Rules to Recruit By!!!

In no particular order

Below are some general rules I have sued to guide me as a recruiter. These are not all inclusive, but these are amongst the most important. These rules combined with the other things I have outlined in my blog will make you a true " Staffing Thought Leader "(STL). Before we get into them lets define a few key terms:

Staffing - the act of providing people to do jobs.

Recruiting - to bring on new employees to a given company or organization.

Recruiter- The title give to someone who is recruiting.

Staffing Thought Leader- This is a person who is a true "Staffing Subject Matter Expert", A person who is a "Staffing Master".

Now obviously these are very simple definitions and do not being to state all that is entailed in staffing or recruiting. However the point was to show how similar the definitions were. These similarities is why you will see the above words utilized interchangeably. I prefer Staffing because to me it encompasses everything.

1. Take control!!- This means to come in and establish yourself with your client. You must establish credibility, in order for them to truly work with you and for you to have the type of presence needed to be viewed as the "Staffing Thought Leader". Establishing yourself and taking control can be done in allot of ways, Listening(see below), past successes, exuding confidence without being cocky, research prior to the meeting, etc...

2. Listen!! - Remember listening and showing true interest is very. That is correct by listening, showing you are interested, showing you understand, and showing you are there to help them, will make them feel like they should reciprocate and listen to what you are saying and be more open to your ideas and views. It is a 2 way street and will help in the creation and success of the "Hiring Team"(see post on HMCS).

3. Establish Process!!- Make sure you establish the process you will use to help your client fill positions. A well established and agreed upon process make it easier all around. Everyone knows what to expect form you and what is expected from them. Go so far as to create an SLA or SOW even.

4. Change Management!!- This means just because you have a process, and it works, does not mean you should not look for ways to make it better, ways to change it for the better.. In some cases it is a philosphy change, in others it might be an automaton change. But always look for ways to make the process, Hiring Team, and you better. Remember this most certainly includes us as recruiters. Things change, and sometimes if you do not change with it you become a casualty of it. If your company moves from a get the job done, large amount of openings mentality to less opening, more consultative approach and you do not, you will find yourself no longer successful. Be flexible, be open, think, listen and change management will be easy

5. Go beyond the Basics!!- This means to go more than the minimum. If looking for a VB person do not just search under VB, spell it out Visual basic. Find more about it and see if there are other names or acronyms that can be used for it. Is it part of a bigger product? Find out more about the JD, really understand it. Maybe even go so far as to shadow someone doing that job for a few hours. Get a copy of a resume of someone who is doing it now and really doing well. When searching do not just use "resume" use CV, Curriculum Vitae, Bio, Profile. Do not just search in a paid site and that is all. Utilize all the search and recruiting sources available(I will be listing some at a later post). In other words do not just do what is easiest or is basic recruiting. Do more, go above and beyond.

6. Over Communicate!!- As with any relationship communication is key. I have found it is far better to over communicate than under communicate. Clients appreciate knowing what is going on and one of the biggest complaints about recruiting is lack of communication.

7. Warp Speed!!- This means simply work fast, work like it is important, because it probably is. Do not procrastinate and put things off. You will find that usually when you do, things creep back up on you and you run out of time. So work are "Warp Speed", meaning work as fast as you can while not giving up quality. Trust me your clients will appreciate it and you will find it gives you more time later.

8. Multi Task!!- This simply means to do more than one thing at a time. Do not just source on the internet for one particular job, when you could have several windows open, sourcing in multiple places, for multiple jobs. Learn how to do more than one thing at a time, and you will find you have more time for those emergencies that always come up.

9. Organization and Planning are the glue!!- This is by far the most important one of all. You must know how to organize and plan your time effectively. As an example one of the biggest problem recruiters have is finding time to source. This is most true of corporate recruiters who get sucked into all sorts of things. Well simply put sourcing time on your calendar for everyday. This guarantees you time to source. But do not just stop there. Go in with a plan. Know your openings and have them prioritized. Set a number of candidates you want to find for a given opening on a weekly basis. Do your sourcing at the time you set forth, but follow your plan. If you have 50 openings, and you have decided 5 for each a week is good, Then use your sourcing time to find your 5 candidates for the first opening and then move on to the next. This ensures you will find candidates for all your openings, and usually will leave you some time left. Most recruiters I know when they do source get so caught up in one opening, by the time their sourcing time is done, they have only sourced for one opening and have numerous more they have done nothing with.

10. Project Management!! - Treat every opening like a project. Step one is to do needs analysis. This is the same thing as your first meeting with your client to determine what they need, write the JD etc.. Then you go onto the next step and so on till the position is filled. There are six main steps in managing a project.

1. Define the problem- Your client has an opening and you meet with him to determine the opening and write JD.

2. Develop Solution Options- you decide on whether this can be filled internally or externally and the process that will be used.

3. Plan the Project- You create a sourcing plan.

4. Execute- you execute on the sourcing plan.

5. Monitor & Control Progress- you do reporting and have weekly or bi weekly meeting with hiring manager and team to discuss progress.

6. Close project- Hire made, and if time allows you and the Hiring Manager and team have a meeting to discuss what went well, and what could be done better.

Of course some steps take less time than others, and can be done at the same time. The key is communication and documentation.

11. Bucketing!!- The nightmare of all recruiters. You have over 100 openings, what do you do? well for one do not panic. Look at all the openings, if you look at them you will find that a good portion of them are basically the same. These can be "bucketed" and treated as one opening, and any candidates sourced for these bucketed openings go to all the HMs whose openings are in the same bucket. Typically(not always) you can take 100 openings and narrow them down to 40-50, by bucketing them.

12. Candidate and Client Satisfaction!!!- Well this once of the most important issues for a recruiter. It is not just about filling positions. It is about having a good relationship with your client and ensuring you treat each candidate with respect. Remember it is a small world(see section on Candidate experience), and I can guarantee candidates talk. You treat one bad and it will get around. same goes for clients, treat one bad and it will get around and make things difficult.. If you truly want to have a "world class staffing organization" and be considered an "employee of choice" you must make sure every client and every candidate feels like they were treated with the utmost respect and consideration. The key is to "Treat them the way you would want to be treated", do this and you are golden.

All of these rules will help you be a better recruiter. As you can see they all connect in some way. So if you do them all you will excel. But of course keep in mind. These are not the only ones. These are just the ones that I have found have served me the best