Death of a Salesman – The Rise of Consultative Recruiting

Death of a Salesman – originally written by Aurther Miller in 1949, epitomizes the pain and struggle of a middle-aged salesman during a Post-War economy.  Sadly we can almost draw a straight line from that play’s era to what we are experiencing today as professional recruiters.

Gone are the days of being able to just pick up a phone, talk to a hiring manager and then start sourcing candidates and selling their skills to the highest bidder.  Don’t get me wrong, it still happens today and the best recruiters will always survive, however this economy has forced many to become more than just a one dimension delivery mechanism.  We are not in Kansas anymore!

During 2002-2008 there were thousands of new entrants into the recruitment business.  In Toronto alone, 1000+ recruitment agencies were born during that time frame.  These new recruitment firms were generally a 1 person operations with a focus on placing enough people to earn a decent living.

This worked well right up until late 2008 because there were thousands of companies who did not have the muscle, time or know-how to find the right talent.  All a hiring manager needed was a sweet-talking recruiter who could mine the thousands of candidates to find that single gem.  Not any more.  Companies are now implementing and/or enforcing formal vendor agreements, parring down the use of recruitment professionals, boosting in-house recruitment talent and are looking for value-added services (above and beyond just sourcing/placing candidates).

What started happening a few years ago and is amplified today, is a shift from ’selling’ to a client or candidate, into a recruiter who exhibits a “consultative” approach.  Those who ‘add’ value to every transaction (phone call, email, meeting, etc.) are the ones who are not only going to survive, but thrive.

What do I mean by Consultative Approach?

Let’s take a car salesman as an example.  When you walk around the Ford dealership, how many of you cringe at the thought of someone coming up to you trying to ’sell’ you a car.  You already know the stats of the chosen vehicle yet sadly a ’salesperson’ will talk, talk and talk and try and up sell you on leather seating, DVD/NAV packages and upgraded rims but all you want the poor fellow to do is be quiet and go away.

Now let’s take that same scenario with a ‘consultative’ approach.  You spot a car at the dealership you like and you are approached by the sales rep.  Rather then him/her start talking non-sense, they ask you intelligent questions such as: “what kind of vehicle do you drive now?”, “what do you like about your vehicle?” and “what would you need now?”.  From this lin of questioning, the sales person can solicit a mountain of data and is now able to start the consultative sell cycle.  They analyze the data, parse the important stuff and then present the best options based on your needs.  The sales person you are dealing with has not become just a “seller” but a consultant with true industry knowledge and the ability to tailor-match up your problem with a proven solution.

Recruitment is the same.  You cannot just ’sell’ to a hiring manager based on your cheery, personable self.  You have to engage them as an inquisitive expert and understand what their pain is, AND then offer a solution.

Becoming an industry expert and offering valuable insight into what YOUR client is up against in term of competition, salary level, the number of qualified candidates, etc.

So how does one switch from a selling recruiter to a consultative recruiter?

• Dont’ Sell.  Do not pick up the phone and start talking about how great your service is.  The sure-fire way to become unsuccessful is to talk but not really say anything.  DO some research and approach the call as a fact-finding mission.  Talk about them and their professional pain.

 

• Learn your client’s business inside and out.  Find out who the competitors are, learn the jargon and understand what the industry cycles look like.  Offer up any articles or educational materials you come across to your client.  Research the stats you need in order to become informed and intelligent.

 

• Ask open-ended questions.  Talk 25% and listen 75% of the time.  Your client is also a person, and people love talking about themselves.  Ask them about something you don’t know about their industry.  Ask them about themselves and what they like about the company they are working for.  Be engaged and listen intently.  They are telling you what they want and HOW to get their business!

 

• Join and attend industry related associations and meetings.  If you are an IT recruitment professional, then join a user group and attend a meeting.  Learn the issues and latest industry trends in IT.

 

• Ensure that every email, phone call and transaction is something that will add value to your client.  Calling them up just to see if they have new roles you can work on won’t cut it.  By calling up and offering the latest news in their industry, or letting them who their competitors just hired offers that sort of inside info that is highly sought after.

