Clients Ask for More Candidates

Every “show me a few more” sends you back to sourcing, screening and writing send-outs. The work doubles, and the fee doesn’t.

Meanwhile your best candidates wait. They’re interviewing elsewhere, and by the time the hiring manager is ready to decide, the one they would have chosen has taken another offer.

And every candidate you add makes the choice harder, not easier. Searches like this drift until the role goes on hold.

Choosing between candidates means knowing what you’re choosing for: which strengths matter most, and which gaps you can live with.

When that was never settled, the hiring manager is looking for “just right” without knowing what it is. This one is too senior, that one too junior, the next one too much of a generalist. Seeing more feels like the responsible thing to do.

So the list keeps growing, and each new candidate gets measured against the last one instead of against the role. The hiring manager isn’t getting closer to a choice, only to a longer list.

The hiring manager isn’t short of candidates. They’re short of a definition of “just right.”

• The client calls your candidates “fine” and asks to see a few more.
• Good candidates sit in the process with no decision either way.
• Feedback compares candidates to each other, not to the role.
• Your submissions per hire keep climbing, and so does what each placement costs you.

• The send-out didn’t make the case. The candidates fit, but the send-outs didn’t show why.
• The client is benchmarking the market. They want to see what’s out there before committing.
• The candidates really aren’t right. The search is pulling the wrong profile.