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The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Articles tagged 'candidatecontrol'

Closing, Interviews

The Parable of the Two Principals: A Tale to Share With Clients



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Lone woman at conf table - freedigitalShe’d found her calling as a teacher of kids with special needs. She loved her job, and enjoyed working for the person who’d graciously given her a start. She was constantly engaged, challenged, and acclaimed in this role.

Her commute to work, however, was two hours roundtrip; 10 hours a week, 40 hours a month in freeway traffic. For personal, economic and safety reasons, working closer to home made sense if she could find an equally rewarding position, and boss. After much encouragement from friends and family, my daughter Ryan reluctantly decided to explore alternative job options.

Ryan attended a district?wide job fair for the school system within her home community. She quickly went through second and third interviews, and was invited for final interviews for open positions at two nearby, high?quality schools.

Fees, Interviews

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #1 — I “FIRED” My Candidate…and Still Closed $27k



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Editor’s note: Brian Kevin Johnston’s article was the most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in March.

I “fired” a candidate during the interview/offer process, and I am 100% convinced the only reason I still earned the fee was because… (are you listening?) I emotionally “checked out” of the torment and refocused my efforts on the things in my business I could control, which were sourcing and recruiting candidates for other searches on which my firm was engaged. After nearly fourteen years as a third-party recruiter, I have learned a thing or two about candidate or client control… IT DOES NOT EXIST!

Fees, Interviews

I “FIRED” My Candidate…and Still Closed $27k



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Last month, I “fired” a candidate during the interview/offer process, and I am 100% convinced the only reason I still earned the fee was because… (are you listening?) I emotionally “checked out” of the torment and refocused my efforts on the things in my business I could control, which were sourcing and recruiting candidates for other searches on which my firm was engaged. After nearly fourteen years as a third-party recruiter, I have learned a thing or two about candidate or client control… IT DOES NOT EXIST!

Relationships

The Myth of Client and Candidate Control



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“Eliminating One of the Most Damaging Business Practices of Our Industry”

On April 20, 1999, Cassie Bernall, a 17-year-old student at Columbine High School, faced a life and death choice — tell the boy with the gun what he wanted to hear or tell him the truth. Being strong in her convictions, she chose the truth and he choose to end her life. This tragedy is one of the saddest moments of that decade and it holds for us a powerful truth about control over others: we have none. Each and every person we work with has the power of choice and nothing we say, nor how we say it, gives us any dominance over the decisions and actions that individual will make.

Uncategorized

Eliminating Candidates Based on Online Information



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With at least 90% of us regularly tapping Google to dig deeper into candidates’ backgrounds, how many “digital deal-breakers” have caused you to think twice about a candidate’s total package?

On the one hand, it might be odd if your candidate has zero Internet references — no blog comments, published articles, online community participation, or accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

But worse than being invisible, according to a new ExecuNet report, is when recruiters are forced to scrap an otherwise suitable candidate because an Internet search reveals potential ethics violations, falsified employment history, felony convictions, shady connections, and more.

In 2005, only 26% of executive recruiters eliminated candidates due to online information. That number jumped to 36% in 2006, and is now at 48% in 2010.

The Executive Job Market Intelligence 2010 is based on simultaneous surveys of ExecuNet’s executive members and the search firms and corporate recruiters who regularly use its services.

Uncategorized

Google Apps for Managing Client and Candidate Communications



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My email inbox is empty…FINALLY!

Well, we finally made the move. I resisted it just like I resisted the iPhone. (I didn’t realize what I was missing out on.)

Last week our recruiting and software business switched from Outlook to Google Apps email. I was so worried I would miss my folders and the interface I grew so accustomed to. Once I realized the goal was to have an empty inbox and my time spent digging for old emails had come to an end, I was excited.

You know those emails that you try to locate at a moment’s notice (where your client committed to something important) that often seemed impossible to find in Outlook?

For companies trying to cut costs and become more efficient with fewer resources, this is a no-brainer.

Uncategorized

Marketing the Most Placeable Candidate



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Recently, many of the calls and emails I have received address the same subject: candidate marketing.

For example, here is part of the message I received from a strong regional client with multiple offices and specialties:

“In these challenging economic times, should our consultants be spending 50% of their time servicing existing clients and 50% of their time marketing candidates?”

As I pointed out in my response, these choices are not arbitrary or mutually exclusive. Rather, they should always be marketing MPCs (Most Placeable Candidates) to their new and existing clients. This is one of the benefits of having an ongoing relationship with their firm. The clients receive the benefit of “right of first refusal” on outstanding talent when it becomes available.

As an overall approach, marketing an MPC is generally a good methodology to use regardless of the vagaries of the economy because there is ALWAYS a shortage of good people — the “Difference Makers.”

It is particularly important because of the present state of the economy, where many clients are not actively seeking new employees. Therefore, our call affords them an opportunity to “topgrade” (see Topgrading by Bradford D. Smart – Prentice Hall, 1999), to take advantage of an opportunity to strengthen their team while providing us with a placement where a “no openings” situation may exist.

However, in order to be consistently successful in marketing MPCs, you must:

  1. Properly select the right MPC and gain their buy-in and cooperation.
  2. Select the right companies to contact and then target your approach to the appropriate hiring authority.
  3. Develop and deliver an MPC presentation that, if your contact were to hire your MPC, demonstrates how they would impact, in a positive fashion, the performance capacity of the contact’s group, division, or company.

However, everything depends on your ability to recognize an MPC when you have one and then, very importantly, you need to know what to do with them once they are identified.

Uncategorized

The Art and Soul of Hiring Professional Sales Talent



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The interviewing and evaluating of sales professionals is a lot like raking leaves on a windy day in early November.

If you insist on trying to get every leaf into the bag, or uncover every last candidate in the available talent pool and scrutinize all of their credentials, the process will overwhelm you.

A process that can be truly enjoyable whether it be the freshness of autumn’s air or the dynamic interactions with engaging sales reps is often overlooked and deadened by analysis paralysis. Too often, my clients and countless others subvert their own intuitive powers and lose their ability to qualify individuals’ key characteristics, such as drive, desire (for their specific job opportunity), and focus because they are too concerned with the prospects’ resume, credentials, references, etc. as it pertains to sales hires.

Placing an emphasis on the “what” of one’s candidacy, as opposed to the “whom” only leads to superficial decision-making and detracts from genuine, honest communication.

Uncategorized

While You Are At It, Focus On Your Candidates



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Everyone is looking for that new way to market and stand out in the crowd. One way is to really focus on your candidates and the candidate experience you offer.

Every good recruiter has maintained contact with some, if not all their placed candidates. Good things happen from those relationships.

If you haven’t, now is the time to renew those contacts. These calls are warm — the candidates know who you are — and you have their contact information. Reach out and ask for a time you could talk about what is new with them. A “win” in these calls is any piece of information you didn’t have before.

Find out something about your current clients? Wonderful! What about some new change in the industry? That’s great to know, too!

Learn that your candidate was laid off? You know this individual’s strengths and any concerns that came up during the hiring process. You’ve already checked his or her references, and have any background checks done that were required. What a great person to take to the market and help your marketing efforts!

Uncategorized

How Thoroughly Do You Prepare Your Candidate?



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We often assume that everyone knows how to prepare and perform at an interview.

But all too often, this is where candidates are weak and need some direction. Many candidates are fresh out of college and don’t know the protocol, while others have been in the same position with the same company for many years and are “rusty” in their interview techniques.

How thoroughly do you prepare your candidates? You may feel that it would be insulting to cover such basics as how to dress and what not to say during the interview. But I assure you, there are times that this can make or break your success.