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Blog Post: 6 Winning Traits of Startup Employees: Added by Ryan Mead at 9:58am on September 30, 2015

Blog Post: How to Select the Right Applicant Tracking System for Your Organization: Picking the wrong applicant tracking system (ATS) can often be annoying. By the time your team realizes that the ATS might not be suitable, the team might have sunk a…; Added by Rakuna at 12:07am on August 5, 2021

Blog Post: Post-COVID Campus Recruiting Trends You Need to Know: Out of 929 businesses responding to Northstar Meetings Group’s latest PULSE…; Added by Rakuna at 11:51pm on September 20, 2021

Blog Post: What Recruiters Can Learn From Outplacement - A Conversation with Orville Pierson - Former SVP - Program Design Lee Hecht Harrison

The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search - The Proven Program Used by the World's Leading Career Services Company - by Orville Pierson Highly Effective Networking

What Recruiters Can Learn From Outplacement - A Conversation with Orville Pierson - Former SVP - Program Design Lee Hecht…

Added by Mike Rasmussen at 12:23pm on December 19, 2013

Blog Post: Advice For New Recruiters Starting A Career In Recruiting

If you are new to recruiting don't skip over this. If you've…

Added by Clinton Buelter at 11:03am on September 15, 2015

Topic: Meet Robert Gray, Executive Search: Youth & High school Football Coach at www.o-d.com Personal Causes: Breast Cancer fundraising/awareness Office/Cell Number: 978-474-8055 Personal Email: rob@hireimage.net Q&A with Robert Gray Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Rob: I married my college girlfriend (university of New Hampshire at Durham) after a 8 year courtship, not sure why she “hung in” there, but I’m glad she did. We have two beautiful kids, Jackson age 13 and Michaela age 10. We do have a family pet, Henry, a lively 6 year old jack Russell terrier. I would highly suggested doing research before buying one, they require a ton of attention, long walks at night and plenty of love…wait, that’s me…Henry is low maintenance, really. He runs the house with an iron paw. People who want to capitalize on Relationship Capital as a popular measure of networking success are the people I want to connect with. Consequently, web 2.0/networking is a passion. I run my Prep School (Bridgton Academy) Alumni networking group and love social networking for business and new connections. I am very active in my community as a youth sports leader and mentor. My real passion is coaching Life, I mean Football. Well, you get it. It’s one in the same. Having played Division 1 college football and now being able to pass along my “hard earned knowledge” to young men is a self-fulfilling prophecy “you get what you give”. My young players are all going to be great teammates, students, citizens, husbands, fathers and above all leaders. I am honored every single day I get to be around such motivated and inspiring young athletes. Having some part in their personal development makes it all so rewarding. 100 % of the kids we coach will play sports for a living! That’s right, 100%.... can someone challenge me that life, in and of itself is not a sport? That in America we reward the focused, driven and committed individuals. What adult that makes a living in this country, doesn’t have to compete in some way or another for either their livelihood, or to keep their job? What youth football coach in America (that’s worth his salt- thanks Vince), isn’t preparing your young men for their future & building a solid foundation for success in any endeavor that life has to offer. Football is a metaphor for life. Anyone that has played this game to the high school level knows this to be true. The top sales rep at the office, the focused & committed surgeon that operates on you, the person that tunes your car engine up and checks your brakes, the person that builds your home, they are all striving to earn your business. This is America, we welcome competition for EVERYTHING! It’s the fabric of our society. What makes you successful is your desire, commitment and dedication to be the best at what you do. Hmmmm, where have I heard that before? Harvard business school’s first rule of business is: If you don’t have a competitive edge, don’t compete! Maybe that’s just something we should wait to tell our kids when they are in….say…. college. Yeah, sounds about right. They’ll be much more mature at that point and better prepared to handle it. Hello! “Yes, Mrs. Jones, we are running sprints at the end of practice and painful as they might be for you to watch, your son will make it”. Football more than any other sport relates to how “working hard tends to make good things happen” and how being part of a team leads to a deep sense of pride and self-respect. Football coaches have a responsibility to help create a foundation in their players that teaches: Hard work will be rewarded! Preparation is key to success and Team comes first.....we were taught these things by our coaches at the exact same age as our players are now. We have an obligation to give back what we got. No? I have no complaints at all, I am coaching my son and his friends and we get so much out of the total experience that I am glowing with pride both as a father and a coach! I am helping in some small way; positively shape the lives of these kids. And, what I get back from this experience makes the 25 plus hours per week I volunteer pale by comparison. My advice to business leaders and former athletes is to “get involved” you can’t put a price on what you get back. