Paul Slezak's Posts - RecruitingBlogs2024-03-28T19:39:53ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezakhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1526991076?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://recruitingblogs.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=14dq58dtzepoz&xn_auth=noHow Would You Feel If You Were On The Receiving End Of Your Automated Email Responses To Candidates?tag:recruitingblogs.com,2015-08-18:502551:BlogPost:19122192015-08-18T04:37:48.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
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<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://bit.ly/1MuFIqT" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>A few weeks ago I attended a Talent Acquisition and Selection conference in San Francisco.</p>
<p>Having been playing in ‘the recruitment game’ for…</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://bit.ly/1MuFIqT" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>A few weeks ago I attended a Talent Acquisition and Selection conference in San Francisco.</p>
<p>Having been playing in ‘the recruitment game’ for 20 years now, I was absolutely shocked when the research was presented about just how poorly nearly 100,000 candidates had described their own recent recruitment experiences.</p>
<p>I’ve written previously about <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/why-a-poor-candidate-experience-can-be-bad-for-business/" target="_blank">why a poor candidate experience can be bad for business</a>. So it shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise to anyone reading <em>this</em> post that the candidate experience is an integral part of the hiring process that can impact just how effectively your organisation can attract and recruit quality talent.</p>
<p>When did you last walk a mile in your candidates’ shoes?</p>
<p>How would you feel if you were on the receiving end of some of your company’s automated email responses?</p>
<p>Worse still, how you would feel if you just never heard anything after submitting your application to a company you had your heart set on working for?</p>
<p>More and more candidates are starting to feel disrespected and even resentful during their recruitment process.</p>
<p>My plan is to share many of the findings that were presented at the conference in future posts. However I’ll be using this post to set the scene and to reinforce that whether you’re a business owner, hiring manager, or internal recruiter, it’s up to you to ensure that you treat your future potential employees with the respect they so rightly deserve.</p>
<h2><span>1. The application process</span></h2>
<p>Have you gone through your own application process first hand recently? I don’t just mean <em>thinking about</em> how the process works, but actually <em>really</em> going through it.</p>
<p>Go on – create a dummy résume and submit it through your careers page portal and see what happens.</p>
<p>Is the résume submission process even intuitive? Can you apply via a mobile device? Are you asked to spend 30 – 45 minutes responding to a series of pointless questions?</p>
<p>What’s going through your head while you do this? Perhaps your thinking “<em>this is 30 minutes of my life I’ll never get back</em>“!</p>
<p>What about when you receive that automated response from <span>no-reply@[your company].com</span> that may as well say “<em>Thanks for taking 30 minutes to submit your application. Actually you might never hear from us again!</em>”</p>
<p>Now think for a moment about how many candidates are actually self-ejecting from the process at this point during their application. What if the best talent aren’t even completing their application, choosing instead to abandon because it’s simply all too hard?</p>
<h2>2. The selection process</h2>
<p>Once a candidate has ‘made the cut’, believe it or not you actually want to set them up for success.</p>
<p>Remember: They applied because they wanted to work for your organisation. You’ve identified them amongst perhaps hundreds of applicants. So why put them off? Or worse, why scare them away?</p>
<p>This is where common courtesy also comes into play.</p>
<p>If a candidate has taken time out of their day to come and meet with you, then you need to spend a decent amount of time with them, even if you realise they’re not quite right.</p>
<p>For example, say it took them 45 minutes to get to your office, and another 45 minutes to get back to work but you only spend 20 minutes with them. How do you think they will feel? What sort of message does that send? How will this translate into any feedback the candidate decides to share within their personal and social networks?</p>
<p>We’ve written so many posts on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/rock-solid-interview-template-for-employers/">how to conduct an interview professionally</a>. But one of the most common tips is simply to make the candidate feel relaxed, valued, and aware of exactly what the interview process will entail.</p>
<p>How they are treated on the day will leave a lasting impression whether or not they ultimately get the job. Even the best candidates will self-eject and look for another opportunity elsewhere if they are not treated professionally and with respect during the selection process.</p>
<h2><span>3. The rejection process</span></h2>
<p>The most common complaint from candidates is that they never hear anything after their interview.</p>
<p>Yet getting back to unsuccessful candidates is a common courtesy that many employers and business owners don’t seem to consider necessary any more.</p>
<p>Sure, it’s easy to call a candidate, tell them how impressed you were with them and offer them a job with your organisation. It’s not so easy to call a candidate and tell them they have been unsuccessful. However it’s something you <em>need</em> to do, if only to maintain your professional reputation in the marketplace.</p>
<p>It’s pretty rude when you think about it. After going to all the trouble of preparing an application and then sweating through the interview process, more often than not taking time away from their current job to do so, the candidate then hears nothing more for weeks on end, until finally they are forced to conclude that they didn’t get the job.</p>
<p>If you have had any form of ‘human contact’ with a candidate, you cannot simply send them an automated rejection email.</p>
<p>A 3-5 minute personal phone call letting them down gently, but also providing them with feedback, is all it takes to help maintain your employer brand.</p>
<h2><span>4. The communication process</span></h2>
<p>When recruiting talent for any organisation, communication has always been (and will always be) key.</p>
<p>You need to make the candidate feel important and wanted.</p>
<p>If your candidate is kept in the dark, or only receives automated / electronic messages with no human contact whatsoever during the process, what do you think they will start to believe happens inside the actual organisation? Are people kept in the dark? Are there no personal communication channels?</p>
<p><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-spend-a-day-back-in-the-90s-every-once-in-a-while/">Way back in the ‘90’s</a>, when we couldn’t create automated email sequences to respond to candidates and we actually had to pick up the phone and speak to every single one of them, we were able to quickly gauge how a candidate was feeling … and respond accordingly.</p>
<p>Also there were no social media platforms for disgruntled candidates to share their frustrations and blacklist your organisation with everyone they knew. Today, in 140 characters and a push of a button, if you’ve created a negative candidate experience, the world will know about it straight away and your employer brand could be tarnished.</p>
<p>Candidates aren’t mind readers. They genuinely want to be given as much information as possible at every stage of the process. And while some candidates may consider ‘no news to be good news’, others may consider ‘no news’ to mean they’ve been rejected. You don’t want them making the wrong assumption.</p>
<p>Trust me … a candidate is never going to accuse you of over communicating.</p>
<p>You might want to consider implementing quality checks and a standard operating protocol around communication and how you and your internal recruitment teams or hiring managers stay in contact with candidates helping to create a more positive candidate experience.</p>40 Questions You Should Think About Before Working With A New Clienttag:recruitingblogs.com,2015-08-03:502551:BlogPost:19104052015-08-03T23:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
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<p>I’ve said it before, and I know I’ll say it many times again. Whether you like it or not,<a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-its-time-to-lose-the-script/" target="_blank">recruiting is sales</a>.</p>
<p>Often it’s hard to describe, but there’s something about the ‘thrill’ of winning a new client. Perhaps you’ve had…</p>
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<p>I’ve said it before, and I know I’ll say it many times again. Whether you like it or not,<a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-its-time-to-lose-the-script/" target="_blank">recruiting is sales</a>.</p>
<p>Often it’s hard to describe, but there’s something about the ‘thrill’ of winning a new client. Perhaps you’ve had your eye on them for a while; maybe you’ve snatched them out of the hands of your competitor; or perhaps <em>they’ve</em> tracked <em>you</em> down as a result of the reputation you’ve been building for yourself.</p>
<p>Regardless of how you won the new client, there’s an incredible sense of satisfaction.</p>
<p>You know you’re good at what you do. Ever since you were a kid, your mother has always told you how good you are at what you do. And sometimes you just want to tell the world just how good you really are at what you do.</p>
<p>However we also know that recruitment is like a roller coaster ride.</p>
<p>For all the ‘highs’ we experience, there are all those situations when you feel like you’re plummeting – spiralling out of control with the vomit rising up from your stomach … with the voices screaming inside your head as you feel the placement slipping away.</p>
<p>But not long after, those same voices are back … <em>Can we go on the ride again? Can we? Please?</em></p>
<p>I hate to break it to you (so I’ll try to do it gently) but often the sense of spiralling out of control is nobody else’s fault other than yours.</p>
<p>Sorry.</p>
<p>Perhaps you tried to bite off something more than you could chew (I promise that’s the last metaphor I’ll use in this blog post!); Maybe the client’s logo meant more to you than actually making the placement or building the relationship; Did your KPIs get the better of you and by taking on that impossible client brief meant that your manager would be off your back?</p>
<p>Over the last 20+ years I’ve been in <em>all</em> those situations … and so many others that I’m too ashamed to admit. Gosh I even went through a ‘hero complex’ phase when even if a client told me that no other recruiters had been able to fill the job, I’d take on the brief only to later find out that I wasn’t a hero after all … just another ‘yes man’ recruiter.</p>
<p>Fortunately there are ways to ensure that the highs far outweigh the lows in the wonderful recruitment game.</p>
<p>Often it simply comes down to being confident enough to ask some pretty direct questions. And if the responses you hear set off the alarm bells, you just need to professionally walk away.</p>
<p>You don’t have to try to be a hero.</p>
<p>Oh … and I’m not just talking about <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-how-to-really-qualify-a-job-brief/" target="_blank">asking specific questions when qualifying an actual job brief</a> – that’s a given. I’m talking about asking questions that will help you determine whether or not you even want to be working with new client or a particular organisation.</p>
<p>The questions I’ve chosen to highlight below are in no particular order. I literally just tried to think of as many of the questions as I could that helped me become the successful recruiter I became (once I got over my ‘hero complex’ phase).</p>
<p>Please don’t think you need to ask all 40 of these questions, but you should certainly ask at least a handful of them.</p>
<p>You’ll thank me later!</p>
<h2><span>1. If you’re not responsible for recruiting for your team or company, who is?</span></h2>
<p>I can’t tell you how many of my recruiters over the years would tell me they were having great sales calls and going out to great client visits with new contacts who it later turned out had no decision making power in the recruitment process at all. I appreciate it’s probably another symptom of the KPI pressure syndrome I alluded to earlier, but if they are not the decision maker, it’s a complete waste of time.</p>
<h2>2. How long has your vacancy been open for?</h2>
<p>Naturally you would only ask this question if there is an actual requisition for you to work on. Would you really want to take on a brief where your client has been trying to fill a role (clearly unsuccessfully) for over 6 months? Or would you rather your client tell you that she just received a resignation earlier in the day and you are the first (and hopefully only) recruiter she wants to speak to?</p>
<h2><span>3. How far into the recruiting process are you?</span></h2>
<p>This is a slightly different question to the one above – so you can decide which one you ask. The response to this particular question could reveal whether your client already has candidates at 2nd interview and just wants to see what else is out there; Or whether they have made offers to several candidates only to have had them all turned down. Alarm bell perhaps?</p>
<h2><span>4. How many people have you already interviewed for the role?</span></h2>
<p>Once again you’re only asking this question if there’s an actual brief to work on. If the role has been open for months and your client hasn’t deemed any candidate suitable for interview, you will need to probe further to find out why. I once had a client tell me he had interviewed over 70 people for a role but “<em>just didn’t like any of them</em>“. I professionally walked away (post ‘hero complex’).</p>
<h2><span>5. What are the consequences of this position not being filled?</span></h2>
<p>What you hear in response to this one reveals a lot. “<em>Oh we can make do with the team we’ve got. Everyone can take on a few more tasks</em>” vs “<em>We’re so stretched that if I asked any one else to work any harder, I’ll be faced with more resignations</em>“. Whilst you never want to feel any added pressure, at least you know where you stand and you can determine whether you’re happy to be micro-managed by your client since there’s a bit of a ‘desperation factor’ to deal with.</p>
<h2><span>6. How large is your team currently?</span></h2>
<p>This question is just part of your typical information gathering to learn as much about your client’s team or organisation as possible.</p>
<h2><span>7. What is your hiring plan over the next 6 – 12 months?</span></h2>
<p>Does your client even have a hiring plan? Are they being (typically) reactive and briefing you on a vacancy in a mild state of panic? Or have they carefully thought out the roles they plan to bring into the business in the months ahead? If you’re going to be a true recruitment partner, you want to be able to work methodically and to a specific plan. It’s a win win for everyone involved.</p>
<h2><span>8. Why do people typically stay with your organisation?</span></h2>
<p>Hopefully you get some decent responses to this question, since they will really help you in your candidate interviews. Often the answers will reveal more about the company culture, vision and values and this type of information is invaluable. I have never once had a client say “<em>because we pay well</em>” in response to this one.</p>
<h2><span>9. What are your pain points when it comes to hiring?</span></h2>
<p>Are they not finding <em>any</em> candidates? Are they not finding <em>the right</em> candidates? Do they not understand how to run a proper recruitment process internally? Perhaps they just don’t have the time to properly assess all the applications. I once had a client tell me that there were <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/who-really-needs-to-get-involved-in-the-recruitment-process/" target="_blank">17 managers involved in the interview process</a> and the leadership team could never reach a consensus. That was their biggest pain point. Hint: If you hear that one, put on your consulting hat before your recruitment hat.</p>
<h2><span>10. Think of your top performers. Where / how did you find them?</span></h2>
<p>If there is a common pattern in terms of a successful sourcing channel, competing company, or type of advertising message that has worked in the past, why reinvent the wheel? You might want to go a step further and ask to speak to some of these top performers to find out what really attracted them to the organisation in the first place.</p>
<h2><span>11. How structured is your hiring process?</span></h2>
<p>“<em>Oh we flick through a few résumes and try to get people in as quickly as we can</em>“. I’ve heard that one <em>many</em> times before. I have also had clients show me a <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/benchmarking-and-candidate-assessment/" target="_blank">detailed workflow for their hiring process</a> and point out where they could see me fitting in. If you’re dealing with a ‘résume flicker’, you may want to walk away, since even if you find them a diamond in the rough, they may not even decide to meet the candidate.</p>
<h2><span>12. What (if any) recruitment metrics do you track?</span></h2>
<p>It’s amazing how many clients are totally thrown by this simple question. Once again you may need to put your consulting hat on to talk through <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/7-recruiting-metrics-you-should-really-care-about/" target="_blank">the importance of recruitment metrics</a> before agreeing to recruit for them. After all you don’t want them to be 100% focused on the number of résumes they receive from you. Coach them to focus on the quality of hire and ideally their offer to acceptance ratio.</p>
<h2><span>13. Who is involved in your recruitment process?</span></h2>
<p>I know I alluded to this in Question 9, but it really is important for you to know exactly who (other than the person you are talking to) is involved. If you sense that it’s going to be a case of ‘too many cooks’ (like with the example of 17 people sticking their noses in) it’s your job to say something. If you don’t, then all your hard work may result in nothing (especially if you are running a contingent business).</p>
<h2><span>14. On average, how long does the process take to hire?</span></h2>
<p>It probably won’t surprise you if I told you that the client with 17 ‘decision makers’ started recruiting for their ‘key role’ in October and I met with them in the following April and they were still no closer to filling the vacancy. Once again for a contingent recruiter there could well be major alarm bells ringing depending on the response to this question.</p>
<h2><span>15. How does recruitment fit into your day-to-day schedule?</span></h2>
<p>Is recruitment really a top priority? If so you’re in luck since your client will take you seriously. They will probably provide timely feedback (which will make your job so much easier) and the process will probably move along pretty smoothly. Assume the role of “consultant in control” if you sense a lengthy or delayed process. After all you don’t want to find yourself back to square one (and with no fee up on the board) because all your top candidates bailed because the process was taking too long.</p>
<h2>16. How would you rate your ability to recruit?</h2>
<p>This will reveal a lot too in terms of how smoothly the process will run. How involved are they going to be? Are they going to trust your judgment and the shortlist you provide? Do they even know how to run an interview? Or are you going to provide them with an A-grade candidate who will call you after their meeting and tell you they’re not interested because your client couldn’t conduct a professional interview. This has happened to me <em>many</em> times before.</p>
<h2><span>17. How would you describe your interview technique?</span></h2>
<p>This one flows nicely on from the question above. It’s your job to ensure your client knows<a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/assessing-candidates-using-the-star-interview-technique/" target="_blank">how to conduct a candidate interview</a>. Of course if you still think you can’t trust them, you could either offer to come into their offices and help them run the interviews, or provide them with a <a href="http://recruitloop.com/resources/managers-interview-guide" target="_blank">guide that will help them run a professional interview</a>.</p>
<h2><span>18. How long do your hires stay on average?</span></h2>
<p>Trust me you don’t want to start working with a client who has haemorrhaging staff. Stop thinking about the fees for a moment, and think about the replacements you’ll need to find or the guarantees that will be invoked. It’s just not worth it. If your client tells you that people stick around for several years, that should give you a bit more confidence. But if you’re asked to fill a role that has had 4 people churn through it in under a year, you should probably run (professionally of course!).</p>
<h2><span>19. Where do you feel your salaries sit based on current market rates?</span></h2>
<p>Sure it’s true people take a job for more than ‘just’ the money. But if the salary is well below market rate, even if you are a star recruiter, you probably won’t be able to convince a candidate to accept a role where they are paid less than they feel they’re worth. Get that consulting hat out again … and if the client can’t pay market rate, there are other prospective clients out there who will.</p>
<h2><span>20. What has your staff turnover been like in the last 12 months?</span></h2>
<p>Unlike Question 18 which probed on staff tenure in general, the response to this question will give you the lay of the land in terms of what is happening inside the business today. If you are comfortable with the response, then go ahead and work with the organisation. If you are not, then you need to find out exactly what has been the cause for an unacceptably high turnover rate.</p>
<h2><span>21. Why are you actually looking to fill this particular role?</span></h2>
<p>Obviously if there is a role to fill, you want to find out why. Have they won a new account which requires new account managers immediately? Have they just received the 4th resignation in a 2-month period? Does your client think that one of the team <em>might</em> resign in the next few weeks and so they’re just wanting to put the feelers out? Please don’t be a typical ‘yes person’ recruiter here. It’s OK to say no.</p>
<h2><span>22. What channels are you currently using to source talent right now?</span></h2>
<p>Listen carefully to what your client says in response to this one. Have they exhausted all avenues with no return? Are you really going to be able to do anything dramatically different and pull a rabbit out of a hat? If your client has already tapped into the same channels that you plan to tap into and hasn’t been able to source a candidate, then get the hard hat ready, since I have no doubt you will end up banging your head against a wall.</p>
<h2><span>23. What is your candidate pipeline looking like right now?</span></h2>
<p>Has your client (or prospective client) built a talent community that they are taping into? Do they already have candidates lined up for interview? Or is the pipeline empty which means you are working off a totally clean slate?</p>
<h2><span>24. Other than salary, what perks or benefits do you offer staff?</span></h2>
<p>I’ve already explained that people take a job for more than ‘just’ the money. But your candidates will want to know what other benefits and perks exist. Is your client happy for team members to be distributed and work remotely? Can staff park on site? Is there childcare provided? What about meals for staff working late? Listen out for more than just a good health or dental plan!</p>
<h2><span>25. Why did your last employee leave your organisation?</span></h2>
<p>You can ask this one along with the question around turnover. Once again this one is pretty specific and you need to listen carefully for the response. If you receive the clichéd “<em>they were looking for a new challenge</em>“, you must probe further. If there was a clash with a line manager, or if the job didn’t turn out to be what was promised, it’s your job to find out why.</p>
<h2><span>26. What would you define as a good relationship with a recruiter?</span></h2>
<p>Listen carefully since the response here could <em>really</em> be the make or break. If they speak badly of every other recruiter they’ve ever worked with, can you be 100% sure that they won’t add you to the black list? If the traits your client describes are ones you know you possess or you are comfortable in your ability to deliver on their expectations, then you have my blessing.</p>
<h2>27. How does hiring fit in with your overall company growth plans?</h2>
<p>Whilst you may think there’s quite a bit of overlap between this question and others outlined above (e.g. Question 15), you need to ascertain how important recruitment is in the grand scheme of things. If hiring is right up there with sales and marketing in terms of the company’s overall growth goals, this is a good thing. If you get the feeling that hiring is simply looked upon as a necessary evil, you probably want to source another client.</p>
<h2><span>28. What is your current cost per hire?</span></h2>
<p>If your client can’t answer this one, or at least doesn’t know where to find the answer, then you should let them know the importance of <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-6-metrics-to-always-keep-a-close-eye-on/">recruiting metrics</a>. You can explain that the cost per hire is simply the total recruitment costs divided by the number of hires. You might also want your client to think about the efficiency ratio – which is the total recruitment spend over a particular time divided by the total salaries of the new hires during that same time period.</p>
<h2><span>29. What is your current offer to acceptance ratio?</span></h2>
<p><em>Why</em> are candidates choosing not to accept job offers from your client or at least from the organisation? Are there any particular trends? Once again, especially if you are running a contingent business, you don’t want to provide a shortlist of star candidates who your client thinks are awesome, but who all end up turning the offers down and either taking other jobs or asking you to keep looking elsewhere for them.</p>
<h2><span>30. How do you currently measure the quality of your hires?</span></h2>
<p>Is quality measured purely subjectively or is there at least some form of objective evaluation involved? The definition of the quality of their hires should be aligned to the original performance profiles, results descriptions or <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/6-reasons-to-set-success-expectations/">success expectations</a>.</p>
<h2><span>31. What does your employer brand say about your organisation?</span></h2>
<p>It’s always interesting to hear a prospective client’s perception of their own employer brand. Do they believe it’s strong enough to attract the best candidates? You should ask them when they last had a look on Glassdoor to see what their existing employees are saying about the company.</p>
<h2><span>32. How do you measure candidate satisfaction?</span></h2>
<p>Maybe they don’t measure candidate satisfaction at all. I have had plenty of clients over the years tell me that they send a survey out to all recent hires to ask what they thought of the recruitment process. Here’s a tip. You need to suggest they also survey any candidates that experienced any part of the recruitment process – especially the candidates that were not successful. Yes … as the recruiter you will also be assessed here. But that’s a good thing!</p>
<h2><span>33. How do you measure staff engagement?</span></h2>
<p>Too many organisations assume that if they don’t hear any complaints then nothing is wrong. You know that nothing could be further from the truth. Once again putting your consulting hat ahead of your recruiting hat, knowing the results of <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/do-your-staff-know-you-give-a-shit/">staff engagement surveys</a> before you start interviewing will really help you sell the organisation to prospective candidates.</p>
<h2><span>34. If you don’t engage a recruiter, how do you plan on growing the team?</span></h2>
<p>This is another way to ask how serious your prospective client is about recruiting, or whether you’re really being viewed as a second class citizen or as a last resort. You’ll know where you stand pretty quickly on this one but this question is one which often seems to catch people off-guard, giving you a greater sense of how valued you may become in the hiring process.</p>
<h2><span>35. What is the toughest role to fill right now? Why?</span></h2>
<p>Like with some of the other questions outlined above, you will quickly learn a lot about whether it’s hard to find the right talent; whether good talent are being sourced but for whatever reason are turning the offers down; or whether a particular hiring manager has completely unrealistic expectations resulting in the eternally open vacancy. You need to probe. Remember … it’s OK to walk away.</p>
<h2>36. What do you look for in a recruitment partner?</h2>
<p>If you decided not to ask Question 26, then you should definitely ask this one. Is your prospective client literally just after a bum on a seat? Or are they looking to build a relationship with a <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-know-what-your-clients-are-really-thinking/">trusted recruitment partner</a> who won’t just help them recruit one role, but will be their go-to recruiter for all future roles in the business?</p>
<h2><span>37. Who signs off on the recruitment budget?</span></h2>
<p>I know you’ve already asked whether the person sitting across from you is responsible for hiring. But you also need to know who is approving the recruitment budget. There are actually 2 sub-questions you need to ask here: Has your client had approval to bring someone new into the business (ie has a new salary been approved)? And has there also been approval for a recruitment fee? That’s the part you need to hear a clear <em>yes</em> on. If there’s any hesitation, wait for written confirmation that your potential placement fee has been approved.</p>
<h2><span>38. What is your hiring budget?</span></h2>
<p>It’s all well and good to know that there has been budget put aside to engage you as an external recruiter. But what exactly is that budget? You don’t want to go into fee negotiation (reduction) mode after you’ve identified (or even placed) a star candidate. You need to know <em>up front</em> that they have realistic expectations around what they need to spend. Of course you also need your Terms of Business signed before you even think about starting the process.</p>
<h2><span>39. What talent assessment tools do you include in your recruitment process?</span></h2>
<p>Are they going to rely on their gut feel? Are they going to take your word for it and offer whoever you tell them is the best candidate (subject to <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/7-ways-to-really-conduct-a-reference-check/">reference checks</a> of course)? Or do they plan to include some form of personality assessment, <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/psychometric-testing-is-it-really-comparing-apples-with-apples/">psych test or behavioural test</a>before making the final decision? Remember it’s your job to stress that whilst all these tests should be part of the hiring process, they should never allow the tests to become the ultimate decision making tool.</p>
<h2><span>40. What is stopping you from engaging me right now?</span></h2>
<p>I’ll admit that it took me a few years to build up enough confidence to ask this question so early in the relationship building process. But once I started asking it up front, it was amazing what I learned. I can tell you now this question will save you a lot of pain since often the one thing stopping them is that they haven’t got final approval to use a recruiter. Now that’s an alarm bell if I’ve ever heard one.</p>
<p><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>Recruiters Take Note: Don't over promise and then under delivertag:recruitingblogs.com,2015-05-20:502551:BlogPost:18869092015-05-20T02:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557558768?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557558768?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>He promised me an upgrade.</p>
<p>“<em>It looks pretty empty up the front, sir. Just be out at the airport a bit earlier than normal and it should be a sure thing. They’ve overbooked economy…</em></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557558768?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557558768?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>He promised me an upgrade.</p>
