Once upon a time there was this little search firm. It received a call one day from a local office of a national financial services company.

The manager from the company said they were “having difficulty” finding a trainee for one of their underwriting openings. All they wanted was someone with a degree in finance, good understanding of financial statements, a high GPA demonstrating ability to work hard and school smarts, and good communication skills to articulate the person’s financial findings to others. It did not even matter what type of industry or company the person had obtained their previous experience from, pro-vided they had the criteria listed.

The recruiter listened attentively, took notes, and asked lots of questions.

The company hiring manager added, “We’ve been using Gigantor Recruiting and they laughed at us when we told them we wanted a finance guy with good communication skills. Do you think you can help?”

The recruiter replied (without laughing), “Yes, we should be able to help. Give us a few weeks and I will get back to you.”

That small search firm filled that position within a few short months. The person they pro-vided did so well that he was rapidly promoted, and the company hiring manager returned to fill the newly vacated slot again.

That office hired some 12 individuals from that search firm during the next five years. News of their success in finally finding a reliable and trustworthy recruiting service spread to other offices.

The Philadelphia office also wanted to know who the “Little Search Firm” was that had filled a competing region’s positions so consistently. Next, the Boston manager wanted to be included in the game. Then Syracuse, New York.

Cincinnati, St. Louis, Atlanta, Dallas – all wanted to work with the Little Search Firm when they found out that positions that had previously taken a year or so to fill were now being filled in four weeks.

Within 10 years The Little Search Firm That Could, which provided recruiting services for ho-hum, run-of-the-mill, mid-five-figure salary searches that Gigantor Search felt was “below their stature,” wound up filling more than 100 such positions at a dozen offices all over the country for Financial Services Corp.

During this period the company had also grown. It had gone from being a small player in the field to a Fortune 1000 company.

Fast-forward another 10 years and today, that company is a Fortune 500, doubled in size within 10 years and quintupled the revenue it generated when it first sought out the services of The Little Search Firm That Could.

The results of this 20-year relationship are summarized as follows:

1. $250 million = Estimated amount of additional annual revenue generated and managed by all the employees placed during 20 years by The Little Search Firm.

2. 145 = Approximate number of total individuals placed throughout the country for “The Company.”

3. 100% Growth = The amount of revenue growth The Company posted during its relationship with The Little Search Firm.

4. Fortune 500 – The ranking this company received in the last few years was due in great part to a long relationship with “Little Search Firms.” It was previously a Fortune 1000 and, before that, an obscure and unrecognizable entity no one had ever heard of.

Along the way The Little Search Firm That Could invented, tweaked, perfected, and refined a process for consistently finding the individuals this company needed within a four-week timespan every single time, regardless of level.

The Little Search Firm had developed the Secret Recipe for consistently finding the people The Company needed.

The company eventually began to use The Little Search Firm for retained executive hires for corporate executive positions.

Great story, right? A happy ending? Not quite!

There was never a banquet in honor of The Little Search Firm.
No plaque recognizing its decades of loyalty.
No trophy. No award. Not even a letter saying thanks. (Granted, they did pay all their bills on time.)

You see, somewhere along the line a human resources executive discovered The Company’s little secret for quickly finding hirable employees.

The new human resources manager was not about to let one Little Search Firm be so instrumental or critical in The Company’s operation.

No sir.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of “The Little Search Firm That Could” and read about how the new human resources director was going to turn it into the “Little Search Firm That Will Die Trying.”

Frank Risalvato is a staffing and recruiting consultant and has been in the search profession since 1987. He provides one-on-one custom coaching. He 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. For more infor-mation on his custom one-on-one recruiter coaching and training support services, please email: fris@iresinc.com.

The nice part about being a recruiter is we can often have fun while earning a great living. Who needs television soap operas or sitcoms when the quirky and unpredictable behavior of our candidates and clients can supply us with all the entertainment we could possibly desire?

Every recruiter has encountered a situation where your prime candidate suddenly vanishes into thin air. This always happens just after your client hiring manager reveals interest in either making an offer or setting up an immediate second interview.

There is nothing more frustrating than the experience of not having your calls returned by what was just recently your star candidate.

