Clients who drag out the process of hiring and making an offer to candidates are doing a tremendous disservice to themselves, the potential hire — and you!

I recently had a company take eleven business days to make an offer after a final interview. During the eleven days, the candidate had one on-site interview and two phone interviews with three other companies. This candidate I recruited for my customer didn’t have options when I first contacted him; then suddenly he had several. In the end, he had two offers on the table to consider and was beginning to wonder if he was my customer’s second choice.

Recruiting and hiring is a delicate emotional dance; if your date has to wait too long to be asked to the prom, they will simply go with someone else. In this case, if the company had been quicker with an offer he would have not interviewed with the other companies.

I tell all my clients that an offer needs to be made within 48 hours of the final interview– sooner if possible. So where does the process break down? What are the pitfalls that companies fall into which reduce their effectiveness in hiring decision-making? During a “lessons learned” debrief with the company, we determined the following common reasons for the slow offer process.

1. There Were Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen: When too many people are involved in the hiring decision, the process is going to be sluggish. One person has to be in charge and retain full authority. Seeking others’ input is important, but if multiple people are involved in a purely democratic process (in this case there were ten), it’s going to be next to impossible to get them to all reach the same conclusion in a timely manner.
2. The Offer Was Hijacked By Lawyers: Lawyers certainly serve a purpose, but a company attorney should not have to review each and every employment offer. Create a standardized offer template that has pre-approved legal language. Salary, benefits, etc. can then be simply plugged in and you’re on your way.
3. A Key Decision Maker Missed the Final Interview: First of all, this should just not happen. It reflects poorly on the company and makes candidates feel like they’re not being taken seriously. However, if unavoidable, have the missing person do a phone conversation prior to the final on-site interview. Or have them pick a trusted person to become the decision maker for this hire.
4. The offer approval process was serial; not parallel – If you cannot avoid multiple approvals of an offer, get them all at the same time [parallel], not in succession [serial]. Create efficient processes to ensure your offers get out the door in the minimum time.
5. Only a Slow Written Offer Was Extended:  If the decision has been made to extend an offer, make it over the phone as soon as possible. Don’t let preparation of contracts and 2-3 day mail delivery slow down the process. Follow up with written offers later the same day via email or overnight delivery.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? If so, it’s time to review and reform your hiring process. Don’t let news of the sluggish economy fool you into a false sense of security. Top talent will still have plenty of interested companies—especially in the technical areas. Get them off the market as quickly as you can and putting their skills to work for your company.

image source: Doug at deviantart

Editor’s note: Brian Kevin Johnston’s article was the most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in March.

I “fired” a candidate during the interview/offer process, and I am 100% convinced the only reason I still earned the fee was because… (are you listening?) I emotionally “checked out” of the torment and refocused my efforts on the things in my business I could control, which were sourcing and recruiting candidates for other searches on which my firm was engaged. After nearly fourteen years as a third-party recruiter, I have learned a thing or two about candidate or client control… IT DOES NOT EXIST!

If another “old skool” recruiter tries to sell you an audio program, seminar, or coaching program for which the foundation is “Applicant/Client control,” RUN FOR THE HILLS! Unless, of course, you recruit dinosaurs. The “shift” is real, and I strongly urge you recognize the signs; however that is another post…

Please understand — I love this Industry, almost as much as I love being a business owner and ultimately controlling my own destiny. You see, as recruiters we are blessed beyond comprehension, especially when we invest in ourselves and our employees to ensure we keep “becoming” better stewards to this industry. To those who truly love this business, you are my heroes!!! THANKS FOR YOUR INSPIRATION…

As Gary Vaynerchuk states in his remarkable book, CRUSH IT, “The average U.S. salary is around $40-50k. You can earn that doing a job you love or a job you hate. Please choose love!”

Last I checked, my virtual assistant is on target to earn the average U.S. salary, and the “average” recruiter with whom I mastermind or network is making 5-10 times the average U.S. salary… Yep, we’re blessed indeed!

I wonder if you have truly discovered how powerful this industry is? I also wonder if you have truly discovered how powerful you are with your words, and your actions? (BLEEPING POWERFUL!)

Knowing this, however, there are only two things in your business life you can control:

1. Your mental state (attitude)
2. Your activity (calls/submissions/meetings, etc.)

This, in my view, is what separates the top 1% in their niche, from the “herd.” When you fully realize what this does for you, as it did when I “fired” my candidate midstream, you are on your way to a “recruiting confidence” that 99% of your peers might never fully manifest on their desk.

When I consciously separated (“shifted”) my emotions from the candidate, the universe subconsciously handled the rest for me… (Kind of hokey, but I believe this to be true from my experience.) In contrast, had I been 25 years young and in my “rookie year” of recruitment when this happened, there is no question in my mind I would have lost this placement from forcing the issue. Again, this game is in your mind.

As third-party recruiters, we love “action lists,” so I have compiled a list of characteristics you should be aware of when you are considering “firing” a candidate midstream. Business aside, I consider this candidate an acquaintance, and I am very grateful for making the match for many reasons, however he would have won an award for his shocking behavior during the interview process.

Please consider the following:

Complaining: This is a “red flag,” and is usually ascertained in the first conversation or meeting but some start complaining very close the point when they have to make a decision/offer. (Fear) In this instance, my candidate complained about the fact that the “feedback was taking too long,” or “they said they would let you know by today, that is very unprofessional.” Welcome to Corporate America… “Hurry up and wait.”

Incompatible: Let’s face it: your “core identity” is not always going to match your candidates, so be aware of this, and perhaps use “pacing/mirroring” (NLP= Neuro-Linguistic Programming) techniques to counter any issues. (Match their body and language style) The good thing about third-party recruiters vs. corporate recruiters is that we can control whom we work with in most cases. I have had drinks with this particular candidate on a day trip to Northern CA, and I like him as a person, but when it came to the business of interviewing, he was a JACKASS!