 

• Contribute to your client’s bottom line.  Gather your statistics and present it in such a format that can directly translate into cost savings or revenue generation.  An example is time-to-fill ratios, 12 month retention ratio, contract completion ratio, etc. and show them how it translates to their return on investments (ROI).

 

• Focus on the ongoing features/benefits of your service.  By using you exclusively, how does it contribute to your client’s goals?  Once you make a placement, check back with your candidate often and share the info with your client.

 

• Use your current client successes and testimonials as proof of delivery for that client you want to land.  Picking up the phone and just asking for a job to work on won’t work because EVERYONE is doing it now.

 

• Be honest.  Nothing is more frustrating than a recruiter who over-promises and under delivers.  It’s bad enough every recruitment firm tells employers they can fill “any roles” but it is worse when they cannot deliver.  Be truthful about what you are good at, and what you will struggle with.

 

Whther you are an in-house recruitment professional or an agency recruiter these points will apply.  Consultative recruitment is really not about selling at all.  It’s about partnering with your clients and becoming entrenched in THEIR processes.  A good sales person will focus and make the sale and move on.  A good consultant will offer a solution to help with their clients, with the by-product being the sale and a long term professional relationship.

This article was written by Jay Zaidi – jzaidi1@hotmail.com

Corporate Recruiting Metrics – What’s Important?

For those who do not know what metrics are.  Metrics are the directly-controlled, numerically-measured activity that leads to a placement.  Metrics are the logical side of the recruitment brain.

I am often asked what I know about Corporate Recruiting?  Well, I’d have to say a lot!  Many agency (3rd party) recruitment pros become corporate recruiters because of their ability to understand the need/urgency that a company may not even know IS an issue.  In fact, 3rd party recruiters have not only one point of view to draw from, but dozens. 

In almost all cases a 3rd party recruiter is an intimate extension of the in-house recruitment process of their clients.  The best 3rd party recruitment professionals know their client’s recruitment process inside and out.  Most 3rd party recruitment pros also have dozens of high value, repeat clients which means they are a wealth of best practice information.  If an external (3rd party) recruitment professional does not become part of the Corporate recruiting process, then that recruiter will be out of business very quickly. 

Often times the external recruiter is competing with the corporate recruitment team using different methods to achieve the same goals – placing the best candidate quickly while maintaining the highest standards.

Having said that, the metrics for Corporate Recruiters is very similar to 3rd party “agency” recruiters.  Where they differ is in HOW the metrics are used to either increase performance or decrease lag time. 

 Metrics (very simplified) that are usually tracked include: # of interviews, # of send-outs and # of placements on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.  There are dozens more that can be (and are) tracked but the CORE numbers that tell the story are only speaking to one side of the value statement.  

Keep in mind the real story is told, not by the numbers itself but what lays in between them – aka the ratios.

Regardless of your current role as a corporate recruiter or agency recruiter, you can assured that the ratios derived from the metrics is what really counts.  In an ideal world a 1:1:1 ratio is highly sought after, yet almost unattainable.

What do I mean by 1:1:1 ratio?

Well, ideally everyone you meet is someone that is the right fit for the role you are looking to fill.  You interview 1 candidate for 1 role and make 1 hire (placement).  The likelihood of that happening though is akin to beating Vegas – the odds are stacked against you.

Why?

Well the ratios have almost a direct correlation to the “quality” of the candidate and the “quality” of the role being sought to fill.  You can meet 30 people per month but if none of them are placed then it usually means that something is amiss and 9 times out of 10 it is directly attributed to the quality of either the candidate, the role or both.  You are also dealing with people from EVERY angle – which means that the most important variable in ALL of this is subject to second thoughts, fear, happiness, contempt and every other human condition – like you and I.

In the absence of scientific methods to source candidates, ratios are truly the only way to determine if you are on the right track.

Using industry averages I’ve broken down what these monthly metrics should look like for an corporate recruiter (which is almost identical to agency recruitment, sans a few stats).

