Don’t underestimate your Impact
Easily the most common complaint right now in people’s job search is pace of play. The time between interviews, the amount of interviews, and the indecisiveness of the offer stage are all contributing factors. A lot of companies are measuring five times and cutting zero. 2023 in particular is plagued with stories like this.
As the recruiter involved, trust me we want to power through the hiring process just as much as you do. And while there is definitely a pace that I believe is too fast, getting through the entire process in 10 business days doesn’t seem like a terribly tall order from the outside looking in. HOWEVER….. candidates, take this as a compliment….if you get hired your impact is more than you think. And that’s the problem.
I work a lot with software engineers so I’ll use that as my example. Let’s pick a salary number of $150k for a senior (which I have been borderline laughed at offering to candidates over the last couple years). This is probably more money than most of us will offer anyone to do anything over the course of the year. If you as the candidate receive nominal raises for three years at said company we quickly arrive at half a million dollar price tag. Each employee also has a benefits package and hardware. There’s also a fixed cost associated per employee for support staff that ensures you can do your job and get your paychecks. Round numbers, a $150k employee costs $200k a year. The salary is the part of the iceberg you can see. Most of it is underwater.
If you are brought in to work on a team of five, the salaries around you will likely average close to yours. As an individual on this team, you can instantly impact the culture of a $1M worth of salary. What if you impact it negatively? If you are hired at a senior level you’re probably being given access to a product that makes the company millions in revenue. Those millions support the salaries around you. Those salaries are putting food on a lot of families' tables. That’s a lot of responsibility to give someone over two and a half hours of interviews.
This is not a viewpoint that should allow companies to commoditize you, and I do certainly believe that after 6-7 interviews enough is enough. But behind every interview process you enter is a cohort of imperfect humans that have to analyze all the variations of the butterfly effect you cause when you walk in the door. Don’t underestimate your impact. Happy hunting :)
