If you are looking for employer to strengthen your department would you offer false hope to those who not qualify? Ricky W. Washington, D.C.
Well, this is an interesting question. Let me frame this in a way that I think will clarify your question.
There is a difference between being open minded and offering false hope.
You may interview a candidate who is not technically qualified but who has a record of being successful in a variety of assignments in the company. This would be an open-minded thing to do. All good recruiters are looking for that surprise outlier who can and will hit the ball out of the park, if you will pardon the baseball reference (Go Astros!)
Stringing along someone who is marginal and who does not do a very good job in the interview deserves honesty and constructive feedback, something most recruiters do not provide, regrettably. Telling this candidate that they are “in the mix” (recruiter slang for under consideration) is offering false hope and is terribly inappropriate unless there is some big hidden political reason to do so. But that would be very rare, say one in a million.
Offering false hope usually occurs when weak managers lack the courage and integrity to be honest with the applicant. This happens way more than most people realize.
If you have a question, you can reach John at careertransitions@johngself.com