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Blog Post: 7 Top Interview Tips: It’s getting hot, even for Thailand. I was down by the seaside for a while until I move back north. However, at the moment being less than 10 minutes’ walk from the beach is fantastic. I’ll be…; Added by Jonathan Low-Hang at 6:15am on April 26, 2016

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Topic: "...and I thought I was busted!": t those of you who are interested in the subject might enjoy it. I was calling today looking for Web Analysts in media companies and I called a company in New York and a very nice young woman named Donna answered the phone but as they sometimes do, she did not identify herself. Instead, she stated the name of the company she works for and, “May I help you?” I took her cue. “I hope, so, this is Maureen Sharib – I was trying to call Jeremy Black there in your office - I hit his VoiceMail, can you tell me, is there anyone else in Jeremy’s group we might try?” “What group is he in – do you know?” she queried back. “Yes, I do, he’s in the Integrated Marketing Solutions group and he’s a Web Analyst,” I answered with the aplomb and confidence of the information I gathered from his VoiceMail (the “Integrated Marketing Solutions group” bit – I already knew his title from LinkedIn!) “Oh! I call them the SIM group,” she stated. I did not question why there was an S on the beginning of the acronym, rather than the end, recognizing the letters as standing for the words in the group name. She sounded like she was about to talk so I let her go on. “I can try someone else in the group, do you know anyone else?” she curiously asked me. “You know, I don’t – does he have an Admin?” I casually asked, trying to change the subject. “No, that group doesn’t have an Admin.” She sounded familiar with the group and I found the info that the group did not have an AA odd. “But tell you what, I can try someone else in the group for you. There’s a James Blow and a Peter Brow and a (incomprehensible foreign sounding name)... let’s try the first one, James Blow. Are you typing these names?” she asked, throwing me off-guard, surprising me and stopping my fingers. I had been – I’ve been using a normal keyboard lately since my silent one gave up the ghost – they don’t last too long and I haven’t yet ordered my next one. Apparently she could hear the fast clickety-clack of my information gathering through my headset. “Yes, I am,” I answered truthfully. (“Uh oh,” I thought, starting with the stinkin’ thinkin” I’m always warning you against – “Here we go – she’s going to ask me why...”) “Do you have James’s last name spelled correctly?” she surprised me again. “I think I do – is it B-L-O-W?” I answered. “Most assuredly not!” she exclaimed, through her laughter. Nobody gets that one right – it’s B –L –A –U. I think it’s really important to know how to say, and spell, someone’s name right!” “This is interesting,” I thought. “Someone after my own heart.” “I agree, and I’m sorry I didn’t ask and I’m very glad you corrected me!” I chimed back. “It is important to say someone’s name correctly – I know my own name often gets mispronounced – I’m not really fussy about it but I know some people are – are you?” I asked her, deflecting. “I am,” she answered. People don’t realize this, but I can recognize a lot of things on the phone...I can tell if you’re not smiling, if you’re aggravated, if you’re selling something...” “What is your name?” I boldly asked. “Donna. I never give my name out because people use it and say thing like, “Donna said, Donna said...” I laughed, knowing EXACTLY what she was talking about, but I did not let on that I understood her plight so completely. “Oh my goodness - imagine that!” is all I offered. Then she said, startlingly, “I’m glad you’re laughing because at first you sounded very serious...serious but polite, you told me your name right away – I appreciated that,” she remarked, “I know what you’re doing so it’s okay...” “She knows what I’m doing?” I thought to myself. I hope not. She’s not THIS good, I hoped. I was beginning to see writing on the wall in front of me. I was uneasy and decided the best thing to do in this situation was to remain silent. She then went on, filling the silence, to tell me, “I’ll go ahead and transfer you to James now, I’ll stay on the line to be sure he answers,” to which, I acknowledged, “Thank you so much, Donna,” wondering how much she really did know. James’s line of course went to VoiceMail and thinking she was still on I said, “Donna?” She didn’t answer so I knew she had not stayed on the line with me so I zeroed out back to her. She answered. “Donna, it’s me, Maureen, again – I got James’s Voicemail too!” I told her, with a slight hint of complaint. “Who else did you say was in that department?” I asked, like I didn’t already have the other name I heard when she recited them off in the beginning. “Sorry! I didn’t stay on with you – my other line rang and I had to answer that,” she offered in way of an apology, like there was one needed. “That’s okay, Donna,” I soothed. “Can we try someone else?” “Sure, the next one on the list is Peter Brow – you know how to spell that?” she asked, testing me. I could tell she took her job seriously. “I give up! I’m not even going to attempt to try!” I teased back, breaking into a laugh. “B-R-A-U,” she informed. “Well, I wouldn’t have gotten THAT one right – that’s for sure!” I