Split Placements

I have been reading the blogs and content on LinkedIn regarding recruiting scripts for cold-calling candidates. Sometime we can complicate the most simple things. You can and should create your own recruiting scripts, based on what is most comfortable for you. Here are some basics to consider:

• Open the call by saying who you are and what you do…your SPECIALTY RECRUITING NICHE. You need to have a specialty that aligns with the candidate’s background. If you do not, the call may not produce value for the cold-called candidate. And why would a candidate invest time in you if they get nothing in return?
• Explain to the candidate how you can provide value to them as an expert in the specialty area. Here are a few examples:
  • Act as a BENCHMARKING tool for them on career progression, salary, etc.
  • COACH them on career moves that might be suitable.
  • Act as a source of NEWS on what is happening with people and companies in the industry.
  • Offer VISIBLITY TO CAREER OPPORTUNITIES in their area of interest
  • Ask if they are interested and if the timing is good to discuss any of the areas you have positioned.
  • Determine a best way to stay in contact for future OPPORTUNIITIES or UPDATES. Look for a way to develop an ongoing relationship.

Anyone can create sample recruiting scripts for you, but it is better if you create your own. You need to think it through as the cold-called candidate. What would make you invest 5 minutes with someone you have never talked with? The value needs to be clear and obvious. To minimize pressure, be sure to offer options. Most candidates do not want to talk to you when they are sitting in their work stations. Don’t forget to confirm a best way to stay in touch for the future. Cold-calling is the toughest way to start a relationship.

Any tips from you as to what is working when cold-calling candidates?

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We often describe NPA as a “relationship-based” versus a “transactional” network. It leads to some great conversations with recruiters who are exploring membership in a split placement network. The differences between a relationship recruiting style and a transactional recruiting style aren’t always apparent. Today I’d like to discuss some of the differences as I see them.

Relationship recruiting, to me, means:

Recruiters who take a long-term view. They realize that today’s candidate is tomorrow’s hiring manager. They value repeat business from loyal clients. They understand that cooperation (and sometimes compromise) now can pay huge dividends down the road. They work cooperatively to ensure that all parties achieve their objectives.

Recruiters who spend a lot of their time on the phone. Relationships still need to be cultivated (in my view) through telephone and in-person conversations. Email is a great tool and automated services can save a lot of time, but they really aren’t designed for you to get to know another person.

Recruiters who receive lots of referrals from their contacts, and those contacts’ networks. Relationship recruiting requires a significant investment of time and effort into truly cultivating personal connections.

Generally, NPA recruiters value deep relationships with their trading partners as well as with clients and candidates. Our most successful members treat their trading partners the same way they treat their clients. Each side is an important part of the process, with mutual goals. Business relationships often evolve into true friendships. They have run each others’ businesses and attended funerals for other NPA members. As is true in so many business contexts, it’s easier (and more fun!) to do business with people you know and like.

Transactional recruiting, on the other hand, tends to focus on the ‘here and now,’ with more emphasis on speed. Transactional recruiters may devote more of their time and effort to internet searches, email, or high-volume cold-calling. They may spend less time talking to clients, candidates, or trading partners. There is nothing inherently wrong with this model; in fact, for certain types of recruiting needs it may be preferable.

What other differences do you see between relationship recruiting and transactional recruiting? Do you prefer one style over the other?

Joining a split placement network can be a big boost to your recruitment business if you have an open mind and a good attitude. Below are five mental roadblocks that can hamper your success and lead you to question your decision.

Not being willing to consider new markets. Many recruiters have a defined niche whether it is geographical, industrial, or occupational. Joining a split placement network gives you the opportunity to expand your business if you keep an open mind. Perhaps you will have an opportunity to fill different types of roles for your existing clients (instead of having to turn those down). You may be able to serve your clients as they expand into new countries.

Not being willing to consider new ways to work. Your split placement network may offer proprietary software or access to a third-party ATS, which might offer the ability to streamline your recruiting process or improve efficiency. You may get to know other recruiting firm owners who run their businesses differently than you. While it can be difficult (and scary!) to make changes, it’s important to keep an open mind. In our network, for example, everyone does things a little differently. There are lots of ways to be successful; be willing to try something new!

