How About a Couple More Interviews?

Question:

We recruited a candidate who wants to interview at a "few places" before he/she makes a decision. We have only rolled out one job opportunity so far and have not submitted to client yet...any ideas how to handle this request?

Danny's response:

You need to determine whether your candidate's primary decision making is External or Internal. No one is entirely one or the other, but we all have a dominant mode. An external candidate makes decisions based on what he/she can measure, what do they gain, versus what do they lose. In the course of qualifying, you should be able to intuit this: an external person is always asking about compensation, the job location, the benefits... "If I make the move what do they give me that I don't have?"

If you determine your candidate is dominant External, you appeal to their logic and their fear of loss.

"Of course we can wait for other interviews. But you need to understand the risks. The company will continue to interview as well. If you are not prepared to accept an offer, and it is just logical in a market like this, they could find a comparable candidate who is making less money or who is closer to the specs, and you will receive no offer. It would be one thing if you didn't like the job, but when your only negative is ‘it's the first interview', we are being illogical and risking losing the opportunity."

And then Take it Away. The Take it Away close is designed for External people. They had something they are now losing. That doesn't sit well with them.

The internal candidate makes his/her decisions based on their feelings and emotions. They will tell you at the outset they are interested because they're not happy, their boss doesn't like them, the culture has changed, and the people are no fun. During the interview process they will wrap their feedback up in the language of feelings. "Everyone was so nice." "I met the CEO and he spent almost an hour with me." If you determine someone is internal, then you close with Internal Closes. One of the best of all time is the Feel, Felt, Found Close.

"I hear you and I understand how you feel. What if there is another job out there that is even better? How do you know it's right? I've been at this a long time and I have heard this from other candidates who have felt the same thing. But you know what they inevitably found? They waited, interviewed at two other places over a two week period, realized the original job was by far the best one, but by then the job is filled by someone else who understood that first doesn't mean ‘not the best’ and sadly, a lot of companies get their feelings hurt when someone says ‘Great job but I need to see others'. Bottom line, that means you don't like them as much as they like you, and so they move on, and offer the job to someone else."

A lot of recruiters know how to use both the Take it Away and Feel, Felt, Found Closes, but they use them at the wrong time on the wrong folk. You match an external close like the Take it Away with an external person, and an Internal Close like Feel, Felt, Found with an internal person. The beauty is the match of the dominant mode is more important than how well you execute. Do an External Close on an internal person and I don't care how well you articulate it they will not only not respond, they will "feel" betrayed by your tough guy close. An external person would hear an internal close and gag at the sentimentality. They would see you as "soft." Learn to identify modes early and close accordingly, and you will close this candidate and a lot of others.