Are Clients More Choosy About Candidates?

“Choosy mothers choose Jif.” That sentence alone demonstrates the power of branding. In this case, it demonstrates product branding.

But how choosy are your clients? Do they even like peanut butter? (Perhaps they’re allergic to it.) Of course, we’re NOT talking about peanut butter! We’re talking about job candidates.

To get to the bottom of this, we recently posted a poll question in the Members’ Area. That question is below. Before you read the rest of this blog post, though, I recommend making a hearty peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You want one now, don’t you?

Are clients more choosy, less choosy, or the same amount of choosy about candidates than a year ago?

The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of split network recruiters that selected each one:

• More choosy — 47.4%
• Less choosy — 3.5%
• Same amount of choosy — 49.1%

More or less choosy

Let’s start with the status quo, shall we? That would be the TE recruiters who think that clients are the “same amount.” That percentage is 49.1%.

However, “More” was the second-most popular answer at 47.4%. It should come as no surprise, then, that “Less” was last at 3.5%.

Here’s the thing, though. If we are in the midst of a candidates’ market, wouldn’t you think that hiring managers would be a little less particular? After all, qualified candidates are in short supply.

There is an argument to be made that hiring managers should absolutely not be “waffling” about candidates. (Yet another food reference.) To do so would mean dragging out the hiring process. When you drag out the hiring process, you lose candidates. Why? Because it’s a candidates’ market!

Candidates have more options. This is especially the case for top candidates. They’re not going to stick around and wait for a hiring manager to make up their mind. They have other companies with which to interview and other offers to consider.

So the results of this poll are a bit mind-boggling. Logic would seem to dictate that when something is in short supply, you should make adjustments and contingency plans. You do the best with what you have and what’s available.

That doesn’t mean settling for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when you want a porterhouse steak. But it does mean perhaps settling for a T-bone.

Now . . . who’s hungry?