Not being willing to trust your trading partners. For recruiters with limited (or unpleasant) experience making split placements, it can be daunting to trust your new trading partners. Hopefully you checked out your new split placement network to see what policies are in place, how frequently disputes occur, and how they are handled. If you are satisfied with these answers, you should feel comfortable trusting your trading partners. You know what else helps? Calling people on the phone and attending face-to-face meetings – both of these are so much more effective at building personal connections than sterile email communications.

Not being willing to share more information than “normal.” This goes hand-in-hand with trust. The recruiters I know who are most successful in a split placement network are those who share as much information as they can – the candidate’s complete contact details, the name of the client, the location of the job, etc. The ultimate goal is to get the opening filled quickly with the best person; withholding information doesn’t help achieve that goal. This particular item can be a big hurdle to overcome, but it pays big dividends.

Not being willing to learn from others with more experience/success. It’s generally not a good idea to come into a new experience thinking you already know how it works. Even if you’ve had previous success, listen to your peers. If they’ve been part of a split placement network for a long time, you might pick up a trick or two.

There are a lot of things to think about when you’re considering membership in a split placement network. Once you’ve made the commitment to join, make sure to keep your mind open to new ideas, new concepts, and new ways of doing business. Don’t block your own success!

With the skills shortage that is projected to last for a number of years moving forward, I believe employers will need skilled recruiting resources more than ever before. Independent recruiters will need to work cooperatively to quickly source the best candidates for their clients, which means you’ll need to invest time building a strong recruiter network.

There is a growing trend (at least in our membership) of smaller offices and more single-person recruiting firms, many working from home, which removes the traditional “built-in” recruiter network of co-workers. Working alone or in a very small office requires you to reach out to external recruiting resources.

Here are five ways to build your recruiter network:

• Look for online recruiter communities in LinkedIn or other social media sites. Many recruiters are already active LinkedIn users. You can look for recruiting groups based on location or specialty, or start your own group that serves your specific needs.
• Organize an informal Meet-Up or Tweet-Up to meet recruiters in your community. LinkedIn and Twitter both offer mechanisms for creating and publicizing face-to-face events. It can be as simple as getting together for an informal breakfast meeting at the local coffee shop.
• Get active in your local / state / provincial / national recruiting association. Most associations are in constant need of volunteer support, and this can be a great way to meet other recruiters as well as taking advantage of professional development and educational opportunities.
• Attend face-to-face conferences and educational opportunities. Virtual “connections” can be handy, but there still is no real substitute for face-to-face networking. There are myriad opportunities for these kinds of events, which are sure ways to build lasting relationships for your recruiter network.
• Consider joining a formal recruiting network or other recruiting organization. These recruiting resources are often purpose-built for independent recruiters who share a common niche or geographic market. Many can provide infrastructure, business support and other recruiter resources which can create more time for you to spend on your core activities.

There are many other ways to build your recruiter network. It’s not important HOW you do it; what matters is that you have a trusted pool of reliable recruitment partners who can help you serve your clients quickly and effectively.

NPA has been in the business of fostering split placement opportunities since 1956. Obviously we are big believers in splits, since that’s the very reason for our existence. If you haven’t considered integrating split placements into your business model, here are some reasons you should:

1. Split placements can help level out cash flow fluctuations. Splits are good for business in all kinds of economic conditions because they provide incremental revenue that stabilizes seasonal or cyclical revenue fluctuations.
2. Split placements can allow to you work on more projects simultaneously. A split fee recruiter can complete more projects. More completed placements means more satisfied clients and more profitability.
3. Split placements help you serve your clients faster and more efficiently. The most successful recruiters I know are those whose sole desire is to get the best candidate in front of their client faster than anyone else. By building a reputation as the “most reliable provider” they are guaranteeing future business.
4. Split placements can help you expand your scope of service in terms of both geography and occupational or industrial markets. Participating in split placements means you can help your clients with a wider variety of assignments, whether that means branching out geographically or different types of roles.
5. Split placements offer an affordable alternative to hiring additional recruiters in your recruiting firm. Instead of hiring a new recruiter or investing resources in developing a new niche, you can reach out to trading partners who are already established experts. Best of all, there is no ongoing overhead – you simply pay for their services when you need them.

If you’re interested in adding split placements to your business model (or increasing the number of splits you currently make), there are two primary ways of doing so. One way is to relentlessly build your own network of like-minded recruiters that you can trust and who work the same way as you. You’ll need to spend time creating a split fee agreement, upfront, each time, to ensure your client and candidate relationships are protected. The other way is to join an established recruitment network. Split placement networks bring you a ready-made cadre of trading partners, infrastructure and ground rules governing how splits will be made, and dispute resolution if needed.

