Q. I recruit in healthcare. I know people who recruit in other industries and make placement after placement. Sometimes I have quarters like that; sometimes I do not. It is very hard to find candidates in my field and in my area. I mainly cold call and try referral recruiting, but people are very resistant to change. The boards are costly, and all the other recruiting firms swarm them every second. I try to get six submittals a week, but that doesn’t fly usually. Any suggestions for myself or my group? John H., Charlotte, NC

A. You’re right when you say the job boards are swarmed by other recruiting firms. The majority of individuals utilizing job boards ARE recruiters. My suggestion would be to develop a referral process in your office – specific times in the placement process when your recruiters ask for referrals. These suggestions would also increase your referrals:

- Interview with an org chart in mind, which will have each candidate giving you the names of others in their department.

- Ask for personal references on your application form. We ask for three and they often give coworkers, who, of course, can become candidates.

- Give a FREE download your candidates would absolutely “HAVE TO HAVE” on the top of your website so you can track all candidate traffic. Most candidates stay less than seven seconds unless they see what they want. If you have a free download, you will obtain their name and email address.

- Have a list of all your current openings, and offer to send this to everyone with whom you speak when you are making indirect recruiting calls or networking. You will be amazed at the level of lateral marketing that will occur. People WILL email your list to their friends, resulting in additional candidate flow. Of course, this is a blind list – no company names or salary levels. You then build a database of these prospective candidates and send them an updated list every other month with an article of interest so they open the email. Put the title of the article in the SUBJECT LINE of your email.

- Pay for referrals of candidates you place. We pay for referrals and actually give away a TRIP for two each December. Anyone giving us a referral we place participates in the drawing for the trip.

- Try to key in to retiring baby boomers who are often not ready to retire and welcome a second career opportunity.

- Mandate at least 90 minutes of indirect recruiting calls daily (don’t answer emails or take incoming calls), and you will enjoy an instant increase in candidate flow. (Only calls are closes you give to your front-desk person or candidates who say, “_______ SAID TO INTERRUPT HER,” which is the message your recruiters should leave when they get voice mail.) You know these callbacks are hits.

- Subscribe to the trade publications read by your candidates. Read the articles and learn who is being promoted, what companies are expanding, which are down-sizing, etc. All this information will lead you to additional candidates.

- Track classified ads in your area of specialization. When someone advertises for certain skills, you now know that individuals in their company possess those skills.

- Have a 30-second pitch ready so individuals you speak to will know who to refer to you. A simple format is “I help__________ who__________ so they can _______________.” You should have different pitches for various types of networking.

Q. I’m about to fire a client who gave me a $5,000 engagement fee six weeks ago. They have interviewed 12 candidates over the phone and 3 face-to-face and are about to make a low offer that probably will be turned down. They have over 6 people involved in the interview process, and even if my guy takes this low parallel offer, I am just about breaking even on time and effort. The dilemma is that they are rapidly growing and potentially could offer six figures in fees in the next three months. Do I continue to try to train them or fire them? Kevin E., San Diego

A. I would say walk away, but you also said they could pay over $100,000 in fees in the next 90 days. Now that you have established the initial rapport with this client, you need to make a few changes next time around. It is apparent they are not aware of your “process,” which will greatly enhance their ability to attract top talent.

1. Get a TARGET DATE TO FILL – a specific date vs. ASAP, immediately, or yesterday.

2. Obtain Interview Times when you write the job order (ensuring send-outs).

3. Email a copy of your job order to EVERYONE in the hiring process to make sure they are all on the same page. Part of the reason you may have had to send in 12 candidates is they are NOT currently on the same page. Over 50% of our “established” clients make major changes on our initial job order.

4. When you obtain the Salary Level, ask what the current person is earning. It is rare for a new person to be brought in at a higher level than the current person was earning. NEVER quote the range to your candidate. Close the candidate as low as you can and discuss salary with both the candidate and client throughout the entire process. Your goal is to obtain an offer higher than the amount you have your candidate closed to accept.

When candidates ask you what their job pays, your answer should always be “They are definitely within the range you have shared with me, but it all depends on HOW WELL YOU INTERVIEW.” If the offer is lower than expected, they blame themselves, not you.

5. You need to educate your clients about the fact that we are in a “CANDIDATE-DRIVEN MARKETPLACE” and competition is extreme for top talent. It is just as important to PREP your client as it is to PREP your candidate.

When you have candidates eliminated from the process, make sure you get DETAILS so you can fine-tune your search. Your goal should be to have TWO or THREE of YOUR candidates in the final inter-view process. I would give this client one more try before I walked away. For the record, I have never told a client I’m FIRING them – I never know where that client might end up. I prefer to explain that we are in business to make a profit, and the business relationship we have is not producing profits, which is why we can no longer represent them. The end result is the same, but most hiring authorities are aware that we must protect our business and make profits.

