In the past, I used to expect experienced prospective hires to be well prepared, well presented and engaging when I interviewed them. But this is rarely the case now, so my expectations are low. Surely it be the opposite? Shouldn’t it be second nature for recruiters to be great at interview?

ReThink is growing fast and I interview people everyday. It’s a vital part of my schedule, but it is so often disappointing. The good part is that the best really do stand out and it’s easy to choose them. But the general standard is very poor.

Where do I start with my whinge? Well, the CV is often the first issue. I want to know what the candidate was asked to do in previous jobs and how they fared against their objectives. However, the standard CV has a paragraph dedicated to each job and it’s up to me to do the digging. Wouldn’t it be better to just have the detail on paper and we could spend more time talking about the how rather than the what?

Even worse is when I am offered a LinkedIn profile instead of a CV, stuffed full of recommendations and buzz words but not much about what he or she actually did to achieve their objectives. How do they prepare their candidates’ CVs?

Often the candidate has done very little homework and struggles to find a question to ask other than what the salary is. I could go on and talk about grammar, appearance and other stuff that will make me sound like a schoolmaster, but here is the point: I want our clients to meet a friendly, communicative, engaging and resourceful professional.

I’m also looking for the ability to work hard, embrace routine and be responsible - and our clients must meet someone they want to talk to. People with those attributes can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, backgrounds and cultures, but it’s a basic: they must be good to meet. If a candidate wants to impress there is no better way then do some homework and have some pertinent questions. It is so rare to have someone ask “What is it like to work here?” or “What is your business plan?” or “How will my success be measured?”

There are so many important questions to ask clients when they give us the opportunity to recruit for them. Why is it so difficult to hear an ability to question at interview? I find that I am often one of half a dozen interviewers the candidate is going to see, and when I ask what their criteria is for finding the right job it is very hazy - the bonus scheme is generally one of the main points. I know we want people to work hard and earn well but the way to do that is to become very good at recruitment which means being able to manage a meeting well. Oh well. It is frustrating that our industry still has so many people in it that don’t seem to see the opportunity that you can realise by raising their own standards.

It is still true that a junior consultant with no qualifications in recruitment can earn more than a chartered accountant who spent years qualifying and probably works harder. Personally, I feel privileged to do what I do, and maybe a bit more understanding of how privileged we are in recruitment will do us all a world of good.

By the way, most of those people I moaned about come through rec-to-rec companies. That is another issue…

Stefan Ciecierski is regional director at recruitment firm ReThink