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Permalink Reply by Amy Ala Miller on November 20, 2012 at 7:23pm

talk to clients / potential clients about recruiters they like working with.

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Permalink Reply by Raphael Fang on November 21, 2012 at 12:50pm

Show them the Money and they will follow.   Established recruiters may not be keen to move to a new firm that they may not be paid for 3-4 months and your best bet is to network with recruiters in your area.  Don't sell the opportunity when you first meet them.  Just network with them and ask them for referrals. 

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Leary on November 21, 2012 at 4:25pm

Recruiters are everywhere online. There are are 34K in this community. What are the challenges that you are facing? Can you not find the recruiters or do you not feel comfortable after you speak with them?

A few questions:

Salary range?

Year?

What type of technical recruiter are you looking for?

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Permalink Reply by Ben Provenzano on November 21, 2012 at 5:46pm

Thank you for your responses!

The purpose of my original post was to pick the brains of established recruiters, such as yourselves, who may have some tricks up their sleeve.  I agree with you, Ryan, there are plenty of recruiters out there.  But, that often makes it more difficult to find the perfect candidate.  Recruiting is an acquired skill that puts the marketat at risk to be oversaturated with marginal talent.  It's not like finding someone with an IS degree who has studied it and then backed with years of excellent fortune 500 experience.  I don't know if that makes sense at all, so if it sounds ridiculous, call me out :)

I am not only looking to develop a successful brand, but I want to provide/develop a culture people enjoy being in.  I don't want the revolving door to be apart of our model, because as you all know, successful recruiters have a network that is developed over time. We are based off of fostering great relationships and relationships can't be fully nourished within a 6-month span.  Therefore, I do not want to see people coming and going every few months.  I would rather have them drink the 'Kool-Aid' and be an advocate for the company rather than use the position to fill a void on a resume and then move on. 

The problem isn't finding recruiters, it's finding recruiters who have the drive and vision to be on the ground floor of a company that promotes a culture not just a business.  I provide loyalty to my employees, so I expect loyalty in return.  I can't say I have been facing any challenges except for the intuition variable. I am a firm believer on following your gut feeling and I am going to be very particular with this hire because this is an opportunity to take ownership in developing a crucial portion of the business.

Essentially, I want someone who can share the vision of our organization.  We are willing to provide autonomy by giving them free range of developing a solid recruiting team to coincide with the sales team.  There is plenty of room for growth.  We want this person to be a crucial part of a team for years and years.

 

Amy- 

Thanks for your advice, I like that.  A couple questions 1) When you say recruiters, are these recruiters working for other organizations or free-lance recruiters? and have you ran in to non-compete issues?  2) have you ran in to clients/future clients perceiving it as an attempt to poach from other vendors that could cause problems for future business? 

 

Raphael-

I like your style, "Show me the Money!", as well as your approach of not overselling the position.

 

Ryan-

In my mind, Salary is always negotiable and should be contingent on past experiences parlayed with the added value an individual can provide.  There will also be a lucrative commission structure involved so I don't want to get hung up on salary. You are only as successful as you want to be as a recruiter. As far as experience, I would prefer 2-4 years to act as a lead AND/OR 1-2 years to play a mid-level role.  Technical recruiter, I want someone who has played in the IT realm, everything under the IT/IS umbrella (help desk to architects)

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Permalink Reply by Amy Ala Miller on November 21, 2012 at 7:20pm

Hi Ben,

as a corporate recruiter I'll be very blunt - I could care less who the check is written to, I want to work with who I want to work with. If a recruiting firm called and asked me that question I would have several names ready to go and would expect a nice discount should my business follow lol.

 

There will always be non-competes, but some are stronger than others and also depends on your state (right to work or not, etc.) If a client gets there feathers ruffled about you "poaching" from their vendors, well where do THEY want to hire from? How many times have we heard that someone needs to come from the industry / have experience in their field? :)

 

Another option along the same lines is talk to junior / mid-level recruiter and ask who are their mentors? You can still leave the door open for that person to join your firm later or as part of the new team, but what you're looking for is the person who will mentor these newer people. Look for recruiting managers in other staffing firms or corporate recruiting managers (and this is key) who have successfully managed agencies. You could also talk to more senior level recruiting managers/directors and ask who they've worked with in the past they would pick to replace themselves if they had to do so today.

An independent or free-lance recruiter is less likely to drink the koolaid, in my opinion. (I drink lots of koolaid... it's an acquired taste) :)

 

Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on November 26, 2012 at 12:44pm

Why would a recruiter who can build a business want to join in this role?  I ask only to find out what you feel the benefit is in this role rather than building a business for themselves? 

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Lee on November 27, 2012 at 1:26am

You want:

1. Loyal

2. Competent and experienced

3. Hungry and energetic

4. Team player able to hear what the coach is saying and take the ball and run with it.

You don't want:

1. Self serving individualist

2. Green or on the other end burnt out

3. Non entrepreneurial type.  You want someone who knows what it means to go hungry and thrives off commission.

4. Plenty of common sense and business acumen.

Where do you find this person?  The same place the entire staffing world is looking for the exact same person.  The truth is you kind of have to do your homework.  You have to network your ass off and just find someone you like who share common goals not someone who just gives you the right interview answers to the typical interview questions.  You want someone genuine most of all.  Trust is the one thing you aren't going to buy.

Also, unlike what some people think, you can't throw money at this.  If you've been around long enough and read enough books you've come to realize some truths about what motivates people and what part money does and does not play in finding top performers.  Money only attracts selfish untrustworthy types who will stab you in the back for....guess what?  More money.  You just have to pay enough that is fair but not so much that you attack the cannibalistic sharks.

Look for personality and values.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Provenzano on November 27, 2012 at 10:54am

As much of an open ended or obvious question this may have been, I really like hearing other peoples thoughts and angles of approaching situations.  It allows me to remove myself and attack situations in the best way.  So, thank you for everyone who has given their 2 cents.

Networking is an obvious and popular answer that is the trend, and you're probably asking yourself, "didn't this idiot think of it already?" But, diving in deeper is the question of where are good places to efficiently network with recruiters, which is what I probably should have been more clear on.  Duh, this is a great site for it, but are there other popular places that recruiters collaborate.  My theory is, the great recruiters are out making their presence known, networking, meeting others, blogging, contributing in forums etc... These are the people worth networking with.  With all that being said, are there any other popular vehicles you are using, such as RBC?

Amy - I love it, good advice.  You are obviously a great networker ;)

Jerry-  Valid question.  I'm not looking for a recruiter who CAN build their own business.  It wouldn't make much sense to target those recruiters, extreme liability.  Someone like this that you speak of is going to have too much experience for what we are looking for and is probably plotting their own exit strategy to start their own.  We aren't asking them to build a business, we are empowering someone with a high sense of responsibility to be a leader for a portion of the team.  There are multiple facets to running a business than solely recruiting, which is why I want someone to lead a recruiting team, not the business.

Joshua - Way to break it down and I like the candid approach.  I agree with you 100% on motivation factors.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Lee on November 27, 2012 at 2:05pm

Ben - you're doing fine.  You'll find him/her with the amount of research and work you're already wiling to put into it.  Good luck.

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