<p>“<em>It looks pretty empty up the front, sir. Just be out at the airport a bit earlier than normal and it should be a sure thing. They’ve overbooked economy anyway. You’ve definitely got enough points for it</em>”.</p>
<p>I’m writing this blog post from seat 67J.</p>
<p>The passenger in front of me has his seat so far back that it’s pushing right up against my knees; I’m playing a precarious game of “share the arm rest” with 67K; they ran out of my preferred ‘food’ option by the time they got all the way down here; and I’m in serious need of a Vicks’ inhaler to curb the stench from the perpetually occupied toilet right behind me.</p>
<p>#NoUpgrade.</p>
<p>Why did he even imply it would be easy?</p>
<p>I’ve always been involved in sales and service, and from early on I was taught that there are 2 ways to win over a prospect. You can either say ‘yes’ and then just do whatever it takes to make “it” happen; or you can consult with your customer; build a partnership; and ultimately gain their trust.</p>
<p>One of my first managers stressed that if you always imply that you’ll be able to make “it” happen (I can still picture her making those air quotes next to me), then 9 times out of 10 you’ll probably end up over promising and failing to deliver.</p>
<p>She was right.</p>
<p>There’s no doubt that as recruiters we’ve all had our fair share of <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-know-what-your-clients-are-really-thinking/">customers with incredibly high expectations</a>; we’ve all wanted to go out of our way to win that preferred supplier deal (it’s in our DNA); perhaps we’ve even just said ‘yes’ for the sake of securing that brief.</p>
<p><em>Of course I’ll be able to pull a rabbit out of my hat – even though you’ve been looking for this person for nearly 6 months with no luck!</em></p>
<p><em>120 candidates for your new 24 x7 call center within 6 weeks? I’m your man!</em></p>
<p><em>5 senior developers even though you’re paying just over 50% of the market salary? Sure!</em></p>
<p><em>You’ll have your shortlist within the week even though today’s Christmas Eve … I guarantee it!</em></p>
<p>Are those crickets I can hear right now? Or is it the sound of all those promises being swept under the carpet?</p>
<p>When ‘it’ all goes pear shaped, customers don’t want to hear excuses; they don’t want to be left in the lurch with a sour taste in their mouth; and they definitely don’t want to hear you begging for a second chance.</p>
<p>If you want to <a title="7 Ways to Avoid Being a Trust-Buster" href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/7-ways-to-avoid-being-a-trust-buster/">instil trust in your client</a>, if you want to build a long-term partnership with a customer, or if you simply want to be seen as a credible <a title="Recruiting Is A Professional Service. Value Your Time Like It." href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/hourly-rate-recruiting/">professional</a>, here are a few tips on how to avoid being tarnished as just another recruiter who failed to deliver.</p>
<h3><span>1. Honesty is always the best policy</span></h3>
<p>I remember this situation like it was yesterday even though it happened nearly 20 years ago.</p>
<p>A colleague of mine had sold a display advertising campaign to a new client who had paid just over $4500 for the ad. It was also a very candidate short market at the time.</p>
<p>A few days after the ad ran, it wasn’t a case of Tanner not receiving many applications. He hadn’t received <em>any</em> applications at all. Zip.</p>
<p>But he called his client and told him that he had received some great applications and that he’d call with an update later in the week after he’d done his preliminary <a title="7 Questions You Must Ask In Every Phone Interview" href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/7-essential-questions-to-help-make-the-most-out-of-every-phone-interview/">phone screening</a>. (If this scenario took place today, my guess is that Tanner would have simply sent an email to his client).</p>
<p>I was sitting right next to him and couldn’t believe he’d decided to lie.</p>
<p>The following week Tanner’s client called and asked him to provide the shortlist.</p>
<p>He still had no candidates, but kept the charade going for a few more days until his client finally insisted that Tanner come to his office and talk through the profiles of all the candidates who had applied.</p>
<p>Poor Tanner.</p>
<h3><span>2. Tackle the situation head on </span></h3>
<p>I spent many years recruiting for contact centers (or call centers as they were referred to back then). This meant often facilitating 2 (sometimes even 3) assessment centers every day for certain clients.</p>
<p>Although I’d been inundated with ad response and had managed to book in 40+ candidates, after 3 assessment centers, I still hadn’t found a single one who I felt would meet my (somewhat neurotic) client’s needs.</p>
<p>This was not how things were meant to pan out.</p>
<p>I was like a canary heading down a mineshaft. I could sense an impending disaster if I didn’t do something about it right away.</p>
<p>I didn’t want my client exploding (at me) so I personally invited her to attend and observe the next assessment center. Even if she couldn’t stay for the full 3 hours, I just needed her to experience one for herself.</p>
<p>Jan ended up staying for the entire session.</p>
<p>During the group activities and role plays I pointed out which candidates I personally felt were performing very well, but who would probably still not meet her exceptionally stringent criteria.</p>
<p>She had never observed an assessment center before and during our debrief she admitted that she had probably set too high a benchmark for herself. Of the 16 people who I had assessed that afternoon, Jan actually identified 4 that she was willing to take through to the next stage.</p>
<p>Based on the performance and profiles of those 4, I was able to add 9 other candidates to the shortlist from the assessment centers I had run previously.</p>
<p>24 hours earlier, Jan was clearly expressing her doubt in my ability to deliver what I had promised. But addressing my (and Jan’s) concern early, I was now moving 13 candidates through to the next stage of the process.</p>
<p>Happy Jan!</p>
<h3><span>3. Take full responsibility for your actions</span></h3>
<p>If you decide to work on a client’s brief, then you need to accept that once you’ve been given the green light, you’re literally on your own.</p>
<p>You are supposedly an expert at what you do. You know the market. You know whether what your client is looking for is achievable or not.</p>
<p>Ask as many questions as you need to <em>up front</em>; and make sure you and your client have <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-managing-your-clients-expectations/">set very clear expectations from the outset</a>.</p>
<p>If you happen to run into trouble along the way (no decent applicants; candidates not wanting to meet your client; disappointing psych test results; candidates disappearing or accepting counter offers), there is no point pushing the blame on to someone or something else.</p>
<p>Don’t blame market conditions. Don’t suddenly blame the candidate. Don’t blame the time of year. You should have taken all that into consideration before you took on the brief. And don’t become just another ‘yes person’ who found yourself in hot water.</p>
<h3><span>4. Provide solutions – not excuses</span></h3>
<p>OK I know that might sound clichéd or perhaps even like the perfect wording for one of those 1990’s motivational posters, but when all is said and done, that’s what we’re here to do for our clients.</p>
<p>I remember working with a client a few years ago who had a very tough brief and candidates were few and far between.</p>
<p>He hadn’t had a very positive experience at all. His original recruiter had resigned (and left) mid-way through the process and I’d inherited him as a client.</p>
<p>Of course I went to meet him (apparently my former colleague hadn’t even done that!) and when we looked at what had been done so far (from a talent attraction perspective), I quickly realised there would be no point just suggesting more of the same – especially since they hadn’t secured any decent candidates.</p>
<p>Brendan (the client) was extremely conservative and I’ll admit that my idea was a bit ‘out there’ but I asked him to hear me out.</p>
<p>He was reluctant at first, but I provided sufficient reasons and obviously instilled enough confidence in him. I completely re-wrote his job ad (including changing the actual job title), and convinced him that we would need to run a fairly pricey international display advertising campaign.</p>
<p>It worked.</p>
<p>While we only had 5 applicants, Brendan met all 5 and had such a tough time deciding between the final 2, that he actually ended up creating 2 different roles and hiring both of them.</p>
<h3><span>5. Demonstrate that you’re willing to add value</span></h3>
<p>Suzanne was livid.</p>
<p>“<em>I’ve paid you a retainer and just because you’ve given me your shortlist, I’ve got nothing to show for it. I may as well have flushed $10,000 dollars down the toilet!</em>”</p>
<p>Yes <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-busting-the-myth-around-retainers/">I had charged her a retainer</a>. Yes I had provided her a high quality shortlist. The problem was that all 5 candidates had withdrawn their application after their interview with Suzanne.</p>
<p>I spent time debriefing with each of the candidates specifically around what had happened and why, despite having been extremely keen on the position when they had applied, they had all practically fled their interview with her.</p>
<p>Talk about a sensitive situation.</p>
<p>Apparently she had been a combination of arrogant, rude, patronizing, and condescending to each of my candidates … “<em>a total b-arch</em>” as one of them politely put it! She had come across as high and mighty, and without realizing it had actually managed to convince them why they wouldn’t want to work with her.</p>
<p>I know a few recruiters who at this point would have taken the non-refundable retainer and run, swept her brief under the carpet, and put Suzanne in the too-hard basket.</p>
<p>Instead I took Suzanne out for lunch. Not coffee … <em>lunch</em>.</p>
<p>The waiter hadn’t even come over to take our order before I had put it all out on the table (including the ‘<em>b-arch</em>’ feedback word for word).</p>
<p>She was completely flabbergasted.</p>
<p>At one stage I thought she was going to get up and walk out of the restaurant. But by the time she’d finished her grilled salmon, she was completely open to having me give her one-to-one coaching on how to run a proper interview as well as on how to position herself (personally) as an employer of choice.</p>
<p>By the time I paid the bill, she had even agreed with my suggestion that another one of her managers would run the first round of interviews and that Suzanne would only meet the final 2 candidates.</p>
<p>Over the next 3 years, Suzanne briefed me on 5 more senior roles; they were all retained; she hired 5 awesome candidates … and the <em>piece de resistance</em> was that I even managed to convince the candidate that had referred to her as a ‘<em>b-arch</em>’ to meet with her again a year later and she ended up accepting another one of the roles.</p>
<p></p>Let's put an end to 'cold calling' once and for all!tag:recruitingblogs.com,2015-02-23:502551:BlogPost:18656802015-02-23T02:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548832?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="227" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548832?profile=original" width="341"></img></a></strong></p>
<p>Last week I was driving to a meeting and my phone rang. I didn’t recognise the number but I answered the call anyway.</p>
<p>“<em>Oh hi, Paul. It’s Francis here from</em> [I honestly didn’t catch the company name]. <em>I tried to connect with you on LinkedIn last week but you didn’t accept my invitation. I was hoping we could set up a time to catch up…</em></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548832?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548832?profile=original" width="341" class="align-left" height="227"/></a></strong></p>
<p>Last week I was driving to a meeting and my phone rang. I didn’t recognise the number but I answered the call anyway.</p>
<p>“<em>Oh hi, Paul. It’s Francis here from</em> [I honestly didn’t catch the company name]. <em>I tried to connect with you on LinkedIn last week but you didn’t accept my invitation. I was hoping we could set up a time to catch up next week to talk about how I could help you with your next staff conference. I’ll be around Ultimo on Wednesday afternoon. Would that work for you?</em>”</p>
<p>I’d answered the call simply by pressing a button on my steering wheel with my right thumb. And then just as easily I pressed another button on my steering wheel with my left thumb.</p>
<p>I ended the call … without having even said a word.</p>
<p>Yes. I know that may have been a little harsh.</p>
<p>Believe me I know what it feels like to get hung up on. I remember when phones used to literally get <em>slammed</em> down on me. It happened <em>thousands</em> of times. Nowadays it’s just a button being pressed.</p>
<p>I have thick skin, and when prospective clients used to slam the phone down on me, I would wait a few minutes and then call straight back as if nothing had happened.</p>
<p>Francis never called me back.</p>
<p>I receive ‘sales calls’ all the time, and for the most part I’m actually happy to have a quick chat. Sometimes I even like to provide some quick sales coaching. That usually catches them off guard, but at the end of the call they thank me.</p>
<p>But here’s why I wasn’t even willing to entertain some small talk with Francis:</p>
<ul>
<li>She was speaking at 100 miles an hour – I hadn’t even caught the company name.</li>
<li>She may well have sent me a LinkedIn invitation (along with about 20 – 25 other people that day). And she was right. I probably hadn’t accepted it … because I’d seen no point in adding her to my network.</li>
<li>I’m relocating to the USA next week and I don’t even have time to catch up with close friends before I go.</li>
<li>Our office hasn’t been in Ultimo for over 12 months, so if she did have my details, it was on an old list.</li>
<li>The majority of our team are in the USA, and we have staff across 5 countries. A conference isn’t even a blip on our radar. Sorry why am I even justifying this right now?</li>
</ul>
<p>Later that day I still couldn’t get that call out of my head. It was really bugging me. And then I realised why.</p>
<p>That’s probably how <em>we</em> (and I’m using the ‘collective’ here for recruiters in general) sound to many of the prospects we call every single day.</p>
<p>Let’s put a stop to it.</p>
<h3><span>Never pick up the phone unless you actually have a reason to call</span></h3>
<p>I’m not even going to comment on Francis’ telephone technique. And whilst she may have thought she had a reason for calling me, I don’t believe she did.</p>
<p>I’ve made (more than) my fair share of cold calls over the last 20 years. It’s tough. I know it is. Sometimes the pressure to meet my daily quota seemed so insurmountable that I would feel physically sick.</p>
<p>But I still made sure that I had something to talk about with the person on the other end of the phone. Simply trying to secure a meeting (<em>going for the jugular</em>) was never going to work. Sure I could check a box, log a call, or add to my calling stats, but a client relationship would never eventuate.</p>
<p>Even if you don’t read any further, please do me one favour: If there’s even a slight chance you might sound something like this, then please don’t make the call.</p>
<p>“<em>Hi. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. We’ve never spoken. But I have KPIs to meet so can we please catch up?</em>”</p>
<p>I’m serious. Don’t even pick up the phone.</p>
<h3><span>Do you have a ’10 second sell’?</span></h3>
<p>Francis never even told me about her organisation. Not only hadn’t I caught the company name, but until she mentioned helping me with a conference I could have been speaking to anyone … about anything!</p>
<p>If you’re going to make successful sales calls, you need to nail your ’10 second sell’ – also known as your <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/why-your-elevator-pitch-depends-on-whos-in-the-elevator-with-you/">elevator pitch</a>.</p>
<p>Can you answer all these questions in 10 seconds (without speaking at 100 miles an hour)?</p>
<ul>
<li>Who are you?</li>
<li>What do you / does your organisation actually do?</li>
<li>What makes you unique?</li>
<li>Why would some somebody consider buying from you?</li>
</ul>
<p>If you can’t, then sit down with one of your colleagues and help each other perfect your elevator pitches.</p>
<h3><span>Want to know the secret to ad chasing?</span></h3>
<p>It’s simple. You have to have a candidate who actually meets the criteria stipulated in the ad, and who is immediately available for work.</p>
<p>I can’t tell you how many recruiters will spend countless hours every week chasing ads (once again just to meet their KPIs) without even thinking about whether they have a suitable candidate.</p>
<p>Here’s what that call sounds like to the person who has run the ad:</p>
<p>“<em>Hi. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. We’ve never spoken. I can see you’re looking for a receptionist. If you can’t find one yourself give me a call and maybe I can help</em>”.</p>
<p>How much more powerful do you think the call might be if you can actually talk about one of your candidates (by name!) whose experience matches what’s outlined in the ad, and who could even be available for an interview tomorrow morning?</p>
<p>Now <em>that’s</em> when an ad is worth chasing.</p>
<h3><span>Reverse marketing with bite</span></h3>
<p>We all know how powerful reverse marketing is when it comes to making sales calls. But who are you actually calling?</p>
<p>Do you just set time aside to call through your regular client list and talk about some of the candidates you’ve met recently, hoping that someone might show some interest?</p>
<p>Here’s what that call sounds like to the person on the other end of the phone:</p>
<p>“<em>Hi. It’s me again. Yep it’s my monthly stalking call. I’ve got some more candidates that I really need to place. Want to meet any of them? Please?</em>”</p>
<p><em>True</em> reverse marketing is when you meet a star candidate, and together you come up with a list of their top 10 – 20 employers of choice. You then approach the relevant contact at each of those organisations (regardless of whether they are on your client list or whether you have spoken to them previously) and promote the attributes of your star candidate and suggest they set up a time to meet.</p>
<p>Personally I used to take this a step further. If I met an A-grade candidate, once we’d created the target list, I would keep them in the interview room and go back to my desk and actually make a few calls there and then. That way I could even say “<em>I’ve got an A-grade candidate with me now that I really think you should meet …</em>”.</p>
<p>Trust me … it worked!</p>
<h3><span>Reference checking: The easiest sales call you’ll ever make</span></h3>
<p>When did you last turn a reference check call into a sales call? Perhaps you’ve never even thought about it.</p>
<p>Sure speaking to your candidate’s referees is a critical part of your recruitment process. After all you need to ensure that you can back up their previous work history with some real examples from a former manager. And you need to know that your candidate really did hold the position they claim to have held.</p>
<p>But think about this for a moment: You have shown how professional you are by asking a series of in-depth questions about your candidate; You have a captive audience (you’re about as far from a cold call now as humanly possible); and there’s a chance that the person you are speaking to may not have filled the role that your candidate is leaving behind. Or they may well have a vacancy somewhere else in their team.</p>
<p><em>Never</em> wrap up a reference check call unless you have asked whether there are any recruitment needs you’re able to help them with <em>right now</em>.</p>
<p>I can honestly say that close to 10% of my new business wins over the years would have been a direct result of reference checking.</p>
<h3><span>Befriend the gatekeeper!</span></h3>
<p>Here’s my last tip (for today!). Your ‘sell’ to the gatekeeper is critical – especially if you can’t get through to the decision maker.</p>
<p>Recruiter: “<em>Could you please put me through to Ms Prospect?</em>”</p>
<p>Gatekeeper: “<em>She’s unavailable. Would you like to leave a message?</em>”</p>
<p>Recruiter: “<em>No thanks. I’ll try again later</em>”.</p>
<p>This scenario can happen over and over again. Unfortunately the recruiter then blames the gatekeeper for never being able to get through to the decision maker.</p>
<p>Rather than seeing the gatekeeper as a roadblock, why don’t you actually engage in conversation with them? Gatekeepers hold a lot of power within an organisation and they are intelligent people too you know!</p>
<p>If you introduce yourself and share your elevator pitch with them, and if you simply show some respect for their position, they will eventually put you through. Or they might even just ask their boss (the person you’re trying to reach) to return your call.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t that be nice?!?</p>
<p><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>Stop Press: Internal Recruiters and Hiring Managers CAN get alongtag:recruitingblogs.com,2015-02-19:502551:BlogPost:18654432015-02-19T21:52:40.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548197?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="212" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548197?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="377"></img></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>*** Please note: This post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>Last week I was in Kuala Lumpur running a workshop for a group of predominantly internal recruiters.</p>
<p>Although the workshop was specifically focused on ‘recruitment metrics’, I noticed that…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548197?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557548197?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="377" class="align-left" height="212"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>*** Please note: This post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>Last week I was in Kuala Lumpur running a workshop for a group of predominantly internal recruiters.</p>
<p>Although the workshop was specifically focused on ‘recruitment metrics’, I noticed that even early on during some of the breakout sessions and group activities, questions and discussions were taking place off the topic of ‘metrics’ and more around the general frustrations they were all feeling in their jobs.</p>
<p>I promised the group that as long as they let me cover everything I wanted (and needed!) to cover on the topic of metrics, I would be comfortable and happy to facilitate some group discussions around the challenges that internal recruiters typically face.</p>
<p>I also reassured them that whatever concerns, challenges and frustrations they did share were certainly not due to the fact that they worked for a Malaysian based employer.</p>
<p>After all I have worked with internal recruiters from all corners of the world and I knew that the challenges they felt in Kuala Lumpur were no different to those experienced in San Francisco, Sydney, Hong Kong, or Amsterdam.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, by far the biggest frustration or challenge this group was facing was their relationship with their stakeholders.</p>
<p>Many of the delegates described feeling like they were “the jam” in the sandwich stuck between the HR managers and the line managers with very little room to move. I’d heard the phrase “<em>trapped between a rock and hard place</em>” many times in similar conversations over the years, but I have to admit I really liked the ‘jam’ analogy.</p>
<p>As I started to share my thoughts and ideas on how they could all improve the relationships they had with their ‘clients’ (HR and ‘the line’), they all started nodding attentively and scribbling notes in their workbooks.</p>
<p>“<em>But how can we actually implement your suggestions, Paul?</em>” one of them asked (clearly feeling brave enough to articulate what many of them must have been thinking at the time).</p>
<p>“<em>Talk to the bread</em>”, I said.</p>
<p>They couldn’t stop laughing and for a moment I felt like I was the headline act at a comedy club.</p>
<p>But “<em>talk to the bread</em>” became the catch phrase for the entire 2-day workshop since the only way for internal recruiters to be able to have a strong working relationship with the HR team and their line managers is to have open lines of communication … <em>always</em>.</p>
<h3><span>1. Set expectations up front</span></h3>
<p>When a vacancy comes up in an organisation of any size, it’s not just a matter of sending an email to an internal recruiter saying “<em>please recruit an account manager to work on the XYZ account immediately</em>”, or “<em>we need another receptionist asap. Maggie’s just resigned</em>”.</p>
<p>The recruiter and the line manager should sit down or at least have a phone conversation to discuss exactly what’s required and how the process will work. This would include setting realistic timeframes, not only around when the candidate would need to start, but on when an initial shortlist could be provided as well as when first- and second-round interviews would be taking place.</p>
<h3><span>2. Feedback is a two-way street</span></h3>
<p>HR Managers expect their internal recruiters to operate at the speed of light. Meanwhile some line managers are expecting to see résumés an hour after they’ve sent out the job requisition … <em>seriously</em>.</p>
<p>And yet when the internal recruiter does send through a shortlist of appropriate candidates, often <em>days</em>can pass before the internal recruiter will hear a peep from the hiring manager. The HR manager is then chasing the internal recruiter for a status update. And when the internal recruiter does finally hear back from the line manager it could even be a “<em>none of those were suitable</em>” email situation with no further explanation.</p>
<p>Expectations around feedback need to be established up front. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) should be discussed around (for example) how quickly after a CV or résumé is shared will the line manager provide feedback; and then how quickly after interviewing a shortlisted candidate will the internal recruiter receive feedback, etc.</p>
<h3><span>3. Have a standardised interview process</span></h3>
<p>More often than not internal recruiters will conduct an in depth behavioural based or competency based interview. They will share the candidate with their hiring manager who will then simply ‘sit down for a chat’ with the candidate and decide that for whatever reason “<em>I just didn’t like him</em>”, or “<em>I just don’t think she’s what I’m looking for</em>” – again with no further explanation.</p>
<p>The interview process between the internal recruiter and the hiring manager needs to be streamlined so that at every step along the way the candidate is being assessed against exactly the same criteria.</p>
<p>There’s no point in an internal recruiter benchmarking strictly against a series of competencies or attributes and then the line manager making the final call purely based on gut feel. That’s just a recipe for a recruiting disaster.</p>
<h3><span>4. It’s not an open buffet</span></h3>
<p>Dear hiring managers, internal recruiters do not have access to an endless supply of candidates.</p>
<p>If they send you a shortlist of 3 – 5 candidates that match the criteria you have (hopefully) discussed with them up front, then this literally means that those candidates meet your brief. It’s not simply the first 5 candidates in a never-ending supply waiting eagerly in the back room.</p>
<p>Line managers need to trust that their internal recruiters have filtered and assessed all the applicants before submitting the shortlist.</p>
<p>A shortlist is exactly that: a <em>short</em> list of the most suitable candidates. Not just the appetizer before another list to choose from for main course.</p>
<h3><span>5. Agree on a proactive approach</span></h3>
<p>Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but too often hiring managers fail to have a recruitment strategy in place or a hiring forecast planned out. Then the minute there’s a resignation, or a vacancy comes up, it’s über urgent and the internal recruiter needs to jump to attention.</p>
<p>If possible on a monthly or at least a quarterly basis, the HR team (along with the internal recruiters of course) should sit down with each team manager to plan what recruitment <em>might</em> be coming up in the weeks or months ahead.</p>
<p>Ads can be written and approved in advance; sourcing strategies can be implemented; and a recruitment strategy can actually be planned for a change.</p>
<p>Last minute recruiting demands will very rarely result in a successful outcome.</p>
<h3><span>6. Who is measuring what?</span></h3>
<p>Imagine the following scenario: HR is looking at the cost of hire ratio; hiring managers are scrutinizing recruitment <em>efficiency</em> ratios; meanwhile the internal recruiters are monitoring the ratio between how many candidates they submit to the line managers compared to how many actually get interviewed.</p>
<p>Basically there’s no common approach and all parties are just measuring what they feel is important for them without taking into account how it might impact any of the other metrics.</p>
<p>Metrics must be established up front. At the same time exactly <em>how</em> the results are going to be interpreted needs to determined, so that everyone knows what they are accountable for.</p>
<h3><span>7. Talk to the bread!</span></h3>
<p>Whilst my response to one of the delegates last week may initially have been seen as a cheeky play on words to the ‘jam in the sandwich’ analogy, internal recruiters must feel confident enough to raise their challenges with both their HR manager and their line managers.</p>
<p>But perhaps more importantly HR managers and hiring managers need to make the internal recruiters feel comfortable in approaching them and discussing their approach to each individual recruitment campaign in an open and non-threatening environment.</p>Why It's Important To Manage Your Clients' Expectationstag:recruitingblogs.com,2015-01-28:502551:BlogPost:18600972015-01-28T11:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
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<p>I’m sure we all have a few “life lessons” that we have learned or picked up along the way that, for whatever reason, have made a particularly strong impression.</p>
<p>When I was in 1st grade I distinctly remember Mrs McIntyre telling us that it was rude to point at other people when you spoke to them. Sitting there in front of her on the “mat” we…</p>
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<p>I’m sure we all have a few “life lessons” that we have learned or picked up along the way that, for whatever reason, have made a particularly strong impression.</p>
<p>When I was in 1st grade I distinctly remember Mrs McIntyre telling us that it was rude to point at other people when you spoke to them. Sitting there in front of her on the “mat” we must have all looked a bit puzzled, because she then said, “<em>When you point at someone you still have three fingers pointing right back at you anyway</em>”.</p>
<p>I can picture you all testing Mrs McIntyre’s theory right now …</p>
<p>Then nearly 20 years later, during the first week of my induction into the recruitment industry, Carla the trainer said, “<em>Just remember … when it comes to working with clients and candidates you can never assume</em>”.</p>
<p>Although we weren’t sitting in front of her on a mat, some of us must have still looked a bit puzzled, because she then wrote in big letters on the flip chart paper “<em>because it makes an Ass out of U and Me</em>” and underlined the letters making up the word “assume” in different coloured markers.</p>
<p>Isn’t it strange the lessons we choose to recall …</p>
<p>Even in the last three weeks I’ve already found myself having a few “Carla and her coloured markers” flashbacks while speaking to a handful of clients and recruiters.</p>
<p>She was right. When it comes to dealing with our clients, as recruiters we can never ever assume.</p>
<p>It’s absolutely essential that we manage our clients’ expectations from the get go and at every stage throughout the recruitment process. Otherwise we could end up being burned … <em>badly</em>.</p>
<p>Here are a few tips that will hopefully help you break any “assumptions” that you or your client might (perhaps wrongly) make when you work together on your next brief.</p>
<h3><span>1. Don’t start anything until your terms are signed</span></h3>
<p>Whilst this might seem pretty obvious, there are still plenty of recruiters out there who will dive into a recruitment project head on trusting that their client will be happy to pay the bill.</p>
<p>And we all know how that might turn out, don’t we?</p>
