Recruiting is HARD

It's Saturday afternoon. I'm sitting here at the dinner table counting candidates who we have in the last round with clients.

How many of them will sign employment contracts? ??

How many will withdraw from those who have accepted an offer verbally?

It happened several times already...

And I'm worried it will happen again.

After all the hard work my team put into finding suitable candidates.

It always SUCKS when a candidate changes his or her mind at the last minute.

Sometimes it's a spouse who doesn't want to relocate to another country.

Sometimes it's a boss who makes a counteroffer.

Sometimes it's a candidate who re-evaluates their career priorities.

Whatever the reason is, I always hate it!

"After careful consideration, I decided..."

"I truly enjoyed all our interviews and am very thankful for the offer, but when I realized I would have to..."

The fact is we can find and submit great candidates to clients but cannot make them hire any of them.

We cannot control all the personal and professional factors influencing a candidate's final decision either.

This uncertainty is a fundamental aspect of recruitment and, admittedly, one of its most challenging facets.

But there's a silver lining here.

Each instance when a candidate withdraws or reconsiders their decision is an opportunity for reflection and learning. It prompts us to ask critical questions:

Are we truly understanding the candidates' needs and motivations?

Are we effectively communicating the value and opportunities of the positions we offer?

Are we building strong enough relationships with candidates to foster trust and transparency throughout the recruitment process?

Moreover, these experiences highlight the importance of resilience and adaptability in recruitment.

They remind us that our efforts are not just about filling a position but also about creating a match that benefits both the candidate and the employer in the long term. It's about quality, not just quantity.

So, as frustrating as these moments can be, they are invaluable for growth and improvement.

They encourage us to refine our processes, enhance our communication skills, and, most importantly, to develop a deeper empathy towards the candidates' perspectives.

By embracing these challenges, we become not just recruiters but facilitators of meaningful career journeys.

In the end, it's not just about how many candidates sign the contract.

It's about how many right matches we make, how many professional relationships we nurture, and how much we learn and evolve in the process. That's the true measure of success in recruitment.

And that, perhaps, is the most rewarding part of our job.

In the end, I still hope all of our candidates in the last round accept the offers.