A Boston Technical Recruiters Blog

Yes. Reference checks are completely irrelevant and often misleading. I ran a reference check on a candidate and the manager had nothing but praise for the candidate. The candidate got the job and was fired on the first day. It was nice that I could tell my manager I did the reference to cover myself, but I could have made it up since it proved irrelevant.

Smart candidates will prep their references and will not give out the names of people they did not get along with. That’s common sense. No one can get a long with everyone; somebody will assuredly dislike you for something or other. But you can be certain that a reference will have positive things to say about you.

Candidates often do not want to give out references at first contact because many believe (rightly) that the recruiter will use that reference to make a sales call. I never make my candidates give me references on the first call, rather if I am required to; I wait until I have an interview. That way you have more of a give and take relationship with the candidate and there is more trust between you.

Recruiting firms offer reference checks as a service to their clients. To legally do a reference check, you must have written permission to do so. If the manager bad mouths a candidate, that company could be in for a defamation or business interference (tortuous interference) lawsuit. This is one reason why many large companies have a policy against giving any references other then Start date, end date, and re-hire status, and even that they give out with great care.

Thus, with savvy candidates and weary former mangers a reference check is a largely perfunctory exercise that does not glean any new information about the candidate nor is it a very effective device in forecasting future performance and is therefore irrelevant.

 Share

Looking for a job? Feel like writing a long cover letter? Forget about it!

A cover letter needs to be short and to the point. It needs to illustrate very quickly why who ever is reading it should pick up the phone and call you. As a recruiter that works with consultants, I seldom indulge in cover letter reading. I don’t have time. If your resume is not on target a cover letter won’t help.

If you are applying to a permanent job the guy reading your resume is very likely reading dozens of other resumes. He wants to see that you can communicate succinctly and to sell yourself effectively. You can’t write more then a couple of sentences. My approach to cover letters when I have to write them is such:

Briefly thank “Whomever” for taking the time to consider you for that particular opportunity( make sure it’s the right opportunity and company!). Take one or two points from your resume and illustrate how those experiences make you the best candidate for the job you are applying to. Do this in 2-3 sentences. Catch their attention!

Finish off strong. Do not meander. Being able to write a short and effective summary of why you are the candidate they are looking for is key. If your cover letter is longer then this article, you have a problem.

Good Luck!

 Share

I just came across a recruiter who participates in 90 social networks. I thought to myself “Am I missing something?” So I accepted an invitation from Hi5. I briefly investigated the interface and found it to be identical to Facebook. The kinds of questions that the background asks are very telling of the kind of site you are entering. I also received an inappropriate email before I even had a chance to look around.

Facebook and Myspace are about the same in terms of their professional orientation. Both are geared much more towards the personal lives of people rather then the work related. LinkedIn on the other hand is strictly professional although lately it has been copying some features from Facebook such as “what are you doing now” feature.

People who switch from LinkedIn to Facebook are making a horrific mistake. Both sites have their uses but the search function on Facebook is very underdeveloped, even more so then LinkedIn. Thee two sites are vastly different in purpose and cannot be used interchangeably. While you can find good professionals on Facebook and Myspace, it is much easier to do this on LinkedIn.

The beauty of LinkedIn is that it is a professional network and it will lose much if it becomes anything like Facebook or Myspace. So how many social networks are too many? I have MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Hi5, and RecruitingBlog. Should I get more? The connections I have on LinkedIn are more then enough in terms of professional links while Facebook lets me keep tabs on friends. I only have so much time in a day when I’m not on the phone to upkeep my networks and even reply to all the LinkedIn invites is becoming an activity I do once or twice a week.

LinkedIn, Facebook, and Myspace are a must to have while everything else is a “nice to have”.

 Share

Do you think that your business idea is unique? Do you want to patent it? Do you think that if there was no patent law people would just stop coming up with ideas? That’s absurd.No idea is truly a new idea, since every thought in the human collective is a thought that is build in the prism of our civilization. Every idea has been thought of, every thought has been thought by someone else.

