SkrentnySPEAKS » Search Best Practices

Recruiting Your Recruiter Washington Post Article

SkrentnySPEAKS — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:31:50 +0000

It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then you are made aware of an article that you just know will become a new and critical tool in your search best practices toolbox (thank you, now forgotten LinkedIn contact who first made me aware of this gem).

That is exactly what I thought when I read The Washington Post article by freelance writer Vickie Elmer titled Do Your Own Recruiter Searching Long Before You’ll Be Job Searching.

In my mind it is an instant classic. One you can use with every single candidate you recruit, or try to recruit, who says, “I’m not looking right now.”

When I hear that, I always wish I could say (scream); “Did you not just hear what I said? I don’t care if you are looking for a job right now or not. Eventually, you’ll need a recruiter with a recruiting specialty in your profession who places at your level, and I AM THE ONE YOU NEED TO KNOW. So let’s start getting to know one another now so I can help you then, when you need my skill set to advance your career.”

And the truth is, the higher up the food chain these candidates are, the more important it is for them to begin that relationship with a recruiter who has a proven track record in their profession, and at their level, ahead of time.

But they don’t hear what we say, though most of us say things similar to what this article says with every recruit call we make to candidates we are looking to make contact with or put in play.

That’s why, this article, sent as an email or Twitter follow up, might get them to listen, because it comes from another source, a trusted and respected source, one that says what we have been saying for years:

Don’t try to find your recruiter when you urgently need one, take the time to develop a relationship with one BEFORE you need them so they know who you are when you do need them to conduct a confidential career search for you.

I have already sent this article to about two dozen candidates, and not just as a link, which you could do, but in that form it doesn’t extend your brand as much as it could.

We have reformatted it and created a PDF (http://skrentnyspeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Recruiting-Your-Recruiter-WashPost-2010Q3.pdf) to share this article via email that is very similar to this one for our search peers, but it is for candidates with my Jefferson Group Search branding instead. I do this so my name and my brand remain attached to this good advice, AND so if they share it with anyone else, it is clear who shared the advice originally, and thus increase the likelihood that I get called after it has been shared. This is especially useful if it was shared with a similarly skilled peer in my niche.

It also helps when they forget who you are, but saved the article. All your contact information remains right there with the saved article.

I hope you find this new article as helpful as I think it is going to become for my search practice, and my thanks to Vickie Elmer as well as the search professionals who contributed to the article, for creating this great new tool for my search toolbox.

Jeff Skrentny, CERS, had an inauspicious start in the search/recruiting profession as his first placement quit after 93 days. Then he was sued by his client. Despite that start, Jeff has been a thriving executive search entrepreneur for the last 23 years; and has also been a trainer, author and motivator for his profession for the last 15 years, as well as a business consultant and advisor for its producers, managers & owners for the last 10 years; all while still running his search business, Jefferson Group Search, in Chicago. You can email Jeff directly at AskJeff@JeffersonInc.com.

Game Changer? LinkedIn Messages As Evidence in Non-Compete Case

SkrentnySPEAKS — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:16:48 +0000

Did anybody else read this most recently emailed NAPS Legal Update for June?

If you haven’t, you should. Doesn’t matter if you are an owner or a producer on a desk, this could be a game changer, and for much more than just LinkedIn messages and contacts.

In this email which NAPS Legal Counsel Bob Styles typically sends out on a monthly basis, tucked between two updates that didn’t have much application to my desk/business, was the below two paragraph notice about a yet to be adjudicated case titled “LinkedIn Messages As Evidence in Non-Compete Case“:

Did anyone else just feel the ground shake?

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to wonder about who then “owns” LinkedIn contacts? And by extension Facebook, Twitter, and for that matter any social network/media contacts that one compiles in pursuit of success as a search/sourcing/recruiting professional while in someone’s employ.