<p>You can’t stay in a hotel without either pre-paying in full, or handing over your credit card when you check in. And you can’t get on a plane and tell the pilot you’ll pay at the other end depending on how bumpy the flight is.</p>
<p>Payment terms need to be negotiated and signed up front.</p>
<p>You don’t want to put in all the effort and then have your client say “<em>we’re a bit tight on funds at the moment, is there any chance you could give us a bit of a discount</em>”, or “<em>you did a great job finding Toby for us, but we just don’t think he’s worth </em>that<em> much</em>”.</p>
<p>Discuss your terms up front. Ensure your client has signed your terms before you even start <em>thinking</em>about the brief. That way you will prevent the awkward and often very frustrating conversations later on.</p>
<h3><span>2. Who’s approving the ad copy?</span></h3>
<p>I have always been a firm believer that even if the client isn’t paying for the ad, it’s just common courtesy to let them see how you’ve chosen to portray their opportunity.</p>
<p>I’m not just talking about discussing whether or not you will include their company name. I’m thinking more along the lines of letting the client see that you have tailored an advertisement around their specific role, and you haven’t just written a generic “cattle call” type of ad, that might attract a few candidates, and that was written more in the hope that you will be able to top up your data base.</p>
<p>I remember once sharing my ad copy with a client who wrote back to me, “<em>Ad copy looks great, Paul. But how about adding something about …</em>” I took her advice on board and it turned out that the candidate who I eventually placed in the role had decided to apply purely because of the line I had included <em>after</em> showing the ad to my client.</p>
<p>Another way to think about it is that if you don’t share the ad copy with your client and for whatever reason you don’t get any (decent) response, it’s a pretty embarrassing call to make. But if you’ve sought their approval, then there’s more emotional buy-in from your client’s side.</p>
<h3><span>3. What’s the expectation when it comes to sourcing?</span></h3>
<p>We all know that different clients will have different expectations when it comes to sourcing. Some clients just expect a nice list of candidate names, a snapshot of their work history or perhaps a link to their LinkedIn profile.</p>
<p>Other clients will expect you to have personally called every candidate on the list, told them about the opportunity and gauged their level of interest.</p>
<p>It’s entirely up to you to assess what level of candidate qualification your client is expecting of you. You don’t want to be accused of under delivering.</p>
<h3><span>4. When I present my shortlist …</span></h3>
<p>After screening through any applications, before I actually conducted any face-to-face interviews I would always ask my client how much detail they were expecting me to provide when I presented my shortlist.</p>
<p>The majority were happy for me to send through the CVs with a brief summary but we would then set up a phone call for a more in-depth conversation and debrief of the interviews.</p>
<p>But of course there were a few clients who expected the full 1-page detailed written report.</p>
<p>Had I submitted full reports to the clients happy with a phone call, they probably wouldn’t have said a word; but had I called the client wanting a detailed overview to talk about the candidates, they may well have felt I was failing to deliver.</p>
<h3><span>5. Ah yes … what about conducting reference checks?</span></h3>
<p>I’m often asked when is the best time to carry out reference checks.</p>
<p>Personally I would always carry out the 1st one before I included the candidate in any shortlist (because I could then include comments from a previous employer in my conversation or report). Of course I would then carry out the 2nd one before making a verbal offer.</p>
<p>Whilst there is no set reference check protocol, how and when your client expects the references to be conducted must be established <em>up front</em>.</p>
<p>You might even find that your client is happy for you to do one, and they may then want to conduct one on their own. Or they may want you to conduct both.</p>
<p>Neither you nor your client is a mind reader on this one. So just ensure you both know where you stand on the topic of reference checks.</p>
<h3><span>6. Who’s actually making the offer?</span></h3>
<p>One of the most common reasons for engaging a recruiter is so that the recruiter can do all the negotiating (the “dirty work”). But this isn’t necessarily always the case.</p>
<p>I remember on several occasions over the years receiving calls from candidates telling me that my client had offered them the role on the spot during their interview. I would subsequently find out that they’d also been offered a completely different salary to the one that had been discussed with me … so I felt like a complete idiot.</p>
<p>If your client prefers to do all the negotiating, so be it. But if they expect you to do it all, then they really need to stick to that decision and not interfere. Otherwise the candidate doesn’t know who to turn to, and as the “middle man” you’re often dragged from pillar to post.</p>
<h3><span>7. Oh and one more thing … how often do you want me to check in?</span></h3>
<p>We all know those clients that want daily updates. Some even want to hear from you twice a day. And then of course there are those clients who only want to hear from you when “<em>you’ve really got something to update me about</em>”.</p>
<p>But what does that really mean?</p>
<p>You don’t want to be accused of over promising and under delivering. But you don’t want to be accused of never reporting in. You also don’t want to be continually bugging or stalking your client either.</p>
<p>Establish from the outset whether your client prefers an email update, a quick voicemail, or if they want to set up a time for a 5-minute update call every day.</p>
<p>I’ve worked with clients at every end of the ‘check in / feedback spectrum’ but I would never have known their preferred method of communication unless I had raised it at the start.</p>
<p><br/><span>*** Please note, this post originally appeared on </span><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a><span> ***</span></p>Why It's Important To Keep In Touch With Your Client After The Placement Is Madetag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-12-01:502551:BlogPost:18467362014-12-01T21:13:26.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
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<p><strong>*** Please note this post first featured on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>Many years ago I was sent along to an external training course. A group of us had supposedly been identified as ‘rising stars’ and the seminar was going to help us reach our career…</p>
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<p><strong>*** Please note this post first featured on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>Many years ago I was sent along to an external training course. A group of us had supposedly been identified as ‘rising stars’ and the seminar was going to help us reach our career goals.</p>
<p>“<em>How to be a Successful Salesperson and Still Deliver First Class Customer Service</em>”.</p>
<p><em>This</em> was going to be my career game changer?</p>
<p>In his introduction, I remember the facilitator saying how incredibly stressful it is to work in sales if you <em>really</em> want to look after your customers. How tough it is to juggle all those accounts; to keep all those balls in the air; to be chasing the next big deal while not letting a smaller customer slip away; oh the pressure of it all …</p>
<p>I know I drifted off thinking about the pressure neurosurgeons would be under; or those people working in the control tower at an airport.</p>
<p>Talk about keeping all <em>those</em> balls in the air! I mean it’s not like they could spend more time caring about the 747s on final approach just because “they’re bigger” while ignoring the cessnas or other smaller propeller planes coming into their air space simply because they don’t have as many passengers on board.</p>
<p>“<em>Do you need me to clarifying anything?</em>”</p>
<p>I suddenly realised the facilitator was talking to me.</p>
<p>“<em>You look confused</em>”.</p>
<p>I didn’t want to tell him that I’d actually been wondering how air traffic controllers took toilet breaks during their shifts without causing some kind of disaster since there were always planes taking off and landing!</p>
<p>But the <em>one</em> message that has stuck with me since that so-called pivotal day in my recruitment career was the concept that “<em>the job of a true salesperson doesn’t stop when the deal is done</em>”.</p>
<p>A few months ago I wrote <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-know-what-your-clients-are-really-thinking/">a blog post</a> about how important it is as a recruiter to know what your clients are really thinking. In that post I highlighted how one of the most common complaints employers have about recruiters is that “<em>Once I pay their invoice, I clearly fall off their radar</em>” (I promise I had no intention of coming back to the control tower analogy here!).</p>
<p>It’s frightening to think how many recruiters will literally wash their hands of a ‘client’ as soon as their fee is up on the board.</p>
<p>I couldn’t even begin to count how much <em>additional</em> business I have won from clients over the years<em>after</em> the offer was made on a role I may have been working on at the time.</p>
<h3><span>1. T-minus 7 days</span></h3>
<p>Sure there are some placements that literally require an immediate start. But for the most part, there is typically a bit of time between the date the offer is made and the date the candidate is due to start in their new role.</p>
<p>In this case I know that every recruiter will call their candidate a week before their start date secretly praying that they won’t have changed their mind and are still planning on turning up at their new job the following week.</p>
<p>But why is all the attention on the candidate at this point? What about the client?</p>
<p>I remember calling a client once just to check that she had everything set up for my candidate who would be starting in her team a week later.</p>
<p>“<em>Absolutely, Paul. Everything’s been organised and the team can’t wait for Tom to start. But I should let you know that I’m actually leaving the business. But I really want to thank you for finding Tom. I’m sure he’ll do really well</em>”.</p>
<p>Tom was so appreciative when I called him to let him know.</p>
<p>Can you imagine if Tom had turned up on his first day only to find that his new boss (and the person who had interviewed him) had left the company? My reputation and credibility as a recruiter would certainly have been damaged.</p>
<h3><span>2. On start date</span></h3>
<p>I am not disputing that every recruiter will definitely call their client on the candidate’s first day.</p>
<p>But the most common thing you will hear recruiters say is “<em>I’m just calling to make sure that Jacinta turned up this morning</em>”! This will usually be followed by some fake or nervous laugh and that awkward moment as they wait for the client to confirm that the candidate did in fact show up as planned.</p>
<p>I personally never called my client just to see if my candidate had turned up at work, since I always thought that would sound like me just making sure my placement fee was safe. The reason for my start date call was always to say something like “<em>I just wanted to say thanks again for giving me the opportunity to work with you and to help find you Jacinta</em>”.</p>
<p>After all, something tells me that if Jacinta hadn’t turned up to work that my client would have probably called to tell me that!</p>
<h3><span>3. In the early days</span></h3>
<p>It’s a pretty standard procedure for recruiters to reach out to their client about a month after the candidate starts usually just to “<em>touch base</em>” (another phrase I’ve never been a fan of!).</p>
<p>Unfortunately most recruiters will simply shoot off a quick email “<em>just making sure everything’s going well with Anthony</em>”.</p>
<p>Here’s my tip: If you <em>really</em> want to know how things are going, then pick up the phone and call your client. Don’t just send an email.</p>
<p>About a month after Anthony had started in his new role, I called my client to get some feedback.</p>
<p>“<em>He’s doing really well Paul. In fact we’re seriously thinking about promoting him. We were only going to do something about it in a month or so, but while I’ve got you on the phone I may as well get you to start looking to help back fill Anthony’s role</em>.”</p>
<p>After Anthony was officially promoted and I had successfully filled his replacement role, I asked my client one day in passing if he would have given me the second role to work on if I had only checked in on Anthony’s progress via email.</p>
<p>“<em>To be honest probably not</em>”.</p>
<p>I rest my case.</p>
<h3><span>4. Approaching the guarantee period</span></h3>
<p>Some recruitment agencies count fees at the time an offer is made. Other agencies count fees based on the candidate’s start date. There are even some agencies that only count the fee after the guarantee period has passed once the money is in the bank and there’s no chance of anything going wrong.</p>
<p>Talk about anticipation!</p>
<p>Once again most recruiters will call their candidates as their guarantee period approaches to make sure that they’re still there! Or, if for whatever reason they’re not happy in the role, to literally beg them to stay until the guarantee period passes (I’m not kidding here!).</p>
<p>I realise I’m going back a few years with this one, but I’ll never forget calling my client Karen to see how Zach was going and to see if she might want me to attend his 3-month probationary performance review (this was something else I would always offer as a bit of a value add).</p>
<p>“<em>He’s going really well and I would have loved you to help in his review, Paul. But there’s been a restructure and I’m being made redundant. Do you think you might be able to help me find something new?</em>”</p>
<p>It’s pretty common for a candidate to become a client. But when a client becomes your candidate, I believe this really proves they respect the way you work.</p>
<p>I ended up placing Karen and this resulted in a $25,000 fee.</p>
<p>“<em>Aren’t you glad you called me to check in on Zach?</em>” Karen asked when <em>she</em> took <em>me</em> out to lunch to thank me for finding her a new role so quickly!</p>
<h3><span>5. 90 days and beyond …</span></h3>
<p>Let me ask you this: Why would a recruiter call a client after the 90-day mark? Surely the fact that the client has paid the bill, the candidate has stayed beyond their probation, and the guarantee period has passed means it’s all done and dusted?</p>
<p>Here’s why.</p>
<p>To be honest Clint was pretty surprised when I called him nearly 6 months after Angela had started. I told him I was still genuinely interested in how Angela was doing, but I was also keen to see what else was happening in the business and if there were any other hiring plans coming up in the next few months.</p>
<p>“<em>You know what, Paul? You’re timing is perfect. Confidentially we’re about to announce an acquisition. When it all goes through I’d love to introduce you to the line managers who’ll be working in the newly acquired part of the business</em>.”</p>
<p>“<em>Oh that would be great! I’d really appreciate the intros.</em>”</p>
<p>The acquisition went ahead. I met the new line managers. And I was briefed on 10 roles (exclusively!) in the following quarter!</p>
<p>You do the maths.</p>How To Stay Focused During The Holiday Seasontag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-11-23:502551:BlogPost:18442342014-11-23T22:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
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<p>There are ads on TV featuring turkeys spinning dreidels; carols are piping through the shopping malls; people are wearing those crazy reindeer antlers in the streets; it’s already snowing in parts of the USA while temperatures continue to soar across Australia …</p>
<p><em>It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas …</em></p>
<p>Last week I even went…</p>
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<p>There are ads on TV featuring turkeys spinning dreidels; carols are piping through the shopping malls; people are wearing those crazy reindeer antlers in the streets; it’s already snowing in parts of the USA while temperatures continue to soar across Australia …</p>
<p><em>It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas …</em></p>
<p>Last week I even went to my first Christmas party for 2014.<em> Seriously … In the middle of November!</em></p>
<p>I’ve already started receiving emails that are signed off “<em>All the best for the festive season</em>”, “<em>See you in the new year</em>”, “<em>Happy Holidays</em>”, and “<em>Merry Christmas”</em>!</p>
<p>Putting aside the fact that I don’t actually celebrate Christmas, I’m sure I have surprised a few clients in the last few weeks by sending an email straight back in response to their jovial holiday sign-off.</p>
<p>“<em>Let’s make sure we catch up before the end of the year. We’ve still got about 6 weeks to go. I’m working until Friday December 19th. When’s good for you</em>?”</p>
<p>And guess what? I’ve already been able to lock in a few coffees, lunches, or general catch-ups!</p>
<p>I can assure you I’m no ‘Scrooge’, but I have always felt that from a recruiter’s perspective anyway, having a flat or ghostly quiet Holiday Season can often become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s a mindset thing.</p>
<p>It’s only “<em>dead out there</em>” (as I’ve already heard a lot of people tell me) if you allow it to be.</p>
<p>Here are a few tips to help you stay focused, keep busy, and believe it or not perhaps even make a placement or two in the last few weeks of the year.</p>
<h3><span>1. <em>‘Twas the night before Christmas</em> …</span></h3>
<p>I can remember many years ago I received a call from candidate on the 23rd of December. The company she had been working for had unfortunately had to close down and along with all her colleagues, she had been made redundant.</p>
<p>Talk about shocking timing …</p>
<p>Abigail had only been working there for about six months so she didn’t really receive much of a payout.</p>
<p>She was jobless. She was a single Mum with two kids. She’d seen my ad in one of those weekly magazines that got handed out at train stations back then and she’d given me a call desperate for help.</p>
<p>I asked her to come in first thing the following morning for an interview. She was a really good candidate.</p>
<p>I had no idea which (if any!) of my clients would be working on Christmas Eve so I just started calling them all.</p>
<p>It turned out that quite a few of them were working; two of them asked me to send (fax!) her CV through; one of them asked her to come in that afternoon and offered her a temp role starting on the 27th and if things went well the position would become permanent.</p>
<p>Who says nobody hires in the Christmas week?</p>
<p>Merry Christmas, Abigail!</p>
<h3><span>2. Get in front of as many clients as you can in the next few weeks</span></h3>
<p>Sure your clients might not have any actual job briefs for you to work on <em>right now</em>. But do you know what their hiring plans are for next year?</p>
<p><em>Call</em> your clients and make a time see them ideally in the next couple of weeks. Be up front and tell them you want to catch up to talk about their growth plans for 2015 because you want to be top of mind and that you’re ready to help out.</p>
<p>Just because your clients might not be busy physically recruiting at the moment, they’ve still got businesses or teams to run. They’re still going to work. And they’ve all got to eat and most will probably need a coffee at least once a day in the next few weeks.</p>
<p>So pick up the phone and book in a time to catch up.</p>
<p>If for whatever reason they are super busy, or they are taking time off, then arrange a meeting with them in early January.</p>
<p>Some people are afraid to suggest a meeting for ‘<em>next yea</em>r’ … like it’s some far away mysterious place! January the 1st is just another date on the calendar. So bite the bullet and don’t be afraid to be their first official appointment for 2015.</p>
<h3><span>3. Reconnect with your candidates</span></h3>
<p>Anyone who has ever worked with me knows that I really dislike the phrase “touching base”.</p>
<p>But this time of the year really is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with all those candidates you haven’t spoken to in a while.</p>
<p>How many really strong candidates have you interviewed this year? How many of those did you actually place?</p>
<p>So what happened to the rest of them? Give them a call and find out how they are, what they’ve been up to, and what their goals are for the year ahead. If you don’t call them, it’s pretty unlikely that they’re going to call you to share their career plans for 2015.</p>
<p>You never know what you’ll find out. Sure some will be very happy in the job (you didn’t get them); some might ask you to keep them posted on any suitable opportunities that arise; gosh a few might even tell you that they’re just hanging around for their end of year bonus after which they want to get the hell out.</p>
<p>There’s a perfect pre-Christmas reverse marketing opportunity for you right there!</p>
<p>You’ve got nothing to lose.</p>
<p>If Santa can make his list (and check it twice!), you can make a list of 50 candidates and call 10 of them each week between now and Christmas.</p>
<p>You might even find out who’s been naughty and who’s been nice! … Sorry I couldn’t resist!</p>
<h3><span>4. Go and visit all your temps</span></h3>
<p>While this might seem pretty damn obvious, believe it or not there are many temp recruiters out there who don’t go and visit all their temps at this time of the year.</p>
<p>And I’m not just talking about dropping off a chocolate Santa, Christmas pudding or some other mass produced gift.</p>
<p>This is also the perfect time to sit down with them and find out what’s going on in the business. Your temps are your spies on the ground on site at your clients. Trust me they’re not going to call you to tell you there are temps working with them from other agencies, what new accounts are being won, or who has recently handed in their resignation. But if you ask that’s an entirely different ball game.</p>
<p>Of course if your client sees you out visiting your temps, it puts you top of mind with them too (again I hope I’m stating the obvious here).</p>
<h3><span>5. It’s time to get a bit personal</span></h3>
<p>Years ago I would go out and visit clients in December and it would be like walking into a Hallmark factory. There would be Christmas cards everywhere … on their desks, pinned on boards, stuck on windows, hung up across the office.</p>
<p>Today it’s all about the e-card … maybe a dancing Santa with your face embedded?</p>
<p>As a recipient of lots of these, I know they’re funny but they just get deleted and many end up in spam anyway.</p>
<p>Your clients have paid <em>thousands</em> of dollars for your candidates and you’ve probably received some very nice bonuses in the last 12 months. So don’t you think a nice, personally hand written card “<em>Wishing you and your family all the best for 2015</em>” might be nice?</p>
<p>So if you really think it’s dead out there, start writing!</p>
<p>If your card is sitting on their desk, who do you think is going to be top of mind as 2015 rolls around?</p>
<p>Working as a recruiter in an agency environment in the lead up to Christmas can actually become quite stressful – especially if your manager is in the office too. The phones typically aren’t ringing off the hook; there aren’t too many fees being put up on the board; so the question often becomes “<em>So what’s Paul actually doing here? Am I paying him to sit on Facebook all day?</em>”</p>
<p>After all there’s only so many times you can walk around the office holding a clip board, <em>looking</em> busy by grabbing stuff off the printer, or being so fast to answer the phone when it rings that people might start thinking you’re in training to appear on <em>Jeopardy!</em></p>
<p>Trust me, it feels good to be genuinely busy while most other recruiters will have taken their foot off the accelerator at this time of the year.</p>
<p>You’ll be going into 2015 ahead of the pack.</p>
<p>Now that’s a reason to sign off your emails “<em>Happy Holidays</em>”!</p>
<p><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>Say it isn't so! Recruiters are "Luddites" when it comes to technology?tag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-11-01:502551:BlogPost:18373322014-11-01T02:36:28.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557544888?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557544888?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="680"></img></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>I have a confession to make: I only joined Facebook about 2 years ago (having resisted for <em>many</em>years).</p>
<p>A few days after I joined, a friend of mine posted the following…</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557544888?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="680" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557544888?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="680" class="align-center"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></p>
<p>I have a confession to make: I only joined Facebook about 2 years ago (having resisted for <em>many</em>years).</p>
<p>A few days after I joined, a friend of mine posted the following comment:</p>
<p>“<em>There are only two people who can genuinely say they weren’t on Facebook until they became a founder of a startup. Paul Slezak and Mark Zuckerberg</em>”.</p>
<p>I thought it was pretty funny.</p>
<p>Another friend “liked” that comment but then added:</p>
<p>“<em>Are you really surprised it took him so long? Remember he’s a recruiter!</em>”</p>
<p>Ouch.</p>
<p>Now I know that in our team today, I often feel like a ‘laggard’ and eyes still roll when, from time to time, I demonstrate my lack of technological ‘genius’. But I know I’m respected when it comes to my recruitment career that spans two decades.</p>
<p>When I first got into the recruiting game, we had no Internet. Apart from an archaic ‘database’ where a green cursor flickered against a black screen, recruitment software didn’t really exist. And never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that 20 years later I would become a cofounder of a tech startup disrupting the recruitment industry.</p>
<p>I have many <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-spend-a-day-back-in-the-90s-every-once-in-a-while/">great memories of those early days</a> and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without having had to learn it all the hard way … without having technology at my finger tips.</p>
<p>I watched in awe as technology developed allowing candidate résumés to ‘parse’ (a word I had to learn at the time!) directly into an applicant tracking system; I saw the first online job boards shake things up; I learned about ‘Boolean searching’; and of course I witnessed the major turning point for the industry – the creation of LinkedIn.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/hrtechconf-2014-even-more-rubber-bands/">RecruitLoop exhibited at HR Tech in Las Vegas</a> and I have to admit that I was completely blown away by the plethora of technology now available to the HR and recruitment sectors. It’s absolutely incredible how much the industry has changed in the last 20 years.</p>
<p><span>So when I recently glanced over a </span><a href="http://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/industryview/recruiter-perceptions-technology-2014/" target="_blank">study</a><span> published by Software Advice (an </span><a href="http://www.softwareadvice.com/recruiting-agency/" target="_blank">online reviewer</a><span> of recruiting technology) referring to recruiters and HR professionals as “</span><i>luddites and laggards when it comes to using technology for recruiting</i><span>”, I sat up and thought, “</span><i>hang on … I better have a closer read of this</i><span>”.</span></p>
<p>Whilst it may have taken me nearly 10 years to join Facebook, I don’t believe I could ever be accused of not embracing advancements in recruitment software and technology. After all, I’m part of a team <em>creating</em> an online platform for independent recruiters to use.</p>
<p>But enough about me … Here’s the big question posed in the Software Advice report:</p>
<p><span>Are recruiters in fact as technologically disinclined as some claim?</span></p>
<p>I’ll let you be the judge of that. But here are three of the key findings from the poll that I found particularly relevant.</p>
<h3><span>1. 91% of recruiters use recruiting technology</span></h3>
<p>I have always been a firm believer that technology alone will never place people in jobs. People will always place people; but those of us embracing technology might just do it better.</p>
<p>The chart below shows that of the 91% of recruiters surveyed using some form of recruiting technology or software, 89% noted that recruiting software/technology was either “extremely” or “very important” to them performing their jobs well.</p>
<p><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Importance-of-technology.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5656" src="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Importance-of-technology.png" alt="Importance of technology" width="750" height="415"/></a>I seriously have no idea how a recruiter today could possibly operate successfully without (for example) having access to an aggregator to post ads on to multiple job boards; broadcasting temp assignments out to their talent database via their smartphones; shortlisting candidates via video interview; or automating the reference checking process.</p>
<p>How does the mystery 9% of recruiters surveyed actually <em>not</em> use technology? I’d really love to know!</p>
<h3><span>2. Most say the benefits of recruiting technology outweigh the costs</span></h3>
<p>Even if recruiters do need to pay for the software or technology they use, the expense seems to be worth it.</p>
<p>When Software Advice asked recruiters who do use technology about their perceived return on investment, 93% felt that their recruiting software and technology was either “extremely” or “very beneficial” compared to the costs.</p>
<p>Look at this chart.</p>
<p><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Benefit-of-using-technology.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5657" src="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Benefit-of-using-technology.png" alt="Benefit of using technology" width="750" height="414"/></a>I am certainly not saying you need to embrace <em>every</em> possible piece of recruiting technology.</p>
<p>For example there is software available that helps create content for job ads. I personally wouldn’t invest in that since not only do I enjoy writing job ads, but I do it pretty quickly and I know I can write a job ad better than any algorithm.</p>
<p>But knowing how much time I could save shortlisting candidates by investing in <a href="http://recruitloop.com/video-interviews">video interview software</a> … well for me that’s a no brainer.</p>
<h3><span>3. Recruiters believe technology is fairly easy to learn</span></h3>
<p>I have to be careful what I say here, since for pretty much my entire career, I have always been involved (at least in some way) in training recruiters in any new software or technology we were implementing across the 2 businesses I worked in before RecruitLoop.</p>
<p>I believe that given the right training (or even just the ability to access a ‘power user’), then any new technology should be easy to understand and implement.</p>
<p>As you can see from the chart below 95% of recruiters surveyed either “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed that it was easy for them and/or their team to learn how to use their recruiting software/technology.</p>
<p><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Techology-is-easy-to-use.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5658" src="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Techology-is-easy-to-use.png" alt="Techology is easy to use" width="750" height="423"/></a>There are some really interesting stats in the Software Advice report. But as a recruitment industry veteran (yes … that’s how I am often referred to these days!), I am so glad the findings revealed that recruiters and HR professionals could well have been <em>inappropriately</em> labelled “<em>luddites</em>” when it comes to recruiting technology.</p>Are You ‘Consciously Incompetent’ Or ‘Unconsciously Competent’?tag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-10-06:502551:BlogPost:18306812014-10-06T21:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557535542?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557535542?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450"></img></a></strong></p>
