Floater

The Floater

Candidates, not merely Resumes!

Water walking is finished.  Hiring authorities are no longer seeking them.  This page was originally written

on 24 October 2003. I was sarcastically celebrating that I no longer was getting requests for water walkers,

and compensation programs that were 10-20% below fair market value.  I then stated that we must all

celebrate the demise of the WW syndrome.

Today we are more likely to get calls for a “floater.”  That is a candidate who floats just above the ground,

has more years sales experience than he or she is old, and a perfect fit in terms of application, travel,

education, sales training, experiences, personal attributes, attainment of quota, stability, able to judge a

great company/product and one who will take the opportunity, @ 30-40% below fair market value and

think nothing of it.  That candidate will also commit to staying at the new company regardless of the

competencies or attractiveness of product, management, compensation, commissions, ability to deliver, or

reputation.

If this sounds far fetched, it is not. As a recruiter, I certainly wish it were. I just spoke to a HA this

morning, and at least 4 or 5 of the above items came up in discussion after an interview.  But the best

comment was made about the only 2 candidates that I submitted. Come to find out that the HA has

already “talked” to 30 other candidates for the same jobs, and I was the only recruiter allegedly working

on the opening. My client told me the following: one of my candidates had too much experience, code

words for age; the other candidate had too little time in the exact space, application. Even though his track

record in software application sales was superlative, it was not the exact “space” they were looking for.

This second candidate had been at quota 9 of the last 10 years. The only year he missed quota

achievement was during his second year when the company, he had been with at the time, as a reward for

his excellent record the first year, doubled his quota, and decreased his territory assignment. He still made

almost 95% of the new quota.

When will the companies learn that loyalty has to be a two way street?  Especially, now, as things are

finally opening up in recruiting.


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