Do You Teach Your Candidates to Suck Eggs?

I always wonder whether there is any difference in motivation between an internal recruiter and an external recruiter. I hate classifying myself as an Agency Recruiter because I always feel like a partner and part of the business.
However, the question still begs, does an external recruiter want the candidate to be more successful than an internal recruiter or are they the same?
As I wrote in my previous blog, Martin and I had a summer job doing recruitment to earn a little pocket money. We were given four jobs which subsequently turned to nine. So I had to dust off my recruitment skills as I do not get much opportunity between designing and delivering conferences.
[bctt tweet=”@trevorpvas feels preparing senior level candidates for interviews is like teaching them to suck eggs.”]
I have always thought that prepping mid to GM level candidates for interviews is like teaching them to suck eggs. I would love your thoughts on this statement. But what I try to do is provide lots of context and background so that the candidates are very well-prepared and extremely knowledgeable about what they are getting into.
Here is what I do, again I would love your thoughts on my humble efforts, I:

1. Direct candidates to the company web site;
2. Find the Hiring Managers and HR managers (interviewers) on LinkedIn and send candidates the links to their profiles, I also encourage candidates to connect;
3. Brief candidates on key characteristics that I have picked up on the interviewer;
4. If the candidates are going to be interviewed by the CEO or Board, I’ll find a person who has met with these people to have a chat with my candidates;
5. Find the candidates’ and interviewers’ profiles on Crystalknows and send them the report (I do this for myself anyway and think it is very enlightening to consider your profile and compare it to your prospective hiring manager/client. Is it questionable? I’m not sure. What’s your opinion?);
6. Look on the Internet for any topical items, YouTube clips on the company products or people (I do this for myself anyway).

Interestingly, I have not been prepping the candidate on interview techniques as I feel at this senior level if you have not got that by now, chances are you will not gain that by five minutes of coaching. I was taught to give tips to candidates that included:

• Get to the interview 15 minutes early and do not rush;
• Smile and shake hands looking the client in the eye and not sitting until the client offers a seat;
• Prep the candidates about the type of behavioral questions to expect and the type of questions to ask;
• If they like the job, finish the interview with a question such as “do you have questions on whether or not I can do the job as I would love it?”.

[bctt tweet=”@trevorpvas wonders if we should draw a line when it comes to coaching a candidate for interviews.”]
My motivation in my prepping candidates is purely and simply to provide as much context and background as possible so that they are very, very informed. I want my candidates to picture the position and them undertaking or not undertaking the job. I want my candidates to feel as though they have met the interviewers and feel comfortable so that they can gain the most they can from meeting the client. Conversely, I want the client to get the most out of the candidates.
As mentioned above, I would really love your thoughts on what I have written. How much prepping is too much? In addition, where do you think the focus of candidate preparation be?