<p>One thing I learned very early on in my career looking after teams of recruiters is that every single new consultant needs to know that, as their manager, you truly appreciate where they’re sitting in terms of their level of competency.</p>
<p>I also quickly learned that their perceived level of competency then had a direct impact on their actual…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557535542?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557535542?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
<p>One thing I learned very early on in my career looking after teams of recruiters is that every single new consultant needs to know that, as their manager, you truly appreciate where they’re sitting in terms of their level of competency.</p>
<p>I also quickly learned that their perceived level of competency then had a direct impact on their actual level of confidence in or on the job.</p>
<p>Ask any recruiter that ever joined one of my teams over the years and they would tell you that at some point in their first week I sat down with them in the boardroom (either individually or as part of a new starter group induction) and the very first thing I did was draw a long line on the whiteboard.</p>
<p>I then added the following “milestones” along the time line.</p>
<ol>
<li>Unconsciously incompetent</li>
<li>Consciously incompetent</li>
<li>Consciously competent</li>
<li>Unconsciously competent</li>
<li>[Subconsciously competent]</li>
</ol>
<p>I never included anticipated timings or dates against these milestones since progress along the axis would always depend upon the individual recruiter and I certainly didn’t want to set any unrealistic expectations.</p>
<p>Then I would talk through each of the competency ‘stages’ one by one.</p>
<p>I should point out that I did this for every single new starter. It didn’t matter if they’d been recruiting for one minute, 18 months or 5 years. They were all new to my team and new to the organisation and to me that was all that mattered.</p>
<p>Obviously I have no idea how long you’ve been in the recruiting ‘game’. But as a recruiter reading this particular post, please play along with me for the next few minutes.</p>
<p>Let’s say today’s your first day recruiting as part of my team, and we’re in the boardroom together. I’ve drawn the competency axis on the whiteboard.</p>
<p>So please now allow me to explain …</p>
<h3><span>1. <em>Unconsciously Incompetent</em></span></h3>
<p>This stage represents the very early days where you literally don’t know what you don’t know.</p>
<p>Even if you have recruited before, right now you don’t know any of the team and the many different personalities that make it up; you haven’t been exposed to any of the internal jargon or lingo; you have no idea how we do things around here; you don’t know any of the clients or candidates. you may not have worked with the same ATS or CRM …</p>
<p>Of course there’s a chance that you haven’t actually even recruited before.</p>
<p>You’re literally completely unaware.</p>
<p>But that’s nowhere near as daunting as stage 2.</p>
<h3><span>2. <em>Consciously Incompetent</em></span></h3>
<p>Suddenly it becomes apparent just how much you don’t know. Or, to put it another way, just how much you’re expected to know. And just how quickly you’re expected to pick it all up.</p>
<p>It’s not uncommon for many new recruiters to panic at this point.</p>
<p>Don’t worry … nobody is expected to pick it all up overnight. After all, is there really such a thing as ‘hitting the ground running’?</p>
<p>It’s during this phase where if you are a new recruiter, you may start to feel uncertain, lose confidence or start to doubt your own ability to meet the business requirements.</p>
<p>My suggestion here would be to find a buddy or mentor.</p>
<h3><span>3. <em>Consciously Competent</em></span></h3>
<p>You’re into this phase when you’re suddenly aware just how much you know.</p>
<p>You understand “who’s who in the zoo”; the internal processes are all making sense; maybe you’ve already met some of the key clients; perhaps you’ve even won a few new ones of your own; if you’re running a temp desk you’ve familiarised yourself with the best talent and you’ve started building your own candidate pool.</p>
<p>Above all, if you make a mistake, or if you’re unsure of something, you know who to ask, where to look, or you can quickly discover a way to find the solution yourself.</p>
<p>‘<em>Consciously competent</em>‘ feels good.</p>
<h3><span>4. <em>Unconsciously Competent</em></span></h3>
<p>Then one day you just wake up and it all feels like second nature to you.</p>
<p>You no longer have to look up a client’s phone number; you can be talking to a candidate while simultaneously filling in all the job details in the database; you can meet with a client on your own; go into your weekly meeting with your manager feeling completely prepared; write the tender for a new client pitch; or you might even be asked to train a new recruiter or help with their induction.</p>
<p>You’re “<em>cooking with gas</em>”.</p>
<p>For many recruiters it can take 6, 9, or even 12 months to reach this point so please don’t to put too much pressure on yourselves.</p>
<h3><span>5. <em>Subconsciously Competent</em></span></h3>
<p>There were times when I hired some very experienced recruiters. This never stopped me from still drawing my competency axis but on those occasions I would add in a ‘bonus’ milestone … “<em>Subconsciously Competent</em>”.</p>
<p>I wanted those ‘gun’ recruiters to appreciate that there was still a stage that they could aspire to reach.</p>
<p>That’s when you might find yourself waking up in the middle of the night remembering a candidate you met a year earlier who would be perfect for the brief you took yesterday (hint: always keep a note pad and pen next to your bed!); or you’re contacted and asked to comment on the recruitment industry for a blog or journal article; you may be invited to speak at a conference on recruitment industry trends; you might even be introduced at the conference as an industry ‘thought leader’.</p>
<p>It’s a <em>very</em> nice feeling.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>I really liked it when I’d see consultants put their own version of my competency axis up around their desks, or highlighting the stage they felt they were at.</p>
<p>Often they would bring their time lines into our weekly meetings or performance reviews to share with me exactly when they’d had their “<em>Aha</em>” moment and realised they were progressing along the axis.</p>
<p>In some cases they’d come to me asking for reassurance if they felt they were slipping back to the left. This could happen (most commonly from stage 3 back to stage 2) if, for example, I promoted a recruiter, gave them additional responsibilities, or asked them to focus on a new niche or specialty area.</p>
<p>For any team leaders or branch managers who happen to be reading this post, my one tip for you is to understand that all your team will be at different stages along the competency axis, even if you hired a bunch of them at the same time. Stay close to all your recruiters individually, let them know where you think they’re at but at the same time ensure you are aware of where they feel they’re at.</p>
<p><strong>What ‘stage’ are you sitting at along your own competency axis? The fact is that it really doesn’t matter … as long as you genuinely feel as though you can celebrate your progression as you move along the timeline to the right.</strong></p>
<p><strong><strong>*** Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a> ***</strong></strong></p>Recruiter Tips: It’s Time To Lose The Scripttag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-09-22:502551:BlogPost:18282272014-09-22T06:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557534711?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="347" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557534711?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="409"></img></a></strong></p>
<p>I have trained <em>thousands</em> of recruiters in my time. So I would like to think that I know what works and what doesn’t.</p>
<p>Recruiting is sales.</p>
<p>There. I said it.</p>
<p>Sure it’s about helping candidates get jobs; or finding the best talent for employers. But when all is said and done (and whether we like it or not) we’re all in the…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557534711?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557534711?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="409" class="align-left" height="347"/></a></strong></p>
<p>I have trained <em>thousands</em> of recruiters in my time. So I would like to think that I know what works and what doesn’t.</p>
<p>Recruiting is sales.</p>
<p>There. I said it.</p>
<p>Sure it’s about helping candidates get jobs; or finding the best talent for employers. But when all is said and done (and whether we like it or not) we’re all in the game of sales.</p>
<p>And that in itself often comes with a bit of baggage, a stigma, a reputation … I’m sure you get where I’m coming from.</p>
<p>Over the last few weeks I’ve received quite a bit of feedback from clients around <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-know-what-your-clients-are-really-thinking/">their experiences with recruiters</a>.</p>
<p>I’ve also been using an amazing tool to coach our own sales teams on both sides of the Pacific – a process that for me has really reinforced the synergies between the role of a recruiter and that of a sales person.</p>
<p>Just think of all the touch points when as a recruiter we are <em>truly</em> in a sales mode:</p>
<ul>
<li>On every cold call;</li>
<li>At every client meeting;</li>
<li>Every time you’re ‘showcasing’ a candidate to a client;</li>
<li>Every time you’re promoting a position to a candidate;</li>
<li>Gosh even when you’re asking for help from a colleague.</li>
</ul>
<p>For the purposes of this particular blog post, I’m going to focus on our interactions with <em>clients</em> (let’s leave dealing with our candidates and colleagues for another time!) and so I will share exactly the same tips that I did with our own sales executives earlier in the week.</p>
<p>It’s all about losing the S.C.R.I.P.T.</p>
<h3><span class="font-size-5"><span style="color: #ff0000;">S</span>teak knives aren’t necessary</span></h3>
<p>When you’re calling a prospective client for the first time, it’s important to sound credible, and not sound like the voiceovers on those hideous TV commercials.</p>
<p>You know the ones … trying to flog a vacuum cleaner that can suck up a tenpin bowling ball; or some contraption that practically guarantees to give you a six-pack during the ad break; or some freaky ‘kitchen whiz’ that can whip up a 3 course meal while you’re vacuuming tenpin bowling balls around the house!</p>
<p>Nobody’s going to believe you if you sound like someone who’s about to ask for credit card details or a money order now to get a set of free steak knives thrown in.</p>
<p>There’s a huge difference between sounding professional, articulate and credible as opposed to sounding overly salesy.</p>
<p>No matter what you may have been told from your ‘powers that be’, if you approach your calls with the expectation that someone will actually agree to ‘do a deal’ with you on that first call, then you’ll only be letting yourself down.</p>
<p>It’s not going to happen.</p>
<p>Build trust. Be genuine. And throw away the steak knives.</p>
<h3><span class="font-size-5"><span style="color: #ff0000;">C</span>ut the ‘Canned Responses’</span></h3>
<p>If you’re not quite sure what I’m getting at here, a ‘<em>Canned Response</em>’ is a Google Mail feature that allows you to insert pre-formatted content you create into your messages.</p>
<p>It’s an <em>amazing</em> feature … for <em>emailing</em>. But you need to be careful that you don’t sound like you’re just ‘inserting’ pre-determined phrases into your phone calls that have nothing to do with what your prospective customer has said or asked.</p>
<p>Overly salesy recruiters have a tendency to just rapidly fire off statements or phrases (often ones that appear on their company website or brochure) without listening to a single word the person on the other end of the phone is saying.</p>
<p>If you really fill your sales pitch with a series of clichéd or rehearsed statements, you might even get hung up on!</p>
<p>So stop thinking about what <em>you</em> want to say next and actually listen to what your potential customer is saying. It might even result in a two-way conversation and not a sales pitch monologue from you.</p>
<h3><span class="font-size-5"><span style="color: #ff0000;">R</span>obots can’t build trust</span></h3>
<p>It often comes down to the simple fact that nobody will ever buy anything from somebody they don’t like or trust. And the key to gaining a prospective client’s trust is to build rapport.</p>
<p>Anyone can pick up a phone and dial a number. Anyone who dials enough numbers will eventually get to speak to someone. There’s plenty of technology out there to do the dialling for you. But as we all know it’s what happens after the prospect picks up the phone that matters.</p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, if your only objective is to close the deal, or if you baffle your prospect with bullsh1t, it’s never going to happen.</p>
<p>A robot can dial a number. A robot could even repeatedly recite a series of facts. But a robot can’t build trust, rapport or a long-lasting business partnership.</p>
<h3><span class="font-size-5"><span style="color: #ff0000;">I</span>nsincerity will never close a deal</span></h3>
<p>Whilst you certainly don’t ever want to come across as too salesy, you also don’t want to sound like you don’t believe in (or worse still that you don’t care about) what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>It’s damn hard to sound as enthusiastic on the 27th prospect call of the day as it was on the 1st one. But if you just sound like you’re ‘going through the motions’, it’s never going to work in your favour.</p>
<p>I used to encourage my recruiters to have a small mirror on their desks. And whilst I may have sounded like a robot walking around the office saying “<em>remember to smile when you dial</em>”, I’m telling you it worked.</p>
<p>If you look enthusiastic, and you look like you believe in what you’re doing, that energy (and hopefully passion too) will come across over the phone. If you don’t then it won’t. It’s as simple as that.</p>
<h3><span class="font-size-5"><em><span style="color: #ff0000;">P</span>lease help me hit my target!</em></span></h3>
<p>Then there are those recruiters who no matter how hard they try to mask it, they actually sound desperate over the phone.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s the pressure of the KPIs or call quotas that gets to them, but it’s not a good look when a prospective client’s first impression is that you are <em>begging</em> them to talk to you (let alone to buy from you) simply so that you can meet your numbers.</p>
<p>Listen to yourself very carefully when you’re next on the phone. If all your phrases end with your voice going ‘up and to the right’ (as I like to explain it), then all your prospective client is hearing is “<em>please?</em>”, “<em>can’t you just give me one chance?</em>”, or “<em>save me … I’m drowning here</em>”!</p>
<h3><span class="font-size-5"><em><span style="color: #ff0000;">T</span>rust me … I’m a recruiter!</em></span></h3>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>Being pushy or manipulative with a potentially new customer isn’t going to work in your favour either.</p>
<p>Whilst you might (by some sheer fluke) succeed in getting some kind of <em>verbal</em> commitment over the phone (potentially helping you hit your target), as soon as the call is over your prospect will have a chance to reflect and they will then most likely pull out of any deal, or just not go ahead with the ‘order’.</p>
<p>Personally my first reaction if I ever feel like a sales person in a store is pressuring me, or if I feel they are being a bit too suave is to run. It’s the same on the phone … only instead of running they just need to hang up.</p>
<p>So rather than coming across as ‘too smooth’, take the time to ask open ended questions and learn more about the person on the other end of the phone. You might just end up working with them one day.</p>How to Make a Great Impression With Your Candidatestag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-09-08:502551:BlogPost:18245402014-09-08T07:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557538531?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="236" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557538531?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="324"></img></a></strong> <strong><br></br></strong></p>
<p>There are literally thousands of articles available <em>for candidates</em> on how to leave a lasting first impression throughout the recruitment process. Everything from how to craft an engaging cover letter; to how to make a résumé stand out; and even to what <em>not</em> to wear to a job interview. I even wrote …</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557538531?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557538531?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="324" class="align-left" height="236"/></a></strong><strong><br/></strong></p>
<p>There are literally thousands of articles available <em>for candidates</em> on how to leave a lasting first impression throughout the recruitment process. Everything from how to craft an engaging cover letter; to how to make a résumé stand out; and even to what <em>not</em> to wear to a job interview. I even wrote <a title="21 Things To Do To Get A New Job NOW!" href="http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/21-things-to-do-to-get-a-new-job-now/7584069">an entire book</a> on the subject a few years ago!</p>
<p>With the war for top quality talent raging pretty fiercely right now, it’s also critical for recruiters to leave a positive first impression on their candidates – that is, of course, if they want their candidates to remain loyal and to not run straight into the arms of their competitors.</p>
<p>I recently shared some feedback on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/recruiter-tips-know-what-your-clients-are-really-thinking/">what clients think about recruiters</a>. Now it’s the candidates’ turn to have their say. And whilst a few of these tips might seem pretty damn obvious, unfortunately far too often the way we interact with our candidates adds to the ‘not so positive’ reputation that recruiters have out there in the big wide world.</p>
<h3><span>1. <em>“Hello? Is anybody out there?”</em></span></h3>
<p>If a candidate has taken the time to apply to an ad you’ve posted on a job board, then you should give them the courtesy of some kind of response – yes … even an automatic response is sufficient. But just don’t keep them waiting in antici … pation!</p>
<p>Here are a few quick suggestions:</p>
<p>You might want to include a ‘disclaimer’ at the end of every ad that says something along the lines of “<em>only applicants meeting the strict criteria outlined above will be contacted as part of the shortlisting process</em>”. That way if the candidate doesn’t hear back from you they understand that in this particular instance no news unfortunately doesn’t mean good news.</p>
<p>Setup an auto-response advising candidates of how long the shortlisting process might take. At least this helps alleviate the feeling of them being kept in limbo.</p>
<p>One of the most common pieces of candidate feedback is that they never hear back from the recruiter even though they followed all the necessary steps in the application process.</p>
<h3><span>2. “<em>‘Be Prepared’ shouldn’t only be a motto for the Boy Scouts”</em></span></h3>
<p>Don’t wait for the call telling you that your candidate is waiting for you in reception before quickly printing the CV and grabbing it off the printer on your way to meet the candidate. It really isn’t a good look if you start flicking through the CV in front of them making it very apparent that no preparation has taken place.</p>
<p>I remember sitting in on one of my own consultant’s candidate interviews many years ago. I was quite shocked when two minutes into the interview the candidate pointed out that my recruiter wasn’t even looking at her CV. It was a bit embarrassing for all parties.</p>
<p>Here’s a hint: If you are booking a candidate in to meet with you at 3:00pm, block your calendar from 2:45pm, allowing you sufficient time to print the (correct) CV, and to sufficiently familiarise yourself with the candidate’s work history and background. This is also the perfect opportunity to prepare four or five key interview questions before you walk into the interview room.</p>
<p>Oh … and whilst this might sound pretty obvious in terms of preparation, ensure that your interview rooms are tidy and presentable. No half finished glasses of water from a few hours earlier; no notes from previous interviews; and no Mentos wrappers scattered across the table!</p>
<h3><span>3. <em>“You’re sorry to keep me waiting? I don’t believe you!”</em></span></h3>
<p>No matter how qualified or experienced a candidate is, a job interview can still be a daunting situation. So as a recruiter it’s important that you make the candidate feel comfortable and relaxed.</p>
<p>Try not to keep them waiting. Assuming they are on time, then meet with them immediately. There’s no need to pretend you’re more important than they are, or that you’re any busier than they are. Making them wait in your reception or in a meeting room is like a dentist keeping a patient waiting unsure of how painful the next 45 minutes will be.</p>
<p>One more thing on this topic: If for whatever reason you do keep your candidate waiting, please offer them a glass of water. Then when you eventually meet with them please avoid the all too clichéd (not to mention overused) “<em>So did you get here OK?</em>”. Unless they look like they fell off the ferry or have been caught in a tornado, then just assume that they had no problems finding your office!</p>
<h3><span>4. “<em>I spent longer getting to the interview than I did with the recruiter</em>”</span></h3>
<p>Whilst there are some recruiters who still choose to operate under the philosophy of “<em>get ‘em in … get ‘em out</em>”, this is one instance where common courtesy should prevail.</p>
<p>In order to avoid being tarnished as just another ‘<em>churn and burn</em>’ or ‘<em>bums on seats</em>’ recruiter, you should try to spend <em>at least 30 minutes</em> with every candidate. Trust me, your first reaction about whether your candidate is right for your client’s role could well be wrong … as I learned when I interviewed Serge back in 2003.</p>
<p>When our receptionist called to tell me that Serge had arrived and was waiting for me in one of our meeting rooms, I could tell that she was trying her best not to laugh.</p>
<p>I walked into interview room #4 and was greeted by a <em>very</em> large gentleman wearing a bright fluorescent green short-sleeved shirt, a Charlie Chaplin like bowler hat, and a bow tie that illuminated red flashing lights every few seconds. It was a hot day and Serge was perspiring … <em>a lot</em>.</p>
<p>What made the situation even more awkward was when I gestured to Serge to take a seat, I noticed that he wasn’t able to physically fit into our tub chairs, so I quickly moved the meeting to a different meeting room where we had a small sofa.</p>
<p>If I’d ever been inclined to “go on gut feeling”, this would have been the moment. I was sitting opposite a combination of <em>Hagrid</em> from <em>Harry Potter</em> and <em>Krusty the Clown</em>. To be honest many recruiters would have wrapped the interview up pretty quickly, perhaps even writing Serge off as totally unsuitable.</p>
<p>Instead I pretty much grilled Serge for 30 minutes on his past work experiences and I have to admit his answers were fantastic. He was more than capable of fulfilling the responsibilities required by my client.</p>
<p>In preparing him to meet with my client, I completely refined his wardrobe and suggested he arrive in their lobby at least half an hour before the interview to cool off. I then briefed the client and suggested that they too book in a meeting room with sofas.</p>
<p>Serge was successful at interview and was offered the job on the spot. Over the next 18 months he needed to grow his team and briefed me <em>exclusively</em> on at least 10 positions … all of which I ended up filling.</p>
<p><em>Nice!</em></p>
<h3><span>5. “<em>What can ice cream flavours possibly have to do with the job I applied for?</em>”</span></h3>
<p>If you’re lucky enough to have a great candidate sitting in front of you, you need to ensure you make the most of the situation … and not waste either party’s time.</p>
<p>This can be achieved by collecting, confirming and clarifying as much information as possible through thorough questioning.</p>
<p>A candidate shared a story with me the other day. He’d recently applied for a sales role in the tech sector and apparently the recruiter had asked him just three questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>“<em>In your own words, could you please explain the internet?</em>”</li>
<li>“<em>If our company was a sports star, who would we be?</em>”</li>
<li>“<em>What Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream flavour can you relate to most and why?</em>”</li>
</ol>
<p>Ineffective. Pointless. Futile.</p>
<p>Whilst the answers to these questions may be <em>interesting</em>, in no way do they help you accurately assess a candidate’s past behaviour, core competencies or ability to in fact <em>do</em> the job in question.</p>
<p>Gone are the days of just asking about strengths and weaknesses. And hypothetical questions are a thing of the past. The only way to determine how your candidate will perform in your client’s role, is to ask questions around how they performed a similar task <em>in the past</em>.</p>
<p><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/behavioural-interview-questions/">Here’s</a> an in-depth list of 75 behavioural based interview questions relating to the traits or attributes that your clients may find most desirable in their candidates.</p>
<h3><span>6. “<em>I didn’t even get a word in</em>”</span></h3>
<p>Another common reason for a candidate to lose faith in their recruiter is if they felt the recruiter just talked to / at them as opposed to asking them any meaningful or relevant questions. In other words the recruiter just went into sales overdrive and talked about themselves or their client’s opportunity for the entire interview.</p>
<p>Remember that you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. This means that you should listen twice as much as you talk.</p>
<p>Never oversell the role.</p>
<p>Ensure your candidate feels comfortable but also don’t spend an hour just chatting to them either. You want to make the right hire for your client so make sure you run a professional and effective interview.</p>
<h3><span>7. “<em>I couldn’t believe I was rejected via text message!</em>”</span></h3>
<p>Sure it’s nice to call a candidate, tell them how impressed you were with them at interview and to arrange a time for them to meet with your client. And we all know how good it feels to call a candidate on behalf of our client and to verbally offer them a job.</p>
<p>It’s not so nice to have to call a candidate, thank them for their time, but let them down gently and tell them that they have been unsuccessful. But this is still something you must do if nothing else to maintain a professional reputation in the market.</p>
<p>Please don’t just send a standard email (or text message!) letting them know your decision to not include them as part of the shortlist. Or to let them know that your client has decided not to take them to the next stage. They more than likely took time off work to come to meet with you, probably did the best they could at interview, so please have the decency to call them and let them down over the phone <em>personally</em>.</p>
<p>Please don’t let days (or weeks) go by without providing your candidate with feedback. Some candidates might think that “no news is good news”, while others might think that “silence can only mean one thing”. Don’t keep candidates in a state of uncertainty. Provide them with feedback – whether positive or constructive – regardless of the outcome of their interview. They will be grateful either way and more importantly they will respect your level of professionalism.</p>
<p>Remember, a satisfied candidate might tell a friend about their positive experience. But a disgruntled candidate will tell at least 10 friends how appalled they were with their interview experience. And there’s no stopping the damage they could bring to your (and your agency’s) reputation when they begin their social media tirade.</p>The Importance of Objective Evaluationtag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-09-01:502551:BlogPost:18234542014-09-01T04:42:39.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557537421?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557537421?profile=original" width="206"></img></a> Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>
<p>I actually wrote this post on a plane from Australia to Singapore.</p>
<p>Before my flight I had a bit of time in the airport so I went for a wander through the bookstore and found myself looking at some of the latest releases ……</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557537421?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557537421?profile=original" width="206" class="align-left"/></a>Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>
<p>I actually wrote this post on a plane from Australia to Singapore.</p>
<p>Before my flight I had a bit of time in the airport so I went for a wander through the bookstore and found myself looking at some of the latest releases … biographies, fiction, ‘true crime’ (really?), sci-fi (no thanks!) …</p>
<p>It didn’t take me long to realise that I was forming my opinion of what might lie between the covers of all these books based purely on their titles, cover design, images, and in a few cases even the size of the font if I happened to flick through the pages.</p>
<p>Probably not the most accurate or appropriate decision making criteria. What do you think?</p>
<p>And yet as recruiters we’ve probably all worked with clients who have a similar method for assessing our candidates. We work really hard to source candidates for a specific role; we write some solid candidate profiles; we present our shortlist, ranking each of the (for example) five candidates based purely on merit and suitability for the opportunity; and if we’re lucky we get a one-line email …</p>
<p><em>Maybe; Definitely not; Yes; No; and let’s wait and see.</em></p>
<p>Clearly the hiring manager has a very different set of candidate assessing criteria or a different decision-making process.</p>
<p>I probably won’t ever be asked to be a judge on the Pulitzer Prize panel … (“<em>the colour of the cover is very striking, but the actual title put me off a bit!</em>”). For similar reasons, there are many hiring managers who should never be allowed to assess a shortlist unless either you are sitting right there in front of them to help them, or they are 100% comfortable evaluating the CVs objectively.</p>
<h3><span>I can’t help where I live</span></h3>
<p>Given that far too many employers will flinch if a potential candidate lives too far away from the office, remove the address from the candidate’s CV when you submit it. It’s all about eliminating any subjectivity from the decision making process. It’s up to you to ‘sell’ the candidate, but you need to do so based only on the candidate’s merit, natural traits and suitability for the <em>role</em> … not the office zip code.</p>
<h3><span>Sorry I didn’t go to Harvard!</span></h3>
<p>Sure there are some roles that require a particular academic qualification; and some employers even insist on a specific result. Gosh if that were the case for my first job, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today. Whilst I had obtained the actual degree, my results … well … OK let’s just move on! So unless you are helping a client recruit for a role where university qualifications are literally a ‘make or break’, it’s up to you to explain why this may not necessarily be the case.</p>
<h3><span>Trust me – you won’t meet a more ambitious 24 year old</span></h3>
<p>Ah the dreaded question “<em>but how old is she?</em>”. If you hear that one, you know it’s pretty much over. So once again you need to build your summary or profile around what skills, competencies and attributes your candidate is going to bring to the role and the organisation. I’ve recruited many entry-level candidates over the years who have excelled far beyond my clients’ wildest expectations. Had I let them focus on age, the candidates would never have even been allowed to walk through the front door to the office. Stay strong on this one … otherwise everyone will miss out … you, your client, and your candidate.</p>
<h3><span>You want me to change my name? Just ask!</span></h3>
<p>I once interviewed a candidate who I knew would be absolutely perfect for my client’s role. But there was just one problem – and I am sure you can guess where I’m going here. So I did something a bit naughty (this is my confession nearly 15 years later!). As part of the shortlist I included 4 candidates. Well I actually only included 3 candidates – but 2 of them were exactly the same person – just with different names on the cover pages. All I did was literally change his name to something a little more … well … you know. But I didn’t change anything else at all. Of course my client wanted to meet ‘Stewart Woodhouse’ immediately, but the ‘real’ Stewart’s CV was tossed aside. My client hadn’t even turned to page 2!</p>
