The fact is you make a placement only if your candidate gets an interview.

So your job as a recruiter is so much more than sourcing the talent and making the match. As important as they are, it’s all a waste of time if you don’t get your candidate sitting opposite your client.

And so you find yourself enthusiastically telling your client about this great candidate for his job, which he has told you he is desperate to fill. The candidate is a perfect fit, but of course, she has other interviews on the go. So you need to get her that interview fast. Your client listens, agrees she ‘sounds great’, and then utters those fateful words. “Just send me her résumé and I will get back to you”.

Mediocre recruiters do just that, and if the client reverts at all, it’s usually all too late, and a competitor quickly places your top candidate… somewhere else.

So, your job is to push back. Find a way to get that candidate an interview. And it must be done on this call, right now.

Here is how:

Firstly, you say,

“I will send you a résumé Mr. Client, in due course. However it’s clear she is worth you seeing quickly, as she fits your role so well. In fact I will stake my reputation with you that you will not waste your time seeing her. She is a prime candidate, and I want you to secure seeing her before she goes to one of your competitors.”

Then, if the client needs more persuading, you elaborate,

“Mr. Client, while I do have the candidate’s permission to talk to you, she does not want to hawk her résumé around town. Between the candidate and I, we have isolated just a handful of opportunities she is interested in. Yours is one of those. She is a perfect fit, and is keen to work for your company. We really should move fast to see her, and let her know that you want to see her, or else we allow her other options to have an advantage over you. It is best we set up a time now, and the résumé will follow well before the meeting.”

But then, if required, you have the clincher. So obvious, so true, but hardly ever raised by recruiters in this situation.

“What is there on the résumé Mr. Client that I cannot tell you in far more detail right now?”

How brilliant is that? It cuts through everything. I mean, what can a piece of paper tell a client that you, who interviewed the candidate, reference checked the candidate, and has a relationship with the candidate, cannot tell him far, far better?

Indeed, there are many critical hiring criteria that a résumé CANNOT tell the client, but you can. For example.

• Her personality. She is honest, sincere, believable, humorous, charismatic, determined. These are the types of characteristics crucial to success in many jobs. Does a résumé expose those?
• Her attitude. She is co-operative, a ‘can do’ person, willing, cheerful, a team player. Again, clients talk so much about culture and team fit, and you can offer those insights, while a three-page résumé cannot.
• Her appearance. She is professional, smart, impeccably groomed. Or, she is hip, fashionable, edgy. We all know that different employers have different styles, and you cannot see that on a résumé.
• Her circumstances. Under what conditions has she achieved what she has? For example, she hit the sales targets mentioned on the résumé, but she did this without getting any leads handed to her at all. She had to source all her clients from scratch, and what’s more, she did that while her husband was ill, and she had to deal with her kids at the same time.
• Her real reason for leaving a job. Sometimes these can be sensitive. Maybe there was sexual harassment situation, or a legitimate personality clash, that cannot, and should not, be put on a résumé, where it looks ugly and maybe suspicious. But if it can be discretely explained, in many cases you can ensure it reflects well on your candidate.
• You can explain the passion with which a referee endorses your candidate… that is best explained verbally and it has great power to say “The CEO of APEX industries said she was the best Account Director he has ever worked with in 30 years”.
• On the telephone you can sell real examples of her traits and skills. You can actually tell stories of her achievements, outline how she overcame adversity and detail her wins… not as easy to do on a résumé. And anyway, who says your client will even read the résumé you send him. Mostly they don’t, or they skim.

So, your job is to get your candidate interviewed. Don’t stumble at the first tricky hurdle, which will often be “send me the résumé”. You are a ‘consultant’ and trusted advisor, and advocate for your candidates.

You have the words and the tools, above. You just need the courage to fight the good fight, and get your candidate an opportunity to shine.

It’s in the interview that the magic happens.

Make sure she gets that interview.

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