Life as an Executive Recruiter
I feel very fortunate to have successfully run a family business for the past 30 years. My husband Tom has been my business partner for the last 20 years, and we brought in our youngest daughter, Shannon, about 5 years ago. Shannon and I were having lunch with a long-time client this week and somehow got on the topic of all the crazy encounters we have managed to overcome throughout the years. As we were wiping away tears of laughter, he said to us “ladies you really need to write a book.”
Although writing a book is not on the bucket list for either Shannon or myself, we thought we would write this blog and at least share some of the stories that left us laughing while working together as a mother-daughter team. Our goal of this blog is that hopefully you can laugh with us and perhaps even say OMG that also happened to me!
The Video Call Catastrophes
Who needs Netflix when you have video calls, am I right? Over the past 4 years, Shannon and I have experienced the following in zoom interviews:
Candidates who are unaware of the position of their camera. It’s awkward to say “I’m so sorry, I can only see your forehead and eyebrows on screen! Can you please adjust your camera?” It’s even more awkward when they choose not to adjust the camera after you say this and you spend the next hour talking to their forehead.
In the middle of an interview Judy saw a kitten-like animal walk over the shoulder of a candidate! When Judy commented on how cute the kitten was, she was promptly corrected that the animal was not a kitten but a sugar glider and was then provided with a 15-minute dissertation on how amazing they are as pets. Who knew!
Have you ever had your smoke detector die in the middle of a zoom call? Cause we have! In the height of Covid, Integrity Network operated out of Judy and Tom’s house. Judy took a video call in her office, and one minute into the call, the distinct beep of a smoke detector (when the battery died) was sounding. For the next 45 minutes, Shannon and Tom hunted like bloodhounds trying to locate which smoke detector the noise was coming from. After an exhausting search, it was determined the noise was, in fact, coming from inside Judy’s office. After grabbing a ladder and locating the batteries, Shannon and Tom heard Judy casually ask the candidate on the zoom, “Do you hear that beeping sound?” The candidate replied, “Yes it’s one of my smoke detectors that I haven’t gotten around to addressing yet.” Judy thought it was hysterical, Shannon and Tom not so much.
The Case of the Disappearing Candidate
It seems like Monday mornings in the world of executive recruiters are like stepping onto a battlefield armed with nothing but a cold cup of coffee and a prayer. For some reason it all seems to hit on Monday mornings, especially – the missing candidate.
We’ve spent weeks identifying and recruiting the perfect “unicorn” candidate. They’ve had first round interviews and our client is excited that this is their hire. We talk to the candidate and their interest level is high and they are good to go! Our client is chomping at the bit to push them through the process.
But for the next five days we email, text, and call our candidate and have been greeted with nothing in response. It seems, our unicorn candidate has vanished into thin air, leaving us questioning if they ever existed in the first place or if we dreamed them up in a caffeine-induced stupor. It’s a week later, and yes, it’s Monday morning when I am forced to ruin my client’s week by explaining that this one is a goner and I‘m pretty sure we have to start over!
The Tale of the Rogue Resumes
As an executive search firm, we don’t post jobs. However, some of our clients are required to post all jobs both internally and externally and as a retained search firm, we manage those postings for them.
Since I am the CEO of Integrity Network, I proudly hand this task over to my Associate Partner, and daughter, Shannon. She can’t say no, and frankly she is better at learning all the latest and greatest Applicant Tracking software systems that our clients swear by, all 150 of them.
We were recently retained by a SaaS client to fill a CTO position requiring extensive experience and industry knowledge. The CEO was so pleased when over 100 supposedly qualified people applied for the position in the first 2 weeks. I gave Shannon the task of screening these 100+ candidates and said good luck.
She vetted through many resumes that were just so puzzling, you can't help but wonder if these people were trying out for comedy writing. This job had a detailed listing of industry specific requirements for a CTO! We received resumes from real estate agents, baristas, individuals that hadn’t yet graduated from college, and a dentist… seriously, a dentist!
The Interview Implosion
Interview day—the moment of truth when candidates and clients collide in a whirlwind of pleasantries and probing questions. Our clients often tell us “I don’t want you to coach the candidates.” We work with senior executives, and clients don’t seem to understand that it is IMPOSSIBLE to coach any senior executive with 25 years of experience. Trust me, I have tried. They’re going to do what they’re going to do. From the candidate who shows up in a cloud of cologne, to the client whose favorite interview question is “If you were a fruit, what would you be?” Coaching people who don’t want to listen isn’t really one of my superpowers.
In all seriousness, being an executive recruiter is one of the best jobs and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. My team at Integrity Network is incredible and I am lucky to have all of them. Combined with our clients and candidates that we work with on a daily basis, it’s been an incredible career. While 2024 is looking to be a challenging hiring landscape, we hope that this year, like so many before it, is filled with many laughs and success stories.