StlRecruiting

How And When To Use A Headhunter

2013-03-13T15:47:02-05:00

The best time to get money from a bank is when you don't need it. If you have cash and collateral, getting a loan is pretty straightforward, because there isn't much risk for the bank.

The same is true of how a candidate uses a headhunter. Far too many jobseekers assume their first contact with a headhunter or recruiter is when they've exhausted their job-seeking efforts and are unemployed. Talk about losing your leverage!

Imagine this conversation. A recruiter interviews you and submits you to a manager, and the manager calls to talk about the candidate.

Manager: I see you submitted this guy named Joe for the job. He has the right resume, but what can oyou tell me about him.
Recruiter: Well, I met him for the first time this morning. We talked about 30 minutes last night, and then he agreed to come in so I could submit him. He lost his job three months ago, and his wife is starting to make his life miserable about his job hunt. His mother-in-law is sending clippings from the newspaper, and his severance runs out next month. So he looked me up on Monster.com, sent his resume to me, and I was the first recruiter to call him, which is lucky, because two others called about the same job, but only after I met him.

Manager: Excellent paper shuffling. You've sure earned your fee!

Far more of the employment world works just like this then we'd care to admit. The conversation above is subtext, but it's recognizable to every recruiter out there, both outside and inside.

And it gets worse when you realize that at least Joe was responding to a job posting. If he had called in randomly, what are the chances a job that fit him would be on the desk of the recruiter he called?

So don't be the candidate calling headhunters expecting them to work for you to get a job. You may get interviewed, yo umay get placed in a database, and even given some advice, but even that is a luxury most recruiters can't afford.

So how do you do it?

1) When employed, make it a habit to take calls from headhunters. Not every one, and not when you're busy, but if you have time, take the call or respond to the email (prioritize the calls, because they actually matter). High-level executives know that taking headhunter calls throughout their careers keeps them top of mind should something come up. They build relationships over years with all the recruiters that call for that time when they do need a position. That should be you.

This isn't a long, involved call. It is enough to be polite, tell them you're not hiring or not looking right now, but speak to the headhunter for a moment or two to assess how good they are. If you're impressed, take their info down and tell them to call you once every year or two.It takes only a few minutes a year, and yet it pays dividends when the time comes to look. It also helps you identify what a good headhunter does, instead of trying to learn when you most need one.

LEARN TO ASK QUESTIONS:

Understand what you're doing. You're building relationships with someone that has regular knowledge of the hiring market. Rather than allow yourself to be questioned as to what you do, learn to flip the script and get them to open up. Good recruiters spend a lot of time listening. Getting the chance to speak is rare, so we're likely to not be prepared when you ask us about salaries in the market. In fact, I'd go so far as to say once you build a rolodex of recruiters, to be proactive in calling them and tapping their brain for knowledge to help you. Some will be put off that you're using them for knowledge, but that's a sign of their lack of savvy. Short, pleasant conversations create a business relationship that you both can tap in the future. Isn't that the point of networking?

Does It Work?
A friend of mine is a national president for an international firm, and he has been speaking with headhunters for years, discussing positions that were always one step above his current level. He has interviewed a few times over the years, but has been in the same firm over 12 years. Recently, he interviewed for a CEO position brought to him by a recruiter who first called him seven years ago, looking to make a placement. Simply by staying in touch, he was submitted and was one of the top two candidates for a position (in the end, he turned it down, but he now know he is CEO material).

Think about that for a moment. He didn't work with the recruiter, but was polite and told him to stay in touch. When the CEO position came, who do you think the recruiter called first?

Should Recruiters Blog?

2013-02-25T14:10:27-06:00

There's a common question in social training for recruiters. How much time should you spend on the computer instead of on the phone? The answer is that if you have phone calls to make, you make them first, and then you use the internet to find more people to call, but the bigger question is why do you need social media at all?

