Do we need to manage candidate relationship? I always thought it was a no brainer and everyone will agree that it is a big “MUST HAVE”. To my surprise I was dragged into a discussion on the importance of Candidate Relationship management.
While in principle people agreed that it is good to have, but quite a few believed, we can live without it happily. Let’s look at some of the arguments and contemplate
- Takes too much time – the time spent in managing candidates, especially if there are too many, could well be utilized in finding more candidates.
- Too complex – Too many loose ends. Too much to remember and plans do not get executed most of the time.
- Candidate irritant- Candidates get irritated with irrelevant calls from recruiters. Call , only if you have a job in hand.
- Recruitment is not about making friends- As a recruiter, your relationship with the candidate ends once he is out of the recruitment process.
- Employer branding is not the sourcers/recruiters job – Candidates will always crib if they don’t get through. Nevertheless, branding is not the job of recruitment or sourcing
- Networking doesn’t work for quick to fill and volume requirements- You need time to find candidates through networking, and only job boards can provide the numbers required for volume hiring. Niche hiring is a different case
- Only important, when you are doing a passive search- Active candidates, do not need cajoling. It is the passive candidates who need to be dealt with carefully