Game Changers: You clearly state your intentions upfront (ex. interview process, salary negotiation, etc.), and low and behold your candidate wants “create their own terms,” on the fly… NOPE!!! My circumstance was such that the candidate would say one thing to me, then turn around and do an entirely different thing. For example, he set up a meeting with the client without even telling me. I am open to this, but I’d rather keep the communication lines open so I can assist him a earning what he wants, namely a new boss!

Trust: This is huge piece and straight forward. If they lie today, they will lie tomorrow. The key is transparency/authenticity upfront, to set the tone for all interactions. (Two-way street) I do believe my candidate trusted me, because I took the time to listen and meet with him on many occasions, but I became nervous about his saying one thing, and actually doing an entirely different thing.

Unrealistic Expectations: If a Principal Test Engineer on average earns $120k and your candidate wants $150k, a parking spot, and a sign-on bonus, they live in the land of “unicorns and rainbows.” Note, this is/was a serious issue for my candidate I “fired” last month. Typically, I have found it is something else, like insecurity, or a HUGE MORTGAGE IN SILICON VALLEY, they can’t afford. NOT your problem!

Clueless: How many PhD’s have you encountered that can do long division in their sleep, or code a trillion lines of code in seconds, but when it comes to “asking for the job”, they stumble and fumble like a child? Careful with these types, a candidate like this can negatively affect your client relations for the simple fact that expectations are high upfront. My candidate worked for a huge data storage employer in Silicon Valley, and they historically pay their people very well. But in the startup world, especially in this day and age with cash being tight, you MUST get your candidates to see the bigger picture in terms of future potential. (Take Money Off The Table)

Money, Money, Money: Like I stated above, when candidates are obsessed with the money questions early on, buyer beware! This is in my view a huge “red flag” for issues on the back end. (Offer stage)

Communication: Should the communication styles be strained, consider having a “coming to Jesus” conversation with your candidate. I did with mine, and I ultimately “disengaged.” By taking action over my thoughts, feelings/emotions, and actions with other relevant searches in my business, I ultimately earned $27k on that search assignment. I asked the tough questions upfront, and clearly in the end, it helped my client achieve what is wanted, namely to take away test engineering pains!

Arrogance/Rudeness: We all come from different backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic conditions, however in my view, we are all created equal and at no time should your candidate belittle you, your desk, or your firm. This goes both ways, and when a candidate who is a stretch for your requirement calls the office, it is important to still treat them with dignity and respect. My candidate made occasional statements made to me in jest, such as, “All you recruiters are the same,“ or “All you want to do is close the deal Brian,” which I took as offensive at times and ultimately is the reason I “checked out” midstream (yet still closed the deal!).

In conclusion, YOUR feelings don’t matter in the end, when it comes to making placements, so don’t allow your ego to drive behavior like I did when I was a 25 year old “rookie.” Even if you attempt to control everything, sometimes stuff (or a placement) just happens, simply because of the “match” between your candidate and client. What I believe ultimately matters are the feelings of the client, who is paying your bills. The recruiting game is about solving problems for your customers. Therefore, you can fool yourself into thinking that you control the situation, but ultimately you can’t control everything in the hiring process. (Unless you are an “old skool” dinosaur recruiter)

I wonder if you have discovered just how much revenue you can make and time you will save by “firing” your problem candidates?

This week we are counting down some of the most popular articles from FordyceLetter.com in 2011. We hope you enjoy revisiting these articles as we look ahead to 2012!

Editor’s note: Paul DeBettignies’ article was the 2nd most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in March.

I know, I know… smile and dial.

More phone calls equal more job orders, candidates and send outs. More send outs equal more placements.

I get it – I really do. But after thirteen years as a sole practitioner, I have learned that I need to get out from behind the desk every now and then, or I fear that the headset will become permanently fixed to my head.

My company recruits information technology professionals. Minneapolis is a very “community” oriented city and we have an abundance of IT user groups and professional associations, so I can get out and be social, learn something new, and do some candidate and client generation while curing my “cabin fever.”

And when I say abundance, it is no joke. In addition to the IT groups I participate in (there are more than 25), there are several professional recruiting associations in which I am involved, including the Minnesota Recruiters group, which I coordinate.

At this point, some of you many be thinking, “How do you manage all of that, and does it distract you from making placements?”

Does it distract me? No. How do I manage all of this? Here’s how:

1. I focus on the groups and events where I know my “targets” are going to be in attendance. Most of the groups in town use Eventbrite, and usually the attendee list is posted, so I will copy and paste the names I do not recognize into LinkedIn and/or Google to see who they are.
2. While I attend a lot of events, I make sure not to hang out with just my friends. I also find the people who look like they do not know anyone and introduce myself. I look to see who has “groupies” hanging around them – as I assume they have to be one of the “cool kids” – and introduce myself. Additionally, I focus on looking for the name tags of those I searched for online. (I write them down on a 3×5 card that I bring with me so as not to forget)
3. If I am attending an event and know no one, I will email the host ahead of time and ask if they will be willing to make some introductions for me. Over a period of time of course I get to know who is who and it makes networking much easier.

Besides being an attendee at events, I am also frequently asked to speak at them. For recruiter and HR groups, topics I am requested to cover range from closing candidates to social media, building talent pools, and so forth. The IT user groups and professional associations typically look for topics on job search, using LinkedIn, find the next consulting gig, and how to find/use recruiters.

So how does this help my business?

For starters, I am not one of those creepy “insurance salesman” networking types who quickly work a room, hand out their business card, and then head for the door. I have a reputation of being “the guy” to go to with a question, and I make it a point to invest time in those with whom I speak – whether they can help me or not. I think a lot of us have forgotten that we are in the people business, and not everyone is an instant means to an end.

