As the owner of your independent recruitment firm, in addition to being a recruiter, you may also find yourself as the boss, or manager of a small team of recruiters you have hired to work for your firm. It is common that some of these hires may have had little to no experience in recruitment, and perhaps just had the personality to be successful. Others may have decades of experience in the field and decided to come back and work, and still others may have a couple of years working either independently, or under an owner much different than you. In all of these cases, it is important to view yourself as a leader rather than their manager. Here are the differences. Read the rest of this entry »
Be the Leader of Your Recruitment Firm Rather Than the Manager
by Sarah Freiburger4 Reasons to Consider Hiring International Candidates
by Veronica Blatt
If your client is reluctant to hire candidates from other countries, here are four reasons to help change their minds:
1. Consider the skills gap. Your clients want to hire the best candidates available, right? More and more, those candidates are not being found in the USA. Multiple studies points out that we are producing fewer college graduates in the critical STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) disciplines than are needed. Clients and recruiters alike bemoan the dearth of qualified candidates. Yet, few will consider hiring international candidates. It just doesn’t make sense. By opening the talent pool to a larger population of candidates, employers are more likely to find the right candidate for their job. Read the rest of this entry »
Hot Specialty Niches for Recruiters
by Dave Nerz
More and more, the recruitment industry experts say that you need to specialize on an industry in order to survive in the current recruiting marketplace. I agree that it helps to have a specialty rather than being exclusively a generalist. But for those that are moving from a generalist recruitment business to a specialty niche it might be best to target a hot recruiting niche and keep yourself open to generalist jobs that have made you what you are.
In 2013, our network of more than 400 recruitment firms found “chemical process” and “process engineering” jobs to be one of the hot recruiting niches. Nearly 25% of all the splits done by NPA member firms were done in the “process” specialty niche. The manufacturing specialty niche was a close second in terms of placement results for 2013. So if you are moving from a generalist recruitment business and beginning to specialize, pick one of the best niches for recruitment rather than a specialty niche that might underperform in the year ahead. Generalist recruiters have to have strong skills in order to survive. If you use those skills to focus on a hot recruiting niche, you are likely to excel once you get some industry/niche experience. As a generalist, you can make a decision to focus on particular specialty niches on a regular basis, depending on what might be the hot specialty niches for recruiters in the months and years ahead.
I’m interested to learn of recruiters that have moved from a generalist business and added a specialty niche in the last 12 months. What do you see as hot specialty niches for recruiters in the year ahead?
It’s Time for Recruiters to Adopt Mobile Marketing
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s guest blogger is Mandy Curtin, director of marketing for sticky IT, a web design company specializing in branding for recruiters worldwide, and NPA Alliance Partner. With 7+ years of experience pleasing perfectionists, the gurus at sticky IT have learned a thing or two about recruiters. Building a brand should be fun & easy; sticky IT spins the web so you can get back to work!
Interesting Fact: 91% of adults have their mobile phone within arm’s reach 24/7?
Weird (but not surprising) Fact: 75% of Americans even bring their phones to the bathroom. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Questions to Ask a Split Placement Network Before You Join
by Veronica Blatt
Joining a split placement network can be a smart way to grow your recruitment business without increasing overhead. If you’re considering joining one, here are six critical questions to ask:
Who owns the network? A split placement network can be privately-owned or publicly-owned, or in NPA’s case, a member-owned cooperative. There is no right/wrong, better/worse ownership model, but you should understand it before you join.
What is the average return on investment for members? Ideally, you want to join a split placement network that offers a high value for your investment. The most common way to measure ROI is to consider the average split fee revenue earned by each member, compared to the costs of membership. You can also measure VALUE, whether in terms of cost (or time) savings through member discount programs, or access to a network of peers who share business acumen.
What does it cost to belong? Some common models include dues-only, brokerage-only, or a combination of dues and brokerage. Informal networks, such as LinkedIn groups, are often free. Some networks also sell software or other business tools. Be sure to find out if you’ll be required to use any particular tool and if so, if there is an additional cost for that tool.