How can you prove that no one has ever come up with your idea? How can you be certain that the brilliant design you concocted is not sitting in someone else’s mind? You can’t. Your idea is build on the foundations laid by the ideas of millions that have come before.

I find it amusing every time I visit the Monster.com site that they actually patented their site. Wonderful! Did they really think that no one else had though of this before them? Intellectual property is a construct of our capitalist system created as a barrier to entry and a monopolistic barrier to fair trade and competition.

Sometimes I have this paranoid feeling that if I write something, someone else may steal my ideas. New business owners often have this fear. This is a ridiculous though that has no merit. If someone takes my ideas and builds something with them, I’ll be honored. Ideas are great, but like the IBM commercials suggest, ideas are worthless without proper action to execute them. If you can’t build around your idea, just keep “ideating”.

So go ahead, keep hoarding your patents, someone smarter will figure out a better way around you while you are sitting on your antiquated thoughts.

 Share

So you think you are a sales executive? Let’s qualify you as a candidate:

1. Do you love to cold call?
2. Do you understand how to develop relationships with your recruiters?
3. Do you understand how to develop relationships inside large companies once you have them as a client?
4. Are you familiar with all the procedural processes and paper work of your clients?
5. Do you regularly attend trade fares?
6. Are you an active networked?
7. Do you reside on LinkedIn and Google?
8. Do you love to research new prospects?
9. What time do you make your first phone call in the morning?
10. What time do you go home at night?

These are all leading questions that could help determine if a sales executive is up to par or is just blowing smoke. There is a split within sales known as the hunter/ farmer split.
The farmer logically grows the account once the seed is sown, waters the crops, and brings in a large new harvest. He also makes sure that wolves do not prey on his sheep by knowing every sheep in the flock.

A hunter is a wolf who goes out and hunts. A wolf does not wait for the sheep to come to him, he goes out and finds it, stalks it, and takes it down. The wolf is never content, nor does it get fat. A hunter is always hunting or he is no longer a hunter.

Are you a hunter or a farmer? Perhaps you are both, or neither. If you are neither, you and those people who depend on you have a serious problem.

 Share

Author Byline: Karen Alphonse, execSearches.com
Author Website: http://www.execsearches.com/non-profit-jobs/recruiter_Articles//Non-Profit-employer-checklist.asp

Most employers are eager to hire a competent person to complement their management teams. They seek someone with superior professional skill, good deportment and winning ways with people. The combination of competence, personal presence and charisma is not always easy to identify. Although there are no guarantees, there are a few steps you may consider to maximize your efforts to find just the “right person.”

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT
Many prospective employers like to think that they know what they want. But, when confronted with a variety of talented leaders, they seldom know which particular skills they are focusing on. Writing a position description can be helpful because it will make you focus on skills, experience and professional qualities likely to make a leader succeed in the role you want to fill. It will only, however, define a set of minimum competencies. It will never adequately define the “perfect manager” you really seek.

The position description is just the beginning of a careful thought process. You also want to ask hard questions, such as “Which experiences are most relevant? If forced to make a choice, which qualities am I willing to forego? If I have to leave one thing off my wish-list, what would it be?” These kinds of questions will help you to see the skills that you need more clearly. It will also help you to eliminate leaders with talent not relevant to your most immediate needs.

If someone is currently acting in the management role you want to fill, another approach is to list his/her professional qualities and then to add the ones you would like to see in a permanent hire. This is often a useful way to critically assess the role and your needs, using a real professional as your model. Another effective approach is to identify a manager who comes closest to what you want and, again, listing his/her attributes and qualifications as a template. The point here is to develop a concrete model of the kind of manager you would like to attract to the role.

