Key Traits of Great Recruiters
Criteria Focused: Top producing recruiters, by either great training or hard knocks, have determined the key criteria of what constitutes a great search assignment or job order. They never compromise these criteria by request or demand. Even on a bad day (Yes, they have them too!) they stick to their proverbial guns in this War for Talent realizing that any condition from a client that compromises their effectiveness and process fails everyone. Big billers are aware that in a shallow candidate pool some candidates can become unrealistic about their worth or attractiveness to potential employers. They follow the rule that an uncooperative candidate cannot be one!
Self-Awareness: As entrepreneurial people, top recruiters carry a predisposition to have control over everything. I have met a few recruiters who take great pride in having absolute hands-on control over every issue, step, and situation that arises. Typically, they are not on the list of top producers. That is okay but my primary motivation, as is also the case with most top recruiters, is wealth generation. Great recruiters know that they need to focus on their strengths and allow others to perform tasks less focused on rainmaking. Top billing recruiters remain in constant contact with three categories of people; those who pay fees, those they can place and those that lead them to the other two. Nearly every top recruiter has a researcher (or more) in direct support of their practice.
Believe in Their Value: Armed with a proven process, a cooperative client, and the support staff required, top producers know, without a trace of doubt, that what they are capable of creating is of tremendous value to all involved. They leverage great careers for candidates, provide huge return on client fee investments, and manifest tremendous wealth. Their efforts, just like yours, are met by clients who make unrealistic or self-defeating demands that compromise their ability to produce the desired outcome of their process. They say "NO" and explain how a better approach can benefit the client. When faced with rigidity in these clients, they walk away, period. They realize that the time spent trying to make something out of a compromised search is typically a waste of time and more time consuming than applying their process and skills where they should. Further, they never compromise their fee or the basis by which it is calculated (total annual taxable compensation). They never offer a refund of a fee; rather they promise a result that solves the problem. They know instinctively, that they must work closely and primarily with the hiring decision-maker while maintaining respectful communication with all other parties involved.
They Value Their Evolution: Having trained thousands of recruiters across two decades, I have seen many arise to the top of their profession. Invariably, the best recruiters are constantly seeking an improvement in their skills and process. It is a normal human tendency to hold tight to what has made us successful to one degree or another. Top recruiters are aware that the world outside of their "trench" is constantly evolving, changing, and growing. They anticipate the necessary changes in their practices and seek skilled training. They attend conferences frequently and seek the wisdom of their peers. Not for self-assurance of their greatness, but most often for the piece here, the tactic there, and the modifications that the day demands, they seek training opportunities. Change is not right or wrong, it is inevitable. They know the wisdom of this timeless adage and it drives them to seek improvement.
The Case For Container Search
My arrival in this business was at a time when candidates were abundantly available. This condition remained until the recent past when Baby-Boomers started leaving their corporate employment in droves. Forced by economic adjustments, cost reduction initiatives, or by a desire to retire, their ranks, once a huge force is shrinking by the day and causing a 40mm person shortfall in the next few years. By 2011, less time than the average car lease, they will almost all be off the recruiting radar screen.
Yeah, I know, I am "preaching to the choir" about this reality. The issue is brought up because it is my observation that many clients have yet to face the impending reality that there will most certainly be more open requirements for professional candidates than the pool can fill. This is evidenced by the fact that many clients and their HR professionals are still placing undue faith in the job boards and technology tools. They invested heavily in these alternative candidate sources. This investment has led many to a stubborn reliance on these sources in the face of reality.
The reality is that 99% of professionals are employed. Since the recession ended, many candidates have changed employers from those they survived under during the early 2000's. These realities constitute a strong argument for the narrowing of options down to a major reliance on skilled surgical recruiters capable of penetrating source companies, effectively grabbing the attention of employed professionals, and recruiting them.
Many recruiters grew far too dependent on the exclusive use of technology tools to recruit and source candidates. I hear from many of them today. They are frustrated and feel that they are unfairly treated by HR. I feel their pain but feel compelled to say, "Wake up and smell the Starbucks!". The days of e-cruiting as a sole business have passed. Again, change is not right or wrong; it is inevitable for those who expect to survive and thrive in the War for Talent.
Further, the mindset of these candidates and the generational traits of Gen-X or Millennials give cause for a very skilled and thorough candidate evaluation process blended with a continuing recruiting effort. Most companies are sorely lacking in these skills or knowledge. These times frustrate many employers who are facing serious issues and challenges that depend upon the acquisition of the external talent and people with experience to create solutions and meet competitive initiatives. Frankly, I see a near term trend where companies may in fact fail as organizations when they cannot recruit critically required people.
Could Technology Tools Harm Your Business?
Since the invention of the PC and the Internet, we have made great strides in information technology tooling. Information is of itself our greatest variable resource. Effective access and retrieval of information gathered by us in our efforts to conduct search activity is a major asset to any recruiting and search enterprise.
During the last years of the 1990s, many innovative Internet resources were created and populated by many candidates we sought. Major innovations and tools to seek these candidates were popular among search practitioners and clients. Once the recession hit shortly after the turn of the century, many employers were enticed by certain search "gurus" to exploit the databases, networks, company websites, and job board to "Poach" candidates and stockpile them for the inevitable economic recovery, This was a very popular practice and sizeable candidate vaults were created.
These companies were also advised that during the recovery, as their recruiting needs emerged, they could find many of the candidates they needed in these candidate databases. This morphed, in some cases, into a practice of accepting a candidate referral from a third-party recruiting firm, checking then to see if they had this candidate in their stockpile. In the event they had a record of this person, they thanked the recruiter for their efforts to recruit and qualify that person but refused to pay a fee for the placement once that candidate was hired.
As fortune would have it, this did not last for long since, as we realize, candidates have a very short shelf life. The explanation of this reality was seemingly missed by their mentors.
Now that the recovery is well underway, and demographic facts promise that the demand for candidates will not diminish regardless of who ends up in the White House, the common realization is that 99% of professionals are at work. Since many professionals have changed employers since the recovery, few are populating the job boards. Many surveys of professionals reveal a common candidate observation that they are working extended hours and feel overwhelmed at work; rarely achieving 100% of their objectives. This is a major reason why most candidates are not "out on the "net". They are working hard and have lives.
We can reach them. Pick up the phone and call them at work.
Technology is a fabulous resource when used prudently as another means of finding candidate names, developing competitive search intelligence, and retrieving critical data when we need it. It was once heralded as the new recruiting method that would quickly replace the telephone focused recruiter. Someday that may be true. For the next decade, this recruiter will continue to use it wisely, but practice the Art of Recruiting on my instrument of choice, the phone.
