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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on September 24, 2008 at 4:05pm

I am in your industry. HR is not my enemy. HR can and should be your friend. The days of being a renegade headhunter crashing through walls to wrangle a fee out of your clients has been "over" for quite a while now.

Believe me Chaser - you will have much more success once you can get your mind around a relationship WITH HR rather than against.

If you would like some personal help on how to bite the bullet here and make some friends "over there" then please feel free to call me directly any time. Day or night. I can help.

888-293-9249

P.S. I have a client right now with positions in 8 different facilities. I am working WITH HR _and_ the HM in each situation. All of this has grown within my relationship and cooperation with HR - not outside of it. If I was still going around punching HR in the face - I wouldn't have anywhere near this kind of expanded opportunity within just one client.

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Permalink Reply by Chaser on September 24, 2008 at 5:10pm

Wowza, you read into my message the wrong way and I kind of figured that would happen. I know "enemy" may be a harsh term to use but I want to be dealing with the direct HM because they are going to give me the most valuable feedback in getting their position filled, because after all the Hiring Manager is the Client.

When information passes from one person to another things get lost in translation...If you can establish and engage with both HR and HM effectively then more power to you. My expereince is that HR wants to control the process and therefore will not allow you to speak or interact with the Direct Supervisor. And thats when trying to service your Client (HM) gets tough.

So that being said Im not a renegade Recruiter and Im not trying to get a quick fee and move on. Quite the opposite with me. I have been with the same Agency since 04 (dont plan to leave) and I have gained many Clients (and their trust) holding onto and nuturing those relationships since...

I have great relationships with quite a few HR professionals with exisitng Clients where I do not interact with the HM's. And with those relationships have had great success. Not to mention attending PIHRA every year to meet new prospects. But I think it comes down to a timing factor where after time has passed both parties start to understand how each other works best in meeting that common goal.

Anyhow, I was looking to discuss peoples experience / situations where we outside Recruiters were able to instal that impetus into the inhouse Recruiter/HR in working together to meet the common goal of filling the position as fast as possible.

Appreciate the feedabck Jerry, I'll give you a call sometime. :)

Thank you


Jerry Albright said:

I am in your industry. HR is not my enemy. HR can and should be your friend. The days of being a renegade headhunter crashing through walls to wrangle a fee out of your clients has been "over" for quite a while now.

Believe me Chaser - you will have much more success once you can get your mind around a relationship WITH HR rather than against.

If you would like some personal help on how to bite the bullet here and make some friends "over there" then please feel free to call me directly any time. Day or night. I can help.

888-293-9249

P.S. I have a client right now with positions in 8 different facilities. I am working WITH HR _and_ the HM in each situation. All of this has grown within my relationship and cooperation with HR - not outside of it. If I was still going around punching HR in the face - I wouldn't have anywhere near this kind of expanded opportunity within just one client.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on September 24, 2008 at 5:48pm

Hi Chaser. You know how these forum things go - words mean different things to people. I ready "enemy" and it immediately brought my mind to one of the people who trained me in the 80s. It was US vs. THEM. (We use to get to smoke right in our offices back then too!)

Here's something that might be helpful. Half the time I find myself working with a new client I simply ask if I can have "just a few minutes" of the HMs time to nail down a few particulars about the technologies involved. I'm sure you've tried that. I've found it works much better AFTER you've established rapport with HR. Never ever suggest you prefer to work directly with the HM. Never.

So really you'll find the more rapport you can build with HR - and let us not forget - results you can provide them - increases your status as being on "their team" vs. your own team.

You need to start with an ally within any company. We all hope that first ally can be the HM - but that's not always the case. It can be anyone. But you've got to have SOMEONE on board with what you are trying to do for them.

Prove you are on top of your world - and they'll let you into theirs.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Chaser on September 24, 2008 at 6:07pm

No worries, totally understand.

And I couldnt agree with you more. :)

My Boss / Mentor / Partner is actually one of those guys that grew up in that era and he enstiled that very aggressive approach into me. But I pic and choose what I want to use from his advice / knowledge and then a course apply my own technique in combination. But at the end of the day he is the one to thank for my success because he took the patenience to grow and mentor my skill set into what it is now. I knew absolutely nothing about this industry when I started and I am at a level now that I feel blessed to have had him as my "teacher". :)

Like this quote by the way..."Prove you are on top of your world - and they'll let you into theirs."

Appreciate you taking the time to discuss with me, thank you Jerry.

-Chaser

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