KNOW HOW MUCH YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY
This may seem like an indirect way to begin defining skills. The truth is that the market has probably defined a compensation range within which you are likely to find the talent you seek. One way to find out is to do homework. Contact trusted colleagues and friends who are leading in a similar capacity or who manage someone similar to the kind of leader you want. Find out what their compensation looks like, including benefits and perks — if relevant. Decide how much you are willing to pay a preferred candidate to relocate as well as what kinds of benefits you are prepared to extend. Compare these to what you are budgeting and be realistic. If what you propose should be let’s say in the $150,000 to $175,000 annual salary range and you have a budget of $90,000, take the time to think through the skills and experiences you are willing to live without. Alternatively, if you have the means, increase the salary and enhance the benefits package so that you are likely to attract talent of the highest caliber. It is always smart to negotiate from a position of knowledge. Also, talented candidates will make sure that they know their value prior to meeting with you in an interview.

USE YOUR NETWORKS TO IDENTIFY TALENT
As you are doing your homework to find out which salaries and packages might work for the kind of leader you seek, take a few minutes to ask your professional friends and colleagues about the outstanding managers they already know. Find out who they think would do a fabulous job. Call up those persons, find out if they might be interested. At the very least, find out what kinds of packages they would find attractive. This will serve two purposes: it will spread the word that you are looking, within a well-defined, high-integrity network, and it will give you more valuable information about market expectations.

The advantage to this kind of research is that your friends and colleagues know a bit about your organization, your staffing needs and your operating culture. This puts them in a unique position to do some quick screening and to suggest likely prospects to you. Another advantage to this is that they may be able to provide you with “offlist” references for candidates who seem particularly promising. Their input is likely to be candid and, if not 100% accurate, can point you quickly to areas you may need to investigate more fully.

REFERENCE ALL FINALISTS
When you have conducted interviews, checked your networks and done credit, criminal background and credential verifications, you will still want to do detailed references. References will collectively give you another view of how your preferred candidate motives others, operates under stress and generally contributes to the culture of the place where he or she works. In addition, references can give you thoughtful comments about a candidate’s readiness to take on more responsibility, professional challenges and his/her general attitude to life. These are some of the intangibles you will want to investigate fully before extending an offer.

With regard to the mechanics of doing the references, you may delegate them to qualified career professionals or you can do them yourself. Either way, the process will be time-consuming. To get a full picture of someone’s professional history, you will want to get input from supervisors, peers and direct reports. Sometimes, you will need to “reference-the-reference” if a particular commentator seems excessively positive, negative, insincere, sarcastic or even lukewarm, just to make sure that you have spoken with a credible observer. The person conducting the references will probably start with a list the candidate provides, but you should get consent to go “off-the-list” as well. Off-list references are helpful because they can provide you with fresh insights as to a particular candidate’s strengths and skill development needs. They can also provide you with perspective concerning those situations a candidate has managed effectively and, more importantly, those situations which have frustrated a candidate’s resources. Getting this input is critical. It will allow you to “know” your candidate in greater depth before you proceed to extend him/her an offer. It will also allow you to assess more accurately whether your candidate’s strengths match up with the challenges your organization faces.

LET COMMON SENSE BE YOUR FINAL JUDGE
Once you have gone through the process of defining your goals, testing the market, getting input from friends and colleagues, and conducting detailed references, credit checks and credential verifications, you will still have to let commonsense play a key role in your final decision. Ask yourself, “Is this someone I would feel comfortable working with?” “Do I see this person moving ahead at our company?” Practice the discipline of being choosy. Let no hunch or “feeling” go uninvestigated. It is far easier to keep searching if you are uncomfortable about a candidate or candidates than to make a grudging offer and suffer regrets afterwards. Also, a quick phone call may put a concern to rest once and for all.

Think carefully about the life and lifestyle issues a candidate will face to take up your offer. For example, before you hire a choice candidate who will have to relocate hundreds of miles to accept the offer, think through the logistics. He or she may genuinely be a “fit” in terms of credentials and leadership readiness. But, you will have to contend with his/her loss of personal networks, adjustmnet to a new company, lifestyle and location. This may be a cinch for some. For others, the stress may eventually affect their level of productivity.

