A Friday Quickie

Attention Agency Recruiters: You are NOT in Human Resources. You are NOT in PR. You are not in
Employment Branding, Social Work, Social Media, Job Hunting Tips, or Candidate Experience
Consulting.

You. Are. In. Sales. Get it?

If you are not making presentations all day, every day, you are going to fail. You know what a presentation is, don’t you? It is talking to someone about your product. And I’m sure you know what I mean by product, right? Open positions or qualified candidates. That’s it. Period!

Maybe failure is an option for you. Heck – if you keep up with all the feel-good junk on Twitter you may very well think failure is a requirement to moving forward. Here’s some news for you though – it’s not. Failure is NOT good. It is not a stepping stone. It is not a feather in your cap.

The further you get sucked into following irrelevant links, reading about the latest Google news or discussing the latest Facebook trends – during the middle of your business day - the further away from making presentations you get.

Now – go call someone you don’t know and introduce yourself.

Comment by Jerry Albright on September 17, 2010 at 2:22pm: Brian - I didn't mention the phone per se. Presentations can be made in several ways. The key is to be making them. Phone is best though.

Regarding promoting yourself. Twitter isn't promoting anything. The resume writers might be making a little headway...but I'm talking about agency recruiters. Recruiters that need to send someone an invoice from time to time.

I think there might be a good number of recruiters who think that by being "out there" they are in some way getting their message across. Agency recruiters (for the most part) don't have a message. They've either got a job order - or they've got a candidate. Everything else should be left to the independently wealthy among us.

Regarding this president you can't reach - are you recruiting for him? If so - and you can't reach him - it's time to find a new client. If you are wanting to market your services to him perhaps start down the ladder a bit?

Comment by Chris Amato on September 17, 2010 at 3:33pm: Jerry, dead on, almost! Our guys tell me they can multi-task so they can stay in the "conversation" and still make their calls. They're lying of course, but I'm ok with it if they are making their numbers and if a follower, friend or connection can assist in the sales process, all the better. It's all a distraction unless it is used as a way to gather sales intelligence or building a network of champions to support sales efforts. If you breakdown the numbers, salary, benefits, overhead, marketing, PR (COGS) etc, they are very surprised. When we tell them that they cost us $73 per hour just to sit in their chair, they pick up the phone! Sounds like you re-watched GlenGarry Glen Ross. Great stuff Jerry.

Comment by Paul Alfred on September 17, 2010 at 3:36pm: Jerry is right in the end result ...But you would be surprised after I call a VP of HR/IT or a CIO, CFO of a Company etc... that in a couple days they have checked out my profile on LinkedIn ... These are tools that can be used to sharpen our craft and if you are trained in the ways of the Old School Headhunter- the WEB 2.0 Technologies can be powerful tools in the arsenal of a good recruiter...

Comment by Jerry Albright on September 17, 2010 at 3:49pm: Having a professional Linkedin profile is almost a requirement. I'll never say otherwise. It's this perceived need to be "part of the conversation" that bugs me. The conversation itself has no substance for the most part. It's an endless loop of the same trivia, links and rehash - over and over and over......a virtual mutual admiration society.......

Comment by Paul Alfred on September 17, 2010 at 4:01pm: Jerry you know how our North American Society is... unlike the Millionaires in the Book 'The Millionaire Next door" driving a Ford, we all want to pull-up in the M3 and Range Rover and in Jamaican terms "Look Pretty" .... :-) Have a good Weekend!

Comment by Chris Amato on September 17, 2010 at 4:21pm: Jerry - now you're are dead on. Converse on your own time!

Comment by Bill Fitzgerald on September 17, 2010 at 4:58pm: If I ever hire someone, I would make them tape your article on their wall next to their desk

Comment by bill josephson on September 17, 2010 at 8:20pm: Jerry is exactly right. If you aren't on the phone making 35-40 presentations a day making 150-200 outgoing calls a day it's going to be tough to succeed. Even then lots goes wrong. Sure, have a LinkedIn presence. But if you aren't accessing people companies can't find, you aren't much use to the company, in my experience.

Comment by Mark Lennard on September 18, 2010 at 5:50am: Totally agreed... This industry thing called 'Recruitment' (a multi billion dollar industry globally) is Sales, Sales, Sales..

One other thing for those social networked and technically astute recruiters out there... There has been a great invention that allows one person to talk in real time to another person, its called..... wait for it...... THE TELEPHONE... Try it out today, it really does work!

Comment by pam claughton on September 18, 2010 at 9:40am: Jerry,
Love this! So true. The only 'conversation' I aim to be a part of is with candidates and clients. Forget where I saw this, but think it's so true, On the phone="Office open", not on phone(or email presenting)="Office closed."