Instantly, I can conjure up three reasons to support the claim of heroism for third party recruiters.

First of all, you have overcome being one of the 5 million or so Americans to continue to file for unemployment reimbursement after the recession ravaged approximately 8 million jobs.

Secondly, you most likely earn your income through pure performance.

That’s right. According to results from the Survey of Search Firms owners I conducted at Fordyce Forums 2007-2010 as well as RMAR.org owner/operators, more than 2/3 of the headhunters in the United States of America with more than 2 years of experience do not get paid a base salary; at all. So, you are probably a straight-commission “sales” professional that has learned how to execute in an extremely challenging economy to pay your bills. If you make placements often against rigorous odds and multiple obstacles, you survive. Fail to find a client company willing to engage your services and then identify the ideal candidate for them, and you perish.

As a “solo” operator of a search firm myself, I like to keep it simple so that my audience gets the message. No one is paying me except myself. If you are on your own, I am sure you feel the same way. Either way, your boss’ payroll is only as good as your last successfully orchestrated deal and invoice…once paid. In other words, in a society laden with excess baggage, executive recruiters carry their own weight!

Thirdly, and I believe most importantly, independent recruiters create jobs for Americans and help put people to work every day.  Sure, some companies rely upon us to “fill openings”; which in and of itself is a noble task. But what rarely, if ever, gets reported are the calls we make to prospective employers to create a sense of urgency for them to hire by exposing them to a gem of a candidate that is highly qualified to benefit their company. The bottom line is that “we”, the executive search and placement industry, significantly impact the economic efficiencies of our paying customer.

We survive because the candidates we uncover, recruit, and persuade to accept employment with our clients perform at the top ranks of corporate America. But due to the confidential nature of the relationships headhunters share with their hiring authorities and candidates, most executive recruitment activity never gets reported in the press or mentioned at the Monday morning meeting introducing the new, highly acclaimed employee. Add to it the fact that no one ever really thinks they need “us” until they do, and our industry lives on in virtual anonymity.

Despite over a decade of zero employment growth in this great country of ours, we move ahead. Our mere existence in an industry that has no growth and an increasing number of efficient, internet-based tools designed to couple job seekers and hirers at lesser costs is proof positive of our value and power. So, in honor of the freedom and independence we celebrated earlier this month, celebrate yourself, your role, and your contribution.

After all, the perspective that a third-party recruiter has regarding our national employment picture is unique. Headhunters, immersed in the world of jobs, interact with both the supply (candidate pool) and demand (employers) sides of the hiring equation for our livelihood.

Yet when is the last time you read a quote from any executive recruiter about employment trends or topics?

Then again, Executive Recruiters/Headhunters/whatever one chooses to call us, are, by definition, behind the scenes change-agents. Most hirers who choose to engage our services do so confidentially, especially at the management level wherein a superior may need to upgrade or top-grade a lower level in order to achieve better corporate results.

Certainly, gainfully employed candidates that “searchers” reach out to need to keep our contact completely secret from their current employers or be subject to immediate termination for having the appearance of seeking a better job.

Nonetheless, our accomplishments need not be diminished.

It is widely known that most CEOs in our Fortune 500 companies are either tapped (i.e., actively recruited) or recommended and evaluated by an executive search firm. But when is the last time a search firm got glorified for its role in the building of Corporate America?

I remember an article back in the 1990s revealing the inner workings of Heidrick & Struggles’ Gerard Roche’s influence on the emerging software/internet industry. And that was before the bubble burst!

Since then, my industry has largely gone unnoticed. The reality of the matter, whether its right here in Denver, or in New York City or San Francisco, most major appointments at a huge percentage of companies are impacted profoundly by the Search and Placement business. So, don’t let the notion of privacy limit your awareness of the power and fortitude of my professional colleagues.

For fanfare, we may lack; but for substance, we shine. Because headhunters first have to sell ourselves and our capabilities – in the form of personal, professional services – to key hiring authorities of our chosen prospect base. Once we garner a commitment from the new client, genuine executive recruiters then go directly into the target marketplace where the ideal candidates our customer has defined for us work, and proceed to gently nudge said candidates to consider an interview opportunity with the decision-maker.

