This is not a regular success story

Being a head hunter is tough. Not that I want to complain. I love my work for the diversity of projects, the amazing people, that I meet during recruitment processes, and their life stories. Each of these stories is different, unique, difficult, sometimes told with a smile, sometimes with a hidden regret, but still successful. This success is the result of many factors, but the most important one is determination.

Let’s get back to the point. Sometimes, even if you try the hardest, you stick to your standards, you fight for good candidates, and something unexpectedly goes wrong. Even so wrong, that it ends with a headache and uttering a few uncensored words (silently, without witnesses).

This has happened to me recently while conducting the recruitment project for an international company, which is our client for many years. It was supposed to be an easy project. The only difficulty I noticed, at the level of preparing the brief, was the remuneration, slightly lower than the average. However, the company is superb – perfect for managerial development, offering a lot of challenges, access to knowledge and international projects.

We have started the search. It went quite well. I recommended 4 people, who were invited for individual Assessments. One of the candidates, which I suspected, the company might want to employ, asked for time to think, about whether it was a place for her. She did not choose her last employer well, so it seemed quite reasonable. Finally, she agreed to participate in the Assessment.

The evaluation of competencies went very well. The client was satisfied, he chose the candidate I was thinking about. We made her a job offer… and she refused. Why? Because the company’s office was too far from her home … Ouch! It hurt even more, as we talked about the company’s location during the first meeting. My thinking was – so much work was done and I’m at the starting point. The entire recruitment process, preparation, and implementation of the Assessment, everything is wasted.

Not at all.

Of course, it’s hard to swallow disappointment, when at the absolute finish, all the blocks are falling apart, but actually, only now, do I know these blocks in detail. The second round means an even higher level of candidates. At this stage, there are no more question marks.

There are so many points in the recruitment process, so many moments when something can go wrong. And unfortunately, it happens that once in a while, we have to go through the process again. It is determination and responsibility, that does not allow us to let go.

Being a head hunter is tough.

I am pleased to announce that the candidate starts working next Monday.