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Rob: 2009 marks my 12th year in the Executive search industry. Hire Image is the third company I have built and branded. My firm has satisfied clients all over the world and has built outstanding best of breed sales forces for some of the best Hi-tech firms in the world. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Rob: I spent my first 9 years out of college with E & J Gallo Winery. The best sales training program in the US. Consumer goods is a great place to start your career, box seats to all the games, dinner out three nights a week, but that gets real old at 30. I got out to chase the money in hi-tech, period. Living in Boston in the late 90’s and not being in Hi-tech recruiting was a sin. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Great question. I started my Career at a F500 agency, sat next to several million dollar a year billers and was floored by the money they made. I knew I was in the right Industry, same deer different forest thing, just a learning curve to get past. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Rob: Absolutely, one of my oldest friends and former business partner mentored me for my first few years in the industry. “Stay on the phone, good things will happen” is what he told me a dozen times a day. Its so true, you want to reward yourself then pick up the phone and make another call. No victory laps here kid. Six Degrees: Tell us about "Hire Image" Rob: I have run my own firm since 2000. My world is “kill what you eat” period. I have never not run both sides of a desk. I have a partner in Amsterdam that runs EMEA and I run North America. I can and have managed up to 20 clients at once, but that’s about the maximum. I run a strict recruiting life cycle process and never manage the pipeline, just steer it. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Rob: I’ve always admired the retained search groups for the attention to detail and candidate control they have. After the white-hot dot com era, I developed the Hire Image software sales candidate evaluation best practice. Here is the quick version: Enterprise Sales Ability Strong Revenue achievement selling Enterprise applications... We look at the last 5 year W-2 history. Acceptable low end average is $200,000, (We prefer to see $250,000 average) with an average quota of ~$2,000,000. We also would like to see that the candidate has closed 6 or more deals over ~$500,000 and 2 or more deal over $1,000,000 in the last 5 years. If the above criterion is met, then the hard assumptions we must make are: A) This candidate can get in the door (fortune 500- CXO level) for first meeting and set the tone. Additionally, this candidate is a businessperson that can relate to the needs of CXO’s from a strategic view. They understand the business drivers as well as integration issues. Measurable components: W-2 Stream over last 5 years; Large deal history over last 5 years; Ability to articulate solutions sales skills; Demonstrate a consultative sales style; and Demonstrated stability – has stayed with previous employers long enough to generate customer loyalty B) This candidate has proven experience selling enterprise applications where they have taken a business solution and built strategic thrust with value. Then, have the ability to navigate the strategic initiative through a complex sales cycle to closure. Bottom line: This Candidate knows how to explore and develop business issues and objectives, create a mutually shared vision of the solution, match those visions with the capabilities and technology, and keep control of the buy cycle. (Solution Selling 101) Typical enterprise solution sales cycle includes: Identify CXO (sales, marketing and CIO) critical business issues (pain) and who in the organization is impacted. Provide capabilities that map to the CXO resolving these issues. Document sales process and plan the sales cycle for the CXO to agree upon. This lets us know if the CXO is serious about continuing this business relationship and it identifies the next steps in closing the sale. Provide a compelling accurate business case (value proposition, cost justification and confirmed agreed return on investment Vertical Expertise Measurable components: Number of deals sold into desired vertical Previously worked directly in the vertical (hands-on at potential customer target account) This candidate has sold multiple $500,000+ licensed software deals into Major clients within your targeted verticals. (Major defined as +$3B total revenue) Or, the candidate has worked for 5+ years in a hands-on capacity within the target industry. If the above criterion is met, then the hard assumptions we must make are: A) This candidate