Q. Enjoy your info. Looking for your opinion on two things. Do you believe in referral fees to applicants? What do you think would be a fair amount? Guarantees to client company? Had a company request a 180-day, 100% guarantee. We never have really done more than a 90-day 100%. Do you ever refund the money? Thanks for your advice/opinion. Jim P., Sarasota, FL

A. We do pay referral fees to candidates. We pay them $100 for the first referral we place, $200 for the second, and add $100 for each additional referral from 1/1 to 12/31. We also give away a trip in December of each year. This year our trip is four days and three nights in Cabo, Mexico, for two (all-inclusive resort). We conduct the drawing at a wine and cheese party. Each person who has provided us with a referral we have placed in a job is invited, their names are all put in a bowl, and our accounting firm draws the winner! It has resulted in a tremendous increase in candidate referrals.

For over 15 years we provided a 30-day replacement guarantee. If they did not hire the replacement from us, we provided them with a “letter of credit.” We doubled our guarantee to 60 days if our invoice was paid in 10 days, which really reduced the aging of our A/R.

If the truth be known, I had a difficult time providing ANY guarantee, because we don’t “supervise” the people we place. Five years ago, I tried to remove our guarantee or charge clients extra for various lengths of guarantee. It didn’t work because the perception was that I was not confident in the capabilities of our candidates.

As a result, several years ago I went the other way. I provide a 12-month pro-rated replacement guarantee. Let me explain. We’ve had three fall-offs in 2007. One was after six months and our fee was $28,000. For $14,000 they could come back to us for a replacement (six months – 50% of the fee). If the person had worked three months, for $7,000 they could hire a replacement. If the person worked nine months, they could hire a replacement for $21,000.

We replaced all three fall-offs for the additional reduced fee, based on the 12-month pro-rated program. I got tired of feeling like “Let’s make a deal” if the candidate fell off on day 32 of a 30-day guarantee. I’ve always tried to maintain an “outside-in” approach to business. I try to see my business through the eyes of the individuals I serve. If I had paid someone a fee of $30,000+ and the candidate lasted only one or two months, I would have expected my vendor to do something about it, regardless of the guarantee – which is why I developed the 12-month pro-rated guarantee. We don’t have many fall-offs, and this was the fairest agreement I could develop.

This is very black and white, and our clients love it. We have not lost one client as the result of a fall-off issue, and they normally utilize only us to find the replacement, because if they used another firm they would pay the FULL FEE vs. our pro-rated REDUCED FEE.

When you think about the end result, all fall-offs ended up in a fee and a half, a fee and quarter, etc. I came up with this after surveying our client base and realized it was a win/win. I’m not saying this is your solution, but it has worked extremely well for us!

FOR THE RECORD – we also pay for client referrals. If a client refers another client who hires from us, we provide them with a $500 gift certificate (of their choice), or we donate $500 to their favorite charity. This has dramatically increased our client referrals. Most of our clients want to donate to a charity. We provide them with a plaque, have a picture taken with a representative of the nonprofit organization, and the plaque (which has our company name on it) usually hangs in their reception area.

Here’s to your increased referrals and “out of the box” thinking on guarantees!

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS, offers a weekly FREE training article – go to www.staffingandrecruiting.com/newsletter. If you’d like to hire Barb to mentor and train your new hires as well as elevate your experienced recruiters to new levels of production, you owe it to yourself to call her office today at (219) 663-9609 and request a DEMO of her Top Producer Tutor, which is revolutionizing the way training is being offered in recruiting firms in the U.S. as well as abroad. Anyone who schedules a demo during the month of December will receive a free PDF copy of Barb’s book “Attract, Hire, Train and Retain Top Producers,” which outlines Barb’s hiring process. This Web-based program is a Lifetime Training Tool that will become the way your company delivers consistent training. You can download your current training materials into the tutor. CALL TODAY – pricing is increasing in January 2008, so this is the best time to invest.

Many of the owners and recruiting professionals that I coach have considered refining or changing their niche at some point in their careers. Whether your niche is doing well or not, it’s a good idea to keep your nose in the air so that you can sense opportunities and avoid ending up in a dead field. If you are considering a change, the following nine steps will help you navigate this process.

1. Understand why you should specialize: Everyone wants a specialist. If you need brain surgery, would you seek a generalist or a specialist? It’s the same in business. Specialists make more money, become better known, and receive repeat business more often than generalists. It also makes planning, branding, and marketing much easier.

2. Start with your passion: What are the fields or industries to which you are drawn? Is there a sliver of gold within your current industry to which you feel particularly drawn? What will get you excited about reading an industry rag on a Saturday? What industry will you follow in the business pages daily? If you have a passion for it, you will do much more to be successful, so start your thinking here.

3. Intend to become the “Guru:” You can choose a niche based on industry or the specific position title, but it must be fairly narrow in order for you to become the guru. For instance, “IT” is a broad category, “software developers” is narrower, and “Java developers” is very narrow. You could become the expert in recruiting “Senior Managers for Amusement Parks” or “Executive Directors for Nonprofit Companies.” If you’re in an industry niche now, but not very well known, make a commitment to raise your firm’s brand awareness by becoming a guru. Your marketing efforts then take on a new level of enthusiasm because you are talking to people in an area that you feel competent and interested in.

4. Look to the past: Another important thing to consider is your past experience. You will have more credibility and an easier time learning the ropes if you have some prior link to your chosen field.