It's not just that social media helps you find candidates. It's that it helps you find yourself

YourHRGuys tells you why he does it. Reasons #1 and #2:

1. It has made me more thoughtful - Many people think blogging means you have to go out on a limb and say something sexy every post. My experience has been the complete opposite. People appreciate advice that is interesting, unique and thoughtful. Some people who give career advice seem almost glib at times and others give perpetually boring advice. If someone says you should wear a top hat to your next interview to stand out, that’s just entertaining but not useful. If someone says you should work on your handshake, that’s not entertaining but it is useful. I’ve tried to say things that are both entertaining and useful. So when you wear that top hat, make sure you give a really great handshake.

2. It allows me to learn - There are some really smart people in the blogosphere that I have been fortunate enough to interact with in-person or through telephone, e-mails and comments. This is why I couldn’t possibly do all of my 2009 predictions without including feedback from the great people online as well. Since I started getting involved with blogs (a lurker for four years and contributor for more than two and a half), I’ve learned about subjects I never would have even known about. It is truly amazing.

The key reason to blog is knowledge - both about your industry and about your business. You'd be surprised how many people never take the time to look critically at the way they do business. In today's business climate, that's going to be a problem.

How can you improve, if you don't know what you do right and wrong? Blogging demands content, and the best content is looking at your situation and discussing what you do wrong, and how you plan to fix it.

Forget the rest. Blog for yourself. It makes you a better employee, more aware of what's going around, and there's that personal branding boost you need for the future. Most recruiting is about closing candidates and closing deals. You have to have that down. But what comes next? How do you reach another level? Some people pay for training, others take long vacations, and some do what comes naturally - they network with friends and colleagues online to get better at what they do.

That's the reason to blog. It makes you a better person. It forces you to think through what you do and why, and if you find yourself unable to write, you might find it's not because you ran out of time. It's because you've stopped learning. Writing for me came naturally after five years of recruiting, but I was also at a crisis point. I wasn't burnt out, but I was close. Writing blogs about the industry ultimately taught me that recruiting is in my blood, which is why nine years later, I'm still excited to get new requirements, and still identify myself first and foremost as a recruiter.

Finding Isn't Sourcing

2013-02-21T09:24:30-06:00

Bill Boorman writes about the death of sourcing after a recent SourceCon event in Atlanta.

And here is the thing, sourcing is just starting. There are plenty of tools for dissecting and finding data that gives you the answers you want. The tools may no longer mean that you no longer need to know Boolean or other internet searching tips,but understanding what data means is a real art. It is not about finding people, it’s about understanding people. Things like who might be most ready to move. who has accumulated experience since they last updated a profile. Finding people might be easy. People are represented by data, and anyone with the right tool can find data, but interpreting data is a real skill.

Bill is right on here. I attended Sourcecon last fall to get a sense of how good I was against professional sourcers. As a full desk recruiter, and a sales account executive before that, sourcing is in my job decsription, but it's a lot more personal, as I have to make the calls and compare my results in real time.

What I found, and what is considered basic sourcing theory, is that everyone sources different because our brains aren't alike. Our experiences help guide us down different paths, and thus no sourcer is going to be the same in the lists they provide. This is important, because the rise of data increases the need for sourcing, instead of decreasing it.

Think of resumes. The more you have, the more you need to be able to get to the ones you want. Despite the advances in search technology, I've yet to hear about an ATS or job board that hands you perfect candidates without some kind of human filter. Why would this be changed just because social profiles give more clues?

The question itself is still rather moot. Most of you reading this know what sourcers are, but how many have a full time sourcer on staff? The major companies do, and agencies will often hire someone to sift through resumes, but sourcing still hasn't caught on in the majority of the recruiting world. To talk about its death is akin to saying social media was dead in 2008. In 2008, most recruiters didn't use LinkedIn. Many still don't.

Bottom line? Until candidates worldwide standardize their resumes to what a client wants (through some kind of mass mental hypnosis), resumes, and people will still have to be discovered. And that is the essence of sourcing.

If Recruiters Were Hollywood Gangsters

2013-02-04T16:49:59-06:00

If I ran my own recruiting firm, all of my recruiters would be required to memorize the speech Marsellus Wallace gives to Butch (Bruce Willis) in Pulp Fiction.

The day of the offer, you might feel a slight sting. That's pride messing with you. To heck with pride! Pride only hurts ... it never helps. You fight through that stuff 'cause a year from now, when you kickin' it in the Caribbean, you gonna say to yourself, my recruiter was right."

