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.

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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.

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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!

For 20 years now I’ve been a recruiter, trainer, coach, and mentor. In that time I have watched and listened to literally hundreds of recruiters try to explain to a potential customer why they should work with their firm over the dozens of others they get calls from every month. In all that time I’ve come to discover that we (recruiters) do an absolutely horrible job of differentiating ourselves from one another. Everyone wants to talk about the exact same things:

“I’ve been in business for X years.”

“We specialize exclusively in this area (almost always what the client says they need).”

“I’d be happy to offer (insert the name of your best customer here) as a reference.”

“We’re located here in (insert random city/ST) so we do a much better job of selling the community.”

And the piece-de-resistance, “I’m able to find candidates you won’t have access to without me.”

The words may come out differently from recruiter to recruiter, but the message is almost always the same.  This has to change. If you want to start to capture the market share and clients you desire, start with a whole new approach to what you “sell” your potential customers.

Understand the Transition

Companies that we work with are going to move through three distinct steps as they transition from being a Prospect Company to a true Client Company. The first stage in this process is VISIBILITY. You have to become visible to a potential customer. They have to know you exist. We accomplish this through our website, emails, and most importantly, phone calls. The second step is proving CREDIBILITY to a prospective customer. This is where most recruiters drop the ball: we don’t know how to effectively prove how credible we are to first-time buyers. Customers will become true clients only when we show them that working with us promotes PROFITABILITY. When you show them how you solve their problem and do it in such a way as to save them time, energy, money, and do all that in an easy-to-work-with fashion, you will have a true client.

The Fundamental Problem

Recruiters as an industry face an incredibly unique dilemma. For most other industries if you want to sell a customer a product you usually identify the problem that customer has, show them that you can supply a solution to the problem, and if they like your solution, they buy. We don’t have that luxury. Our entire industry was built around solving one problem – the need for companies to find people. So we can’t sell the “solution” to a problem. We have to sell “how we provide the solution.”  It is this “how” that clients use to determine which of the agencies they talk to have the most credibility!

Understanding What Clients Really Want

Whenever you present your agency to a client, you have one major mission — telling them “what’s in it for them.” Realize that clients are getting calls from multiple agencies, and to get their attention you have to sound different and more professional to capture their attention. Realize that clients care about basically six different areas and you need to address them in your pitch.

Clients care — that you have a process.

You need to be ready to explain the steps you will go through to ensure you will deliver quality candidates to your client and take them all the way through the recruiting cycle.

Clients care — about speed.

How fast can you put the candidates in front of a client?

Clients care — about accuracy.

Speed is important, but clients also want to see only quality candidates and that you are accurately matching the candidates you present to the skills they required.

Clients care — about accepted offers/show ups.

Clients are extremely aware of candidates finishing the process. They don’t care how many good candidates you present if none of those people accept the offers when they are extended or they don’t show up for the first day of an assignment.

Clients care — about longevity.

Once a candidate is hired through an agency, clients don’t want to have to think about refilling that position for at least three years on a direct hire and on the contract side they want people who stay the entire length of the contract.

Clients care — about finding new talent.

This is the most important feature you have to sell. You have access to people they don’t have access to through their normal recruiting efforts.

What Clients Want Is Only Half of the Answer.

Now that you know what your clients are looking for, how you share your information with them is the other half of the equation. To be truly successful, understand some fundamental sales realities. Start with understanding which styles of sales work best and then combine those styles with the correct information you know your clients are listening for.

Stay tuned next week for Part 2 as we discuss knowing what your customers buy by understanding what sales styles work best.

image source: cali.org

Positive relationships are key to achieving goals

What’s the secret to a recruiter’s success? Is it the ability to produce high metrics? In an industry where metrics are often how we are viewed for our ability to produce, there’s still much more to it. The answer is found within a simple statement.

Success is found in the success of others.

What exactly does that mean? It means that the best recruiters know that achieving their goals comes from helping others achieve success. At the core of recruiting is the ability to develop relationships. The details within those relationships are what differentiate the average recruiter from the A+ players in our industry.

Regardless of whether you are a recruiter working for an RPO, a search firm, or part of an internal recruiting department, the goal is still the same – to generate positive relationships with hiring managers and candidates. The hiring managers seek out the expertise to locate and draw the attention of the top talent in their industry. The candidates, on the other hand, are seeking out a recruiter that takes the time to understand what their career ambitions are and to assist them in making a match with a company that can provide the opportunity to fulfill those goals.

