When you find yourself in a recruitment process, two scenarios are possible: either you are in a direct relationship with your potential employer, or the process involves a recruitment firm.
In a process that includes an external recruitment partner such as an executive recruitement firm, it is important for the candidate to fully understand what the challenges are for each stakeholder in order to maximize their chances!
CANDIDATE, EMPLOYER AND RECRUITER
3 stakeholders, a common goal!
Whether for the candidate, the employer or the recruiter, the goal is the same: to reach a win-win agreement. By this we mean a situation in which the new employee will be able to do the tasks requested, to progress and to evolve within the company and with their team while being satisfied with their working conditions (whether in terms of interest in the position or from a salary and material point of view).
When you want to be in a win-win situation, it's important for each party to be honest every step of the way.
The Candidate
A candidate who decides to withdraw from the process after one of their interviews, because they do not feel that the opportunity presented will be a good fit for example, saves time for the recruiter and the employer since the candidate would certainly have stopped at the next stage or would have left their job quickly due to lack of satisfaction. It also allows the recruiter to learn more about their candidate and to quickly offer them other opportunities that will better match their expectations and personality!
The Recruiter
If the recruiter decides not to continue with a candidate, they save time for their client who logically would have reached the same conclusion and also saves time for the candidate who would have interviewed with the employer for nothing. Again, this allows recruiters to focus on profiles that better match what their client is looking for and on opportunities that better meet the needs and interests of their candidate.
The employer
Finally, if the employer does not go further with a candidate for whom they are not really sure, they prevent the latter from feeling bad in a position or within a team that would not be suitable for them.
A simple process at first glance, but highly complex.
A recruitment process is (thankfully!) not a mathematical theorem. It is above all a human process that involves negotiation areas in which compliance with certain standards as well as respect for everyone's sensitivity is essential! Because even if the three parties have a common goal, each has its own constraints and its own margin of concessions. We also know that the candidate often does not have only one job offer presented to them, and that the recruiter and the employer do not have only one candidate.
All these variables make this process, which seems simple, much more complex.
The Executive recruiter, a major asset
Recruiters are by definition the most familiar to this process. The employer knows this, and that is why they use external recruitment services. On the other hand, the candidate may sometimes have the impression that the recruiter is only an additional step to the so-called “usual” process. On the contrary, the recruiter acts as a powerful personal advisor throughout the process, both for the employer and for the candidate.
Indeed, due to their position as an intermediary, the recruiter has the ability to receive raw information from the two other parties, to interpret it by taking into account the realities and constraints experienced by each and then to provide the possibility of a common ground that will satisfy all.
Thus, the employer will be able to share their doubts with the recruiter about a candidate, for various reasons, which they will not dare to tell the candidate for fear of offending them or lowering the candidate's motivation. This will make it easier for the recruiter to discuss the subject with the candidate and create a link between the two parties.
Conversely, a candidate may be very interested in the position but hesitating because of some element (salary, vacation, type of responsibilities, existence of another interesting offer). Not wanting to seem too demanding at first (which could actually be poorly received by the employer) they will wait to receive the offer and if it does not suit them they will simply refuse it. Addressing these points with the recruiter would have allowed the recruiter to subtly alarm their client of possible bottlenecks and to assess the margin of maneuver of each party to find an agreement.
The relationship between you, the employer and the recruiter is above all and always a process based on trust and honesty so that each party finds success.
Did you get a call from an executive recruiter? Read our article: How to react to a headhunter's call?