• # of  candidates interviewed -  30 to 40 per month OR 1 - 2 “quality’ candidate interviews per day. (30) 
• # of candidates presented to clients – about 20 per month (Closer to # interviewed is better – it speaks to the quality of your screening process).  (20)
• # of send outs – How many of those candidates that were presented to the client actually invited in for an interview? 50% is a good ratio.  The higher the better as I’ve seen upwards of 90%.  (10)
• # of placements- How many of those who were in send-out status were made an offer?  33% is the general norm.  I’ve seen as high as 100% and as low as “zero”.  The average recruiter will place approximately 3 candidates per month whereas exceptional recruiters can consistenly place 5 or more candidates in the same time frame. (3)

Using this methodology the ratios look like 30:20:10:3 OR 10:7:3:1 – digging deeper into the numbers, you need to interview and run through 10 “qualified” and “pre-screened” candidates for every 1 placement made.   If there is any significant deviation in those Ratios then there are quality concerns that need to be addressed.

Again, agency and corporate stats run very similar to each other, except as a Corporate (in-house) recruitment professional additional stats will apply (see below).

What is (or should be) measured for Coporate Recruiters are:

• # of Roles being handled - How many roles is the average Corporate Recruiter managing at any one time.  Much like the agency recruiter, the more roles that need to be filled, the less time one can spend on each role.

 

• # of days the role is unfilled – How long has the role been open?  How much does it cost your client everyday that key hire is unavailable?

 

• % of Roles Filled – How many of the the roles (assignments) that were handed to you were actually filled by you or your team.  If you are running at 100% over the course of one full year then you are either an exceptionally gifted recruiter OR just very, very lucky.

 

• Time to Fill- How long does it take from start-to-finish to fill an internal role.  The lower the better, however the majority of the delay tends to be clients (line mgrs, directors, etc.) or Recruitment Process bottlenecks.  The average is generally 8 weeks in a good market and close to 13 weeks in an unfavourable market.

 

• Cost of Hire- This is probably one of the most difficult items to calculate.  The number of hours spent by one recruiter is just the start.  You have to calculate everyone’s time (usually 8 or more people will have their hands in the pot), then calculate the opportunity costs for any delays AND then measure the ramp up costs for the chosen candidate (which is a daunting task).  Is this role replacing someone?  Add the cost of severance, Loss of Intellectual Property, cost of advertising and potential demoralization costs to the team.  Certain elements can be tracked but many are intangible costs that cannot be totally computed.

 

• % Retained – How many of your placed candidates pass the 3 month, 6 month and 12 month mark.  It’s important because it affects the future Cost-per-Hire for that particular business unit.

 

• % Turned Down- How many candidates have turned down an offer from your organization?  This usually means restarting the whole process from scratch and negatively affecting the Cost-of-Hire and Time-to-Fill.  By lowering the % of turndowns you directly increase efficiency almost immediately.

 

• % Referred- How many of your current employees are referring quality candidates to open roles?  This is important because it allows current employees to take a vested interest in the hiring process.  This will also increase your response time to your internal client (line mgrs, directors and execs).

Gathering this data is not difficult and by doing so you will find out the ‘truth’ of your own performance as a Corporate Recruiter.  There are many more stats that can be measured but these stats can and do directly affect performance of the corporate recruiting team.

Metrics are by no means the only way to track performance.  They are however important milestones that can be easily reviewed.  What is needed is the company to look beyond the raw numbers/ratios and ensure they have a good group of corporate recruiters who work well together as a team and are productive every day.  That will take us into another article for another day – Effective recruitment management styles.

This article was written by Jay Zaidi – jzaidi1@hotmail.com.

What Do Employers REALLY Want?

So you’ve found a job description that matches 90% or more of everything that you did in your last job.  You apply, you make a cold call into the hiring manager and you network through the minefield of connections to find an friend on the inside.   Hours, days and weeks pass by yet you have heard NOTHING.

Finally you get a call – an INTERVIEW!  “Fantastic” you tell yourself.  You lock in a time and start the research, prep work and pratice interview questions.  On the day of the interview you make sure you look your best, have 2 copies of your resume on hand and show up 5-10 minutes ahead of schedule.

