One of my clients is recruiting and, despite plenty of quality candidates to choose from, had failed to hire anyone in a span of ten months, 1200 resumes and dozens of interviews. He loved 5 of the 20 final candidates but, for one reason or another, was unable to land them. The process was being conducted the right way, he was using the assessment at the right time, and the first live interview was conducted properly. In an attempt to rectify his problem, I identified two issues with his final interview.

1) Two much time was elapsing between the first live interview, the final interview and the decision to make an offer.  This was more than enough time for other companies to make offers and it was smart for the candidates to take the sure offers. Candidates are perishables and great candidates have a spoil date of tomorrow!

2) My client was not effectively selling his opportunity. Sure, he presented the company, described the job, showed the compensation package, etc.  Boring.  Not compelling.  I introduced him to my secret weapon.  The recruiting scene at the beginning of the movie Anti-Trust provides a fantastic example of how to sell your opportunity in a compelling way.  As my client said, "that was the missing link" that was preventing his company from generating three times his current revenue.

What are you doing to sell your opportunity?

(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan