I once had to post a position that was specifically made for my employee, but my recruiter was awesome. I told her there was no possibility I would pick anyone else, so she suggested I make the requirements hyper specific. So, I met with my employee and we worked up a list of 10-20 things that she had done in her career and put them all in as requirements to qualify.
I received no other “qualified” applicants, so I only had to interview the one. My next meeting with her I said, “this is your official interview, do you have any questions for me?” She said “no” and I congratulated her on being selected for the role.
Job postings like yours are extremely common when the applicant has been pre-selected but the company still requires an external posting. Your applicant likes off-grid hiking, is a hobbyist drone pilot, and enjoys grilling?
Now the job posting for a IT position requires an applicant who is capable of accurate pathfinding using a paper map and compass, two years of drone pilot experience, and four years of culinary experience.
Two times in my life I fit what were obviously tailored requirements. In one case I was absolutely more qualified than the internal applicant (this was a very specific type of biological survey that was not common but I had had the good fortune of having done most of the existing work in the world)
Never heard a word, not even an “are you for real” letter. My references were from the top people in the field too.
Yeah, that’s how we did it for my PhD position as well. Someone still send an application anyways but they were clearly not fulfilling these hyper specific requirements so my prof didn’t have to invite them :)
I once had to post a position that was specifically made for my employee, but my recruiter was awesome. I told her there was no possibility I would pick anyone else, so she suggested I make the requirements hyper specific. So, I met with my employee and we worked up a list of 10-20 things that she had done in her career and put them all in as requirements to qualify.
I received no other “qualified” applicants, so I only had to interview the one. My next meeting with her I said, “this is your official interview, do you have any questions for me?” She said “no” and I congratulated her on being selected for the role.
Job postings like yours are extremely common when the applicant has been pre-selected but the company still requires an external posting. Your applicant likes off-grid hiking, is a hobbyist drone pilot, and enjoys grilling?
Now the job posting for a IT position requires an applicant who is capable of accurate pathfinding using a paper map and compass, two years of drone pilot experience, and four years of culinary experience.
Two times in my life I fit what were obviously tailored requirements. In one case I was absolutely more qualified than the internal applicant (this was a very specific type of biological survey that was not common but I had had the good fortune of having done most of the existing work in the world)
Never heard a word, not even an “are you for real” letter. My references were from the top people in the field too.
“Ha! Yeah right. You’re TOO PERFECT. This must be fake, obviously. You can’t fool me! NEXT.”
That was my fear doing the whole thing. I guess I was right to be worried. 😁
Yeah, that’s how we did it for my PhD position as well. Someone still send an application anyways but they were clearly not fulfilling these hyper specific requirements so my prof didn’t have to invite them :)