Wednesday 13 November 2013

The Tough Search: Please Don't Shoot the Messenger

In an old episode of Roseanne that seems to run permanently on late-night TV, Roseanne has taken a job helping out at a hair salon. She observes a client showing Iris, her hairdresser, a photo of a model in a fashion magazine:

Customer: Now, Iris, I love what you did last week, but can you make me look like that?  
Roseanne: Oh, I'm sure you can, Iris. I'll go get the wand.

As a recruiter, there are days when I could really use a magic wand too. Clients often come to me when initial efforts to find a candidate for a particular role fail. Often, through research and networking, I am able to find that needle in a haystack candidate they could not unearth though casual networking or a newspaper ad. But sometimes, I gather market intelligence that tells me that the ideal candidate for the role simply does not exist.

And clients hate that.

In an ideal world, wand or no wand, we could all have magazine-worthy hair. In an ideal world, each job search would yield 3 or 4 candidates with perfect resumes, sparkling personalities, a proper motivation for leaving their current jobs, and a strong desire to work for less than the going market rate; we could simply pick the one whose interview outfit best matches the office decor.

The research I do for my clients paints a realistic picture of the current market. It provides valuable information about the industry and competitors that, beyond the job search, can be used as general market intelligence (who's hiring, who's firing, salary info etc.) For some positions, there is a large pool of candidates with the necessary skills and experience. If a competitor has recently downsized, there may be lots of excellent people looking for a new job. In this case, where I add value is finding the people who are the best fit for a client's corporate culture. In highly specialized positions where there is a small pool of candidates, it is sometimes hard to find anyone who wants to change jobs. If a job contains any perceived risk factors (lower salary, high turnover, extensive travel, industry instability), finding good candidates becomes even harder. If I can present a shortlist of one or two people with 90% of the requirements, that may be the best the market has to offer. As a recruiter, I'm simply the messenger: please refrain from shooting me!


I know quite early in the search process if there are lots of candidates or very few. If the market is telling me that there are very few people out there who can fill this role, I will feed that information back to my client. At this point, we have a few options:

Revise the job spec: The more flexibility a client has, the more candidates I can bring to the table. Is a particular degree a must or a need? Is 20 years of experience necessary or is 10 years fine? Can any specific skills be added through training once the candidate is hired? Great managerial abilities can sometimes trump specific technical expertise: can someone outside the field fill the role?

Change the job level: Sometimes, there are few people with the desired skill set at the job level on offer. If a client can consider increasing the job level or salary, that can widen the talent pool. Other times, there are not many senior people available (especially in firms where senior people have golden handcuffs tying them to a particular firm) but a very talented, slightly more junior person could stretch into the role.

Look at relocating someone. Sometimes the perfect person is in another geographic market but would be willing to move. If a client will consider paying relocation costs, that could broaden the pool of candidates.

As a recruiter, my commitment is to find the best, available candidates for a position. While the ideal candidate is not always available, my commitment is to work with my clients until we can find someone who can effectively fill the role. If, as the messenger, I'm not afraid of being shot, I can work much more effectively and spend more time finding the best people for the job.


Friday 6 September 2013

Everything we know about recruiting we learned on our summer vacation

Well, not really, but it makes for a snappy title, doesn't it. There are a lot of career lessons that can be taken from our holidays if we think about it though. Here are five:

Like potato salad on a picnic, jobs have an expiration date. If you have been in a job for years with no upward or sideways movement, at some point you get stuck there. After a while, people don't just take you for granted (have you ever been at a picnic without potato salad?) but they start to avoid you too (the warm mayonnaise becomes a worry.) It's important to ask to take on fresh challenges and learn new skills. If your current role offers no movement, perhaps it's time to update your resume and look around. Reinvent yourself: become a devilled egg.

Careers can be like a roller coaster or a ferris wheel. Some people's careers look like the ferris wheel. It's an easy and steady journey up and then, once the apex has been reached, it's a fairly steady ride down into retirement. You get a good view, you are rarely surprised, and you finish with your hair neatly in place. Other people's careers are like a roller coaster. There are big ups, big downs, the pace is fast, and nobody knows what to expect. Like the ferris wheel people, the roller coaster people end up in the same place (where they began, only with a fatter 401K Plan or RRSP than in the beginning.) The difference is, the roller coaster folks will either feel exhilarated or dizzy and sick upon their arrival. There is nothing wrong with either ride. Some people prefer the ups and downs of working for startups. Others like to join a big company and have a smoother experience. The key is to know if you are a ferris wheel person or a roller coaster person. As a recruiter, I sometimes find that ferris wheelers seek a roller coaster ride in later life. That's cool. Just make sure you read all the warning signs first. And for the roller coaster lovers who decide middle age better suits a ferris wheel, I urge you to take up a hobby to supplement your need for adrenaline. We hear that BASE jumping is fun.

Work is like baseball: when you hit a home run, everyone wants you on their team. If you are thinking of making a change in your job, don't wait until things get really bad at your current place of work. It's hard to interview well in this state. The time to start looking is when you've just done something well. Perhaps you just finished managing a high profile project. Perhaps you just won an award. If you've been thinking about leaving your role, try doing so when you are on a high. Everybody wants a winner on their team.

It takes three to waterski. If you want to waterski, you need three people: the skier, a boat driver, and a spotter to tell the boat driver if the skier falls.  What looks like a one-person recreational activity is a three-person endeavour. When you want to find a new job, it takes a village too. A close friend or family member can be your driver: proofreading your resume, practicing interviewing skills with you, and helping you craft those cover letters. You also need a spotter: someone to tell you what jobs are out there and alert you if something is going wrong. As a recruiter, I'm never the driver. I work for my clients, not the candidates, and it's not my job to get you employed. But I can be an excellent spotter and tell you what jobs are out there. I can also tell you if another boat has cut in front of us and you need to jump the wake.

Don't let a skunk ruin your campfire. At work, we will all meet skunks. If you engage with them, you might end up stinking too. The best thing to do is avoid them. Don't yell at them and don't try to remove them from the area unless you are a trained professional. If they refuse to leave your campsite, throw some food into the bushes (perhaps there is a side project you can give them...) and they will likely leave you alone.

If you want to enjoy the fireworks, you have to prepare. Fireworks are awesome but they don't just happen. Somebody has to buy them. Somebody has to set them up in the bucket of sand. Somebody has to wait until it's dark enough to light them. A good fireworks display requires some planning. You don't want to set off all the chrysanthemums right away and close the night with some sad looking burning schoolhouses. Be organized, persevere, and plan: the results can be spectacular!

Happy hunting!

Nancy


Thursday 29 August 2013

Increasing your visibility on LinkedIn

The one thing that everybody asks me is if recruiters use LinkedIn. The answer is yes. We do. And yes, you should be on it. But if you are an active job seeker, it's not enough to simply upload your resume and sit back waiting for a call. Here are a few tips from a headhunter about how to better use LinkedIn to your advantage:

Make your profile search-friendly. The best thing about LinkedIn is that everyone is on it. Of course, that's the worst thing about LinkedIn too. As a recruiter, I use LinkedIn to identify who's who in a particular job market. But when I do a broad search, I'll often generate hundreds of names. In order to make the tool work better for me, I have to set fairly narrow parameters. I'll often specify a job title or a particular skill set. If you do not have these terms in your profile, I might miss you, even though you'd be an ideal candidate for the job. Take the time to list all of your skills.

