I had missed my connecting flight!  And this just wasn’t any flight.  It was the one that was taking me to the Stevie Wonder Concert in Seattle.  The concert that I had anticipated eagerly for months.  The concert where I had to finagle and pay dearly for the tickets.   The one that I would be missing because the weather at O’Hare was crystal clear but my initial flight had an unexplained mechanical problem.  That same concert that I would miss because I was three seconds late for the connecting flight and the door was slammed in my face.

“Sorry Mrs. Danbom.  The next flight will be in an hour – which will give you and your luggage plenty of time to find the gate.â€�  (With pack animals and Sherpas.  So rude!  Boycott all airlines that would make a mature woman run to a distant gate.  It was MILES away.  As I arrived (breathlessly again) the flight was just beginning to board.  Plenty of time, my eye!)

Kind of reminds me of recruiting.  Ever have one of those sure fire placements?  One that you’ve been banking on, and then, at the last minute, the door gets slammed in your face!  No placement.  They hired another candidate.  Or your candidate took the counteroffer.  Or the client filled it from within.  What excruciating pain!  So close you could taste it.  You were spending your fee.  And then cruelly you’re shut down.

What can be done?  Whining doesn’t help.  Face it.  The equation we work is made up of people.  You can influence people, but you can’t control them.  There are rare occurrences that just can’t be helped.  I know a recruiter who was attempting to place a high-end accounting professional.  At the last minute, he succumbed to a counter offer.  Not just any counteroffer.  He was offered over $200,000 to stay with his company that was going through an IPO.  Without him the deal would be quashed.   Who could blame him for staying?  Even the recruiter had to admit, faced with the same decision, two hundred grand would be hard to turn down.  Another was about to place an operations manager.  The morning of the start, the candidate called saying that he had traveled to another state to meet his small daughter for the first time ever.  He was so captivated by her that he couldn’t bear to leave her and was declining the offer.  Understandable.  Regrettable.   The door slammed in the face just short of triumph again?  Unquestionably.    (In these cases, a small bit of self-pity would be permitted .)  While people can be unpredictable, these two examples would be totally impossible to predict and both couldn’t possibly happen to the same recruiter. 

But what does it mean when the “placement doorâ€� slams in your face frequently.   We’ve all met recruiters who frequently come oh so close, but no score.  If it happens more than once, it’s probably not a coincidence.   It’s time to look at the process and see what’s happening.  You may not be able to control people, but you better control your process.

1.       Have you thoroughly qualified the job order and gauged its viability? 

2.       Do you have the true hiring authority’s ear and cooperation?

3.       Have you created a sourcing strategy that uncovers the very best employee for the position?

4.       Have you thoroughly interviewed the candidate to determine that he/she is qualified, motivated and fee-worthy?

5.       Do you prepare the candidate for the probability of a counteroffer?  How often?

6.       Do you prep and debrief all parties involved in the interview?

7.       Do you lead the compensation negotiations?

8.       Do you aid the candidate through the resignation notice process?

If, after examination, you can truly say that you have done everything you could, and it was just one of those unpredictable circumstances, then so be it.  But if you can see where you lost control of the process, it’s time to ask what you can do to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.  How can those occurrences be prevented?

Stevie was truly wondrous.  I did make it to the concert after all.  My strategy?  I had designed enough time to allow for flight delays. 

What’s your strategy to make sure you are not unmercifully denied at the placement gate?