To think this was out of my control and manager shouldn't have blamed me?

[crazychristmas]

I've worked in recruitment for around 6 years now, only for one company (in-house rather than agency)

As you can imagine, we get a lot of time wasters. People apply and then ghost us, don't show up for interviews, accept job offers and then change their minds for whatever reason. It's part and parcel of the job unfortunately. We do our best to filter out these people by screening and asking them certain questions before the interview stage which helps, but it's not always possible to stop them getting through (some just blatantly lie).

We make sure that all our adverts state the salary, yet many candidates apply without even checking, hence why we ask what their salary expectations are during the screening stage. Anyway, I've just been pulled up by my manager because a candidate accepted a role with us and then withdrew due to being offered a job elsewhere with a higher salary. Hiring manager isn't happy and mentioned it to my line manager. I discussed the salary with the candidate before she attended the interview and again when we offered her the job. She was happy on both occasions.

I understand it's frustrating for the hiring manager/company, but surely this is something that's out of my control? If people lie and say "yep, happy with that salary" what else am I suppose to do? Perhaps she wasn't even lying and was just offered a better job and decided to go with that instead. Who knows. I'm usually happy to take feedback on board but this seems unfair and I think it's just one of those annoying things when you work in recruitment.

Thoughts?

I can't see how that can be your responsibility, and surely happens fairly often in recruitment.
Maybe ask your line manager for feedback and specifically what you should do differently next time - hopefully this will show them that there was nothing you could have done to avoid this.

doesn’t sound as thought they were apportioning blame
but if you are in contact with the hiring manager I would confirm that you discussed salary expectations and salary on offer and the person was aware of these and still accepted the offer of an interview

As others have said, I would ask your manager what you could have done differently.

The candidate may well have been satisfied with the pay offered at the time, but just as you were interviewing multiple people for the job she was probably applying for other jobs too.
If she got another offer at a higher salary why wouldn’t she take that job instead?

The best way to deal with this is to leave the salary out of the advert.

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The scenario you’re describing must be common in recruitment
People probably do go for multiple jobs and salaries can range widely

FWIW i would only apply for jobs which advertised a salary / salary range rather than competitive for example so it is clear to everyone from the start

It happens...this year has been particularly bad for some reason but you can minimise the chances of it happening, or at least be aware it might happen and therefore give the Managers a "heads up" that this candidate is interviewing elsewhere and may be expecting other offers.
Make sure you are asking in your initial screening interview whether they are actively looking or if your role is the only thing they are pursuing. Are they interviewing elsewhere, are they further into another process or expecting offers from other companies.

Ask if anything has changed every time you speak to them.

It also helps if you know their motivation for looking. If they are just chasing the money they are going to go with the highest offer so you need to be a bit be a bit wary.
If they are looking for more flexible/hybrid working, opportunity for progression, or the company culture is the most important thing then the level of the offer may not be the deciding factor (within reason).
Knowing all of this will help you to position the offer when you present it to them.
Candidates will tell you if you ask in the right way... very few won't.

Once you make them the offer, ask if they have interviews still happening and if they intend to go to them or will they cancel. They may not be honest with you but there's no harm in asking.
It's all about doing the groundwork, asking the right questions and building rapport from the start. At least you can then keep your HM informed and have back up options in case this happens.

You can't win them all and sometimes it just doesn't stick, but if you've asked the right questions and made your Manager/the hiring Manager aware of any potential issues, you can do no more. I don't know about you, but i often have a "gut feeling".
It sounds as if this may have been one of those instances where you couldn't have done anything more unfortunately.
(17 years agency recruitment experience)

People who are job hunting are often applying for multiple jobs and have more then one iron in the fire.

She may well have been happy with the salary but if offered a job at a higher salary she'll take it. Who wouldn't?

The manager is being unreasonable and unfair. Candidates are expected to be applying for several jobs at the same time, just as the recruiting manager is interviewing several candidates for the role.
To suggest the candidate shouldn't keep other options and the manager should be the only person with any control is a red flag for really poor people management skills.

That's really annoying. Did you follow up in writing at all? If so then you could go back to your manager and point out that not only did you note this during your calls with the candidate, but you also have written confirmation via email/LinkedIn message.

I can't see how this is your fault to be honest OP? They simply chose the job offer with the higher salary offer, as most people would

As a candidate, I would be very unlikely to tell a recruiter that I was looking at multiple roles. I think that's just a given, surely? People rarely just apply for one single role, unless it's a dream job type situation.

Ultimately for the hiring manager, their salary was not competitive enough. They might need to consider that before readvertising.

@crazychristmas she probably was happy with the salary but then used this offered salary to go back to another company where she had applied (or where she already works) and negotiate an even higher one.

Not your fault at all!

Nobody applies for a job if they don't know what the salary is, surely? That's my first red flag when job-seeking. If the salary isn't advertised, I'm not bothering to apply as it will likely be shit.

Would you want someone working for you who was only in it for the money ?

I like my job, I like my colleagues, but I wouldn't be there for free!

Great idea. If by "deal with it" you mean have noone apply for it.

Yes. That's what jobs are for. What else are they in it for?