Use common terms. Perhaps you are King of Brand Philosophy. That's cool, but if I'm searching for a Marketing Director, I might not find you. If you have a job title that is not obvious, include a subtitle that explains exactly what you do.

Join industry and functional groups. When I am doing a search, I often look at related groups to see who is a member and who is actively participating. Join groups and be an active participant. Make it easy for me to see that you are a leader in your field. 

Look to see who is looking at you. You can choose to see who has been looking at your profile. If you see a recruiter has been looking at your profile, send them a message or link up with them. Having a good relationship with a few recruiters is never a bad idea. If you don't want to publicly link with a recruiter, we are always happy to get an email or a call from you. 

List contact information. Make it easy for us to contact you. Recruiters are discouraged from linking up with people we don't know. We can pay to use LinkedIn's mail function but we only get so many mail opportunities each month. Unless you are the obviously perfect candidate, I might not contact you if you don't list your contact information. If you are an active job seeker, make yourself easy to find. 

Be honest. If you are looking for a job, tell me that in your summary. As a recruiter, I am interested in finding people who are looking for work. It's tempting to try to hide that you are not employed but if you want to find a job, it's good to let people know that you are actively looking. 

Happy hunting!

Nancy


Wednesday 21 August 2013

Onboarding the new hire

After a long search, you've finally hired the ideal candidate for the job. Today is her first day of work. What she experiences will have a major impact on her future with your company. As the commercial says, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Most companies know to show a new employee the location of the washroom and coffee machine. Often the hiring manager will take the new hire to lunch. The new employee typically gets a binder from HR outlining all of the company's policies and procedures to minimize the potential for lawsuits. And sometimes there is a formal new employee orientation session where all new hires are put in a room and given fairly generic information about a company's culture.

These sessions tend to be fascinating...


Most people are nervous on their first day of work. Often, they've resigned from a job that - while not as intriguing as yours - offered some positives. Just as it's easy to see the old high school boyfriend who has turned up on Facebook through rose-coloured glasses, it's easy for a new hire to remember how great her last job was - and have regrets about yours - if you don't make the onboarding process more engaging.

In his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink explores the key factors that motivate employees: autonomy, mastery and purpose. In other words, we all need to "direct our own lives, learn and create new things, and do better by ourselves and our world."


Autonomy: New employees want assurance that they and their ideas matter and are important to the company. This gives them the sense that they will have some control in their new environment. It's hard to send out this message if the onboarding process focuses on generic training sessions and binders filled with policy. Let people know that they were hired because you need them. And that you cannot wait to see what they can contribute. Let them know that while the company has a great culture, you are eager to see how they shape things too. Everyone likes to feel valued.

Mastery: People hate feeling incompetent. When you do not know where the bathroom is, it's hard to feel confident about anything. The first weeks on the job can be highly demotivating since it's so hard to feel a sense of mastery. You hired the candidate for their skills and expertise. Let them use them right away so they gain an immediate sense of competence in their new environment. Tap into the new hire's greatest strengths. You know that thing he talked about loving to do in the interview? Make sure he does a lot of that as soon as he starts work.

Purpose: Everyone wants to feel part of something bigger. That's why people get satisfaction from work. It's up to you to make the connection between what this new hire can do and the goals of the organization. A new employee orientation session that focuses on the company's mission, vision and goals is time well spent if you link those elements to the skills and experience of the new hire. (Hey Mr. X, here at Corporation Z, we pride ourselves on being the number one seller of widgets in the world. It's a pleasure to know that we have just hired the number one sales guy on the eastern seabord in sprockets. You'll be a fabulous fit here! Now let's talk about what we are hoping to accomplish together...)

Making an employee feel valued, competent and part of something great will go a long way toward making that person feel he has made a great career move. The quicker an employee feels this way, they faster she will be able to contribute to your organization. Which, of course, was the whole point of the hire.

Happy hunting!

Nancy

Wednesday 14 August 2013

(Not) winning the interview

When you are interviewing for a job, it often feels like a competition:




Often, there will be several candidates applying for one position. Many of us are naturally competitive and it's natural to want to win the competition and get hired. It's tempting to see the interview as a platform to show off your strengths and engage in a one-sided conversation as you seek to win over the recruiter and earn the job offer.

Repeat after me. My career is not a contest.

You are not trying to win a position, but rather find out if the open position is an ideal job for you. The interview process should be an open dialogue between you and a potential employer to see if you might work well together. If you are currently working, the job interview should be an opportunity for you to determine if you really want to change jobs. If you take a job that is not a good fit, it puts the company in a bad position and prevents you from finding a really great job more suited to your skills and personality.

Here are some ways to make the interview as productive for you as it is for the hiring company:

Be honest. The company's recruiter knows what skills and experience they require. They also have a good understanding of the company's culture. The best thing you can do is be honest so the interviewer can assess if you have the skills needed and are a good fit. Often, it seems that hiring managers and recruiters act as gatekeepers and are more concerned about keeping candidates out. As a recruiter, I can assure you that what companies want most in the world is to make a hire. There is huge pressure to fill open positions and companies tend to err on the side of hiring the wrong person rather than leave the position unfilled. Trust me on this one. Just as the credit card company might not tell you that you really ought not get that increased limit, a hiring firm might not tell you that you aren't right for the job. You need to figure that one out for yourself.

Ask questions. This is the chance to ask lots of questions. Hiring companies like people who ask questions. It shows you are interested and engaged. Ask about the role. Ask how you will spend your day, who you will interact with most, and what the deliverables will be. Ask what the performance management system looks like. Ask what the next logical position would be. Ask how much travel there will be. Ask why the position is open. If you are interested in flexible hours or work from home, ask about that now.

Make sure you meet your potential team members. Some companies have Human Resources do most of the hiring. While HR can answer questions about the position requirements and the general corporate culture, they cannot always tell you everything you want to know. Request to meet with the hiring manager. Ask to meet with someone from the team. The main reason why people love or hate their jobs is the people. It's not unusual to have several interviews with HR, but make sure you know what the team looks like before signing on the dotted line. These are the people you'll be sitting with at 10pm when the project is overdue, not HR.

Make sure your new job is not your old job. Often there are things you do not like about your old job: a difficult boss, no upward movement, a company in financial trouble. Now is the time to make sure you are not going from the frying pan into the fire. If you are joining a publicly traded company, there will be lots of information available. If it's a private company, the interview is a great time to check things out.

Turing the interview process into a two-way dialogue will give you the confidence to take on a new job. When we find candidates getting cold feet at the 11th hour, it's often because they know what their current job looks like and can't imagine the new one. Ask questions until you have a good sense of the new environment. And if you still insist on seeing the job search process as a competition, know that companies are impressed when they see you doing your due diligence. It implies you are through, curious, and have enough confidence in your skills to know that the hiring process is a two-way street.

Happy Hunting!

Nancy

Friday 9 August 2013

Surviving the First Few Weeks

So, for the last few weeks, we've been taking you from getting hired to having a successful reference check and giving your notice to dodging any counter-offers. Now, it's the first day of your new job. How can you best prepare for success?

