Hello? Remember me? Your candidate?

All the recruiters who have been given a requirement that is HOT HOT HOT and must be filled RIGHT NOW raise your hand.

OK, put 'em down.

All the recruiters who have submitted rock star talent to that requirement in a flash and then waited two weeks for feedback raise your hand.

OK, put 'em down.

All the recruiters who have then lost the rock star talent to another position only to have the hiring manager call back the very next day and want to hire them raise your hand.

OK, put 'em down. Now slap the hiring manager.

Just kidding about the slapping part, but I know you thought about it. I know I did.

So how do recruiters keep from losing our candidates when the hiring managers are slow on the response? COMMUNICATION. If you are not talking to your candidates frequently and keeping them engaged in the process they are going to move on. Good candidates don't sit around waiting for the phone to ring. They are either working or they are very actively seeking a position and won't wait around for you.

One of the chief complaints from job seekers working with recruiters is, "They submitted my resume and I never heard from them again." Recruiters are notorious for calling a job seeker and telling them how great the job/manager/opportunity/location/etc is and then they interview the candidate and then submit the candidate and everyone is all happy and in love and then....nothing. {insert sound of crickets here}

No feedback from the manager often means no feedback for the candidate. Little tip. Candidates hate that. Not calling a candidate only makes things harder in the long run because they are going to call you at some point and they aren't going to be happy and they are going to leave tons of messages and you are going to avoid them and then they are going to start following you and stalking you and you are going to get all paranoid and...oh wait...maybe that was a movie.

Most of the time the issue is simply a recruiter that doesn't want to call a candidate and tell them they don't know anything yet. They don't want to call and tell them the manager wasn't impressed and doesn't want to interview them again and most certainly doesn't want to hire them. They don't want to call and tell them the hiring manager won't return calls or emails. It is much easier to not call at all.

Bad recruiter. No cookie.

Call your candidates people! Call them and tell them you are doing everything you can to get feedback from the hiring manager, but the hiring manager is extremely busy and has not gotten back to you yet. Tell them you respect their job hunt efforts and while you hope you don't lose them to another opportunity you understand they can't sit around and wait.

I know what you are thinking..."How the hell am I supposed to recruit on 20 positions and get all these new submittals AND keep in touch with all the old submittals? Do you think I never sleep?" The trick is to make it part of your weekly schedule. Every Friday afternoon send an email to each and every candidate you have submitted and tell them that you haven't forgotten them and you will keep them posted, but unfortunately you don't have any information. If you need to you can even do one email and blind copy everyone.

Trust me. Sending a short email on Friday will save you a ton of time on Monday. Why? Because all those candidates aren't calling you on Monday asking what is going on. They have all entered the weekend fresh from an email from you and are thrilled with your personal touch and responsiveness even though you have just told them...well...nothing.

Oh yeah...and don't forget one very important thing. Your candidates? Prefer to know the hiring manager didn't like them rather than sit around and wonder what the heck is going on. Don't be afraid to pass along bad news. Just make sure to package in a non-hurtful, constructive criticism kind of way. It's a far, far better thing to know you didn't get the job than to always wonder how bad it must have been for the recruiter to never call again.