Lessons For A New Recruiter

I have often heard that a good plan is essential for success, and for the most part I agree. That being said though, a good plan was definitely something that I was lacking when I entered the recruiting industry. I began my career as a recruiter out of necessity. Why necessity? Well I had just lost my job, and it was necessary that I have money to eat, pay bills, and ultimately survive. A new career was not in my game plan by any stretch of the imagination, and recruiting was foreign to me in every aspect. Sure, I knew what was meant by the verb recruit, but I had no clue how the job was accomplished or anything else beyond the root meaning. Just to make sure that all the odds were working against me, I also began my recruiter career by recruiting for an industry that I had absolutely no interest in or experience with- video games. So unless my idea of a good plan also involved starting a new career in an area that I lacked knowledge or even interest, I was going to need a good plan quickly!

The first item on my "to do" list was to align myself with an experienced recruiter who knew the industry well, and most importantly someone who enjoyed their job! It's easy to find someone to teach the "doings" involved in the work, but to find someone who is passionate about what they do and the service they provided was key for me. I found that passion and experience in one of the client managers at the firm I worked for, and I immediately aligned myself with her. Her name is Maria Barton, a no nonsense Brit with a work ethic that most people could only aspire to achieve, and the people skills akin to some of the world's greatest leaders. She knew how to talk to a complete stranger, be it over the phone or in person, and she could quickly build a bond of trust that would serve as a foundation for years to come. It seemed as if there wasn't a single person in the Video Games Industry that didn't know of her, and they all had nothing but good to say about their experiences with her. Maria was my new mentor and ultimately she became a great friend as well, but she also had a lot of work in front of her if she hoped to turn me into a recruiter! I had a lot to learn about recruiting in general, like learning how to build my own network for referrals, knowing how to use the many different social networking sites to source, cold calling, etc. This list of things to learn and master was a long one, but there were a few key lessons that Maria taught me which in hindsight was key to my success.

Lesson #1- Know your client. Maria stressed this to me from the minute we first talked! Knowing who the client is, where they have come from, and where they hope to be in the future is important. Sure, anyone can read a paragraph or two about a client and regurgitate the information to a prospective candidate, but I didn't want to be anyone, and Maria certainly wasn't going to allow me to "be" an anyone either! Great details were given to me about the "environment" of each one of our client's studios and what a candidate could expect. The product lineup and company vision where also important pieces of information that I was to know. Knowing how the client handled promotions and acquiring new talent was key, as was knowing the general background of each person that made up the management staff. I can go on and on here about what it really meant to Maria when she said "Know your client", but the real message is just as simple as the phrase implies. Knowing as much about a client as possible will always translate into higher placement percentages and stronger candidate relationships.

Lesson #2- Know your candidate. This phrase sounded simple enough to me when I first heard it. After all, I was going to be interviewing each person anyway so wouldn't I end up knowing them by proxy? Yeah, I was in for another surprise. When Maria told me to "Know my candidates", she really meant to know them! There was one time that I spent 45 minutes on the phone interviewing a candidate just to make sure that I knew everything there was to know. I knew where he worked, what he earned, and all of that other stuff, but it turned out that I didn't really know anything about him at all. I didn't take the time to learn the candidate's likes & dislikes, preferences in climate if he were to relocate, social activities outside of work, what his spouse did for work, special needs of his children, where he grew up and where the majority of his family still lived, etc. This was important information to know if my plans were to eventually place him in a new job. From a business standpoint, the small details that I forgot to ask could later result in a deal breaker. More important was that each candidate left our conversation knowing that I actually cared enough to listen, and that I had their best interests and concerns at heart. Looking back, it was the practice of really knowing my candidates that contributed the most to my success. The worst thing that will ever come from knowing a candidate is their trust. Ironically, trust is something that some recruiters struggle to earn throughout their entire career.

