Many of our clients are staffing and recruiting firms, and because of this we have a unique perspective on the industry. So when it comes to our own hiring processes, we try to glean best practices from industry leaders, but we also try things our own way. As we iterate and refine our methods, we thought it might be interesting to share what we’ve learned.

A little background to start. InsightSquared is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but for all intents and purposes we are a Boston-based startup, and that means we are in a competitive city for hiring. Yes, the overall Massachusetts economy has slowed as of late, but the technology startup sector is red-hot. In fact, all across the country, some small/medium tech businesses have increased payroll by almost fivefold, and are having a tough time hiring quick enough. Not only are startups competing against each other, but large companies like Apple and Google have increased their workforce size by 50% in the last two years, snatching up a lot of talent. Either way, tech recruiting is an area of growth and we can tell that recruiters are acutely aware of it.

What Recruiters Should Know

On vacancies…

If you ask a tech startup whether it’s hiring, you usually get this response: “For the right candidate,” meaning that they are never done hiring. In a field where speed and talent wins, if a stellar developer even comes within the vicinity of the office, he/she will be snatched up faster than an intern can be stuffed in the server room to make space.

On interviews…

We’re over the gimmicky interview logic puzzles as many startups seem to be. Real-world coding questions are given to developers during interviews, most from actual problems we have faced in the company. Thinking on one’s feet quickly is giving way to being able to think through coding problems carefully and thoroughly.

On turnaround time…

Speed wins. We try to make a decision on a candidate within a week, oftentimes less. Being quick and responsive to candidates works, especially for really talented ones that may eventually have multiple offers on the table. As a recruiter, we know you already work fast, but startup turn around time might be faster than you think.

On activity spurts…

HR activity at startups come in batches. The people doing the interviews and decision-making are also the people running every other aspect of the company. We’ll focus on hiring intensely for a week or two at a time, then get too busy with the actually product to spend time on it. A recruiter working with startups should be aware of these cycles and strike when the iron is … not in an all-hands-on-deck product release.

On selling points…

It’s hard for anyone to compete with Google or Apple’s bottomless pockets, and that includes Exxon and the U.S. government. That’s why the culture of a startup is a big part of negotiations, as this sets us apart from the giants. Can you really own your project at large companies? How much autonomy do you get? How cutting edge is your work at a behemoth? How much upward mobility is there, and how quickly? Getting in on the ground floor of an exciting startup is a huge selling point that makes us competitive with the antitrust line-toers of the world.

On fee agreements…

We know recruiters like to advise each other, “Never send a candidate without a fee agreement in place,” but we think you may want to reconsider. The danger for a startup is to have dozens of fee agreements floating out there. That’s a lot of capital to put aside for hires. Furthermore, going back and forth on a fee agreement contract takes up precious time in the process that most startups don’t have. On the other hand, we understand the dangers on the recruiters’ side: what’s to keep a startup from taking a resume and contacting them directly?

These days, the answer is reputation. Startups have little to no clout in the industry and are very wary of a bad reputation. We’re working to get a talent base, a client base, an investor base; the risk of garnering a bad reputation with a recruiter is not one we’d take. Instead of withholding talent for a fee agreement, recruiters might want to lead with a resume of a good candidate off the bat and make clear that if we are interested, we need to work with him/her. It’s nowhere near a big a risk as you think.

Are you recruiting or hiring for a startup? What has been your experience?

To find out more about InsightSquared, visit www.insightsquared.com.

For years employers have been screening candidates based on content on social networking websites. Candidates using poor judgment online may be screened out of the process.  Now employers and recruiters are turning to social media to aid in the selection of knowledgeable and well-connected employees.

Klout measures an individual’s influence across social media entities, such as Twitter.  Data under consideration are network size, amount of content generated, and volume of interaction. That data is processed to produce a Klout score ranging from 1 to 100.  The higher the score, presumably the higher the individual’s social media influence.  Klout scores are categorized into measures, including “True Reach” (size of engaged audience), “Amplification Probability” (rate of action taken on message, such as retweets), and “Network Score” (value of a person’s engaged audience).

Consideration of a candidate’s Klout score is the latest trend in recruitment.  As social media proficiency and influence are becoming more valuable in many occupations, the Klout score is becoming a valued source of knowledge contributing to a hiring decision. It may not be a primary determining factor, but it could help tip the scale in a candidate’s favor.  All things equal, a candidate with a high Klout score may win the day.

However, sometimes a new trend can lead a manager to make a costly hiring mistake. Some managers are eager to hop onto the next great idea, even when it’s not the appropriate method for all job vacancies. In other cases, a hiring manager may place more importance on a Klout score than appropriate. It’s the job of a seasoned recruiter to put the Klout score and other candidate data into perspective to facilitate the decision making process.

For example, is a low Klout score a sign that a candidate is less valuable?  Does it weaken a candidate’s brand?   Not necessarily.  For every individual actively building a social media empire, there are hundreds of candidates reviewing, analyzing, and utilizing the data found on social media sites.

Obviously, in some positions, social media interaction is critical; in others not so much.  A community manager with a low Klout score may want to spend some time on his personal brand to build his clout in his area of expertise to increase the Klout score.  A database administrator with a high Klout True Reach score may be very impressive if she is using her time blogging about her field. However, if she is known in social media as the ultimate authority on the Battlestar Gallactica, it is very impressive but may not give her the edge when interviewing.  There are many instances when a Klout score is not relevant due to the occupation or industry.

There are legal aspects of using social media to make a hiring decision.  As a recruiting professional, it is important to stay abreast of changes in this area of employment law.  One reason it may be a risky addition to a formal hiring plan is that social media provides a glimpse into a candidate’s religion, sexual orientation, marital status, gender, and age.  Because those items are protected by anti-discrimination laws, an employer is forbidden from using that data as a hiring factor.  The line could be blurred unless filtering safeguards are implemented so hiring managers do not receive those details.  Additionally, this is an opportunity for training of both human resource managers as well as hiring managers.

The bottom line is that this is an area to watch.  As a professional recruiter, you can increase your clout with your clients by remaining knowledgeable in this evolving space in the world of employee selection.