Do these activities pay off? Last summer I attended a tech event at Best Buy headquarters and in a small group session of 50 Java developers, the presenter recognized me and said, “Hey, are you the recruiter guy with the blog? Come up here and answer some questions we have about how to ready ourselves for a job search.”

What a great way to be of help to others and allow them to get to know me. The number of emails, calls, and resumes I received over the next week was overwhelming – in a very good way. As a direct result of this opportunity, I was referred to a manager who I later placed. Even now, I am still seeing benefits from this event as several of the technology professionals I met are pursuing contract opportunities with us. Networking events can provide both ‘hunting’ and ‘farming’ opportunities if approached in the right manner.

Right before the holidays, I was invited by a friend to attend an HR event with her. She was surprised to learn that I knew more of those attending than she did. Not only did I know them – they were friends, too. Very rarely do I have to make a true “cold call” on the client generation side of the business.

It is good to remember that there are human beings on the other end of the phone and the other side of the computer screen. Getting out from behind your desk and mixing it up with your target audience helps them to put a face to your name and voice as much as it does the same for you of them. “Smile and dial” is a whole lot easier when the person answering the phone (or email) already knows your name – and what value you have to offer.

This article is from the February 2011 print Fordyce Letter. To subscribe and receive a monthly print issue, please go to our Subscription Services page.

This week we are counting down some of the most popular articles from FordyceLetter.com in 2011. We hope you enjoy revisiting these articles as we look ahead to 2012!

Creating a compelling cover letter that will highlight your candidate’s expertise and entice hiring managers to make contact for an interview is a skill that every good recruiter must have. I have several close colleagues who are recruiters; they continuously ask me for advice on how to create really compelling cover letters. I thought I would share some of the strategies that have proven most effective when crafting a compelling cover for candidate submittals.

1. Keep it short and sweet: While it may be tempting to provide a lot of detail to illustrate your candidate’s skills, hiring managers are a busy bunch. They want the nuts and bolts. Review your job order and provide only as much detail as is necessary to prove your candidate is interview-worthy.
2. Proofread your note: While you will most likely be sending your cover letter via email, which is a relatively informal platform, it is still imperative that you use good sentence structure, capitalization, spelling, and punctuation. All of your interactions, whether they are on- or off-line should be handled with care. No errors! They will wonder if your candidate is really all that and a bag of chips if you can’t even take the time to submit a cover note that is error free.
3. Focus on accomplishments: Spend time covering both specific skills as well as your candidate’s impressive record of achievement and professional results. Highlight revenue generating accomplishments, leadership, corporate or departmental growth, and other key factors. Immediately let the hiring manager know what a valuable asset your candidate is. Use a few bullets here for readability.
4. Discuss the fit: Address the reasons why the candidate is a good fit for the company. If the candidate has certain soft skills that blend well with the corporate culture, include these in your comments. Bring the candidate’s personality to life. Let the hiring manager know you are particularly impressed with the candidate’s business acumen or personal style.
5. Ask for the sale: Suggest that you would like to set up a time to have the two of them speak. Express your feelings about the potential fit and include the candidate’s availability for interviews. This is a call to action. Without it, your cover letter is not truly complete.

Below is a cover letter that has been adapted for use in the recruiting process. It is a targeted version of the initial cover letter created for use by the candidate in a direct submittal.

Hiring Manager Name

Hiring Manager Title

Re: Joe Smith

Joe Smith is a C-Level biotechnology sales and marketing executive. He has 12+ years’ experience in operations and team leadership with a proven history of success closing large deals in the $4M+ range. The average sales cycle he is accustomed to is approximately 6 months. Joe holds an MBA from ZYZ University.

• Joe played a key role in raising considerable VC that allowed his current company to soar from 0 to $280M in 3 years.
• He grew his previous firm, XYZ Corporation, by $38M as EVP.
• Joe was recognized by CHIBiz magazine as one of Chicago’s top 30 most influential people in healthcare.

Joe has outstanding interpersonal skills. I found him to be a solid communicator with strong subject matter expertise. I feel strongly that Joe is good potential fit for ABC Corporation. His stellar history of quota achievement combined with his leadership strength is quite impressive.

Joe is available for interview in the AM before 9 ET or after 4 PM ET Monday-Friday. Please let me know what time would be good for the two of you to speak. I can be reached at 555-555-5555 or via email at recruiter1@emailaddress.com for next steps.

Sincerely,

Recruiter Name

Recruiter Company
Recruiter Contact Info

Notice that we start by focusing on the fact that Joe meets the criteria for the role, then we provide a brief list of bulleted accomplishments. Next we discuss Joe’s soft skills; and finally we close with a call to action by asking for the interview. The cover letter is concise and to the point. It has no errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation.

By following this recipe when you create cover letters for your submittals, you will improve your odds of getting send outs — and ultimately, making placements.

Dear Barb:

Of course while making calls and talking with candidates I’m building an email database in my specialty (surgical space). I’m also scouring the Web at night to compile appropriate names and email addresses.

I’m reviewing your various scripts (enticement, profiling, etc.) and thinking about how best to convert them to an email blast. Then I figured, before going further, I might as well just ask you if you have a recommended approach/script/letter for email blasts to passive candidates. Thanks in advance. I appreciate any guidance you can provide.

Andy K., Sarasota FL

Dear Andy:

We send out an article of interest bi-monthly to our entire candidate database. We also include a list showing a sampling of current opportunities. You need to use the same approach with passive candidates.

Provide them with valuable information such as “How do you negotiate the best raise?” or another topic they would want to read. Then add a list of your current opportunities telling them this is just a sampling of the type of positions you represent. When people get a list, they are more apt to forward it to their people in their address book.