understands the buying criteria, business drivers, and influencers within this particular Industry. This candidate also comes to the table with a Rolodex of CXO’s that should facilitate first meetings based upon candidate’s business relationships (reputation). B) This candidate has sat on the other side of the table and understands the business issues that the buyer is facing – can relate to those issues from personal experience. Domain Expertise Measurable components: Experience selling for direct competitor or competitive product Experience selling complimentary or other desired application/technology Advanced technical aptitude (previous experience as an S/E or similar experience) This candidate has sold multiple $500,000+ license software deals in your specific domain. If the above criterion is met, then the hard assumptions we must make are: A) This candidate has the ability to sell a business solution (vision). This candidate can quantify a value proposition and translate that into real time return on investment. This candidate has very strong upfront communication of Economic Impact. Pluses: Start up experience- We like candidates that can “evangelize”, that have “missionary mode experience” and have scaled out net new business with few pre-existing customers. Six Degrees: How do you get to the C-level and what do you do once you get there? Rob: Most candidates are good at getting to "ground swell" - functional people. These people will give you the answer to "where is the pain" and plenty of soft assumptions... but they are not the C-level decision makers. (B) Six Degrees: In what aspects are they superior? Rob: This best of breed evaluation practice offers all interviewers a guideline to evaluate candidates against. It serves to keep your hiring manages focused on what’s important. Once you can get a client to agree on evaluation criteria, you have a much better shot at getting your candidates through the “gauntlet” Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Rob: Web 2.0 is has changed the game to a large degree, however our services as executive search recruiters will never be replaced. Sourcing elite candidates and selling them on your client’s value as an employer will always require the skilled hand of a seasoned recruiter. “A players” always have employment choices, selling them on making a move requires a consultative relationship that is built over years. Additionally, I see more RPO (recruiting process outsourcing) firms in the market. Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry: Rob: I am a regular at Mass Hi-tech, ERE and Boston area networking functions. I attend Fordyce annually and participate with LION, Jobmachine.net, Recruitingblogs.com, SourceCon, Cybersleuths, Networked Recruiter and of course the number one recruiting blog “six degree’s from dave” Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche? Rob: Enterprise software sales recruiting is slow, period. In the late fall 2008, I thought this was another “Top Grading” market. However, the pain runs deeper and longer. The good news is that top candidates are still being placed and recruiters are still being paid. My suggestion is to find your niche and work it. Sales engineers that have strong technical backgrounds are always in demand. Top enterprise sales athletes are still coveted, no one is open for business without an elite sales force. Find those industries that have organic growth. Greentech, Solar (PV), and Carbon emission management systems are right on the horizon. This world still runs on software, that’s not changing, stick to the basics. Software and platform as a service in Healthcare IT is a good place to start. Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities. Rob: I currently sit on Advisory boards for some of the fastest growing technology companies in Cambridge/Metro Boston, Ma area. The 128-technology belt is my “backyard” and home to hundreds of Software/Venture Capital firms and Business Incubators. I am truly blessed to be recruiting/living in such a fertile technology rich area. In fact, many of my neighbors are Software executives. My advice is to “get smart” on Healthcare IT, specifically voice recognition software. Target the competitive landscape and subscribe to a sales intelligence service. I use Zoominfo ( HYPERLINK "http://www.zoominfo.com" www.zoominfo.com) I think it’s the best product on the market Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do? Be specific Rob: Networking is a function of making connects, period. The more connects you make on a daily basis the better your OBP (on base percentage). However, don’t be fooled in thinking you don’t need to pick up the phone. Nothing will replace talking to your clients/candidates. Don’t try to be the expert on all verticals and domains. Pick several that you have an affinity for and become a subject matter expert. Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Rob: My next career goal is to transition my business into a pure retained search model. This is easier said than done, work in progress. Stay tuned world.…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 2:37am on May 18, 2009

