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7 Recruiting Resources for Great Training

by Veronica Blatt

As independent recruiters, it can be tough to take time away from your desk to seek out training and other recruiting resources. Keeping your skills current is always important; it’s critical when talent is short and competition is high. There are many great options for recruitment training. Here is a list of 7 options for training, in no particular order, that are worth a look (note: the first 5 will all be speaking at the 2013 NPA Global Conference).

Recruiter eLearning, Doug Beabout – As with so many things in life, the “fundamentals” are the key to success. Doug is a big believer in the fundamentals of recruiting. While there are lots of recruiting resources that offer more flash and glitz, you can’t go wrong with Doug’s rock-solid methods.
Next Level Exchange – Next Level Exchange offers a variety of affordable online training options ranging from free previews of NLE TV episodes up to monthly subscriptions. There is a wide variety of trainers and topics suitable for everyone from a brand-new recruiter to an owner and everyone in between. Next Level Exchange is a tremendous recruiting resource that delivers high value for the money spent.
Bullseye Mentor, Greg Doersching – Greg is a hands-on, works a desk every day, practical trainer. He has great reference materials, samples, forms, etc. for anyone who purchases his training products.
Adler Concepts, Lou Adler – Follow Lou on LinkedIn where he publishes a lot of articles about hiring, HR, and recruiting. Lou is perhaps best-known for promoting performance-based hiring. Among other things, I enjoy reading his thoughts about writing more effective job descriptions.
#tru, Bill Boorman – I first learned of Bill on Twitter, and I am really excited to meet him at NPA’s Global Conference later this month. He really understands social media as a useful, effective tool for recruiting and recruiters. If Twitter isn’t your thing, you can always follow Bill’s blog.
NAPS (Disclaimer: NPA is a member of NAPS and holds a seat on the NAPS Board of Directors.) – NAPS, the National Association of Personnel Services, along with other state and national associations, are some of the best and most affordable recruiting resources available. Not only does NAPS offer certification and myriad educational opportunities, members also have access to legal advice.
The Savage Truth, Greg Savage – Greg is an Australian recruiter, speaker, and trainer who also frequently blogs about recruiting and staffing issues. I like Greg’s “tell it like it is” style and global perspective.

There are plenty of other excellent recruiting resources. Who or what are some of your favorites, especially outside of the USA?

3 Reasons Small Employers Hire Independent Recruiters

by Terri Piersma

When you are a small employer, you should search for candidates yourself, right? Not according to an Inc. article I read recently by Vanessa Merit Nornberg called These Days, Recruiters are Worth the Money.

Like most small employers, Vanessa had been searching for candidates herself. She believed her reasoning was sound because she assumed the following:

Working with recruiters was a waste of time,
Reviewing resumes for the “right candidate” should be done by her as she knew best who to interview, and
Hiring a recruiter was too expensive for her small budget.

However, the reality of her hiring situation was that it was taking her a very long and frustrating time to find the “right candidate” even though she searched a variety of ways including placing ads on large and specialized job boards as well as on local university boards.

Then, one of her senior staff members suggested she contact a recruiter she knew. Reluctantly, Vanessa met with the recruiter. In the end, she decided to try something different. She signed a contingency recruitment agreement. She would pay the recruiter only if she hired a candidate presented by the recruiter.

The results surprised Vanessa. Within one month, Vanessa hired the “right candidate” from the group of candidates presented by the recruiter. Her experience working with a recruiter changed her hiring strategy. She concluded the following about the experience:

She filled the position faster.
She spent less money considering the overall cost of hiring which included the cost of her time to search for candidates.
The recruiter was able to find the “right candidate” for the position.

While the above is compelling, Vanessa discovered something even more interesting. She asked the candidate she hired why she worked with a recruiter instead of posting her resume on job boards. The candidate replied, “because recruiters make sure your resume gets seen, while submitting via the Internet is like sending your resume into oblivion.”

Bottom line: even small employers benefit from working with independent recruiters to find the “right candidate.”

Death of Recruitment

by Dave Nerz

According to many, the end is near for independent recruiters. The reason…technology. The predictions indicate recruitment as we have known it will cease to exist because employers will get what they need from the new breed of technology tools being created. Some call this Recruitment 4.0.