It’s the same concept as COSTCO or SAM’S CLUB when they give you a “sampling” of their products to entice you to invest. If you don’t want to take the time to write articles… you could use the services of freelance writers on www.elance.com. Just confirm that the writer you hire has English as their first language.

FYI – we also send a bi-monthly article of interest to clients/prospects with a sampling list of the talent we’re representing. Often they forward it to other hiring authorities.

Hope this helps!

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS

Would you like to Ask Barb a question? Email her at support@staffingandrecruiting.com. Each month in The Fordyce Letter print edition, Barbara Bruno answers questions from individuals in the Recruiting Profession. We will bring you some of these Q&A responses from Barb each week on FordyceLetter.com.

Dear Barb:

I had a candidate go out on an interview for a Director level position. She is a person who has held similar roles in the past. The client had already completed a phone interview with her and was excited to meet her. After the interview with three separate people, the client was unanimous in stating there was no way they’d bring her into the organization.

Some of the things the hiring manager told me…

• Her demeanor was odd, distant, dreamy, and she sometimes had difficulty focusing on the question.
• There was a point of conflict between her and the hiring manager when he asked her to answer the same question three times and she always tried to answer a different question.
• She lacked any kind of interview technique.
• Bashed her former employers.

I spent about 45 minutes prepping her the same way I prepped two other candidates I sent to the same interview group. Those two are getting offers. If I present this as stated to the candidate I am sure she will just reject the feedback and become defensive. How would you go about delivering this feedback in a way that coaches the candidate and maintains a professional relationship between the candidate, myself, and the client?

Rebecca Y., St. Louis, MO 

Dear Rebecca:

You have to be subtle in your approach but tell her she has been screened out. Explain that you pressed for information that could help her in future interviews and found out the following:

It is my job as your Career Agent to get feedback for you – to help you. Interviewing is never easy unless you interview for a living – which you don’t.

Explain that what you are going to share is the perception and opinions of this one client. It’s not important to agree or disagree with what they say, but possibly fine tune your interview skills.

The client shared three reasons for screening you out:

1. You talked negatively about former employers  (this is almost always a knock out factor with employers)
   In the future, just refrain from any negative remarks about past employers
2. They felt you were not listening. The hiring manager asked you the same question three times and rather than answer the question that was asked you tried to answer a different question.
   He did not give me a specific example – but that is what he said.
3. You seemed distant and unfocused during the interview. It appeared to them that you had a problem focusing on the questions they were asking.
   If a questions in not clear, ask the interview to repeat the question for clarification.

 You are helping her by providing this feedback. If she does not take the constructive criticism well and change how she interviews – walk away!

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS

Would you like to Ask Barb a question? Email her at support@staffingandrecruiting.com. Each month in The Fordyce Letter print edition, Barbara Bruno answers questions from individuals in the Recruiting Profession. We will bring you some of these Q&A responses from Barb each week on FordyceLetter.com.

By Danny Cahill

Since my divorce two years ago, I have become good at resisting men, and I have always been good at resisting headhunters, so when you put the two together, a male headhunter has no chance with me. They want to know if I am happy. Would I like to hear about a dream job? I know why they call—I am a successful software sales rep with a massive network of clients, and I’m an attractive woman. I don’t think much about happiness anymore. And I don’t deal in dreams. So I don’t return their calls.

Except Harper.

Harper Scott gets to me. He placed me once eight years ago when I was first learning how to sell software, and then again years later when my boss at the time started taking clients away from me because I was out earning him. Harper has been a successful headhunter for a long time. He seems to know everyone in my market space, and everything that is going on. Harper is connected. But that’s not why he gets to me.

“Casey, it’s Harper. I refuse to say my last name because that would imply you know and love another Harper, and that would kill me. Do you really think you can get away with this shabby treatment? You don’t send funny emails, you don’t call. I am seriously considering starting a relationship with you just so I can break up with you and have you know my pain.”

Okay, I admit it, I giggled. I’m 34. I thought I left giggling behind.

“Look, I can’t get in to this on voice mail. Call me. Notice I am not leaving my number. If you don’t still have it, all is lost.”

I told myself to ignore his message. Let it settle. I’ve been at my job for just over a year, and calling Harper back would mean getting caught up with the drama of interviews and the inevitable subterfuge with my current boss to make myself available. Why bother? Let it go.

So I held out. For about another four minutes. I got his voice mail and a few minutes after that his executive assistant, who irritated me because she sounded perky, (and the fact that I had no right to be irritated made me more irritated) called and said Harper wanted me to meet him at 1 p.m. sharp at Max’s Oyster House on West 76^th Street the following Tuesday.

I convinced myself that morning that I was dressing in order to make a good impression on the CIO that my sales engineering team and I were doing a demo for that afternoon.  But why was I reaching for the black, form fitting cashmere sweater, the charcoal grey skirt that even I, as my backside’s biggest critic, know hangs and clings in a flattering way? Why am I putting my hair up and exposing my neck? Why am I giving this account the full “Surprise, I’m very corporate, very astute, and wicked hot” look? Oh, what a coincidence, I pretended to recall, I have that meeting with Harper before the demo. Only those in commission sales and the divorced have such powers of delusion. They are essential tools of survival.

I sat in the restaurant for 10 minutes before Harper showed.  Harper plans every move he makes, and nothing is more fiendishly calculated than his penchant for making everything look unplanned.  Harper must be 40 or thereabouts now, but could easily pass for younger. Flecks of grey accent the brown hair, and at 6 feet, he is still at fighting weight, shoulders broadened by daily free weight and Nautilus toil, waist impossibly narrow from small, frequent high protein meals and miles logged on a treadmill. Eight years ago, when we first met, I came back from lunch and my friend Hannah asked me what he looked like, and I said, “Big in the right places, small in the right places,” and she understood immediately. Somehow, he looks even better now.  Harper seemed to be at home no matter where he was. He seemed to have all the answers. But as I locked in and looked him straight in the eyes, the same way I start any meeting, I didn’t know for the life of me why I was there and what questions I had.