As a physician recruiting agency, we have the usual challenge of any recruiting firm—serving our two different constituencies — candidates and clients — and the challenge of working in a specialized industry, healthcare, which has detailed credentialing requirements that vary based on the state, private versus government, and client to client. Additionally, our agency recruits for six high-demand specialties, each with its own set of expertise and requirements.

To help serve our two customer segments, we divided our account executives into two roles: marketers, who deal directly with clients at healthcare facilities, and recruiters, who work with physicians. Also, each of our recruiters and marketers staffs for a single medical specialty.

About seven years ago, we developed our Research Consulting group, a training program for account executives, to accommodate our unique organizational structure. I took over the RC group about five years ago. I started at the company as an account executive, and I had a passion for sales training. When the opportunity to manage and develop my own sales team presented itself, I was very enthusiastic about it. I am an example of the various career-path options that are available to all associates within our organization. This process guides associates through different stages of their career in a very organic manner by giving them the support and training they need along the way.

Filling a Need

Our objective for the RC program was to take associates with all sorts of backgrounds — previous recruiters or not, sales or non-sales, healthcare focus or not, experienced or straight out of school — and prepare them to work with healthcare clients and physicians in our specialty focus areas.

Aside from its official role as a lead-generating department, the RC group is essentially an incubator for the specialty divisions. Strictly speaking, our formal training program lasts for only a week, but in fact, the RC training and learning are ongoing until the new associate moves to either a recruiting or marketing position in one of our specialty divisions, based on the employee’s readiness and the teams’ needs.

Initially, we only made a stay in the RC group required for people without prior experience in the field. We’ve since made it mandatory for all associates working in either marketing or recruiting. I’ll explain how we arrived at that decision later.

The Program in a Nutshell

During a new associate’s first week, he or she participates in the formal training program, which includes a combination of classroom teaching, shadowing, and hands-on learning. In other words, we target all three learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. They spend mornings in classroom training covering a wide range of topics including traditional sales training, healthcare, and specialty-specific training and database training.

In the afternoons, we use peer teaching by pairing up new RCs with experienced marketers and recruiters to shadow. That’s when they have an opportunity to observe the practical application of what they learned in theory in the morning. We also allow new RCs to observe existing RCs at work. Their feedback is great because the senior RCs have recently experienced what the new RC is just learning. Problems like overcoming objections that veteran marketers and recruiters just do by second nature are very fresh in RCs’ minds, so they can be very helpful peer teachers as well. We make it a point to expose new RCs to associates with different sales styles so they can see that there’s more than one way to approach a selling scenario.

Another unique aspect of our program is that we don’t hire people into marketing or recruiting roles; instead, we expose them to both. The two roles are each unique and appeal to people for different reasons. We’ve found that once they’ve gone through the program and are ready to be promoted, they’ve really become comfortable with one of the two roles, mainly because they had a large part in deciding how to shape it. This approach is one of the reasons why our RC program is so effective.

Our RC program’s success is evident in a lot of different ways, but one very important benefit is our employee retention rate. We have one of the best retention rates in the industry at 87 percent. That goes a long way with clients and physicians because they value the relationships that they build with our associates over the years.

Continual Feedback

An important ingredient in the success of our program is a continual feedback process in both directions. We receive anonymous feedback from new employees at two points. In the first feedback survey, at the end of the first week of employment, we ask them whether the training materials and presentations were effective, whether or not they felt comfortable asking questions, whether the training prepared them to do their job, and so forth. After about a month, they take a second survey where they tell us whether we need to put more emphasis on some topics, less on others, or add new topics altogether to the training. The beauty of our feedback process is that we don’t have to wait until the end of the year to make those changes. We can implement changes immediately. Each time we conduct the training program it’s different. We make tweaks to the training literally every time we give it.

For instance, we started getting feedback that one of our modules was not as helpful as the others, so we opted to turn it into an e-learning lesson that RCs can take on their own time. That way we freed up our time to put more emphasis on the modules that were most valuable.

Our RCs receive regular feedback also. We give them formal and self-paced exercises. We listen in on their calls. We monitor the number of calls they make and their talk time. And we report on the amount of gross profit they helped book.

The ROI of Training

As mentioned earlier, we decided to make the RC program mandatory for newbies as well as veterans. A little over a year after I took over the RC group, we conducted an analysis comparing the performance of associates who had gone through the RC program and those who had not. We found that RC graduates produced more gross profit as a whole, and they ramped up a lot faster than the non-RCs. Our RC program paid for itself in spades.

As a result of this analysis, our training program has grown and flourished. In addition to the RC group, we have ongoing training throughout the year for all our associates through our Lunch and Learn program and other training offered by our parent company. Each associate has a personalized training plan tailored to his or her career path. And we’ve recently begun a mentoring program, which pairs our vice presidents with directors whose interests and career goals complement each other. Later, those directors will mentor senior associates.

There’s a tangible ROI from training. I see examples of it walking around the company every single day.

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.

My company recruits information technology professionals. Minneapolis is a very “community” oriented city and we have an abundance of IT user groups and professional associations, so I can get out and be social, learn something new, and do some candidate and client generation while curing my “cabin fever.”

And when I say abundance, it is no joke. In addition to the IT groups I participate in (there are more than 25), there are several professional recruiting associations in which I am involved, including the Minnesota Recruiters group, which I coordinate.

At this point, some of you many be thinking, “How do you manage all of that, and does it distract you from making placements?”

Does it distract me? No. How do I manage all of this? Here’s how:

1. I focus on the groups and events where I know my “targets” are going to be in attendance. Most of the groups in town use Eventbrite, and usually the attendee list is posted, so I will copy and paste the names I do not recognize into LinkedIn and/or Google to see who they are.
2. While I attend a lot of events, I make sure not to hang out with just my friends. I also find the people who look like they do not know anyone and introduce myself. I look to see who has “groupies” hanging around them – as I assume they have to be one of the “cool kids” – and introduce myself. Additionally, I focus on looking for the name tags of those I searched for online. (I write them down on a 3×5 card that I bring with me so as not to forget)
3. If I am attending an event and know no one, I will email the host ahead of time and ask if they will be willing to make some introductions for me. Over a period of time of course I get to know who is who and it makes networking much easier.

