Rejections of offers for any recruiter are inevitable and always unpleasant. Once my friend had 12 rejections in one month, I think you can imagine how much she was hurt. In this case, the most important thing is to be sure that everything possible has been done.Maria Churkina, Director of Business Development Atsearch Group, identified 7 mistakes that recruiters can make when working out a candidate.

No matter what the flow of candidates is, and no matter how good, in your opinion, applicants you show, it can be absolutely useless if there is no trusting relationship with the customer.

When communicating with the manager, first of all show your expertise and involvement. If the customer sees that it is really important for you to help, and you know how, he will be able to trust your opinion.

It is also important how you build relationships in the process of working on a position:

• Communicate with the customer, stay in touch with him
• After each interview, ask for detailed feedback – this will help you better understand the profile
• Pay attention to the risks and difficulties that may arise, and, more importantly, offer solutions

All your work will be wasted if at the very beginning of communication with the candidate you do not identify the main motivation for the transition.

The answers "not an interesting project" and "I want to develop" very often hide a banal desire to get a controller.

And, as a rule, it can be found out at the very beginning, assess the risks and decide for yourself whether to represent this candidate or not. Well, let's be honest, when all we know about the applicant is that he needs an "interesting project", it doesn't really help when working out.

And it is not very appropriate to identify motivation at the finals and it is simply too late.

But if we had immediately asked the candidate leading questions and found out the motivation, it would have been easier to build a test.

I will give examples of questions:

• And what is an interesting project for you?
• What are you missing on the current project?
• And what, on the contrary, do you like about the current project?
• What would you like to change?
• What would you like to do on a new project?

I always tell my team that 70% of interviews are about identifying motivation. Always try to analyze and unwind, ask deeper questions. I also recommend returning to some questions throughout the entire communication with the candidate, since his motives may change over time.

There are 10 new vacancies, the hires are dissatisfied, everyone says that it is his position that is the hottest, and then there are candidates with questions. We are in constant time pressure and may miss important things, for example, communication with applicants, including finalists.

We are used to conducting interviews and coordinating meetings, and sometimes we forget about the main thing – the candidate is under stress at the moment of search or transition, he is tormented by doubts, and he needs support.

Build a trusting relationship with the candidate, show that it is important for you to help him with the choice.

I recommend returning to the applicant every three days. This will allow you to keep in touch and be aware of everything that is happening with him.

Even if you don't have any information for him, you can:

• Send an article or an interview related to your company, for example, an interview with the CIO
• Even just to call and find out how things are, or to tell about the processes in the company, or to talk about the deadlines again, this is quite enough

It is important to call the candidate, not to correspond, and turn on the camera during online interviews:

1. This helps to build a better contact
2. You can react faster and work out objections
3. You feel a lively reaction of a person, and this helps to assess his mood and interest in your offer

If you have done everything correctly, the candidate will listen to your recommendations and arguments at the time of making a decision on the offer.

It is important sometimes to let go in time, if you understand that you are losing with your offer, and wish good luck. You will stay on good terms with the candidate, and he will contact you again, including if something goes wrong at the new place of work.

How often do you hear from the hiring manager at the final stages of feedback that there are no questions for the candidate on technical competencies, but on personal and business ones it does not fit at all, not "ours"?

More and more companies are paying attention to personal qualities and are even ready to take candidates at a level lower than originally planned, but at the same time ideally suited to the values of the team

Sometimes it is easier for a manager to raise a newcomer with similar values to the right level than to put up with an expert who does not fit into the corporate culture in any way. Therefore, it is important to immediately "consider" how well a person fits the company personally, and not only technically.

This error is dangerous because:

• the candidate may simply not wait for your offer
• or, on the contrary, to be taken aback by the speed

I have encountered both the first and the second option, and, unfortunately, both cases ended with the rejection of the offer.

For example, your candidate is in an active search, he should have job offers in the near future, and all stages take about 3 weeks for you.

Or the reverse story, the applicant is not in the search, but there are certain factors that made him interested in your offer. You quickly made a meeting and immediately after the offer.

Do you think the candidate will accept the offer in both cases?

Of course, there is still a chance of accepting the offer, but if, at the very beginning, you do not say the terms, then the probability of refusal will be higher.

The candidate's willingness to wait or go to work quickly helps to evaluate the following questions:

• Do you communicate with other companies now? At what stages?
• Are you ready to wait for an offer from our company?
• If our project is interesting, will you be able to postpone the acceptance of another offer?

Why it is important to specify deadlines and ask questions:

• If the processes are long, this reduces the candidate's dissatisfaction with waiting
• If the processes are fast, this reduces the candidate's shock from an unexpected offer;

In each case, you will understand the chances of accepting the offer

Also be sure to pronounce:

• how many selection stages are there in total and what are these stages
• what is the response time after each of the stages
• how long does the security check last
• how long does the offer take to be approved

If the processes in the company are long, it is always better to add 1-2 days, then the candidate will not have a negative if the deadlines are delayed. And if it turns out faster, then he will be glad that you managed to clarify or coordinate something so quickly.

This mistake is made by both recruiters and hiring managers. This point is especially important now, when most of the interviews take place online.

And now think:

• Why do you work for this company?
• What is good about it and what can it offer?
• Why is the project/product interesting?
• What can the company and the team give specifically to this candidate?

Do not forget and discuss with hiring managers that not only companies choose candidates, but applicants choose a company.

I think many people had a similar story: you send a candidate, but you are absolutely not sure about him, and in the end this person receives an offer. Or the customer does not want to watch the CV, and you have to defend, prove and ask to talk to the applicant after all, and everything ends with an offer, too.

If you are thinking about whether to show a candidate, always show. Along with the resume, write to the hiring manager about your doubts and risks that you noticed. He will pay attention to these points at the technical interview with the candidate and will make a hiring decision based on your comments.

Of course, my 7 tips will not give you a 100% guarantee, but they will definitely help you predict the closure of positions, assess risks and close vacancies faster and more efficiently.