Often, especially in today’s market of risk-averse, but well-credentialed professionals, the candidates we pursue are not even considering a job change to begin with. And clearly, we are impacting the company that pays us our fees in a positive fashion or no money would be forthcoming, period, end of story, in this economy or in the best of times.

Thus, we are pure sales professionals, largely paid by commission only. Most of us earn nothing until we gain a “start date” of new employment for a candidate we identify, screen, recruit, coax, manage through interview after interview; and persuade (if applicable) to accept our customer’s offer.

Gratified perhaps, congratulated occasionally, we create this momentous corporate mobility without ever being mentioned in the Monday morning intro meeting. Our function fulfilled, our integral role in the hiring process a success, we retreat to anonymity until our next conquest.

So nary a word gets written about us or publicized over the airwaves. Is there any other industry whose business is so creative and productive, and yet under the radar? Is there another profession, other than ours, that instigates as much positive change for middle and upper class Americans? Perhaps not. But if its results that count, we can rest easy. For there are dozens, if not hundreds“better” than me across this great land, and I have placed more than 500 Coloradoans for over 300 employers since the fall of 1981.

So, I will sit back and feel enormously gratified by my clients and candidates that I provide service for; and let the high-intensity lights shine on the athletes, politicians, and movie stars we all want to see anyway.

No, no, no, not that kind of placement!! – I’m talking about headhunting.  What? Never mind…

Isn’t it interesting that we “executive recruiters” are often referred to as “3^rd party “? In reality, we are the fourth, and yet in my professional experience, the most effective and impactful participant in the recruitment of critical talent for Corporate America.  So, we could correctly be referred to as the 1^st party of this traditionally committee-based process.

For example, this past week I received contact via email and phone from three separate client companies indicating that they required my assistance in filling Software Sales positions.  In all three cases, this was music to my ears because the hiring authorities that reached out to me all recited the same plea.  They all had been searching for anywhere from three to six weeks via the web (LinkedIn, Ladders, their own networks, etc.) and had not come up with a winning pool of candidates that satisfied their specifications.

Alas, perhaps the demand side of the employment fulcrum is finally tilting into balance.  Maybe, as has been my perception, that layer of true “A” player supply, has been absorbed/hired by leading -edge firms to the point of creating real demand for headhunters’ services once again.

Indeed, one of the prospective hirers stated that they had not paid a fee, or contracted with a new search firm for about two (2) years.  Eureka! Hallelujah!  Well, not so fast.

In reality, I am privy to three cooperative parties that are all ready to rumble.  Me, my candidates (which I have already begun to identify) and the hiring authorities.

However, just one problem…and it is a big and real problem.

The fourth party in this case is not collaborative. This party could simply be the enabler in an otherwise seamless funnel of efficient and significant business process.  This party is gumming up the works; or in my case, the paperwork.  The consummation of a contract we use, over and above a handshake, to ensure that all three/four parties – are on the same legal and monetary page is vital confirmation of a client company’s commitment to hire.

This party that I refer to is better known as “HR.” Now, I am not an HR expert; although I will complete my 29^th year of productive search and placement experience this year.  I have been responsible for employing more than 500 U.S. citizens since 1981, but I have no clue what goes on in “HR” most of the time.

So that I do not disparage my corporate brethren, I concede that the HR link in the chain is customarily helpful and necessary. Several hundred true “HR” pros have facilitated me with crucial data, approved of my invoices, onboarded my new hires, etc. But in all three of these cases, this past week, none of the HR departments, in these three companies, were able to get me the necessary documentation and therefore the peace of mind to begin an assignment.

Regardless of the fact that we, HR and me, exchanged emails at the speed of light all week, I sit here without a formal commitment, despite the hiring authorities’ desire to proceed. Perhaps this dilemma is due to the point at which we find ourselves in the cycle. I would love to believe that this is the initial burst of job-creation activity the whole country has been starving for. Perhaps it has caught the administrative side of the corporate house a bit off guard and they will be rarin to go like the rest of us ASAP.

But I have my doubts, and here’s why.

