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:

Clients always say ASAP; they hardly ever give me a target date to fill an order. How do you respond when they say this? I can’t force them to give me a date and yet I understand why this is important information. Any advice?

Jennifer B., Atlanta, GA 

Dear Jennifer:

Here is the answer to your question…

“I’m sure you will agree that timing is everything in recruiting, which is why we prioritize your search according to your timeframe to hire. Would you please share with me your preferred target date to hire? This will allow me to focus on your search when the timing is perfect for us to provide the best results!”

Show them the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) – you are trying to prioritize according to their priority. Time kills deals, you don’t want to lost talent because of a delay. If they say ASAP ask them if they are ready to hire that same week?

It’s all about showing them why it benefits THEM to give your more specific information.

Hope this helps.

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS

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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.

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which recently passed, I have shared with you over the past several weeks the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. Last week, I shared the story of how I forgot about the relationships that really matter, and how that cost me countless placements. This week, I bring you….

#1 – Story of Losing Faith in an Old Customer

It never fails. Every single time I talk to a prospective member of our esteemed recruitment team here at Aureus Group, I am asked the same question.

“What does it take to be successful at recruiting?”

I have fumbled, mumbled, rambled, and stuttered senseless responses to that questions dozens of times. Andrew, my current recruiting partner and teammate, makes good fun of me because when he asked me this question during his interview, I actually told him, “I have no idea.”

Sorry Andrew, let’s just assume I was having a bad day. After all, when have I ever not had an opinion about anything?

Bottom line, it’s a tough question for me to answer, as you could reach for dozens of legitimate answers that make sense and can be proved true on some level. That being said, there is one possession that I now believe to be of greater value than any other; and It was my lack of this that led to my biggest mistake in five years as a recruiter. It is the virtue of persistence.

We’ve all seen one of those semi-lame motivational posters. You know, there’s the one with the J.R.R. Tolkien quote and the footprints in the sand. Persistence…..”Little by little, one travels far.” Leave it to the creator of “Middle-Earth” to dispense profound wisdom for our usage. He is right though. Persistence=very good.

In our business one must be judicious as to not let persistence become stalking, but there is no real way to teach the difference. If you don’t know it, you are probably a stalker. We all must toe that line in order to be remembered.  If the juice is worth the squeeze, eventually the chase will be rewarded.

This all seems obvious enough though. When has “not giving up” ever failed anyone? Criminals, and miscreants aside, likely nobody. Which is why I always cringe in rehashing my “not so great” moment in giving up on an old key account.

Late in my second year of recruiting I came to a crossroads, though I didn’t really know it at the time, with a former client of ours. I had been calling on this business since I started and had literally nothing to show for it but some good phone time. With a unified front, this organization had denied all my advances to penetrate their defenses. Calling on no less than a dozen hiring managers for nearly two years had amounted to nothing. Nada. Nil. Resigned to defeat I gradually stopped calling entirely.

Several months later, a call came in from the HR Manager of this former client. They needed a payroll manager. Finally! At last, my hard work is going to be rewarded! This former client was now going to be a current client once again! The only problem was that the call was not for me. It was for my teammate. The one that had been calling on this client before me. You see, once I stopped calling this particular hiring manager I was easily forgotten. Meanwhile, my teammate smartly picked up the ball that I had dropped and kept the relationship warm.

The client gave my teammate an order for a payroll manager and we successfully placed not one, but two payroll managers. I watched idly by as this happened, burning inside that I had not stuck with this client. I even had some displaced anger toward my teammate that really had no merit at all. It was not her fault that she did her job and I didn’t. This all occurred at a time when I was teetering on the edge of success and failure in this business, and this was a move in the wrong direction for me.

This situation resulted in plenty of internal thought about whether or not I had what it took to be successful in this business. Gradually, I began to own my mistake a bit more, at least to the point where I realized that I controlled what happened to me. Simply put, I lost faith that the calls I was making were moving the needle towards something positive.

Later that same year, my teammate went on to make two more, higher level placements at this company. We had billed them almost $100k and I was not a part of that at all. Perhaps I was never meant to get those placements and my teammate was. Perhaps this client simply worked better with her and I was not going to convert with these hiring managers anyway. Any of those possible realities are tough pills to swallow, but what hurts the most is that I will never really know. I didn’t stick around long enough with them to find out.