And please don’t misinterpret my intentions for bringing this up. I do not believe that anyone who signs a non-compete should EVER violate that agreement. If you leave one employer to work for another employer or to start your own business, do it the right way, take the high road, and honor your non compete. If you are that good, you don’t need to do anything illegal to get started on your new job or your new business. EVER. Period. There is always enough OTHER business out there for you.

Still, this case will bring up a whole new set of questions our profession, its owners, producers and lawyers will need to address. Not only can messages on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter now likely be used as evidence that you violated your non-compete, it can’t be long before “ownership” of those contacts comes into question as one leaves a job as a search or sourcing professional to begin a similar one somewhere else or on their own.

That’s why, in my mind, is case could become a game changer for how search professionals will use and manage the online social networks and social media tools that are now considered essential to success as a modern day sourcing and search professional.

What do you think?

I sure hope Mr Styles, Esq, will keep us up to date on how the case is finally adjudicated.

Oh, and for those interested, you can see the full Legal Update at skrentnyspeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/NAPS-June-2010-LEGAL-UPDATE-LinkedIn-As-Evidence.pdf because, as of this writing, NAPS does not yet archive these informative missives. I hope they will change that someday soon as they update and revise their new web presence.

I would love to read your thoughts on this, you can share them below.

Why Do They Always Get a Raise Right Before the Offer?

SkrentnySPEAKS — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:34:43 +0000

Why is it that candidates ALWAYS seem to get a review, raise, additional responsibilities right before your client is about to make them an offer?

Alright, it doesn’t ALWAYS happen. As recruiters we tend to exaggerate just a bit, but it happened again this week to not one, but to two recruiters I know and have great respect for, and it drives me mad when I hear this.

This should never happen.

We, as third party search professionals, shouldn’t let it happen.

I have a rather simple strategy for keeping the incidence of this occurring with my candidates to a minimum, and it is something every recruiter knows they should do, but sometimes just forget or get lazy about doing.

Right after I cover a candidate’s work history, just before I am about to get to the meat of my interview with them, where I want to know how they have made a bottom line difference for their organization by how they made money, saved money or changed a process that did one or both of these things, I go through a quick salary history review.

And it is quick. By doing it fast, they don’t have time to “create,” and I am more likely to get the just the facts.

Usually I start three jobs back, and I ask what they started at, what they ended at while in that job.

Next job back, their starting salary, when they got their last raise, how much it was, and what it took them too. Plus whatever bonus opportunities, or anything else they had that would show up on their W-2.

With the job they are in now, I ask them what they what hired at, have them break it down to each W-2 component. Then I ask them to very methodically tell me about every raise or salary and/or bonus adjustment that brings them to what their current comp package is as we speak. I also ask if there is any bonus money that has been earned but not yet paid out, IF, IF, that seems to be the case, as it sometimes is with delayed bonus payouts commonly used today by employers.

I am not done yet.

To end this thread, I then ask them when their next scheduled review would be. They always know when it is.

I push even further by saying, “So, you know the quality of work you have done and the place your employer is at, what raise do you think you will be getting?” I follow that question up with what will your W-2 be this current year (unless it is late November or December, when I would ask about next year).

Very few candidates have failed to have at least some awareness of the likely range their next raise/bonus increase will fall into, or what this next year’s W-2 will be. Often they know it very, very, exactly, and in great detail. Occasionally, it is one of of the several reasons they were motivated to work with me in the first place (though I seldom have success working with candidates that are just money motivated).

Doing this has given me several items of use::

a useful salary history
the % increase in salary and W-2 earnings that occurred with each of their last two career/job changes
because they were talking from their actual salary/W-2 history, these are probably not inflated numbers
a sense of what their historical raise pattern has been
an accurate idea of when their next raise will be and how much it will likely range
and a clear notion of any money really being left on the table with as of yet unpaid bonuses

Simple enough, but I can’t tell you how many times I have done a split with another recruiter where they don’t know this information. Didn’t even think to ask it because they were in such a rush to get the sendout.

How can one negotiate intelligently for your candidate or client if you don’t know this information?

