“Here’s your MPC (most placeable candidate), here is your script, and here’s the list of 100 companies I want you to call and present him to between 9 am and 4 pm tomorrow. By the way, if you do not get through the entire list, don’t bother coming to me at 4 pm, or come to work the next day for that matter.”

I was in shock. This was only day three of my employment as an account executive with a national franchised recruiting firm, and I had actually quit outstanding employment to accept this position and enter “the exciting world of search and recruiting.” (As many know, most end up in this business by asking to be placed). I didn’t realize that my training involved being thrown to the wolves, and I was now wondering if I had made a big mistake. I was being asked to jump on the telephone and cold call 100 business leaders and make a fool of myself as I fumbled through my script describing my first candidate. And this was supposedly a “profession??”

I didn’t realize it at the time, but getting on that telephone and making hundreds of calls and, yes, fumbling around, is the only way to learn this business. There is NO OTHER WAY to succeed. As difficult as it was for me to accept, success only comes from putting my words into the ears (note: “ears” not “eyes” as with email or written material such as resumes) of people who can hire someone, and also authorize payment of a significant amount of money. As my manager told me at the end of a frustrating day of plowing through my 100 calls for that day: “If I could take an IV with 10,000 calls in it and inject it into your arm, you would understand.”

That office I was employed by in the early 1980s produced at a top 5% level for the entire industry. We had $200K annual cash in production per desk, for ten desks, almost phenomenal numbers for that time. Each desk was required to produce two managerial/professional level placements per month or that recruiter was terminated. That seemed harsh to many at the time, but I had been in the Marines, so I knew better than most the value of tough and uncompromising standards. It paid off. It was the manager’s insistence on us getting on the telephone and staying there that was the key.

Today, I believe nothing has changed regarding the telephone and our business. Cold calling and call volume remain the staples of this business, and it’s a misguided belief that that has changed. This is causing the downfall of previously successful practitioners and the failure of new people in our business. I strongly believe there remains no other path to success than the telephone, and alternative means of communication such as email, text messaging and other ways to avoid direct confrontation, are killing our business. Don’t do it! If you are new to our business, resign yourself to this: if you desire success, you must make between 70 and 100 outbound cold calls to business leaders each day, every day, for the next two years. If you are not going to do that, you will fail.

Here are some questions to consider: Do you “debrief” an interview with a candidate or employer through email? Do you use email to “close” a placement? Do you use email to prepare a candidate for an interview? Do you have this illusion that when an employer says “email the resume to me today and I’ll get back to you tomorrow about scheduling an interview” that you are actually going to get the interview?

Live (or die) by this: Every time you use email in a placement process, your probabilities of success diminish significantly.

Anything in our business that can be accomplished by using the telephone should be done through the telephone. Before performing any task, ask yourself this question “Can this be done by telephone?” (Note: do not ask yourself “can this be done more efficiently by email?” because it is too easy to answer “yes”). The telephone is obviously tougher than email, especially in this age of remote communication, but only telephonic communication allows you the ability to address and overcome objections immediately, before the prospect has the chance to create an argument which can defeat your purpose. Additionally, only the telephone allows you the ability to use voice inflection, and to ask closing questions. Finally, only the telephone allows you the ability to put words directly into the ears (and minds) of people who can hire your candidates and pay your fees!

Neil McNulty is president of McNulty Management Group (MMG), (www.mcnultymanagement.com) , a firm which uses, and licenses placement firms to use, its proprietary “30/30 Placement Programâ„¢”, the nation’s most effective method for placing transitioning military personnel into civilian employment within thirty days and within thirty miles of where the transitioning military person desires to live. MMG is accepting new30/30 licensees for 2008. Call 757-460-0510 for details.

Another “manna from heaven” story related to candidate relationships and candidate control.

I returned from my noontime run and the “message” light on my phone was blinking. I hit the “caller ID” button and saw the name of a company I had never heard of before. I listened to the message:

“Neil, my name is Susan, and I am the human resources manager at (XYZ) Company. (Name), one of our senior managers, gave me your name and asked me to contact you. Please give me a call.”

