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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?

 

2013 U.S. Job Forecast Positive for Independent Recruiters

by Terri Piersma

December of each year usually brings predictions about jobs for the following year. This December is no exception. Recently, I read Careerbuilder’s 2013 U.S. Job Forecast. Independent recruiters take note! My post today will summarize this forecast which was conducted online in November 2012 by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder and included more than 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals as well as more than 3,990 workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government).

  • Key Findings
    1. 62% of the companies reported they were in a better position than one year ago
    2. 42% reported sales had increased and another 42% had no change in sales
  • Hiring of Full-time, Permanent Employees
    1. 26% of employers will increase the number of full-time, permanent employees they will hire (up 3% from 2012)
    2. 9% will decrease (up 2% from 2012)
    3. 55% no change
    4. 11% undecided
  • Top 10 Jobs Companies Plan to Hire for in 2013 for Full-time, Permanent Positions

    1. Sales
    2. Information Technology
    3. Customer Service
    4. Engineering
    5. Production
    6. Business Development
    7. Administrative
    8. Research & Development
    9. Accounting & Finance
    10. Marketing
  • Temporary and Contract Hiring
    1. 40% will hire temporary or contract workers in 2013 (up from 36% in 2012)
    2. Among these employers, 42% plan to transition some temporary workers into full-time, permanent employees in 2013
  • Hiring By Region
    Employers  in the Midwest, Northeast, South, and West regions of the U.S. noted if they planned to increase hiring, decrease hiring, or have no change in hiring as well as if they were undecided about hiring in 2013. While all regions showed an increase from 2012 regarding an increase in hiring for 2013, employers in the West and the South responded that they will hire more employees in 2013 than those in the other regions.

To read the complete Careerbuilder 2013 U.S. Job Forecast, click here.

While the forecast shows some employers are optimistic, others are still cautious. However, for independent recruiters, it is good to read that only 9-10% of employers will decrease the hiring of full-time, permanent employees in 2013.

What trends in hiring have you noticed with the clients you serve?

 

Image:  FreeDigitalPhotos.net

5 Great Tools for Global Recruiters

by Veronica Blatt

Global recruiters can face special challenges when trying to coordinate recruiting and interviewing activities across multiple time zones. Here are 5 great tools that can save you time and money:

World Clock Meeting Planner – Timeanddate.com has a variety of great options, but global recruiters will benefit from the Meeting Planner tool. It’s a super-easy way to figure out what time it is in Sydney when it’s 4PM in Edinburgh, for example. Other tools provided include calendars, daylight saving information, and an event announcer. Not a week goes by that I don’t use this site for SOMETHING.

International Telephone Dialing – If you can’t remember which numbers go in front of the phone number (is it 1? or 011?), howtocallabroad.com is the perfect tool for you. Enter the country you are in, and the country you are trying to call and the site will show you the correct international code along with the country code for that country.

Skype – Most people who are making a lot of international calls have probably already figured out that Skype is a good option for this. With free audio and/or video calls from computer to computer, plus affordable international calls to/from landlines, Skype remains an industry leader.

Whatsapp – Whatsapp is a mobile app that provides free international text messaging including audio and media messaging, plus group chats. It’s faster than email and simpler than Skype when time is critical. Whatsapp uses your existing Internet data package and is cross-platform compatible.

Recruiter Relocation – Recruiter Relocation is a free service to recruiters that provides cost-of-living information, immigration assistance, and relocation assistance for candidates. It’s tricky enough to convince a candidate to move from one state to another. Getting a candidate to relocate to another country can be a huge challenge for global recruiters. The professionals at Recruiter Relocation can help provide a smooth transition. (DISCLOSURE: Recruiter Relocation is an NPA Endorsed Program).

If you’re a global recruiter, what’s your favorite time-saving tool? Share in the comments below!