As much as I was happy for my teammate to convert on the placements, I was upset that it was not me. My competitive nature would not allow any other emotion to prevail.

On the outside, I know I have certainly made mistakes that have had larger and more negative ripple effects. After all, my team made the placements in this case. I was the only person affected negatively. I value teamwork and a “sum of all parts” ideology very much, but you must convert on your own opportunities to be successful in this business. I preach to the newbies in our office that “controlling the controllables” is paramount. Have a plan, put forth good effort, have strong ethics, have good follow-through, and you are likely to be good at this. Add in some natural ability to create real rapport and you can be great. Within that is the virtue of persistence. The road in recruiting is not paved in gold, and even within the most successful times we are bound to encounter great challenges to our faith and resolve to get the job done right. The only way through that is by pressing on.

As a matter of poetic justice, this client is now under my supervision once again, and we have not billed them since I took over. One thing I know for certain is that I will keep calling this time around. Additionally, I have an answer locked and loaded for every time I get the question of, “What does it take to be successful at recruiting?”

In summary, here are lessons I learned from mistake #1:

• Persistence in combination with solid ethics is the greatest determinant to success in our business, and maybe any other as well
• Never stop calling on past clients unless they go out of business. Even if you are not getting job orders, those relationships will matter at some point for you.
• Finally, know the difference between persistence and stalking. But if you must, err on the side of stalking. Just not the creepy kind.

Here is a recap of this very humbling Top 5:

#5 – Story of the “One Year Search”

#4 – Story of the Email that Got Me Fired

#3 – Story of the Botched Salary Negotiation

#2 – Story of Forgetting about the Relationships that Really Matter

#1 – Story of Losing Faith in an Old Customer

This list is bound to look different a year from now as I will continue to forge boldly ahead into new missteps. I pray my mistakes continue to be vastly outnumbered by proper execution of my job. I hope that this mini-series has helped you to avoid some pitfalls in our profession that are all too common.

The Recruiter Chronicles will return shortly with perspectives from two “Million Dollar Producers” that you will not want to miss.  Stay tuned…

image source: Zach Klein

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of my career in recruiting which recently passed, I am sharing with you over the coming weeks the five biggest learning lessons I’ve experienced thus far during my time at the Aureus Group. Last week, I discussed a search that took me through a full year of heartache and toil before I tossed in the towel (and by the way, the ‘client’ is still working to fill that vacancy!).

This week, I bring you…

#4: The story of the email that got me fired

I have often said that when you hit the send button on an email, there should be a pop up message that says “Dude…are you sure you want to send this?” Maybe a few stray bullets fired from my computer in the past would have been spared. Let me be clear in saying that email has forever changed the way business is done, and for the most part, has dramatically improved worldwide productivity capacity. However, the underbelly of the beast is a much uglier side to see. Email, for all its genius, has no care for the message you are intending to send. Email pays no attention to the context you desire to craft and is careless to how it is perceived by the reader. Email, in no small part, is the reason why I was fired earlier this year.

My recruiter Andrew and I were on a search for a high level analyst that started tremendously. We got together with the client for a phenomenal face-to-face meeting with all the key decision makers. We boiled the need down its most critical features, reached a total agreement on our search terms, set parameters for communication, and received exclusivity for our search. Everyone was on the same page and pointed in the right direction. This feeling of positivity proved to be fleeting though, and we started to see if a different side to this search.

Over the next few weeks, we had several extremely impressive candidates turned down without an interview. Among the few that made it through, two were noted to have very poor first interviews and were screened out from there. We made one final candidate referral which we felt was our best yet. Shortly thereafter we received, by email, a reprimand/reminder from the client that we make certain to only submit candidates that had a few very specific characteristics. It was said in this email that if we did not feel we could hold up our end off this bargain, the client needed to move on to another recruiter perhaps.

No worries; things like this happen in searches. We decided to press on and narrow our search further. A week went by, as we screened new possibilities, when I got another email from my client. I was alerted that they had decided to engage another recruiter, and they had three interviews set for that week already. The first part of the email did not surprise me too much. We thought this might be coming soon. The second part however really served notice. My team and I are proud of the work we do, and the way we do it. It was hard to believe another recruiter had three “pocket candidates” that we had not come across already and that the client would want to see. Feeling a bit shocked by this development I starved for information on these candidates.

