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Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Articles tagged 'management'

Industry News, Jeff's On Call!

Recruiter Convicted of Hacking In Trade Secrets Case

by 3 weeks ago


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Editor’s note: Executive recruiter David Nosal was convicted last week of hacking and stealing trade secrets from Korn/Ferry even though he personally never broke into a computer.

David Nosal

David Nosal

According to the FBI, in 2004 Nosal convinced two of his former Korn/Ferry colleagues to download sources lists from the search firm’s computers, which he and they would then use in a search business Nosal was launching.

Wired called Nosal’s prosecution “a novel application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” detailed the case’s lengthy history, which includes an appeal upholding the dismissal of several of the initial charges against him.

In his commentary, Jeff Allen provides some additional detail and offers advice on protecting a firm’s proprietary information. Firm owner and CPA Bill Gibbens provides an even deeper look at the internal accounting controls all firm owners should have in place. His post discusses both protection of your intellectual property, as well as your financial assets. His post is here.

 

Recruiters across the country are all abuzz at the stunning jury verdict just handed down from the U.S. District Court in San Francisco in the criminal trial of David Nosal, the former Korn/Ferry International recruiter (United States v. Nosal, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28582).

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Business, For Managers, Jeff's On Call!

Track Your Recruiters’ Hours Or You Could End Up Writing One Big Check

by 3 weeks ago


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Jeff,

Thank you for all you do for us in the field!

I have a question regarding tracking time and compensation of recruiters. You are aware that many of us work more than 40 hours a week, probably more like 56, and much is performed away from the office.  

I don’t track my time or that of my recruiters. Should I? 

I read a case brought by a group of recruiters  a year or so ago in which they claimed that although they received a base (draw against commission) and were paid an agreed upon percentage of a fee, that they should also be compensated for the overtime they worked even though a placement was not guaranteed outcome of that work and the time spent was discretionary.

As an owner, should I have recruiters complete timesheets? Should recruiters be paid for all the hours they work? Should researchers be compensated differently then recruiters who have split desks or are out of the office more in a sales/recruiter role? If so, how does one account for the time spent responding to email while watching a movie for five minutes. or taking the 20 minute phone call?

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Ask Barb, Business Development

You Need 30 Clients to Keep You Safe

by on Apr. 3, 2013


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

I hear you always warn against having too few clients. We have four clients that provide more than enough orders for us to cover. We are currently only filling about 40% of the orders we are given. Do you still advise to continue marketing our services to other prospective clients?

Sharon M.

Springfield, IL

Dear Sharon:

I strongly advise that you build a client territory of 30 accounts for your business.

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Ask Barb

Teaching a Producer to Be a Manager

by on Mar. 27, 2013


Ask Barb

Dear Barb:

I have a manager who would rather do than teach others. As a result, my sales team drops the ball knowing she will take up the slack. This is limiting her success as well as the production of the team. She has always been a good producer for me, how do I get her to teach others rather than constantly saving the day without it having a negative impact?

Frank S.

Indianapolis, IN

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Business, Entrepreneurship, How-To

The No Excuse Way to Do Your 2013 Agency Budget

by on Dec. 28, 2012


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There are no more excuses. You are almost out of time. But even with just these few days left in the year, you can still put together a budget for 2013!

Budgets give you the vision of where you are headed and will provide you the compass to ensure you get to your goals. Budgets will make you aware of your performance and force you to reorient yourself to your business plan.

I said, no more excuses! No matter the size of your firm, if you want to be in business you must have a budget. The reality is “cash in the bank” is not a good gauge of where you are and whether you are profitable. How many times have you had that false sense of security only to have it diminish after the next accounts payable and payroll run? A working budget will allow you to work with intentionality and focus, and will help alleviate the peak and valley production cycles. And I believe those peak production cycles are what make budgeting so critical to our industry. Budgets will help remind you that you still have a business to run.

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Celebrating Successes, For Managers

As You Give Thanks, Be Thankful For Good Followers

by on Nov. 22, 2012


giving thanks

Stephen Covey said, “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” Leadership and management are two completely different things, but often confused as being interchangeable. To be a good leader, one must first be a good follower. But what if you don’t know how to follow?

This is a challenge that cuts to the very core of ambitious, driven individuals.