Besides being an attendee at events, I am also frequently asked to speak at them. For recruiter and HR groups, topics I am requested to cover range from closing candidates to social media, building talent pools, and so forth. The IT user groups and professional associations typically look for topics on job search, using LinkedIn, find the next consulting gig, and how to find/use recruiters.

So how does this help my business?

For starters, I am not one of those creepy “insurance salesman” networking types who quickly work a room, hand out their business card, and then head for the door. I have a reputation of being “the guy” to go to with a question, and I make it a point to invest time in those with whom I speak – whether they can help me or not. I think a lot of us have forgotten that we are in the people business, and not everyone is an instant means to an end.

Do these activities pay off? Last summer I attended a tech event at Best Buy headquarters and in a small group session of 50 Java developers, the presenter recognized me and said, “Hey, are you the recruiter guy with the blog? Come up here and answer some questions we have about how to ready ourselves for a job search.”

What a great way to be of help to others and allow them to get to know me. The number of emails, calls, and resumes I received over the next week was overwhelming – in a very good way. As a direct result of this opportunity, I was referred to a manager who I later placed. Even now, I am still seeing benefits from this event as several of the technology professionals I met are pursuing contract opportunities with us. Networking events can provide both ‘hunting’ and ‘farming’ opportunities if approached in the right manner.

Right before the holidays, I was invited by a friend to attend an HR event with her. She was surprised to learn that I knew more of those attending than she did. Not only did I know them – they were friends, too. Very rarely do I have to make a true “cold call” on the client generation side of the business.

It is good to remember that there are human beings on the other end of the phone and the other side of the computer screen. Getting out from behind your desk and mixing it up with your target audience helps them to put a face to your name and voice as much as it does the same for you of them. “Smile and dial” is a whole lot easier when the person answering the phone (or email) already knows your name – and what value you have to offer.

This article is from the February 2011 print Fordyce Letter. To subscribe and receive a monthly print issue, please go to our Subscription Services page.

This week we are counting down some of the most popular articles from FordyceLetter.com in 2011. We hope you enjoy revisiting these articles as we look ahead to 2012!

My firm, Clark Executive Search, recruits exclusively for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Since I have a background in science, we further specialize in recruiting only senior-level scientists with PhD degrees and medical doctors in the industries’ research and development departments. I recruit these individuals because they are fascinating, dedicated to saving lives, and are at the peak of the pharmaceutical ladder. Discovering drugs and then testing them with people is a highly technical field requiring advanced degrees. In addition, in order to be in management or lead a laboratory at these companies, a higher degree is a requirement.

The pharmaceutical industry presents unique challenges to executive search firms concentrating in the area. There is a huge learning curve for recruiters working a desk in this niche, and a scientific background is a must. This once-safe industry for recruiters has become much less so as pharmaceutical companies desperately try to solve their drug discovery problems through mega-mergers, buyouts, and outsourcing.

I chose this niche for a reason: I believe recruiting for this area is different from other areas, and I certainly won’t back down from a challenge!

First and foremost, I chose to recruit in the pharmaceutical space because of my scientific education, early recruiter training, the perceived safety of the industry, the variety of the searches, and the quality of the candidates I work with.

Before I started my business in 1997, I cut my teeth at a search firm that also concentrated in the health area. Interestingly enough I was the only person at the firm with a degree in science and I quickly learned I had an advantage over the other recruiters. After a few years I decided I could do better own my own and focus where my strengths were. Because of my science background, I have a deep knowledge of scientific buzzwords, which is an advantage when working with scientists and doctors. I am sure there are recruiters without a science background who work for pharma, but my niche in R&D is a bit too technical for the vast majority of recruiters. I knew my science knowledge would help establish my firm as a leader in the industry.

Another reason I chose to work in the area is that, at the time I started my firm, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries were believed to be recession-proof when it comes to employment and recruiting. It was thought that just as consumers always will need toothpaste, they would always get sick and require drugs. This theory still holds true, but as I’ll discuss shortly, the industry is not as safe a harbor as one would think, and recruiters in my niche are having as difficult a time as those who focus in other hard hit industries.

I stayed in the pharmaceutical space because each of my searches is unique and requires me to find vastly different candidates for each assignment. These diverse searches keep my brain active and challenged. I am always learning and I am never bored. Besides the specific industry news that all recruiters must stay in tune with, I have to keep up with the latest scientific developments as well.

I also picked this particular niche because I enjoy interacting with both my clients and candidates. The people in my network are highly educated with multiple degrees from the best schools. As they say, “The cream rises to the top,” and my candidates are polite, confident professionals who know the importance of networking with a recruiter. But more importantly, these people are fascinating individuals who are dedicated to saving lives. I am proud to represent them and enjoy following their careers and discoveries. There isn’t a day that I don’t want to go into my office.

Of course I have to admit another reason I picked this niche is because it can be lucrative. The higher education level of pharma and biotech workers means higher compensation than most industries. This translates into higher recruitment fees than average.

How recruiting for pharma and biotech is different than other industries

All industries have their own quirks, and industry specific knowledge is a must for any recruiter. However, I think the pharmaceutical and biotechnology world is more specialized than most industries, requiring an even deeper commitment on the part of recruiters to know their industry well. They must be able to deal with the scientific candidate, a different breed than most. They also have to have strong stomach for the current upheavals in the industry.

First of all, the candidates are different. Scientists and doctors require a different recruiting approach. They can’t be talked into anything, they don’t need help with their resumes or CVs, they don’t need to be coached for an interview, and you can’t try to control them. These are very intelligent people who think differently than most of us. Often money is not a driving factor for them. They want to discover drugs in the best place that will allow them to do this. At times it is difficult for them to leave a company, since they have their life’s work tied up at the company and want to see their drug go all the way to a marketed product, which takes 15 or more years. Career changes need to be well thought out, and people in the industry do not change positions as often because of this. It can be tricky to reach these candidates because they are either in their labs, managing a lab, overseeing a clinical trial, or in many other areas besides their desks. Email is the best method to contact the candidates, and because they are a group who grasps new technology quickly, they generally respond well to email. Candidates are judged by publications, scientific discoveries, or expertise in clinical trials. A candidate who has worked on a drug that has been approved by the FDA is especially worthy. A recruiter in this niche has to understand the drug discovery world in order to find the most qualified candidates. They have to be able to understand the research world and how to read scientific papers.

