Recruiting Resources

Today’s guest blogger is Wilson Cole. He is the CEO of BackdoorHires.com and Adams, Evens & Ross, the nation’s largest credit and collection agency designed exclusively for the staffing and recruiting industry. In 2008 he was inducted into INC Magazine’s, “INC 500” for being the CEO of Adams, Evens & Ross, the 307th fastest-growing privately held company in America. Adams, Evens, & Ross has helped more than 3,000 staffing and recruiting firms recover more than $1 billion in past-due debt and is an NPAworldwide Endorsed Program.

There are 5 main things people get flat out wrong about recruitment placement fees. Most of the things people get wrong are before they even have a candidate get back door hired and have to go chasing down the money they have already earned. Number 1 is getting a contract signed. Number 2 is avoiding arbitration clauses in your contract. Number 3 is knowing you have the right to remain silent when someone does not pay you. Number 4 is knowing when to turn it over for collections. Lastly, number 5 is never telling your client you have voided their contract. If you can do these 5 things, you will help yourself out tremendously in not getting back door hired in the first place, but also making it much easier to collect the debt. Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s guest blogger is Bill Benson with WilliamCharles Search Group located in Grand Rapids, MI. WilliamCharles is an executive search and professional recruiting firm specialized in finding managerial and executive talent in finance, HR, operations, sales/marketing as well as president/CEO roles. They have a concentration of clients in Michigan but they also work across the US. Bill is the chairman of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors.

Time kills deals in our business. Anything you can do to move things faster will help you win the battle against time. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all heard a talent shortage exists. However, what are employers reporting in regards to the first quarter of 2020 hiring? Manpower has released their projections for the first quarter that answer that question. More than 11,500 interviews were conducted with employers within the United States, including all 50 states,the top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), theDistrict of Columbia and Puerto Rico, to measure hiring intentions for the first quarter of 2020 My post today will provide an overview of the findings. I encourage you to review the survey results in more detail.

% of Employers Expecting to Add Payrolls

Employers in 22 percent of U.S. businesses surveyed expect to add to payrolls in the first quarter of 2020, with 5 percent anticipating a decrease and 72 percent expecting no change. It is definitely a job seeker’s market with these types of results.

Top 5 Industry Sector Results

While Employers in all 13 U.S sectors expected to grow payrolls during the first quarter, these 5 industries had the largest increase expected:

1. Leisure & Hospitality (+30%)
2. Construction (+22%)
3. Professional & Business Services (+22%)
4. Wholesale& Retail Trade (+22%)
5. Transportation & Utilities (+19%)

Regional Comparisons
The Midwest Outlook takes the lead by matching the strongest reported since 2001, with 23% of of employers expecting workforce gains. Regionally after that was:

• South (21% net employment outlook)
• West (17% net employment outlook)
• Northeast (15% net employment outlook)

Global Outlook

Manpower also surveyed a total of 58,000 employers across 43 countries to report on a global outlook and employers in 42 of 43 countries and territories surveyed expect to grow payrolls. The strongest labor markets are anticipated in Greece, Japan, Taiwan, the U.S. and Romania, while the weakest hiring activity is expected in Panama, Argentina, Costa Rica, Italy and Spain.

What impact does this have on independent recruiters? While many exist, I suggest the following:

• As an independent recruiter, bump up your business development efforts to retain new clients affected by talent shortage.
• Employers unwilling to work with recruiters during the past four years may be more willing now to seek the professional assistance of an independent recruiter with such a tough candidate market, new techniques need to be employed to uncover passive talent.
• If you are focused on one niche only, consider changing your niche or adding to your current niche, especially in areas where the market is not as tight.
• Develop a recruiter networking group of trusted trading partners around the world to assist you with filling difficult jobs and placing candidates who can’t find a job locally.

Today is the last post for the Independent Recruiter Blog for 2019 – we’ll be back on Tuesday, January 7th. As you wind down for the holidays, here are some of our top recruiting blog posts from the year so you can catch up on any you’ve missed.

Replace No with Yes, But … In recruitment it is not always easy to get what you want or even what is needed to deliver top talent. Sometimes you just need to walk away and say NO to something that is headed the wrong way. Before sealing the deal’s fate with a NO, why not try what some refer to as the evil twin of YES, AND…try a YES, BUT.

Three Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Interviews: How to Create an ATS-Friendly Resume … While software automation has simplified the recruitment process for recruiters, staffing specialists, human resources professionals and employers, it has made the hiring process much more challenging for job seekers, applicants and candidates. Nowadays, Application Tracking Systems (ATS) are becoming continuously more sophisticated each day, and as a consequence, a resume won’t get selected to move forward and be reviewed by a human unless it satisfies a custom-programed, specific set of keywords and criteria for a particular position.