exclaimed, affirming her worth in the process. “Can we try him?” “Sure – hang on,” and off I go to another VoiceMail, to which once again I listen for any clues to the keys to the kingdom. I zero back again. “No good?” Donna asks, not even skipping a beat. “No,” trying to sound as forlorn as possible. “Allrighty then, let me just try Ellen...” The line goes silent as she swifts me to another VoiceMail and when I arrive back, once again, she offers, “I’m just going to go down the line, ok, hold on...let’s try Samantha...” and she sends me to Samantha. Samantha answered, and Samantha, being one of the group, was able to detail for me what everyone’s title was and also informed me that Jeremy was the ONLY Web Analyst in the group. My job here was done. But this experience was different for me because it gave me a view into a real Gatekeeper’s psyche. She had strong beliefs about how communication should work and took pains to see that the process was well-oiled and functional in her organization. She affirmed for me many things I have held dear in my own process and she also demonstrated, once again, that things may not always be what you think they are. It’s best, when you’re thrown off your footing, to go quiet and watch what emerges. Nine times out of ten it’s not what you think! ****** This information is not to be re-published for commercial purposes in any form without my prior written permission. ****** Like what you just read? MagicMethod is brimming with information like this and will show you the inside tips and techniques of true telephone names sourcers! Subscribe today here. The Book of Sourcers is ready! Get your list of 200+ sourcers now here. NameSourcer blog. NEW Join the SourcersGuild Ning network here. Join the MagicMethod telephone names sourcing group here on RecruitingBlogs here.…; Added by Maureen Sharib at 9:19am on April 22, 2008

Topic: THE STICKY STUFF !!: nal corporate recruiter and the 'Phyllis Diller' of third party headhunting actually collaborating on something". Send us your questions and we'll help solve all your recruiting woes or at the very least give you our no-holds-barred opinions on the good, bad, and ugly found in our industry. This week's sticky stuff - Dear Sticky Stuff, I am an internal recruiter. I just discovered that one of my co-workers is getting kickbacks from a third party recruiter. Sometimes it seems to be just gift certificates for dinner or drinks or something like that but now I think he is getting paid real money to push this recruiter’s candidates. He is eliminating candidates that I know are better candidates so the agency recruiter’s candidates are getting hired when they probably would not be if the best candidates were presented. I can’t prove it but I have overheard phone conversations that have convinced me he is being paid if the TPR’s candidates are hired. What do I do? Do I ignore it , let him know I know and tell him to knock it off, call the owner of the Agency and tell him that one of his people is paying kickbacks, tell my boss. My co-worker is a good recruiter; I don’t know why he is doing this except that he likes the dinners and the money so I guess it’s simply that he is unethical. What should I do, or not? Sandra says: I literally hate this kind of crap. It happens a lot more than any of us would like to believe. I don’t like giving advice to anyone about what they should do in an unethical situation but I can tell you what I would do and have done when situations like this come up. I would scare the pants off the little crook by telling him a story about the recruiter at XYZ Company who got caught taking kickbacks from an agency. Lost his job, got charged with felony theft, conspiracy to commit fraud, graft, corruption and every other legal sounding word I could come up with. I would end the story by saying, “And you know how he got caught”? “One of his co-workers heard him on the phone talking to the agency recruiter and had noticed that he was eliminating better candidates for jobs to push the TPR’s candidates.” “Can you imagine how embarrassing and devastating that would be to have to go home and tell your wife and kids that you got fired for being a crook and may go to jail.” I office shared with a recruiter that I suspected was in a deal like this with an HR manager. I waltzed in one day and said, “Hey, I am not supposed to say anything about this but one of my candidates is an auditor with (unnamed Big 4), he mentioned that they had been retained to do a defalcation audit of (un named company) because the board thinks somebody is padding invoices and paying kickbacks to vendors.” “He didn’t say but I suspect it is the purchasing department but I know you work with that client so just wanted you to know that there may be some turnover if they catch whoever is doing it.” The gyrations that went on for the next few weeks were more fun to watch than an ant farm in a flood. He was on the phone with his office door shut more times than ever. He was digging through old invoices that had not been out of storage for years. I heard him through a very thin office wall calling his buddy in HR telling him that he needed to meet him for coffee at an offsite location to discuss something of a very sensitive nature. I have no idea how much of that had or had not taken place but it was obvious that some had or a lot. My guess is that it stopped with a screeching halt and both of them had a lot of paranoid