Lesson #3- Get on the phone. In today's society the majority of our communicating is done electronically. We are sending emails, tweeting, posting, texting, and whatever else I may have forgotten. Communication is most effective when the person trying to communicate something knows that they are being heard and understood. People like to experience being heard, or put simply, everybody wants to be "gotten". Obviously we can't have every conversation in person, so the next best is to communicate often and effectively over the phone. That's not to say that the phone is the only way to communicate, but instead of building a relationship that only exists over emails, tweets, posts, and texts, throw in the occasional phone call as well. No matter how it gets delivered, the written word quite often leaves a lot of room for interpretation. The reader may not always conclude with your desired message either. When a candidate (active or passive) speaks to their recruiter on occasion they will begin to see that there is actually a partnership being forged and that the recruiter has their best interests in mind. Keeping up with a candidates changing concerns and desires will build a relatedness between recruiter and candidate that will truly stand the test of time. Communicating involves much more than speaking though, it also involves listening. When a candidate knows that their recruiter is actually listening to their concerns, those same concerns will fade away or disappear altogether, because they know that the recruiter understands them and will handle them.

Lesson #4- Know when to move on. My step-father had a hobby that involved looking at houses that were for sale, and to this day I still don't understand it. On each family vacation he would pack us into the car and spend several hours looking at homes that were for sale. He wouldn't look at places that he couldn't afford to buy or couldn't qualify for, rather he would look at each as if he were really buying it and we were moving. I can't count how many I was convinced we were actually moving, and I can only imagine the frustration the Realtors went through each and every time! Well everyone has a hobby, that was my dad's, and we never moved. The moral of the story? Some people are professional "lookers", just as my dad was when he looked at property for sale. If you really listen to a prospective candidate when you speak to them it's easier to spot the professional "looker". The professional looker is usually just fishing for information or checking out the market, but he really has no intentions of switching careers. The "looker" may even go as far as the offer stage before backing out of the role. Knowing that these types are out there, and learning how to spot them and walk away is important. There is only so much time in one day and it needs to be used wisely. Of course, the "looker" might someday become a "mover", or a great bird-dog, so treating each person with respect and kindness is always key.

The lessons I learned from Maria Barton are such that they will be an asset to me no matter what my career. As far as recruiters go, I think she is the best. She taught me more than I could ever hope to capture on paper, and more than she will ever realize. I believe that it is her passion for her job and the humanity that she brings to it that makes her a huge success. I can relate to that passion now since I feel it every day when I go to work at RecruiterBuddy. The enormous and quick success of RecruiterBuddy is largely due to the simple yet difficult lessons that Maria taught me. RecruiterBuddy is designed to allow recruiters more time to do what they do best, recruit. We take care of the sourcing, parsing, searching, scheduling, and contact managing so that the recruiters can get back on the phone and start talking again.

Maria still recruits in the Video Game Industry, and I still speak to her on a regular basis to keep up on my "lessons". What "lessons" might you share with someone today?

Being Yourself & Why It Works

It's funny the way life works sometimes. For years I was a bartender at a very popular local bar, and I was damn good at it too! My customer base was very large, I was making a lot of money, and I loved my job! What more could I ask for?? Life was really good! It was during my tenth year at this particular bar that I heard the terrible news, the bar was just sold to an individual who had no intentions in keeping it open. My "perfect world" had just crumbled in a matter of seconds. I was faced with the need to find new work, and I had no clue what I wanted to do. A few weeks later I was introduced to a guy who owned a recruiting company that specialized in finding talent for the video game industry. After a few short conversations I had accepted a job at their firm as a recruiter. There was a slight hurdle to overcome though. I was not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination and I really had no clue what a recruiter was. This was definitely going to be interesting!

