This may be hard to believe (I have to pinch myself just to be sure) … but looking back at my entire 2019 – hiring through both strategic search assignments and in-house TA – I closed 100% of my jobs without a single offer decline when I owned the full-cycle candidate interface from start to finish. I don’t have the exact numbers, but I estimate that statistic is across a couple dozen openings that progressed to offer stages in 2019 (not counting mass interview days, nor when I was filling reqs as a front-end talent sourcer within a split-desk Sourcer / Talent Advisor model … though, those still had to have been in the 90%s).

What did I do? Maybe I got lucky this year, but I simply did what I always do:

(1) Put the candidate’s interests and my client’s interests above my own, sometimes at the expense of (a bit of) time & volume. How does that take shape?

·     Requiring deep conversations upfront, whether it’s the search intake or the job pitch to the candidate. (This meant walking away from prospective candidates who didn’t want to have a phone call to discuss their career and the role; and walking away from companies who wouldn’t take the time to transfer the knowledge necessary to take their direct-hire search to market and successfully fill it).

·     Requiring candidates to take a day or two for researching the opportunity, digesting the info, conducting a ‘gut check’ to make sure they’re mentally and emotionally ready to seriously look at a new job and company … and then get back to me to discuss where they ended up after those couple days, and why.

·     Strategic selling, and looking for authentic value. Reverting back to that first bullet above, I require a live conversation (multiple, actually) with every candidate to learn their motivators and passions, and then together we decide if it’s worth spending the time exploring the open opportunity. What does this do? (a) it allows us to save time and energy on something that has a high likelihood of not closing at the end; (b) it allows me to start closing immediately – putting those puzzle pieces together – at the first call, if I determine that my job may add value to the prospective candidate’s life, based on what I learn about their motivators. And really, it may be “closing,” but as you’ll read further, the candidate enthusiastically drives this process because they’re genuinely interested.

(2) While selling, I give everyone a clear “out.” (Then, if they still bite, they’re driving that process and they’re committed … and they’re more likely to convert).

·     When I require my prospective candidate to take a couple days to think about my opportunity, I encourage them to pass on it if it just doesn’t feel right.

·     I debrief with my candidates after every interview with my hiring team, and as they explore, I support them in withdrawing if they decide it makes the most sense. And I encourage them to keep going if they’re feeling good. (Pretty simple).

·     I debrief with my hiring contact(s) after every interview, and if they disposition a candidate, I course-correct and find more. I stay true to the service I commit to providing.

(3) Based on what I learn while leading the process, I anticipate and I communicate (and start closing). Here’s just one example of that dialogue taking shape:

[ME TO CANDIDATE]: “So it sounds like you’re intrigued and would like to chat with this company … but will be vetting this quite thoroughly and will have questions around growth track, current tools in place, stance on investing in new tools if it makes sense, and culture and politics around leadership decision-making. Right?”

[CANDIDATE TO ME]: “Yes, exactly. My interests are piqued, but I’ll be evaluating those items closely.”

[ME TO CANDIDATE]: “I understand. What I’ll do then is submit your interest and highlight your strengths and capabilities – and why you took my call, have spoken to me twice now and updated your resume for consideration – and just set the company’s expectations that you’re still a “passive candidate” and that it would be a good idea to carve enough meeting time so you can have really thorough exchanges, and get all your questions answered. How does that sound?”

[CANDIDATE TO ME]: “Awesome, thank you.”

[ME TO CLIENT]: “Here’s [candidate X]. They have the skills and qualifications you seek, including ‘purple squirrel’ traits ABC 🙂 I discussed their motivations and determined they’re legit, and after I tapped them on the shoulder they have gone through my whole pre-screening process, which as you know is a test to gauge if they’re serious about this: they responded to my email and spoke with me between meetings; they took a couple days to think about the job and called me back to tell me why they’re intrigued and have a pre-interview with me; they updated their resume just for you, and they can interview on [these dates/times]. That said, if you like what you see and want to bring them in, just know that they will have a lot, maybe 8-10 pretty strategic questions around growth track, tools and processes your department has in place, your stance on investing in new tools if it makes sense, and how key business decisions are made at the top of the org.”

[CLIENT TO ME]: “Ok. Fair enough. Thanks for the heads-up.”

[ME TO CLIENT]: “That’s how I like to partner in this process. Also, as you meet with them, if you find yourself liking them and flipping into sales mode, they have told me that they really value [XYZ] and their pain points were [123]. You can start speaking to those. Conversely, just know that they will likely find [ABC] fairly off-putting and not their style. So that’s something you should know upfront as well, as a culture gauge.”

In these brief dialogues lie elements of sales and learning pain points / motivators, acknowledging & validating concerns, setting expectations, and closing … yet staying true to everyone’s best interests. That is, I believe, how I close with such success. I also recognize the downside to my approach: speed and volume. But personally, I’ll take working with precision and high close rates; high amounts of smiles and repeat business; and delivering swiftly on fewer but higher-quality outcomes … over shooting broadly at higher volumes with lower close rates. There are those recruiters – I’m just not one of them.

EMPLOYERS: Sign up for our monthly employer newsletter & talent view here.

MARKETERS: Sign up for our monthly talent newsletter here.