Blog Post: FROZEN Out of Talent? Let It Go!: The following is the transcript from a webcast I led on 8/26/14 for SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management). This should not be copied, distributed, or used without my permission. Thank…; Added by Doug Douglas at 10:44am on August 28, 2014

Blog Post: RPO Without Raising Your Debt Ceiling

RPO Without Raising Your Debt Ceiling

Presented By: Doug Douglas - National Engagement Manager at Stark…

Added by Doug Douglas at 4:54pm on May 9, 2012

Topic: Splits for Enterprise Software Sales positions: opdog-inc.com and we can set up a split fee agreement. Each candidate must meet the following basic core requirements: Must be currently employed or recently out of work Must have a good job stability track record - at least 2-3 years at each company Must have a solid track record of meeting/ exceeding annual sales quotas of at least $1M annually for at least the last 3+ years Must currently reside in the state that the position is in AND be selling in that territory now. Must have at least 5+ years of enterprise software sales experience Compensation structure on each is up to 120K base DOE/ OTE up to 250K with uncapped earnings ) AZ – selling ERP / CRM solutions 2) CA – selling DW / Analytics software into Finance 3) CA – selling ERP/ CRM solutions 4) DC – selling erp/crm solutions 5) DC – RDBMS sales 6) DC – Cisco Network Engineer (to 90K+ bonus) 7) FL – selling erp / crm solutions 8) FL – selling DW sw 9) GA – selling DW sw 10) GA – selling e-commerce enterprise sw to the financial sector 11) GA – Selling CRM/ ERP solutions 12) IN – selling DW sw 13) IL - data integration software sales 14) IL – Natl SE Director (will relo) Cisco/Networking bkgrnd to 170K + bonus 15) LA – DW sales 16) MA – DW Sales 17) MA – Cisco Architect (to 140K+ bonus) 18) MI – selling enterprise software solutions to Manufacturing industry 19) MI – selling CRM/ERP solutions 20) MI – DW sales 21) MN – selling security solutions (relo avail) 22) MN– data integration software sales 23) MS – DW sales 24) NC– selling e-commerce or supply chain solutions (online purchase supply chain) 25) NC – selling collaboration SW 26) NJ – selling to Manufacturing industry 27) NY/NJ – selling to financial sector 28) NY/NJ – selling to commercial 29) NY – Cisco Architect 30) OH – DW sales 31) SC - selling collaboration SW 32) SC -selling e-commerce or supply chain solutions (online purchase supply chain 33) TN -selling e-commerce or supply chain solutions (online purchase supply chain 34) TN – selling ERP / CRM solutions 35) TN - selling collaboration SW 36) TX – Patient management (healthcare) sw sales 37) TX – dallas – pre-sales SE VM ware, Linux,virtualization to 110K + b 170K+ 38) VA -selling e-commerce or supply chain solutions (online purchase supply chain 39) VA - selling collaboration SW 40) ANY US CITY -TECHNICAL SAP people (need a ton of them all US citizens with 2+ full life cycle SAP implementations under their belts. – Any modules) If you can email email me and let me know! We're moving fast to fill all these! Chris …; Added by Chris to Recruiters Looking For Splits at 3:06pm on November 19, 2010