<h3><span>Please enlighten me and tell me exactly how you’ll be assessing my shortlist.</span></h3>
<p>I’m going to let you in on another little secret here.</p>
<p>Whenever I started working with a new client, before I ever presented my first shortlist, I would send them an email asking them to complete the following short exercise.</p>
<p>“<em>Imagine if you will, a boat sailing on the ocean. The weather turns bad and the ship capsizes and sinks. Two lifeboats get away with three people in one boat, and two in the other. The five people</em> (hopefully these characters are familiar to at least some of you!) <em>are</em>:</p>
<ol>
<li><em>Gilligan</em></li>
<li><em>The Skipper</em></li>
<li><em>Mr Howell (a millionaire)</em></li>
<li><em>Mrs Howell (his wife)</em></li>
<li><em>The Professor</em></li>
</ol>
<p>[Unfortunately Ginger and Mary-Anne must have been lost at sea].</p>
<p><em>The next morning the Skipper, Gilligan, and Mrs Howell find themselves safe on a small island. They search the island but cannot find the others. Mrs Howell looks through the Skipper’s telescope and sees there is another island about a mile away.</em></p>
<p><em>However they discover that their lifeboat has a hole in it.</em></p>
<p><em>No life can be seen on the other island, however Mrs Howell insists on getting to the other island to see if her husband is there. The Skipper says that he will fix the boat and take her to the other island but only if she gives him the massive diamond ring she’s wearing that Mr Howell had given her.</em></p>
<p><em>Mrs Howell rushes over to Gilligan to seek his advice. Gilligan says that he cannot tell her what to do. The decision must be hers, as he cannot do anything to help the situation.</em></p>
<p><em>Mrs Howell goes back to the Skipper and gives him her precious ring. The next morning the boat is repaired and they row across to the other island. They walk around the island and finally find that Mr Howell and the Professor are both safe.</em></p>
<p><em>Mrs Howell runs up to her husband, embraces him and immediately tells him what has happened. Mr Howell pushes her away, turns and walks off.</em></p>
<p><em>The Professor then walks over, gives Mrs Howell a big hug and tells her that he will look after her until things cool down.</em></p>
<p><em>Based on your interpretation of the story, please rate the five people from best to worst.</em></p>
<ol>
<li><em>Best</em></li>
<li><em>?</em></li>
<li><em>?</em></li>
<li><em>?</em></li>
<li><em>Worst</em></li>
</ol>
<p>OK so clearly there is no right or wrong answer to this little exercise. And over the years I received several different combinations / ratings from new clients.</p>
<p>I would call my client (or ideally sit down with them face to face) to talk about the process they took to come up with their decision. This was often a great ice breaker since it really revealed a lot about how they thought through things.</p>
<p>I would then say how important it would be for us to talk through how they assessed my candidate shortlist and honestly 9 times out of 10 they would agree to it. This really made my life a lot easier (not to mention cementing my relationship with my new client).</p>
<p>Give it a go! What have you got to lose?</p>
<p>You and your clients both need to be assessing your candidates objectively. What better way than doing it together!</p>
<p>And in case you’re wondering whether I ended up buying a book at the airport? Nope … I decided that instead of reading a book with a catchy title and large font, I’d rather write this blog post and then maybe watch a movie!</p>An Open Letter To Hiring Managers … On Behalf Of All Recruiterstag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-08-08:502551:BlogPost:18198862014-08-08T05:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557536529?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="242" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557536529?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="364"></img></a></strong></p>
<p>Mr Client,</p>
<p>I apologise in advance for the somewhat generic greeting, but it’s been ingrained in me from way back when I first got into recruitment.</p>
<p>I still remember all the role-plays and all the training manuals. Every scenario seemed to involve an interaction with “<em>Mr Client</em>”. Hopefully they’ve all been updated by now to…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557536529?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557536529?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="364" class="align-left" height="242"/></a></strong></p>
<p>Mr Client,</p>
<p>I apologise in advance for the somewhat generic greeting, but it’s been ingrained in me from way back when I first got into recruitment.</p>
<p>I still remember all the role-plays and all the training manuals. Every scenario seemed to involve an interaction with “<em>Mr Client</em>”. Hopefully they’ve all been updated by now to include just as many interactions with “<em>Ms Client</em>” too.</p>
<p>Please allow me to start again …</p>
<p></p>
<p>Mr / Ms Client,</p>
<p>I’ve been in this game for a long time. So on behalf of my fellow recruiters (past, present and future), after some recent interactions with a few of our own clients on both sides of the Pacific, I feel compelled to share a few thoughts.</p>
<p>I just hope that in reading this letter you’ll realise that we really <em>can</em> make your life easier … as long as you’re willing to <em>partner</em> with us, and not lure us in and then forget about us. Or worse … promise us the world before stabbing us in the back.</p>
<p>It hurts …</p>
<p>What I am really trying to say is:</p>
<h3><span>We want to work <em>with</em> you</span></h3>
<p>I’ve heard this one over and over again: “<em>But it’s so damn hard working with a recruiter!</em>”</p>
<p>To be honest it’s probably because you think we’re working against you!</p>
<p>Trust me we are not (all) trying to rip you off. Believe it or not, <a href="http://recruitloop.com/recruiters">many of us</a> won’t manipulate you into taking someone on who isn’t right for you; or convincing you to pay someone more than they deserve just so we can earn a higher commission.</p>
<p>We actually want to find you the best possible candidate. We’re on your side. We just want to let you get on with what you do best, while we get on with what we love to do … and do what we do best.</p>
<h3><span>I beg your pardon? You <em>can’t</em> say that!</span></h3>
<p>Bernadette recently wrote <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/down-the-recruitment-rabbit-hole-why-stereotyping-is-bad-for-business/">a great piece</a> about the problem with stereotyping during the recruitment process.</p>
<p>One of our clients clearly did not read that post since when he briefed us just last week he said something so outrageously discriminatory to one of our team members that when I heard about it, I thought I’d been transported back to an era <em>long</em> ago … to the time of <em>To Kill a Mockingbird</em>.</p>
<p>So please just be mindful of anti discrimination legislation. Even if you tell us not to bother sharing the details with you of anyone [insert sex, age, religion, skin colour, etc] we actually won’t listen to you.</p>
<p>Actually we probably won’t want to work with you anyway … so this was more of a heads up!</p>
<h3><span>We’re <em>not</em> mind readers …</span></h3>
<p>We might be good … but we’re not <em>that</em> good.</p>
<p>So when we say we need to meet with you (or at least speak to you) to get a better understanding of what you’re looking for, there’s a reason for it.</p>
<p>If we don’t get to know you and your business properly, what will end up happening is that you won’t like anyone we send you (and that’s when all the complaining starts … and that’s how we end up getting a bad rap).</p>
<p>Nobody knows your business better than you do. And if you want us to help you grow your team, you’ll have to share some of the information in your head with us.</p>
<p>Every company is different. So even if we’ve recruited a hundred [insert position title] candidates for other organisations in the past, the person you’re looking for will be different.</p>
<p>Spending some time with us up front will prevent a lot of time wasted later.</p>
<h3><span>Are you serious?</span></h3>
<p>I’ve mentioned <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/the-importance-of-creating-an-effective-team-environment/">this story</a> before, but it’s appropriate to share it again.</p>
<p>I will never forget on one particular occasion I was sitting with the General Manager of an organisation, when she looked me straight in the eye and said something that really took me by surprise. “<em>Actually, Paul. More than anything, it’s crucial that you find me a Scorpio. We need a bit more bite around here</em>”.</p>
<p>I thought she was joking but she was being completely serious.</p>
<p>I mentioned above that we’re not mind readers. But we are not astrologers either!</p>
<p>If you want a recruiter to help you find your diamond in the rough then we really need to be working to a professional brief.</p>
<p>Please … no mumbo jumbo.</p>
<p>If for whatever reason you happen to have your own ‘alternative’ hiring criteria (like recruiting based on star signs), then please don’t waste our time.</p>
<p>Rather when you find yourself needing to bring someone new into your team, you may just want to consider running your own an ad along the lines of: “<em>Scorpio required to add bite to a team of obsessive Virgos while reporting to a dynamic Piscean</em>”!</p>
<p>Good luck with that one!</p>
<h3><span>This is <em>not</em> a job description!</span></h3>
<p>I’m not a yes person. So if you asked me to find you a [insert position title] for your business and then said “<em>Come on, Paul. Surely you know what I’m looking for</em>”, you know what? I wouldn’t even think about your role for a second.</p>
<p>I need a job proper job description.</p>
<p>And you know what else? If you scribbled a few bullet points on to a Post-it Note and gave it to me, I still wouldn’t even consider working on your brief.</p>
<p>I loved <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/is-your-recruiter-clueless-are-you-causing-it/">Jenn’s recent reference</a> to job descriptions being ‘lethal weapons’ since often they can bore a candidate (not to mention us recruiters!) to death.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular belief, we aren’t just here to put a bum on a seat. We’ve seen thousands of position descriptions and could help you put one together.</p>
<p>Here’s a hint. If you don’t have a position description, or if the idea of creating one is in the ‘too hard basket’, just ask!</p>
<h3><span>Do I <em>really</em> need to define ‘exclusivity’?</span></h3>
<p>It’s pretty offensive when you tell us you haven’t briefed (or won’t be briefing) any other recruiters but then after we provide you some amazing candidates, you go ahead and tell us that you’ve hired someone through another recruiter (one of our competitors).</p>
<p>That’s a slap in the face (or the ‘stab in the back’ I referred to earlier).</p>
<p>We’d rather know the lay of the land from the outset.</p>
<p>How would you like it if we told you our perfect candidate wasn’t looking at any other opportunities? You met them; you loved them; your team loved them; you wanted to make them an offer … Then … “<em>Woops … sorry … we’ve actually just placed them with one of your competitors</em>”.</p>
<p>Ouch. Right?</p>
<p>As my 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Porter used to say … ‘<em>honesty is the best policy</em>’.</p>
<h3><span>Here’s my number. So call me … <em>Maybe</em>?</span></h3>
<p>If we wanted to work on the case of the disappearing client, we’d reach out to David Copperfield for some handy hints.</p>
<p>Working with a recruiter is a two-way street.</p>
<p>We send you profiles and résumes, we organise interviews, and you meet with our candidates.</p>
<p>All along the candidates are craving feedback … a quick update … eager to hear about potential next steps.</p>
<p>If we don’t keep them updated, their only thought is that<em> we</em> have forgotten about them (or actually that we don’t even care about them). Never once do they think <em>you</em> haven’t been able to come back to <em>us</em> with feedback.</p>
<p>So please … if we send through a handful of résumes, please call us (or at least email us) with your initial thoughts. If you interview one of our candidates, please don’t just delete and ignore those voicemails that we leave you over the next 24 hours asking for your feedback. Please call us to discuss how the interviews went.</p>
<p>We just want to keep your candidates in the loop.</p>
<p>I guess that’s it in a nutshell.</p>
<p>Yours truly,</p>
<p><em>All</em> Recruiters Out There</p>
<p>PS … Did I mention that we all want to work <em>with</em> you? Really we do!<span id="hs-cta-wrapper-6bdbc5e7-2be1-42fd-b986-485a39166a6c" class="hs-cta-wrapper"><span id="hs-cta-6bdbc5e7-2be1-42fd-b986-485a39166a6c" class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-6bdbc5e7-2be1-42fd-b986-485a39166a6c"><br/></span></span></p>
<p><strong>Please note, this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>Why Recruiters Should Stay Close To Their Candidates During Their Notice Periodtag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-07-28:502551:BlogPost:18173722014-07-28T08:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557532241?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557532241?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500"></img></a> My flight home from San Francisco the other day was delayed by over an hour. It felt like every 10 – 15 minutes the boarding time would be pushed out, resulting in a mass sigh or groan of frustration from the all the passengers waiting in the departure lounge.</p>
<p>I wasn’t paying too much attention to the people around me. It was late, I was really tired, and I…</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557532241?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557532241?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500" class="align-left"/></a>My flight home from San Francisco the other day was delayed by over an hour. It felt like every 10 – 15 minutes the boarding time would be pushed out, resulting in a mass sigh or groan of frustration from the all the passengers waiting in the departure lounge.</p>
<p>I wasn’t paying too much attention to the people around me. It was late, I was really tired, and I could hardly keep my eyes open.</p>
<p>So when I heard “<em>No f#%&ing way … You can’t be serious</em> …”, in a John McEnroe type of outburst from the guy sitting opposite me, I just assumed another delay notification must have appeared on the monitors.</p>
<p>“<em>You have got to be kidding me. No way!</em>”</p>
<p>He was now clearly pretty irate so I opened my eyes and looked over at the monitors. But there was no indication of any further delay.</p>
<p>I looked across at ‘John McEnroe’. He must have thought my eye contact was a sign I wanted to engage in conversation since the tirade of abuse continued. But he wasn’t angry about the delay; and he wasn’t angry with anyone around him (least of all me). He was actually abusing his iPhone.</p>
<p>“<em>No coverage in here?</em>” I asked, smiling somewhat awkwardly?</p>
<p>Clearly I had now invited a conversation.</p>
<p>“<em>Huh? Oh no … I’ve just seen an email from a guy who’s meant to join my team next Monday telling me that he won’t be starting. Nearly three months of interviews and salary negotiation and he has the nerve to just send a one-line email telling me he’s changed his mind? Sorry I’m just p*ssed off</em> …”</p>
<p>I couldn’t help myself.</p>
<p>“<em>When did you last speak to him?</em>” I asked casually.</p>
<p>“<em>What’s it to you?</em>”</p>
<p>OK. So now I wished I hadn’t made eye contact. A few minutes passed.</p>
<p>“<em>About 6 weeks ago … not that it’s any of your business</em>”.</p>
<p>Boarding had finally commenced and they’d called my boarding group. So I just stood up, hoping that this guy wouldn’t be sitting anywhere near me for the next 15 hours!</p>
<p>As I sat with my eyes closed waiting for the plane to push back, I couldn’t stop thinking about how agitated he had been and yet he hadn’t spoken to his future employee for 6 weeks.</p>
<p>So much can happen between the time a candidate accepts a new position and the time they actually start in their new role. As a recruiter, you need to stay particularly close and be in frequent contact with them in order to prevent any nasty surprises.</p>
<p>I have to admit that for a split second I thought about trying to find ‘John McEnroe’ and giving him some advice. But I then decided that I’d be happier just including a few tips in a blog post instead.</p>
<h3> 1. Countering the counter-offer</h3>
<p>Please understand that managers are not restricted to making a counter-offer to a team member just at the time they hand in their notice. I’ve seen it first hand when a manager has let the dust (or heat) of the actual resignation settle and half way through (say for example) the 4-week notice period has dangled a carrot too good to refuse. Your candidate accepts the counter-offer and that placement fee suddenly disappears.</p>
<p><span>Try this:</span> Call your candidate about a week after they resign and ask them if their boss has tried to throw more money at them. If they say no, ask them if more money would now hypothetically be an incentive to stay.</p>
<h3><span>2. Pre-empting the peer pressure</span></h3>
<p>For some people, leaving a job can be quite a traumatic experience – especially if they have been at the company for many years. All the different farewell lunches, the soppy “<em>we’re all going to miss you</em>” cards …</p>
<p>One of my recruiters once had a candidate call him from her team farewell lunch to say she’d changed her mind. Whether it was staged or genuine, the candidate had succumbed to the soppiness, the hugging, and the various “<em>remember when …</em>” trips down corporate memory lane, and there was nothing my recruiter could do to change her mind.</p>
<p><span>Try this:</span> Tell your candidate to be ready for an emotional guilt trip. Ask them when their farewell lunch is and jokingly say you’ll make a booking at a nearby table. And then do it if you have to!</p>
<h3><span>3. Beating the ‘Devil you know’ …</span></h3>
<p>Notice periods are funny things. While they certainly allow for any necessary handover to take place, they are also often just the right amount of time for your candidate to realise that things might not have really been as bad as they seemed; and that perhaps they were over reacting when they first came to see you.</p>
<p><em>Better the devil you know?</em></p>
<p>Maybe they’ll suddenly realise that they’ll miss the routine … the Monday morning meeting, the monthly birthday cake celebration in the break-out room, the quarterly team function, and of course the annual themed Christmas party.</p>
<p><span>Try this:</span> Call your candidate every Monday afternoon during their notice period and ask them how the meeting went. If you have to, find out when the next birthday cake day is, and meet them for a drink that evening. Remind them that they are leaving to further their career, and that friends will always stay friends. They could even arrange a reunion type of quarterly function!</p>
<h3><span>4. “<em>I’ve found something better</em> …”</span></h3>
<p>Not quite the words any recruiter wants to hear from their candidate one week before the end of the quarter.</p>
<p>This happened to me once many years ago and I certainly never let it happen to me again.</p>
<p>I foolishly believed that just because my candidate had accepted a job with my client, that this meant she would stop looking for other work.</p>
<p>Boy was I wrong.</p>
<p><span>Try this:</span> When you meet up with your candidate, casually say something like, “<em>You must feel like such a free agent now that you’ve resigned.</em> [pause] <em>So what other exciting roles have you applied for?</em>” and you may just catch them off guard.</p>
<h3><span>5. Keeping the seagulls away from your chips!</span></h3>
<p>I remember my first manager teaching me that if a candidate I was working with ever called to say they had accepted a role (especially through another recruiter) that this meant I needed to speak to even more potential clients and do everything in my power to find a better offer for my candidate.</p>
<p>“<em>Become the ambulance chaser</em>”, he said.</p>
<p>I can share this now, but I honestly hated that pressure.</p>
<p>So you need to picture that as soon as your candidate tells all the other recruiters she’s registered with that she’s accepted your offer, that all those other recruiters will be swarming in and going into overdrive to derail your placement.</p>
<p><span>Try this:</span> Call the candidate and blatantly ask her how many other offers she’s had from other recruiters in the last week. And of course ask if any of them have piqued her interest.</p>
<p>[Or you could try this (I promise I never did this, but a colleague of mine did this a few times and (unfortunately) it worked): Get one of your colleagues to call your candidate, pretend to be from another agency, describe a similar role (offering more money) and gauge your candidate’s reaction. I can’t believe I just shared that tip … but my colleague salvaged a few placements using this shady tactic.]</p>
<h3><span>6. Looking out for light bulb moments</span></h3>
<p>This one also happened to me many years ago. I’d been working on a really tough brief and I’d found the perfect candidate. He was feeling pretty burnt out from his current role and wanted to take a six week break before starting in the new role.</p>
<p>It was around Christmas time so my client was comfortable waiting.</p>
<p>I’d spoken to him twice but he had then taken his family away on holidays for three weeks.</p>
<p>I called him a few days after he got back.</p>
<p>“<em>I was actually going to call you”, </em>he said<em>. “I’ve done a lot of thinking, and I’ve decided I just don’t want another demanding job. I need to be able to spend more time with my kids. I’m really sorry to be letting you down, Paul</em>”.</p>
<p><span>Try this:</span> I used this tactic many times after the above episode ‘robbed’ me of a huge fee. If a candidate requested to take an extended period of time off between finishing with their employer and starting in their new role, whenever I would call them or meet up with them, I’d say, “<em>Do I need to call my client and let him know that you’ve decided to become an artist and have moved to a cabin in the woods?</em>”</p>
<p>A laugh on the other end of the line was always comforting …</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>Remember that just because a candidate has resigned from their current position and has accepted a role with your client, it’s certainly not a done deal. Make sure you call your candidate at least once a week during their notice period. Maybe even grab a coffee, lunch or a drink with them if possible.</p>
<p>Trust me … keeping in touch and ideally sitting down with your candidate face-to-face between the day they hand in their resignation and the day they’re due to start working with your client could help prevent a recruitment catastrophe.</p>
<p><strong>Please note this post originally appeared on The Recruitloop Blog.<a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank"><br/></a></strong></p>What Can a Social Footprint Really Reveal About a Prospective Candidate?tag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-02-21:502551:BlogPost:17908572014-02-21T02:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557528184?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557528184?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300"></img></a></strong></p>
<p>With the explosion of social media networks, we have all become content creators, networkers and spectators, and we end up spending hours online in networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus, both creating and consuming content.</p>
<p>Over 500 million photos – not to mention several billion updates – are posted every…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557528184?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557528184?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
<p>With the explosion of social media networks, we have all become content creators, networkers and spectators, and we end up spending hours online in networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus, both creating and consuming content.</p>
<p>Over 500 million photos – not to mention several billion updates – are posted every single day, and growing exponentially.</p>
<p>We live in a social media world where everything can be seen and heard <em>immediately</em>. It’s all essentially branding and it’s how candidates and organisations market themselves to one another – a timeless concept.</p>
<p>The reason why branding has always existed on a personal as well as a business level is that we have to sell ourselves or our organization in various situations, whether trying to impress a hiring manager during an interview, or to promote the company brand and mission.</p>
<p>Candidates and employers are branding and communicating to each other in a two-way dance to attract the right fit.</p>
<p>But where exactly does so much of this external branding and communication of ‘<em>who I am</em>‘ or ‘<em>who we are</em>‘ take place?</p>
<p>A hint: If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world. Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of countries like Sweden, Israel and Switzerland. The amount of content shared socially out there is ‘Astounding’ (with a capital A!) and is increasingly being used by diligent employers and recruiters who need to make consistent, solid hiring decisions.</p>
<p>In this day and age it has become common practice to ‘just Google it’, or when it comes to candidate or company profiles, to attempt to gain more insight via searching the major social media vehicles. For some ‘the social search’ has now become second nature. But why is this?</p>
<h3><span>Pre-interview verification</span></h3>
<p>More and more employers and recruitment professionals are turning to social media since they want to see who a potential candidate is prior to even interviewing them. They want to see how a candidate communicates and positions their personal brand and persona to others.</p>
<p>But, what are employers really looking for to facilitate a successful hire and increase top employee retention?</p>
<h3><span>Fit and suitability</span></h3>
<p>How will a candidate fit in with a company’s culture, mission and values? And how well will they mesh with their prospective work colleagues?Employers equate fit and suitability with building and retaining top performers.</p>
<p>Many hiring managers have moved beyond simply reviewing a person’s qualifications and experience on a CV to effectively screen, evaluate, and interview top candidates for key positions. They’re gauging fit and suitability based on a candidate’s social footprint. In-depth ‘social screening’ and assessment up front can help both job seekers and employers ensure a proper fit and reduce time spent ‘in limbo’.</p>
<h3><span>The resumé has been replaced by a social snapshot</span></h3>
<p>The future of the resumé will be a social snapshot that showcases a candidate’s personal brand – an expression of who they are in their world of social networks. This leads to the question, what do social networks say about a prospective candidate?</p>
<h3><span>The five C’s to look for when evaluating a candidate’s social footprint</span></h3>
<ol>
<li><span>Community.</span> A person’s community reflects where they spend their time and can show their interests, hobbies and who they surround themselves with.</li>
<li><span>Content.</span> Content is king. It really reveals one’s character and shows potential employers what the individual is all about, what they are saying, and what they are doing within these networks.</li>
<li><span>Context.</span> Context tells a story about how one is living their life, and it can give an indication of how professional they are.</li>
<li><span>Communication.</span> A prospective employee’s written message shows how they engage with audiences within their communities – how they talk with friends, family and peers online.</li>
<li><span>Consistency.</span> In direct relation to content, context and communication – how consistently does the individual exhibit across their social networks? This can reflect behaviour, validate how they represent themselves or indicate their authenticity, and that they are who they say they are.</li>
</ol>
<p>Analysing a candidate’s social footprint can transform and streamline your entire hiring process.</p>
<p>This can then allow for a better connection with employers, adding value to all parties involved in the hiring process by increasing the ability to better assess an individual candidate’s cultural and professional fit.</p>
<p><strong>Please note this post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>7 Essential Telephone Screening Questionstag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-01-29:502551:BlogPost:17849062014-01-29T06:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524499?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524499?profile=original" width="280"></img></a> I’ve seen far too many people fall into this trap over the years and you may well have found yourself in a similar situation either as a hiring manager or as a recruiter.</p>
<p>You’re inundated with applications. You skim through the plethora of cover letters or maybe have a quick glance at the front pages of the resumés starting to clog up your inbox.</p>
<p>A few…</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524499?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524499?profile=original" width="280" class="align-left"/></a>I’ve seen far too many people fall into this trap over the years and you may well have found yourself in a similar situation either as a hiring manager or as a recruiter.</p>
<p>You’re inundated with applications. You skim through the plethora of cover letters or maybe have a quick glance at the front pages of the resumés starting to clog up your inbox.</p>
<p>A few key words, relevant job titles, or ‘nice-to-have’ company names jump out at you and you immediately pick up the phone to book a candidate in for an interview.</p>
<p>If you’re feeling too swamped, you may even ask someone else to call the candidate on your behalf to invite them in.</p>
<p>No questions asked. It’s just a call to book them in to see you.</p>
<p>So far so good?</p>
<p><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/the-10-biggest-stuff-ups-i-made-as-a-recruiter/">Ah … not quite!</a></p>
<p>It’s crazy how often a recruiter or hiring manager will then walk into the interview only to quickly realise that the candidate in front of them is <em>totally</em> wrong for the role (or company) in question.</p>
<p>And yet had they spent even just 5 – 10 minutes on the phone assessing the candidate, they certainly would <em>not</em> have invited them in for what turned out to be a complete waste of (everyone’s) time.</p>
<p>Phone screening is certainly one way to determine whether a candidate might be suitable for a role and therefore whether or not they should qualify for a face-to-face interview.</p>
<p>But knowing what to keep an eye (or ear!) out for during a phone screening call could also prevent the odd catastrophe.</p>
<h3><span>1. Do they even remember applying for the role?</span></h3>
<p>The first question I always ask during a phone screen (after I introduce myself and let them know where I am calling from) is whether they can actually recall applying for my role. You can tell a lot from how they respond to this question.</p>
<h3><span>2. What was it about the role (or ad) that attracted their attention?</span></h3>
<p>I remember asking this question once to a candidate whose work history actually looked damn good on paper.</p>
<p>She literally burst out laughing. “<em>Are you serious? I’ve probably applied for about 50 roles in the last 2 weeks. Do you really expect me to know why I specifically applied to yours? Probably because I desperately need to find a job. Does that answer your question?</em>”</p>
<p>Let’s just say I didn’t even need to go on to Question 3!</p>
<h3><span>3. Where are they up to in their job search?</span></h3>
<p>Are you the first person they are speaking to? Is yours the only position they have applied for recently? Or have they already been for five interviews this week?</p>
<p>The answer to this particular question could help you assess any possibility of you working with them exclusively if they’re an A-grade candidate (especially if you’re a recruiter) or reveal just how quickly you should get them in to meet with you.</p>
<h3><span>4. What are they ideally looking for in their next position?</span></h3>
<p>Ask them to create a wish list for their next role and get them to talk through it right there with you over the phone, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>What type of manager they want to work for;</li>
