The Need For Speed

In a candidate's market, speed matters.

"I had a great developer, a fantastic candidate", said the tech recruiter of a startup I was chatting with last night.

"He had another offer. He was keen on the other company and so I had to move fast. I spoke with my CEO to get an interview booked in but he was busy and couldn't offer up a slot in his calendar until the next week", he continued.

He said that the CEO quipped, "If he likes us, he'll wait. If he can't wait a week he's not right for us."

The recruiter explained what happened next.

"I lost the candidate, he took the other job. In tech recruitment, in this environment, in London right now, speed matters. You need to be fast. Speed is your weapon, it's the can be the one thing that makes the difference."

It's a simple but obvious lesson. If you really want the best candidate, they will be in demand. If you move fast you increase your odds of success.

That means finding time, re-scheduling other meetings or sacrificing other projects to prioritise hiring. Great recruiters know this but they need their decision makers to think this way too.