One of our recruiters, Eric Hancz, has more certifications and initials after his name than anybody in our company and really understands finance and accounting. Fortunately that’s the kinds of people that he places.
He has developed a wonderful habit of building, as all of us do, great relationships with managers of accounting departments and accounting firms, regardless of whether they need to hire someone or not. He lets them know that it’s our responsibility to not just fill positions, but to let good companies know about good candidates whenever they come about.
This week he called a firm that he had built a relationship like that with, even though we’ve never really placed anybody there. He spoke to the hiring manager about a particular candidate that he thought was really special. He advised the manager that it might be a good idea just to talk to the lady just to get to know her because she was so excellent. The manager reminded Eric that he really wasn’t looking to hire anybody, but upon Eric’s recommendation, he would interview the lady.
He hired her today. The manager isn’t really sure exactly where he’s going to put her, but he agreed that she was just too good to pass up.
Good managers are always establishing relationships with good candidates even if they don’t have an opening or are not interested in hiring. The average turnover in every company in the United States is 30%. We never know when people are going to leave. It’s just good business to know when a good candidate is available. I placed a candidate with an organization a number of years ago. They hired him seven years after they initially interviewed him. He was that good.
We are recommending that managers spend all of their time interviewing. One of our long-term clients says that he will interview anybody on a Friday afternoon at 2 PM if we think they’re that good. We don’t send in many candidates, but the ones we do are thoroughly impressed with him and he’s even helped two of them to find jobs with friends of his that he told us to call after he interviewed them.
Lots of people just don’t think interviewing is a high priority until they need to hire someone. It should be a high priority all the time. A 30 to 45 minute investment with the possibility of finding top talent once a week or so is worth every bit of the effort. You just never know how relationships like that are going to go. A number of years ago I sent a candidate on an interview just like this and three years later he was a hiring authority who ended up interviewing the fellow that interviewed him three years before and ended up hiring him.
You never know.