I am not a believer in the death of recruitment. Here are a few of the reasons I think recruitment, independent recruiters, recruitment networks, and headhunters of various types are here to stay:

The end has been predicted about every 5 years for as long as I remember. The predictions have never been fulfilled. The death of independent recruiters was predicted 50 years ago with the creation of national agencies like Kelly and Robert Half. Death to independents did not come. The demise was signaled more recently with the onset of job boards…in fact, Monster had the intention of replacing the independent recruitment business as a goal when it was created. In spite of intentions, death did not come. Social Media, LinkedIn, in-house recruitment, or anything else you want to add to the list have been unable to dislodge the independent recruiter from the mix that makes the market for employer and job seeker succeed.
New jobs require personal intervention by a recruiter. Firebrand’s CEO, Greg Savage offers an example of why recruiters will continue to be a part of the solution. Mr. Savage recently indicated that in his business, 50% of the roles he recruits for didn’t even exist 3-5 years ago. New jobs and new markets require the guiding hand of a recruiter. Recruitment evolves effectively and efficiently to solve new challenges in a way that electronic tools and social networks cannot. The business model shifts, but it does not dissolve or die.
Global needs are growing and again require the expertise that only a recruiter can offer. Recruiters act as translators, market researchers, and match-making consultants for global jobs. An employer based in North America wouldn’t even know the right job boards to use for a search in China, Australia or in Vietnam. Employers armed with the great social media tools of the day could spend 6 months becoming expert in the local market just to fill one job…not an effective model to run a business. In the NPA network, in excess of 10% of all business done was a “cross-border placement,” meaning the candidate, the employer and the job were in different countries. Those roles will continue to grow as a percentage of placements for the industry.
Contracting and short duration project teams or on the rise. These are positions and work types best suited to a recruitment agency. Employers don’t want to become expert in finding talent for a short duration project team. They will continue to hire an independent expert to do that work.
Highly specialized positions and true headhunting require a recruiter and are not able to be accomplished by social media and a LinkedIn connection alone. Top performers that are fully employed and satisfied do not change companies based on an email or a social connection. Only the real work of a seasoned recruitment professional will cause a top quality candidate to take the required leap of faith into a new employment situation. When you find the computer program that does this, please share your secret.

Independent recruiters continue to evolve and migrate into new niches and new ways of adding value. Tools are more likely to come and go than the recruitment profession itself. My current concern is not survival, it is whether there will be enough independent recruiters available to handle the talent shortage that is inching ever closer. As Baby Boomers retire and employers seek talent to replace the science, engineering and management talent that is exiting, the death of recruitment will remain a threat still unfulfilled.

New Year, New Start for Recruiting Networks

by Veronica Blatt

Today’s guest blogger is Liz Longman, the Managing Director of TEAM (The Employment Agents Movement), and has been involved in recruitment for 20 years. She previously headed up a region for a generalist agency before joining TEAM some nine years ago. TEAM is an NPA partner that extends NPA’s reach into the UK and in return offers TEAM members access to NPA affiliation. Each of these recruiting networks offers unique value to members.

It’s safe to say that over the last few years, businesses of all shapes and sizes – including recruiting networks – have had a tough time. With the economic downfall and several changes to UK legislation, the recruitment sector has been on a real roller coaster ride, which many couldn’t see the end of. The words ‘doom and gloom’ were prevalent across the media throughout last year and the outlook for the UK economy was pretty bleak.

However, as we enter 2013, I think it’s time to move onwards and upwards! We can all take our own lessons from the recession, but it’s time we left the past behind us and looked to a positive future. After all, how else will we move closer to success than with a motivated, optimistic attitude? Recruiting networks are poised to capitalize on some of the positive changes happening.

The situation in UK recruitment now is much better and reports from the end of last year are real proof of this. The Office of National Statistics reported in November that the UK economy was growing slowly but surely, finally pulling us out of recession. The Autumn Evenbase Quarterly Report also showed a few positive signs, with a 40% rise in contract and temporary recruitment roles being advertised and an 11% increase in proactive jobseekers sending CVs.

This positivity is reflected across many of the recruitment agencies we speak to at TEAM. As the recruiting network continues to grow and share activity, we are seeing more members reporting an improvement to their business. Fees are improving and in general the outlook is much better than it has been in the past few years.

There’s not just high growth in the UK market though. Positively, we are seeing an increase in interest in overseas markets from both our members and international partners within NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network. This focus on growth also extends to individual industries. Some of our member agencies are now moving their businesses into different specialist areas of recruitment, and are using TEAM members’ expertise to fill vacancies in new areas.

On the candidate side, we have noticed that, despite the new technology available to recruiters and the benefits which come with using social media, many recruiters are looking to be more personal. While using online opportunities to attract and manage candidates, recruitment is a people business and we need to maintain that personal touch that you can’t always get from an email or Tweet. It will be interesting to see how this pans out throughout the year, but I imagine we’ll see more agencies striving to be innovative in talent attraction, particularly as clients’ expectations are high.

Looking forward to this year, we’re expecting to see the focus on candidate attraction and expansion into new industries and markets continue. There are a lot of positive signs for 2013 and I personally would love to see a continuation of the optimistic attitudes we’re noticing. It won’t be easy though and I expect recruiters will be forced to work harder to come up with fresh ideas in order to compete in the market.