1) Make sure you arrange the details of your first day before you start. Large organizations like Fortune 500 companies or government, have a fairly standard procedures in place to onboard new hires. If you are employee number four at a tech start-up, however, don't assume that there are standards in place. The first few days of a new job can be nerve-wracking for everyone, so make sure you know who you are meeting, what time they want to see you, and exactly where you should go. This sounds pretty obvious, but if you arrive at 9am on a Monday, you may find yourself standing in front of a locked office door while your hiring manager leads the morning sales call. Plan ahead.

2) Find out what to wear. Yes, in interviews you likely trotted out your Sunday finest. But if you are working for a start-up filled with 25 year-old surfer-types, you don't want to show up dressed like an undertaker. If in doubt, ask HR or the hiring manager. Nobody will judge you harshly for wanting to respect their corporate culture.

3) Don't bring your entire office on the first day. Yes, your Hang in There cat poster was the hit of the office at your last place, but take a look at the offices of your colleagues before you start to decorate. Often interviews are held in boardrooms that give you little sense of the culture of the organization. Many companies have moved towards a hoteling concept where you are assigned a new workspace everyday depending on what you are doing. The last thing you want to do is drag in your ficus plant only to find out that your officemates survive with a rolling file bin and a laptop.


4) Ask whoever lets you in where everything is. Bathroom, photocopier, file area, coffee area. Ask how you get in and out of the building and how your passcard works. Think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: the sooner you get comfortable with the basics, the sooner you can start to self-actualize and earn your keep.

5) Be friendly to everyone. Even if you are the world's biggest introvert and have been hired for a job where you talk to nobody, plaster a big smile on your face and be friendly to everybody. Most people will judge your character in a minute or less. Based on what they think, they can be helpful or not helpful. Yes, over the next few weeks you will be judged based on merit, but the first few days are more like speed-dating. Be cheerful, be charming, and avoid any conflict or controversy (I don't have to tell you to hold open elevator doors and avoid cutting anyone off in the parking lot.)

6) Ask what they'd like you to start working on. Often your manager will hand you a pile of work from whoever held your position last. Ask specifically what you can work on and arrange a time to meet to hand over some deliverables. You will all feel better once you actually produce some results.

7) Clarify any buzzwords. Every organization has its own lingo. If you don't know what a term means, ask. You have a month to be stupid and ask questions. After that, people start to judge.

Most of all relax, have fun, and find out when people go out for drinks night (and make sure to attend it!) You've worked hard for this moment so enjoy.

Happy hunting,

Nancy

Wednesday 31 July 2013

The Counter-Offer Conundrum

Ok, so you've been working in your job for a while. You've been feeling like there is not a lot of room to move up so you've been putting out some feelers. You get called by a fabulous recruiter like me, you go to some interviews, and the company you are interviewing with loves you. You love them too. They make you an offer for a job that is slightly more senior than your current one and it comes with a bigger paycheque. Life is good.


So you accept their offer and your references are good (of course!) and you make an appointment with your manager to give her your notice. You've been prepared to work out your notice and you've been prepared to be walked out of the building by security. What you were not prepared for is when your boss offers you a promotion and pay raise to stay.

Welcome to the counter-offer.

The candidates we have are talented people and it's not surprising that their current employers want to give them an incentive to stay. And, boy oh boy, is it flattering to be the object of so much affection.

When presented with a counter offer, you have a choice to make: in the immortal words of The Clash, "should I stay or should I go?" You carefully weigh the two offers.




The temptation will always be to stay. People, as a rule, don't like change. There will be a probationary period at your new job, you'll have to meet all new people, you'll have to prove yourself again and, let's face it, you might lose your status as the Four Square mayor of the nearby Applebee's. If you've ever watched Let's Make a Deal, you know that if you turn down the certainty of the brand new washer and dryer set for door number two, you just might get the donkey.

But I'd caution you here. The Clash was pretty wise when they observed, "If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double." Our research and experience has shown that most employees who accept a counter offer from their current company leave the organization within the year. In other words, the counter offer is almost always the donkey.

Your current employer should understand and value your skills better than an outsider. If it takes another offer to make them realize how good you are, that is an indication of a problem. Perhaps you and your manager have not communicated effectively and he is not aware of what you do. Perhaps your organization is in cost-cutting mode and will only remunerate you fairly when they have to. Perhaps you've been underpaid because you are not a great cultural fit with the organization but they still want you around to complete your projects. Unless there are some other changes going along with the counteroffer (perhaps your unobservant manager has just been replaced) the underlying problems will continue.

Also, once you've tipped your hand that you are looking, your organization's attitude towards you might change. People tend to value loyalty and if you are viewed as the type of person whose loyalty can be bought, there could be long-term repercussions. Our advice is to never take a counter offer where the only factor on the table is money.

The last thing you want is to accept a counter offer, finish up the project that made you indispensable, and find yourself out on your ear. When you call back the new company that wanted to hire you, you'll likely find a less than warm reception. If the counter offer is too good to pass up, we recommend getting an employment contract drawn up that provides you with some job security.

It's nice to be liked. But being liked by way of a counter offer can be tricky. Remember that if your employer had been offering you everything you wanted in the first place, you would not have gone to all the work of finding a new job.

Happy hunting!

Nancy






Thursday 25 July 2013

You're hired! Now what?

So let's say that one day, out of the blue, I call you and tell you about an amazing opportunity to work as an account manager for one of our clients. You've been working as an account manager for a smaller firm in the same industry. You love your work but you are looking to handle larger accounts and there is no upward mobility in your current role. The job I tell you about sounds pretty perfect.

So you send me your resume and I love it. I show the client your resume and they love it. I ask you some general questions about your skills and experience. Finally, I arrange for you to meet the client. The first interview goes well. The second interview goes even better. You love the people you meet and they love you back. One day, I give you a call and tell you the good news: they want to make you a job offer. They want you to start in a month.

Now what?



Before you dance into work, hand in your resignation, and start singing na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye to your annoying co-worker, there are a few things you need to do.

1) Gather your references. Chances are, the job offer is conditional on references. So don't quit yet. Occasionally offers are rescinded based on poor reference checks, and it's better safe than sorry. Think about who the best people are to tell your new employer about you. Your current employer is ideal but unless you are in a downsizing situation, it's unlikely you want to tip your hand that you plan to leave your job. Offer the name of a former employer, ideally the boss at your previous job. Another good bet is someone who has left your company recently, who can talk about your current role. This person does not have to have been a supervisor; a co-worker can still talk about your skill set. It's a good idea to call whoever you give as a reference to give them a heads up and thank them in advance for their glowing remarks. Tell them a little about your new role so they can tailor their comments.

2) Review any employment contracts or agreements you may have signed. Did you sign a non-compete clause or any other agreements that might put limitations on what you do in your new role? How many weeks notice must you give? Discuss any limitations on future employment with your recruiter. It might be worth hiring an employment lawyer to review your contract if anything is unclear.

3) Think about your start date. If you are moving to a competitor, you will likely be walked off the property as soon as you resign. Some employers will want you to work during your notice period so make sure you give your new employer a realistic start date. If you were thinking about taking a holiday, it can be wise to take it before you start your new job so that you can have a few uninterrupted months to get settled. This might push your start date out too.

4) Make sure you understand any terms of probation. Often a new employer wants you to have a probationary period where they can terminate you without cause (or remuneration) should things not work out. While you can assume that any firm working with a research-based recruiter like me wants the relationship to succeed, it's still important to understand the risks before you sign on the dotted line. Find out what measures will be put into place to help ensure your success on the job.

