Search firms spend a lot of time with a lot of different clients – and this builds some exceptional knowledge and awareness across a broad spectrum of managers, HR leaders, and others doing hiring. When a job takes longer than expected to fill, it’s time to ask some questions.
Recently a well-known national job board did some research on this topic, and in surveying candidates that had gone through an interview process found a number of trends that after analysis, indicated that “it’s not them, it may be you.”
To be sure, a search firm like Barton Professional Placement Group can be a good confidant – a trusted advisor. But rest assured, recruiters have a lot on their plate meeting the needs of many clients. Search firms are engaged to focus all their energy on filling your open position. You turn down a candidate after an interview, and seconds later the recruiter’s focus is back on for the next candidate, taking into account your feedback as to why the last candidate was not chosen.
Regularly, you give feedback on why you are not choosing a candidate. This is input, and your search firm knows you are giving direction, and they adjust their search accordingly. Search firms focus their energy in one direction – filling the role you have assigned. How do you get feedback on your hiring process? Feedback on your process is looking in another direction.
If you want feedback on what candidates think of your firm’s hiring process, you may need to ask.
Hiring is stressful. Both for you the hiring firm, the hiring manager as well as the candidate trying to ace the interview. The truth is, that work your firm needs to get done by filling that position with a qualified candidate is building up. Each day that job is not filled, people are accessing your ability as the hiring manager, or HR coordinator working with your recruiter.
So, take a cue from this blog. If open positions are not getting filled, ask your recruiter for some candidate feedback. You might be surprised. More likely, when it comes to hiring, stress – you need feedback to help improve the process. And, perhaps you become a hero for addressing an elephant in the room that everyone is tiptoeing around.
With years of experience at Barton Professional Placement Group, we are pretty good at consulting around hiring stress and what candidates think. We’re always available to answer questions, and give the feedback – just ask.
