I really liked the idea behind the movie’ Sliding Doors’. How one small event could dramatically change the course of your life.

For me, that could have been a phone call (or an email) which, if it had come just a little sooner, could have resulted in me taking one job offer and turning down another.

Before accepting my current role I explored some options with the big four consultancy firms. They’re unusual in the recruitment world in that they’re all pretty homogeneous, they’re all going after the same people and they all have near-identical structures and grades, so it’s very easy to compare like with like.

Their respective brands and employment propositions are really the only things they can use to differentiate themselves – the work is, essentially, the same.

If you’re involved in the operation of your organisation’s recruitment function, I’d like to offer my own experience with three of these firms as a reminder from the front line as to how important the small details can be in you successfully attracting talent; or losing it by a whisker.

When I started my job search I thought these firms represented the pinnacle of the consulting profession and that’s where I wanted to work. One of them felt they could somehow struggle on without me, but I successfully engaged with three others (all direct with the firms through network connections, not through agencies).

That’s when it became apparent that they run very similar recruitment operations – but deliver very different experiences.

Each assigns a Recruitment Manager to liaise with the candidate through a multi-stage selection process. One made a really strong impression: very personable, interested in me, always kept me updated, shared useful information about the next stage, always called back when she said she would, etc. One did OK, but wasn’t quite as on the ball, and one was appalling – uncontactable, repeatedly failing to honour call backs, letting the process slip by weeks at a time.

Ironically, the worst relationship manager worked at the firm I was most engaged with originally. I had been interested in their work and bought into their brand for the last ten years! I also had the strongest network connection here – a hiring manager I had known for over two years. Unfortunately, they managed to undo all that goodwill in a very short space of time. I was onto my third Recruitment Manager by the end of the process (the other two having left – one within two months of starting!) The experience was abysmal. Interview feedback by text message and poor excuses relayed from senior managers as to why the process was taking so long. It quickly became clear that if this was how they ran their recruitment operation, this was not somewhere I would enjoy working.

Unfortunately, despite my hugely positive experience at one of the other firms, I decided to withdraw from their process. It became clear at the first interview that they wanted global mobility and this was not something I could commit to, so withdrawing seemed like the right thing to do. Although I am left with a very positive impression of the firm, having started from a neutral base. In fact, I was so impressed, I think this firm deserves recognition for running such a well managed process (albeit my research is from a sample of one) – hats off to EY!

Things did progress very positively with the third firm, though. They did a very good job of moving things along, keeping me updated and building my engagement with the firm and the role.

At the same time, I started in the selection process for my current role. The person managing this process also did a great job of keeping things moving and keeping me engaged. I got to the point of waiting on confirming final interviews for both opportunities at about the same time.

The consultancy firm took a few days longer to schedule the final interview – despite me pushing them along a bit because, ideally, I wanted to conclude this process before the other one.

In that few days the manager of my new opportunity conducted the final interview, came back with an offer and concluded negotiations before the consultancy firm could confirm a final interview date. That manager is now my boss!

One process started in January, the other one in February and it all came down to about 72 hours in April. My impression was that the Recruitment Manager and the Scheduling Team were chasing Partners for availability to book the final interview. If they chased a bit harder or the Partners had prioritised returning the call or responding to the email a bit higher, who knows if their investment in putting me through their selection process would have paid off for them?

The point is that sometimes I think in-house recruiters lack an appreciation of the urgency with which you need to move to hire the best talent. I’m not saying I’m the world’s greatest to fill the role at the consultancy firm, but they’d invested a fair amount of resource in getting me round the course and then fell at the final hurdle – never giving themselves the chance to see if they could hook me at the final step.  All because someone couldn’t confirm an Outlook appointment within a few days of receiving it. If it was a request from a client would it have taken so long to respond?

If we have pivotal roles, that it’s hard to find talent to fill, we must impress – on everyone involved in the hiring process – that every hour counts. That person is probably pursuing more than just your vacancy – do you want the competition to nab them, or do you want to make sure that you’ve got first dibs on persuading them to come and join you?