This blockage of the employment heart artery has existed since before my time in the search and placement world; which was 1981.THE very next year, I was trained by the incomparable Steve Finkel , and he schooled me on ways to avoid HR that have paid off ever since. But, oh how times and things have things changed, several times, since then! Now it is career suicide to treat our human resource partners as anything but significant to the ultimate goal of long term client retention; especially in midsize and large companies.

Unfortunately, delays like the ones I am currently subject to make these relationships feel like necessary evils as opposed to complementary teaming. But in this era of consensus decision-making and event completion, my patience is tested over and over again.

However, I read somewhere on the wonderful resource that is ere.net that one of the most important characteristics of being a headhunter now and into the future is “political savvy.” So I am open to the notion that my impatience and related sense of urgency could be perceived as part of the problem. I admit that sensitivity for the official side of the overall sphere of influencers we must coexist in is one of my glaring weaknesses, so this is a shout out for help.

Would someone in the HR community please let me know what happens in between the time that one of your colleagues, a powerful VP-level hiring authority, copies you and me to start a search process but only one of us (me!) is ready to execute the required business event? I am really anxious for answers.

Oh, and don’t tell me it’s not your department or “we have to send it through legal,” because if you do I will forever be  convinced that corporate HR departments are pretty much useless when it comes to the hiring of extremely valuable personnel.  And then I will have to write another article about the five parties required to complete a successful hire.

Actually, I have come to the conclusion my frustration is really wasteful.  What I/We search pros need to do is move on to the next prospect until HR, or whomever, gets back to us. After all, America was not built on Account Management.

The reality of the business world today is that attention to details, process, and checks and balances pervade almost every corporate culture.

So get used to it — or go to some really fun-filled parties and forget about your day job for a few hours.

If you insist on trying to get every leaf into the bag, or uncover every last candidate in the available talent pool and scrutinize all of their credentials, the process will overwhelm you.

A process that can be truly enjoyable whether it be the freshness of autumn’s air or the dynamic interactions with engaging sales reps is often overlooked and deadened by analysis paralysis. Too often, my clients and countless others subvert their own intuitive powers and lose their ability to qualify individuals’ key characteristics, such as drive, desire (for their specific job opportunity), and focus because they are too concerned with the prospects’ resume, credentials, references, etc. as it pertains to sales hires.

Placing an emphasis on the “what” of one’s candidacy, as opposed to the “whom” only leads to superficial decision-making and detracts from genuine, honest communication.

I am not suggesting that recruiters become haphazard about the process of identifying, evaluating, and selecting sales talent. Quite the contrary!

Predicting Future Success

As an executive recruiter with almost 30 years in the trenches and approximately 600 sales personnel placements, I speak from experience. One of the truly rare, yet simple conclusions this exciting industry has taught me is that there is no substitute for candidates’ desire and emotional readiness when it comes to predictors of future success.

One would think that a strong candidate’s consistent efforts to obtain a job would be a significant factor in the prospective company’s hiring criteria. Unfortunately, those appeals are typically lost in the barrage of information-gathering that most of my clients are awash in.

To thoroughly analyze a sales candidate, take the following steps:

Analytical Tools

• The employer needs to write out a job description that includes both mandatory and preferred criteria and/or experience necessary to do the job. (For instance, if the new hire will be required to sell an average sales price product of $2,500 once a week to hit his quota, then include a relevant mandatory criterion – i.e., must have 3-5 years of successful track record in a “transaction-based” selling environment).
• The employer needs to write out a fairly detailed compensation plan to include base salary (range), commission/bonus plan, and first-year quota expectation.
• Conduct both telephone and face-to-face interviews. With travel budgets tight, telesales skills are more critical every day. If you write down your observations, you will remember them more clearly as well. (Your notes can be more than just facts and figures).
• Test their ability to overcome a challenge with a timed, written example or at least ask a question or two regarding experiences where it was necessary to overcome a significant obstacle during a sales process. Then focus on how specific the answer is — how real does it sound? Does it resonate with your experience? Or ask about how they have endured and eventually overcame a slump. We all have them in sales. How, when, why did this candidate find a way to get out of theirs? Is the answer real? Clearly, the ability to persevere may be a sales rep’s most important asset. The only way to test for it is to ask for specific examples.
• Overall, the key is to ask sales-specific questions, not to use the same formatted Q&A to screen technical talent.