Taking the relationship principle into account, it’s clear that in order to obtain success, you must first make others successful. The hiring manager you helped to fill a position with A+ talent is able to develop a thriving business unit and earns the respect of his colleagues — a direct result of your contribution. The candidate you took the time to understand and place within the right company becomes the future hiring manager, ultimately looking to you to help build the best team. It is a cyclical chain of events.

Now let’s take a look at the details within those relationships. Knowledge, trust, and integrity are at the core of every successful relationship:

• Knowledge: in your relationships with hiring managers and candidates, you must have a level of knowledge about what your clients do. If you can’t speak intellectually about the industry and job requirements,, you’re not fully capable of delivering the best service. There are varying opinions about the level of knowledge you need to have. Most recruiters with the core relationship-building skills educate themselves via Google, trade magazines, and associations. If you are not an expert in the subject matter area, the worst thing you can do is pretend that you know everything. Ask questions. It will go far in building a trusting relationship with your hiring managers and candidates. This leads me to the next quality of a successful relationship.

• Trust: recruiters talk to hundreds of people each week. What differentiates one from the next? Is it that the recruiter persistently called them back ten times before having a live conversation? Maybe, but it takes much more than that. We all have the intrinsic need to trust those with whom we build a relationship. No one wants to invest time with someone whom they can’t trust. If two people do not trust one another, eventually the relationship becomes mutually unbeneficial. Therefore, successful recruiters build strong relationships one step at a time by showing that they can be trusted to do what they say they will. We’ve all heard the saying, “A man is only as good as his word.” Keep it, and you will build a relationship of trust. And if you are proven to be untrustworthy, the relationship will be unsuccessful.

• Integrity: recruiters who succeed understand that one relationship will multiply to ten relationships over time, but this only happens if the recruiter has integrity. When is the last time you referred someone in your network to someone who lacks integrity? You don’t. We only refer people to those who have high integrity because it reflects back on us personally. While trust and integrity essentially go hand in hand, trust is what you obtain in order to have a reputation of integrity.

Recruiters are in the business of building relationships that result in successful people and companies. If it weren’t for the success of others, where would our industry be? Zig Ziglar said it best, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

image source: Thomas Cunningham

Since 2008 we have seen businesses fail, jobs lost, inventories cut, marketing budgets slashed, and lots of markdowns. Over the past year however, life has seemingly resumed again. People are starting to buy extravagant items, businesses are getting back on track, and, if you don’t read the news on a daily basis, you’re feeling pretty good about life.

However, a new trend has recently popped up and it’s not a simple matter. Perhaps being in the executive search universe, we are more focused on it, but it cuts across all sectors, functions, and companies. I call it the “Art of the Negotiation.” And it’s not just playing out in the courtroom anymore.

Never before in my professional life have I seen this – and I used to sell furniture for a living. It seems we can’t get by without some haggling. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is taken for face value anymore. Everything is a dance – in which both parties say exactly what they want, how they feel, and are happy to draw a line in the sand.

Negotiations Double Time to Offer

Over the past year, the average time it takes to finalize an offer has more than doubled. At times, the negotiating process is even longer than the search itself. When a candidate and a client fall in love, it can all dissipate if the numbers aren’t quite right. More than ever before I’ve seen this dance take the wrong turn, spurring bad feelings, counteroffers and ultimatums.

On the client side there is a mentality that people were overpaid during the frenzy of the pre-2008 timeframe and that this recession should have opened their eyes and made them aware that everyone is replaceable, that they are lucky to have this offer, unwilling to budge. Needless to say, the candidates are less inclined to recognize their good fortune. From their perspective, they feel that that the economy is better, businesses are starting to boom again and 20% salary increases should be compulsory to even thinking about taking on a new job.

Job Pre-Nups

Then there is the middle ground, where the recruiter tends to act as mediator. Think of hiring a new employee like a marriage, two entities joining together to form a team, one that is bound by certain promises and pieces of sacred paper. The negotiation process is somewhat similar to drawing up a couple’s prenuptials. It’s quite uncomfortable, always takes longer than one expects, and it’s difficult to make both parties absolutely 100 percent happy – but hopefully, there’s a compromise.

