What Happens When You Skip Vetting (And Still Get Lucky)

Before we begin:

I’m running a promotion for all founding subscription members. You can either get one of two options for free:

1. Resume/LinkedIn Resume Review: this has been a very popular service so far and will likely make this a long term offering

2. A handful of questions answered via email. I don’t have the bandwidth to do calls at the moment, and quite a few folks have asked to do this vs a resume/linkedin review if they’re not actively looking for a job so figured to offer it to everyone else.

Remember, paid subs will also get:

• 2+ paid posts per week which will be a combo of:

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Note: Once you upgrade to funding, either DM me directly on substack or email me at randomrecruiter3@gmail.com with a screenshot of your payment.

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In this issue:

• Why candidate quality ≠ placement success

• The overlooked art of risk mitigation

• A case study of a good recruiter who moved too fast

• The fine line between a near miss and a disaster

• How to preclose like a pro

• Contract vs. perm: risk analysis

• What our post-mortem taught us as a team

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Let’s Get Something Straight
Most recruiters think their job is to “find good candidates.”
That’s rookie thinking.

Finding good candidates is table stakes.
Anyone with LinkedIn Recruiter and a few filters can find good talent.
The real money in this game?

Finding good candidates who:

• Say yes to interviews

• Crush the interviews

• Accept the offer

• Show up

• And stick around long enough to justify your fee

If that sounds like a different job than just “finding candidates,” that’s because it is.

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The Product Is People. That’s the Risk.
At the end of the day, recruiting is just another form of sales.

Except we’re not selling iPhones or SaaS tools.
We’re selling people.
Which means we’re also managing irrationality, emotion, and decision making that often defies logic.

A car doesn’t ghost.
An app doesn’t ask for more time to “talk to its wife.”
A laptop doesn’t pull out after a three round interview process because it got a better offer “closer to home.”

But people do.

So while most recruiters obsess over boolean strings and inbox response rates, the best recruiters?

They’re laser focused on one thing:
Derisking every step of the funnel.

That’s where the money is.

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What DeRisking Actually Looks Like
You’re not just interviewing a candidate.
You’re underwriting them.
Like a loan officer evaluating credit risk.

A few questions to ask yourself before you move anyone forward:

• Do they have spouse or family considerations that might delay a decision?

• Are they being vague about salary or location?

• Are they interviewing elsewhere? If so, how far along?

You don’t get this from a resume.

You get this from real conversation, pattern recognition, and knowing when to dig deeper.

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Let’s Talk About Jerry
We’ve got a senior recruiter on our team.
Let’s call him Jerry.

Jerry’s been in the game for years.
High energy. Smart. Hustler.
He’s great at sniffing out talent before anyone else does.

But he’s also a little reckless.
He moves fast. Sometimes too fast.

Jerry was working on a contract to hire full stack JavaScript role for a big insurance company.
Solid comp. Hybrid near the candidate’s house.
Stack was Node.js, React, AWS, NoSQL.

He sourced a laid off engineer who was looking for perm roles but was open to C2H for the right situation.
Big brand name. Decent money. Close to home.
On paper, a slam dunk.

Jerry did his thing, quick outreach, fast submission, tight feedback loop.
Got the candidate into interviews and kept him warm with good communication.
Preclosed every step of the way.

Except… not really.

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The Red Flag Jerry Missed