By Kris Dunn (hrcapitalist.com)

I was having a conversation with a high potential candidate last week, and she proceeded to tell me about a recent connection with a recruiter.  This candidate is bored, and “gettable” for the right company that can help her interrupt the career pattern she’s in.

She’s reached the expiration date of her shelf life in her current gig.  She either reinvents herself at her current company (made difficult by layers above her and a lot of specialization in her shop) or she moves on.   The expiration date sounds like it was 2 months ago.

The candidate’s not an active candidate yet, but she gets calls.  She recently returned a call from a big local company and had a nice conversation with a recruiter – a phone interview.

At the end of the call, which had gone well, the recruiter proceeded to say seven words that are like poison for a high potential candidate.

“We would love for you to apply”…

Here’s what goes through the high potential candidate’s mind when she hears those words from a big company with lots of red tape.  “Really?  You called me and I just gave you 30-45 minutes of my day.  All you have for me at the end of the call, with your interest level high, is “we would love for you to apply”?

I know, I know.  You’re a big company, and you’ve been instructed that you have to follow the process.  Lawsuits on the radar screen.  Definition of an applicant is important.  Shiz has to happen before you can move to the next step.  All valid points.

But, what’s not valid is the laziness of your recruiters in how they deliver that message.  “We would love for you to apply” takes the high potential candidate back to feeling average.  Back to feeling like your company is average.  And your recruiter says it so much and is so used to average talent wanting so desperately to work for your big company brand…. that they say it to the stars – the talent you really, really want.

And the stars, being stars, expect better treatment.  So they walk.  They never apply.

The right response at the moment of truth for your recruiters?  An explanation of why the process is what it is.  An acknowledgement to the stars that the whole thing is crazy.  An offer to help any way you can as a recruiter, and a promise to expedite once the candidate does “apply”.

Anything to make them feel something other than normal when you say those seven words.

Big companies with lots of red tape – I’m talking to you.  You know who you are.  You can be better than that.  If you’re a HR or recruiting leader in one of those big companies, you might say this directional conversation hasn’t happened in your org.

I’m betting it has.  What you assume is common sense isn’t so common for the kid recruiter without a ton of experience.