Five Habits That Kill a Recruitment Relationship

Here at Streamline, our focus is and always will be to build long-term relationships with the businesses we work with.

Cliche incoming… 

Our aim is beyond filling roles for people. We’re always focused on understanding how your company operates, what you're trying to achieve and how we can support that over time.

At the same time, we’re doing the same with candidates. Speaking to them in detail, understanding what they want from their next move and making sure that when we put an opportunity in front of them, it’s one they can be excited about.

So by the time a CV goes across, there’s usually been a fair bit of work behind the scenes. And we see that effort isn’t matched the other way, it starts to break down the chances of successful hiring processes for everyone involved.

Isolated incidents can happen of course, everyone has tough days, but more often than not , we see some poor patterns play out again and again. And over time us and the candidates we represent, are going to think “What’s the point of working with these people?” 

We want to do our best to prevent ever getting to that point, so for our blog this month, we are pointing out five habits that we see a fair bit and make us think, come on guys, it doesn’t have to be like this.

1. Queens Park Rearrangers 

Obviously there are times when things change, calendars move, that’s part of anyone's working life. But when interviews keep getting pushed back at the 11th hour, or there are long gaps between stages and generally a lack of structure to the process, from a candidate’s side, they will begin to feel doubts.

And once that starts creeping in, interest can drop off quickly. Us and the candidate have often worked around the interviewers schedule, they may have even taken a day off to be in the room (or on the Teams call) with you. So you can imagine if we have to then tell them it’s going to be rearranged, they’re probably going to look more towards the other businesses they’re interviewing with.

And we’re going to naturally have reservations about going through that again.

2. Hello, is anybody out there?

This is a simple one. It’s the noise you will always hear out of our team, clear communication is almost becoming our buzzwords at this point.

If we’re engaged with you, the process is well under way, and then it’s a case of delayed replies, vague updates, or sometimes no response at all. It’s a classic, not angry, just disappointed. If a candidate is spending their time interviewing or speaking with you, it’s not unreasonable to expect some form of response. 

We understand that things don’t always move instantly, but a bit of clarity goes a long way. Without it, you’re left trying to manage a process and a relationship without much to work with. 

Please just talk to us, we’re relatively pleasant on a good day.

3. Is there a plan here?

Clear communication is what we preach about, but without a clear direction it can be pretty hard to maintain. 

CVs are requested, interviews are arranged, but if there’s no clarity in the information we’re receiving, it’s hard to pick the needle out the metaphorical candidate haystack. What does the ideal experience look like for this role? Are you hiring now, or just exploring? What’s the end goal?

We’ve seen situations where candidates are reviewed, feedback is positive, and then it turns into “we’ll revisit this in a couple of months” or the focus shifts entirely. And that’s when the “what’s the point” intrusive thoughts are pretty hard to ignore. 

4. Minimal Feedback 

As much as we have belief in our ability to find the right person for you, we know that every candidate won’t be perfect. But if that is the case, the more you can tell us why this one didn’t work out, will only improve our chances next time.

A feedback email that looks like it was written with a 50 character limit, is most likely not going to do it unfortunately. It doesn’t help us adjust the search and it doesn’t help the candidate on where they stand.

A bit of detail here makes a noticeable difference, especially when we’re looking to work with you across multiple hires in the long term.

 5. Changes later than late in the process

This could be the ultimate trust issues generator.

You’ve found someone you believe will be a great hire.They’ve been clear from the start on what they want. Salary, benefits, flexibility, whatever it might be. Let’s be honest, they probably wouldn’t even be in the room if those expectations weren’t at least understood.

So to get all the way through the process and then shift things at the final stage… it’s a tough one.

Whether that’s a lower offer than expected, a change in what was discussed, or something that just doesn’t quite match up, it lands badly. From the candidate’s side, it feels like the whole thing has been a bit of a waste of time. From our side, we’re the ones having to deliver that news, knowing full well how it’s going to go down.

It’s one of those moments where things fall apart very quickly and it’s hard to recover from.

Let's sign off with some positivity...

The good news is, none of this is complicated to get right.

When there’s clear communication, a bit of structure to the process, and everyone is aligned on what they’re actually trying to achieve, things tend to fall into place.

That’s when recruitment becomes what it should be. Conversations are easier, candidates are more engaged and decisions get made with a bit more confidence behind them.

We want to work with our clients. That’s always been the aim. Build something long term, understand your business and help you bring the right people in.

When it works, it really works. And more often than not, it comes down to getting the basics right and sticking to them.