5) Discuss the job change with any key stakeholders. Change can be scary and the bigger the change, the scarier it can feel. If the new job requires you to relocate or make other major lifestyle changes (eg. lots of travel, working from home) make sure everyone affected by the change is on board.

6) Understand any contracts you'll be expected to sign. Your new employer will likely have an employment contract they will want you to sign. Make sure you understand all of the terms of employment before you formally accept the offer.

Once your references have been checked, you've accepted the terms of employment, and you have all key stakeholders on board, it's time to resign. There is only one more thing to consider:

7) The counter-offer. Sometimes your employer will refuse to accept your resignation and will offer you more money or a promotion to stay. Next week, I will discuss the pros and cons of the counter-offer in more detail.

Until then,

Happy hunting!

Nancy

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Build a better reference check

As an employer, once you've found your dream candidate and have extended him or her an offer, there is one final step: the reference check. This is usually a rubber stamp but occasionally there is an ugly surprise, so it's always a good idea to be thorough. Here are some ways to make the process more effective:

1. Read between the lines. People are litigious. Some days it's hard to order a sandwich without getting sued. Many former employers are reluctant to give anything but a glowing reference even if it is undeserved. When you are talking to someone's reference, listen to hear if they are being enthusiastic. If I asked you to describe your favourite friend right now, I bet you'd say some pretty nice things. Your voice would be warm and you'd err on the side of giving out too much praise. If on the other hand, I asked you about your weird cousin Ned, you might not say anything bad, but you'd hardly sound enthusiastic. Many firms, not wanting to say anything negative but also not wanting to lie, use what I affectionately like to call Weasel Talk. A great example of Weasel Talk when describing someone lazy is "You'd be lucky to get him to work for you." Clever, huh? Ask questions, ask them to clarify. If they keep using exactly the same phrase, you can be sure it was prepared by a team of lawyers. Proceed with caution.

2. Ask the hard questions. Ask about your candidate's weaknesses. Because of the whole fear factor expressed in point one, you may not get much information but sometimes people will surprise you. At a firm for which I worked when I was just starting out, one candidate - who looked like a winner on paper and in person - was described by his best reference as being "a few cards short of a full deck." The client pushed forward and hired this particular fellow, so sure that the reference must have somehow got it wrong, and the results were as expected: he was a few cards short of a full deck and eventually had to be let go. Sometimes people are shockingly honest. But if you don't ask, they'll never have a chance to tell you.

3. Dot you i's and cross your t's. Call the university and verify the listed degrees. Call the listed professional associations and make sure you are dealing with a member in good standing. One accounting candidate, whose resume made the rounds years ago, completely fabricated his accounting credentials. His former employers had no idea as they simply relied on the previous employers to have done their due diligence. This fellow had worked his way into quite a senior position before he was discovered. If you run into road blocks due to privacy laws, then insist your candidate show you proof of degrees and designations. It feels like busy work but can save you a lot of hassle down the road.

4. Network a little. Anytime you are given a new contact name, it's an opportunity to make a new connection. Often the candidate in question worked in a similar field before and the reference will have knowledge about your industry. Be friendly and see if you can find out at bit about their company and corporate culture. Gather a little market intelligence. Ask the reference about their career path: perhaps they might be interested in working for your firm one day too. I'm not saying to go into headhunting mode or act like you are trying to find a new best friend but a little soft networking rarely goes amiss. The more collegial the reference feels towards you, the more likely they are to give you some honest information about the candidate too.

Happy hunting!

Nancy

Thursday 11 July 2013

Recruiting Lessons from Moneyball

One of my favourite movies about recruiting is Moneyball (the book, by the always awesome Michael Lewis, is amazing too.)

Moneyball is the story of Brad Pitt's Billy Beane, the real-life General Manager of the Oakland A's, who had to rebuild his ball club on a shoestring budget after losing his star players. To help him, he hires Jonah Hill's Peter Brand, the Ivy League economics whiz kid who figured out how to analyze the club's needs and the skills of potential players in order to build an inexpensive winning team. As a research-based recruiter, my clients are Billy Beane: trying to hire a winning team on a budget that is never as large as they'd like. I'm Peter Brand: dissecting the market to find them a team that works.

In Moneyball, before Peter came along with his methodical approach to recruiting, the ball club had all sorts of interesting ways of assessing who might be a good fit for their team (you'll note that Beane was not part of these discussions:)

Grady Fuson: Artie, who do you like?
Scout Artie: I like Perez. He's got a classy swing, it's a real clean stroke.
Scout Barry: He can't hit the curve ball.
Scout Artie: Yeah, there's some work to be done, I'll admit that.
Scout Barry: Yeah, there is.
Scout Artie: But he's noticeable.
Matt Keough: And an ugly girlfriend.
Scout Barry: What does that mean?
Matt Keough: Ugly girl friend means no confidence.
Scout Barry: Okay.
John Poloni: Oh, now, you guys are full of it, Artie's right. This guy's got an attitude and an attitude is good. I mean it's the kind of guy who walks into a room his d*** has already been there for two minutes.
Scout Pote: He passes the eye candy test. He's got the looks, he's great at playing the part. He just needs to get some playing time.
Matt Keough: I'm just saying his girlfriend is a six at best.

Yikes!




I'm not saying this is how most firms hire (thank heavens!) Yet, sometime even firms with a great recruiting process get hung up on certain notions. When you work for a company, you get very immersed in that company's culture and like hires like. But when "like" is not easy to find, that's where a recruiter can be very helpful in expanding your idea of "fit." Yes, in an ideal world, every candidate attended Harvard, needs 2 hours of sleep, has no personal life yet is a fabulously fun person, believes in giving 110% at work, is never sick, is so handsome and charming that people line up to buy your product or service simply to bask in his or her glory, has direct competitor experience, is loyal to a fault (except when it comes to leaving your competitor and bringing all of that amazing knowledge to your firm) and only wants to be paid minimum wage. It's easy to form an opinion about who the ideal candidate might be (often we see a slightly better version of the person who just vacated the position.) And even though we come up with a job description that breaks things down into skill sets and experiences, we often have that ideal candidate in mind. As Moneyball shows, this can be short-sighted. Peter explains:
People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn't be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs. 
When you hire someone, you are buying a set of skills. You are not buying someone who looks good in a suit or attended the right schools or has a firm handshake. These are nice to haves (and in some roles, essential to have - which is why building out a good job description is key) but they are not necessarily what makes a winning team. Sometimes the person who you might have overlooked in a pile of resumes is your next star player. That's where the Peters and recruiters of the world can be helpful:

Billy, this is Chad Bradford. He's a relief pitcher. He is one of the most undervalued players in baseball. His defect is that he throws funny. Nobody in the big leagues cares about him because he looks funny. This guy could be not just the best pitcher in our bullpen, but one of the most effective relief pitchers in all of baseball. This guy should cost $3 million a year. We can get him for $237,000.

With enough money to throw around, anyone can hire A-Rod. His talents are obvious. You don't need us. Where recruiters can come in handy is finding those diamonds in the rough like Chad Bradford. Players who can help your team win.

Happy hunting!

Nancy

Thursday 4 July 2013

Increasing your job search success

We know of a fellow who did not want anyone to know that he had lost his job. Each morning he got up, put on his dress shirt and slacks, and pretended to drive to work. He'd hang out at Starbucks and would discretely look for a job online, figuring he'd let people know he'd been laid off when he secured another job.

