A great recruiter experience

Forget the candidate experience

We have all read about the candidate’s experience.  I want to share a fantastic “recruiter experience” I recently had.  Why does a “recruiter experience” matter? Why would I take the time to share this experience with a blog that is geared towards job candidates?  Because of my excellent recruiter experience, I worked REALLY hard to get this candidate into our company. Doesn’t every candidate want a recruiter fighting for them?  We didn’t even have an opening for this candidate.  Think about that.  No opening, and the recruiter is fighting to make a hire.

There is a term in the field of recruiting called a “candidate experience”.  This term refers to everything a candidate “experiences,” whether poor or great, as they go through the interview experience.  Hiring companies want to provide a great candidate experience.  The thought is that if a candidate interviews with a company and has a crappy experience, they are not going to want to work with that hiring company.  

When did the candidate experience start to matter?

I don’t know how long this term has been around. I have a hunch it came around with an economy where candidates can be picky and the introduction of the Internet. With the advent of the Internet, companies like Glassdoor.com and sites with forums like Reddit suddenly have visitors who not only provide an avenue to rant but may also have an opinion or a grudge.   

circa MadMen

Younger generations won’t put up with a shitty interview experience because this is viewed as an extension and a peek into the company itself. Younger generations have taught companies that employees want to work with a company that embraces and values them, not a company that treats their employees like rented mules.  Yesteryear’s employment practices, circa MadMen, may have run a different show and been able to get away with telling the women to show a little more leg, but this is the 21^st century, Obama just got re-elected, and these Imperial Roman time practices don’t fly.  A dirty bathroom in a restaurant gives a bad vibe and raises questions about the sanitation practices of the restaurant.  A lousy candidate experience raises questions as to the company culture. It provides insight to the management of a company. 

In the same way, the candidate has an “experience” with every company, I have a “recruiter experience” with every candidate we talk with.

Recruiting narrative

I attended an event where author Brad Feld and a number of heavy hitters made up a panel speaking on Brad’s most recent book.  Typical of these events, attendees were catching up with old friends and making new ones, AKA networking.

I met our candidate casually. Introduced by a friend, it was apparent within just a few seconds that this guy had “it.” I have a tough time describing what “it” is, but he smiled, talked, made fun of himself, and was interested in what others had to say. The cherry on top? He listened. He wasn’t the center of attention, but he held his own, and this is as close as I can come to describing “it.”  

My recruiting Spidey sense went off. I knew I wanted to get to know this guy.  My initial hunch is that he isn’t a straight-up developer.  This guy has a little too much style and a little too much charisma for a code monkey.  My initial thought was a designer or UI/UX guy.  This town is in short supply of both skill sets, but we thankfully happen to be flush with them.        

Introductions were made, and he knew our CEO and myself through close mutual friends and colleagues.  Thankfully, this doesn’t turn him off.     

Great timing for us

I quickly learned that he had just turned in his two weeks’ notice at a world-class tech employer/brand because he was tired of the corporate world. Mr Perfect wanted to get back to his roots.  He is a startup guy, a prior co-founder, and the first employee of a well-known local company that scaled.  Bingo!  I am practically drooling.  Rarely do you find someone unemployed, looking for a gig, and with tech chops in this town.   You get 2 out of the 3, but you don’t get all three.  Yes, I am getting tingly inside, and if Mrs. HRNasty was watching, she would be raising her eyebrows and wondering about these two metros.

So as not to tip my hand, I don’t explain that I am playing recruiter or let on about any of our openings. I do ask, “What technologies are you passionate about? ” I am trying to triangulate, “What kind of company are you looking for?”

Not desperate, taking his time

All I get is “I am looking for the right team”.  “I am not so passionate about any one technology; it’s is all about the right team, man.” Yes, that urban hipster attitude with a casual and relaxed attitude was starting to show.  He wasn’t desperate for a job either.  This live one just quit a high-paying gig, and he was going to be choosy.  He either had an inner confidence or the open bar gave it to him.  I suspected the former.   “You know, it’s all about the team and the people, dude.”  