sleepless nights waiting for the secret results of the defalcation audit. I know that for the next month or so until I moved to another location my office mate was as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof and he and his buddy had lots of hushed conversations. The last laugh I had over the deal was when the phone guy came to disconnect my phones and asked me in passing if the other guy in the office ever found out if anyone was bugging his phone line because the phone guy had checked and there was no indication of any device on his line. Ah what tangled webs we weave when we deceive a deceiver. Telling the boss is an option but without proof that can get pretty sticky unto itself. An anonymous letter to the owner of the agency might be an option. I would want to know if one of my group were involved in that sort of criminal activity and they would be gone. Course then I would be faced with calling the company myself to let them know what had gone on and who was involved. Sometimes the hardest things happen when we become aware of things that we really wish we didn’t know. Amy Says: Wow. Just wow. This is wrong on so many levels, but one of the first questions I have to ask is where in the world is the boss in this?!? What Recruiting Manager would allow this to happen? Here’s what I mean – before my company allows a position to go to an agency we have already turned over all our rocks and decided to put it out for TPR. That means we STOP SOURCING. Why compete with our own resources? It’s just silly. So that needs to be the first conversation. Are we filling reqs ourselves or are we hiring a firm to help? And if we’re putting it out to an agency and they’re doing all (or even most) of the fills, why do we keep Fraud Boy around? My guess is (besides the kickbacks) that it’s “easier” to place agency candidates. After all, some TPR is doing all the hard work. Screening for fit, probe, close, counter offer prep, all the work that goes into just getting someone ready for the interview. When the interview doesn’t go well, or an offer isn’t accepted, it’s the agency’s fault, right? But this doesn’t really answer your question, does it? So who owns these candidates being rejected over agency candidates? Maybe that’s your opening. If anyone YOU have sourced is being rejected, it’s time to talk. Have a conversation with your boss AND Fraud Boy, and ask what exactly this (agency) hire has that your internally sourced candidates do not. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, no? Another option is to follow up on a specific candidate. Let’s say this candidate, who was rejected in favor of an agency recruit, followed up with you asking why they aren’t being considered. Again, in a meeting with everyone, ask why? After all, it’s only fair to give honest feedback to the candidate. Besides the fact that you are clearly misunderstanding something about what makes a “fit”, and you’re hoping that your esteemed colleagues (Fraud Boy?) can shed some light on to what you’re missing. I am all about transparency, and I would be the first person in a staffing meeting to ask why these candidates are being rejected in favor of agency recruits. Damn the consequences, I’d call BS when I see it. Although Sandra’s idea sounds a lot more fun.…; Added by Amy Ala Miller at 1:31pm on September 19, 2011

Comment on: Topic 'Collections advice for a candidate heist': adversary). Sorry it's lengthy but I hope you find it enjoyable and maybe even instructive: A guy I've placed two times winds up at a new firm (not my placement) and brings me into his new organization for a tough medical director search. Great! The relationship investment is paying off. The search goes on for nearly a year and I send them some great candidates who for various reasons don't get offers. I finally land a person who had come highly recommended early in the sourcing process, but who had timing issues. She wows them, accepts their offer (a nice base salary bump for her), and gets rolling. As a result of my good work I get positive press within the organization. Soon, another division invites me to help them find a science writer PDQ. Fate smiles on me and I bat .1000 on this one-- submit a single great candidate and he accepts an offer one month to the day from my first phone call with the client. The client comes in a bit shy of my guy's base salary expectation and I'm even able to persuade them not to nickel and dime; he gets his full asking price. Smiles all around. Several weeks down the road, I get a marketing email from the client (I subscribe to stuff like this as a way to stay informed on my clients' businesses). It's actually from the 2nd division I worked with (the science writer job), and it's promoting a new batch of scientific content they've just posted to their new website. What to my wandering eyes should appear but a byline on one of the articles…and it's the name of one of the candidates I had submitted for the medical director search (the first one I did for this company). Realizing that this falls squarely within the language of my agreement (fee owed "if a candidate we refer to you enters into a service relationship with you or your affiliate"), I contact the guy who brought me into the organization to calmly gather some intel. Always better to keep your powder dry at first. I find that they've engaged my person as a freelancer for some project work. He understandably bumps me up to