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What makes a recruiter great? For that matter, what makes a person great at anything? It seems everyone in the recruiting world is<a title=”top recruiter” href=”http://www.recruitingtools.com/wp-content/upl

oads/2010/01/top_recruiter_tshirt-p235065729740470340f7w81_210.jpg”> focused on Social Media as the end all, be all. Let me be the first to declare my love for social media, while also understanding my love is just a tool and not some mystical entity that drives my revenue.

Recruiter revenue is still driven by the same thing it always has been, the recruiter! In my opinion you will fall into one of these three categories;

1. Sucky; thanks for the negative reflection on our industry. Most likely you see this as a job, not a career.
2. Good; you are average and have the ability to make a solid living. Contributions to your organization meet minimum or slightly above standard expectation.
3. Great; this is where everyone wants to be (supposedly), the proverbially “next level”. We hear getting to this “next level” all the time, though few have a real plan. You are the cream of the crop. You don’t just work hard, you also work smart and make the most out of every opportunity.

So what is the magic formula? What does it take to be a great recruiter? I can sum it up in a few points.

“Just Get It” mentality (JGI).

In my 13+ years of being a recruiter (corporate & agency), manager and trainer of many recruiters, you could always tell the one(s) that “just got it”. Whenever you had training sessions, or exercises, they were the ones that figured it out and applied it immediately!

Thirst For Knowledge (TFK).

This person is always seeking out new resources and avenues to hone their skills and abilities. Like a sponge, this person soaks up knowledge (not energy) from everyone around them. He/She not only soaks up this information but applies it on a daily basis!

Quality Driven (QD).

Not every great recruiter is money driven (gasps, what?). Quality is a mindset; you are concerned about the entire recruiting process and want to do a great job. Your motivations run deeper than a paycheck.

Focus on Candidate User Experience (CUX)

You are in it for the long haul and understand that the candidate user experience (what I like to call the CUX) is a critical piece to your success. Your candidate interaction is with a purpose, providing critical and timely information, addressing hurdles as they occur, having open, honest and direct conversations and guiding your candidate through the recruiting jungle.

Not every candidate turns into a hire, but you turn them into an advocate for you, which in turn is an advocate for your company! Your motto is “CUX received or SUX I will be perceived”

Consultative (C).

Hiring managers, candidates, clients whichever environment you are in (corporate or agency) you are the knowledge center. You provide concise information even in the face of adversity. I remember sitting in a room of Fortune 500 executives (I was a corporate recruiter at the time) and we were making a roundtable decision on a hire. They had all voted “yes”, including the President. It was my turn and I said “no”! The room was quiet and I explained my position. We hired the candidate and 6 months later they were dismissed (among a variety of complaints). My prediction rang true and my stock went up! Because I was consultative and explained my position (while taking one), my job was a lot easier down the road.

Magic Formula: (JGI + TFK + QD + CUX) x C – SUX = GREAT RECRUITER

OK, so the magic formula is not exactly “magic”. Bottom-line, if you are the type of recruiter that is satisfied with being average; this formula will have little meaning. However; if you are a recruiter that has an insatiable internal drive to be the best, implement this formula and witness the magic.

A few of these attributes are innate to a potentially great recruiter. Where are you on this scale and do you have the desire to embrace these points, work towards them and be great?

For those recruiters out there who are asking, “what about daily planning”, and “what about phone time”? All these basics still apply, this formula embraces and expands on the fundamentals of recruiting, not replaces them….even a “sucky” or “good” recruiter can bang out 100+ calls. A great recruiter ensures that every little thing they do is magic (why is that song by The Police singing in my head?).

About the author:

Alex Putman has been involved in the Recruiting and Human Resources business since he graduated for the University of Alabama in 1996. His recruiting experience includes executive search, retained search, corporate recruiting, human resource consulting and management. He has managed many aspects of corporate Human Resources including; Recruiting, Immigration, Organizational Development and Employee Relations.

