When we came across this “Do Hiring Managers Need to Meet with Recruiters” article by Mark Smith of people2people, an Australian Recruitment Firm, it really hit home. We constantly hear that others in the Recruitment Field don’t spend as much time at Customer locations. And don’t spend as much time face-to-face with Candidates as we do when geography allows. Some see our approach as old fashioned, some as a waste of time or at least creating a delay to match schedules. But, we’re convinced that meeting Customers and Candidates is an essential ingredient to successful Recruiting.
Waiting a day or two to arrange a convenient meeting shouldn’t be detrimental or an inconvenience if it improves our chances at delivering a win/win to both Customers and Candidates. The more often we visit our Customers and the more employees we meet there, the better able we are to perform as their ambassadors, introducing them and their employment opportunities, and sense “fit” when interviewing candidates.
Naturally, the more time we spend with Candidates the more we learn about skills they’ve developed and honed, accomplishments that have improved their employers’ performance, and their expectations & environments they’re most likely to prosper in.
Meeting Customers and interviewing Candidates in person is an investment we make on everyone’s behalf, ours included. Can we be effective working from an emailed job description and a brief phone call? Certainly, we might still deliver the ideal short list of qualified Candidates. Can we be effective interviewing Candidates by phone or Skype/Facetime type of technologies? Certainly, we might still deliver the ideal career opportunity to motivate short-listed Candidates. Still, we’re convinced we improve our chances by investing in face-to-face meetings and interviews. And, in doing so, ultimately do a better job for both Customers and Candidates. I’ll let Mark Smith explain his perspective on this topic.
Enjoy the Article! ~ Jim Fairfax
Do Hiring Managers Need to Meet with Recruiters?