The world of biotech can be a roller coaster. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry have special stability issues related to the lengthy drug approval process, and recruiters in this area must understand how these companies work. Biotechnology companies are generally smaller than pharmaceutical companies and can be wonderful companies to recruit for. Upper management is easy to reach and often HR is not too engrained, if even present, in early startups. If a recruiter can provide expertise and value right from the start for one of these companies, then s/he can profit from many search assignments while the company adds new functions and departments as they grow to match the particular stage of their drug.

On the downside, these biotech companies are risky ventures because they often rely on one drug that could easily fail some important stage with the FDA. Often, to save money, these companies downsize to a few employees while they wait to be bought by a bigger company or for their drug to be approved.

Big Pharma used to be a stable industry for recruiting as well as for investing. However, the pharmaceutical industry is experiencing some challenges. The companies are not producing as many drugs as in the past, and they are running scared. The easy drugs, the low-hanging fruit, have already been discovered, and the FDA has gotten stricter in the last few years. The drug approval process takes longer and a drug approval is a long shot — a very expensive long shot. To make matters worse, many drug blockbusters are going off patent and the companies will lose billions of revenue. Pharmaceutical companies are utilizing several methods to fix these severe problems. They are merging with each other to reduce costs and they are buying small biotechnology companies for their more innovative drugs. But mergers can wreak havoc on a search firm’s business. Typically, after a merger, the need for recruitment services ends because there is an immediate hiring freeze. The newly formed company must sort through duplicate employees. Layoffs are common, including many of the recruiter’s key contacts. In addition to mergers and buyouts, companies are outsourcing more and more of their work to companies in Asia in order to save money. The scientist that gets paid $100,000 here receives around $30,000 in China. This outsourcing of course translates into less work for recruiters.

These industry-specific problems coupled with the challenges all recruiters face in today’s world of job boards, LinkedIn, and other Internet recruitment strategies mean tough times for recruiters in this space. I predict many firms will flee the pharma niche just as many came to the area during the boom times when the industry was seen as a safe haven from recession. However, executive search in the industry will continue, as there will always be a need for talent not using popular job sites or social media. Firms who have expertise in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry will survive.

image source: Michael Mortensen

When my husband convinced me to close my recruiting business, I had no idea what might be in store for me. After all, I had been in the recruiting industry for almost a decade. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I lived and breathed headhunting—in all its glory. The good, the bad, and the challenging.

Yes…I realize I’m writing this article for The Fordyce Letter — a publication that “delivers straight talk for the recruiting profession…” So why am I writing about leaving the profession?

Do you really think you’ll be a ‘headhunter’ for the rest of your life? Do you think, as I did when my husband suggested I leave the business, “What else do I know how to do?” When I considered closing the doors on my business, I was seriously concerned about finding something that would replace the income I enjoyed as a recruiter.

At the time, I didn’t appreciate that during my years as a recruiter I had acquired business savvy that would serve me throughout the next two decades of starting new businesses. I was unknowingly armed with skills that, in looking back, were remarkable.

So, as you continue on your merry way, take heart. You are acquiring prowess, strategic thinking, and moxie that will serve you well for a lifetime—whether you remain in your current field or choose to move on. No matter what your choice, why not take a minute and bask in all that you know? Want to know just what a smart cookie you are? Consider some of the greatest skills that will carry you through life come from the things you’ve learned along the path to becoming a great recruiter.

Interviewing your way to the best team you ever had

I remember one time I was interviewing a candidate for the Managing Partner spot for one of my best law firm clients. Her CV was impressive­­­—with the exception of a little 6-month gap in gainful unemployment. So I asked her, with an expectant expression, “Is there anything else you want to tell me?” Without hesitation, she told me her six-month gap in employment was because she had been in rehab for a drug addiction. She also assured me she had been clean for the past three days. End of interview, at least for a job opening at a law firm specializing in criminal defense.

Variations of this question always worked wonders, back then and today. For example, I was considering hiring a contractor to work on an apartment building I own. Toward the end of the interview I asked, “Is there something I should have asked you that I haven’t asked?” His reply? “I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning and I never make it to work on time.”

As a recruiter, I interviewed thousands of job candidates, never realizing at the time I would be hiring my own team in a variety of businesses.

The skills you are acquiring as an expert interviewer are invaluable. Very few employers and business owners possess the skills you have honed as a professional recruiter. And I’ve found it’s like riding a bike…these are skills you never forget.

Did you check references?

I have a friend who has gone through seven housekeepers—in three months. In itself remarkable. People will jump through all sorts of hoops looking for employees. They will suffer through the long and time-consuming interview process. But they tend to stop short at checking references. It’s the lazy man’s out.

As a former recruiter, of course, the first question I asked my friend after listening to her lament about her struggles in ‘finding good help’ was, “Well, did you check references?”

I’m sure you do this as naturally as you breathe. After your first dozen reference checks are completed the intimidation factor pretty much vanishes. Knowing how to listen and to ask questions when hiring and screening prospective employees is a critical skill for any entrepreneur to possess.

“We wash windows”

One of the biggest challenges I faced in my graphic design business when working with a new client was in getting the client to describe their business. I had a client with a fairly substantial window washing business that had grown through pure hard work from a one-person operation into a company that employed dozens. At our first exploratory branding session, I asked my client to tell me a little bit about his company. He replied, rather gruffly, “Well… we’re a window washing company. You know. We wash windows.”

And this is where a lot of designers stop. They accept a response like the one my window washing friend gave me. They’ll proceed to spend hours at the computer to come up with a brand they think adequately embraces their client—only to be told, repeatedly, to return to the drawing board. What an amazingly frustrating experience…for designer and client alike.

However, we know better, don’t we? After working with hundreds of clients we learn to ask questions like:

• What’s your corporate culture?
• What’s your personality?
• Who are your competitors?
• What makes you distinct and separates you from the competition?
• Who is your target employee (audience)?
• Can you specifically describe your field of business and particular job openings?

These are branding questions. And knowing how to brand yourself is a marketing skill that is, frankly, priceless. We’ve all pushed, prodded, and pulled this information out of clients a gazillion times! This is a skill that will never grow old or out of vogue.

