StlRecruiting

StlRecruiter.com For Sale

2012-01-23T09:21:51-06:00

This blog is StlRecruiting.com

I also own StlRecruiter.com.

I'm open to selling either domain name. Make an offer and contact me at that email button to the left.

This is for the domain, not the blog or the content.

StlRecruiting was born on January 3, 2005. It has thousands of inbound links and is listed across the internet as a recruiting blog.

StlRecruiter is almost as old, but has always been a redirect.

Get it while it's hot.

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.

Office/Sales Manager: St Louis

2011-10-04T10:39:53-05:00

Complete Music has an open position:

We are a nationwide franchised Disc Jockey, Video, and Photo Booth service and we are seeking one employee to help manage our local office.

The ideal candidate will have strong organization, marketing, and communication skills and the ability to manage 50 part time disc jockeys.

The position requires weekdays, some nights and on-call responsibilities. You must not be afraid to work because the average work week may be up to and exceeding 40 hours.

Or course, the candidate must be willing to have fun with an endless amount of energy and certainly a sense of humor is mandatory.

If you are interested in this opportunity please call or send your resume with your salary requirements to:

Complete Music, Inc.
Dan Sims
11224 Olive Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63141
Telephone: 314-991-5656

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.

Six Figure Sales Rep Needed In Recruiting/Advertising Sales In St Louis

2011-09-15T12:21:14-05:00

FRom Chris Hodge on LinkedIn:

I am looking for a sales representative to sell multimedia recruitment advertising solutions to employers in St. Louis and nationwide. This person will be selling an array of print, web, job fairs and radio. The product really is different than anything else on the market. While competing companies such as Monster or Careerbuilder are limited to their own website, we have the ability to find the medium that makes the most sense for the customer. This requires the salesperson to do a thorough needs analysis, understand the demographics of the prospects the employer is trying to reach, and intelligently present the right solution.

The position pays a base salary of $22,000 a year plus commission. We have a full range of benefits. In 2007, the average income of all sales reps who had been with the company for 4 years or more was $94,000. It's not a bad income for a 40-hour a week job with no travel. This is an inside/outside sales job where the majority of the work is done on the phone, but reps are encouraged to meet face to face with customers when they can.

If you know somebody who might be interested in this position, please have them forward me their resume.

If that's you, look him up using your superior sales skills and shoot him a resume (or you know, call him).

Express Personnel Presents "Small Business And The Courts" In St Louis

2011-09-06T11:04:30-05:00

Our friend David Burlis, the owner of Express Personnel, is joining with Eagle Bank to present a small business learning session on the Missouri Plan, the selection of Supreme Court justices, and how that affects Missouri small business.

The session is Friday, September 16th, from 7:30-9:00 a.m., at the Viking Conference Center in Sunset Hills.

It includes three current Appeals court judges.

Why Are You Going To Social Media Conferences?

2011-08-26T11:39:37-05:00

Social media has taken the recruiting world by storm. From a few tentative panels in the early days, to 70% of the content to full conferences just talking about social, the employment industry is embracing the use of social networks to find, attract, and retain employees.

Training is a big growth industry, as is the growth in internal positions focusing on social media, but what does that mean for you, the recruiter or branch manager tasked with improving your social skill set, but not sure where to turn? What conference should you go to, and what webinars should you join to learn what you need?

The good news is that you're not alone, not just as recruiters, but in all industries. Social is touching everything, and everyone is asking where they should hang out. Where should they go? Who should they pay?

Let's not start there. Let's start instead with the real question - what do you want? Do you want direction, or training? Do you want tips and tricks, or do you want strategy? Do you want to meet other people at the same level, or do you want to follow people further down the path then you? Answering those questions helps you identify what you want from a conference. Having those questions, ensures that no matter what conference you attend, you'll walk away smarter.

Every conference I've followed, tracked, reported on, or spoken at has been beneficial to me. Some have great content, some great connections, and some are just good for publicity. And at each, there are people I could get that value from. And yet, very few times, have I learned that much from the conference. And neither have you. Look, you're only remembering a small portion of the conference if you're not writing it down. And even then, you're not acting on most of it. What you're doing is getting up the courage to start practicing on your own. You're looking for assurances from other people that you're not wasting your time, and that something good waits for you at the social media tunnel.

That's why conferences are getting more fun each year. There are more people, with more successes, and the message is soldifying into actionable results. How is that not exciting?

So what's the advice here? Stop worrying about where you're going, and do spend a lot of time planning how to get the most out of where you're going, whether it's a small meetup or one of the national conferences. Here's four things to do.

1) Make a list of people from your area going, and make sure you find a way to meet them.

2) Look for the conference hashtags, and follow those people on Twitter.

3) Every person who gives you a business card, send a LinkedIn invite the day they give it to you.

4) Get people to take photos of you at the conference, and make sure they are tagged on Facebook. These pictures will help you get publicity as someone interested in learning. Hey folks, that's valuable. It means you're a social person that is interesting, a very valuable personal career tool.