Dallas Headhunter - Headhunters Can Damage Company Reputation

Jan. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- These days businesses dedicate a large amount of effort, money and time to build up and guard and build up their reputation and brand name in the market place.

A businesses reputation has an huge impact on it's growth and success. The importance of developing positive relationships with customers, suppliers, staff, community leaders, the media, and a variety of other groups, represents a large investment and should be closely guarded.

Often Overlooked

One very important (and usually overlooked) group a business must consider when strengthening its reputation are the candidates who are contacted by the company’s recruiting agents. These people are asked to consider an opportunity with the organization, and many of them are asked for interviews with one or more of the company’s representatives.

The Problem

Regrettably, often candidates are misinformed or oversold about the particular opening they are asked to consider. Sometimes candidates are not supplied meaningful feedback about their candidacy, and some people receive no communication after an initial contact or even after an interview.

In his recent book, Deciding Who Leads, Joseph Daniel McCool reveals several interesting insights about the executive search profession. He notes that the profession needs to admit its shortcomings in how candidates are treated and the effect of this poor treatment on the recruiter and the client company.

He states that:

"Job candidates judge a potential employer by the humanity that is extended (or most often not extended) by people they believe - rightly or wrongly - should give them some consideration."

Both internal, as well as external, recruiters are often guilty of this. Most recruiters are not malicious or intentional in their misinformation or lack of communication. Generally, they are vsimply very busy, and they have other searches and deadlines which result in this lapse in quality service. Furthermore, many people don’t like to provide the news to a candidate that they have not been selected for a position; thus, they may avoid this unpleasant task, usually at the expense of the company’s reputation. Whatever the reason, lots of candidates come away from the recruiting process with a negative impression of the company.

The Solution

A company ought to make a very deliberate effort to steer clear of these pitfalls in its recruiting process.

- Don’t oversell the opportunity on the front end and disappoint the candidate as the process moves forward.

- Make every attempt to ensure that all aspects of the process are handled professionally and that all candidates are extended some basic common courtesy.

- Ensure that the information shared with candidates is accurate and timely.

If an external resource is used by the company to fill a position,

- Make certain that the headhunter, recruiter or executive search firm has a long track record of treating each candidate with a very high level of professionalism and consideration.

- Even go as far as asking for testimonials/references from candidates that were not selected for a position represented by the headhunter. That person ought to be able to talk favorably about his/her experience with the recruiter and the business offering the position.

In today’s market, a positive recruiting experience for all candidates will truly distinguish a company from its competitors and will go a long way to further improve the company’s reputation in the marketplace.

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Carl J. Taylor & Co. is an executive search firm based in Dallas with over 20 years industry experience. Visit http://www.carltaylorco.com and download our popular Executive Search Answers report free.