It takes all of 2-4 minutes to accomplish. When you remind the candidate that you remember this information as you begin down the path to close a deal and negotiate a salary for them with your client, my experience is it is unlikely that a sudden and unexpected salary review is likely to suddenly occur, unless the candidate really is playing you, and well, that is nice to know too.

Note also, this has NOTHING to do with the conversation that needs to take place about what their NEXT salary expectations are. This is just the necessary background information that YOU, the search professional, the middle person of this search dance between the candidate and the client, must know for when and if that conversation is required. Getting the information NOW, ensures that you have accurate information that isn’t “clouded” or “manipulated” because the offer dance has commenced.

In my process, those conversations do not happen in the first interview I have with the candidate. Then it is a conversation in abstract. How could they really know an answer to this without knowing the myriad of additional details, unique to each job or career opportunity, that accompany the money? They can’t. It is different with each job. It should be, as each job has intangibles and non W-2 values that must be weighed into the final yes or no calculus.

More on that final negotiation dance in a future post.

Today, let’s learn, or for most of my readers, re-learn, this simple interview best practice for taking a salary history, and projecting if forward just a bit, so we can best represent our candidates to our clients, and through this information create the intelligence necessary to negotiate a fair and competitive offer that will make everyone thrilled with the work we have done to bring the search to a successful conclusion.

Got a technique or two on taking a salary history that I missed, please share with a comment here or with an email to me at AskJeff@JeffersonInc.com. I look forward to hearing, and learning from you and your suggestions.

Jeff Skrentny, CERS, had an inauspicious start in the recruiting profession as his first placement quit after 93 days. Then he was sued. Despite that start, Jeff has been an executive recruiter for 23 years, and has also been a trainer, author and motivator for his profession for the last 15 years, as well as being a business consultant and adviser for its producers, managers & owners for the last 10 years; all while still running a busy IT search business in Chicago at his firm Jefferson Group Search.

71 Questions to Consider Asking When Taking a New Search

SkrentnySPEAKS — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:58:42 +0000

In his excellent recent article The Future of Recruiting: The More Things Change…, Glenn Cathey, aka BooleanBlackBlt wrote:

“The Information Era of recruiting enables recruiters with solid e-sourcing skills to no longer be limited solely to candidates with whom they have a pre-existing relationship. These recruiters can find and attract the best candidates, regardless of whether or not they have previously identified them.

I’ll let that sink in a bit. It’s deep.”

That is deep. This will have a profound impact on the work we do as third party recruiters from this point forward.

Or will it?

Some search professionals I know do this with every search they complete, and have for years. 40%+ of those I placed each of the last two years I recruited having no prior relationship with them before securing them for the job where I placed them. Isn’t this what many of us have done for the entirety of our search careers, we just did it with the phone? That’s right, the more things change the more we discover…

Still, ignore Social Media Recruiting, e-sourcing, at your own peril as a search practitioner or as an owner of a search organization. These tools mean recruiters can build networks faster and more rapidly than ever before to complete client searches. It is in a very real way an acknowledgment of what Joe Pelayo shared at the San Antonio NAPS Conference a couple years ago when asked to make a prediction about the future of our profession (I paraphrase as best as my memory can recall):

…within 5 years, we won’t need to have proprietary candidate databases for success as third party recruiters.

The room responded with the appropriate shock, disbelief and disdain. How could any search professional ever be successful without a proprietary candidate database? Not sure some of the sponsors of the conference, a number of database software providers, loved this notion either.

I don’t think either Joe or I ARE suggesting you shouldn’t have one. We are just pointing out that with the development of public “databases” like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Skype, to name just four, means candidates to complete a search CAN be found with more and more ease outside of just proprietary databases. Those who learn how to do this through Social Media Recruiting, e-sourcing, along with all the traditional methods, will be able to transform information into intelligence. Search professionals armed with this “intelligence” will be the search professionals that are in greatest demand.

All this leads me to a completely different tangent.