Common Sense/Instinctive Tools

• Be conscious of everything about your first impressions of the candidate. It is likely that your client’s customers will pick up on the same attributes (consciously or subconsciously).
• In your initial face-to-face interview, how does he or she shake your hand?
• What does the candidate’s eye contact with you feel like? Is it consistent and natural or jittery and distracted? How does it compare with your last interview? (Write it down).
• What does the other non-verbal behavior about the candidate tell you about their level of comfort and level of interest with you and anyone else the prospect interacts with? Can you tell anything about their intentions from their body language?
• Probably most importantly, did he or she close you on him or her? If so, how? Was it handled professionally and convincingly or was it half-baked, canned, or weak? If your own client hires this candidate, its buying audience will be the recipient of the same critical behavior and focus or lack thereof in the future.
• In other words, if you typically come from an analytical, engineering-oriented perspective, try to turn that off, or at least tone it down, and try to tune into how the candidate makes you feel following the interaction. Is there a positive energy that emanates from the meeting? If so, take note of it.

Uncovering sales talent is not just about credentials. It is about finding enough of the right ingredients, letting them blend with yours, and agreeing upon expectations and the potential success of the fit. Perhaps it’s credentials, plus interpersonal chemistry, plus timing.

As my search and placement practice has exposed, candidates who possess the “best” resumes are rarely the right hires at any given time for any given company. In fact, the candidate who has the best record and most relevant skills for your requirement is rarely ideal. Because the strongest teams, whether on the football field or in the conference room, are defined by a carefully blended collaboration of individuals with unique assets who believe in one another.

As unnatural as it may feel, do not fool yourself into believing that because you have identified a candidate with all of the right measurables (credentials, resume, references, etc.) that your search is over. Clearly it has only just begun.

To begin with, who says there is nothing good about a “bad economy?” Hogwash!

The past year’s financial downturn is, in part, responsible for the renewed energy, collective spirit, return to the basics of our business and an overall invigorating camaraderie that clearly characterized this conference and for me, set it apart from the other two years.

The whole event was charged with a soulful vibe of WE are all in this together.

So here’s to better times, but more importantly, here’s to the throbbing, no make that pounding or how about thriving heartbeat that was the essence of this Fordyce Forum and is the indefatigable power of the recruiting professional.

From the incredibly driven (but somehow balanced) and brilliant Barb Bruno, to the uniquely charismatic and effervescent Jeff Skrentny, to the myriad of marvelous speakers who spewed invaluable headhunting info to the crowd, this “tradeshow” had real class. Plus, the M Resort was an appropriately fine host, resplendent with state-of-the-art facilities, exceptional cuisine and yes, beautiful hostesses throughout the casino.

But back to the real show.

As I was saying, this one “felt” different. Maybe it was because Mr. Skrentny emphasized with his opening remarks for all us to benefit not only from the “experts on stage” but also from all of the attendees who invested their time, energy, and money to be there to network and connect. Or maybe it’s because we are all now forced to pull together on our end of the tug-of-war-rope so tightly to survive and succeed.

Either way, all I know is that everywhere I went, in every venue I found meaningful conversation, genuine smiles, helpful anecdotes, positive attitudes, and truly practical advice.

We came in all shapes, colors, and sizes; literally. And I came home with a dozen or more business cards, a split-fee partner or three, and a “Candidate Profiling Test” to complement my search services that I have already encouraged one of my new clients to implement.

Most important, I came home with a clear recognition of the strength, seriousness, savvy, resilience, and vision of our industry. I can so easily say that I am truly proud, no make that honored and humbled, to be a part of such a fine collection of human beings that make up the core the Executive Search/Staffing/Recruitment Industry.

Whatever your niche, do not miss this event in 2010!!! Fordyce Forum 2010 will be held once again at the beautiful M Resort, so mark your calendars for June 9-11, 2010.

One more formal thank you to Mr. Jeff Allen, whom we all benefit from every month in The Fordyce Letter. Not only does Mr. Allen pour his heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears into the industry through his written contribution to TFL each month, but he took the time to organize the last (and maybe best) breakout session of the entire conference.