You meet with the hiring manager or HR rep and believe you have handle each question admirably.  You feel you have made a personal connection by engaging in a “delightful” conversation and are then assured that someone will get back to you.  You are told that you are a ‘good’ fit and that the need is urgent.  After the interview you send a Thank you note via email or a hand-written card.

The days go by and no call.  Then a week rolls by, then two and next thing you know it’s a month with no response.  Your repeated attempts to get a hold of someone goes unheeded.

What’s going on?

Chances are you were dumped after the first interview and not even know it.  Why?  Very simple.  The hiring manager did not feel you were the “BEST” fit.

Hundreds of scenarios re-enact themselves like this every day across Canada.  With rising unemployment comes intense competition unlike anything the boomer, Gen X or Gen Y groups have ever seen.  You are against a rising tidal wave working against you…it’s a perfect storm of calamities with high unemployement, decreasing budgets and ever-vigilant hiring practices…but there is hope.

What I will be exploring in this segment is the psychology behind what Employers really want.  The job description is just a template of skills that are required to perform the duties.  What is not mentioned is the TYPE of person required to do the job with that specific company.

There are 7 key areas that employers today require in order to be a successful candidate .

• Communication skills – You need to be able to articulate and express points of views and ideas in a manner that anyone in the organization can understand.  Do you ask intelligent and relevant questions?  If you are an Engineer you need to be able to talk technical but also scale the details up or down to include business units.  Do not confuse lack of communication skills with a heavy accent.  I have met hundreds of candidates with heavy accents who do very well in interviews.  They can convey ideas just as well (if not better) than native English speakers.

 

• Personable/Attitude – As a candidate, it must come across that you get along with everyone.  Are you an optimist or a pessimist?  Do you speak well of your past experiences or speak ill of your previous employers?  How do you approach a challenge – with a glass half full attitude? 

 

• Problem Solving – This is crucial.  Every role will have challenges that need to be over come.  Are you creative and do you follow a replicable problem solving technique or to you just HACK your way through.  Show the interviewer how you would tackle one of their challenges and walk through each step clearly and concisely.

 

• Cultural Fit – This is something you cannot control, however you can influence.  Companies always want people like themselves (unless they are experiencing a paradigm shift).  Energy, vitality and youthful vigour generally are sought after.  You could be 50 years old and still have a youthful vigour – it’s the energy that shows through the normal course of body language that is often picked up by your interviewer.

 

• Appearance – Do you dress like a mad-scientist or do you dress like you are going to a meeting with the Prime Minister?  Are you well groomed and poised?  Do you look uncomfortable in your suit or is it a well-fitted natural extension of yourself?  Do you walk like you’re carrying a 400 lbs deer carcass on your back or do you glide naturally?   Studies have shown that you are sized-up and judged within 30 seconds upon first contact.  Rarely do people hire sight unseen nowadays.

 

• Growth/Longevity – Are you someone that they company can invest money into and grow or are you there to collect a paycheck and move on after 1 year.  Your history will work for you or against you.  Even if you are a professional contractor, longevity counts.  Do you do a string of 3 month contracts without ever being called back or do you have a consistent client base that engages you every time they need you?

 

• Can you do the job- The job description plays into this one.  The hiring manager wants to know how much experience you have and will match it against the “must have” skill set.  If you haven’t done a piece of the business then let the employer know how you intend to learn it.  Point to sources and colleagues you can get information from.

Despite the overwhelming odds, if you can work on these points your odds of success during interview times will increase substantially. 

I suggest if any more than two of these points are causing you some pain that you seek out professional help – like a career coach.  Have you ever heard of a high performance athlete who doesn’t have a coach or mentor?

I bid you the best of luck and look forward to your success stories.