The name she mentioned was a guy I had placed 15 years ago when he was a junior Naval officer looking for his first job after the military. From time to time, he would call me and ask for my advice on various issues related to hiring and career management, which I gladly gave him. Now he was apparently a “big gun” at this company. I presumed that this HR manager was calling me to give me a position to fill. I called her. What I heard was the first time this has ever happened.

“Neil, (Name) asked me to call so you can send me your invoice for his outplacement counseling. We need to know where to send the $2,500 for his outplacement support.”

I told her I would need to get back to her. I immediately called my friend. I didn’t know he was losing his job, nor did I want to be contractually required to perform outplacement services. (I prefer to “place” people where the fees are 10 times outplacement fees, and require one-tenth the effort!) Also, if this guy was high up in the “food chain,” it would be very tough to place him. However, I would be glad to counsel, assist, and coach him simply because he was a friend.

My friend surprised me: “Neil, I already have another job. I just want you to receive payment for all the career advice you have given me over the years because your tips from the past helped me land on my feet in this instance. HR said I had to spend the money and could send the money to whoever I wished, so I told them to send it to you. Enjoy!”

Moral: Treat everyone respectfully, and give of yourself. Too many in our industry teach that you should never spend any time at all with nonplaceable people, almost to the point of rudeness. Also, “candidate control” does not mean hammering people into submission; it means creating a bond between you and your candidates that your candidates will not want to break. This guy was once one of my candidates whom I “controlled,” but apparently he appreciated it.

Neil P. McNulty, McNulty Management Group – Creators of the “30/30 Placement Programâ„¢” www.mcnultymanagement.com.

The year was 1980 and I was a 24-year-old lieutenant in the Marine Corps. My commanding officer, a lieutenant colonel, was counseling me on my performance as an officer under his command, and he gave me some very good advice. He said that anyone who desires to make the Marine Corps a career must understand that it is not a job, it is a “calling.” That’s because a Marine Corps officer must be willing to live a life of sacrifice and endure hardships, and the rewards come from serving others and the nation. This lieutenant colonel later rose to the rank of four-star general. After the Marines, among many notable achievements, he authored two best-selling books, one of which is Battle Ready. The final chapter of Battle Ready is titled “The Calling,” within which General Anthony Zinni expresses his view that a professional military officer must be a selfless individual who views military service as a “calling” – not a job.

Our industry is also a calling, though hardly as noble as military service. Only the people within our industry (and their spouses) understand how tough it is. For every victory, we endure five defeats. When the downs hit, they are BIG downs. It’s accepted as a fact that for every 100 people who enter this business, 90 leave it in less than 10 years, and most leave it within the first year. I know only five people who live in my state (Virginia) who have been at it longer than I have. Even those who succeed in our business rarely remain at it for more than a decade. They tire of the rejection, the unappreciative candidates, the fee-avoiding companies, the friction from human resources people, the falloffs, the unsteady income – the list goes on. Most who leave this business say the same things on their way out: “This is just too difficult for me” and “I just don’t see any way this business can ever become enjoyable” or “My nerves just cannot handle this anymore.” In my own life, after a particularly bad day, my youngest daughter once said to me, “Dad, since you are good at finding jobs, why don’t you just take one of those good jobs for yourself?”(!)

What keeps people in this business? I cannot speak for others, but I know what keeps me in the industry. It’s the satisfaction of knowing I am doing something that so few are able to do, and by doing so, I am adding great things to people’s lives, to business, and to society in general. Here are some examples:

There was a young professional who came to me saying that he had to live in Nashua, New Hampshire, because both his parents were dying of cancer there and he wanted to be with them during their last days. No recruiters would even attempt to find him something anywhere near Nashua because he was a very high-income individual. With high income, there are fewer opportunities, especially in a smaller city. After several days’ cold calling the presidents and general managers of over 200 companies, I found a high-paying position for him located less than eight miles from his parents’ home.

Then there was the young Navy enlisted technician who had a hardship discharge and sole custody of three very young children. His ex-wife was a drug abuser, and no recruiting firms would even attempt to help him because he had too much “baggage.” We worked hard for him, and we placed him with a Fortune 50 company with superb benefits for him and his children. The company was just 16 miles from his home.

