Don’t look for best talent in the market!

The title is a little surprising.. Right!

Well let me explain.

Talent is a very over-hyped and misinterpreted word in recruitment industry.

What is the measurement of best talent?

Is hiring only about finding the most skillful candidate for the job?

Finding the best available candidate for specific skill set and sending for interview is not end of a recruiter’s job. Chances are also high that he will clear all the rounds. But what are the chances that he will join the organization?

If he is the best talent available in the market, then probably he should have offers from other organization also- after all good professionals are always in demand. What is the budget of your client? Best candidate will obviously not come cheap. He might bargain for money after being offered. Can your client pay best salary in the market to retain him for long time? Even he will be lured by competitors time and again. Will your client afford losing him in between the project? How crucial his role will be in the project?

Well, there are many more factors than skill and money that will decide if the candidate will join or not!

A recruitment consultant’s job is expectation management- expectation of many parties.

• A candidate wants good working environment, best salary in the market and scope to learn.
• Technical manager wants best talent in the market with relevant work experience and quick learning ability.
• Hiring manager wants cost of resource as low as possible and want the candidate to join before the project starts.
• HR people check his personality ,his background, previous working history. They will also evaluate if he will be a cultural fit into the company.

All of them have their priorities and a candidate can join an organization only if all of them are reasonably satisfied.To be a successful consultant one has to look at the bigger picture. Each candidate you send should match with the broader hiring strategy etched out by client, at the same time your client should be matching to his idea of an ideal employer.

Checks for the recruiter:

• Never send a candidate whose expectation is more than what client can offer. Even if his profile is processed and he clears the interview, chances are very high that he will not join due to salary issues.
• Get as much information about your client, its culture, working environment as possible. When talking to a candidate try to juxtapose it with the candidate’s current working environments. Try to access whether the candidate will find comfortable working environment in your client.One small example to make the point  clearer : Working environment is starts ups and in bigger established companies is totally different. Work process in start ups is more casual and spontaneous, where as bigger and established companies follow a lot of process. A candidate from start up background may find the changes suffocating.
• Try to check how flexible the candidate is.
• Try to find out what the candidate thinks of your client, what is his motivation to join your client.
  

Always remember - sending an unsuitable candidate to a client and finally his not joining is wastage of time for client, candidate and recruiter. So respect their time and you will get respect and success in return.

The whole point of this post is: don’t look for the most talented candidate in the market- rather search for the most suitable one who will join your client happily, stay there for good amount of time and do his job  properly.That will generate revenue and admiration for you.

The sooner we understand the difference between the two the better for us.