By Todd Vician
I had recruited this particular candidate for a full-time position in a large consulting firm. He impressed everyone during a rigorous interview process – he was judged to be an excellent fit in skills, prior experience, business acumen, and cultural fit to our organization. My interactions with him were all extremely positive and he appeared to be extremely excited for the opportunity. He was seemingly one of those candidates whom we all like to find.
We extended him an offer that exceeded his salary expectation, had a project ready and waiting for him which met his professional interests, and proceeded to schedule his start date; he and I spoke several times on the phone during this stretch and e-mailed back and forth to lock in the timing for his start – he continued to show great enthusiasm and excitement all this time. We had several direct conversations about his departure from his current employer, and he kept me posted on his exit discussions with them and everything appeared to be a go. Suddenly, as of the week prior to his scheduled start date, he wasn’t responding to multiple e-mail messages about his first day of onboarding. He also no longer returned my calls.
When I finally reached him at 4pm on the Friday prior to his scheduled Monday start, he informed me that his current company had made a counter offer the week prior which he “just had to honor” and so he was staying with them. He stated that he « just wasn’t sure of the best way to tell us ». I gently reminded him of all the concerns he had expressed about his current company, the opportunity for a fresh start, how our role was more aligned to his stated future goals…etc. But, he was unswayed and he reneged his acceptance with us. So, I wished him well but also candidly shared with him that I didn’t expect we could ever come to terms again given that we now had to try to backfill the role we had sold him into with our client and might lose the work and client as a result. I impressed upon him that it wasn’t a personal issue but that his decision resulted in a very negative experience on
our business and in our client relationship. I also commented that if he had any cold feet, he should have notified us sooner as a courtesy.
our business and in our client relationship. I also commented that if he had any cold feet, he should have notified us sooner as a courtesy.
Fast-forward to two years later when said candidate applies again for another position with us, making no mention in his cover letter of the preceding experience. I responded with a generic ‘thanks but no thanks’ e-mail message because I was not about to be hosed a second time by him. He replied to the generic message explaining that he had applied in the past and would really like to be considered again given how much he still really liked our company and wanted to be a part of it (!). In this response, he referenced only that he had interviewed with us but that “it didn’t work out” and wasn’t sure if we remembered him from before. At this point, I responded to him personally, identifying myself and reminding him that I recalled not only him but also exactly how the chain of events occurred and it was a bit different than his summary recollection: you interviewed – we liked you – you accepted an offer – you locked in a start date and repeatedly engaged with us to lock in details over a two week period in advance of starting – then you went completely dark – we finally hunted you down on the last business day before your start – at that time and only then did you share you had a counter-offer and had made up your mind to stay put – you reneged an acceptance – we were left holding the flaming bag – we lost the project and the client work. A bit different than “it didn’t work out”.
I reminded him of the significant impact he had on our business as a result of his decision, and that I had told him at that time we would never entertain his candidacy again and that we meant it and would be passing on him this time, and anytime in the future. I ensured his record in the ATS reflected the full and ugly story (blow by blow) so that it would live on beyond me and to prevent another recruiter in our company from engaging with him and not knowing the prior experience we had with him.
I learned the following:
- You NEVER really know a candidate’s intent, but that doesn’t mean you should cease trying to get as close an understanding of their motivations as possible. However, some candidates are flaky or unprofessional or unpredictable and therefore impossible to read.
- I don’t count my chickens before they hatch: always keep additional candidates warm in the pipeline and never celebrate that placement even one business day in advance. When prepping a candidate for exit discussions with their current company, probe hard to ferret out any misgivings or potential cold feet. Even if they don’t hint at any.
- But most importantly, I learned to keep track of the flaky candidates out there because, like a horror film zombie, they will rise from the dead again and bite you if you aren’t prepared!
Well, it can indeed happen with candidates, but if I could deliver some statistics, I would say this is also sth that customers do: « those candidates were indeed brilliant and we very appreciated, but we found a solution with s.o. already employee from the company ». Results is the same (worked for nothing) and I used to gently ask the customer to first look in their office if they have a clock before to ask me what time is it.
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