Or the manufacturing manager whose plant had closed. He had been on several interviews, but had no job offers. We identified what he was doing wrong and coached him on it, marketed him aggressively within 30 miles of where he lived, and placed him as a plant manager just 11 miles from his home. But that was not the end of this story. Seven years after placing him, in a city 145 miles away from where we had placed him, I was at a dinner party at a friend’s home and by sheer coincidence, this man and his wife were at that same party, and were now living three doors down from my friend’s home! His wife came up, hugged me, and told me that he was now the president of the company where we had placed him, that it would never have happened without me, and they had just moved the headquarters to the larger city where we were visiting my friend.

Then there was the young Army captain West Point graduate son of a good friend of mine. This captain had served eight years in the Army, had flown attack helicopters in Iraq, and was now ready to separate from active duty. He desired to be near his parents so his young children could visit their grandparents, my friends, after so much separation. This young man had great employment offers from all across the USA, but none within 100 miles of his parents. We placed him with a great company near his parents.

There are many more stories from my quarter century in this “calling.” I have a map of the United States in my office. When I consider doing something new, or “retiring” from this business, the thought comes and goes quickly when I look at that map and realize there isn’t a midsize city or town anywhere in the USA that doesn’t have a person I placed living in it, and/or a company I have helped staff. What else could I ever want to do?? I am helping great Americans during difficult transitional periods, at no expense to them. These people will continue to need my company’s services. I really do see my profession as a “calling,” and I am proud to have answered its call, and stayed the course through all its ups and downs.

Neil McNulty is president of McNulty Management Group (www.mcnultymanagement.com), a placement firm that uses, and licenses placement firms to use, its proprietary “30/30 Placement Programâ„¢,” the nation’s only system for placing transitioning military personnel into civilian jobs within 30 days and within 30 miles of where the transitioning military person desires to live.

Many articles in TFL address the common problems we have in this business. Such recent articles as “Reference Check Boomerangs,” “Gotcha!” and others I find very informational and useful, but rarely do I see the real solution to almost all of these problems: candidate control.

Today, there is this prevailing notion that candidate control is a “myth.” That’s a real shame because there is only one real “trump card” we have to almost all employer-caused problems: the strength of the relationship we have with our candidates. I learned back in the early 1980s that no matter how much a company enjoys doing business with you, or how strong a “client” relationship we have with a company, today’s “4.0 client” is tomorrow’s fee avoider.

Now, with technology as it is today, information is available on anyone at any time, so candidate control is more important than ever, and that goes for both applicants as well as passive recruits. All the problems with “we found him in our database” or “we know that guy already” or “our HR guy was already onto him” or “hey, that guy’s available?” (reference check boomerangs) or “I’m the new HR sheriff in town and your fee is now 20%” or “there’s no signed contract, and we are a state where you need one to get paid” means zero if you inoculate yourself against these problems and do the most important thing of all in this business: CONTROL YOUR CANDIDATES!

Call me a dinosaur, but where I come from, candidate control is a cornerstone of our business. Today, the vogue thing in our industry is for trainers to teach that candidate control is a “myth” because “human beings cannot be controlled – they are going to do what’s in their best interest, not yours.” The second half of that statement is true; the first half is absolutely false. A human being in our business can (must?) be controlled; you just need to know how to do it!

I don’t care whether or not a company knows about my candidate (in fact, I assume they already know about him). I don’t worry about whether or not I have a signed agreement. I don’t fret over how much the company says it will pay after the fact. My bottom line is my relationship with my candidates.

Before I work with anyone, they must agree to do exactly as I say, when I say it, or I am not presenting them to any company, anywhere. Of course, I state such in a much more diplomatic way, especially with recruits, but any candidate I work with had better follow my instructions the same way he follows his attorney’s or doctor’s or he can find some other headhunter and waste his time. Here’s my rule: “From this hour forward, any interview you go on with any company must be arranged through me as your representative. I am your agent, just as if you were a sports star or actor and I am your representative. Nothing related to your job hunt (job change) occurs without my involvement. I don’t care if your uncle calls you with a dream job – you need to give him my phone number and tell him I am your agent.”

With that commitment, I have fended off one problem after another. In the past six months alone, I sent a $100K manager to an interview and afterwards, the company’s HR executive called me saying that people within their company already knew my candidate, “and also knew he was looking, so we are not going to pay your 30K fee.”