Here are a few script techniques that I have used which almost always result in an immediate call back. Usually within 10 minutes! In fact it works so well it’s funny.

These will pry your stubbornly resistant candidate loose like a giant high-torque crow-bar. While you may still wind up learning that your candidate has lost interest in the job, and that you really no longer have a candidate . . . it is, at least, somewhat consoling to hear this confirmation first-hand from the candidate than having to resort to second guessing.

For this to work you must first know/understand your candidate’s “weak spot” and “sore points.” If your candidate is paranoid about you calling at the office number . . . then you will want to close with closing script #1 as it will apply pressure directly into your candidate’s “weakest spot.”

If your candidate’s sensitive area might be his/her home or personal life (recent divorce, recent marriage, recent engagement, recent child, etc.) . . . close #2 might work best for obvious reasons.

You get the idea. Now have fun with this as they call you back within minutes next time your candidate decides to ignore you.

THE VOICE MESSAGE:

“Hi, Bob, this is Frank from IRES, Inc. Being as voice mails are sometimes inaudible or get accidentally deleted, I’m leaving what is today the (second, third, etc) message for you with regard to ABC Company’s interest in moving forward. My guess is you did not receive the first message I left last week or I would have heard from you.

Being that time is of the essence and we have a narrow window of opportunity to work with . . . should I not hear from you today I will . . .

{continue with the appropriate closing script
for your situation}

1) USE THIS CLOSE IF YOU WERE PRE-VIOUSLY TOLD TO NOT CALL AT WORK OR DETECT SENSITIVITY ABOUT CALLING THEIR OFFICE:

” . . . call you at your desk at work sometime tomorrow morning and try to reach you there. I’ll get the direct line from someone else in your department.”

The prospect of you calling co-workers and snooping around for a direct line, then actually leaving a detailed message can be enough to get them off their fanny and call you in ten minutes flat.

2) USE THIS IF YOU KNOW THEIR HOME ADDRESS FROM THEIR RESUME:

” . . . stop by the house tomorrow evening and ring your doorbell. I’m getting worried something might have happened to you and would never forgive myself if I read about it in the papers without having checked up.”

You can modify this with an alternate ending such as:

“Oh, and in case your spouse might not know of your job search I will be discreet if he answers. Mum’s the word.”

Assuming getting a visit from another gender at home might not be convenient at this point in their life (“Honey, who’s that well-dressed guy that came ringing the doorbell for you?”), this should spark a reaction to call you back. This will work regardless of gender, however.

3) USE THIS CLOSE IF YOU KNOW THE SPECIFIC WORK ADDRESS AND/OR BUILD-ING:

” . . . swing by your office and stop up at your desk (or office). I will be visiting nearby anyway. If you’re not in, I’ll make sure to leave a visible 8 1/2 x 11-inch note taped to your door or cubicle with my business card in case you’ve lost my contact info.”

4) USE THIS IF YOU HAVE AN OFFICE OR INDIVIDUAL FAX NUMBER:

” . . . I’ll fax my complete contact info to (555) 555-1212 [repeat the fax number you possess]. And since faxes can be quite blurry, I’ll make sure to use very large, bold font as well as a magnified copy of my business card in the event you’ve lost my contact info. Be sure to look for it as it will be there in the output holder of your fax machine.”

The mental image of an 8 1/2 x 11-inch white or yellow, letter-sized note with your recruiting business card attached to it should be enough to cause them to head for the hills and call you immediately before the entire office finds out they’ve been talking to a recruiter.

Not to mention the thought of having an expanded copy of your business card sitting at the department’s fax for everyone to see.

Your tone of voice is key. If you sound threatening, this technique will backfire.

You must come across smooth, low key, soft spoken, genuine and sincere. I use a softer and more subdued tone of voice as the message itself should be sufficient to light a spark.

I also am sincere as I really would think little of getting in the car and driving across the state to knock on someone’s door especially if there’s an $18,000 fee involved . . . though I’ve never had to follow through because this technique has always resulted in a call back.

Keep in mind if your candidate hasn’t called back within 24-36 hours, chances are you’ve lost that candidate anyway. At the very least you can have the last chuckle and enjoy some entertainment as you sit back and watch them rearrange their schedule and scurry like jackrabbits in an attempt to stop you in your tracks from following through on any of the above promises.