Currently, Alex manages the Talent Acquisition team at Synergis, an Atlanta based IT staffing firm. He is developing and building the Workforce Solutions group targeted at building a consultative relationship between staffing and clients.

The consummate family man, Alex enjoys spending time with his wife and 4 children. He is active in his church and community. A sports enthusiast, he coaches his daughter’s basketball team, enjoys golf and Alabama Football.

He is the author of “The Social T-Rex ™” blog, best defined as a creative, fun and informative approach to recruiting and human resources. Recently, he was asked to be a contributor to HR Toolbox, and started a human resource blog titled “HR Bits and Bites from a Social T-Rex”

Earlier this year I wrote for Cruitertalk about improving the candidate experience and proposed a candidate charter. I got a lot of   nodding heads, retweets and agreement but has anything really changed?

I’ve seen a lot of blogs making heartfelt pleas about how we should really be doing our best to improve the recruiter or employer brand, but I’ve seen very little actually happen in any meaningful way.

In reality, recruiters don’t care about candidates. That doesn’t matter whether they are corporate or third-party. (That may well not be the truth, but it is the perception we have created.) They care only about the 1% that become employees or placements, but what do we do with the 99% we don’t really want?

   You might strongly disagree with my comments, and insist that you do care about people and do the best you can. If I’m wrong I’m delighted, but it’s not what I see.  Unlike others, I don’t think it has anything to do with how recruiters are rewarded in the third-party sector or a heart felt dislike of candidates. It’s not a deliberate strategy, but it is a perception, and perception is reality.

I think it has come about as a result of automation and the volume of poorly qualified responses generated by post and pray recruiting. It’s a matter of time available and technology.

In most cases, only one candidate is ever going to get the job, and the rest are rejected. Have a look at your rejection process to determine what you can change to improve how this is done. The first big issue for me is how many people go unacknowledged or left in silence because they don’t quite fit the bill or have a resume that fails to hit the “Boolean” mark.

Gerry Crispin commented at Recruitfest09 that in an experiment he was running that out of all of the fortune 500 companies, only 3 acknowledged receipt of a resume. That’s before the hiring process has even started. To me that’s just plain rude and lacks any level of common courtesy that should be extended between one human being and another. (Apologies to Gerry if those figures are slightly out but they make the point.)

I have a few suggestions that I will be talking about in the Candidate Experience Track at #Trulondon on 18th/19th Feb, but would like your suggestions or observations to begin the track.

My suggestions apply to all recruiters whatever discipline, as well as job boards or technology companies and look only at the point of entry in to the hiring process.

1: Include more qualifying detail in your advertising. Look to advertise fewer jobs but spend more time on the ones you do. Support your postings with links to video or podcast with additional information. If it is a key role or a multiple vacancy create an event around this. Deloitte’s NZ have recently combined live Ustream with facebook for graduate recruitment and run a monthly show. The more time you invest in to attraction, the more you can expect your candidates to do the same.

2: Before you advertise anything, always search your own data-base first and look at who has applied to you in the past. The right person may be at your fingertips if you have organized the data in a way it can be retrieved easily. Code everything!

3: Create a human interface at point of response. A good example of this practice is carried out by global marketing recruiters Aquent.. when you apply to them, you connect with a recruiter not an ad. (They don’t post any on their site.) This way they can be vetted before they get to far in and either progressed or politely declined.

Personally, I think the job boards can do more on this and create an interface between the potential candidate and the hiring company within the job board using instant messaging. If a potential candidate can see that the recruiter is on line, they can engage with them directly and ask questions before making a submission. Would save a lot of time on both sides and improve the application process. This could also be done by linking a Skype call button that indicates the recruiter is available or a question/message box that goes directly to the recruiter, and is regularly reviewed.

4: Acknowledge every application. Even if this is automated via your ATS, tailor the response to the job giving a realistic timescale for feedback and plan feedback time in to the diary.