Harper folded his hands, placed them under his chin, rested his elbows on the table, and took  the kind of beat actors take before delivering their big speech.

“You’re wondering why you’re here. You’re a busy person, you’re not looking for a job, you’re feeling vaguely guilty about meeting with a headhunter on company time. And yet, it’s so good to see me. Am I right?”

“About everything except the ‘it’s so good to see you’ part.”

“I’m shattered.”

“Bounce back, Harper. I agreed to see you because I’m in town rolling out a demo for an insurance company at 2:30 and because I was curious to see if you had gone to seed yet like most guys your age.”

“And have I?”

“Not quite.”

An impossibly cute waitress who was all of nineteen excused herself for interrupting, took our drink orders, and told us the specials. Harper asked her how she was doing, and told her he was a headhunter and when she graduated she should look him up. She beamed. I rolled my eyes.

“You’re pathetic.”

“Six degrees of separation,” he shrugged. “My network is my lifeblood. It is ever expanding; it never sleeps. You don’t know who she knows.”

“I’m ready for your pitch now, Harper.  By the way, I Googled you this morning.”

“Isn’t that eerie? I Googled me this morning too. Any new entries since 7 am?”

“Oh God. I was going to congratulate you on making partner, but to hell with you.”

I always do this with men. It’s a problem.  I remember what I like about them and forget the down sides. Harper’s ego was a bit much, and then, he redeemed himself. He took out his wallet and showed me the latest pictures of his daughter, Jess. I raved, which I would have done anyway because she really was fabulous.

“A teenager already. Has it really been that long since you tried to recruit me?”

“Don’t remind me. Soon it’s nothing but boys. Then the lying starts.”

“She may not end up that way, Harper.”

“I’m talking about me. I’ll totally lie if it keeps her away from boys.”

Harper shifted his hips and leaned back, and I could tell this marked the end of the icebreaking. At the end of the day, he was here to qualify a prospect that could make him money. I would be well served, I repeated to myself, to keep that in mind.

“So, here’s what my research associate tells me. Nineteen months ago you’re one of SAP’s resident stars. Big territory, established key accounts, and three direct reports that you were getting overrides on. W2 of over 330K. In software sales, it doesn’t get any better. You leave and end up at an underfunded supply chain company where you’ll be lucky to make 225K. It doesn’t add up, Casey.”

“I’m not going on any interviews, Harper. I like my job.”

“Were you sleeping with the boss? Was that it?”

“What?! John was sixty three. He had yellow teeth and eyebrows so close they looked like a headband.”

Harper shook his head with disdain. “So then, what? It doesn’t add up and you know it.”

I promised myself I wouldn’t share this. A solemn promise, made at my bathroom mirror just five hours ago, now waffling gently out the restaurant’s open windows.

“I got divorced, okay? Don’t look at me like that. It’s not that shocking.”

“No, what is shocking is my research assistant missed that. I’m going to have to fire her, and then hire her back right away because I’d be lost without her.”

“It’s no big deal. We had no kids; we both had careers. We evaluated, we made a choice, we negotiated and distributed our assets, and we moved on.”

“Well, look at you and your stiff upper lip. No collateral damage, no scar tissue?”

“Absolutely none.”

“Did you shake hands and say, good luck?”

“We did in fact shake hands. One folded over the other, like Clinton used to do. Then he said, ‘Godspeed.’”

Harper leaned back. “He actually said the word Godspeed?” I’ve never been able to work that word into a sentence. That’s fantastic! So you’re fine? No residual sadness?”

“Nope.”

“No regrets about losing your prime years?”

“I’m suddenly regretting this lunch, but no.”

Our waitress bought me some time by asking if we had any questions. Neither of us had really looked at the menu, so we both agreed to the halibut when she raved that it was “phenomenal.” Harper was a sucker for enthusiasm in any and all forms, and he clapped his menu shut for emphasis to show how bought in he was to the halibut and its magical pesto sauce. I felt like I should leave, that leaving would be a sign of wisdom. I reached over for my jacket on the chair next to me, slipped my Blackberry out, and turned the power off.

“You turn thirty five soon, right? That’s typical of my research associate; she gets the birthdays and doesn’t update the marital status. So if you’re going to have a family, you need to pick one of the many guys I’m sure you’re dating, shorten the engagement, and abandon all birth control.”

“I’m not focused on that right now, Harper.”

“There are guys, right? You’re beautiful, you’re smart, and you don’t need their money. I imagine your social life is exhausting.”

His charms had run their course. I was now officially angry. What is the matter with me that I would subject myself to this?”

I started gathering up my things. I was going to walk out of there an absolute ice queen. I wasn’t going to show him anything.

“Have your research associate delete me when you get back to the office. If you would.”

“Two minutes.” I looked at him with the stock, half querying, half irritated way I would look at Donald when he would leave wet clothes in the dryer. Men hate this look, so I keep it near me at all times. “Give me two minutes and this meeting will have been worthwhile for you, whether you eat or not.

And as if on cue, the food came. I wasn’t going to let our waitress think I had been hurt or was weak in any way, and I couldn’t very well exit I  while Miss Teen America was warning me the plate was “super duper hot.” I sat down.”

He cut his food slowly and didn’t look up while he spoke.

“Thank you. Answer me this, and remember, I only have two minutes, so don’t over think it. You traveled 85% of the time.  He was home, a desk jockey. May I assume he cheated on you?”