Frank is a staffing and recruiting consultant and has been in the search profession since 1987. He provides one-on-one custom coaching. He has appeared on TV and Radio, and has been called upon 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 more information on his custom one-on-one recruiter coaching and training support services. Email: fris@iresinc.com Copyright 2007 © by Frank G. Risalvato.

1. Using MS Word “Resume Templates” for creating the resume.

For many, the first source of resume assistance in this day and age of the Personal Computer complete with Microsoft Office Suite is usually the “Resume Templates” found within MS Word. Sadly, while these templates result in fine looking printed resumes they achieve the worst possible results for electronic resumes. Bill Gates is not who you should be relying on for creating your resume. He has never had to even interview for a job in decades. Trust us, don’t use MS Word templates and instead create the resume from scratch using the template as a guide only.

If you are planning on sending your resume as an MS Word attachment, chances are software of some sort (referred to as Applicant Tracking Software or ATS) will be scanning your resume before a human ever sees it. The excessive usage of stylesheets, formatting, tables and cells that are part and parcel of the prefabricated template … among many other problems … will almost assuredly result in your resume causing a hiccup and getting belched out of a company’s tracking system.

2. Not adhering to the traditional reverse chronological format.

What all hiring managers care most about is your current or most recent one or two positions. As one reads back into your past they become less interested about jobs you held 10 or more years ago as they are mostly interested in what you have done during the past five years or so. You should always list the most recent job first, and your very first or earliest position down at the bottom or toward the end of the resume. Functional resumes are seen as a cover-up for gaps that doesn’t fool anyone except those candidates that insist on using them.

The two main resume formats are:
- Chronological
- Functional

There’s also the European “CV” version.

- Curriculum Vitae

Vitae, also known as curricula vitae or c.v., are documents that detail your academic and professional accomplishments. Vitae are more comprehensive documents than resumes. They are most often used for academic or research positions. This format type is used mainly by PhD’s, professors, research or engineering scientists who are expected to provide pages of manuscripts, books, articles, and journal features they’ve written during their lifetime. While resumes are rarely more than one or two pages long, vitae can be many pages in length. Fewer than 10% of the population will have a C.V. type resume.

3. Too cute or overly fancy fonts.

Too tiny or excessively fancy fonts can make it impossible to read your resume unless zoomed to 200% size or reformatted to a different font style. This will be more trouble than most readers will have time for. Thus your resume’s probability of being discarded in the circular or “delete” folder increases dramatically. Always use conventional text such as Times Roman (found in most newspapers) or Arial (found in many websites, E-zines, or advertising text).

4. Electronically Unfriendly Resume.

Not being “electronically savvy” in formatting the resume results in an electronically UNFRIENDLY resume format. Even if you create your resume from scratch and avoid the templates referred to in item #1 above, you must still exercise diligence. Avoid excessive graphics, clip art, cells, or tables. If you are a graphic artist or other fine artist, send your fancy PDF formatted resume along with the more plain MS Word rendition so someone has both versions.

Search Google with the key phrase “scannable resume” and you will find thousands of articles that provide many of the same, repeated guidelines for making certain your resume can be “read” by electronic corporate scanning systems.

5. Duplicate, conflicting or overlapping jobs.

Listing jobs such as weekend retail or Golf Course jobs, weekend real estate sales, retail store jobs, or others which conflict with the ultimate goal of the career you are pursuing accomplishes nothing other than sending contradictory messages. Never list overlapping jobs to make up for what you feel might be shortcomings in your “daytime” position. This will only confuse things and if you are lucky to obtain the interview will place you at the defensive end of a line of questioning that is counterproductive.

6. Splitting or embedding your “contact infor-mation.”

Never split your contact info so that part of it remains at the top of the resume while forcing the remaining remnant to down to the bottom. If someone has to search the bottom for the phone number, email address, or remaining contact info, they may easily get distracted before ever calling you … and move on to the next resume. Most individuals only spend three seconds looking at a resume and then move on to the next. Make sure your complete contact info including cell phone and email is all in one conspicuous location at the top. If you have a two-page resume, make sure you repeat the contact info on page two in the event it becomes separated from page one. This prevents “orphan” resume pages that no one can figure to whom they belong.