I'm not saying it would be legal, or even advisable, but it sure would be a lot of fun to see the reaction you would get.

And if any of my candidates ever backed out of an offer, you know what speech they would get.

Ezekiel 25:17: (it's not actually in the Bible. Tarantino made it up)

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.

Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the Valley of Darkness; for he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children.

And, I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers! And, you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!

StlRecruiting.com [Not Quite] Shutting Down

2013-01-07T15:07:42-06:00

I started this blog, what, eight years ago?

But I haven't posted in a year, and had only a handful of posts in 2011, so I'm shutting it down in the next month.

If you're interested in the domain name, let me know. It still has value, and I might even let you keep the posts.

Make an offer. If none is forthcoming, the blog will expire in March and you can try to pick it up then.

updated:Yeah, maybe not. I think I'll convert it to a job board.

Do You Know Enough Math To Be A Staffing Firm Recruiter?

2012-01-12T20:23:14-06:00

I occasionally get requests to decipher comp plans from readers. My first thought when I get them is that if you can't decipher them, either the plan is bad or your math skills aren't good enough to be a recruiter.

But that's unfair. Comp plans are designed to be difficult. They vary by company, and there are a lot of factors that determine their profitability. I myself, a decade ago, flubbed an interview because my understanding of gross margin was different than the company I was interviewing with.

So here's a guide.

Simply stated: Gross Margin = Bill Rate - (Pay Rate X Burden). Gross margin is sometimes referred to as net, net margin, gross net margin, and profit. Don't assume your company's description is an accurate one.

There are lots of ways to pay on gross margin

Company A: Recruiter/Salesperson team generates $1,000,000 in gross margin. Each gets $500,000 credit. You pay 25% commission. They each are paid $125,000.

Company B: Recruiter/Salesperson generates $1,000,000 in gross margin. They each get credited $1,000,000. You pay only 15% commission, but they each walk away with $150,000.

Company C: Recruiter/Recruiter/Salesperson team (3 people) generates $1,000,000 in gross margin. You pay 20% commission to the Salesperson for 50% of the credit, paying them $100,000. The Recruiters pool their half of the credit, and are each paid 30%! They each go home with $75,000.

See what happened there? If you don't understand, you should have been more alert in math class. There are other ways to do this as well.

Let's take a look at pay based on revenue, with a minimum gross profit percentage.

Company D pays draw of $32,000, with commissions paid as 3% of revenue if gross margin percentage is 20% and 5% of revenue if gross margin percentage is 25% or above.

How much do you revenue do you need to make $100,000 if your gross margin percentage is 22%?

If you average 2000 hours per candidate (no overtime), and you have 30 contractors, what is your average gross margin?

If your burden is 21%, what is your average pay rate?

Answer below the fold:

Revenue: $3,333,334. (the only number you needed was the 3% and the $100,000)

Average gross margin: $10 (rounded)

That's roughly 30 people at a $56 bill rate, with a gross margin of $10, to make $100,000

If you understand that, and got it right, congratulations. You can be a recruiter.

A Different Way To Look At Technical Interviews

2011-12-22T16:13:52-06:00

An interviewer and a candidate are in a room, conducting an interview for a software programmer.

In front of the candidate is a question about a complex coding problem. The interviewer asks the candidate a series of generic questions and then tells him it's time for the technical part of the interview, and motions to the question.

The candidate begins, but quickly finds themselves stumped. Maybe the room is too hot. Maybe he's nervous, but he's drawing a blank.

Here's what should happen.

Candidate: I'm a little lost on this. Let me ask you, what would you do?

Interviewer: Actually, this test is designed to find out what you would do.

Candidate: This is what I'd do. When I'm stumped, I reach out to other people to see if they have ideas.

Interviewer: I'm afraid I can't help you.

Candidate: Can I use my phone? Or my tablet?

Interviewer: This is a mental test.

Candidate: Yes, but my mental model includes reaching out to trusted sources and looking for information online quickly, in order to fill in gaps and check my work.

Interviewer: That's a bit unorthodox.