5: Create a funnel for all applications.

Channel A: Those that meet the criteria that you want to interview quickly, ideally moving to a phone screen at point of entry and booking the next step immediately. Be very clear on the process and timeline and have pre-prepared job descriptions, video etc you can refer the candidate to. Video does not need to be expensive or professionally shot. The best ones are shot on flip cam and show the staff that do the job talking about the role. I prefer controlled and branded channels for this like http://www.talentonview.com to host this because they are simple to manage on the back-end and easier to keep a track of.

Channel B: Those that don’t fit the criteria but are close to it or may be of some interest to the organisation at some time. You need to put in some kind of classifications at this stage. If you are using parsing technology use it to send out invites to Linked In, Facebook and Twitter. If you run groups in any of these channels, they create great candidate “holding” areas to keep them engaged. Send an automatic invite to join.

Channel C: Those candidates that fit neither category and you want to reject but you should do more than send out a standard “Dear John” letter. At the moment I’ve been doing some work with https://www.mygetaclue.com/ that have some great free resources for job seekers. You can tack this on the back of your ATS and send it out with your rejection letter. It’s great for your brand image, costs you nothing and might even end up making you money.

That is just the application process. In my own blog http://recruitingunblog.wordpress.com/ and at #trulondon I will be exploring the whole recruiting process and how we can work best to protect brand recruiter.

There’s nothing I’ve suggested here that is complicated or costly, but I believe is the right way to make technology in job search far more personal.

Be ambassadors for great recruiting; be glad to hear your views, see you at #trulondon

About the author:

Bill Boorman is something of a recruitment veteran, having worked in the industry for 22 years. All this despite being told at his first job that he didn’t have a future in the business! At the age of 42, the industry has given him most of his experience, having worked in most market places.

Recruitment has given him an insight in to the workings of many companies and he believes that this has given him a broad based understanding of business and people in general. He bases his training and consultancy work on this experience. He describes himself as being a non-academic trainer, preferring instead to deliver “true life” training that mixes reality with theory. Through his many experiences he has many case studies that help make sense of the problems delegates face.

Bill operates three distinct brands, spreading his message worldwide:

I had the honor of working a Habitat for Humanity project with my niece a few weeks ago where our assignment for the day was to  put up and align the exterior frames.  Now, I am no carpenter by any stretch of the imagination.  In fact, the only other Jewish carpenter I know decided to start another religion.  However, I learned how to line up the wooden frame from one side of the house to the other by using tools such as levels and string.  Basic and simple tools! 

If the frames are not in alignment…well, the house can fall down when you put the roof on. 

As I was working, I started to think about how important this concept applies to the Recruiting world.  How many times have you been down the candidate search mode and you were told that your candidates did not meet the hiring managers’ expectations because they did not have the skills/background s/he was looking for?   Average hiring manager satisfaction is still in the 50-60% range.  Remember when your company was in ramp up mode and the goal was to place butts in seats to meet customer demand?  Companies were in that mode from 2003 to mid 2008 and as the economy begins to ramp up over the next 12-14 months we need to have the right tools in order to meet their expectations.

According to most, companies will begin hiring again in order to keep up with increasing customer demands.  So….are your frames aligned with your company’s growth and workforce planning goals?  What tools do you have in place to ensure that when the increased demand comes, you will be a Recruiting Carpenter?  If the tool belt is a little light then below are some suggestions you may want to consider.  Note that these tools aren’t groundbreaking and may seem simple, but so was the string and level.

