Hiring story

Hiring story: For Every Ditcher, There Are Many Supporters Keeping Me Motivated to Refer Candidates I Don’t Know Personally

From 2019 in PharmaACE and now from 2021 in EVERSANA, often, I refer and personally coordinate with internal stakeholders and candidates with suitable profiles for hiring in my team. Generally, such candidates (who reach out to me but whom I don’t know directly) are either in a rush to close the deal, or I am.

There are few who back out without a word to the extent that I feel they never intended to join from the start. They just wanted an offer to leverage for negotiations in their current or another organization, using me to expedite the process. For example, recently, a candidate reached out to me on LinkedIn, citing that his company was shutting down its Mumbai office and he wanted to join EVERSANA to return to pharma consulting. He had only a 15-day notice period, which would increase after a week. So, within three days, we got him an offer. When HR asked him to share his resignation, he came back saying his company was retaining him and he wouldn’t take up the offer. 

This candidate didn’t even bother to text me, as compare to his constant texting to me before the offer letter. When I asked about his companies move to Bangalore, his reply was vague, mentioning that the company would have a smaller office in Mumbai. 

Another example is a lady who had 3 months notice period and didn't turn up on the day of joining without any intimation. When asked the reason, she cited mental illness.

I term these candidates as "Ditchers"

However, for every such candidate who backs out, there are "supporters" who remain committed and are grateful for the support I provide going beyond my call of duty. For instance, a candidate in a similar rush to leave her current organization due to a shortage of projects had a month-long notice period but could be released sooner due to no dependencies. We rolled out an offer to her in four days. Later, HR informed me there was an issue with her notice period, and she might not join on the promised date, but it was resolved.

That same night, I received a text from her confirming she had accepted the offer and would join us. When I asked if there were any issues, she frankly told me there had been a problem with her last working day (LWD), but it was sorted out, and she was on track to join. 

Whether she actually joins or not is another matter, but at least she had the courtesy to update me and didn’t have a premeditated plan to use the offer for negotiations. This made me emotional, and I texted her a famous dialogue from the Bollywood movie Munna Bhai MBBS: “Bas kar pagli, ab rulaygi kya” (“Stop it, else you would make me cry”). These are the "supporters" who restore my faith in humanity (hiring)!

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Read past stories like above at https://lnkd.in/d9ijze8r