Temp and contract placements continue to be a source of growing revenue for many members of our split placement network. Even if your firm doesn’t have a dedicated temp division, you can still fill contract roles. While the fee may seem meager compared to a hefty fee on a permanent placement’s yearly salary, the monthly fee for a temp/contract worker adds up, and adds to your bottom line. Read the rest of this entry »
Contract Placements Add Up!
by Liz CareyThe Exporter’s Guide to the Split Placement Network
by Liz Carey
In a recruiting network, you have several different types of recruiters: importers – the recruiter working for clients who has job orders to fill, exporters – the recruiter working with candidates who solely refers talent to importers, and recruiters who do a combination of importing and exporting.
It’s a great system – an importer can simply post their job order and an exporter may find a perfect match by searching their database and sending one along. But it can only work correctly if both sides are on the same page. No importer wants to be spammed by an exporter with 100 resumes of candidates that don’t match what they’re looking for whatsoever, and no exporter wants to waste their time providing quality referrals to someone who doesn’t give any feedback. Read the rest of this entry »
Looking Elsewhere During a Candidate Shortage
by Liz Carey
Hundreds of thousands of IT jobs go unfilled every year, because demand for talent exceeds the supply. The challenge in IT hiring is often that recruiters need to find candidates with both the talent AND the personality to thrive in the role – they want someone who will fit culturally.
So what does a recruiter do when they have a ton of job orders to fill, but their candidate well has run dry? This article describes a solution that is on the rise with tech firms – hiring veterans. Read the rest of this entry »
What makes a good client?
by Liz Carey
It takes a lot of time and filled job orders for a recruiter to develop a good relationship with a client – as a recruiter, you must produce results, build trust and be dependable for your clients. But a relationship is a two-way street and it takes more than an employer saying “just find me this candidate” and paying you a fee to cultivate a successful business partnership.
The client has a huge role in getting the job order filled as well, and can’t just take the back seat. They must make time to discuss the requirement with you, provide thorough candidate feedback, have an efficient hiring process, and respect the fee structure.
Here are 5 common problems with clients that recruiters face: Read the rest of this entry »
Siri, can you find me a good candidate?
by Liz Carey
Recruiting is being transformed by technology. It wasn’t that long ago that finding a candidate for a client’s job order involved placing advertisements in newspapers and industry magazines. Technology has changed the face of the industry forever – you have to be mobile, social, and on top of these advances. Social networking, apps, and analytics has made recruiting a more efficient process, but we might be seeing technology take even more of a role in finding the perfect candidate for a role, using algorithms – or a piece of software that uses data, skills testing, and intelligence related to a particular industry or niche to match the best candidate to a role. Read the rest of this entry »
4 Ways to Get Your Feet Wet in a Split Placement Network
by Liz Carey
Joining a recruitment network can open up a world of opportunities for a recruiter – new trading partners to do splits with, access to recruiters and candidates outside of your niche and geographic area, and a group of peers to brainstorm with and bounce ideas off of. But for a “newbie” joining an established network, it can sometimes seem like everybody already knows each other, so how do you make a name for yourself? Here are 4 tips on how to get your feet wet in a split placement network:
1-Where to start
You have to get your name out there. Make it a point to call one network member each week/month. Recruiters are busy and they don’t often have time to keep tabs on and reach out to every new recruiter who joins the network. By being proactive and introducing yourself, you’ll stand out from the crowd and be able to develop relationships with other trading partners faster. You never know who is looking for help from a recruiter who specializes in exactly what you do or where you work. It’s important to reach out by phone, and not just hide behind a computer screen. You might find a position that another recruiter posted online that interests you, but it’s in both of your best interests for you to reach out and connect with that recruiter to find out more about the role and the client before you waste anyone’s time.
2-Communication matters
The most successful trading partner relationships work because both recruiters are open and honest. The recruiter with the job order will likely share every single piece of information about a role, including his client’s information, if he/she trusts the exporter he/she is working with. It’s important for the exporter to get clarity on the role and the company culture in order to completely understand what the client is looking for and find the right fit. The recruiter with the job order will also keep his trading partner informed and “in the loop” of any new developments in the hiring process. By being completely transparent, the two partners will develop a sense of trust in one another, leading to a smooth hiring process and a solid relationship where they know they can turn to each other for help in the future.
3-Meetings and the importance of getting your name out there
Attend meetings and trading group calls so people can put a face and/or voice to your name. The more people hear from you, the more likely they are going to think you are active and reliable, and might be able to help them. When you go to meetings, you learn an incredible amount, but you also learn more about one another. Recruiters have limited time during the day to have in-depth conversations, so by going to the meetings, you get to know someone’s style a bit more and learn a bit more about their clients or things they’re hoping to do. Personal connections really do help.