<li>What hours they ideally want to work;</li>
<li>Whether they want any more flexible working arrangements (eg to work from home one day per week).</li>
</ul>
<p>Assuming you then decide to bring them in, you will also be able to refer back to their wish list during the face-to-face interview.</p>
<h3><span>5. What are their salary expectations?</span></h3>
<p>It’s an unfortunate fact but the majority of applicants will typically ‘stretch’ the truth slightly in response to this particular question. It’s also important to ascertain what salary they are <em>currently</em>on.</p>
<p>So you might also want to ask, “<em>If I were to ask to see a pay slip, what salary will it indicate you are on now?</em>”. Whilst it might cause an awkward silence or a nervous cough, you are more likely to get a straight answer.</p>
<h3><span>6. What is their notice period?</span></h3>
<p>If someone is immediately available (and not working), you need to find out the backstory. Similarly if your need is urgent and when you ask your applicant for their notice period they say “<em>six weeks</em>”, well there’s no point in wasting anybody’s time on this occasion.</p>
<p>Asking this question can also suddenly make the whole job hunting process become very real for any job seeker. If they say “<em>Gosh I’m only just starting to put the feelers out</em>” (or words to this extent), well then they certainly shouldn’t go straight to the top of your interview shortlist.</p>
<h3><span>7. What is their availability like for an interview in the next few days?</span></h3>
<p>You might get a similar reaction here to the question about their notice period. But if an applicant says they’re just really busy and wouldn’t be able to meet you until next week at the earliest, then again you need to question how serious they are about the whole process. If they say they can meet with you before or after work or that they’ll “<em>do anything to make it happen</em>” because the position looks perfect, then you might just be on to something.</p>
<p>The way an applicant responds to each of the above questions can tell you a lot about them and about just how serious they are about finding a new job. So listen very carefully to what they have to say.</p>
<p>Remember <a title="you have two ears and one mouth for a reason" href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/you-have-two-ears-and-one-mouth-for-a-reason/">you have two ears and one mouth for a reason</a>. It’s only a 10 – 15 minute telephone call. So make sure you’re listening twice as much as you’re speaking!</p>
<p><span>Of course if you still feel you might not have time to telephone screen your applicants, then asking them to <a href="http://recruitloop.com/video-interviews">record a video interview</a> is certainly another option.</span></p>
<p><strong>Please note this post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>How to Become a Resumé Reviewing Protag:recruitingblogs.com,2014-01-25:502551:BlogPost:17839842014-01-25T04:48:38.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong>Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523814?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523814?profile=original" width="206"></img></a> Don’t worry. I know exactly what you’re thinking.</p>
<p><em>Surely in this day and age resumés are becoming obsolete! I mean who even has a CV these days anyway?</em></p>
<p>Gosh even we …</p>
<p><strong>Please note this post originally appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523814?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523814?profile=original" width="206" class="align-left"/></a>Don’t worry. I know exactly what you’re thinking.</p>
<p><em>Surely in this day and age resumés are becoming obsolete! I mean who even has a CV these days anyway?</em></p>
<p>Gosh even we <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/are-cvs-and-resumes-dead/">recently confessed </a>that we hired our Head of Growth without ever looking at her resumé!</p>
<p>But for all those business owners and hiring managers out there working in organisations or industry sectors where LinkedIn profiles or social footprints may not be as relevant or as common as a good old hard copy CV, this one’s for you!</p>
<p>Now I can’t even begin to think of how many <em>thousands</em> of resumés I’ve scanned in my time. You do the math … 20 years … often up to 90 applications per job ad …</p>
<p>OK stop. That’s a <em>lot</em> of trees (yep – even today the majority of recruiters and hiring managers still like to print out a candidate’s resumé. Go ahead and ask them!)</p>
<p>So how do the pros review the barrage of CVs after the tsunami of applications hit their inboxes?</p>
<h3><span>The Pile Splitter</span></h3>
<p>I interviewed a recruiter many years ago who placed people into call centre roles. She would be inundated with CVs for every role she advertised. Apparently her theory was quite simple. Each day she would wait for all the applications to come in. She’d make a pile of CVs on her desk and then split the pile in two. She only screened the bottom half and she dumped top half straight in the shredder bin. [In case you’re wondering … I <em>didn’t</em> hire her].</p>
<h3><span>Residential Bias</span></h3>
<p>Many hiring managers are obsessed with knowing where a candidate lives. This is why most recruiters will typically remove the candidate’s address from a CV before sharing it with their client.</p>
<p><em>Oh … she lives there! There’s no way he’d travel in from that far!</em></p>
<p>If somebody wants a job and they’re prepared for a long commute, then please don’t judge someone on where they live. Unfortunately because so many candidates put their address at the top of their resumé, residential bias (as I like to call it) is rife!</p>
<h3><span>To Whom It May Concern:</span></h3>
<p>I have to admit I have been guilty of this one myself. There were times when I would be swamped with CVs and cover letters. If I had made it clear in my job ad that all resumés should be addressed to Paul Slezak, then if I received a cover letter that said “<em>To whom it may concern</em>”, well unfortunately I didn’t even read the cover letter let alone the CV behind it.</p>
<p>That’s what I would call resumé skimming at its fastest!</p>
<h3><span>Say Cheese!</span></h3>
<p>Right up there with ‘<em>residential bias</em>’, are employers (and recruiters too!) looking at a candidate’s photo (if they’ve decided to include one) and letting a mug shot lead the decision making process.</p>
<p>Assuming the majority reading this blog post aren’t recruiting for a modelling agency or a prime time television network, then a candidate’s photo should be the least of your worries.</p>
<h3><span>Virgo or Sagittarius?</span></h3>
<p>If it’s included in the resumé, a candidate’s date of birth is also somewhere the hiring manager’s eyes will gravitate pretty early on.</p>
<p>I used to think this was related to age discrimination. But over the years I have learned that quite often it’s not the <em>year</em> of birth that’s being scrutinised at all. It’s actually more the day and month.</p>
<p>Believe it or not there are people out there who build their teams based entirely on ‘zodiacal compatibility’! There you go – no need to even read the CV. Better yet forget engaging a recruiter! Just hire consulting astrologer!</p>
<p><a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/astrologer-1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4304 align-center" alt="" src="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/astrologer-1-300x217.jpg" width="300" height="217"/></a></p>
<h3><span>Now on a More Serious Note …</span></h3>
<p>Whenever I lecture graduates and job seekers on how to create a compelling CV, one of the first things I tell them is that a recruiter or hiring manager will make a decision in the first 10 – 15 seconds of looking at a CV as to whether or not a candidate is suitable.</p>
<p>It’s true.</p>
<p>So now looking at it from your perspective, if you’re making a judgement call within 10 – 15 seconds, what should you be looking out for in a candidate’s CV?</p>
<p>In many previous blog posts and e-books I have stressed the importance of distinguishing between a candidate’s ability to <em>get</em> a job and their ability to <em>do</em> the job and ideally excel in it.</p>
<p>Typically during the resumé reviewing process, your focus is on the <em>getting</em> part. It’s during the screening and interviewing stages where your focus should shift more to the <em>doing</em> (and excelling) components – and we have <a href="http://recruitloop.com.au/resources">stacks of information</a> about that.</p>
<h3><span>Relevant Employment History</span></h3>
<p>Where has the candidate worked? Not just in what companies but in what capacity? You can get a very quick idea as to how suitable their previous work experience has been.</p>
<h3><span>Gaps in Dates</span></h3>
<p>Cast your eye quickly down the work experience or employment history section and ensure the dates flow logically. But if you detect a gap in the chronology please don’t write the candidate off immediately. Instead make a note to flag it with them if you speak to them. They may well have a very valid reason for not having worked for a specific period of time.</p>
<h3><span>Required Qualifications</span></h3>
<p>Some roles require set qualifications. Without having to delve into what specific subjects they studied, you can quickly skim to see when and where they obtained their degree.</p>
<h3><span>Responsibilities and Achievements</span></h3>
<p>Has the candidate just listed their responsibilities from their previous roles? Or have they also included a list of achievements associated with them? Whilst a list of duties will once again help with the job <em>getting</em> assessment piece, seeing what they actually achieved (going beyond the job description) will help assess the <em>doing</em> part.</p>
<h3><span>Personal Accomplishments</span></h3>
<p>I have always placed a strong emphasis on this section of a candidate’s CV (if they’ve included it). Life experiences can give you a great snapshot of what they’re like outside work.</p>
<p>I used to do a lot of graduate recruitment and often from an academic and work experience perspective the hundreds of CVs would all start to look the same. But if I noticed under ‘personal achievements’ that a candidate had taken part in a 10-day <em>Vipassana</em> meditation course, had built a raft with a group of friends and spent a month canoeing down a river in South America, or had successfully organised a major fundraising event, I felt that those candidates may well have more to offer than those who just ticked the stock standard boxes.</p>
<p>Finally I just want to highlight that I am definitely a firm believer in looking at a candidate’s social footprint alongside their CV. And for anyone I ever hired personally to work in any of my teams, I never even took their resumé into the first interview since first and foremost that meeting was all about assessing cultural suitability.</p>
<p>But if you’re being swamped with candidate applications, it’s important that you can quickly sort the wheat from the chaff.</p>9 Ways to Burn Bridges With Future Candidatestag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-12-20:502551:BlogPost:17780662013-12-20T00:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524428?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524428?profile=original" width="206"></img></a> Congratulations on finding the perfect person for your role! Now, what are you going to do with all those resumes that you no longer need?</p>
<p>Here’s some advice: Burn them. Seriously. Who cares? That person made a connection with you, your company, and your brand; but none of that matters now. You don’t need them. You’ve got what you need and over 50% of them weren’t even…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524428?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524428?profile=original" width="206" class="align-left"/></a>Congratulations on finding the perfect person for your role! Now, what are you going to do with all those resumes that you no longer need?</p>
<p>Here’s some advice: Burn them. Seriously. Who cares? That person made a connection with you, your company, and your brand; but none of that matters now. You don’t need them. You’ve got what you need and over 50% of them weren’t even remotely close to what you needed – or will ever need in the future anyway. The best thing to do with people who didn’t make the cut is to treat them like garbage, right?</p>
<p>Plus, fire = toasty! (It’s been cold in San Francisco recently.)</p>
<p>Wait a second though. Don’t burn them (fire code regulations could pose a problem, after all!). There are plenty of <i>other</i> creative ways to cut off ties with these people, some of them much more fun and requiring a lot less effort than pulling out the gasoline. These ideas will leave a bad taste in their mouth about your employer brand probably for the rest of their life! Better yet, they’ll tell all their friends about their bad experience, so you’ll never have to deal with a passive pool of admiring candidates.</p>
<p>Here are 9 easy and simple ways to burn bridges with future applicants:</p>
<h3>1. Don’t Respond to Their Application</h3>
<p>We hear that this one is a pet peeve and it <i>really</i> annoys them! They know that it’s so simple for us to set up an automatic email reply letting them know potential time frames for hearing back about a job. They also know that it would take us probably about two minutes to put together a group email to all the unsuccessful candidates to let them know they didn’t make it (using bcc, of course). Knowing we couldn’t be bothered to do either of these things makes them really mad, so poof goes the bridge!</p>
<h3>2. Unfriendly Careers Page</h3>
<p>You just need to warn them that you get about a hundred applicants a month wanting an unpaid internship so they don’t get too excited. That’s if you can bother putting a careers page up at all. After all, all the <i>good</i> people are in the passive job market right? And they <i>never</i> look at careers pages of companies who contact them. Keep that careers page as unfriendly and scary-looking as possible to make sure that only arrogant self-obsessed people will ever apply for any of your roles.</p>
<p>Bonus points if your careers page is unfriendly, scary, tough to navigate, AND out of date!</p>
<h3>3. Refuse to Take Informational Interviews</h3>
<p>Why on earth would you want to talk to someone who wants to know <i>about</i> your job rather than apply to work <i>for</i> you? You wouldn’t want to run the risk of discovering someone with transferrable skills and increasing your workplace diversity and creativity levels. Also, you won’t have to deal with the headache of fielding interest from an experienced candidate willing to work junior positions to get a foot in your industry’s door. Say no.</p>
<p>Oh! Better yet, don’t reply to their request. You’re clearly too busy.</p>
<h3>4. Post Jobs That Don’t Really Exist</h3>
<p>Sometimes it’s just good to see what’s out there and find out who you could reel in to keep on your passive candidate file. High quality applicants particularly hate spending time filling out a resume, researching the company, taking time off their current work, and traipsing in for an interview only to discover the role isn’t actually available anymore! If you do this one right, you’ll never have them apply for another role with your company again. Another bridge gone!</p>
<h3>5. Have a Bad Application User Experience</h3>
<p>This is a great way of filtering out people who have an eye for design, appreciate great user experience, and prefer to get things done quickly. Your application system should be as unfriendly as possible. Make sure resumes realign when they get uploaded. Ask them to manually enter their job experience and university degrees even though it’s all on the resume. Don’t allow pdfs, and ensure that at least one link is broken in every application process. Bonus points if you can make the search function turn up vague job descriptions with tiny text – that works wonders with starting bridge fires.</p>
<h3>6. Don’t Have a Mobile Website</h3>
<p>No one who is serious about a job search would do it on an iPad. Keeping your careers webpages desktop-only makes sure that the person on a train or in a café during lunch can’t apply. They’ll have to do it at home, and they’ll probably forget about it. Also, it’ll make them frustrated with your brand for about a week as they keep realizing that they never have time to apply for your role. If you’re lucky, by the end of it they’ll just give up.</p>
<h3>7. Ask Them Pointless Screening Questions</h3>
<p>These are best combined with a requirement to upload a cover letter. After writing the cover letter, ask the applicant to put all the same information into the question boxes. They’ll realize they need to say the same thing differently. Again. Considering the amount of times they’ve looked over and rewritten their resume already, this sort of requirement brings them straight to boiling point. At the very least, it will give you a reason to cut out candidates with common sense who just copy and pasted the information from cover letter to screening questions.</p>
<h3>8. Hire an Unenthusiastic, Clueless Recruiter</h3>
<p>It doesn’t really matter who the recruiter is as long as they don’t know who you are or what your role is about. Get your roles into the hands of as many depressed and overworked recruiters as you can. An unknowledgeable or unenthusiastic recruiter has been known to turn off many a high performing candidate on behalf of their clients.</p>
<p>Bonus points if you can find recruiters like the ones <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/5-ways-recruiters-have-pissed-me-off">who really annoyed me in the past</a>.</p>
<h3>9. Treat Current or Ex-Employees Badly</h3>
<p>The great thing about the people who work for your company (or used to work for your company) is that they <i>gossip</i>. They tell all their industry friends about what it’s like to work for your organization and when they’ve been treated badly, it turns other people off from wanting to work for you as well. Especially if someone is leaving your employment; don’t bother to look after them. You’re not getting any immediate benefit from them anymore anyway. Move on to the next sucker…</p>
<p>Clearly, we don’t <i>actually</i> think you should burn bridges with your future candidates! We just wanted to have a little fun with it to show just how easy it is to alienate folks you might want to hire in the future. You’re pretty safe if you avoid these 9 things – gotta keep those bridges intact!</p>
<p><strong>Please note this piece by Jenn Steele first appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>Tips for clients: How to Conduct a Proper 30-day Post-hire Check-intag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-12-16:502551:BlogPost:17773152013-12-16T06:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523391?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523391?profile=original" width="320"></img></a> I can vividly remember starting a new job many years ago.</p>
<p>The place was a bit of a shambles and just between you and me my boss was a patronising prick. He’d seemed so nice; so approachable … during the interview process. But from day one it was as if Dr Jekyll had left Mr Hyde alone in the building!</p>
<p>One morning about a month into the job, I happened to get into…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523391?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523391?profile=original" width="320" class="align-left"/></a>I can vividly remember starting a new job many years ago.</p>
<p>The place was a bit of a shambles and just between you and me my boss was a patronising prick. He’d seemed so nice; so approachable … during the interview process. But from day one it was as if Dr Jekyll had left Mr Hyde alone in the building!</p>
<p>One morning about a month into the job, I happened to get into the elevator at the same time as Barry (not his real name). He was on his way up to “<em>an important meeting</em>” and as I stepped out at my floor, he asked “<em>everything cool after month one, Slez?</em>”</p>
<p>The elevator door closed behind me.</p>
<p>Let’s just say everything <em>wasn’t</em> cool after month one. And I wasn’t <em>there</em> after month two.</p>
<p>In fact there has never been any evidence of my 34 days at that particular organisation on my CV. It’s as if it never even happened.</p>
<p>I had definitely learned something during that month though. How <em>not</em> to treat staff – especially<em>new</em> staff.</p>
<p>Asking a new team member after their first month if “<em>everything’s cool</em>” while you’re on your way to another meeting is not only unprofessional. It’s just rude. After all I didn’t even get a chance to respond.</p>
<p>Actually I did. When I handed in my resignation a week later.</p>
<p>New staff members are still fairly vulnerable after a month in a new role. In fact many would describe themselves as feeling “<em>consciously incompetent</em>” – in other words they are aware of how much they still don’t know.</p>
<p>This is why the 30-day post-hire checkin is crucial. It’s not only a chance for you to discuss whether your initial expectations are being met. It’s the perfect opportunity for your new team member to share with you whether <em>their</em> expectations are being met too.</p>
<p>[Oh – and for any recruiters reading this … my advice is that you always conduct the 30 day checkin with both your candidate and client <em>in person</em>. Not over phone and definitely not via email.]</p>
<h3><span>1. Put time aside</span></h3>
<p>30 days in any business can pass by in no time at all. One minute it’s the first of the month and before you know it you’re preparing for month-end. But for a new employee it can feel like an eternity if they haven’t received regular feedback.</p>
<p>You should check in regularly with every new staff member in the first few weeks. But you should definitely set a specific time aside for their 30-day checkin. It’s even worth scheduling it in both your calendars from day one. That way it won’t get overlooked.</p>
<h3><span>2. Preparation</span></h3>
<p>If there’s a meeting scheduled, you can be assured that your new team member will be preparing for the conversation. So in order to avoid an “<em>everything cool?</em>” scenario, spend a few minutes preparing your part of the 30-day checkin too.</p>
<p>In terms of your ‘<a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/6-reasons-to-set-success-expectations/">success expectations</a>’, what specific and measurable outcomes (if any) had you defined for your newbie by the 30-day mark? Without these having been clearly spelled out, your new team member won’t have anything to go by when listening to your feedback – either positive or constructive.</p>
<h3><span>3. The setting</span></h3>
<p>Needless to say a moving elevator isn’t the most appropriate forum for the 30-day checkin. Neither is a cab on the way to or from a meeting. Nor is just sitting down on the corner of your new team member’s desk with a beer for a chat on a Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Personally I have conducted many 30-day checkins with new team members over lunch in a café. I found it to be a more relaxed and informal setting but a chance for us to have an in-depth conversation reflecting on their first month in the business.</p>
<h3><span>4. The 2-way conversation</span></h3>
<p>Remember that the 30-day checkin isn’t just your chance to provide your feedback. Of course you will have your chance to speak, but you should let them kick off the conversation.</p>
<p>“<em>So … it’s already been a month. How have you found the role so far?</em>”</p>
<p>“<em>How would you describe your first month in the team?</em>”</p>
<p>“<em>Can you believe it’s been a month already? I’d love to hear your observations on how you’ve found things so far</em>”</p>
<p>These are so much better than mumbling “<em>everything cool?</em>” just as an elevator door is closing.</p>
<h3><span>5. Listen carefully</span></h3>
<p>Just as you (hopefully) did in your initial interview with them, during the 30-day checkin you should listen twice as much as you speak.</p>
<p>Take notes, and ensure you are engaged and not distracted (make sure your phone is out of sight!)</p>
<p>Of course when you are providing your feedback, whilst you might have a few general observations, where possible try to relate the conversation back to your specific success expectations.</p>
<h3><span>6. Encourage them</span></h3>
<p>For the most part, 30 days is too early to make any drastic decisions. Whether it’s a free flowing conversation or there are a few awkward silences or unexpected pieces of difficult feedback (from either side), where appropriate let them know that you are on their side and will do all you can to help them meet their objectives.</p>
<h3>7. Follow up</h3>
<p>Believe it or not this is one of the most important steps – even though it happens beyond the actual 30-day checkin. If you have agreed to make some changes, investigate something, speak to another team member, or come back to your new team member with a response to a particular question, make sure that you do so. And if possible commit to doing so in a relatively short period of time.</p>
<p>Nobody respects an “all talk and no action” manager. And if that’s the impression you create at the 30-day mark, it will be hard to regain the respect when it comes to any future performance related conversations.</p>
<p><strong>Please note this post first featured on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>How to Fail at Hiring (Even With a Great Recruiter!)tag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-12-05:502551:BlogPost:17754972013-12-05T22:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524294?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524294?profile=original" width="206"></img></a> Let me be frank: even the best recruiters can’t save you from yourself.</p>
<p>You can fail at hiring. Maybe you’re even failing now.</p>
<p>“But Jenn,” you say, “I still manage to hire people. How can I be failing?”</p>
<p>You can be scoring a failing hiring grade and still do just enough to fill positions. It just takes a lot longer to fill them, and you’re probably…</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524294?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524294?profile=original" width="206" class="align-left"/></a>Let me be frank: even the best recruiters can’t save you from yourself.</p>
<p>You can fail at hiring. Maybe you’re even failing now.</p>
<p>“But Jenn,” you say, “I still manage to hire people. How can I be failing?”</p>
<p>You can be scoring a failing hiring grade and still do just enough to fill positions. It just takes a lot longer to fill them, and you’re probably missing the best candidates. If you’re <i>really</i> failing, your hires probably aren’t working out very well, either.</p>
<p>Do you wonder how to fail at hiring? Here are some ways:</p>
<h3>Become a moving target</h3>
<p>“We’ve decided to take this role in another direction.”</p>
<p>“We thought we wanted people with 15 years of experience, but now we want to talk to people with 5-7 instead.”</p>
<p>“Thanks for coming in to interview for role X. But we think you’re a much better fit for role Y, so we’re going to chat about that one instead.”</p>
<p>How often do you say things like this during your hiring process? If it’s more often than once every few years, you’re doing a great job at failing at hiring.</p>
<p>By being flaky about what you want while you’re talking to your recruiter or your candidates during the process does a couple of things:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>It lengthens the process.</b> By constantly changing direction, you’re lengthening the time it takes you to fill your open role. Each change of direction means that your recruiter has to go looking for a completely different batch of candidates.</li>
<li><b>It frustrates candidates.</b> Your recruiter sold superstar candidates on your role. If you’ve changed any part of the description, either the recruiter has to disappoint the candidate or (worse) the candidate takes a day off to interview with you only to be disappointed in person. I’ve had the latter happen to me – it is really not cool. Serious fail.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you’re really not exactly sure what you want, work with your recruiter on pinning it down, rather than simply informing him or her about a certain job description, only to change its direction later. Recruiters have seen quite a bit in their careers and can really guide you towards the type of job descriptions that will pull in the candidates who will be best suited for your situation.</p>
<h3>Fail to communicate</h3>
<p>Not happy with the candidates your recruiter is sending you? Do you want to see something more or different? Do you have a different process you’d like the recruiter or the candidate to follow? By all means, keep quiet about it.</p>
<p>Not communicating is one of the best ways to fail at hiring.</p>
<p>If you’re not communicating with your recruiter or your candidates, they have no way to know how to make you happy. Think about it – how will they know what to do if you don’t tell them?</p>
<p>There is virtually no way for a hiring manager to over-communicate to a recruiter (or even to most candidates) during the hiring process. Make sure you’re blindingly clear about what you want to see or when you need a change. Do you want the recruiter to be more transparent? Tell her! Do you need the candidate to do a <a href="http://recruitloop.com/video-interviews">video interview</a>? Tell him!</p>
<h3>Drag your feet</h3>
<p>Do you wait a week or two before calling a candidate when you receive an application? Do you wait a while before replying to a recruiter’s email about an awesome candidate? Awesome – you’re definitely on the route to failure.</p>
<p>So many companies fail to get back to candidates that they assume that they’re not a fit if you don’t get back to them immediately. And recruiters can’t guarantee a candidate’s availability for a phone call that they’re not expecting.</p>
<p>I know you’re busy, but you have to be fast to land the right candidates. Prioritizing hiring and responding quickly will keep you from failing to catch the good ones before they’re gone.</p>
<h3>Be rude</h3>
<p>Do you let candidates wander around your office until they find their way to the elevator? Do you avoid eye contact at all costs? Do you hang up the phone without saying goodbye to your recruiter? Do you treat recruiters and candidates as subservient to you?</p>
<p>Congratulations! You’re not only failing at hiring; you’re probably failing at life, too.</p>
<p>Acting like you’re better than other people – especially during the hiring process – will leave a bad taste in people’s mouths. This will really hurt you if you’re trying to win a candidate that has multiple offers, and will poison your position with recruiters, candidates, and possibly throughout the industry.</p>
<p>So brush up on your manners and be polite during this process. Apologize if you make a misstep, and remember that you’re dealing with future co-workers (or possibly bosses!), and act accordingly.</p>
<h3>Be a clueless hiring manager</h3>
<p>Since we already did a post about this, I’m not going to belabor the point. However, you really do need to know what you’re doing when you interview candidates in order not to fail. In other words, if you want to fail, continue to be a clueless hiring manager.</p>
<p>So, be honest – are you already failing at hiring? Are you on your way? If you are, act fast to turn it around. If you can turn your failing grade into a passing grade, you’ll land better candidates, fill your open positions faster, and increase your employee retention. Not such bad results, eh?</p>Your 6 Step Job Description Checklisttag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-12-02:502551:BlogPost:17747602013-12-02T11:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524163?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524163?profile=original" width="206"></img></a> I’ll never forget the time I was sitting opposite a client taking a brief for a new position in her team and when I asked her if she had a position description she literally scribbled a few bullet points on to a <em>Post-It</em> note and handed it to me across the table.</p>
<p>Was she serious?</p>
<p>Apparently so.</p>
<p>I should also point out…</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524163?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524163?profile=original" width="206" class="align-left"/></a>I’ll never forget the time I was sitting opposite a client taking a brief for a new position in her team and when I asked her if she had a position description she literally scribbled a few bullet points on to a <em>Post-It</em> note and handed it to me across the table.</p>
<p>Was she serious?</p>
<p>Apparently so.</p>
<p>I should also point out that the all too common “<em>We’re hoping to create the job around the best candidate depending on their previous experience</em>” never really cut it with me either.</p>
<p>So here’s a step-by-step job description checklist for any business owner or hiring manager thinking about bringing somebody new into their team.</p>
