This email could have been a conversation

Recruiting is bizarro world sometimes.

“This email could have been a conversation.” You read that right. Recruiting is bizarro world sometimes. Memes are turned upside down.

Look, I get it. Hell is other people. The idea of live convos when firing off an email (seems like) it’d work fine, what a relief.

But let’s address the inefficiency of electronic Q&A. Ongoing back and forth that doesn’t provide clarity or drive quick decisions is a special hell of its own.

And there’s no place where this is more apparent than the early stages of an inefficient hiring process.

A great recruiter will provide a hiring manager a well detailed assessment of a candidate’s background. Why they’d fit. Why they’re interested. Where they may fall short. What concerns they have (so they can be addressed.)

But the recruiter is NOT the source. When you need a deeper understanding of a candidate’s background and mindset, you gotta (*gasp*) talk to them yourself.

I need to make this distinction clear: I’m not suggesting hiring managers do a recruiters job for them. I saying hiring managers need to keep 2 things in mind:

1. Their domain knowledge is deeper than a recruiter’s. Typically when you’re at the point of “oh one more thing…” it’s something that a recruiter literally cannot know. Because they’re not you and not in your seat.

2. An ongoing back and forth between a hiring manager and recruiter may seem like no big deal to the hiring manager. But it’s an dreadful experience for the candidate.

Who’s the blame? Recruiters.

Yeah, plot twist. Y’all thought this was a dump on hiring managers rant.

Recruiters: hiring manager don’t know what they don’t know.

If they don’t know how much time and effort goes into the vetting process, it’s because you didn’t tell them.

If they don’t know where your domain expertise ends, it’s because you didn’t tell them.

If they don’t know the point where candidates have lost interest and are ready to peace the F out of the process, it’s because you didn’t tell them.

????Hiring managers need to be willing to talk to people. Recruiters need to tell them when and why.

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.