This “hour of power” is what Jeff was really talking about. It was called the Fordyce Forum Council and this event had no preset agenda nor was it dominated by one speaker. This session was truly interactive and revealed how mutually beneficial a group of committed professionals can be to one another. It was the essence of what we do at times like the 3rd annual FF, and at times when we need it most, it was learning, growing, and benefiting from one another at its best!

A candidate’s lack of acute knowledge about your client company’s environment, coupled with poor closing techniques, will kill any potential deal regardless of the candidate-driven environment in which we operate today. Why go through all of the hard work (and unfortunately sometimes the brain damage) that it takes to “set the referral” – confirming a time and place for a prescreened, professionally recruited candidate to be interviewed by a bona fide, fee-paying client – only to hear that all went well, but “Curtis didn’t have any questions about our company when it came time for him to ask about us, so we will pass.”

So, in an effort to remove some of the uncertainty from our complex search and placement process, I have provided some tried and proven information for candidates to use before going on that critical first interview. As executive search consultants, we need to remind ourselves that, regardless of how excited we may be about the résumé and the candidate behind it, unless he or she is willing to take the time and do the work to prepare for the interview, our chances of a successful outcome are definitely reduced.

If a candidate getting ready for an interview looks at the meeting as a sales call in which he will be selling himself to the prospective employer, then the third-party recruiter who sets up the potentially lucrative meeting will benefit tremendously. And as with any other interpersonal event where one individual is attempting to persuade the other to embrace his/her position or product, one fundamental principle rules the interaction. The individual who has done the most work in preparation is most likely to win the desired outcome.

The good news is that today’s employment marketplace is flush with hot opportunities for talented personnel. But the elite companies revving America’s economic engine are much more critical and discerning hirers after the bloat of the 1990s and the tremendous market-cap hits they took post-9/11. So the majority of the high-growth firms adding personnel now have standards for and definitions of excellence that are specific to their needs, market niches, products and services, and even their culture.

Getting into the party for a potentially career-upgrading interview is increasingly realistic for strong performers. However, unless you have all the right moves, once inside, the bright lights will make you melt like butter. To pick up on the action a candidate covets, here’s what he/she needs to do to be put in a position of promoting one’s career.

First, accept the fact that interviewing today is less about performance and more about meaningful dialogue than ever. Therefore, professional job aspirants who prepare by researching the hiring firm via the Internet through websites, blogs, and newspaper articles will have a working knowledge of the company and its executives, enabling them to be more confident and at ease when eyes meet. Preparation will lead to questions. Candidates need to write them down and be ready to ask them at a second’s notice. It is fine to look at the meeting as a mutual learning experience, but if they do not have appropriate questions to ask, the interview will lack direction and positive interactive energy.

Candidates must remember that preparation is a multi-faceted approach. Knowing about your prospective employer without knowing what they are looking for in an employee is fruitless. Interviewees must acknowledge that the individual you are meeting wants to hire their best competitor’s top employee. If you start with that crucial notion in mind, you will begin to understand the psychological needs of the interviewer. If you do not possess the ideal credentials, the next best strategy is to convince the interviewer that you possess personal achievements that are truly relevant to his/her company. Be ready to blow your own horn in detail regarding those successes. Make an attempt to be specific about closely related responsibilities, accomplishments, etc. Remember, it’s your track record. If you are not ready to shout about it with compelling style while in an exciting interview, no one ever will be!

Once you have sold yourself to the prospect, if it is still unclear what the hirer is looking for, here’s the first question to ask. “Ms. Johnson, my recruiter did an excellent job of filling me in on your opportunity and I have uncovered some exciting research about your firm, but I always like to hear it directly from the executive’s perspective. Can you tell me please exactly what it is you are looking for in the ideal candidate today?”

What better way to qualify your interviewer and set the stage for an appropriate discussion germane to your mutual business interests? This question is also an excellent way to disarm the employer and take a little bit of the pressure off you. Inevitably, the tide will be turned and you will be asked some open-ended questions. Do not fall into the trap of trying to answer questions like “Tell me about yourself” without counter-ing the questioner on what it is about yourself that she would like to know. This again will help you to maintain some control, keep the interview focused, and most importantly, help you avoid the biggest mistake a career prospect can make. In my 26-plus years of experience as a headhunter, the objection I hear most often from client executives is that candidates ramble on and on, instead of providing a thoughtful, concise answer and shutting up.

