William Tincup was featured recently in John Sumser’s Top 100 Influencers, which is a running series that Sumser is doing on recruiting and HR professionals who have made an impact in our industry. While Tincup isn’t a recruiting agency guy, he is a self-employed professional services guy, just like many of you. Tincup, along with Bret Starr, co-founded their company Starr Tincup in November of 2000. Starr Tincup is a marketing consultancy that serves the recruiting and HR community. He has been responsible for building the company brand, including the website, book (Try Not To F&ck This Up), direct marketing, email marketing, event strategy, social media strategy, and so forth. Tincup has been known (affectionately? notoriously?) throughout the recruiting and HR community for his low-brow sense of humor, colorful language, and yet his approachability and willingness to have conversations about his work and his thoughts on business and marketing strategy.

Recently, he fell out of love with his work and decided to move on.

At this point, you may be wondering “What does this have to do with me? This guy’s a marketer; I’m a recruiting professional!” I promise – there is a good point to all of this.

Falling out of love with one’s work is common. We’ve all had days where we’ve sworn that if we get on the phone with one more rude person or if one more client tries to cheap out on paying a fee, we’re through. Of course, few are the time when we actually follow through on those threats. But that thought is still lingering in the back of our minds – “Is this all really worth it?”

William Tincup’s story struck me because he detailed the reasons he decided to throw in the towel. He stopped believing in the outsourced marketing services business model. He was frustrated with the double standards applied to his efforts vs. in-house marketers’ efforts. He became annoyed that, as an external service provider, his status was constantly being threatened by these ridiculous standards. And the final straw for him, as he states:

“…the realization that over the course of 10 years in the game I might of [sic] been told “thank you” seven or eight times.  I (read: my firm) changed lives, changed destinies, built lasting brands, created market share, created real value, got people promoted, etc, etc. Yeah, I know – payment for services rendered was my thanks.  Yeah, well, that wasn’t enough.”

I would be very surprised if just about every person reading this article hasn’t struggled with at least one of these issues at some point during your professional recruiting career. Who hasn’t felt like the red-headed stepchild at least once when working with a difficult client? Who hasn’t been held to some crazy standards as an external recruiter that an internal employee would never be held to? And who hasn’t wished that once, just once, someone would thank them for all of the amazing talent they’ve helped shepherd in to an organization?

When you really fall out of love with your work, how do you know when it’s time to say “Enough!” and leave before you become bitter? Is it just a bad case of the Mondays, or is this a recurring gut feeling that just will not go away? How do you get past the rut and fall back in love with what you do? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments below. Sharing your experience might just save someone from calling it quits!

Editor’s note: Gary Stauble’s “2 Minute Coaching” gives you quick, easy-to-implement ideas on various subjects.

Topic #1: Should you start a search without a signed agreement?
We were all likely taught that you should never start a search without a signed agreement. This makes good sense for many obvious reasons.

However, what do you do if a hiring manager authorizes you to send people for a search but does not return your agreement promptly?

Hiring authorities (like all of us) only do things when it is obvious that it will benefit them in a tangible way. Reading a contract in detail before they receive a candidate is not always at the top of their priority list. Often it is your presentation of a star candidate that provides the motivation for the manager to sign your agreement.

Verbal agreements are theoretically binding but hard to prove. However, from my point of view, it’s ok to start a search with a verbal agreement on rare occasions as long as you follow a few rules. You definitely would want this practice to be the exception rather than the rule.

If you are going to start the search, make sure you have a verbal agreement on the terms. You can start the search with a verbal agreement but make sure you get the signed agreement before you schedule the first sendout. Also, be sure to present your candidate without revealing his name or current employer. Lastly, only send one candidate as a test to see how quickly your prospect responds before putting much effort into the search.

Topic #2: Don’t call it a slump
Have you ever thought about the importance of language and your chronic thoughts in terms of influencing your paycheck? Most people agree that we tend to become what we think about, what we focus on, and what we talk about. With that in mind, picture two veteran recruiters who haven’t made a placement in six weeks:

One’s inner dialogue goes something like this, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, nothing seems to be working, I’m in a slump. I may never make another placement. I suck.”

The other recruiter sounds more like this, “I know I’m on my way to better production. I’ve had slow times before and I’ve always figured a way through. I know that if I stick to my process, the placements will come. What’s the fastest way to my next sendout?”