I calmly informed the HR executive that perhaps with other recruiters he was correct, but not with me. I told him to call the candidate and ask him who is “representing” him to the company. This HR person was expecting the usual “throw the recruiter under the bus” candidate amnesia, but when he called my candidate, my candidate did what he had agreed to do in my first meeting with him: he informed this HR manager that “Neil is my recruiter, and if you hire me, you will need to pay him.” This HR manager was flabbergasted to see a candidate who was actually loyal. That’s because most recruiters lack that level of candidate control. Some recruiters would say I was just “lucky” to have ethical candidates. I see it more as my candidates are afraid of me!

Why is candidate control considered a “myth”? I believe it’s because most recruiters don’t see themselves as an equal professional with an attorney or physician. Rarely do people give their lawyer or physician a hard time, or disobey his/her advice. That’s mostly because they see their doctor or lawyer as being so professional they are afraid of upsetting him/her! You need to gain that kind of respect (and obedience) from your candidates. The way to do it is to BE as professional as a lawyer or doctor.

Neil McNulty is president of McNulty Management Group, a recruiting and placement firm that licenses placement firms to use the “30/30 Placement Programâ„¢” for placing transitioning military personnel within 30 miles of any point on the map in the USA, and doing so within just 30 days. He can be reached at neil@mcnultymanagement.com.

(1) The nature of the relationships we have with companies is important, but not most important. What is most important is that a company hires and pays the fee, even if they don’t like us personally. All the talk about how much a company respects us, likes us, admires us, or puts us on the “preferred recruiter” list means zero if we aren’t receiving fees from that company from time to time.

(2) Until a company pays you a fee with no hassles, it is not a “client company.”

(3) Very few of us (if any) have a candidate’s “best interest” at heart, so stop lying. Candidates will see right through you. We have OUR best interest at heart … and the candidate has his/her own best interest at heart. We have bills to pay, families to support, and this is our livelihood. However, we will not make a living unless we satisfy the candidate, so we have a shared objective of a mutually beneficial relationship. (Tell that with the right script to a candidate in the first interview and you will be amazed how few problems you will have).

(4) Most positions can be filled quite effectively without us, so HR people have a point when they say a lot of unnecessary fees are paid. Often, we just happen to introduce someone impressive to a person with clout at a company who ended up liking that person a lot, so he/she got hired. If we were used only when we are needed, we would go broke.

(5) We do not present only the “best qualified” candidates, as many search and placement firms advertise on their web sites. Most often, we screen candidates “in,” looking for reasons to present them. We do not present the best “qualified” candidates, we present the best “interviewers,” who may or may not be the best qualified. We know that hiring is done mostly on personal chemistry, not qualifications. There is nothing wrong with presenting the best interviewers. Why present the best qualified candidate when you know his/her personality is going to be a knockout? You are doing your job to screen this person out. However … stop ADVERTISING or claiming that you present only the “best qualified candidates” … because that is a lie. Use the words “best fit” instead.

(6) We are salespeople, not consultants. There are a few exceptions, but most of the highest billers in this industry are hard driving, quick thinking, very aggressive people. (Some would even call them “pushy salespeople.”). They are masters at persuading people to do things they are hesitant to do. If we are not willing to do that also, we are in the wrong business.

(7) People who are great working a desk, stay on a desk. They do not look for ways to make money off a desk, they do not become corporate recruiters, trainers, or HR people, and they do not write job hunting books which give away placement techniques and tactics which should be kept within the industry.

(8) When people are not making money, they still say business is great. Nobody ever seems to come right out and say “Look, I’m in one helluva slump and need help . . .” That’s probably because good producers in our business are egotistical by nature and do not like to admit weakness.

(9) Ten years on a desk in this business and a person will probably make a career out of it. Many will stay for altruistic reasons, not just monetary. They have come to realize the deeper aspects of what this business is about . . . how they have forever impacted positively (most often) the candidates they place and the companies which hired them. They know they are making a valuable contribution to individuals, their families, business, and society in general . . . and the money is pretty good also.

(10) Long tenured recruiters are like “old soldiers.” They never really “retire” from this business. They fade away.

Neil P. McNulty, Sr.
McNulty Management Group
Virginia Beach, VA
757-460-0510
Creators of the “30/30 Placement Program” (TM)
www.mcnultymanagement.com