Finally, be honest about your company. Most candidates expect you to put your best face on during the interview process. This should not be confused with your obligation to inform your serious candidates about your dilemnas. This can be done positively. Make sure that your choice candidate truly understands the culture of your organization, its challenges and your expectations. In the end, an informed candidate and an informed boss will make the happiest partnership of all.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

 Share

Here is a great letter by Barb Bruno for recruiting sales. Barb is addressing the recruiter who works both sides of the desk, in the split model the sales executive:

Recruiting is a sales profession, which of course insures a high level of rejection. If you are to reach your potential as a recruiter it is extremely important for you to realize that objections are actually buying signs – requests for more information.

You are a sales professional, and should be able to overcome at least three objections in a successful presentation. Once you realize that objections are buying signs, they become less intimidating and easier to handle. There is only one type of objection you can’t overcome, and that is silence.

All other objections fall into four categories: Price, Service, Personal and Postponement. It is much easier to effectively handle an objection when you learn what type of objection you are facing. For instance, if someone says “send me a resume”, that is obviously a postponement objection. If you are asked to quote your rates, you are facing a price objection. A personal objection could be a complaint directed at you or the firm you represent. A service objection is easy to identify – have you ever heard the phrase “You people”?

Write down the twenty most common objections you hear, place them in one of the four categories and prepare your responses. It is very important to have your responses ready and well-rehearsed so they come across very natural. Once you master the art of overcoming objections, you will produce and earn MORE.

If you are not taking three objections you are making “customer service calls” not sales calls. Once you master the skills of overcoming objections your personal success will escalate – guaranteed!

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS
Good as Gold Training
www.staffingandrecruiting.com

 Share

Have you ever had that day when in the morning you get a call that your client wants to give a promising candidate an offer, two hour later the candidate accepts and you are in bliss spending your commission? After lunch you get a phone call from the same candidate reneging the offer because he got a counter offer and you are in the depths of despair?

Recruiting is not for the faint of heart. Today, I met a great Solutions Architect, walked him into the client, everything went great. He is interviewing as we speak so I am impatiently awaiting the results. He has to talk to 8 people so I’m hoping it’s more of meet and greet than anything else. Pre-closing candidates like this is the hardest thing since they are smart and you never know all their cards.

Meanwhile I got a call from another client saying that one of our candidates that started on Monday apparently misled them on the background check. So we will potentially lose that placement if the person can’t produce documentation proving that the information was correct. It’s a bit disappointing, but I just keep going since there is nothing at all I can do at this point then hope that the documentation is there.

When I first started, I would literally run around the office celebrating every interview and going crazy at every offer, I would be equally dejected at every bad interview and every term. As I placed more people, I became less emotional and more pragmatic in my reactions.

In the recruiting model I work in, the recruiter controls a very small portion of the process so after a while I stopped reacting to minute news. The roller coaster became a more even high way. And while I still react to some very good and unexpected news with enthusiasm, I don’t let other things I do not control crush me.

 Share

In the sales/recruiter split model there is this small misconception in the departments of many recruiting companies that the recruiters are meant to get sales leads for the sales people. This misconception stems directly and irrefutably from the mind numbing incompetence of the sales departments and the complicit indifference of the recruiting management.

Popular Model:
• Recruiter: Generate Leads, Prospect, Cold Call, Source, Qualify, Submit, Sell, Skill Market, Close and do all the paperwork
• Sales: Warm Call into recruiter lead, take req, forward candidate, get paid, complain that recruiter is not generating leads, come in late and leave early.

Is there a disparity here? You bet.
So, I spoke about this to a Sales Manager at Philips Medical Systems who sells about $15 million worth of medical devices per year. I asked what do you think of the sales guy who won’t prospect? He said ”He doesn’t want to do his job.” Amen.

Let’s break it down:
• Recruiter: Research, Source, Qualify, Sell candidate on job, Submit, Skill Market, Close the CANDIDATE
• Sales: Research, Generate Leads, Qualify, Cold Call Client, Skill Market, Sell candidate on job, Sell Candidate to client, Close The CLIENT

Solution:
Make your sales people do their job. It is their job to prospect, research, and cold call. If they don’t do these three things every day, you ought to fire them.