<h3><span>1. You can’t <em>not</em> write a job description</span></h3>
<p>It’s not uncommon for an employer to know that they definitely need to bring somebody new into their business, but to not have carefully thought out exactly what it is that the new team member will be doing. I've written about this <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/do-you-really-know-what-youre-hiring-for/">previously</a>.</p>
<p>This is a dangerous way to start.</p>
<p>From experience, the very first thing a candidate thinks if their potential new employer (or recruiter for that matter) can’t provide them with a detailed job description is either that the job doesn’t exist, or that the company doesn’t really care much about their employees.</p>
<p>Not a great impression to make.</p>
<p>Similarly no employer wants to hear a team member say, “<em>Sorry but that’s not in my job description</em>”. Every manager wants staff happy to go beyond the call of duty. However the “call of duty” still needs to be documented in some way.</p>
<h3><span>2. The position title must be a true reflection of the role</span></h3>
<p>Don’t make a job title too vague or ‘creative’. You will just confuse people or perhaps even put them off. Internally you might decide to call your receptionist the “<em>Director of First Impressions</em>”, but on a job description that you share with a candidate during an interview it should still make reference to “<em>Receptionist</em>”.</p>
<p>Here are a few examples of real job titles I have seen on job descriptions that required some ‘translation’ before they really made sense to the relevant candidates.</p>
<ul>
<li>Dream Fulfiller = Financial Services Consultant</li>
<li>Creative Guru = Creative Writer</li>
<li>Web Wizard = Web Developer</li>
<li>Office Dynamo = Office All-rounder</li>
<li>Sales Ninja = Salesperson</li>
</ul>
<h3><span>3. Reporting lines need to be crystal clear</span></h3>
<p>You need to clearly define the reporting lines as well as any “dotted lined” working relationships. Specifically you need to spell out who they will be directly reporting to, as opposed to who they will just be working closely with.</p>
<p>I remember a client once showing me the job description he had created for a new marketing assistant. Under “reporting to” it said “All Staff”.</p>
<p>I tried my best to suggest that he identify one key person but he chose not to listen.</p>
<p>He employed a great marketing assistant and about a month later he called to tell me that Kitty had resigned. When I asked why, he said she’d just felt she’d had far too many people telling her what to do.</p>
<p>I tried.</p>
<h3><span>4. Duties and responsibilities</span></h3>
<p>Without stating the obvious, the most important ‘ingredient’ in a well-crafted position description is a list of the duties and responsibilities involved in the role.</p>
<p>However as opposed to simply listing them one after the other, think about what percentage of time you expect the successful candidate to dedicate to each of these tasks.</p>
<p>This will certainly help candidates better prepare and prioritise in order to meet your expectations.</p>
<h3><span>5. Separating skills and competencies</span></h3>
<p>Sometimes it’s hard to separate the necessary skills required in the role from the core competencies required in the successful candidate.</p>
<p>To make it easier here, think of the skills as something that a candidate may have learnt such as a particular software package. While the competencies are more natural traits or attributes like “highly organised”, “team player”, “confident negotiator”, “someone who can multi-task” or even “someone who is hungry to win” – definitely a good trait for any sales person.</p>
<h3><span>6. How much detail should you really include?</span></h3>
<p>If you don’t want to commit to a fixed salary, then at least come up with a salary range – but do some research to ensure that the range is within market rate.</p>
<p>It’s also a good idea to include any specific job related benefits such as the flexibility to work from home from time to time, travel, a company car, etc.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, a job description should be no more than one page that includes a brief company overview, the elements outlined above, and also a snapshot as to what’s on offer – even if it’s just something like “<em>a young, fun and creative team</em>”.</p>
<p>Oh and one last thing … without at least creating a basic framework outlining what you are looking for, how would you expect to write your ad, assess applications, or even benchmark candidates?</p>
<p>You need a reference point.</p>
<p>Yes. That’s the job description.</p>Do you REALLY know what you're hiring for?tag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-11-26:502551:BlogPost:17735162013-11-26T03:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557522526?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557522526?profile=original" width="300"></img></a> I am speaking to employers and business owners all the time.</p>
<p>As part of our popular RecruiterMatch offering, before a prospective client is matched with the most suitable recruiter, I will often contact the business owner or hiring manager to really drill down on their specific hiring needs.</p>
<p>Believe me this saves a <em>lot</em> of…</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557522526?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557522526?profile=original" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>I am speaking to employers and business owners all the time.</p>
<p>As part of our popular RecruiterMatch offering, before a prospective client is matched with the most suitable recruiter, I will often contact the business owner or hiring manager to really drill down on their specific hiring needs.</p>
<p>Believe me this saves a <em>lot</em> of unnecessary stress and frustration (not to mention wasted hours) for the employer and the recruiter if both parties are fully aware of what’s required right from the outset.</p>
<p>So let’s assume you’re thinking of engaging a recruiter for a new role within your business. Now rather than me giving you a call (as much as I’d love to pick up the phone and speak to you), let me ask you a series of questions now to help us both understand what you’re really looking for.</p>
<h3><span>What do you <em>think</em> you’re after?</span></h3>
<p>I had a small business owner tell me the other day he needed a “<em>receptionist who would also do some bookkeeping</em>“. What he probably didn’t realise was that it’s not easy to find a receptionist who is also qualified to do bookkeeping. And it’s practically impossible to find a bookkeeper who’d be happy to be distracted by having to answer incoming phone calls.</p>
<p>The position you have in mind should ideally be one that you can fill successfully and not one that is either impossible to fill, or one that will result in a revolving door situation as candidates quickly realise they’re not cut out for your ‘hybrid’ job at all.</p>
<h3><span>What are the most important duties or responsibilities?</span></h3>
<p>In the above-mentioned ‘dream position’, when I asked Brian to talk me through what he believed the successful candidate would spend most of their time to doing, it turned out he was actually looking for an office manager. I asked him how many calls come into the business every day and believe it or not it was less than 10! As for customers coming into office? Never! So he certainly didn’t need a receptionist at all.</p>
<h3><span>Why do you actually believe you need to hire a … ?</span></h3>
<p>It’s amazing what this question can reveal. Brian is clearly a very busy man (just like any business owner). But just because the phone rings 6 or 7 times a day, it doesn’t mean he needed to hire a receptionist. Brian was feeling stretched in terms of keeping all the other balls in the air … stock control, managing his website, going to meet his clients, invoicing / bookkeeping etc.</p>
<h3><span>Is it really a full-time role?</span></h3>
<p>What we quickly realised was that the supposedly critical invoicing / bookkeeping element of ‘the job’ was something that could easily be outsourced to an off-site bookkeeper. And once we ascertained that an office manager (as opposed to a receptionist-bookkeeper) would certainly be able to answer a few incoming calls, Brian then discovered that he probably only needed somebody in the office between about 10:00am and 2:00pm every day since he was out on the road every afternoon.</p>
<p>“<em>Gosh this role would be perfect for a Mum (Mom!) wanting an admin role that she could work around her kids’ school hours</em>“. Brian’s words. Not mine.</p>
<h3><span>Can you realistically afford to hire a … ?</span></h3>
<p>Once we’d agreed that Brian would go to market looking for a part-time office manager, I then gave Brian a ball-park figure in terms of what he’d have to pay someone in such a role.</p>
<p>“<em>Brian? Are you still there? Hello?</em>”</p>
<p>He was mortified by the salary I’d suggested – even pro-rated for a part-time role!</p>
<p>He admitted he wouldn’t be able to afford that sort of money for at least another 3 – 6 months.</p>
<h3><span>What are some other alternatives?</span></h3>
<p>If I hadn’t asked Brian these few quick questions, I believe he would have expected the impossible.</p>
<p>Whether or not he ultimately decided to use a recruiter or he had tried to hire for this role himself, he would never have been able to find someone … for a whole host of reasons.</p>
<p>The original role he had in mind was pretty impossible to fill; it turned out that he didn’t actually need someone full time; and the most critical part was that he didn’t have the budget to pay new employee. I hadn’t even come to the question on whether he actually had a budget for recruiting!</p>
<p>If you’re looking to hire, ask yourself the questions I asked Brian. You too may find that part of your ‘critical new role’ can be outsourced. If you don’t have the budget to make a new full-time (or even part-time hire), perhaps you could consider getting a temp in for a few weeks just to get on top of things.</p>
<p>You might even be able to get an intern in to help you if there’s an urgent project you just can’t make time for.</p>
<p>The main point I have tried to make here is to never rush into making a hire.</p>
<p>If you plan to engage a recruiter, hopefully they will ask you a series of questions similar to the ones I have included above. At least they will get you thinking along the same lines.</p>
<p>After all you don’t want to rush into the recruitment process, write a job ad, have your inbox inundated with applications, meet a whole lot of candidates, only to then realise that you’re after somebody entirely different. That would really be a complete waste of your time.</p>How to Alienate the Best Talenttag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-11-18:502551:BlogPost:17712502013-11-18T01:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523476?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523476?profile=original" width="287"></img></a> I’ve read literally hundreds of employment contracts over the years. I’ve written a fair few of them myself too.</p>
<p>It’s pretty common for most employers to include some kind of non-compete clause within their employment agreements in an attempt to protect their best interests.</p>
<p>These clauses are often referred to as a ‘Restraint of Trade’ and usually prevent an…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523476?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557523476?profile=original" width="287" class="align-left"/></a>I’ve read literally hundreds of employment contracts over the years. I’ve written a fair few of them myself too.</p>
<p>It’s pretty common for most employers to include some kind of non-compete clause within their employment agreements in an attempt to protect their best interests.</p>
<p>These clauses are often referred to as a ‘Restraint of Trade’ and usually prevent an employee from working for a similar type of business for a specific period of time in they event they leave the organisation.</p>
<p>Restraint of Trade clauses are usually brought up when an employee resigns as a bit of a scare tactic – a ‘gentle’ reminder to not approach clients or to perhaps even dissuade them from joining a competitor.</p>
<p>I can fully appreciate not wanting to lose your top performers (and their intellectual property) – hence including a Restraint of Trade clause.</p>
<p>But what about potentially losing your best candidates during the recruitment process <em>before </em>you’ve even had a chance to interview them, by invoking what this week I termed the <em>Prestraint </em>of Trade clause?</p>
<p>In case you’re wondering, “<em>Prestraint</em>”is not real word.</p>
<h3><span>Charlotte’s story</span></h3>
<p>I first heard about this graduate’s experience from a friend of mine a few weeks ago. I was so intrigued by the story that I arranged a time to speak with Charlotte personally.</p>
<p>Charlotte has just completed her undergraduate degree in media and has been actively looking for a graduate opportunity in the advertising industry for 2014.</p>
<p>She had applied to several of the top ad agency groups and had in fact been invited to attend interviews by three of them all within the same week.</p>
<h3><span>Prey on desperate candidates</span></h3>
<p>One of the agency groups contacted Charlotte and told her they would be running a panel assessment day, since within their network they had 20 graduate roles available on offer and they’d be inviting 30 graduates to attend.</p>
<p>Apparently the way the assessment day would work was that graduates would be rated and ranked and offers would be made to the graduates on the following day. They wouldn’t even know which specific agency had made them the offer, what team they would be working in, nor on what specific accounts.</p>
<p>Personally I have never heard of anything like this and I spent the good part of a decade running a recruitment business that predominantly serviced the advertising space.</p>
<h3><span>Apply unnecessary pressure on your candidates</span></h3>
<p>But here’s where the story turns a bit bizarre.</p>
<p>When the head of the assessment day contacted Charlotte inviting her to attend, she happened to mention that she’d also been invited in for interviews by two other agencies.</p>
<p>At this point Charlotte was blatantly told that she would have to give up any other interviews if she wanted to attend the assessment day.</p>
<p>She was told that she would in fact have to sign a declaration stating that she would withdraw from the other interviews, and that if she was selected by the panel, she would have to sign the employment offer immediately – not knowing anything about the agency, salary or any other conditions of employment.</p>
<p>“<em>Decide now, Charlotte</em>”, she was told. “<em>If you’ve got feet in two camps, you’d better make up your mind</em>”.</p>
<p>The head of the program made it very clear that she could not attend without signing to confirm that she was not interviewing elsewhere. He also reinforced that if she attended and was offered a graduate role she would have to accept on the spot.</p>
<p>The pressure to potentially have to make a choice without knowing anything else was too much so Charlotte withdrew her application.</p>
<h3><span>Make your candidates feel completely inadequate</span></h3>
<p>Charlotte’s withdrawal caused quite a stir. The panel representative called her begging her to reconsider.</p>
<p>They put even more pressure on her to sign.</p>
<p>Charlotte asked what would happen in the event that she did sign the declaration, attend the assessment day, receive an offer, but then decline the offer to take on another position.</p>
<p>The response she received made Charlotte feel as if she was now being threatened and bullied.</p>
<p>“<em>It’s happened in the past, and those people are black-listed within the industry</em>”.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p>
<p>What I find particularly hard to understand is that it tends to be the better candidates who are invited in by more than one organisation to attend an interview.</p>
<p>Would this particular agency group in fact prefer to lose the best candidates by pressuring them to sign a “<em>Prestraint</em> of trade” document preventing them from even <em>meeting</em> with other organisations?</p>
<p>As a recruiter I have typically advised candidates (graduates in particular) against jumping at the first job offer without at least comparing it to something else.</p>
<p>I suppose the agency group would then in fact prefer a B-Grade candidate willing to accept a job offer site unseen, as opposed to an A-Grade candidate who may ultimately accept their offer once they have weighed it up against others.</p>
<p>Surely it’s better to avoid alienating the best candidates before they’ve even had a chance to see what’s on the table.</p>
<p>NB – for those curious to know where Charlotte ended up? She was offered a position with an iconic agency as part of a fantastic graduate program! No <em>Prestaint</em> clauses, no threats and she was thrilled to sign the offer!</p>
<p><strong>This post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>Top Tactics To Close Candidates Considering Other Offerstag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-11-12:502551:BlogPost:17695662013-11-12T22:54:32.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong>Please note this post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524475?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="246" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524475?profile=original" width="370"></img></a> You have finally made an offer to a rockstar candidate only to have them turn around and tell you that they are considering a couple of other offers.</p>
<p>Time to panic, right? After all, if they turn you down, you’ll have to…</p>
<p><strong>Please note this post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524475?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557524475?profile=original" width="370" class="align-left" height="246"/></a>You have finally made an offer to a rockstar candidate only to have them turn around and tell you that they are considering a couple of other offers.</p>
<p>Time to panic, right? After all, if they turn you down, you’ll have to start the process all over again.</p>
<p>To make things even worse, while they compare your opportunity against their other options, your other candidates are accepting jobs elsewhere. If you’re not careful, you’ll be back to square one.</p>
<p>Stop. Don’t panic.</p>
<p>Closing candidates who are considering other offers can be very complicated.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many job offers are ultimately declined. This may be a direct result of delays or indecision by the hiring manager; providing an offer that isn’t quite attractive enough; or not providing consistency during the hiring process.</p>
<p>While the numbers may be against you, it is possible to turn it around in your favor and secure the person you want for your role – even if they do have other offers on the table.</p>
<p>Here are some tactics to help you close candidates who may be considering other offers. You’ll note that closing the right candidate starts well before you give them the offer.</p>
<h3>The Golden Rule: ABC</h3>
<p>You’ve heard it before. ABC – Always Be Closing. The key to winning the war for the best candidate is to continuously work on closing them right from the outset.</p>
<p>The time to begin working on closing the candidate is not when you’re at offer stage; it’s when you first meet them. If you’re running around looking for a way to sweeten the deal after you’ve already made your offer – sorry, but it’s too late. Unless the candidate has been lying to you, you should have a fair idea of whether they will accept your offer when you make it.</p>
<p>It’s your job to find out during the very first interview what other roles they may have applied for directly; what positions they may have been represented for by a recruiter; or even just any other role they might be considered for within their current company.</p>
<h3>Shorten the Hiring Cycle</h3>
<p>Schedule interviews quickly after advertising or presenting the initial job description. Ask for samples of their work prior to or during the interview so that you can make a good decision in less time. When you are considering multiple candidates, schedule multiple interviews in a single day.</p>
<p>The more time you take to make your decision, the more time the candidate has to explore other opportunities.</p>
<h3>Listen to What the Candidate Wants</h3>
<p>It’s easy to assume you know what will make a candidate interested in the position and ultimately accept it. But do you actually know? How often do you ask questions about what is important to them? When they mentioned that they needed more detail about the benefits package, did you ask what was most important to them or did you simply launch into a list of all your benefits? Listen, listen, listen.</p>
<p>Ask your candidate to create a wish list for their next role. Get them to talk through it right there in front of you and to write it all down.</p>
<p>Ask them to think about everything from what type of manager they want to work for; what hours they want to work; whether they may want any more flexible working arrangements; what additional training they may be expecting etc.</p>
<h3>Don’t Try to Lowball</h3>
<p>Trying to undercut an employee by saving a few dollars on their salary is pathetic. If you want the good employee, pay them what they’re worth.</p>
<p>If you are making these hires for yourself, a rookie mistake is to assume the salary you made the person before them is good enough for the future employee. Salaries are primarily dependent on the market; what else can they get? Remember that last year’s market prices or what you feel the market prices should be are irrelevant. Do some market research to ensure the salary you offer is competitive.</p>
<h3>Make the Offer Quickly</h3>
<p>Make your offer promptly. For example, it’s 5:05pm and you just got word that your client, hiring manager or team definitely wants the employee. Do you leave it until tomorrow? No! Call the candidate now. Give them an evening to mull over your offer so that when they receive your email the next day, confirming that you would appreciate an answer by the end of the business day they won’t feel rushed.</p>
<h3>Get Details of any Other Offers</h3>
<p>If you have already made an offer to a candidate and they mention that they are considering another offer as well, ask them for details about the other offer. Ask for the salary, benefits, work environment, and what they like and dislike about the job opportunity. Ask what their deciding factors are.</p>
<p>Don’t make any new offers at this stage – you simply want to garner as much information as you can. Watch that you’re not grilling them, though. Ask questions simply and respectfully, letting them know you want to understand what the competition is and how your role competes.</p>
<h3>Create Meaning and Dignity</h3>
<p>Often a meaningful job with a lower salary will be chosen over a less meaningful job with a higher salary.</p>
<p>But what makes a job meaningful? Career progression, challenge, and wider impact. Outline how the role can progress through the company (but only if you know it actually can). What challenges will the role be tackling? How does the company as a whole, and that role in particular, make a difference in the world? These are all aspects of the role that will convince a candidate to choose yours over others.</p>
<h3>Give Them the Royal Treatment</h3>
<p>Invite the candidate to lunch and give them another tour of the office they will be working in. Believe it or not, many candidates aren’t even shown their future office or desk before they start! Introduce them to other key people. Show them the great areas for staff relaxation or the noisy production floor where the fantastic products are being created right there on the spot.</p>
<p>Give them a taste of the energy of the place and make them want to be there.</p>
<h3>Have a Backup Plan</h3>
<p>Nothing makes you more confident in a negotiation than a strong backup plan. You know if it all goes awry, things will be okay. This confidence is apparent to the candidate and it subtly weakens their negotiating position. If their other offer is genuinely better and you know you cannot match it, you are empowered to cut off the negotiations and move onto the next person without wasting any time.</p>
<p>Getting a candidate across the line requires nearly as much luck as it does skill. Employing the right skills at the right time, though, may just turn luck’s beneficial eye in your direction when it really counts.</p>My 10 Most Memorable Candidate Interview Momentstag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-11-06:502551:BlogPost:17661502013-11-06T00:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong>Please note this piece first appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520362?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" height="212" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520362?profile=original" width="305"></img></a> I was trained from very early on never to ask a candidate a question about a their age, religion, marital status, or whether they might perhaps be suffering from a particular medical condition – despite what I may have be thinking to…</p>
<p><strong>Please note this piece first appeared on <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">The RecruitLoop Blog</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520362?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520362?profile=original" width="305" class="align-left" height="212"/></a>I was trained from very early on never to ask a candidate a question about a their age, religion, marital status, or whether they might perhaps be suffering from a particular medical condition – despite what I may have be thinking to myself at the time.</p>
<p>But what about if there was a guide out there designed specifically for candidates? One that provided them with a few tips about what <em>not</em> to say during a job interview.</p>
<p>Personally I’ve heard some real ‘doozies’ over the last 20 years so I decided to put together my ‘Top 10′ classic candidate interview moments … those that have remained memorable for all the <em>wrong</em> reasons!</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 1.17em;">1. This takes ‘too desperate’ to a new level</span></strong></p>
<p>My candidate had had quite a few roles in her career before she met with me looking for some temp work. Let’s just say I may have described her as having jumped around a bit. She told me about her last few (permanent) roles and when I asked her what she was hoping to do in terms of a potential temp assignment, she said, “<em>Oh, Paul, look I’ll do absolutely anything … ‘xcept prostitute m’self”</em>!</p>
<h3><span>2. This one left me struggling for words</span></h3>
<p>I’ve always asked candidates how they would be described by their peers. I would usually receive clichéd responses along the lines of “<em>a great team player</em>“, or “<em>having a great sense of humour</em>“, or perhaps even “<em>a bit competitive</em>“. But on this more ‘memorable’ occasion, I certainly wasn’t expecting this one: “<em>I guess they’d probably describe me as the office handle [pause]. Everybody’s had a turn”</em>!</p>
<h3><span>3. The only time I ever felt scared</span></h3>
<p>I was sitting across from a candidate who I was seriously considering representing for a pretty senior role in financial services. His background was perfect and I knew that culturally he also suited what my client was looking for. I asked him how he would feel if, for whatever reason, he didn’t get this particular role. He looked me in the eye, made a pistol shape with his middle finger, index finger and thumb, pointed the ‘pistol’ straight at me and made a gun firing gesture. Then he simply said “<em>So you’d just better make sure I get the job</em>“!</p>
<h3><span>4. Um… thanks for insulting my profession?</span></h3>
<p>It’s never easy to let a candidate down and tell them you won’t be putting them forward as part of your shortlist. But while Odette seemed like a lovely lady (and she’d told me a few times during the interview what a great mother she was), I knew she wasn’t what my client was after. I explained to her my reasons for not representing her for that particular role but told her I would certainly keep a look out for other suitable opportunities. She thanked me but then asked, “<em>What about becoming a recruiter? Surely anyone can just sit there asking questions to job applicants all day. It can’t take too much skill!</em>”</p>
<h3><span>5. This candidate probably should have rescheduled</span></h3>
<p>Hong Kong 2006. I was still getting used some some of the cultural nuances and I’d often seen a few of my staff eating <em>congee</em> (a form of rice porridge) when they were unwell. There was quite a pungent smell in the interview room and I noticed my candidate was eating congee when I walked in. I thought she may have put it aside when the interview commenced but Jessica kept eating. A few minutes into my questioning, she put the styrofoam bowl of congee down on the table, went quite pale, then a bit green before projectile vomiting right at … well … me!</p>
<h3><span>6. Mobile phones should be switched <em>off</em> during an interview</span></h3>
<p>Trevor seemed like a great candidate. Articulate, well presented, he had a great CV. I thought I’d found the perfect candidate for my client. But then his mobile phone rang. As he reached into his pocket, I just assumed he’d fumble around a bit and switch it off. But instead he took the phone out of his pocket, looked at the caller ID and then asked “<em>Sorry … do you mind if I take this? It’s about another role</em>“! “<em>Sure</em>“, I replied … “<em>You can take it outside if you’d like. But then please don’t bother coming back in</em>“!</p>
<h3><span>7. There is such a thing as overly honest</span></h3>
<p>I spent many years recruiting for roles in call centres. They were typically customer service positions and so one of my standard questions would be “<em>Can you please tell about a time you dealt with an irate customer and how you handled the call</em>“. This particular candidate had given me an example of when he’d be working in the credit card call centre for one of the big banks. One particular customer had been very irate. When I asked the candidate how he’d responded to the customer, he said “<em>Oh I just told him to shove his Visa Card up his a*$e and hung up</em>“!</p>
<h3><span>8. I didn’t think I was recruiting for Master Chef</span></h3>
<p>“<em>What’s been your greatest career related achievement to date?</em>” I would think this particular question is one that is asked by the majority of recruiters or hiring managers during an interview. I’ll never forget interviewing Olga who had applied for an account management role with a leading ad agency. She asked me if she could have a moment to think about her answer. No problem at all. She closed her eyes and I could see she was deep in thought. She opened her eyes and (in all seriousness) said “<em>I made a mean chicken kiev for my team’s Melbourne Cup Day lunch last year</em>“!</p>
<h3><span>9. This candidate didn’t make the shortlist</span></h3>
<p>I always asked my candidates if there was anything else I needed to know before bringing the interview to a close. I was recruiting an office manager role for a busy law firm in the city and I thought Belinda was a pretty strong candidate. But then she answered my question with this: “<em>I won’t start work before 9:00am; I won’t stay back after 5:30; I definitely won’t take any work home or work on the weekend; Oh and I have been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue so I don’t really ‘do’ pressure very well</em>“. I guess she wasn’t such a strong candidate after all.</p>
<h3><span>10. Have I already mentioned that sometimes they’re <em>too</em>desperate?</span></h3>
<p>By the time Joanna registered with me, she’d already met with at least a dozen other recruiters. Clearly she didn’t believe in working with one recruiter exclusively! She’d been put forward for a few opportunities but hadn’t been successful in getting a job. I asked her why she felt things had’t quite gone according to plan. She just burst into tears and said “<em>I know I’m probably coming across too desperate. The last recruiter I registered with accused me of looking so desperate that even Brad and Angelina wouldn’t adopt me!</em>”</p>
<p>Sometimes I just wished I could have pushed a button during an interview if a candidate said something stupid, and they would have just been ejected from the room without any need for further explanation. The minute a candidate would say something completely inappropriate … BAM! The interview would be over.</p>
<p><strong>Come on all you recruiters out there! We’ve all got our ‘classic interview moments’ … why not share a few of your own!</strong></p>10 Reasons It's Dumb to Ignore Active Job Seekerstag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-10-29:502551:BlogPost:17638982013-10-29T08:58:37.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520429?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520429?profile=original" width="300"></img></a> Please note this post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog.</a></strong></p>
