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Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Articles tagged 'candidates'

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 He feels he signed this under duress for fearing his job offer would be rescinded.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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Closing

Recruiter Chronicles: Five Years, Five Mistakes – Part 3

by on Aug. 11, 2011


money calculator by Images of Money

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which recently passed, I am sharing with you over the coming weeks the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. Last week, I shared the story of an email that got me ‘fired’ from a client. This week, I bring you…

#3: Story of the Botched Salary Negotiation

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Relationships

The 6 Cs of Passive Candidate Recruiting Plus 1

by on Aug. 9, 2011


Tipping-point

As Malcolm Gladwell points out is his bestseller The Tipping Point, little things can make a big difference. The same is true when it comes to finding, recruiting, and hiring passive candidates. One big thing recruiters can do is tame their hiring manager clients. Taming your hiring managers is an essential first step if you want to recruit passive candidates.

As was pointed out in a major study we did last year with LinkedIn, 82% of LinkedIn’s fully employed members characterize themselves as passive candidates. While they’d be open to talk with a recruiter, they are not interested in a lateral transfer, applying through your ATS, or working for a company that doesn’t know how to hire and develop talent. To find and hire these people, especially the best of the group, recruiters need to not only tame their hiring managers, but also employ the 6 Cs for recruiting passive candidates. These represents the key tipping points involved in any passive candidate search effort.

Over many (many) years, I’ve worked on search assignments with more than 500 different hiring managers on positions ranging from staff accountants and senior engineers to functional VPs, COOs, and CEOs of all stripes and sizes. From these experiences I’ve discovered a bunch of challenges that need to be addressed before you start looking for candidates.

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Jeff's On Call!

Jeff’s On Call!: Relocation Reimbursements

by on Aug. 1, 2011


law_gavel

This week’s inquiry comes from Marc Stevens:

Hi Jeff,

I’ve been recruiting now for about 11 years and as you would imagine, I’ve seen a lot of different things happen in this sometimes crazy but very rewarding business. I’ve attended the Fordyce meetings and really have benefited from your presence there. In your articles, you always share unique solutions we can’t get anywhere else…thanks!

Recently, I’ve been exposed to a situation that one of my candidates is facing and because of it seems a bit unfair, I wanted to share it with you to see what ideas or thoughts you have.

I have a candidate who has accepted an offer from our client and learned on his exit interview from his current company they wanted him to reimburse ½ of his relocation costs. Apparently the agreement is that 100% of the relocation costs are refundable to the company if the candidate leaves in the first year and 50% if within the second year. To me this seems a bit harsh — think of it this way:

Let’s say the candidate left on the 23rd month, well technically the company is looking for 50% of the relocation costs reimbursed? Huh?! I know I’m going to be biased about this but I can’t see why the company wouldn’t be amenable to at least working out a prorated schedule, which brings me to my question.

Is this typically something a company will enforce? Have you found that they would be willing to work something out, i.e. prorated schedule &/or does the candidate need to get an attorney involved?

Thanks,

Marc

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Closing

Emotion vs Logic: Six Tips To Help Guide Your Candidates Through the Emotional Forest of Change

by on Jul. 6, 2011


forest by Craig Cloutier

Ever feel like you are journeying through the search and placement process with your candidate, and then suddenly you find yourself somewhere deep in a forest, no natural light to be seen, trying to find your way out with nothing but a flashlight and a compass? Meanwhile, your partner (the candidate) is dehydrated, tired, and draining you emotionally? You thought you had this deal done after the “Yes” to the offer…

Of course, going into the emotional forest, your candidate was telling you all the reasons they wanted to go on this journey, why they would make an excellent partner for the trip, and how they had all the equipment necessary for the trip. You are discovering they are not as prepared as they lead you to believe.

Here you are — alone and in the dark…Is this the same candidate? Where is their equipment? I thought they knew what they were getting into? How do you navigate them (and yourself) through woods!?!?

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