Your ability to understand the landscape and environment of your clients will help you brand and market your own businesses. Have you heard people talk about ‘finding your voice’? You are already a pro.

The greatest skill of all

When I first started looking to buy an apartment building I checked the local newspaper listings for buildings for sale and I looked at the top commercial real estate listing sites online.

But I didn’t stop there. That would be like listing a job opening for one of your recruiting clients and hoping a flood of resumes will hit your inbox. Or hoping candidates for job openings would be like the proverbial low hanging fruit…just ripe for the picking.

Nor did I stop after calling a couple of commercial brokers.

I found my first building as a result of calling property management companies, writing direct mail letters to individual apartment building owners, contacting vendors and services providers to the apartment market, and speaking to leaders of the local and national apartment associations.

Recruiters, more so than any other entrepreneur I’ve met, understand business is all about ‘who you know.’ It’s about contacts. They’re not afraid to pick up the phone and make the calls that would intimidate most people.

Think about it. We know how to start at the top—we’ll call anyone. We ask for the business. We don’t take “No” personally. We never try to force an outcome. And we have tons of patience.

Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart.

Fortunately, everything you’ve learned as a recruiter has positioned you to be the perfect business owner: you understand the art of negotiation; you know how to call a bluff; you have a solid understanding of your client’s needs and that your client comes first; you realize providing awesome service to your client precedes collecting a commission; and above all else, you’ve learned to manage your expectations and to be flexible about outcomes.

You have the unique personality to be a success in just about anything you set your mind to. And you possess the fundamental skills to be an extraordinary business owner!

The main reason I love writing “The Recruiter Chronicles” is that I do not write from the perspective of being a “big biller” (yet). Consider me somewhere between consistent solid performer and top performer, but definitely not “big biller.” I am an “everyman” type of recruiter and I, like most of you, am scratching and clawing towards “big biller” status. I do feel like I’m on the way though, and this series that I write is a testimonial to the misadventures that have and will happen along the way.

I have two teammates here at The Aureus Group in Omaha, Nebraska that certainly qualify as “big billers,” having both eclipsed the Million Dollar annual production threshold recently and trending to do the same in 2011. Recently, I sat down with both of them and asked for their perspective on what it has taken to arrive at this hallowed ground of agency recruiter production. For the sake of anonymity we will call them, lovingly of course, “Big Biller A” and “Big Biller H.”

Big Biller A has been in the recruiting/staffing business since 1987 holding many different roles, including one as a recruiting franchise owner. Currently, Big Biller A is a Senior IT Recruiter with Aureus Group and also manages a team of three recruiters.

Big Biller H was recruited into our industry right out of college, and has been going strong now for nearly twelve years. Currently, Big Biller H is a Senior Account Manager working directly with clientele of the Aureus Group, and she has been with us for more than four years.

Before you accomplished it, did you ever think it was possible to bill in the Million Dollar range in a single year?

Big Biller A: Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Yes, I’ve always thought it was possible. When I was a franchise owner, I was the sole individual responsible for sales and revenue generation and had a team of three recruiters working to fulfill those orders. We were close to $1MM in margin as a group years ago but I didn’t track it individually like we do now.

Big Biller H: I always knew the potential was there, but with the way the economy has been the past few years, I never anticipated that 2010 would be one of my best years ever.

Tell me about a low point you have had as an agency recruiter. Has there ever been a time you thought about getting out of this all together? If yes, what pulled you back in?

Big Biller A: Yes, every day I think about getting out of recruiting (Laughs…). Seriously, when I got out of our franchise business and had already spent nearly seventeen years in the business at that time, I thought it was time to get out and do something new. I kept coming back to opportunities within the recruiting industry. It’s in my blood – kind of like a disease!

The low points are always difficult times in the marketplace like recessions and recruiting in the IT field where we’ve been at 100% employment with most skill sets for several years. I just don’t let myself “buy into” that mentality.

Big Biller H: When the bottom fell out of the telecom industry in 2001, I actually did take a hiatus from the business for a couple years to pursue other sales opportunities. However, IT recruiting really gets in your blood, and I truly missed the rush you get when you find that perfect match for an employer and change a candidate’s career and life for the better! I also missed the competitive nature of this business and the thrill of beating out the other guys. Nothing can beat that.

What is the single biggest success factor that has allowed you to have the kind of productivity you have had for the past couple of years?

Big Biller A: It really boils down to two different things. First, I’ve got the right skills and am in the right place at the right time with the right people. I work with an incredible team of people here and in particular, I partner with a great Account Manager that works hard and continues to bring in the business. We both want to fill every job that we get and expect to do it! Second, our model is the most successful in the recruiting business, in my opinion – and I’ve worked in all possible models! In our roles here at Aureus Group Systems Division, we are either a dedicated recruiter or a dedicated account manager. We don’t try to do both because different skills are required and most people’s strengths favor either recruiting or account/business development. This has created a synergy, high production capability, and capacity best illustrated by the old saying, 1+1=3.

Big Biller H: One thing I was very fortunate to have at the beginning of my career was excellent training in this industry. I was taught that building relationships with your clients is KEY to not only make one placement, but to build a long-term “trusted advisor” relationship. That, and of course also to provide them with better talent than your competitors can. No matter how great your relationship is, if you don’t have the product to offer, all you’ll have is a good friend.

What have you both done differently than in years past? Or, what have you tweaked in order to stay ahead of game?

Big Biller A: I am more focused and specialized. In prior years I’ve been pulled in many different directions with multiple responsibilities. In my role here, I can apply my laser-like focus and produce the talent our client’s need when they need it, and also lead, mentor, train and teach my recruiters to do the same.

Big Biller H: One thing I have started doing is marketing specific candidates much more than I have in the past. I try to create a need where maybe there wasn’t one. This shows my clients that I have them top of mind when excellent talent is available — regardless if they have an opening or not.

What changes do you see coming in our industry, and what are you doing to prepare for those changes?

Big Biller A: Technology is constantly changing and has been tremendous and an incredible asset to what we do with the addition of social networking and everything else. Unfortunately, it can also be a huge distraction if you don’t manage your time and it manages you instead. I’m very careful not to get sucked in by it because before I know it, four hours are gone! There are more and more distractions all the time.