Pretty different tone, eh?

One is weak and impotent, the other strong and hopeful. Who do you think will get to their next placement first? As recruiters we need to be watchful of our focus and inner dialogue and make sure that it’s leading us toward the success we really want.

Topic #3: What if my client insists on presenting the offer?
As with everything, you need to show your client why it is in his interest to have you present the offer. Here are some ideas:

Other interviews:
“Candidates will tell me things about other offers and opportunities that they won’t tell you.”

Counter offers:
“They’ll talk to me about their susceptibility to counter-offers whereas they’ll likely tell you only what they think you want to hear.”

Uncover hidden objections:
“I can act as a confidant for the candidate to uncover other hidden objections such as his spouse’s resistance, changes in his reasons for leaving and the fear of change.”

Save Dollars:
“We test all offers before we extend them. We can help save you in payroll cost and in avoiding rejected offers.”

We act as a mediator:
“It’s more professional to have the offer come from a recruiter. We act as mediator. Then the candidate calls you (Mr. Client) after acceptance to formally accept with you.”

Last resort:
“Mr. Client, if you won’t change your mind about presenting the offer, at least let me test the offer amount first and coordinate the timing with you so we’re sure the candidate is ready to accept.”

In the world of recruiting, seldom are recruiters good at all aspects. In fact, it is more the exception than the rule, but we continue to think that with the right training, a new recruiter will become an outstanding researcher (thus, an expert in our niche); have the ability to identify and recruit A talent; be adept at marketing; and land wonderful “we need this person now” opportunities.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

Do these people exist? Yes, a few do, but in my experience, they are rare.

They are the big billers we read about and long to become.

They make the speaking tour at our conferences and tell us all how we can bill a million dollars plus a year. Can you become one? Maybe, but you can also win the lotto.

Let’s face reality. Recruiting is a richly rewarding career from many aspects, but it is a very tough business.

It is one of the few businesses where the product has a mind of its own. Literally, anything can happen at any stage of the process, and it often does.

What Is the Answer?

How can we build a recruitment team that functions well together and where each member can feel fulfilled and contribute successfully to the mission of the recruitment organization?

In a word . . . specialization.

We live in a complex economy and a complex world. Yes, you can be a generalist, but for every MD general practitioner there are 10+ medical specialist doctors.

When we recruit recruiters, most organizations use a variety of assessments, interviews, and some even test-run the applicant. Yet we all are different.

Viva La Difference!

Embrace this difference in individuals! Some love to research, some love to recruit candidates, and others love to market.

Specialize and put the attributes of the individual with the position where they best fit. This is not a one-size-fits-all business.

Specialize and you will have happier employees, and most importantly, you will accomplish much more with the same number of people than your owner counterparts. Dare I say you can increase revenue by 50% with the same staff?

Specialists of All Kinds and the Wild, Wild West

There are many ways to organize a recruitment firm.

At my firm, what works best for us is to focus our team in specific areas. We market to establish client relationships and obtain search assignments (marketers); recruit to identify, cull, and qualify candidates (recruiters or PCs); and research to know the movers and shakers from the client and candidate perspective (researchers).

Each of these three positions MUST match the attributes and motivation of the person.

Let’s take them one by one, but first, a bit about the Wild West!

I love the West, I love to read about the Wild West, and I love to go there.

All kinds of people went west to settle and tame a very large and wild country. There were scouts, hunters, farmers, gold diggers, and then there were services to these unruly groups like merchants, bankers, and land surveyors. Oh, I forgot the saloonkeeper. Who was most important? No one in particular! Each had a role to play and they played the role that best fit them. Within even one group like ranchers, you had sub-specialization. Who was of more value: a cattle rancher or a sheep herder?

I do not want to carry this analogy too far. You get my point. People on the western frontier used the abilities they had to do a particular job, and they did it well. They were specialists of all kinds.

Hunters are like marketers.

They are a different lot and they have similar personalities and attributes. If you want a good marketer, find someone who loves to hunt. They like the chase. They are very impatient in general. They like the trails that are almost untraceable. It is a puzzle they like to solve. They love the words, “You can’t get a job order with that company.”