5. Swim downstream: No one can accurately predict exactly what will be a robust niche 10 years from now, but you do want to find a field that has positive growth projections. Sales and marketing are areas of every company that tend to be more recession proof than others. Try to pick a niche that combines good growth projections with an area of interest for you. Beware of “hot” fields toward which everyone else is running.

6. Begin your research: Once you have a couple of areas picked out, locate as many of the industry publications within the field as you can find. Immerse yourself in the trade journals so that you can quickly get to know who the players are, what the trends are, etc. Also, compile a list of all the companies in this field by using guides such as Dun & Bradstreet or the Thomas Register. Gather info on specific companies and look to see who is hiring and who’s stagnant.

7. Find the appropriate associations: Associations are an excellent source of information about a niche. If an association does not exist for the field you are researching, then you probably don’t have a viable niche. You must be able to find a place where your prospects will gather and hang out. Contact the associations and ask for their advice and perspective.

8. Consider fee size: If you are choosing a niche, you might as well pick one that will pay juicy fees. Some niches have odd histories of paying only a flat $10,000 fee or low percentages. Be sure to research this before you get too far.

9. Conduct a survey: Once you’ve selected a possible niche, it’s time to make some calls to people who can give you the inside scoop. Call senior people within these companies and conduct a survey with them, asking about growth projections, areas of most critical need, relationships with recruiters, etc.

Generally speaking, the problem with specialization for most consultants is not that they are too narrow but rather that they are not narrow enough. Go deep into your chosen niche so that you can gain the benefits of name recognition, momentum, and credibility.

Gary Stauble is the principal consultant for The Recruiting Lab, a coaching company that assists firm owners and solo recruiters in generating more profit in less time. Gary offers several FREE SPECIAL REPORTS, including “14 Critical Candidate Questions” and “The Search Process Checklist,” on his website. Get your copy now at www.therecruitinglab.com.

One of the major strengths that recruiters who are consistently ranked among the top producers in our industry have is the ability to clearly identify and qualify their client’s “sense of urgency” about filling the open position(s). By doing so, the recruiters are quickly able to focus their resources (time and energy) on orders/searches that justify this level of attention. This focusing of resources allows them to close more placements and have tighter productivity ratios than are the norm for our industry.

Contrast this with the typical recruiter who may accept an “ASAP” response from a client in answer to a question about “how soon they need to fill the position.” Unfortunately, this response provides little on which to qualify the client’s true sense of urgency. In order to do that properly, the recruiter must carefully guide the client through a sequence of questions that may be similar to the following.

Why is this position open?

If it is an expansion position, determine from the client the basis for the expansion. The answer could provide good selling points for potential recruits, or you may discover that it’s just a “trial balloon” with limited long-term backing from the company. Alternatively, if it is a replacement for someone who has left the position, you need to determine if the person was promoted (and is this position a usual stepping-stone for promotion), transferred within the company (and why), or left the company altogether (was the departure voluntary or otherwise). If the position is open because of turnover, you need to discuss with the client the nature and cause of the turnover and whether or not it is a chronic problem for this position, department, or division. The last thing you need is to become involved with an employer that has a turnover problem that cannot be solved by improving their hiring practices.

Remember

Most turnover is not the result of an individual’s inability to do the job. Rather, most turnover is due to an inability of well-intentioned people to work together effectively.

How long has the position been open?

The length of time the position has been open may indicate several things regarding the client’s sense of urgency. If it is a newly created position, the client should have a specific target date, at which time the position will be funded within their budget. If it is an existing position that has been open for a long time, this could indicate one of several different scenarios. First, the client is having difficulty filling the position because they are unrealistic in their selection criteria. The client is having difficulty filling the position because they and/or the opportunity are not attractive to potential employees. The client may not have invested adequate resources in filling the position because it is not a high priority for them. It is also possible that filling the position was not a high priority for the client until recently because of either internal or external factors. Also, variations on any or all of the above may be present. That is why it is necessary for you to ask additional questions.

How many candidates have they interviewed?

The number of candidates they have interviewed together with the length of time the position has been open may say volumes about their sense of urgency. As an example, if the position has been open for several months and they have not interviewed anyone to date, it may indicate a low sense of urgency or a change in priorities. Conversely, if they have interviewed many candidates and the position is still open, it could be an indicator that they lack a clearly defined set of job-related selection criteria, are basically indecisive, or have yet to find the right person. Once again, it’s critical for properly qualifying the job order/search to further define the situation by asking additional questions.

How many offers have they extended?

If the client has interviewed candidates but not extended any offers, find out “why” they haven’t. It may be that all the candidates interviewed are still in the preliminary stages of the selection process and consequently, they have not reached a point where an offer can be extended. However, it could also mean they have yet to interview any candidates who are both qualified and interested in the position. Most important, you need to determine if they have issued any offers that were rejected. If so, ask why the offers were rejected. If they don’t know, or if you have any doubts about the reason(s), ask the client for the contact information on each candidate who has rejected an offer. Stress to them the fact that many times a candidate will not give a prospective employer the true reason for rejecting the offer. However, a professional recruiter is more likely to uncover the real reason(s), and thus provide critical feedback to the client that may prevent turndowns in the future.