Candidate: For an interview maybe, but not for actual work. Do you ask your programmers to solve problems with pencil and paper in a small, hot room under a deadline? Or do you sit them at a desk with a phone, a computer, and access to other smart people? One of those ways is a test on how well you test. The other is a test of how you successfuly do your job as a developer.

Interviewer: You're hired.

The Best And The Worst Of Recruiting

2011-11-16T10:09:49-06:00

I just completed a search, and was chronicling my feelings during the process, both for blog fodder and as a quality control piece.

The Best Part: Interviews in progress

Some people may prefer when the candidate accepts the offer, when they start, or for third parties, when the check comes, but I prefer the interview stage. After they're scheduled, and while they're going on, there is so much hope expressed on all sides. From the recruiters to the candidates to the managers to other people in your life, everyone is expressing well wishes. It's a very optimistic time.

The Worst Part: 2 minutes after the Interviews end

Once interviews have been conducted, your part as the recruiter is set. All the prep work and the pre-closing is done, and now it's just a matter of crossing your fingers and hoping everyone lives up to their side in the bargain. Will you get feeback? Will the candidates change their minds? Will they accept the offer? Ask for more money? Will the clients sit on the feedback for days, weeks, or a month?

There's no way to know, and doubt begins to gnaw on you. Did you do your best? Should you keep looking for more candidates? If so, what was it about your candidates that didn't work out?

Did anyone lie? Are educational or credit references or drug tests going to trip you up? Just as interviews are optimistic, the post-interview is full of doubts. And there's nothing you can do.

You just have to sit and wait, and trust your work. When it's done, even if you do get the placement, you've got to tell some people no, and then move on. The closeness you generate with candidates begins to fade, both in successful placements and in those who don't get the job. You promise to stay in touch, but you have another forty calls to make.

2011 List Of St Louis Staffing Firms

2011-09-30T15:06:14-05:00

Got an email from a young salesperson looking to get into recruiting. I told him to call you folks. And in doing so, tried to remember all the recruiting firms I could in St Louis.

Here's my list.

Bradford Galt
Teksystems
Aerotek
Kforce
Net Effects
Technology Partners
Spherion
Manpower
Robert Half
Creatives on Call
Express Personnel
Adecco
Matrix
Technisource
Yoh IT
S3
OCI
Comsys (they have a new name)
Modis
Elite IT
The Newberry Group
Preferred Resources
ChameleonIS
Ibridge
Spherion
Quilogy
Ajilon
CDI
ISSG

Not a bad memory there, eh? Of course, some of them may be out of business or have new name changes. So I went to google and found out that Net Effects has their own list of St Louis staffing firms. It's such a neat SEO trick for their website, I helped them out there with the link.

If you do feel like comments, answer whether or not a 24 year old with two years of sales experience could get a job at your firm calling in and saying something like, "I have a list of 30 firms I'm calling to find out which one will hire someone not afraid to answer the phone." Is that you?

What Is The Line Between Sourcing And Stalking?

2011-09-20T09:45:35-05:00

Social CRM and Social Recruiting are incredible tools for finding candidates and sales prospects. The amount of data online is so vast, a skilled researcher can find information that is helpful in just about any business capacity.

But what is the line on that?

On the coasts, the personal and the professional often blend. 20-somethings utilize Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare services to connect with each other and do business, and the line between their social lives and their office lives is often blurred. That's not quite the case everywhere, but if you're searching for information on a candidate, you're going to run into their personal information, including photos, comments, and their connections.

A smart researcher ignores most of this, skimming past irrelevant information like ads on a page, but there are many recruiters who enjoy the voyeresque power of looking into people's lives. I know this because some of them admit it.

There are rules, of course. Government rules and corporate rules that are supposed to screen out the bad practices, but those are more about lawsuits than what is right or wrong. You can't legislate right or wrong.

In all cases, the best advice is to use your head. If you're a manager, hire people with maturity (don't be fooled by their age), and provide oversight (not micromanagement). We're on the cusp of seeing a lot of lawsuits and news stories about the danger of social recruiting, as the poor economy tends to lead to more people frustrated with the hiring process.

Just keep your wits about you and don't feed the monster. The benefits outweigh the risks if you have the right employees. If you have the wrong ones, no rules will matter.