When you think of all the work that goes into marketing your services, writing a job order, and working that order—it’s vital that you choose to work only job orders that have the best chance of resulting in a placement.
It’s interesting that we all ask the same question: “How soon do you need to fill this position”? What’s even more amazing is that the most common answer listed on the majority of job orders is “ASAP!”
What exactly does that mean? Do they want to hire before the end of the day, week, month, or quarter? Do they really need to fill this position at all?
It’s very important to determine that a problem exists as a result of this opening. If someone is covering the responsibilities of this job and they’re saving a salary, the urgency may decrease. On the other hand, if someone is threatening to quit because they’re working two jobs, the urgency increases.
One way to test the immediacy of a position is to ask for interviewing times when you take the job opening. Whether you’re placing secretaries or executives, you know the time frame you need to fill a position.
When you ask for interviewing times, you’ve accomplished two very important things. You have your client’s commitment to interview your candidates, and just as important, you’ve made a commitment to your client to prioritize this position.
When you ask for specific interviewing times, you’ll be shocked at some of the responses you’ll hear. Clients get very used to answering, “ASAP!” When you ask for interviewing times, this same person will then inform you that they’ll be in Europe for the next six weeks.
Or you may hear that they don’t want to start interviewing until after they’ve completed interviewing their “internal” candidates. Even worse, you may find out that they’ve been interviewing for this position for the past six months and haven’t found the perfect person.
If you start to only work job orders where you have interviewing times, you’ll experience more success. You’re ensured send-outs (candidates interviewed by decision makers), which is your primary focus. You will not waste your time working on job orders that will never provide you with production.
Soon your clients will automatically give you interviewing times when they list a position. This absolutely takes the guesswork out of deciding where to direct your recruiting efforts.
Request interviewing times on all of your job orders for the next 90 days, and watch your production increase!
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Barb Bruno, CPC/CTS is a guest writer for the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Blog, and you can hire her for your next conference or event or for in-house training. Barb’s training techniques have guided thousands of recruiters to a higher level of sales and profits. She is best known for her methodical, easy-to-implement strategies that she shares with her audiences. Her enthusiasm is contagious! If you would like to hire Barb, please call 219.663.9609, email support@staffingandrecruiting.com, or visit Good as Gold Training online.