Watch them…they will do it! They look and look and finally find the herd. Then they pick the best of the best and go for the kill. Once the feast is over and they are rested, they are ready for the next hunt.

Have you ever tried to take a hunter and make him a farmer? Don’t try. Hunters are bored with farming. It takes too long. They are impatient and can’t stand to watch the wheat grow. They want to go hunt/kill something.

Farmers are like recruiters.
It takes determination and patience to be a farmer. There are a multitude of tasks to complete. Plowing, preparing, planting, cultivating, and harvesting takes time. But the farmer loves to work the good earth. They love the process to keep in touch with the land. Recruiters need patience to talk multiple times with candidates. Is this the best one? What questions are appropriate to ask? Are they the best fit? Follow up, then follow up, and finally more follow up. They love this process. They can have a 2-minute conversation or a 30-minute conversation. Recruiters listen well and always question where best to use candidates.

Recruiters are generally not marketers. The hunt — and especially the kill — are distasteful to recruiters. They like relationships. They like to be on the phone talking. They make excellent account managers because they like to stay in touch. Do not try to make a great recruiter into a marketer. Yes, it does happen, but rarely.

Land surveyors are like researchers.

Sorry, humor me and let me revert to the Wild West for a moment. If you were a hunter or a farmer and you moved to unknown lands in unsettled Montana, where would you go to hunt or to start a good farm? The first stop was always in town at the land surveyor’s office. There you would find detailed maps of the area and of surrounding mountains and streams. The land surveyor would tell you what is available and what is not. He might say this piece of land is excellent for farming…that area on the southwest of the mountain has large herds of elk…do not go here, but go there. They had researched the whole area.

So it is with a good researcher. They love to map the land, or in our vernacular, research our sector.

A good researcher will find the potential hot companies in your sector. They will find the potential candidates in your sector. They will know the news of the sector because they monitor daily news reports from the client websites. The result will be great data in the form of roll-up lists, or whatever you use, that is fed to the recruiters and marketers on a daily basis.

In Summary

Look at your staff: who are the hunters, the farmers, and the land surveyors?

Specialize and put them in a role for which they have the aptitude.

If you do, the result will be marketers and recruiters who are on the phone (which they love) talking to prospective clients or candidates. They will not be wasting their time researching for they have relevant and up-to-date lists from the researcher.

Go west, young man (and woman), and enjoy the bounty.

At the risk of sounding naïve, but having been in this business through three recessions, there is daylight at the end of the tunnel and for once, in my opinion, it isn’t a train.

As we all know, the recession was declared on the downward slope several months ago, but hiring never kicked in. The good news of the waning recession means little to us without hiring.

My firm was fortunate; we work in a niche that was affected less severely by the recession: placement of military personnel who are leaving active duty. Yet we felt the sting like everyone else.

We place candidates by geographic targeting, which requires speaking with business leaders and business owners located in specific cities and towns across the USA when marketing our candidates. Up until last month, almost all our placements since 2008 have been for created positions. Business leaders told us they did not have any openings when we contacted them, but they created the job for the veteran. These businesses had not planned on hiring anyone until our call.

From Fear to Optimism
In October 2008, we heard “fear” in the voices of most business leaders. In October of 2009, we heard “fatigue.” Now, we are hearing “cautious optimism.”

Companies are telling us they have actual plans to hire, but do not know when, because of uncertainty about the future. Barring another disaster, I believe that by October of this year, we will be coming out strong from the worst three years in staffing industry history. If human nature takes over, as it always does, employer “fear or hiring” will become “fear of missing out,” which will mean another war for talent, not a war for jobs.

The stock market and housing markets continue their slow-but-steady climbs, layoffs are no longer the main news of the day, and people are buying (American) cars again. As was the geography surrounding Mt Saint Helen’s in Washington state, which was completely flattened and laid waste by the volcano’s eruption, our economy is slowly turning green again. Confidence is climbing.

I joined this industry in November of 1984, at the tail end of the highly recessionary Carter years. My first 60 days on the telephone were characterized by “cautious optimism” from employers, but very little hiring.

Suddenly, in January of 1985, almost overnight, and seemingly without explanation, companies began scrambling to hire people. Our industry experienced its greatest growth ever from 1985 to 1989.