While we are all so busy developing these Social Media Recruiting and e-sourcing skills, which we need to develop, is anyone still working on the development of the skills necessary to sell and take client searches in a competitive manner?

For the first time since October of 2008, I have had so much new business called in that I had to turn some away (which I loath having to do). It is a great feeling to be so much in demand again. I hope this continues into the months and years ahead. As I was setting up appointments to meet these clients and take their searches, it occurred to me that if I was feeling a bit rusty doing this, so might others who don’t have the benefit of my 23 years of experience as a search, placement & staffing professional.

With that in mind I pulled out my Taking the Search Questions list to review it, and revise it, ahead of some of my coming client visits and taking the search calls, so I could do it right. My FREE Download for January for those who are reading this blog then was to is to share that PDF with you at:

Taking The Search Questions

This list is a template for what you “might” consider asking while you are taking a new search, especially with a new client prospect or dormant client. Of course it is unlikely that you could get all these questions asked in one call or one client visit, you will need to pick and choose what it is most important for you to know now. Others can be asked inside the search process as you need the information to complete the search. And, it is likely many of you would have the answers to at least some of these questions for current or recently past clients, especially for those questions in the last section of questions listed.

So don’t let the size of the list overwhelm. Rather, let it marinate itself into your process as it makes the most sense.

Think of these 71 Taking the Search Questions as a starting point to get back to the best practices that have built your desk or business. A reminder of what you need to know to complete a search with excellence. The answers you need so you can take those great candidates you find using Social Media Recruiting and e-sourcing techniques, and then sell them on your client’s great opportunity so you CAN close the deal.

Do you use other questions we have missed? Please share them with a comment below, or an email to me at AskJeff@JeffersonInc.com.

Bill Vick’s Excellent Reminder of What Resumes Are Really For

SkrentnySPEAKS — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:36:59 +0000

Yesterday Bill Vick posted an article titled “Traditional RESUMES Are Worthless” on EmploymentDigest.net.

My first reaction to the title of the post was, well, I have heard this before, and despite trying to use resumes that were not “traditional” with my candidates and clients, the resistance to that change has and continues to be most surprising to me year after year. Hiring managers just won’t make the switch to resumes that are not traditional, at least not so much here in Midwest.

So, as a third party recruiter/search professional I began Bill’s article with a healthy bit of skepticism, open to see what he was going to share.

It only took a paragraph or two to understand the central point of Bill’s article, which was clearly written for candidates more than for those in our profession.

That said, truth is third party recruiters & search professionals use resumes for essentially the exact same reason candidates do, to arrange interviews between our candidates and our buyer prospects or clients. With that in mind, I think every recruiter or search professional should review Bill’s article to remember how they should be using resumes as they practice their craft, such gems as:

“…the only reason for a resume is to get an interview.”

“Most people only spend between 10 and 20 seconds on the first screen [page]“

“The fact is every resume is simply a marketing document…”

“Candidates resumes…often assume a one-size-fits-all.”

“For all those wondering, yes this means you may have more than one marketing document (resume).”

After reading these reminders, most search and placement professionals are probably thinking to themselves, “Yep, know all this.” But why then do you make resume presentations that fail as marketing documents?

What do I mean specifically? I see very few recruiters and search professionals who make resume submissions to their buyers that:

Have a cover page reminding the client why the candidate should be interviewed with a few succinct bullet points…it isn’t good enough to just write your thoughts in an email presentation as that often gets separated from the resume very quickly
Make sure that candidates don’t have a “Objective” to open their resume, but instead have a “Career Summary” that sells specifically to the job at hand
Make comments within the resume to highlight resume items that simply cannot be overlooked (we try to do this twice on screen/page one, and at least once on page two…we see few reasons why a resume should ever be longer)
Include a checked reference or two, also with highlights of the critical points that someone making a decision needs to see

So truth is, despite my thinking that I still use “traditional” resumes in my process, I don’t.

