Time Kills Deals

My name is Paul DeBettignies and I write the blog MN Headhunter. I come to you as a participant of the Recruiting.com Blog Swap.

I need to make an apology before getting started with this. It is ironic that two plus weeks ago I chose this topic and ran it by Louise. I am fortunate that Louise is still letting me post this on her blog as she could have said, “Sorry Paul, you are a little late.” Yes I have some reasonable “excuses” for my tardiness but I could have missed out on this opportunity.

And that is the point of this post. Time Kills Deals.

Four weeks ago a friend of a friend called, lets call him George, and said he was looking to make a transition out of his great job in corporate public relations job and looking for a private firm. He wanted to get his entrepreneurial skills going again and he will surely be a great asset to his new employer

When he finally finds one. (That was typed with a sarcastic tone.)

As a favor I had forwarded George on to three public relations firms here in Minneapolis that he would be a good fit with. I am an IT search guy so this was a friendly referral and I would play no part in the process and have no stake in the outcome.

One company was very interested in him and they showed it. On a Tuesday, within 24 hours of receiving his resume, they scheduled a phone interview for Thursday (day 2) and it went well.

They then set up an in person interview with three team members that George would be supervising on the next Monday (day 6). He had to reschedule the interview because he had to fly out of town for his employer and had not checked his schedule.

No problem, the new date was Friday (day 10). It went well and George was scheduled for a meeting with a vice president the next Monday (day 13) only George again had to reschedule. The vice president suggested they meet Saturday afternoon for lunch (day 18). That too went well.

Now George was going to meet with the CEO on the following Tuesday (day 21) and was able to make it to that one as promised. The CEO said they were very interested in George and asked what George thought. George too was thinking this was a good fit.

The CEO made an offer contingent on a reference and background check and hoped the deal could be done by Friday (day 25). George did not send his references until Monday (day 28). It took three days for the calls to be made because George had failed to notify his references of the coming phone call.

The official offer was made on Friday (day 32). They asked and George agreed that he would give them his answer on Monday (day 35). He called as promised but asked for a few more days. How about Friday?

The offer was pulled from him and he called me asking if this was appropriate behavior on their part. On their part, was he serious? Yes he was.

I explained to him that he was probably the lead candidate but that he took too long to get the deal done. He said, “but Paul you told me I was a good fit for them and them for me.” My response was this, “George, you are probably not the only talented candidate out there.”

That did not go over well.

Moral to the story is this, companies are aware there is a talent shortage and many of them are being aggressive when they find a potential hire. While being aggressive they are also going to have a Plan B. 

Things come up when doing a job search like the current job, family, vacations, etc. The stress alone can slow you down. Waiting to hear form that one company while putting others on hold is risky.

At the same time you are taking your time with your job search someone else could be taking that one job you really want. What may seem as a reasonable timetable to you may not be to your potential new employer.

Either way, time kills deals. Don’t be a victim.

Comments

[Alexandra Levit]

Great post, and I've heard similar stories. When it comes to your own job search, if you don't have a sense of urgency, who will? True, there is a fine line between assertively pursuing an opportunity and appearing too eager, but if an employer really wants you, she wants to think you want her equally as much. Playing hard to get is an affront to her dignity, and that's not a great way to start off what might turn out to be a very important relationship in your life.