How do I work on positions / share candidates? A split placement network can have almost any arrangement for how its members ‘work the network.’ Some offer exclusivity on a particular role or candidate. Others follow a ‘first in, first out’ rule. Some allow recruiters to ‘bid’ for work and may control the number of roles you can work at any one time, or control the length of time during which a candidate referral will be honored. Recruiters may be required to use the network’s software tool, or they may be able to work directly with other recruiters. Pick a system that feels comfortable for you.
How are disputes handled? Even in the best of circumstances, there are bound to be disagreements or disputes from time to time. You’ll want to spend time exploring how these are handled. Does the split placement network provide formal dispute resolution? Are there time-tested rules and policies? What happens to network members who continually break the rules?
Is there any protection in the event of non-payment by a partner? If you’ve ever been burned on a split placement, this question is probably on the top of your list. What does the split placement network you’re considering do in the event one partner fails to pay another? This is an especially important question if you’re the partner with the candidate, since you’ll have to trust your partner to pay you on time. Will the network help you collect the monies you are owed? Does the network offer indemnification?
If you’re looking for even more research assistance, click the button below to download our free split placement network checklist:
A little competition goes a long way… or, why the best candidates aren’t getting seen anymore
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s guest blogger is James Seidel with James Seidel & Associates located in Kelowna, BC, Canada. JSA is an owner-operated firm with clients across western Canada. The firm primarily places candidates in I/T, engineering, and sales. James is a former I/T Trading Group Chair and is currently serving on NPA’s Board of Directors .
There we have it. A shiny new job description is drawn up by the department head and handed to the HR manager. This one is pretty straightforward, lots of keywords and technical jargon to make the internet searching a breeze. It is confidently handed to the in-house recruiting staff (all experts on the latest social media search tools), complete with a guarantee of three or four candidates within a couple of weeks. After all, with four recruiters and a manager, we’ve got our own in-house search firm – with no fees to pay any more!! Gosh, this has become easy and cheap… Read the rest of this entry »
10 Low-Cost Marketing Tools
by Veronica Blatt
Mel Kettle is a communications and social media consultant, speaker, blogger, educator, coach, bookworm, obsessive foodie and eatie, and a budding photographer. She blogs on marketing and social media at www.melkettle.com.au. Mel is passionate about working with organisations to show them how to communicate effectively so they can develop communities, share their stories and raise awareness. She particularly enjoys working with people who want to make a difference to other people’s lives. In her spare time Mel writes a food blog, The cook’s notebook.
I speak to many people about marketing and there is often the assumption that it is expensive. Well, yes, it can be. But it really doesn’t need to be, particularly if you are a small business or a sole trader.
My top ten low cost marketing tools are: Read the rest of this entry »
What is Important to Job Seekers?
by Sarah Freiburger
As an independent recruiter, your recruiting firm hopes to get those passive purple squirrel candidates to present to the client. While a high salary can start to persuade those candidates that are not currently seeking a new position to consider working with you, most times that is not enough in this highly competitive world to have anyone commit to a move.
This is a good guide as well for job seekers to consider when looking for a new position.
In addition to salary, some other benefits to advertise and negotiate for your position include healthcare plan, vacation time, pay raise, employee benefit, performance bonus, and retirement plan. Read the rest of this entry »
Worldwide Recruitment Buzzwords of 2013
by Dave NerzDo you like buzzwords like I like buzzwords? There is an interesting presentation on the most overused buzzwords of 2013 and the ones that dropped off the list since 2012.
So those are the overall leaders, but what about for the worldwide recruitment industry? What are the buzzwords that global recruiters overuse?
Here is my list of buzzwords overused by recruiters globally:
- Outsourced
- Insourced
- Social Media
- Mobile Recruiting
- Free Webinar
- Post
- Search
- Tweet
- Millennial
- Endorsed
Which words would you like to add to my blog? Oops, there’s another one… “Blog.”