Welcome to The Fordyce Letter:

The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Robin Gillman

As a senior HR consultant, Robin Gillman has worked with many successful clients, including IBM, Xerox, AT&T, Mary Kay, Levi Strauss, Equifax, and CSC. Seeing human resources as an increasingly important area, she has helped many businesses save millions and increase quality in their workforces. She began her career in performance management. Later, she focused on recruiting, working as a sourcing specialist, IT recruiter, recruiting manager, and senior HR consultant. She holds an Executive M.B.A. from TWU and a B.S. degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Management from Mercy College.

Articles by Robin Gillman

Cold Calling

How to Effectively Cold Call

by on Aug. 16, 2010


50stelephony1

Evolution of Cold Calling & Recruiting

Cold calling came about as a way to find and close new clients. Given leads, a “real” salesperson needed to be able to call on prospective customers to sell a product or service. These prospective customers were not expecting the call. Hence, the term “cold call” ensued. For a powerful depiction of cold calling, watch the 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross.

During the early days of recruiting, technology was nonexistent. There were no faxes, computers, databases, Internet, social networking, applicant tracking systems (ATS), webcamming and mobile and cloud technology. The only tools were the Rolodex, file cabinet, telephone, physical transportation and advertising (newspaper, TV, radio).  Recruiters developed leads through incoming resumes from advertising, referrals and networking at job fairs, user groups, and other venues.  Many recruiters were already cold calling clients. When they could not find candidates through the usual methods, they easily turned to cold calling into companies to find candidates.

The Best Choice

Yesterday’s scenario was much different. There was good reason to cold call. Resumes were limited and mail could be slow. Networking and searching was cumbersome and often had to be done in person. Advertising was expensive and did not always result in the best matches possible. Being able to call into a company and pull out a targeted passive candidate saved time and money and often resulted in superior matches.

To be truly effective in today’s sophisticated market, one needs to be able to determine if cold calling is the best choice. Asking and answering the following five questions have helped me to determine whether or not to cold call.

Keep reading »
2 Comments

Uncategorized

Fluffing Your Candidate

by on Apr. 30, 2008


fordyce-default

When I was 18, I stopped by a search firm on John Street in NYC.  I was greeted by a friendly, smiling recruiter.  She sat me down and we talked for a little bit before she told me about an opening at an actuarial firm.  I must have looked a little nervous, so she told me not to worry, just to go in there and give them a big smile.  Then she added that one of the earlier candidates who had interviewed for the position had a terrible smile with missing teeth; she shuddered as she mentioned this detail.  I left the agency, walked over to the actuarial firm, interviewed for the position, and got the job!

Years later, I thought about this incident and realized what this recruiter had been doing when she mentioned the ghastly candidate.  There most likely had been no previous candidate with missing teeth to shudder about.  This recruiter had invented this appalling candidate or character to instill confidence in me; she had fluffed her candidate.  And yes, it had seemingly worked. But had it really and if so, should fluffing be considered a best practice or an unprofessional/unethical one?

Although fluffing is a widely accepted practice in recruiting, some individuals might frown upon it, saying it is insincere or unnecessary.    But isn’t it a recruiter’s job to prepare candidates for interviews?  They need to tell the candidate about the position: job description; requirements; performance expectations; location; salary range; and dress code.  Yes, some recruiters do go further, giving extra information about the position, perhaps even advising candidates on what to say or wear.  Some recruiters take candidates to lunch or tell a creative tale to plump up a candidate’s ego.

If the recruiter I met years ago had not told me that story about the horrific candidate, would I have gotten the job anyway?  Perhaps, I would have.  However, going for the interview would have been a lot more stressful and worrisome.  So maybe fluffing your candidate is like fluffing your pillow.  It just makes everything better…

Keep reading »
2 Comments