As many recruiters attempt to keep up with the ongoing trends in social media recruitment, some believe that just taking the baby steps in establishing profiles on various sites or making “connections” gives them the title of being a social recruiter. While those first steps are important, there are four more suggestions I can offer to take social recruiting to a new level. Read the rest of this entry »
How to Collect $25,000 on Placements that You Have Already Made
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s guest blogger is Wilson Cole. He is the founder and CEO of 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.
Clients are starting to tell us that the economy is picking up, and for the first time in years they are starting to feel optimistic. This is a good thing. I am seeing cash flows improve from debtors as well, so we will all keep our fingers crossed and hope that this positive sign continues.
One of the issues that I have seen a very large increase in is back-door hires and conversion. I would be willing to bet that if I had 100 clients go back and check their candidates, 25% of our clients would find that at least one of their candidates was hired over the last 12 months. Yes this is a problem, but it is also a big opportunity. If you are willing to take the time and spend an afternoon checking LinkedIn, I would bet that you could find $15,000 to $45,000 in placements.
The reason I bring this point up is because the economy is improving, and debtors now have more money in their bank accounts. The chances of them paying you once you bring the hiring of your candidate to their attention has greatly increased from a few years ago. Then, debtors used to prefer to hold on to their money and prefer that you sue them because it bought them more time. Now, with sales increasing and cash flow improving, the debtor will more likely just cut a check vs. having to spend the money on an attorney.
So what should you do if you learn that one of your temps or candidates was hired by your client? The following suggestions may be helpful:
- Pull an inventory of your paperwork. Do you have a signed agreement? Do you have an email trail? Can you show clearly that the client knew it was your candidate and if they hired that individual, then a fee would be owed?
- Reach out to the hiring company and inform the company of its unfortunate “oversight.”
- Send the company an invoice. If you have to guess what is owed because you do not know what they are paying your candidate, then take an educated guess. Use the higher side of your best guess without being out of line of course (if the candidate’s potential hire meant the company had to pay the fee, then contact the former candidate to find out what he or she is being paid).
- Send an invoice with a specific date. For example, don’t have the invoice say net 10 days or due upon receipt. Have your invoice read 5 – 10 days from the day you cut the invoice. If today is March 2 then you would put Due March 12 — 20XX.
- Send the invoice, and wait until the first day after the invoice was to be paid.
- Then call and send a letter giving the client 5 days more. Give an exact date.
How to Make Sure You’re Hiring the Right People for Your Startup
by Veronica Blatt
Our blog today comes from Nick Bowditch who has recently joined Forsythes Recruitment. Nick has come to Forsythes from Facebook where he was their Regional SME Manager (AUS/NZ). He has re-launched Forsythes’ IT/Tech/Startup recruitment division out of his home office on the Central Coast. He is currently managing recruitment assignments for Instagram, Twitter and Telstra just to name a few. Nick works with innovative startups and small businesses in Australia and internationally, presenting at conferences and inspiring others to take the leap into their own startups, as well as working with big brands helping them connect to small businesses and their communities better – both offline and online.
So your recruitment company has given you a shortlist of candidates to chat to about the vacant position with your startup. So how do you know you are hiring the right person? Think about these 4 things:
Are they doing something that you can’t?
Often in the startup phase you are bootstrapping the business or under some financial pressure. I am a big believer in hiring what you need rather than what you would ideally like. So the first hire – after you and the other co-founder(s) – is often the most important one. Will this next hire mean you can get some money in to then recruit further? Is the role that they will fill something that you and people already in the business could do if you were really pushed? I think hiring for skill gaps in your business is the way to think about it.
Do they share your vision?
Let’s face it, nobody is really going to share your vision, not the way you do. But you can reasonably expect them to be on board at least with what you are trying to do and what you think their role is in that. Unfortunately a lot of startups find out their new employee doesn’t share their vision for the business until they have sapped a lot of your resources and finances and it’s too late.
Do they need structure and a hiding place?
Startups are scrappy. Sometimes you are doing your job and sometimes you are doing stuff you never would have dreamed doing. The scrappiness of startups both attracts and frustrates people who work in that space but it can be a very rude shock if you are not prepared for it. If you work out that someone is used to working in a big corporate space where they can hide all day without it being obvious then you are probably not hiring the right person for your startup.