The Number 1 Thing to Do in an Interview … What’s the number one thing to do in an interview? It’s so simple and effective! We talk about doing sufficient research about the company, preparing for an interview with answers for the most likely questions and of course being ready with your questions. However, none of this is going to work if you don’t do one thing. Smile!

What Happens if You Receive a Counteroffer? … Changing jobs can be a huge source of stress, even when you *know* it’s the right decision. It’s common to feel sad or anxious, or even a little bit guilty even if you are excited about the new opportunity. On top of all those emotions, you have to actually resign – you know, tell your boss you’re leaving. And that’s when they hit you with the counteroffer. Maybe you didn’t see it coming, or maybe you should have, but either way it’s on the table and now you have to deal with it.

Is the Cover Letter Dead? … On our recruitment network forum, one recruiter asked recently asked: “Do you read the Resume or Cover Letter first?” The overwhelming response was, with all the applications recruiters receive, most do not have time to read a cover letter at all. So, does that mean a candidates shouldn’t write one at all? Not at all.

Are there particular topics you’d like to see us discuss in this recruiting blog? Drop a note in the comments below! In the meantime, we wish all of you a very safe and happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

In today’s world, business keeps moving faster and faster. Staying current with technology is a challenge in and of itself. So, who has time to analyze the past?

Bill Benson, Chair of NPAworldwide’s Board of Directors, believes in taking time at the end of the year to take inventory on what is going well and what could be going better. A recruitment firm owner needs to ask themselves what are they expecting next year. Let’s assume that your competition is improving and business may be tougher to get in 2020. Thinking this way forces you improve your game.

1. Get back to basics! Conduct a self-audit to make sure that you are continuing to do the little things right – small details can make a big difference! Look at your processes for interviewing candidates, presenting candidates to clients, prepping candidates for interviews, reference checking, qualifying candidates and clients. Ask the hard questions of your clients and candidates in order to further qualify Interest levels. This is a good time of year to ferret out any bad habits.
2. Use social media to help stay more connected to your clients. You don’t need to be a social media maven to use technology to your advantage. Skip Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and focus on Linked In. “Like” your clients on linked In. Set Google alerts for your clients to stay informed when they are in the news. This insight will give you angles and opportunities to communicate and even pitch a candidate. Share articles that you believe are informative to your client personas.
3. Start dating your clients again. We often can get busy focused on current assignments and fail to stay more connected to long standing clients. Understand you have competitors that you didn’t know exist that are calling on them. Take them to lunch over the holidays or call them to simply see how they are doing. You build trust with your clients by showing this type of interest.
4. Schedule follow-up calls. Use your calendar system to give yourself reminders to make calls. An Example: Set a 30, 90, 180 and 360 phone call reminder with your placed candidates. Why? If a problem exists… some early intervention might avert a fall off! This follow up also shows you care as much as you hoped they believed when you placed them in the first place. These people are your best referral sources. Set similar call reminders with your clients, referral sources and key NPA partners. Set a 12 month out call every time you take a job order. Do this whether you fill the position or not. It might be a cyclical need and your 12 month out follow up call might hit at exactly the right time. You will more likely hit your call goal if you have a rolling list of these phone calls popping into your calendar every day. Anything you can do to structure your day will give you positive results.
5. Stay focused! Let’s face it…most of us have attention or focus issues! Block your time into hourly segments of “focused time” to work jobs and stay on the phone. Start each day with a list of calls and 2-3 jobs where to place your focused time. Set goals that help you track daily progress. Daily planning and phone discipline are still the top predictors of success in our business.
6. Training. Use a training platform to help you “sharpen the saw.” This is Stephen Covey’s Habit number 7. At WilliamCharles Search Group we use Next Level Exchange. Also look for webinars and other training material. 

Finally, always remember that when you go back to the start of the placement (way back to when you received the job order) and take it all apart, you find things that could have been done better. Good luck to all recruiters in the New Year!

We are beginning the process of transitioning to a new association management software tool. This creates a terrific opportunity for us to reconsider our database structure, processes, and workflows. We will look to create new efficiencies, while reducing or eliminating inefficient, duplicated, or manual work. If you’re considering a new ATS product, you may have some of the same opportunities to critically review your recruitment database. Here are a few things we’re exploring that may not be “top of mind” in your business: Read the rest of this entry »