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The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


How-To

How-To, Industry News

Didn’t Get My Email? Check Your Gmail Spam Folder

by 13 days ago


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gmail logoSpam filters and kitchen sinks have some things in common.

Both suck down the waste you don’t want. Both will also suck down the occasional thing you do want, like a misplaced ring, or an email from a friend who uses exclamation points like a kid eats candy and doesn’t know enough not to capitalize every other word.

And, from time to time, both need attention.

Here, though, is where the analogy ends. Unlike your kitchen sink, your desktop spam filter is almost certainly the second (or even third) system disposal for email. Unless you invariably use webmail, and religiously check its junk folder, I can almost guarantee you are missing emails that no one would ever think are spam.

The culprit here is Gmail.

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For Managers, How-To, The Business of Recruiting

Some Simple Steps to Help You Protect Your Business and Your Assets

by 3 weeks ago


PC Security - freedigital

PC Security - freedigitalEditor’s note: With the conviction of executive recruiter and former Korn/Ferry employee David Nosal, there’s heightened interest on steps owners can take to protect themselves from embezzlement, theft, and the loss of their client and prospet lists, and other intellectual property. Bill Gibbens, an owner and CPA, reviews the internal financial controls every firm owner should consider.

“Internal Controls” are an organization’s structure of work and authority flows, people and management information systems, designed to help the organization accomplish specific goals, and which provide a foundation for preventing and detecting fraud and protecting the organization’s resources.

In the search business our primary assets are: cash, accounts receivable, database, client base, and our people. Internal controls around each of these assets will allow you to sleep at night. Without them or other similar controls you are at risk.

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Closing, How-To

30 Client Questions That Will Save You Time and Make You Money

by 3 weeks ago


Question man cartoon - freedigital

Just like a golfer tees up the ball to optimize their drive for distance and accuracy, a Recruiter needs to prepare thoroughly before embarking on a candidate search, to maximize the chances for a successful outcome.

Proper qualification of a new requirement or job order is both a critical part of the recruiting process and great opportunity to further cement the relationship with your client. I’ve seen too many recruiters scurry off at the sniff of a new job order and start blasting away without having much of a clue as to the nature of the requirement or their chances of success.

I have worked with a multitude of recruiters and account managers in my 20 years in the industry in the UK and the USA. Most recently, I was the managing director of Kforce’s Silicon Valley Technology Practice.

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How-To, The Business of Recruiting

Thou Shalt Succeed With These Commandments… And Accountability

by 4 weeks ago


Danny Cahill

Note: Danny Cahill’s most recent “According to Danny” newsletter carried this item. Between the list of ‘commandments’ and Danny’s advice, the post offers much of value for every recruiter in the business. Especially note Danny’s observations about commandment three.

Hi Danny,

What do you think of our 20 commandments?

1. Thou shall have a written plan every day.

2. Thou shall have 50+ dial outs every day (always a mix of marketing + recruiting calls).

3. Thou shall interview 10+ headhunted candidates every week (headhunted candidate = a candidate who is working, is not expecting your call, and is only passively seeking a job — not on job boards).

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How-To, Motivation

Stand Up to Work For Your Good Health

by on Apr. 18, 2013


Mike Gionta

When it comes to success in the recruiting business, most of us KNOW what we need to do. We simply choose not to do it. We know the path to higher billings is using our working hours to connect with more prospects, clients and candidates. We KNOW checking email incessantly, updating our fantasy baseball team at 11 am, etc. detracts from our productivity significantly, and ultimately costs us money in lost commissions.

If we KNOW more client and candidate contact will increase billings, then why do we consciously choose to not do them in the quantity and at the time we know they need to be done? Because the rewards from our activity (placements and commissions) are off in the future, while the pain of planning, prospecting, and rejection are in the present.

As humans, it has been proven we are more likely to avoid pain than seek pleasure. We are all guilty of this behavior to one degree or another. One of the things I do is help my recruiting firm owner clients on strategies to get past this for both themselves and their recruiters. Once one implements some new tactics the results are sharp increases in productivity and revenue.

