Open Up. Be Real.

By Steve McKinney
President, McKinney Consulting, Inc.

Selling The Company To The Talent Pool! Part I.

All executive search professionals have received a mandate to find and hire Superman at some time or another in their career. In fact, that's what companies come to professional recruiters for - helping them locate and discern the hidden supermen behind the Clark Kent glasses. As it is their bread and butter, professional recruiters have necessarily focused on becoming adept at calling in the candidates, unmasking them, and finding the best among them.  We do it every day. We're good at it.  

Now comes the tricky part. Companies get us to help them discern the best match, and the best choice. But who do the candidates have to help them to make the best decision? Most of the time, the answer is no one.  Companies know what they have to offer, they know when they are the best fit, and they know they have the best solution for a particular candidate's needs.  But the candidates don't know these things. Candidates don't know the internal realities of companies' situations. All too often they can only guess on things they consider important. Hiring managers can beg and plead and insist that they are a good match and a good place for the candidate to be, and it can all be true, but the candidate can still choose to go somewhere else.

Candidates don't need more persuading. They need more information, so they can persuade themselves. When the information available to a candidate is limited the chances are high they will make a mistake.

Can the Company Be on the Candidate's Side Too?

If a company truly is the best place for a candidate, the more open it is, and the more likely it is that the best person will choose to sign on the line which is dotted.  If it is not the best place for the candidate, it is better to find that out before hiring rather than after. Getting Superman and then finding out no one is happy with the arrangement never works.  The more transparent a company is and the earlier it decides to be so, the better the chance of helping the candidate make the right decision.  There can be only one advocate for the candidate, the only one he or she will truly trust - the hiring company, itself.  Outside recruiting professionals can have some influence, but it pales in comparison to the power of honesty flowing from the hirer.

There is a second bonus companies can gain from being honest up front about themselves and the opportunity they are offering. I am referring to the bonus of winning the candidate's trust right from the beginning. Maybe a company doesn't offer the most money. Maybe it doesn't have some of the other 'sweeteners' other companies can offer. Sincerity in recruiting, transparency in approaching, and honesty in negotiating, go a long way toward closing those gaps.

So maybe a company doesn't offer some of the things that others do. Being up front about what the company does offer, and why those things matter will help.

Maybe there are some challenges to be overcome. It helps being up front about the challenges a candidate can expect at the company and the expectations that management has for the role.

Being up front about what a company doesn't want helps.

Being up front about why the role is structured the way it is, why the salary and compensation is structured the way it is, and how the candidate should consider the risk/reward structure of the job helps. In a nutshell, every little bit helps.

The Power of Letting the Candidate Decide Before the candidate makes a choice, there are likely to be several companies shouting messages at her. The candidate needs someone to help her cut through the noise and make a good decision. After the candidate makes a decision, she needs to feel the decision was a good one. People often search to find reasons to feel good about decisions they have made - they naturally want to believe their decision was the right one.  Candidates who make their own wide-eyed decisions, with full information, are more likely to work to make their new relationships good ones, and their new roles successful.  In short, letting the candidate take ownership of her decision is a tool for giving her a shortcut to taking ownership of the job.

Avoiding the Disconnect

The less the candidate knows going into a new job, the more likely there will be a disconnect between what the company expects and what the candidate expects. Is the company's offer a good one? The company may think so. How does the candidate know? He can't know until he knows what is expected of him. Will the candidate stick it out and make it work, no matter what obstacles await? There is a better chance he will if he knows that obstacles exist in the first place.

For companies that want to hire the best, open up, be real, in order to have a better chance of getting the right person to say yes today.

See also Selling Your Company to the Talent Pool! Part II.

Steven B. McKinney is the founder and president of McKinney Consulting Inc., who has over 12 years of experience as an Executive Search Consultant & is a Certified Master Coach. He serves on several boards including the American Chamber of Commerce-Korea and was bestowed Honorary Citizen of Seoul in 2007. Prior to the establishment of McKinney Consulting he had over 10 years of senior leadership experience in athletic footwear company giants, Adidas, Reebok and Converse etc.

About McKinney Consulting: McKinney Consulting is an executive search firm (sometimes simplified as executive recruiters or headhunters) which has placed hundreds of bi-lingual middle-senior level executives for multinational companies in Korea & Asia and was established in 2001. McKinney Consulting is a member of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC). In addition, McKinney Consulting provides behavioral-based coaching services with scientifically developed tools in coaching executives and businesses to excellence and success. McKinney Consulting coaches are members of the International Coaching Council. Also, McKinney offers Talent Management services such as the outsourcing of candidates and payroll services etc.