For the same reason economies crash, fear, economies roar back. People who know me know that I’m not the “rah-rah” type. I am a realist. Also, as a former Marine, I believe in these two maxims: “What doesn’t kill us strengthens us,” and “The hottest fire makes the strongest steel.”

Congratulations! If you are reading this, and the recession did not push you out of this business, then you survived probably the toughest period you will ever face in this industry. You were strengthened by adversity, tested, and will be forever stronger to face with confidence whatever comes in the future.

Q. I’ve been producing between $225,000 and $250,000 for the past five years. I hear about recruiters who produce over $1 million themselves and find it hard to believe. I’m working 60 hours a week just to maintain my production. I’d like to break the $300,000 level next year, but there are just so many hours in the day. What would you suggest I do to increase my production?

A. First, you don’t need to work more hours. After five years, you are working on automatic pilot; implement changes that will result in increased production and income. In order to form a new habit it takes 21 working days of repetition, which is why you should never make more than one change each month.

Select from the following ideas:

• Review the number of send-outs you book each month (candidate interviewed by decision maker). Increase the number of send-outs you book and you will increase your production.
• Study where your office made placements in 2009 and mirror those job orders. This is the quickest way to your next deal.
• Only work hot orders in 2010.
• Email a copy of your job orders to everyone in the hiring process to make sure they are all in agreement on the specs. Over 50% of the time our clients make changes.
• Increase all your stats by 10% and you will increase your production by 25%.
• Stop wasting time on candidates you can’t place (95% of your candidate flow).
• Climb the ladder: begin placing the supervisors of those you currently place. The salaries are higher, and so are your fees. You also have a database of candidates — the supervisors are listed on all your application forms.

Segment your day and attempt to make 65% of your planned outgoing calls by noon.

The one common denominator of Big Billers is they arrive at work with their outgoing calls planned. Focus on results-oriented actions, implement any of the ideas above, and you will more than hit your production goal.

Q. I saw you when you spoke in Montreal, and your session changed my life. When others were struggling this year, I have had the best year of my career by focusing on send-outs and identifying new clients for both Direct and Contract business. What happens in the United States definitely affects us in Canada. I was on the verge of quitting and want to thank you for convincing me to “tough it out.”

A. Thank you for your comments. Since June 2009, there has been a steady increase of job orders in the United States in most niches. Many U.S. companies cut too deep and the lack of talent was negatively impacting their bottom lines.

I’d like to share two ideas with you that will help you increase your business:

• On the contract side, ask all your clients and prospects how many Baby Boomers will retire this year. Baby Boomers are retiring at a rate of one every six seconds. Suggest they bring them back as contractors on YOUR payroll. They could work fewer hours or several months of the year, whatever fits their retirement plan. Your bill and pay rates will be high and there is NO interview process. We’ve had clients very grateful for this suggestion!
• On the direct side, ask clients and prospects if they have hired anyone in the past few years they need to “upgrade.” There was great competition for talent in the past five years, and many clients hired the best person they could find rather than the talent they needed. Explain that now is a great time to upgrade those marginal hires.

There will be great competition for top talent in the future so continue to be perceived as an expert in your niche, continue increasing your send-outs, and expect to have a great year!

Q. I’m having a difficult time staying motivated every day. I arrive at work with a positive attitude and it seems to take only minutes until I get a call that ruins my day. It can be someone no-showing for an interview, someone accepting a counter-offer, or one of my clients hiring a candidate who is not mine. The calls we get from candidates are getting nastier and nastier and our clients are not being straight with us. I often feel the job boards are going to put me out of business. Your answers are always so positive and I’d like to know how you never seem to get down? I know I’m not the only recruiter who feels this way.

A. You sound like you may have “quit and stayed.” Our profession is impossible if you’ve lost your passion. A call can’t ruin your day unless you let it! None of us can control what happens each day, but we have 100% control over how we react! You have to adapt the attitude “next” or “so what, now what?”

Problems increase when you are not following systems and let details fall through the cracks. If you want to decrease problems, listen more when you are interviewing to identify the real reason candidates are contemplating a change. When you write a job order, ask for interview times and get a specific target date to fill so you can determine which orders are hot. If your candidate calls are “nasty” you are not being honest with the candidates you can’t place, which represents 95% of your candidate flow. If candidates don’t have skills, stability, and experience, you quite often can’t place them and need to provide them with alternatives.