I replied to the email regarding the new candidates, with a request for more info on these people. Surprisingly, I received an almost immediate reply with very detailed bio’s on these individuals. Reading through each description, I started to become a bit upset. Okay, that’s a lie. I was hot! These candidates did not possess the characteristics we were being demanded to present. My emotions were running really boiling over now, and I felt entitled to an explanation from the client. This emotional surge, and feeling of pride was the genesis of the ill-fated email.

I replied back to my client with an isolation of each candidate description sent to me, and pointed out what parts were not in line with the rules we had been given. At the end of these notes, I closed the email with a simple, and very direct question: What has changed? Now, to me, this seemed like a question worthy of an answer. I actually read the email a couple of times before I sent it and truly felt it was the message I wanted to send.

Then, I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Two days went by with no response. Now I was concerned and confused. What was going on? Why was it taking so long to get back? Then, there it was. With bated breath, I clicked to open the email sent from the client. It was a two-paragraph message, but it was the last sentence that pulled hard on my eyes immediately. “We will no longer be accepting referrals from your team.” The rest of the email explained and justified why these other candidates were now being considered, and why they had decided to fire me. It was, as they explained, over a lack of professionalism in the way I communicated with them.

Over the next few days I left a couple voice-mails, and sent an email asking for the opportunity to talk this out, confident that we could overcome. The firing, however, was reconfirmed by another email in which my contact said these attempts were too little too late and I should have communicated by phone or requested a meeting before sending the fateful email. Acceptance of my culpability quickly followed and I realized that I was indeed wrong.

Not in the questions that I asked, but in the way I asked them.

In the final analysis of these events, here is what I learned:

• Never, ever, send an email that desires the answers to critical questions in your search process. Additionally, don’t send an email for a business purpose that has emotion inside of it. There us just no way to know how your intended recipient is going to interpret these things. Here’s a simple rule to follow: if needing to know the answer makes you sweat a little, pick up the phone first!
• If your client will not respond to your calls, but does to your emails — send emails to ask for phone meetings. If these requests are rebuffed, it’s time to consider if your are talking to the right person or if your search is still as hot as it once was.
• When taking the order, set the parameters for preferred communication. This dictates the rules of engagement and allows you the opportunity to explain why you need to talk directly to them at certain junctures. Get their verbal agreement, and move forward. If there is a problem with a request to have phone time with them, then it must be considered that this search is not the urgent priority you need it to be.

The countdown continues next week…

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.

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

This week’s inquiry comes from Helen Stefan:

Hi Jeff:

I really love the column you are doing for TFL. I have found this a particularly helpful post and have often referred to it for educational purposes.

I could really use your expertise. Recently, I began working with a new company and made certain they endorsed our fee schedule which stated our terms (amount due on candidate start date). The hiring manager endorsed the terms and sent them back. A placement has resulted. Upon receiving the formal offer letter from this hiring manager, I was told that under no certain terms would we be paid on “start date.” In fact she argued that her corporation did not pay recruiting invoices until 90x following start date and that we would have to take this up with corporate. Having never experienced this before, I thought this might be something you would be able to help with. Do I have any recourse other than to send this to collections?

Best Regards,
Helen Stefan

Hi Helen,

I’m delighted to hear from you! Thanks for your generous words of appreciation.

I’m about to show contingency-fee recruiters everywhere how to stomp on the Allen Action Accelerator! Listen carefully, world. I’ve never taught you this before:

It’s an eternity when you’re waiting for a placement fee after a candidate starts. The longer payment is delayed, the less likely you are to get paid. Just think about the infinite number of things that can go wrong. Here are half a dozen common ones:

1. Client and candidate collude.
2. Client and candidate collide.
3. Candidate changes mind.
4. Client changes management.
5. Candidate doesn’t love you any more.
6. Client decides you weren’t the efficient procuring cause (?) of the hire.

You simply can’t wait 90 days (the customary probationary period) while your fully earned fee is held hostage to factors beyond your knowledge (let alone your control). Nothing – nothing – benefits you by the passage of time.

Although I haven’t reviewed your fee agreement, it sounds like you’re covered by requiring COD – payment upon start. Good job so far.

But this employer is betting you won’t even try to accelerate the payment within 90 days (the customary probationary period for new hires). Since you’ll have to give up from one third to 50% of the fee to a collection attorney or agency, you’ll just anxiously wait.

