Jordan Rayboy
on Sep. 13, 2011
We’ve got a saying in Texas — “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true.” We are KILLING it this year, on pace for 300% growth year over year, and over 50% more than my career high from 2005. We have more business than we can possibly handle, and I just recently hired another two project people to meet the demand.
So I asked myself recently — what’s different? What am I doing this year that’s kicking it into high gear and taking my search practice to the NEXT LEVEL?
Danny Cahill
on Aug. 30, 2011
By Danny Cahill
Since my divorce two years ago, I have become good at resisting men, and I have always been good at resisting headhunters, so when you put the two together, a male headhunter has no chance with me. They want to know if I am happy. Would I like to hear about a dream job? I know why they call—I am a successful software sales rep with a massive network of clients, and I’m an attractive woman. I don’t think much about happiness anymore. And I don’t deal in dreams. So I don’t return their calls.
Except Harper.
Harper Scott gets to me. He placed me once eight years ago when I was first learning how to sell software, and then again years later when my boss at the time started taking clients away from me because I was out earning him. Harper has been a successful headhunter for a long time. He seems to know everyone in my market space, and everything that is going on. Harper is connected. But that’s not why he gets to me.
Bob Marshall
on Aug. 26, 2011
Some years ago I came across a very detailed description of what we, as recruiters, do for a living. This is the first paragraph of that six-page, 1,469-word long document*:
“The basic function of this position is to promote sales of placement services to customers and prospective customers within the assigned desk specialty. To maintain and develop satisfied customers for the company through proper handling of customers and candidates and cooperate with management in resolving problems in areas of collections, guarantees and any other negotiations or functions that may be assigned.”
It went on to list our nine major responsibilities:
Does this sound like what you do? While in some ways I admire the detail (and I hope I handle all of those responsibilities effectively on my desk on a daily basis), I am not sure that it gives a true sense of what we recruiters truly do for a living. (*Call me if you want a copy of the six-page position description.)
To borrow liberally from another article of mine, there are five major tasks that we perform on a daily basis — and they all have to do with picking up the telephone!
Mike Smith
on Jul. 21, 2011
Everyone knows that the recruiting business is a phone business. Without that basic communication tool, we wouldn’t be able to interface with as many people as we do. Our business is also a “sales” business. We’re constantly selling our value to our client. Crucial to the “sales process” is that we must first establish our credibility with our client. Really for all of us, the sales process begins by identifying a client with a need. That is in knowing your market or being attuned to what is going on.
Steve Spalding
on May 16, 2011
Other than writing pithy blog posts and tweeting, a big part of what I do to pay the rent is consult. Over the years I’ve become a lot better at it and have, through trial an error, gathered a few nuggets of wisdom that have helped me become not quite as awful at my job. The following is part of my Living in the 21st Century series, this time dedicated to shedding a little light on how consultants can fail. At one time or another I’ve done (or seen) most of these things, which is why it gives me such great joy to shine a spotlight on them.
A recruiting colleague recently suggested that many of the following items apply directly to recruiters as well as consultants, specifically in the area of business development, and that I should adapt this list as a cautionary note for recruiters, and particularly for the business owners who manage them.
Ruth-Dinaz Sarkari
on May 10, 2011
How phone research and Internet sourcing work together
Every now and then, a debate flares up in our business…or should I say, the embers smolder continuously. For example: What type is the best candidate: Active or Passive? What sourcing method is best: Phone versus Internet? So what’s the hoopla all about? Why the passionate arguments? In the squabble of one-upmanship we are forgetting the end destination. The goal is clear – get the best candidate for the position. Period. End of story. Yeah we all agree, nodding our wise heads. So if we agree on the final answer, let’s also agree to get there in the best possible way.
I am all about a balanced approach, a joint effort, a let’s-pull-out-all-the-stops tactic to “finding/looking for” (research & Internet sourcing) and “placing” (recruiting & candidate development) a candidate in their new, awesome opportunity.
Amybeth Hale
on May 4, 2011
What does the future hold for the business of recruiting? At the Fordyce Forum in Las Vegas this year, Barb Bruno will be wrapping up our conference and addressing this very question — what we can expect in the coming months and years in the world of third party recruiting. Barb and I recently had a chance to talk a little about her Fordyce Forum session and she shared some of her thoughts with me in the following podcast. Owners often discuss “Best Practices,” but during her session, Barb will also discuss “Next Practices.” Learn how to ensure your practices are the best now and how you can effectively incorporate new practices to lead the charge into the future.
Jackie Nabat
on Apr. 25, 2011
International Search! Sounds sexy, sophisticated, jet setter-ish, and on target for what is now our Global Economy! It’s all those things and more. While it is exciting, it is more of a headache from a recruitment standpoint; however, like everything in life, it’s all about timing.
Amybeth Hale
on Apr. 8, 2011
Hopefully you don’t have one of these types of recruiters working for you! Question: how do you determine the ‘weakest link’ in your office? And what, if anything, are you doing about it?
Happy Friday, recruiters!
Amybeth Hale
on Apr. 1, 2011
image source: ogimogi
Recruiting is the kind of career that can be as big (or as small) as you want to make it. It’s not the kind of job you can major in at college — it’s either in you, or it isn’t. You are a student of the game – you pursue your own education, you supply your own resources, you discipline yourself to get things done each and every day. You are in an honorable profession – you find people jobs.
So what happens when you get complacent?
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