This is NOT something we'd recommend doing.

Yes, it's awful when you are let go from your job. But let's face it, it's commonplace these days. It's hardly something of which to be ashamed (unless you were fired in a spectacular fashion with cause, because you did something socially unacceptable, in which case hiding out at Starbucks until the smoke clears is not a bad strategy...)

The reality is, the best way to find a job is by talking to other people. If people do not know that you are looking for a job, people can't help you find one. So here are some ways to use your existing social network to find employment:

Update your status on LinkedIn. Let people know you are looking. This might be hard to believe but recruiters are looking for talented people looking for new opportunities. Nothing tells us that you are keen to talk to us like seeing that you are "between successes," so to speak.

Update your status of Facebook and tell people what you do. I recently heard of a fellow who had dated a woman for the better part of a decade and had no idea what she did for a living. People are pretty wrapped up in their own lives and may not know that you were the best marketer of brass widgets in the Tri-state area. Tell your network you are looking for work and tell them what kind of work you seek. It's amazing what your network can do for you. We're not telling you that you need to get a mega-phone and shout about your job status wherever you go. Then again, we aren't telling you that you don't need to do this.



Get out and about. When you are laid off, you go through a grieving process. It's normal to want to den in and watch Game of Thrones for a month. But the jobs are out there, not in your living room. Go out, talk to people, let them know you are looking. That's how things happen.

Have an elevator pitch prepared. Be able to summarize the kind of job you want and your skills in about 30 seconds. You never know who you might meet when you are out and about and you don't want to be trying to figure out what you want career-wise on the fly. Have a couple of lines about you at the ready so when someone asks what you do for a living, you have a good answer.

Happy hunting!!

Nancy





Thursday 27 June 2013

How to Recruit Your Recruiter

So let's say that you work in HR and you've been charged with filling a hard-to-fill position. Perhaps the ideal candidate needs an obscure skill set and your advertising campaign has yielded few candidates. Now you are considering hiring a recruiter to help you but have no idea where to start. What can you do?

Easy: Hire me. I'm the best. The end.

Short blog post, huh?

Seriously, the first thing you need to do is figure out what kind of a recruiter you wish to hire. In a previous post, I explained the difference between contingency and retainer-based and research-based search firms. Regardless of the type of firm you pick, there are a few things you might wish to keep in mind when interviewing potential recruiters:

Who will be doing the work? Large firms often have sales people, who sell the search work, and people who execute the searches. Not only do you want to know the skill set of the person who will be conducting the work, but you also want to know if you like them. Remember, if a search was easy, you would not need to hire us. You will likely get to know your recruiter quite well over the weeks or months of the search and it's important that you like and trust them.

How will they represent you in the market? While recruiters can do their initial screening without revealing the name of your company, eventually candidates will come to learn who you are. It's a small world out there and an overly aggressive recruiter can sully your reputation in the marketplace. Ask the recruiter how they find candidates. Understand their methods. Make sure you are comfortable with what they will be doing on your behalf.

Do they think outside the box? When looking for candidates, it's rare to find someone who 100% fits the bill. If I am looking for a branding specialist for a consumer goods company and the branding specialists in competitor firms are are happily employed, I need to know where else to look. A good recruiter understands business, so they know where to find the needed skill set when the obvious places do not yield good results. Creativity is key.

Are they charming? Ultimately, recruiting is a sales job. If your recruiter sounds like a sleepy, disgruntled chain-smoking telephone operator from the 1940s, they may not be able to convince an ideal candidate to consider the position you are trying to fill.

Are they persistant? Good people are not always easy to find. A good recruiter has to chase down leads. You want to know that your recruiter has stick-to-it-iveness.

Do you like them? While it's nice to think that you'll give your recruiter a job mandate and then not hear from them until they present someone to hire, this is not the case. There is a lot of back and forth, as everyone figures out who could best fill the position. If you can't stand the recruiter, it will be a long, torturous process. A sense of humour helps a lot too.

It's a tall order, isn't it. The shortcut is to simply hire me. I'm the best. The end.

Happy hunting!

Nancy





Thursday 20 June 2013

How to be Headhunted

So, you keep hearing about people getting these great jobs through headhunters. But your phone never rings. Is there anything you can do to get yourself on a headhunter's radar?

Absolutely.

As a headhunter, I get paid to find the best people for the job. That breaks down into two parts 1) finding the people and 2) making sure they are the best people out there for the position. So first, I need to be able to find you. Second, I like to have evidence that you are good at what you do. The best way I can do this is to have other people in your field recommend you. The second best way is for me to see evidence that you are passionate about your career. This allows me to go to bat for you with my client and say with confidence that you are one of the best out there and it's worth offering flex hours or making a salary stretch to bring you onto their team.

So, how can you show me how great you are when you have no idea I'm conducting a search?

LinkedIn. I can never say this too many times: get your profile on LinkedIn. Some people are nervous about putting their profile on LinkedIn because they think it indicates to their employer that they are looking for a job. Repeat after me, LinkedIn is not a job hunting tool. There are far better tools for that such as the myriad of job boards that exist. LinkedIn is career networking tool. If you have a career, you should be using LinkedIn regularly. Join relevant industry groups and participate in the discussions. You will gain credibility as an expert in your field and build out your contacts -- something that your employers, present and future, will value.

Industry Associations. If you are a very passionate digital marketer, I assume you are a member of your local digital marketing association so you can find out the latest and greatest. Not only are you attending association events, but you are probably helping to organize them. Headhunters are very good at getting their hands on association lists. If you are not participating, you are difficult to find. And even if I do track you down, I wonder how committed you are to your industry if you seem to have no interest in it beyond 9-5.

Conferences. If you are an engaged and valued employee, you probably attend a conference from time to time. If you are perceived as an expert in your field, you probably speak at these conferences too. Often I will get hold of conference agendas and track down the speakers to find out about an industry.

Stay in touch with former colleagues. When someone leaves your group for other employment, make a point of staying in touch with them. That way, when I call them, they'll give me your name. It's like getting a soft reference right up front. It builds my confidence in your skills.

Twitter. Lots of people have their own twitter accounts where they tweet industry-relevant information. Use hash-tags, tweet often. Trust me, I'll find you.

Happy Hunting!

Nancy

Monday 10 June 2013

Why Headhunting is Exactly like Dating.


So, let's say you are happily single. Life is going well: the job is good, your friends are fun, your half-marathon training is going well, and your cat, Mr. Jingles, is good company during those times you have nothing else planned. 

Then, one day you are at the local Whole Foods, trying to decide whether or not you will be able to get through two cartons of the two-for-one organic blueberries before they spoil. Suddenly, you notice that someone on the other side of the blueberry display is watching you.

Startled, you give the Jeremy Renner look-a-like a half-smile. He's not wearing a wedding ring. He smiles back. You notice organic dog food in his basket. He likes animals too.  

"I find that when I buy both cartons, I end up wasting the second one, " Jeremy Renner says. You know it's you to whom he's speaking because you've turned around, assuming someone else is behind you - like his physicist-swimsuit model girlfriend. But nobody is there but you. 

"You know, I could buy the berries and give you the free carton," he continues. 

And you freeze. You went to Whole Foods expecting blueberries and that Jerk Tilapia they do so well. You did not go to Whole Foods expecting Jeremy Renner. 

A call from a headhunter is not unlike this: the earliest stages of courtship.

