"I’ll Be Back"… Don’t Take “No” For An Answer

What is your first response when a prospective candidate tells you “no”?  Remember in the movie, The Terminator, when Arnold said his famous line, “I’ll be back”?   All recruiters should take this to heart… it should be our mantra, especially in this market.  How many times have you had candidates tell you that they were not interested in your job?  Maybe they were happy with their current role, not the right time to make a move, looking for a different type role, couldn’t relocate, looking for a higher level role to make a move… we have heard them all.  If you haven’t then you aren’t doing your job properly.  And by your job, I mean building relationships with your prospective candidates.  

Being trained as an agency recruiter has many advantages.  We are taught never to take “no” for an answer.  In fact, on my first recruiting job they told me that I would hear “no” at least 5 times before getting to a “yes” and they gave me a long list of how to overcome typical objections.  The key learning here was that if someone said no, they were engaged in the conversation and giving me the opportunity to turn that no into a yes.  The rule of thumb was that you make your pitch and then shut up… the next person to speak loses.  This brings back memories of very, very long silences over my desk telephone while I was waiting for the person I was speaking with to say “no” or “not yet” or “not now”.  (Yes, I said telephone… we used to actually cold call prospective candidates to recruit them.  Does anyone else remember dialing for dollars???)

Fast forward many, many years to today and these principles still hold true as a corporate recruiter and perhaps even more so in the executive search world.  My world now is all about building relationships with the people I talk to, promoting my company, creating awareness, being a brand ambassador and helping them find the right opportunity here.  Just having conversations about our company values, new products and technologies, global expansion, company culture and personal growth and development can keep me talking to people for 10 – 15 minutes.  And they really get excited when they hear these things!  (Of course it doesn't hurt to work for one of the best companies in the world.) 

Many times just having that initial conversation with a candidate will get them thinking about outside opportunities and before you know it, they are looking at what else is out there.  Especially when they had a bad day, a change in work or family situation, were passed up for promotion… you get the idea.  It all goes back to building that relationship with the prospective candidate.  Really listen to them and figure out what they want and the best path to get them there. 

These days I’m finding that more and more of the candidates that told me “no” the first time are now actively seeking me out and asking for my help, even people I haven’t’ spoken with in years.  This is a win/win because it saves me time when they come to me with resumes in hand (most times they have seen a job posting that they are interested in and are asking for my help getting them to the hiring team) and I’m better able to help navigate them to the right group or business leader. 

Bottom line… the next time you hear “no” your response should be “I’ll be back”!  

Secrets To Successful Recruiting

Do you ever wonder what makes some recruiters so successful while others don’t seem to be able to produce great results?  I’ve been in the business for a long time and worked with many, many recruiters in both agency and corporate environments.  The great ones are happy to share their knowledge and secrets of success and I am an enthusiastic learner.  Allow me to share what I have learned with you and I would love to hear back what you have learned on your recruiting journeys.  What I have discovered is there are 4 basic skills that every successful recruiter has mastered.  They are; sales, smarts, savvy and storytelling. 

Sales:

Recruiting is basically all about selling… you sell the candidate on the job and you sell the hiring manager on the candidate.  Agency recruiters have to use super sales techniques to cold call into companies and sell the hiring managers on using an agency and paying a fee.  Corporate recruiters also face challenges in convincing hiring managers who assume calling their job out to an agency is the only way to get top tier candidates.  They have to convince their hiring managers to give them time to source, screen and submit qualified candidates that didn’t apply to the posting.  Then they sell them on why they should interview the candidates they have recruited.  Both face the ultimate challenge of convincing that perfect purple squirrel candidate to accept their role which, when successful, can be a feat of infinite magic and a wonder to behold.  This is one of the best feelings a recruiter will ever have… taking a stellar passive candidate, presenting them with their ideal job, arranging all the interviews, negotiating offer details and finally getting the signed offer letter… talk about time to celebrate and pat yourself on the back!  In the agency world we used to ring a bell when that happened and sometimes I feel like ringing a bell now when closing a really challenging req… if not ringing a bell then at least popping a cork.  J

Smarts:  