Oh, what the hell. Could it be I want to talk about this?

“Yes. He did. Apparently for a long time.” I will not cry. I will not turn this arrogant headhunter into Barbara Walters.

“And if one of your friends knew? If I knew? Would you have wanted to know?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure? It’s touchy. You reconcile and then the friend or friends who told you are the bad guys on the wrong team.”

“So they said. They were wrong. They should have trusted that I would never blame them.”

“I agree with you. In fact, if you ever find out my wife is cheating, let me know.”

“Right after I reassure her nobody in the world would blame her.”

He smiled wanly, and then a sigh, a slow, dense sigh. Suddenly he didn’t want to be here.

“You’re getting fired, Casey. Your manic depressive owner, Tynan, is bringing in a new EVP, and he’s going to clean house. Replacing the whole sales force. He starts in six weeks. I’m sorry.”

“How do you know?”

Harper nodded. “I placed him. Tynan gave me the search four months ago to replace your boss.”

“And you tell me now?”

“I told you. I didn’t have to. Ethically I shouldn’t be telling you now. Look, Casey, your boss was going to get fired; someone was going to get that search. Any new EVP is going to bring in his own people, and you were going to be replaced. Because it’s me, you are the only one in the sales force who knows. You have at least three or four months  to prepare and plan, and find a job, and it will be better. All because of me. Because I care.”

I was twirling linguini drenched in pesto sauce with my fork. My stomach felt like it had jumped off a bridge, leaving a note under a small rock that outlined how wearying it was to continually be filled and emptied, filled and emptied. What was the point? I lowered my fork.

“Stomach, right?” Harper said. “It’s usually the first responder to this kind of news.” I nodded.

“Look, Casey, this is a good thing. You’ll get out before they let you go; you’ve got track record, leverage. In the long run, this is the best thing that could happen to you.”

“Oh save it, Harper. Really. Every time something bad happens to me, I am surrounded by people telling me it’s the best thing that could have happened to me. And always by people who are not affected, who don’t have to wait for it to become, in retrospect, a great thing to have happened. Donald falls in love with a co-worker’s wife, a woman I introduced him to, and it’s a good thing because he didn’t love me, and now I can find someone who does. The fact that their affair humiliated me at work and made my cushy job that I had killed myself for over a decade to attain, untenable, was a good thing in the long run, because at a new company there’d be no ghosts, no gossip. And now that I have picked myself off the floor, now that I am established, albeit at a crappy company, now that I have made the best of my reduced circumstances, they are being taken away and I have to hear that it’s the best thing for me. You know what? It’s not. It’s not good that I’m going to be out of a job; it’s not good that I don’t have any dates with any men; it’s not good that I only go out to eat for business; it’s not good that I am in sweats all weekend and am addicted to Court TV and hi glycemic foods. It’s not good, Harper. It is the exact opposite of good, and I would only ask you to let me have that for just a while!

Is that too much to ask?”

“How is everything, you two?” said the reigning Miss Teen America.

“It’s good,” I said.

“No,” Harper nearly bellowed, “it’s not. It is the opposite of good, and we would just like to experience the food’s opposite goodness for a while. Is that too much to ask?” Miss Teenage America withdrew, slightly dazed.

“You’re an idiot, Harper.”

“Yes, but an empathic, listening idiot.” He gave me the kind of smile that made me want to feel better for him, so that he’d keep smiling. My whole life has been spent doing whatever I need to do to keep men smiling.

“So now what?”

“You need to read my book.”

“You wrote a book?”

“Does that seem inconceivable?”

“On getting a job in software sales?”

Harper winced. “Writing a simple book on getting a job is not going to get me on the Times bestseller list and Oprah’s couch. It has a far more ambitious scope.”

“What’s it called?”

For some reason, Harper didn’t think I would ask a question so granular.  Within a second, he haltingly said, “It’s called, I uh, have decided to call it, Harper’s Rules: The Headhunter’s Guide to Love and Career.

“You’ve written no such book, have you, Harper?”

“I certainly have, and I find that insulting. Now, to clarify, I haven’t written it in the sense of having actually committed words to paper in some structured, organized form.”

“In what sense then, given that tiny distinction, would it qualify as a book?”

“Continued ridicule will take you right off the dedication page and onto the bottom half of the names in the acknowledgements.  Here’s the deal. You wanted to hear a pitch, here it comes: I’ve been a headhunter for 20 years. I interview, I evaluate, I dig deep because I need to know how people make decisions. If they don’t accept the job, I don’t get paid. And here’s what I’ve learned.

There is no difference between making decisions in your career path and making decisions in your romantic life.

It’s the most natural analogy in the world, and one every headhunter uses. We all know an interview is like a date, that we seek attractive jobs using the same skill we use to find a mate. The best relationships come from referalls from friends, not from postings, giving notice feels like breaking up, and as you now know….getting fired feels like you’ve been cheated on. Get the premise or do I go on?

I had to admit I had often felt, when deep into the interview process with a company, that I was sizing up the various staff members I met: how they would be to sit near, how dull or funny they seemed, the feel of the office zeitgeist. It was like walking into a party.

“My book is meant for someone just like you. You are the prototype; you are my target audience. Usually, we’re happy in our relationships but our career is in trouble, or we love our job and are conspicuously successful, but our home life is terrible, so we gravitate toward the positive reinforcement of work, and the problem gets exacerbated because our loved ones feel ignored.”

I put my napkin on the table and folded my hands in front of me. It was my way of admitting I was guilty as charged.

“I find there are only two types: the type that knows how to manage a career move, and the type that knows how to manage their personal lives. Precious few have done both. Do you agree?”