It's unexpected. Think of the active job search market as online dating. Companies are aggressively looking, candidates are aggressively looking, and, at the end of the day, it's a numbers game. Plenty. Of. Fish. It's also time consuming and exhausting. When companies hire a search firm like mine to find candidates for a position, it's a bit like hiring one of those high-end matchmakers on TV. Think of me as Jeremy Renner (though frankly, I'm more of an Amy Poehler in real life): It's my role to hang out at the Whole Foods, keeping an eye out for good people. As I identify people who are a good potential fit for the role, I give them a call. The jobs I fill are good ones: I'm offering candidates a proverbial box of free organic blueberries.  But still, candidates can be taken off-guard when, in the middle of minding their own business, they are invited to explore a new possibility. Try to be open to new things. There is no reward without some risk. 

It's a time to get to know each other. OK, so let's say you allow Jeremy to buy you the blueberries and now you are sitting at the little area in the front of the store drinking your fair trade coffee with him. You find out that he's a divorced software sales manager who loves french bulldogs. You are a cat-loving hat designer who called off your engagement to your long-distance Swedish paramour Sven. And you both love The Eagles, Indian food, the colour persimmon, Ayn Rand books, and Jerk Tilapia (Jeremy bought some too.) You have some things in common, enough to arrange for another coffee meeting. This is how you should view the interview process with a search firm. You have a job: life is good. What you are trying to find out is if life could be better. Perhaps this new job would give you more autonomy, a broader scope, a heftier paycheque. At this point you are just exploring possibilities. Relax and have some fun with it. 

It's a time to not rush forward (even though you really want to.) At some point in the process, it will hit you: OMG, I have just met Jeremy Renner and he loves animals and is employed! Depending on your age, you might also realize that you are statistically more likely to be hit by lightning than to have had this happen to you and you want to close the deal now now now. Before you get Vera Wang on your speed dial and have poor Jeremy running for the hills, you need to take a deep breath. If it's meant to be, Jeremy won't go anywhere. He'll realize that there are not many of you - Gwyneth Paltrow meets Tina Fey - on the planet. Companies are probably interviewing a number of candidates, but if they have hired a search firm, it's because there are not that many people who can do the job. Relax. If it's a good long term fit, it will happen. 

Don't have a one track mind. The first thing most candidates want to know is what the job pays. I have a mortgage too: I get it. But salary discussions are a bit like sex. Wait a few dates before bringing it up. A search firm will be feeding the client good information about what the market is paying. If they are willing to pay to hire a search firm to fill your role, they are not going to lose you over a few dollars. If you seem too fixated on the topic, your motivation may be called into question. Again, relax.

It's a time to look for red flags. Confession time: The reason things did not work out with Sven is he took a strong liking for Bjorn. All of those ABBA posters on his wall that time you visited him in Stockholm should have been a clue. Live and learn. Take your time to get to know Jeremy. See how he treats his dogs. See how he treats his mom. Does he tip the waitress? Is he respectful? How is he under stress? How is he when he meets your busty friend wearing that white tennis dress in the rain? Believe me, Jeremy is looking to see how you behave in a variety of situations. The dating process is a two-way street. The job interview process is no different. If it's a publicly traded company, read what the analysts say about management. If it's privately held, find out about the owners. Why did the last person leave? Why is the role hard to fill? The earlier in the process you find out about the bad stuff, the easier it is to go your separate ways. And if there are no deal-breakers? Nirvana!

Consider cultural differences. Perhaps you come from hearty stock who would only take a rest from work if someone were hospitalized. Maybe Jeremy was the baby in a laid-back family who believed a lot in napping. This might be a problem down the road. The same applies to the workplace. If you come out of a hierarchical, rule-bound organization, working for a creative start-up with a bunch of 20 year olds might just blow your mind. Unless you've been itching for a change, in which case it will rock your world. Don't be bound by what you've done in the past. Think about what you want now. 

Consider balance. Maybe you'd like to see Jeremy three days a week. Maybe Jeremy would like to see you once every three weeks so he can work, work out, hang with his posse, practice with his band, and date other girls. This could be a problem. Ditto if you are a nine-to-fiver who is about to take on a job with a 24/7 culture. Work-life balance is key and a valid point to discussion during an interview. Remember, we called you. You have a good thing going already. You can choose to be picky. 

This is the time to run. If Jeremy, cute as he is, starts to bring up topics such as astral projection, that time he was in prison, or his need to stock up on anti-itch creme, don't hesitate to run for the hills. If you mentioned these things, he'd be running. Nobody will be upset if you discover that a job is not a good fit early in the process. When you've accepted the job, the paperwork has been drawn up, your office has been repainted and your predecessor let go, they might get angry when you declare, "maybe I'm just not that into you."

If you just got married, fess up. To be clear, I am not Ashley Madison. If you have just joined a new company to take your dream job, you should not be interested in what I have to say. Yes, I'm Jeremy Renner: new on the scene and kind of exciting. But you're with Brad Pitt. He's promised to stand by you through thick and thin. God bless. And if you have the name of any eligible single friends, please pass them on. 

Happy hunting!

Nancy


Friday 31 May 2013

LinkedIn Love

OK, so everyone know that if you want to find a new job, you should be on LinkedIn. But are you using the tool as effectively as you might? Here are some tips to using LinkedIn from a recruiter's perspective.

Better no profile than a poor profile. When I'm networking in the marketplace and someone gives me the name of a potential candidate,  the first thing I do is check to see if there is a profile on LinkedIn. If it's not there, I'll probably place a call. If it's there and looks as expected, I'll definitely place a call. If it's there and is poorly done and rife with errors, I won't place a call. When Woody Allen said "Eighty percent of success is showing up," he was not referring to LinkedIn. 

Use standard terms. As recruiters, we have all sort of cool software at our fingertips to help us identify fantastic candidates for a position. This software can comb through LinkedIn and identify potential candidates based on skills. If, for example, we are looking for an Account Manager for a digital agency, we will look for people with SEO and SEM experience. Maybe your company calls you a Search Wizard. That's really cool, but you won't turn up in a keyword search for SEO. You might be the best account manager in the world, but if we can't find you, our clients can't hire you. Use standard terminology. 

Use appropriate photos. Repeat after me, LinkedIn is not Facebook. The best photo is a decent head shot with you looking friendly and professional. If the only photo you have of yourself involves alcohol, a Halloween costume, or a cat beard, please stick to the little grey-scale avatar. No photo is better than an unsuitable one.



Join relevant groups. One of the ways recruiters learn about a particular field is to checkout LinkedIn Groups. Join industry and functional groups and post comments that show that you have expertise in your field. Show that you are passionate about what you do. 

Link to other social media. You can share your Twitter feed with LinkedIn users but only do this is you tweet about work-related matters. It's great that it's #FajitaNight at the local #nudist resort. Your LinkedIn followers do not need to know this. 

Reach out to recruiters. One of the great things about LinkedIn is that you can see who viewed your profile. If you see that recruiters are looking at your profile, feel free to send them a message telling them that you'd be open to helping them network in the future. (This is code for: were you looking at my profile to see if I'm suitable for a job that is amazingly fulfilling and pays ridiculously well?)

Use the postal code of the city where you want to work. Often we will use postal codes as a way of finding good candidates for a search. If you live in Pig's Elbow and are happy to drive the 3 hours to Chicago each day (or are happy to relocate), use a Chicago postal codes so you are not excluded from our Chicago-based searches. 

