Oh wow, this really hits home! I'm still pretty new to recruiting (started using some screening tools recently), but I've already had that exact salary expectation mishap you mentioned - sent over a candidate who was 25% above budget and felt terrible about wasting everyone's time. Your compensation alignment point is spot on.
I'm definitely still building my own checklist, but one thing I've learned the hard way is to really dig into their motivation for leaving their current role. Early on, I'd focus so much on skills matching that I'd miss red flags like someone just wanting to escape a bad manager situation without thinking through what they actually want next. For our professional services environment, I'm finding that probing on client-facing experience is crucial too - there's such a difference between someone who's comfortable presenting to a room of executives versus someone who prefers behind-the-scenes analytical work. Still learning what questions reveal those preferences best though!
This resonates so much with my experience in financial services recruiting! I've definitely had those moments where I thought I was consistently checking everything, only to realize later that I'd let something slip - especially when dealing with high volumes of candidates for similar roles.
What really helped me was creating a simple mental framework around three key areas: technical competency verification (beyond just resume keywords), regulatory/compliance comfort level, and realistic compensation expectations including bonus structures. I've found that Talantly actually helps me stay more systematic about the skills verification piece, but I still rely heavily on my own judgment for gauging cultural fit and compensation alignment - those nuanced conversations really can't be automated.
This resonates so much with the scaling challenges we've been facing! I love your "pre-send audit" approach - the compensation piece especially hits home since healthcare tech roles can have such wide salary bands depending on whether candidates are coming from traditional healthcare, pure tech, or somewhere in between.
What's been tricky for me is that third point about cultural fit, particularly around the pace and regulatory mindset needed in our space. I've started asking candidates to describe a time they had to balance moving fast with compliance requirements, because you really can't fake that experience. The challenge I'm still working through is standardizing these behavioral questions without making every conversation feel like a script. How do you keep that cultural assessment feeling natural while still being systematic about it?
That compensation alignment point hits hard - I've had similar wake-up calls where candidates sailed through to final rounds only to reveal deal-breaking salary expectations I somehow missed. I keep a simple three-point check now: skills match, comp reality check, and whether they can actually start when we need them (sounds basic but you'd be surprised how often this derails things at the last minute).
This resonates so much with my experience scaling our e-commerce team! I had a similar wake-up call when I realized I was inconsistently checking candidate availability timelines - we lost two great hires because I assumed their "flexible start date" meant 2 weeks when they actually needed 6-8 weeks.
What really helped me was creating a simple pre-screen checklist that I keep in a shared doc with my hiring managers, covering the basics like compensation bandwidth, visa status, and those crucial timeline expectations. I've found that having it written down and visible to the team creates better accountability than just relying on our ATS workflows, plus it helps newer coordinators get up to speed faster when they join.