Recruiting.com

For the most part, I detest the "recruiting is like dating" analogy. Being a recruiter and trying to woo a candidate to your company is less like dating and more like trying to get a timid animal to take food from your hand. Candidates are often like timid little animals that want the treat, but just are tentative about exactly how to get the treat. If a person truly wants a new job, and they come right to you, resume brandished like a weapon, that is not necessarily recruiting them. Recruiting is finesse: it is baiting, it is luring, it is coddling, it is creating intrigue. Once you have gotten them close enough that they will take the treat from your hand, then you have them.

Or do you?  

Sometime during that process of bait, lure, coddle and intrigue there comes a feeling of doubt. Often times it is after the verbal acceptance of an offer. It is the "oh shit" moment. That moment that you are about to sign your name to a piece of paper stating that you are agreeing to a life altering decision. For the less melodramatic, it is the moment where self-doubt and second-guessing takes over. "Did I get caught up in the moment?" "Did I think things through enough?" These are all very human emotions, yet many times futile ones.

How many times have you heard, "Go with your gut," in your lifetime? Probably a hundred if you've heard it once. Your gut is usually right. Unless of course if your gut tells you to jump off a bridge without a bungee cord, then your gut is just plain stupid. Even in standardized testing they tell you "Your first thought is usually the right answer." "Don't overanalyze." These things are true in most situations, even when taking a job. Doing due diligence is one thing, being neurotic is another. Over thinking is like overcooking - if you are not careful, your dinner will taste like crap.

Candidates often times have buyers remorse after accepting a position, or get a little freaked out when it's time to get down to brass tacks and actually start talking about the realities of taking the job. It's our job as the recruiter to make sure that there are no sudden movements, everything is calm and inviting, and that little sucker takes the treat.