Attracting Good Recruiters Keeps Firm Owners Up at Night

by Michael Gionta October 10th, 2008

TheRecruiterU.com has been running an ongoing survey since January 2008 that asks “What are two or three things that keep you up at night as a recruiting firm owner?”

Of the over 500 responses so far, finding, attracting, and onboarding successful recruiters is the overwhelming thing causing recruiting firm owners sleepless nights as it was mentioned by over 64% of the respondents. A distant second was managing cash flow by 43% of respondents.

Probably not a huge surprise, but with over 500 responses, TheRecruiterU.com’s findings validate beyond a shadow of a doubt recruiting firm owners biggest headache.

There are six deadly mistakes search firm owners make in this process. Each is tied to the other and if one ‘link’ in the chain is broken, the whole chain breaks:

  • Owners are not clear on “why” they are hiring.
  • Owners have weak finding and attracting “systems” for new talent.
  • Owners do not have a defined interview process.
  • Owners do not have a defined onboarding system.
  • Owners have an “owners” mentality for new hire motivation.
  • Owners have poor follow-up systems for new hires.
Michael Gionta (mike@theRecruiterU.com) opened his firm in early 1990. Between 1990 and 1996, Michael cashed-in a mere $1 million as a billing manager. Frustrated, and wanting more, he drastically changed his approach to both the client and candidate side of the business. The result? Michael cashed in over $5.6 million between late 1996 and the end of 2001, when he came off a desk. During that time, he ranked as a top-10 billing manager three times, ranking as high as second in 2000 with cash in on his desk in excess of $2 million. In 2001, Michael made the strategic decision to grow his firm instead of developing his individual recruiting practice. Training his team on the techniques that launched him, he developed an office that ranks in the top 3% of offices. He was ranked the eleventh fastest growing IT search firm in the country.
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