What to do when your hiring manager has "Goldilocks Syndrome"

Goldilocks laid in the first bed… “it’s too hard” she said, so she tried the 2nd bed, “it’s too soft” she cried….. so, she tried the 3rd bed… and as she laid down, she said… “where are the rest of the beds I can try… surely this isn’t all of them??”

Ok now I made that last line up, but you know where I am going with this…. hiring manager “goldilocks’” syndrome.

So, what is Goldilocks syndrome? Well just like the children’s fable we have our lovely, misguided (incredibly frustrating) Goldilocks wanting the perfect bed, and after trying a whole heap of them, she finally finds one that is the perfect one for her.

Similarly in recruitment we see hiring managers continually wanting to see the “perfect” candidate.

“No – this one doesn’t have enough experience”, or “no – this one has too much experience and won’t stay…”or, “no – this one doesn’t come from the right company/industry and it will take too long to train” or the worst one…. “let’s keep this one warm, I’ve only seen 3 candidates – where are the rest”… the list goes on.

I’ve seen many recruiters go down this rabbit hole of trying to placate their blessed hiring managers and present to them the holy grail of candidates, one by one by one – only to be bitterly disappointed when their hiring managers continue to channel John West – and reject the rest.

So as recruiters how can we combat this syndrome? By simply showing them that “perfect” doesn’t exist.

We have seen on the economic front unemployment rose for the first time to 3.5%, participation rates have increased to 66.6% and underemployment figures have decreased to 5.9% (*https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/aug-2022) so what does this show – it shows that the talent market remains incredibly tight – and will remain that way for some time yet.

There are very few fish available in the pond, yet we’re all still fishing there, all using the same bait… and guess what, the fish don’t want, whatchu got….

I have written and spoken loads recently about the amount of data that recruiters sit on, well, now is the perfect time to showcase what you’ve learned and use that to influence, inform and educate your hiring managers on what IS possible for their recruitment, and what candidates DO exist.

There really is no such thing as a perfect candidate – I think this is a folly, and one that sets our dear hiring managers up to fail – as they continue their search for that purple unicorn with a top hat on.

We need to get them to shift their thinking from the “perfect” candidate to the “best fit candidate” and define what “best fit” actually means. It does not mean perfect.

As recruiters we need to consult and show the market as it is and use that to help them define what the “best fit candidate” should look like.

This is where consulting, influencing and a level of candour is required. Which can feel uncomfortable. I’m not sure when us as recruiters allowed us to become order takers, but this style of recruitment should have gone out of style a long time ago.

Now I don’t want to generalise and say this is widespread – there are some amazing recruiters with a phenomenal ability to influence and consult – but as a whole, we don’t do this anywhere near enough, and so I hate saying this dear recruiters – but you have created a rod for your own backs to a degree, hence why your hiring managers have Goldilocks Syndrome.

So, what can we do

1) Show your working (yes like in maths class at school)

How many of you show your data, or your working out of how you got to your shortlist?  What channels did you use? What does your funnel look like? How many candidates did you reject? What is your click to apply ratio? How many candidates have you directly approached? What are your conversion metrics? How many candidates were outside of salary range?

Your hiring manager does not recruit for a living – you do, so take them on the journey with you and use this as an opportunity to educate them.

Don’t keep your recruitment work behind a curtain. If they know what you have done, then they will be more likely to be open to what the “best fit candidate” looks like if they realise, they are not going to get what they wanted (or thought they were going to get)

2) Be curious & constructively challenge

How many of us take the hiring brief as gospel only to grumble about it later? Do you know why the hiring manager needs a certain type of background? Does it help them do X, Y or Z better? What is trainable? What is teachable? What is non-negotiable – and ask WHY.

By asking questions you may be able to identify certain areas of the role that are in fact more open that the hiring manager first thought.

Constructive challenging is skill that enables having direct conversations from an informed point of view, to get to a different outcome. Constructive means trying to get to a positive outcome – challenge means to challenge the thinking or viewpoint.

Have you ever asked your hiring manager – “this role has been open for 4 months, you have seen 10 candidates and none of them are right – how critical is this role to hire?” or, “what is this role costing you the longer it remains open?”

3) Make recommendations

This one seems easier than it actually is – how many of you know what needs to change, for the hiring manager to make a successful hire? What is that one thing, that if they were to flex on, would be the difference between hiring, and not hiring? Is it the location of the role? Is it the level of experience of person required – investigate their current team and see if they need the level of experience they do, or if someone else in the team is an SME and can knowledge transfer.

Is it the salary or package on offer that isn’t as competitive as other organisations that hire for the same talent? If so – gather the data from your candidates, put together a business case and try and change it? If they can’t – then the expectation of the candidate needs to change.

4) Know what the “best fit candidate” looks like

So, you know the perfect candidate does not exist, but do you know what the “best fit candidate” looks like?

If you are said to your hiring manager, “you can’t have this for these reasons”, what can they have that is in line with the basic expectations of the role? Is it less experience, but they have an aptitude for learning and development and have “runway”? Can you leverage your L&D team internally and figure out a development plan to get them to where they need to be quickly?

Do they need a more flexible work option such as part time? Are they in a different location, but where your organisation still has presence, or has a remote worker policy? What can you offer the hiring manager by way of talent options?

What is the one thing they could change to make a successful hire?

Offer your hiring manager solutions. Advise & consult.

5) Maintain perspective

It’s frustrating to work with hiring managers that aren’t realistic with their hiring expectations, but there are things within your control that you can do to help them get to their optimal hiring outcome.

HOWEVER - there are still just some hiring managers that even though you can execute all the above scenarios plus some of your own, they still want that perfect unicorn candidate – maintain perspective.

You are not going to convince every hiring manager, all the time, so focus on what you can do within your sphere of influence.

You are the recruitment SME, and you know your space. Back yourself and maintain perspective of the situation…. and remember… some stories must have a big, bad wolf!

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and this blog!

Share space below!

 Jess - TSC