Service Level Agreement (SLA):  The concept of the SLA has been around the last six years.  This tool helped our company go from a time to fill of 81 days to a current time to fill of 35.  How?  By taking the time to speak with our hiring managers about their needs with regard to daily responsibilities, the nice to have skills versus the must have skills, and the projects this person would have the opportunity to work on.  The SLA conversations also helped us construct our job posting so that it would sell the opportunity not just be another job description out there describing the responsibilities and skill sets.  Some of the key questions we ask our hiring managers include:

• What are the big/compelling projects this person will get to experience? 
• What key objectives do you expect them to accomplish over the first 6 months and year. 
• What type of training and development is provided in this position? 
• What type of impact does this position make on the overall company?
• What does your schedule look like over the next 3-4 weeks?  Will you be traveling and will you have a back-up in your absence for recruiting questions? 
• When will you be available to begin interviews (dates)?   

There are many other questions you can ask but the key is to be mindful of their time when doing these conversations.  The partnership conversation shouldn’t go longer than 15 minutes.  Remember, they are counting on you to deliver and if you have recruited for this position before, it should be a two minute conversation to see if anything has changed.

Social Recruiting:  If either of these tools are not in your belt, stop reading this article and start looking into a different profession.  Posting jobs on the big boards will soon become a fossil resource in the recruiting world as social recruiting tools and programs like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter continue to revolutionize the way we find candidates.  Even Careerbuilder has started forming partnerships with Facebook and LinkedIn.  Successful recruiters move as fast as technology does to find the best candidates so it is vital to learn and embrace the importance of these tools now before newer technology leaves you in the dust!

The Phone:  Don’t laugh!  The phone is also a very important tool to continue using.  A lot of recruiters have taken social media and use it as their primary communications tool.  Why?  Takes less energy, don’t have to have the voice contact.  Really?  It takes more energy and thought to type using social media/recruiting than it does to dial ten numbers!

 Social recruiting cannot replace the relationship skills that recruiters have been blessed with.  Social Recruiting should be used to make the initial connection or generate interest, but there are a lot of recruiters out there who solely use e-mail and social recruiting as their method of contact.  

Put yourself in candidate’s shoes or better yet, remember when you were looking for a job.  Phone calls are the way to make the connection and show that you as a recruiter (corporate or agency) that you took the time to pick up the phone and find out more about them. The other key is to pick up the phone and let your candidates know where the position stands.   Candidates still feel like they apply to the proverbial black hole because no one is getting back to them.  Remember, the way we recruit and communicate with our candidates indirectly provides insight into what the company culture may be.  If you put your company values and service standards out on your site then you should be living by them every day in your role as a recruiter.  Candidate satisfaction whether the person is hired or not should be measured at all times

Metrics:  In speaking to quite a few recruiters at different networking events, that they are still not measuring their success.   The metrics are the nails that hold our wooden frame together because we know how we are doing.  We can measure the success of everything with this critical tool.  If you are just starting to measure keep your metrics simple – cost per hire, time to fill, hiring manager satisfaction are three great metrics to start with.  Once you have these you can look at more metrics such as Recruiting Cost Ratio, Recruiting Efficiency, Candidate Satisfaction, and Quality of Hire.  The second part is to show off your results and your positive impact to the company.  Create dashboards and post them on a Sharepoint drive for your managers to see and discuss

About the author

Michael Goldberg is the Recruiting Manager for Freeman, based in Dallas, Texas.  Michael has over 17 years of overall HR experience with the last 10 focused on Talent Acquisition.   He has been with Freeman for the last two and a half years and has been successfully able to build great recruiting partnerships and reduce time to fill by 50% over the last year and a half and maintain a Hiring Manager Satisfaction ratio of 95%.  He spoke at the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Las Vegas and most recently the Kenexa World Conference fall 2009. 

 Contact info:  Michael can be reached at either email address:

[email protected] or [email protected].

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Last week, I was honored to kick off part 1 of a 3 part series of social media content at the TAG Recruiting Society in Atlanta, GA. We  are fortunate to have a strong community of recruiters, sourcers and innovative leaders. I enjoy going to industry events and declaring that I am a part of the Atlanta Delegation. Our recruiting community must continue to mentor and be mentored.

