Relations between people, regardless of the environment, involve mutual exchange of information. The message we want to convey is mostly determined by the context, the emotions we feel at the moment and the opinions of other people. Among other things, these factors, as well as the so called information noise, may cause the recipient to misunderstand or misinterprete our message. How can we be sure that the interlocutor has received and understood the actual intentions of the sender? Consider what the ideal model looks like in communicating expectations in the context of cooperation between the agency, the client and the candidate regarding the three most common factors.

#1 A non-demanding attitude

        According to the dictionary, an over-demanding person is a person expressing unreasonable or excessive demands. How can this translate into problems in cooperation between the agency and the client? First of all, remember that it is a two-way street. You may encounter an over-demanding client who expects you to perform certain tasks unreasonably and free of charge can despite the fact that they were not included in previous arrangements. The experience of the agency team may indicate that this action is ineffective in a given recruitment process. Nevertheless, the team most often tries to meet the "new" needs of the client, proposing to implement solutions that can further improve the given process, for a specific rate.

        What if the other party – agency - is unreasonable about its demands? You commission it to support your own HR department in filling positions, for which it is difficult to find the right candidates. The project will be adopted on mutually convenient terms, but additional costs related to the difficulty of its implementation will start to come out during the process. What can you do about it  as a client? Of course, you can immediately say that "we did not agree so" and give up cooperation (the contract contains information on how the process of resignation will proceed) or talk to the agency representative and try to reach a compromise.

        Considering the problem of unreasonable demands there is one equally important paty - the candidate. When a client commissions a given recruitment process, the agency carries out a very detailed interview with hi mor her to clarify their real needs towards the new employee. In order to make it easier to understand, let us assume that the employee's duties in a given position will be "ABC". Imagine that the client's first meeting with the recommended candidate is already made and he is rejected by the client or the candidate resigns himself. What could be the reason? Being over-demanding! The customer satisfied with the fact that he met with the candidate who meets the requirements of the "ABC" position begins to expect the implementation of the previously mentioned "D" task. However, this person may not meet the requirements of an additional job in this position or expect a higher remuneration which the future employer may not be able or willing to provide. On the other hand, demands on the part of the candidate may concern, among other things, remuneration, additional privileges, benefits, workplace and its equipment. We talk about unreasonable demands when all of the above-mentioned factors are inadequate to the role of the employee and his professional experience.

#2 Responsibility

        Responsibility is nothing more than becoming responsible for taking care of something or someone. It may result from a moral or legal obligation. Translating this into cooperation between the agency, the client and the candidate: the agency, when undertaking a given order, assumes a legal responsibility for the implementation of a given recruitment process. The client, on the other hand, designates a person responsible for constant contact with the agency. He may serve this role himself. This means that in case of any questions, it is him who is expected to respond to them so that the process can consistently move forward. When the agency finds a potential candidate and the client meets him and finally employs him, he will be responsible for the tasks that were presented to him during the interview with the agency recruiter and the employer. Now consider the downside of the situation. If the agency undertakes cooperation with the client but will not implement the recruitment process, it will not meet the client’s needs or significantly extend the implementation time. When the client responsible for the flow of information does not respond to the current agency questions promptly, the recruitment effectiveness will decrease and the candidate may be dissatisfied due to lack of information. And finally, if the candidate is already employed but he is not capable of carrying out the tasks assigned to him, he will put the company at risk of making losses and will eventually lose his job.

#3 Consistency

        Consistency is a consequence, the result of something and logical continuity in action, persistence in pursuing a goal. Why is it so important to be consistent and aware that every decision brings consequences? When the agency accepts the order saying "yes, we will take care of it" (of course, what we mean is signing the contract) it can only achieve the goal thanks to consistent, previously planned activities of the whole team. For this to happen, the agency must carry out the aforementioned interview with the client, in which each of his smallest statements has its consequences in the way the agency will implement the recruitment process. What do we mean by this? If together with the client we come to the conclusion that the candidate must meet the requirements "ABC", then the agency will focus on searching for a candidate who meets the requirements "ABC". If the client specifies a remuneration range of five to nine thousand net, the agency will look for a person whose expectations fit the set budget, etc. Remember that the agency is usually flexible and if it finds a candidate who is slightly outside the budget but will be able to respond to the client's needs, it will recommend him or her when reporting the situation. In case of a candidate, the CV itself, a telephone conversation or a recruitment interview are a wide field to demonstrate consistency. The candidate first presents their skills by specifying their level in the Curriculum Vitae, decides on the date of the meeting to which he comes punctually and during which defines their material and non-material needs, and finally undertakes, or not, cooperation with a given company.

        Regardless of the factwhich side you are, you can use the ideal model to communicate your expectations at the stage of the very first conversation or meeting. Implementng it as soon as you can in the process will bring many benefits in future cooperation, speed up the implementation of the designated goal, and will also allow to build a professional relationship and trust.