There are several more ideas that a candidate needs to be aware of in order to be prepared enough to ace the interview, but none more important than asking for the order. What a shame and waste it would be to do your homework, review, ask revealing questions, state your relevant personal accomplishments, and have a positive inter-personal experience without attempting to ask for the job. And yet, as any grizzled recruiter can tell you, it happens all the time.

Whether the role to be filled and the candidate involved is an entry-level administrator or a VP of sales, most candidates have a hard time humbling themselves enough to ask another person what they think of them. Instead of figuring out why, just convince your candidates that they may as well forget about showing up for the meeting unless they possess the gumption to articulate an emotional close.

Two statements should suffice. First, candidates must ask the interviewer one final question. “How do I stack up?” is the simplest way to put it. Any question that enables you, as a job seeker, to qualify the hiring authority per the interview that is about to wrap up is fine. If you can pull out any concerns, that is even better. Address them as well as possible before moving to the real close.

Second, let the interviewer know that you are serious about joining his or her company and why. (If this is the case. If not, just thank the interviewer for his or her time and walk away a more enlightened professional.) “I just want you to know that I am excited about what I have heard today! I know that I would be an asset to your company because of my experience and passion for what you and your colleagues are attempting to accomplish in the near future.” Then it is important for truly motivated candidates to be specific about how they will contribute an immediate impact to the prospective employer. Last but not least, just say, “I would really like to consider an offer with your company.” And shut up. Whatever happens next will reveal more than a glimpse into the future.

These tips are beneficial for both the diligent search practitioner and aspiring job seekers. In the business of headhunting today, it is challenging enough to identify and attract a well-qualified candidate while there is a dearth of truly suitable supply. Enhancing that talent to shine in the interview setting is a touch of magic that we can realistically expect through our ability to provide preparation and encouraging interviewees to make the extra effort themselves. By so doing, we raise the stature of that candidate to A player, and all of our expectations for success.

Jordan A. Greenberg is president of The Pinnacle Source, Inc., in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and is a 26-year veteran of the recruiting business.
Jordan@ pinnso.com

Those goals are meritorious and achievable unto themselves. But where many clients of mine, and I’m certain countless others, get themselves into trouble is by not realizing that by sharing the interview process they are also sharing the power of the whole company. Perhaps more than any other business activity, recruiting has become a high-profile responsibility because of the competitiveness of the talent market, the star-power some candidates possess, and the social nature of the majority of nascent firms. To delegate a portion of the interview process to a group of a chosen few is the clearest example of a leader’s willingness to empower select employees.

If you believe like most modern thinkers (or thought leaders like the recently departed, brilliant Peter Drucker) that a “participative management” style enables your company to endure and thrive, then consensus interviewing should be a core value. However, keep in mind that this multi-faceted, multiple personnel policy will have powerful ramifications that impact everyone and spotlight, in particular, the interviewers themselves. Despite the fact that it has become an honor to be a part of the elite team of “voting members,” the players need to understand the rules of the game that they have been invited to play in.

History teaches us that a CEO’s balloon of power needs to be strong for her to exude confidence and provide necessary vision. Sharing the helm’s power is an assertion of faith in the strength of the enterprise. But if that rare air is allowed to go to your key employees’ heads, trouble brews and the balloon will shrivel.

In a real-life example inside of one of my best clients’ environments exists two Sales Department Managers. When one department head wasn’t certain where a superstar sales interviewee was to fit into the organization and got a bit threatened by the candidate’s track record and earnings, he made the interview exceedingly tough and negative. The other Sales Department Manager took great offense to this treatment of his next coveted, quota-busting sales hire and the two Department Managers butted heads for days. Fortunately, calmer minds (and bigger wallets) prevailed and my client convinced the sales stud to join the firm once it was clear to whom he would report.