Remember

If candidates have rejected employment offers from your client, you and the client can only benefit from knowing exactly “why” this has occurred. To proceed without this knowledge is tantamount to having a giant blind spot in your selection process, one that could seriously compromise the likelihood of a successful outcome.

Is there anyone currently in contention and if so, what is his or her status?

An obvious question, and yet many recruiters do not ask it because they make the assumption that the client would not be giving them the order/search if they were already serious about a candidate. In fact, many times just the opposite is true. The client may be serious about a candidate but prior to a final decision, want to ensure that they’re making the right decision by comparing your candidates with their own. Therefore, before you proceed, make certain you ask this question, including the status of all internal candidates. Be particularly thorough when probing this area, as many clients will be reluctant to discuss their internal possibilities with a third-party source. That’s all the more reason why you need to ask the question. Knowing the status of each candidate currently in contention will allow you to properly allocate your resources in direct proportion to the probability of making the placement.

In addition to your services, what sources have they used, are they using, or do they plan to use in order to fill the position?

This is the final question to ask in determining both their sense of urgency and the level of competition if you agree to work with this client. Determine whether or not they have or plan to use other recruiters (specifically which firms), Internet postings, researchers, employee referrals, company website, or various other forms of advertising and sourcing. If they have been utilizing other sources, ask about the results to date (compare to answers of previous questions).

The information you gain from the answers to these questions is essential to the process of properly qualifying the order/ search. Although clients may be reluctant to answer some of these questions, you should explain why it is in their best interest to do so if they wish to take full advantage of the benefits your services can provide (See TFL, 3/04, “Where Less Is More”).

The answers to these questions, together with developing an effective working relationship/ hiring process (subject for a future article), will allow you to better determine the proper priority for each order/search and ensure that you apply the appropriate amount of time and resources. Establishing the client’s “sense of urgency” is a key factor in making this determination.

As always, if you have questions or comments or wish to discuss this topic in more detail, just let me know. Your emails and calls are always welcome.

Recipient of the 2006 Harold B. Nelson Award, Terry Petra is one of our industry’s leading trainers and consultants. He has successfully conducted in-house programs for hundreds of search, placement, and temporary staffing firms and industry groups across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, England, and South Africa. To learn more about his training products and services, including “Petra on Call,” visit his website at www.tpetra.com. Terry can be reached at (651) 738-8561 or by email at Terry@tpetra.com.

Dear Jeff:

I am a Fordyce subscriber and have been reading your advice for years. I think I have a new situation for you.

I was contacted by a company putting together a database of “passive candidates.” They asked about my specialty, which is the food industry. I said one of my biggest sources of information is the IFT – Institute of Food Technologists. I pay to belong to IFT and go to meetings/ conventions to meet people, and everything I do is aboveboard. This company said they could “get into” the IFT membership directory and extract all the names and put them in my database. All I had to do was give them my member number and password. This didn’t sound very ethical to me. I said why don’t you just call IFT and ask them if you can do it. They said they just go in the “back door” and get the info after hours. The catch? I would get the info into my database for free, but this company would put the same info into their database and make it available to all their subscribers. I challenged them on the legal and ethical issues of this. They argued it, but I haven’t heard from them again.

You are probably thinking, So I haven’t heard from them again – why worry about it? Well, I belong to a network of recruiters and they are now endorsing this company and selling his database. I told them what happened with me. At first they seemed concerned, but they talked to the company and “understand” what he is doing, so they think it is fine. I still think it sounds like the company is stealing databases and directories and then selling them as a passive candidate database. Your thoughts?

Dear Reader:

There are many legal issues involved here, including the implied consent of the members to have their identity and contact information distributed, their right to privacy, the rights of the IFT to proprietary information, the rights of IFT members to exclusive access to that information, unfair competition, unfair trade practices, computer fraud and abuse, conspiracy with those who participate in unauthorized use, etc.

My sense of this is that the further away you stay, the better.

Jeffrey G. Allen, JD, CPC, turned a decade of recruiting and human resources management into the legal specialty of placement law. For over 32 years, Jeff has collected more placement fees, litigated more trade-secrets cases, and assisted more search and placement practitioners than anyone else. From individuals to multinational corporations in every phase of staffing, his name is synonymous with competent legal representation. Jeff holds four certifications in placement and is the author of many best-selling books in the career field. He can be reached at Law Offices of Jeffrey G. Allen, 10401 Venice Blvd., Suite 106, Los Angeles, CA 90034; (310) 559-6000; jeff@placementlaw.com. The Placement Strategy Handbook and other books on search and placement can be purchased at www.searchresearchinstitute.com.

The year was 1980 and I was a 24-year-old lieutenant in the Marine Corps. My commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel, was counseling me on my performance as an officer under his command, and he gave me some very good advice. He said that anyone who desires to make the Marine Corps a career must understand that it is not a job, it is a “calling.” That’s because a Marine Corps officer must be willing to live a life of sacrifice and endure hardships, and the rewards come from serving others and the nation. This lieutenant colonel later rose to the rank of four-star general. After the Marines, among many notable achievements, he authored two best-selling books, one of which is Battle Ready. The final chapter of Battle Ready is titled “The Calling,” within which General Anthony Zinni expresses his view that a professional military officer must be a selfless individual who views military service as a “calling” – not a job.

