During one of my favorite recruitment years, I had the honor of coaching a recruiter (I’ll call him David) who wanted to bill $1 million in one year. He called Paul Hawkinson (then the managing editor of The Fordyce Letter), and Paul recommended that he speak with me.
12 principles of recruitment
Ultimately, David reached his goal during the year that I spent with him as his personal trainer/coach. For your interest, we focused on the following 12 principles that top-producing recruiters possess:
1. They stay on the phone more often than not, usually double to triple the time of the average biller.
2. They make each call with higher quality, not because they are smarter, but because they get more practice by doing it more often.
3. They know they will be successful; they expect success. When they make a placement, they instantly use that excitement and get back on the phone. They use that excitement to make more calls with a higher success rate. They get in the ZONE.
4. They delimit their marketplace by having borders. They identify 1,500 company contacts in their chosen niche and call those contacts every quarter (25 calls per workday). They want to selectively hand-pick the 4% (or 60) who they will develop as clients and with whom they will place.
5. They always know their numbers and ratios.
6. They always market to get new blood and new business and to hone their marketing skills.
7. They always treat this business as a process and not as a series of events.
8. They always plan the previous day and have an MPC (Most Place-able Candidate) ready to market so they can hit the ground running the next day.
9. They know when to turn down a job order and not waste their time.
10. They have a lot on their hot sheet (at least five full deals). They are not dependent on any one deal at any given time.
11. They implement “The Theory of Threes.” This is taking three candidates to three companies and arranging three sendouts with each company—or a total of nine sendouts—thereby tripling their chances for success.
12. They are focused on the right activity. They are disciplined. They know that all deficiencies come down to two areas: either a knowledge deficiency or an execution deficiency. They know how to fix either. They strive for consistency. They know their actions become their habits.
So there we have it. That is our foundation, our principles of recruitment, for those who want to be top-producing recruiters.
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Bob Marshall of TBMG International, founder of The Marshall Plan, has an extensive background in the recruiting industry as a recruiter, manager, vice president, president, consultant, and trainer. In 2015, Bob is celebrating his 35th year in the recruitment business. Marshall can be reached at bob@themarshallplan.org or at 770.898.5550. His website is www.themarshallplan.org.