Check your inbox. Recruiters will send you mail through LinkedIn if we think you have an interesting background. Use the notification function to trigger an email when someone sends you a request or message. And check the system a couple of time a week. Finding out that someone wanted to talk to you about a dream job after the job has been filled feels a bit like finding an expired winning lottery ticket in the pocket of your winter coat. There are enough "if only" moments in life as it is. 

Happy hunting!

Nancy


Thursday 23 May 2013

Résumé schmésumé

Ok, so with the advent of LinkedIn and Skype and Bullhorn Reach and all sorts of other ways of connecting with employers, has the résumé gone the way of the detachable shirt collar and the cassette tape?

Nope.

Résumés are a very useful tool for job seekers, but not for the reason you might think. Yes, recruiters want them. And HR usually insists on a copy to keep in your file. But more importantly, pulling together a good résumé and cover letter (remember those?) forces you to think about your current skill set, your career goals, and what you bring to the table overall. It's easy in this world of online CVs to simply add skills without ever stepping back and seeing you career as it's seen by others. Even if you end up staying in your current position, going through the exercise of seeing what skills and experiences are valued in the marketplace and then seeing how you compare can be valuable. This insight can help you position yourself better come performance review time, or convince you to upgrade your skills to make yourself more marketable. If you do end up finding a role that looks interesting, all of that work preparing a new résumé will make the interview a snap. If you walk into an interview with only a cursory glance at the LinkedIn profile you created two years ago, you might not find it as easy to talk about your skills.

If you are writing a résumé for the first time in a while, here are some tips from someone who has read far too many bad ones.

1. Don't over-jargon things. I'm sure that when you and your buddies gather around the water cooler, it's cool to talk in acronyms. To an outsider such as a recruiter or someone in HR, buzzwords don't make sense. At best, you'll come across like one of those over-zealous Star Trek convention attendees who like to order their beer in Ferengi. At worst, we'll wonder if you actually know what you are talking about. Almost all jobs require good communication skills and a résumé is a great place to show how you can make your industry-specific knowledge more accessible to others.

2. It's not Match.com. It's awesome that you like walks on the beach, BASE jumping and long-haired ferrets. I don't need to know that, however. Résumés focus on employment-related skills and experience. Period. If you are the treasurer on the board of the local hospital, that would be relevant for a job with some finance responsibility. If you have an Olympic medal kicking around and you are interested in a job that needs fortitude and achieving goals, by all means share. Beyond that, we do not need to know a whole lot about your personal life. And please, no photos. One of my former colleagues used to collect terrible photos featuring job-seekers shirtless on vacation, falling off horses, and surrounded by empties. Life is hard enough without appearing on someone's wall of shame.

3. Proofread. There is nothing worse than reading about someone's attention to detal. Use spellcheck and grammar-check and then actually read your résumé. I'm pretty sure you'd want your tattoo artist to pay attention to spelling. This is no less important.

Happy hunting,

Nancy




Friday 17 May 2013

Why me?



No, I'm not whining. I'm trying to explain why you might want to hire a research-based recruiter like me. First, I need to tell you what I do for a living. It might not be what you think:



The easiest way to show the space I occupy in the recruiting world, is to tell you about some other third-party recruiting business models you might have used in the past. 

Contingency  

With contingency firms, you only pay the recruiter when they find someone. Sometimes you will use one recruiter exclusively and other times you will have multiple recruiters race to find you a candidate. The first guy across the line gets paid.

This can be a good thing. If you are trying to fill a junior role or what we refer to as a commodity position (any position where only a certain technical skill set is required e.g. someone writing code or following a telemarketing script) there is often a large pool of candidates from which to draw. Many people could fill the role quite well. What a client needs is a quick turnaround time and contingency firms have huge databases of candidates who are seeking employment. Since you only pay for success, this can be an economical way to hire too. 

The drawback is that you are providing a financial incentive for the recruiter to provide quantity over quality. Your HR department or hiring manager may feel inundated with unvetted resumes. Also, databases pull candidate names based on skills rather than fit so you may meet a lot of people who do not fit into the corporate culture. 

Retainer 

Retainer-based firms work on a exclusive basis and often charge a flat fee based on the hours they think it will take to complete the search. Generally these firms are used for senior level roles where fit is key or for hard-to-fill roles where there are not many qualified candidates. 

The advantage to using a retainer based firm is that a reputable firm will put in the time to cover the marketplace to find you the best people for the role. Also, they are accustomed to dealing with senior level people and will represent your company and the role well . Search consultants have a solid business background so they can understand the intricacies of a position. They will stick with your search until the job is done and provide a lengthy guaranty that the hire is successful. You also get marketing intelligence from your competitors or companies in your industry. My background is in retained executive search and I have a huge amount of respect for the value they can bring to a company. 

The drawback is that good search firms are expensive to use. Also, sometimes a partner will sell the search services that will be executed by someone more junior. It is important to make sure you know who will be doing the work and representing you in the marketplace. 

Research Recruitment Companies

I started Re:search as a way to fill the gap between retainer and contingency recruiting firms. The advantage of using someone like me is that you get the research services of an executive search firm but at a fraction of the fee. I unbundle my services so you pay for exactly what you need. Usually clients will handle creating the job spec, the interview process and reference checks themselves. Because I focus on the "headhunting" aspect of the search rather than the HR elements, I am able to charge significantly less than a retainer firm needs to charge. With me, you are guaranteed good coverage of the market to find the best candidate and you will be represented and marketed in the best light. I also provide marketing intelligence from your competitors or companies in your industry. 

The drawbacks are that I do not provide a guaranty the way that a full-service firm does since I am not part of the interview process. There is more work for HR or the hiring manager so very small firms or busy start ups might not have the human capital to spare. 

That being said, the Re:Search business model is becoming very popular for firms that have the HR resources to manage the search process but simply need someone to uncover who the best candidates are in the marketplace. 

(Not that I'm biased!)

Happy hunting! 

Thursday 9 May 2013

Advice for Clients: Improving the odds

One of the best parts of my job is when we find a great employee for one of our clients. It's kind of like being at the wedding of two people you set up on a blind date. It's all good. What's even better, however, is when the client calls us a few years later to inform us that the employee we placed has been promoted and the role needs to be filled once again. This is like being at the 10 year anniversary of the couple you set up. While finding the best job candidates on the market is what we do, clients can play a big role in helping us find the very best person for the position over the long term by doing four key things:

1) Make the job spec as representative of the job as possible. It can be tempting for clients to give us the ad or job spec from the last time they filled the position, but it is much better to rewrite the job spec every time one commences a search. Rarely does a job stay the same from year to year. Not only does the technology change (mimeographing skills are not as critical these days) but so does the way one does business. When you hire someone new, it's an opportunity to rethink the role. Take the time to make any changes before you make a hire. There is nothing more frustrating for a candidate than to feel like they were subject to the old bait and switch.

2) Be honest if you've been trying to fill the role for a while. If you have been looking for someone to fill the role for six months with no success, please let us know. There is nothing worse than calling someone with a new opportunity only to have them say "oh, are they still looking for that?" Some positions are very unique and tough to fill and that is why you are hiring us, but we will amend the script we use when pitching the job to prospective candidates if we have this information. As we talk to people, we will also find out why the role has been hard to fill. Perhaps you are paying below market rates, perhaps there has been some reputational damage (see below), perhaps the job's location is an issue. Once we have this market intelligence, we can often tweak the role to make it more attractive to candidates. Then when we call back our prospect list, we can tell them the great news!