Understand what motivates them.
What do they want to achieve? What’s going to get the best out of them? What will totally frustrate them? Most importantly, are both you and they aligned on these things? You don’t have to know everything about them but understanding what motivates them is the number one way to ensure you are getting optimal performance from your new startup employee.
What’s been your experience with hiring the right – or wrong – people? What would you change next time?
International Recruitment: Expats or Local Talent?
by Dave Nerz
I was recently asked some interesting questions by a global recruiter. They were interested to know about the numbers of executive and professionals leaving Brazil each year to take assignments outside the country and overseas. As you might guess, this is not easy info to find. If you have insights on where it is available please let me know.
Here is how I tried to answer the question that was posed… Read the rest of this entry »
What’s Wrong with Active Candidates?
by Veronica Blatt
There is so much hype about passive candidates vs. active candidates. It seems like most recruiters, when pressed, will tell you that passive candidates, i.e. candidates who are not looking for a job but might be interested if the right opportunity came along, are the ‘gold standard’ of recruiting. Active candidates are sometimes overlooked or written off as undesirable, and I’m not sure that’s the smartest approach.
You know what I think? I think too many recruiters think “active candidates” = “unemployed candidates.”
The definition of an “active candidate” is one who is actively, currently, looking for a new role. It’s a big jump to automatically assume that candidate is unemployed. Consider the following examples of active candidates:
- Those who have reached the top of the payscale at their current company
- Those who have no more room for promotion at their current company
- Those who are caught up in a merger / acquisition that is likely to impact their job downstream (change in focus, consolidation, etc.)
- Those who work for bad managers (remember, employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers)
- Those who are interested in relocation for a variety of reasons
In some ways, I believe recruiting active candidates might be the smarter move — for one thing, you don’t have to convince them to leave what is familiar for something unknown. They have already emotionally separated themselves from their current employer and are ready to move on to something new. There is a high(er) likelihood they’ve already talked with their spouses, so the career move is not an out-of-the-blue shock. They’d probably like to remain employed until they find a new role, which means they probably aren’t shouting out their job search from every available rooftop, job board, or social media channel. Nothing undesirable about any of that, is there?
The goal (I think?) is to get the best person in front of your client. If the best person is someone who has already decided a career move is in order, would you NOT present them to your client? Would your client ‘pass’ on an interview? Probably not. Don’t be so quick to label active candidates or passive candidates; instead, focus on the *best* candidates.
What do you think? Has the “active” versus “passive” debate run its course? Why or why not?
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
8 Great Phone Screening Tips
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s guest blogger is Jason Elias with Elias Recruitment, specializing in placing lawyers throughout Australia. Jason is a longtime member of NPAworldwide, a previous director, and recipient of the 2014 NPAworldwide Chairman’s Award.
- Where possible find a quiet place to make the calls with all the CVs printed out/on screen in front of you.
- Prepare a series of questions based on the selection criteria, experience and attitude, e.g. why did they apply for this role, what makes them a good candidate?
- The aim is not a detailed assessment but rather a “Yes” or “No” as to whether they progress to the next stage, usually a formal interview. Try and be as efficient as possible and remember everyone you say yes to will require interview time, so be selective.
- Always ask the essential criteria questions first. If there is a threshold issue such as a degree/qualification, there is no point continuing the conversation with unqualified applicants. Politely notify the applicant that you cannot progress
and ask if you can keep them in mind about other roles where that requirement is not an issue. - Assess their communication skills. There are many roles that require significant phone time. Does the applicant have the requisite phone presence your organisation needs?
- Check logistical issues such as when they can start. If you need someone to start shortly and they need to provide a 3 month notice period, move on to the next applicant. Also check visas/working rights, salary expectations and any other housekeeping issues.
- Check what other opportunities they have: there is something comforting about knowing that other organisations are also pursuing the candidate. This also means competition, so you need to know how quickly to move things along. There is nothing more frustrating than selecting the perfect candidate only to find out she has taken a job elsewhere because the other company moved faster.
- Remember to keep the good candidates in the loop, perhaps call or email them after the screening and let them know that you are keen to interview and ascertain their availability.
