“On paper you are JUST my type”

Blog by: Jade Lough, HR Recruitment Consult at Williams Kent Ltd
2nd Aug 2017

 

“Finding a job, it’s just like dating isn’t it” – swiping left through a sea of monotonous jobs that claim they have fun culture and lots of great benefits, but the reality is, there’s a broken ping pong table in the corner and a warm beer is waiting for you on a Friday night.

Anyway, I digress….

Since the nation has been gripped with Love Island it’s had me thinking about how much Recruiters are like serial daters and the candidates just don’t understand why they can’t get a text back from what they thought was the “BEST. DATE. EVER”. So why do serial daters mess you around? Why do they have the best chat up lines but refuse to give you their number?

I thought I’d clear up why we, recruiters that is, not serial daters, do the things we do, that may seem downright rude to the “outside world”…..

“On paper you are 100% my type, but I’m not giving you my number”

Why do Recruiters keep the name of their client a secret?

• There may be somebody in the role currently who is due to leave (usually unbeknownst to them at this stage!) so it would be unfair for us to tell you before they have been told.
• The role is being advertised directly; it is in both parties interest for us to represent you. For us, of course, we have a vested interested din ensuring you get the job; however, we also know the hiring manager, the full brief, will be able to negotiate certain aspects on your behalf and will do all of the leg work for you ( remember those lengthy job applications?)
• The role may not be signed off yet; sometimes hiring managers know there is a role coming up in their team but have not yet had the budget approved, however we are still asked to ‘map the market’ to find great, upcoming talent.

“I messaged them 21 minutes ago and they’ve seen my message but have ignored me”

Something I wish I could do more of in my job is get back to everybody that emails me, not only out of courtesy but to stop me dreaming about the people I need to email back! But why can’t we fit it all in during the day?

• We have no news for you – believe me, I am as impatient as the next when it comes to receiving feedback, but as soon as we have any news for you, good, bad or ugly, then we will let you know.
• Sometimes we haven’t seen your email yet – I receive over 300 emails a day and for most of the day we are in client or candidate meetings so may not have seen your email come through. Feel free to call us, if we’re around then we’ll absolutely take your call.
• “Please email me the job spec” – We need to speak to you, recruitment is all about building a relationship with you and it’s essential to find a role which is right culturally for you and it’s hard to do that by sending a JD. Plus, we may not be able to let you know the name of the client just yet….

 “So are you dating anybody else at the moment?”

Why so nosey? What’s it got do with us what other jobs you’re considering? We’re just trying to wreck your chances aren’t we?? Well, actually, we do this for your benefit;

• We don’t want you to miss out on this opportunity! If you are in the final stages with another role then we need to tell our client to speed up the interview process so that they don’t lose you. If you have an offer that is £10k more than this one, we need test if there’s any flexibility on salary with our client. If you’ve sent your CV to a company that is 10 minutes away from your house, so in order to compete, we need to look at working from home options to make our role more competitive.
• It helps us build up a picture of your ideal role. If we know that you’re not actively looking then this had better be an amazing opportunity to make you leave your role, however, if you’ve applied to 10 ER Manager roles then we know exactly what to approach you with.

I know that Recruiters aren’t usually the first on people’s Valentine’s list, but I hope this has helped clear up some of the frustrations that job seekers have.  As for dating, apparently Love Island has had more applications for next year than Cambridge University, but worry not, Williams Kent are always accepting applications for HR roles!

Tags: HR, Love Island, Recruitment Categories: Uncategorized