The Time Factor in Recruiting – The Candidate’s Perspective

JR BECHTLE & Co. | January 2020 | Publications

The Time Factor in Recruiting – The Candidate’s Perspective

“As time goes by”… many people will be familiar with the song that accompanies the romance between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in the film “Casablanca”. The end of the movie is well-known and figuratively speaking, there are some parallels to the recruiting process from the candidate’s perspective.

At the initial contact the recruiter will present the client (the most important part) and the position to the candidate in order to ascertain and spark interest, while learning about the motivation for a possible change of employment on the part of the candidate. If interested, a process is set in motion which consumes a certain amount of time and commitment depending on the availability of all participants involved including recruiter, candidate, and client.

How the candidate interprets the duration of this whole process is important for the hiring company, even if this isn’t always communicated in a direct fashion. The process includes the candidate and the company getting to know each other in a personal meeting, and then there’s a mutual decision with him/her to come together. The company’s upper management meanwhile strongly reiterates the urgency of filling the critical position, and then: “… time goes by …”

If too much time elapses

the candidate (who is interested in the position) begins to question the position’s relevance for the company, and the priority that the management has attached to getting the right person on-board. At this point, too, the candidate is getting a first-hand impression of the company’s approach and culture. In most cases the selected candidate is set to assume a key management role, and thus will represent the company and its “corporate culture” in the future. Is he/she able then to correct a somewhat negative or ambiguous first impression?

Herein lies the dilemma for the candidate and the potential employer. A period of “silence”, for whatever reason, is generally interpreted by the candidate as disinterest in his/her person or as a sign of “less than serious” intentions by the company. In today’s media world comments (mostly the bad ones) make their way very quickly onto known platforms, and thus could negatively affect the “corporate rating” and attractiveness of the company for future candidates.

Continuous Communication

between candidate, potential employer, and recruiter is vital for creating and maintaining a “good vibe” on both sides, especially if there are justified delays, in order to achieve the desired outcome: winning the best candidate for your company who comes on-board motivated and enthusiastic. This is even more important in the international context where communication habits are different from culture to culture, and need to be learned and respected. It’s critical to keep the end-goal in mind: Welcoming a highly-desired and valuable new leader to the team, and ensuring that he/she knows and feels that this will indeed be – to paraphrase from the classic film mentioned earlier – “the beginning of a wonderful employment”.

What experiences have you had – good, bad or weird ones – that would be interesting to share? We look forward to hearing from you and to sharing these stories with others. Email us: jrb@jrbechtle.com

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