Mentoring…
involves sacrifice and commitment. In order to be mentored, put aside your pride, humbly asks questions and learn. On the other side of the coin, mentors give their time and expertise to help professionally develop their mentoree. This is an invaluable gift.

isn’t exclusive. Since I have multiple interests, I sought out a couple of mentors who were successful in completely different arenas. This allowed me to be stretched and view different roadmaps to achieving my goals. Also, you may not be ready for a one-on-one mentorship. Start being an active member of a group mentorship forum like ERE or Recruiting Blogs.

creates accountability. With your friends, you may be able to dream out loud repeatedly. A mentor will listen to the same conversation and brainstorm specific activities to make this dream a reality. Your intentions are now defined. An update will be expected at the next meeting with the mentor.

puts the ‘us’ back in trust. In the book, Managers as Mentors by Chip R. Bell, the author discusses how the mentor and protégé can create a level playing field to have a productive mentoring relationship. Being completely transparent and communicating honestly leads to fantastic results.

Thank you to those mentors who have paid-it-forward by listening and then sharing your heartfelt advice. You continue to lead by example and invest in me. I’m grateful.

Simply put, those who engage in mentorships will have a competitive advantage in work and life. Your next approved requisition is to start recruiting a mentor.

About the author:

Jenny DeVaughn, Chief Enthusiast Officer (CEO) of Social Precision, specializes in strategic corporate and professional growth via social media consulting. Her scope of experience is focused on creating customized social media webinars, presentations and social recruiting training. Jenny’s clients include: small companies to large corporations who are seeking to leverage free social media tools to increase revenue, discover new clients, gain a competitive advantage, demonstrate value, engage talent, genuinely connect with target prospects and monitor their brand online. She recently accepted an opportunity with Bernard HODES Group as their Director, Social Strategy.

Prior to starting her own consulting company, Jenny gained vast experience using social media as an Executive Recruiter.  Her primary focus was to increase business and contacts which was aided via social media initiatives. Jenny’s pay-it-forward approach has afforded great opportunities to work with non-profit organizations. She is the Executive Vice President of Marketing and PR for the Society for Human Resource Management – Atlanta Chapter (SHRM-Atlanta) and the Director of Career Advancement for the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP). Additionally, Jenny participates in the Recruiting Society of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).

You may read Jenny’s latest blog post at http://socialprecision.com, connect with her via LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennydevaughn or follow her tweets at http://twitter.com/jennydevaughn.

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Online conversations are all the rage today.  Which got me thinking.  I should write about what isn’t getting much play today, but is   still central to the recruiter’s world.  The telephone call.  This site, short for Recruiter Talk, reinforces this. “Talk” to me means voice-to-voice speech.

Certainly, there’s value to an integrated web presence, online networks and short e-conversations – IM, texting and Twitter.  (Topics for another piece.)  However, in my experience, there’s nothing more effective – in speed, focus and quality in building relationships – than the good old-fashioned phone call.  If it’s done right.

In today’s market, the emphasis is on finding open positions and marketing clients.  In a candidate-driven market, the focus is on recruiting. In both marketing and recruiting, the same approach applies for the first phone conversation.

In my training, I talk about the three elements of a World Class Call:

1)  Content – What you say. Specific words that grab attention and engage.

2)  Delivery – How you say it. Upbeat. Personable. Professional speech. Varied voice tone.

3)  Timing – When you say it. Getting the right person on the phone at the right time.

Before making the call, you need to do research, name sourcing and think through what you’re going to say.  Here is the process my firm takes, followed by a recent marketing call I had.

Finding Open Position: 

You can locate open jobs today through the social media sites.  In this case, we found a VP Finance through LinkedIn’s “Jobs” feature. The position was in our recruiting niche and our geographic focus.  The job description stated the company’s name and that the position would report to the Chief Financial Officer.

