Independent Recruiters: Tips to Streamline Your Recruiting Process

NPA headquarters is currently recovering from the NPA Global Conference which, as always, was a great event and opportunity for NPA independent recruiters to connect face-to -face and engage in a full day of industry training. This year we had presentations from 5 of recruiting’s most influential and successful trainers, including Greg Doersching.

Greg’s presentation titled “7 Minutes to Heaven: Power Recruiting in a Digital World” really hit home for me, as Co-Director of Membership for NPA, as well as the crowd independent recruiters in the room. Greg’s personality and engagement with the audience definitely had something to do with the delivery of the message, so coming from me it may not be as exciting as I’m making it sound.  I’ve included some of the key take-aways from Greg’s presentation that you should definitely think about putting into play in your office.

The recruiting process is 3 distinct steps 1.) Attraction, 2.) Establish Interest, 3.) Qualify

A couple things to keep in mind:

• Candidates are attracted to details, not generalities
• You are also recruiting the opinions of the candidate’s family and friends

Attraction based job postings will include the role the candidate will play, the company profile, what the company offers the candidate (benefits and features), community offerings, background profile (DON’T say requirements).

Below is an example great recruiting story Greg provided:

Name, Good Morning my name is YOUR NAME, I’m an executive recruiter with Griffin Search Group and we work extensively with POSITION TITLE in the CLIENT INDUSTRY. The reason for my call today is simple, I ran across your profile on SOURCE and based on your background I could really use your help.  Have you got a couple of minutes to help me out? (YES)

Excellent, here’s the situation. 

One of my top client’s, CLIENT NAME is searching for a: POSITION TITLE.  If you’re not that familiar with CLIENT NAME they are…
But more important than that is how this company truly understands what it means to value and appreciate its employees.  They do so many little things that really make a difference beyond just having a good benefit package. For example they…
Now specifically with this role they are looking for a person who will be…
And in case you’re not too familiar with COMMUNITY this is a place that could offer you and your family…

Does this sound like the kind of opportunity you PERSONALLY might like more information on?

If the candidate says “NO”
There are two different types of “no”:
1.  Stoppers – items that pose a major lifestyle hardship. These include spouse’s career, proximity to family, children’s lifestyle and chosen lifestyle.
2.  Misinformation – issues the candidates cares about and you haven’t given them satisfactory information. They are basing their decision on perception, not fact. These include company information, salary issues, community information and responsibility issues.

If the candidate says “YES”
Only pitch the job over the phone. DON’T try to qualify the candidate over the phone. According to Greg, use the example below to continue the conversation:

 “Tom that’s great.  Let me tell you what I’d like to do.  I realize I caught you off guard with this phone call and I’m sure you have many questions but let me do this the right way.  What’s your home email address…? (Write it down)…tonight I’m going to shoot a quick email to your house that will have the formal job description along with some additional company information for you to review.  Look it over, talk to your family and if it’s still something you’re interested in talking to them about this is what I’d need you to do. I’m going to be sending over to you with the job description another document called a Candidate Information Sheet.   When you get the Information Sheet I’d encourage you to take your time and fill it out completely as possible – especially the section marked “hot button questions” these are the areas our client has determined will be critical areas of expertise required for the position.  I will be sharing those answers with the client as part of our submittal package and it will give you a huge advantage over other candidates who will only be submitting a resume and won’t be able to address the specific needs of our client.  Also, I’d complete it and get it back to me as quickly as you can because I know the client is very aggressively interviewing candidates.  Once I get that information back we’ll set up a time again and take it one step at a time from there.”

Greg also included a sample Candidate Information Sheet. This sheet includes questions about the candidates contact information, whether they are actively looking for a job change and why, a compensation outline, what they are looking for in total compensation, hours they are willing to work, willingness to relocate, thoughts about why they would be good for the job, their hobbies/interests away from work, whether they have a non-compete or tuition reimbursement or relocation assistance, their citizenship and additional hot-button questions (these questions are the areas the employer has described as critical to the success of the position).

Finally, Greg spoke about the GOLDEN RULE OF RECRUITING. Never submit a candidate that doesn’t meet these 3 criteria simultaneously:

• 90% of skills outlined
• Willing to accept an offer in the range the client gives
• Motivated by something other than money

I realize this is quite a bit of information to absorb but it might be worth you printing out this outline and making changes to your process where appropriate. I know that I’ve been able to use some of the information Greg provided in my day-to-day sales techniques and can already see the difference.

Greg Doersching is Managing Partner and Founder of The Griffin Search Group, National Search Firm working in the direct hire placement industry. He is an active recruiter who still runs a highly productive desk. He is also the developer and Chief Architect of the highly successful Bullseye Recruiting Process. Greg offers in-house recruiter training and consulting, a full library of audio CD’s, recruiting staff new-hire training programs and keynote presentations.