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The
biggest challenge we all have regarding candidates
is the candidate's misperception of the marketplace
and how their skills, abilities, and experience
stack up with what is available to our clients. The
biggest complaints we hear about ourselves is that a
candidate states, " Well, I can do that job why
won't you get me the interview?... I sent you my
resume, I am the most qualified that you can find I
can't understand why you can't get me an
interview?.... Can't you see I am perfect, just get
me in front of them, I'll get the job!... I'm the
best you've got, I can't understand why you didn't
respond to my phone call and resume!...." and so on.
Our best
candidates come from referrals or networking or
actually calling a presently employed,
well-qualified person and presenting a possible
better opportunity (recruiting). Some of us will
respond to a resume for a specific opportunity that
we might advertise (if we do that) or respond to
your phone call. Some of us will find your resume on
the Internet and call you.
Most
candidates, even qualified candidates, have no idea
how many excellent people there are available for
most opportunities. Candidates, as you know, if you
have learned anything from this program, have a
tendency to "see the world" through their own eyes
and their perceived ability to do a job. A good
recruiter, even with a narrow search assignment, can
usually begin with at least 100 to 200 "qualified"
candidates or resumes. Even the top retained search
firms, according to Kennedy Information, Inc., start
out with 100 to 300 candidates in the database for
each search they do. They then qualify and phone
screen those down to 20 to 50 candidates, in-depth
interview 10 candidates and present a final panel of
three to six candidates.
Candidates are often surprised and enlightened (or
shocked) when they understand the number of quality
candidates available for most positions and that
their being successful in even getting an interview
isn't based so much on their ability to do a job, as
it is their ability to get the job. Most candidates
do not see themselves in the light of how they
compare with other viable candidates. Most
candidates evaluate themselves based on their own
perception and unfortunately they don't have the
perspective of comparing themselves to 100 or even
50 other people at their same level of
professionalism.
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