Topic: Meet Beth Havens, A Corporate Recruiter with a Physics Degree & Love Ancient Architecture: ue. Personal Causes: Saving Edith Wharton’s Home in the Hamptons, it’s a very unique bit of history Office/Cell Number: 805-212-0612 Personal Email: msbhavens1@yahoo.com *** Beth is Available for New Opportunities Beth Havens has been a Full Cycle Contract Technical Recruiter with more than 12 years exempt recruitment experience in high-volume, high profile technical and scientific fields. Beth takes pride in her expertise in areas such as risk reduction, ability to work independently or in teams, vendor negotiation, collecting and defining business requirements, executing strategic searches, workforce planning, strong flexibility to adjust to demanding environments with attention to details and deadlines. Q&A with Beth Havens Six Degrees: Tell us about your home world Beth Beth I am an empty nester with a busy year ahead of me! My youngest Daughter Graduates from the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, on the 9th of May. (Yes that is the week after the Kentucky Derby, for you horse racing fans out there) My Oldest Daughter is getting Married in August, and finishes her Masters at USC in December (her BA is from UCLA, she has a fine sense of humor) otherwise it is just me and the critters at home these days! Have Dog will travel! Hobbies! Oh my! Aside from the obvious hobbies of gardening and hiking, I am known to write poetry, I have a book on lulu dot com that I put together for the friends and family who complained, “Toads Pond”. I’m known to hang out with the Society for Creative Anachronism on occasion. I enjoy medieval engineering, heraldry, textile hobbies and other interesting tidbits to be found within that group. I love ancient architecture. I’m far more likely to be found in the museum or the garden than on the beach. I’m terribly unsocial in my private life for a recruiter. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Beth I started recruiting in 1995. My BS is in Physics and Computer Science and finding a job in that market was a bit tough, when I stumbled across a recruiter who thought I’d make a good recruiter. I think a good many recruiters stumbled into the industry via odd roads. I had the pleasure of working for an IT staffing company called XXCAL for a good many years before I went into contract recruiting. Since then I have been doing contract and freelance recruiting. Generally I get called for one of two things, either hard to find Scientific, Engineering, IT or Technical people, OR oddly enough, hard to work with hiring managers. I have worked with both very large companies like Citibank, and Sony electronics, and small companies(less than 100 employees), like Xencor. I find either can be great opportunities as long as there are interesting requirements to work on. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Beth Full Cycle Contract Technical Recruiter with more than 12 years exempt recruitment experience in high-volume, high profile technical and scientific fields. I am dedicated and work to give a high level of professionalism. My abilities include strong written and verbal communication, risk reduction, ability to work independently or in teams, vendor negotiation, collecting and defining business requirements, executing strategic searches, workforce planning, strong flexibility to adjust to demanding environments with attention to details and deadlines. Most recently, Beth serviced at Sony Electronics, Inc. through Integrity Placements, performing full cycle recruiting, mainly for ISSA, Legal, Marketing and Controller groups. Recruiting mainly SAP manufacturing and finance project lead and management for ISSA. Participating in research and development for a strong print ad campaign, as well as searching for and developing stronger presence in recruiting online in niche arena’s for specific job functions, mainly seeking Project experience for large ERP projects. Helped to re-create the in house staffing function at Sony. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Beth Transitioning from Agency Staffing to Contract Recruiting - it allowed me to really do the parts of recruiting I like best! Working directly with hiring managers to fill needs, and working on finding the candidates to fill those needs, while not having to do the part I dislike which is hunting for prospective opportunities. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Beth I have to say the person I learned the most about recruiting and business in general from, was Marv Hoffman. Marv not only provided a great deal of recruiting training, but encouraged his recruiting teams to participate in groups that they could learn more from. For instance while working with XXCAL I belonged to several users groups that were great souring pools. (NT users group and a VB Testing group for example) We attended recruiting conferences and Marv had his own training sessions as well. It would have been hard to spend any length of time in that group and NOT learn a great deal. Six Degrees: Tell us about your position, (responsibilities, size of your staffing organization) : Beth Currently I am doing freelance work, taking on requirements from staffing firms who need a bit of help, and doing splits while seeking that next contracting opportunity! Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Beth I am hoping the Trend in new Energy Development and Deployment will have a great boost in my future opportunities, as I’ve been keenly interested in alternate energy sources since I was a teen. Be it thermal heating systems, Wind turbines, solar (recently read a great white paper from MIT on some solar energy changes that would radically alter the amount of energy you are ABLE to use from solar cells) or even passive energy creation or conservation. (for instance if you don’t lose as much heat from a home, you don’t need to create as much, etc.) But then I’m always interested in engineering and architecture, so this shouldn’t’ be too big a shock for those who’ve been reading along. I am a geek by nature, and no! That is not a negative statement! Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry: (Do you attend conferences? Which ones? List/detail speaking events, awards, publications, where you have you represented your company) Beth I have attended conferences in the past, SHRM, ERE and many conferences that were directly related to my recruiting needs, Like the Optical Electronic Industry conferences, or Computer conferences which were related to industries I was recruiting for. My personal favorite is the OPIE. I have to admit, I have a couple Schott glasses from the Schott glass company. That has to be one of the best give aways ever. Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche? Has it effected your job or that of your fellow team members within the organization - If so, to what extent? (If you have been laid off, tell us about the experience, when it happened) Beth My last contract ended at the end of January in 2008. I was very surprised that I didn’t have several opportunities in the wings when it ended, but still, I didn’t think I’d be working freelance as long as I have. I had remarked to some friends in 2007 that some banking transactions I’d had reason to observe worried me as to the state of several banks stability. I really hate to be right some days. It seems to me that the media began paying attention to the recession in Late 2008, but that the recession itself began early 2007. I began seeing a great deal more recruiters looking for work peaking in the winter months of 2008 and finally starting to subside in about March of this year. Of course in times like this, Good Sales Staff are worth their weight in gold, but they aren’t automatically created from thin air, so both staffing agencies and corporate business have found themselves going through sales staff and training at a rather intense rate (good training is far too under rated and under utilized in my opinion) while other business find themselves holding their collective breath, so to speak waiting to see what is happening on the world stage, or even failing in the interim. We will recover, economies do, sometimes more slowly than others, but we will recover. Now, where we will all be at the other end of that recovery, that is the question! I admit to having some Thoughts about the viability of changing direction, but to what purpose? Important questions these! I think one of the best indications that the bleeding of the economy is slowing down is that there are more advertisements for recruiters and a big slowdown in the number of NEWLY unemployed recruiters. If there are Jobs, there will be a need for recruiters, so it is, I think, the number one job listing to look for in a recovering economy. Interestingly there seem to be a great deal more ads for the east coast than west coast coming up on my searches. That too may be an indication of what we need to watch in the coming year. Are other economies recovering faster than the California economy? And which industries are recovering fastest. Which seem to be failing completely? I enjoy searching through this information on a regular basis lately. Also I would expect some staffing agencies to do really well when the economy begins to heal because when applicants are abundant, what manager wants to wade through hundreds of resumes to find a few gems? So the pick up in Agency hiring is to me another indication that the recession is beginning to ease just a bit. I am looking forward to a happier year! Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities. Are there specific groups, both online and in-person that have proved fruitful in extending your personal brand and job seeking prospects? Beth You know that is a great question! I have joined a few interesting groups in an effort to get more visibility. I joined the “Ruthie List” and “Carecruit” (California recruiting) groups. I also started receiving other industry communications that I thought might be useful for finding companies that might need my services. I found a few browsers that have been uniquely helpful. Indeed.com is a site that lets you see jobs on several boards and even private company sites at once. Which also just brings to light several possible companies that might be useful. Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do? Be specific Beth I should advise against sharing too much personal information, there really is (and I believe, should be!) a difference between your personal and public life. Other than that, be interested in others as much as you are interested in promoting your own needs, because if you don’t listen to others, you will miss opportunities for yourself! (or maybe even an opportunity for a friend) Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Beth There are a couple things I’d like to do. One objective is to work with a small company helping build a solid team from the ground up. Possibly working that effort into an operations Lead position later on. Another thing that I’d be interested in doing is leading a recruiting team for a large company. Either objective is highly dependent upon opportunity. I have my eyes open for just such an occurrence! “HOW DOES BETH IT?” Six Degrees: How many applicants at your present employer do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals? Beth When corporate recruiting, it has been my experience that the overwhelming vast majority of the hiring was the result of sourcing efforts on my part, which included, corporate advertising, searching internal and external databases and networking. I found that a good candidate was just as likely to be found by anyone of these methods as the other, which is why I employ all these methods. . Six Degrees: What is the source of your "LOWEST COST OF HIRES" - (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality) at your present employer? Beth Without doubt the lowest cost per hire I have found has been with previously known candidates, or internal transfers. An internal transfer does not always mean another opening. One of the things smart companies do, is to review the personnel they have to let go from One team, for the likelihood they can fill openings in another group. The cost savings can be tremendous there. Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review? Beth I generally focus on hard to find IT, Engineering or Scientific candidates, though I’ve been asked to fill legal openings as well. While at Sony my main focus was in hiring High level SAP management and design level candidates and Law candidates. While at Amgen it was chemists and other high level R&D scientists, at Citibank embedded Unix developers, and Oracle programmers. If it is a complex opportunity, I may be the recruiter you need. 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? Beth I have probably used just about every ATS system out there, at one time or another, having an ATS is invaluable, which one you have is certainly up to you or your company, my favorite is Bond. The one I’ve used most is Taleo. Secondly I think one should have access to posting on Some job boards, one doesn’t necessarily need every board out there, but one universal board, and a few niche boards that fit your company needs really do make networking easier. Not to mention advertise your company and give you more opportunities to network. And contact with niche groups that support whatever activity you most need in your hiring, be it MBA groups or some users group that services a particular type of prospective candidate, these can be invaluable. My brain, is also known to be a fairly useful tool, though I don’t claim to share all its contents. Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career? Beth I came into recruiting when databases and search engines were already in use. And being a geek I really don’t think I would have gotten into it otherwise. If I file it, it isn’t likely to be seen again for years. I file things that Might be useful sometime, not things I use on a regular basis. That is why databases are so useful, its filing for things you plan on using regularly. I also think I drove my first bosses crazy because I hired more candidates on email than I ever called, and that drove the metrics crazy. But then a lot of the candidates I deal with don’t like(and occasionally don’t answer) the phone. 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? Beth I didn’t have any idea of what to expect when I first started recruiting, since it wasn’t anything I ever imagined I’d be doing! So no expectations to live up to or crush. I think the biggest assumption people have about recruiting is that it in any way is an HR function. Recruiting is a management function, and is diabolically opposed to HR. the sole function of HR is to protect a companies assets. This means if you have someone in HR doing your recruiting, they often will not show resumes to hiring managers that they think are a pain to HR. a recruiter puts the position and the hiring managers needs before HR preferences. Recruiting assumes the responsibilities of a hiring manager to detail, advertise and find suitable candidates for an opening. Some of the odd HR jobs recruiters take on in order to fulfill that duty, are for our own convenience, to get the job done. They aren’t a recruiting function per se’. The most foolish thing any business can do in my opinion, is to put recruiting under the auspices of HR. If they aren’t under their own separate heading altogether, then they should be under operations. Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t…and how that was a learning experience? Beth I will have to hold a contest to see. Though possibly the one I thought the silliest was parking in boss’ favorite (though unmarked) parking place when I went for an interview. Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry, and/or at your place of work? If you started that process, outline the problem, your solutions, and the vision. Beth I think that the best way to make any industry better is to do your best at what you do. Lead by example and change will occur naturally. Well it’s a theory anyway. Six Degrees: “Best practice” you are most proud of developing (now or in the past) in your recruiting career? Beth The best recruiting practice is to stick to process. Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general? Beth I think the biggest obstacle to recruiting, are hiring managers whose personal hiring goals clash with their companies hiring goals. They most often take up the most time. This time waster is followed closely by un-necessary meetings. 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? Beth I’m happiest when working on an interesting opportunity. Finding that one odd placement no one else can find. Six Degrees: What one thing do you ideally hope to accomplish in 2009? (OR) Six Degrees: What one thing do you find most ideal given the opportunity to develop/ implementing/ invent professionally that has yet to be done. Beth Actually I’d like to see an MRP (manufacturing resource planner) that is similar to a job board for investors and communities to use to help manufacturing stay strong. The idea being that resources, inventors and investors really need a place to network to make opportunity happen. The thought comes out of my recruiting experience. Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug? Beth Only the hole in the economic dyke…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 2:54am on May 18, 2009