Over the years, we at Dickinson Smith Buss have handled many middle and senior management recruitment assignments. Whether the assignment has been relatively straightforward or has proved challenging, our experience is that certain fundamental principles apply to the recruitment process. Careful candidate handling is one of them, but just as crucial is the avoidance of anything that could cause unnecessary problems to either block or turn off the process altogether. Ideally, we must all aim for a ‘zero defects’ approach; this means everything from taking care of the smallest detail (e.g. getting the candidate’s title correct) to being sensitive to the overriding influence of market forces. Everyone has his or her part to play in this – client, consultant and candidate.

The best partnerships involve mutual support and understanding. So here are what we consider to be the most common, and risky, recruitment pitfalls that await the unwary or unprepared, each followed by a straightforward solution.

‘Planning Pitfalls'

• Failing to ‘do your homework’, e.g. not researching current market rates for the candidates that you want to attract (an assumption that ‘internal rates’ will work is risky).

  Solution: To ensure competitiveness and market parity, consult a number of sources. Survey recruitment advertisements for similar positions. Depending on confidentiality, network with contacts in comparable functions and sectors. Get the advice of experienced consultants who are close to the market and potential candidates; even pay for professional advice, but don’t go on ‘gut feel’.

• Spending several thousand pounds on a national newspaper advertisement without giving due thought to the messages being sent, the candidate specification, package, etc.

  Solution: Be clear in your own mind, and ensure all others in your organisation who have a stake in the recruitment of a particular individual are also clear, about who the ideal candidate is, including background, qualifications, skills, personality and so on. Given that the ideal candidate rarely turns up, agree which requirements are ‘must haves’ and which are ‘nice to haves’. Then, call on the services of professional consultants who will advise as to the most appropriate (and cost effective) way of finding that candidate.

• Not appreciating the need to ‘sell’ the job on offer in what is often a highly competitive recruitment market.

  Solution: Recruitment advertising does not perform the same function as brand or product promotion. It must first and foremost attract the person an organisation needs. But important messages about a company, its products and people are contained in a job advertisement so careful attention needs to be paid to them and their potential effect on candidates. Professional consultants will ensure that a clear, and positive advertisement represents the opportunity and your organisation accurately and attractively.

• Not using a professional and experienced consultant who can advise on the brief, package, process and timescales so significantly increasing the chances of a successful appointment. Solution: Call in Dickinson Smith Buss, of course!

‘Interviewing Pitfalls’

• Not reading the candidate’s CV or the consultant’s notes until just before (worse still, during!) the interview.
  Solution: Allocate time in your diary so that you have enough space to read and reflect on the information available. Adequate preparation helps you and the candidate to perform at your best. It ensures that you get a true assessment of the candidates and a proper return on the investment of your time.
• Failing to respect a candidate’s time, effort, importance and feelings, e.g. by being late or only giving a 20 or 30 minute interview.
  Solution: That old adage ‘Treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself’ is the key here. Remember, too, that candidates may work for competitors or become customers of your organisation; the way an organisation conducts itself soon becomes known in the recruitment marketplace. Don’t neglect the physical environment of the interview. Are the surroundings comfortable’ Would you meet a potential customer there’
• Not adopting a structured and consistent approach or interviewing in a confrontational way as if setting out to prove that the candidate is unsuitable.
  Solution: This pitfall can be avoided through careful preparation. There are many potential interview structures, and you need to use one with which you are comfortable. The essential requirement is that you do prepare a structure; that you stick to it; and that you use it with all candidates. By the way, even the most experienced interviewers always take notes!
• Not looking for all the motivating factors, issues and implications behind a candidate joining your organisation.
  Solution: This is where using professional consultants can really add value to the process. Experienced consultants will advise and guide their clients based on their knowledge of the recruitment market and in the light of their insights into candidates gained at the initial screening interviews. By acting as honest brokers to both parties, there should be no nasty surprises for either client or candidate, but instead only a bringing together of the right person and the right company.
• Not realising that the candidate is also assessing you and your organisation and so, again, failing to ‘sell’ the opportunity.
  Solution: It’s easy to overlook the fact that organisations are also ‘interviewed’ by candidates ‘ some come with preconceived ideas; some arrive armed with important questions; all will be assessing the organisation’s culture, structure and personnel. As well as preparing a hit list of issues you want to cover with candidates, consider the difficult questions that they might ask and how you’re going to handle them.

‘Falling at the last fence’

• Telling a candidate that you’ll give a response by a certain date and then failing to do so (and/or failing to explain why).
  Solution: Prepare a process timetable and stick to it. Consultants can manage efficiently nearly all aspects when recruiting, but some things are out of their control. If delays or postponements are necessary, make sure that you communicate that to candidates either personally or via the consultant involved, and offer an explanation to reassure them. Many candidates have more than one ‘iron in the fire’ when looking to make a move from their current positions, so don’t risk turning them off just for the sake of a phone call.
• ‘Dragging your feet’ by failing to make up your mind or having a diary too full to set up proper meetings, and so keeping candidates hanging on.
  Solution: This requires a similar approach to the above pitfall; set deadlines and stick to them. It can be useful to imagine how you and your organisation would feel if the ideal candidate dithered and procrastinated; this can prove costly in terms of money, emotion, and other offers. It’s exactly the same for candidates.
• ‘Moving the goalposts’ at the end of the recruitment process.
  Solution: Just don’t do it! Such behaviour can have a catastrophic effect on a process that may have been nurtured over time to provide both client and candidate with a successful outcome. The problem can be largely avoided by bringing in professional consultants early on in the process who, in close consultation with an organisation, will draw up a detailed, formal job specification, and a clear and comprehensive candidate briefing document. If an organisation contradicts or disregards these at any point in the process, candidates understandably feel cheated and devalued ‘ not a basis on which most will consent to move forward.
• Offering the preferred candidate a package that is less than the one advertised, or less than or equal to his/her current earning level.
  Solution: Unless there are exceptional circumstances, most candidates are looking to see some improvement in their packages when they embark on a new job search. If you have managed to avoid all the pitfalls above, then you will know (and good consultants will certainly know) the expectations of your preferred candidate. Unless an organisation experiences unusual circumstances, offering a package that is less than the one advertised nearly always results in an offended, alienated candidate. Offering less than or equal to his/her current earning level at best confuses a candidate and, at worst, gives a strong disincentive to continue the process any further. If you lose the preferred candidate at this point, and you do not have, or secure, your second or even third choice, then it will probably cost your organisation more money to continue looking than it would have if the original package on offer had been honoured or bettered.

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