“Top-billing search consultants or recruiters are always in the right place at the right time.”
Is this an accurate statement? Sometimes, it seems so. However, the most successful and powerful people in the history of the world are always in the right place at the right time with the insight necessary to succeed. The most successful and powerful search consultants seem to share in that same advantage of “being in the right place at the right time.”
Does this all depend on being lucky? In a word . . . NO! Successful search consultants make their own “luck.” To gain the necessary insight in a situation, a search consultant must do several things. First, ask the right questions. Second, have the judgment to effectively discern the answers or “read the green,” as duffers say.
Information + insight = power recruiting
If you distill everything we have to sell in the placement business down to its essential elements, you only have time and information to sell. Given that time is a static reality providing all of us the same 168 hours each week, the obvious variable in success or failure must be the element of insight.
Insight is simply INFORMATION, in the possession of the individual at a certain time that enables that individual to proceed and make their own luck by exploiting the INFORMATION appropriately. Those are the ingredients required to make a success of a circumstance and an event in time. Therein lies the power! (And therein lies the basis of power recruiting.)
Nearly every placement that failed can trace the cause of its demise to a critical piece of information of which we were not aware; we should have been asked for; or worse, was glossed over in our efforts to “hustle.” Hustle is very critical in a time-sensitive business like ours. Hustle for the sake of speed without direction reminds me of a speedboat without a rudder. Knowing how to evaluate and use the information we gain is the insight that brings success.
The sources of information are many and vary from deal to deal. No one answer is correct for every situation we encounter. The information we require IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE. The basic information given by our client in the form of a job description always falls short of what we need to help them solve critical talent requirements.
Power recruiting for the best candidates
Suppose, for the sake of argument, we take the best qualified candidate and we simply read the “job description” to him or her. Gauge their reaction!
Do they fall all over themselves to leave work for an interview? Put their home up for sale? Leave the political inner-circle at their employer (that they have sweat blood to be accepted into)? Relocate their children? Convince their working spouse to do the same? Completely change their lifestyle just because you and your client want it? Obviously, they need to know a lot of information to accept the offer.
Serious candidates need to know why the job your client wants to fill is an opportunity for their career and family. That is right . . . I said family. In this new millennium, quality of life rules the hearts and minds of our candidates, not greed. Someone grumbles, “Well, it used to be that way.” And it was! This adage is getting enough age on it to be called an “old adage.”
Nine out of 10 candidates turn down offers for reasons other than money. Candidates will accept an offer of employment if the “money is right,” but only after personal, career, and family issues are satisfied.
They also lean very hard on the excuse of inadequate compensation when rejecting an offer. The truth, in many cases, is that hidden issues left unsatisfied or ignored often causes the “turn-down.” In other words, a lack of insightful information killed the deal.
So to engage in power recruiting and be a top-billing search consultant, acquiring and using insightful information is THE key! Make sure you keep all of that insight organized, and consider using a trusted applicant tracking software for recruiters.
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Doug Beabout, CPC, a guest writer for the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Blog, has a career that spans 30 years of expertise in recruiting, personnel services, firm ownership, and training. His tenure in recruiting includes building four highly successful businesses and establishing hundreds for others worldwide. Beabout speaks to state, regional, and private recruiter associations. He is a consultant to many corporations and personnel firms. Beabout is currently owner and president of The Douglas Howard Group, a professional recruiting firm, and conducts several online training programs for recruiters and researchers. He can be reached at 850.424.6933 or via email at trainer@recruiterelearning.com.