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7 Questions to Help Independent Recruiters Take Better Job Orders

by Dave Nerz

It is a tough market for independent recruiters, right? The work you do to fill an open position is 2 to 3 times more than what was necessary before the recession. Clients are slow to move and seem to change their minds about what they want, require and expect with each candidate that you expose them to.

So, are you taking good job orders?

  • Is the client being asked to think their requirements through? Or are you doing mind reading?
  • Is there agreement about what the client asks for? Is it written down and confirmed in writing?

Maybe you have a recruitment process; feel free to share your recruiting process via comments to this blog. If you don’t have a formal process, it may be because you have an informal process that has been working…good for you. Does it ever fail you? Maybe you don’t want to “waste the client’s time” when you know what they mean and you have candidates ready to go or can tap into a recruiter networking group to support you with a quick turn on candidates. As a frequent hiring manager at one point in my career, I can tell you my requirements changed from hire to hire, even with repetitive fills. Sometime you just need different skill sets to work with your team chemistry. Maybe a special skill is required to work a special project or with a specific client. I would not assume anything, as the cost of making that assumption is a waste of your time and the time of your recruiter networking group. Independent recruiters who work on a contingency basis only get paid for the time invested that makes a match. Are you really interested in taking on additional risk?

What if you created a simple form that collected some basic information about the job and then asked 7 straightforward questions of the hiring manager?

Basics: Company, Location of the Job, Job Title, etc

Question 1:  Money

  • Base Salary Range…more for exceptional candidates?
  • Bonus…how realistic is a bonus? Based on what?
  • Commission or other compensation available?
  • Benefits…fit to the market…better/same/worse?

Question 2:  Process

  • Who is available to interview?  Three reserved dates  _________, __________, __________.
  • What is the date you want this hire to start?

Question 3:  Required Skills and Background

Must haves:

  • bullet 
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Question 4:  Not required but would make a candidate a standout. Dig deep here…get 3 good things!

  • bullet 
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Question 5:  Why would the candidate choose to leave a good employer and take this position?

  • bullet 
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These better be good…career path, company equity, flexible hours, high quality co-workers, etc.

Question 6:  The key duties of this job

  • bullet 
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Question 7:  What will this candidate accomplish in the first 3 to 6 months if they are off to a great start?

  • bullet 
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Sign it, and ask the hiring manager to sign it, too. Now I can sleep. I hope you will sleep better and make more placements. I know that doing this will separate you from the crowd of independent recruiters that don’t take the time to do this. It is a good investment and it brands you as a quality recruiter.

5 Best Practices for Independent Recruiters Using Facebook

by Dave Nerz

facebook logoFacebook, Facebook, Facebook! Even more with a flawed IPO, Facebook is still a topic of conversation and debate. If you are an independent recruiter that thinks Facebook is a fad that will go away soon, my guess is that you are also big into rotary dial phones and typewritten letters. Although the peak of popularity will at some point crest, it seems that Facebook will be with us for the foreseeable future. So as an independent recruiter, perhaps with the aspiration of becoming a global recruiter, how are you using Facebook in your recruitment process?

  1. Add Valuable Content
    • Post quality content that job seekers would find useful or relevant
    • Make sure your posts for your recruiting organization include a visual
    • Consider video where appropriate
  2. Systemize Your Use of Facebook
    • Connect to other software applications to auto feed birthdays or milestone events
    • Make it a routine so that it gets done on the same day every week
    • If you use xobni.com integration with Outlook, it will show you who is on Facebook
  3. Promote Your Facebook Presence
    • Promote on items that candidates will see…every email, business cards, job postings, website, letterhead, and online adverts
    • Advertize where candidates gather, including in your office and reception areas. Facebook is a global phenomenon. The use of Facebook can enhance your status in a global recruiters marketplace.
  4. Tell and Ask
    • Tell candidates and employees that your recruiting organization is on Facebook
    • Ask if they are on Facebook
    • Ask employees, candidates, clients and suppliers to “Like” your site
  5. Engage in the Conversation
    • Make sure you reply to others’ comments and posts; no one likes to be ignored
    • Allow/insist that your staff engage in the conversation too; people get tired of the same voice all the time

Facebook is here to stay and for independent recruiters to compete in a global recruiters marketplace every opportunity to promote your recruiting organization must be leveraged.  Keep it simple, make it routine and your Facebook presence will become easy to maintain.