Decision-making and Democracy in a Recruiting Network

by Veronica Blatt

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on distributing proxy authorizations to NPA’s voting members for our upcoming annual meeting. It’s a great reminder for me of the member-ownership aspect of our recruiting network. As a member-owned cooperative, NPA is run democratically. Voting members who attend our annual meeting cast their votes in person. Those who are unable to attend assign a proxy to NPA’s secretary/treasurer, who ensures each vote is cast in accordance with that member’s wishes.

During the annual meeting, audited financial statements are reviewed and discussed, elections are held for the Board of Directors, bylaws changes are voted upon, and members have the ability to bring up new business from the floor. Every member firm of our recruiting network has an equal say in how NPA is run, regardless of the size (or success) of each firm. As with any election, members may not be satisfied with the outcome, but they are certainly an integral part of the process.

Last year, NPA members voted to adopt brand-new bylaws. The old bylaws, adopted in 1981, had become out-of-date, and needed to be “modernized” to fit today’s business environment and the global nature of our recruiting network. Already this year, NPA’s Board of Directors is proposing two amendments to the bylaws based on member feedback. The changes will be discussed and debated, and members will vote on whether or not to adopt these changes. Next year, it’s conceivable there will be further revisions.

While it’s tough to get excited about bylaws (unless you’re like me), this process is an important distinction between NPA and other recruiting networks or recruiting franchises. It’s what makes us different from our competitors. Other recruiting organizations are owned by individuals. While members or franchisees may be able to offer feedback about how those organizations are run, they do not generally get to participate in business and financial decisions that may impact their own businesses. By contrast, NPA’s president and staff do not establish policy; we implement the programs, services, and policies developed by our members.

If you are considering joining a recruiting network, is member-ownership important to you? Or are you more comfortable paying someone else to make decisions? There is no wrong answer, but it’s a point that deserves careful consideration. Click the link below for a checklist that helps you compare NPA to other recruiting networks.

Starting a Recruiting Business

by Dave Nerz

If 2013 is the year you will start a recruiting business, here is a very high level look at some things to consider. The steps may be spelled out for you if you are buying a recruitment franchise. I would strongly suggest you consider formal and informal network membership as an alternative to purchasing a recruitment franchise. Here are the high level actions required to get going with your business:

1. Pick a name

Think ahead. Maybe someday after you start your recruiting business you will want to sell it and retire. Do not name the recruitment business after yourself. There is less value to a business called “John Jones Recruiting” when there is no John Jones in the business. At the same time, don’t let name selection paralyze you. The name might help, but look at Google: who would have picked that name? I think they are doing just fine with a crazy name.

Make sure your company name is not already taken with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or the appropriate service in your location.

2. Register a domain name

Make sure that the name you selected has available the domain that you want. Even better, think about how people might find you via an online search and see if there is a way you can incorporate your top keyword into your domain name (as well as your company name).

Go for the .com extension. If you must give in, consider .net or .jobs. Try to avoid the dreaded hyphen! Check domain names at Network Solutions. There is nothing worse than a thriving business working on a @gmail.com, @yahoo.com or @aol.com address.

3. Arm your recruiting business with tools

Business cards – Vistaprint.com is a great source of cheap cards.

Accounting Software – Quickbooks is a standard. Freshbooks is an online option.

Applicant Tracking System – I like PCRecruiter. They have a low-cost, highly-flexible tool to track clients and candidates. (Disclosure: Main Sequence Technology, maker of PCRecruiter, is NPA’s technology partner.)

Backup system or cloud-based storage area – Dropbox or GoogleDocs are cloud-based, or you can have a scheduled backup from a service like Carbonite.

Mailing/Marketing Service – try Constant Contact or MailChimp.

LinkedIn – buy the best package you can afford. You will be using it all day, every day, so make it your friend.

4. Set up a website

There are many low-cost tools, including godaddy.com, Network Solutions, and Vistaprint. A word of caution: You don’t want your next-door-neighbor’s-kid’s-best-friend to build you a website, unless that person REALLY knows about websites, responsive design, search engine optimization, mobile interfaces, etc. Economical is smart. Cheap is not.

5. Get connected to the industry

Join the industry trade association – NAPS (National Association of Personnel Services) is in the US.

6. Get trained

Look into a service like Next Level Exchange. They provide training on recruiting from many of the masters of industry.

7. Expand your capabilities/make more money/connect to a peer group

Once established, join NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network to enable global coverage to your prospects and clients, do more deals, and gain access to fellow entrepreneurs for ideas and coaching.

