In one of my recent blog posts I addressed the fact that Dallas / Fort Worth is a Hot Market for IT candidates and, hopefully, by now you have started to convince your clients of the same.
I have spoken to a number of staffing companies and hiring managers over the last few months and I am hearing things like “Best month we’ve had in two years”, “I can’t remember the last time we’ve made so many offers”. As a blogger who actually works in the IT Staffing and Services business, I can personally tell you that I haven’t seen this many job orders in a couple of years and the candidates are getting multiple offers and quickly taking new positions. Which brings me to my new philosophy…………”It only takes one!”
My philosophy on covering jobs has always and continues to be at least 3 qualified candidates per open job requirement; however, with this sudden influx of opportunities my new thought is it only takes one qualified candidate to get the job. If you are an IT Account Manager or Recruiter, you understand the value in expediting or shortening the sales cycle. It’s time to start pressing our buyers (Clients, Hiring Managers, HR, Procurement, etc) to do the same. If we can collectively push our clients to make a decision once they’ve seen a great candidate, we’ll all be better for it.
It only takes one great candidate to get the deal. I know that some of your clients like to compare candidates, but as soon as our clients start in on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th candidate, they could lose the “one” to another company willing to make the move. Remember that the clients are always the last to know that the market is hot and it is our duty as IT Service Professionals to educate them.
Let’s collectively take the first step by letting our clients know that it only takes one great candidate and that the days of interviewing 8 people for 1 position are coming to an end.
We also need to move the “It only takes one!” philosophy to the interview process itself. I actually like clients that have the phone screen – face to face – offer process. We need to get past the 4/5 different interviews for the same candidate. I know that some clients like to believe that they are being thorough and that it adds value but as a 17 year veteran of recruiting (wildly successful I might add) it doesn’t. Too many client interviews waste valuable time in production for existing staff and personal time for the candidate. If a client wants to do 4 or 5 different interviews, knock them out in 1 day. Good candidates don’t like waiting, especially the good ones that are currently working (Taking time out of work to interview can be stressful). It’s OK if you don’t agree with me – I’ll show you my numbers if you show me yours.
Even if you don’t agree with the “It only takes one!” philosophy, at least educate your clients that the market is hot. We IT Staffing and Service professionals are the first to know. I mean, we do this for a living don’t we? Our clients usually can be a 6 month lag if we leave them unchecked. Let’s not let that happen.
I sincerely hope that we can collectively build an “It only takes one!” mindset and hopefully get it to catch on.
Tags: Dallas Corporate IT Recruiter, Dallas IT Jobs, Dallas IT Recruiter, Dallas IT Recruiters, Dallas IT Staffing, Dallas Recruiter, Dallas Recruiting, DFW IT, IT Recruiter, IT Recruiting Dallas, IT Staffing, Kevin Womack, Kmack