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The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Fees, Interviews

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #1 — I “FIRED” My Candidate…and Still Closed $27k

by 4 weeks ago


yourefired

Editor’s note: Brian Kevin Johnston’s article was the most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in March.

I “fired” a candidate during the interview/offer process, and I am 100% convinced the only reason I still earned the fee was because… (are you listening?) I emotionally “checked out” of the torment and refocused my efforts on the things in my business I could control, which were sourcing and recruiting candidates for other searches on which my firm was engaged. After nearly fourteen years as a third-party recruiter, I have learned a thing or two about candidate or client control… IT DOES NOT EXIST!

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Relationships, Technology

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #2 — Get Out From Behind the Desk and Network

by 4 weeks ago


man_atdesk

Editor’s note: Paul DeBettignies’ article was the 2nd most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in March.

I know, I know… smile and dial.

More phone calls equal more job orders, candidates and send outs. More send outs equal more placements.

I get it – I really do. But after thirteen years as a sole practitioner, I have learned that I need to get out from behind the desk every now and then, or I fear that the headset will become permanently fixed to my head.

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How-To, Technology

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #3 — Turn Post and Pray into Post and Placement

by on Dec. 28, 2011


computer-praying_2

Editor’s note: Jeff Schwartzman’s article was the 3rd most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in April.

I often run across criticism of the recruiting practice dubbed “Post and Pray,” the method of posting online job ads with the hopes the right candidates apply. This practice comes under fire since it is viewed as the lazy approach to recruiting with little to no control over who applies.

Many of you may be thinking at this point, “I have no need to post jobs! I do everything through cold calling and referrals.” Relax — while that may work for you, it may not be the best approach for everyone else. Recruiting offers no perfect source or method to fill positions. In my opinion, to run a successful recruiting desk, it is important to utilize a combination of multiple recruiting methods, both proactive and reactive.

Posting online job ads have many advantages. Job seekers who apply have the opportunity to read through a job description (hopefully well written!) so they typically are already interested in your job when you receive their resume.

The following job posting strategies, approaches, and techniques will help optimize your job ad exposure resulting in both a higher quantity and quality of online applicants.

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Counter Offers

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #4 — Why Counteroffers Don’t Work

by on Dec. 27, 2011


counteroffers

Editor’s note: Tony Beshara’s article was the 4th most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in March.

Two or three times a month we get a call from a person who wants to leave their job primarily because the counteroffer that he or she agreed to three or four months earlier had, agonizingly, not worked out. Their approach is usually accompanied by an attitude of anger, disappointment, and disgust that they are back looking for a job with more determination than ever. The perceived promises in the counteroffer they accepted didn’t materialize and they are really committed to leaving their job . . . this time.

“Buying” an employee back when they try to resign, a counteroffer, rarely works out, even in the short run. Ninety-eight percent of the time, the employee leaves within six months, and often with more acrimony than the first attempt.

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Entrepreneurship

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #5 — Lemonade, Anyone?

by on Dec. 26, 2011


lemonade

Editor’s note: Jennifer Brigham’s article was the 5th most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in January.

The last two years have really proven challenging to any staffing firm, let alone a small, two-office firm specializing in worker bees—the entry-level workers that are often the first to be let go in a downturn. As our clients experienced layoff after layoff (starting with our temporary workforce), we were forced to do our own layoffs, trimming our staff from a dozen people to four. How could we not only survive, but thrive, in this downturn? This question—how to make “lemonade” out of the lemons that this economy was dealing out—was critical. And the reality and gravity of the situation really forced us to evaluate who we were—our values, our brand, our essence. We discovered some interesting things.

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Editor's Corner

Happy Holidays from The Fordyce Letter

by on Dec. 23, 2011


Happy Holidays

From us here at The Fordyce Letter to all of you, we want to wish you the happiest of holidays. Enjoy this time with your friends, families, and loved ones. Next week we will be counting down the top articles from 2011 in anticipation of a productive, profitable, and all-around awesome 2012 for all of our friends in the Fordyce community. Have a wonderful weekend!

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Relationships

Honesty: The Best Policy No Matter Who Is Involved

by on Dec. 22, 2011


be-honest

Have you ever been in a situation where the perfect candidate pulled out at the last minute? Or even worse, have you ever been used by a candidate to leverage a raise or a promotion with his/her current company? For me, the worst thing that could happen is a when a person accepts a job, goes through the background check, does everything you expect…and then doesn’t show up.

