The Parallel Universe

Two questions before you start your recruitment process;

How do you stand out to attract candidates? How do you make an agency on your vendor list want to fill your position?

I've spoken to clients and taken hundreds of job qualification calls throughout my career. All begin with complete optimism from the hiring manager or Internal recruiter and a lot of the time it ends very differently.  

Let me start with the job spec - I can't tell you how many times the job qualification call is different from the job spec. Not just a little different, but very different.

The spec will say: ‘Proficiency in one of the following: R, Python, SAS, MATLAB’

The qualification call will say: ‘Being able to use Python is absolutely essential and I will not interview anyone who doesn’t have it’

The call is absolutely vital and I personally wouldn't work a vacancy where I haven't spoken to a manager.

There will be Internal recruiters and managers who say they don't have time to discuss the role properly and that's fine, but they have to expect it to take months before the role is filled.

The fact that we are a purely headhunting business makes finding the candidates a lot trickier. We all know that the best candidates are not looking for work. Chances are they will be well compensated and looked after in their current role and it will take something special to take them out. As a recruiter, it’s our job to peak the candidate’s interest and let them know of opportunities on the market and make the introductionto the hiring company. It’s likely that the candidate will take a call with the hiring manager to learn more about what else is on the market – so far so good:

The call happens. The feedback from the manager comes back…

‘The candidate didn’t seem interested’ or ‘He has no motivation to move’ or ‘He didn’t sell himself enough.’

This wasn’t the candidate’s responsibility. It was the manager’s job to sell his role and company. We have actively pursued the candidate to get him on the phone with the manager and we will then continue to sell to the candidate as the process continues. In Data Analytics recruitment in 2019 it is absolutely imperative that the hiring manager sells just as much as we do – Again, the candidate is not actively looking for work.

As a recruiter, it’s our job to peak the candidate’s interest and let them know of opportunities on the market and make the introduction to the hiring company.

If you are a hiring manager then most of the time your automatic thought is to hire someone who is a perfect fit for the job and ticks every box – especially if there is a fee attached to it. But what happens if a candidate who’s the perfect fit gets bored after six months because they don’t feel challenged? If a candidate is a perfect fit then how can they grow as an analyst? How can they be tested? My advice would be to take a chance on someone who ticks most boxes but not all, someone you can mold into what you want while they are still developing. Plenty of managers do it and believe me it’s better than having the role left open…

If you want make a hire in a difficult area, such as risk, then you have to be proactive. Make your vendor aware of how you want to fill the role and don’t be put off if a candidate you interview doesn’t seem as interested as you’d like. They were probably very happy in their current role…you now have the chance to turn their head…