The Counterproductivity of Multiple Candidates

Recruitment is a competitive world, and when you find talent, it is best to move as quickly as you can. The lengthier your recruitment process, the higher the likelihood that you may lose your top candidate waiting for others to show up in your pipeline. While the internal instinct for most of us may be to continue the search and interview multiple candidates for the open role, this approach can sometimes be counterproductive. Let’s explore why hiring managers should reconsider their inclination to wait and see several candidates when they’ve already found their gem.

Quality over Quantity

As a hiring manager, your goal is not to interview a certain number of candidates, it is to find the right candidate who is the best fit for your role and can make the biggest contribution to your team. Sometimes this can happen after meeting one candidate, and sometimes this happens after meeting five. If you’re one of the lucky ones and have found yourself with an all-star candidate but are fixated on seeing others solely for comparison, it is important you understand the risk. Instead of focusing on quantity, prioritizing the quality of candidates should be the guiding principle.

Wasting Valuable Time and Resources:

The recruitment process is both time-consuming and resource-intensive. By extending the search unnecessarily, hiring managers not only misuse their own valuable time but also put additional strain on the others involved in the process, like their teams who are likely down a colleague. Multiple rounds of interviews and assessments can become a burden for candidates as well, potentially leading top talent or that great candidate to withdraw their application or accept another offer.

Negative Impact on Employer Branding:

As we’ve discussed before, your candidate’s experience matters. The reputation of an organization as an employer of choice is vital in attracting and retaining top talent. When a highly qualified candidate is put through a prolonged and unnecessary hiring process, it can create a negative impression of your organization.

Opportunity Cost:

Time is of the essence when it comes to securing exceptional talent. While hiring managers deliberate over multiple candidates, the outstanding and leading candidate they already have met receive offers from other companies. This delay in deciding can result in missed opportunities and the loss of talent to competitors. Acting swiftly and decisively when a great candidate is identified can help secure their commitment and prevent unnecessary setbacks.

Sometimes Large Candidate Pipelines Don’t Exist:

If you are hiring for a highly competitive or specialized role, or you have very specific qualifications and competencies that you are looking for, the reality is that there may only be a few candidates who are suitable for your role looking and considering new opportunities at this time. If you’ve met with a great candidate, waiting for another to show up can sometimes take weeks, or even months. Understand what you are looking for in your ideal candidate, compare them to the person who previously held the role, and don’t keep them waiting.

While the desire to see multiple candidates is rooted in the pursuit of making the best possible hiring decision, it is essential for hiring managers to recognize the counterproductivity that can sometimes come with this approach. Prioritizing the quality of candidates, conserving time and resources, protecting employer branding, seizing timely opportunities, and understanding the market climate for the role they are seeking should all be considered when evaluating the necessity of seeing several candidates. By rethinking this approach, hiring managers can streamline the recruitment process, secure exceptional talent quickly and efficiently, and contribute to the long-term success of their organizations, which should always be the end goal.

Written By: Melina Grande
Note: This article is written as an opinion piece from the perspective of a Recruitment Specialist