Sourcing the Hiring Manager:

Before making the call, we need four pieces of information.  The Hiring Manager’s: 1) Name, 2) Title, 3) Direct Phone Number, and 4) Email address.  In this case, we sourced the CFO’s name through a web search using parameters: [Company, CFO].  We found the company’s phone number on the firm’s website.  We called into the firm and asked the CFO’s assistant for his email address. When she wouldn’t give it out, we learned the firm’s email string through a web search. It was: [first name (dot) last name @ company.com]. We plugged in his name.

First Contact: Voice Message + Email:

I then called back into the company and left a voice message for the CFO. I said, “Hi Bill, I’m Mike Ramer, we haven’t spoken before”, stated who I was and that there were two reasons for my call, but couldn’t leave a detailed message for reasons of confidentiality, but would send an email.  I then sent a short email with the subject line: “Time to Talk?”  The next day, he emailed me back that he couldn’t talk that week because he had a family emergency, but that I should follow up with him the following week.  I emailed him back that I would.

Pre-Call Research:

We then researched him and his firm on the web and LinkedIn. We learned he was also an EVP and Board Director.  We learned about the size of his firm, its products and recent company news. We learned his experience, his education and, since he was a company officer, his current compensation was online.  He lived in New York and was educated in New Jersey (my home state).  The take-away here:  Find out what you have in common (work, life, interests) before making the call.  These could be areas of engagement.

The First Call:

World class calls are great conversations. There is a free flow exchange which mixes both personal and business topics.  In the first 15 to 30 seconds, we create the first impression. Over the next two to three minutes, we create “call chemistry”.  As quickly as possible, you’ll want to begin asking questions to engage in a dialogue. From the beginning, keep in mind the three elements: Content, Delivery, Timing.  Here’s the transcript of my marketing call:

Mike:  Hi Bill, I’m Mike Ramer. We traded messages last week.  I’m President of my search firm in Northern New Jersey – in the New York area. We specialize in working with mid-to-senior management in your industry. We’ve been at it for 18 years and have established relationships with leading firms and have deep contacts in your area.  I hope all worked out for you last week. You mentioned you had a family emergency?

CFO:  Yes, my mother had a medical emergency. She was in the hospital. But she’s back at home and fine now.

Mike: That’s good to hear. You know, I think about it more and more.  The older we get, health is most important.  Lately, I’ve been   thinking more about my parents and try to enjoy each moment I’m with them.  I understand you’re in upstate New York?  I drive through your area two or three times a year on route to visiting my in-laws. It’s good country and low cost of living, right?

CFO:  It is. Housing costs are low and the schools are pretty good.  We’ve been up here about seven years now.  I’m a Jersey boy originally. I went to Rutgers and grew up in Toms River.

Mike: Really!  We have Jersey roots in common.  My family used to have a place near Island Beach State Park near Toms River.  I like the shore area and visit once or twice a year with my family.  What made you move to upstate New York?

CFO:  To be by my wife’s family and this career opportunity.  I’ve been happy with the move. The firm’s been doing very well.  We’re up to $900 million in revenue and were added to the Russell 5000 index a couple years ago. The stock’s moved up nicely since then.

Mike: That gets to the two reasons why I wanted to speak with you, Bill. The first – my firm is on a search for a CFO in Southern Connecticut.  It’s an excellent well-established firm, great management team – one of my best clients. They’re currently private, about $1.2 Billion in revenue – and poised to go public. They’re seeking a CFO who has been through the IPO process.  It could be very lucrative.

CFO:  I did that here for our firm. (He explains what he did.)  Though, I’m pretty well set here, but might consider if the opportunity is to good to refuse.

Mike: I understand. This position might be for someone in your network. (My take-away.)  I’d like to send you the job description for your review and if you know a colleague you could feel free to share it.  The second reason I wanted to talk to you was I understand there is an open position under your management for VP Finance that will be responsible for (read requirements from job posting.)

CFO:  Well, Mike, we’re probably set with that.  I have eight candidates’ resumes who look pretty good.  The top one lives in Texas and she wants to come back here to be closer to her family.