Our industry is also a calling, though hardly as noble as military service. Only the people within our industry (and their spouses) understand how tough it is. For every victory, we endure five defeats. When the downs hit, they are BIG downs. It’s accepted as a fact that for every 100 people who enter this business, 90 leave it in less than 10 years, and most leave it within the first year. I know only five people who live in my state (Virginia) who have been at it longer than I have. Even those who succeed in our business rarely remain at it for more than a decade. They tire of the rejection, the unappreciative candidates, the fee-avoiding companies, the friction from human resources people, the falloffs, the unsteady income – the list goes on. Most who leave this business say the same things on their way out: “This is just too difficult for me” and “I just don’t see any way this business can ever become enjoyable” or “My nerves just cannot handle this anymore.” In my own life, after a particularly bad day, my youngest daughter once said to me, “Dad, since you are good at finding jobs, why don’t you just take one of those good jobs for yourself?”(!)

What keeps people in this business? I cannot speak for others, but I know what keeps me in the industry. It’s the satisfaction of knowing I am doing something that so few are able to do, and by doing so, I am adding great things to people’s lives, to business, and to society in general. Here are some examples:

There was a young professional who came to me saying that he had to live in Nashua, New Hampshire, because both his parents were dying of cancer there and he wanted to be with them during their last days. No recruiters would even attempt to find him something anywhere near Nashua because he was a very high-income individual. With high income, there are fewer opportunities, especially in a smaller city. After several days’ cold calling the presidents and general managers of over 200 companies, I found a high-paying position for him located less than eight miles from his parents’ home.

Then there was the young Navy enlisted technician who had a hardship discharge and sole custody of three very young children. His ex-wife was a drug abuser, and no recruiting firms would even attempt to help him because he had too much “baggage.” We worked hard for him, and we placed him with a Fortune 50 company with superb benefits for him and his children. The company was just 16 miles from his home.

Or the manufacturing manager whose plant had closed. He had been on several interviews, but had no job offers. We identified what he was doing wrong and coached him on it, marketed him aggressively within 30 miles of where he lived, and placed him as a plant manager just 11 miles from his home. But that was not the end of this story. Seven years after placing him, in a city 145 miles away from where we had placed him, I was at a dinner party at a friend’s home and by sheer coincidence, this man and his wife were at that same party, and were now living three doors down from my friend’s home! His wife came up, hugged me, and told me that he was now the president of the company where we had placed him, that it would never have happened without me, and they had just moved the headquarters to the larger city where we were visiting my friend.

Then there was the young Army captain West Point graduate son of a good friend of mine. This captain had served eight years in the Army, had flown attack helicopters in Iraq, and was now ready to separate from active duty. He desired to be near his parents so his young children could visit their grandparents, my friends, after so much separation. This young man had great employment offers from all across the USA, but none within 100 miles of his parents. We placed him with a great company near his parents.

There are many more stories from my quarter century in this “calling.” I have a map of the United States in my office. When I consider doing something new, or “retiring” from this business, the thought comes and goes quickly when I look at that map and realize there isn’t a midsize city or town anywhere in the USA that doesn’t have a person I placed living in it, and/or a company I have helped staff. What else could I ever want to do?? I am helping great Americans during difficult transitional periods, at no expense to them. These people will continue to need my company’s services. I really do see my profession as a “calling,” and I am proud to have answered its call, and stayed the course through all its ups and downs.

Neil McNulty is president of McNulty Management Group (www.mcnultymanagement.com), a placement firm that uses, and licenses placement firms to use, its proprietary “30/30 Placement Programâ„¢,” the nation’s only system for placing transitioning military personnel into civilian jobs within 30 days and within 30 miles of where the transitioning military person desires to live.

Get your 2008 calendar out and mark June 4-6 for the second annual Fordyce Forum 2008, at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. As fantastic as our inaugural forum was in 2007, this promises to be even better. FF 2008 will be another blue-ribbon gathering of the profession’s proven power players – one you won’t want to miss. Details to follow soon.

Where to find new consultants? Have you seen the stock market recently? Want someone who is already indoctrinated into the smile-and-dial world and used to being paid on a commission basis? Stock brokerages are losing good people in droves. Got the hint?

One reader wrote: “I spent valuable time, which, in the end, was thoroughly wasted, with a candidate I recruited. He was perfect for the position but insisted that, since I came after him, he should be considered not for the position I had, but for the position a step or two up the organizational chart, even though he was unqualified for that job. Did I miss something with this guy?”

