Advice for a new guy?

I just accepted a job with a recruiting firm in Atlanta set to start in a few weeks. I've had some exposure in a three month stint out of college a few years back, but I may have exaggerated about my experience a bit. :)

I really need this, and I am doing everything I can to become as versed as possible over the next couple of weeks. They are expecting someone with at least one year experience. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Simon Wilkins on February 18, 2011 at 1:40pm

My advice would be to go straight to greatrecruiter training with Scott Love and check out some of his FREE material, including podcasts, video etc. That's the best advice I can give. He know his stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Valentino Martinez on February 18, 2011 at 2:49pm

Daniel,

With some prodding, you've managed to redeem yourself in the eyes of your employer and possibly more than a few respondents and readers of your blog discussion.

Soon you will be in a position, as a recruiter who will be screening and evaluating others, to field a range of truths, half truths, exaggerations, lies, and bold faced lies.

The important things is to not lose perspective on your role and responsibility to your customers, both employer and candidate(s). And because of your personal experience shared here, you will have deja vu moments in terms of your decision style. If you are fair and consistent you will go a long way in this business.

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Dahlby on February 18, 2011 at 7:26pm

Funny you should ask, there's a great thread on one of my LinkedIn groups - Best Recruiting Advice in 20 words or Less -- check it out: http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&di...

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Patrick Chuna on February 19, 2011 at 4:25pm

I second the idea of buying steve finkels book, "breakthrough".. read it, study it, and apply it. the morgan method training helped me as well.

manage your time.. market candidates to pertinent companies in the morning, recruit for your positions in the afternoon...be ready to field callbacks and emails after 4PM.

Research the crap out of your market..who can hire your people? who can you take from? identify as many companies as possible..do this on your own time..if your company won't buy you a linkedin membership, buy your own.

You'll hear a lot of people say over and over that recruiting is sales...it's only sales in terms of process ( you have to reach out to enough people, in order to get anywhere) , but not outcomes.. you can't convince a company to "buy" a candidate they don't want and can't use.. too many options for companies, such as recruiters who actually pay attention to job descriptions, and waiting for great candidates to wander thru the door that they don't have to pay for, for that to work.

On the candidate side, you might be able to "sell" ( or bully ) a spineless candidate into accepting an offer you want him to take but he doesn't want, or isn't a fit for, but 99% of the time they will crab out of it before the start date and you"ll both look stupid.

Here's the "art" of recruiting: learning how to read candidates and lead them to making decisions that really do benefit them and advance their lives, and helping your clients see just how said candidates solve their problems..helping everyone move forward for the best outcome. Ya gotta be good at understanding people, and the industry you are recruiting in.

Something else - Much of what we think is recruiting is just marketing.. posting jobs, leaving voicemails, sending emails, friending someone on social media, marketing candidates to potential clients, submitting a resume, that's all marketing.. all of that stuff is important and you need to do it well, but you aren't recruiting until you get the call that says " I wanna talk to this candidate, make it happen".. THEN you are recruiting..it's really about being an effective go - between, and sometimes we lose focus of that because were excited about the technology we have available to us.

BTW, good job on clarifying your background with the new boss.

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Permalink Reply by Juanito on February 20, 2011 at 4:36pm

Daniel,

There a many great recommendations that have been given to you on your request. I will tell you the onething that you have in common with EVERYONE on Recruiting Blogs was a rookie at one point in our career. There many great traininers in our industry and this is the only career I know that the more you do it the more you can forget.

You need to exercise initiative to always ganin knowledge from as many sources as you can. When you peal away the layers of our profession this is a sales job. Rejection is part of the buisness and the 1 key ingridient that I realized years ago is that everyday is not a great one but the good days far outway the bad.

Focus 100% on the training your company offers is first and formost. Additionally look at the following resources:

www.greatrecruitertraining.com

www.goodasgoldtraining.com

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook as well as on here.

I wish you great success in the most honest profession!!!

John Fulcher

Director, Healthcare Divison

Bauer Consulitng Group, Inc.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel on February 21, 2011 at 8:57am

Thanks Thomas, Everyone here has been amazing. One week left to start and I feel like I have a solid idea of the direction I need to be moving in, that I am in fact already moving in. I wanted to ask about the premium account with LinkedIn. I know it offers additional functionality, and I don't have an issue paying for my own, it my career after all, but what are the most useful features that the subscription will be buying? I need to have it put together by Friday.

I also have to honestly say that I am surprised by the openness and helpful attitude of everyone here. For some reason I thought the community would be more competitive and less open to assisting a new guy. Yet another initial mistake on my end that has been cleared up!

~Daniel

Thomas Patrick Chuna said:

I second the idea of buying steve finkels book, "breakthrough".. read it, study it, and apply it. the morgan method training helped me as well.

manage your time.. market candidates to pertinent companies in the morning, recruit for your positions in the afternoon...be ready to field callbacks and emails after 4PM.

Research the crap out of your market..who can hire your people? who can you take from? identify as many companies as possible..do this on your own time..if your company won't buy you a linkedin membership, buy your own.

You'll hear a lot of people say over and over that recruiting is sales...it's only sales in terms of process ( you have to reach out to enough people, in order to get anywhere) , but not outcomes.. you can't convince a company to "buy" a candidate they don't want and can't use.. too many options for companies, such as recruiters who actually pay attention to job descriptions, and waiting for great candidates to wander thru the door that they don't have to pay for, for that to work.

