What Kind of Recruiter Are You When Nobody's Looking?

My presentation from the recent Talent Net Live Social Media Recruiting Conference is attached (btw, the conference was incredible and standing-room only). Big thanks to Fishdogs for pulling off the best conference I've been too in a long time.

As I noted in a previous post (Are you a P90X Recruiter?), I'm leery of recruiters who barely know the fundamentals of recruiting yet make it their daily task to conquer the recruiting world via social media tools. So my presentation focused on doing the "small things" of recruiting (consistently) because they are the things that define who we are.

Another way to look at it is...

"What kind of recruiter are you when nobody's looking?"

Do you cut corners and hope that your volume makes up for quality?

Newsflash: you are only fooling yourself if you think the Just.Good.Enough mentality is good enough.

It's not.

Think about it this way...how much better could you be (as a Recruiter) if you stopped cutting corners – stopped making excuses - and really tried? I am more concerned that you become a Recruiter who perfects the small things of recruiting, rather than a Recruiter who perfects his Social Media skills.

But hey, I'd be thrilled if you mastered both.

Do Hard Things,

Dennis

Comment by Gerry Crispin on September 3, 2010 at 1:12pm: Excellent presentation Dennis. Sometime ago I listened to a former pilot w the Blue Angels speculate what it would look like if one were to apply their close formation flying approach to recruiting. (He had observed recruiters for several weeks and had a great deal of insight but there was one point he noted that made a lasting impression.)

It was that at the end of every single flight (no exceptions), each pilot walked into a room after first taking off their 'rank' and spent 1/2 hour to an hour critically reviewing every detail of their performance. The purpose was to improve. Few recruiters do more than ring the bell when they get a hire.

Whether you call it an after action report or debriefing session, it is an example of the consistent attention to details (a 100% of the time attitude) that world-class recruiters puts into their efforts at the front, during AND after the result that truly differentiates them from everyone else.

Sounds like you are into a back to basics mode. Good luck with that.

Comment by Craig Silverman on September 3, 2010 at 1:31pm: Dennis - great presentation! I wish I was there to have seen it live.

Comment by Dennis Smith on September 10, 2010 at 6:44pm: Excellent illustration, Gerry! That will preach, big-time. I wish I had used that example in the presentation : )

Hey Craig - thanks a million!