Losing a job after a lot of hard work is a real bummer.

Some recruiters are too quick to write this off as ‘bad luck’ or part of a ‘numbers game’.

It is not. It’s because you did something or did not do something.

Great recruiters do not have a ‘win some/lose some‘ mentality.

They intend and expect to fill every order they agree to work on. They don’t take on the work if they do not think they can fill a particular role.

When they lose a job order to a competitor, the client’s own recruiting efforts, or because the job is ‘put on hold‘ (It wasn’t, by the way. It was filled elsewhere), they do not comfort themselves with any false narrative.

They examine why it happened and look to learn from the experience.

There is no complacency in a great recruiter. Confidence? Sure. Self-belief? Definitely. Ego? Yes, most likely. But lack of honest self-awareness? No!

They strive for 100% and always look to improve at the margins as they strive for that perfect hit rate.

So, on the path of constant improvement, a good recruiter will examine every step in the process when they lose a job. I encourage you to be self-aware and self-critical. Not to punish or undermine yourself, but to look for gaps in your process and skill-set.

So that the next time – you nail it!

Here is my ‘post-lost-job-debrief‘ list. It’s very likely your ‘failure‘ on any lost brief will be found here. Somewhere. Find it. And then work to fix it.

(In many cases, I have included links to detailed learnings on each ‘lesson’)

1. Did the client meet me and provide a detailed brief?
2. Did the client accept my feedback/advice on the brief?
3. Did I qualify the order and push back on unreasonable criteria?
4. Was the client committed to hiring and in enough ‘pain’?
5. Did the client promptly sign and return my terms of business?
6. Did I send a written brief confirmation and get a sign-off?
7. Was the job in my niche and expertise zone?
8. Did the client give you the role exclusively?
9. Did I negotiate an appropriate daily/ hourly rate? (Temp) or Salary (Perm)
10. Did I manage the clients’ expectations regarding response rates and ‘time to fill‘?
11. Was my candidate sourcing effective and thorough?
12. How effective was my candidate screening?
13. Did I present the candidates/s over the phone to the client? (Temp definitely, Perm preferably)
14. Did I verify the candidate’s experience, result, and qualification accurately?
15. Pretty much every one of these ‘lessons’ is covered in full in my new book. Get it here now.
16. Did I ascertain the candidate ‘MTA’ accurately?
17. Did I manage candidate salary expectations expertly?
18. Did I raise and deal with a potential counteroffer?
19. Did I ignore any gut feel warnings on either side?
20. Did I conduct thorough reference checking on the candidate?
21. How practical were candidate tests or assessments?
22. Did I gear and brief the candidates before the client interview?
23. Did I debrief candidates effectively after the interview?
24. How frequently did I communicate with my client during the assignment?
25. How frequently did I communicate with my candidate during the assignment?
26. Did I make any assumptions?
27. Did I lowball the candidate on rate or salary?
28. Should I have taken and agreed to work on this order in the first place?
29. Did I move with the pace and urgency required?
30. Did I manage the resignation and dreaded ‘Valley of Death‘?

Sadly, as long as this list is, it’s not exhaustive.

Many other gremlins and missteps lurk in the shadows. That’s why saying, ‘Recruitment is not rocket science‘ is a dumb thing to say. No, it’s not rocket science. But we are not building effing rockets, are we? We are doing something very difficult though, and it takes constant work to improve.

But it is worth it because when it goes well, recruitment rocks!

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The new ‘Savage Book‘. Available now

Savage Book Masterclass speaking tour. Here

Growing a profitable Temp Desk (Free webinar)

The SRA Temp and Contract Recruiter Masterclass

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