3) Be honest if the job is hard to fill. Perhaps your CEO has just done the perp walk on national TV. Perhaps the person to whom the role reports is nicknamed Chainsaw or Neutron or Queen of Mean. Perhaps your last quarter was dismal. We are used to filling hard-to-fill positions, but again, information is helpful. If I know that I'm swimming upstream, I can be prepared to address the concerns a savvy candidate will have. There are candidates out there who love a challenge as long as they know everyone is being upfront.

4) Be open-minded. Rarely do candidates have the exact experience called for in a job spec (and if they do, they are often wanting more money that you are prepared to offer.) While we do our best to find candidates who are as close to your wish list as possible, it's really good to have a clear sense of what qualifications the candidate needs to have and what they'd ideally have. Unless there are regulatory requirements calling for someone to have a particular educational or professional background, this is often an area where flexibility can be shown. Instead of outlining the number of years experience you require, it can be helpful to focus on what kind of experiences you need them to have (if you are growing your team, you might want someone with proven mentoring experience; if you are experiencing pressure to cut costs, you may want someone who has had to downsize their group.) The more specific you can be about the needs of the role, the more flexibility you can show on the wants. With a wider pool of candidates, you are much more likely to find someone who can do the job and fits  your corporate culture, making for a successful long-term hire.

Happy hunting!

Thursday 2 May 2013

Five reasons why the headhunter did not put your name forward to the client

Job seekers. As recruiters, we want to like you. We really do.

At 3am, when I come across your twitter feed, or resume on LinkedIn, or your name on a list of potential candidates which came from a hard day of networking, I really, really want to like you.

You see, I already know that - on paper - you have many of the skills that our clients need. Our clients have often put part of their business plans on hold, waiting to hire someone just like you. And our clients are eager for us to talk to you. Boy, are they. They call us weekly, or daily, or even hourly sometimes, asking if we have found their perfect candidate. Even though we have explained that the recruiting process takes time, they give us gentle encouragement to find you.

Image courtesy of stockimages /via/ 

So, please know that when we finally track you down and talk to you, we are predisposed to want to like you. And we are looking for your best qualities. That being said, sometimes, even though a candidate looks perfect on paper and even though our client is really eager to see resumes, we cannot put them forward to our client. Here are the top five reasons I will not put your name forward for a particular job.

1) You don't have the skills. Yes, it's great that your dog obeys your command to sit. Trust me, that's nothing to sneeze at. But if that's the only management experience you have, and our client needs you to step in and manage a group of 300 employees right away, I cannot put your name forward. We love that you have a great attitude and are willing to learn but we are hired to find someone who can walk in and do the job on day 1. If you feel that you are not moving forward in your career because you lack a certain skill set, acquire it. If you lack management breadth at work, perhaps you can join a Board of Directors for a charity you support. If you do not know a certain piece of software, take a course.

2) You don't have the right experience. You might wonder why job specs ask for 3-5 years experience or 5-10 years experience. If you've been giving a job the old college try for six months, surely you know everything there is to know about that position, right? Wrong. While there is nothing magic about the number of years (only a fool would reject someone for a 5 year manager position on the basis that they'd only worked 4 years and 364 days) when you have worked in a role for a number of years, you tend to have encountered a wider range of situations. A five year sales manager has probably lost an account and has learned from that. She has probably had to fire an employee and has learned from that. She has probably helped her team land a few major accounts - and knows how it's done. A ten year manager has probably experienced an economic upswing and downturn and knows whether or not he can stomach that ride. He may have had to handle morale after a downsizing. He's probably had to staff up a new team. This is why we ask for a certain number of years of experience. It may seem arbitrary but it's not.

3) You cannot translate your experience to our clients' needs. Right now we am looking to hire 2 environmental designers, a digital account director, an SVP of sales, a product developer, some recruiters, a sales operations director, a director of communication and marketing, a brand strategist, a BD manager, and a creative director. Believe it or not, we have not personally held all of those jobs. This means that with most positions we are looking to fill, we have to learn about each job and what makes for a successful hire. By the end of the search, we sound like veterans of that industry and could probably step into the role in a pinch, but if you are the first call we make, we're still in a learning curve. If you speak in industry buzzwords and jargon, we have a hard time figuring out if you actually have the skills and experience required to do the job. The best thing you can do is to ask to see the job spec and then show us how your talents match. This is great practice for interviewing with HR who appreciate your ability to translate your skills to their job specs too.

4) You run down your company. Yes, we're sure your boss is a hybrid between Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun. But trust us, we don't need to hear it. All we want to know is that you are interested in hearing about the opportunity. Perhaps you feel under-appreciated, or want a shorter commute or you are simply charmed by the sound of my voice (it happens.) I don't really need to know that. After all, I called you. Our clients want to hire happy, functional employees who will bring their skills and a great attitude to work. If you trash talk your current employer, I'm not sure you won't be trash talking our client one day. Keep it positive.

5) You are rude. If you are rude to me, I can only assume that you are a rude person. And in all of my years in search, I have yet to find a client asking to hire someone rude. Snapping at me, calling me from the bathroom, and dropping the f-bomb are not appropriate (even if you are taking my call via bluetooth while driving.) If you cannot talk when I call, but want to talk later, tell me. I'm happy to call you at home or at another number or to email you the job spec before we talk. You can never show too much kindness or consideration.


Happy hunting!




Wednesday 24 April 2013

The Re:Search Process (or why you cannot find the perfect hire in 24 hours)

I wish I had a nickel for every time a brand new client asked me if I could find them an ideal employee by the end of the week: "Can't you just pull someone off LinkedIn?" they ask.

In a word? No.

Believe me, I would love to find you a perfect hire by the end of the week. The faster I find you candidates, the faster I close the search, the faster I get paid, and the better the boat I can buy.



Did I mention I race sailboats in my spare time? Believe me, I like to move fast too!

The reality is, finding an ideal person to work in your company is a little like finding a life partner. Now, I could go online and find you a life partner in the next 30 seconds. 

But I'm guessing you would not like the result.

The quality of your employees is essential to the success of your company. Not only do you need them to have the skills to do the job, but you need them to be a good fit for your organization. LinkedIn is a great tool but sadly it lacks the "Find the Perfect Employee" app (believe me, I've looked.)

Finding the right person takes time. On average, finding the best potential employees for your company takes four to six weeks. Good candidates tend to be busy people who enjoy their work. We do active headhunting, discovering who the best players in the industry are and talking to them about why they might be happier contributing their talents to you.

In addition to finding better candidates, the time we take to thoroughly research the market can give you valuable information about what is happening in your industry. The market data we gather gives you an assurance that you are hiring the best possible candidate on the market at the time. Some firms will offer to work with you on a contingency basis, firing resumes your way until you find someone who is good enough to hire. With our approach, we present you with the people we feel are the very best potential employees for you. It's true, you won't see resumes as quickly as your might with some other recruiting firms, but you won't have to spend valuable time meeting unsuitable candidates. And you won't always wonder if there was perhaps someone better out there if only you'd been more thorough. 

Good recruiting takes time and to shorten the process means you short-change yourself. Why just hire, when you can hire the best?