ASK FOR NEXT STEPS

The first part of closing the recruiting call is asking the candidate how they would like to proceed. After you have completed the questions on the ISGF interview form, if you intend on submitting the candidate, ask the candidate what they would like for you to do. This puts the ball in the candidate’s court. From here, you want the candidate to decide for themselves on if they would like to be submitted or not.

Asking this question, first, allows you to gauge the candidate’s level of interest one last time. If the candidate immediately responds that they want to be submitted, you know that you have a high level of interest. If the candidate takes time to debate the decision, they obviously have reservations about the position, and you need to identify those reservations and see if they can be overcome.

The second thing this question does is further the candidate’s commitment to the role. For a candidate, physiologically, there is a huge difference in you telling the candidate that you are going to submit them to a client and you asking them if they would like to be submitted to a client. This allows the candidate to see you as someone that is helping them accomplish something they want instead of them feeling like it was your decision.

GET BUY-IN FROM THE CANDIDATE

Toward the end of your interview with the candidate, if you determine that you will be submitting the candidate you need to get the candidate’s buy in. This involves letting the candidate tell you what next steps they want. The difference of telling a candidate what the next steps will be and having the candidate tell you may seem the same, but they are very different.

Asking the candidate what they would like to see happen or how they would like to continue after your interview allows the candidate to make the decision that this is what they want to do, opposed to this being what you want them to do. This changes the dynamic of the relationship to you helping them and not them helping you. It is much easier to control a candidate when you are simply doing what they asked you to do.