4-Find a peer coach or mentor
If your network offers peer coaches or mentors, sign up for one immediately. They know who the “players” in the network are, and will be happy to help connect you. This business isn’t the easiest in the world, and it helps to have someone you can ask questions to or bounce ideas off of — maybe you can learn from them about a certain type of technology, or about their experience working with a particular affiliate. Everybody works differently, so it’s nice to hear firsthand how someone has worked with different people in the network.
How did you get your start in a split network?
Preventing the Process of Counteroffers
by Liz Carey
On a recent trading group call, Scott Love of GreatRecruiterTraining.com gave a presentation on counteroffers. For a recruiter, it is crushing to have a candidate who’s already accepted your client’s offer renege and accept a counteroffer from their current employer. You saw the light at the end of the tunnel, the placement fee was almost in your pocket, and now it’s back to the drawing board. What Scott Love told recruiters was: an easy way to keep candidates from taking counteroffers is to prevent the process. But how can you prevent it?
Have a conversation with the candidate — not the night before they’re putting their notice in, but earlier in the process, before or after the first interview. It behooves a recruiter to assess the risk of any candidate they are considering presenting to their client considering a counteroffer. Read the rest of this entry »
Five great quotes for recruiters
by Liz Carey
I recently read a blog about the five best quotes for recruiters. It included thoughts from Apple founder Steve Jobs to Chinese philosopher Confucius that could be applied to the recruiting world. It inspired me to create my own list of five of my favorite quotes, and how they can be applied to the recruiting world.
1. The harder you work, the Luckier you get. – Plato
Recruitment is a tough business, and it takes a lot more work than just posting a job order and crossing your fingers. Success takes time, effort and perseverance – not only in getting job orders from clients by building a solid relationship over time, but gaining trust and a good reputation among candidates by providing them with timely feedback and coaching. Read the rest of this entry »
How to “Break In” to a Recruitment Network
by Liz Carey
New recruiters come into a recruitment network to expand their reach, build their revenues, and to better serve clients and candidates. But If you’ve never been in a split network, what’s the learning curve? How does it work? How long will it take to get that first split placement fee in your pocket? Where do you start?
Here’s how a recently new NPAworldwide member closed her first deal. First, she reached out to the network’s headquarters, asking if there’s anyone we suggest she connect with, as a financial services / accounting / banking industry recruiter in the greater New York City area. Staff sent her several names and phone numbers, and she reached out.
Second, she attended a new member community call that the network held. The call was hosted by a longtime member who shared his tips on how to make more splits. She also attended another network call on how to procure international business from your existing clients.
Third, she was responsive to two other NY-based members who reached out to her and who have a very similar focus on the financial service and hedge fund space. These two recruiters invited her to lunch in Manhattan, where they both work, so they could meet face-to-face and discuss their success on NPAworldwide and how they can help her optimize the power of the NPA network, according to one of the recruiters.
“I believe this was a pivotal point in defining our relationship and success going forward,” he said. “Following our in person lunch, we summarized some immediate action points and agreed to send each other some open requirements.”
One such role was a Senior Compliance Officer in the hedge fund sector based in San Francisco that he had been working on for four months and was unable to fill.
Within a week, the new NPA recruiter that he reached out to sent him a great candidate, which his client wanted to interview right away. The phone interview went well, and the candidate was invited for an in-person interview the next week with the hiring manager and two partners. They made an offer, and the candidate started last month at a $150,000 salary. With a placement fee of 20%, the two recruiters split a $30,000 commission.
So within 3 weeks of joining NPA, this new recruiter had her first deal closed. She and the other NY-based recruiter now have two additional requirements that are in varying stages of success. She said one of the things that makes the partnerships successful is that the two recruiters who reached out to her are very quick to get her feedback. Openness and transparency shows a level of trust that can reassure a new member that recruiting isn’t always a dog eat dog world.
“That’s a tribute to their professionalism and the strength of their relationships and it makes my team and I want to work on their assignments,” she said. “Anyone in this business for any length of time knows that is not always the case with partners or clients and it is appreciated and it’s the stuff long lasting relationships are made of.”
This deal not only shows the power of the network, but the power of folks who take the time to reach out to a new person and introduce themselves. Your first placement will happen, and it’s in your hands to reach out to likeminded members to facilitate the process.
Warning Signs That You’re Becoming “Yesterday’s Hero”
by Liz Carey
Global recruitment leader Greg Savage of the Savage Truth recently posted a video stating that the recruitment landscape is littered with “yesterday’s heroes” – recruiters who don’t evolve and are stagnating.
Here are some of Savage’s warning signs you are becoming one of “yesterday’s heroes”: Read the rest of this entry »