My role is to advise clients about the market realities, and help them to understand that their requests may be too extravagant. On the candidate side, I have to guide and mentor them through the divergences of their fantasies and the clients’ less romantic standpoint. Fortunately, we almost always get there – in the end most parties see the bigger picture and understand the realities of the situation from the others’ side, not just their own.

Everything we experience is an opportunity for growth and learning. The “Art of Negotiation” is a dance that we are all perfecting in our own way.

A response to the article written last week by Matt Lowney titled “What Drives Me Nuts About Staffing Agencies (and How They Can Work as a Better Partner)”

I am an agency recruiter  — a Managing Director for a search firm in New York City. I have nearly twenty years of financial services executive search and consulting experience. However, I have previously worked in-house for a large investment bank managing a team of recruiters. I take exception to some of the content of Matt’s article, as I’m sure you do if you’ve read it. There are some truths but there are also some points that demonstrate a lack of compromise, responsibility, and professional courtesy on the corporate side of the table.

While I understand that there is a need for give-and-take in the agency-corporate relationship, I feel compelled to address Matt’s points on the canned pitches he receives from agency recruiters, in order to provide an opposing viewpoint for our corporate brethren to consider when complaining about the ‘relationships’ they have with us agency folk.

Part one today will address each pitch outlined in the original article, and Part two will address the follow-up items suggested to fix the broken relationship. My plan is to show where we, as agency recruiters, need to own our own faults, but also point out Corporate’s role in the difficulties that are often experienced when working with one another.

“We’re different.”

From my HR time, I know this is true – most recruiters who have called me have said this and expect no further explanation to be necessary (to give some perspective, at one point I was running North American recruiting at a large investment bank, and we had “narrowed down” the list to 139 agencies, many of whom would call the recruiters they weren’t working with because they were “approved” – those calls came to me).  A very slim minority ever scratch the surface of showing how.

Back on the search side of the fence, I used my HR experience to adapt accordingly. My approach was to actually show our difference with a real-life example.  During one pitch, I sat with the head of recruiting at another large investment bank (well, it was large at one point…before their 30 times leverage turned against them, necessitating their rescue by another, larger investment bank in the late 2000’s), having been able to leverage my other relationships in the firm, and proceeded to tell him we were just like a great many other agencies, except in the area of candidate presentation.  I then offered to show him a single candidate presentation, which I immediately emailed from my phone, and he was blown away.

Of course, as I mentioned, they imploded.  And even though he said, “This is the most impressive candidate presentation I’ve ever seen from a contingent firm,” I still didn’t get any additional business.

Yeah, we’re mostly the same.  But even if we can show you that we really are different/better/whatever, is that going to win your business?  Are you even going to listen to the pitch?  I ran recruiting in NYC for producing financial advisors for one of the world’s largest brokerage firms, ran North American recruiting for another large global investment bank, spent years in Wall Street operations, got quoted in more industry trade rags than you can shake a stick at, and even when referred in by name directly by the CFO to the head of HR, got passed to a non-titled HR staff member who said, before I even had a chance to speak, “I know your firm is different.  We’ll keep you in mind when we open up the approved list.”  I mentioned that we were already on the list – andI can tell you it is not at all difficult to add a firm – and got a vacant “Well you’re not on it for this division.  We’ll be in touch.”

Really?  Now I know what a C-list extra feels like after a failed audition.

Ask me what I know about your business, or the competitive landscape for your business, or my experience in your business – or just ask me “How?” if I cave in to peer pressure and proceed to tell you “We’re different.”  Over the 50 calls you’ll get this week, this question alone will point out who may be an actual value-add in 20 seconds or less; that’s about a 15-minute investment a week.  Ask it enough times, and you’ll start getting fewer calls over time, while identifying firms that can provide real insight and actionable information – in short, value.

You know how I know this to be true?  Because with a staff 30 people reporting to me and accountability for filling a large investment bank’s entire slate of openings in North America, I found the 15 minutes a week to do it myself.  End result: the fly-by-night guys stopped calling, the value-added firms were identified and added to our approved list, and a few of them were even successful.

“We build relationships.”

I have no idea what this even means as a point of selling a service.  It’s like selling cars and saying, “They move.”

