect multi-skilled candidate for a one-skill competitive salary, and a professional ping pong player all rolled into one.
We found the ‘perfect’ candidate!
That’s fantastic, are you going to hire them?
“We have a few doubts about the candidate.”
I thought they were the perfect candidate?
“They look like a jack of all trades.”
Isn’t that what you wanted?
“What if they get bored working on one thing for long periods?”
Are you sure you want a multi-skilled candidate?
“They could lack focus, and they switch between roles a lot.”
You mean, they progressed and took on more challenging roles to gain experience?
“We need someone to get their head down and focus on a task.”
Like you did with the job requirements?
“Why do they want to be a graphic designer, when they can code and have experience in PPC?”
They could have a passion for graphic design and developed the other skills to improve their employment opportunities?
Ultimately, businesses at this stage talk themselves out of hiring the candidate.
They play it safe.
Sure, let’s hire them; they seem like a ‘more suitable’ candidate.
“We feel that this ‘more suitable’ candidate is a better fit for our business and culture.”
Do you mean you want a box ticker?
Overqualified
“Dear perfect candidate,
Unfortunately, you have been unsuccessful. We feel that you are a little too overqualified for this particular position.
We wish you luck in finding your next role.”
Disclaimer: This is all speculation; this has no real-world basis nor any data to back up my claims. I am not an expert on this subject and never will be.
Experienced IT Industry Professional specializing in Data Management and Data storage systems
4 年And yes, I am seeing a LOT of - we want 10 years experience in this role and we're paying a competitive entry level salary...or in my case they look at my resume, the length of my last position, do a bit of calculation and I get a nope. Too old.
Experienced IT Industry Professional specializing in Data Management and Data storage systems
4 年I love when companies put in their descriptions and then at the end they state something to this effect "We understand that most candidates will not have all of the requirements for this position...why don't you go ahead and submit your resume anyway?"
Renewable heating supplier ~ Local environmental action
4 年???? Watch out Liam, what if the SEO influenzas gang up against you with the recruiters...? We want a candidate with X years experience - is also age discrimination... Such a good point about flailing unfocused job descriptions :)
Mindset ????♀?Elevation ??Guru
4 年Well done Liam ???????? I am REALLY guilty of this in the past. Wanting to hire someone who could walk on water and pay them the salary of a beggar. It’s SO common for young businesses to hire someone for $10/hr person expecting $50/hr quality. Or worse yet, hiring interns and working them like senior employees. Call human nature - wanting something for next to nothing. ????♀? In order to scale a business, and scale -FAST, you’ve got to hire good talent at a competitive rate. There’s no other way around it. If a budget is tight, then provide your junior staff resources to get your people up to speed or just hire contractors to fill the gap for short term projects.
Scaling high growth brands that dominate & convert | Fortune 500 Strategy + Freelancer Agility | Holistic Brand Marketing Strategist | Transforming impactful brands into unstoppable forces.
4 年"I thought they were the perfect candidate? “They look like a jack of all trades.” Isn’t that what you wanted?" This post was a good one Liam Fallen. The recruitment process is so backwards it's unreal. Businesses desire more for the buck but bench you for stepping up to bat. The turn over in digital is unreal because the job descriptions are unreal. Recruiters are poorly educated on the roles they speak with candidates about worsening the process. Ex: I know you're an SEO with experience but what do you know about "keyword research"? Can you do that? Recruiters waste so much of candidates' time it's criminal. I'm over trying to work with recruiters unless they are directly associated with the company. For sake of mental health, avoid recruiters by working directly with business owners. Problem solved.