<img src="http://www.fordyceletter.com/wp-content/themes/4d/images/tfl-logo.png" alt="The Fordyce Letter" />

Recruiter Chronicles: Three Resolutions for 2012

Nate Elgert on Jan. 6, 2012

What is it about the promise of a new year that generates hope? To me, it’s always seemed a bit ridiculous to send these promises to the god of resolutions, somewhere out there in the starry firmament. Nevertheless, it is hard to doubt the cultural or historical significance of this custom.

New year’s resolutions date back to 153 BC, where the mythical King Janus of Rome was placed at the head of the calendar with two faces. One looking forward, and one looking back. Janus became an ancient symbol of resolutions and is the namesake of our first month of the year. More than two thousand years later, health clubs and fad exercise DVD’s across the world pay homage at the altar of Janus every winter as they count their money. At least they should be.

But even if you are as cynical as I am about New Year’s resolutions, we all should make them in the sprit of being better recruiters. At the Aureus Group we call it our Accountability Plan. For lack of a better way to describe it, it’s what we each resolve to do that will make us better. It is a comprehensive action plan that details every action we will take to reach our goals.

In making my plan this year, I realized that there were three themes of self improvement I intend to make in 2012. I hope they speak to you too and help you to reach your max potential in 2012.

4 Comments

The Recruiter Chronicles: “The Million Dollar Interview”

Nate Elgert on Nov. 15, 2011

The main reason I love writing “The Recruiter Chronicles” is that I do not write from the perspective of being a “big biller” (yet). Consider me somewhere between consistent solid performer and top performer, but definitely not “big biller.” I am an “everyman” type of recruiter and I, like most of you, am scratching and clawing towards “big biller” status. I do feel like I’m on the way though, and this series that I write is a testimonial to the misadventures that have and will happen along the way.

I have two teammates here at The Aureus Group in Omaha, Nebraska that certainly qualify as “big billers,” having both eclipsed the Million Dollar annual production threshold recently and trending to do the same in 2011. Recently, I sat down with both of them and asked for their perspective on what it has taken to arrive at this hallowed ground of agency recruiter production. For the sake of anonymity we will call them, lovingly of course, “Big Biller A” and “Big Biller H.”

Big Biller A has been in the recruiting/staffing business since 1987 holding many different roles, including one as a recruiting franchise owner. Currently, Big Biller A is a Senior IT Recruiter with Aureus Group and also manages a team of three recruiters.

Big Biller H was recruited into our industry right out of college, and has been going strong now for nearly twelve years. Currently, Big Biller H is a Senior Account Manager working directly with clientele of the Aureus Group, and she has been with us for more than four years.

Relationships

Recruiter Chronicles: Five Years, Five Mistakes — Part 5

Nate Elgert on Sep. 8, 2011

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which recently passed, I have shared with you over the past several weeks the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. Last week, I shared the story of how I forgot about the relationships that really matter, and how that cost me countless placements. This week, I bring you….

#1 – Story of Losing Faith in an Old Customer

It never fails. Every single time I talk to a prospective member of our esteemed recruitment team here at Aureus Group, I am asked the same question.

“What does it take to be successful at recruiting?”

111 Comments

Relationships

Recruiter Chronicles: Five Years, Five Mistakes -– Part 4

Nate Elgert on Aug. 19, 2011

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which recently passed, I have been sharing the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. Last week, I shared the story of botched salary negotiation that cost me a fee. This week, I bring you…

#2 – Story of Forgetting About the Relationships That Really Matter

Closing

Recruiter Chronicles: Five Years, Five Mistakes – Part 3

Nate Elgert on Aug. 11, 2011

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which recently passed, I am sharing with you over the coming weeks the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. Last week, I shared the story of an email that got me ‘fired’ from a client. This week, I bring you…

#3: Story of the Botched Salary Negotiation

Recruiter Chronicles: Five years, Five Lessons — Part 2

Nate Elgert on Aug. 2, 2011

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which recently passed, I am sharing with you over the coming weeks the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. Last week, I discussed a search that took me through a full year of heartache and toil before I tossed in the towel (and by the way, the ‘client’ is still working to fill that vacancy!).