Notwithstanding that it’s amateurish to offer this, of course we build some kind of relationship…but what kind are you going to let us build?  The kind where we send you a lot of resumes for every position, and they all fit, and all you have to do is tell your coordinator to draft an offer letter?  The kind where you never have to answer any questions about the position/manager/compensation?  The kind where, if it’s apparent that I know more about the industry than you do, you needn’t worry about facilitating a conversation with the hiring manager?

I get it – you’re busy.  You have 50 openings – a realistic number – and all your hiring managers (let’s say those 50 open requisitions represent 30 hiring managers) call you all the time for updates.  Then you have 50 firms you actually work with – because they all have different strengths – all trying to call you.  And another 50 a week cold-calling you.  Plus every candidate you’ve ever interviewed in the last 6 months trying to “touch base” – all the while having to provide detailed metrics internally on the number of candidates you’ve interviewed, the number submitted to each position, any diversity information (which no search firm in North America tracks unless they’re doing temp), internal meetings, etc.  It’s a 50-hour work week if you’re lucky.  No, most of us won’t trade places with you unless we’re burnt out or offered a high rate consulting position.  And no, most of the managers you work with aren’t going to call you and say “Awesome job!” – they’re going to call you with “What the hell are you doing about my open reqs?”

However, this is something most third party recruiters just don’t get – there isn’t enough time to devote per requisition and make it through the week with any semblance of sanity – that’s why the whole “Just use everyone and let the performers shine” thought process every third party recruiter hopes for doesn’t work in real life any better than “We build relationships” does as a pitch.

The flip side is that, because the internal recruiting process is more often misfiring than not, some outside help is necessary from people who can – argh! – build relationships with the core group of professionals (read “passive candidates”) either directly in a hiring manager’s area or in areas that easily network into that hiring manager’s area.  You think our fees are that easy to earn?  OK – go earn some.

But yes, we recruiters all – ALL – suffer from megalomania coupled with an inferiority complex.  We love to tell you how great we are, how necessary we are, how important we are…while we typically disavow the real truths:  our product is people, we’re not humanity’s gift to hiring managers and any client can pretty much take or leave us whenever they want.

That’s probably why we focus on the relationship thing – because you don’t need to.  And therefore, many times you don’t.

Doesn’t matter what we did before – young guns will still be asked by a smiling face for a salary survey from a client they’ve never made a placement with, terms will change on converted temps and total compensation-based fees, RFPs will still need to be filled out when your third party outsourcer comes in and we’ll still have to anonymously upload resumes to Taleo, only to find out that you “already have” a candidate who sold his house and changed jobs in the 3 years since you first got the resume (without candidate permission) from another recruiter who flooded the database.  And even if that candidate is perfect, you probably still won’t call him…there’s just no time in the day to do it.

Sure, we build relationships.  Mostly dysfunctional.  But we keep trying anyway. It’s our job.

“We have a proprietary database.”

Yes, this is a joke.  But it pales in comparison to the “proprietary database” you in HR have – the one with all the candidates from all the recruiters you’ve worked with.  The one that’s “yours” after 3 months, or 6 months, or 9 months or a year – whatever time period it is that lets you take our work.

Are you able to actually get what you want out of it?

Agency recruiters: raise your hand if someone in your database ever got placed by a competitor at a client you were working with on a job that had been listed by you.

And RPO guys – raise your hand if your firm ALSO has a search capability.  Because the actual truth of the matter is that those resumes we’re sending through your interface aren’t firewalled from the search guys – I’ve seen this first-hand while the president of the company swore to a client’s General Counsel that the information was segregated.

Now HR – raise your hand if a significant portion of your hires (more than, say, 1/3) come from your internal database.

I see a big difference in the number of hands raised.  Maybe the “proprietary database” line is amateurish…but there’s some truth to it.

I think “proprietary network” is probably more accurate.  That, Mr. or Ms. Internal Recruiter, is what we have that you don’t. If you can’t find the candidates in your own database, then you have bigger problems than to poke fun at our “proprietary database…”

…like filling your open requisitions. We can help you with that — if you’re willing to give us a fair shake.

Stay tuned for Part 2…

image source: Simone Lovati

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

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.

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.

Our goal is to move beyond ‘vendor’ status to become trusted advisors and consultants with our client companies. So – how do we get past scenarios like the ones outlined in this video?