If your recruiters don’t generate leads, don’t coerce them into it. Find a way to motivate them.

Suggestions for motivating recruiters:
• Give them a referral bonus for new clients (don’t be cheap, $100 for a client that brings you $1 million in revenue is cheap).
• Create a contest where the recruiter with the most leads in a week get’s a house hit.
• Recognize your people for their efforts, even somethign as small as a card or taking them out to lunch will work wonders.

Conclusion:
If you have enabled the work ethic degradation of your sales force by requiring your recruiters to do the sales jobs you need to do something before your recruiters find greener pastures.

 Share

I receive a newsletter from Barbara J. Bruno, CPC, CTS, President Good as Gold Training of http://www.goodasgoldtraining.com/ I thought this particular news letter was very good:

This is an issue recruiters consistently face…why am I not successful when I’m working really hard? There is a harsh reality in our profession – hard work DOES NOT guarantee success.

This is a career not a 9:00 – 5:00 pm job. However, it’s not the recruiter who works the hardest that wins…it’s the recruiter who works the smartest!

Have you ever wondered why Big Biller’s often don’t make half the calls you do – but they produce and earn much more? They have learned the secret of “SMELLING MONEY.” Each day they arrive to work and focus on the activities closest to the money “FIRST.” It’s not about the number of calls you make each day.

It IS about the RESULTS you achieve, on a daily basis. Here are some tips to help you work SMART!

TIP #1 Write down the six things closest to the money every evening before you leave the office. Those become your top six priorities the following day.

TIP #2 Make your #1 focus – BOOKING SEND OUTS! My definition of a send out is an interview between a candidate and a decision maker (phone or face to face). When you arrive to work as yourself on a daily basis. “WHERE IS MY SEND OUT TODAY?” Another piece of advice “WHEN IN DOUBT, SEND THEM OUT!” Too often we screen out candidates our clients would hire!

TIP #3 Starting immediately – STOP putting ASAP, immediately or Yesterday on your job orders. Get a SPECIFIC TARGET DATE to fill from your client and now you KNOW which orders are the “hottest!”

TIP #4 Never work off a resume. A resume is a picture of who someone is and has been. It doesn’t tell you who they want to be. You don’t have answers that will help you close your candidate, on an offer.

TIP #5 Get your paperwork filled out in advance. You don’t want to waste a candidate’s time or your time with a thorough interview, if you will not be able to place this candidate. In direct placement, clients require skills, stability and experience. If those do not exist, you should conduct a courtesy interview. Some of the benefits of paperwork in advance: • Application is more detailed • Candidate is not “rushed” • Entire time is spent interviewing vs. filling out paperwork • You can determine if you will conduct a courtesy interview or a full interview • This tests the level of interest of the Candidate.

TIP #6 Learn something personal about your Clients as often as possible. Your goal should be to become their trusted advisor.

TIP #7 Update your clients every Friday on the Status of their Job Orders. This will help build rapport with your clients and will fine tune the specs on their job orders throughout the process. Even if you do not fill their job order, they know you have been working on their behalf.

TIP #8 Mirror past placements. If you write similar job orders to those that have been filled in your office over the past year, chances are…there are candidates already in your database. These are the candidates who surfaced after the placement was made.

TIP #9 Talk to 20 new people each day. It is important to upgrade your clients and attract new talent on a very consistent basis.

TIP #10 Have some fun as your working. People like to work with people they enjoy. If you sound frustrated or irritated, it will prevent you from success. Let your personality shine through on your conversations.

TIP #11 Make sure every third contact with either a client or candidate is a phone call vs. an e-mail. It’s important to be high tech AND high touch! Recruiting is a RELATIONSHIP BASED profession.

TIP #12 This is probably the most important! You need to KNOW YOUR PERSONAL NUMBERS and STATS to know exactly what RESULTS you need to achieve on a daily basis to consistently hit your goals. Recruiting is a SALES profession, which is a numbers game. Numbers don’t lie! When you know your numbers, you can predict your income! Implement any of these twelve tips and you will be on your way to working SMARTER!

 Share