The IT talent pool will remain very tight and the market is becoming more and more candidate-driven in IT all the time. We will need to continue to dig and cold-call recruit talent that is already employed.

Also, with the ability to work from anywhere at any time, the industry will be more global than ever before. Companies can offer their services more easily on a nationwide basis instead of just locally or regionally. Because of the lack of available, qualified talent, companies are going to need to become much more flexible when filling their staffing needs. We need to educate our clients that people don’t have to physically be in their location to get the job done properly.

Big Biller H: Right now, it seems that Cloud Computing is really picking up steam, and I’m hearing a lot about mobile device development as well as a plethora of IT opportunities within the Healthcare industry. I try to stay as knowledgeable as possible about upcoming trends and take time to attend the user group meetings and read the industry newsletters, especially anything that is related to our target markets.

What advice would you give someone that is stuck about halfway to being a “million dollar producer?” How would you coach this person to get all the way there?

Big Biller A: One of my first managers in this business, Margie, gave me great advice. She told me to continually ask myself if what I was doing at the moment was the most productive thing I could be doing RIGHT NOW. If not, stop and go back to being productive. Am I working RIGHT NOW on something that will lead me to achieving my goals and the goals of the organization? If not, stop and get back to working closest to the money!

My parents owned many retail businesses and I worked in those stores from the time I was eleven years old. They taught me that the customer is always right, even when we may know they’re not. I’ve been very conscious about always treating everyone like they’re my customer. Because, guess what? They are! The candidate you are interviewing today could be your customer and start buying services from you tomorrow! It’s amazing how often that happens in our business.

Be empathetic to people that have been out of work. It becomes very difficult as a recruiter to hear the horror stories from our candidates. We hear hundreds of those stories and can get desensitized to it, but maybe this is the first time that candidate has confided in a recruiter with their story. I try to treat those individuals with care and respect and have faith that it will come back ten-fold.

Finally, work harder and smarter than everyone else is working. Be the first one at work, the last one to go home, and be the person that recruits on the weekends. You will continually stay ahead of the competition.

Big Biller H: I agree completely with all of that. I would only add to really know your product and your target audience! The better I truly know my candidates and clients, the more value I can add. Also, remember not to take yourself too seriously. This is a stressful business, and being able to laugh with my coworkers about the craziness of our industry really helps me keep things in perspective.

Both Big Biller A and Big Biller H enjoy and embrace the grind required to stay in the elite class of agency recruiting. Both are humble enough to accept that talent is not enough, and effort must always outdistance ability in order to achieve at the level they have. Both live in day-tight compartments of planning, which is cornerstone premise coined by the great Steven Covey. They both allow urgency to create positive action rather than desperation. Lastly, and most important, both have had to fight through adverse times in their career, when it is hard for most to envision success on the path in front.

The Recruiter Chronicles will return soon with a story about how a Corporate Recruiter has become my closest ally within the walls of my best client. Stay tuned!

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.”

Doulton’s delivery may be all Cowell, and her bedside manner runs more to Gregory House than Marcus Welby, but she gets results. She manages the boutique headhunting firm she founded in Hollywood, Katalyst Career Group, after stints as head of talent acquisition at Yahoo Media Group and at DreamWorksSKG.

Her client list includes all the big names; Fox, Google, Amazon, Discovery, VEOH Networks, and Grey Advertising, are just a sample.

The aptly named show, “The Headhuntress,” includes what amounts to a makeover of two job seekers. One prattles on about astrology. The other admits to having appeared in porn films. Doulton turns them into candidates you would be proud to present.

Whether the show will become a Bravo series isn’t clear. Maybe it depends on how well the “interview” goes, something we could find out by monitoring #headhuntress on Twitter. Doulton will be taking questions and feedback during the broadcast tonight at that hashtag. Follow the show at @theheadhuntress.

She’ll also join Jessica Miller-Merrell of “Blogging4Jobs” at #JobHuntChat at 10 p.m. ET tonight to answer job-seeker questions.

The economy is perking up. Hiring is on the rise in corporate America. Recruiters and recruiting firms are flourishing and our clients are seeking transcendent talent to help them thrive today and in the future. Executive recruiting firms like Lucas Group are seeking that talent as well.

What constitutes transcendent talent? What professional and personal characteristics should you look for in high-performing recruiters? How do you recruit, manage, and incentivize top performers and help them become million dollar billers?

Over the last three decades in the recruiting industry, I have learned how critically important talent, cultural fit, and professional achievement are in our world. Below are a few of the lessons that I’ve learned in my career that have helped Lucas Group grow from a four-person shop helping military personnel transition into the business marketplace, to a major executive recruiting firm with offices in 15 cities across North America and successful recruiters working in every major industry.

Finding the Perfect Fit

What type of talent are we actively recruiting? Top performers, certainly, but we’re looking for people who have demonstrated success through good times and bad. We are also looking for people with long-term potential. The secret to mutually profitable longevity is to hire recruiters who excel under a variety of economic circumstances. Lots of people excel in a hot market, but we look carefully to find those who exhibit steady and strong performance—through both bull and bear markets.

What traits should you look for when hiring experienced recruiters?

• Sustained performance – We want people who’ve shown sustained and progressive success over the course of their careers.
• No Job Hoppers – Job hoppers are usually a long-term resource drain, so we look for people who demonstrate employment stability–stability, not rigidity!
• Multi-media – The days of spending 30-40 hours a week working the phones are changing as multiple media devices and social media broaden our communications opportunities. We look for people who embrace technology and use it intelligently.
• Exceeding expectations – Above all, we look for recruiters who are consummate professionals and who set high standards for themselves, demand the same from their colleagues, and remember that our clients’ success correlates directly with our success.

You cannot and should not rely solely on hiring people with years of recruiting experience. People new in the workforce and those with industry (but no recruiting) experience also belong in your mix. What traits are we looking for in these potential employees?

• Academic success
• Drive –as evidenced by such things as:
• holding a part-time job while in school
• pursuing a degree while working full time
• active engagement in extra-curricular activities–be they academic, athletic, cultural, or service-based
• Team players – References to mentors and team-oriented projects in the interview process indicate a willingness to share both the responsibility and the credit
• Signs of leadership – Were they the captain of a team? Did they start a student group or interest group? Have they been a mentor? Are they engaged in some type of community service?