How many of you have ever encountered situations like these? Clients essentially asking you to work for free, or wanting to ‘test out’ your services with a promise to pay next time, or even haggling your fee to an unacceptable low. Forming strategic relationships does require some negotiation, but this must happen on both sides of the table. Sustainable relationships involve both parties benefiting (known in nature as a symbiotic relationship), not just one (known in nature as a parasitic relationship).

How have you or your company gotten past these types of scenarios? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

As in any business, the world of Recruiters, “Headhunters”, “Executive Search Professionals”, etc. includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are those in it for some good cash for now, and those in it to build a great long-term sustainable business. Which are you?

This industry is characterized by a glut of new recruiters when times are good, and dramatic reductions when times get tough. It’s an easy business to get into, but it’s a tough business to stay in during economic downturns. I often tell people… “This is a business that, when times are good, there’s almost nothing better. There’s a lot of relatively easy money to be made. However, when times are bad, there’s almost nothing worse. The ‘gravy train’ dries up very quickly and companies recruiting budgets disappear.”

There are a number of factors that go into making someone successful in this industry over the long run. However, I believe one differentiator is being willing to add value for people whether you’re likely to make an immediate buck or not. Especially in a down economy, when many good prospective candidates, and perhaps some former (and potentially future) clients are out of work, finding ways to be of help to them pays great long-term dividends. Do you invest significant time and energy into people that can’t be of immediate value to you? Do you view people as people, or simply evaluate them by whether they are worth money to you or not? Are you willing to find ways to assist people that don’t even seem to be of potential value to you down the road?

Many recruiters do, and many, many recruiters don’t.

I see so many recruiters that are so unwilling to share information with others that they create the impression that they are only in it for a buck. Whether it’s a lack of trust, lack of caring, or lack of long-term vision, they sacrifice valuable long-term relationships (and revenue) for a quick hit.

I’ve been recruiting for the past 24 years. Just as any other recruiter, I am only able to place a tiny percentage of all the people I talk to. However, I have tried to find some way to be a valuable resource to virtually every new person I connect with. I may not be able to place them directly, however, I generally offer to help them in a variety of ways:

• Coach them on improvements to their resume, or approach, or interview skills
• Help them prepare for interviews with “inside information” even though it’s not my placement
• Give them suggestions of good networking groups or resources in their area of focus
• Connect them with other people that may be a source of leads
• Refer other good recruiters that may be able to help when I can’t
• …and even provide them contact names at companies they are targeting to pursue on their own!

As recruiters, we have a unique perspective on what makes a good candidate or what job search practices work best. After an interview, we get to debrief with our candidates as well as with the hiring manager. We get to hear what resonated, and what didn’t. We see how people get jobs. We hear why a hiring manager selected one candidate over another. We see these things so often and, for us, it becomes “common sense” to do certain things and not others. To many job seekers though, who aren’t exposed to the job search process as we are year in and year out, that “common sense” can be quite uncommon!

When they find a recruiter who sincerely wants to help, they are very often very willing to reciprocate that help now, or down the road. People I’ve helped have often become future hiring managers somewhere, and many even become clients. They often become great ongoing resources for referrals. They often become great resources of job leads and hiring manager names. They often become a viable candidate years later after they’ve gained more experience and/or become more professional in their presentation. And some of the most valuable long-term relationships originally were people I thought would never be of help to me at all.

Some of my best relationships are people I’ve placed multiple times in their careers. They were initially early or mid-level in their career, became hiring managers and clients, candidates again, and clients again somewhere else. I have many people I’ve never placed, but talk to often throughout the year because they are great connectors for me with referrals, information, and leads.

Have I ever gotten burned because I gave a contact name to someone who somehow used it to hurt a potential placement for me? Yes, a couple of times. Have I gotten more business because of my willingness to share valuable information when they need it for their own benefit and not mine? Yes, many times. Do I get calls back more quickly from clients and candidates when I’m seeking referrals because I’ve helped them in the past? Absolutely! Has my job gotten easier because I have people calling me proactively with information, job orders, and leads, because they know I will help them again in the future? Yes!

Keeping everything you know close to the vest may benefit you in the short-run. However, sharing information freely and helping people whether they can help you in return or not will enable you to build a successful practice over the long haul! Try it! You may not see the results this month, or this year, but results will come and make your life much more rewarding in the process!