Over the weekend I was watching one of my all-time favorite comedies, “Super Troopers.” In the following scene, one of the officers, Mac, bets fellow officer Foster that he cannot say meow 10 times during a traffic stop. It made me think of communication between recruiters and candidates.
The driver is so distracted by the meows that he barely hears anything else Foster says. Similarly, there are some candidates that, no matter what you tell them, hear what they want to hear and not what you are saying to them. When you speak to candidates, it is important that you clearly set expectations about the role and responsibilities.
For example, if the role requires 50 percent travel, your job is to set the expectation that it really is 50 percent travel. If you waver on requirements, you could set the person up for failure in the new role. You also risk your reputation as a recruiter if you are intentionally misleading. If you oversell or provide misleading information to the candidate just to get them to accept, there is a good chance that you will be backfilling that role again in the near future.
When you have an undocumented conversation with a candidate, follow up with an email to ensure you both are on the same page. This provides backup if, after the candidate accepts the position, he or she states that you misled them during the recruiting process. This doesn’t happen often, but it is better to have the documentation just in case.
This post was written by former Seamless Workforce contributor Donna Vespe.
