{"id":29447,"date":"2014-08-26T05:28:36","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T12:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/?p=29447"},"modified":"2017-10-17T09:57:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T16:57:19","slug":"the-key-to-closing-interested-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/the-key-to-closing-interested-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"The Key to Closing Interested Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

I hear the most outrageous garbage advice every day, and one of the latest bits is \u201cThe hiring manager<\/a> doesn\u2019t have to sell the job to job candidates. It\u2019s the job candidate\u2019s job to sell him- or herself to the hiring manager.\u201d
\n
\nLet\u2019s deconstruct this idiotic statement. If a hiring manager has a flock of sheep dying to sell themselves to him in hopes of getting the job, what does that tell us? It tells us that our hiring engine <\/a>is designed to attract people with low enough self-esteem that they don\u2019t need to be sold.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re desperate. They\u2019ll take anything. You\u2019ve got an open position? Great. I want the job. I don\u2019t need to know anything about your company. I just want to get hired!<\/p>\n

We can feel compassion for these folks, but let\u2019s not delude ourselves that the more desperate a job applicant, the better a hire s\/he will be.<\/p>\n

If you break down the typical corporate or institutional recruiting process<\/a>, you see that in many ways our traditional recruiting systems reward compliance and docility, which is to say sheeplike behavior. We\u2019re pleased when a job-seeker waits by the phone for weeks to hear back from us when we\u2019re too rude to follow up after a phone screen or a face-to-face interview.<\/p>\n

\"Key<\/a><\/p>\n

Years ago I sat on a with the recruiting guru Bill Vick. Somebody asked,\u00a0\u201cHow long should a job-seeker wait before bailing on a job opportunity, if the employer doesn\u2019t get back in touch after an interview?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I was thinking that \u00a0a week sounded right. Bill, who makes his living placing people into jobs (not telling his candidates to bail on job openings) said,\u00a0\u201cNinety-six hours. That\u2019s plenty of time. If they can\u2019t call you back within four days, it\u2019s best to get out of the pipeline.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

There was an immediate reaction to Bill\u2019s comment among the other panelists. \u201cThat\u2019s way too short!\u201d<\/em> said one. \u201cIt might take some companies weeks to get their ducks in a row.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThen they\u2019re bad clients for me and unworthy of the excellent candidates I bring them,\u201d <\/em>said Bill. \u201cWhy would I reinforce bad behavior?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill had it right. A woman said,\u00a0\u201cI tell my candidates to go home and paint their apartments. It could take six or twelve weeks for the offer to come.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Is that what our customers and shareholders would want on our teams \u2014 people willing to paint their apartments while we take our time making hiring decisions<\/a>? In my book a manager who can\u2019t make a decision on a candidate in a week shouldn\u2019t be in a management job.<\/p>\n

We have a broken, toxic recruiting framework that hurts productivity, hurts our financial results and hurts individuals every day. We treat job-seekers like garbage instead of the valued collaborators they are, and when we say, \u201cWe don\u2019t need to sell job candidates, because they should want the job already,\u201d<\/em> we add insult to injury.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t willing to sell your opportunity to a job-seeker<\/a>, maybe you\u2019re afraid that you can\u2019t. Maybe you\u2019re afraid that there\u2019s nothing special about the job or about working for you. Maybe you need a supplicant, grovelly job-seeker because you\u2019d hate to have to answer the question,\u00a0\u201cWhy should a smart and capable person take this job?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re delighted to sell our customers on working with us. Why should it be any different with the talent community? The only difference is that deep down we\u2019ve talked ourselves into the fiction that we hold all the cards in the recruiting process, and that applicants are nothing, dogmeat, far below us in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

If we believe that, we\u2019re dooming our organizations to hire fearful people who\u2019ll never question a decision or voice an independent thought. We deserve to fail in that case.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to sell a job candidate. All you have to do is ask questions, the same way a savvy job-seeker<\/a> will ask you questions about what you\u2019re up against in your job and where you could use help. If your job offers international travel, you\u2019ll be excited to meet someone who really wants that exposure.<\/p>\n

If your job is all about innovating<\/a>, you\u2019ll be able to let applicants know that they\u2019ll have lots of room to try stuff and figure out what works. Fear of selling candidates on your opportunity is a fear of treating them like equals in the hiring tango.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t see your team members as equals, why in God\u2019s name would anyone want to work for you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"liz<\/a><\/p>\n

This article was written by Liz Ryan from Forbes and was legally licensed through the\u00a0NewsCred\u00a0publisher network. Learn more about\u00a0<\/span>SmartRecruiters<\/a>, the only platform managers and candidates love.<\/span>\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I hear the most outrageous garbage advice every day, and one of the latest bits is \u201cThe hiring manager doesn\u2019t have to sell the job to job candidates. It\u2019s the job candidate\u2019s job to sell him- or herself to the hiring manager.\u201d","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":29471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":""},"categories":[838],"tags":[],"series":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Key-to-Closing-Top-Candidates.jpeg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Podcast-icon.jpg","download_link":false,"player_link":false,"audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/hiring-success-podcast\/id1472174987","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oaXJpbmdzdWNjZXNzcG9kY2FzdC5jYXN0b3MuY29tL2hpcmluZy1zdWNjZXNzLXBvZGNhc3Q","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"soundcloud":{"key":"soundcloud","url":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/smartrecruiters\/sets\/hiring-success-podcast-1","label":"SoundCloud","class":"soundcloud","icon":"soundcloud.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3bM8YzLjM2G9qJXLBBySaB","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast","embedCode":"

The Key to Closing Interested Candidates<\/a><\/blockquote>