“Show me more candidates.” When is this a good idea for hiring?

A vacancy opens up in a company. The recruiter (or a recruiting agency) finds great candidates and presents them to the hiring manager.

The hiring manager likes the candidates. However, they decide to keep looking at the market for some reason. Even though they’ve found the right person, the hiring manager asks the recruiter to keep searching.

This post will break down situations when this approach is justified.

⭐️ It’s a new role, and you need to check the market

Sometimes, an employer hasn’t hired such specialists before. In these cases, it’s often necessary to talk to multiple candidates to clarify what kind of person is needed.

After these talks, the recruiter and the hiring manager can better understand:

— Do their expectations about the role align with the candidates’ market?

— Are the job requirements and responsibilities properly defined?

— How much does such a professional typically cost?

And so on.

Examples

Before talking to candidates, the hiring manager and recruiter thought they were looking for a senior specialist. After speaking with a few applicants, the recruiter realized that seniors were not interested in the role, meaning they needed to target mid-level professionals instead.

Or the opposite scenario: the company expected junior marketers to perform tasks like writing strategies 🤷‍♀️

What might be wrong with the role?

1️⃣ Different tasks can be hidden behind the same job title. For example, the company started searching for a product marketer but later realized they needed a content marketer.

2️⃣ The company tries to find one person to handle multiple roles at once.

3️⃣ The roles are too vague (often the case in startups), and the employer wants someone who can do everything exceptionally well.

In reality, even the most talented candidate will still be particularly strong in only one or two areas (marketing, analytics, technology, etc.).

“You won’t find a universal specialist who excels equally at everything. It’s important to review various candidates to understand the unique value each one can bring to the company”,

— Ekaterina Veselkina, leader of IT recruitment at NEWHR.

The company should talk to several diverse candidates and, in the end, decide which direction is currently the priority.

⭐️ Everyone’s great, but we want a better match

Another example of when the desire to “look at more” is justified: the manager is not only looking for a match in terms of tasks and soft skills but also in terms of values and approaches.

In this case, the recruiter may not stop with those who are simply a good fit for the role but may look for others (especially if there are plenty of candidates on the market).

The “show me more” approach has its dark side and risks. In future posts, we’ll talk about it more.

💙 NEWHR Recruiting agency can help you find the best tech talent for your business needs. To get in touch, fill out the form on our website or email at contact@new.hr