Career levitation – moving to an out-of-the-box job or jumping several steps – just doesn’t happen in the real world. Unrealistic expectations are naïve and must be addressed up front unless you enjoy pain. I wrote many years ago in the Rap Session series (www.rap-session.com), “Children rarely skip grades and employees rarely skip job classifications on their way toward the top. There are good (and some not so good) reasons for this, but the fact remains that there are a lot of steps between a cost accountant and VP finance or a design engineer and VP engineering. To allow a candidate to assume that you can be the catalyst to leapfrog the normal process borders on the absurd. You might be able to eliminate one step, but that’s about it. Don’t stroke your own ego by deluding the candidate. They must agree to the reality of this situation. If they persist, forget them.”

As to moving from one industry to another, my advice was the same: “No industry exists in a vacuum. Skills are occasionally transferable. Of course, it’s easier to place someone within the industry in which their experience lies. For the aerospace engineer with 20 years of experience, it is unrealistic to attempt to place him/her outside the defense industry at the same salary. And 20 years of selling cosmetics will not qualify someone to sell industrial equipment. Along similar lines, a highly specialized employee with a very large company just may not find a market for their skills in a smaller firm where versatility is admired. These points must be made where a candidate’s only interest is in a dramatic career change.”

While watching some of Joe Pelayo’s new DVD program “21 Days to Increase Your Billings,” this old dog learned something new. Joe is a big biller in the senior-level financial area, and he revealed a reason for engagement fees or partial retainers that I had not contemplated – the initial contact with the candidates, especially for senior C-level assignments. There is no mystery about our business anymore, especially amongst the executive glitterati. The “meet me behind the potted palm” days are long gone. They are hip to what we do and how we do it, so they’ll more than likely ask, “Are you a retained headhunter?” If you’re not, the odds that they’ll take you seriously diminish dramatically.

Does that mean you need to be 100% retained? Nope! Even a small engagement fee will allow you to tell them you’re “retained” and keep a straight face.

Next time a hirer big shot refuses a full retainer and insists on only contingency, tell them you need some sort of commitment fee for the reasons mentioned above. It eases access to the impact players you need and will result in a better talent pool.

Many have asked why the TFL archives are not available on the Internet. Well, good news is right around the corner. Stay tuned for the details.

This is the month when we traditionally take stock of the year we’ve had. Whether this look in your rearview mirror is a happy occasion or a sad one, it’s the time when many decide to stay in the business – or look elsewhere. Ours is an easy-entry/easy-exit business. For some, it’s just a job. For many others, especially old-timers, it’s a “calling.” Nothing has brought this home to me more than something written by frequent contributor Neil McNulty. I have published this inspirational offering below. I thank Neil for sending it to us.

I wish all our readers a happy holiday season and remember, December can be one of the best months of the placement year.

Last December (2006) we tried something new. Rather than rehash techniques and tips on recruiting that have been masticated hundreds of times before, we instead provided a handy manual that could be immediately downloaded and redistributed by recruiters to help educate their candidates about interview blunders. By doing so, we created an item of value that could be immediately put to productive and hopefully financially rewarding use.

Our “Top Ten Interview Blunders and How to Avoid Them” became the most popular request for copies and electronic downloads by www.searchwizardry.com, with search firms nationally still requesting it one year later.

Here are two comments representative of numerous accolades we received after it first appeared here for TFL readers:

In catching up on some Fordyce issues over the past week, I ran across your article about the “Top Ten Interview Blunders.” I have gone through many of these issues with candidates in prepping them. I’m struck by the depth of information and how logically it’s provided by you. I thank you very much, my candidates thank you very much, and I honestly believe my clients will be grateful as well. – Bob Bishop

I have been in the recruiting industry since 1970. I have read all the books and listened to all the tapes, but I can unquestionably say there is more meat in your Interview Blunders to share with candidates than in all the books and tapes put together. Thank you. I intend to email this to my current and future candidates! – Roger Linde

As a holiday gift to TFL readers, this month we unveil portions of our latest instructional manual, titled:

“Maximizing Search Firm Success – Why some companies fail to obtain results from search firms . . . while others consistently succeed year after year.”

This manual includes our latest list: The Top Causes of Search Firm Failure.

At the end you will find a link where, should you be interested, you can download the manual, including color graphic and table of contents, as it appears in its complete and unedited form.

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And now for the excerpted manual.

“Maximizing Search Firm Benefits – Why some companies fail to obtain results from search firms . . . while others consistently succeed©”

Understanding Search Firm Relationships

Contracting with an executive recruiter is not unlike hiring an expert fishing or hunting guide. Such a guide knows which waters hold certain types of trophy bass or trout, what lures and bait should be used depending on the specific type of game sought, the best times of day to make your casts, and precisely the rate of speed at which you should reel your line back.

The process of recruiting is similar in many aspects. It may, on the surface, appear simplistic. After all, one might think, is it really more than making many phone calls, sending emails, and initiating dialogue with prospective candidates? Yes, it is. In the hands of a well-trained, dedicated expert team, the process unfolds much like that of a symphony orchestra under the leadership of an eminent maestro.

While a search firm can assist tremendously in increasing the percentage of trophy fish that will bite your baited hook – just as a fishing guide would be able to do – it inevitably becomes the company hiring authority’s responsibility to correctly reel the fish in and ensure that it does not flop out of the boat before you’ve had a chance to have your photo taken (or bring it home to grill).

