Many employers make candidates jump through so many hoops, in the end they oftentimes lose highly qualified candidates who would have been A players.
Why? What’s wrong with the process that it takes weeks or months on end to even meet with candidates?
Clearly there must be a better way. Some folks who prescreen candidates, disqualify very qualified individuals on the front-end as gatekeepers, thus blocking a candidate from even getting on the phone with a hiring manager.
Qualifying candidates is an important role, so why do so many hiring managers hand this responsibility off to individuals oftentimes unqualified to make these decisions? This isn’t necessarily the fault of the folks screening, this starts with executive level management.
In the last three months alone I’ve had no less than five candidates who were initially disqualified during the prescreening process, who are well-meaning, though really didn’t understand what the job/role entails. I’ve even had an EVP of Sales tell me he honestly wasn’t aware one candidate had been disqualified by the initial screen. Ultimately, the EVP spoke with the candidate, thought he was perfect, and hired him two weeks later after they’d met face-to-face.
The other four candidates referenced above were also hired by companies who’d contracted me, though again we had to get them on the phone, Skype, or meeting in person in front of the hiring manager. The process was unnecessarily delayed by organizational dysfunction.
Lastly, the point of this post and based on my experience working as an Enterprise Sales Executive and now as a recruiter/consultant, is once hiring managers and candidates get in the room together, candidates are more often than not hired. These face-to-face interactions are the key to unlocking this hiring gridlock.
The hiring process is incredibly important for organizational survival, thus organizations should treat the process with the integrity and efficiency it deserves for all associated parties.