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Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Articles tagged 'candidates'

Closing

Hiring Speed: A Crucial Component of the Recruiting Process

by 3 weeks ago


maximum_warp_speed_by_d38i5mk

Clients who drag out the process of hiring and making an offer to candidates are doing a tremendous disservice to themselves, the potential hire — and you!

I recently had a company take eleven business days to make an offer after a final interview. During the eleven days, the candidate had one on-site interview and two phone interviews with three other companies. This candidate I recruited for my customer didn’t have options when I first contacted him; then suddenly he had several. In the end, he had two offers on the table to consider and was beginning to wonder if he was my customer’s second choice.

Recruiting and hiring is a delicate emotional dance; if your date has to wait too long to be asked to the prom, they will simply go with someone else. In this case, if the company had been quicker with an offer he would have not interviewed with the other companies.

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Fees, Interviews

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

by on Dec. 30, 2011


yourefired

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!

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Relationships, Technology

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #2 — Get Out From Behind the Desk and Network

by on Dec. 29, 2011


man_atdesk

Editor’s note: Paul DeBettignies’ article was the 2nd most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in March.

I know, I know… smile and dial.

More phone calls equal more job orders, candidates and send outs. More send outs equal more placements.

I get it – I really do. But after thirteen years as a sole practitioner, I have learned that I need to get out from behind the desk every now and then, or I fear that the headset will become permanently fixed to my head.

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Interviews

5 Candidate Cover Letter Strategies That Rock

by on Dec. 16, 2011


image source: Bruno Covas

Creating a compelling cover letter that will highlight your candidate’s expertise and entice hiring managers to make contact for an interview is a skill that every good recruiter must have. I have several close colleagues who are recruiters; they continuously ask me for advice on how to create really compelling cover letters. I thought I would share some of the strategies that have proven most effective when crafting a compelling cover for candidate submittals.

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Ask Barb

Ask Barb: Emailing Passive Candidates

by on Nov. 10, 2011


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

Of course while making calls and talking with candidates I’m building an email database in my specialty (surgical space). I’m also scouring the Web at night to compile appropriate names and email addresses.

I’m reviewing your various scripts (enticement, profiling, etc.) and thinking about how best to convert them to an email blast. Then I figured, before going further, I might as well just ask you if you have a recommended approach/script/letter for email blasts to passive candidates. Thanks in advance. I appreciate any guidance you can provide.

Andy K., Sarasota FL

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Jeff's On Call!

Jeff’s On Call!: Candidates Paying Back Fees

by on Oct. 31, 2011


law_gavel

This week’s inquiry comes from Tim Burkhart:

Hello Jeff — really enjoy your industry input and availability via The Fordyce Letter. Always helpful.

I have been in the placement industry since 1984. Always on the perm staffing side of the business. Our company focus is in the accounting and finance area.

Quick question: a candidate of mine living in the city where I work has taken a job out of state via another recruiter. The candidate shows up for his first day of work and gets surprised with a ‘please sign this if you leave in the first year’ agreement. Basically, it states ‘if you leave our employ in the first year(12 months) you have to pay back the fee.’ That was never discussed by the recruiter (ever) or the client (ever) during the whole interview/offer /acceptance process. Is this legal or is he truly bound firmly to the agreement? He feels he signed this under duress for fearing his job offer would be rescinded.

Tim

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Ask Barb

Ask Barb: “Can’t Help” Candidates

by on Oct. 19, 2011


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

I’ve heard you admit that early in your career you focused on the candidates who really needed your help and almost went out of business. I think I’m following in your footsteps. My business is bombarded by people I will never be able to place. I could spend all my time helping people who need me – but that doesn’t help my business. I keep hearing things are turning around, well I can tell you Florida must be behind the rest of the country. The three people who work for me are following my lead and none of us are hitting our goals. How can we turn them away without being perceived as heartless?

Sue R., Valparaiso, FL

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Ask Barb

Ask Barb: Delivering Negative Feedback to Candidates

by on Sep. 21, 2011


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

I had a candidate go out on an interview for a Director level position. She is a person who has held similar roles in the past. The client had already completed a phone interview with her and was excited to meet her. After the interview with three separate people, the client was unanimous in stating there was no way they’d bring her into the organization.

Some of the things the hiring manager told me…

  • Her demeanor was odd, distant, dreamy, and she sometimes had difficulty focusing on the question.
  • There was a point of conflict between her and the hiring manager when he asked her to answer the same question three times and she always tried to answer a different question.
  • She lacked any kind of interview technique.
  • Bashed her former employers.

I spent about 45 minutes prepping her the same way I prepped two other candidates I sent to the same interview group. Those two are getting offers. If I present this as stated to the candidate I am sure she will just reject the feedback and become defensive. How would you go about delivering this feedback in a way that coaches the candidate and maintains a professional relationship between the candidate, myself, and the client?

Rebecca Y., St. Louis, MO 

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Relationships

Harper’s Rules: A Guide to Recruiting, Written for Candidates

by on Aug. 30, 2011


Harpers Rules cover

By Danny Cahill

Since my divorce two years ago, I have become good at resisting men, and I have always been good at resisting headhunters, so when you put the two together, a male headhunter has no chance with me. They want to know if I am happy. Would I like to hear about a dream job? I know why they call—I am a successful software sales rep with a massive network of clients, and I’m an attractive woman. I don’t think much about happiness anymore. And I don’t deal in dreams. So I don’t return their calls.

Except Harper.

Harper Scott gets to me. He placed me once eight years ago when I was first learning how to sell software, and then again years later when my boss at the time started taking clients away from me because I was out earning him. Harper has been a successful headhunter for a long time. He seems to know everyone in my market space, and everything that is going on. Harper is connected. But that’s not why he gets to me.

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The Business of Recruiting

Great Candidate, Lousy Résumé

by on Aug. 25, 2011


stack of resumes

If you have been an agency recruiter for any length of time, you have likely come across a candidate who has great skills and experience, but his résumé leaves a lot to be desired. I remember a time when I was an HR Director working with an external recruiter to find an IT candidate. Over the phone, the recruiter sang his praises, but when I received the résumé I was in shock.

The candidate had a photo on the résumé that looked more like a mug shot. In addition, all of the websites he worked on were highlighted in blue with links all over the page in 14-point font. There were so many bullets in a row that I felt like I had been shot by the end of the first page; and oh, by the way, there were seven pages. His title was Senior Manger of Information Technology. Need I say more?

The candidate may have been excellent at what he did; he certainly was said to have the right skills, but his résumé was a fright, and I told the recruiter I could not present it to the hiring managers in its current condition. We hired someone else, but I have always wondered, now that I am a professional résumé writer, if the result would have been different.

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