Harry " Give Me The Fordyce Letter" Joiner

Harry Joiner is an interesting guy. I talk to him at least once a week and he is a guy who understands how a blog can help his business. He is contacted regularly by people who want his opinion or want his services because they found him via his blog via goole.

He submitted a very interesting lesson he has learned as a recruiter. Here is a little from it:

"For example, imagine that I submit six highly-qualified candidates for the same VP of Marketing job. Usually, four will get knocked out before the two survivors get called in for final interviews. My method allows the final two candidates to have confidential, in-depth calls with the four "dead" candidates before going in for their final interviews. From what I hear, a ton of outstanding intel is traded among these executives."

Link to the Original Post by and the Recruiting Lessons Learned.

My question Harry, is what percentage of candidates agree to this? I was blown away by what you wrote. I can see how this could be very helpful.

Others who have shared their recruiting insight.

Sandeep Sood

MN HeadHunter

Moises Lopez

Craig Silverman

Me

Ginnie Bellville

Simon Meth

Kalch

Leslie O Connor

The Recruiting Animal will pick the winner. and we will announce it next Wednesday on the Recruiting Animal Radio Show. David Kippen is the guest.

Comment by Harry Joiner on May 24, 2007 at 11:25am: ALL of them, because I make it very clear that this is an incredibly unique opportunity to trade intelligence on people and job opportunities in a "self-referencing" market.

For those of you who have not read Geoffrey Moore's landmark technology marketing book "Crossing the Chasm" -- a self-referencing market is comprised of people who talk to each other. Do you know Seth Godin's book "Unleashing the Ideavirus?" That book was nothing more than a mash-up of Moore's ideas -- right down to Seth's use of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle (TALC) bell curve.

Everyone in my niche (online marketing) talks to each other. And even if they haven't officially met, they are always open to networking opptys.

Now, the first ground rule in these talks is: "NO ground rules."

The "dead" candidates are told to feel free to pump the "live" candidates for industry dirt and other job opportunities for which I may not be the recruiter. The "live" candidates are told to pump the "dead" candidates for any information they feel will be useful to them -- like a live soldier taking ammunition, food, and clean socks off of a fallen comrade. Anything goes -- including discussions about my own performance and possible referrals to other recruiters who work in my industry.

I'm here to serve as a resource.

Since I made up this tactic -- and I'm self employed and don't answer to anyone other than my wife -- I am fairly confident that nobody else does it. And it's a very risky tactic, since there's every possibility that a dead candidate will say to a live one "you do NOT want to work for this company -- they're insane."

But you have to get comfortable with the idea that there are only TWO outcomes in every search:

Win / Win
Lose / Lose

There is no "Lose / Win" or "Win / Lose" outcome since, just like in a failed marriage, BOTH parties lose if either one is unhappy.

The only way to insure that the deal moves forward with no real risk of a counter offer, etc is through clear, unvarnished, and honest "full disclosure."

BTW, candidates agree to this set up all the time -- and they even ask me if I can arrange such calls for searches that I am not handling. They freaking LOVE this idea.