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Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Articles tagged 'interviewing'

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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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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Industry News, The Business of Recruiting

“The Headhuntress” Airs Tonight on Bravo

by on Nov. 14, 2011


the-headhuntress

Bravo is airing a one-hour special tonight that may do for executive headhunting what Simon Cowell did for talent shows.

In the space of 60 minutes (commercials included), Wendy Doulton dispenses such bits of advice to her six-figure job candidates as “You need to lose the cleavage,” and “You make me feel like taking a nap.”

Born in the U.S., educated in London, Doulton’s blunt, unvarnished advice is delivered, in a clipped British accent. “A résumé should be like a skirt,” she declares. “Long enough to cover the basics, but short enough to keep them interested.”

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Business

“The Phone Rang…” Lessons From Robocruiter, Part 2

by on Nov. 4, 2011


Robocruiter logo

Editor’s note: Last week, we gave you part 1 of “The Phone Rang…” Robocruiter series, “The Total Account Executive.” This week we continue this short series from Bob Marshall with part 2.

For those of you who haven’t been exposed to Robocruiter before, buckle your seatbelts.  I am going to take you on a brief flight through some of his more memorable (to me) recruitment technique snippets.  In part 2 of our journey, we will look at:

  • The 10 manifestations of failure due to lack of commitment;
  • The 8 tenets managers should follow to ensure success in their offices; and
  • The 6 reasons why we market.

Sprinkled within these major topics, I will discuss how Robocruiter qualifies his JOs and how he achieves a 100% matching to send out ratio.

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Ask Barb

Ask Barb: Nailing Down a Fill Date

by on Sep. 28, 2011


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

Clients always say ASAP; they hardly ever give me a target date to fill an order. How do you respond when they say this? I can’t force them to give me a date and yet I understand why this is important information. Any advice?

Jennifer B., Atlanta, GA 

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Ask Barb

Ask Barb: No Offers!

by on Sep. 28, 2011


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

There is a problem in our office and I have no idea how to resolve it. We send resumes, get interview times, yet no offers. This has been going on for about four months and now my cash flow is running low. I can’t afford the team to continue like this. Can you help redirect me? I am completely lost and don’t know which way to go from here onward.

We have hot specs, we get interview times, but then our candidates are not offered, but some other recruitment companies do get the offers. I am trying to establish what on earth is wrong, what are we doing wrong, what do we need to improve? We need your advice.

Eva I., Johannesburg, S. Africa 

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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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Interviews

The Art of Performing Technical Screening

by on Jul. 19, 2011


woman on phone by George Reyes

Kerri, a senior technical recruiter with eleven years’ experience, has noticed that slowly but surely the requirements for the regular .NET developer and database developer positions are requiring more and different skills than she has been used to. She is finding that she does need to learn about these new tools but knows from experience that it takes a lot of her time to research. “I need information on how to validate these skills, to know if the candidates really have the skills or not,” says Kerri during a training session.

The usual research practice to learn about these skills starts with wiki search, the purchase of one or two software development beginner books (written for the developer audience), and ends with joining a number of developer user groups, only to find out that these practices are not effective and not really helping with screening. For one, the books are full of jargon and require prerequisite knowledge in technology. Second, how do online groups really help one in validating skills?

She loathes the idea of asking her client, and does not want to ask her candidates for fear of appearing ignorant of such well-known technologies. Kerri knows that to continue to be successful in her career, she needs to stay on top of her game. And this game includes learning all she needs to learn (as much as is relevant to her job) in IT to be able to successfully screen candidates and match them to her clients.

I have met many other recruiters like Kerri who want to learn how to screen and validate technical skills in order to ask the questions that make the matching process faster and more effective.

As targeted as technical screening is for recruiters, it also benefits hiring managers and candidates.

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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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Relationships

Recruiter Chronicles: Story of the Despicable Million-dollar Producer

by on Jun. 28, 2011


evil by L. Marie

“She said what!?” I heard the question fly from the other side of the room punctuated with disgust. Each one of my teammates’ ears were now perked with anticipation to hear what “she” said. We waited patiently for a minute, and up from her cube popped my teammate Chris. She exclaimed, holding her head in her hands and looking like she was in great pain, “I can’t believe it!”

“What?” about three of us asked at the same time.

“She did it again,” Chris said with a tone of resigned disbelief in her voice.

“Who?” we asked.

“You know who,” Chris answered. At that moment we all knew. “You-know-who” is a bit of a nemesis of ours. She is a million-dollar producer that none of us know personally, but deal with on a constant basis. If you just looked at her body of work in terms of numbers you would be infinitely impressed. She is known to be a consistent big biller, with the best contacts, and amazing work effort. Unfortunately, she also known to be somewhat morally and ethically challenged within the confines of recruitment.

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