I challenge my buyers with my perspective clearly highlighted as to why they should interview my candidates through the above techniques. They don’t always take to these practices immediately, but they eventually come to love them. Why wouldn’t they? I make it easy for them to see the what and why as to the relevance to my candidate’s relationship to the search they are trying to fill. It saves them time and actually preps them for interviews effectively with what I point out and highlight through the above.

If a resume’s goal is to get your candidate an interview, do you employ every tactic you have available to aggressively market your candidates to the buyers who are reviewing their resume to decide if they are going to interview your candidate or not?

If not, why not?

Your most important value to your candidates initially, is your skill to bring them to interviews with buyers who are interested and offer appropriate opportunity. I think too often we fail in that task because we fail to create compelling resume marketing documents for our clients to review, resumes that are intelligent and purposeful marketing documents that compel our clients and prospects to be highly motivated to interview, and THEN hire our candidates.

There is no rule that says you can’t add your thoughts and highlights right into a candidates resume. In fact the rule for great recruiters is that you can’t afford to send a resume out that doesn’t have these additions to ensure your candidate gets noticed, and gets that interview. Interviews are the only way we get hires.

Bill’s article was a nice reminder that can be shared with your candidates so you can work with them to created a resume marketing document, or often set of documents, that will show your candidate just how valuable you are to their search, and make it clear to your buyers that when you present, you are not just passing on resumes with keywords that seem to match, but are carefully selecting candidates that will deliver value with the candidates you feel they should interview and then hire.

Employee Satisfaction Lowest it has ever been – Conference Board Report

SkrentnySPEAKS — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:29:28 +0000

In a Conference Board Report released today:

http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressPrinterFriendly.cfm?press_ID=3820, (also see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34691428/ns/business-careers/)

researchers have found that employee satisfaction is at the lowest point since they began measuring this in 1987.

Employee satisfaction in 1987 was 61%. In the most recent survey it was only 45%.

Surprisingly, the authors do NOT believe that this lowest ever employee satisfaction measure is just a function of the current American economic downturn. In fact, they think it is a sign of something far more insidious, especially as it will impact enterprise success and knowledge transfer from one generation to the next.

As a third-party recruiter, this is interesting for two reasons.

First, as in each of the last two recessions I worked through, this employee satisfaction was important for recruiting success once hiring began again in earnest as the economy recovered. Frankly, it made recruiting easier because so many currently employed professionals were fed up with their existing situation and were glad to at least hear about other opportunities they could investigate to find that elusive job satisfaction. Being there to help, made recruiting very easy if you had client searches that were indeed great opportunities.

Second, maybe more importantly for those of us who have long term client relationships, and a long term view toward our profession as third party search professionals, is our need to not just to provide the recruiting solutions that we do, but to begin looking for ways to offer retention services for those we place as well as those our placements will be working with.

Employee satisfaction and retention will be key in enterprise success, and as we hear about the dissatisfaction at least as much as any other group of service providers in the market right now, we are uniquely poised to offer retention services that could significantly impact enterprise success for our clients, making them considerably more competitive. Our clients will pay for that if we offer the professional service.

I will say it again, do you have your CERS credential (learn more at http://www.recruitinglife.com/EduCert/cers.cfm)?

But in the short term, as soon as hiring begins again in earnest, I predict we will have plenty of candidates to recruit, if recruiting is part of what you do (and I am surprise to learn almost weekly how many third party recruiters don’t actually ever recruit). Because, as a final quote in the summary of the Conference Board Report suggests employee turnover will be very high in the next year:

In fact, 22 percent of respondents said they don’t expect to be in their current job in a year. “This data throws up a big, red flag because the increasing dissatisfaction is not just a ‘survivor syndrome’ artifact of having co-workers and neighbors laid off in the recession.”

Cultivate those client relationships, seems to me that headhunting will be very good in 2010 for third party recruiters who are taking the time to cultivate the right relationships with clients and (all the above, apparently dissatisfied and soon to be job changing) candidates alike.

Let’s go Radical Recruit!!!

As always your insightful comments, observations or criticisms welcomed and encouraged.