Passive who? As Elaine from FordyceNetwork posted "A" candidates are available and readily available at that.

If companies can readily find passive and active “A” players on the web, and there are several hundred firms offering web sourcing for pennies on the dollar, and you are not one of them…….. This seems like the right time to reconsider and restructure your business plan.

Those of us who believe we deserve a certain fee, and are committed to continuing to generate the kind of money we have grown accustomed to earning must draw a line in the sand when it comes to our value proposition.

KeenHire, Inc. is currently searching for a Sr. HR Professional and 1 email through linked in gleaned 40 or so referrals. It's Keen's job to walk our talk and select the best candidate. The best candidate for our search means a candidate that is fully aligned with the Human Capital Solutions that we are infusing in our clients’ company. The right candidate is a candidate that has the right behaviors, values and competencies and can readily achieve the intended outcomes for the role.

Anyone with a good resume can occur like a fit, however in tight times, smart companies only invest in key contributors who ensure a return on hiring investment.

Everywhere I look and everything I read from HR related media to Executive Briefings highlights the FACT that companies must move forward during these recessionary times with a keen eye on productivity, profitability and on their peoples ability to achieve these targets and objectives.

If they don't have the right people, executives are being urged to immediately eliminate the waste and forge forward with no one until they attract and retain the right talent.

How are you and I going about convincing the market that our candidates are better, faster and more effective than the incumbent? Are we selling our 25 years 'experience'? Are we selling our 'gut'?

Or are we selling our client assessment and candidate selection process?

In the last recession, I said to myself, "Never again! By the next recession, I will be in a position that my business is not considered a commodity, I will differentiate and step away from the crowd".

With over 7 years and a half a million dollars invested, KeenView our newly released proprietary behavioral interviewing software, myriads of certifications, a suite of hiring and employee development assessments, a new brand and a new name-KeenHire, we achieved our goal of differentiation. We don't even present ourselves the same way. I even sold my ‘staffing’ business and announced the sale to each and every one of my customers, to ensure they understood I was climbing up the food chain.

We are Organizational Development consultants, and it's working. We have had great billing months by offering higher-level strategic human capital solutions. Companies are calling us for project based work for everything from "help us determine who to lay off" to “help us give the great employees reasons to choose us and stay through the tight times”. We are even being called to replace people whose positions were recently eliminated.

The term that most of this can be bundled under is called “Top Grading”.

It is my recommendation that the astute recruiter MUST learn about top grading, what it is and how to apply it to not only your marketing messaging but also to your entire operation.

Whether you use your own programming, hire a coach, partner with an OD professional, read books on the subject, peruse the Keenhire.com web site, call me for coaching or enroll in a course; it is time to step it up and acknowledge that your clients have many other options that might be faster and cheaper.

If you are not committed to being the low cost resume provider, then it’s time to get to work on your value proposition and your client centric delivery.

There is nothing like a recession to kick us all in the pants and wake us up to what is, and what we need to do about it.

If you have questions -feel free to ping me: mgraziano@keenhire.com