This article was written by Jay Zaidi – jzaidi1@hotmail.com

Job Hunters – Add a Features/Benefits Dimension to Your Profile

The Challenge

Your average recruiter/HR professional eyeballs about 7,000-10,000 resumes a year.  During the 7.5 years I’ve been in the recruitment industry I cannot recall any candidates ever pressing me with what they had to offer and why it was relevant to me.  It was always ” I’m a good fit because I meet some of the Must Have(s) skills“.  It was my job to FILTER through the resumes to find the gems my client’s needed in order for me to make a placement. 

Being on the other side of the table is not easy – I will be the first to admit.  As a candidate you are in constant competition with dozens of other “qualified” people gunning for the same role.  Often times your competition has more years of experience, skills, abilities, etc. than you do.  Sure, you may be capable of competently doing the job but there is always going to be someone who is MORE CAPABLE at the same price. 

Sadly, as the marketplace matures, people are increasingly looked at as “service providers” rather than loyal employees.  We are all destined to function in a role that either decreases costs, increases revenue or both.  That’s it! 

There is nothing else that matters more than the value a candidate brings to the table for any job – from a Starbucks Barrista to a C-level executive.  Everyone has a part to play – especially during the market turmoil we are living through.

So the question remains – what can you do differently that no one else is doing that will make YOU stand out ahead of the pack and get noticed?

The Idea

As a recruitment professional I constantly had to fend off dozens of other agencies to gain the trust of my client enough for them to allow ME to find them skilled people (and pay me for positive results).  When I engaged my clients I did not SELL to them.  In fact I wouldn’t say I am anywhere near close to being the best sales person.  What I did well however, was talk about how my expertise could benefit them.   I’d focus on how quickly and accurately I can find them the best talent or offer up competitive analysis.   FYI – I spent 75% of the time listening and 25% talking.

My competitors would often talk about how many people they had working for them or how many offices across the country they had.  These are considered features of their company.  That’s great but guess what?  Clients/employers DON’T CARE…what they want is someone who could do the job and not loop the same, tired audio track.  Features are important though, don’t get me wrong, but they are symbiotic to how it benefits the client (employer).

Pretend you are a recruiting firm trying to sell your service to a National employer.  A much simplified Features/Benefit Statement would look something like this.  Many SELL the Features but never touch the benefits.

Features	Benefits
Acme Recruiting has 12 offices located across Canada.	We can service your individual branch offices for any roles in any location.
Acme Recruiting has a database of 100,000 resumes.	We can quickly attract, source and screen candidates, often within 48 hours using proprietary methods and candidates not available to the open market.

 

Executing the Features/Benefits Dimension to your profile

Using the above scenario, and in conjunction with a well written resume you can do several things to enhance your profile.  Create a one sheet Features/Benefits page that you can leave with an employer upon exiting the interview.  You can also use this method as a cover sheet, although I caution you to keep it short and sweet.

What we are really TRYING to say by creating this dimension to your profile is “here are MY features and this is how it benefits YOU (Employer/Recruiter)“.  Notice the My and You bolded. 

Let’s explore how we’d use the Features/Benefit dimension to our advantage (as a job seeker).  Keep in mind that it MUST be tailored to the role being applied for and be kept short, factual and relevant.   Facts and figures will rule the day though – try it for yourself.  I’ve done this for a fictitious IT Project Manager below. 

Features	Benefits
10 years of IT Project Management Experience	Proven tenured ability to handle high-stress IT projects, often budgeted at $5+ Million dollars with a 100% on-time success rate.
Project Management Certification (PMP)	Internationally recognized project delivery foundation which can be replicated across multiple departments, reducing costly and redundant mistakes by and average of 50%.
Ability to lead multiple teams simultaneously	Create a common point of contact, structured in a way that eliminated inter-team confusion, thus dropping the project scope from 12 months to 10 months and saving $500,000 by elimination of down-time.

The features are the fluffy parts people use to describe themselves on their resume.  The Benefits are the hard hitting facts that are relevant to the employer.  It will change for every job you apply to but remember – this is meant to “enhance” your profile with memorable bytes of information that employers can quickly absorb. 

By using this method I would be more than surprised if you did not receive a positive comment or two.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions.

This article was written by Jay Zaidi – jzaidi1@hotmail.com.