On the candidate side, you might be able to "sell" ( or bully ) a spineless candidate into accepting an offer you want him to take but he doesn't want, or isn't a fit for, but 99% of the time they will crab out of it before the start date and you"ll both look stupid.

Here's the "art" of recruiting: learning how to read candidates and lead them to making decisions that really do benefit them and advance their lives, and helping your clients see just how said candidates solve their problems..helping everyone move forward for the best outcome. Ya gotta be good at understanding people, and the industry you are recruiting in.

Something else - Much of what we think is recruiting is just marketing.. posting jobs, leaving voicemails, sending emails, friending someone on social media, marketing candidates to potential clients, submitting a resume, that's all marketing.. all of that stuff is important and you need to do it well, but you aren't recruiting until you get the call that says " I wanna talk to this candidate, make it happen".. THEN you are recruiting..it's really about being an effective go - between, and sometimes we lose focus of that because were excited about the technology we have available to us.

BTW, good job on clarifying your background with the new boss.

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Permalink Reply by C. B. Stalling!! on February 21, 2011 at 12:51pm

I think you should delete this group now that all of us grerat recruiters have told you what to do...

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Patrick Chuna on February 21, 2011 at 4:43pm

Daniel - the linkedin subscription means you"ll get more search results returned, as opposed to the amount you'd get with the free account. I THINK you can also put more info in your profile, with a paid subscription, but I could be wrong on that.

Daniel said:

Thanks Thomas, Everyone here has been amazing. One week left to start and I feel like I have a solid idea of the direction I need to be moving in, that I am in fact already moving in. I wanted to ask about the premium account with LinkedIn. I know it offers additional functionality, and I don't have an issue paying for my own, it my career after all, but what are the most useful features that the subscription will be buying? I need to have it put together by Friday.

I also have to honestly say that I am surprised by the openness and helpful attitude of everyone here. For some reason I thought the community would be more competitive and less open to assisting a new guy. Yet another initial mistake on my end that has been cleared up!

~Daniel

Thomas Patrick Chuna said:

I second the idea of buying steve finkels book, "breakthrough".. read it, study it, and apply it. the morgan method training helped me as well.

manage your time.. market candidates to pertinent companies in the morning, recruit for your positions in the afternoon...be ready to field callbacks and emails after 4PM.

Research the crap out of your market..who can hire your people? who can you take from? identify as many companies as possible..do this on your own time..if your company won't buy you a linkedin membership, buy your own.

You'll hear a lot of people say over and over that recruiting is sales...it's only sales in terms of process ( you have to reach out to enough people, in order to get anywhere) , but not outcomes.. you can't convince a company to "buy" a candidate they don't want and can't use.. too many options for companies, such as recruiters who actually pay attention to job descriptions, and waiting for great candidates to wander thru the door that they don't have to pay for, for that to work.

On the candidate side, you might be able to "sell" ( or bully ) a spineless candidate into accepting an offer you want him to take but he doesn't want, or isn't a fit for, but 99% of the time they will crab out of it before the start date and you"ll both look stupid.

Here's the "art" of recruiting: learning how to read candidates and lead them to making decisions that really do benefit them and advance their lives, and helping your clients see just how said candidates solve their problems..helping everyone move forward for the best outcome. Ya gotta be good at understanding people, and the industry you are recruiting in.

Something else - Much of what we think is recruiting is just marketing.. posting jobs, leaving voicemails, sending emails, friending someone on social media, marketing candidates to potential clients, submitting a resume, that's all marketing.. all of that stuff is important and you need to do it well, but you aren't recruiting until you get the call that says " I wanna talk to this candidate, make it happen".. THEN you are recruiting..it's really about being an effective go - between, and sometimes we lose focus of that because were excited about the technology we have available to us.

BTW, good job on clarifying your background with the new boss.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on February 21, 2011 at 4:59pm

CB is a Gerat recruiter a combination of a Gerbil and a rat? I think i know some of those. :)

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Patrick Chuna on February 21, 2011 at 6:23pm

RBC needs a "like" button.

Sandra McCartt said:

CB is a Gerat recruiter a combination of a Gerbil and a rat? I think i know some of those. :)

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Zentgraf on February 22, 2011 at 10:28am

I'm pretty green myself (less than one year) and I appreciate all of these tips as well.

I totally lucked into my position. An acquaintance needed some help with her firm (she's just one person and she landed on a bunch of vendor lists all at once), so she brought me in. I had no experience AT ALL and I totally floundered for the first few weeks. And then, the clouds parted, the sun shone down from upon the heavens, and I realized that I was pretty darn good at this.

I still have hiccups (Friday was not such a good day for me), but I'm on my way to getting a handle on how to manage all of the things (calls, sourcing, pipeline management) I have to do to be a successful recruiter. I can tell you that two things that other people have said here that have been the most use to me:

1. Thick skin is a must. This isn't just for dealing the client, but also some candidates. You have to be able to tell someone desperate for a job that you have nothing for them. That is hard for me some days. I'm way too nice.

2. READ THE JOB DESCRIPTION! And if something doesn't make sense, ask questions.

And this one may only apply to me and my situation. I'm only a "part" time recruiter. (And by "part" time, I mean I'm not at my desk for 8 hours a day. I answer my phone and emails at all times. I can only "actively" work 4-5 hours a day because of the short people that live with me.) Because of my limited time, I only make a call to someone I'm willing to write up and submit to the client. This means I make a lot fewer calls, but I'm still making the number of placements I need to be making per month.

Anyway, good luck! I know what you mean by "having to make this work". I'm in the same situation. Failure is not an option for me.