"I Can Make That Horse Drink" and Other Recruiter Fallacies

Sometimes as recruiters an exaggerated sense of one's abilities is developed, and I think it's natural for any professional in any field to feel that way before they know better. As a kid you think you know everything until you realize how little you actually know. The same is true in our professional lives...

Fallacy: "I can attract anyone to this role."

Reality: Recruiters can't make candidates like a role, a company or a manager any more than they are predisposed to like them. We can lead them to the water but... really, what makes us different is that we are drawing the intersection of your Ven diagram and some of us are better than others. I'd like every role to fit exactly, but it almost never happens that way.

Fallacy: Candidates either want the job or not, there is no convincing them...

Reality: Candidates may be interested in a role, but invariably there has to be a reason for them to leave their current role and a reason for them to gravitate to another role.

Fallacy: 'Recruiters ask too many questions that don't matter. '

Reality: The more I know, and the more informed I am, the better I can identify the right fit.

Fallacy: Recruiters don't communicate enough.

Reality: I'm guilty of this in the past. This may actually be true but the utter reality is that recruitment is all communication and the vast amount of applications on some roles make it virtually impossible to get back to everyone. As an executive recruiter, I promise to get back to you, even though the message might not be what you want to hear.

Fallacy: Recruiters are heartless.

Reality: Not really. I think most recruiters care a lot. Sometimes to a fault. That often makes it difficult to give bad news or commiserate.

When thinking about recruitment, I know that parts of it are tailor made for me, other are a challenge. Couple that with the fact that I like most Talent Acquisition Professionals are human and prone to make mistakes and....sometimes things don't go as planned, and believe it or not we can't see every variable. Understanding the problem is the first step to the solution. I'm partway through step one...

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