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Hi, this is Stephanie Moss. Today I want to talk to you about one of my biggest pet peeves with hiring authorities. I want to talk to my hiring managers. Oftentimes hiring managers are actually a team of folks. It can be the person the position is actually going to report to. It could also be their boss. It could also be key folks within HR. And here's what I want to share with you.
You guys know for the most part, I adore you. If I'm going to work with you, I already have a whole list of reasons why I'm excited to work with you. However, there is an old adage out there. We've all heard it if you've ever done anything even remotely related to sales in any way, shape, or form. The adage is time kills all deals. This is the same in a recruiting process.
Now, of course, as soon as I say that, there's going to be the one person says, well, there's this one time. Okay, great. Super. I'm so happy for you and your exceptions. I'm not talking about the exceptions. I'm talking about the general rule. Here are our realities. If you are in a hiring mode, good talent is incredibly hard to find, recruit, and lure away. It just is.
There's all kinds of factors that could make a quote unquote deal fall apart, but you cannot sit on your hands for weeks on end without making a decision, good or bad. It doesn't matter. Even if the decision is, hey, I know it took me four weeks, but now we'd like to make you an offer. Psychologically, that unicorn has talked themselves out of why you're the right fit.
And by the way, you spent the last three or four weeks being courted by two of your competitors. If you go three, four weeks and then deliver a no, imagine that blow. Because for most of us to buy that kind of time before making a decision, we've probably been giving them little hooks along the way to make them seem like they still have a chance.
So three, four weeks go by and then we get a big fat no. It just doesn't work. I literally was just on the phone this morning with a client who I thought they had a finalist and was calling to follow up on that. And they said, no, we lost them. I said, well, gosh, what happened?
Well, they were interviewing with a couple other places and I guess we dragged our heels and they went on and took another offer. And my client was a little flabbergasted. They said, oh, I don't know how that happened. And then here is what is most critical about what he said. He said, I don't even know if they were who we absolutely wanted to hire, but now we'll definitely never know.
And it just reminded me and brought me back to that idea of time kills all deals. Even if you're not sure the person you're talking to is the one, keep good candidates engaged. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are absolutely in a competitive environment for the best people. And if we drag our heels, it sends a message that we're not interested and they will emotionally detach and move on.
So here, let me make a suggestion. We know when it comes to hiring key talent, time is of the essence. Before you jump into the market, stop, get your ducks in a row, button up your process. That way, when you do get in front of the right unicorn, it can be smooth, easy, and significantly increase your chance of getting that talent unicorn to say yes. So hiring teams, please be mindful.
Time kills all deals.