Even if you’re aggressive and don’t care about the cost, filing a “collection” (lightweight check-the-boxes) lawsuit will delay payment even more. The court system doesn’t move fast enough and the employer lawyer will work the system to extend the time as long as possible. It’s so easy to hold you hostage when it looks like you’re helpless.

But you’re not. The Accelerator incites payment in a very specific way. In fact, the last one that just came through here was for a client in your state (Florida). The employer didn’t even take time to reply with a letter – just a full-five-figure-fee check.

Your lawyer needs to instantly draft the following tough, well-researched letter to the CEO of that employer. It must include:

1. The date, name and title of the employer representative who signed the agreement.
2. The specific payment term in the agreement.
3. The detailed facts surrounding the placement, each relevant date (exact day – even if it’s wrong – they don’t know it either), what occurred, and with whom.
4. The statutes and cases in your state relating to breach of contract, fraud, conspiracy, and unfair trade practices.
5. A summary of the facts and the amount of any large judgments (judge-ordered) or verdicts (jury-determined) your lawyer obtained on similar cases. (If he or she didn’t obtain any, obtain another lawyer fast.)
6. A demand for payment to your attorney’s office within ten calendar days from the date of the letter, or litigation will be commenced in your specified local court seeking compensatory damages (to compensate you), punitive damages (to punish them), exemplary damages (to set an example of them), attorney’s fees, costs of suit, interest, and whatever else your attorney would like to include.

Then the Accelerator must be faxed and mailed. (Don’t use e-mail. If it’s read at all, it’s likely to be laughed off.) Then your lawyer must confirm receipt of the fax by phone, carefully asking the recipient (1) his or her full name, (2) exact title, (3) when it was received and (4) the number of pages received.

Use fax transmission – it’s unusual, annoying, hard-copy that will be read by everyone around the CEO. It’s so powerful, and starts the 10-day countdown instantly. When we fax and confirm receipt of the Accelerator by phone, we’re pumpin’ high-octane fuel into a revved-up V12 twin-turbo truck.

“One-size-fits-all” collection letters don’t work. E-mails don’t work. These silly things just make you look like an amateur. The Accelerator works immediately if done properly. It abruptly changes the entire calculation by the employer. After reading Page 5, the CEO typically e-mails the CFO to pay in full by overnight mail.

The risk is that the shocked employer will file a lawsuit locally within the 10-day period in the letter. It’s rare, but it happens. The lawsuit is usually requesting declaratory relief (a determination of the rights and liabilities of the parties in the agreement). It’s a needless expense for an employer, and you’ll ultimately prevail if the COD payment term is clear. But some employer lawyers think this is a place card that will prevent you from filing in your local area. It doesn’t.

So don’t “send it to collection.” Get your lawyer to work up a letter NOW that reads like the Accelerator. Then be sure it gets faxed, phone-confirmed fully, and mailed.

Now, go get your money.

Best wishes for a fast fee!

Best always,

Jeff

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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.

Almost daily I receive calls and emails from owners, managers, and recruiters who are interested in learning how to build exclusive, engagement fee, and/ or retained relationships with their clients.

Often, they are confused about these options and not aware they can provide more than one option without being in conflict with their overall business objectives.

To help bring clarity, consider the following:

Recruiters basically have four options, or variations thereof, from which to choose when considering how to meet the needs of their clients.

Each of the options has certain advantages as well as disadvantages.

The key is to fully understand each option and then to discuss the appropriate options with your client. The objective is to jointly agree on the option that will produce the best results within an acceptable timeframe.

Remember

As the provider of services, you can choose one or more of the following options on which to focus. That is a business decision. However, it is possible, under the right business model, to provide any or all of these services to meet the needs of your individual clients. They do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Therefore, let’s define the nature and scope of the four basic options:

1. NON-EXCLUSIVE CONTINGENCY
In this relationship, the client only receives a measured response from each recruiter. Because there is no mutual commitment, each Recruiter has to work the job order on a “time/resource available” basis. Each order must be balanced against all the other orders currently available to the recruiter. This type of relationship generally does not lend itself to a strong drill down approach to penetrating the talent pool. Also, because the relationship is non-exclusive, the candidates surfaced can be and will be presented to more than one client. In this relationship both the client and the recruiter must take a quantitative approach, insuring that the numbers work in their favor.

From the client’s perspective, this may be an acceptable approach if the open position(s) is of low priority to the organization and the timing for hiring is not important. The client is basically taking a “commodity approach” to meeting their needs and will no doubt exert downward pressure on fees.