I would have liked nothing better than to shoot Harper down, but my thoughts flashed to the evenings on the road, sitting at a Marriot bar with the road warriors, and how quickly the conversation descended into the ingratitude of the spouse left at home or the unfair expectations of a CIO changing the specs of an order, and how easily, given enough alcohol, the conversations steered toward the choice of covering each other, just for the night, in the simple, empty blanket of a sexual encounter. I had never been seriously tempted, but I had felt truly sorry for many of them. Near the end with Donald, I found myself the one with the horror story, the impossibly positioned victim. This is not to say I didn’t know marriages that did work, but if Harper was talking about the world’s work force at large, I would have to agree. Not too many happy people. I conceded with a nod.

“My book’s ambition is to point out how, if you understand the correct way to get a job and manage a career, the power of the analogous relationship between who you love and what you do cannot be separated, becomes synergistic, and creates a new you. One who is whole; one who is real. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up in the morning and not have to make a distinction between what your life is and who you have to pretend to be?”

“Is that how your life is, Harper? You never talk about your personal life.”

“This is about you. You need my book, Casey. You need a new career, and you need to stop living without love. The two can be done at one time.”

“If you ever write the book.”

“I believe I’ve just started.”

Reprinted by permission of Greenleaf Book Group. Excerpted from Harper’s Rules: A Recruiter’s Guide to Finding a Dream Job and the Right Relationship. Copyright 2011 Danny Cahill.

This week’s inquiry comes from Marc Stevens:

Hi Jeff,

I’ve been recruiting now for about 11 years and as you would imagine, I’ve seen a lot of different things happen in this sometimes crazy but very rewarding business. I’ve attended the Fordyce meetings and really have benefited from your presence there. In your articles, you always share unique solutions we can’t get anywhere else…thanks!

Recently, I’ve been exposed to a situation that one of my candidates is facing and because of it seems a bit unfair, I wanted to share it with you to see what ideas or thoughts you have.

I have a candidate who has accepted an offer from our client and learned on his exit interview from his current company they wanted him to reimburse ½ of his relocation costs. Apparently the agreement is that 100% of the relocation costs are refundable to the company if the candidate leaves in the first year and 50% if within the second year. To me this seems a bit harsh — think of it this way:

Let’s say the candidate left on the 23rd month, well technically the company is looking for 50% of the relocation costs reimbursed? Huh?! I know I’m going to be biased about this but I can’t see why the company wouldn’t be amenable to at least working out a prorated schedule, which brings me to my question.

Is this typically something a company will enforce? Have you found that they would be willing to work something out, i.e. prorated schedule &/or does the candidate need to get an attorney involved?

Thanks,

Marc

Hi Marc,

We’re pleased to hear from you, and are here to help recruiters close as many placements as possible. Your JOC inquiry will help us show how to handle the matter of candidate reimbursements. Or rather – unhandle them, since there’s no need for the candidate to pay anything – or for you to blow a placement — if you set up the countermove properly.

We call these pre-employment gems Employee Payback Agreements (EPA’s). Typically, they’re a “condition of employment,” and the candidate has no choice other than to decline the job. That makes them disfavored agreements legally. So a court will look for reasons not to enforce them. But bringing up those reasons are the candidate’s burden of proof. And your “burden of placement.”

That’s where good recruiting comes in. You can coach the candidate to:

1. Attack the agreement itself. Employer lawyers generally overwrite these agreements to impress their clients. That means ambiguous, inconsistent and overbearing terms. Things that would work in a business-to-business deal don’t work when a court construes a disfavored agreement.

My favorite way to break relo paybacks is to show there was no consideration (something given in exchange) for the payback. It’s usually missed – even by experienced lawyers — and is the ultimate legal challenge. Here’s why:

The employer agreed to reimburse the relo expenses so the candidate would accept. Most defense lawyers stop there. But where is the payment for the payback condition (upon the candidate leaving)?

None. No consideration ergo no contract.

2. Use the reasons for leaving to counterbalance the terms of the agreement. There are always misrepresentations in the hiring process. Candidates make them, and employers make them. Now’s the time to bring up the ones the employer made. It’s a safe bet that there were around a dozen.

Was the job exactly as represented? Is it ever? By whom? When? What was said? How about the work area? The reporting relationships? The experience of the supervisor? The product? The product line? New products being developed? The company culture?  Since it’s a relo, what about employer statements as to job opportunities for the spouse? The schools?

See what I mean? The whole process is replete with representations and they become misrepresentations. Some intentional, others unintentional. No matter. Just blame the employer for everything that went wrong!

Do a candidate debrief with a plunger in one hand and a pen in the other. As the sewer backs up, step aside and take copious notes. O-o-o-h what yuk spews out! Who, what, where, when, and how.  It won’t be a brief debrief, but it’s worth your fee to document.

3. Bring up the employer’s failure to orient, train, and supervise the candidate properly. Every working wounded has a story. Take notes on this too. Dates and places are critical. The candidate can be wrong on just about everything, as long as he’s exact. It’s just some biased person’s view of the world. That’s good enough for us.

Once you’ve documented these three items, prepare a letter for the candidate to give to his ex. Threats aren’t necessary – just laying out the “facts.” Employer lawyers cave, or they get nailed in court with a lot more than the relo expense. Even worse – their clients ask why they paid for an agreement that was wrapped around their neck in the public square.

As I stated in The Employee Termination Handbook (probably on the employer lawyer’s desk):

The public has the impression that a court is like a giant automated teller machine. Just plug in the right facts and law, and the cash will appear. Trial lawyers who think otherwise are disabused of this impression rather violently during their first court appearance. This is the difference between art and science in the practice of law. The proof and interpretation of the law are critical.

There you have it, Marc. Once you know how to break EPA’s, you can let candidates know they should never stand in the way of taking a job.

