That’s somebody’s life

We recently worked on a recruitment assignment for one of our long-standing customers on an exclusive basis. We got to the reference stage for the chosen candidate (who interviewed very well) when, to us, it became apparent we needed to dig a bit deeper.

We discussed our hesitations with our customer and recommended going to a third reference. Digging deeper gave us the insight we were missing and we decided not to move forward with that candidate. Not because they had negative references, but upon closer questioning, it became apparent it wasn’t going to be the best environment for the candidate and our customer wouldn’t end up with the level of support they needed.

If we had just completed the two references and not probed further, it would have resulted in the candidate leaving their permanent job to commence a new position where they would have been overwhelmed and out of their depth. Our customer wouldn’t have received the much needed level of support they required. Instead they would have had to throw more resources at getting the skillset they required for their HR team, with the additional problem of having an employee who wasn’t able to perform at the level they required. We would have created more problems, instead of solving one.

Was our customer angry? Of course not, they thanked us and trusted us solely to find the right candidate for them.

After speaking in depth with the candidate they agreed and were thankful we hadn’t pulled them out of a permanent position to place them in a position that wasn’t right, to be looking again in a few months time. They are a great candidate and we will continue to work with them on other opportunities that are right for them. An opportunity that will be their next long-term step, where they can grow and develop their skill set and be set up for success.

This is the reason clients come to us. This is the service recruiters should be offering every single time. And even more-so during COVID-19. We’re dealing with people’s lives here and we need be focused on the best outcome for them and our clients, not the bottom line.