2. EXCLUSIVE CONTINGENCY
This relationship is based on a signed exclusive agreement between the Recruiter and the client. This agreement defines the exclusive nature of the relationship and ties both parties to a specific time frame. The recruiter must deliver results within a defined period of time. Penetration of the talent pool by the recruiter is much greater.

However, the client does not own the product of the search, i.e. the candidates. The recruiter is free to present these candidates to other clients.

As far as internal candidates, walk-ins, referrals, or any other candidates are concerned, they undergo the same process with the recruiter as sourced candidates.

In this manner, the client is properly positioned to compare “apples to apples.” Since all candidates are processed in the same manner, an unbiased decision can be reached without compromising the results through an alteration of the process. From the client’s perspective, this relationship is effective if they place a higher priority on the position, and if timing is important for filling the position.

Regarding the time frame reflected in this type of agreement, it generally ranges from 30 to 90 days. Perhaps the best comparison for this type of agreement is the standard real estate contract, which gives the listing agent an exclusive period of time in which to sell the property. During that period of exclusivity, they are legally entitled to their commission regardless of who sells the property and regardless of the source of the buyer.

3. ENGAGEMENT FEE
This relationship combines retainer with contingency. The client signs an exclusive agreement with the recruiter and pays a predetermined portion of the estimated or agreed upon fee up front, and once paid, it is nonrefundable. Generally the initial engagement fee ranges from 25% to 33% of the anticipated fee.

The remainder of the fee is paid by the client upon the successful completion of the search and the hiring of a suitable candidate. Although the relationship is exclusive, the payment of the majority of the fee is still contingent on the recruiter’s performance.

The engagement fee relationship is designed to capture the recruiter’s attention and thereby secure for the client a greater level of commitment and resource allocation. This is most appropriate when the client places a great priority on the position and where timing in filling the position is critical.

4. STANDARD RETAINER
In this relationship, the client pays the recruiter’s fee in three installments or retainers.
The search begins when the client signs the exclusive retainer agreement and pays the initial retainer. The payment of the two remaining retainers is generally tied to specific time lines or performance outcomes. The client must be convinced that the recruiter can source and recruit qualified candidates and properly orchestrate an effective process for delivering the candidates while helping to insure that the hiring decision is not compromised by extraneous variables.

This relationship is characterized by a strong, mutual commitment between the client and the recruiter. The client has greater control of the process and owns the product of the recruiter’s efforts (i.e., the candidates). The recruiter is not at liberty to present the candidates to other companies until their client either fills the position or releases the candidates by stating “no interest.”

In order to justify this level of relationship, the client must place the highest priority on the position, while requiring no margin for error in their timing or evaluation processes.

It is not necessarily that one of these options is better than another. Rather, it is a question of which approach will best serve the client’s interest. This should be determined between the client and the recruiter. That is why it is critical to fully understand and consider all options.

The real art of positioning yourself as an effective recruiter is to clearly identify with your client the appropriate priority that must be placed on each opening. Ultimately, it comes down to a question of priority, which, once established, should determine the option that is required in order for you to achieve the best results for your client.

The British bank Barclays has agreed to settle a lawsuit with Singapore-based recruiter Pagoda Partners for allegedly failing to pay for a banker it hired from Merrill Lynch. Financial terms were not disclosed.

John Koh, a managing director at WMRC Pte. in Singapore, a finance industry recruitment firm, said it is “always better to settle than pursue the legal route with big clients” because “relationships matter a lot in this industry and it’s wiser to try and preserve them.”

But does this always matter, especially if a recruiting firm has (allegedly) missed out on its fee? While it seems doubtful that Barclays is likely to use Pagoda again, or perhaps vice-versa, what do you think will happen?

Would you have settled in a similar scenario in order to avoid burned bridges in our relationship-intense industry?

Editor’s note: Gary Stauble’s “2 Minute Coaching” gives you quick, easy-to-implement ideas on various subjects. Here he offers advice on using an egg timer for personal productivity, orchestrating a “yes” within 24 hours, and how to streamline client meetings.

Topic #1: The Power of the Egg Timer

Some of the best ideas are also the most simple, low-tech, and easy-to-implement. With all the advice out there on personal productivity and time-management, it’s easy to overlook this simple tool: the egg timer.

