A mix-up of communication in the chain of command
I had a client once who needed to double their customer support team. The business was growing and had seen a surge in new customers.
They needed people with experience of the underlying software behind their core product suite (C++) however at the time C++ was in high demand and anyone with any relevant skills in the market was being offered a developer job rather than support jobs and so most were keen to take on development. To make matters worse many C++ developers were moving over to Java and there was a surge of Java Developer jobs to attract these people. Weeks and months went by and the client’s support team grew under more and more pressure. In a review with the agencies the brief was broadened to include any candidates with C development skills as the transition from C to C++ was fairly simple.
As it happens, shortly after that call, I was able to attract a number of candidates with C++ that I was excited to send through to my client. To my dismay they were all rejected at the HR screening stage. So come monthly review when the HR and hiring manager were hauling the agencies over hot coals for not providing enough candidates to solve the problem. I shared the CV’s of the candidates I had introduced and asked why they had been rejected. The hiring manager was furious, he hadn’t even seen the CV’s as HR had mistakenly thought that we were no longer looking for C++ and were only looking for C. 5 of the 6 candidates were selected for interview there, and then and 3 of them eventually started.
The problem is that sometimes having too many people involved in the process or simply the wrong people can cause problems. It also shows the importance of making sure everyone is on the same page regarding the requirements especially as they evolve to take into consideration market conditions.
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