So I recently went through a significant search for a Sales Engineer in the North East.  A great relationship has allowed me to enjoy a client that calls me when they have a need.  They called me in July with a very specific need for that outgoing and gregarious engineer to sell their amazingly interesting products.

I tell them first the bad news: your products aren't that interesting unless you are a physicist working to solve the inner issues dealing with making Cold Fusion less elusive.

(Chuckles, snorts, adjusts horned rimmed glasses with tape on the bridge)

Then the good news:  your customers are physicists so they will likely find the products unnervingly exciting and consider a grand celebration with the finest wine and a tuxedo laden champagne brunch at the mere mention of the potential within.

(Fantasizing about the invite - I'll wear my new chucks with the rental and save my feet the pain as well as the wallet.)

Then the bad news: The average gregarious sales person will likely find both the customer and the product boring and might actually offend you with a statement such as, 'give me something I can sell' should we bring them to the interview.

(Thinking ~ I hope I can sell this job)

Then the good news: I can find the person you want.

(Thinking ~ I hope they believe me)

Well they do believe me and that's why they called and they actually know all of the things I tell them already which is why they send me on the grand North American expedition to find the elusive feral Sales Engineer with a Masters in Physics an MBA and a desire for a BMW.

After screening through 20 candidates I paired it down to the 2 I would submit and we scheduled the interviews after the obligatory 10 days of non-communication from the hiring manager.  We went another 2 weeks until the final for which both of my candidates were selected against one sourced by the recruiting team at the company.  One of mine dropped out having decided to take a more interesting role determining the finer properties of photons in a WAH-WAH-WAH WAH-WAH WAH-WAH.

So now I am down to two candidates in the interview and one of tehm isn't mine.  I am left to performing the interview prep of a lifetime to make sure this amazingly interesting guy doesn't blow it.

(you might be able to cut the sarcasm with a butter knife here)

Well the good news for me is that I am an incomplete engineer; that unique breed of people with the ability to safely travel between the two worlds having received enough education to know that if I went any further the only thing keeping my head from sinking in on its self would be the intense pressure of information within.  So I left in order to deal with exciting interesting people instead of just the interesting ones.  I am still looking if you know any. (Enough about me; well not really but let's move on anyway)

MY CANDIDATE LISTENED!!!

He nailed the interview and the manager called me immediately with a strong desire to send an offer and close this deal.

The Bad News:  Here in the economy where companies are certain that there are an over abundance of qualified candidates just begging for an interview this guy gets another call.  Then he starts avoiding my calls.  The next thing I know I am leaving the take away timeline voice mails almost daily and he is just barely meeting the deadlines with every excuse known to man.  We went back and forth on the pre-accepted offer that had been discussed from the very first conversation.

Can we get a little more on base? No this is the offer I told you it would be.

Can we get a bigger bonus? No, in fact the bonus is guaranteed and will be paid monthly.  You get a generous commission and a car.  What else and why is this new?

Well I just need to think on it.  What have you been thinking about for the past 2 months while they have been thinking about hiring you?

Can I get it in writing?  Yes, as soon as you tell me it will be signed and faxed back; otherwise, I need to start recruiting again.

I started recruiting again.

He accepted the offer after 5 days of closing a deal.  He finally sent his written acceptance on Friday and now I have 3 weeks to wait until he starts.

I am still recruiting.

What I am learning in the new economy is that companies think they don't need me because they have so many resumes coming in.  The ones who say this must really not need me because if they are actually reading the resumes they will realize how badly they need me to screen through these people and help them find the one that is qualified.

Even worse, the good candidates are still in demand and will be harder to get to make a commitment because they are nervous about the stability of every company out there.

Now more than ever I cannot afford to let even one deal fail.  I don't have 3 equally good candidates standing by because when screening 150 candidates only gives me 1 when it previously gave me 3 I find that I am unable to pre-load the pipeline like I once did.  I also don't want to have to talk to another 450 candidates to get the 3 for the replacement round.

I spent an entire week closing that one deal and doing nothing else.  Now I know I will have to do the same again.  I also know I will continue to prospect and recruit for this position (that should be filled) while nurturing this little deal to a start date and then nurture it some more until I am paid.

No matter how selective a company thinks they can be.  The market still seems to be driven by the candidate.  The millennial generation is not concerned with the loss of the offer if they know they are employable.  You can't take it away because you don't have another one right now and even if you did they aren't scared either.

As you enter into your short work week just remember that the deal isn't closed until you can go shopping on it and you aren't likely to close the candidate on issues that are important to you so do make sure that you understand and care what is important to them.

It will make the difference that separates you from the also ran.