It is a great time to be a recruiter. It is difficult work, but the demographics are on your side. With millions of boomers retiring each year and companies back into a growth mode, good employees will be hard to find. That’s where you can benefit. Happy New Year and best of luck for a successfully starting a recruiting business.

NPA 2012 Review: Split Fee Placements Prove Profitable Once Again

by Veronica Blatt

NPA is a global network of independent recruiting firms working together to make split fee placements. The network enables members to provide their clients and candidates with better service and increased opportunities. All of these network advantages have proven to be true in 2012 as NPA members made over 800 splits.

The beginning of January brings new business ideas and resolutions for the year ahead. But we can’t forget to close out the year that’s passed. This is very important to see what changes need to be made and so that business can be evaluated accordingly for what lies ahead. With that, here are some of NPA’s 2012 split fee placement statistics.

Placements of positions with US$80,000 and above salaries were 56% of total split fee placements
Placements of positions with US$100,000 and above salaries were 33% of total split fee placements

Top 5 Trading Groups based on the number of split fee placements, listed highest to lowest:

Manufacturing/Mining/Construction
Strategic Management/Supply Chain
Chemical Process
Sales/Marketing/Business Development
Information Technology

In 2012 there was over 7.5 million dollars of shared revenue among the more than 400 member firms. NPA also saw increased productivity throughout North America and Australia with continued growth throughout the rest of the world.

The NPA Job Board has also proven to be a key tool for NPA members as its first full year it brought in just under $250,000 in revenue.

Overall, 2012 was a good year for members in NPA as end of year totals have been steadily growing over the past couple years. This leaves me feeling optimistic that the employment market may be becoming less volatile.

Evolution of Independent Recruiters

by Terri Piersma

Independent recruiters represent many different work styles. Recently I viewed an infographic by RecruitLoop that summarized work styles of recruitment consultants from the 1980s to the 2010s. While it is admittedly a generalization of recruitment by decade, I decided to share it with you as an example of how technology has played a key role in changing the landscape of recruitment.

The infographic summarized the past four decades as follows:

1980s Recruitment Top Gun
The tech boom in the ’80s gave high-flying recruiters a chance to spread their wings and headhunt more senior, more technical, and more specialized roles.
1990s Pulp Fiction Recruitment
With the booming tech industry and growing dot-com bubble, prosperity ensued. Recruitment Consultants rode the wave, worked hard, and played even harder.
2000s Minority Report Recruitment
Recruiters became far more tech savvy, as print declined. Many created a virtual presence. Intelligent specialist recruiters created a competitive edge.
2010s The Social Network Recruitment
Gone are the days of an office. The recruiter is a cyber-sleuth, working anywhere and anytime to stay ahead of the game. Being flexible with the latest social networks and apps are a must. They are adapting fast to avoid extinction.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Are split placements part of your annual business plan?

by Veronica Blatt

With the start of a new year, many recruiters are developing their annual business plans. Will split placements be part of your business mix this year? Split placements can help level out revenue fluctuations, but it takes time to build the solid relationships that allow splits to flourish. With the continued angst in the US over Obamacare and a sluggish jobs recovery, as well as lingering economic issues around the world, global recruiters really should consider split placements as a way to stabilize, and even increase, revenues. Here are some examples to consider:

Your current niche is soft (or softening). Working split placements can help you diversify into niches that are more robust.
Your current geography is depressed. If your jobs are located in ‘undesirable’ geographies (high cost-of-living, poor housing, etc.), split placements can help boost your business beyond your current geographic limitations.
Your clients are nervous about expansion plans. If your current clients have put expansion plans on hold because they are unsure what the future will bring, reach out to recruiting partners whose clients ARE growing. Remember, someone is ALWAYS making money!
You have more jobs than you can fill, but don’t want to hire more staff. Split placements offer economical business expansion – you pay your partner when you need their services, without ongoing costs for equipment, larger office space, etc.
You have a good database of in-demand candidates, but not enough jobs. Every recruiter I know is screaming for candidates. If you’ve got ’em, there are people who will help you place them on a split-fee basis.
You have jobs that are outside your normal area of expertise. You’ve been placing HR candidates at your best client for 15 years, and now they want you to provide engineers? Reach out to an engineering recruiter who has (or can find) the talent your client needs, without having to invest tons of time/money into learning a new niche from the ground up.

If you are currently experiencing even ONE of these situations in your recruiting firm, split placements may be the solution. Will this be the year you commit to splits?

7 Recruiting Resources for Great Training

3 Reasons Small Employers Hire Independent Recruiters

Death of Recruitment

New Year, New Start for Recruiting Networks

Decision-making and Democracy in a Recruiting Network

Starting a Recruiting Business

NPA 2012 Review: Split Fee Placements Prove Profitable Once Again

Evolution of Independent Recruiters

Are split placements part of your annual business plan?

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