Job boards will never replace us! Most of our clients want to hire the best person for a job, not the best person on the job boards. They normally want us to recruit a qualified candidate from their direct competition. If you are only attracting candidates from job boards, you need to learn how to recruit.

Clients do not want us to present the same candidates they are surfacing from job boards. They often want us to present “passive candidates” who will consider a change for the right opportunity.

I believe this is the greatest profession on Earth, which is why I maintain my positive attitude.

You need to have an attitude adjustment, you need to get back your passion for “changing people’s lives,” or you need to consider a different career! We hold people’s lives in our hands, so evaluate whether you have indeed “quit and stayed.”

Have you ever planted dandelions? Do you have a special garden for them? No? Then why do they show up? Why does any weed end up in your garden if it is not planted?

Weeds, like negative thoughts, spread quickly. The people we talk to, both clients and peers, spread them to us. We then spread them to our team. They are watered every day by more negative thoughts and conversations. Just like invasive plants need to be pulled from a garden, negative thoughts need to be manually removed from your mind.

I was reminded about this when I had the privilege of speaking with over 30 owners of recruiting firms in a 30-minute strategy session about setting a vision in their business.

With the exception of one person, the good news is they are all seeing nice increases in their businesses. Some even saying they are getting a consistent flow of call-in job orders for the first time in months!

Despite this uptick in the business, a few of the folks were a bit “beat up” by the economy over the past year. This is quite understandable. However, I challenged them and I challenge you to “tend to your mind.”

Let me explain with a real example from a client conversation last week.

He was weary of making calls to hiring managers because “almost no one is hiring.” I asked if he held that thought in his head when the hiring manager picked up the phone to which he responded, “well, yeah.” What he didn’t realize is that he had set a negative expectation for the outcome of the call.

Why is this bad? Well, unless someone is desperate to hire, you will probably get what you expected, which is “no opening”. Additionally, with a negative expectation, your energy is probably low and you will probably ask weak follow-up questions. You are more likely to be unattractive and unsophisticated as a potential service provider. You are very likely to make even fewer calls because “why bother if no one is hiring!”

As Napoleon Hill says in Think and Grow Rich, “Thoughts are things!”

Continuing with our analogy, thoughts can be like the weeds described above. They can be transferred to us effortlessly by others, by the market, etc. They take root and grow without any conscious effort on our part.

On the other hand, if we want good fruit, good vegetables, and the GOOD thoughts, we need to MANUALLY plant them in the garden that is our minds.

Why Did YOU Get Into This Business?

You see, in this economy, holding positive expectations and manually planting them can be a sizable effort. I speak to so many people who have lost their purpose and vision, who are living placement-to-placement.

Frankly, many are bored and burnt out. When I ask why they are in the business, they are not sure.

When I ask why they got into the business in the first place, they paint vivid and exciting pictures of what they wanted for themselves and their families.

You see the good fruit, the good thought is still there, but it is buried in the weeds!

• First, remember why you got into the business in the first place. Go to a quiet and calm place where you can reflect on your motivations that got you into the business. What was this business to allow for you in your life? More than likely, the outcome is still there. It just needs the weeds removed around from it. It just needs some water.
• Second, end the “pity party” and get back on the phone. The recruiting industry will still generate BILLIONS of dollars in fees this year. You heard me right. The recruiting industry will generate BILLIONS of dollars in fees this year. What insignificant piece of that number do you need to hit your goals?
• Third, track your numbers to create predictability and consistency in your revenue streams. Focusing on placements is insane because we can not control placements, but we CAN control activity, as well as call and presentation count. Ironically, 80%-90% of the industry does NOT track presentation count even though it is the most accurate predictor of future revenues. If you are not tracking marketing and recruiting presentations along with first time interviews you choose to make your job VERY difficult.
• Fourth, invest in yourself. If you look at going to seminars or buying training as an expense and not an investment, shift your mindset. I remember hiring a coach when I could least afford it. I needed someone to guide me and see things I could not see. It wasn’t cheap and I had to sacrifice other things short term, but it paid for itself at least ten-fold.

Times are different — but get over it! Rediscover why you chose this career in the first place. Help your recruiters rediscover why they entered the business. Set some specific goals around that and then execute your plan and invest in the areas you need help.

Aren’t you worth it?