No placement should ever be blown over an EPA. Half back? I don’t think so! Get an attorney? I don’t know so! Just a good recruiter like yourself — and off he goes to pursue his dream.

Best wishes for success with this and many more placements!

Jeff

If you have a legal question you’d like to have Jeff answer here on The Fordyce Letter, check out Jeff’s On Call! and submit your question.

Today, Barb Bruno launched www.happycandidates.com, a site designed to provide career assistance to those “can’t help” candidates, with the idea that the resources in Happy Candidates will certainly be able to assist them.  “We have shifted once again to a more candidate-driven market,” says Bruno. “As such, many recruiters find themselves fielding an enormous number of calls from what would be classified as “can’t help” candidates. Imagine helping more people find fulfilling and rewarding jobs while saving your company time, money, and resources.  That’s the idea behind Happy Candidates.” 

Happy Candidates is designed to provide services to candidates to help them differentiate themselves from their competition and improve their reputation and word-of-mouth advertising as job-seekers. For recruiters, it is designed to be a place where you can send candidates for whom you have no opportunities that can put them in touch directly with other recruiters and offer them helpful career tips and 100% of the resources they need to find a job on their own. This resource in turn allows you to focus on the 5% of candidates that can be placed, which increases sales and profits.

Happy Candidates provides tools and resources your candidates need to find a job and since it is private labeled, they’ll think you’ve built this just for them.  It takes less than ten minutes to set up a customized career portal. Some of the free actions they take generate revenue which offsets the cost of the career portal.

A “soft launch” of Happy Candidates was done one year ago to test the market and get feedback. Currently, the service has 400 firms and over 45,000 job seekers who have enjoyed the resource. “Now we know it works,” says Bruno. “Owners are getting thank you notes and cookie bouquets from candidates they would have normally ‘ignored.’”

You can learn more about Happy Candidates by going to www.happycandidates.com as well as by listening to the podcast we recently did with Barb.

How many times have you heard one or more of your clients state:

“I will not settle for anything but the best.”

Or

“I want to hire the best candidate available.”

Although a worthy pursuit, for many clients, hiring the “best,” in most instances, may be an unobtainable goal. Actually, Herbert Simon may have said it most clearly in his reverse juxtaposition of an old saying:

“The best is the enemy of the good.”

In reality, many managers, working with a limited or distorted understanding of what they are attempting to accomplish through their open position, move ahead looking for the “best” candidate when they have no idea how to define “best.” In so doing, they miss out on many “good” candidates who could meet or surpass the performance outcomes necessary to be successful in the position. In holding out for a nondescript vision of “best,” they miss out on “good” — thereby ending up compromising with “average.”

As Peter Drucker so accurately stated in The Definitive Drucker:

“In order to hire excellent performers, you must first be clear in your mind what excellent performance will look like.”

Adding to the manager’s challenge is their general lack of training in job analysis and performance based selection techniques. With this shortcoming, it is little wonder they many times fail if they attempt to execute the hiring process utilizing internal resources only. Furthermore, these same shortcomings will compromise the results that could be achieved through most independent recruiting firms. Because of this inconsistency in results, many clients have adopted a quantity approach when utilizing outside resources. Obviously, this becomes self-defeating as the individual recruiting firms realize they cannot commit the necessary resources based on the level of competition.

Conversely, consider for a moment what it would be like to be a hiring manager who had total confidence in their outside recruiting firm. This confidence is the result of experiencing the benefits of a client centered hiring process. Inclusive in this process is a proper job analysis as well as the establishment of realistic, performance-based selection criteria and position outcomes. Additionally, under the direction of the outside recruiter, the process is always completed within an acceptable time line.

Which manager would you want to be?

The results of research we have been conducting for over twenty years strongly suggest that the vast majority of hiring managers actually do want to hire “good” candidates if the following two conditions are met:

1. The hiring manager feels confident that the process leading up to their decision has been thorough, exacting, and that it provided them with all the information they required to make a confident hiring decision.
2. That the process they followed was accomplished within a realistic time frame, which still allowed the new employee sufficient room to achieve the required outcomes through the position.

Summed up in one statement:

Managers will make their decision when they feel confident that the hiring process has been properly served within the time frame allotted for its completion, producing a good, qualified, and interested finalist.

However, keep in mind what Robert J. Ringer stated in his 1973 breakthrough book, Winning Through Intimidation,

“… Before a person closes any kind of deal … he always worries about the fact that there may be a better deal down the road. It’s an uncontrollable instinct: at the last moment, the thought has to at least occur to a person that he might be missing out on a better deal somewhere else.”

This is true for our clients as well. However, the client’s sense of urgency will determine the appropriate time line and, if this sense of urgency is strong, it could force the client into compromising his or her decision and hiring the wrong person. Therefore, the control factor in these situations, as it should be in all hiring situations, must be the process that is followed in attracting, evaluating, and hiring “good” candidates who are available given the time constraints created by the sense of urgency.

Remember

The differences between how a good and an average candidate conduct their respective job searches is substantial. Unfortunately, most clients do not take these differences into consideration and as a consequence rarely hire enough good candidates.

Hence, the importance of the hiring process. As explained in our previous articles, when properly executed, the client centered process is designed to attract good (and possibly the best) candidates while building confidence in both the client and the candidate, so that when the time arrives to make a decision, they both will have all the information they require to make the right decision.

Bottom line: when we control and execute with our clients and candidates a properly structured process, both parties will have confidence in their decisions. Their confidence grows and is nurtured because the process has been thorough, exacting, founded on realistic and mutually agreed upon performance outcomes and selection criteria, and also because you have been uncompromising in your commitment to the principle that “the process makes the placement.”

As always, if you have questions or comments about this article or wish to receive my input on any other topic related to this business, just let me know. Your calls and e-mails are most welcome.