7. Inclusion of too-personal information.

Maybe you’re proud of your Democratic fundraising volunteer work. Or of your active membership in La Leche, PETA, or some other group. You should never mention marital status, size of family, political organizations or any other group unless it is related to the job you are applying for.

None of these items will add any benefit to the value of your resume. In fact, if the person you are meeting happens to be Republican and you mentioned working for a Democratic fund raiser … it will almost certainly backfire against you. Same goes for religious affiliation, sexual orientation, etc. It’s nobody’s business so why advertise it?

8. Too long resume length.

For most positions in the entry to six-figure range, a two page resume should suffice. In fact, a one-page resume is sufficient for most individuals with less than 8 years of experience. Very few will care about the second page let alone make it to reading your third page. It is your most current experience that matters and that should be listed prominently, in a chronological format as the first item you elaborate on.

9. Cluttered Appearance.

Even a two-page resume may be unattractive to read if it is simply blocks of ongoing paragraphs packed into small, narrow page margins. Using bulletized lists breaks up and helps highlight strengths and features of your skills. Make sure you spend more time discussing what you’re doing in your current job than having two sentences on the current job and three paragraphs elaborating what you did back during college.

10. Omitting an Objective (While trying to make a career change).

If you are attempting a career change, the resume “Objective Statement” will be critical. Chances are your skills may not fit the job openings perfectly and the objective will help explain why you are submitting a resume for a job that is not necessarily the perfect fit. Written correctly, the Objective Statement alone (which is usually one of the first items a hiring manager or interviewer reads after the contact info) is enough to trigger a return call.

Each one of these tips can increase your chances of an interview “Call Back” by 100%! This means if you receive just one call within a certain week which you might not have because you followed that tip … you just increased your interview chances 100%.

Now imagine what can happen when you incorporate every tip outlined here … and spent time with either an expert resume writer or staffing consultant to coach you.

Your interview probability ratio will climb many hundreds of percentages as you “precision engineer” the resume so that it accomplishes its maximum potential of resulting in returned calls and interview invitations!

An excellent example of a conventional, popular resume format is found at Purdue University’s website.

Try this: Have a friend or colleague you trust look at the resume. After handing it to the person, remove it immediately in exactly five seconds.

Now ask what they remember seeing on it. If this sounds like a severe situation, it is not. That is representative of the net time and attention your resume will get in the course of a hyper-busy work day at any typical company. It better have contained precious verbiage and key terms that makes that person want it back to read more … or you will never hear back from them.

Frank G. Risalvato is a staffing and recruiting consultant actively working in the search profession since 1987. He has founded several companies and contributed hundreds of articles to the recruiting profession and speaks at trade associations meetings. He has appeared on TV, Radio, and has been called upon by state and federal agencies for expert testimony. His unique and original recruiter training services, books and kits are found on: www.searchwizardry.com or call (973) 300-1010 for more information on his custom one-on-one recruiter coaching and training support services. Email: fris@iresinc.com Copyright 2006 © by Frank G. Risalvato

And now for the drum roll please.

The Top Ten interview blunders that cost people jobs and offers have been compiled from nineteen years of record keeping and observations.

Here they are:

1. Poorly Designed/Unflattering Resume

2. Bad Telephone Interview Etiquette

3. Neglecting to Research Company

4. Lack of Position Knowledge or “Client M.D.O.”

5. Inadequate Interview Closing Techniques

6. Dropping the ” Post-Interview Follow-up” ball

7. Failure to Follow Recruiter Instructions

8. Forgetting to Ask for the Job

9. Email Addiction

10. Circumventing your Executive Recruiter or Staffing Consultant

#1 Poorly Designed Resume

Sixty percent of the resumes floating around in cyberspace and landing in Email inboxes are not doing the job they’re supposed to do – which is to highlight the strengths of the underlying candidate in the best possible light.

Expert staffing consultants and executive recruiters possess more sophisticated training than conventional corporate human resource staff members … and may see past the formatting snafus to identify the candidate and help correct the resume for the candidate.

