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 »
Well, I thought it was an original idea. I wanted to create a list of great movies for recruiters to watch. I learned it has been done before! If you google “Best Movies for Recruiters” you will see other lists created by people in the industry. There are some similarities, but a few different ones on my list. Maybe you want to create your own list?
Post your favorite selections or additions below and keep the ideas coming…
Recently I heard about a great iPhone app to help schedule appointments / meetings / calls across multiple time zones. That got me to wondering what other cool recruiting tools are out there that I haven’t heard about, so I did a little research. I’m happy to say I’ve found 3 that I’m excited to share with you: Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s guest post is courtesy of Wilson Cole, founder and president of Adams, Evens & Ross, a collection agency specializing exclusively in the recruitment and staffing industry. AER is an Endorsed Program sponsor of NPAworldwide.
I must get 10 calls a month from prospective clients who ask me for collection help on a past due account, and when I ask if they have sent a final demand letter, 75 percent of them will tell me they have not. Now, I do appreciate that everyone thinks of me when they have a collection problem, and I do not like to turn down business, but I will tell you what I tell them.
I first ask: “Has your debtor told you he is not going to pay?” It does not matter why – it could be he does not have the money, he disputes he ever agreed to your services, or someone has stolen your candidate or temp. If that is the case, then I do not recommend sending out a final demand because it would be a waste of time. But these cases are the exception. My best guesstimate is that only about 10 percent of your collection issues will fall in that category.
The vast majority of your past due clients would benefit from a final demand letter from your company before you turn over the account to me for collection. The fact is that 50 percent of your debtors probably will pay after your final demand letter. Think about that. You could save many thousands of dollars every year in collection fees by simply sending one more letter. But like most things in life, you have to do it the right way. So, let me share with you a few things you can do to help insure the success of your final demand letter.
All successful final demand letters have five key ingredients that work together and make the letter more effective.
Keep in mind what I said at the beginning of this article, and that is you will collect 50 percent of the accounts to whom you send a final demand letter. For those who do not pay, the best that you can do is set up either your attorney or me for success. The fact is that you asked your debtor to pay and said clearly what you would do if payment wasn’t made. Then, when I call, I can leverage your credibility and walk the debtor down the path of events of what will happen if payment isn’t made.
The fact is if you do your job as I outlined, you will need me a lot less in the future. But in the event that your debtor does not pay after your final demand letter, the worst case is that you have set it up so I can be much more successful for you in the collection process.
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 secretary/treasurer of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors.
Over the years my business partner and I have tried many things. Many of those ventures, ideas or new approaches have either not worked well or completely failed. Fortunately… some of those strategies have taken seed and helped us build our recruitment firm. Here are five GOOD decisions that we have made along the way.
Usually the road to success winds through good decisions and bad. The key is to timely dump the bad decisions and be patient and allow the good things to come.
One of the biggest challenges a recruiter faces is trying to manage a schedule and predict the events of the day in an industry of constant change. What happens when you face an unexpected fall-off, a position goes on hold, or your client changes their requirements? You won’t get far in this business if you just give up – you have to adjust your strategy and plan your time to accommodate everything that’s on your plate.
Here are 5 time management tips for recruiters:
1) Be selective with your search assignments – It’s easy to try and take on as many assignments as you can, but you don’t want to overload yourself and not be able to deliver for a client. Working on the wrong assignment will cost you time and money, as well as potential future assignments with clients.
2) Be selective with your candidates – When you post a job, you’ll be inundated with a plethora of resumes and phone calls from candidates. Only a small percentage will actually be relevant to the role and your client, so screen much more selectively or you’ll be wasting more time and money with unplaceable candidates.
3) Create a plan and stick to it as best you can – Before you leave for the day, make a list of the names of candidates or clients you will call the next day. It’s easy to get distracted by a phone call or check your emails more often than needed, so it’s important to have a plan of attack for each day, rather than winging it and realizing at the end of your day all you’ve done is ‘busy work’ which doesn’t generate revenue.
4) Limit work hours to work – If you work from home or are a solo recruiter, the line of work life and home life might start to blend. It’s best to have set hours and during those set hours, close your door, screen out personal calls, and limit internet use to your sourcing activities and work emails only. You may think you’re only spending 5 minutes checking your personal email, but it can interrupt your train-of-thought and flow relating to your search assignments.
5) Prioritize goals – It’s easy to feel busy and have a lot on your ‘to do’ list, but if you’re not producing placements, it’s just wasted time and energy. You may be hitting your goal on how many calls to make, but if you’re not qualifying the right candidates and making placements, the number of phone calls is irrelevant. Replying to every email and application will keep you busy, but won’t necessarily generate revenue. Not everything is urgent — prioritize your tasks and condense your to-do list to the most essential and important goals.
Have you ever compared your recruitment firm to a jigsaw puzzle? It’s interesting to compare the two. There are borders, fine details, vast elements, background space, and the box where all the pieces gather together.
When putting a puzzle together- you work through trying to find the right pieces to put in the right places. Once they are in place, they fit and make a picture that is clear and defined.
According to CreativeGrid, they defined that recruitment firm guidelines can be strategically arranged based on jigsaw puzzles.
The Process Puzzle: Each firm has strategic questions of how they manage their process. What recruiting services are you selling? What niche do you work in? How do you manage customer satisfaction? How do you generate referrals? All of these questions define the process piece of your puzzle.
The People Puzzle: People are a complicated balance of personalities, strengths, desire and drive. These pieces can be more challenging to put in place than process. Focusing on your own strengths and your team’s strengths make it possible to grow and achieve new levels. This also applies to working with your clients. Over time, you become quite familiar with their strengths, and know where you can rely on them. And in return, they also rely on you in the same fashion.
Puzzle Vision: The vision is the end result. You know what you want your firm to look like. You know how you organized and guided each piece into place. You have a clear vision of your process and the people involved that help bring you success. If you are still looking for this picture- the first step is visualizing what you want the end result to look like.
I recently read a blog from Greg Savage, Is Agency recruitment going to be Uber-ised? The answer here. Greg’s premise is that there are a ton of new start-ups in the recruitment space offering the latest and greatest idea to revolutionize recruitment with technology. Many, if not most, of these start-ups are offering new tools that seek to streamline or improve the “matching” part of the process.
But here’s the thing: recruitment is so much MORE than matching. Read the rest of this entry »
As a recruiter, it is critical to maximize your time and avoid wasting time on unqualified or unresponsive candidates by applying smart search strategies to find the right talent from the get-go.
Across nearly 1,000 respondents in a global recruiting survey, conducted by Social Talent and Alexander Mann Solutions, the survey found that the average recruiting pipeline converts at a rate of 0.4 percent, meaning the average recruiter needs to find 282 candidates in order to make 1 hire. Read the rest of this entry »
Recruitment relies heavily on searching for talent online. While there are many benefits of this, many studies done through Forbes, The Undercover Recruiter and MediaBistro have reported many obstacles as well. Many talented candidates cannot be found online at all, or may have out of date profiles that do not accurately highlight their experience. Read the rest of this entry »