NPA offers a free tool to help you determine if joining a split fee network could benefit your recruiting firm. The NPA self-evaluation tool is anonymous. NPA does not capture any of the data you submit so you won’t get any phone calls or emails as a result of filling out the questionnaire.

NPA is a member-owned recruiting network that helps foster split placements. We’ve been doing this since 1956, so we have learned a lot about how to make splits. Today I’m devoting this space to the opposite side of the coin – with a tongue-in-cheek look at some actions you can take if you’re NOT serious about making splits. And if you *really* want to kill a deal, feel free to combine 3 or 4 of these all at once:

Hoard your best positions. One sure way to fail at split placements is by only sharing crappy jobs. When you get a great job – great fee, great salary, great company, great hiring process, great relationship with the hiring manager – keep that one all to yourself. Only let your partners ‘help’ you on the jobs that are the complete opposite.

Hoard your best candidates. When you get a rainmaker that’s a perfect fit for your partner’s job, hold out for an opportunity to place them on your own for a full fee. That way, you can up the odds that everyone walks away unhappy. Got a marginal candidate that you wouldn’t send to your own best client? Feel free to send that one along to your trading partner. Conversely, when you get a great candidate from your partner, be sure to present your OWN not-as-great candidate instead so that you can keep the whole fee.

Send speculative candidates that have not been qualified for a current opening. Nothing says, “I love split placements” like expecting your partner to do something with a candidate they didn’t ask for and doesn’t match any of their current positions.

Be paranoid. When you’re working on split placements, make sure you speak in code and withhold a lot of details, like the candidate’s name or the client’s name or the job location. Your partners *love* that.

Don’t return calls/reply to email. Providing timely, accurate feedback to your partner (whether on the candidate side or the job side) is really important when making split placements. If you want to kill your deal, it’s a good idea to avoid your trading partner.

Don’t make any proactive calls for help. When you have a job to fill, send out one email blast to everyone you know. Then sit back and lament the poor response. After all,  email *always* gets delivered, and *everyone* loves being on an email distribution list.

Don’t have a 50/50 mindset. This can be achieved by expecting your partner to accept a smaller cut of the fee (20-25%) OR by expecting to receive half of the fee for doing way less than half the work. Most recruiters I know would be *thrilled* to have an arrangement that unfairly rewards one partner over another.

Recruiters who are successful at split placements know that “50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.” They openly share their best candidates and jobs, and treat their partners “fair and square.” My snarky comments are exaggerated, but these behaviors will — and DO — impede splits. What’s your ‘favorite’ deal-killer?

The chemical process industry (oil/gas/refinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, foods, pulp & paper) is hot, hot, hot in NPA. Split placements in this area are up 50% over the same period last year. And still, our chemical process recruiters are leaving business on the table because they can’t find enough qualified candidates. Whether you recruit in the chemical process industry or some other sector, you probably have “leftover” candidates – the ones your client did NOT hire. What recruiting ideas do you employ after the job is filled?

The easy answer is to leave them in your database until a future opportunity arises. Another option is to pitch one of these great candidates to a prospective client as a way to solicit new business. In today’s market, great candidates have a very short shelf-life. Both of these options decrease the likelihood that you’ll be able to quickly turn these assets into revenue for your recruiting business.

Another recruiting idea to consider: use those leftover candidates on a split placement basis with other recruiters. Contact other recruiters you know who work in the same specialty to see if THEY have a current need for your hot process engineer. If you’re not part of a formal recruiting network, make sure you have a signed split fee agreement in place with your recruiting partner (click here for a free template). If you don’t already have some split placement partners, you can certainly look for a group on LinkedIn; lately, I have been seeing lots of posts from independent recruiters looking for split opportunities. Or, you can seek out a formal (or quasi-formal) split placement network. There are relationship-based networks like NPA as well as transactional networks; pick one that matches your business style.

Reports we are reading and seeing indicate that hiring demand is strong in many sectors, although actual hiring may be slower than expected due in part to the extreme shortage of top-level talent. As an independent recruiter, you likely have plenty of great recruiting ideas to ensure satisfied clients and robust business. Split placements should be considered a strategic part of your business mix.