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Are you missing great talent by looking for purple squirrels?

Growing up most of us believed in some kind of mythical beings, like Santa and The Tooth Fairy. Are we still fooling ourselves? Carly Green shares how recruiters can avoid the trap of looking for modern-day mythical beings: purple squirrels. 

As a recruiter, how often do hiring managers come to you with a clear picture of the exact candidate profile they’re looking. Super useful, right? Well, it would be… if they weren’t looking for a purple squirrel. If you’re with me, you understand this pain. If you’re scratching your head, wondering what I’m talking about, you’ve either gotten lucky or have very pliable hiring managers! While it’s important to understand your non-negotiables during recruitment, be wary you don’t fall into the trap of looking for purple squirrels.

Growing up most of us believed in some kind of mythical beings, from Santa and The Tooth Fairy to The Easter Bunny and Super Heroes; magical and idealistic characters that make dreams come true and bring your wishes to life. As an adult, HR Generalist and now a recruiter, I have a little more context around the reality of life and on a professional level, the talent market. I’m weary of fictional beings, candidates who say they are the complete package and purple squirrels.

What is a purple squirrel?

If you’re wondering what a purple squirrel is, let me elaborate. Purple squirrel is a term used by recruiters to describe a candidate that’s the perfect fit for a role. A human who has it all, the ideal candidate profile; ticks all the boxes and possesses all the skills and capability the role requires. Qualifications, experience, salary expectations, industry exposure, they have it. Sound too good to be true? That’s because it usually is.

If, as a recruiter, you know where the forest of purple squirrels is located and you’re presenting them regularly to your hiring managers, you’re a much better recruiter than I and I’d love you to send me a request to connect via LinkedIn and share the love! 

If you’re with the rest of us and getting sent on a search for this highly sought-after candidate, you understand this challenge. Chances are you have had hiring managers who either aren’t clear on what they’re looking for, or are at the other end of the spectrum and have highly detailed criteria and expectations of their potential new employee. And on occasion, these desires don’t align with what they are willing to offer, for example, salary. 

What can recruiters do to avoid this situation?

It’s critical that, as recruiters, we have a clear idea of what candidate profile our hiring managers are seeking for their roles – from technical capability, education level, experience level, industry exposure, soft skills, behaviour and values. What strengths they want someone to bring and what development opportunities they are comfortable to support. But what we need to be wary of is when all these criteria combine to create the candidate profile of a purple squirrel, rather than a human who could add a whole lot of value to our organisation. If they are all we’re seeking, we just might miss a candidate who isn’t perfect but could add a whole lot of value. 

As the expert in the talent market, we need to manage expectations and work with hiring managers to understand the impact of their criteria on our ability to deliver the candidate that’s best for the organisation and in the desired time frame. 

You also don’t want to go shopping for talent with your hiring manager when you’re recruiting for a specific role. You should both be clear and aligned in expectations and candidate profile. Your hiring manager is the expert in their technical area, but you’re the expert on talent, use your expertise to partner with them.

Understand the scope & work with your hiring manager

Truly understanding your hiring manager’s criteria will enable you to understand what areas are flexible. Consider adjusting the criteria to target a wider pool.

Don’t go shopping with your hiring manager! Understand what their ultimate criterion is for the role and from that, what is critical versus desirable. This might take some curious questioning and candid conversation, but it could create a wider talent pool for you to work with.

Understand the scope so you can understand the talent pool, then analyse the market within these parameters so you can flag concerns quickly if necessary with the hiring manager. For example, is your organisation limited in terms of what it can offer in terms of salary and benefits, size, or relocation support?

 If you raise concerns, use talent and marketing data to support your case.

 Who’s your “next best candidate”?

Have the hard conversations with your hiring manager. Is the “next best candidate” potentially the one that will be more engaged, have longer tenure and more growth opportunities in the role and with your organisation?

Use talent and marketing data

Use talent data at all stages of the process to assist your hiring manager to understand their candidate options and talent landscape, whether it be information about salary expectations or progression opportunities.

 To avoid losing time or momentum during recruitment, or risk misalignment with your hiring manager, these are conversations you should have before posting your recruitment advertisement and sourcing. You are the expert on talent! So use your expertise to partner with your hiring manager to ensure you’re not missing great talent hunting for those elusive purple squirrels. 

Carly Green, Recruitment Manager, IHG

An experienced and commercially-focused HR and Talent Professional with a career footprint across SME’s and large enterprises spanning multiple industries, Carly is currently involved in an eleven-year strong love affair with hospitality. She has ever-growing passion for employer branding, the world where HR and marketing meet and all things talent and attraction. Wearing many hats across her 13 years in recruitment, she has a strong foundation in the generalist HR world and experience providing operational HR service delivery, strategic HR business partnering and HR project management. Carly currently specialises in talent resourcing and acquisition and is a HR Marketer & Wordsmith and Employer Brand & EVP Enthusiast.

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