But not everyone will be fortunate to encounter an executive recruiter to bail them out. The resume must:

- Present the strengths and highlights
- Be electronically scannable

In cases where the resume is well-composed it is usually not electronically friendly. This creates the next hurdle.

Using excessive tables, cells and “styling” with MS Word actually works against you. MS Word also inserts excessive formatting when someone chooses the “Resume Template” option (one of the worst choices for building an electronically friendly resume).

Search Google under “Scannable Resume” and you will find thousands of articles explaining why no one is calling you back.

#2 Telephone Interview Etiquette

Assuming your resume succeeds in accomplishing its objective, your next hurdle will most likely be responding to a telephone interview request by an “in-house” company recruiter (from the human resources department) or contracted search professional/recruiter.

If you’ve been invited to a telephone interview this indicates your experience, education, job history as portrayed is seen as a match by the company to within at least the 75 to 85% range as based on their internal job specifications. In other words the “hard skills” were found to be present.

From here on the only remaining reason for not getting an offer is mainly due to your interview skills. It is a shame to lose job opportunities for something you can practice and have full control over improving. Especially in this modern era where a quick glance through Amazon.com reveals nearly 3,000 books containing information on “interview skills.” Interviewing techniques can be mastered just like tying your shoelaces was something you once had to practice.

Many of these books have internal “Search Inside ®” features which will let you read many pages without even buying the book. Spending two hours doing this alone would give you 100% advantage over another candidate that was too lazy to invest in their career in this manner.

A telephone interview will most likely focus on “Soft Skills.” These skills include characteristics and attributes which are best determined in a dialogue and conversation such as:

- Temperament
- Listening Skills
- Reasoning
- Interest Level
- Passion
- Energy/Enthusiasm
- Ambition/Initiative/Drive
- Level of research conducted on the hiring company.

NEVER allow yourself to begin a telephone interview while:

- Driving
- From a cell phone/in a noisy area
- From a location where you can not speak freely and candidly.
- If you must use a cell phone pull over, shut off the car engine, make sure you have a fully charged battery or adapter, have the strongest possible signal and have at least 30 minutes to devote.

Any of the above can and will jeopardize your telephone interview results. Each week I personally see dozens of candidates being “knocked-out” for reasons such as above even though we warn them preemptively.

#3 Neglecting to Research Company – (Then having no questions during interview)

In the twenty-first century with the world’s information being one quick “Google Search” away … it is completely inexcusable for failing to possess at least some basic knowledge of the company you are about to meet.

Working through a Professional Recruiter will provide many advantages in this area … as your recruiter may have a decades-old relationship with the managers you are about to meet and can advise you accordingly to assist you in having an edge. But there’s still much you can do on your own.

ALWAYS research the interviewing company thoroughly. While helpful hints may have been provided to you by your recruiting consultant, eventually the hiring manager will want to see what you did on your own to prepare yourself. The Internet should be a good tool to help you prepare.

Besides a “quick Google Search on the company name” you can try:

- Yahoo Finance – if it is a public company with disclosures required by the SEC
- Bloomberg.com
- www.zoominfo.com (for looking up the hiring manager’s past history of employment)

Understand the job and company thoroughly before interviewing. This will allow you to compile pointed, intelligent, thought-provoking questions that demonstrate your interest.

Conversely, not having any questions during the interview will result in management deeming your interest is shallow and perhaps you are lazy and uninterested in information. No interest = No Job Offer!

#4 Lack of Position Knowledge or “Client M.D.O.”

M.D.O. represents the clients’ “Most Dominant Objective.”

This refers to the outcome, goal or accomplishment they seek as a result of hiring someone for the position for which you are interviewing. It is the real reason behind the hiring you must get yourself to understand to have an advantage.

Finding out this “Hiring Objective” will provide you with tremendous advantage over any other candidate. Once you know the “M.D.O” (Most Dominant Objective) you can tailor your responses, discussions, and dialogue toward addressing this specific topic.

