Why just sending one CV for a perfect candidate will never be enough

Recruiters - three is the magic number!

Have you ever had the perfect candidate for a role and yet still sent other candidate profiles too? I was told about a recent comment made by an experienced recruiter who was annoyed that having sent one CV of a perfect candidate for a role, that they were then asked to send over a couple more by their client. They were frustrated by the ask and took to social media to moan about it. They'd found them THE perfect candidate - which had taken them a long time to do. Given that the recruiter had done such a great job at sourcing a unicorn candidate; the client wanted to see more. In fact because they had only bothered to send one CV, the client didn't appreciate how much time it had taken to find that ideal candidate. What the recruiter failed to do was understand the client's perspective and clearly hadn't asked the right questions of their client. A client will never want to settle on one candidate for a recruitment process. They need to identify what is available to them in the market place, who they appeal to and work out how well they will fit into the team dynamic alongside the value that the candidate will bring to that business. Skills are one thing and a good indicator of potential but candidate cultural fit is vital. Employers need to be confident that they are in fact hiring the right candidate that will fit into their business and team dynamic. Recruiting is costly and no one wants to get it wrong. Neither should the recruiter - they risk damaging their reputation.

At Auxeris, consultants will present a select few candidates to the client

At Auxeris we trust our network of experienced specialist recruiters to work in the way that suits them best. They are experienced professionals and we share the same core values; never overcharge our clients; never ghost clients or candidates - be human, be honest, be kind; never suggest a candidate to a client unless you have met and assessed them against the role and cultural fit and lastly never use a ‘scattergun’ approach for sending CVs to clients. Only send the top tier that closely meets a client’s requirements in both the candidates talent, potential and cultural fit.

Unicorn candidate maybe, but the client needs to compare

As tempting as it will be to send just one CV (especially if you have that unicorn candidate who shouts BINGO as soon as you read their experience and then birds start singing and the sun shines when you meet them).......sorry rather distracted there…. you need quite simply someone to benchmark them against. You have your superstar candidate and alongside you send one or two to show the alternatives in the marketplace so your client can see exactly why your star candidate is ‘the chosen one’ and why there is a need to move quickly.

It's called search and selection for a reason

At Auxeris consultants will never send a client a handful of CVs either. If candidates aren’t spot on accurate (or very, very close) then there is no point sending speculative, or maybe these might fit CVs. It's damaging to a recruiter's reputation and wastes a client’s time. Unless it’s high volume recruitment (which is very different) then find your top two - three candidates for the role, identify why they most closely match the criteria and submit them to your client. You should know quickly if you have nailed it. A client isn’t going to read through a dozen CVs for one role but they will read two or three exceptional CVs and most likely ask to meet them all.

Search is time consuming

Another thing to consider is the work that goes into finding candidates - sending one or 12 CVs fails to highlight this. One seems to imply little effort and the other that simply a database search was made and the top dozen results were selected. This is not how good recruiters work. They know their market and sector, they spend getting to know who are the high level candidates, they know what to look for and the questions to ask. They spend time talking to and meeting candidates so that they can match them to a business both in terms of experience and qualifications as well as cultural fit. A good recruiter will, for every role, not only look at their candidate database/ talent pool and advertisement responses but also their network and get recommendations and suggestions from sources. They will have spent a long time filtering out unsuitable candidates, down to those who are right for the job.

Clients - understand what type of agency your recruiter comes from

Be careful your recruiter isn’t at an agency that has high workloads and unrealistic KPIs. This can mean that the recruiter is put under pressure to cut corners, when they need to be taking their time to fully search the marketplace and assess the talent on your behalf. At Auxeris, each specialist recruiter in our network is in control of their own workload. They are the best judge of how they work and the optimum level of work they need for success.

A specialist recruiter will save the client time by being an extension of their business, can sell the role and company to the candidate effectively and can assess against fit not just for the role but for the organisation.

If you are looking for specialist support for your next hire or you would like to talk to us about proactive recruitment and how Auxeris can help - get in touch here for a confidential conversation today. We're an agency that has a network of experienced, specialist recruiters who will work with you to help you identify and recruit top talent for your business. We'll become an extension of your business, an experienced consultative ear, to help you build successful teams that boost your bottom line.