Recruiters have to be experts in their fields.  They are super sleuths like Nick Charles or Jake Gittes (“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”), private detectives prowling the cities and cyberspace… first finding top tier candidates; researching where they work and play, finding contact information and getting them into a conversation before they can even present a job opportunity to them.  Some great recruiters can work without any tools at all… just their intellect and industry knowledge.  I know one recruiter who only recruits for specific industry professionals so he pretty much knows all the players and has their contact information so that when he gets an order from a competitor, he just picks up the phone and starts dialing for dollars.  Other great recruiters use all the tools available.  (I happen to fall into this camp.)  We need tools not toys.  ATS, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Blogs, ZoomInfo, Boolean searches… you name it we use it!  We are building a social network and a personal brand to attract and engage with leaders in our industries.  I love it when I find people using new tools like Pinterest and can speak to them about their interests and interacting with new people who find me on Twitter and Google+. 

Savvy: 

To paraphrase a Kenny Rogers song… you won’t get very far as a recruiter unless you know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run.  You never count your money when you’re sittin at the table...  Recruiters are like gamblers in a way; they have to read people and know what motivates them, when and how to approach them and how to give them what they want so that everyone wins.  This is a fine art and a skill that is honed over the years.  Every now and then you will come across a natural born recruiter but most have been seasoned, tried and proven thru fire.  They know what works because they have made mistakes and had great successes and learned from them both.

Storytelling:

If you can’t tell a story about the company you are representing or why this particular job is so wonderful for that particular person at that particular time in their career, you probably won’t see stellar results.  On the flip side, you have to tell the candidate’s story to the hiring manager so that they will understand how that particular candidate will successfully meet their needs for their team at that moment.  Great recruiters use their storytelling skills to paint a picture of the role they are recruiting for, the company culture, innovation in the industry, career path, success stories from former people in that role, what it would be like to work with that team, current projects and cool new projects on the horizon that they can be a part of from day one… you get the picture.  Some people think that if you offer a candidate enough money they will take your job.  They couldn’t be more wrong.  People change jobs for many different reasons but in my experience only about 20% or less focus solely on salary… it is usually the type of work they will be doing, who they are working with and if they will be challenged and afforded new growth and learning opportunities.  My hiring managers are interested in why candidates do what they do… what motivates them and gets them out of bed every day.  A passion for what they do and the fire to make things happen and make a difference… that’s what our hiring managers look for in potential candidates, we have even started hiring to our values in some roles over technical expertise, especially in customer care roles.  You can teach technology but you can’t teach desire, drive and a heart for the customer.  

New Year’s Resolutions… Confessions of a Corporate Recruiter

It’s Sunday, January 2, 2011 and I’m sitting in my living room looking at all my Christmas decorations thinking… this is really going to take a lot of time and effort to put all these away, and today is the best time for me to do this since it’s back to work tomorrow. My next thought is… so what else can I do to procrastinate? I know… I’ll write my New Year’s Resolutions for 2011!

Now I have long since abandoned personal New Year’s resolutions so this posting will be dedicated to my professional endeavors to make myself a better recruiter. I will try and keep it short and succinct. (My recruiting Jedi master will admonish me for that last statement… Do or do not, there is no try.) Anyway, here is the list:

1. I will answer all my emails… yes all of them.

2. The priority and job appropriate emails will be responded to within 24 hours and the courtesy emails within 72 hours. (OK, realistically 120 hours… but no more than 5 days.)

3. I will enter all my candidates into the database, completely filling in all the fields and attaching a new copy of their resume and ALL notes.

4. I will keep all of my submitted candidates informed of their status within 72 hours of submission… even if it is just to apprise them there is no feedback from the hiring manager.

5. Once I receive an open requisition, I will submit at least 3 qualified candidates within 7 working days.

6. I will proactively source candidates in anticipation of future needs and have them packaged and ready to go when new requisitions are open.

7. I will accomplish these goals in a timely manner that will not interfere with my personal activities and time allotted to my family and friends.

8. Oh, and I almost forgot… I will finish writing and post my blogs the day I begin them. And post a minimum of 2 blogs each and every month.

Just how long do you think it will take for me to break these resolutions? Would any of you analytics professionals out there like to help me create a test? The Vegas money has the odds at 5 to 1 for three weeks. Personally, my money is on the length of time it takes my naturally red hair to lose its fiery, copper red sheen… typically between 4-6 weeks.

In the interim, and just for grins, I’d like to know how long you think it will take and/or how long it usually takes you to break your New Year’s resolutions. Please complete this survey… we can all have a good laugh next month.