Some common Dominant Objectives may include:

- Adding to staff to bolster the department so company can take on new accounts and reach new revenue targets
- Adding new sales talent to enhance revenue
- Cutting costs by improving accounting department’s credentials
- Shortening Customer Service response time to less than 24 hours
- Improving marketing deadlines
- New Manager to motivate staff which has lost focus

While many managers will know their objective, some may not. Your questioning to raise this issue alone will be seen as a keen approach few other candidates will have bothered to inquire about.

#5 Inadequate Interview Closing Techniques

At the end of the interview, the interviewer may say,”Are there any more questions?”

Most candidates would reply “No” which leads to the immediate conclusion of the interview and being escorted to the elevator or office exit with an interview conclusion that fizzles out. This would be what we refer to as example “A.”

A better reply instead of simply, “No” and leaving without a final strong positive “finale” is the following technique known as “Restate, Reassure and Reaffirm.”

In this formula you first restate the hot topics management indicated necessary for an offer to be justified; Secondly, you reassure how your experience fits and thirdly you ask for action by reaffirming yourself as the ideal candidate:

Example:

“I have no further questions at this time, except that I’d like to reiterate what I understand are your key strengths sought for this position. May I review my understanding with you?”

This almost always results in the interviewer replying with “Yes” and now puts YOU in control of the final closing process.

NEXT, RESTATE the key required points. Example:

“I understand you’re looking for someone with strong _(Fill in with stated skill requirements)____ who can ____(Fill in with reiteration of dominant projects and goals new candidate must accomplish)______________ , Is that correct?” (This is a “trial close,” you will elicit confirmation as to whether you’re on the right subject “hot points”)

If “Yes” then REASSURE:

“In that case I’d like to reiterate my strengths are (repeat the hot buttons you just received confirmation on. Example: “analysis, interpersonal skills, and relationship building, etc.) and I believe I’m ideally suited for this position.

Close:

“Where do we go from here?”

OR

“Because I’m very interested and confident of joining the team, what remains required from me in order to proceed?”

Which person would you hire?

Person A, who was escorted out of the interview with a wrap-up reminiscent of a dud firecracker that fizzled out and then never exploded?

OR person B who restated, reassured, and closed the client firmly and convincingly on his/her interest and desire to move forward?

The latter would have resulted in an interview conclusion analogous to a grand Fourth of July fireworks finale with choreographed orchestra and laser light show accompaniment.

Person B almost always gets the job offer!

This is a critically important interview skill which is why I’ve spent two thirds of the space of this article on this one interview technique alone.

#6 Neglecting Post-Interview Follow-up

Call your recruiter immediately after your interview (if you are working through one). Never wait more than twenty-four hours to do so. Companies frequently ask those of us contracted as recruiting consultants to monitor how long it took for a candidate to get back to us as a prime indicator of interest. Some make their choices based on an hour’s difference in behavior.

If you tell the company you’re interested during the interview … and two days later we haven’t heard from you … your inaction will overshadow your words expressed during the meeting. Whatever you stated will no longer matter.

In sum, you will be pegged as someone whose actions are not congruent to their spoken words or statements.

#7 Failure to Follow Recruiter Instructions

If you change your mind about the job or company at any point during the process, or received another offer, call and notify your recruiting consultant at once. Notice we say “call” over “Email” as this will enhance your rapport in your best interest.

If you are asked to call – then call! Don’t Email!

If you are asked to confirm an appointment by Email then do so via Email.

Since Email is not as reliable as the telephone, I recommend leaving a voice message or calling to confirm that any important Email was received by the designated recipient.

These days with many anti-spam programs often deleting business Emails … the telephone remains the most reliable means to confirm important communications.

#8 Forgetting to Ask For the Job

Just as it is important to close during your first and each subsequent interview, it is important to simply ask for the job. This is especially true if you are in the latter stages of a face-to-face interview process and are on your second or final meeting.

Many times, all a hiring manager is waiting to hear are the words “I’m excited … when can I start as I’m eager to come on board.”

#9 Kicking the Email Addiction

In this twenty-first century of multiple means of high speed electronic communications, many seem unable to step away from their Palm, Blackberry, or laptop Email application … Even when specifically ASKED TO NOT USE EMAIL!

If you are asked to CALL don’t frustrate the interviewer by continuing to respond by Email, disregarding the telephone call request. This is annoying, rude and demonstrates inability to pay attention to what you’ve been asked.