Demanding High Performance

Today’s workplace is a very different place than when I broke into the business some 30 years ago. It’s more diverse, more technologically sophisticated, and less office-centric—people can work anytime from anywhere these days. Once you’ve hired top talent, it’s critical to nurture and manage that talent.

Establishing high expectations and setting a professional tone are critical to success and are especially important in creating a culture of high performance. Successful people want to work in successful environments. High expectations and fair evaluations attract high performers, so establish and maintain high standards and measure performance against those standards.

At Lucas Group, we “measure everything we treasure.” We’ve developed a balanced scorecard that assesses key indicators that can predict future performance. Unlike simply reviewing revenue performance, this scorecard is forward-looking and helps us to hire, train, and develop outstanding talent.

It’s also important to strike an appropriate balance between structure and flexibility in the workplace. As the work culture evolves, I understand both the need for flexibility in the workplace and the imperative of performance. Flexible work hours and office environments should never impede strong performance. Flexibility is not a right, it is a privilege earned by people who consistently prove that they meet and exceed their metrics.

Motivating Transcendent Talent

Compensation is an obvious motivation for meeting and exceeding your goals. But money alone does not guarantee sustained excellence. As we have been discussing opportunities with top performers around the country, we’ve learned that—contrary to popular belief—money is not their primary motivation. Factors like a having meaningful work/life balance, resources that foster success, the ability to work independently but within a team structure, and recognition for outstanding efforts are all important.

For instance, I make it a point to personally call or write a note to our recruiters to celebrate individual and team successes. Recruiting is tough work and we collectively get more “No’s” than “Yes’s.” Recognizing success sincerely and personally is extremely important in a sales environment.

There are other important variables as well. They may not be as obvious but they can make a difference in the quality of the relationship and the performance potential of any recruiter.

• Information – A robust information infrastructure gives high performers a springboard to success. It is what separates the truly professional executive recruiting firm from the single resource shop.
• Technology – The delivery of information how I need it; where I need it; when I need it.
• Training – Even the best performers need to continuously improve. Systematic training allows recruiters to stay abreast of issues and technology that sustain high performance.
• Performance Management — Finding and retaining those “A” & “B” players while filtering out the non-performers.

Financial incentives are certainly important. Equally as important is creating an environment that fosters success, provides the resources to achieve it, and celebrates it when it happens.

Seizing the Opportunity

Most of us in the industry would agree that the economy is improving. It may not be thriving across all sectors but, hopefully, our darkest economic days are now a distant memory.

Successfully hiring, managing, and nurturing high performers are the most important things that recruiting firms can do to assure their own success. The processes and approaches above have contributed significantly to Lucas Group’s sustained performance. I hope that they will contribute to yours as well.

This time the phone rang after hours. Lucky for me I was working late and answered the call. It was from one of my favorite students. She was having problems navigating this sluggish economy. She complained that she hardly ever wrote a ‘recruitable’ Job Order anymore and that her main problem was once she had a great JO, she was unable to recruit anyone for it. She was stuck!

We talked about recruiting for a while and it was obvious to me that she had a knowledge deficiency that was leading to an execution deficiency. Yes, she was indeed stuck. The bottom-line was that she had forgotten how to do the “recruiting” part of our business. And so, I began at the beginning…

It Starts With the Job Order (JO)

Robocruiter used to always say that the biggest problem we have in recruiting, other than planning and organization, is working “Can’t Help” JOs as search assignment quality JOs. The ‘qualification’ part of the jigsaw puzzle was missing.

Those of you who read my columns in TFL know that I am a big proponent of qualifying the JO before we start to recruit on it. Just look at the article I wrote for last month’s TFL, and also the 2006 TFL article I wrote with Kevin Franks where we discussed our job order matrix at length (for more information see, TFL, July 2006, “The Job Order Matrix [with Kevin Franks]”, pp. 1-4.). The problem is that in this economy, we compound our weak marketing efforts by selecting sub-standard JOs on which to recruit. Then we can’t put the thing together and we complain about the rotten economy when we were merely conducting our business in a rotten way.

Use the Recruitment Column Information

When you are taking The Qualifier JO, and you get to the recruitment column blanks, ask these questions one at a time and in this order*:

1. “Who do you want?”

This question will separate you from all of your competition. I am still amazed at how few recruiters ask it. But if the HM missed that you were a recruiter at the beginning of your conversation, he will now realize that you are a headhunter because you have asked for a head to hunt. Usually the HM will pause while pondering the answer to a question no recruiter has asked them before. But the HM will realize that this is an important question and may want to think about it before he responds. It is normal for them to call you back with many possible leads. “Who do you want?” is a Big Biller question.

2. “Which companies, or which of your competitors, do you respect and want someone from?”

Don’t ask, “Who are your competitors?” First of all, if you are an expert in your niche, you should already know this. Second, they may not want someone from a competitor. And third, they may want someone from a company not in their field of specialization. Now don’t let them try to put you in a corner by replying that you should know the answer, because, you see, you can never know whom they RESPECT and WANT SOMEONE FROM. Only they can know the answer to that question.

3. “Which industry do you want someone from?”

If we get to this question, our JO is going down the drain. It probably means that this HM has not put sufficient thought into his hiring process and this opening.

(*Note: More on this technique is available in my article from last week on How to Qualify the Job Order.)

F-A-B the JO, But Change the “A”

You need to FAB the JO, much like you FAB the candidate, so that you can make a scintillating presentation. Here is where you remind the HM that you are going to attempt to attract potential candidates who are happy, well-appreciated, making good money, and currently working, and you are going to entice them to move for a better opportunity, i.e., the HM’s opening. Thus you need something to sell and that is why you need the company information to build a Feature-Advantage-Benefit presentation. What would cause my candidate to leave their job and come to work with your company? What is unique about your company? You must do this in order to place the client company in the most positive light. Remember, your candidate base has to be motivated to consider new career opportunities. The recruiter must constantly be prepared to answer the prospect’s often non-verbalized question, “What’s in it for me?” — also known by the acronym WIIFM.

