What is recruitment? It’s best not to overthink it.

Recruitment is theoretically selling the prospect of a service.

Once the organisation has theoretically purchased your prospective service you then need to try to provide an actual service to the organisation whilst, at the same time, theoretically selling the prospect of a new role to a potential candidate.

Once the prospective candidate has theoretically bought the prospect offered, you then need to actually sell the theoretically interested candidate to the theoretically interested customer.

Once the theoretically interested customer becomes actually interested in the theoretically interested candidate you then need to try and sell the actual role to the theoretically interested candidate to ensure they’re actually interested in an actual role before progressing to interview.

Once we get to this point it’s in the hands of the prospective customer who is actually interested in the prospective candidate who, in turn, is actually interested in the prospective role.

It’s important, prior to this point, to ensure that the actual role and the prospective role are the same thing otherwise the prospective candidate who was interested in the prospective role will no longer be interested in the actual role.

As long as the prospective role and the actual role are one and the same thing and the prospective candidate meets the expectation of the prospective customer we’re now at a stage where an actual service can be sold – it’s at this point that we join the normal(ish) sales cycle.

“I have something you’re interested in buying, let’s hash out a deal.”

Unfortunately for everyone involved, candidates are not white goods.  At this point in the sales cycle, for example, a (pre-IOT) photocopier would be incapable of turning round and deciding it doesn’t actually want to work for the customer, which is occasionally the case in recruitment.

Generally speaking, if this happens, the actual role/salary/rate differs from the prospective role/salary/rate.  Or, very possibly, a better prospective opportunity has come along which makes the desire for our previously interesting opportunity to dwindle to a mere theoretical interest should the other prospective opportunity turn out to be only theoretical.  Either way, dust yourself off and try again.