his boss, the one who signed my agreement. I feel like I'm on firm ground as I have a great fact set, I have a good relationship with this guy, and it's entirely possible that he is not aware of this situation since it happened in the other division. My expectation is that he'll want to make it right. Still, my antennae are fully extended for this call. He is pretty frosty as I lay things out for him. I'm assertive but polite and professional during the call. He begins making gratuitous assertions: "You've done some good business with our company…how you pursue this is up to you." I can tell I'm up against a blunt instrument. He keeps making this statement, so I conclude that he's trying to say that I should be grateful and let this one slide. His primitive debating skills finally get under my skin (my mistake). I ask, are you saying I should be expected to give away my work product just because I've successfully provided value to a client in the past? He chooses this opening for some selective outrage, saying he's insulted that I think he wants a freebie. I tell him I'm just trying to figure out his point by rephrasing a comment he's made several times during our conversation. By this point in the call, I clearly know the personality type I'm dealing with: a classic blustering hothead who lashes out when he finds himself boxed in by his own words. We end the call with him saying he'll followup with the other division. I send him an email thanking him for hearing me out, alluding to the goodwill that's been generated over the last year, and express my confidence that we'll be able to arrive at a quick and fair resolution. His reply states that yes, I have brought value and that my call was very professional until I accused him of expecting a freebie. He says it's safe to say they won't be using my services again. I reply asking him if he's kidding and just messing with me. I then contact the hiring manager from the second division by phone and get the clear sense that Hothead has already begun poisoning the well. Hothead then sends me another email, indignantly offering to pay my percentage on the freelancer out of his own pocket (it's a few hundred $$). In the interim, I have had collegial conversations with the 2nd hiring manager and she tells me (credibly, IMO) that HER boss went to school with the freelancer and so while it may not look great from the surface, no underhanded antics were intended. Still believing I have a case, I make a business decision to move on and preserve goodwill with her. I tell Hothead to keep his money as I consider the matter closed. I tell him that it's too bad that things went off the rails but I remain interested in fixing the relationship. Realistically I figure this will never happen. Hotheads never admit fault. Enter karma. Last week I got a call informing me that the medical director I placed under Hothead had resigned. And yes, it was 3 weeks AFTER the conclusion of her guarantee period. Karma, you sweet thing, you. Hothead emails me and asks for a copy of our agreement and a chat. During that call he says "You've probably heard that our medical director resigned. You're probably aware that it was after the guarantee period…" I interrupt him "Yes, I am very aware of that." <pissed off pause on his end>. He then asks me if I represented her for her new job. I have to admit I never saw that question coming, but my answer is easy and immediate. "No, I did not. In fact, my agreement with you protects you from that. That's not how I conduct business." (If I were him, I would have flown off the handle in indignant outrage, but I don't give others the power to insult me. Loutish statements reflect poorly on the people who make them, not their targets.) Incredibly, Hothead then tells me that he has an opening that needs to be filled (thank you, Captain Obvious). He says that he's "spoken with about 5 other recruiters" about how they'd handle a drop off just after the guarantee period. Wait for it-- He says that they would all try to work with their client in that situation. He then asks if I will discount my fee as a condition of working on this new assignment. I say that I can't speak for what other recruiters would do (he snappily replies "Well, I can!") and remind him that I extended a discount before the first project. I tell him I see no business rationale for devaluing my work under these circumstances; if anything, this is now a much tougher search than it was before. He then poses it as an ultimatum: "So you won't offer a discount?" "No thank you, I won't be able to do that." Then I'm told once again that they won't be using my services. I resist the urge to laugh and tell him that I'm no worse off than I was before the call began! Can any of you imagine the insanity of taking another search project from this person? What did I learn from this experience? Frankly, not much. I won't be changing my business practices just because of a fluky situation with an irrational client. Takes all kinds. Notwithstanding the freelancer issue, my agreement was strong and protected the client and myself in key areas. I was actually pleased with myself for being able to move on after this happened, although it does feel good to share/vent it with colleagues. Thanks for listening! --Chris…; Added by Christopher Perez at 10:35am on May 11, 2012