Many of the complaints regarding search firms often stem from a breakdown in this “handing off” process. There are other reasons why search firms may fail to produce despite their best efforts. The most common reasons are outlined in this manual.

What you are about to read distills hundreds of millions in recruiting project management expertise to identify the most critical breaking points.

Our list compiles some of the most common factors contributing to breakdown (failure) after a search firm is engaged by a company hiring authority.

Top Ten Most Common Causes Of Search Firm Failure

1. Fee Attitudes: Expense or Investment?
2. Stalling with Feedback
3. Passing the Ball to the Wrong Team Member
4. The Search Party Posse Strategy
5. Excessive Authority in the Wrong Hands
6. Cutting the Recruiter Out of the Loop
7. Too Many Chefs Seasoning the Soup
8. Overselling, Underperforming Search Firms
9. Requesting References
10. Cleaning House

Now for a discussion on each item listed.

1. Fee Attitudes: Expense or Investment?

Many consider search fees as expenditures. It is a line item to be placed under the debit column. Yet no one ever bothers to speak to managers across town or state lines to find out what financial impact may have resulted from the service.

This connection is rarely made. Yet a quick analysis of just one Fortune company our firm services has uncovered that even the lowest-level analyst/trainee can be worth $1 million in added revenue on that person’s first full calendar year. One Million Dollars.

Try investing 15 or 20 thousand dollars (assuming the lowest-level salaries and fees) in the stock market and let me know what your chances are of gaining one million on that 15 thousand dollars during the following year.

While hard-nosed fee negotiations may be appropriate with a new car dealer whose lot is bulging with excess inventory or at the weekend flea market, the circumstances have no correlation with engaging a professional search firm well known in its field.

While you may relish having secured a low fee and enjoy being able to boast about it, having no hire to show for your vacant controller, IT director, network administrator, national sales director, or CFO position while millions of dollars are being sidelined or neglected during the search makes little sense.

Yet this is precisely what happens over and over again with searches around the country.

2. Stalling with Feedback

Providing essential dialogue and reactive feedback at a glacier pace negates all the hard work and effort put forth by your recruiting partners. Once a candidate expresses interest, a certain forward momentum must continue to maintain the interest that was piqued as a result of your recruiter selling your company’s and position’s benefits.

Put your search firm through more than one or two lost candidates, and they will most likely render your search unserviceable.

Meanwhile, you may be left wondering why your position remains vacant many months later.

3. Passing the Ball to the Wrong Team Member

I have experienced many cases where the search was sufficiently mission-critical for the chairperson or CEO of a multibillion-dollar company to conference directly with our search team, only to close the conversation by instructing us to “deal with Jennifer from here on.”

To our chagrin, “Jennifer” (name used as a placeholder for any low-level recruiting coordinator) often turned out to have been with the company for barely one year, with little to no previous experience.

Jennifer was rarely available, didn’t quite care, and did not view the project with the same urgency the chairperson did. She was often overworked, underpaid, never available during lunch, and never available one minute after 5 p.m. local time.

Besides these minor short-comings, human resources coordinators such as Jennifer are usually very nice people.

While weeks elapse as hard-working candidates struggle to fit a telephone interview into human resources’ schedule of availability, which is narrower than the eye of a needle, candidate talent is squandered as they lose interest.

*NOTE: We elaborate on this critical issue much more in the complete version available on www.searchwizardry.com.

4. The Search Party Posse Strategy

This is a classic scenario that has unfolded thousands of times in searches nationally:

1. Search firm A is hired under a contingency arrangement.

2. Search firm A is perceived to not be delivering results quickly enough (pick any of the reasons outlined in this list as the underlying cause), so therefore . . .

3. Company signs another contingency contract with search firm B. After all, it does not have to compensate anyone to enter into a second contingency agreement (in most cases – however, many search firms are changing their procedures because of this practice and requiring engagement commitments).

4. When search firm B realizes that A has already contacted many of the same candidates and the problem exists not with candidate availability but with company protocol, search firm B places the order on the back burner.

5. Company now has two firms it views as “unproductive,” so it invites search firm C and possibly D to join the ever-expanding search party posse! Sometimes a retained or other renegotiated approach with the original firm would have been far smarter than starting all over again. With each new search firm that gives up, the company incurs an increasingly negative public relations dilemma as word spreads that “there must be something wrong with that position.” If any search project position presents a realistic probability of concluding in a successful hire, then one and only one search firm should suffice.

5. Excessive Authority in the Wrong Hands

In contrast with item number 3 above, extending too much authority to one centralized corporate recruiting representative can also backfire.

National hiring or candidate selection control for a specific product line or business segment relegated to one individual can result in “absolute authority, corrupting absolutely.”

This can result in premature candidate rejection. Or rejection for the wrong reasons (such as favoring one search firm over the other) as well as other egregious abuses.

6. Cutting the Recruiter Out of the Loop

Whenever a hiring executive tells me, “It’s okay, Frank, we have it all under control,” this is precisely when I brace for disaster to strike. Overconfidence almost always backfires with a candidate rejection or other problem in the late stages.