Stepping into the role of a recruiter was challenging for me. For starters, I had absolutely no experience recruiting, and since I was not a player of video games I didn't know what games were popular or even what it took to make a game. One might say that I had a crash course in gaming and recruiting all at once. After a week of training that included writing phone scripts and emails, studying the different jobs within gaming, and learning our database, I was thrown to the dogs and started to make cold calls. I quickly learned that the people I was calling did not want to be bothered at work without a good reason, so I had better have something good to speak to them about. It took me a good month to get comfortable making cold calls, and although I was pulling in some talent, it wasn't the type of talent I needed in order to be making money. The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was my fear of "not knowing what I was talking about". You see I had created this fear for myself, a "story" if you will. The "story" was that I had no idea what the heck I was doing and the person on the other end of the line was going to know that and think I was an idiot. Go ahead and laugh, but it was a real fear of mine! So what did I do? I pretended. Every time I made a call, whether it be to a programmer, designer, artist, executive, whomever, I would pretend to know what I was talking about and talk the way I thought they wanted me to talk. You know what I mean. I used the lingo and terminology that I thought would make me look intelligent. Well let me tell you how well that worked... It didn't work at all! Almost every person I spoke to quickly picked up on the fact that I was trying to fake it to make it. Any chance at building trust and confidence in that new candidate was lost by my decision to "fake it". My need to "look good" was quickly putting an end to my new career in recruiting. While the number of phone calls I was making daily was on the rise, my submissions weekly were declining. It was apparent that something needed to change and change quickly! That's when it dawned on me. I decided to just be myself. I gave up trying to "look good" and I gave up trying to "talk the talk" that I thought the candidate wanted to hear. The results were astounding!

I am not an expert in the art of recruitment, nor do I profess to have all the answers to sourcing new talent effectively, but what I do know is that people like honesty. When I decided to just be "myself" in all of my conversations with candidates, be they new or existing ones, the whole experience shifted. I was relaxed and confident, and the candidate picked up on that confidence and allowed more time to listen to what I had to say. When I was being "myself" on the phone and not trying to impress, the candidate was able to hear the honesty and confidence in my voice which set the tone for the entire conversation. Sure, in my mind I was also being vulnerable, but I assert that my vulnerability translated into honesty on the other end of the phone. My conversations went from "talking the talk" to "being myself" and speaking to the candidate as I would a long-time friend. I didn't change "me" because being "me" was something that had always worked in the past. The results were dramatic! My submissions nearly doubled, I started to get referrals, and I even made my first two placements! People are just people, and when we treat them with honesty and respect we will get the same in return. Going into a conversation with anybody and trying to force an outcome almost never works. When it does work it's usually followed up with negative fallout. Be yourself in all that you do and trust in "who" you are. If you can trust in who you are then everyone you speak to will too!
My career as a recruiter lasted longer than most would have guessed. The results I achieved when I shifted my way of being were miraculous. The year 2009 was my last year as a recruiter, and in that year I was the #1 earner for the company. I left recruiting to start RecruiterBuddy which is a software package designed for recruiters. Many people thought I was crazy given the state of the world's economy. I can't count how many times I heard "you are going to fail, this isn't the right time". RecruiterBuddy has been operating for more than three months now and we are growing at a very rapid pace! Why? I am true to myself, I listen, and I don't force an outcome. People respect that. Just be yourself and the results will amaze you!

Context Is Always Decisive

Lets face it, we have all been in that "space" of thinking or feeling "I really don't want to do this", or "This is impossible and it will never work out". I am sure you have been there, right? I know I have been there more times than I would care to admit. Have you ever noticed that when you are in that "space", or way of thinking, that things will almost always turn out just the way you say? The context of who you are "being" at that point in time will quite often dictate exactly how the outcome presents itself.

When I was a recruiter I remember taking on several searches that just seemed impossible to fill. I can remember telling myself "This is never going to happen", and then I would begin my day on that note. My research team would supply me with some great leads, and I would call every single one of them and get nowhere. It seemed as if either nobody would answer their phone (ever!), or when they did answer they just weren't interested in speaking to me about the opportunity at hand. Heck, I would even call my best bird-dogs who never let me down, and always had a hot lead, only to find out that they were too busy to speak or had nothing for me as well. My day would end in disbelief and often on a sour note. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why some searches felt so easy and why others were so difficult. Finally one day it dawned on me. Some searches are easy and some are difficult because I SAY SO! Really! It may sounds strange, but if you really think about it, it's true! A search is a search is a search. Fine, there are some searches that require talent which can be more difficult to find, but the talent is out there for us to find IF we really want to. If I start my day thinking "This is never going to happen" or "I can't possibly do this", then how else would I expect my day to turn out? The context I started my day with is "This is impossible", and surprisingly enough (NOT!) the day would end with those very same results.