<p>Have you ever heard someone say that active candidates – those who are actively in the market looking for job opportunities – are a waste of time?</p>
<p>The belief seems to be that, ‘If they are looking for a job, then they…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520429?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520429?profile=original" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>Please note this post originally appeared on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog.</a></strong></p>
<p>Have you ever heard someone say that active candidates – those who are actively in the market looking for job opportunities – are a waste of time?</p>
<p>The belief seems to be that, ‘If they are looking for a job, then they can’t be any good.’</p>
<p>Instead, recruiters have encouraged organisations to focus on those people who are already in jobs, saying, ‘Focus on the passive talent! The best candidates are currently employed!’</p>
<p>This is a myth and it’s time to destroy it.</p>
<p>This belief was created, shared and perpetuated by traditional recruiters to justify sky high fees for their work and convince unsuspecting organisations that they needed headhunters (and the associated fees) when really what was needed was a simple job ad.</p>
<p>Passive candidates can be a great source of untapped talent for organisations and every good recruiter should devote a period of time to maintaining their passive candidate funnel. However including active job seekers when searching for the best talent can be just, if not more, effective and cost thousands of dollars less.</p>
<p>Here are 10 reasons why you can’t afford to ignore active job seekers:</p>
<h3>1. Almost all workers are always seeking new job opportunities</h3>
<p>A <a target="_blank" href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-3207-Job-Search-Strategies-The-myth-of-the-passive-job-seeker/">study done on Candidate Behaviour</a> revealed that 71% of people currently employed actively search for new positions as a regular part of their routine. 27% search for new opportunities as regularly as every week! Job search email alerts sent directly to a person’s inbox makes keeping an eye on currently available job positions easy. It’s likely your candidate will come to you before you manage to reach them passively. How devastating if you ignored them simply because they did your work for you!</p>
<h3>2. Active job seekers may be active for good reasons</h3>
<p>Not everyone is an active job seeker because they’re not good enough to get the job they want. They may be moving cities for family reasons. They may have taken a sabbatical the year before. They may have just graduated from further education. They may have thought their current role was something that it turned out not to be. Almost everyone has been an active job seeker at some stage in their professional life. There are many reasons a person is an active job seeker. Remember an ‘active’ job seeker isn’t necessarily out of work. They might be active because they have made the conscious decision to find a new role and are just doing something about it!</p>
<h3>3. Keyword searches don’t find everyone</h3>
<p>If you’re searching for someone a little unusual to fill a role requiring creativity and innovation, you likely won’t find the word ‘creative’ or ‘innovative’ on their LinkedIn profile. Creative people are often hiding behind more traditional titles, maybe ones that do not currently relate to the job you are looking to fill. You may be missing out on a potential creative gem by limiting your talent pool to only those who show up in keyword searches.</p>
<h3>4. Active job seekers are often the fastest to get across the line</h3>
<p>It takes a lot of effort to recruit a passive job seeker – dozens of unanswered emails, hours convincing and negotiating. On the other hand, an active candidate is often ready to go. They are open to new opportunities and have already mentally left behind their current role. When a candidate is the right candidate, an active jobseeker will have required far less work to get across the line than a passive one. There’s no need to take the path of most resistance if the result – a great candidate for the role – is the same.</p>
<h3>5. Active job seekers can be surprising gems</h3>
<p>It stands to reason that active job seekers are far more invested in their potential for a job role than you are. Recruiters can’t know everything about a person and often need the jobseeker to present their skills in the right way for a job match to be obvious. Judging a person by the small amount of information available on their LinkedIn profile is to unnecessarily narrow the options.</p>
<h3>6. Passive job seekers tend to have outdated profiles</h3>
<p>When a person is happy in their current role, they usually do not maintain an updated profile on LinkedIn or any of the job search sites. Approaching someone with outdated information about their job history can waste time and resources.</p>
<h3>7. Passive job seekers are in control – because YOU called THEM</h3>
<p>Negotiating a package with a passive job seeker starts with you, the employer or recruiter, on the back foot. You called them so they know they have the upper hand. Landing a qualified person for the role who was recruited passively may cost more than landing a qualified person for the role who was recruited actively. Same result, more money spent.</p>
<h3>8. Active job seekers are ready to go – now!</h3>
<p>When you’ve got a time sensitive recruitment job, passive candidates are not your best friend. You’ll destroy your reputation or hurt your business in the process of attempting to only recruit people who are currently happy in their roles and who may have lengthy notice periods. If you need to open a new office in a new city and staff it with 20 employees, you should be prepared to consider active employees or you’ll never get it off the ground.</p>
<h3>9. Passive does not necessarily equal ‘talented’</h3>
<p>Theoretically, if someone searching for a job means they are untalented, someone who is not searching for a job must be talented – right? This is completely untrue and quite ridiculous. There are plenty of deadbeat, uninspired and quite simply average employees quite happily sucking their current employer dry and getting through their regular 9-5.</p>
<h3>10. Why does it matter how they got to you?</h3>
<p>A great candidate is a great candidate. Judge their ability to do the job not by how they arrived at your door but by how they have evidenced their ability to perform in the past, what that says about their future ability and how they respond in your interviews and questioning. These are greater predictors of their future success at your company than how their resume got into your inbox.</p>
<p>A great recruiter sources potential candidates from many different sources. A great recruiter discriminates a good and bad job seeker, not from the method they used to get in contact, but from their skills, attributes and experiences. Don’t buy into the passive jobseeker myth – it could cost you money and reputation.</p>
<p></p>My Top 10 Epic Recruitment Blunderstag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-10-15:502551:BlogPost:17582542013-10-15T01:30:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521086?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521086?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="325"></img></a> I caught up with a client the other day. She was actually a candidate I placed many years ago and we’ve kept in regular contact.</p>
<p>She’s a pretty tough business woman (I remember she was a pretty demanding candidate too!) so I felt quite chuffed when she told me that of all the recruiters she’s dealt with throughout her career both as a…</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521086?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="325" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521086?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="325" class="align-left"/></a>I caught up with a client the other day. She was actually a candidate I placed many years ago and we’ve kept in regular contact.</p>
<p>She’s a pretty tough business woman (I remember she was a pretty demanding candidate too!) so I felt quite chuffed when she told me that of all the recruiters she’s dealt with throughout her career both as a candidate and hiring manager, she rated me “right up there”.</p>
<p>Nice.</p>
<p>As I walked back to the office I started thinking about some of my all time favourite candidate and client moments from nearly 20 years in the game. But since then I’ve also had a few flashbacks to some of my more epic disaster moments. After all … nobody’s perfect.</p>
<p>And I’m not just talking about one of my very first client meetings where my nose decided to start bleeding profusely … all over the CV I was presenting to my client. I mean the ones that left me embarrassed, lost for words, or rocking in a corner.</p>
<h3><span>1. Why you should always meet (or at least speak to) candidates yourself</span></h3>
<p>I was working on a tough client brief and as I always did, I had booked times for my client to interview potential candidates in advance. I had been inundated with ad response so I split the pile of CVs and gave half to my admin assistant. I asked her to please call them and if anyone was a stand-out to just book them straight in to meet the client.</p>
<p>A few days later, I called my client to get his feedback on the first candidate interview.</p>
<p>“<em>How did things go with Sam this morning?</em>”, I asked. “He’s got a great background and I think he’d be great for your team”.</p>
<p>“<em>Interesting you should say that, Paul</em>”, my client replied. “<em>Sam definitely has a solid background. But I should probably point out that Sam’s a woman</em>”!</p>
<p>[Awkward silence]</p>
<h3><span>2. As if anyone could make a loss on a contractor!</span></h3>
<p>It’s no secret how the world of contract staffing works. It’s pretty straightforward. You pay your contractor $X and you charge your client $X plus a nice profit margin (in some cases I would charge $X + 60%). On one occasion I’d been in such a hurry that I quoted my client the $X (contractor’s) rate … for a 3-month assignment.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget the email from our Finance Director: “<em>Paul. Please come and see me. You’re actually losing the company money</em>”.</p>
<h3><span>3. Always discuss salary expectations up front</span></h3>
<p>I have to admit this happened pretty early in my career. But I know it happens all the time.</p>
<p>I was working with a tough client (OK so he <em>really</em> scared me!) on a pretty difficult role. I had interviewed a candidate who had a very interesting background and I thought would be perfect for Mark’s team.</p>
<p>Mark agreed to interview my candidate the next day.</p>
<p>The interview went well and he called me wanting to make her an offer of $80,000.</p>
<p>I called my candidate who started laughing hysterically down the phone. She was after at least $120,000.</p>
<p>When I called Mark to see if he’d be willing to offer her any more, his parting words before he slammed the phone down in my ear were “<em>Paul … you’re about as useful to me as an ashtray on a motorbike</em>”!</p>
<h3><span>4. The one (and only!) time I neglected to do a reference check …</span></h3>
<p>It was late on a Friday afternoon. I still had 4 or 5 temp jobs to fill. I had found (what appeared to be) a great candidate for my client’s 2-week assignment and he could start on Monday morning. One minor problem – I hadn’t been able to get through to any of his referees.</p>
<p>“<em>It’s only a 2-week temp job. What could possibly go wrong?</em>”</p>
<p>Evidently quite a lot … when the temp shows up for work displaying pretty obvious signs of substance abuse!</p>
<h3><span>5. The automated candidate rejection letter</span></h3>
<p>In a contingent world, the clock is always ticking and far too often it just feels like a résumé race.</p>
<p>I knew my client wanted to see a shortlist by the end of the week. I was working on 5 or 6 other briefs at the time and had received at least 50 applications for this one role.</p>
<p>There had been a few stand-out candidates in the first dozen or so CVs I had screened and I had presented them as the shortlist to my client.</p>
<p>A few days later I realised there were still around 30 applications I hadn’t even opened. So I decided to send them all an automatic rejection letter.</p>
<p><em>Thank you for your recent application for the position of [I added the job title] recently advertised. Unfortunately in this instance your background and experience did not quite meet the stringent criteria stipulated by my client and I will not be proceeding with your application. I will, however, keep your details on file and contact you in the event a more suitable position comes up.</em></p>
<p>10 minutes later I received this reply.</p>
<p><em>Dear Paul. Thank you for taking the time to let me know my application was not successful. I should point out that this morning I interviewed for what I am convinced is exactly the same role. One of your competitors submitted my details a few days ago. I’ve literally just been offered the role and have accepted a package of $110,000. Regards …</em></p>
<p>OK. So I just missed out on a nearly $20,000 fee.</p>
<h3><span>6. They might look good on paper …</span></h3>
<p>You want to impress your client. But time is always of the essence. So when a rockstar résumé comes across your desk you jump on the phone to your client and try to book them in to interview your candidate (well at least that’s what I did).</p>
<p>The problem was when I finally met with my one shoe-in candidate (about an hour before she was due to meet my client), she made it pretty clear that she wasn’t even remotely interested in the opportunity I had just briefed her on.</p>
<p>I assumed being honest with my client would be the way to go.</p>
<p>Never assume.</p>
<h3><span>7. Search your database first. Isn’t that what it’s there for?</span></h3>
<p>I had taken a brief for a really senior role and had immediately told my client that due to the level of the role, we’d definitely have to run a display advertising campaign in order to attract the passive candidates.</p>
<p><span>Back in the day this meant another $5,000 over and above the 28% of the candidate’s salary he would already be parting with.</span></p>
<p>I wrote a great ad which appeared right up the front of the paper and the response was of a really high standard.</p>
<p>I submitted 5 candidates as my shortlist and my candidate Karen was successful in getting the job.</p>
<p>A few weeks after she started I took Karen and my client out for lunch (after all the placement fee had been over $30,000).</p>
<p>During the lunch Karen said. “<em>There’s one thing I’ve been meaning to ask you … why didn’t you just call me in for an interview? I’d been on your database for at least a year. You could have saved all that money on that big ad</em>”.</p>
<p>My client carefully put down his knife and fork, stared right at me, and waited for me to reply.</p>
<h3><span>8. Disaster at the eleventh hour …</span></h3>
<p>I’d been working on a confidential brief for a high profile luxury brand in Asia with an estimated fee of around $40,000.</p>
<p>After at least 6 months of searching, I had found the perfect candidate.</p>
<p>Christian had accepted the offer just before Christmas but was only due to start the following February after Chinese New Year.</p>
<p>I <em>always</em> kept in regular contact with all my candidates before they started in their new role (except on this one occasion). I guess with the Christmas holiday period, Christian taking his family back to Canada for a visit, and Chinese New Year it somehow slipped my mind.</p>
<p>Basically 6 weeks passed and I never once contacted Christian to check in – not even a simple email. I just assumed it was all tracking along nicely.</p>
<p>Then 24 hours before he was due to start his role, I received an email from Christian telling me he and his wife had realised how much they both missed Canada and that they would be relocating back to Canada since he had managed to find another opportunity.</p>
<p>He thanked me for all my efforts and asked me to also pass on his apologies to my client.</p>
<p>Let’s just say they didn’t exactly take that news all that well.</p>
<h3><span>9. When did you last go and visit your client?</span></h3>
<p>I’d been working with one particular client on and off for a few years. But it had been at least 6 months since I’d last placed anyone with him and clearly just as long since I’d spoken to him or been out to see him.</p>
<p>Spoiler alert: This took place a long time ago – when mobile phones were still a bit of a novelty!</p>
<p>My client had faxed me (I told you it was a long time ago!) a job requisition and asked me if I’d be able to help him find another sales rep.</p>
<p>I spoke to a few really good candidates and was quickly able to arrange interviews. I briefed them all on the role, gave them the details of my client’s office and specific directions for how to get out there.</p>
<p>I’d planned to call my client and my 3 candidates to see how the interviews had gone the next day after my morning meetings. When I got in I noticed the little red light flashing crazily on the phone on my desk. 6 voicemails.</p>
<p>It turns out my client had moved and their office was no longer where they were when I last went to visit them. Each of the candidates had turned up to a vacant office space and had turned around pretty disgruntled (to say the least).</p>
<p>My client had also called a few times leaving more abrupt messages as time went on wanting to know where my supposed “superstar” sales reps were.</p>
<p>Nobody was impressed.</p>
<h3><span>10. Perhaps I’ve already mentioned that you should always meet candidates in person?</span></h3>
<p>I was working on a business development manager brief for a very conservative top-tier law firm.</p>
<p>I’d received an awesome application from a candidate living interstate at the time. I’d done a one hour telephone interview with Jayden, and although he hadn’t worked in law previously, his skills were certainly transferrable and he seemed really motivated to move into a more professional services environment. He also seemed to have the right attitude.</p>
<p>Jayden was willing to fly up to Sydney for interviews so I had booked him in to meet with my client.</p>
<p>Unfortunately Jayden’s flight had been delayed so I didn’t get a chance to meet him before his interview at the law firm. But at least I’d prepped him again the night before he flew up.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget the voicemail message that my client left for me after the interview.</p>
<p>“<em>Hi Paul. Jayden seemed nice. But I’m not sure how you could possibly think that someone with a spider web tattoo on his neck and a bull ring through his nose could sit in a meeting with the partners let alone represent us to the market. I think we’ll have to brief another agency …</em>”</p>
<p>Oh to have had video interview screening tools back in the ‘90s!</p>
<p>So there you go … my personal top 10 epic blunders.</p>
<p><strong>Come on all you recruiters out there … nobody’s perfect … not even after 20 years in the business. Let’s hear a few more disaster stories.</strong></p>7 Recruiting Metrics You Should Really Care Abouttag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-10-10:502551:BlogPost:17577002013-10-10T01:40:54.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521477?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521477?profile=original" width="370"></img></a> Please note: This article originally featured on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>
<p>If you measured every metric that every article on the web suggested you should measure to confirm whether you are employing effectively or not, you would end up spending most of your time measuring recruiting activities…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521477?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557521477?profile=original" width="370" class="align-left"/></a>Please note: This article originally featured on the <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/" target="_blank">RecruitLoop Blog</a>.</strong></p>
<p>If you measured every metric that every article on the web suggested you should measure to confirm whether you are employing effectively or not, you would end up spending most of your time measuring recruiting activities instead of actually recruiting!</p>
<p>While measuring your recruitment activities is certainly important, from my nearly two decades in the recruitment industry I can confidently tell you that there are really 7 metrics you <em>really</em> need to care about.</p>
<p>Keeping tabs on these metrics will ensure you are informed as to how your business is doing on the talent management front. I have also included some tips for how to simply and quickly implement these metrics within in your organisation, whether large or small.</p>
<h3><span>1. Time to Hire</span></h3>
<p>From the time you advertise your vacancy, how much time passes before the successful candidate starts? Not just before they accept your offer, but until they are actually on board?</p>
<p>Companies with strong talent management processes have faster hiring times than those without. Of course, the exception is any market that is short of suitably talented candidates; if you have strict hiring standards, it may take longer to find the appropriate person. Compare the time to hire across different roles and aim to lower the average as time goes on.</p>
<h3><span>2. Sourcing Channel</span></h3>
<p>It’s important to track where your candidates came from.</p>
<p>If you’re smart about your recruiting, you will have multiple channels from which to source your potential candidates – an advertisement on a job board; another one on LinkedIn; some direct contact with passive candidates; and a pool of potential employees connected to your careers pages either on Facebook or LinkedIn.</p>
<p>Every job vacancy needs to know:</p>
<ul>
<li>How many applicants came from each source;</li>
<li>How many <em>qualified</em> applications were garnered from each source;</li>
<li>Where the short listed applicants were sourced; and ultimately</li>
<li>Where the successful candidate first heard about the position.</li>
</ul>
<p>These metrics need to be kept in a database that can be cross-referenced over periods of time. Keeping tabs of this metric will save you money in the long run as it will highlight the effectiveness of your various channels.</p>
<p>If one channel is proving to be ineffective, you have justification to shut it down. Similarly, if one channel seems to be producing a higher than expected ratio of qualified candidates, you can focus more resources in that direction.</p>
<h3>3. Cost of Hire</h3>
<p>It’s a no brainer that the cost of every hire should be measured but have you considered <em>all</em> costs involved in a hire? Recruiter fees, whether internal or external, are straightforward. But what about the time it took the manager to interview? You should consider these factors when calculating the cost of hiring new employees:</p>
<ul>
<li>Advertisements placed (if they are billed directly to you);</li>
<li>Setting up and maintaining social media accounts like Facebook and LinkedIn;</li>
<li>Time your hiring managers spend interviewing potential employees;</li>
<li>Recruiter fees; and</li>
<li>Any accounting and administrative costs involved in setting up a new employee (eg contracts, pay accounts, health benefits etc)</li>
</ul>
<h3><span>4. Retention</span></h3>
<p>Now that you’re seeing the true extent of the costs involved in hiring a new employee, it’s important to look at your retention rates.</p>
<p>Thousands of dollars per year can be drained from your budget with low staff retention rates. The costs don’t just come from direct expenses associated with hiring a new person but also in the loss of productivity around the resignation, rehiring and retraining processes. Remember the cost of losing an employee can be as high as 3-4 times their salary.</p>
<p>Retention rates are best looked at from a cross-sectioned perspective. What is the turnover rate for a specific role? Compare that to the turnover rate across specific departments. Try checking the turnover rate by pay grade. i.e how many resignations vs terminations has each department / role / pay grade had?</p>
<p>A proper analysis of this metric should be performed every 3-6 months and graded across a period of time to show trends.</p>
<h3><span>5. Open Vacancies vs Positions Filled</span></h3>
<p>Larger organisations will need to keep track of the number of vacancies the organisation has vs the number of vacancies that have been filled recently.</p>
<p>This metric could be measured either per month or per quarter and the result should go alongside the ‘time to fill’ ratio. A company managing their talent acquisition will have a low amount of open vacancies when compared to positions filled.</p>
<h3><span>6. Offer : Acceptance Ratio</span></h3>
<p>It’s great to be in a position to make an offer to a rock star candidate. Unfortunately, if they then turn it down for something else, you are back to square one. This process costs you time and money, as well as morale, which is why this is such an important measure.</p>
<p>How many formal offers did you have to extend before you ultimately filled the role? This measure can go alongside your ‘cost of hire’ metrics.</p>
<h3><span>7. Gender Mix</span></h3>
<p>Many studies have shown the benefit of a mixed gender team, from greater innovation to greater profits.</p>
<p>Think about placing a metric within your dashboard that measures the percentage balance of men and women on your team in three levels; front line, middle management and senior positions.</p>
<p>From time to time it’s good to step back and assess the gender mix within teams and within the organisation as a whole.</p>
<h3><span>How to Implement These Metrics</span></h3>
<p>If you are working within a large organisation, the clear way forward for easy collation of this information is a customized software application that gathers data from as many sources as possible and automatically populates a dashboard with figures and timelines.</p>
<p>Consider providing mid level information for your hiring managers as well.</p>
<p>The information should relate specifically to one particular team or department and compare them to averages from the rest of the company so they are aware of their own talent management capabilities.</p>
<p>If customized software is not a possibility in your budget right now, a simple excel spreadsheet will do. Set up a regular interval to measure the metrics – eg every three months at a minimum – and request the information from your hiring managers at the appropriate time.</p>
<p>If you are a small operation, keeping tabs on these metrics as you go is the easiest way – updating the spreadsheet each time a hire is made and comparing each one to the previous ones.</p>
<p>When done right, metrics will save you time and money rather than sucking away precious resources into analysis.</p>7 Ways To Piss Off Any Candidatetag:recruitingblogs.com,2013-09-20:502551:BlogPost:17535272013-09-20T02:00:00.000ZPaul Slezakhttps://recruitingblogs.com/profile/PaulSlezak
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520867?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520867?profile=original" width="300"></img></a> I’ve spent most of my career as a hiring manager, but I’ve recently had the opportunity to become a candidate (which resulted in your getting to read my blog article today <img alt=":)" class="wp-smiley" src="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif"></img> ). And I have to tell you – it can be shockingly annoying to be on the candidate’s side of the table.</p>
<p>I’ve had many moments where I’ve wondered, “Did a human write that email, or…</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520867?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1557520867?profile=original" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>I’ve spent most of my career as a hiring manager, but I’ve recently had the opportunity to become a candidate (which resulted in your getting to read my blog article today <img src="http://recruitloop.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="wp-smiley"/> ). And I have to tell you – it can be shockingly annoying to be on the candidate’s side of the table.</p>
<p>I’ve had many moments where I’ve wondered, “Did a human write that email, or did a random phrase generator?” Or, “Did they even bother to READ my LinkedIn profile before sending me job spam?” Or even worse, “If you can’t get my name right (and it’s Jenn – seriously, not hard in the US, where it was the most popular girls’ name for 15+ years), please don’t call me.”</p>
<p>After all of these experiences, I’ve put together a list of the top 7 ways to annoy me as a candidate:</p>
<h3>1. Get my name wrong.</h3>
<p>I am not John. I am not Jan. I am not Jane or Janet or Jean. If you’re contacting me – especially if you’re contacting me as a passive candidate – please get my name correct. <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.dalecarnegie.com/uncategorized/dale-carnegies-secrets-of-success-remember-that-a-persons-name-is-to-that-person-the-sweetest-and-most-important-sound-in-any-language/">Dale Carnegie said</a> that “a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Well, getting my name wrong certainly hits a sour note!</p>
<h3>2. Send me nonsensical job spam.</h3>
<p>I got this email just last week:</p>
<p>09/13/13 10:24 AM</p>
<p>Hi! My name is <redacted> and I’m an IT Recruiter for <redacted>.</p>
<p>We have a <span>6-12 month renewable contract</span> in <span>Boston, MA</span> for a <span>Project Manager Standard Associate (2 yrs)</span>. The hourly rate for this is W2 $<less than I’ve made in a long time>.</p>
<p>Let’s review why this is very silly to send me:</p>
<ul>
<li>I don’t work in IT any more (I haven’t since 2009).</li>
<li>I don’t live in Boston any more (I haven’t since 2011).</li>
<li>I have 15+ years of experience (not two).</li>
<li>It’s way out of my hourly range (and not in a good way).</li>
</ul>
<p>A quick Google or LinkedIn search would have helped this person avoid sending a ridiculous email that could have gotten me complaining about their company on social media (and not with the name redacted as I did here!).</p>
<h3>3. Ignore my current title/industry.</h3>
<p>This one follows closely on the heels of #2. Reaching out to me on LinkedIn for positions or industries that in no way resemble anything that I am doing or have ever done in my career (e.g., executive assistant roles – which has happened!) only proves that you aren’t careful in trying to find the right candidates for the roles you’re trying to fill. If you’re demonstrably careless about something as vital as finding the right candidates for your role, why would I work with you?</p>
<h3>4. Fail to confirm interview places, people, dates, and times.</h3>
<p>I will readily admit to being a bit of a ‘Type A’ personality, but I’m sure I’m not the only person out there who likes to have some idea about where, when, and with whom my interview will take place. Not having any idea where I’m going or who I’m talking to at minimum 24-48 hours out makes me cranky. And when I’m cranky, I’m less likely to perform well at the interview or be really interested in the role.</p>
<h3>5. Do not listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth.</h3>
<p>“So, what are you looking for in a role?”</p>
<p>“I’m looking for a company that I can live and breathe. I want to do high-level strategic growth work and provide leadership.”</p>
<p>“Great! You’ll fit right into our entry-level temporary accounting role!”</p>
<p>Sounds ridiculous, right? Sadly, it’s happened. If you listen to me, we’ll be much more likely to make a good match. Of course, I need to listen to you as well!</p>
<h3>6. Pull a bait & switch.</h3>
<p>Years ago, I went into a company to interview for a role that was right up my alley. I prepped for it, and I was really excited about the company and the role – the role was to build something really exciting and lead a great team. I discovered (in the second of a full day of interviews) that they had switched the role without telling me. The new role was to evaluate the nationwide operations and make layoff recommendations. There was no building anything – there was tearing down instead – and no team. By switching the role and not telling me until I got there, they wasted everyone’s time.</p>
<h3>7. Don’t get back to me.</h3>
<p>This one, frankly, is just rude. You’d be annoyed if I didn’t get back to you, so I expect the same courtesy from you. We’re all humans and this is a very small world – let’s just be courteous to each other, okay?</p>
<p>Candidates are very well-connected today. I realize that we’re all ridiculously busy and make silly mistakes sometimes, but annoying one candidate can have a domino-like effect in their networks. Don’t destroy your hiring brand with these easy-to-avoid mistakes (or by taking these <a href="http://recruitloop.com/blog/how-to-destroy-your-employer-brand-in-20-simple-steps/" target="_blank">20 simple steps to destroy your employer brand</a>, either!).</p>
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