Real Stories from Real Recruiters: Moving Fast on Engineers

A client came to me with an urgent need for a Functional Safety Manager. They had been looking for months but had yet to find the perfect candidate. I wasn’t surprised – the engineering market is faced with massive demand and low supply, making it incredibly difficult to find the right talent.

After some searching and thorough vetting, including several face-to-face interviews, I came across a great candidate. Incredibly, he was actively searching for a new job (most “perfect” candidates are passive, making them even more difficult to find).

Knowing that great active candidates never stay on the market long, I immediately presented him to our client. It was at this point where the lack of agility and speed in the client’s hiring process became apparent. While the company had this role open for several months, they still spent six weeks in the hiring process before making a final decision. Yes, it takes time to ensure you have the right candidate, and every company should reduce the risk of a bad hire through their talent acquisition process, but losing track of what the competition is doing for highly sought after talent is fatal.

In this case, my candidate received two other offers before our client even had a chance to extend their own. He accepted one of those offers from a competing company that had moved faster in their hiring process.

It was a difficult situation to watch play out, and definitely a lesson learned. In today’s frenzied, fast-moving market, I urge companies to ensure that their talent acquisition process is thorough and competitive.

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