Spooking potential hires

“I refuse to join a club that would have me for a member” - Groucho Marx


We were interviewing for a role and had already talked to 30+ candidates. If we talk to 30 people, you can imagine how many resumes we looked through and phone screens we did to get there. 

We finally found someone who was a great fit. 

Instead of going through the entire process, like we normally do, we skipped one of the final interviews and moved to make an offer. Ironically, we just ended up spooking this great candidate. 

The candidate didn't see our huge filtering process and level of due diligence. They didn’t see how much effort we put into every single hire. They didn’t see how many people we talked to that we didn’t bring on board. 

All they saw was a company that seemed to make quick decisions, without enough reflection. If we had continued our normal interview process, they would have seen our high level of diligence. 

Great candidates want to join great teams. They don’t want to join companies without a strong filter, since they’ll end up with subpar coworkers and a subpar company.

This candidate didn’t end up working out. But, we fixed our process. No matter how good a candidate, we stick to the process, so they can see how much effort we put into making sure every hire is a great fit.
5 responses
Perhaps it's all you and not the candidate or the processes.
Definitely a possibility. I talked to the candidate. Part of the issue was how fast the process went, but it's hard to get perfect information. There will always be some speculation involved.
Sounds like you need to read "If carpenters were hired like programmers." Google it.
Todd, awesome read.
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