Kiala Kazebee
6 days ago
In a recent post written by Neil Patel for Quicksprout, he states, “In most cases recruiting firms don’t have the best candidates. Why you may ask? It’s because talented people don’t need recruiters to help them find a job.”
That’s a pretty loaded statement.
Patel then goes on to say,
If someone is really good at what they do, they’ll constantly be bombarded with job offers.
Recruiting firms are not the temp agencies of yore. Patel needs to update his information.
Jeff Allen
6 days ago
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for the great job you are doing in writing the Jeff’s On Call! column.
I have the following problem: A headhunter put me in contact with a firm I suggested to him, and after a couple of rounds of interviews I received an indicative offer.
In the meantime, the client’s Executive Committee voted against paying this particular fee. The client claims that he told the recruiter from the beginning that there might be a difficulty in getting this fee paid as they usually only pay for headhunting partner-level hires.
Carol Schultz
3 weeks ago
There is nothing like a good controversy to stir up one’s feelings and subsequently a fierce debate. One of my favorite things about reading articles on ERE is how some of its contributors have a wonderful ability to write articles that generate comments a mile long because of controversial subjects covered. We were barely into 2013 when Adrian Kinnersley wrote an article entitled, “Why LinkedIn will never kill the professional recruitment industry,” which was very on point.
People are so polarized around this issue, but the comments section was what really made it an interesting read for me. If I didn’t know better I would have expected a fistfight to break out. One commenter even suggested that commission-only salespeople are unable to provide independent advice to candidates, and candidates know this. This inspired me to pick up my pen (figuratively, that is) and write, which I haven’t done lately.
First off, great agency recruiters won’t go away until they want to, even though there has been so much talk about their longevity. It started back in the olden days (the mid 1990s) when the Internet was still in its infancy. Companies like Monster, CareerBuilder, and Yahoo HotJobs came on the market and tried to convince everyone they were a panacea to recruiting. In my opinion they were – and are — nothing more than prettied up classified ads. Many people said companies would no longer need to use agency recruiters.
Didn’t happen
Next, companies began ramping up their internal recruiting staffs. It was predicted that companies would no longer need to use agency recruiters.
Jackye Clayton
4 weeks ago
Often we see articles about recruiting passive candidates. The perception is that active candidates are not as desirable as their working counterparts.
Allyson Doyle, contributor tr About.com wrote, “Employers often actively seek passive candidates for employment, especially when they are seeking candidates with very specific skills and experience.”
Does that mean that active candidates are no good? Before making a premature judgment, read on; you may not want to discount active candidates.
Joanna Bradley
on Apr. 12, 2013
An 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.
Barbara Bruno
on Mar. 20, 2013
Dear Barb:
You asked me to share my story for this column but for obvious reasons, I’m going to sign this anonymous. We are involved in a discrimination lawsuit because someone in our reception room took a video on how our receptionist was answering her phone,and treating candidates who came to our office. We are accused of treating women and certain groups of people differently.
We are a light industrial, clerical staffing firm and also place engineers. Obviously, there is a different process between an unskilled light industrial candidate, and a degreed, experienced engineer. We found it extremely suspicious that this person was videotaping activities in our reception room.
This has cost our firm thousands of dollars and we’re far from any type of settlement. There were some very negative comments put on various social media sites, which will have future job seekers and clients possibly question our reputation. We have done nothing wrong; this has become a nightmare for our team and our company. Our receptionist ended up quitting. Not sure what advice you would give to other owners, I would not want this to happen to another owner.
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous:
Debra Wheatman
on Feb. 5, 2013
Editor’s note: Is your candidate great in person, but the resume needs work? In this article, professional coach and resume adviser Debra Wheatman speaks directly to your candidates with the kind of direct, no-nonsense advice that they can use to turn their resume into a powerful selling tool. Email this post or a link to all your candidates.
Is your resume written with the reader in mind? Or, does your resume scream, “It’s all about me and what I want!”?
When you accept a job, you are entering an agreement with a company that you will meet their expectations and they will compensate you. Until that job offer is made, your task is to create a compelling case for how you can fill their needs better than any other candidate. So, why would you
Jordan Greenberg
on Feb. 1, 2013
How much consistent success would you, could you earn if every top performing, most sought-after candidate in your niche (or your chosen market) knew about you, loved you and the way you treated them as an executive recruiter?
Well, believe it or not, once upon a time, third-party recruiters earned fees from candidates as well as from client companies. And I am here, after 31 glorious years, to explain how, by living and working thru the tail end of that APF or Applicant Paid Fees era, I maintain a posture of candidate advocacy that benefits me tremendously, and how it can work the same for you.
The net-net of my philosophy is to place as much value in developing, maintaining, nurturing and honoring the relationships you enjoy with candidates as you do with hiring authorities. After all, once you know that a client is sincerely interested in hiring one of your candidates, doesn’t that candidate become your protected product that you believe in to the max? And isn’t it feasible, as it is evident for me, that if you stay in the search/placement industry long enough and consummate enough placements, that some of your placed and coveted candidates will become your next clients? The reality is that by positioning yourself as an objective adviser, as opposed to an omniscient persuader for the candidates you recruit, you will create a successful, self-sustaining executive search desk and practice.
Josh Bear
on Jan. 31, 2013
There is often a lot of confusion as to who exactly the headhunter represents. Are they watching out for the best interest of the candidate? Are they watching out for the best interest of the company? Will they negotiate the highest salary for the candidate? Will they do everything they can to save the company as much money as possible?
The short answer is, both. A good headhunter is not looking for a quick buck. They understand that this industry revolves around relationships. These relationships, both with the company and the candidate, must be built on trust. As almost anyone will tell you, trust is earned, not given.
Building Trust With The Candidate
In order to truly build trust with a candidate, you need to be honest with the candidate. That honesty needs to go both ways. The candidate, in turn, will need to reciprocate the honesty. What is he/she looking for in their job search? What compensation package are they targeting? What are the key criteria they search for in a new job?
Theresa Hunter
on Jan. 25, 2013
You’ve got a new job order. You have a good feel of the group and the partner the new hire will work with. You begin making calls and networking in the local market. After several weeks you come across a candidate with what looks like the perfect background. The concerning part is he’s outside the area.
You decide to reach out to the prospect anyway, and find him receptive. You are excited. You ask for a resume and when it comes, it’s as good as his profile on the law firm website; even better actually. Your heart skips a beat. You reach out to the candidate thank him for being so prompt, and you start the placement process by interviewing him. Great personality. Yes he would fit in well with the group. You stress this is a relocation; is he good with the idea? Wait was there hesitation in his voice when he answered the question. Maybe it was just your imagination.
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