Mike: I hope that works out for you, Bill.  It’s always a challenge to find the right-fit candidate, with the right mix of background and experience.  I figured you’d probably have to relocate the person.  If it happens not to work out, my firm can assist.  Are there other positions you might be hiring for in the near term?

CFO:  In fact, I just had a meeting with my HR Director this morning. We’ll be looking to bring on two Senior Client Development Officers for a new division in Saratoga within the next three months.  We may need some help with that.  How does your firm work?

Mike:  We have contacts in that area and have worked searches like that. The choice candidates will be local and have established books of business.  The top performers will probably not have their resume updated and want to keep all confidential.  They’ll have to be recruited. (Explain search and recruiting process.)

CFO:  Sounds good, Mike. Could you send a proposal and follow up with me in a couple of weeks?

Mike:  I will next week and also put my card in the mail to you.  Great to talk with you, Bill.  I enjoyed the conversation.  I’ll follow up with you in a couple of weeks after I send the proposal.

The four steps after the first conversation are:

1) Email the next day.  In subject line: “Our Conversation/Follow Up”.

2) Mail short note with business card, referencing first conversation.

3) Send the recruiting proposal within the week, by the time we said we would.

4) Email to schedule the second call.  (That dialogue is for another post.)

The World Class Call is customized for the hiring manager and each situation.  There are no standard scripts that work every time. Only a format, an approach.  This summarizes mine:

• Keep in mind your end goal (in this case, learning about open positions).
  • Have a personal, professional conversation.
  • Use your research.  Engage in topics you have in common.
  • Be sincere.  Be yourself.  Ask questions.  Listen.
  • Make the conversation memorable.
  • Then follow-up, again and again.

In my experience, this has been the most effective way to develop rewarding new relationships – in any economic market.  The phone call may not be in fashion now.  Though, person-to-person voice conversations will never go out of style, because of their relationship-building power.

_________________________________________________

Mike Ramer, CPC, CSP is founder and president of Ramer Search Consultants in the New York area.  He is an international trainer for the search and recruitment industry.  Mike designed   The Art of Search (c) training programs, which he presents in-house at recruiting firms and industry events worldwide.  He has trained 2,500+ recruiting professionals at 50+ events including; NAPS, ASA and Fordyce conferences.  He was the highest rated speaker at 2009 NEAPS, New England’s regional conference.

Mike’s firm also offers “human capital” services, including; Career Coaching, Job Search Consulting and Employment Expert Services for legal cases.  He is very active on social media sites; LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  Connect with him and he’ll respond to you!  Mike lives in the New York area and loves to travel and coach his boys’ sport teams.  He is a believer that “attitude determines altitude” in business and life.  For more about Mike and his training, visit his firm’s website, www.RamerGroup.com or email him [email protected].  Follow him on Twitter @MikeRamer.

For those who don’t know me I am an in-house Recruiter and a Dad of 2 kids under six, with number 3 in pretty close proximity.  I do find that my professional and personal life tend to intertwine a little too much at times, not sure if this is healthy or not, oh well.  I tend to be able to draw a lot of inspiration from both sides of my life which influence the other.  This is one of those stories.

They say this Recruiting gig would be so easy without candidates, hiring managers, clients and dodgy technology.  (Being a parent   would be easy too, if not for the kids) You wouldn’t make much money, but life would be easy.  I’m going to focus on the Hiring Manager today.  I’m pretty over the technology – Social Media – job Board discussions, so I was thinking of going to the basics. I feel candidates have been done to death too, so I feel the need to discuss the fun subject of the Hiring Manager.

I’m surprised that the psychology hasn’t really changed that much in my transition from Agency to Corporate.  I thought it would be easier once I was part of the company. I WAS SO WRONG.

Recruiting is viewed as Recruiting, how ever you brand it.  Nope saying I’m a Consultant! This doesn’t help your argument.