And that really happened – the guy just never showed up and never returned any attempt at contact by me or anyone else from the client company. Now, I would have understood if the person’s spouse didn’t answer the phone to take a message. I would have really understood if he ended up in the hospital or the worse case scenario dropped dead, but no — he just decided not to show up.

Let’s be absolutely up front about things here – IT SUCKS!

Yes, it’s for best in the grand scheme of things. After all, no one wants an unstable hire. But is definitely doesn’t make a recruiter’s life any easier.

For those of us who not internal recruiters, there’s the old, “The position went on hold,” or “We didn’t have an internal candidate before but one just surfaced,” after we’ve put heart and soul into a search.

We ask ourselves, “Why couldn’t that person just be honest?”

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Ask Barb

Ask Barb: SWOT and Gap Analysis Tools

by on Dec. 21, 2011


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

My friend participated in your Executive Retreat and said you had them fill out a Gap Analysis and a SWOT sheet.  I’ve been in business for over twenty years and have never heard of either of these forms.  Are you willing to share these with people who did not attend your Retreat?

He said they really got him to think about the changes and actions he’s going to take to grow his business in 2011, which is also my intent.  Thanks in advance.

John S., Colorado Springs, CO

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Technology

Cloud Computing – A Perfect Fit for the Recruitment Industry

by on Dec. 20, 2011


Cloud-Computing

The recruitment industry is a perfect fit for the benefits that cloud computing offers to both users and business owners.

Historically (and still the case) the recruitment sector is highly fragmented. Before the worldwide recession hit in 2008, there were approximately 15,000 recruitment companies out there operating in the UK alone. The next two years saw this drop back by as much as 25% but the last year or so has seen the number swell again. It’s a profession populated with start-ups. Sales-driven consultants with strong client relationships are tempted to strike out on their own and the few barriers to entry encourage this. Anecdotally, something like 95% of these companies have fewer than five employees.

As a sum result, these companies are small and highly agile. In addition, success in recruitment means the likelihood of working outside of the traditional 9-to-5 working day – candidates themselves may be working and so after-work hours may be required to facilitate discussions.

As a profession with a strong sales culture, recruiters may need to be fleet of foot or certainly mobile, and increasingly, remote working is being adopted to further impact fixed overhead. Perhaps paramount of all, the data that everyone has access to with needs to be as current as possible.

Recruitment businesses ideally need recruitment systems that are easy to set up with low upfront cash requirements, perhaps with the added benefit of incurring operational expense rather than capital cost and the tax efficiencies that go along with that. They need data that is available to all and updated for all, accessible 24/7 and from wherever in the country (or world) they happen to be.

And that is a perfect summary of the key benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS), or Cloud Computing as it is more currently labelled.

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Industry News

Could Monster Be a Takeover Target?

by on Dec. 19, 2011


Monstercom

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) is being removed from the S&P 500 after losing almost $5 billion in market value in the last five years. With a stock price low enough to force the world’s largest online-recruiting company out of the S&P 500, there’s some very public speculation that the global employment advertising company could be bought by a private equity fund. According to the Bloomberg article, the company has plunged 66 percent this year, the most in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as American businesses remained reluctant to hire.

Rumors have periodically made the rounds of a potential or even pending sale — 20 of them since 2006, according to Bloomberg. All have proven false. But now, says the financial news service, financial analysts and some of Monster’s largest shareholders say the time and price may be right for a takeover.

“The valuation is absurdly cheap,” Eric Green, a Philadelphia-based fund manager at Penn Capital, told Bloomberg. With 3.2 million shares of Monster stock, Penn Capital is one of the company’s largest shareholders.

“The stock has been a clear disappointment,” Green is quoted as saying. He suggested a takeover price of $15 a share. That’s more than a 92 percent premium over Friday’s closing price of $7.71. “I would love to see someone buy it,” he said.

Monster’s stock price has declined steadily since hitting a 10-year high of $59.28 in May, 2006. In the last 12 months, the stock has been as high as $25.90, reaching there in January, when the economy seemed ready for a hiring surge. Since August, it has been under $10 a share. The market value of the company is now about $1 billion, $5 billion less than it was worth in 2006.

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