You consider yourself a good or even great Recruiter, right? You do what it takes to pump picture perfect resumes to hiring managers. You phone screen for loads of background detail on experience andsalary history and availability dates. You answer basic questions about the job and arrangeinterviews with qualified candidates.
When hear feedback that the interview wasn't good, the candidate wasn't a "fit" you shake your headand mutter colorful expletivesdescribing the hiring manager's lack of intelligenceand wonder how she got her position. The candidate was perfectly qualified, on time and dressed professionally for the interview. Should have been a hire.
How does a Recruiter improve theinterview to hire ratio?
Some Recruiters have an easier time of it than others if they are working with ATS systems that have integrated psychometric profileassessments or cultural fit surveys. For those that don't have that luxury, it's a little more challenging butaccomplished by creating a comprehensive candidate profile of personality, attitudes, motivation, experiences and behaviors, and comparing it to a similar profilefor the company, team and hiring manager to assess thecandidate's potential for cultural "fit".
Recently, as guest on the Recruiting Animal Show, the topic of cultural fit and a Recruiter's role in assessing it came up as we discussed my assertion that many Recruiters are on auto-pilot, sacking resumes from their ATS and online job board accounts and lacking passion for their job andpeople. Though there was certain support of my view, I knew the comment would sting some of my colleagues andexpected the ensuingheated dialog and comments like, "it's not my job, my job is to present qualified candidates".
To me that's marginal performance at best. Though it's more work for a Recruiter, it's better customer service to submit a few candidates who are not only competency sound but also culturally compatible with the organization.
After the show I continued thinking about the conversation and decided to do a little research. Google returned 4,170,000 hits on the topic "cultural fit" (for all those in denial). What I discovered is that yes, while the precept of cultural fit is esteemed by all kinds of organizations, it's largely ignored by Recruiters who continue to leave its evaluation to the client.
Is it the Recruiter's job to do all this? After all, the hiring decision resides with the client. It is the Recruiter's job if your goal is to make clients for life, have more referral business, have a reputation as a legendary placement wizard and have hiring managers cooing over you singing your praises.
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