A case of mistaken candidate identity
Published: 25 June 2008
In the long—and seemingly never-ending—line of strange candidate stories, Richard Price from Aquantra got in touchwith this bizarre chain of events.
“Having set up a telephone interview with a candidate (David N) and one of our clients, we were waiting for feedback fromboth sides. Thirtyminutes after the interview was due to begin, the client called in and said that the candidate was not appropriate as he was particularlymoody and abrupt. This seemed strange because I had spoken to himseveral times before and he had come across as being young, dynamic and particularly enthusiastic.
“Curious as to why he had chosen to be so negative, I called the candidate and asked himhow things had gone. He then explained that he hadn’t heard fromthe client and was still sitting down, awaiting their call— very strange.
“I then asked my colleague where he had found the initial candidate’s contact details. It transpired that upon setting up the call, he had found David N’s CV on our database and sent through the contact details accordingly. However, what he didn’t realise was that there were in fact two candidates of the same name and profile within our database. David N (2) had answered the telephone while sitting in bar in Barbados and came across as being slightly discourteous because he was being interviewed (while on holiday) for a role which he had never heard about, let alone applied for! However, despite the unexpected call he didn’t let on to the client and proceeded with the interview regardless!”
| Job Title | Job Location | Job Position |
|---|---|---|
| Operations Director/Divisional Manager... | All | Permanent |
| Sales or Marketing Recruitment... | North West | Permanent |
| Manpower Professional – Branch Manager... | North West | Permanent |
| Senior Consultant... | South East | Permanent |
| Team Leader/Senior Consultant... | Scotland | Permanent |
| Work Life balance in London...YES in... | London | Permanent |
