The only certainty in recruiting is uncertainty. The least likely placement happens while the dead lock does not. That can be frustrating at times and a pleasant surprise at others. One thing it should teach us is to be prepared for the unexpected.In the office, I am known as the one recruiter specializing in “Lazarus Deals.” Those are the deals dead and buried but they can be brought back to life with the proper timing and a reminder from the recruiter. The keys to this are being prepared for the possibility and a willingness to work through all the issues. The first thing to consider is why deals fail because that is where you start to resurrect them. Deals fail for the following reasons:
The deals that fail the first time can come back like Lazarus in certain cases. The most common source of these deals are second place finishers, hiring freezes, minor stumbling blocks in negotiating and clients and candidates who like each other but the skill match was not perfect. The key issue here is to catch the client as he has to reopen a search and be prepared to ask if he would reconsider a candidate. If the client is open to the candidate, the second test is your relationship with the candidate and whether he will trust you to try again. With this in mind here are the some of the ingredients needed to remake the deal:
Once the process starts again the dealings with both client and candidate need to be carefully thought out and handled in a very measured way. Remember these two have been jilted or at least stood up at some point so there are more emotional issues than usual to be considered. Because of this the following must be done:
Obviously theses deals are fragile and there are many things to worry about to include:
Just remember these deals come by on a very sporadic basis but should not be dismissed until all issues have been addressed and the final bullet has truly killed the deal.