I grok where he is coming from.  He knows that the divorce papers will be signed within 2 weeks with his BigBox company. Like anyone coming out of a long-term relationship, the next relationship is going to bring WHATEVER THE FRICK WAS MISSING with the last relationship.  If my last girlfriend didn’t like it when I watched football all day on Sunday, you can bet that the requirement for the next shorty will be that I won’t hear a peep when I watch TV all day Sunday in my tighty-whities.  I OWN the remote on Sundays.  If the last girlfriend didn’t like me going fishing on the weekends, the next girl better have a weekend job or like to dig worms and clean fish.  With this guy, the next company would give him what he was missing at BigBox.  This guy wanted a “team”.

I need more

I respect working with the right people, but that isn’t enough.  The team I am recruiting for is greedy. We want someone who can also become passionate about what we are doing as a company. 

We talked, got to know each other better, exchanged contact info, and said we would keep in touch.  It wasn’t one of those insincere “let’s do lunch” partings.  We knew we would meet back up after the effects of an open bar were behind us. 

On my way home, I was trying to figure out what role this guy could fill for us.  He didn’t have the exact skill sets we needed, but I felt good about him. Get him on the bus, figure the rest out later.

My mind was racing.  I knew that time was short.  This guy already had several interviews and coffee meetings lined up to determine his next move.  He already had flights set up for interviews out of the state. 

Man-Crush

Yes, I had a man crush on this candidate. I was trying to figure out, “HOW COULD I FIT HIM INTO OUR ORG?”  Let me say that one more time: I, the recruiter, am trying to figure out, “HOW CAN I FIT THIS GUY INTO OUR ORG?”  Every candidate should want a mole, a rat fink, a double agent on the inside doing their dirty work. I am the rat-fink. 

Over the next few days, we exchanged emails and phone calls. I am trying to triangulate how to sell this guy to the rest of the team and what skills he brings to us.

In the next 48 hours, we pull an offer from a candidate and Booyah!  Opening baby! I might know a guy.

Don’t fuck it up

Over the next couple of days, our candidate fits us into his schedule of job interviews. The schedule included trips to the Bay Area and a few other cities. Whenever he comes into the office, he is gracious and energetic.  Some employees wonder why we are interviewing this candidate because his skill set doesn’t quite match what we seek. They are sold on him when they come out of the interview room.  “Don’t fuck it up” is a common saying around our company and as much as it is said in a joking manner, it is usually only mentioned on serious projects.  I get some “don’t fuck it up” because the rest of the team wants to work with this guy. It has now become my responsibility to get his butt into the seat.

Of course, I have been setting expectations with the team that this guy is interviewing and that we aren’t the only cowboys at the dance.

What stood out

• He came into the office with energy after interviewing all morning with another company.  He made no excuses, and he got himself fired up.
• The “interviews” were conversations and continuations of the initial meeting at the event. The interview wasn’t an interview.     
• Before leaving the office, he made it a point to shake hands with the people he interviewed and thank them in person.
• He thanked everyone for taking the time to interview and said, “I know it is tough to organize all of these meetings and take the time out of your day.”

He did his research and was transparent

• He researched the company and was very articulate about his interest in working with us. 
• He was transparent. He told us that his fiancée was very interested in moving to California and tired of the weather here in Seattle. (We interviewed him in March after a record rainfall.) He also told me about the companies he was interviewing with, their status, rank, and the stage of the talks. The candidate experience for each was telling.

Ultimately, we didn’t even get to push an offer out.  He accepted a role California where he and his fiancée could enjoy the sun. 

The candidate has style

What made this experience over the top for me was that he asked if he could stop by again. He wanted to say “thank you to the guys” for taking the time out to get to know the team and the company.  Here is a guy who is leaving the state, and we will probably never see them again. He still wants to say “thanks” in person.  When he enters the office, he has a bottle of Jaegermeister with a bow and a card.  A cat is on the card’s cover, reflecting an inside joke within the company.  I don’t know if the Jaegermeister and Thank You were a reflection of the type of candidate experience the team here delivers, but this guy delivered a great recruiter experience.

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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