Welcome to The Fordyce Letter:

The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Matt McMahon

Matt McMahon is a Principal in McMahon Partners LLC, a three partner national retained executive search firm. Before forming McMahon Partners, he led a specialty practice for a northeast regional firm. Prior to entering the search industry, Matt served as a corpsman for a Marine Corps infantry platoon, both on active duty and as a reservist in college. A nationally-recognized expert in employment market issues, Matt has been quoted in publications such as MSN Careers and CNN.com.

Articles by Matt McMahon

Cold Calling

Fewer Candidate Cold Calls, More Conversations

by on Jul. 30, 2010


on-the-phone

When I started in search in 1998, conventional wisdom said that if you were not on the phone, you were not working. In fact, two of the firms for whom I have worked had call tracking software built into the phone system. Every night, the head of the office would send out a report to the entire company detailing how many calls each recruiter made and how much time they spent on the phone. It was implied that recruiters who spent time sending e-mails and performing internet research did so because they lacked the spine to make cold calls. This attitude became deeply ingrained in me.

However, times change and technology changes behavior. Many people today are not likely to answer the phone if they do not recognize the number on the caller ID and even less likely if the caller ID is blocked. A few candidates in their twenties and thirties who work at big companies have confessed to me that they frequently go a week without checking voicemail. They feel that if information is important, it will arrive via e-mail. 

Keep reading »
5 Comments

TFL archives

Beyond The Dollars: How You and Your Client Can Make an Offer More Than Just Money

by on Jun. 1, 2005


fordyce-default

How a person feels about what they do for a living can have a real impact on an individual’s happiness – far beyond the money the job provides. Liking the nature of one’s work, the people with whom one works and the career path one is traveling will go a long way to making someone feel good about what they do. Because people will spend a significant percentage of their lives working, liking what they do is important. Therefore, a person changing jobs is making a major life decision.

We would hope that this decision would be based on more than just money. Fortunately, most times it is. So, when extending a candidate an offer, it is important to address more than the compensation, title, benefits and measurable aspects of the offer.

To really make the offer compelling, a recruiter needs to help the candidate connect emotionally to the position and the company. The best way to help establish this connection includes both plying your craft as a recruiter and partnering with your client.

People always like to feel wanted. It is important that the candidate feels wanted by the company. Anyone receiving an offer is going to know that a company wants their services – wants to tap into their abilities in order to accomplish their mission. That is the obvious part. What is important is that you and the client make it clear that they want the person, not just the resume. At the beginning of an offer, I will usually tell the candidate why he or she was selected – and I always mention that they had competition.

“Mr. Candidate, Jenny, Len and Bill interviewed a number of qualified candidates for this position. Everyone who walked through their door was technically equipped to do the job. However, at the end of the process, they felt a particular connection with you. Beyond your skillset, they felt that as an individual, you represented the best fit for their team.

After getting to know you, they feel that not only are you the best person to come in and accomplish what they need to accomplish, but that you have the potential to take this position to another level. Additionally, they feel that you show the ability to continue to progress within their organization for many years and to perpetually contribute at a higher and higher level.”

Now, when I talk about a candidate’s progression within an organization, I make it a point to speak to the candidate’s known career goals and tie them in with the stated goals of the company. I try to give the candidate a sense for some of the future successes that will be possible with my client. My father, who has been in executive search for thirty years, calls this “taking them to the top of the mountain and showing them the horizon.”

Another reason that I talk to the candidate about the level of competition he faced is that it is important that the candidate feels as though, by receiving the offer, they have won something – that this position we are offering is a reward for their previous accomplishments and by accepting the offer they are merely claiming their prize. And while it is helpful to discuss the competition at the end of the process, it is most effective to do this throughout the process.

I always like to encourage the candidate during the process, but also make sure they sense that they still need to win it for themselves. Usually when I am debriefing a candidate after their first interview or scheduling subsequent interviews, I will tell a candidate “They are really high on you right now, but you do have some competition. There are a couple of other highly qualified people in the mix. Your chances are very good, but you need to continue to perform well during the interviews.”

Helping the candidate connect with your client is a big job – but it does not need to be a task that you accomplish by yourself. Getting your client involved during the offer, ideally with a pre-offer phone call to the candidate, can go a long way to help the candidate develop the appropriate emotional connection with the position. Have the client reinforce the long-term synergy that exists between the goals of the candidate and the goals of the company.

“Mr. Candidate, we are really excited about the prospect of you potentially joining our company. The consensus among the team is that you would make a great addition.? We feel that with you on our team, we will be able to accomplish a great deal going forward. I think, as well, that we can offer you the chance to develop in a number of ways. We are putting together an offer as we speak that we think you will find attractive. Mr. Recruiter will be in touch with the details.”

Additionally, if the client is comfortable doing so, it can be compelling if they extend the offer directly to the candidate. It is important, however, that the client is well coached on extending the offer and that they have reviewed the terms with you to ensure that the offer will meet or exceed the candidate’s expectations.

