I'll Take Cake

Candidate interface. Client interface. Knowing the goals of both is necessary and easily deemed tiresome. Not exactly the most exciting part of the job. Candidates and Clients: when you discover a lack of cohesion between the two, do you push on, hoping that deficiency goes away quietly into the dark? Sometimes the rug isn't big enough under which to sweep the insufficiencies.

Finding the balance in a candidate where their areas of strength coincide with the needs of the Hiring Manager or department can be tedious but that is part of the gig, right? Knowing needs and also deciphering the needs you don't know can be difficult but not impossible. The sometimes mind-numbing task of debriefing the Hiring Manager to ascertain every nuance of the job or team is, unfortunately, elemental to drive success in hiring.

Recruiting 001, coined by Jerry Albright, requires you, as the recruiter/staffing agent/HR professional/search consultant/talent acquisition specialist/personnel officer to discern this basic before you even start. How can you possibly identify a valid field of potential candidates if you don't truly know the position and environment into which you are hiring?

In conducting professional reference interviews, do you ask the universal question, "What would you say John Smith's strengths are?" And, of course, the converse follows, "If John Smith had an area that needed improvement, what would that be?" Discovering the weaknesses of a candidate can be a little more difficult than having a former supervisor extol the virtues of said candidate. Weakness is such a strong word and strength is so passé.

I love the deadly answer for both - "He is a perfectionist." Of course, aren't we all? It is even more precious when it comes from the candidate, himself. Discovery. Detective work. Sorcery. (sourcer-y) Magic. Archeology. Digging up the bones for the dog to chew on. Asking the right questions.
Not such a simple task but not that difficult either. It is as simple as..., cake or death?