P.S. Please connect with NPA at http;//www.facebook.com/npaworldwide

image courtesy of etechmag.com

Recruiting Trends: College Grad Hiring to Increase in 2012

by Dave Nerz

It looks like 2012 grads will have a better chance of employment than their recent predecessors. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has released its annual Job Outlook Survey. The survey is likely good news for both grads and recruiting organizations that provide recruiting resources to recent grads. A separate NACE survey shows  specifically that employers plan to increase hiring of college graduates by 9.5% in 2012, while the current survey details desirable skills or qualities sought by those making hiring decisions for recent college graduates.

The ten most desirable abilities that employers seek in new graduate hires are: Read the rest of this entry »

Recruiting Specialization: Risky or Smart Business?

by Dave Nerz

The recruiting trainers preach recruiting specialization. The more you become an expert in a particular specialty niche, the less likely that you will become irrelevant to the customers you serve. The concept I have heard is pick an area of specialty that is one inch wide, then learn it and work it a mile deep. Sounds like good advice, but it also is not without risk. Read the rest of this entry »

The future of recruiting is doomed?

by Dave Nerz

19079396Let me share a few headlines from some articles that are predicting the future of recruiting…

  • Job Boards Will Replace Recruiters
  • LinkedIn and Facebook Will Replace Job Boards
  • Why Facebook will Destroy LinkedIn
  • LinkedIn and Facebook to Face Challenge from Google+

OK, I’m confused. If we were to believe every headline, it seems like the recruiting business is doomed to be replaced. It also seems that anyone that becomes the next best thing will be replaced by another next best thing! Read the rest of this entry »

Global Recruiting Demand is Strong!

by Dave Nerz

Recruiting is back! OK, we have all attended conferences and meetings over the past few years and the attendees put on brave faces. The comments were about how it took more time and effort to do a similar level of placements. There were even those quoting a percentage reduction in volume down from peak years of recruiting results. “I’m off 30 percent,” or “We did 60 percent of our prior best year in 2010.” Well, things have changed! Read the rest of this entry »

UK Recruiting vs. US Recruiting

by Dave Nerz

applesI had a wonderful opportunity to visit the UK last week for the Recruitment Agency Expo in London. I am going to generalize and we know generalization is dangerous, but what I found is that recruiting and the challenges seem to be similar in the UK to those that I see in the US. Here are some of the similarities I recognized during my brief introduction: Read the rest of this entry »

Starting a Recruiting Business: Recruitment Franchise vs. Recruiting Networks

by Dave Nerz

As the global economy rebounds from the depths of the Global Financial Crisis it seems recruitment businesses are poised to return to the days of a talent short market. Even in the worst days of the recession, there were employers with job orders for tough-to-fill openings. Those tough-to-fill openings are now being joined by the merely difficult to fill as well as the roles that are always being filled. This makes recruiting and starting a recruiting business look appealing to many who chose to wait until now to take the risk of starting a search firm.

If you are making the leap into a new business you are faced with options. The two options that those starting a recruiting business most frequently consider are the “Go It Alone” model and the “Recruiting Franchise” model. Read the rest of this entry »

Talent Shortage or Training Shortage?

by Dave Nerz

The US unemployment figures hover around 9%, yet employers cannot find the talent they require. And this talent shortage is not limited to the US. Reports are that we are in the midst of a global talent shortage. The global recruiters I talk with never fail to mention how selective employers are about the hires they are making. Employers seem willing to have jobs sit open for months as they seek the “perfect fit candidate” rather than a close fit option…and never hire the unemployed. Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone Can Be an Independent Recruiter, Right?

by Dave Nerz

I have attended several webinars that educate recruiters on how to build lists of hard-to-find candidates. Sometime these webinars are offered by those selling tools that make the process of list generation easier. You know the names: LinkedIn Recruiter Professional, ZoomInfo, and the Boolean search string education seminars. To the non-recruiter, it seems that candidate list generation is what is difficult about recruiting…finding more quality candidates. Even if refining a list of 1000 candidates down to the 20 top prospects is demanding, it is the next step that is really where recruiters separate themselves from researchers. Read the rest of this entry »

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