Tim was a perfect candidate… his 20 year history of success was exactly the kind of leadership our client needed… he was the VP candidate for a position our client has been trying to fill for some time… our client, the EVP \u00a0 interviewed 10 candidates over a three month period of time, and once he interviewed Tim, he claimed that Tim was “perfect” for the job … after three personal interviews with the EVP, \u00a0and establishing a very strong personal rapport, Tim flew to the corporate office where he interviewed with three VPs and the CEO… the interviews could not have gone any better and the EVP told Tim he wanted to hire him…they even discussed what an offer would look like… a $200,000 base salary with total earnings at $400,000 provided Tim and the people in his region if they made quota… Everyone was excited and the EVP said he would be in touch with Tim in the next few days…<\/p>\n
When Tim hadn’t heard from the EVP in two days, he called the EVP to ask where the situation stood…the EVP explained that their CEO wanted to speak to one other candidate because the CEO had only interviewed Tim and the CEO wanted to be able to say he had a choice…the EVP explained to Tim that he had nothing to worry about, he was the EVP’s choice and, after all, Tim was going to be working for the EVP…<\/p>\n
After two more days of not hearing from the EVP, Tim called him again… both Tim and I were sensing that something was wrong…the EVP ‘t didn’t return his call and didn’t respond to emails…when Tim finally got him on the phone, the EVP explained to him that there was nothing wrong, the CEO had an emergency with family and wasn’t able to talk to the second candidate… being a good recruiter, I discovered who the second candidate was… I knew the guy… in fact he was a candidate of mine a \u00a0few years ago… it was comforting to know that although he was a very good candidate, he had nowhere near the capabilities of Tim…in fact the other candidate had actually worked for Tim a number of years ago …he is a really good guy but nowhere near the caliber experience \u00a0as Tim… both Tim and I were certain Tim was a much better candidate…<\/p>\n
A week later, our client hired the other candidate… even though the candidate was not as good, strong or as accomplished as Tim, \u00a0he still got hired… it turned out that the CEO had not been at the company a very long time…the EVP, in the past, had hired just about anyone you wanted to…Maybe the CEO wanted to make it clear that he was now running the show… maybe they really didn’t want to hire as much of an A+ player as they claimed…<\/p>\n
When the EVP called Tim to explain that they hired the other candidate, Tim had the courage to ask, “I know who you hired, he used to work for me… he’s a good guy but he’s nowhere near as accomplished and experienced \u00a0for the job as I am… can you tell me what made the difference? You had told me I was the guy you wanted to hire, what happened?”<\/p>\n
The EVP tried to explain the decision, but none of it made any sense… there is no way anyone could explain it in rational terms…I am sure the guy they hired will do an okay job… but his experience and skill level is not of the same caliber as Tim’s..<\/p>\n
Most of the time when a candidate doesn’t get hired it is because he or she doesn’t interview well, \u00a0isn’t qualified, etc. …this was one of those rare instances where Tim could not have done any better..<\/p>\n
The lesson is that just because a candidate is “perfect”… just because he interviews impeccably… just because his references are next to perfect… doesn’t mean that he’ll get hired…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tim was a perfect candidate… his 20 year history of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n