What to do with an under utilized sourcer during slow times?

I have an eight year firm with two dedicated Sr. Recruiters (including myself), two hourly part timers, and another full time sourcer with a $25k salary, plus insurance. He does what he is told, but leaves at 5 PM and does not have the experience or passion to add value without my continuous instruction.

When are busy he finds people on Linked-In and justifies his salary (and receives modest commissions).

It's very tempting to let him go, save $30k annually and then hire another full time sourcer with greater work ethic, passion, and creativity when things pick up (perhaps on the West coast; we are an East Coast firm who places sales and PS people nationally).

Am I being too short sighted an not appreciative of his consistency, honesty, understanding of our system/processes, and value (when there are more job requirements)?

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on January 8, 2009 at 11:03pm

It's a tough question but let me ask you this:
Do YOU think finding people on LinkedIn justifies his salary?
I think that's the crux of this matter.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Rodman on January 8, 2009 at 11:09pm

When he finds people that I place, the math states "yes", absolutely. He saves me time to work with qualified candidates and find new job requirements. However, at this juncture, no, because I (and the part timers) now have enough time to perform more of this type of research work. The intent was for him to grow into a more mature, full fledged recruiter, but he leave lacks the passion and creativity to own the entire process.

Your thoughts?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by pam claughton on January 8, 2009 at 11:15pm

Hi Mark!
Does he qualify these people? Or just round up names for you? If he is good at finding and qualifying them, maybe try an experiment for the next month where he finds more people, qualifies them, and then you do more marketing of these people to generate more searches, and also more job leads from these people as to where they have already interviewed.

It could be a nice way to keep new business and placements coming in. If it doesn't pay off in a month or two, then revisit the situation maybe?

~Pam

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on January 8, 2009 at 11:17pm

You ought to think creatively. Build lists of people that other recruiters may want to recruit (a different niche or city), and sell those names to other recruiters (friends of yours or otherwise).

Then consider branching out and providing sales leads to other companies that aren't recruiters. It's a great way to take advantage of a resource you already have, and it might even turn into a profit center.

Sourcers are sometimes different than recruiters. If he's good, figure out a use for him that makes you money, and that way you don't have to train someone when you need them.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Rodman on January 8, 2009 at 11:28pm

Thanks Pam (and Jim). He qualifies and documents candidate sale results, candidate motivation for changing jobs, and communication skills.

However, as of late, I have SEVERAL quality candidates calling me that I spend time marketing and keeping informed of suitable opportunities.

In this economy would anybody buy names? My inclination is to spend more time finding hiring requirements than selling names. This is my gut response, I don't mean to be unappreciative of your suggestions.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on January 8, 2009 at 11:36pm

I like both ideas posited by Jim and Pam, but I have my doubts if all of the advice would work.

Personally, I think most sourcers are very different from recruiters and you may have some trouble getting him to "connect" with people. Many sourcers just don't want any part of that. And, I suspect what you will find is a lack of interest from other recruiters (friends or not) for LinkedIn "farmed" names. Like you, during these slow times, most of them have the time to do that themselves. Taking that one step further, LinkedIn names are losing their "punch" as more and more recruiters and sourcers "farm" them. The soil is getting exhausted, if'n you know what I mean. Maybe it's late, but I'm not getting how sales leads could be created from his efforts...but like I said, I'm probably missing something.

For his own good, though, he needs to learn to be a hunter, not a farmer.
My thoughts.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amanda Blazo on January 12, 2009 at 10:57am

Mark, when you hired this person to be a full time sourcer, was it clear to him that the expectation was that he grow into the roll of a full fledged recruiter? And was he interested in that at the time he was hired?

I ask because as Maureen stated, good recruiters and good sourcers are usually different kinds of people or profiles. So if you hired him because he matched the profile to be a great sourcer, he likely won't also be a good recruiter and vice versa. He should certainly be able to add more responsability to his daily duties but not sure expecting him to be a full fledged recruiter is realistic or fair to him.

On the other hand, regardless of what you hired him to do, if he doesn't have a strong work ethic and doesn't seem to strive to go the extra mile, perhaps he isn't a good fit for your team. There are plenty of hard working folks out there who could be trained to be a good sourcer or a good recruiter and who will demonstrate more of a passion for excelling at their job than this gentlemen seems to be demonstrating.

You could also outsource your sourcing function to a company like eCyber Assistant or Sente Global which I operate. Outsourcing allows you to work with an experienced sourcer in the interim until the economy puts you in a position to hire someone internally who is experienced and excited about what they do. In fact, most of our clients have chosen to outsource this piece to us long term because of the effectiveness and cost efficiency. These agents become a part of your team and really strive to go the extra mile to show ROI to you and your team, while not taking up a desk in your office that could be filled with a billing recruiter or project coordinator. Feel free to reach out if you would like to chat off line about this amanda.blazo@senteglobal.com.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Rodman on January 12, 2009 at 11:12am

Good feedback, thank you. His last day was Friday.
Making the distinction in traits between a recruiter and sourcer is an excellent eduction, thank you again.

Mark

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jill Rosenfield on January 12, 2009 at 11:17am

Hi Mark,

My name is Jill Rosenfield and I work for an RPO in Atlanta GA called HireVelocity. In my opinion you can't afford to justify his salary. One option maybe when you do need sourcing/recruiting/ or research for one off type positions or even for several positions you outsource it. We can help you with this. We charge an hourly rate of between $22.00 to $25.00 depending on type of services. Please feel free to contact me to discuss it.

Jill Rosenfield
HireVelocity
770-308-0203
jrosenfield@hirevelocity.net

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Newman on January 12, 2009 at 11:31am

If you are talking like this, the decision is already made.

Unfortunately, the only to do is let him go. Not just for the salary savings, not just for the lack of production, but because he/she is a energy suck from you. Nothing is worse than when you have an employee that drains your energy because of their attitude, production etc or just simply tearing yourself apart through all of this.

Searching through LinkedIn is not being a sourcer, he's a data miner. You could hire an outsourced firm for $1000 per month or less to do his job ("give me all SAP architects on LinkedIn and who join, give me all construction industry sales managers etc"). The only other option is for the person in question to be finding you sales leads.

With the way you are thinking, you will feel so much better if you just cut the relationship. It will be painful but better for both parties. Try to help him/her find something else that better fits their personality.

Been there, suffered through that, you will feel better if you just sever the relationship.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Keith Halperin on January 12, 2009 at 11:51am

Hi Mark and Everyone,

You can get high-quality cold-call telephone sourcers for $3500 per month (fully loaded- no benies or commission), and internet sourcers for $1250 per month or $150 per position. Let me restate this: unless they are doing specialized "find Osama bin Ladin in a cave" type work that some of folks here do, you probably don't need to pay more than this for your sourcing needs.

Cheers,
Keith keithsrj@sbcglobal.net

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike Rasmussen on January 16, 2009 at 3:59am

I thought I would comment on this. I am a sourcer/HR Consultant, and work hard to help my recruiters find success. I love my team and would at the drop of a hat do anything for them.

I think this stems from Employee Relations and a direct impact that Human Relations has. My suggestion:

Use Dale Carnegie Principles. Invite your employee to read How To Win Friends and Influence People or the Book How To Stop Worrying and Start Living.

If you invest in these tools and use the DC principles therein in your management style of an unmotivated employee, he/she may change.

I have invested my time in the DC course, and have found it to be the best thing I have done in my life. It is likely that you could turn this situation around by applying some of the DC principles to this situation. Just a suggestion, but I have seen this course literally transform many a colleague.