Quite often we find people Emailing once, twice or three times after a request was made to continue the dialogue verbally by telephone. Sometimes recruiters will purposely ask you to call at a certain time as a simple test of listening skills, ability to follow simple instructions, and as a test of your interest level.

#10 Circumventing your Executive Recruiter or Staffing Consultant

Most search firms invest a great deal of time formulating a working relationship and agreement with their client companies. Many will even visit the client hiring company should it be a new account never represented before to obtain a hands-on feel for the work environment – or may have a decades old relationship in place.

Despite the investment of time and due diligence toward developing partnering alliances with only ethical company entities, every now and then an unethical company account may succeed in duping the search firm into providing their services.

Should a hiring manager you meet, as a result of a search firm, suggest “Let’s discuss this among ourselves,” or “I want to offer you the job directly … let’s pretend we knew each other already.” DO NOT let yourself fall into such a trap!

Keep in mind any company that attempts to circumvent its clearly spelled-out contractual obligations is most likely going to CONTINUE to exhibit less-than-ethical behavior toward any other contractual obligation, statutory guideline, law, or regulation imposed upon their industry.

Leopards don’t lose their spots overnight!

Companies that try to bypass any obligation with their executive search firm or for that matter, any vendor or partners, are usually the same ones which later:

- Conveniently forget your performance review anniversary
- Forget to pay the raise that was promised
- Switch job responsibilities to a lesser desired position you did not originally bargain for.
- Present a host of other problems.

When a company is honest, forthright, and behaves with integrity it most likely treats its allies, business partners, vendors the same way it will treat its employees. Company personalities percolate from the top down

Do you really want to work with a company that is suggesting you join under a suspicious arrangement? NO!

If a suggestion is made alluding to:

a) Presenting an offer directly to you OR b) Scheduling an interview without your recruiter’s knowledge, simply reply with the following in a polite tone of voice:

“Ms. Hiring Manager I’m happy to hear you want to move forward. However I must ask you work through my agent as he’s been a great help so far and I don’t want to cause problems by leaving him out of the loop.

I’m sure, as a company with integrity, you can understand my wanting to continue to work through the recruiter who has been a great help to the both of us.

Go ahead and (present the offer … schedule the interview, etc) through him. Thanks”

It takes two to tango. A company cannot engage in circumvention unless a candidate cooperates. A company can never act unethically unless you as the candidate cooperate in allowing them to do so.

Your recruiter is an expert on the successful conclusion of job offers and acceptances.

While the recruiter’s first goal is to assist the client, most are there to help you as the candidate as well in their dual capacity as a career coach with:

1. Making certain you have a valid offer in writing
2. All pertinent conditions relating to the offer are within the offer letter
3. Guiding you through the resignation process
4. Providing assistant with resignation letters
5. Providing assistance with references …
And much, much more.

Cooperating with a company whose desire it is to “cut the recruiter out” cuts both ways by preventing you from obtaining many of the protections that recruiter was about to provide you. Fortunately this happens rarely.

NOTIFY YOUR RECRUITER AT ONCE if any motion is made by the company that is suspicious. The average search firm will be around far longer than the 12.5 year average life span of most companies. You will want the search firm on your side in the future.

Copyright 2006 © by Frank G. Risalvato. Frank is a staffing and recruiting consultant and has been in the search profession since 1987. He has contributed hundreds of articles to the recruiting profession, has appeared on TV and Radio, and has been called upon by state and federal agencies for expert testimony. His recruiter training services, books and kits are found on www.searchwizardry.com where you will find a downloadable pdf file of this report for sharing with your candidates.

Call (973) 300-1010 for more information
Email: fris@iresinc.com

Many trainers who traverse the country lecturing on recruiting methods generally profess strict adherence to a carefully crafted script. This is great if you’re a complete novice in the recruiting profession and are CLUELESS as to what to say or when. This is also helpful for the true pro that can read a script while sounding completely natural in speech and tonality.

The trouble lies with the middle 60% of the recruiting population who can not read a script while sounding natural. After all, if you were really good at this … you would be on the evening news or radio (I’ve been in several radio studios and programs and it’s not quite that easy as they make it seem.

