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imagine this for just a moment….It’s the busiest shopping day of the year and you, like thousand of other executives, Managers and business owners, are there to get the best deals possible. You spend your valuable time selecting just the right product, and now it’s time to cash out. As you approach the front of the store, you hear someone shouting demands at the back of someone leaving. As you approach the check out, the shouting becomes clearer, and you catch some phrases you may have used in the past:

“but I trained you.”
“I paid you.”
“You can’t do that to me.”

Watching the scene like the train wreck it is, you get into line behind a couple other executives. As the minutes tick by, you and the others realize the lines you have collected in actually have no Cashiers. When approached, the store employees say they sympathize completely, but, despite being a very simple task, they actually don’t know how to cash you out. This story can go on forever, as you waste your time wandering around the store, looking for someone to cash you out. Of course, depending on how you value your time, eventually you will simply and quietly leave and go to a competitor.

As an Executive, Manager or Business Owner in the staffing industry, let me clearly demonstrate to you that YOUR RECRUITER IS YOUR CASHIER!!!! An Account Manager can go fill your store with all the best products from the best organizations. When it comes right down to making sure the orders are cashed out properly, what seemed to be the low man on the totem pole two minutes ago now becomes your only priority. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Here’s a hint: the reason the Independent Recruiter and the boutique agency will continue to dominate the staffing industry in the years ahead is because, just like the cashier at the large retail chain, they know how to do the job, and they know what your customer wants to buy. While you were driving them out of your organization with mismanagement, you have forgotten that, with them leaving, you were actually losing the knowledge of how to select and fill the most profitable orders quickly and efficiently. And just in case you were thinking you can replace them tomorrow, Good Luck!!!

As a friend said to me the other day ~ every one can blog about the problems, but where are the solutions? Let me give you three simple solutions you can implement today that will help you keep those profitable Recruiters working for your organization:

1.) Revamp your TRAINERS – The world is changing and the Trainers need to be able to pass on usable information. If they have NOT filled an order in the last 6 months, they hold NO relevant information that can be used to assist your Recruiter in selecting and filling the most profitable orders.

2.) Keep Your Message Simple and Clear ~ Recruiter are nitrous for chasing squirrels, shiny objects, shoe laces, and pretty much anything that moves. It is very, very important that you, as the Leader, keep our desks clear and keep our heads in the game. The only way to effectively do this is to find a motivating mantra and stick with it. If you want two fills per month then say that Simply and Clearly.

3.) Be a COACH, not a Manager – A Coach drives results! To drive results you will clear road blocks, get into the process where needed, celebrate the win as a Team, and analyze the failures to fine tune the overall process.

4.) SAY “THANK YOU” - Statically people will work harder, longer and with less pay, if you can follow the simplest little plan listed below. It called….
 
The “No cash investment way to increase profitability” is:
a.     Check your EGO at the door
b.     Walk up to a Recruiter
c.     Extend your hand
d.     Shake their hand
e.     SAY “THANK YOU!”

I will keep my closing brief:

WITHOUT A GOOD RECRUITER YOU HAVE NOTHING!!!! If you don’t properly lead them, someone else will, and if that doesn’t happen, they hang out their own shingle and be your direct competitor. At the end of the day it is ONLY up to YOU whether they work with you or against you.

Rebecca