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13 Trends for International Headhunting in 2013

by Dave Nerz

I see these trends impacting international headhunting in 2013:

  1. The demand for recruiting will continue to shift toward employers’ more highly specialized and challenging roles.
  2. The recruiter with international headhunting or global search skills will be in demand in 2013.
  3. Clients will fill easy positions with in-house recruiters or HR, by referral, or with social media tools.
  4. LinkedIn will continue to grow its influence on the search landscape with an ever increasing global footprint.
  5. Traditional job boards will suffer as aggregators like Indeed and Simplyhired gain ever wider use and acceptance.
  6. Other job boards will continue a progression toward even greater specialization both geographically and by industry or sector.
  7. Clients will continue to look for market share and growth on a global basis and will initiate international headhunting assignments to support this direction.
  8. Clients will view many openings as project-dependent and will be less willing to hire permanent employees and more likely to hire contract staff.
  9. The use of mobile and smart phone apps to connect with talent will escalate to even higher levels.
  10. The first contact with recruiters will be increasingly via summarized or speed application processes often identified as “apply with apps.” So the resume/CV will be a follow up step.
  11. The Asian and Australian economies will be slowing so more talent will be available from those markets. This is the opposite of recent years where those markets were net importers of talent.
  12. International headhunters seeking candidates with post graduate degrees will be operating in what is a nearly full employment environment.
  13. Global recruiting will continue a stratification process where research, recruiting, background checking, and onboarding will be sold separately and by different providers rather than in the bundled form to which we are accustomed. Specialist and price leaders will emerge in each layer.

In summary, while many things will be changing, I see 2013 as a relatively flat year with overall business levels similar to 2011 and 2012.

Common Screening Mistakes by Independent Recruiters

by Veronica Blatt

There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when qualifying a candidate for an open position. Some independent recruiters have a set process they follow and some have a different process for each situation. Personally, I think it’s important for independent recruiters to have a checklist of items that must be completed before a candidate can be presented to a client. Whether you feel the need to complete each task based on the job order or client is up to you. To keep yourself organized a ‘task list’ seems like something all recruiters should utilize. If you start to become sloppy with your process you may commit one of the top 10 screening mistakes listed in the infographic below created by Resoomay. Read the rest of this entry »

Working with Other Independent Recruiters to Improve Results

by Veronica Blatt

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Kimberley Chesney. Kimberley is the owner of Prime Management Group in Canada, with offices in London and Kitchener (Ontario) and Victoria (British Columbia). Kimberley is a long-time volunteer for NPA, currently serving as Chair of the NPA Board of Directors.

Working as independent recruiters can be difficult.  We want to produce excellent results for our clients without the normal resources of large, international firms.  We know, all too well, that our individual reputation depends on the results we can achieve for our clients.  With the advent of social media, we are constantly challenged in differentiating ourselves from our competition.

How are we able to deliver excellent results and earn a respectable fee?

Understanding the complex needs of our clients is key to producing the outcomes that they are expecting from us.  Taking the time to meet with our clients (either face-to-face or online) will be essential if we truly want to put ourselves in their shoes.

Working through the process of recruiting, rather than seeing it as a transaction, is very important.  Aligning ourselves with other independent recruiters who value the personal nature of our role can be extremely helpful. It is essential to use every tool available in order to produce the results we are expected to deliver.

Often, we focus entirely on the “client” part of the placement and virtually ignore the needs of the candidates we are presenting.  If we would only stop and remember that we are in the “people” business and that both parties have special needs of their own.  Learning what your candidates are looking for as a package is much more than hearing about their salary expectations.  Often there are many other factors which affect the candidate’s desire and ability to say “yes” to an offer and yet we don’t take the time to really learn what is important to them.

If we are fortunate to have other independent recruiters as partners who want to assist us, we can better navigate through this complex business relationship.  If they have an existing relationship with the client or candidate, it increases the odds that you will be able to close the placement.  They may have some information concerning the client or candidate which provides the basis on which you can close the placement.  Imagine the power of knowledge gained in working in a cooperative placement process where your partner helps you with the entire recruitment journey!  Imagine if they have access to excellent candidates who provide exactly what your client is looking for.  You would be more than happy to share the fee and ensure you are serving your clients so they come back to you over and over again.

Being an independent recruiter can have its advantages, but networking with other recruiters who are like minded provides for excellent scope and results and keeps not only your clients happy, but your pocketbook too!

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Independent Recruiters and Networking: 5 Quick Tips

by Terri Piersma

December and January are great months of the year to network as many holiday events are held and the mood is typically festive. Recently, I read a Forbes.com article by Darrah Brustein titled 16 Quick Tips to Become a Better Networker.

