Help! My temp has left!

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I received a call from a client today, a new client who rang us looking for help. Rob had contacted me as he had had his temp leave all of a sudden. Rob had successfully secured a fantastic candidate to cover a maternity leave management accounts role in his finance team, so far she had done a great job , everything was going well…..until today when he called me in a panic. The new lady had handed in her notice and asked to leave with immediate effect.

Rob was shocked, surprised, angry and in a mess – his management accountant had already left last week and was due to have her baby anytime. He had already let all the other candidates he interviewed know they were unsuccessful and as they were immediately available he knew they were probably ‘off the market’ by now. He found himself in the unenviable situation of having no candidate, no time and him and his team still being expected to deliver.

He asked me – ‘Why me and how could I have stopped this happening?’ Unfortunately this is something that seems to happen a lot, but it can be prevented.

As an expert Recruitment consultant with 5 years of experience of recruiting senior Interim Finance, I have recruited for hundreds of interim roles. I wanted to share my advice to Rob to help others avoid ending up in this sticky situation.….

Michelle’s 5 top tips to avoid loosing a temp….

  1. Some candidates will just leave

Often there can be much more behind a role that finishes suddenly! Finding out specific reasons for leaving (e.g. I left to go on holiday, I didn’t get on well with the team so I left, they asked me to leave, they asked me to stay late) Look for any reoccurring trends that could flag up potential problems – this could save you a lot of time and stress further down the line. – Investigate previous reasons for leaving

  1. Some people will feel your role is their 2nd , 3rd or 4th choice option

Often candidates have multiple things on the go – especially candidates who are immediately available; they are keen to get back into work. The last thing you want is to find your ideal candidate, let everyone else know it’s a ‘no’, wait for your candidate to start only to find a few days before that your role was 4th on their list, they have been offered and accepted one of their more favoured roles and your right back at square one (yes this does happen!). Finding out how your role compares to their other roles and other options can help avoid this happening. This is often much easier for your agency to do for you and they will often get a more open answer. – Investigate what people currently have on the go and where your role ranks

  1. Some candidates will seek and leave for a permanent role

Some candidates aren’t really temps, to ensure you have a true temp / contactor candidate see my blog on the two types of temp. – Ensure you correctly classify interim candidates

  1. Some candidates will disappear …..

At first a candidate currently working offering to make themselves immediately available for you sounds perfect – the candidate clearly really wants your role, sometimes this is the case and everything is great e.g. their current contract is due to come to an end soon, so their manager is flexible and happy for them to leave when they are ready. However it is always worth investigating…..Be wary of someone who will leave at the drop of a hat as you don’t want them to do the same to you. – Beware when taking a candidate on who is in a role but will make themselves immediately available for your role

  1. Some candidates will leave you for more money

We all want to save money and you may think you can grab a bargain by offering the candidate several thousand less than they stated at the start of the process, but I have seen several instances where this offends the candidate. The candidate may either not start or continue to seek a higher paid role and leaves as soon as one is secured. – Be careful offering a candidate less money to secure yourself a ‘bargain’

I hope this helps! And saves some headaches, with a few simple steps you can prevent yourself losing your preferred candidate or as a minimum predict potential problems and take steps to rectify them.

I am an expert recruiter of Senior Interim Finance and Accountant Professionals in the East Midlands; at BTG Recruitment we have been securing accountant roles for over 12 years. Feel free to call me anytime to discuss for any recruitment related advice and help, I am in the office 8.30am – 8pm on 01159607000 and outside of these hours on 07805143929. I can be reached outside of work hours for a confidential chat.

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