Sometimes the candidate loses interest in the job, the company, or its people, and decides to drop out. Some stop returning telephone calls to the headhunter and client.
The lead candidate for a first vice president and chief trader position stopped returning telephone calls. She was in her early thirties, with degrees from a top Ivy League school, doing a similar job with another financial institution. She was earning a base and bonus of $125,000 annually. The firm seeking her offered a base of $125,000 and a bonus of up to $75,000, including a first year guarantee of $25,000. Finally, the headhunter called late one evening. “Sorry to disturb you at this hour,” he said politely, “but I haven’t been able to reach you.” The woman who had answered said, “You must want my sister. She’s not in. I’ll tell her you called.” “You sound just like her,” said the recruiter. There was a moment of silence. Then the woman said, “I’ll tell her you called,” and hung up. The recruiter never heard from her “sister.”
Needless to say, this kind of behavior is unprofessional. Fortunately, it’s also uncommon.
Sometimes a company begins getting bad press in the media while a search is in progress and a candidate changes his mind. A company may begin losing money or a few key executives may leave, causing candidates to lose interest. An entire continent, such as Latin America, began suffering financial and political difficulties and many who might have considered employment there were dissuaded.
A major U.S. company was given a franchise by the government of China to build factories in a heavily populated (5 million people) but isolated city. The company retained a headhunter to recruit two executives. A few days later, the headhunter read in the newspaper that there were riots in the city directed at a woman accused of fraud. Many of the residents wanted her executed. Not long after, a follow-up article mentioned that these people had indeed publicly executed her. Several possible candidates read the report of the incidents and withdrew from consideration although the jobs were eventually filled.
An American and his wife were flown to Kuwait by a Fortune 1000 company to see if the locale, housing, and private schools were suitable for them to relocate there. On their third day in the country, the U.S. Embassy was bombed. A week later all U.S. citizens were evacuated. Just as well, the candidate was no longer interested in the job.
The finalist candidate and his wife were house hunting in San Francisco and staying at a hotel as guests of his probable new employer. They were scheduled to lunch with the headhunter, but upon arriving at their hotel he found they had unexpectedly checked out and were en route to the airport. He caught up with them as they were boarding. “We won’t live in this town,” said the executive in a shaky voice. “Last night’s earthquake threw us both out of bed.”