There were two overarching themes at this year’s Forum: the resilience of those individuals and teams who made it through 2009, and the absolute importance of cultivating relationships. The three keynote speakers – Jon Bartos, Jenifer Lambert, and Jordan Greenberg, each touched on at least one of these topics. Bartos’ presentation began with a recap of the difficulties we all experienced in 2009 and addressed the question, “Where do we go from here?” During her session, Lambert stressed the importance of building trust relationships and provided the formula: Trust = Truth + Time. She also shared the need for search partners to respect the process and develop partnerships with HR counterparts.  And during Greenberg’s session on Friday, he encouraged the audience to speak more positively and expect good things to come. He said to put ourselves in our candidates’ shoes to remember that stress happens on both sides of the table. Remembering things like this helps us to keep our jobs in perspective and remember the importance of that relationship.

General sessions brought topics of business development, closing skills, and personal marketing and promotion. Presenter Tim Tolan shared some of his business development practices with us, including how to know when to walk away from a bad client. He also stressed the importance of reviewing, and if necessary rewriting, your business plan on an annual basis. Carolyn Thompson showed us press kits and some really great ways to market ourselves and gain exposure with our target audiences. Her credibility as a Pinnacle Society member and the fact that she still works a desk while conducting these marketing campaigns was proof that we can (and need to) find time to promote our expertise. The Pinnacle Panel is always a crowd-pleaser – moderated by Jenifer Lambert, participants were given nuggets of wisdom from Dave Staats, Tom Keoughan, Rick Rush, and Fernando Espinosa. Questions coming from the audience ranged from office structure to niche markets to most difficult adversities overcome.

Our break-out session leaders provided workshops on using technology tools, how to take your billings to the next level, developing strategic partnerships, developing a niche, and closing techniques. Many thanks go to these individuals – Neil Lebovits, Rob Mosley, Jeff Skrentny, Paul DeBettignies, Jeff Kaye and Karen Pickens, and Shannon Myers. I did not have the opportunity to attend the pre-conference workshop on sourcing conducted by Shally Steckerl but those who attended it said that it was well worth arriving early for.

Of course, some of the best conversations at these conferences happen in between sessions and at the networking happy hours. I was on a mission to meet as many attendees as possible and ended up in so many interesting conversations. It was fantastic to observe new friendships being forged and to know that at the end of the day, we’re all rooting for each other’s success in our businesses. There was a sense of camaraderie with this year’s attendees – a mutual respect in reflecting back on 2009 and how, even though things got really tough at times, everyone there made it through and is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Special thanks go to our event sponsors this year – PC Recruiter, TFI Resources,  Big Biller, Top Echelon Network and Top Echelon Contracting, NPA Worldwide, cBizOne, CATS, ZoomInfo, FileFinder, and The Right Thing!. We could not put these events on without you!

We certainly hope you’ll join us for Fordyce Forum 2011 next year. Please stay tuned for more information in the coming months and keep reading The Fordyce Letter. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you!

I can’t remember the last time I had five placements in one week.

As a member of the Pinnacle Society, I challenge myself to have, or be involved in, at least one transaction each week resulting in between 50 and 80 placements a year. Last year I worked hard to hit my minimums, but this year I’m already exceeding my targets.

In my “back to basics” methods, I have been putting in more hours on the phone and in-person meetings than ever before. This leads me to mention activity levels. People ask me all the time, how is it that you bill so much? Focusing on these revenue-generating activities each week helps me exceed my target sales and revenue:

• In-house candidate interviews
• Job orders
• Candidate send out interviews at clients
• Meetings

In-house candidate interviews:
Getting to know each candidate, creating a one-on-one connection, goes a long way toward helping them find a job, especially when they are struggling with the job search process. I try to personally interview four people every day, either in-person or by phone. The majority of my work is locally based, so I am lucky that I can connect with people in person, although for distance searches I utilize my webcam to form a unique bond at the outset. This enables me to better inform candidates about my expectations of them and what they can in turn expect from me as a recruiter.

Using the candidate’s recent interviews as a launching pad to learn what they liked and didn’t like about where they interviewed often opens up a line of communication that helps you learn what is, and isn’t important to them, enabling me to be more efficient on their behalf.

Job orders:
Seem simple enough, but many companies don’t want to pay fees unless they absolutely have to. In these cases, market candidates who are a great fit for the company and the opening they have, but make SURE you come to a WRITTEN mutual agreement on the fees BEFORE anyone crosses their doorstep. Activity levels will vary by specialty, but generating 1 to 3 new job orders a week is a great goal to aim for in any industry.

Candidate send out interviews:
Whether they are phone interviews, breakfast or dinner meetings, or actual on-site interviews, this is the most important step to getting the offer. Each step of the interview process is important so attempting to have one candidate-client interview per day is an excellent goal. This could be a first, second or even third step, but it’s the ONLY step that will get you closer to an offer and acceptance.

Meetings:
Meetings are an important step when establishing relationships with candidates and clients. Again, whether it’s in person or via Skype, there’s no replacing the opportunity to put a name with a face. Your ability to make a personal connection with your clients will set you apart from your competition, who are focusing on fees.

I also count preparing the candidate for their client interview, or interview preps, as “meetings” in my weekly activity report. I learned years ago that no matter how much I planned, made great marketing calls, and even secured a signed fee agreement, if the candidate was not well-prepared for the interview, all my hard work was for nothing. I generally spend more time in the prep than the initial interview and often do them from home in the evenings so as not to be interrupted.

So how many activity points does it take to bill $1M?

You can easily calculate that based on your specific individual fees and number of annual transactions, but I aim for a minimum of 25 activities per week. That’s only 5 a day. I have a tried-and-proven worksheet that will help you calculate your average transaction and how that breaks down into value per activity.

If you’re interested in a hands-on activity, visit my website for a webinar I recorded that many people find helpful: Goal Setting for Recruiters.

Focus on activities so the placements will follow!