...Notice to Employers...You're Taking Too Long... Losing Good Candidates

It happens after every recession. This is my eighth one since 1973 and here's how it happens. When candidates are plentiful and companies are operating in a recession and operating out of fear of loss, rather than vision of gain, they invent all kinds of cockamamie "steps" in the hiring process, thinking that it's going to keep them from "making a hiring mistake”, because they feel like they have lots of candidates to choose from and because they want to spread the risk. But they invent steps in the process, thinking that it's going to protect them. They increase the number of interviews that a candidate has to go through. They come up with ideas like: group interviews (with half of the group comprised of people who have nothing to do with the job) testing of all sorts, interviews with external to the company advisors, group presentations (just to be sure the candidate can speak in front of a group, one CEO of a small size firm wanted to get his wife's and daughter's opinion of a candidate (of course, they had absolutely nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the business). Years ago I had a candidate and his wife have to go to dinner with the chairman of a bank, his wife, three of the vice presidents and their wives. After the dinner the men asked their wives to literally vote on whether or not to hire the candidate. My candidate "lost" the election. To this day he swears it was because his wife was a whole lot more attractive than any of the other wives and the other wives just plain didn't like it. Who knows?

Just this last month, we had one candidate who was in the middle of a six interview process with our client get hired by one of their competitors who initially interviewed the candidate on a Thursday, had two zoom interviews with him on Friday, a final interview with him via zoom on Monday and an offer...and an acceptance...on Tuesday. Our client was absolutely furious and justified losing the candidate by saying, "we just can't move that fast." Another one of our candidates was instructed that she was going to have to do a presentation to a group. She refused to do it. She said, "Look, I've got a job that requires a lot of effort. We have three teenagers and when I'm not working, I'm parenting. I have a 20 year excellent track record in what I do, and these guys want me to make a presentation to see if I know how to make a presentation? Forget them!" It was painful, but she has a point. She has an outstanding, extremely verifiable, track record that should speak for itself. The whole reason this organization wanted to speak with her was because she was so well known in their profession as a top performer. (She had been kicking their butt in the marketplace.)

In another situation after three interviews, our candidate was told that he had to take one more "perfunctory" interview with someone in the human resources office in corporate. Unfortunately, the human resources director in corporate took the week off for spring break. The hiring authority said that he really didn't have any choice. We asked if there was anyone else in the human resources department that could speak to the candidate. The hiring authority said that he would try to find someone. As of Friday he hadn't been able to do it. The candidate had been interviewing at two other organizations and one of them made him an offer which he accepted on Friday.

All the old adages apply... time kills deals... if you snooze you lose, etc. The message is that this market has gotten a lot more competitive for good candidates. Whenever we come out of a recession, it usually takes about six months for hiring authorities in companies to catch on that when they drag interviewing out they are going to lose really good candidates.

Except for maybe the CEO level, which might be an exception, there should never be more than three, at the most, four interviews for any candidate. Nobody should be involved in the interviewing process whose livelihood doesn't depend on the performance of the individual being interviewed. Studies have shown that one person... yes, you read right... one person doing the hiring is no more successful than three, four or sixteen people involved in the interviewing and hiring decision.

The company that is requiring the candidate to make a presentation instituted a new corporate policy a few months ago that included making a candidate study what their company does... which would take at least three or four hours... and then make a presentation to three or four executives on the benefits of their company and their product. I doubt that any candidate who is presently employed is going to consider doing it. This is especially true for candidates with a good track record. If they lose enough candidates to this process, they will eventually change their procedure. There's no telling, however, how many good candidates they are going to miss.

ABOUT TONY BESHARA

Owner & President

Babich & Associates

Tony Beshara is the owner and president of Babich & Associates, established in 1952 and the oldest placement and recruitment service in Texas. It is consistently one of the top contingency placement firms in the DFW area, and has been recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work in DFW” by the Dallas Business Journal. He has been a professional recruiter since 1973 and has personally found jobs for more than 10,500 individuals. He sits behind a desk every day, working the phone literally seven hours of the twelve hours a day, making close to 200 calls a day. He is in the trenches on a day-to-day basis. Tony has personally interviewed more than 26,000 people on all professional levels and has worked with more than 23,000 hiring authorities. Babich & Associates has helped more than 100,000 people find jobs using Tony’s process. Tony is one of the most successful placement and recruitment professionals in the United States. 

Tony received his Ph.D. in Higher Education from St. Louis University in 1973. 

The second edition of his best-selling book, “The Job Search Solution” The Ultimate System for Finding a Great job NOW!”  came out in January of 2012. He also created a 45 hour online program about how to find a job, www.The Job Search Solution.com. Tony’s second best seller, “ACING  The Interview”, answers almost any question regarding interviewing in today’s erratic job market. “Unbeatable Resumes,” discusses resumes for the present, unique employment market. His latest book for job seekers, “Powerful Phrases for Successful Interviews,” published in February of 2014, offers 400 ideal phases for every interviewing situation. His newest book, co-authored with Rich Lavinski, the managing partner of E. 57th Street Partners, “100,000 Successful Hires, The Art, Science and Luck of Successful Hiring” is about the “other side” of the desk… advice for the hiring authority. It, too, is a bestseller.

Tony recent TED Talk, “The 10 Principles of Loving Your Career and Your Job” was presented in October of 2015 at Mountain View College in Dallas. It can be viewed in its entirety on Tony’s YouTube channel.

 He is a frequent guest on the Dr. Phil Show, offering Dr. Phil’s guests advice on the job search process. He is also a frequent guest/expert on various local and nationally televised business shows, including those on Fox Business News. Tony also hosts a weekday radio show, The Job Search Solution on The Word KWRD-FM, 100.7 FM, every weekday evening from 8:30pm to 9:00pm. Tony and his beautiful wife of 51 years, Chris, have four grown sons. 

Interviews & Appearances Contact:

Tony Beshara

Phone: 214-823-9999

Email: tony@babich.com