As a Third party Recruiter, dealing with the Hiring Manager, the decision maker, be that HR, Recruitment, Project Manager, Team leader etc, was a challenge.  Not returning calls, emails etc, not responding to meetings, saying one thing to you, whilst doing another, seeing other recruiters behind your back.  This wouldn’t happen once working in-house would it? Surely not, you’ll be a highly respected part of the core team, influencing all levels of the organisation! ba bow! it has happened, my friends, it will and it will again.

It has been a source of frustration of mine, but I’ve come to terms with it now.  woooo saaaaa.  Believe it or not, what has helped me come to terms with this is toilet training my 2.5 year old.  Yes you read right! Toilet-training.  No not the fact that every time I walk around a corner I expect to have to clean up a mess! Or the fact that the both rarely know what they want or get distracted way too easily from the job at hand, for something even newer and shinier, or that both seem to be able to manufacture tantrums at the first sign of not getting what they want.  It is all about the influencing skills, the persistence, the value add, and knowing in yourself that they will be better off for the exercise, these attributes that YOU need to have to make it work.  It’s not their problem or issue, it is yours to deal with.

It wasn’t a real big challenge getting Hiring Manager buy in when I first started in-house Recruiting, the systems, process etc, were there, and it was followed under full watch of the CEO.  The challenge came when my company started acquiring companies.  Trying to establish my/our process on another company which was used to doing things another way.  In one particular occasion, a person who was the HM, who had personally gone through our hiring process unsuccessfully.  Now let me tell you that was an icy reception.

They had always done things a certain way, they were comfortable and secure in this knowledge, and here I am trying to change all this with the instigation of a foreign process. (works for Hiring Manager and toilet training)

What to do?

You don’t want to get all corporate, with a “well sorry, I know you had your own process before, but it’s my way now” on the poor person, you need to allow them time to adjust.  you need to sell your services, you need to sell your function and your own knowledge.  In short you have to prove yourself again. (and then if that doesn’t work say “well sorry, I know you had your own process before, but it’s my way now” – Hiring Manager or “because I said so that’s why!” – Toilet Training *joke*)

Funny enough the easiest way to impress Hiring Managers (and kids) is to simply do as you say.  Revolutionary I know, but correct all the same.

If you are going to shortlist by this date… DO IT! if you say you are going to update them daily… DO IT!  If you say you will contact someone by a certain time, or have an Ad up or whatever it is you agree to do, DO IT! (If you say you will give a reward for a whole day minus accidents… DO IT!) This will get you instant respect.  Trust me; most hiring managers aren’t used to that.  Be honest with them, make them accountable (Accidents= no reward)!  If they promise you things, like an agreement on a short list, or times for interviews, or feedback or anything, and they don’t deliver… CALL THEM ON IT!  Whilst you are a service provider, you are not subservient, ensure they give you the same respect you extend to them!

If they go back to their old ways, ie going back to Agencies, or short circuiting the process, or not telling you when they want to go to the toilet – CALL THEM ON IT! They know better and are just challenging you.

Believe in your services and your expertise… you are there for a reason, you are an expert in this field (both I’d hope), you have the experience and knowledge to be able to offer valuable advice that should be followed.

And Persist! It’s your job for god sake, and if you give up, or turn a blind eye as it’s just easier that way or think they will come around when they are good and ready, why rush things.  If you do, trust me.. things are going to get messy!

About the author:

Dan has been in the Recruitment industry since 1997, where he started working for an IT Recruitment Agency. He worked in a number of roles there, from Resourcer to Account Manager to general consultant. In 2002 he took the plunge into the world of Internal Recruitment and has been in his current role with DWS as National Recruitment Manager since then. He is a career Recruiter who is passionate about the industry, and when time allows he is active in a number of online Recruiting Communities.

Website: http://saysomethingdan.blogspot.com/

Email: [email protected]