Developing prospects is essential

Gone are the days when money alone used to make an offer lucrative for the candidates. Post recession, candidates have become extremely sophisticated, as well as cautious before accepting any job opportunity. Two important realizations have resulted in sales and HR techniques joining forces and altering the traditional recruitment method.

Firstly, a candidate now scrutinizes the new organization, role, and management as closely as a recruiter examines the candidate. Candidates can be divided into two groups, as observed and explained:

"The first group is much quicker to accept things as they are and tries to maintain the status quo. They want a job where there is a sense of stability and potential growth opportunity, and they are more worried about being part of a larger team. Post-2008, this group has become even more focused on stability and long term security.

The other group entered into the workforce just prior to 2008 or after; this group appears to have a much different dynamic. This group is not as concerned with "big companies", and is more focused on how the opportunity will benefit them."

by Jason Carson, Director, Labor Relations/Human Resources and Safety, Brillion Iron Works, United States

In either case, the candidate holds many expectations of the recruiting company before thinking about whether to join their team, or not.

Secondly, companies have learned from their past experiences that it's only the top performers who rise to the challenge during the worst times and keep the company afloat. Hence, organizations are critically engaged in identifying such professionals and acquiring their services before their competitors can. So, top performers have top organizations and offers lining up for them.

Both these developments together have created the demand that has converted the recruitment process into a mutual selection process.

Prospect development through telephone interviews is extremely important because the candidate would not enter the interview venue without being absolutely sure about it. Because of this, the quality of telephone interview as well as the interviewer has come under scrutiny, and the interviewer and their pitch are the crucial factors in closing the deal, just like in a sales process.

Ergo, it is imperative for an organization to make sure that the telephone-interview process is strong, logical, and far reaching, and that the interviewer is proficiently skilled to carry out this process. The following chapters will equip you to do all that is required to master this art; but before that, one must be able to spot the errors that are currently being made in the selection process.