One of the best ways I know to boost my productivity on workdays is to use a countdown timer during golden hours.

I define “golden hours” as my most important personal productivity time when I want to work without interruptions. It is that sacred time that gives me the freedom to focus on the critical activities that generate revenue and demand my intense focus.

A prime-time segment for me is 50 minutes in duration. I turn off my phone, shut down my email, and lock my office door to prevent all disruptions. I set my countdown timer to 50 minutes and then I get busy.

It’s important that the timer counts down (not up) so that there is a set deadline. This creates an intensity to the activity that you cannot get without the artificial deadline. Also, it is a “self-management” technique that high performers who want leverage on their own habits can use.

Here are some activities to focus on if you decide to set aside prime-time hours:

• Marketing calls
• Article writing
• Recruiting calls
• Planning
• Critical thinking
• Sourcing and name gathering
• Mind mapping and strategizing

Topic #2: How to get a “Yes” within 24 hours of the offer

It is critical that you pre-close how much time a candidate has to decide on an offer long before it is extended.

The time to do this is during your initial interview with the candidate. It is your job to orchestrate the offer and acceptance for both parties and to set expectations well in advance.

You might say something like this to your candidates:

“At the time that the offer is generated by the company, which is usually after several weeks of conversations, I’m going to ask you to make a decision on that offer within 24 hours. What I’m asking you to do here is to start your decision making at the very beginning of the process, rather than at the very end. It’s my job to make sure you have all of the information you need and all of your questions answered prior to receiving the offer. However, once you get it, I’m going to ask you to be decisive. Is this workable for you?”

Topic #3: Three Ideas for Starting a Client Meeting

1. Rehearse your presentation.

Rehearse a verbal and mental presentation of your meeting. Get to the point where you have memorized the key points that you want to cover. Nothing will add to your self-confidence like preparation and rehearsal.

2. Set the framework for the meeting.

Say something like this to your client:

“I’d like to ask you some specific questions to see if we can be of service, then I can answer any questions you have about us. We’re probably looking at about 30 minutes, does this work for you?”

3. Use intense listening.

The great thing about client meetings is that what the client really wants is simply to be heard and understood. You must be an intense listener, so follow this simple guideline: they talk 80% of the time.

I have been a recruiter for 15 years, starting out within the Professional Services side of the house where recruiting was more the “churn and burn” atmosphere, then transitioned in-house to be part of a growing software company where we hired over 150 folks within one year.

I love what I do and am very passionate about the hiring process and assisting my clients in finding the best talent available for their organizations. I feel that a company’s most important asset is their people and that you cannot overstate the value of an excellent match between employee and employer.

How we go about doing that, however, can vary greatly from recruiting firm to recruiting firm. What might work for one person does not necessarily work for another.

Over the years what has consistently worked for me is to be transparent with both my clients and my candidates.

As I mentioned, the importance of this process is too fragile to jeopardize by not being transparent. A poor match can impact a company’s ability to meet its goals.

It’s a challenging process and one that people need to trust. I am quickly able to build that important trust into a situation with a new client by being transparent. I am upfront with my clients and set very clear expectations around what I need from them to be effective and to perform the most effective search. I am clear on time-lines and expected delivery dates to ensure I can bring them what they need in the time they need it. I also take the time to understand their business, which always helps me find the correct match from a cultural perspective.

To me, being transparent with clients and candidates is sharing and being real with them; there are no hidden agendas.

I share what is happening in my life and within the market. I let them know what is going on around me so there are no assumptions. This builds trust and gives me the opportunity to learn who they are, and what their “hot buttons” are. This helps me better position the opportunity to the candidate and the candidate to the client.

So if I am at one of my kid’s soccer games and just happen to be on the phone with a client, or closing a candidate, I let them know it.

I am transparent.

I share with them that I am real and I face the same challenges and hurdles that they do in life.

In turn, as I share I also take an active interest in what is going on with them as well. Not just around this opportunity, because that would not be genuine. I want to be real and to be perceived as real by the people I am working with. This active interest helps me to build trust and rapport and makes the process smoother.

This transparency assists me in gaining insight on both the client and the candidate. It is a skill that takes time to develop.

You need to become comfortable with your approach and practice your craft. Never lose sight of the fact that as a recruiter, you are helping two parties make a very important and often, very personal decision. To help them you need to understand who they are and how they think.

Taking the first step by being transparent with your own life is the first step to getting the process started.