It was 1892 in Western Oklahoma, my Great Grandfather had settled on a piece of land, not far from the Old Chisholm Trail. He made this his home, in the side of a hill for a while. As he stood out at the edge of the prairie grass, looking out over the wildflowers, locals call Indian Paintbrush, he knew he had traveled far. But more importantly, he had a vision, and he had a passion for what he wanted for his family, himself, and all of those around him.

I was born in Oklahoma, and then raised in Missouri. It was much later that I moved around, after my time in the Marine Corps, and a tour in Vietnam.  After a long career in retail management, I changed course, and became a Direct Hire Recruiter.

When I became a recruiter, my first task was to learn vision, and attack my work with passion. This required me to be extremely focus on the task at hand. After awhile I became skilled at this….focusing. I would hope that clients are looking for this in their own recruiters. Measuring recruitment quality can be very difficult.

Here are some other reasons why clients should love recruiters:

Save The Clients’ Time. The time it takes to search and source can run up to 40 to 80 hours a week, for just five great candidates. Good recruiters will not just find the candidate that fits the bullet points on a job description, but instead will find a person who is going to interview well for that company’s environment. Good recruiters don’t just throw resumes at a position. I would rather throw three good ones than 10 bad ones.

Sell the company and find the Sizzle.  After a couple of placements, the trust factor kicks in, and the recruiter starts to learn more about their client’s business, they get to know the hiring managers, the HR staff, and management personnel. They may have even toured the facility. At this point, a recruiter has something to hang on to, and that is respect. As a recruiter, I know their business, and I know their people. I am confident I can find them the right people, THAT FIT IN.

Prepping Candidates For Interview.  If I prep a candidate correctly, I save everybody from embarrassment. Here are the main points that I emphasize with any candidate:

• Be extremely polite, courteous, and respectful to all you meet, no matter what their position. I can’t emphasize this enough.

• Know what your skillset is, write it all down if you need too, and take it in to the interview. Talk about your ability to lead other people, teambuilding, accomplishments, and give examples of all of these.

• The most important part is telling your story – tell it with passion. I had a young man that interviewed, and he told the story of when he was a small boy he would go the plant where his Dad worked, and learned early what hard work was, and learned about engineering from his Dad. When he was in High School he worked there after school. After High School he went to college and became an Engineer. “This is my life,” he explained. He has trained for this moment since he was a young boy. They did hire him, without experience, but just on the fact he had passion and vision for what he was to accomplish.

Recruiting is made up of a number of processes, and a good recruiter becomes very skilled with those processes as time goes along. Pick your recruiter as though you were picking your next employee. As your relationship flourishes, he will represent you, and work hard for you.

Stay Focused

Dan Rice CPC