Your radio silence is a sign, and the clock is ticking.

Ignoring recruiters, candidates going dark

Don’t ignore recruiters.  If you are interviewing with a company for a job, you must respond to the recruiter promptly throughout the entire process. 

As a person reaching out to candidates, I know that HR has a reputation for not returning phone calls, not updating candidates, and leaving the impression that the company doesn’t care about the candidate’s experience. I get that.

As a representative of the company, if I provide a bad candidate experience, I should not expect the candidate to be thrilled to be working with our company.  The candidate’s experience indicates what is behind the company curtain, just like bathrooms in a restaurant.  If the most visible place in a restaurant (the place we take care of No. 2) is not clean, what does the area we do not see (where the food is prepared) look like?

First impression

If our first experience as a candidate is poor, we can only conclude that the rest of the company’s experiences will be poor.       

As often as I hear the complaint that the HR house is dirty, you would be surprised how frequently candidates ignore recruiters during an interview process. Below are a couple of examples of radio silence that will leave a bad impression on your hiring manager or recruiter.    

Although this happens with all demographics, ignoring recruiters occurs with Millennials regularly. I want to share it here because my theory is that this comes from a lack of experience when it comes to networking.  I doubt it is on purpose.

Ignoring recruiters scenario 1.  Millennia’s

I received an internal referral from an employee on a connection of theirs who happens to be a Millennial-aged candidate.  As a recruiter, I appreciate internal referrals. The employee making the referral knows what the company wants. Most employees will not put their name on a candidate unless they believe they will be successful. I try to do a couple of things when contacting this referral. 

• Let them know that the employee who referred them is a stellar employee and knows what success at Acme Publishing looks like.
• Let them know that I have heard nothing but great things about the candidate.
• Explain that we would love to buy that person coffee and see if there is a fit.  If we don’t have a fit, maybe we know someone who does.
• Leave five ways to contact me, including personal cell, how many lanterns mean by land, and how many are interpreted to mean “by sea”.
• Let the referring employee know that I reached out to their candidate. 

Don’t hear anything

In other words, I am trying to take the guesswork out of this process for the referred candidate. Regardless of how intimidating my Darth Vadar-esque presence is, they should have NO insecurities about reaching out. It surprises me how often it will take days and, in some cases, weeks for someone to respond to my initial email.  Just as frequently, I don’t hear anything. Nada, zip, zero. When I do hear back, it is obviously at their convenience because there is always an “explanation” for why it took so long. The presence of an explanation tells me they know they took too long to respond. 

Three quick thoughts    

• My mind is boggled
• It makes the person who referred the candidate look bad. They vouched for the candidate, and right out of the gate, the reflection back is a lack of courtesy.   
• It makes me wonder how timely they will respond to our customers if hired.

If a company reaches out to you because someone you know is recommending us as a candidate, we need to show some discipline. More importantly, show some courtesy and respond promptly. Candidates who are slow to respond are rarely hired. Candidates who ignore recruiters are ignored back. (Yes, passive-aggressive, I know.) 

Radio Silence scenario number 2: I make an offer, and the candidate ignores recruiter

• When working with a candidate through an interview loop, usually at the beginning of the cycle, candidates call back immediately. Communication is not only timely but also easy. With today’s technology, we can respond to a recruiter from our phones while in line at Starbucks!   
• Early in the loop, candidates anticipate my questions and answer everything they can to speed up the process. 

Radio silence is usually an indication of cold feet

• In the candidate’s mind, the offer wasn’t strong enough. This is a pisser because we always try to agree on the financial requirements needed to join the company. (If you gave me salary range requirements of $40-$50K, I heard the lower number).   
• Your significant other got cold feet and, like Mr. Freeze, turned you to ice. 
• The current employer gave you a counteroffer. (This is also a pisser. We review what the conversation will be like with the current employer when the notice is turned in. In addition, we explain the move in a way that is usually foolproof)
• The candidate is lazy. They got to the goal line, received the offer, and now feel no urgency. Until your butt is in the seat, there is urgency. This is generally an indication in the company’s mind of how you are going to treat our customers, so we will start to consider retracting the offer.    

Shows over, move along

As soon as we start receiving radio silence, mentally and emotionally, I have moved on. If I receive radio silence after I throw down, I go into Club Mode. Think of your classic scene in a club where a guy asks a girl to dance. We have all seen this one play out. 

Our recruiter invited the candidate to the Big Dance. “Hey, you are so beautiful (qualified), you want to dance (you want a job)”?  If I get the silent treatment, if I am ignored, like anyone, I will feel rejected and embarrassed. I come back hard.  “Well, f#$% you then, you were ugly anyway”.  Moving forward, I don’t just get ugly; I get dirty-ugly. 

I am no dumbass

I can’t take a chance on the candidate dragging out the process and not accepting the offer. The hiring manager will look to HR for an explanation. I don’t want to look like the dumbass that couldn’t anticipate this scenario. The way I can lessen the damage to my reputation is by being proactive and updating the hiring manager:

“I haven’t heard back from the candidate we gave the offer to, so I have started looking at new candidates and just renewed the job posting.”

Lookin’ out

I gotta look out for number one here. And just to be clear, I am number 1, the company is number 2, the hiring manager is number 3. Make no mistake, the candidate is number 4. Have you heard of “women and children first?” Step aside, child coming through. I am not going down because of an unknown commodity that didn’t have the courtesy or guts to give us a heads-up. “HRNasty, I am interested in your company, but I think I will get a compelling offer from someone else. Can I have two extra days” ” or “Nasty, hey, you had a compelling offer, but as I mentioned in the interview, I was also talking with Acme Printing. They gave me an offer, and I will go to Acme”.

If you want to string out the process, please do not think that I have forgotten about your offer or your buddy who put your name in the hat. If you are an internal referral or have received an offer, until I get some closure, you are all I am thinking and worrying about. 

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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