Darrah provided a non-recruiter perspective of networking. I thought her list was crisp and clear and explained well the value of networking. You will find below the five tips from her article that I believe are great reminders of how to effectively network your way through the holidays:

  • Remember that at a networking event, everyone is there meet new people.
    Going alone and walking up to strangers is the point. Everyone has some apprehension. Take the initiative.
  • Ask, “Why should they care?”
    Do you know how to describe yourself or your business in one sentence that demonstrates some value to the listener, not couched in industry-speak? Or, can you explain it so that they might be interested in continuing the conversation? Example: I help people to  . . .
  • Ask questions that are deeper than, “What do you do?”
    When possible, begin conversations with questions about someone personally, not necessarily their profession. Get to know them and attempt to find commonalities. They will tend to remember those conversations best.
  • Remember their Rolodex.
    The power of networking is the people your contacts know, not always your contact directly. Keep that in mind as you help guide people towards how to help connect you.
  • Listen more than you talk!
    People love to talk about themselves, and you can’t learn about the other person if you’re doing all of the talking.

If you would like to read the entire article about the 16 Quick Tips to Become a Better Networker, click here.

Are there any other of the 16 tips that you have found effective while networking? Do you have any additional tips not listed in the article?

Best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year!
Image:  FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

 

 

20 Reasons for Independent Recruiters to Switch to Google+

by Veronica Blatt

Google+ launched to great fanfare, with many believers convinced it would send Facebook packing. I didn’t buy in to the hype then, and my opinion really hasn’t changed much. However, the good people at Infographics Labs have come up with a list of 20 reasons to switch to Google+, which I’m sharing below. Honestly, the last thing I want to have to do is manage *one more* social media account, and I’m not convinced that Google+ can really deliver something (or someone) that I’m not already getting somewhere else. Read the rest of this entry »

Split Placements Add Value to Recruitment Businesses

by Dave Nerz

hand making a flow chartIndependent recruiters are risk takers. Recruiters typically strike out and leave the comforts of the corporate life behind. Many of these entrepreneurial ventures grow and prosper. One of the things I am seeing more frequently is the desire to create an “exit strategy” from the recruiting franchise that produces value in return for the risks taken and the successes achieved. In some cases the founding entrepreneur has been better at creating and growing the business than they have been at making the business saleable. Those buying a business want to see what value has been added to the business. They are not buying the entrepreneur; they want to buy what is left after the founder is gone.

So what can be done to add value to a recruiting business?

Add Process: The buyer wants to know that the success of the business is not dependent on any one individual. There needs to be a process for recruiting, doing the books, hiring and retaining, marketing the recruiting franchise, and even keeping the place clean and stocked with pens and toilet paper. A rule of thumb: if it is not written down, it is not yet a process.

Add Quality People: What people stay behind when the entrepreneur leaves? They don’t all need to be employees but they should be part of the process and the relationships might be better if captured in writing. This one is a little trickier as some buyers may want to use their own bookkeepers and cleaning services, so don’t get locked into irreversible contracts.

Add Connections: Develop and document the relationships that separate your business from others in the same niche or market. Trading partners that work cooperatively with your business can be the difference between a good year and a great year. They can add the revenue that represents the total profit for any year. These connections add value, but need to be documented in order to produce value at the time of sale.

Add Sources of Revenue: The number one value added source of revenue for any recruiting business is contract placement. These contracts smooth the peaks and valleys associated with contingent recruiting. The ongoing revenue adds to the basic value of the business and increases the likelihood of a sale for a recruiting business.

A second way to smooth the ups and downs is the inclusion of split placements. Split placement revenue is not guaranteed, nor is there a guarantee of continuation on the departure of the founding entrepreneur. But if properly documented as part of the recruiting process, split placements can be demonstrated to add value and reduce the risk of long dry spells for incoming revenue. The ability to work others’ jobs when you have none—or to seek the help of others (without adding staff) when the business is overwhelmed—is a great value that needs to be documented and sold as part of the business.

Add a Formal Split Fee Network: Showing a potential buyer that you have formalized the process to the point of being an active member of a split fee network is a bonus for any potential buyer.

Make your years of risk-taking pay off. Plan ahead and add value that a future owner would potentially pay for.

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Image courtesy of Sujin Jetkasettakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Develop an International Recruiting Mindset

by Veronica Blatt

globe with business peopleI came across an article on Recruiter.com titled Recruiting Internationally? Think Local, which resonated with me in many ways. One of the most compelling points was the idea that so many recruiters think differently about international recruiting as compared to local recruiting. It seems that many recruiters somehow think the recruiting PROCESS is different because the geography is different. While there are legitimate reasons why international recruiting may be more difficult than local recruiting, I don’t believe it’s because the process is wildly different. Read the rest of this entry »

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