A structured script is helpful … but it may often require rapid adjustment and deviation from the script depending on the questions we encounter mid-stream during a real life client or candidate dialogue.

I was once invited by a trainer to attend what would normally be a pricey two-day seminar as a friendly guest “observer.’ The invitation was sent to me with the belief that I was going to be so impressed at the end of two days … I’d write an article on this person’s methods for one of the major recruiting newsletter publications to which I often contribute. The truth was I was having a hard time staying awake past lunch on Day One despite drinking an entire pot of coffee to keep me propped up in my chair.

At one point, when describing two offices this trainer once managed … he insisted that he required every recruiter in each specific office to use two distinct versions of precisely written script and to not deviate.

He then claimed he had carefully changed the script from one office, cutting out words and editing verbiage with such precision so as to measure which script worked better! He wanted me and the audience to believe the differences measured in subsequent monthly send-outs from one office versus the other were a direct result of one script being superior to the other!

I’m sorry to say … this is nonsense!

There is no way you can connect send-out results as resulting from a particular script’s success so long as the script itself is being read by two separate and distinctly unique individuals!!

What the guru completely overlooked was the human factor and that one script read by any two individuals would sound and come across completely differently. This is why they have auditions when choosing actors for a play, TV Series, or a movie role.

If you have ten unique individuals reading one version and ten other unique individuals reading another … creating a reliable metric is impossible and the process is flawed due to the fact that while the SCRIPT may be identical for both groups, the human personalities behind it are distinct and unique.

The only way you can measure a script being more successful versus less successful is if you had CLONES, all reading the same script using the same tone, same inflection, same voice, same temperament, decibel range, same octave, personality, energy level, emotion, etc. etc. … anything less than such a perfect scientific air-tight test cannot possibly measure script performance!

Humans are each uniquely individual. No two humans are alike. And as long as no two people are alike, the script measuring system this trainer tried to get me to believe he had developed was completely unreliable.

It is this principal of individuality that causes one actor to get a job for a part in a film while three other equally qualified actors with the same experience WILL NOT get the PART!

This may be the case even though each are Academy award winning actors having played in similar roles!

Amazingly, there were a dozen or so recruiters in the audience who actually believed that the script alone could accomplish the differing results.

Nonsense.

What I prefer is a more generic script … that instead … provides LOTS of room for mid-conversation adjustments and tweaking. Ours is more formula based, designed to permit free flowing dialogue to be inserted so long as each few sentences accomplishes a certain facet of the overall goal. We then leave it to the individual recruiter to inject different methods of accomplishing the same goal along the way.

This approach will permit a seasoned recruiter to sound more informed and CONNECT quicker while the former will TURN SOMEONE OFF FASTER!

I’m not saying you should not use a script. I am saying it should follow certain goals and permit for some “ad-libbing” along the way.

Allow yourself to make mid-stream, fine-tuned adjustments and you will cruise along like a fine-tuned Ferrari while the more inexperienced individual who puts his/her faith in script recitation stumbles and fumbles.

The above script theory also raises another serious question:

How intelligent can each hired recruiter be … if they can not be trusted to think for themselves?

Hire intelligent people … and let them use their own smarts. That’s my philosophy. If they can’t think on their feet … they should not be on the phone.

Try to ease back from demanding too strict adherence to verbiage … and you may find each individual’s unique creativity will sparkle and enhance their success.

Then again … if you have the right candidate or network … your script can be even lousy and you will still remain successful.

Having a written script, just as you would have a written business plan, is certainly important in terms of having an “infrastructure.” But I believe in the ability to “ad lib” and “improvise” as the dialogue permits.

What many gurus would have us believe is that a few changes of words here and there is all you need to derive significantly different results.

While words themselves are indeed VERY POWERFUL … the manner someone enunciates, vocalizes, and speaks those words is equally as powerful … yet often overlooked.

Written by Frank G. Risalvato – www.searchwizardry.com (973) 300-1010

**The preceding article is a partial excerpt from Frank’s soon to be released training kit; “The Kentucky Fried Secret Recipe to Recruiting Millions.” Check www.kentuckyfriedrecruiting.com soon for announcements on the training kit’s availability.