RECRUITMENT AND STAFFING AGENCY MBH

Caution - foxy candidate!

Few years ago, company where I used to work decided to change their recruitment strategy and to focus on attracting our people who live abroad and have international experience. It was a great idea to refresh our company with get people who speak our language, know our culture, but have worldwide expertise as well.

One woman was particularly interesting to us, because she had managerial experience at our competitors in Great Britain. She sent us her CV by herself. She was easy to talk to, very pleasant and sounded genuinely interested in our company. We even had a vacancy for a person with her profile. It all sounded like an easy project. So easy, that is difficult to believe that it is true. She had an interview with HR manager who was organizer of the project “Back to our country”. Candidate left a good impression; she was smart, had relevant knowledge, experience, and she had great people skills. 

We proposed her Purchasing director position in Production block. She liked the idea and we organized her interviews with Production block director and his deputy who was in charge for purchasing and supply chain management. They made a decision to hire her. We send her a job offer, but it came back declined. She did not like the conditions. Ok, we wrote another job offer with financial conditions, but it came back declined. Candidate informed us that she just received a promotion and that she is not interested to change a job.

What really happened?

Candidate took our job offer and went to her manager, showed a job offer and they got her a promotion so they would not lose her. Soon after she declined our offer, she changed current position status on Linkedin. 

After a year, we had a similar opening in Sales & distribution block, and we called the same candidate to ask if she would be interested to apply for this role. To our surprise, she said that she was interested. Again, she had interviews with Sales & distribution block director and his deputy who was in charge for purchasing and supply chain management. They made a decision to hire her. We send her a job offer, but it came back declined. She asked to see whole contract and we did it. She had many silly proposal to change the contract and we followed her instructions, send her an offer and she declined it again. She got job offer for the position she wanted, conditions she wanted and again she declined.

What went wrong?

She wanted to get another job in her company but in another country. That was perfect timing to show how much other companies want to hire her, and that influenced her manager to give her position that she desired.  Soon after she declined our offer, she changed current position status on Linkedin.

The same candidate contacted us after 8 months, that she is ready to leave her company and asked if we still have some vacancies. We were not interested in this candidate, since she declined already two job offers. Then she wrote directly to Deputy CEO of our company who said: “Oh, what a good candidate, let’s hire her”, and recruitment department was again in trouble.

Candidate was then offered to be Purchasing director in new Block that opened in the company, passed all interviews, was selected and again as expected declined the offer.

What happened?

She was proposed by her boyfriend and decided to stay in UK. At least, recruiters were happy that if she marries British man she would stay there and stop declining our job offers. They thought the story with this candidate was over. However, she again changed her current position status on LinkedIn. She again got promotion after receiving our offer. Accidentally or not? You decide.

Four years have passed since first contact with this candidate. Recruiters almost forgot her, until one day they received another e-mail from her. Wedding was cancelled and she was again interested to come back to our country to work, to leave UK and everything behind. After few months, she was offered managerial position, passed all the interviews and she signed a job offer without problems. Recruiters were amazed and expected that she will cancel anytime. However, that did not happen. She started to work for our company, and she is still hired.  

What did she really want from the beginning?

A woman wanted to stay and work in UK; however, that is possible for a foreigner for only 5 years. After that time, they have to pay extra taxes that are really high. Another option is to get married and get British citizenship. Since she did not get married and she did not want to pay extra taxes, she had no other choice but to except our job offer. All these 5 years of applying for vacancies, and quitting was really a practice; to learn about the company, people and culture, and to stay in touch in case her plan to stay in UK fails. 

From that day on, recruiters were extra careful with foreign candidates who worked in UK less than 5 years. If they met a candidate who was working more than five years in UK, they knew they had unique chance to negotiate very law salary with candidate, since big percent of their salary was going on extra taxes for foreign workers.