4 Reasons Recruitment Firms Should Offer Contracting
by Veronica Blatt
Many independent recruiters focus exclusively on direct-hire recruitment, and that can certainly be a successful business model. However, it’s not a bad idea to diversify your recruitment firm’s business mix, and contracting is one way to do that. Here are four reasons recruitment firms should consider contracting:
1. “Annuity” income. Contractors get paid for every hour they work, which translates to a “paycheck” to your firm for each hour as well. Just 5 full-time contractors out at a small profit of $5 per hour would generate a $50,000 annuity each year for your recruitment firm. Read the rest of this entry »
Independent Recruiters, Split Placements, and Tennis
by Sarah Freiburger
As many independent recruiters start to explore adding split placements to their business model, different questions arise as to whether they want to split profit, why they would pay to join a network, and most importantly what belongs to whom? Recently picking up the game of tennis, I think many aspects of tennis can be related directly to recruitment and split placements, and perhaps this will give a new perspective on this business model to those on the fence. Read the rest of this entry »
Anatomy of an International Split Placement
by Veronica Blatt
From time to time, prospective NPAworldwide members, new members, and even some of our existing members will ask what is involved in making an international split placement. Here is a real-life example of how one such deal came together. The recruiters were Taufik Arief from People Search Indonesia in Jakarta and Julie Parsons from Premium Consulting in Brisbane, Australia. They share their story below:
Who had the job?
Taufik: I received the job opening from my client. Our firm had filled a role for them within our region, which resulted in receiving this new job opening in Brisbane.
Taufik, how did you make your NPAworldwide partners aware of the role?
Taufik: I posted the opening on the NPAworldwide online sharing tool, SplitZone.
Julie, how did you become aware of the opportunity?
Julie: I have a search agent set up that automatically sends me all new job openings in Brisbane. Taufik’s role was included in the search agent.
Had you previously worked together on an international split placement?
Julie: No, this was my first introduction to Taufik. We did get to meet each other face-to-face eventually at an NPAworldwide conference in Beijing, though!
How were candidates sourced?
Taufik: Julie worked the job from scratch to find the candidates.
Julie: I knew I could fill it if I had the trust of my partner and his client.
What was the interview process like?
Julie: Initially, it was NOT easy – there were too many people involved! Taufik was the point of contact with the client in Indonesia, but we also had involvement from HR in China, HR in Singapore, the headquarters in Sweden, plus a hiring manager and me in Australia working with local Brisbane candidates. We had about 2-3 attempts at the job and lost some good candidates because the process was too slow due to all the different people involved from different locations. Once I was able to take direct control of the interviews with the local hiring manager, everything ran smoothly.
What was the offer process like?
Taufik: It took about 3 months from the start to the offer/acceptance. Once we got the client dealing directly with Julie and the local candidates, it was not too difficult. My client needed some assistance and advice in packaging the offer to make it acceptable to Australian candidates.
Were additional hires made?
Taufik: Actually, from the final shortlist of 3 candidates, the client hired two people even though we were only officially working on one vacancy! The client was very impressed with the caliber of candidates that we put forth. Both candidates are still working for the client, and both have been promoted.
Did the candidates have to relocate?
Julie: One candidate was originally from the UK but had just recently moved to Brisbane where the job was. The other candidate was an Iranian living in Sydney; he did move to Brisbane.
Were there any special circumstances such as a visa?
Julie: No visa issues, but we did provide real estate information for housing.
Any other comments you would like to add?
Julie: This was a good experience. Taufik gained additional revenue from 2 more jobs filled due to the initial service the client received. We were able to fill jobs we never had – jobs we would not have received on our own.
Taufik: We have been able to keep expanding our services geographically with this same client with help from our NPAworldwide trading partners. We have made placements for this client in Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia and are now working on a role in India. Collaboration with my partners helps us perform well for our clients, leading to more roles, leading to more collaboration – it is a very positive circle!
Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on your success!
The recruiting process is basically the same whether you are working locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally. Sure, there may be some additional elements, like time zones and visas, that can lengthen the process. With the right partners, recruiters should feel confident saying YES to the clients and to an international split placement!
Recruitment Benchmarks to Consider
by Dave Nerz
Entrepreneurs like to keep score. OK, that is a generalization but seriously, how do successful people become successful? They hold themselves accountable and they set targets. So my question is, as an independent recruiter or recruitment firm owner do you have someone that you compare your success with on a regular basis? Benchmarking is the term many use. Read the rest of this entry »