Thanksgiving may seem an unlikely time to ponder this challenge. Today, after all, is when we give thanks for what we do have. However, it’s also a time to reflect on what lead us to this point, which brings us, if even only briefly, to thinking about the future and what we can do to continue moving up that ladder and make sure it is still firmly anchored against the right wall.

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Business, Entrepreneurship, For Managers, Motivation

Confessions of a Big Biller Part 2: Accountability and Communication Make For Success

by on Jun. 29, 2012


Jordan Rayboy

Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part series on building and managing a virtual recruiting team. Jordan Rayboy is a big biller, who, after running his business from an RV, now runs his seven figure firm from a home in rural Oregon. In part one, he detailed some of the mistakes he made in founding and building his firm. Today, he focuses on solutions.  This article originally appeared in the December 2011 edition of The Fordyce Letter.

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The biggest mistake I made over the years (besides those from yesterday) was that I DID NOT SET EXPECTATIONS AND HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE.

This should have started in the interviewing process, and continued with an environment based on accountability once on board.

In order to hold people accountable, they have to be pushing towards goals that they have bought into. They will be much more driven to achieve their goals (all that they want to have, be, or do) as opposed to hitting a number that you arbitrarily plucked from the air. Once they’ve shared what their goals are, you should use metrics to establish what activities are required in order to achieve those levels of production.

Here is what the process might look like:

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Business, Entrepreneurship

Confessions of a Big Biller Part 1: There’s More To Virtual Teams Than Working Remotely

by on Jun. 28, 2012


Jordan Rayboy

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series on building and managing a virtual recruiting team. Jordan Rayboy is a big biller, who, after running his business from an RV, now runs his seven figure firm from a home in rural Oregon. Part two — solutions to the issues he details here — will post tomorrow. This article originally appeared in the December 2011 edition of The Fordyce Letter.

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When Jeska and I took off on our RV adventure five years ago, we had a fairly simple plan — to build a successful niche search firm while traveling the country full time and living our dream.

Initially, it was just the two of us and one dog with no employees (we’ve picked up two more dogs along the way). This business is interesting though — you tend to become a victim of your own success. The more client openings you fill, the more they want to work with you and refer you to other colleagues. As we quickly found out that first year, there comes a time as a solo practitioner when you simply run out of bandwidth to deliver and are essentially leaving money on the table.

When it was time for us to expand our team, we naturally gravitated toward a virtual model with remote team members. Is this right for your office? As with most things, the answer is probably, “It Depends!”

With today’s technological advancements in communication and collaboration tools, it’s easier than ever to succeed and interact as part of a virtual team. Some of the benefits of virtual teams include:

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Fordyce Forum

Fordyce Conference Ends With Focus on Personal and Business Development

by on Jun. 9, 2012


Forum group shot

What are you doing to develop your business?

If there was a theme to this morning’s Fordyce Forum presentations that might have been it. The final sessions of this last day of the best attended Forum since the start of the recession in 2008 all focused on practical advice for thriving as an owner or solo, rounding out the “hundreds of tips” that conference chair Barbara Bruno promised during her Thursday welcome.

Among those tips were these:

  • Track your placements. It’s wise business, and smart networking;
  • Do what the Big Billers do and plan tomorrow before leaving the office today;
  • Say thank you to clients, and candidates;
  • Stand out from the crowd;
  • Have a playbook of standards, so your team knows what’s expected.
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Business, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, The Business of Recruiting

When Business Stalls, Follow These 5 Steps To Turn It Around

by on Apr. 2, 2012


Help 1

I have taken part in many business turnarounds in my career, and time and again noticed the same problems, regardless of whether the reason for the turnaround was a relatively minor situation or a reorganization after bankruptcy. Here are the five steps that need to happen during any major business adjustment and some of the pitfalls to avoid along the way.

1. Assessing the Situation

Before a successful business turnaround can be implemented, it is crucial to understand what got the company where it is now.

When businesses fail, it is most often due to ineffective management. Since management is usually the problem, it is difficult to use current management insight to determine what change is needed. As outside consultants, we often hear from ineffective management teams that they need greater funding to correct the sagging business, but we know that throwing money at a problem does not work.

The people who created the problem in the first place will not know how to fix it. Providing them greater resources is a mistake: it wastes money and degrades employee morale. Also, failing businesses most often do not have good metrics in use to manage and guide the business. Metrics should not only tell company leaders where they have been but should also be used to gauge future performance. Management should be able to clearly describe how the metrics it uses will predict future results.

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