This week, I bring you…

#4: The story of the email that got me fired

3 Comments

Business

Recruiter Chronicles: Five years, Five Lessons — Part 1

Nate Elgert on Jul. 26, 2011

In a wonderful parable called “The Station,” Robert J. Hastings said, “Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.” While the main point of the article is understanding that life’s greatest pleasures come from the journey itself and not the destination, a secondary moral of the story is that if you live your life with a clear conscious you will have peace of mind, and anything is then possible. Hastings said, “It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow.”

Truer words cannot be spoken about any such thing in the universe. Recognition of regret as wasted emotional energy is a simple concept to understand. Actually living without regret is something I can’t fathom. I simply make too many mistakes not to want some do-overs. However, to lift some of the burden of regret, one can learn lessons from mistakes and take strides to not let history repeat itself.

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which will pass this week, I would like to share with you, over the coming weeks, the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. For goodness sake, please promise me you will learn from my mistakes and won’t do these things.

3 Comments

Relationships

Recruiter Chronicles: Story of the Despicable Million-dollar Producer

Nate Elgert on Jun. 28, 2011

“She said what!?” I heard the question fly from the other side of the room punctuated with disgust. Each one of my teammates’ ears were now perked with anticipation to hear what “she” said. We waited patiently for a minute, and up from her cube popped my teammate Chris. She exclaimed, holding her head in her hands and looking like she was in great pain, “I can’t believe it!”

“What?” about three of us asked at the same time.

“She did it again,” Chris said with a tone of resigned disbelief in her voice.

“Who?” we asked.

“You know who,” Chris answered. At that moment we all knew. “You-know-who” is a bit of a nemesis of ours. She is a million-dollar producer that none of us know personally, but deal with on a constant basis. If you just looked at her body of work in terms of numbers you would be infinitely impressed. She is known to be a consistent big biller, with the best contacts, and amazing work effort. Unfortunately, she also known to be somewhat morally and ethically challenged within the confines of recruitment.

1 comment

“Whats Your Talent? What’s Your Skill?”

Nate Elgert on May 24, 2011

The mind of a parent of children under the age of 4 is quite a study of the subconscious mind. About once or twice every day I involuntarily begin singing the theme song to “The Wonder Pets.” Lately, my lameness has reached a new summit as I can identify every Care Bear not just by their belly badge, but by the sound of the their voice (this is unfortunate collateral damage from owning a vehicle with a DVD player in it). Yes, I have lost any bit of “cool” I ever once had.

My wife and I have found the Noggin Channel to be a tremendous resource for our two little girls, and it’s true that these shows invade your mind — even if you try not to let them. The other day I was taking in a thrilling episode of “Yo Gabba Gabba!,” which is the show that has a skinny DJ in a skin-tight jump suit who carries around a briefcase with three monster-like puppets inside. The puppets come to life, tell stories, sing songs, and dance around. In this particular episode, the little monsters took turns asking each other “What’s your talent, what’s your skill?” They each found something unique to them that they did exceptionally well. Of course, this got me thinking. What’s my talent? What’s my skill?

Fees, Interviews

Learning From Mistakes: Trying to Place Travis

Nate Elgert on May 2, 2011

image source: opensourceway

The great major champion golfer Jack Nicklaus was renown for many things. One of the least notable, but most poignant, was his amazing knack for really only remembering the good experiences in his illustrious career. His memory of seemingly every detail of winning moments is legendary. He can go back 30 years and tell you the club, yardage, wind direction, and how many clouds were in the sky for a single shot during a 72-hole tournament. Meanwhile, he could not recite any bit of the history that occurred during any of his defeats. No reason to hold on too tightly to bad memories anyway. I mean, who wants to carry that garbage around?

This kind of “selective memory” I’m sure has some psychological effect on elite performers. If all you can remember is the good, than your confidence is bound to remain high at all times. So, how do we learn from our failures if they are so easily deleted from our minds? Nicklaus has also said that he is able to learn from past experiences but move on quickly and “stay in the moment.” The real question is: how can we as recruiters adopt this mentality while still learning from our miscues? It’s a balancing act to be certain, but one that must be done.