HOW TO CLOSE WITH A CANDIDATE

The most crucial part of the recruitment process!!! 

We all know the challenges of finding the right person that matches with your expectations. And once you have found the ‘perle rare’ (‘rare pearl’ as they say in French) you promise yourself to ‘never let go’.  

Still, even if you are convinced about this match, your candidate will still need to be persuaded as well. Here are some examples why that is a challenge: 

  • As hiring manager you are also entitled to have a bad day, and if you happen to meet your perfect match then they may have doubts about you; 
  • You may be convinced but he/she would like to have more responsibilities than you can offer;   
  • The candidate has multiple applications running, yours is only one of many. This often happens in today’s recruitment market. 

So what can you do: 

  • Keep the momentum going. Try to organize only truly necessary interviews and plan these on the same day or (if that’s not possible) briefly after each other. Be open to do video interviews; 
  • Make sure that they meet future colleagues asap, your current team members will be your ambassadors; 
  • Be open and transparent about what the candidate can expect at your company. If they feel that you are honest they will believe your arguments about him/her being  a great fit;  
  • Be flexible to adapt the job description to their expectations. Roles change continuously anyway, so why not mold the role to be a perfect fit for your new recruit?!; 
  • Surprise him/her by making a concrete proposal right away, ideally a signed contract; 
  • Set a short deadline for them to make their decision such as giving an expiration date of maximum one week (or less); 

If none of this works, then accept that it was not ‘meant to be’, and know that there are more than one perfect matches!  

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