Who we are "being" at any given moment, or what are thoughts are on a particular matter at hand, will have an impact on the nature of our outcome, results, or in the way we deliver our pitch. It's not magic that I am talking about, it's attitude and the foundation that we are setting for the task at hand. You have heard before that if you smile when talking on the phone to someone that your smile will be "heard" on the other end of the line. Consider that who you are "being" or the context you have set for yourself works in very much the same manner. Give it a try! There is nothing to loose and everything to gain!

A great way to build a solid foundation for success is to begin with having a recruiting tool that is built on that same foundation. From the very beginning, RecruiterBuddy was built with your success in mind. RecruiterBuddy is a completely web-based product with nothing to download and no servers to maintain. The system was built "by" recruiters "for" recruiters. RecruiterBuddy is the easiest to use system that you will ever find. We built RecruiterBuddy to simplify candidate, client, and requisition management, and to streamline the recruitment process while increasing your placements. Standard items that are included in RecruiterBuddy are the resume parser and Sleuth Tool. The Sleuth Tool will source talent outside of your database and automatically parse and import their information as a new contact record. There is really too much to say about RecruiterBuddy, but we invite you to check us out for a free demo and free trial. At $50 per user per month you can't go wrong! Learn more at www.RecruiterBuddy.com

Developing & Nurturing Candidate Relationships

Most recruiters can agree that there are two types of recruitment- passive and active. Passive recruitment tends to lend itself to more candidate involvement. The majority of your time is spent building that relationship with the candidate & earning their trust while all along suggesting and offering opportunities for them to consider. It's not uncommon for the passive candidate to stay in your pipeline for several months because they are only looking to make a career change for the "perfect" position. Contrary to the passive candidate is the active candidate who is ready for a career change now and has typically already begun their search and might even be coming to you as a secondary route.

Regardless of the type of candidate that you are dealing with (passive or active) it is extremely important that they have the experience of "knowing" you. Building candidate relationships with each and every individual that will stand strong over the months and years translates into loyalty and referrals that will increase placements and income. Critical to the process of building that relationship is the art of listening. Make it a practice to be fully present during all of your conversations. Learn what is important to each unique candidate. Perhaps there is a special needs child involved, or maybe their spouse is an avid skier and wants to be near great slopes. Regardless of your candidate's considerations it's important to "get them". Everybody wants to be "gotten". Said another way, everybody wants the experience of being heard and understood. Too often we as human beings are too busy thinking about how we will respond to what's being said and we end up not being present to the conversation. Often as recruiters we are too busy thinking about the role that we need to fill, or our next phone call. It may turn out that the person with whom you are speaking to is not a fit for the role, but by getting to know them you have already begun to establish the trust needed to pitch the role yet to come.
Be sure that every candidate you speak to knows that you are working for them and that you appreciate them. As a recruiter I used to end my calls by asking if there was anything I may have forgotten to ask that is of importance to them, or if there was anything additional that I should know that would make a difference to them and their family. Each call was ended with a "thank you" and a reminder that I was available to them whenever they needed me. Taking and organizing detailed notes during each communication is critical to building and nurturing your blossoming relationships. Having the right tool to assist you in keeping everything at your fingertips is imperative.

RecruiterBuddy is a web-based recruiting tool designed to simplify relationship building and nurturing. Pertinent information is right at your fingertips and users can set reminders for important dates that should be acknowledged. In addition to managing your relationships, RecruiterBuddy also sources for new talent. The RecruiterBuddy Sleuth Tool scours the internet for talent specific to your input and returns only relevant candidates which can be imported to your database with one click of the mouse! The Sleuth Tool and a Parsing Tool are both standard features available to all RecruiterBuddy users. RecruiterBuddy doesn't require any long-term commitment and offers a no obligation trial as well. At $50 per user monthly you can't go wrong! Sign up for your free trial or request a demo at www.RecruiterBuddy.com