The bottom line is that these politically motivated misunderstandings will continue to happen unless the CEO establishes and articulates several ground rules for his or her consensus interview practice. My twenty-five plus years of experience as a corporate headhunter offers the following suggestion to any CEO/President/Owner/etc. who wants to consider it.

1) Do not put every candidate through a consensus interview process! Reserve your key team members’ time for “finalists” – preferably 1 or 2 per position, 3 max.

2) Remind your team that you, and you alone, still hold the final vote. Define their role – input yes, but veto power, no. If the whole team is adamant and provides substantial evidence to turn over your vote have the flexibility to change, but you call the shots. Obviously, as Chief Executive, if 3, 4 or 5 of your valued captains come to you with a specific concern or truly surprising feedback adjust your stance; that’s the value of the process. Remember that your department heads or key employees participate to help you cover your blind spots.

3) Limit your “team” of interviewers to a total of 5 (plus yourself) or less. Any more and the process becomes unwieldy, untimely, diluted, etc.

4) Keep your team consistent regardless of the nature of the hire. A “plug and play” interview team is an organizational nightmare.

5) Limit the amount of time each “team member” spends with each interviewee. Make it clear that you value their help, but that they have a job to do and interviewing is just one of their duties. This stipulation will help you avoid a heavy bias, positive or negative.

6) Inform your team about the following regarding the candidate before he/she arrives:

a. role within the org chart.
b. job description (brief).
c. reporting manager and department.
d. general compensation parameters.

7) Do not allow team members to participate in the consensus:

a. without providing the candidate’s resume.
b. if they are not well respected throughout most of your company. (If you are unsure, the answer is no).
c. if they do not understand how to position your company in its best light.
d. if they do not know what EEOC stands for.
e. if you have a gut feeling that they may be “looking” themselves.

8 ) If you employ a trusted HR rep/manager have him on the team, have him coordinate the interview schedules and, in some (lower level) hires, gather the feedback and funnel/filter it all to you.

9) Avoid peer to peer interviews, regardless of the level of the hire. Within my customer base, the size of most employees’ egos is only surpassed by their insecurity. Besides, why put a valued employee into a position of measuring and judging a natural, but external, threat to their corporate existence? If it is your opinion that the new hire should “sit in” for a half-day to see, hear and feel what the job really is, then do it after the interview process. You can always make the final decision to go forward contingent upon the “trial day,” but rarely will the consensus get overturned post-process.

10) Before the “team round” of interviews prepare your candidate for “the experience” by congratulating him on getting this far in the process. Let him know that he should feel good about the progress he has made by passing the first or second round of cuts of candidates and to prepare himself for a lot of intense interaction with your key players. Also remind him that each employee may have their own agenda and if he has any questions about what he perceives to come to you for the answers.

11) Review “the team” bi-annually. The pace of corporate life is too hyper to expect perfection or even consistency.

12) Smile! Realize that although this process is far from simple it’s a lot more fun and enlightening than trying to run your company like an old-fashioned Autocrat!

Jordan A. Greenberg has been an everyday search consultant since 1981. He is currently the President of The Pinnacle Source, based in Denver which specializes in representing IT firms in pursuit of Sales/Marketing and Management talent in Colorado phone #303-796-9900, website www.pinnaclesource.com……..Email-jordan@pinnso.com

In this case one huge factor that was missing from the key ingredients necessary for a Class A search was the direct, consistent contact with the hiring authority. Please consider that we are spoiled in my practice because of the “localness” of our activity. Approximately 90% of the several hundred placements I have made are the result of face-to-face contact with our clients and the candidates that we screen for such clients. So why did I continue to work on a VP of Sales search in which the client artfully dodged my request to visit every step of the way? Perhaps the chart below will justify my rationale, but in the end the truth always prevails.

WHAT WE HAD, WHAT WE LACKED

1) Reputable client company we had done direct contact (phone or face-to-face) business with in the past.

2) Written, signed, attractive fee agreement.

3) Adequate job description.

4) Marketable, acceptable compensation plan.

5) Accessible candidates with in our established network.

6) Sense of urgency to interview and hire.

7) Strong appeal for service client offers; “hot niche”.