Indirect First, Then Direct

I have found over the years that most big billers prefer to begin with the indirect approach (“Who do you know…?”) and then transition to the direct approach (“How about you…? What would interest you in making a move…?”). But you know what? Both approaches work. Use one or the other or both, depending on your comfort level. It really doesn’t matter. Only the results matter.

When you ask whom the prospect might know who is qualified, they will invariably answer that they don’t know anyone who would be interested in making a move. They simply change your operative word from ‘qualified’ to ‘interested’—that change in words you can’t allow and must correct. Tell them that you appreciate them thinking about people who might be interested in making a move, but that you want to speak with those who are qualified. Then you will determine who are the best matches for your JO. Your job is like unwinding a giant ball of string. You will eventually reach the end. You will eventually find the right candidate.

Next, especially if they are interested, they will ask you three questions:

1. “What is the name of the client company?”
2. “Where is it located, geographically speaking?”
3. “What is the salary range?”

These are all ‘editing out’ questions and you must avoid answering them. Don’t let the prospect make these ‘editing out’ decisions. You will do that. Here are your answers to those three questions:

1. “This is a confidential search and I can’t give out that information right now. Just trust that it is one of the leading corporations in their niche.”
2. “Actually we have various locations. One is (where the position it located), but we have various locations around the US.”
3. “I am so glad you asked me that question. My client wants me to help them determine the range. Based on what I have told you so far, what do you, as one of your niche’s experts, feel the range should be?” Then, whatever the prospect answers, you agree with and then ask again, who they know who is qualified and who you can speak to.

And finally the last question—and it’s a biggie:

“Who told you to call me?” Or, “Where did you get my name/number, etc.?”

Here is your answer. It is a two-parter:

“You know, I make so many calls on a daily basis that I frankly don’t remember although I keep everything confidential anyway.

“But I can tell you two things. First of all, it was very complimentary about you or I wouldn’t have tried to reach you. And second, it was no one from your company because I have never called your company before.”

They can now breathe realizing that they are not being ‘out-placed’ and that you are not the harbinger of that fate. They will now talk to you.

Bottom-line of the two approaches—Indirect and Direct:

• Indirect positives: You get better cooperation and you get referrals.
• Indirect negatives: It is longer and you can be seen to be “beating around the bush”.

• Direct positives: It is short and you are saying what you mean.
• Direct negatives: The potential recruit will edit out people to recommend to you who might compete with them for the position down the road and you can create egomaniacs by making the potential recruit feel too special.

CLAMS

Keeping WIIFM in mind, most big billers find that candidates will move for one (or more) of five major motivators. These can be remembered by using a second acronym, “CLAMS.” And, interestingly enough, they seem to be important in this ranking order with Challenge being the most important, then Location, etc. (Note that Money is the fourth reason why people will move—not the first.)

I.    Challenge of the new position

• Ask, “What challenges you in your current position?”
• Ask, “Professionally speaking, what would you rather be doing?”
• Ask, “Define for me your “perfect” position description.”
• Ask, “What would you like to do in your new position?”

II.  Location of the position

• Ask, “Where did you grow up?”
• Ask, “Where does most of your family live?”
• Ask, “Where would you and your family prefer to live?”
• Ask, “What are your hobbies?”

III. Advancement potential

• Ask, “What is your next step up the ladder?”
• Ask, “What position would you like to have next year at this time?”
• Ask, “What will be the last position you will attain with this company?”
• Ask, “How have you moved up the company in relation to your peers?”

IV. Money

• Ask, “What is your current salary?”
• Ask, “Is your current salary where you think it should be?”
• Ask, “What salary would it take to move you to another company?”
• Ask, “When was your last raise?”

V.  Stability of the company

• Ask, “How stable is your current company?”
• Ask, “Have you had many lay-offs or reductions-in-force?”
• Ask, “Have your reviews and/or raises been put on hold?”
• Ask, “Have your company’s plans for the future be altered?”

A Big Biller (BB) “Three Call” Direct Technique

The Initial Call:

• 60 seconds in length.
• “I would like to call you sometime this week—some evening—what time would be best? I would like to discuss some alternative job opportunities with you and I’ll need about 30 minutes.”
• BB refuses to talk to the potential recruit on this initial call.
• BB wants the potential recruit thinking about talking to a recruiter.
• You don’t need a JO to do this.
• Never miss the call back time—it illustrates your punctuality.

The Second Call:

• Ask first, “If you were to make a change, what position would that be for?”
• Ask second, “What are your geographical limitations?”
• Don’t talk specifics—take a Recruit Data Sheet (RDS) — explain the FAB.
• Say at the end of the call, “I don’t know enough about you now. I’ll review all of my searches and if there are any matches, I’ll call you back. I do promise, at this stage, not to mention your name or your company’s name.”
• Then hang up.
• The key to this is developing relationships — establishing rapport.

The Third Call:

• Now is the time to present a position.
• If the recruit doesn’t have the right parameters, BB tells them, “My companies won’t consider people without __________.”
• If the recruit does match, this is when BB arranges the first client-candidate meeting.

Be Persistent

Regardless of your recruiting effort results, always call back after 2-3 days with a new piece of information and a condensed re-presentation of your FAB’ed JO. You need to give these folks time to think about what you have asked them. Leads will come to them with time, but don’t expect them to initiate the call to you with this information. You must call them back. You must ask again. When you do this, don’t be surprised if your hit rate improves dramatically.

Challenge Yourself to Be the Best You Can Be

In closing, I would like to quote President John Kennedy who spoke one summer day in 1962 about why we were accepting the challenge of going to the moon. This is what he said:

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

I too have a challenge. I want to challenge you recruiters, you TFL readers of my columns, to do these parts of our business correctly—not because they are easy, but because they are hard. And, as President Kennedy promises, the attainment of our goals will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. And, at the end of the day, this is how we can evaluate ourselves on the scales of success.

Next week, “The Phone Rang…” series will cover Goal Setting. Until then, go recruit someone!

“The Phone Rang…” by Bob Marshall is a series that defines what we, as recruiters, do for a living. This article series ran in The Fordyce Letter over the past year and we are proud to bring you the series online. To subscribe to the print edition of The Fordyce Letter, click here.