Real Stories from Real Recruiters: Getting Real About Requirements

I was working with a client in the automotive space who was traditionally really great to partner with. They came to us with a difficult, highly technical software engineering role which had been open for six months. They’d already tried to fill the position twice, but neither candidate had worked out.

We looked at the resumes of the candidates they’d tried to hire and right away realized that the company was desperate to fill this position. They had taken on people who were not the best fit, making desperate hiring decisions after failing to find candidates who matched their stringent technical requirements. I wasn’t very surprised those candidates didn’t work out.

We met with the hiring manager to go through each and every required skill set and responsibility on the job description, asking if and why it was truly required. Their original requirements narrowed the national talent pool to an extremely limited selection, which is why they had struggled to find someone locally. With a more realistic and pared-down list of skill sets and responsibilities in hand, we researched the marketplace to help the client understand the availability of qualified talent. It was this research that indicated our search should be on a national level, rather than just local. This meant putting together an attractive relocation package. Before we started searching, we also made it clear to our client that a speedy hiring process was paramount in successfully recruiting someone for this role.

With this solid foundation set, we got to work searching for technical talent. Fairly quickly, we found several people who looked great on paper. However, the client provided us with a handful of technical “knock out” questions to help nail down candidates who really knew what they were talking about. We quickly ruled out those first few candidates. Our next find, though, seemed perfect. Though he was from an aerospace background rather than automotive – and he lived four states away – it was clear that he was the “purple squirrel” our client had been looking for.

A successful phone interview quickly led to flying this candidate out for a face-to-face meeting with our client. True to their commitment, the hiring process was efficient, and they soon made an attractive offer – complete with a competitive relocation package – to this candidate. He started the job just a few weeks later, and we’ve received excellent feedback from both him and our client.

We’re here to be advisors for our clients. We know the challenges of the market, and we’re not afraid to speak up when we don’t see realistic expectations reflected in a job description. We work hard to build a level of trust with the people we work with so that we can overcome those hurdles and get to work on making the perfect match.

What to Look for in a Staffing & Recruiting Firm: A Checklist

5 Strategies for Assessing the Strength of Your Hiring Process

The Power of Company Culture in Your Talent Acquisition Process