“Timing is everything” the old saying goes, and a true statement as we head into the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 for hiring. Sometimes, business success can be attributed to knowing and understanding these annual recruitment cycles and planning out accordingly. Each quarter should be detailed in your business plan, accounting for a heavy start, quiet summer, and strong close if you are recruiting in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Recognition programs have been around you since at least your preschool days when you earned those coveted gold stars in the classroom. Each person appreciates seeing their work recognized, and those that are competitive especially enjoy seeing themselves appear as outstanding. Independent recruiters working smaller offices can forget this at times when their recruiters hit goal targets, close placements, or even hit a work anniversary. Here are five good recognition ideas for recruiters. Read the rest of this entry »

While some independent recruiters argue that they do not start their searches for clients with job boards, I have seen many successful placements come from our job board to know that it not only helps with those mass searches for 5-10 sales managers, but specialized positions as well. Candidates may post a resume out of frustration on those job boards or it may just hit a search alert that sparks their interest. It is amazing how many job board there are right now, and in an effort to best use your recruiter budget, here are some of the best out there, using data gathered by Software Advice with the help of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA) and the National Human Resources Association (NHRA). Read the rest of this entry »

“Closing is a process, not an event.” In any industry, objections will be heard and given quite often. In the life of an independent recruiter, this is amplified as objections can be given by clients AND candidates, sometimes over and over again in one deal or conversation. Paul Hawksinson, Publisher of The Fordyce Letter, updated the handbook on overcoming objection for Recruiting, Search, Placement, and Staffing Professionals, and some of his best tips are included below, and helpful to use as a guide or even a refresh when feeling stuck. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems to be a typical practice in the world of independent recruiting to present or pitch a candidate on that first cold/sales call with a potential client. It is a bit of a baiting method, as you outline exactly what they need, but do not offer the candidate up officially until the contract is signed. Not only does it offer the client something immediate, but shows you know how to deliver value in your space. Here are five other collective cold calling strategies for recruiters to keep in mind as they work business development: Read the rest of this entry »

A problem I was having for quite some time was ease of scheduling call times with recruiters of independent firms to qualify them for membership in NPAworldwide. On average, it took about 2 to 3 emails to nail down a call, and then there was about a 50% chance that they would cancel, forget, or just get carried off by a herd of non-purple squirrels never to be seen again. After a few trial and errors with online calendar tools that did not seem to sync appropriately, I stumbled on https://youcanbook.me/ a site from the UK that has made my life much simpler. First and foremost, this tool is FREE. Well, the version I use is, and it does the trick, so I will stick with explaining the features and benefits I have found with that version. YouCanBook.me is booking software that integrates with your Google or iCloud Calendar. When you sign up, you get a personalized scheduling page so your customers can book you online. The look is very clean and professional: Read the rest of this entry »

As the Director of Membership for NPAworldwide, I get many questions from independent recruitment firms looking to join our split placement network. One that I am hearing quite often is, “What ATS do most of your recruiters use?” Some criteria I hear from firms that they rate an ATS by include: ease of use for applicants, company size and field, social networking and job posting capacity, search functions, and user support services. Since I am not a recruiter or expert myself, I took to social media to see what other firms are saying about their ATS, and here are some good bullet points I pulled out: Read the rest of this entry »

In an online recruitment group on Facebook, many heated conversations tend to happen, with each person having an opinion or comment on the question asked. This one I found quite interesting, “If you were teaching someone brand new to the industry what the difference was between a recruiter and a sourcer, what would you say?” As I have heard of independent firms using sourcers overseas to collect candidates, I was interested in diving further in to the conversation. Here are some of the thoughts I came across of varying opinions: Read the rest of this entry »