Topic: Meet Kristen Durkin, Applying Her Passion for Salsa to People: IIPE Website: Facebook: Meet my friend, Kristen Durkin, Director of Business Development at International Executive Research (IIPE), a firm which specializes in multilingual talent research, Name Generation, Prescreening/ Qualifying of candidates, and direct contact; i.e. cold-calling and email Campaigns. Kristen is a member of my networking group, "Six Degrees from Dave", however it wasn't until last October during Shally's "Talent Researching in Latin America" session at the ERE Conference that we met. She sat across the aisle with avid interest and providing her own perspectives on staffing challenges and opportunities in Mexico. After the session, shaking hands I realized the familiar name was indeed an RBC regular and conistent networker within SixDegrees. I smiled, knowing that this was yet one more example of many that our group members come face to face within the industry - not a coincidence that its members are most active within it. The handshake began a day to evening to day after conference buddy-thon with Kristen supplying the wry wit and us delivering the laughter. One thing was certain, I would know Kristen for years to come - she is a walking best practices manual on Latin America and a good friend to have, not least of which is the quality of her friendship offered, but likewise knowledge gained. This is one smart, talented industry player with much to offer. I trust all of our community can embrace her with networking holiday wishes! Q&A with Kristen Durkin Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. KRISTEN: I currently live between Mexico, but I travel a lot back to NYC where my family is and throughout the U.S.A for conferences. Basically, my “home” life is usually packed in my brown and pink luggage. I am not married, nor do I have kids (My father hasn’t been able to buy enough cattle for barter to get me married, but I promise once that happens I will request a follow-up Q&A to release the big news). I do have a greatly close immediate family; I am the middle child with an older brother, Jason who was recently featured on the History Channel; followed and documented as a NYC “Sandhog” and a younger sister, Maureen. My sister is a bilingual (Spanish/English) Speech pathologist. I have happily married parents named Mom and Dad, although some call them Andrea and Eddie, both of whom work in the medical field. Before I moved to Mexico I participated in Big Brother Big Sisters of NYC for many years www.bigsnyc.org. For those who are not familiar it is a mentoring program for inner-city youth. I perform Spoken Word Poetry throughout New York; including the NuYoRican Poetry Café. I try to perform at least once with every return to NYC from Mexico. The most important fact to know about me is that I am a “salsaholic” I dance salsa whenever I have time to get out there. It’s in my blood, if there is salsa music playing, I’m dancing! Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? KRISTEN: I have been in the industry for quite a few years, I first started when I was a freshman in High school. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? KRISTEN: I began interning while in H.S at an HR Recruiting firm based in Connecticut, K. Russo Associates, Inc. I started by filing paperwork (which I hated) and uploading resumes into Vurve. Slowly, they allowed me to answer the telephones. The position continued to gradually evolve. Karen (the president of K. Russo Associates) began to invite me into the interviews, where I was strictly instructed to take notes and shut-up. Following the interviews I would compare my notes with the notes of Karen or the other recruiter’s. Eventually, I began screening resumes, searching the database for internal candidates, researching passive leads on the internet, and interviewing new, junior leveled candidates. After graduating High School I wanted to ensure I liked recruiting and not just K. Russo Associates. I took a position with a boutique consulting firm who places CPA’s. I had a mini office on 5th Ave. in NYC and thought I was going to move up quickly. After my first commission check, I swiftly discovered- I had much to learn; like negotiating! I learned a great deal from my “5th Ave” boss, but I decided to focus on school, graduate college and later I went back to work with K. Russo Associates again. Whew, that was a mouth full! Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? KRISTEN: ONE single event? I remember answering the telephone while still interning and asking the candidate while I went to put him on hold: “Can I hold you for one moment?” The bullpen erupted in laughter and I was positive I would thereafter be banned from phone answering and sent back to the filing cabinets. Instead, I went on lunch, and returned to the whole office having added screensavers quoting my mistake; Karen thought it was hysterical and apologized for the “silly intern” who answered the phone. I know it’s a funny story, but as a newbie in the business it taught me everyone is human, when you make a mistake on the phone, laugh it off and keep on keepin’ on. For each mistake I’ve made on the phone I improved my future calls. Mistakes like this have impacted my career; when training other researchers I always emphasize that people like humans, not machines reading 100% off of a script, if you make a mistake learn and move on. If it was an innocently entertaining mistake, then laugh. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? KRISTEN: Here is where I look like a big schmoozer and all of my coworkers will make fun of me, but hands down my mentor in this industry has been my boss, Karen Russo. There is no “fluff” with Karen when you do something wrong, but when you do something right she will be the first to let you know. I remember at one point we were an office of only women and after one of the recruiters closed a deal, Karen would do a summersault or cartwheel (In a pant suit, of course!) to show her support and enthusiasm. She’s pretty hardcore. Six Degrees: Detail your position, responsibilities, size of your staffing organization: KRISTEN: I am the Director of Business Development for IIPE- we are an executive research firm based in Mexico. HYPERLINK "http://www.iipe.net" www.iipe.net I am usually found at Recruiting Conferences, either as a vendor selling the business, or as an attendee learning and bringing back new information taught in the sessions to our team in Mexico. I can still be found doing research and applying the new techniques learned in a conference session on a research assignment. We are continuing to build our team, right now we have a team of 5, but this is not including our back office support. I suppose I am different from the average bear interviewed by Dave, because I am on the research side of the business. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? KRISTEN: As a researcher, I admire the great sourcers; Shally Steckerl and Glenn Gutmacher for all of their help in teaching some of the most effective ways to use Boolean search strings. In addition to them a shameless plug goes out to Dave Mendoza as well, he’s helped build my network on LinkedIn and long before I had the delight of meeting him I always forwarded his weekly e-mails of the “top 10” and found him to be a great link to power-networking! (B) In what aspects are they superior? KRISTEN: A brief example: In October of 2008 I attended the ERE, fall meeting in Hollywood Beach, Florida. For anyone who knows me, they know I flew in from Mexico for the conference, I am an internet/phone sourcer and I happen to come from a Latin background. With that said attending Shally Steckerls “Sourcing for Latin America” was going to be exciting for me. I am not sure if I expected greatness from it, because I am so familiar with the topic , but I did in fact get greatness. Most of what was discussed is part of my everyday life, but Shally gave an excellent presentation, he was incredibly on point with his guidance as to how to approach a sourcing/cold-call and how it is culturally a different approach in Latin America. In addition I left the session and I was introduced to a few new websites, but for me- most important was that the topic of recruiting/sourcing in Latin America was brought to the table and was up for open discussion. It is, after all, an important part of the world! As for Dave Mendoza, I always admired the magic he’s worked on my LinkedIn network with his weekly top10 and have you seen his amount of connections lately? Funny enough the first time I met Dave was in Shally’s session for sourcing in Latin America. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? KRISTEN: Outsourcing research has become a huge topic of conversation amongst recruiters. As a provider of outsourced research, this impacts my work and IIPE greatly. As a growing commodity we’re forced to stay ahead of the curve with cutting edge technology and new training. The education for our group never ends. Six Degrees: Have you represented your company in the broader conference circuit? KRISTEN: I have represented IIPE at NEAPS, The Fordyce Forum, ERE, CAPS. For 2009 I am looking into the Kennedy Conference, NAPS and ASA in addition to the aforementioned, but we will see. Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? KRISTEN: One goal is to contribute in breaking the stereotypes of outsourced research. Not every internationally based research firm is strictly tactical (although trust me that I know, a lot of them are!). Our researchers have been trained by recruiters; they have been in the office with recruiters and understand the corporate infrastructure of the U.S. I can only help break this stereotype by proving out-of-house research can produce great results too! Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review? KRISTEN: We have worked within specialized areas of talent such as IT, HR, PR, Biotech, Manufacturing, Security Cleared Professionals. This is just to name a few examples. Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of? KRISTEN: Because we are located in Mexico, most of our training comes from webinars. Second to webinars comes in-house training from Karen and myself and our training never ends. Six Degrees: What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit? KRISTEN: If I listed every recruitment tool we use I would bore any reader from enjoying Dave’s Q&A’s ever again. We use SugarCRM everyday and Broadlook Technologies, our fingers for typing the necessary search strings and our mouths for getting past the gatekeepers. Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career? KRISTEN: I did do a lot of old school filing with a “Sort-All” (This tool is a yard-stick long list of the alphabet with slots so for placing the resumes in the correct order to thereafter be filed alphabetically). As for technology I used RecruitMax (Vurve), then of course excel, the internet and the telephone. Six Degrees: How did your expectations of being a recruiter compare to the actual, first time you got on the phone or in the cubicle? In your opinion, how do people's assumptions about our vocation differ from reality? KRISTEN: I am not sure I ever had expectations of being a recruiter, in fact I was going through the process of for law school when I moved to Mexico and decided to stay focused within the industry. However, I did expect to be intimidated on my first cold-call, but it turned out to be an absolute high. Everyone always talks about the initial fear, it rarely bothered me. With that said, when I began as the Director of Business Development, I remember walking into my first conference alone and being MORTIFIED. I was worried I was going to spend every meal, of every day, at a table by myself (which as most of you know, is impossible at a conference full of outgoing recruiters). In my opinion I would say the biggest assumption about my job is that people think because I live in Mexico – life’s a beach. Not so much! I try to get to the beach a few times a month. Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t…and how that was a learning experience? KRISTEN: Oh! Really, just one? Well… When I first started to attend business meetings and conferences – I thought it was important to get as many business cards as you can and just network, network, network. Truth be told- that’s a LOUSY practice to have. At the end of an event you have 500 business cards and about 30 seconds of conversation from each person, there’s no relationship develop. Even if you take notes on the back of your cards there is no way you can remember enough detail to make a non-generic e-mail for each of the business cards you snagged. My learning experience has been, develop relationships not just “contacts” in the Outlook address book. When you come back from a forum and you don’t have 3 good leads or candidate or contacts (whatever your goal is) it’s because you weren’t focused on developing the relationship! Six Degrees: “Best practice” you are most proud of developing (now or in the past) in your recruiting career? KRISTEN: I don’t think this is the miracle “best practice” you’re all looking to read about, but what about good ol’ fashioned honesty being a best practice? I maintain honesty with my boss, our researchers and our clients. Honesty is my saving grace! Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general? KRISTEN: Certainly, being asked how many names IIPE will generate per hour is frustrating. We do have such numbers because of metrics measures our in-house hours worked and naturally we can approximate the amount of leads developed in an hour. Nevertheless, it really depends on the research assignment. I have asked many researchers how many leads they will generate per hour and received a flat number in response, I’ve also I’ve asked others who are on my level and won’t lower standards to meet a lead per hour quota. It should be about quality vs. quantity. Six Degrees: Considering all of the frustrations you have experienced in your career as a recruiter, -- what inspires you as you continue in your career? KRISTEN: I am thrilled when research has a result. On our side of the business the result is not always glorified or as immediate as a recruiter, but when a placement occurs off a list we produce it’s exciting news! Six Degrees: What one thing do you ideally hope to accomplish in 2008? KRISTEN: Professionally, I would like to increase IIPE business by 60% (or more) with at least half of our clients on retainer. A personal goal is to start a successful and sometimes read blog. For those who know me… know I like to talk. It would be a great outlet and prevent me from bothering everyone in my office with info they’ve heard from me100 times before. Look out for my blog… Coming To Audiences Soon! Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug? KRISTEN: Both of the below blogs are usually very funny, entertaining blogs which are most of the time geared toward our industry or sales. Try reading these: http://www.krussoassociates.blogspot.com/ http://www.feedyourdatabase.com/ http://www.fordyceletter.com/author/hdhuntrgmailcom/ If you’re interested in Behavioral Assessment Tools contact: Cynthia Rogers on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiarogers Six Degrees: How Are You Going To Change The Recruitment Industry? KRISTEN: There is a core group of people who always attend the recruiting conferences. On the last day of the ERE conference this past October one of the vendors asked me “How are you always so smiley, even in the morning?” When I am at a conference, learning how to improve our industry it’s motivating. I hope to change the industry by staying passionate about what I do and getting plenty of rest to stay alert! (see photo)…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 9:35pm on November 30, 2008

Blog Post: Meet Brendan Moran, "Some Kind of Super Recruiter": By Dave Mendoza, Master Cybersleuth, Affiliate Partner, JobMachine Inc.

(720)…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 4:30am on June 23, 2008

Blog Post: TWEET CHATS AND PLAYIN' THE DOZENS: I have been lurking (albeit with a few interjections of wisdom) in several tweet chats in the past few weeks. All dedicated to “how tos” How to find a job, how to write a resume, how to interview.…; Added by Sandra McCartt at 12:18am on March 28, 2011