To achieve big billings on your desk, all you have to do is do what big billers do.
Think the way they think. Treat your clients and candidates in the way that they treat their clients and candidates. Close the deals the way they close the deals. Plan the way they plan. Study the business the same way they study the business. Act as if you already are a mega-producer, and you will start to become one.
There is no mystery to the mechanics of the recruitment industry. Just master the basics of recruiting and do the right things the right way, over and over again. But the biggest challenge you have is your own mortal human nature.
To compensate for this, you must continue to study and study the basics of recruitment over and over again. We have a tendency to do what is quick and easy instead of what is right. By studying the basics over and over again, we compensate for this deficit.
Only two percent will achieve mega-success in our business because only two percent are really willing to do everything that it takes. Do today what others won’t. Have tomorrow what others can’t.
Five recruiting 101 basics
Consider this five-step training plan to master the recruiting basics:
Step #1: Get on board with creating a training or a learning culture in your firm
Even if your firm is resistant to this culture, then take it upon yourself to own your own training. Last month, I received an email from a frustrated recruiter who was employed with a large search firm that invested absolutely nothing in the training of their staff. But fortunately, he shared with me that he “owned” his own training and committed to teach himself the business, even though his manager was tight with the training dollars.
Today your recruiters are screaming for quality training, and because most signs indicate an upturn in the market, today is the day to start investing in their performance. Whenever a recruiter calls me and says that he or she is looking to make a move to a different firm and asks for my advice, I always tell them that generally the firm with the biggest commitment to training is the best one to consider. If they’re not willing to invest in your future, why should you invest in theirs?
Step #2: Admit what you have or have not done to date with your training
Go back to January 1 of this year and add up how much you have personally invested in your own training.
Step #3: Have a colleague hold you accountable with your daily diet of reading
Tell him or her what your goal for the week is for training. Are you going to watch sales training videos over lunch? Will you master the firm’s recruiting software? What tape programs are you checking out of your firm’s training library? What sales books are you going to read this month? What seminars are you going to attend? Do you listen to training tapes and CDs in your car? Are you taking in recruiting webinars?
Step #4: Teach others the basics of recruiting
You learn something once you teach it to others because then you “own” it.
Step #5: Measure
Anything that is measured generally improves over time. Measure the first half of this year’s billings compared to the second half with your training system in place. Once you see how it has specifically improved your production, you will make it an even higher priority next year.
Remember that it is the mastery of the basics of recruiting that gives you mastery over your W-2. Follow this five-step plan, commit to mastering the basic elements of the business, and you will bill more this year than you ever thought possible.
— — —
Scott Love, guest writer for the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Blog and owner of The Attorney Search Group, trains, motivates, and inspires recruiters to achieve greatness in the profession. Visit his online recruiter training center for tips, downloads, videos, and articles that can help you increase your recruiter billings.