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How-To

The Five Things That Make A Successful Headhunter

by on Apr. 16, 2013


jorg Stegemann

In more 10 years in the staffing industry in various operational, managerial, and corporate roles and in different countries, I have interviewed, coached, and trained hundreds of recruitment consultants from all over the world. Though local differences must be taken into consideration, the characteristics that make you a top performer in Salt Lake City also work in Singapore or in Paris. Based on what I saw, heard, and learned, here is my quintessential list of the 5+1 habits that make a top-performer in any economic cycle or market:

  1. Work close to the money: We work in an environment where priorities can change many times during the day. One call from a customer saying the job is filled or one email giving us a new job order can change how we spend our time from one second to the other. “Close to the money” is probably the best indicator that will tell you if you are currently working on a) the right things and b) in the right order. Constantly ask yourself, “What am I doing right now and will this action get me a bonus?” Think in a binary way: When the answer is “yes,” this means “yes”; “no” is “no”; and “maybe, not sure” is “no.”
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Closing, How-To

How To Make A Successful Hire

by on Apr. 12, 2013


Job interview

Job interviewAn indisputable fact: the job market is heating up. Candidates seeking employment no longer go months without returned phone calls, but rather, quite the opposite. Recently, when speaking with a candidate who declared he was ‘actively looking’ for a new role, I was informed that since beginning his career search just a few days before,  he had received 152 emails regarding job opportunities.

Another candidate, who was directly recruited out of her organization, had to choose from one of four offers – all with a 10% increase in base salary and a significant equity component.

These are all very solid signs that the job market is better than last year. But with a positive shift in the economy comes a new set of challenges that hiring managers must be prepared to combat. In a candidate’s market, what is the best approach when at the offer stage? Below are some suggestions to help you and the team make a successful hire.

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How-To, The Business of Recruiting

Get Control Of Your Time, Your Phone, Your Mail

by on Apr. 2, 2013


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This monthly article gives you quick, easy-to-implement ideas on various subjects. This month’s topics have to do with taming your phone and email inbox and outsourcing your admin tasks.

Topic #1: Get Control of Your Phone

The phone may be the best money making tool in a recruiter’s tool box but it still must be used intelligently so that it doesn’t become a time sink. In terms of who has access to me via phone, I have a simple guideline — the more you pay the more access you receive. That is just economics 101.

So if a client has just paid me a $30,000 retainer, of course they have access to me. But, if a candidate is calling who I’ve never spoken to, who hasn’t submitted a resume, and who is not in my primary area of focus, that call will likely go straight to voicemail if I’m busy. You have to remember that 85% (or more) of the candidates you talk to are people you are never going to be able to place.

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Cold Calling, How-To

Important Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Phone Sourcer

by on Mar. 29, 2013


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die-hard phone jockeysEditor’s Note: If you’ve ever hired a sourcer to help with a particularly thorny search, you undoubtedly discovered that not only are they all not alike, but the range of services they provide is vastly different, as are their rates. Maureen Sharib is a phone sourcer who, with her husband, runs TechTrak. A phone sourcer is different from one who primarily sources via the Internet. Both provide a valuable, if different type of service for recruiters. In this post, Maureen offers guidance on hiring a quality phone sourcer.

What is your definition of phone sourcing? If they say they call companies to “check” on information they find on the Internet (“Is she still there? What’s her title now?”), keep looking. You haven’t found a real “phone sourcer.”

If they tell you they find names of people who hold specific titles inside specific organizations that you provide you probably do have a phone sourcer on the line but you need to dig deeper.

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Cold Calling, How-To

Getting the Recruit To See You As A Counselor

by on Mar. 14, 2013


Cold calling logo

Note: This is the final part of a four part series on cold calling. In part one, Terry talked about the first 30 seconds of making a cold call. Three goals must be achieved in that time, he said: Get attention; Avoid rejection, and; Establish a dialogue. In part two, Terry explained how to begin a dialogue with a client explaining why it is you called them and what you can do to help them. Last week he offered a number of openings that will get the attention of a candidate, even one who’s been hearing from other recruiters regularly

Setting a proper frame of reference with a recruit should be a primary objective during your first in-depth discussion. This will determine whether or not the recruit views you as an asset or a liability.

For the purposes of this article, we will define a recruit as someone with whom you have initiated the first contact, and someone who, at the point of that initial contact, was not actively seeking a change in employment.

Remember: The decision a recruit makes will impact their life to a greater degree than it will impact yours.

Keeping this in mind, it is imperative for you to quickly identify with the recruit any and all potential motivations they may have for a possible job change. This can best be accomplished by asking certain questions. The answers will quickly establish a realistic frame of reference between the two of you, and serve as a foundation for your relationship.

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