After an offer is accepted, have the client maintain contact during the important time between the acceptance and the date the candidate starts. Especially if the period extends longer than two or three weeks, it is important to have the client assist in maintaining the momentum. A phone call, an Email, or a lunch date can help to keep the candidate excited about starting with your client. The contact can be very simple – perhaps a call to let the candidate know that the team is happy to hear of the acceptance or an Email to find out if the candidate needs specific supplies or software on their first day.

We learn in Recruiting 101 that closing the candidate starts early in the process. For the end of the hiring process to proceed smoothly, we need to have covered all of our bases during the process in order to ensure that there will be no surprises at the end.

Ask the candidate about potential concerns they may have at every point in the interview cycle. Address their concerns as early as possible. Make sure they have all of the information needed to make a decision prior to extending an offer. Removing as many variables as possible will make for a much smoother offer and acceptance.

In speaking about the non-monetary aspects of the offer, I do not mean to downplay the importance of cash compensation. As very few of us would do what we do for free, money does play an important part in an offer. Understanding your candidate’s salary expectations and coaching your client to exceed them can make the closing process easier.

However, as the job market continues to improve and the competition for top candidates becomes fierce, a recruiter and his client can greatly improve the chances of hearing “yes” to a job offer by taking the offer beyond the money and helping the candidate and client connect on a much deeper level.

Keep reading »
No comments

TFL archives

Creating Compelling Presentation

by on Dec. 1, 2004


fordyce-default

When I started in this business, I thought that recruiting meant calling prospective candidates and reading them a job description. As you would imagine, this approach really only attracted the unemployed or active candidate. The real talent, the passive candidate, was never going to be dislodged by such an approach. I never really had an answer to their response of “That sounds a lot like what I am doing now. Why should I leave my present employer?”

As I progressed as a Recruiter, I learned to craft my presentation in such a manner that would pique the interest of prospective candidates. What I found, as well, was that my best presentations never involved hard-selling a job opportunity, but instead telling the candidate a short story. After a while, it became clear that my stories all shared the same structure. What made them different were the specific details which fit the client and the position.

I have found that the key to telling a compelling story is knowledge knowledge of both the candidate and the client. A great story is useless if the end is not relevant to the candidate. Get to know the person on the other end of the phone before you start talking about how your client is going to change their lives for the better. The biggest candidate complaint I hear about recruiters is that recruiters will call candidates and tell them “I have a great opportunity for you” with no knowledge of what they want to do with their career.

Secondly, get to know the client company, the department you are working for, the individual you are working for, and the people who have been in this position before. Ask your client lots of questions to flesh out the position description. Get a sense of what the candidate will accomplish and what the department (and client as a whole) is trying to accomplish. Get specific details, as well, of what people who have filled this role before have gone on to do.

Once you have accomplished this, you can craft your presentation. Since we all work in different industries and speak different languages, I will use a nearly universal language (baseball) to illustrate my points.

Assume that the prospective candidate is a middle reliever who hopes to someday be a closer.

Step #1: Set the stage

Give the candidate a sense of what the client is, what they do, and what they do well. Show them as a winning organization with a good plan for future success. Show how their need for this particular individual is a developmental area.

“My client is a very successful American League team that won eighty-seven games last year. They hit very well and as a team batted .287. Their starting pitching was among the best in the league with a 4.13 ERA. They have a veteran all-star closer who notched forty-six saves last year. Unfortunately, they lost the lead seventeen times in the seventh and eighth innings last year and missed the wildcard by six games.”

Step #2: Describe the role and the opportunity for contribution

This is where you tell the candidate what they will actually do for the company. Speak in broad strokes, but do know your details so that you can answer questions. Give a brief sense for the qualifications they seek as well as what they will do to develop their people.

“They have asked for my help in bringing in someone to work out of their bullpen. The reliever they bring in will primarily be asked to pitch the eighth inning, but will pitch during the seventh inning in close games. What they really need is someone who will get them to the ninth inning with the lead intact. Ideally, they are looking for someone with major league experience, but will look at a Triple-A pitcher with great potential. They do have a highly-respected pitching coach with a track record of developing great relievers. They feel that by bringing in an effective reliever to act as their set-up man, they will win games next year that they would have lost last year.”

Step #: Describe a bright future

This is where you tie everything together and show them how they can develop professionally while helping the organization achieve its goals. This is the most important part of the story.

“Their hope is that by winning additional games they will get into the playoffs this year. Once in the playoffs, they hope to continue to win and compete for the World Series. The reliever that we bring in should, if all goes according to plan, have the opportunity to gain experience pitching in the post season. As their current closer is nearing retirement, this position could very well lead to the closer role. Additionally, the experience gained will be very valuable to other teams who are looking for a playoff-tested reliever to step into their closer role. In fact, two of the last three people in this role are now closers in the major leagues.”

By following this framework, you can pull together a very effective presentation that only takes a couple of minutes to deliver to candidates. You will find, as well, that this presentation structure can be used to breathe life into junior, mid-level and senior-level positions.

Lastly, make sure you have your pitch in mind when you are speaking with the client so that you can ask the questions which will give the information you need to tell a compelling story.

Improving the manner in which you present an opportunity is a simple way to attract more desirable candidates. As the talent war heats back up, this will become a tremendous competitive advantage.

Keep reading »
1 comment