It may be easy to understand why we worked on a search of this nature from the list above because we thought we had so much going for us. But ask yourself, what legitimate reason(s) could a professional, intelligent hiring authority have to not communicate directly with her search partner or partners on a critical high-level placement? Perhaps she’s so busy that time simply does not permit. But what should that say to you about the true priority of the search? Maybe she does not want to be influenced by a conversation with what one recruiter says versus another. But what does that tell you about the chance of ever working with her exclusively?

All we were left with is this matter, this process, this seemingly significant search was to speculate. So when one of our candidates had a crucial question about how to put her “mini business proposal” together for a final interview we were left with the response from the HR rep. He was a competent facilitator of interviews but was an inadequate intermediary for my top candidate’s critical request. When I attempted to contact the client, AKA hiring authority, she never responded.

At this point it was clear that our only liaison, the HR rep, was really tasked with one priority – keeping me away from the all-powerful client. So I instructed my candidate the best I could without the help of the hiring authority and hoped (against hope) for the best. At the same time I apologized to my team for wasting their precious time in helping me on a fruitless search as I knew the end was near and the result would not be successful.

What I still didn’t know was why this client, with whom I had previous success placing candidates, would not deal with me one to one. The morale of the story – there’s always a good reason!? In this case it was a super-strong candidate she had identified on her own before requesting our assistance. She was merely “using” our services to reinforce her assumption that no other better candidates could be surfaced.

This humbling experience reminded me of another Golden Rule in our business. This one in the form of a question that needs to be asked “before” we commit our resources to any search opportunity – i.e., “Do you have any candidates for this assignment that you have already interviewed or are about to consider?” Had this question been asked before we spent our well-intentioned efforts on this search I would have known that all we had, despite the chart above, was a Class B Assignment at best. So even when it feels and looks like you have just about everything going for you as a recruiter to fill that substantial opening; think again. Think about anything that is lacking from your client and probe. Then respond.

It was. Today, we work in the era of “why?” Regardless of how bonafide my candidate or how real the personnel requirement is, employers all over America are still asking themselves if they really need to hire this particular human resource at this particular time. Perhaps, that’s why national employment numbers continue to lag despite the mass media’s expectations.

Almost every company with whom I interact is asking themselves… “Could we live without this candidate?” And answering with a resounding “Sure!” “Would my P&L look better with one less salary for one more quarter? Absolutely.” “Do we have 100% complete consensus from every one of the seven (or more) interviewers on this candidate?” Or “Let’s look at some more talent before we pull the trigger. Why rush into this important decision?” Why? Why? Why?

That’s the word that most accurately describes how my customers are feeling in today’s environment of what I call “pervasive reluctance.” So, even though the economy appears to be stabilizing and search activity increasing it’s best to be forecasting more of the same. The plain reality is that in corporate boardrooms in the United States of America the top dogs are unanimously in favor of more productivity and less perceived fat.

So what’s a well-intentioned recruiter to do? Fight fire with fire! Fight productivity with even more productivity. To me, that means good ol’ fashioned cold recruiting. The only placements I expect to make currently and, in fact, have successfully completed, are based upon truly gritty headhunting. Today, more than ever, phone skills and numbers of efforts to connect with genuinely excellent candidates are all that produces results.

Companies strong enough to be hiring with a sense of urgency, willing to engage a search consultant, have a better understanding of our business and higher expectations than ever before. Short cuts won’t work. If a hirer is putting his neck out on the line through a substantial fee, he will scrutinize every move we make and has the right to demand candidates that are pulled aggressively, but professionally, away from his competition for interviews.

I find that my best clients are expecting me to produce “the genuine article” and it is implicit in our discussion regarding profile specs that they will not pay for anything less. So activity, if it’s increasing, is a good thing. But don’t let the number of assignments lull you into lazy habits. We’re dealing with a very well educated post-boom marketplace with a myriad of resources at their disposal.

Don’t let them dispose of you! Do what only true search professionals can and will do. Take your clients’ assignments and their story directly into the lion’s den of the competition, find a star who’s got some pain and then facilitate the matching process with consistent care. And keep digging, find a back up, and don’t rest easy until you hear confirmation from both sides.

Then all this talk of activity won’t just seem good; it’ll feel great! One deal at a time