Dear Barb:
We are paying a fortune for job boards, but often when we present our candidates our clients have already surfaced the same people. We are also using LinkedIn, but it seems like my recruiters are always doing research and not spending much time on the phones actually having conversations. Call me old school, but I still think talking to people is the way to gain their trust. Not sure how to continue to find the best talent with the same resource available to everyone, including our clients.
Frank S., St. Louis, MO
Dear Frank:
If you want to earn full fees and high margins, it’s important that you present the best candidates available, not necessarily the best candidates in your database or on job boards. The best talent is surfaced by making recruiting or networking presentations to individuals you have identified as good prospects. If you continue to utilize job boards, learn to obtain referrals from those candidates. Their referrals are not individuals your clients will have surfaced on their own.
It is important to conduct research and sourcing activities during non-prime time hours. During prime time hours, your sales team should be conducting conversations with clients, candidates and prospects. Recruiting is a time-intensive profession which is why it’s important to focus on planned outgoing calls vs. incoming calls or non-productive actions during the day. The Internet has made it simple to conduct research after hours.
Another way to double your number of top talented candidates, take out the best candidates you’ve interviewed in the past six months. Call their past two or three places of employment and ask for them. Obviously, they are not there but their replacements are. Their replacements have the same skills! You are correct when you say that your clients do not want you to present candidates they can easily surface on their own.
Barbara J. Bruno, CPC, CTS