By cutting the recruiter out in midstream, you are only preventing yourself from learning invaluable “inside knowledge” the candidate is inclined to share with the neutral recruiter that he or she is not revealing to you, the hiring manager.

A paramount attribute of a skilled recruiter is to get candidates to feel completely at ease in opening up and sharing their thoughts during an interview process. By shutting the recruiter out, you are preventing yourself from obtaining the very consulting portion of the service that comes along with the recruiting aspect.

This might be why some designations such as my own refer to “Personnel Consultant.”

Sometimes such information could save you from spending thousands on unnecessary perks you mistakenly assumed were needed.

Other times a serious misunderstanding can lead a candidate to resign without obtaining all the facts, leaving the search firm potentially liable even though you have prevented them from performing their due diligence by acting on your own.

Would you ever retain a Realtorâ„¢ to sell your house, have them invest for months in a marketing program, and then start calling potential buyers that came to your open house directly?

Would you hire an expensive attorney and in the middle of courtroom litigation tell her, “Sit down. I can take it from here” and proceed with arguments and case law recitation on your own?

There are accepted industry-practice standards that seem to go by the wayside when it comes to personnel recruiting and executive search relationships.

7. Too Many Chefs Seasoning the Soup

Just as too many search firms invoke the law of diminishing returns as happens with the Search Party Posse Strategy, the same diminishing returns apply to hiring managers involved in the hiring decision.

Limit group interviews to only the most critical and necessary team leaders or members. The more company hiring representatives that must participate and agree in unison on a particular hire, the more likely the chances are of a “hung jury” syndrome.

One or two is fine. Three individuals – maybe. Once the hiring decision rests on the shoulders of four or more individuals, you will have a better chance of winning the lottery at a local deli than obtaining a mutual group consensus.

8. Overselling, Underperforming Search Firms

Quite simply, you may have picked the wrong search firm.

This breakdown occurs when the recruiting organization cannot deliver on the promises made. In such instances, the recruiting bench strength did not live up to the account acquisition strength. Too bad.

This problem surfaces in all types of businesses, including hiring contractors, lawyers, landscapers, investment advisers – you name it.

You may think for a moment that, on this one point, blame is finally pinned on the search firm, where it should lie. True, in this example, the search firm may have over-promised and is now under-delivering.

Yet the same responsibility rests on the shoulders of the company. Just as you would ask for references when hiring a candidate, you should conduct due diligence and ask for references of the search firm. This is not as easy as it seems, however, when big egos interfere. This leads us to failure number nine.

9. Requesting References

Here lies the rub: Very few executives would actually call a reference even if a stack of them were left on the table. That’s okay. At least ask for some information, which is better than not asking for any reference material at all.

Also, keep in mind that many searches have “non-compete” or “confidentiality” clauses, which prohibit advertising who was placed where. As a result, it’s not as easy to get references in the search industry as it is getting client information from a public relations or advertising firm that regularly boasts about their clients and shares their logos in print.

One comparable analogy is that of the driver who would prefer to drive around a city for hours rather than stop at a gas station to ask for directions.

At the very least, you should ask for whatever reference material is available or a track record of searches filled even if hiring managers must be omitted.

10. Cleaning House

Savvy real estate sales professionals know that proper house staging can lead to important advantages in selling the house – even while neighboring homes remain unsold.

If the adage “location, location, location” holds true when it comes to real estate investing, then “presentation, presentation, presentation” are the next three most important factors.

When it comes to vocation, presentation becomes a highly important deciding factor. You are not just offering a job but providing a home away from home where that employee is expected to spend most of his or her daytime (and in many cases, nighttime) working life.

When a candidate is greeted by a frumpy, unkempt, cluttered, or outgrown office environment, it will create a negative first impression. This will become ingrained in the candidate’s mind and be difficult to erase, regardless of what the job has to offer.

I’ve been asked to visit clients and help them understand “why we can’t fill this position despite trying for more than one full year . . .”

Often these companies have used one, two, or three search firms over one or even two years, off and on. They have reached the point of desperation.

My suspicions are often confirmed when I visit the actual office building.

In one case, I walked in through a lobby, had to go up a staircase that had not been painted in perhaps 10 years, containing scuff marks, holes, and what appeared to be a hole from a boot kick. I would not want to work anywhere where people kick holes in the wall.

Upstairs, the carpets were loosened from the wall, bubbling, and snaking (they had long outlived their purpose). The lack of attention to aesthetics continued when I walked into the controller’s office and noticed an herb garden that was overgrown and spilling over shelving like something out of Little Shop of Horrors.

The place was one step away from being classified as a boardwalk fun house, let alone presenting an acceptable office environment.

Written by Frank G. Risalvato, CPC, author of the “Top Ten Interview Blunders and How to Avoid Them.” Frank G. Risalvato has been a staffing and recruiting consultant in the search profession since 1987. He has contributed hundreds of articles to various publications, has appeared on TV and radio, and has been called on by state and federal agencies for expert testimony. His recruiter training services, books, and kits are found on www.searchwizardry.com. Call (973) 300-1010 for an exclusive one-on-one experience with his training style. His new Charlotte, N.C., direct telephone is (704) 243-2110.