A recruiters rebuttal to Margo's Live Interview with Bill Vick -

Margo,

You have obviously created something significant and unique, have worked very hard to get it off the ground, and I salute you.

I have seen just about every way to try to make money in the "staffing" (for lack of a better term) industry and the only thing that always works is picking up a telephone, calling a president, owner, or GM, getting sendouts, then closing immediately for an up or down decision. That has always resulted in great success. To my way of thinking, anything which detracts from quick decisions harms our business. Perhaps I am unclear about KeenHire, and I can see a lot of utility for using it for hiring recruiters into search and placement firms but, frankly, I would not want to see a hiring company add it to their hiring process. It seems to me that KeenHire adds a step to a hiring process, is an "assessment tool", brings "logic" rather than emotion to the process (people buy on emotion), and results in slower hiring decisions. Quick decisions are what the entire placement planet desires because we all know the passing of time kills placements. Worth noting: to me, "quick decisions" does not mean "bad hiring decisions made hastily". It means good hiring decisions made quickly.

Neil P. McNulty
McNulty Management Group
Virginia Beach, VA



Neil, I can appreciate your concern. Let me shed some light on first why I developed KeenView and secondly how it is used to not lengthen the process yet how it is used to manage, control and shorten the hiring process.

As a top producer for many years myself and having relationships with many different companies and hiring authorities; I saw how many companies were adding dimensions to their hiring process that I had no control over. Many of my clients were using some type of selection tool in the final stages of the hiring process. In several cases I found myself and my team at the affect of another 3rd party, one that did not have the knowledge that I did in making a hiring choice. As I conducted more research and asked more questions, the information that I gleaned brought me to new possibilities in recruitment and new openings for actions for my career and for our industry.

KeenHire was not created to lengthen the sales, recruitment or closing cycle, it was created to arm 3rd party recruiters with better tools to serve their clients with on the front end. When used appropriately behavioral interviewing (KeenView) places the recruiter as an expert in selection. It sews the recruiter into the selection process and eliminates last minute ‘think about its”. Given the process for effective behavioral interviewing begins with benchmarking the role; the recruiter immediately positions themselves in the key strategic conversations that true account development and management are made of, and frankly is allows for more process control across the board.

When the traits and questions are created and agreed upon, a good account manager will manage the recruitment process and hone in on putting the right candidates with the right stuff into the top of the funnel. Whether you delegate or conduct the sourcing yourself knowing what your client needs from a behavioral stand point alters the course of the search. By the time the candidates are submitted to the client, the client is well aware that these are the top tier candidates who are clearly the best fit for the role and there will be no need to see anyone else. Another point I want to make is that the candidates are also clear that they are the best person for the job, as candidates who are not serious about the role will not waste their time in the assessment process.

KeenHire also is a distributor for some of the top personality assessments in the market place, my intention with this service offering is not to get in the recruiters way; it is to arm them with the knowledge they need up front to recommend their clients use the appropriate assessment in their hiring process. If the person accountable for finding the right talent understands and has a say in the tools their employers are using, they are equipped to submit candidates who will fit the bill. On the contrary when a recruiter is out of the loop on the products their clients are using to evaluate their candidates’ abilities, they are left in a vulnerable and powerless position. All assessments are not created equal and in many cases companies are using inferior or inappropriate products to evaluate their candidates; with your knowledge comes power, with your power comes insight and with your insight comes solid recommendations from you for the ‘right’ product.

At Alliance HR Network, (my previous company) we assessed the role we were recruiting for up front. We sourced, recruited and evaluated candidates in the beginning of the process for their viability for a specific client, if they were not a fit, we held on to them for something else; however we did not try to fit a square peg into a round hole. For direct placement this worked. We made money, had exclusive contracts and mastered the ability to replicate quality on a large volume.

At Keen Consulting, (KeenHires’ search recruitment process outsourcing and consulting business) our model is; we charge the companies upfront for our consulting services which begin with evaluating their needs from an organizational perspective, assessing the key stake holders that this role impacts and benchmarking the role in question. What this leads to is a better understanding of our clients, stronger insight into the key performance indicators and a strong focus on ‘what right looks like’ in the company and in the role. This entire process directly impacts client’s organization effectiveness, which leads to profitability and a higher return on the hiring investment. When I approach my sales calls for search and recruitment outsourcing with this results orientation, companies are hard pressed to say no to my (keens’) offerings.

The bottom line is that most companies are using some sort of tool to evaluate ‘our’ candidates and in many cases; ‘we’ have nothing to say about it.

Keenhire changes the game and puts the recruiter in the power position of being the Talent Acquisition/Human Capital Consultant. The breadth that one can reach in that role is much deeper and wider than putting the right butt in the right seat.